Allo Bukharay ki Chutney - Pakistani Style Plum Sauce

Pakistani summer brings such amazing variety of fruits to the table. In old times without freezers and refrigerators readily available in homes, grannies made chunteys and preservatives out of seasonal fruits to allow the families to enjoy these fruits long after their season was gone. 

Reading allo bukhara chutney post by a fellow blogger come - con - ella made me look for my mother-in-laws recipe of making this particular chutney and allo bokharay aur imli ka sherbat (Plum & Tamarind Drink) at home. I will share the drink's recipe at some other point in time. I was able to try MIL's version of plum chutney which turned out to be worth making again in large quantity to consume and distribute as a culinary gift.

Allo Bukhara Chutney is a perfect condiment that can be served with a meal or with your afternoon tea time pakoray and samosay. Once you have made this at home, you will never buy that bottle of ready made chutney. This can be made in large quantities and stored in sealed bottles in fridge for atleast 2 months. 

Ingredients

Fresh Plums - 1 kilo

Brown Sugar - 1/3 cup

White Sugar - 1/3 cup

Crushed Red Chilies- 1 tsp 

Roasted Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Roasted Char -e -Maghaz( Dried Melon seeds) - 1/4 cup

Salt - 1 tsp (adjust to taste)

Water - 1 cup

Method

1. Boil a large pot of water. As soon as the water boils add washed plums to it. Time for 3 minutes and drain plums in a colander.
2. Once the water drains, put a pan under the colander as the plums will start releasing its juices. Ensure that you save all of it.
3. Peel the plums and put them in a cooking pan with all the juices.
4. Add all ingredients to the plums except roasted Char e Maghaz/Melon seeds.
5. Cook till plums break down completely (About 25-35 mins on medium heat) and the mixture becomes a thick syrup that covers the back of your cooking spoon.
6. Let it cool for 15 mins and add the Char e Maghaz and mix. 
7. Once cooled completely, the chutney can be saved in sealed jars or sealed plastic containers and put in fridge for extending its life.

Mango Yogurt

Mango season and Ramzan have been coinciding since last few years. My love for mangoes has made me incorporate mangoes in my iftar regularly. With June's blistering heat around, one longs for things that are cold and refreshing while breaking the fast. Mango yogurt provides that along with appropriate nutrition. It’s simple and easy to make. I always save an extra bowl for sehri as well. Hope you will try it out.

Ingredients

Unsweetened Yogurt – 500 gms

Sugar – ¼ cup

Mangoes – 3 medium sized (cubed)

Dated – 8 (pitted and chopped)

Fresh Apricot/Khobani – 5-8, (pitted and chopped)

Almonds – 8-10 (Coarsely chopped)

Method:

1. Add sugar to the yogurt and mix till the sugar dissolves. I prefer lesser sugar as mangoes are pretty sweet themselves.
2. Puree ¾ of the mango cubes. Save the 1/4^th for adding to the yogurt.
3. Add purred mango to sweetened yogurt.
4. Add chopped dates, remaining mango cubes, chopped khobani and almonds. Mix and chill
5. Garnish with a few mango cubes and serve cold.

Depending on the availability I also use cherries, lychees, bananas, peaches for this yogurt. 

Pakistani style Spinach and chicken curry - Palak Chicken

Palak gosht was cooked a lot in my mother’s household during the winter season. I never liked what meat did to the spinach. While living in London, once I had Palak chicken at one of the Pakistani restaurants and loved it. Later I tried my own version at home and have not looked back ever since. My brother O who was studying at University of Warwick during that time, became the guinea pig for my cooking experiments.

My palak chicken not just got a high approval rating from him but I also got a request to make some palak chicken for him to take along to Warwick. For the year he was there, I used to make a stack of food for him and freeze it which he would take along to eat for next 2 weeks. A quarter in to the year, I started getting phone calls from his Pakistani and Indian class mates with specific requests for food, followed by thank you phone calls.

