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Save money on these 5 essential ingredients + #CreditCrunchMunch for March 2016

March 1, 2016 by manjirichitnis 8 Comments

I cannot believe we are already into March 2016 – time truly does fly past at lightening speed. Of all the firm resolutions and changes for 2016 I am glad I have managed to stay true to my money saving ideas if not the ‘I shall blog 3 times a week’ or ‘ I will exercise at least 3 days every week’ type of resolutions.

One of the many things I have changed about how we manage our monthly budget on a single income is by doing batch cooking and also being mindful of where I buy my groceries from. Apart from the many sensible tips one can find for WHEN and WHERE to shop and how to make good with various supermarket offers, I also have some rules for my top 5 fresh ingredients for Indian cooking. Here they are:

Always buy fresh coriander bunches and curry leaves from your local Indian shop or Pakistani/Bangladeshi butcher shop – they sell larger bunches and you can buy two big fresh bunches for £1
Ginger – I make fresh ginger tea very often – the famous Indian masala tea or as we call it in Marathi – ‘chaha’ – again I buy a huge chunk of fresh ginger for much less from my Indian grocery and vegetable shop
Garlic – most of my Indian curry and vegetable recipes use a lot of ginger, garlic and red onion and this is another item I bulk buy from my local LIDL – they sell cute mini baskets with at least 5-6 big bulbs of garlic – deal!
Red onions – most Indian shops or Pakistani/Bangladeshi butcher shops stock sacks of red onion – 5 or 10 kilos at rates much lower than your local supermarket – I generally stock up and though that means having to sort these out and process them quickly, it’s totally worth it. I chop the best ones and store them in my fridge in an air-tight container. The not so fresh ones quickly become puree’ for curries and stews and go into my freezer.
Dried lentil packets, Rice – especially Basmati , Chapati Atta – flour to make rotis and chapatis – I hunt for deals on various supermarket websites and at my local stores and only buy the ones that give the best deal. I prefer to go in the afternoon just after noon so I can concentrate on checking out the offers minus having the store flooded with school going kids.

I truly envy those skilled enough to grow their own herbs and that is one of my top TO-DO’s this year – a container garden! More on this sometime later though and I hope these tips prove useful to all you thrifty shoppers out there. Now, I am guest hosting #CreditCrunchMunch for March 2016

For those of you have not heard about #CreditCrunchMunch (and for the regulars – a re-cap) , here are some cool ideas that you can consider when linking up:

Dishes using cheaper ingredients – cheap cuts of meat or vegetarian
Meals using leftovers
Meals using up the ends of packets
Substitutions of cheaper ingredients
Packed lunches
Meals that use less energy to cook
Pressure cooking
Slow cooking
Faster cooking – less oven time for example
Batch cooking for the freezer
Sustainable foods
Food you have grown yourself
Meals from reduced food in the supermarket

How to take part in CREDIT CRUNCH MUNCH:

Simply blog about any money saving idea or recipe that is vaguely food related. We do a full round up so I will be mentioning all the recipes that are submitted.

There are a few very simple rules:

Please link to this post, and the Credit Crunch Munch pages on Fab Food 4 All Fuss Free Flavours
Please use the Credit Crunch Munch Badge
Tweet using #CreditCrunchMunch and tag me @manjirichitnis @FabFood4All & @FussFreeHelen
Closing date – last day of the month – 31st March 2016
You are welcome to link up one or two old posts, but please republish them
By entering you are agreeing to let us use an image from your entry on this site, and to pin to Pinterest
If blogging a recipe from elsewhere on the internet or a book please be mindful of copyright
But feel free to send to as many other events as you like, let’s help everyone save money!
Please visit a few other blogs who take part plus comment and share
This is a blog hop so please grab the code and share the linky on your site too.We look forward to seeing your entries!

