Malai butter chicken

 This is my take on butter chicken. 

Why this is different from regular butter chicken, this uses less butter. 

Ingredients covered in the flow :)

Pot 1:

1. Cut and pan saute 1 - 1.5 lb chicken cubes (no pre-marination needed)

2. 1 tablespoon oil + 1 tablespoon ghee (or butter)

Used dutch oven to slightly brown the chicken cubes. This can be transferred to a plate and reuse the same pot, but after 5 - 10mins, chicken starts releasing water. so transferring is messy. So i just left this pot with chicken aside.

Pot 2:

1. 1 tablespoon oil + 1 tablespoon ghee 

1.b. add one or two bay leaves in the hot oil/ghee

1c. add 1 star anise

1d. take 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, cumin seeds, corinander seeds, 7-8 cloves, 2-3 cardamom: coarse grind in hand pestle

2. 1 big onion diced

3. 4 - 5 garlic cloves, diced finely

4. ginger slightly less than an inch, finely chopped

5. 1 chilli, finely chopped

6. add half garlic, chilli and ginger in the hot oil/ghee, then add the onions after a minute

6b. add 1/3rd contents of the pestle 

7. Saute for 4 - 6 minutes

Pot 1:

1. Get it back on the stove

2. add the pot 2 contents to pot 1

3. 1 diced tomato, plus 3 - 4 tablespoons tomato sauce (i was out of tomatos)

4. add the diced tomatos and remaining ginger & garlic & the remaining chilli &  1/3rd pestle contents

5. saute for 5-10 mins

6. if the pot start drying up and burning, add 120ml water

7. continue boil/cooking on low flame for 10-15mins

8. as water starts evaporating, add 150-200ml milk (or 100ml milk + 100ml cream)

9. cook on low flame for 20 mins

10. add 1 teaspoon cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala, 1 tablespoon jaggary (or sugar), all the remaining 1/3rd of pestle contents

11. add salt to taste

12. simmer on low heat for 10-15mins

13. if you feel too much water has evaporated, you can add 50-100ml milk or cream. just make sure you continue cooking for another 5-10mins

14. done

Hopefully you like the delicious butter chicken. Portions are approximate, + or - each item as necessary.

Instapot Lamb Curry e-Sindh'

This is my bare bone lamb curry recipe

The reason its called bare bone - no prelude to show off any blogging skills nor talk about any nostalgic memories...

So here goes (do note all measures are approximate..I am too lazy to measure.. and also great cooks don't go by the measurement... say some):

Main ingredients:
1. Boneless lamb: 1.5 lb (approx. 750gms)
2. Tomatos (medium to large'ish) diced: 2 units
3. Onions: 1 large or 2 small
4. Ginger julienne(diced) : 2 large soup spoons
5. Garlic petals: 3 - 5 large petals (the garlic/ginger we typically get in US isn't as concentrated as the one we get in south east asia, but the size is usually double)
6. Green chillies: 3 large (medium hot)
7. Cooking oil: 2 tsp
8. Water: 250 ml (1 cup)

Spices (masala):
1. Cardamom: 5 - 8 units
2. Cloves: 5 - 8 units
3. Star Anise: 2 stars (I star I directly put it in. the other 1 lightly powdered)
4. Black pepper: 7 - 10 units (approx)
5. Cinnamon: approx. 1 teaspoon (I didn't have the stick, I used powdered instead)
6. Bay leaves: 3 - 5 whole leaves
7. Garam masala powder: 1tsp max.
8. Coriander powder: 1 tsp
9. Cumin powder: 1 tsp
10. Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
11. Shaan meat masala: 1 tsp (optional)
12. Red chilli powder: 0.5 tsp (optional)
13. Salt: 1 tsp


Process:
1. Use a hand mortar and pastle to lightly mix/break:1, 2, 3, 4 & 5  (Or use as-is)
2. Heat 2 tsp oil and add bay leaves & above mix
3. Add onion and fry (2 mins)
4. Add chopped ginger, garlic and chillis
5. Fry for 5 mins

6. Add chopped lamb
7. Fry for 15 mins

8. Sprinkle 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 & 7
9. Stir/mix/fry for 10mins

10. The mix will start drying up by now. If it starts drying sooner, add the chopped tomatos
11. Boil/fry for 2 mins
12. Add salt

13. Add water. Instapot usually needs atleast 250ml water to create enough pressure
14. Put the lid on
15. Keep the setting on meat (35 mins high pressure).

