Recipes: Chettinad nandu rasam, Fish musallam and more

Interesting recipes to will tease your taste buds.
Photographs: Anshika Varma

India is a melting pot of cultures. The diversity ensures its cuisines and flavours vary every few 100 kilometres.

In her book Tiffin: 500 Authentic Recipes Celebrating India's Regional Cuisine, Sonal Ved has tried to put together cuisines from different parts of India.

Published by Roli Books, Tiffin features local, seasonal and lesser-known dishes contributed by home chefs and celebrated chefs.

We bring you five different recipes from the book:

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Amritsari Bun Chaat
Indian-style potato burger

Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2-4
Origin: Punjab

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter
• 4 burger buns
• 2 potatoes, boiled, mashed
• 2 tsp red chilli powder
• 2 tsp ground coriander (dhaniya)
• 2 tsp chaat masala
• 2 tsp ground cumin (jeera)
• 1 tsp Indian black salt (kala namak)
• Salt, to taste
• 1 medium-size onion, sliced
• 2 tsp garlic chutney 
• 2 tbsp date-tamarind chutney
• 2 tbsp mint-coriander chutney 
• ½ cup spicy peanuts
• 2 tbsp fresh pomegranate seeds
• ½ cup nylon sev
• ½ cup finely chopped fresh coriander leaves (hara dhaniya)

Method

• Butter the burger buns and toast them gently in a hot skillet over medium heat. Set aside.
• In a medium-size bowl, stir together the potatoes, red chilli powder, coriander, chaat masala, cumin, black salt, and salt.
• Divide the mixture into small portions and shape each into a flat cake.
• Return the skillet to medium-high heat.
• Add the remaining butter. Working in batches, add the cakes to the hot skillet and pan fry on both sides until golden brown.
• Place a cake on a bun bottom. Top with sliced onion and the chutneys.
• Place the spicy peanuts, pomegranate seeds, nylon sev, and fresh coriander over this and serve immediately with the bun top.

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Fish Musallam
Baked fish stuffed with spices

Ingredients

• 1 dungaar (recipe below)
• 250 gm ghee
• 3 kg whole catfish (singhara), or sole, washed, insides cleaned, and scaled
• 1½ cups roasted chickpea flour (besan)
• Few drops yellow food colouring
• 2 cups sliced onion
• 10 green cardamom (choti elaichi) pods
• 10 peppercorns (sabut kali mirch)
• 10 dried red chillies (sookhi lal mirch)
• 5 whole cloves (laung)
• 5 black cardamom (badi elaichi) pods
• 5 tsp poppy seeds (khus khus)
• 5 tsp charoli seeds (chironji)
• 1 tbsp coriander (dhaniya) seeds
• 1 tsp ground mace (javitri)
• 1 (1-in. / 2.5-cm) piece peeled fresh ginger (adrak)
• 1½ cups yogurt (dahi)
• ¾ cup heavy cream

To make dungaar

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• I piece coal
• 1 tbsp ghee

Method

• Heat the coal on a live flame until it turns red.
• This should take 8 to 9 minutes.
• Carefully, with a pair of tongs, place the coal in the dish you want to smoke. You can place the hot coal in the metal bowl or a piece of aluminium foil.
• Pour ghee over it and allow it to sizzle for a second. Cover the dish with a lid for 7 to 8 minutes to allow it to smoke.
• Open the lid and discard the piece of coal with the tongs and stir the dish well. This will ensure the flavour is absorbed thoroughly.

To make fish musallam

• Rub the fish inside and out, with ¾ cup of chickpea flour and then wash it off under running water. Do this twice or thrice.
• Cover the fish with the yellow food colour and put it on a large baking tray.
• Prepare the dungaar.
• Meanwhile, place the fish on a thoroughly heatproof surface and using heavy-duty grill gloves and tongs, carefully place the prepared dungaar.
• Pour 1 cup (240 g) or less of ghee on it, in order to sizzle the coal and emit smoke.
• Cover the fish tight.
• Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F).
• In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat the remaining 1 tbsp of ghee.
• Add the onion and fry until golden brown. Transfer to a food processor.
• Add the green cardamom pods, peppercorns, dried red chillis, cloves, black cardamom pods, poppy seeds, charoli seeds, coriander seeds, mace, and ginger. Process into a smooth paste. Transfer to a medium-size bowl.
• Add the remaining ¾ cup of chickpea flour, yogurt, and cream. Whisk to combine.
• Uncover the fish and fill the inside of the fish with this mixture. Use any extra filling to rub all over the fish.
• Bake until one side browns. Turn the fish over and bake until the other side browns.
• Serve hot with mint-coriander chutney, lemon wedges, and onion rings, if desired.

