Stuck at home like most Indians, with as little access to fresh ingredients in the second week of a lockdown, chefs in India are rustling up home-cooked meals that are easy to put together, focused on ingenuity and the use of ingredients available in fun new ways.
Chef Manish Mehrotra, Indian Accent Restaurants
One of India’s finest chefs suggest meals that are not too fancy and can be cooked quickly. “At the start of the lockdown, there was a lot of meat and other fresh ingredients at home. One week in, it is best to depend on ingenuity. At home we made a baked kheer, for instance. You can leave the milk in an oven for two to three hours. Use this reduced thick concoction to make kheer, with some rice and cardamom powder.”
Among the dishes he mentions is an Asian-style pasta, made using garlic, chicken, oyster sauce or any other sauce at home, pepper, butter or olive oil, chilli flakes, black pepper, and some basil or lemongrass.
Mathri: A quintessential Punjabi snack, its crispy yet flaky texture makes it ever-green snack.
Ingredients
Maida or refined flour: 1 to 2 cups
Kasoori Methi (sun-dried fenugreek leaves)
Spinach
Ajwain or carom seeds
Red chilli powder: 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Asafoetida: a pinch
Method
In a large bowl, mix maida or all-purpose flour, ajwain, red chilli powder, asafoetida and salt.
Boil and chop spinach and add to the mix.
Make stiff dough and rest it for about 30 minutes. Make small balls, flatten with your palm, andprick them on both sides with a fork.
Heat some ghee and deep fry on low to medium heat.
Chef Rahul Akerkar, Qualia
The Akerkars, says Chef Rahul Akerkar, have been cooking lots of cold soups, stir-fried veggies with tofu/tempeh, roast chicken and beetroot salads. Among the Indian dishes he recommends is Sai bhaji chicken dhansak. “We also indulge in wicked comfort foods like homemade pizza and grilled cheese sandwiches every once in a while.”
Roasted yellow pepper gazpacho
Ingredients:
Yellow capsicums: 500gms
Cloves of garlic: 5
Oil: 2tbsp
Salt and pepper: to taste
Cucumbers: 2
Onion: 1 medium
Lime juice: 1tbsp
Roast cumin powder: 1 teaspoon
Boiled eggs sliced: 3
Extra virgin olive oil
Parsley to garnish
Method:
Deseed the peppers. Place them with whole garlic cloves on the oven tray. Cover with a few tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Roast at about 150 degrees till the skins of the peppers come loose.
Keep aside to cooland remove skin. Chop roughly. Save the oil and juices remaining on the tray with the garlic.
Peel and deseed cucumbers. Chop onions.
Blend the cucumbers, onions, roasted peppers and garlic with leftover jus. You may add a little cold water to adjust the thickness.
Add lime juice, and a teaspoon of roasted cumin powder. Blend for another minute.
Serve chilled. Garnish with extra virgin olive oil, parsley and boiled egg.
Hemant Oberoi, Chef and Owner, Hemant Oberoi Restaurant
“We have been cooking simple meals at home not just for ourselves but our security gaurds, cleaning guys and sometimes, the cops on duty. My menu includes lots of veggies, lentils and less carbs in order to stay fit. Since the supplies are also limited, simple vegetable or stews or a light soup should be good. Turmeric and ginger-based dishes and drinks should be consumed to boost immunity.”
Lemongrass Rasam
Ingredients
Ginger: 3gms
Asfoetida: 5 gms
Oil
Garlic: 5gm
Salt: to taste
Tamarind: 2gm
Black Pepper: 5gm
Green chillies: 5gm
Lemon Grass: 100gm
Button chilly: 15gm
Mustard seeds: 5gm
Curry leaves: 10gm
Yellow lentil: 50gm
Tomato: 250gm
Cumin seed: 2gm
Method
In a saucepan, heat half the oil and add half of mustard seeds, curry leaves, asofoetida, button chillies, ginger, green chillies and lemongrass.
Cut tomatoes into quarters and add.
