The 189

Dear Ma,

I’ve reached safely. Sort of sorry that its taken me a whole of three weeks to let you know. This letter follows up with more.

The journey uptil Birmingham was comfortable and I made the mistake of imagining that every thing would go smoothly further on. Its me, Ma…can anything be right?

Nothing much went wrong though, except that I got lost.

Boarded the wrong bus, got off at the wrong bus stop and was almost heading towards the wrong city. I managed. You taught me well.

What I did learn from the incident though, was that bus drivers in the East Midlands are possibly the most helpful people on the face of the planet and people here in general are frightfully polite and impossibly patient. Can you imagine me starting and ending each and every utterable sentence with ‘thank you’s and generously scattering a few ‘please’s in between words? All those years you spent patiently correcting my tongue, has finally paid off. I don’t know how long it’ll be before I burst into colorful linguistics in the middle of a conversation. I’ll let you know when that happens.

I also learnt that its perfectly normal for a strange, balding 45-year old man in a fluorescent uniform to utter the words “Last stop, love!”, with me in his mind.

Rows of sloped-roofed brick houses, a chilly bite in the air, cheerful old ladies in cardigans with checked shopping carts and unmistakable accents.

After three tumultuous weeks, I have finally been able to settle down a wee bit. A wee bit.

Moving into the house had been easy, not without a slight hitch concerning the wrong code to the keyhold. I’m garaged in the 189 on Station Road.

Meeting my housemates was even easier and much more fun, considering the fact that we’re a group of four including a German, a Vietnamese, an Italian and me, of course. We’ve already been out on ‘pub-night’ and Guiness won the day. I’ve already done some cooking with it, by the way…a sumptious lamb stew, that left a characteristic bitter taste in my mouth — I think I still need to get used to the concepts surrounding slow-cooking and roasting. But I did oven up a batch of slightly-burned and juicy breasts of chicken, smothered in olive oil and herbs….they came out with extra-crispy, extra-dark and extra-salty skins. Not sure I’ll be making that anytime soon. I did try Alejandra’s chestnut-bacon-green apple soup too….bursting with flavor. Donata (German, if you please), has started swearing by it.

But what I will be making soon….at least, I’ve started  researching it, if you can believe that…is a pork and ham pie. Its spiffingly marvelous!

The all-covering pastry crust is wonderfully crunchy against the salty pork filling and jelly. And I like it cold. And yes, I’ve added a few inches to my hips too. What? Don’t look at me like that!

The first thing that grabbed me when I took the bus (the right one) to the University, was the size of the campus. You can walk yourself to death, honestly and you still won’t be able to cover the whole thing. And if you’re in heels (like I was) then don’t even try. Apart from that, Nottingham is downright beautiful. The cite centre reeks of party hubs, fish n chips and a large gong that chimes to the tune of the Big Ben. No doubt, the city’s much quieter than London…and more studious in a way.

We’ve already had a social trip to London, where we trailed behind Prof Lau….and no, I could’nt go down to Battersea, unfortunately (since we were busy loitering around the Bridge for quite a large part of the day).

I’ve made friends from 9 different countries, I’ve already worked with a group of them, I’ve been quick to discover the nearest Hindu temple, have found myself knee deep in post-grad shit (sorry) and haven’t been able to get myself a decent amount of Indian spices. Don’t give me that eye again, I plan to do that very soon.

And yes, you read that right….9 different countries, not many Indian spices in the kitchen yet.

More interestingly, I have come across a seafood pasta dish that I want to tell you about.

Its not utterly special or anything, but the simplicity of it made me wonder why I hadn’t tried it before. It comes from Hana, my surprisingly Vietnamese housemate, and the dish itself made Stefan, the oh-so-Italian, smile and slurp up every last morsel of it.

Spaghetti with stir-fried Salmon and Portobello Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 2 salmon fillets cut up into bite-sized chunks (no bones or skins please)
• Half a cup of chopped portobello mushrooms (I prefer them quartered for a more robust flavor)
• 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
• 2 smallish spring onions, chopped finely
• 3 fat cloves of garlic, smashed
• Spaghetti – 2 portions (the size of these may vary according to who would be eating)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Olive oil to fry
• Chopped parsley to garnish with

How-to:

• Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet, and save 2 tablespoons of the starch water the paste boils in, before draining teh rest of.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the garlic and onions and fry till translucent and soft.
• Add the mushrooms and saute for three minutes on medium heat, before adding in the salmon and soy sauce.
• Cook the salmon till the pices start losing the pink color. We want light pink though, not white.
• Add salt and pepper to taste and pour in the starchy water along with the drained pasta. Toss everything toether for a minute.
• Serve with sprinkles of parsley on top.

