In the summers, Mama would sit at the head of the table and cut mangoes after lunch, passing plates of it down the table for all of us to enjoy. (When they were younger, Anisha and Nihal spent summers at Faust Mansion too, and they remember this ritual of eating sweet benishaan mangoes on hot afternoons.)
Sunday lunches were special and there were different menus – kofta curry (also called ball curry) and coconut rice; or tomato rice; or a very special chicken curry Mama used to make, which had slivers of fresh coconut flesh in the gravy; or chicken roast; or a delicious prawn pulao. Peter loved her kofta curry and maintains that my version is not as good as hers used to be – Marie and Eugene had a good laugh about this as we swapped stories.
For the occasional feast or party, Mama made sorpotel and we all believe that hers was the best we’ve ever eaten. Birthdays were especially exciting for us as children because Mama baked her famous rainbow cake and made sandwiches with chutney, butter and vegetables or meat. Making those sandwiches was a collective activity, which made for a lot of fun and added to the festivities. Occasionally, we all also helped churn ice-cream at home in an old-fashioned churner; a lot of work would go into it, and everyone got a very small scoop in the end!
Christmas, of course, was the biggest celebration and the entire family gathered at Eugene’s house after midnight mass. The adults would sing old Goan folksongs, and the children were encouraged to sing too, or dance. At 4.00 a.m., we would eat a fabulous dinner. Lunch was at Faust Mansion and it was Mama’s special feast of all her signature dishes, especially sorpotel, without which it would not be Christmas. She made the cake at home too and there would be a variety of traditional Goan sweets as well as a carrot cake. Our grandfather used to make mango wine, which was always served at Christmas.
As young girls, one of our great thrills was to rush across the street to Garden Restaurant and bring some treats back home. We never ate there because we were not allowed to but there were waiters outside the restaurant, whom we called baharwalas, who would take our orders and then bring the parcels out to us. Marie and I can still list all the snacks we loved – Japanese cakes, samosas, Bombay baked beans and fresh mango juice. While visiting Hyderabad for the book, I went back to Garden Restaurant in Secunderabad after many years and was saddened to see that there is no garden left – it is a small cafe tucked into the side of a busy street. Faust Mansion also no longer exists, as the family has scattered across the globe. That green, quiet neighbourhood now only exists in my mind, and in the memories that I share with my cousins.
Our family was conservative and the girls were never encouraged to attend parties or go to movies with friends. Marie and I still giggle about how scared we would be to even ask Mama for permission if ever we were invited to a party. She would tell us to go ask our grandfather who would promptly send us back to her and that only ever ended in us staying home. Still, it was a wonderful life with very little to complain about. We were a close-knit family and remain one. And even though I might not have learnt to cook from Mama, I believe I still carry on so many of her traditions in my own home and life, passing on her legacy from one generation to the next.
MACHLI KA KHATTA SAALAN
In Hyderabad, we would traditionally use Murral for this dish, but you can choose to go with your favourite fish. And if you prefer, use fish fillets, which will be boneless.
INGREDIENTS
1 kg fish
¼ kg onions, finely sliced
¼ kg oil
¼ kg tamarind
¼ kg tomatoes, pureed
5 gm green chillies, slit
5 gm coriander leaves
4 cardamoms
1 cinnamon stick
To be ground together into a coarse paste
1 coconut, grated and ground
2 tablespoons coriander powder
5 teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
For the baghar
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon onion seeds
½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
METHOD
Clean fish, drain it and cut into round pieces.
Soak the tamarind in warm water and extract its juice.
Heat oil in a pan, and add a heaped teaspoon of cumin seeds and curry leaves. When these splutter, add the ground masala. Fry well.
Add tamarind juice and tomato puree.
Cook until all the flavours break down and a gravy begins to forms. Now, add the pieces of fish to the gravy. Do not use a ladle or spatula to mix it in. Just bring the dish to the boil, and using pieces of cloth or the handle, shake the pan carefully once or twice.
Lower the flame, and let the fish cook through. When it does, add in the whole garam masala spices, chopped coriander leaves and green chillies.
Serve in a deep, round bowl and garnish with more coriander leaves, if desired.
JHINGA AUR TAMATAR
INGREDIENTS
1 kg prawns, shelled and deveined
1 kg tomatoes, boiled and pureed
¼ kg onions, finely sliced
¼ kg oil
25 gm coriander seeds
10 gm cumin seeds
2 gm fenugreek seeds
1 dried coconut, grated
2 bunches curry leaves, chopped
3 2" cinnamon sticks
4 teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
2 teaspoons red chilli powder
1 teaspoon garam masala powder
A pinch of turmeric powder
Salt to taste
METHOD
Wash the cleaned prawns with turmeric and salt. Lightly roast coconut, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds and grind into a paste with water.
Heat oil in a pan and fry sliced onions until golden brown. Toss in the cinnamon sticks and sauté until fragrant. Then, add ginger-garlic paste, turmeric and chilli powder. Sprinkle in a little water and cook for a while.
