Gourmet cooking made simple- My experience with iChef

Come 2015 and I have a lot of things I wish to achieve this year- get back on track with my career, travel, be able to start saving up big time and of course expand my foodie journey (not my size) by eating different kinds of food and learning how to cook few of my favourite dishes.

Over time I have realized that Asian/ Oriental food and Biryanis make me really happy- yes I can literally have Biryani day in and day out (it should be tasty of course); and most of the times when I go out I am looking to try some or other Asian dish or just satisfy my craving with a good green thai curry, or some sushi, pad thai noodles or khow suey. So of course, going by what satisfies my taste buds, these are the dishes that I want to be able to master in cooking. One of my last posts in the year 2014 was a Green Thai Curry recipe (you can read about it here).  This year when I read about iChef on Zenia Irani’s blog Branded Bawi, I was more than excited to try out something myself.

iChef offers you gourmet meals recipe kits (read:  a variety of recipes to choose from on their website; delivery at your doorstep- including same day delivery;  pre-measured and labelled ingredients;  and a step by step recipe card with pictures). An excellent concept for those who do not get cooking a gourmet meal because:

1. no time to pick up ingredients
2. most gourmet recipes call for ingredients that we would use once and not for a while leading to wastage of ingredients and money
3. just don’t know how to cook such dishes but are willing to try
4. too damn lazy to go out and shop and have happily given in to online shopping for most basic essentials.

So yes, looking to cook a lovely gourmet meal for yourself, or for your parents/spouse/friends or kids but do not have the time to pick up the ingredients because of traffic, unreasonable working hours, etc, etc? iChef is here to the rescue.

The ingredients are delivered in this cute cloth bag!

How does one exactly go about getting this super cool iChef experience?

• Visit the website and go through the menu for that week. They change their menu every two weeks and each set includes 3 vegetarian and 3 non-vegetarian dishes including  Italian, Mexican, Asian cuisines. They even do salads.
• Order the recipe kit for the meal that you want to cook by placing an order online giving them basic details about yourself. You can choose the time slot within which you would like your iChef kit to be delivered
• Wait for the delivery.
• Once delivered, just follow the instructions given in the recipe card.
• Present this dish to whoever you made it for/ gobble it yourself.

Yes. It’s that simple!

I was extremely delighted to find a Khow Suey, a Burmese soup- dish meal prepared with coconut milk and gram flour with the addition of various vegetables and meat of choice, recipe kit on their menu last week- and this is how, thanks to iChef,  I finally prepared Khow Suey for the first time!

Pre-measured and labelled ingredients

Step 1. The recipe called for prepping the ingredients which basically included washing and cutting the vegetables that would go in the Khow Suey.

Carrot, Red Bell Pepper, Green Capsicum, Kaffir Lime leaves, Green Chilies

Step 2. Boiling the rice noodles in a pan and putting them aside to cool.

Step 3. Saute the vegetables. Add the curry paste and gram flour.

Step 4. Add the water mixed with the coconut powder and stock powder and then bring it to boil.

Step 5. Once the curry comes to a boil, strain the noodles and add them to the curry. After cooking for another two minutes add the basil and peanuts.

Step 6: Transfer the dish to two bowls. Sprinkle the coriander and garnish provided. Dig in!

Observations:

1. At a short notice I had requested the delivery to be done at a particular time within the allotted time slot and the iChef people were extremely courteous and obliged to my request. 
2. The ingredients were fresh, of top quality and were well packed. No leakage or spillage.
3. The recipe card has pictures and was easy to follow. Even a beginner can cook up a fine gourmet meal with such simple and well explained instructions.
4. The recipe kit serves 2 but the outcome was more than enough for my friend and me. I had some left overs for my mid night hunger pangs!
5. At Rs. 250 totally VFM.
6. With things made so simple, you can expect gourmet home cooked meals from the men in your life! A good idea for the upcoming Valentine's day? ;)

While this process makes cooking simpler, chopping vegetables can still be a hassle for some who really do not have the time after coming back home from a hectic office schedule. It would be great if iChef could introduce chopped and prepped veggies at a minimal additional amount. Further, introduction of some Indian dishes and half baked chapatis would do wonders!

Other than that, I was extremely satisfied with my iChef experience and I know I will be ordering from them quite regularly. 

You can visit the iChef website and check out the gourmet meal that you wish to cook next :)

(The author ordered from the website anonymously and paid for her own meal.)

My Comfort Food

Hello hello hello! So I have been missing, hibernating and undercover(s) (literally) for a while now, at least as far as the blog is concerned. Not to say that I haven’t been gorging on scrumptious food now and then but the lazy bum in me has just not been penning it down. And could that be because nothing was as inspiring to be written about? Let me think. No. it’s just me- I am lazy. However, I have finally come out of my shell and I am ready to bombard the blog, for the benefit of all my lovely readers, with some delicious stories.

