" Bappida's Chef Diary- 11: डोकं चालवा विथ गाजर का हलवा! (5th Feb-2018) "

(Recap: Ginger T, Negro Masala Papad, Paratha-e-Omelette, Egg Pulusu, Masala-e-Maggie, French Toast, Mango Messenger, Kalu Fikki, Maggie Kurkuri Bhel & Finger परतलेले Chips.)

After committing a horrendous crime of 'Mango Messenger', I never tried any sweet dish again. However, I did wanted पाप धोना of that memory. So I decided to take charge of हमारा आपका सबका दुलारा गाजर का हलवा.

When you see different videos of same recipes or read about them, it just accumulates more AMUL Dahi in your mind rather than clarifying that recipe. Now by experience, I have achieved Nirvana on this problem. I simply take tips from all those videos, check what is available with me at home or what can be easily brought from outside, what steps are less time consuming and which can make me more famous easily :P

So that's what I did to surprise my wife as it had been 4.5 months that she hadn't tasted any tasty (?) food prepared from my hand.

Recipe:

- Take mediumly built 4-5 carrots. Avoid those 'Salman Khans' as वो बादमें पकनेमे बहुत दिमाग खाते है यार.
- The main ingredient of Gajar Ka Halwa is Khoya. I avoided Khoya as I still remembered in the past मैने कैसे Mango Messenger खोया :(
So I thought lets experiment it by basic ingredient Sugar. If this goes well then next time I can fly along with Khoya.
- After peeling the carrots, grate them. Then transfer the grated maal in a pan on an ignited Gas.
- Add 1-2 Tablespoon Ghee. Pour 400-500 gms of Sugar.
- Keep on stirring the mixture till the grated carrots soften and gradually change their colour from red to orange and till your forehead generates litres of sweat.
- Salt is not needed in this recipe, so avoid those dripping sweat droplets falling in the pan. It's not a part of this recipe, you may use it somewhere else!!
- Add finely grinded cardamom seeds (Elaichi) and thinly chopped pieces of cashew to this mixture and keep stirring.
- Ensure that the cashew pieces become soft and well mixed in the mixture. You may put raisins too.
- I also added couple of droplets of Rose essence to give a professional taste as mentioned on some website.
- Once this is done, let the halwa get cooled. Then you may garnish it with the remains of (if any) finely chopped cashews.

I followed the above method of garnishing. However, the rawness and toughness of cashew didn't serve the purpose of garnishing.

Being the 1st attempt, it was nicely done with Sugar which gave me positive hopes that next time I can surely play around with Khoya.

Shared the Gajar Ka Halwa with my in-laws as well as with my team mates in office so that both should feel that 'जमाई कामका है/बॉस कामका है' respectively :) Got some good tips from both the sources which I shall keep in mind for my 2nd attempt along with Khoya.

" Bappida's Chef Diary- 10: Finger परतलेले Chips (16th September- 2017) "

(Recap: Ginger T, Negro Masala Papad, Paratha-e-Omelette, Egg Pulusu, Masala-e-Maggie, French Toast, Mango Messenger, Kalu Fikki & Maggie Kurkuri Bhel.)

This year, no post is posted yet under this series doesn't mean that the थका हारा Chef has retired :)

The Chef was indeed working in the background but not actively on Facebook to post the immediate updates.

So here goes all the missing updates chronologically.

Proof (Photos are lost due to corrupted memory card...somebody at least stop THIS corruption plz !!) of this creation is unavailable.

Recipe:
This was my 2nd encounter with Potatoes. While boiling the potatoes, I realized that Potatoes are exactly similar to our Bosses. We know that they need to boil and so does they. However, this adamant category test our patience while getting boiled (at least mine). We need to check N number of times के सर उबले के नहीं. We need to poke them with something to check if they have achieved their 'Target' or not.

After couple of disappointments, when you feel that they are ready then peel them before they get cooled down else again they will give you a headache while peeling them.

Now cut them into thin, cylindrical pieces. Check what all Masalas are staying as paying guests in your refrigerator. Pull all those rascals out. Pour them on the cylindrically cut potatoes. Add little bit of turmeric powder, salt to taste and shallow fry this community.

Once the recipe was ready, as usual it never looked closer to what we eat in those McDy outlets but I was still happy.