I wasn't thrilled to find out that O’s flatmates were eating all of his home cooked food. My firsthand experience taught me that the one thing that you miss the most while living away from home is the home cooked food. I quietly doubled the food he took to Warwick. Things sisters do for little brothers!!! Last night O called me from his office and asked me if I could make some palak chicken for him. I am always happy to fulfill such farmaish. We had it with boiled rice.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

Chicken – ½ kilo (6-8 pieces)

Fresh Spinach – 1 kilo (You can use frozen if fresh is not available)

Tomatoes – 4 Medium sized (make a puree with 2 green chilies)

Fresh Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tbsp (heaped)

Mustard Seeds – 1 tbsp

Dried Whole Chilies - 4-5

Roasted Cumin seeds – 1 Tbsp (crushed)

Roasted Coriander seeds – 1 Tbsp (crushed)

Crushed Red Chilies -1 tsp (Adjust to taste)

Salt – 1 tsp (adjust to taste)

Oil : 6 Tbsp

Method:

1. Wash the spinach and steam it in a large pan. Once steamed, puree it with the hand blender. Put aside.
2. Heat the oil and add ginger garlic paste to it. Cook till its changes color.
3. Add mustard seeds to it. Let it cook for a minute till you can smell them. Add the dried red chilies and cook for 10 secs. Add a dash of water to stop it from burning.
4. Add cumin and coriander seeds. Cook for 30 sec.
5. Add chicken and cook for 5 -7 mins till it completely changes color.
6. Add tomatoes, salt and crushed chilies and cook till the water dries.
7. Now add pureed spinach. Cook till the water dries and the oil comes out on the side.

I love serving this with boiled basmati rice. This also pairs well with homemade chappati – flat bread.

 

Remembering Anwer Sultana: Baisani Roti with soy and Afghani Chutney

Chickpea flour flat bread with Dill

Dill – also called soy in Urdu always reminds me of Anwer Sultana – My nani – maternal grandmother. Couple of decades ago during winter vacations, all of us cousins would come down to Rawalpindi to spend winter break with our grandparents. Nani had a huge herb and vegetable garden at the back of the house. The garden had one particular herb every winter – soy/dill. The shrub always grew taller than me, an 8 year old back then making me disappear in the dill patch while trying to catch ladybirds. They too loved the perfumed dill as much as I did.

Nani loved getting Baisani roti made at the tandoor situated close by. She would supervise and instruct our cook named Rasheed aka Sheeda as how to make the dough. It always had plenty of fresh dill from her garden. Once the dough was prepared, sheeda would take it to the nearest wood fired tandoor and get the baisani roti made. The tandoor wala knew how begum sahiba liked the rotis. We kids loved having it with home churned butter while soaking the winter sun followed by a kino eating marathon.

January marks the death anniversary of Anwer Sultana who now rests at Emanabad, a small city situated 30 kms from Lahore. I found myself strolling down the memory lane catching ladybirds while buying some dill at the local vegetable shop last week. I have not known a woman as kind and as beautiful as Anwer Sultana. I do wish she was still alive so we could have the conversations we never had a chance to have! Now they only happen in my head!

This baisini roti with Afghani chutney can easily replace your doritos and salsa any given afternoon!

Ingredients:

Chickpea flour: 1 cup

Whole wheat flour: ½ cup

Butter: 50 grams (melted)

Fresh Dill – Handful chopped

Fresh Coriander – handful chopped

Crushed Red chilies – ½ tsp

Green Chili – 1 thinly chopped.

Roasted Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp lightly crushed

Roasted Coriander Seeds – 1 tsp crushed

Water – for kneading

Needs a Food Processor & a Griddle

Method:

1. Add everything except the water in the food processor. Pulse it for 10 seconds.
2. Now switch on the machine and slowly add ¼ cup of water till everything comes together and forms dough.
3. Take the dough out and knead it for 2-3 mins. Put it in a bowl with a tbsp. of oil on it. Cover and let it sit for 30 mins.
4. Now make small balls of dough, roll them out and cook them on hot griddle on both sides.
5. Remove, cut in triangles and serve hot with Salsa or chutney.

Ingredients for Afghani Chutney

Mint – 1 cup

Fresh Coriander leaves – 2 cups –chopped

Garlic – 2 cloves

Tomato – 1 large (Try finding a green one)

Fresh Green chilies – 4

Juice of 4-5 Lemons – medium sized

White Vinegar – ¼ cup

Salt – to taste

Method:

Add all the ingredients in a liquidizer and make a smooth paste. In case more liquid is needed increase the amount of vinegar.