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Roast Lamb Shoulder

January 7, 2016 by manjirichitnis 6 Comments

Happy New year everyone! 2015 has sped past at lightening pace and lots has happened offline and as well as online too. My blog has a new name and a new home and so do we, we finally decided to move ur from our tiny but very pretty flat to a new place with a proper kitchen for a change! Exciting times! I was not blogging as frequently as I would have liked to though but hope to put that behind me and regularly share my food and travel adventures with all of you. Speaking of travel I am happy to report that I started 2015 with a month-long trip to India and visited Chennai and Pondicherry apart from my usual trips to Mumbai and Pune! Very exciting and I have finally managed to write up some posts about Pondicherry – more later! We also did our first ever trip across the pond to the Big Apple and managed to squeeze in four days at Washington D.C too – was so exciting, but the best bit, of course, was that we spent Thanksgiving with our family and caught up with friends after many years – what a treat! 2015 was kind to me in other ways too, I was invited to many foodie events and met some really cool master chefs, tried exotic food and reviewed many restaurants and bars too – will soon share more as the year unfolds 🙂

On the very first of the New Year, I experimented with a cut of lamb that I haven’t before – a large shoulder of lamb that I decided to roast. Here is an easy to follow a recipe, the only tough bit – waiting for the meat to cook 😉

I wanted to use a cheaper cut than the usual ones, a lamb shoulder seemed like a good place to start – this joint cost me £7.99 per kilo from my local butcher. For that price, this cut gives some much more ‘bang for your buck’

Lamb’s shoulder is quite fatty so there is no need to add too much oil, the meat pretty much cooks in its own fat and the port wine I have used adds deep rich flavours to this very succulent cut of meat. A joint of this size also allows for a lot of leftovers and therefore a great way to make a range of other recipes – think stews, casseroles, curries, pulavs, tikkis (a mashed potato fritter stuffed with meat – a great tea time treat) and so many more. Great on the pocket and a great choice for winter recipes.

I am happy that the baster I purchased for my Christmas roast chicken is proving to be very handy. I have to say that I am so proud that my Roast Chicken turned out absolutely fab and delicious – it was another experiment and the pork and cranberry stuffing and all the sides were made at home by me with lots of chopping, peeling and cutting help by the OH.

**Easy recipe for Roast shoulder of lamb**

Roast Lamb Shoulder

Manjiri Chitnis

Deliciouslysucculent joint of lamb – cheap and cheerful roast

Print Recipe

Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 2 hrs 35 mins

Total Time 2 hrs 40 mins

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

1/2 cup brown rice and wild rice mix
1 medium egg
1/2 a shallot sliced lengthwise
1 heaped tbsp green peas
Water to boil the rice

Instructions

In the same saucepan used for cooking the noodles, rinse and cook the washed rice The trick to cook perfectly fluffy rice each time is to use exactly double the amount of water to the quantity of rice used. That is my thumb rule and it never fails me.
Once the rice is done set the saucepan aside
Wipe down the wok after preparing the fish, you may need to use another wooden spatula to scrape off the sticky bits from the wok before starting out with the fried rice
Crack an egg into the wok set on a medium flame
Stirring continuously scramble the egg and add the chopped shallot, spritz some oil onto the wok to cook the shallots
Ensure you keep stirring so that the egg does not get lumpy and overcooked and the shallot doesn’t burn
Add Blue Dragon light soy sauce and stir well
Then add the cooked rice, season with some salt, and stir and mix well
Cook for under a minute on high heat and add in the peas and mix
Take the wok off the heat and set aside

The lamb should now be at the ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ stage – serve with warm bread and steamed veggies on the side – ideally beans, carrots and peas, or broccoli. Hubster is not fond of peas but I would be very happy lots of them 😉

The leftovers will get a rub of my home-made hot spice mix that adds a warming touch to my curries and stews – leftover lamb curry – can’t wait to share that recipe – it’s definitely a winter warmer and a firm family favourite.

Happy New Year once again folks and a lot of new and exciting recipe and travel posts coming up! wooooohoooo!

Butternut Squash and Lentil Soup

March 14, 2015 by manjirichitnis 12 Comments

As spring begins to unfold and the weather changes to beautiful sunny days and chilly evenings, I like that we can still enjoy warming and wholesome soups. Butternut squash is so versatile and there are various ways to use it in soups, curries, salads etc.