Winters are here, whatever little we get in Bombay (Nothing compared to the winters in the North. Nothing!), and the mood is all set. Spicy food is always a plus in winters because of the heat it generates. And here, keeping in line with the lovely weather, I give to you the tale of me cooking this amazing, simple, colourful, fiery and delectable Super Junglee Chicken Curry. This one is specifically for all the mirchi lovers but of course, the spice can be adjusted for those with delicate palates.  Another fuss free dish that I love, and which turns out extremely tasty is our very own, close to heart, and comfort food for many- Paneer Bhurji.

Both the dishes are extremely easy to prepare and are well suited for someone to inaugurate their inner chef with!

Super Junglee Chicken Curry

This dish is extremely close to my heart because it was the first chicken dish prepared by me without any help/ supervision from my mom or any other person. It was just one of those times when I really wanted to eat the ghar ka chicken curry with rice and well when you’re staying over 1500 kilometers away from your home then no, calling up mommy and requesting chicken curry is not an option. So I just decided to give this recipe that I had found online a shot. I mean how difficult could it be right? Right! It is extremely simple. You can actually read a book or watch your favourite movie side by side or even chit chat on your phone while this dish is being prepared. Trust me.

Let’s get started!

This dish serves 2-3 persons.

Ingredients:

Skinless Chicken (on the bone)- ½ kg (washed and cleaned)

Oil- 3 tbsp

Fennel Seeds / Saunf - 2 tsp

Red Onions  - 2 large thinly sliced

Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tbsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp

Garam Masala Powder - 2 tsp

Curry leaves – 2 springs

Tomato-4 chopped

Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat the oil in a pressure cooker on medium flame and once heated, add the fennel seeds/ saunf.
• Once the fennel seeds have crackled add the onions and saute for about 5 minutes.
• When the onions have been sautéed well, add in the ginger garlic paste and mix well.
•  Next add in the salt and all the spice powders. Mix well.
• Throw in the chopped tomatoes. The tomatoes can be roughly or finely chopped  depending on the type of texture you prefer. Throw in the curry leaves as well and cook till the tomatoes turn mushy.
  
• Once the tomatoes have become soft add in the chicken pieces. Toss well in the masala.
• Now cover the pressure cooker and let it cook for 3 whistles. (This is the time you can read a book or do something else on the side).
• After the 3 whistles, lower the flame and cook for 15 minutes on a low flame.
• Switch off the flame and let the pressure go all by itself. 
• After opening the pressure cooker add the coriander leaves and mix well.
• Serve with rice or roti.

Paneer Bhurji

Simple vegetarian comfort food- that’s what Paneer Bhurji means to me. It is a popular north Indian dish. Bhurji means scrambled and in this dish the main ingredient is scrambled cottage cheese. I remember there used to be days at home when I would insist on Paneer Bhurji being made if something that I wasn’t too fond of had been prepared for a meal. The fact that it’s simple, quick and easy is an added bonus.

This dish serves 2-3 persons.

Ingredients:

Paneer (Cottage Cheese) - 200 gms, crumbled

Red Onion- 1 medium sized, finely chopped

Tomato- 1 large or 2 medium sized finely chopped

Green Chillies- 1 or 2, finely chopped

Ginger Garlic paste- 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder or haldi- ¼ tsp

Red Chilli Powder- ½ tsp

Garam Masala Powder- ¼ tsp

Cumin Seeds or Jeera- ½ tsp

Oil/ Ghee/ Butter - 1.5 tbsp

Salt as required

Coriander/dhania leaves for garnishing (optional)

Method:

• First and foremost, crumble the paneer/cottage cheese and keep aside. If you are using frozen paneer (Amul or any other brand), take it out of the packet and soak it in luke warm water for a few minutes. This will defrost the paneer and make it soft thus making it easy to crumble.  (Note- The paneer can be crumbled by chopping, grating or mashing with hands. Out of all these methods, mashing the paneer with hands would be the best so as to retain the soft texture of the paneer. I would insist you do that. Get your hands messy. It’s worth it!)
• Heat the oil/ ghee or butter in a pan and once heated, add the cumin seeds.
• Once the cumin seeds have browned add the onions and sauté for a few minutes.
• Do not let the onions cook for a long time. As soon as they turn translucent, add the ginger garlic paste and the chopped green chillies. Saute the ingredients till the raw aroma of the ginger-garlic goes away.
• Then add the tomatoes and cook till they become soft. Adding a pinch of salt at this stage will help the tomatoes cook faster.
• Once the tomatoes have become soft, add all the dry spice powders - turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala powder. Mix well.
• At this stage add the crumbled paneer and let it cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Do not cook the paneer for a long time as it would lose its soft texture.
• Lastly add chopped coriander leaves to paneer bhurji and mix.
• Serve the delicious and colorful paneer bhurji with toast/ roti/ paranthas or pav. I served mine with fresh and warm pav :) !

Needless to say, both these dishes make me think of home and home food! Try them out and surprise someone :)