Hindustan Times
15 people for dinner tonight? No problem
If I were to be told this morning that 15 people are arriving for dinner tonight, it wouldn’t faze me or my wife (I’m sure she can’t claim otherwise and sound uncool).
It doesn’t matter if it’s a working day. I just had a dinner for 15 last week actually, on a Tuesday, a day after returning from a week in Bombay and restarting the kitchen. It was quite a breeze-as it usually is.
Here’s the secret we’ve evolved over the years: the jhatka or quick, improvised dinner (Readers of this blog may recall my unique kitchen qualification: I am a jhatka cook).
It’s snappy. It’s fun. Guests will love it. You have my guarantee.
Most importantly, it doesn’t take much effort-if you organise your thoughts before you start cooking.
Our dinners are our own efforts. There is no help at home when guests arrive, and I have given up my pre-marriage habit of making people wash their own plates (you can’t blame me; up to 25 people were often fed at my bachelor pad in one go).
We’re happy to share with you our secrets for the jhatka dinner. Your guests will marvel, believing this is the result of much effort and many hours of slaving, while you chortle with satisfaction at the ease of it all. It’s no surprise that our house has always been a meeting point for our friends, who know how quickly we put together the jhatka dinner.
Step 1: Fix the menu. This is most important to your peace of mind and ability to pull off the jhatka dinner. Keep it simple. Focus on a few dishes because (a) Quality always scores over quantity, and (b) this will allow you to not only have a great meal but to enjoy the party. So, make sure the main cooking is done either in the morning or before the guests arrive. Leave only what must be made fresh for the end. As you will see, to us, that is only one 5-minute entrée.
Step 2: Decide the ingredients and do all the chopping, peeling and washing. This takes the most time-if you have help at home, get this done. If not, you’ll have to put in the effort. My wife and I divide these chores, and this makes it really quite easy. We’re done in less than an hour.
Step 3: Get everything else ready. Ice? (the ice-cube holder in my freezer is always full, as are five ice trays) Check. Cold drinks? We always keep a big bottle each of Coke and Limca and a pack of orange juice. Wine? Check. Other booze? Check.
Step 4: Snacks. Now, I know many people love snacks, but we aren’t great believers. A few chips or pistas is all we put out-sometimes kakori and chicken kababs ordered from a nearby tyre shop (which by night turns into a kebab supplier). We would rather our guests enjoy dinner, and I’ve found that dinner is consumed in inverse proportion to the snacks served.
Step 5: Don’t delay dinner. This is key to your ability to prepare a true jhatka dinner. It would defeat the purpose if you were utterly pooped, right? We serve dinner reasonably early (by 10 pm, early by Delhi standards), and the party has never suffered. For some reason, most people believe what is now an urban legend: Guests are ready to leave after eating. And so they delay dinner to a point too late to appreciate or truly enjoy the food. The fact is that most people I know actually want a reasonably early dinner, and they increasingly say so. At our last week’s dinner, people polished off the dinner, which put them in a very mellow and agreeable mood, then got back to some serious drinking. I had to finally close down the party at half past midnight on a working Tuesday.
And now, the menu for a typical jhatka dinner:
1. Salad: Always made with fresh lettuce. Iceberg and rocket leaves are a good combination. Remember to wash thoroughly; we don’t want worms in the brain, do we? It’s washed and either put out to dry while we get ready for work or spun dry in a salad spinner. This is the wife’s domain. In the evening, she grates parmesan cheese over the leaves, adds olives (sometimes), a few onion rings that have been soaked in vinegar, and cherry tomatoes (washed and kept ready in the morning). The dressing is standard: a little olive oil (2 tbsps perhaps), an equal quantity of good vinegar (red, white or balsamic), freshly crushed pepper, a dash of mustard, 2 crushed garlic pieces. We usually shake it up in a small glass bottle and pour and toss just as dinner is announced. Last week, she added roasted pine nuts.
2. Fish curry or roast chicken (depending on who’s coming, what’s available and if you’re serving kababs for snacks): If it’s fish curry, it’s almost always my 10-minute Goan fish curry. You can read that recipe here. I half-cook it in the morning, so that it cooks fully when I simply heat it on the gas in the evening. Or I make it fresh, since it’s so quick. It it’s roast chicken, that calls for a little more effort and monitoring while the party is on. I do the marinating in the morning: Wash and clean a full chicken, with the skin. Pierce the skin, stud it with cloves. Rub it with any kind of robust spices (I roast and pound my own in the morning-usually a combo of whole dried chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, sesame seeds, big, black cardamom, bay leaf and really anything else I can lay my hands on), salt and some Old Monk rum. I put the chicken into a prewarmed oven about an hour before the first guest arrives, and let it roast for over two hours, frequently turning and basting it in its own juices. On some evenings, when I’ve tended to overdo the rum and coke in my own glass, I may have missed some basting and turning, but we usually end up with a nicely browned bird with the meat coming off the bone.