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Bohri Style Chicken Nu Salan
Chicken in sweet and sour curry

Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves: 2
Origin: Gujarat

Ingredients

• 1 cup chicken, bone-in pieces, chopped
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic-chilli (adrak-lasan-mirch) paste
• 1 tbsp vinegar (sirka)
• 1 and ½ cups water
• 3 tbsp chicken salan masala (available at grocery stores)
• 1 cup yogurt (dahi)
• ½ cup almond powder (badam)
• ½ cup ketchup
• ½ cup tomato paste
• 1½ tsp red chilli powder
• 1½ tsp garam masala
• Salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper (kali mirch), to taste
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 (1-inch) cinnamon (dalchini) sticks
• 2 curry leaves (kadhi patta)
• 1 medium-size onion, finely chopped
• ½ cup fresh coriander leaves (hara dhaniya), finely chopped

Method

• In a large pot over medium heat, combine the chicken, ginger-garlic-chilli paste, vinegar, and water.
• Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the meat is tender. Drain the chicken and reserve the stock. Set both aside.
• In a blender, combine the chicken salan masala, yogurt, almond powder, ketchup, tomato paste, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth.
• In a skillet over low-medium heat, heat the vegetable oil.
• Add the cinnamon sticks and curry leaves. Cook until the leaves begin to crackle.
• Add the onion. Stir-fry until golden brown.
• Stir in the yogurt-almond mixture. Saute until the water from the yogurt evaporates.
• Add the cooked chicken pieces along with 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Let it bubble for 10 to 12 minutes.
• Serve hot, garnished with fresh coriander.
• Season to taste with pepper just before serving.

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Chettinad Nandu Rasam
Crabmeat rasam

Cooking time: 40 minutes
Serves: 4
Origin: Tamil Nadu

Ingredients

For the rasam paste

• 3 dried red chillis (sookhi lal mirch)
• 1 tbsp (5 g) coriander (dhaniya) seeds
• 1 tsp cumin (jeera) seeds
• 1 tsp peppercorns (sabut kali mirch)
• 1 medium-size onion, diced
• 1 tbsp (15 g) minced garlic (lasan)

For the rasam

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp fennel (saunf) seeds
• 3 curry leaves (kadhi patta)
• 1 medium-size onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium-size tomato, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground turmeric (haldi)
• 1 cup water
• 1 kg crabmeat
• Salt, to taste

Method
To make the rasam paste

• In a skillet over low-medium heat, dry-roast the dried red chillis, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns, onion, and garlic until fragrant.
• Transfer to a blender or mortar and pestle and grind into a fine paste, adding water if needed. Set aside.

To make the rasam

• Return the skillet to low heat and heat the vegetable oil.
• Add the fennel seeds and curry leaves. Cook until the seeds begin to crackle.
• Add the onion and tomato. Sauté for 5 minutes.
• Stir in the rasam paste and turmeric. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 4–5 minutes more.
• Add the water and bring the mixture to a boil.
• Stir in the crabmeat. Cook for 7–8 minutes until the crab turns orange-red in colour.
• Season to taste with salt and serve hot.

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Bamboo And Pork Stir-Fry
One-pot curry with a bit of sour tang

Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves: 2
Origin: Assam

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 dried red chillis (sookhi lal mirch)
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic (adrak-lasun) paste
• 450 gm pork, cubed
• 1 cup dried kidney beans (rajma), soaked in water overnight, drained
• ½ cup  finely chopped tender bamboo shoots
• 1 tbsp tamarind (imli) pulp
• 1 tsp ground turmeric (haldi)
• 1 tsp red chilli paste
• Salt, to taste
• 4 cups water

Method

• In a pressure cooker over medium-high heat, heat the vegetable oil.
• Add the dried red chillis and ginger-garlic paste. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring, until fragrant.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the pressure cooker. Lock the lid and cook for 3 whistles.
• Release the pressure and remove the lid.
• Check if the beans are done.
• Serve the curry hot.

Excerpted from Tiffin: 500 Authentic Recipes Celebrating India's Regional Cuisine by Sonal Ved, with the kind permission of the publisher, Roli Books.