Very subtly different from the Biryani is a Pilaf/Pulao. While Biryani is a rich, exotic delicacy created & served with a regal fervor; redolent with beautiful spices & packed the wonderful & unforgettable flavors, lip smacking goodness & heart warming memories – the Pilaf/Pulao is a more simple version of this royal dish.
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There are always some favorites & we can never get tired of cooking or eating over & over again, this simple chicken being one of them. I have grown up eating this on a lot of lazy weekends, when we all sat together & spent hours on the dining table, catching up with each other. There is nothing fancy about this chicken curry, it’s very simple, straightforward and quick to make.
Not quite so popular as the Red,Green & Yellow Thai Curry, but a little milder & a lot more aromatic is the Unique Massaman Curry. The flavoring for Massaman curry is called Massaman Curry Paste (nam prik kaeng masaman), which contains very warm & aromatic spices like cinnamon, clove, cardamom, & nutmeg. These popular spices of the Indian Subcontinent combined with the Asian flavors of Lemon grass, Galangal, Kaffir lime leaves, & Fish Sauce, makes it a rich & brimming part of the Thai cuisine.
I did not dare to cook Thai at home for so long, for I am not very comfortable with the strong smell of the fish sauce & shrimp paste. This Massaman curry paste, however inspired me to give it a try. I read thru’ & I realized that I could easily leave out the fish sauce & still have a very authentic & flavorful touch of authentic Thai. Right when I was planning on this, I found some Thai Eggplants & used these for the Massaman Curry. (Any kind of eggplant can be used for this.)
Having been not feeling so good for the past few days, I was yearning for some change of taste for my tasteless sensation in my mouth. That’s what flu does to you – steals your energy, enthusiam & the sensation of the taste buds too. I did not want to even look at anything overcooked, or too spicy. Something different (as if some else cooked for me, you know how everything tastes better when you don’t cook), light & warm yet healthy is exactly what I needed & exactly what I got.
This is one special recipe I learnt to make this from a very dear friend of mine. Once during a friends meet my dear friend F walked in with a big bowl of something so aromatic that I immediately uncovered to see that it this beautiful orangish yellow cream speckled with green & white nuts was. She smiled & said “It’s Firni, & the color is the color of Saffron“! I wanted to skip food & dive in to this right away…. But we waited & waited till dinner was over…finally when we did get to have this I was totally floored, needless to say Firni was the star of the evening… it tasted divine. Thank you so much dear one for introducing this to me, for this is one of our top favorites now.
Firni is a kind of Rice Pudding, made with Powdered Rice. It is similar to what we call “kheer” or “payasam” in India, but unlike Kheer/Payasam, it does not use whole rice grains. Firni is flavored with lots of Saffron & Cardamom & adorned with a lot of Nuts & sometimes Dry fruits too.
Or A Non Traditional Shrikhand …
Shrikhand is a delightful Indian sweet dish (esp. In the Western Region of India) made with strained creamy yogurt, often with fruit pulps or pieces of fruits added to it. Saffron, Cardamom & Sugar are used to enhance the taste & flavor. It is very easy to make, with very little ingredients, most of which one would always have at home. Here is some information from Wiki…
Kulfi, or unchurned Indian ice cream (without eggs), is a summer must have that you can whip up at home without an ice cream maker. It’s rich and creamy made with pure milk (traditionally & the milk is boiled down to reduce to half its amount), and it’s usually full of nuts in some form. The most common flavors are malai (plain), badam (almond), Elaichi(cardamom), jafrani(saffron) and pistachio. The nuts and the flavors are added to the reduced milk, boiled for some more time, cooled and put in moulds & frozen. Kulfi is traditionally sold on the street in India, in terracotta molds (matkas) that impart their own beautiful flavor. The dish is of Pakistani or may be even Iranian origin brought to India during the Mughal rule.
I remember the time when back in India many moons back we used to live in a joint family. My grandparents, uncles, aunts & cousins all lived in a big house, ate all together in one long dining table. Sunday afternoon lunches were always beautiful times when everyone was home, relaxed & talking for hours over food. Even tho’ I might have been only about 6 or 7 years old, I still remember that one of the dishes used to be mutton curry or chicken curry. The hot steaming curry, used to be placed at the center of the table, & all us little kids eyed it with utmost enthusiasm, while waiting for our turns.
Every evening as I make my cup of coffee, I have this craving for something sweet with it. A biscotti, a slice of cake… & often times I think of the white fruit cake with the colorful candied fruits in it that we would get from the local bakeries back at home. That was long long time back. But certain tastes & aroma stay with you irrespective of the years in between. When I read this recipe, I almost visualised the cake we would have, for the picture given for this was white and the recipe asked for red cherries.
The “Saas Bahu” combination is supposed to give the creeps:-D However my mom-in-law is one of the most wonderful people I have ever come across and I could not ask for more. Getting married when I just stepped in to my twenties… I thought and moved with caution, but immediatley she helped me get absorbed in to the family and more than all, amazed me with her exceptional cooking skills. Over the years I have learned a lot of what she cooks, especially the ones which are loved and craved by my hubby.
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