[Aroy]

From time immemorial enlightened rulers looked after their subjects. When the times were bad, a lot of food was distributed. The reason was simple, no population means there is no ruler. Even the normal Jamindars ensured that there was enough food and work during bad times.

What has happened today is that we lead an extremely sedate life, and thanks to abundant availability of food (and finances to sustain our appetite) we keep eating and get unhealthy. Time was when a walk of a couple of miles was normal in our day to day life, but today, you will take your vehicle out at the smallest pretext. So there is every reason to be obese. That your life expectancy has increased, is mainly due to medical science. I have experienced people as young as 40, from all walks of life consuming five to ten pills a day and the local record was my neighbour who had at least 40 a day

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

.... Anyone who went to primary & middle school in 60s was given education on health and diet.
....

Sorry, I cannot agree on this.
I attended middle and senior school right through the sixties and primary in the late fifties.
Primary: Upto class 3: CJM, Baroda. Yes, it was co-ed till class 3.
Middle: St. Xaviers, Delhi, class 4 onwards.

Neither taught anything about health and diet! Not a word!
This phenomenon, in fact, began a quarter of a century later, and then only in very few schools!

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

... Middle: St. Xaviers, Delhi, class 4 onwards.

Neither taught anything about health and diet! Not a word! ...

Understandable at St.Xaviers Delhi, Mathur-sab! No offense but, that school (and similar ones like St. Columbus, DPS etc.) assumed everyone is ... err ... well fed! I studied in a Municipal school and then a Govt school Delhi in the 60s. Both had it, maybe because the Govt. felt the students needed it.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

At the macro level, the brain switches off the desire to eat when the stomach reaches capacity. Only gluttons overcome this signal and eat more.

Sedentary

Some bodies have a better sugar to fat conversion efficiency - those people put on fat more than others IF they have a sedentary lifestyle.

I think we are saying the same stuff.
Sedentary people DO require less calories than physically active ones.
And if a sedentary person starts eating like Michael Phelp (12000 kcalories per day), he will turn to a tub of lard in short time.

If he also entails in intelligent weight progression training along with this manical intake, the gains will be muscles as well as lard. This happens even with the naturally thin skinny ones with extreme fast metabolism. (known as bulking up in bodybuilding and/or moving up in weight classes in weightlifting)

A sedentary person unfortunately, due to his brain preset programming, instead of eating less than a physically active one (perhaps his own childhood/teenage as a set point) actually eats far more.



I may have gone overboard on the food subsidy part, but I did not mean the Re1/kg rice during elections. I was talking about subsidized fertilizers, subsidized power, subsidized seeds, farm equipment, loans etc ...



Which brings us to the most important point:

Originally Posted by alpha1

So two weeks back was in Delhi, and visited the Old Delhi Karim's.

What I could fathom was that the stew is fried (in tons of oil/ghee, not boiled in gallons of water), contains ample amount of onions.

There are no powdered spices (which you can make out by seeing the microscopic floater in the gravy oil). Whole spices which I could see: coriander seeds (tons), cumin seeds, black pepper, black cardamom ... I was half expecting cloves, but didn't find any.

I could see the chilli seeds, but quite frankly I don't recall whether it was red or green variety. Few garlic pieces here and there (but not browned - hence must've been put after the onions).

Anyone up for the decoding? Unfortunately for me, I don't know when I would be able to visit next ...

From what I know, Al-Jawahar (next to Karim's) also has a very similar stew.
So do quite a few caterers in Delhi.

[audioholic]

How can this thread be inactive? Everyone started diet? Or sunday kitchen is dishing masterpieces?

I am bored of eating tortilla or Nacho chips with the usual dips. So I want to try out topped nacho kinda stuff. Currently I have a rather simple recipe, keeping in mind it should be veg. Request members to add or subtract stuff and help make the result better.

I intend to do this:

1. Finely chopped onions + jalapeno + little tomato + chilli
2. Add some Salsa mix and red pepper sauce to the above mixture to add flavour but at the same time quantity should be as less as possible.
3. Spread the chips on a plate and upon that add the mixture. Add grated cheese on top along with some seasoning and chilli flakes.
4. Put it in the oven until the cheese melts completely. Would grilling be better or microwave?


What corrections are required or and additions? I prefer a tangy, spicy taste.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by audioholic

.... Would grilling be better or microwave?
....

Grilling.
Microwaves will take away the crunch from the nachos.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by audioholic

.........
4. Put it in the oven until the cheese melts completely. Would grilling be better or microwave?
.......

Microwave will make them soggy. Best is to use an OTG which has a grill element at top, so that the top is grilled. You mix chopped garlic with cheese to get extra tang.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

Grilling.
Microwaves will take away the crunch from the nachos.

Originally Posted by Aroy

Microwave will make them soggy. Best is to use an OTG which has a grill element at top, so that the top is grilled. You mix chopped garlic with cheese to get extra tang.

Point noted. The last thing I would like is them becoming soggy.

Not a major fan of garlic but not a hater either. And since I don't have an otg an oven grill would do I feel.

[quadra]

Cooking chicken in a convection microwave - Help required

Type of chicken: skinless, boneless
Auto-cook menu time: Around 15-18 minutes.

Prepwork:
Marinate chicken with curd, 1 tbsp oil, salt & pepper as per taste, other spices, half lemon juice, 2 tbsp curd. Put that in the fridge for an hours time.

Actual cooking:
The option is to either use a high-rack OR Rotisserie provided. With high-rack, you have to halt half-way and turn the pieces. With Rotisserie, you turn on the micro and forget about it. Via the auto-cook menu, i leave the chicken in the hands of technology.