Sit back and relax.

Pesto Sauce

I have always liked pasta with pesto sauce. Never realized how easy it is to make the pesto sauce. 

2 cups basil leaves
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (don't add if you want to freeze and store the sauce)
1/2 cup pine nuts (lightly roasted on a pan) or walnuts
3 garlic cloves
Salt and pepper..

Just run this in the mixer and you have pesto sauce. If you intend to store it, skip the cheese, run everything else in the mixer. you can pour the paste into ice cube maker to make cubes of the sauce. freeze them; once frozen the cubes can be packed into a container. You can then use the cubes as and when needed. Just before using, after you have defrosted the cubes, add the parmesan cheese to it and the sauce is ready... wow.. so easy...

Phuket and Phi Phi Islands, Thailand

Alright, I am keeping the promise I made to myself. To blog about the trip keeping focus on the facts and $'s in a bid to help fellow travelers. Also helpful tips for "Things to do in Phuket and Phi Phi Islands"

My travel log: 

Travel Date: May-2013
Duration: 5 days (4 nights)
Hotel reservations: I made all my travel hotel reservations on Agoda.com I have been using Agoda for a couple of years now and I think they offer good rates. 

Day 1 - Arrive in Phuket in the afternoon. 
I booked myself at Ramada Southsea @ Karon beach. It is about an hour journey from Phuket International airport. I found out from blog reviews that we can just hire a cab (red and yellow taxi) from outside the airport. Walking towards right after exiting the airport. I was expecting 600 THB cab fair. To my pleasant surprise, I noticed booths/kiosks set up right outside the exit at the airport that offer shared mini-van service. The drop to hotels is as per the corresponding beaches the hotels are located at. Karon beach drop was 200 THB per person. So 400 THB and 1 hour later we arrived at the Ramada southsea. No hassles. Reached hotel around 5-6pm.

Tip: At the airport its required to pay 1000 THB tax per person. I chose to pay in $ and thus ended paying slightly more. So in hind sight, it is advisable to pay in local currency. 

The mini van was a nice AC coach. I think 6 to 8 co-passengers.

The Hotel - Ramada Southsea @ Karon beach (approx US $60 per day)- well, its a good hotel. The rooms are nice and clean. We are particular about the sheets and the sheets were indeed clean. Overall the hotel is tidy. The location is great. Just cross the street and a 10 meter walk takes you to the beach sand. Beautiful beach. Though for people who are not used to medium waves and those who do not know to swim, might find the beach a bit rough. I was ok with the beach. the waves breaking point were probably 2 feet. My wife expected smaller waves and preferred a quieter beach. So this one was not her type. 
The only complaint my wife had about Ramada was that while its location was very convenient, there are open drains. Well the drains are covered, but probably have vents in between. And that was giving the area a bit of a stink. Maybe stink is too harsh a word, but yes, there was some fish/drain funny odour up in the air.  Its not so bad, you kinda get used to it. Shopping, local foods, etc. a lot is available around a 10 min walk on along the road. 
Tip: If you have not tried it, and if you have a sweet tooth, try the Thai Pancakes. they come either with Mango or banana. 40-60THB. Street food. lot of oil, so not very healthy, but hell, aren't you on vacation. Enjoy. Beer is also around 60 THB.