This recipe is created by Chef Annie James at Sunrise of Tettenhall for Sunrise Senior Living who make sure that all of their recipes are nutritious and tasty, making them great for everyone, not just the elderly. Of the many recipe options they sent me I choose to make this one because I simply adored red lentils as those who read my blog will know. The buttery aroma of onions sauteing which filled my kitchen was simply amazing and very satisfying. Needless to say the soup went down and treat and even normally fussy hubster greedily licked his bowl clean – no better compliment than that folks ins’t it? I must admit I couldn’t resist adding a bit of my own personal finishing touches as my palate is so used to all the spicy and tangy little ad-on’s that I normally use 😉

Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Soup

Serves:4 Preparation Time: 10 minutes Cooking time: approx 25 minutes Ingredients:

400 ml vegetable stock
150 gms butternut squash – peeled and diced into bite sized bits
12 gm unsalted butter
2 red onion – peeled and chopped fine
3 carrots -peeled and diced into small bits
60gm dried red lentil ie. masoor dal – split without skin
Sea salt with a hint of garlic
Freshly cracked black pepper
small quantity of fresh coriander to garnish

Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Soup

Method:

In a large saucepan or stockpot melt the butter on a medium flame
Saute’ the finely chopped onions in the butter for just under 4- 5 minutes till they turn a beautiful golden brown colour and reduce
Then add in the chopped carrots, squash and saute’ for a further 2- 3 minutes
Bite sized Carrots and Butternut Squash sauteed in butter and onion
Now stir in the vegetable stock and the red lentils.
Reduce to a low flame and let the soup simmer gently.
Cook until the vegetables and lentils are tender.
Allow the soup to cool down to room temperature, then using a hand blender puree’ until smooth or like I did give it a whizz in your food processor.
Season with sea salt with a garlic or plain sea salt and add a generous sprinkling of freshly cracked black pepper.
Garnish with a just a small amount of finely chopped fresh coriander.
Serve hot ideally with a warm crusty bread with a dollop of butter. If your conscience allows it stir in a small amount of fresh cream into the soup or smother your crusty bread with some freshly made garlic butter 😉

Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Soup

*With thanks to Sunrise Senior Living and the PR team for reimbursing the expense for ingredients. No monetary compensation was offered for a positive review. As always all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll

February 28, 2014 by manjirichitnis 20 Comments

Frankie – Popular Indian street food

Tawa Frankie Roll – How I decided to re-create this popular Indian street food at home. In 2014, global flavour leader McCormick, the parent company of leading herbs and spices brand Schwartz, is celebrating its 125th anniversary. The yearlong celebration kicks off with the launch of the 125th Anniversary Edition of the Flavour Forecast (a new, annual prediction of what ‘flavours’ will be most popular in the cooking world) and the Flavour of Together programme, with the goal of connecting people around the world as they share 1.25 million stories about the special role food and flavour plays in our lives through.

To inspire people to share their flavour stories and tell the blogger community about Flavour Forecast, McCormick challenged me and a few other bloggers to come up with a new recipe that is based on the Flavour Forecast trends :

1. Chillies Obsession: Food lovers everywhere are seeking out their next big chilli thrill.

2. Modern Masala: Indian food is finally having its moment, breaking free of its traditional confines with modern interpretations.

3. Clever Compact Cooking: Proving that big flavours can come from small spaces, cooks in urban kitchens are making the most of what’s available.

4. Mexican World Tour: Mexican flavours are making their way around the globe, with people everywhere discovering new aspects of this bright, casual cuisine.

5. Charmed by Brazil: The world’s attraction to Brazilian cuisine is heating up, thanks to its seductive mix of global and native influences.

I decide to take up Modern Masala as a flavour trend. Coming from India, using a complex mix of spices as part of our daily diet has always been a part of my life. The beautiful large open fruit n vegetable markets even in major cities are a visual treat and there is a lot of passion involved in say getting the right type of chilli powder. So I think my recipe is an amalgamation of these two big flavour trends together – Chillies Obsession and Modern Masala and of course because I manage all my culinary experiments in my tiny urban kitchen which is the size of a postage stamp I am sure my recipe also covers the theme Clever Compact Cooking!

