A Mughlai cookery class

This weekend was our first free weekend together at home since early August, so we took the opportunity to book a cookery lesson yesterday afternoon.  In Mumbai, you can find almost any kind of Indian cuisine in restaurants, but we'd like to be able to take some of these skills and flavours back to the UK with us.

I'd seen a cookery school called Foodwhizz recommended online so decided to give it a go.  Foodwhizz is run by a young Indian woman chef and is based at her family home in Goregaon, in the far northeast of the city.  This turned out to be in  a pleasant bungalow tucked away from the hectic main streets and the perfect location to spend a quiet Saturday afternoon learning about the wonderful spices which come together to make North Indian Moghul cuisine.

There were various cookery classes from which to choose although we decided to go with Mughlai and learn how to make several of the richest dishes from the north of India; those which closest resemble what you might find in a curry house in the UK.

After some tension on the journey to Goregaon, which arose from a difference in opinion regarding the time we should allow for the journey, we did eventually arrive only slightly late and had time to chat to the friendly chef and her sister before the third member of our group joined us  We were presented with our recipes and the four dishes that we would be preparing; Ghosht Roganjosh, Korma, Murg Do Piazza and Murg Makhani.

We moved into the kitchen and spent the next 2.5 hours preparing the food.  I've captured some of the cooking process in pictures below:

 Marinating mutton and chicken in dahi (curd/yogurt) and ginger/garlic paste - 1 hour recommended

Spice grinder - a position of responsibility 

Onions for the korma on the left, pressure cooker for mutton roganjosh on the right. 

Meat goes into the korma.  This is a red korma and not similar to the version with which we are familiar in the UK.

On the boil.  The pressure cooker cooks the meat incredibly quickly (I am not familiar with these pans, but am impressed!) 

 Two curries down, two to go

Chicken marinated in dahi and tandoori spices is browned for the murg makhani (butter chicken) 

Base sauce for the murg dopiazza (meaning onions two-ways).  This one has tomato in it too. 

Beautiful paste for the butter chicken hits the pan. 

Bubbling away. 

Butter chicken and murg dopiazza in progress, both with unique and wonderful aromas.

More cooking 

Butter chicken finished with a swirl of cream, just to add another variety of fat to the dish already including oil, butter and ghee... 

Murg dopiazza and murg korma waiting to be munched. 

Back at home, Sagar casts his eye over our work.  He rated the butter chicken. 

Hungry people ready for dinner

There are few key tips that I have taken away from this:

1)  Marinating meat in yogurt and spices is very important.  This helps to infuse flavour and break down the meat before cooking to make it tender.
2)  Many ground and whole spices are required, and small differences in the quantities used for different dishes can make a huge difference to the end result.
3)  Garlic / ginger paste is ace.  Take equal quantities of garlic and ginger, whizz them together in a blender, and add lots to everything.
4)  In Mughlai cooking, it is all about the oil.  At each stage of cooking, the technique seemed to be the turn up the heat until you could see the oil bubbling on the surface of the mixture, then move on to the next step.  Nice.
5)  Meat is often used on the bone to impart more flavour.  Phil is not too keen on this, but it did taste pretty good at the end of it!
6)  Hot oil (vegetable, groundnut, mustard....but NOT olive) is crucial and caramelising onions to a dark brown stage is very important.
7)  Pressure cookers are quite wonderful inventions (if a bit scary for my liking).
8)  Jeera rice is a rather wonderful accompaniment.  I will be cooking rice with cumin seeds in the future.

Let me know if you would like the recipes!

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi is the Hindu Festival celebrated on the birthday of the god Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati.  Ganesha is widely worshipped as the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune and traditionally invoked at the beginning of any new venture or at the start of travel. The festival, also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi ("festival of Ganesha") is observed in the Hindi calendar month of Bhaadrapada, starting on the shukla chaturthi (fourth day of the waxing moon period). The date usually falls between 19 August and 20 September. The festival lasts for 10 days, ending on Anant Chaturdashi (fourteenth day of the waxing moon period).