Highlight of the Night: After reading a lot of reviews and colleague recommendations, Simon Phuket Cabaret was on the cards. There are several Tourist Information kiosks setup by local shop keepers (within 10min walk of Ramada). They sell the tickets for 600 THB per person that includes pickup and drop back to the hotel. If you have never seen a cabaret, rather, if you have never seen a musical; then this is worth it. Especially the fact that this is enacted by ladyboy's (the locals call this a ladyboy show). 
Tip: For many, the word Cabaret probably brings to mind, nudity, sleeziness, etc.. well this one is a family show.. there is no nudity, though one character playing the barbie girl wears extra big fake boobies dress. Maybe PG16 or PG13. Hell, I do not have kids and I do not care. even if it had nudity. It was nice.
The ticket if you purchase at the venue costs 300/400 THB, the rest is the agents and the pickup and drop charges. Distance from Ramada to Simon Cabaret is 5-8 kms.
Tip: If you are game to ride a bike or 4 wheeler, rent one out. It turns out that tuk tuk's and taxi will cost a lot higher. The bike daily rent is 200/300 THB. Plus the fuel cost. So if you plan to travel around the city, try the bike rent (2 wheelers).

Day 2 - Karon Beach - Rassada Pier - Phi Phi Don Islands
The breakfast at Ramada is minimal. But so is it elsewhere. Since we didn't book the room with breakfast, we had to pay 500 THB for 1 person. Either book it along the room, or even better, step outside the hotel and eat at the restaurants nearby.

The Beach - We arrived at the beach in the morning around 10 am. It's a nice beach. The beach chairs cost 200 THB per day. We paid the same for half an hour. 
Tip: If you are planning to be at the beach only for an hour or two, just take your beach towel along and spread it out on the sand instead of using the beach beds. You can save 200 THB! Which is not bad... 

Karon to Rassada Pier - We had booked the Phuket to Phi Phi online on phuketferry.com. 600 THB one way per person. (50 SGD for 2 ppl). The pickup van was supposed to pick us up by 12:45pm, but they picked us up 10 mins late. Ofcourse, never mind. We had enough buffer time. The van ride through the town to Rassada pier is about an hour. The ferry was to leave at 2:30 pm; we arrived at pier about 1:40 pm, but we departed only after 3 pm. There is a burger counter at the pier. Chicken burger with fries and coke - 140 THB.

Phi Phi Don Island - Andaman Legacy Resort (approx $90 per day) 
We reached Phi Phi island in the ferry from Phuket around 5 pm. Based on maps and googling, I knew the hotel was approximately 0.8 km from the pier and I was prepared to slowly walk the distance lugging the baggage along. But I was pleasantly surprised to see a porter (read local hotel staff with the hotel name placard). He showed me a list of expected arrivals to check if my name was on it. Upon confirmation, he took our bags and put them in a handcart and asked us to follow. A short 20 min walk took us to the hotel. Greeted with a kokam surbat (Garcinia indica, it's a  popular drink in coastal western ghats on India as well) and a cold wipe.

The Hotel - Room was nice. Well kept and tidy. Only problem with the shower was that the hot and cold water toggled on its own, so no way you could set the water to the temperature you actually needed. Lots of dining places available in a 10 min walking distance. Phi Phi Don is a very small island, and the hotel was almost at the edge of the city/pier area. So dining/eating/shopping is all possible within a 5 min walk. 

Day 3:
The breakfast at the hotel was nice, nothing great. Since it was already included in the room booking we didn't have to pay extra as we did at Ramada, so no complaints. It kept us going till our late lunch. 

Long beach is indeed a very beautiful beach. It's about 2 km hike from the hotel. The locals would suggest a 10 to 20 min walk from the hotel. But we actually took longer as we were leisurely walking, enjoying the scenery and breaking in between. There is no clear road, but a path way through the beach, hilly area and such. Thus it takes a bit discovering every now and then to determine which path to take. But if we just follow the logical path along the beach side, you should easily reach your destination. Offshore snorkeling is possible on many of the beaches along the Tong Sai bay, a couple of nice small beaches (about 100 meter) are there along the way to Long beach, any one of those can be used to sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery. Saw many fish and sea cucumbers during my snorkel. Also spotted a few baby sharks near the shark point. Totally Awesome!!

