July 2015 – Page 2 – Indian Culinary Center, NYC

Kokum Restaurant – revisited

July 10, 2015Leave a comment

I wrote about Kokum restaurant in NYC a few months ago – that time I wrote about how nice they were to me and even though I ordered the wrong thing, they were sweet enough to bring me what I thought I was ordering – let me see if I know how to find and add that link.

I went for lunch with a friend of mine and we had the lunch special.

We both opted for seafood dishes – one shrimp and one fish. The special comes with naan, daal and a vegetable. Quite generous for $12 and quite tasty too.

This is the Nadan fish curry and it was tart and flavorful. Much like a vindaloo without the heat. I believe they use tamarind and the spice level was just right.

This was the Shrimp Pappas – very nice size shrimp, about 5 I believe. There was coconut milk in this which made it mellow and well rounded.

The naan came piping hot from the tandoor and was great to sop up the delicious sauces of the curries.

This was the plate with the two curries, daal, cabbage as the vegetable, naan and rice.

I enjoyed the lunch and was a great deal for $12.

I can’t wait to go back and try some of the other dishes – dinner is great too. While they don’t have a special – there are plenty of South Indian dishes other than dosa that I am eager to try.

http://kokumny.com/

Home Made Chicken Corn Soup

July 9, 2015June 28, 20163 Comments

It all started with a whole chicken and a recipe I read about steamed soy sauce chicken. That is a story for another day but for the purposes here I made a chicken broth.

You can do this by covering a chicken in cold water – add aromatics like sliced fresh ginger, couple garlic cloves, cilantro stems and a few green chilies.

Let the water come up to a boil uncovered and then simmer for about 30 minutes and you have chicken broth.

Remove the skin and shred the chicken. Set aside.

To defat the broth, you can use the fat separator or leave the broth in the fridge overnight – a layer of fat with form on top which you can remove.

Don’t throw the fat away though – use to cook potatoes 🙂

When ready to make soup – bring the broth up to a boil and dissolve 3 table spoons of corn starch in cold water.

Season the broth with salt or soy sauce – it will change the color of your broth if you use soy sauce.

When the broth is hot, slowly drizzle about ½ the cornstarch into it, stirring constantly.

Let it come up to a boil and see if you like the consistency. Chinese restaurants make this soup way too gloppy – you make it as thick as you like by adding more of the cornstarch slurry.

Add the frozen corn and the chicken – when you do this doesn’t really matter.

When the soup has thickened, beat two eggs and pour them into the hot soup.

Stir as you drizzle if you want the egg to break up or let the eggs make larger strings by not stirring.

Taste the soup for seasoning.

For garnish, I like to slice green chilies and add them to white vinegar.

I serve the soup with my favorite sirracha, sesame oil and cilantro leaves.

Let your guests add as much seasoning as they like.

Try this soup – it is so simple, so much better than your local Chinese restaurant and o so soul warming.

Until I eat again!

My Home made Pizza or Focaccia – call it what you please

July 8, 2015September 19, 2016Leave a comment

My cheat recipe of pizza got the most views yesterday and I was thrilled.

Thought I’d keep the trend going and share my recipe with you to make your own dough.

Sometimes I call this pizza and at other times focaccia – I guess it depends on the toppings I use. You call it what you like – I don’t mind 🙂

In 1/2 cup tepid water – about 140 degrees, add two packets of yeast along with a tsp. of sugar. Let sit.

Meanwhile put 3 cups of flour in a mixing bowl of a food processor – you can do this by hand. It is very satisfying as well as helping you take out some of your aggression.

After about 5 minutes or so the yeast should’ve bubbled up which tell you that it is alive.

I like to add some spices to my focaccia dough.

Here I have nigella seeds, fennel seeds, crushed red pepper and salt of course.

Add the water and yeast along with a 1/4 cup of olive oil.

Process the flour and liquid mixture till it starts to pull away from the sides.

You will have to adjust the liquid.

Don’t be afraid of this recipe – just add flour or liquid to achieve a dough that is not sticky to the touch.

Process on high to develop gluten and then put in a bowl with some oil and cover with a clean cloth.

Put in a warm over or a warm spot in your kitchen.

Depending on the temperature of the day your dough should start to rise within a couple of hours.