My most vivid memory of spices being sold loose is of this huge wholesale and retail market in an area called Parel, Mumbai in India. There are many tiny shops and vendors which hand carts with huge piles of spices, bright red chillies in jute sacks, and mini yellow mountains of turmeric and ever imaginable spice being sold in the open. Of course, with our modern industries being so well developed we always used masalas out of a packet but the sheer variety available locally in any small town in India is mind-boggling.

Pune, India – spice market

In London, whenever I trudge to my local Indian shop and purchase Indian spices, I secretly wish that I could get an unlimited supply of aai’s homemade masalas. Her garam masala and red chilli powder where she carefully selects 2 types of chillies with varying degrees of heat and roasts them in a kadhai after they have been dried in the blistering hot afternoon sun! Then she takes it to a local mill where it is ground and packed into a large ceramic jar and then stored at home.

I have made a simplified version of Tibbs Frankie using boneless mutton and a variety of Schwartz spices which were sent to me. You could safely say that this fella ”Frankie” is a distant cousin of the Fajita and the Kathi Roll.

How this Frankie came into being is also a very interesting story which I shall share in a few lines here. These lines are from the Tibbs Frankie website

”The year 1967 Mr. Amarjit Tibb on returning back from England had a stopover in Beirut. During his brief stop there he stumbled upon a very ingenious Lebanese preparation, which was a pita bread wrap, with a variety of stuffing’s, this fascinated him. Upon his return the idea still lingered on and he kept innovating it to suit the Indian palate, after a year of research along with his wife they hit upon the perfect concoction. This Indianised wrap was soon tried among friends and family and after testing brilliantly it hit the markets. That was a new era to the term fast food in Mumbai, it caught on like fire in the Jungle, people accepted it and kept asking for more.Now came the problem of naming the product, again a number of brainstorming became the order of the day till a unanimous decision on the name was taken i.e. Frankie”

This explosion of flavours in a handy easy to eat roll which was given a modern food truck makeover is a gastronomic delight and is available in a large variety of stuffings both veg and non-veg.I have rather fond memories of my college days and spending my pocket money which was always in short supply on these spicy, tasty rolls with a bunch of friends giggling away and then gathering any loose change we had left amongst us to buy a bottle or two of some fizzy cola to quench our thirst. Alert : have been suddenly been hit by a huge wave of nostalgia 🙂

I have created what is my version of a tawa chicken roll (tawa meaning pan in Hindi), the original Tibbs frankie filling is a tangy spicy taste which they attribute to a secret ”Frankie Masala” – humm , well I think I got pretty close 😉 – evil laugh follows 🙂 You can go crazy and creative with the fillings and use this recipe idea to use up meat from your sunday roast, try various different veg and non veg patties with meat and masalas rolled into boiled potato casing and shallow fried. Great way to use a lot of colorful veggies and create a stir fry filling too – the possibilities are endless.

Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll

Tawa Frankie Roll

Manjiri Chitnis

Popular Indian street food, this was created in Mumbai and is a deliciously paratha stuffed with a variety of fillings and green chutney

Print Recipe

Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Fusion Indian

Servings 2 People

Equipment

Tawa – Flat frying pan
Saptula

Ingredients

Tawa Chicken Filling

50 Grams Chicken breast
1 pinch Asafoetida
2 tsp Garam Masala
Onion salt as per taste
1/2 tsp Garlic Minced
2 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
Red Chilli powder as per taste
1/2 thum-sized Fresh Ginger fresh peeled
2 medium Red onions finely chopped
1 tsp Turmeric
2 lage Jjuicy tomatoes chopped very fine
1 large Green chilli split lengthwise
1 Red pepper slit lengthwise
3 tbsp Cooking oil

Mint and Coriander Chutney

1 large bunch Fresh Coriander
1 small bunch Fresh Mint leaves
2 Green chillies
1/2 Lime – freshly squeezed
Salt to taste