Thanks to the movie 'Life of Pi' we knew of the luminescent plankton that glows at night. It seemed like a rare kind of phenomenon happening in nature. There are a few beaches in Peurto Rico where this plankton appears, apparently that's where the scenes from Life of Pi were shot. So with this background, we did not want to miss the chance to witness such a rare phenomenon. Well, the tour organizers know this as well. There seems to be only one tour that runs/operates a half day tour to the nearby Phi Phi Ley island that covers this snorkeling at night to witness the luminescent plankton. And thus they charge a ransom. About 1200 THB per person. The day was fine and weather was just great so we took the tour. A half day trip covering the same route but returning before nightfall costs 400 THB in the long tail boat. Our trip was in a much bigger trawler converted to a tourist carrier. Our trip covered the plankton and an onboard dinner. Thus justifying the additional 800 THB! Well, that's the justification we were given. And we bought it... :) 

But the trip was nice, snorkeled twice. Snorkeling at night and watching tiny phosphorescent green spots in the water was an amazing experience. The on-board dinner was good, or maybe we thought so coz we were hungry. It consisted of baked fish and fried rice and steamed potato. Well, I overate. And then realized that I had to hastily finish my dinner and prepare to snorkel. That is what caused some discomfort. Imagine taking a swim right after a heavy meal. But that was my bad. While it caused a little nausea, the overall snorkeling with the phosphorescent plankton was nice.

Day 4: Back to Phuket - 
We bought the tickets for the return ferry on day 3 when we got back from the late evening tour to Phi Phi Ley. One way ticket costs 300 THB. The person checking the tickets at the ferry terminal asked us where in Phuket were we headed and offered a shared mini-van drop from Rassada to our hotel in Surin. The hotel drop was again 200 THB per person, not bad actually.

The big ferry boat was almost like a cruise ship... well am exaggerating... but it was probably carrying 500 people, and they served free coffee and donuts! Well I did not know that, I went to buy the coffee and the donut for my wife when I discovered it was free. Ended up eating a donut! We arrived at Rassada pier at 5pm; promptly met the van driver for our Surin hotel drop. We were in our hotel by 6pm.

The Hotel - Surintra Boutique Resort, Surin (USD $60 per day) 
Nice hotel, clean and tidy rooms. Big room, big bathroom, excellent shower. Breakfast minimal. Small pool. Well other than that the hotel doesn't have anything else. Gives it a petite and private touch, and we only saw couples in the hotel. The reason I chose to call it hotel rather than a resort is the sheer size of it. Resort makes it sound like a big place. This one is really petite.

The Beach - Surin beach, it's a nice beach, bigger waves than at Karon beach. Beach is at a 10-15 min walk from Surintra Boutique resort. Surin is expensive part of the town. We intentionally avoided staying around Patong beach where the hotels are cheaper, but the beaches get excessively crowded. We wanted a bit of a honeymooney feel.. :) Well staying a crowded city like Singapore we wanted a little quiet time. Surin offered exactly that.

Day 5: Surin Beach: Nothing much to see around the Surin beach. So we decided to just lazy around the beach, eat some cheap local street food by the beach (We were running short of the local currency and I was in no mood to convert some more $ on the last day of the trip). We had some cheap beer (happy hour 50 THB for a glass of local draught) at Nok restaurant. Retired early; took a dip at the resort, got fresh and were ready for our airport drop by evening. Airport drop costed 600 THB. The meter fare from Airport to Surin is supposedly 300 THB, but for the way back all the hotels seem to charge a premium. We succumbed.

At the airport, there is a local Thai restaurant run by non other than Thai Airways. Nice food. Pricing is reasonable. Ate some local Thai curry and seafood noodles. And slept our way back home.

End of journey. 

Brinjal curry(Baingan ke sabji/Vangya cha rassa)

Its been quite a while since I had not eaten Brinjal or Vangyachi bhaji. Not many people are big fans of brinjal, but this one tasted really yummy.