अब पुछों क्यूँ? भाई, फ़िंगर चिप्स नहीं बने तो क्या हुआ.....
परतलेला बटाटा तो आ गया.....पहली वेज सब्जी की इजाद जो हो गयी मेरे हाथोंसे ..... क्यूँके टॅलेंटकी कमी तो पहलेसे थी नहीं ;)

After hospitalizing them in Frying Pan as well as in Oven, those succulent chips did taste well but I never tried them again :D

" Bappida's Chef Diary- 9 Maggie Kurkuri Bhel (16th September-2017) "

(Recap: Ginger T, Negro Masala Papad, Paratha-e-Omelette, Egg Pulusu, Masala-e-Maggie, French Toast, Mango Messenger and Kalu Fikki.)

There are some days in your life when without alcohol too, you become a workaholic.....or may b d keeda of impressing your wife bites you in broad daylight....or may be it's ur own quest in shaping yourself as a "Civilized Nation". That day I had decided that I shall create a new record by making 2 recipes in a single day. As usual these noble intentions weren't shared with my wife else she would have gone to her parent's house telling me "You play with your own inventions the entire day. I don't wanna starve".

The moment she went to sleep, I wore the cooking 🎩. Dig the vid recipe eo of this recipe which I had saved on Facebook. Here goes the recipe.

* मॅगीको एक Polyethylene Bagमे डालके बेलनसे सपाट किजीए. कृपया पतीदेव समझके धोपटे नहीं.... प्यारसे केवल सपाट किजीए.
* फिर उस मॅगीको एक पॅनमे थोडा Brown होने तक गॅसपे भाजे. भाजनेके बाद उसको एक ताटमे बाजूला काढके रखीए.
* अब उस पॅनमे 2 table spoon तेल (जो परवडेगा वो) सावकाश डालीए.
* अब उसी तेलमें 3 table spoon शेंगदाणे सोडीए. उनको तेलमें नीट अंघोळ घालीए. अब इसेभी बाजूला रखीए.
* अब एक बडे Glass Bowlमें (Style नहीं मारना होगा तो एक खोलगट Steelका पातेलभी चलेगा) 2 packet मॅगी मसाला और 3 table spoon टोमॅटो सॉस नीट कालव लिजीए.
* अब इस मिश्रणमें 1 बारीक कटा हुआ प्याज, 1 बा क हु टमाटर, 2TS धनीया, 1 उबालकर कटा हुआ आलू, 1 बा क हु हरी मिर्च और वो बाजूला रखे तले हुए शेंगदाणे डाले (पहले ही एकएक करके तोंडात नहीं कोंबे होंगे तो).
* इस गर्दीको अब घमाघम कालवीए.
* मस्त कालवनेके बाद उसमें वो बाजूला बेलनसे पिटे, भाजे हुए मॅगी नूडल्सको डालीए. पुन्हा सब mix किजीए.

हो गई आपकी फक्कड मॅगी कुरकूरी भेल तैयार!!

विशेष टिप्पणीयां:

1) आलू ऊबालना पहले अच्छेसे सीख लिजीए वरना ये रेसिपी हराम है.
2) इस भेलको ताजी अवस्थामेही खाए. देरसे खाने पर आलू, मॅगी सब गीलापन डायपरकी तरह शोशके लेेते है और भेलको पूरी तरहसे कोरडी कोरडी बनाते है.

चलीए...... इसी दिन और एक बनाई गई रेसिपी कुछही अंतरालमें पेश करता हूं.

" Bappida's Chef Diary- 8: Kaalu Fikki (16th June-2017) "

(Recap: Ginger T, Negro Masala Papad, Paratha-e-Omelette, Egg Pulusu, Masala-e-Maggie, French toast and Mango Messenger)

I entered (rather had to enter) in this business of Chef Diaries since my wife was unwell. At that time, I never knew that the journey would go so long that my laziness gets converted into passion. Anyways... After the arrival of maid for cooking I somehow thought that it's an end to my Chef Diary's journey.... पर खुदा को ये मंजूर न था!

Today again wife was unwell along with my kid.... So got a chance to enter the kitchen when they both were sleeping. As usual surfed some websites and saw some videos to try an easiest and fastest snack to cook before my wife wakes up. "Aloo Tikki" is what I decided to 'dissect' today. One website said cooking time is just 14 mins.... I said 'Wow' 10 times silently for finding such a shortcut recipe.

I had never boiled potatoes earlier and never did I bother to see the procedure of it. So took a bowl and started boiling them without putting a lid on the bowl. N I was wondering why they hell I started boiling 1st by sweat but potatoes somehow were as fresh as the 1st kiss sitting in the bowl and smiling at me. I got furiated by their naughtiness and switched off the regulator of gas and started unpeeling one potato. That's when I realized that they were half-girlfriend .... I mean half-cooked. Again I prepared the whole set and sent them on stage. Then it clicked to me that cooked potatoes are born only in a Cooker... Rather then taking a risk of playing with a cooker, I resorted to an easier option of covering the bowl with a lid for faster cooking. Thank god it worked.... It had to as there was no water left to boil in the bowl after evaporation !!!