Punch it down and cover again. I like to do this a few times.

If you are not ready to cook it that day – cover and put in refrigerator overnight and bring to room temperature before cooking.

When ready to cook – heat the oven to 450 degrees.

Pour the dough on a cookie sheet and spread out as much as possible.

Let it rest for about 10 minutes and top as you please – here I have whole baby tomatoes and sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Drizzle some olive oil if you like and cook for 20 minutes or until the dough feels hollows when you tap it.

I like to put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes to get the charred color.

The second picture is one I made topped with olives, sundried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese.

The toppings are your choice – cooked onions, peppers, sausage, anchovies – anything really.

I hope you try this recipe and again, call it what you please – just cook it and enjoy.

Until I cook again!

HOME MADE PIZZA – with a little cheat

July 7, 2015Leave a comment

I love pizza.

Luckily, living in New York I have access to really good pizza at all hours of the day.

But sometimes I want to make my own pizza with my own toppings and mostly no tomato sauce.

I will teach you a very easy way to make pizza at home with a little cheating.

I make my own dough often and I will share the recipe one of these days. More often though, I buy pizza dough from my local pizzeria. I get a nice amount for $5/-

That makes a medium size pizza.

I encourage you to buy a pizza stone – it makes a whole lot of difference mimicking the high heat of the pizza oven.

I heat the stone at 450 degrees.

Then I spread the dough on the hot stone. You don’t have to put any oil – the pizza will release easily. Sometimes I do sprinkle some corn meal – it gives a lovely crunch to the crust.

Drizzle some olive oil and kosher or coarse salt. Then the sky is the limit. I like to top my pie with roasted peppers, onions, sausage or pepperoni. Most importantly, whatever you put on the pizza – add some freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Mozzarella of course if always a great thing.

Cook for about 10 minutes in the 450 degrees oven and you have piping hot pizza.

Once you have the dough, you can always make calzones, individual pizzas or focaccia which is thicker and chewier.

I hope you try this – you will love it.

Until I eat again!

PARATHAS – Missy roti

July 6, 2015Leave a comment

Roti (indian flat breads) are a staple at most Indian meals.

There are many kinds of breads we eat – naan which is a leavened bread and is usually eaten in restaurants who have a tandoor. There is roti or chapati which is the simplest of all breads. Much like a tortilla – is it flour and water – cooked on a flat griddle with no oil.

Then there are parathas which a a bit more special and are cooked with oil or butter. They can be stuffed or in this case the ingredients are mixed into the dough.

This is a typical Punjabi bread.

When there is leftover daal (lentils) – we add it to flour, along with salt, onions and green chilies. Then cook it over the griddle with some oil.

If you don’t have daal, this is great with the onions, green chilies and cilantro.

I hope you try it and enjoy it with butter, pickles or yogurt.

I believe the pics are pretty self explanatory.

Write me if you need more help.

Until I cook again!

Seafood and Chicken Paella

July 1, 2015Leave a comment

Summer is upon us and most of you who are lucky enough to have a grill are probably making all your meals on it. Well, I’m jealous and I don’t have a grill and so I focus on lots of seafood.

I love one dish meals. They require very little attention. Once you set it up – you can walk away and dinner prepares itself.

This one is simple, beautiful and delicious of course

6 Chicken thighs, bone in

2 tbs. oil

½ tsp. steeped in warm broth

2 cups rice of your choice (short or long grain – basmati, arborio, etc.)

4 cups broth (chicken, shrimp or even water will do)

a variety of seafood (about 2 lbs)

shrimp, scallops, mussels, fish, clams, etc

1 cup frozen peas

2 lemons cut into wedges

salt and pepper

You will need a large flat skillet for this – if you don’t have one, you might make do with a Dutch over.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper, and sear on both sides in the pan till nice and golden brown. Remove chicken and set aside.

Add the rice to the pan and coat with the oil, mixing gently. Add the stock, salt to taste and the saffron. Add the chicken back to pan with the rice. Cook about 20 minutes. Just as the rice is almost done, layer the top with the seafood and cook another 5 to 7 minutes or till the seafood is just cooked.

Serve hot with wedges of lemon and a garnish of chopped parsely.

Until I cook again!

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