Add toovar dal and cook for 10 mins.
Add plenty of water and allow the soup to simmer for 45 mins.
Soak tamarind in hot water and add to the soup.
Akshraj Jodha, Executive Chef, ITC Windsor, Bengaluru
Chef Jodha, who hails from a Rajathani royal family, is no stranger to the culinary heritage of using whatever is available, given that once the state of Rajasthan faced acute shortage of fresh vegetables. As a result, the communities evolved recipes that used dry ingredients with a long shelf life.
Sev Tamater Subzi
“This vegetable is very popular in Kota-Bundi region of Rajasthan and the border areas touching Madhya Pradesh,: says Chef Jodha. Normally Indori sev is used, but you can use any for now.”
Ingredients
Sev: 2tbsp
Tomatoes: 3
Oil: 3tbsp
Mustard seeds: ½tsp
Asafetida: 1 pinch
Curd/yoghurt: 2tbsp.
Turmeric powder: ½tsp.
Coriander powder: 2tsp.
Red chili powder:
Salt: to taste
Green coriander to garnish
Method
Cut tomato in big dices and keep aside.
Make a smooth mixture using curd or yoghurt, red chili, turmeric and coriander powder,besides salt.
Heat oil in kadai or wok, and add mustard seeds.
Once the mustard seeds crackle, add asafetida and the curd mixture and cook till the oil leaves the side of the wok.
Add diced tomatoes and cook till they are semi soft.Add water for a thin consistency.
Add sev give a boil and keep aside.
The sev will soak up the water so that you are left with a semi thick concoction.
Add freshly chopped coriander for garnish.
Vikas Seth, Chef and Culinary director, Embassy Leisure; Sanchez and Sriracha restaurants, Bengaluru
“My suggestion for the remaining period of the lockdown is to pick up produce that lasts longer, such as root vegetables and tubers like beetroot, arbi (colocasia root), sweet potatoes, potatoes…,” says Chef Vikas Seth. “I bought ragi to make chillas or ragi dalia. The focus has to be also on zero-wastage and survival.”
He recommends making guacamole using peas instead of avocados and layering it on rusk (the Indian toast) or a khari biscuit for a quick snack. “If you have cottage cheese or can make it, use it on vegetables. Mix boiled sweet potato with different spices.Make a sweet syrup out of jaggery or sugar for a Chia Seeds Lemonade. Use this to make your nimbu paani; add mint and ice.” Another quick fix is a Watermelon Pizza: cut the fruit into roundels and top it with honey, yoghurt, apples and black grapes for a visually delightful snack.
Beetroot toast
Ingredients
Beetroot: 2 to 3
Onions: 1
Cottage cheese:100gms
Green chillies
A few nuts
Lemon
Olive oil
Chilli powder: 1tsp
Method
Boil the beetroot and sauté with onions and garlic. Puree it.
Add cottage cheese and green chillies. That is your gooey base, which you can spread on a toast or a rusk.
Top it with fruits such as pears, crumbled cheese, nuts, lemon juice, chilli powder and olive oil.
Chef Anahita Dhondy, SodaBottleOpenerWala
On Chef Dhondy’s menu is Dal chawaland Baingan or Eggplant Kachri for lunch, a breakfast of burrito and mango yogurt bowl. “Make sure you've got some healthy grains in your kitchen and substitute those in your fun baking recipes like cookies or cakes. Use skins, peels and roots to avoid any wastage.”
Thai-style noodles with veggies – a one pot meal
Ingredients:
Noodles: 3 single packs
Thai curry paste: 1pack
Oil: 1tbsp + 1tbsp
Butter: 1tbsp
Coconut milk: 1 cup (you can use the powder or a tin)
Water: 2cups
Garlic: 2tbsp (smashed/fine chopped)
Green chillies: 2 to 3 chopped
Mushroom: 1box (cut into 4)
Spring onion: 1 (thin slices)
Bellpepper: 1 (cut into cubes)
Kale: 5-6leaves
Swiss chard 3-4 leaves (or you can use any fresh leafy veggies)
To garnish: Fresh coriander leaves, lemon wedges, spring onions and peanuts
Method:
In a pan, add the butter, oil and heat. Add the garlic and fry till it is nice and brown.
Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper. Sauté, add then add the bell peppers, kale and Swiss chard or any other veggies you like. Cook till the leaves soften.
In another pan, add the oil and the curry paste, fry the paste for 2-3 minutes. Add more chillies if you like.
Add 2 cups of water to this blend, bring it to a boil, and add the noodles.
Once the noodles are half-cooked, add the coconut milk and the veggies.
Let it come to one boil, switch off and put it into bowls.
Add an egg for extra protein.
Garnish with peanuts, fresh coriander and a squeeze of lime.
Himanshu Taneja, Director of Culinary – South Asia, Marriott International
Chef Taneja has been cooking up comfort foodsuch as Thai curry with coconut milk, sautés and Chinese through the quarantine period. “You can make Uttapam oats or cook up a chicken wrap.A dish I enjoyed making was Garlic prawns with extra virgin olive oil, sliced garlic, prawns, parsley. You can use any herbs such as dried thyme, oregano, coriander, fresh chillies and dry red chillies.”
Potatoes pancakes
Ingredients
Mashed potatoes: 3 to 4
Cream
Oats: 1 cup
Semolina or sooji: 1 cup
Refined flour: 1 cup
Salt and pepper to taste
Any other spices you may have
Method
Blend mashed potatoes with some cream.
For binding, add oats, semolina and refined flour to the batter. Rest it for 30 minutes.
Add flavours by using whatever sauces, spices and cheese you have at home.
Use this batter to make the pancakes on a tawa.
Chef Sharad Dewan, Regional Director- Food Production, The Park Hotels
“Food doesn’t just need to be nutritious, but also morally uplift you and make you happy at this time. Yesterday, I made momos at home, not a very nutritious dish, but it makes me happy. Pizzas made using tomato sauce spread on refined flour rotis is a good option. Add cheese spread, cheese slices and herbs for a nice, light and nutritious meal. Or make pesto using rocket leaves. You can add this pesto to your pastas.”
Potato and ghiya peels: This Bengali dish helps to prevent food wastage, is high on vitamins and nutrition and fun to eat.
Ingredients
Peels of potatoes and bottle gourd or ghiya or lauki
Oil for frying
Spices in your food ladder
Salt to taste
Mustard oil: 1tsp
Kalonji: 1tspMethod
Chop the potato and ghiya peels into thin pieces.
Deep fry it in mustard oil with nigella seeds (kaljoni) and salt.
The skin fry tastes incredible with steamed rice and ghee.
Jerson Fernandes, Executive Chef, Novotel Goa Dona Sylvia
Chef Fernandes believes, “The idea is not to cook Instagramable food but soul satisfying and nutritious ghar ka khana — khichdis and their various versions, home-style veggies such as Masaledar Karela, Moringa Sambar and Jeera Aloo. For carnivores, there is egg masala, pickled fish and chicken curries would be great. Noodles and fried rice are also great options, as you can re-use left over rice and vegetables or meat.” Among his recommendations is the use shreds and spirals of vegetables such as zucchini and carrots instead of noodles and spaghetti and use of vegetable and fruit purees such as squash,pureed bananas and avocado as substitutes for eggs.
If you want to cook something special, here is a dish you can make from easily available ingredients.