The largest Ganesh statue in India from 2011

Wikipedia quoting over, the Ganesh festival is the most significant Hindu festival for Mumbaikars and is widely celebrated across the city.  Ganesh can be recognised as the god with the head of the elephant - the story of how he got this is worth reading about but is a little long to repeat here.  We have a small model of Ganesh covered by a red and gold cloth on the dashboard of our car (owned by Sagar) to bring good fortune.  This is a very nice in principle, although the red cloth does seem to slip a lot and Sagar likes to rearrange it whilst driving, which can be a little unnerving at times.

As an outsider, my observations and consequential understanding of the Ganesh festival are as follows....For several weeks prior to the start date, Ganesh idols (of all sizes and level of decoration) and crafted and sold, ready to be displayed in homes and public places on the first day of the festival.  Following this first day, these statues are processed and immersed in water on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th or 11th day of the festival.  At one extreme, a small clay statue will be immersed in a bucket at home and, at the other, huge statues are processed to the Arabian Sea and immersed by large groups of people.  A scary number of people are said to drown during this process each year...

Large Ganesh immersion

From what I've seen, the processions are joyful with lots of dancing, singing and extremely loud drumming.  The scale and volume of the celebrations increases as the festival progresses and reaches its climax on the 11th day when the largest Ganeshas reach the sea.  Throughout the festivals, we've been able to see fireworks and hear loud bangs from our apartment, as setting off firecrackers appears to be an exceptionally popular activity.

The area of the city in which we live has a large Muslim and Catholic population but, being on the coast, we were told that there would still be some Ganesh immersion activity on the final day.  We went out yesterday evening to explore and saw a few processions and small crowds, though nothing too extreme.  The heart of the action is elsewhere in the city, particularly at Juhu and Chowpatty beaches, although the crowds are supposed to be huge and we didn't explore those areas this time.

Here are some (rather blurry) pictures from our trip:

All traffic stopped for the procession 

Ganesh covered in rice/grain confetti-type material 

More procession 

 Decorated wagon

Another cheerful group on Bandra Bandstand



Goa - A weekend in Panjim

We are (probably) in a very small minority of people to have gone on our first trip to the beach capital of India, Goa, and not seen a beach.  Instead, we spent the weekend in Panjim, the capital of the state.  I would like to say that we picked Panjim for its historical charms but, honestly, I booked a late monsoon deal at a new-ish Taj hotel in the city and fancied a good value weekend of swimming, spa and sunshine now that Phil is back from his travels.

Goa is India's smallest state and is situated on the west coast, less than a one hour flight south from Mumbai.  Goa only became part of India in 1961 and was officially declared to be a state of India in 1987.  Although famous for its beautiful beaches and infamous hippy vibe, Goa is packed with history and evidence of the Portuguese colonisation which began in the 16th century.  Parts of Panjim felt distinctly Mediterranean and a world away from Mumbai.  The streets feel more relaxed and less hectic than the other places we have been to in India so far.

We arrived at the hotel at 10pm on Friday having caught a (delayed) flight after work and were typically impressed; there is a risk that I will develop a Taj hotel addiction as they are so good.  We were upgraded to a suite (woohoo!) and ate in the main restaurant; a Goan feast of spiced sausage stew, Goan pork vindaloo (which had loads of flavour, rather than just burning your mouth off) and a Goan fish stew.  The Christian influences in Goa mean that meat is much more common and the state is, not surprisingly, famous for fresh fish - something that we intended to enjoy given that we haven't eaten much seafood during the monsoon in Mumbai.

After a morning gym session (we're running a 10k at the start of October and I've had my half marathon place confirmed for January....one for another blog post!), we left the hotel to explore Panjim.  The city has lots of colourful old Portuguese style houses.  Many are crumbling but this adds to the charm.  We were told that the best way to see the city is to wander around on foot, so Phil put his floppy white tourist hat on, and we marched around the streets with our guide book.