Now I am a once in a blue moon cook, never really bothered to cook when I used to stay with my mom. But these extended stays out of your home town force us to get into things we usually avoid. Likewise for my cooking. I do know a thing or two about the basics of cooking, but what i do know very well is to eat good food and to tell if it is good! That said, back to baingan ke curry.
I vaguely remembered the taste of my mum's preparation, but was not sure of the recipes. So did some googling, here is my dig at it. It is similar to pakistani and maharashtrian style, I gave it my personal touch.

So to begin with, cut small pieces of brinjal, i cut them like small wedges. The bringal i took was a big long one, maybe 300 gms. After making the  cuts, it filled 3 bowlfuls. Ok, so after cutting, I kept them in water, this is supposed to take off the bitterness. Save around 20 mins.

Handful of peanuts, roasted them on the roti pan till they started making popping sound. Cooled them, and peeled off their skins, put them in a mixxie and made nice powder.

1 large spoonful of tamarind, soak it in water, say 30 or 60ml. Now you need to start squeezing the tamarinds so that their extract come in the water. When using this mix later, you need to squeeze and drain the tamarinds so that only the pulpy water based extract is used.

Masala mix = 2 small spoonful of garam masala (curry powder), 1 spoonful coriender powder, 1 spoonful jeera powder, 2 pinch asetofida, 1spoonful salt.

Chop 1 big onion and 3 or 4 big garlic petals. 2 big green chillies. 3 or 4 sticks of dry curry leaves (they get dry anyways when u have bought them 2 weeks ago and left in  the fridge.) So my touch was to cut those curry leaves with kitchen scissors.

You also need two or three teaspoons of grated coconut.

Heat 2 big teaspoons oil, you might need more if you are not using non stick vessels or utensils for cooking. More oil just makes it more tastier, needless to mention the flip side of consuming too much oil...

So heat the oil, add half small spoonful of mustard seeds and same amount of jeera. I cover it till the mustard seeds stop popping. Low flame, if required. Add the curry leaves.

Add the chopped chillies, add the asetofida, stir for min, add the chopped onion and garlic. Keep stirring lightly, when the onion turns brownish, add the grated coconut, keep stirring 2 mins, then add peanut powder, keep stirring a  few minutes more.

Add the masala mix. Keep stirring, add a little water so that the masalas don't start to burn.

After frying the whole concoction it will have considerable volume, will be smelling awesome. Now add the cut brinjal pieces to the mix, keep stirring for 5 to 8 minutes. It will still be a bit dry, doing this gives it a crispy flavour. Now add the tamarind water, add another half glass of water. Keep stirring and leave to boil. Now add a small portion of jaggary, keep stirring. Add the salt if you have not already added it in the masala mix.

Leave it for 5 to 10 mins on low flame, cover with lid.

Voala... the curry is now ready! 

Moksha @ Bandhavgarh

Bandhavgarh (Bandhavgad) Tiger Reserve is located at the geographical centre of India in the bountiful scenic state of Madhya Pradesh. The tiger density in this forest is undoubtedly the best in the country with 20+ tigers dwelling in the core area of just 105 sq. km. The total cat count in the entire forest of some 400 sq. km. is somewhere around 50 tigers. The numbers are not phenomenal, neither are they accurate. But putting all those tigers in the small reserve at Bandhavgad makes it a high density tiger populated forest reserve.

My interest in wildlife started a few decades ago when I was just ten years old. Since then, over the last 20 yrs I have been to various wild life sanctuaries in India from the elephant rich forest of Bandipur and Madhumalai in South, the boundless forest of Melghat and the Bison forest of Tadoba or the scenic and popular Jim Corbett national park at the foothills of the great Himalaya’s. Not to mention the numerous small forests in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra. Each of these forests has a beauty of its own; and it would be rather unfair to single out any one of them over the other.

