Schezwan sauce/ Szechuan sauce

 The Schezwan cuisine originates from the sichuan province of china. It is known for its bold, pungent, hot flavors and extravagant usage of red chillies. The schezwan sauce is a fundamental to the schezwan cuisine and goes in most Chinese dishes with its spicy, tangy, slightly sweet and vinegary taste. 

The basic ingredients for this sauces are red chillies, ginger, garlic and spices. It is one of the easiest sauce you could make at home. Culinary uses of schezwan sauce is used in Chinese starters. One of the first things which comes to my mind is, it goes well with veg spring rolls, momos. fried wantons, steamed wantons, fried rice and noodles. This can be used as an accompaniment or dipping sauce for variety of different dishes from nachos, chips and potato wedges.

Schezwan sauce is one of the most popular sauce recipes from the Indo-Chinese cuisine. This sauce has literally gone places travelling around the globe and is used in hundreds of dishes world wide. It is all purpose sauce and must have in all households.

Now let us see the ingredients:

INGREDIENTS:

1. 1/4th cup of oil.
2. 1/4th cup of finely chopped Garlic (Lahsun)
3. 3 tbsp of finely chopped Ginger (Adrak)
4. 2 cups of Dried red chillies (Kashmiri red chillies de-seeded)
5. 1/2 tsp of Crushed Pepper corns
6. 2 tbsp of Vinegar(Cirka)
7. 2 tbsp of Sugar
8. Salt to taste
9. 1/4 cup of Water.
10. 2 tbsp of Tomato sauce.(Use tomato ketchup)
11. 1 Star anise (Chakriphul)
12. 1 tbsp of Coriander stems (Finely chopped)

METHOD:

1. Soak 2 cups of Dried red chillies in a hot water for about a hour.
2. Once the chillies have softened in water then drain the excess water and blend them into a smooth paste.
3. Add little water if required for blending.
4. Next heat 1/4th cup of oil in a pan or kadai. Add finely chopped Garlic, Ginger and saute for 2-3 minutes. Do not burn it. Add 1 Star anise fry it for a minute.
5. Now add blended red chilli paste and combined well. Let it cook on a medium flame till the pungent smell of chillies mellows down.
6. Now add 1/4th cup of water  to give the mixture a sauce like texture. Cover the lid and cook it about 10-12 minutes until the oil separates from the pan or kadai.
7. After 12 minutes open the lid and stir for a minute.
8. Further add 2 tbsp of Vinegar, 2 tbsp of Sugar, 1/2 tsp of crushed Pepper corns, 2 tbsp of Tomato ketchup, 1 tbsp of Soya sauce and salt as per taste.
9. Give a good mix and let it cook for about 2-3 minutes and you are done.
10. Cool it off and store it an air tight container in a refrigerator.

TIP:

1. Vinegar, Salt and Spices acts as a preserving agent.
2. This sauce should be slowly cooked .
3. This sauce can be stored in refrigerator for 15 days or 1 month. 
4. Use dried kashmiri red chillies since these are less spicy and have great colour
5. Here I have used regular pepper corns, but the original recipes used sichuan peppercorns. 

 

Metkut (Authentic maharashtrian spice powder)

 Metkut is an age old traditional recipe passed down through generations in Maharashtrian household. It is a magic powder of Maharashtrian cuisine. It is simple grounded powder made from different dals, grains and spices. It enhances the taste of food and is very healthy. Steamed rice with Metkut and pure ghee is a bliss!

It is very easy to digest and is more beneficial when you are sick or have an upset stomach. It is also good for constipation, provides fast and instant energy, regulate and improve bowel movements and stabilizes blood sugar levels. It is a healthy and nutritious recipe with high protein, dietary fibre, iron, calcium and antioxidants. Metkut can be stored in an airtight container for 1 month.