Quinoa and microgreen salad with caramelised walnut, grilled veggies and micro mango cubes
Ingredients
For Quinoa
Quinoa grains: 200gms
Olive oil: 75ml
Vegetable stock: 200gms
Orange juice: 150ml
Chopped garlic:1tbspn
Lemon juice: 1/2 lemon squeeze
Chopped onions: 1 tbsp
Chopped parsley: 1 tbsp
Chopped celery: 1/2 tbsp
Crushed black pepper: to taste
Salt: to taste
For Walnut praline
Walnuts: 10nos
Sugar: 200gms
For Vinaigrette dressing
Vinegar: 50ml
Lemon juice: 50ml
Saltto taste
Crushed black pepper: to taste
For the grilled veggies
Baby potatoes cut into half: 4nos
micro greens: 100gms
Cherry tomatoes: 4
Olive oil: 4tbsp
Green and yellow zucchini: 1 each
Carrots: 1
Mango cubes: 50gms
Red radish: 1
Mango puree: 100gms
Mayonnaise: 200gms
Method
Heat olive oil in a pan. Roast the quinoa, add chopped garlic, onions and celery, and sauté well.
Add vegetable stock, orange juice, salt, pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, till the liquid evaporates and the quinoa is completely cooked, with each grain separate from the other.
At room temperature, squeeze lemon juice, add chopped parsley, crushed walnut praline and mix well. Keep aside to chill.
Make praline by caramelising sugar and coating the walnuts in it. Once chilled, crush and add to quinoa.
Coat three walnuts with the carmel and allow it to cool at room temperature by placing it on a rack upside down for the excess caramel to fall off and displays a hair-like strand.
Make the vinaigrette dressing by mixing vinegar, salt, pepper and lime juice. Fill it in pipettes and keep aside.
For grilled vegetables, wash and slice carrots, green and yellow zucchini lengthwise with skin, using a sharp peeler. Grill on olive oil-greased pan, seasoned with salt and pepper.
Once cold, roll and keep aside. Similarly, toss cherry tomatoes and grilled baby potatoes in olive oil, season with salt and pepper and keep aside.
Wash and slice the red radish with the skin on and marinate with salt, pepper and olive oil. Keep aside.
For the base sauce, mix mango puree with mayonnaise and keep aside. Cube mango into micro cubes.
Start plating by piping the mayo on the plate in a coil shaped pattern using a turn table. Place the washed and paper dried micro greens on one side.
Over it place the quinoa mixture by shaping it into quenelles. Randomly place the rolled grilled vegetables, baby potatoes and cherry tomatoes around the quinoa quenelles.
Insert the vinaigrette dressing pipettes on the quinoa quenelles. Randomly place the caramel glazed walnuts around the quenelles, on the micro-greens.
Place the sliced red raddish over the quenelles and drizzle the cubed micro mango dices around the salad.
Garnish by placing round sesame-coated lavash over the salad.
Drizzle the dressing from the pipettes over the salad and enjoy.
Sanjana Patel, Co-Founder, Creative Director and Executive Chef, La Folie
Chef Sanjana Patel recommends cooking a one-bowl-meal without compromising on the nutrients, making sure they're well balanced and fulfilling.“If it is Indian cooking, then it is dal, rice and a vegetable. Some days we'll make a simple noodle soup with bok choy, iceberg lettuce, noodles and some greens.”Some tips to follow:
Don't over-cook your vegetables. Try to blanch them or reduce your time of cooking to etain the nutrients from our fresh ingredients.
If vegetarians are bored of pulses, try making homemade paneer. Alternately, try including Greek yogurt in your meals for its probiotic goodness. To spice things up, try adding lentils or sprouted beans in your salad.
Raw Papaya Salad
Ingredients for spicy peanut dressing:
Smooth peanut butter: ¼ cup
Rice Vinegar: 3tbsp
Lime juice: 1 tbsp
Fresh ginger root, peeled & chopped: 1½ tsp
Garlic clove, rough chopped: 1 extra large
Red pepper flakes: ½ tsp crushed
Method
For Spicy Peanut Dressing: Blend all ingredients blend till smooth.
Ingredients for Raw Papaya Salad:
Green papaya: 1
Raw mango: 1
Carrot: 1 large
Purple cabbage: 1 cup
Scallions: 4
Fresh cilantro, chopped: ¼ cup
Lime wedges for garnish]
Peanuts for garnish, chopped: ¼ cup
Method:
Cut the raw papaya, raw mango, carrot and purple cabbage into ribbons or noodles.