You've been told

Beautiful monument in a public park

Typical old colourful house with balcony

Church of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception.  Stunning location on a hill overlooking Panjim, though sadly shut for renovation so we couldn't look inside.

Statue outside the church overlooking the town

These balconies are standard for old-style Goan houses

St Sebastian Chapel

Nicely renovated colourful buildings

After two (rather hot) hours of exploring the town, we headed for the Ritz Classic Restaurant to try the fish thali which had been recommended to us by someone we had met on a previous trip in India.  We arrived early as we'd heard it can get busy, and were not disappointed.  The fish thali was a filling platter of fresh seafood goodies, all for 110 rupees each, and extremely tasty. People were queuing out of the door and milling around in every bit of free space in the restaurant by the time we'd eaten; I can understand why this place is popular.

Mega thali.  The kingfish steak (tucked underneath the bowl closest to the camera) was my favourite bit.

With our bellies full, we commissioned an autorickshaw to take us the 10km up the Mondovi River to Old Goa, once the capital of Goa and a huge metropolis of tremendous power (says my guide book).  Although now only a small fraction of its former size, Old Goa contains several ancient ruins and churches which are spectacular even now.  The top attraction seems to be the tomb of St Francis Xavier in the Basilica of Bom Jesus.  We walked around for an hour or so to take in some of these big sites before travelling back to Panjim.

 Basilica of Bom Jesus (complete with construction work at the front)

 The grand Se Cathedral - the largest church in Asia (according to our guide book)

To give a sense of scale...

Arch of the Viceroys.  This was built by Francisco da Gama (great grandson of Vasco da Gama) who became Viceroy of Goa at the end of the 16th century and erected this as a tribute to Vasco.  It is the Goa equivalent of the Gateway of India in Mumbai.

Amazing Baroque architecture in the Church of St Cajetan

Exceptionally wonky tree.  Should have been listed in the guide book but isn't.

Cultural stuff done, we relaxed with a swim in the rooftop pool and did well to not drink the whole bottle of complimentary wine in the room before dinner.  Good work all round.  Following a relaxing light dinner in the hotel, we relaxed in front of a film - Silver Linings Playbook - which I'd highly recommend.

Hotel central courtyard with rooms round the edge

Trying to have a swim despite paparazzi intrusion.

Relaxation focus whilst Phil watched the Man U match pre-dinner

Unfortunately, whatever Phil ate and I didn't eat on Saturday (so you can't blame the thali!) didn't agree with him, so he spent the morning in bed / the bathroom whilst I hit the gym again and enjoyed a massage and facial in the spa.  Positive aspects of spas I've been to are the quality of the facilities / treatments and low prices (relative to the UK).  The negative aspect is the frankly disgusting "detoxifying" drink that is given to you before it all starts, which has never failed to make me gag.  However much it's supposed to have good stuff in it, I cannot believe that something that tastes that nasty can do you much good!  My other entertaining experience was getting lost in the steam room owing to an exorbitant amount of steam, but a changing room attendant came to rescue me in the end.

We had an easy flight back and arrived home shortly after 1900.  Since arriving in India, I have now grabbed the following budget airlines; IndiGo, JetKonnect, GoAir and SpiceJet; and can so far conclude that they are more similar than different, so it's just worth picking the cheapest ticket available.

The sky was full with flashes of lightening when we were coming home from the airport in the taxi and the thunder is growling even now, so we cannot say that the monsoon is over yet!

We're back in Goa in early November so can report back on beach quality after that.

An afternoon at the garden centre

In Philip's absence (only three days to go!), I've had a productive Saturday although I'm afraid that my list of activities completed sounds decidedly British-middle-aged.  Today I have being to the gym, filled in my tax return, had a lunchtime tea and cake treat in fancy cafe, had a trip to the garden centre, been to the supermarket and prepared fruit and food for dinner.  It's now 1730 and I'm sitting down for a rest.