I hope you and Dad enjoy this one. The salmon melts in your mouth really…oh, the Scottish salmon, rather. 🙂

I’ll leave you now to get back to my daily run to the Library.

Lots of love,

Amrita

P.S.:- Shreya’s invited me to Milan for Christmas and now I don’t know whether I’ll be spending it there or at Cardiff! Will let you know!

Overloaded Dinner and an Introduction

There are those days when I just have to whip up lunch in a jiffy and stuff it into a box to carry to office…that’s almost everyday.

And then there are those days when you feel like taking time and concoct something wonderful and complicated and feel chef-like! Well, almost chef-like.

My current sous-chef, by the virtue of being half-vegetarian (I’ll come to the “half-vegetarian” part later) insisted on a mushrom and spinach risotto for dinner yesterday, whereas I felt like c-h-i-c-k-e-n.

Nothing new there.

So we settled on both, shared the chores and all the chopping and peeling went to her.

The risotto has white wine (but obvious) in it and turned out slightly spicy for my taste and totally-not-hot for my sous-chef.

The chicken has a poppy-seed crust, needs no egg or buttermilk or bread crumbs or flour……and is shallow fried.

That’s right, you heard me — shallow fried, in just a couple of tablespoons of veggie oil.
Spinach and Mushroom Risotto

What You Need:
– 1 cup of rice
– 3 tablespoons of olive oil
– 6 big garlic cloves, crushed
– 3 Spanish onions, chopped finely
– a sprig of rosemary
– 1 cup of portobello mushrooms, sliced (a nice and stronger-tasting alternative would be porcini)
– 1 cup of chopped spinach
– Half a teaspoon of dried basil
– 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes (epends on how hot you like your food)
– Half a cup of chopped black olives
– Half a cup of white wine
– Salt and pepper to taste

How to:
– Heat oil in a pan.
– Add the garlic, rosemary and onions and cook on medium heat till the onions turn glossy and translucent.
– Add in the spinach, mushrooms, olives, chilli flakes and dried basil. Cover and cook on low heat for two minutes or till the mushrooms are soaked through with oil.
– Add the rice and stir well to mix.
– Pour in the wine and cook till all of it absorbed by the rice.
– Add salt and pepper to taste.
– Pour water at regular intervals to cook the rice.
I added 1 cup of water and let it cook till it was absorbed by the rice, before adding the next cup. I needed two cps of water.

– Continue this process till the rice is cooked through and the risotto has a sticky (but not gummy) consistency.

– Do a taste check and adjust salt and pepper accordingly.
– Garnish with chopped cilantro or parsley leaves.

Poppy-seed Crusted Chicken

What you need:
– I cooked for two, so I used two chicken breasts
– Oil to shallow fry (I used about 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil)

for the marinade:

– 4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
– 1 tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste

for the crust:

– Half cup of poppy seeds
– Half a tablespoon of cayenne pepper
– 1 teaspoon of dry mango powder
– 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
– 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
– salt and pepper to taste

How To:
– To prepare the chicken breasts, put them between plastic sheets/wraps (or cheesecloth works well too) and beat with a rolling pin to flatten them into 1/2 inch thick steaks.
– Marinate them in a mixture of apple cider vinegar and ginger-garlic paste for two hours n the refrigerator (if you don’t have two hours, fifteen minutes of marination will do just fine. The two hour marination just softens the chicken a little more)
– Mix the dry coating ingredients and spread evenly on a flat surface.
– Lay out the chicken fillets on this mixture. Drag through it to coat well on both sides.
– Heat oil in a frying pan. (You need super-hot oil in a super-hot pan)
– Turn the heat to low, and shallow fry the fillets, flipping them in intervals. It takes about 3-4 minutes for each side. (I kept flipping every minute and a half to prevent the crust from sticking to the surface of the pan).
– Fry till golden brown.
– Serve with a side of tomato-cucumber-dill salad, or a salsa dip….or better yet, just do what we did…eat it with the risotto….

Bon apetite!

I”ll leave you with a random snap of me and my “sous-chef”, in the lift. She also happens to be my room-mate, classmate from University, best friend for the last six years, super-efficient help in the kitchen, excellent in ruthlessly judging me, a kind soul who lets me borrow her T-shirts…and I repay her by stretching them out of shape.

She’s originally vegetarian. Has been all her life, till she met me.

She spent the first year of our friendship by getting accustomed to my non-veg habits. The second year was spent in tasting, I repeat…tasting, various preparations of chicken. Six years later and she can eat any chicken dish without batting an eyelash (though she says she prefers not to), but has managed to refrain herself from turning into a full-fledged carnivore.

Ladies and gentlemen…(drumroll)….Foram Vakani.