In a large serving bowl, combine all the salad ingredients (except the lime wedges and peanuts). Toss.
Add the dressing and toss till coated well.
Sprinkle the top with chopped peanuts and serve with lime wedges.
Abhishek Basu, Executive Chef, JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu
“Our kids love that we are around so let’s make food memories for them. Involve them in the cooking,” says Chef Basu. “The menu should have a good balance and things that attract them visually. From mini pizzas, chocolate bars, smoothies (room temperature) to simple boiled eggs cut differently.”
Roasted Cherry Tomato and Yellow Pepper Soup
Ingredients
Cherry tomatoes – halved: 150gms
Onions, roughly diced: 30gms
Celery, roughly diced: 30gms
Thyme: 2 gms
Milk: 100ml
Double cream: 20ml
Butter: 20gms
Sieved flour: 30gms
Vegetable stock: 100ml
Yellow pepper: 100 gms
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive: 15ml
Bread: cubes
Parsley: 2 gms
METHOD:
Cherry tomato soup
In a roasting tray add in the cherry tomatoes, roughly diced celery and leeks and marinate with salt, thyme and olive oil.
Roast for around half an hour in the oven at 160-180 C, until the tomatoes shrivel and colour.
In a saucepan add in half of the flour in the recipe and cook for about two minutes, until the raw flavour of the flour goes away.
Then add in the tomato mixture and cook further.
Add in the milk and whisk the mixture until it comes to a boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes and strain.
Finish the soup with double cream and check the seasoning.
Yellow Pepper soup
Wash and cut the yellow peppers into strips.
Cook the pepper strips along with onions and celery until soft. Add water/ vegetable stock and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Puree in a blender. Melt butter and add flour and cook it on a moderate flame for about two minutes,until the raw flavour goes away.
Add in the puree to the flour mixture and stir to avoid any lumps. Simmer and serve hot after checking the seasoning.
Pour both the soups simultaneously in a soup bowl.Cut bread slices into dices and deep fry. Toss with butter and parsley.
Anooj Wadhawan, Executive Chef, Roseate House Delhi
“The food has to be as mood uplifting as visually delightful and nutritious,” says Chef Wadhawan. “I would suggest ragi pancakes, moong dal ka cheela with tangy beetroot chutney, salads with homemade dressing, quinoa dosa, for both health and fun.”
Ragi Pancake
Ingredients:
Ragi flour: 800gm
Sugar:350gm
Whole eggs: 6
Milk: 1ltr
Baking powder: 40gm
Vanilla essence: 10 drops
Method
In a bowl, mix the ragi flour, sugar and baking powder
Pin the eggs, add milk and vanilla essence. Mix thoroughly. Let the batter rest for 30 mins.
On a pan, put little butter and let it melt on slow flame.
Pour pancake batter to form small pancakes and cook on each side till it turns golden brown or dry.
Serve with dip of your choice.
Jaydeep Mukherjee, Smoke House Deli
Some of the easiest things to cook at home are the simple stuff: pizzas, pancakes and a lot of Asian food, says Jaydeep Mukherjee. “Try using different spices such as turmeric, cinnamon, jeera and methi. Spend a little time each day discovering a new spice. The next dish you cook or bake, try and add a bit of cinnamon or nutmeg. Sprinkle cinnamon or crushed methi over your salad.”
Whole Moong (green gram) Crepe
Ingredients:
Soak green moong (8-10 hours)
Onions
Green chillies
Ginger
Parmesan cheese
Method:
Chop the onion, chillies and ginger into small pieces.
Grind the soaked moong along with onion chillies and ginger to make into a fine paste.
Use olive oil to make the crepe. Ensure that the gas is on low heat.
Sprinkle some ghee on the top.
Flip and grate some parmesan cheese over the cooked side. Fold it into 3 parts and serve.You can also stuff it with a spicy mixture of sweet potato.Deepali Nandwani is a journalist who keeps a close watch on the world of luxury.
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