For the Frankie filling

1 large Red onion chopped lengthwise

For the Paratha coating

2 small Eggs
Salt for seasoning

Instructions

To make the Chicken Filling

Heat a saucepan on medium heat and add the oil
Once the oil is hot, add the asafoetida
Then add split green chilli and crushed fresh ginger
Saute' and add the garlic granules
Saute' and add the garlic granules, when the garlic begins to give out a strong fried aroma its time to add the finely chopped red onion
Cook the onion till it reduces and turns a delicious brown, then add the coriander and cumin powder and garam masala and mix well
Then add the finely chopped tomato and add very little water and cook for 1 -2 minutes without lid
Stir frequently, so as to ensure the mixture does not stick to the saucepan
Now the spices have been thoroughly cooked along with the onion and tomato to make a thick gravy
Cut the chicken breasts and red peppers into lenghthwise strip and add to the gravy
Add onion salt to the mixture, red chilli powder and turmeric
Cover and cook until done

To make the Mint and Coriander Chutney

Wash the coriander and mint leaves, blend to a smoothpaste with a green chilli
To reduce the heat use 1 chilli de-seeded.Add the salt and lime juice and sblend once again
A smooth thick green paste is the consistency we are after – add some water to adjust the consistency
This chutney stores for upto 10 days in the freezer in a clean ,air tight jar – rarely lasts that much in my house though -I love making Bombay sandwich for dinner with this delightful chutney

To make the coating for the Paratha

Crack the eggs in a bowl and beat with a fork, add salt to taste
Using a plastic brush spread on the surface of a frozen ready to eat paratha
Place the eggy side down on a hot pan coated with some cooking oil
Ready to eat frozen parathas are readily available in most supermarkets and Indian grocery stores

How to put the Frankie Roll together

Once the paratha coated with egg has been cooked on both sides, slather it with the mint and coriander chutney and add some red onion chopped lengthwise
Add a generous helping of the chicken filling , roll and wrap one end with some kitchen foil or baking paper. Enjoy hot
Dip into the chutney or tomato ketchup as you munch along

Keyword Frankie

Tawa Chicken Frankie Roll

After I received the samples and wrote up my flavour story, my left hand was operated on (unexpected rescheduling) – a minor but rather errrmmm painful surgery and I walk around most of the time with a sling (promptly remove it as soon as OH leaves home for work hehe) So I had a bit of a panic attack about getting this post up on time,I know I missed the deadline by a few days 🙁

But am really grateful to the kind folks up at McCormick for bearing with me. Also I would like to thank OH for patiently chopping and cutting all the fresh ingredients for me and helping me to click these lovely photographs – what would I do without you? Sighh…

The company has pledged to donate $1 to United Way Worldwide and it’s UK partner Focus on Food, for every story shared on the Schwartz website, Facebook page or other social channels.

Disclaimer: Schwartz Samples and voucher for ingredients purchase sent by McCormick I was not required to write a positive review and was not compensated monetarily for this post. As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

An evening with Tesco’s Finest* and a recipe for a Sweet Pepper and Wild Mushroom Pie

October 28, 2013 by manjirichitnis Leave a Comment

When I was on my way to the Food Evening Taste Experience at Tesco Kensington last week little did I expect a detailed and informative presentation about how the Tesco Finest* range is created by a very passionate set of people who are proud to know all about how and where the ingredients are sourced from.Everything including the stunning new packaging has been planned well down to the last-minute detail.

There was a very tempting display of Tesco Finest* goodies and it was quite a test of self-control to not start munching on the goodies. We had various types of cheese, large variety of cold cuts, many different types of cakes ,chocolates and lot of exciting new variants of tea and coffee to dig into.

This event was to celebrate Tesco finest*range being relaunched.

Says Chrish Bush ,M.D – Tesco,U.K – ”In total, we’ll have over 1500 different products in our new finest* range and there’s a story to be told about them all. What we want to do though the new packaging and the way we talk about finest* is to show the passion, care and expertise that goes on behind the scenes to create great food.”

I most enjoyed sampling the cured ham and the various types of cheese,perfect for your Christmas Cheese board.The finest* blue Wensleydale which is handcrafted in the Yorkshire Dales , has its own unique culture that creates the blue vein and it also won supreme champion at the 2012 British Cheese Awards.