The problem is that whichever way i cook the chicken, the end result is pretty dried up chicken. It is tender (i can break it easily) but very dry to taste. How can i make sure the chicken retains its juice? What am i missing here?

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by quadra

Cooking chicken in a convection microwave - Help required

Type of chicken: skinless, boneless
Auto-cook menu time: Around 15-18 minutes.

Prepwork:
Marinate chicken with curd, 1 tbsp oil, salt & pepper as per taste, other spices, half lemon juice, 2 tbsp curd. Put that in the fridge for an hours time.

Actual cooking:
The option is to either use a high-rack OR Rotisserie provided. With high-rack, you have to halt half-way and turn the pieces. With Rotisserie, you turn on the micro and forget about it. Via the auto-cook menu, i leave the chicken in the hands of technology.

The problem is that whichever way i cook the chicken, the end result is pretty dried up chicken. It is tender (i can break it easily) but very dry to taste. How can i make sure the chicken retains its juice? What am i missing here?

1. Marinate the chicken with extra salt for at least 24 hours. The salt will make the meat moist
2. Best is chicken with skin. If skinless, then fry it for a couple of minutes to seal the surface
3. In rotisserie, use only the heating element and not microwave. Baste the chicken every ten minutes with either the marinade or butter. This will keep the chicken moist.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by quadra

... i leave the chicken in the hands of technology. ...

Big mistake!

Originally Posted by quadra

... The problem is that whichever way i cook the chicken, the end result is pretty dried up chicken. It is tender (i can break it easily) but very dry to taste. ...

DON'T use microwave to cook chicken. Microwaves heat water molecules which ultimately migrate to the surface and evaporate - leaving the meat dry. The best method is ...

Originally Posted by Aroy

... 3. In rotisserie, use only the heating element and not microwave. Baste the chicken every ten minutes with either the marinade or butter. This will keep the chicken moist.

Originally Posted by Aroy

1. Marinate the chicken with extra salt for at least 24 hours. The salt will make the meat moist ...

Quite the opposite - marinating with extra salt will actually draw out water from the meat.

There is a Chinese dish in which a whole chicken is baked covered with coarse salt. The chicken stays moist as after a point of time the heat seals the meat, at which time enough salt would have migrated into the meat. After breaking open the caked-on salt (it is discarded), the skin of the chicken is dry to touch and crisp.

[quadra]

Originally Posted by Aroy

1. Marinate the chicken with extra salt for at least 24 hours. The salt will make the meat moist
2. Best is chicken with skin. If skinless, then fry it for a couple of minutes to seal the surface
3. In rotisserie, use only the heating element and not microwave. Baste the chicken every ten minutes with either the marinade or butter. This will keep the chicken moist.

1. 24hrs is a lot of time. I dont think i have that much patienece.
2. Point taken. Skinless it is next time.
3. I am using the auto-cook menu so i dont recall right now if it uses just the oven & / microwave together. Basting is a good idea - Point taken

Originally Posted by DerAlte

DON'T use microwave to cook chicken. Microwaves heat water molecules which ultimately migrate to the surface and evaporate - leaving the meat dry. The best method is ...

So what you guys are saying is that use the rotisserie combined with manual oven mode (timer) instead of the auto-cook menu?

Meanwhile, found this great video on youtube for cooking tandoori in microwave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSFvKKu_WvU

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

Big mistake!

DON'T use microwave to cook chicken. Microwaves heat water molecules which ultimately migrate to the surface and evaporate - leaving the meat dry. The best method is ...


Quite the opposite - marinating with extra salt will actually draw out water from the meat.

There is a Chinese dish in which a whole chicken is baked covered with coarse salt. The chicken stays moist as after a point of time the heat seals the meat, at which time enough salt would have migrated into the meat. After breaking open the caked-on salt (it is discarded), the skin of the chicken is dry to touch and crisp.

1. Microwaving the food is similar to boiling it, except that the boiling heats from outside where as the microwave heats from inside. To get best results use a pot with a lid, so that the steam is contained. I cook fish that way - Hilsa with just oil and salt marinade, or prawns with garlic and salt. The results are heavenly.

2. Brining is an age old method of producing moist and tender meat. Dont ask me how. While making HAM the salt leaches the water out, but while marinating mutton or chicken the salt in the marinade makes the meat extra juicy. In fact most of the marinades have quite some salt in them.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by Aroy

1. Microwaving ... I cook fish that way - Hilsa with just oil and salt marinade, or prawns with garlic and salt. The results are heavenly. ...

Power setting (%) and time?

Originally Posted by Aroy

... 2. Brining ...

Brining would be completely different from marinating. Immersing the whole chicken / pieces in brine will bring in the salt into the flesh by osmosis, without bring out the liquids. One can't make a completely liquid marinade, enough to cover all the meat.

Originally Posted by Aroy

... In fact most of the marinades have quite some salt in them.

It is the salt quantity that is the key. If one puts more than a certain amount (empirical), water is drawn out. Works the same way with vegetables. That's what is done with karela to reduce bitterness, with radish to reduce pungency, and with onions while frying to bring out the liquids and fry faster.

[bblost]

On a recent visit to Chennai, I found a bamboo steamer. Today I finally got to use it.

I heated some water in a kadai. When it was boiling, I placed the steamer on it. I had kept some cauliflower florets and carrot slices in it.

Exactly 8 minutes later, I removed the steamer from water and left it open.

The cauliflower was slightly overcooked.
But it tasted very good. Did not add any salt or pepper.

It was good as it was. In fact my daughter loved it a lot.