Whilst most of this is really quite dull, the garden centre experience deserves a mention on the blog. 

We are lucky to have a big balcony which is rather quirky in that it has flower beds built into it.  Having your own private outdoor space is such a privilege in Mumbai that we would like to make good use of it, and can see how nice other balconies look with some foliage.  My gardening knowledge is close to zero and I did not excel at our house in Cambridge - all gardening felt like taming a jungle rather than furnishing it with attractive plants - but I am determined to do better.  Now that the monsoon is coming to an end, it is a perfect time to spruce up the balcony.

The term "garden centre" is misleading - I'm not sure that India does these - but the place to go for plants seems to be a stretch of road in Santa Cruz, just off the main highway leading from Bandra to the airport.  Here, plant sellers line the road for several 100m and seem to have everything from small bedding plants to trees that would definitely not fit in my car, however tempting they look.

Santa Cruz Garden Centre - Note the post-monsoon blue sky!

Lots of options

After a lot of discussion with several plant sellers (with Sagar helpfully translating and aiding the negotiation process), we finally selected a range of plants and flowers to get us started.  I've no idea what these plants are, or how well they will grow, but this will be a process of trial and error and I'm sure we'll be back for some more soon if necessary.

Sagar supervising plant loading process

Big frondy plants carefully tied with string to ensure left wing mirror not obstructed (high priority for Sagar!)

Stash outside our front door.  Final tally was two tall frondy plants, two medium leafy plants, eight small plants with flowers (two orange, two yellow, two light pink, two dark pink) and three mini plants with pretty red leaves (techincal plant names not known)

...and finally on the balcony

Bandra is likely to be very busy and chaotic for the next few days owing to the Mount Mary festival (one million visitors to Bandra per year for Catholic celebration) and the Ganesh festival on Monday (famous Hindu festival where lots of huge Ganesh elephant statues are carried into the sea).  I've been warned that big crowds can be a bad idea, so I'll try to see these from a safe distance (maybe when Phil gets back next week) and enjoy potting my plants in the meantime. 

Sagar was very keen to help with the plant potting, but after he tried to attach a hanging basket to an electrical fitting in his enthusiasm, I decided it was best to give him the rest of the afternoon off.  We both agreed that it had been a very productive day.



Upholstery Indian-style

Our Ercol chair is an piece of furniture close to my heart, having been donated to us when Phil and I bought our house in Cambridge together in August 2009.  As we owned no other furniture at that point, it held pride of place in our living room for three weeks before our sofas arrived when, sadly for the Ercol, it was relegated to the corner of our bedroom for the next four years.

The Ercol, whilst not intrinsically unattractive, unfortunately has some of most hideous cushions known to man  We briefly considered recovering them a few years ago, saw the price of doing this in John Lewis, and rejected the idea in favour of a beige throw under which the chair has languished ever since (sometimes with an extra pile of clothes on top).

With Phil away for two weeks, I've been pottering about doing domestic things and decided to revive the chair and bring it back to public use.  I've discovered an excellent shop called fabindia, which stocks lots of materials in traditional Rajasthani style block prints. The before, during and after pictures are below:

 Before

Naked Ercol - not recommended

 Picking the material in fabindia

Finished result!

The total cost for 3.5m of material was approx £10 plus an extra £3.50 for a tailor to make these up into cushion covers. I picked up the cushions earlier today - I'm really pleased with the end result.

Here are a few more pictures of Fabindia and my clothing purchses from Fabindia and Anokhi; another shop with Rajasthan styles clothes, home furnishings and other goodies.  All the clothing is beautiful quality and comes highly recommended by me!  Anyone visiting from the UK should bring an empty suitcase if possible.

Great colours in Fabindia

 Beautiful bags and bedding

 

My purchases.  Anokhi supplies East in the UK so the clothes are a similar style, just at 20% of the price - an Indian / Western hybrid

My lovely new bag from Anokhi