Anwer Sultana 

Teetar Masala - Pakistani Style Spiced Partridge

Abbu’s native area of Mianwali has abundant population of Teetar – Partridge and Batair - Quail. I grew up in a household where these two were served on the dinner table often. We had ample supply of these little things throughout the year. Myself and the sister were more interested in keeping these little fellas as our pets. Sadly no pets were allowed at our home. Hence our pets got cooked for dinner quite frequently! It was pretty tragic!

This week a fresh supply of teetar and Batair arrived at home. Given I am in Pakistan these days for work, I got a chance to see how they are prepared. Strangely I have never tasted teetar or batair. Abbu tells me they are delicious. I have to take his word for it. The recipe is rather simple one and the same marinade can be used to prepare chicken or fish. Hope the teetar lovers will attempt it. 

Ingredients

Teetar /Partridge– 4 whole

For marinade:

Yogurt – 500 gms

Ginger/ Garlic Paste – 1 tsp - heaped

Salt – 1 tsp – add more if needed.

Chili Powder – ½ tsp

Chili Flakes – ½ tsp

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Garam Masala – ½ tsp

Carom Seeds (Ajwain) – ½ tsp (gently crushed)

Dried Coriandar seeds – 1 tsp (crushed)

Lemon Juice – 3 tbsp

White Vinegar – 4 tbsp

For Cooking:

Oil – 2 tbsp

Ginger/ Garlic paste – 1 tsp

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Tomatoes – 3 (make a paste)

Water – 2 ½ cups

Method:

1. Prepare the marinade by mixing everything in the yogurt. Apply on teetar and leave it overnight.
2. Next day heat 4 tbsp of oil in a large pan. Add the ginger garlic paste, mustard seeds, Tomato puree and the teetar.
3. Add 2 ½ cups to it of water and let the mixture come to a boil over high heat.
4. Reduce the heat to medium till oil comes out on the side and the teetar meat is tender. It will take about 40 mins.

Palak Paneer - Pakistani style Curried Spinach & Cottage Cheese

I have been in Pakistan for last few weeks to attend a sibling’s wedding. The current political situation in the twin cities led to cancellation and rescheduling of the wedding a few times, which resulted in a fraction of invitees actually being able to attend the events. The happy affair turned in to a stressful one as the two families tried to get through the logistical nightmare the blockages and long march had created between Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The mehndi (pre wedding song and dance party) was cancelled, the Baraat (wedding ceremony) was done at 4 hours’ notice and the Valima (wedding announcement dinner hosted by the groom) was moved by more than a week. But nothing dampened the spirits of the lovely bride and the groom, which boosted everyone’s mood.

I am sharing the recipe for my favorite Palak Paneer – Curried Spinach with cottage cheese which was also on the Valima dinner menu and is particularly a winter season favorite in Pakistan. 

Ingredients:

Chopped Spinach / Palak – ½ kg (I am using frozen – You can use fresh if available. Steam and blend about a kilo of fresh spinach)

Paneer /Cottage Cheese – 250 gms (cut in bite size cubes)

Tomatoes – 3-4 medium sizes (pureed with a green chili)

Green Chili – 1 medium sized

Fenugreek/ Methi Seeds – 1 tsp heaped

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp crushed

Coriander seeds – 1 tsp crushed

Dried Fenugreek leaves / Kasuri Methi – 1 tbsp heaped.

Whole dried chilies – 3 

Fresh Ginger/Garlic paste – 1 tsp heaped

Chili Powder – 1 tsp – adjust if more needed.

Salt – 1 tsp – adjust if more needed.

Oil – 4 tbsp

Oil – 1 cup - for frying paneer/ cottage cheese.

Method: 

1. Heat 1 cup of oil in a frying pan and fry cubed paneer till it turns golden brown. Remove on a kitchen paper. Set aside.
2. Heat 4 tbsp of oil in pan and add ginger garlic paste. Once it becomes golden, add cumin seed, coriander seeds, whole red chilies & fenugreek seeds to oil and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add tomato puree to oil. Add salt and chili powder and mix. Cook till the water dries completely.
4. Add frozen chopped spinach to the tomato paste. Cover and let it thaw for 10-15 mins.
5. Add dried fenugreek leaves to the spinach and let the water dry completely.
6. Add fried paneer to the spinach and mix. Cover for 4-5 mins over low heat till the stream of oil comes out on the side.

Palak Paneer can be served with boiled rice and homemade flat bread.

Pottery by Blue Saint

www.thebluesaint.com