Then followed a dancing and juggling act of unpeeling all the hot potatoes.....mixing all the ingredients (found in various videos on u tube and adding some new ones which my brain suggested) and making a dough out of it. (At one point, my hand looked so fabulous with all the stuff sticking and hiding within the gap of my fingers that I started believing that I am an owner of a chat stall). I tasted a small portion to ensure that my Wife wud at least say "Good" if not "Wow". There was hardly any taste of whatever I had put in d dough. My poor brain thought that after a shallow fry, the actual taste might appear (which currently was on disappear mode). However I guess the brain might have stopped functioning after marriage. The bloody taste didn't come even after frying a dozen of Tikkis. I did some post mortem on the last few tikkis like garnishing with coriander and finely chopped onion and eating the tikki with Maggie Picku, Tandoor Mozzarella and Tomato Sauce along with Chat Masala standing at the entrance gate.

As usual wife had a limited share and this शेर had to fight with his own nemesis. Today I again learnt that all YouTube videos are fake and they misguide u.......साला एक आलू टिक्की पर उसकेभी लफडे हजार! You will get confused which recipe to follow and may decide to "Unfollow" Potato after that unresolved confusion. YouTube वाले उधर हमें ऊल्लू बनाते है और यहाँ घरवाली समझती है के उसके "अजी सुनते हो" ही पगले है!! अब उसे क्या पता के उसके पतीदेवने Champion Trophy का सेमी-फायनल मॅच कुरबान करके ये नायाब पेशकश अपनी दिलकश मेहबूबा के लिए बनाई है.....

जी तो कर रहा था की नजदिकी "डेल्ली चाट" वालेके पास जाकर बोल आऊं के भाई तेरेसे ज्यादा माल तो मैने इस्तमाल किया है पर भीडकी तो जाने दो कमसे कम बिवीकी वाहवाही तो मिले भैय्या!!!

My Wonder kid is pretty sharp now itself in terms of taste of different eatables as she has her own preferences. So I have to improve faster as a Chef before she realizes that her father was a Donald Trump in cooking..... जल्दही नहीं सुधरा तो बेगमकी जली कटी सुनने की तादाद और बढ जाएगी जब हमारा Top-up Plan भी उसके गुटमें शामील हो जाएगा!!!! हे प्रभू.... अपने भक्त की रक्षा करो!!!!

" Bappida's Chef Diary- 7: Mango Messenger (1st May-2017) "

(Recap- Ginger T, Negro Masala Papad, Paratha-e-Omelette, Egg Pulusu, Masala-E-Maggie and French Toast)

A thing in our house... frequently used by my wife... Which I never dared to use it.... A Recipe Book. Today however I thought to peep into it to see if it can provide something for my Chef diary and Viola... It did had a Bengali Sweet dish signalling me at it!!

It's season of Mango and I never tried a sweet dish before. So here goes today's कारनामा.

Take 4 हापूस आंबा (बजेटनूसार कुटलाबी घ्या)
3 वाटी Paneer (65 रूपये पावशेर ... बगा जमल्यास घरीच करा राव)
1.5 वाटी Sugar
3 चमचे Cashewnut भरड (भरड काय ते आता Google वर बगा)
1.5 चमचे ईलायची पावडर
रोझ Essence

कृती:
पनीरमध्ये आंबे सोडून सगळं भसकन ओता. (रोझ Essence पुडच्या बारीसाठी थ्वाडा राखून ठेवा.) मंग पीठ मळत्यात तसं मळून घ्या.

आता ते मळलेलं मिश्रन एका पॅनमदे आदळा. 5 मिनीटे मंद आचेवर त्याला झोडपून काडा. आता पहिला गॅस बंद करा. (बचा बचा महाग होत चाललाय मेला).

आता त्या मिश्रनाचे लाटून बारीक काप करा. आंबे आनलेले ना त्याचे पन काप करा. दोन्ही काप एकमेकांच्या ऊरावर ठिऊन त्याची गुंडाळी करा. ती म्हैस निगू नये म्हनून Toothpick तिच्यामदी खूपसा. मंग हे ऊपाशी लोकांना द्या. येवडी झंजट नगं असल तर त्या मिश्रनामदी आंब्याचे बारीक तुकडे करा अन द्या खायला.

Since I am a novice, I immediately opted for the second easiest option and successfully finished the recipe.

