• Green Masala Chops

    Green masala chops ready to be served
    Green masala chops ready to be served

    A name like Green Masala Chops doesn’t sound very exciting but that’s   a better name for it than what it is named in my personal cookbook.  You will find this recipe under the name – Gangubai’s Masala Chops which would seem that Gangubai was made into Masala Chops. Now Gangubai was one of the best cooks we’ve had even though she didn’t work as a “cook”  and I still remember very fondly her food that she could rustle up in literally minutes.

    Growing up in the Naval colony meant that we literally had a taste of India as all the people who lived there came from different parts of the country. While the officers were transferred around the country, the servants who stayed in the colony were relatively more permanent, either staying on in the flat and working with its different occupants or moving around from house to house  either because the officer was transferred out or because of differences with the Memsaab. But as they say, one man’s meat is another man’s poison and as the servants moved house, so did their repertoire of recipes and  one of the advantages of  having such a cook was that she could literally cook anything from souffles to dhoklas!

    So Gangubai would often dazzle us with something she had learnt from the various households she had worked with and soon enough it became part of our own kitchenlore.

    To make good masala chops make sure that you have  1/2 kilo double chops trimmed of fat and gristle.

    Marinate these in two tablespoons of curd+ 1/2 tspn turmeric+ 1/2 tspn garlic ginger paste + ground paste of 2 green chillies and green coriander. Also add 1 grated onion to the marinade. Leave in marinade for 30 minutes to an hour.

    Marinatin meat chops
    Marinating meat chops
    Frying onions
    Frying onions
     To cook the chops, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pressure pan. When the oil is hot add 1 large grated onion and saute till brown.
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    Then add the marinated chops and stir till the chops dry up. Add enough water to cover the chops, put the lid and the pressure and allow to cook for 6 whistles.
    When the pressure falls off by itself, uncover the pressure pan and dry out the chops till there is just enough gravy to cover the meat.
    Serve with garnish of chopped coriander and slice of lemon. Goes well with sliced bread or pao but best eaten with hot dripping with ghee parathas
  • Today was one of those days when I had nothing much planned but which turned out just fine. With Mumbai suddenly bracing itself up to an unexpected winter chill, I found the whole of Marine Drive populated with people in blac. Now black is a pretty unusual colour for Mumbaikars who prefer wearing bright colours or dark colours but definitely not black. That’s when I realised that Mumbaikar’s are slowly becoming aware of a winter haze, a winter chill and the need for sweaters that don’t look like they’ve seen better days.

    With nothing planned for the whole day, I decided to take in a movie and didn’t waste time in asking a friend along because “The Wolf of Wall Street” has already been playing for a week. Hollywood movies enjoy very short spells in Mumbai these days and even the best of them are lucky to see a third week. But I wanted to see this movie simply because I like Martin Scorsese and even more enjoy movies with Leonardo di Caprio. So I went for the 9.50 show at Inox and was glad to be living in Mumbai where I could go for a movie on my own without any hassles.

    The movie was really long and while it was well made, I was a bit horrified at what really went on behind the stocks and shares because this was a true life story of NY stockbroker Jordan Belfort.  But the sad truth is that no matter how many fortunes are lost, no matter how many people are conned, there is a sucker born every minute and we all succumb to the temptation of getting rich quick. Which is why even if the dark underbelly of every dirty trade is exposed for all to see, there will always be scamsters and people who fall for them.

    A quick club lunch later, I returned home for a quick siesta, a walk in the garden and now for an early dinner with Anna Shetty and her family.

    If you plan your day well, one is not such a lonely number after all…

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  • Baby days

    If I’ve been irregular with my blog last year its largely because I’ve got my hands full with my new grandson. All of ten months old now, he is my new day job and as anyone with aching knees will testify, babies and grannies are a tough act to follow.

    Over the last few months I’ve been busy with helping my daughter look after her first-born and after a long gap of thirty years between my last born and the first grandchild, I realised that I had a lot of learning to do as well.

    While baby slept through the first few months we bumbled through, using old knowledge along with the new to tide him through. Then for three months he was away with his parents giving the new family to bond as a family of three while it gave me time to recover and regain my breath.

    With baby and parents back here for good, I’ve opted to provide baby sitting services much to the regret of my friends but this is one anti aging therapy I’d advise everyone to go for. Not only has the little one rejuvenated my life but has raised the spirits of my octogenarian in-laws who live with us. Suddenly all of us have become more spritely, less cranky and more smiley with baby around.

     

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