Cooking..an art or a science?

As management students we were asked this question about 'management' more times than one; the cliched answer being it's both. Well, I believe the same applies for cooking as well.

Twenty-four years of hovering around mom, naani and aunts in their kitchens has helped me substantially build on the science part of it - adding salt to onions would cook them faster, adding salt to daals (lentils) would render them uncooked for hours before they were finished, boiling a broth with an open lid would lead to all the vitamins evaporating...the art part of it I picked up from family, here and there and quite a few out of my head - which daal (lentil) would do well with sarson ka tadhka (mustard seasoning), which subzi (vegetable) would go well with potatoes, can I substitute raw bananas for potatoes...I believe that the funda to good cooking is a basic if not advanced knowledge of both the science and art of cooking. The art provides scope for creative culinary ideas while the science ensures the ideas are kept within safe boundaries. 

Mom had some chicken thawing in the fridge and I thought why not 'cook up a recipe'. There was around 500 gms of chicken which wouldn't really suffice for a coconut based authentic 'Mangi' (Mangalorean) curry - 'Mangi's are heavy rice eaters and they love their rice hills drowning in a pool of curry! Mom generally uses these small left over portions to cook Soya Sauce Chicken (Soon to feature on blog) but that's mom's recipe and I wanted to create my own. I had just read a friend's Thai restaurant review and she had spoken of Sweet and Sour Chicken which is a popular dish in Thai cuisine. After looking up dozens of recipes online I decided to go ahead with my version of it since I didn't have a few ingredients like lemon grass, fish sauce, rice vinegar et al. The challenge here was to use clever substitutes that would not majorly interfere with the taste of the dish. I put my humble cooking experience to the test and this is what I came up with...

SWEET & SOUR CHICKEN

Ingredients

500 gms chicken (preferably boneless)
1 carrot
3 medium sized plums
2 large onions
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup sweet corn kernels
1/2 cup green peas
2 tsp corn starch
2 tbsp vegetable oil (you could use butter as well or a combination of both)
Sugar to taste

For Marinade

A medium sized piece of giner
5-6 chillies (if you want it spicier be my guest!)
4 tbsp regular vinegar
5 - 6 tbsp of soya sauce
Salt to taste*

*Soya Sauce has salt content and so you would want to go slow on the table salt; so much for the science of cooking!

Method

1. Cut the chicken into medium sized cubes.
2. Add the ginger cut into thin strips, the soya sauce, the chillies chopped and soaked in vinegar and salt. Leave aside for 30 - 40 minutes.
3. Now, heat oil in a non stick pan. Add the finely sliced onions and saute until caramelised. Add the finely chopped garlic. 
4. When the onions are caramelised add the chicken and cover to cook on a slow to medium flame. 
5. Once the chicken is cooked add the carrots, plums, corn and green peas. Add corn starch dissolved in water to give the gravy a thick consistency. Add the sugar.
6. Serve hot with sticky rice or hard bread. 

Quick Substitutes

1. The recipes for Sweet and Sour Chicken that I looked up online were built around four flavours - sweet, sour, salty and spicy.
2. I wanted to substitute sugar with a healthier sweetener and so I selected sweet corn, plums, carrots and green peas. 
3. Sourness that comes from lemon grass and rice vinegar or fish sauce in most recipes I achieved by using regular vinegar and for the spice I added the green chillies. This decision was based on my observation of Chinese restaurants offering chillies soaked in vinegar as a dressing for noodles, soups etc. On second thoughts could we use lemon or orange juice?!

 

Verdict:

"It was too bland..." - Mom

 

"A lot of cuisines are put on record as bland for the 'used to intense spice' Indian palette. Personally I found it tad bland too! The next time I make this dish I'm going to go gung-ho with the chillies. I may even substitute the chillies soaked in vinegar with a generous quantity of chilli sauce.."

  Reference Links

• http://virsanghvi.com/vir-world-ArticleDetail.aspx?ID=797#.T8DcRV1mmXk.twitter

Olive Oil Basics

In recent times olive oil has created shelf space in kitchen racks across the globe. Many cuisines pride in their olive oil-based cooking and others have adopted this fruit based ingredient owing to its health benefits. But is olive oil compatible with all culinary styles.

I'm an Indian and the food in my part of the world is all about spices, high temperature seasoning (tadhka) and strong flavours. Though I'm not an expert at food and cooking I think I can safely conclude that most typical Indian cuisine ingredients would do well with flavourless or lighly flavoured oils. Extra Virgin  Olive Oil (EVOO) has a strong flavour and low smoking point and using it in Indian cooking would render the oil 'broken' thus producing an unpleasant strong aftertaste. Most experts would recommend using Olive Pomace oil in Indian cooking (Read link below) as it has a relatively higher smoking point and is not very strong in terms of flavours when compared with EVOO.

"I'm a huge fan of olive oil in Lebanese food; I could kill to lap up the olive oil atop a scoop of fresh and creamy houmous (chickpea paste). It enhances the flavour of the dish making it a more satiating and pleasurable experience for the taste buds."

Dad loves the food I make and mom enjoys it as well; so I got down to cooking this morning. Pulling out some fresh green okra from the refrigerator I began thinking of how I could cook this slender and crisp 'vege'. As a south-Indian from Managlore the regular style would be 'tel-piyao' (oil and onion based). But I wanted to make something different so I decided to create my very own 'Pepper Okra'.

PEPPER OKRA

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

 500 gms okra
1 large potato
1 large onion
1 tsp pepper corns
2 tbsp olive oil*
Salt to taste

*I used EVOO but I recommend using neutral flavoured oils or you could try olive pomace oil.

 

Method:

1. Rinse the okra thoroughly and keep aside in strainer.
2. Wash, peel and slice the onion.
3. Wash, peel and cut the potato into cuboids. 
4. Now cut the okra using a slant move with your knife such that the potato and okra pieces are of the similar size to ensure uniform cooking time.
5. Add olive oil into nonstick pan. Now add the pepper corns. 
6. When pepper corns splutter add onions when medium hot and caramelise the latter.
7. Now add potatoes and a little water and cover and cook on slow flame until potatoes are done. 
8. Then add the okra and salt and cook till okra is medium cooked but crisp. Sprinkle with pepper powder for extra flavour.

This dish calls for sauteing on a high flame to render the okra and potatoes crispy. Using EVOO is a big no-no in such a case as the high temperature would 'break' the oil and this would give out an unpleasant and strong after taste.

Then next time I try out this recipe I'd would use olive pomace oil or any other neutral flavoured oil like sunflower oil.

Verdict: 

"Though the taste was good the olive flavour slightly goofed it up." - Mom

 

Reference Links:

• http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-14/diet/29896935_1_extra-virgin-olive-oil-olive-pomace

• http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-07/diet/30606774_1_pomace-leonardo-olive-oil-dalmia-continental