Revving up forgotten recipes

It all started with us trying to plan our weekly menu and organise recipes. But it led us to discovering many forgotten family recipes. Covid had put us into what the Government here in Singapore called a “Circuit Breaker”, in other words a lockdown. We could only go out for groceries, essential services and walks within our community areas. The forever travelling husband and in school-till-4:30 pm teenage boy, were not only home all day, but also had strict schedules to follow. I referred to them as Inmate 1 (hubby) and Inmate 2 (Son). Since Inmate 2 had a fixed school schedule we tried matching our mealtimes to his.

From cooking mostly dinners and occasional lunches (as I was home alone and figured stuff on the go) I was down to cooking three meals, snacks and whatever else was demanded. Let me also add here that all three of us like to cook and are forever on the lookout of new things to try. Like all the cooking madness that had hit the world during lockdowns, even we went from making fresh breads, Pitas, pastas to whatever caught our fancy till I put my foot down and decided we need to plan things better and not end up killing our tiny oven and fridge.

We made a rolling menu for 10 days that just got repeated for three cycles and so a month worth of cooking, groceries and recipes were all planned and sorted. A master list of all the dishes we like to make and possible ones we wanted to try was created. Days for cooking were allotted to each and my army of cooks were scheduled and disciplined (that was the army upbringings in me), or so I thought!

We would land up having multiple recipes for the same dish being recommended, constant suggestions on how to elevate it to the next level, lack of ingredients leading to chaos and in the end, we realised we had started doing our own unique variations. In fact, here, too many cooks did not spoil the broth but ended up making it different.

This got me penning down these recipes in our family recipe book and since everyone was rediscovering the art of cooking the world over, we started having conversations with parents, siblings, friends, and others about what’s cooking??? There was so much history, memories and anecdotes associated with recipes that I had no idea about.

“Karaway Kitchen” was thus born in August 2020. It was inspired by the way three generations of our family have relocated and moved, initially due to partition, then being Army families and today with Ashish and me travelling around for work. A travelling kitchen with tales to tell is what I believe I have in my house today. Do visit www.karawaykitchen.com

Unfortunately, this is a slightly neglected site now as we had some personal losses and situations beyond our control, I do want to however, share one of my favourite recipes that I like to call an original experiment and a family favourite.

This is a recipe that has been tweaked over time to suit my son’s penchant for spicy food and my husband’s craving for a creamy coconutty gravy. It is largely inspired by the Balchao and mixed with a few other Goan curries.

Feel free to use prawns in place of fish with the same recipe, just reduce the gravy a bit.

The masala mix is what adds the punch to this dish and needs to be ground well to get a smooth gravy. Make the gravy a bit thicker than the consistency you finally want before adding the fish.

Spicy Coconut Fish Curry/Balchao Curry

INGREDIENTS

• 3 medium pomfret (or any fish of your choice sliced and cleaned)
• (I often use prawns) some people like to add salt and lemon juice and keep aside for 30 mins
• Masala Mix
• 1 ½ tsp Whole Dhania (coriander)
• ¾ tbsp cumin seeds
• 10-12 Cloves
• 3 green Cardamom
• 1 tsp mustard seed
• ½ inch thick Cinnamon stick
• 6 whole Kashmiri Mirch (I also add degi mirch powder to add colour)
• ½ tbsp turmeric powder
• 8/9 cloves of Garlic – (here they are not as potent as India so adjust)
• 1 inch ginger
• 4/5 green chilies (adjust as per spice level)
• 3 tbsp vinegar
• Glass of water
• 1-2 onion sliced

Method

Grind all of the above ingredients together and leave aside.

Coconut paste masala

• 1 medium Onion finely chopped
• 3 medium tomatoes coarsely ground
• 500 gm coconut milk
• Handful of Curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• Oil as needed
• ½ tsp Sugar (optional)

METHOD

On medium high heat splutter curry leaves in oil, add onions and cook until light brown. Add the ground tomato and cook till brown on medium heat.

Add the ground masala, salt, and add red chili powder to make spicier or coriander powder if you want to cut it a bit, cook on medium low heat till oil separates

Add the fish and give it a good mix to coat well with the masala.

Add the coconut milk and shake to mix it all well (I avoid moving it too much after this as fish breaks)

Cook on low heat and do not let it become a full boil till fish is cooked

Add a pinch of sugar if you like

Serve with boiled rice

Rita Aunty Wale Aloo

The other recipe I want to share is a family favourite that goes back three generations. Named after the lady “Aunty Rita” who introduced my grandmother to this simple dish, it is one of our family Sunday lunch specials. Having never met her, I explored the connection only when I started writing my food blog. Do read the story of this recipe here.

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

• 4 large boiled potatoes
• 1 large/2 medium Onion (s)
• 1 large / 2 medium tomatoes (s)  
• 1 inch ginger
• 2 Green chillies (as per choice)
• 2 tbsp Oil
• Salt
• Red chilli powder
  Coriander for garnish

METHOD

Peel and roughly chop the potatoes. Thinly slice the onions, ginger, and tomatoes. Chop the green chillies.

In a Wok/non-stick pan heat the oil, on medium high heat and add the onions. Cook only a few minutes till translucent. Do not brown the onions and aim to retain the crunchiness. Add the green chillies and ginger, sauté another minute or so to remove the rawness of the ginger. Add salt and red chilli powder as per taste and add the potatoes. Mix well and add the tomatoes. Give it a good mix, keep on medium high heat for a minute and the lower the flame and partly cover.

The idea is to let the tomatoes cook and make a coarse sauce that coats the potatoes while the onions retain their crunch. This takes about 5 to 6 minutes, mix well and garnish with fresh coriander.

Enjoy this with any hot Indian bread or, rice and dal and, do send out a cheer to Aunty Rita!Geetanjali Dogra Mehta