Tesco finest* blue Wensleydale supplier – Image Courtesy: Tesco

I was quite amazed to learn that the finest* Traditionally Smoked Haddock is smoked at a 100-year-old smokehouse in Lincolnshire. Joe Tummey started it up in the 1940s and has passed on all he knows to his son and grandson today. Years of using the same smokehouse makes the flavour even more intense. Boy I love-uh smoked haddock!!

The images above are courtesy Tesco

As I had earlier on in the day shopped at the mini Tesco near my place, I had given into the temptation of buying this single dark red sweet pepper from the Finest* range ,this in addition to the new pack of sweet peppers from my goody bag I decided to combine it with the mixed fresh wild mushroom pack also from my goody bag and made us a delicious pie for the weekend .

Image Courtesy: Tesco

I had some potatoes and a big pack of smoked bacon bits too and decided to make my own stock using some flour and a Knorr cube. This is a very hearty pie and you could mix in any spare veggies that you need to finish. It serves 4 ideally but it was so tasty that hubby and me almost licked the plate dry 😉

Sweet Pepper & Wild Mushroom Pie – Recipe using Tesco Finest*ingredients

Serves: 4 with sides or two hungry and greedy adults 🙂

Ingredients:

1 pack of mixed fresh WILD mushrooms from the Tesco Finest* range
1 pack of fresh sweet mini peppers from the Tesco Finest* range
200gm smoked bacon bits
2 large potatoes peeled and cut into thin discs like shapes
Butter 4 large tbsp
2 small red onion sliced lengthwise
3 heaped tbsp plain flour
1 Knorr Chicken Cube
1 Puff pastry sheet
8” pie dish

Method:

Line an 8 inch pie dish with butter and place the disc like slices of potatoes onto it to create a base. Now add the smoked bacon bits which have been sauteed in butter onto the potatoes.

Use the delicious dark brown juicy fat after you saute’ the bacon and cook the sliced onion, peppers and chopped mushrooms in the same saucepan, just add a generous squeeze of the garlic paste and sprinkle some paprika powder if you want to amp up the heat quotient.

Now when the peppers start to turn soft load this delicious mixture which I could eat on its own onto the smoked bacon layer in the pie dish, spread it all over the pie dish to create an even layer .Now in the same saucepan add a bib blob of butter and 3 heaped teaspoons of plain flour ,stir in some water and ensure all the lumps are broken and a thick smooth paste is formed ,stir on a very low flame and crush one cube of knorr chicken into this paste. This cube should ensure that the entire pie gets the exact amount of salt it needs. After 2- 3 minutes pour this thick stock onto the peppers and watch it seep down through the layers …ummm soo soo good!

Now seal of this beauty with a sheet of puff pastry and do some creative art on the top with leaves or heart shapes or whatever you like 😉

Bake in a pre-heated oven for 25- 30 minutes until the puff pastry has risen and separate crispy layers are visible and the top has browned to a beautiful golden brown.

The sweet pepper taste coupled with the chewy earthy mushroom and the rich dark mysterious flavours of the pan fried buttery smoked bacon are simply irresistible and I helped myself to a rather greedy second helping , all washed down nicely with a big bottle of Cava 🙂

This recipe is very quick and easy to prepare and if you want to do more than one pie you can just double up the ingredients and cook both pies together depending on how big an oven you have. Recommended sides are green peas , baby carrots and a generous helping of fresh and crunchy Iceberg lettuce salad leaves all smothered in a honey mustard dressing and topped off with freshly ground pepper and some sea salt . I can almost see a large table full of very happy and smiling guests over for a Saturday Pre-Christmas lunch. Just ensure you have plenty of blankets and amp up the heating at home as these happy guests are going to want a long nap after they tuck into your Sweet pepper & Wild mushroom pie!

Undoubtedly, the taste is enhanced by use of fresh ingredients !Many Thanks to the very cheerful and efficient team at Tesco Kensington and the efficient PR for a lovely evening, a generous goody bag and all the tipples 🙂