Now let's see the ingredients used for preparing Metkut:

INGREDIENTS:

1. 3/4th cup of Chana dal(Slit bengal gram)
2. 1/4th cup of Urad dal (Slit black gram)
3. 1/4th cup of Rice (Chawal)
4. 1/4th cup of Moong Dal
5. 2 tbsp of Wheat (Saboot gehu)
6. 2 tsp of dry Ginger powder (Sounth powder)
7. 1 tsp of Cumin seeds (Jeera)
8. 1 tsp of Mustard seeds (Rai)
9. 2 dried Red Chillies (Kashmiri lal mirch) (Saboot Lal Mirch)
10. 1 tsp of Asafoetida (Hing)
11. 10 Cardamom remove skin
12. 15 to 16 Fenugreek seeds(Methi seeds)
13. 15 black Pepper Corns(Kali Mirch)
14. 3 Cloves (Lavang)
15. 1 Nutmeg (Jaiphal)
16. Salt to taste
17. 1 tsp of Turmeric powder (Haldi Powder)

METHOD:

1. Heat a pan on a medium flame. Add Chana dal and roast it until it releases aroma. Transfer the Chana dal into a dish.
2. Add Asafoetida (Hing Powder) and Turmeric Powder (Haldi Powder) into the roasted Chana dal.
3. Further add Urad dal and roast it until it get the golden color. Transfer the Urad dal into the dish.
4. Add Moong dal and roast it for 5 minutes and transfer it into a dish.
5. Add Wheat and roast it for 2 minutes until it pop up like s popcorn. Transfer it into a dish.
6. Now add Rice into a pan and roast it. Do not burn the rice. Transfer it into a dish.
7. Now on a low flame add Mustard seeds, Cumin seeds, Black pepper corns and Cloves. Roast it until it turns aromatic. Transfer it.
8. Add 2 Red Chillies and roast it for 2-3 minutes on low flame. Transfer it.
9. Now turn off the gas and add Cardamom seeds, Fenugreek seeds and roast it for a minute and transfer it into a dish.
10. Let all the ingredients cool down completely.
11. Before grinding, add Nutmeg Powder in it.
12. Transfer the roasted ingredients into a blender jar and blend it to a fine powder.
13. Add salt to taste and blend it once more.
14. Transfer everything into a strainer and sieve it.
15. Remaining residue (Coarse powder of metkut) on a strainer can be used for making Sambar, Salads or Amti.
16. Metkut is ready. Transfer metkut into a airtight container and store it in a dry place.

Udupi Rasam Masala/Powder

Rasam, Saaru, Charu is a South Indian dish. It is spicy , sweet, sour stock which is traditionally prepared by using Kokum, Tamarind or Green Mango Pulp.

It is commonly served with plain rice and stir fry vegetable as side dish. Mustard seeds, dries red chillies, cumin seeds , coriander seeds, pepper corns are the spices used to flavor for rasam.

Rasam can be prepared with garlic or without garlic, but it taste so good that i can't resist.

Anyways, Rasam Powder gives flavor and spice to rasam. Preparing Rasam Powder at home takes very less time and free from harmful preservatives.

Here we are looking for  Udupi Rasam Masala/ Powder....So, for Udupi Rasam Masala/Powder here are the ingredients

INGREDIENTS

1. 1 cup Coriander seeds/ Dhania seeds
2. 1/4th cup Cumin seeds/ Jeera
3. 3 tsp of Fenugreek seeds/ Methi seeds
4. 2 cup of Dried Red chilli / Saboot Lal Mirch
5. 1/2 tsp of Asafoetida/ Hing
6. 2-3 Strands of Curry Leaves/ Kadipatta
7. 2-3 tbsp of oil 

METHOD:

1. In a big Kadai add 1 tbsp of oil and add 1 cup of Coriander seeds/ Dhania seeds and 3 tsp of Fenugreek seeds/ Methi seeds.
2. Roast on low flame until the spices turn aromatic.
3. Keep it aside.
4. Now in the same kadai add 1/4 cup of Cumin seeds/ Jeera seeds and roast on low flame till the spices turn aromatic. Keep it aside .
5. Further add 2 tbsp of Oil add 2 cups of Dried Red chilli / Saboot Lal Mirch, 2-3 Strand of Curry leaves/ Kadi Patta, and 1/2 tsp of Asafoetida/ Hing.
6. Roast on low flame until Red chilli puffed up and Curry leaves get crisp.
7. Transfer to the plate. Allow all the spices to cool completely.
8. Once the roasted ingredients attains room temperature. Transfer all the ingredients in a mixer, grind it into a coarse powder.
9. Finally Udupi Rasam Masala/ Powder is ready. Store it in a air tight container.

TIPS:

1. Roast each ingredient separately and ensure that it is not burnt.
2. This Rasam Masala/ Powder can be used in any type of Rasam/ Saru.
3. Do not burn the spices otherwise the Rasam will taste bitter.
4. Store ground masala in freezer. The smell and aroma remains fresh if stored in a freezer.