My ever supportive wife had already instructed me to use only 2 or 1 Mango and not to waste 4 of them as she strongly believes in my culinary art. However at the end, to her utter surprise (and of course mine too) the sweet dish was good (if not नादखुळा). It was so good enough that I shared it with her relatives and they too liked it. (or had to like it as it was My 1st ever Shareable कारनामा).

Personally I felt that the silly Rose essence overflowed and its limited usage could have made the recipe more tasty. No worries. I shall operate it tomorrow and eat it.

अब मैं मेरे रिश्तेदारोंमें सर ऊठाके चलने के काबील हो गया हूं..... के मैं भी (ईन्सानोंके अलावा) कुछ पका सकता हूं!!

" Bappida's Chef Diary- 6: French Toast (16th April-2017) "

(Recap: Ginger T, Negro Masala Papad, Paratha-e-Omlette, Egg Pulusu and Masala-e-Maggie)

A new weekend brings in a new recipe (New= Stuff from internet + Stuff from my Khurafati dimag).

So today some brown and white 🍞 arrived to make use of the ever existing eggs from my fridge. On parallel lines of French Toast, I decided to make my own "Puneri Toast".

The initial toasts were made as per the guidelines of 'My Lord' but as usual they failed to impress me. Then I trusted my gut feeling and increased the proportion of salt and chilly powder. I also added Tandoor Mozzarella and increased the time of swimming of the bread in the scrambled egg.

Bingo!!! That's when I hit the jackpot. The taste (and my lost confidence) started improving and thus the last 2 slices were the best ones (as approved by my ISI (आमच्या सौ) mark.

In the initial phase of cooking after directing some slices, I thought that Mr. Omlette was smiling wickedly at me for not choosing him and falling in love of Puneri Toast. However to some extent I proved that instead of a repetition, I would always venture for new stuffs... Irrespective of whether it goes below my food pipe or not ;)

The best part of Puneri Toast is that one get multiple chances to wash away our Sins committed on the early slices. So there is no chance of 'लागींग वाट' of entire stuff at one go!!

In 6th attempt finally, I could say that I was able to make some portion of our breakfast as palatable.

अब समझ आया...... ईक अंडे का फंडा 

" Bappida's Chef Diary- 5: Masala-e-Maggie (5th April-2017) "

(Recap-Ginger T, Negro Masala Papad, Paratha-e-Omelette and Egg Pulusu)

Never thought that within a span of 2 days, my Chef's diary will summon me.

It was our lunch time... Deprived of breakfast... Wife doing her best for the house in spite of being unwell.... My worms of Chefgiri again started वळवळींग!! 

This time I thought let's take a task where I'll never fail. With that oath, I opened a packet of Maggi Noodles and started preparing Maggi for the first time. (I guess now no need to mention this as "first time" as every page of this diary depicts my debue in that particular item.)

वह दिलचस्प रेसिपी (स्विटीपाय मॅगी) कृपया ध्यानसे पढिए:
* एक बोलमें अपनी मन मर्जी पानी डाले (अगर पानीकी मात्रा पुछने पर बिवी ज्यादा भाव खाए तो ही यह जोखीम ले!!)
* उस पानीको ऊबालने रखीए एवं उसमें मन मर्जी मॅगी डाले (जी, सही समझे)
* अब उसमें मॅगी मसाला डाले. केवल ईसीसे संतुष्ट ना होईये. उसमें लाल मिर्च पावडर भी डाले.
* कटा हुआ प्याज उस बोलमें फेंके
* अब बारी इक खतरनाक प्रयोगकी. उस मिश्रणमें टोमॅटो सॉस (बदाबदा) डालीए.
* इन महान चीजोंको धिमी आंचपर पकाए.
* अच्छी तरह पकने के बाद बडे धैर्यसे ईसे खाएँ अथवा परोसे. परोसते समय दोबारा टोमॅटो सॉस का इस्तमाल किजीए. (नतीजेका जिम्मेदार मैं नहीं) .

I ate my creativity as I had no other option at that particular moment. Then I offered the last portion to my Wife and she gave me a very beautiful complement.

Wife: Did you put sugar in this??

Me: No, that sweet "Special Effect" is due to Tomato Ketchup!!

Wife: Yuk, I didn't like this. You yourself finish this now....

Like all obedient husbands, I simply obliged her!!

विशेष टिप्पणी:
मॅगी को समाजमें एक विशिष्ट दर्जा प्राप्त है. तो क्रृपया उसके संग "ऊंगली" करके मॅगी एवं अपना नाम खराब ना करे!!

और हाँ, ऊपर प्रस्तुत स्टंट अपने घरपे ना करे. करना है तो मेरे योग्य मार्गदर्शन के साथही करे!!!