All these years that I have travelled in quest of The Tiger, he has eluded me tactfully on each and every count. On many occasions I have come this close to catching a glimpse. Tracing the pug marks, following the alarm calls and even hearing the tiger growl, its all ‘a done deal’. But never before this have had I ever managed to see one eye to eye in flesh and blood.

I had started blaming my ill fate thinking I just might not be destined to be lucky enough to see this wild majestic beast in this lifetime. All my friends and family who are just as ardent fans of the wilderness have been fortunate to see this magnificent carnivore in its natural habitat. Each time however, I was made to do with watching their snaps, hearing their tales and gasping in excitement and openly envying them.

But all this changed on that chilly winter morning of early 2007, in the small tiger reserve of Bandhavgad. Either my stars changed all of a sudden, or the Gods finally gave in to my prayers or it was simply a matter of luck. Whatever be the case, I was surely treated with not just one or two but numerous sightings of the wild cat. The four days we spent at the tiger reserve I managed to see at least two tigers every day.

The first sighting was however least expected and very un-melodramatic. It was a chilly morning, our first day at Bandhavgad and we had to get up at 5:30am! Hastily we got ready for our jeep rides/jungle safaris. We were still very sleepy, yet very excited. With mixed emotions we were cursing the cold in one breath and appreciating it in the next. Finally at 6am after completing the paperwork and other formalities we mounted our jeeps, pulled out our cameras, rolled our scarf and headgear and started our pursuit. The number of jeeps at the park gate was sheer overwhelming and for a brief moment made me wonder whether there would be traffic lights and policemen manning the tens of jeeps throughout the forest, whistling and waving at the oncoming vehicles. But that thought vanished as I soon got absorbed in the trance of the chilly misty morning as our jeeps started to spread out in the thick of the forest.

As we passed the final gate we started preparing ourselves mentally for the 3 hours of bone shattering, chilly and dusty ride ahead. Decades of experience I sort of knew what to expect. It was a regular affair to mount the open jeeps and start scanning the passing surrounding, the person in front seat to scan what lies ahead, and the people in the rear take up their positions to scan their respective sides. We thus started warming up, building up the mood and the anticipation, the ever optimistic wishing to get a good sighting. The situation can be described as the first day of a test match on a cold winter morning, the bowlers and the batsman playing each delivery very technically but in no apparent hurry to either get a wicket or score a century.

Our jeep had travelled about 300 meters from the park gate, I was busy scanning the horizon when suddenly the jeep in the front stopped and started backing up. Everybody suddenly rose up and started looking to our left as our jeep stopped.

And there it was! My first sighting! Just about 10 meters from our jeep, a young year old cub was strolling aimlessly, looking a bit disturbed by the sudden disturbance caused by the jeeps. The sight was splendid!

For an amateur tourist it would appear like an adult full-grown tiger. Only the trained eyes could tell the difference. The young tiger that was slightly smaller than a fully-grown male was still depended on its mother for food and support. It had the radiance and freshness on its glowing fur; the black stripes on the slightly darkish yellow mat hide. The candid and slightly uncertain movements immediately characterised an image of a cub as our guide rightly explained. Seeing a tiger at such a close range the effect though was very soothing. The cub exhorted a playful and harmless feel to the surrounding. There was no fear in any of our minds as we murmured in excitement with each other to move out from our lenses way.

We stopped there a for while as the cub made itself comfortable to the now increased commotion, seated itself in a nice photogenic posture as if knowing the exact purpose of big cylindrical objects in our hands.
It seemed as though I had been blessed with Moksha! I was delighted and elated and ecstatic! I felt honoured! I felt satisfied! It was as though the opening batsman had hit a six in the first over of the test match! And we felt like the audience, least expecting and yet very happy for the unexpected treat!

The coming days just added to the excitement! This was the first time we rented a vehicle and driven 1000 kms to Bandhavgad, driving non-stop for 30 hrs taking turns at the wheels! And it all was worth it!

Bandhavgarh has indeed left a mark in my memory book as I accomplished an important milestone in my life – eye to eye contact with the most magnificent beast of Indian jungles!