Add in the prawns and toss well. Then, add roasted masala paste. Sauté until fragrant and add the tomatoes. Let prawns cook and when they do, add chopped curry leaves and garam masala powder. Lower the flame and continue cooking for 15 minutes until a thick gravy forms.
DHUM KI MACHLI
This is definitely a good dish for a special occasion – it is full of lovely flavours and quite extravagant.
INGREDIENTS
1 kg fish
¼ kg yogurt
1 cup oil
1 small bunch coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 small bunch mint leaves, finely chopped
2 green chillies, slit
4 teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
2 teaspoons pepper powder
1 teaspoon garam masala powder
½ teaspoon saffron strands
Juice of one lime
Salt to taste
Grind to a fine paste
6 teaspoons chironjee
6 teaspoons almonds
4 teaspoons poppy seeds
METHOD
Clean fish and cut into large pieces. Wash and drain, piece by piece. Marinate with lime juice and ginger-garlic paste for 30 minutes.
Mix all the ground paste, pepper, garam masala powder and green chillies with the yogurt and apply it well on the marinated fish pieces.
Grease a lagan, which is a thick-bottomed vessel. (You can use a shallow pan instead, but make sure it is thick-bottomed.) Place the pieces of fish in the lagan or pan and pour oil over. Bake on a very slow coal fire or in the oven for forty-five minutes at 150° Celsius or until the fish is cooked.
Serve in the same lagan, which can be covered with foil. You can also decant it onto a flat platter. Garnish with the coriander and mint leaves, which you should chop just before, to keep fresh. You can decorate the sides of the platter with tomatoes, onions, leeks cut into flowers and/or halves of hard-boiled eggs.
BAINGAN MEIN JHINGA
INGREDIENTS
&
nbsp; 2 cups prawns, shelled and deveined
¼ cup oil, plus another 2 tablespoons oil
6 to 8 round eggplants with stems on
4 medium-sized onions, chopped
2 potatoes, cubed
Pulp of a lemon-sized ball of tamarind
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
Grind together into a paste
½ dried coconut, grated
8 whole Kashmiri chillies
5 peppercorns
1" piece cinnamon
3 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons peanuts
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
METHOD
Keeping the stem intact, slit each eggplant twice to create four quarters. Place these quarters in a bowl of salted water until ready to use. Don’t do this too much ahead of time or the eggplant quarters will lose their texture.
Heat two tablespoons oil in a pan and sauté onions until they are transparent. Add prawns and cook for 10 minutes. Take the pan off the flame at this point and mix in the turmeric, the ground paste and tamarind pulp. Allow this mixture to cool and then stuff the eggplants with it.
Heat a quarter cup of oil in a large, flat-bottomed saucepan that has a lid. Carefully arrange the stuffed eggplants on the surface, and add cubed potatoes. If you have any of the prawn mixture left over, add it in too. Cover and pour some water on the lid. Cook on a low flame until the eggplants and potatoes are well-cooked. Sprinkle lime juice over before you serve.
MACHLI MEIN JHINGE
INGREDIENTS
2 kg fish
2 teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
1½ teaspoons chilli powder
½ teaspoon garam masala powder
2 drops red food colouring
Juice of 2 limes
Oil for frying
Salt to taste
Ingredients for filling
1 kg small prawns
2 cups spring onion, finely chopped
6 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
Juice of 2 limes
Salt to taste
METHOD
Clean the fish well and make slits on either side of the bone. Let any liquid drain out completely.
Prepare the marinade by mixing ginger-garlic paste, garam masala powder, red chilli powder, lime juice, salt and food colouring. Rub this mixture all over the fish and let marinate for an hour.
TO PREPARE THE FILLING
Sauté the spring onions in a pan. Add ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder, prawns and salt. Cook well, until the prawns are done and there is no moisture in the pan.
TO ASSEMBLE
Stuff the prawn mixture generously into the sides of the marinated fish. Wrap a length of strong thread all around the fish, to make sure the stuffing does not fall out.
TO COOK
Place the stuffed fish on a flat pan or baking tray. Bake at 150° Celsius until the fish is cooked. This should take approximately 45-60 minutes.
Do not try turning the fish because it will break – it will cook through on both sides without being flipped over.
TO SERVE
Scatter lettuce leaves, tomato slices, lemon slices and boiled egg halves around the fish.
JHINGA AUR PYAZ
INGREDIENTS
1 kg prawns, shelled and deveined
¼ kg leeks, finely chopped
¼ kg onions, finely sliced
30 gm ginger-garlic paste
2 bunches coriander leaves, finely chopped
3 green chillies, finely chopped
4 tablespoons oil
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt to taste
METHOD
Wash the prawns with turmeric and salt. In a pan, heat oil and fry onions until transparent. Then, add in ginger-garlic paste and turmeric powder and sauté for a few minutes. Add in the prawns, toss to coat and mix; sprinkle in some water and let cook. When the prawns are half done, add the leeks and cook until the prawns are done. Garnish with the chopped green chillies and coriander leaves. Serve on a flat platter.