" Bappida's Chef Diary- 4: Egg Pulusu (3rd April-2017) "

(Recap-Ginger T, Negro Masala Papad and Paratha-e-Omelette)

Today there was no such intention to increase the pages of my Chef diary. However my Wify and Kiddo both are unwell. So I thought let's take my Chefgiri a step ahead (a risky decision though).

So got hold of a video of Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe called "Egg Pulusu" (Egg curry in Andhra's style). बस, फिर क्या था... संजीव कपूर सामने और अंडा करी कढाईमें!

Boiled eggs for the first time in my life... Made ginger garlic paste.... Touched so many spices.... Made so much preparation before the actual show.

The product smelled awesome.... पर हाय रे मेरी फूटी किस्मत.... The recipe went on my nature (hot and spicy). I thought my hard work will bear fruits but no... I again had to go to hotel and bring a readymade 'palatable' stuff.

हे प्रभू!! कभी तो कुछ ढंग की चीज बनानेमें मेरी सहायता करे और मेरी इज्जत मेरी अर्धांगिनी के सामने रख ले!

Before dinner, I tried to somehow wash away my sins by adding little bit of sugar and lot of 🍋 juice in it... It tasted a bit better than what it introduced to me and my wife. However my poor wife couldn't dare to eat it again and I alone was victimized as usual.

खैर, "मेरे गाव" और महाराष्ट्र का अनूठा संगम मैने आज इस रेसिपी द्वारा कर दिया जो बेचारे संजीव ने भी कभी सोचा न होगा... अब आप पूछोगे कैसे.... रेसिपी आंध्रा की पर तिखापन कोल्हापूर का... बस हो गया संगम!!

अंडे शायद ठिकसे उबले नहीं थे.... ईसी विषय पर मुझे कुछ पंक्तीयाँ याद आ रही है.... "आओ सुनाऊ.... तुम्हे अंडे का फंडा..... ये नहीं प्यारे..... कोई मामूली बंदा...."

P. S. आंध्रा मेरा गाँव नहीं 

" Bappida's Chef Diary- 3: Paratha-e-Omelette (18th March-2017) "

(Recap- Ginger Tea and Semi Negro Masala Papad)

After gaining confidence during my initial days of Chefgiri, I decided to try my hand at a non veg dish. So I picked up the most difficult non-veg recipe "Egg Omlette".

Hold on, mine was a special recipe invented by me called as "Paratha-e-Omlette" or "Omlette da Bhaakri". It had 3 special masalas in it (which I won't reveal). Look wise it was perfectly fluffy and looked tasty.

Once I started eating it, a shocking revelation appeared to me that all the 3 masalas I used went to "Lapataganj". I was about to finish my Omlette and that's when it struck to me that those 3 idiot masalas were having a round table conference in the central portion of the Omlette! Ah you cheaters!!!

Debue in non-veg arena was not as per my expectation... But who cares... I had my back-up plan ready... Tasty Omlette made by my Wife ;)

Now I am highly relieved to know that I don't need to starve or depend on my Wife in case she decides to ban cooking on some exceptional occasion when our love overflows :)

To be continued. . . . . .

" Bappida's Chef Diary- 2: Negro Masala Papad (11th March-2017) "

After a successful launch of "Ginger Tea" programme few days back, yesterday tried a new venture of "Papad Roasting" secretly.

After creating 2 Semi-Negro papads finally I succeeded in my 3rd attempt in producing an actual "Roasted Papad" look alike.

Initially I wondered why my Papads were catching fire and thought of protecting them by Havells wire but then dropped the idea and dared to do more research. That's when I discovered that Papad shouldn't kiss the fire from the burner but kept a little away from the fire to get the desired sketch. Then I smashed them into small pieces and prepared spiciest possible Masala Papad whose spiciness prompted me to eat something sweet immediately. My wife suddenly entered the kitchen and taught me the technique of roasting a papad which I had already grasped from my initial 2 debacles.

I couldn't post the pictures of my creativity though as Facebook removed those pictures categorizing them as "Racist" and "Offensive" (jst kidding). However I was glad enough that my risk taking ability didn't end with my Ginger ☕ and I proved that "Sweet Exceptions" do exist in this World to prove my friends wrong 

" Bappida's Chef Diary- 1: Ginger Tea (25th Feb-2017) "

Prepared a tasty Ginger Tea after a long time (10 times better than "Chai Point").

Wife claimed it was my debue after marriage but I wonder was she taking advantage of my fading memory?

Nonetheless, her hopes are raised now and I need to find out ways to tackle this... i.e. Either to live up to her expectation or to prove that this debue was just a fluke.