LAL MASALE JHINGE
INGREDIENTS
¼ kg prawns, deveined
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
6 green chillies, slit
5-6 heaped tablespoons tamarind pulp
4 tablespoons oil
Salt to taste
Grind into a paste
1 fresh coconut, grated
30 fat red chillies
12 garlic cloves
½" piece ginger
4 heaped tablespoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon peppercorns
½ teaspoon turmeric
METHOD
Wash the deveined prawns with turmeric and salt. Place the ground paste in a piece of muslin cloth and squeeze it over a bowl. Keep the extracted juice aside. This is the base of your curry.
Soak tamarind in hot water and pulp well to extract the juice. Heat oil in a pan and fry the onion slices until they turn golden brown. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until these soften.
Add the prawns and slit green chillies; fry well and then add the ground coconut masala. Let the gravy cook until it thickens and the prawns are cooked. Pour in tamarind juice and bring to a boil. Serve in a deep bowl to get all the gravy in.
Lal Masale Jhinge
MACHLI MAHI QALIYA
INGREDIENTS
1 kg fish
2 gm patthar ka phool
2 medium-sized onions, finely chopped
2 fistfuls coriander leaves, chopped
2 sprigs curry leaves
¼ cup oil
4 tablespoons tamarind juice
3 teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
1 ½ teaspoons mustard seeds
½ teaspoon onion seeds
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
Dry roast and grind into a fine paste
2 tablespoons cumin seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons charoli seeds
¼ dried coconut, chopped
METHOD
Heat oil in a pan. Toss in mustard seeds, onion seeds and curry leaves; when these splutter, add the chopped onion and let it brown. Mix in the ginger-garlic paste and sauté until fragrant. Lowering the heat, add the ground masalas as well as the
patthar ka phool.
Pour in the tamarind juice and when it comes to the boil, add the pieces of fish. Simmer on a low flame for seven minutes for the fish to cook through. Ideally, the gravy should not be a little thin – you can add a little water if it starts thickening before the fish is done.
Garnish with coriander leaves and take the pan off the flame.
Biryanis and Pulaos
HOW A BIRYANI CHANGED A LIFE
When Anisha and Nihal were little and we were still finding our feet in Delhi, my days were always packed. Between looking after the children, hosting people and running the house, I needed all the help I could get. At the same time, I was a consultant for Lepakshi, the Andhra emporium in Delhi, and I designed Indian and western outfits for them. It was especially challenging to keep Nihal busy and I was always trying to find a solution.
As it happened, a young boy from Tamil Nadu was brought to our house and we were told that he needed both a job and a place to stay. His name was Velu and he quickly became a part of our home, and then our family. I initially gave him only one job – to play with Nihal, but he was eager to help in any way he could, so he began working with me in the kitchen. Velu was an eager student who was quick to learn the recipes we cooked. Little did any of us know how it would change his life.
I am going to let Velu, who now lives in Washington DC, tell his own story, as he has written it:
My parents passed away when I was
very young and I moved from my village in Tamil Nadu to New Delhi, in search of a job. When I first arrived, every day was a struggle and I did not even know how to speak Hindi. A friend found me a job with a Punjabi family but we could not communicate, so I quit in two days. My second job was at a restaurant in Munirka called Madras Restaurant. It was a lot of work for very little money and I realized that they were treating me unfairly because they knew I was desperate for a job. I spoke broken Hindi by then and had to stay on in a bad job because I could not find another. That first winter, I did not even own a sweater and was miserable. I finally asked a close friend, Shanmuganathan, if he could find another job for me. I would do any kind of work, I said, and he took me to the Hassans’ home.
We waited outside to see Ayya [Peter] and when he came home from work, Shanmuganathan asked if he would give me a job. The first thing Ayya said to me was, ‘Have you eaten anything? Eat first, then we will talk.’ At that moment, I felt like I was in heaven. I ate dinner and then Ayya asked my friend to translate the three rules of his house: ‘No lying. No stealing. No alcohol.’ He said that if I followed these rules, I could work in his house and he would make me a successful man. I started work that same day.
I learnt Hindi from Anisha and Nihal, and slowly started to help Amma [Doreen] in the kitchen. She first taught me how to make Dum Biryani, Pasanda Kabab and Tomato Chutney, and slowly I learnt all the other dishes that she used to make for parties. After about two-and-a-half years, one evening when Amma was in Hyderabad, Ayya asked me if I could cook dinner for his guests on my own. There were many VIP guests expected, including K.R. Narayanan, who later became the president of India. I said yes. When the party ended, Ayya told me that everyone had liked the food very much and that Mr Narayanan wanted to talk to me. He asked me if I would go to the USA with him, because he was being posted as India’s ambassador there. He offered to take me along as a cook. When I first heard him say that, I was very scared and said no. I did not want to leave my home and go to a foreign country.
Saffron and Pearls Page 8