3. Shikampuri kababs: Our part-time cook who comes in for an hour on some mornings usually makes these, or we get them from outside. All we need to do is microwave them before serving. With simpler meals, we get by without these too, keeping it to one non-veg.
4. One plain, earthy, tasty veggie dish: Usually rajma made the previous day or that morning by the cook. If I have the time, I tend to make an Avadhi makkai khumb (mushrooms with corn), the recipe purloined from Prashad: Cooking with Indian Masters, an excellent book written in 1986 by the redoubtable Jiggs Kalra with recipes sourced from some of India’s finest old-fashioned moustachioed male chefs.
5. The stir-fry: Simple, quick and flavourful, this is always a hit. With everything cleaned and chopped, I toss it up exactly 5 minutes before dinner is served. I will do a detailed post on the wonders of the stir fry next week, but very quickly, all you need is some fresh garlic (or even preprepared giner-garlic paste), broccoli or zucchini or both, one yellow and one red bell pepper (you can even avoid these), mushrooms and spring onions (if you want). I heat a minimal quantity of olive oil in my trusty old wok, sputter some sesame or black-onion (kalonji) seeds or both with dried red chillies snapped into half, then throw in the garlic or ginger-garlic paste, then the broccoli (and mushrooms if you’re using them), then the zucchini. I usually stir fry on high heat, adding dashes of red-wine vinegar (or the wine that I am drinking) and soya sauce to keep it moist and sizzling. Add salt. Sometimes I add a little chilli/jeera/dhania powder or a dash of whatever spicy sauce is at hand (used South African peri peri last week). Add the peppers for the final minute, keep tossing, and round off with any dried or fresh herbs (oregano, rosemary are my preferences).
6. A flavoured rice: I sauté sliced onions (two for two big cups of rice), add ginger-garlic, add two sliced tomatoes, mix in normal Indian spices (chilli/turmeric/coriander/cumin powder), add pinenuts, salt and washed rice. Mix it well, then remove the whole lot to the rice cooker and keep it ready too cook. You can do all this before guests arrive or in the morning. I add water, and 45 minutes before dinner, I only need to switch on the cooker.
7. A raita (if you want): All I do is grate 2-3 cucumbers, squeeze out the water, add yoghurt after whisking (the plain market variety from plastic containers) and draw three lines across-in turmeric powder, chilli powder and jeera powder.
8. Freshly baked bread from a bakery. Or if there is someone to make and keep them ready, plain parathas. But you need to heat them up on a stove while simultaneously heating the curry, watching the chicken or doing the stir fry and heating the rajma or kababs in the microwave. We often avoid parathas. Our experience is that few parathas get eaten, everyone choosing the flavoured rice instead, with fish curry or rajma.
That’s about it, really.
So, you see, we actually only make only one dish from scratch while the guests are around-the stir-fry, which takes 5 minutes. Sometimes the fish, which takes 10. And invariably, I find some guests winding up in the kitchen to give me company. So, you’re never away from the party.
Try the jhatka dinner. It works.
(7 votes, average: 4.14 out of 5)
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Nice and simple !!!
We do “Jhatka” dinners as well the menu differs from the cuisine of the day and depends on the guests too what they would really like !!!
Definitely quality over quantity rules !!!
you can do a simple Chana Bhatura with flavoured rice as well…… simple and not time consuming !!!
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 6th, 2009 at 11:40 am
But don’t the bhaturas take time to make Shalini?
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On the contrary, Samar, knead the dough at least 2 hrs prior to when you expect your first guest. Then its just a matter of frying them when you annouce dinner open. Also, try pav bhaji…make the bhaji in the morning and the paav’s can be procured from your local supermart. Add mix veg (optional), raita to the menu and bingo…u’re through with the main course. Well, ive tried this combo…and it really worked. Cheers!
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 7th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Hmmm. I am no fan of pav bhaji and bhaturas, but the wife is, and I guess people like them, so okay I will try all this. Thanks Puneet!
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Now I want to run out and take a taxi to the airport and think of the dinner all the way in the flight…after 11 months of dodging boiled cabbage drowned in vinegar
And I’m going to print this out for the day I want to impress the Beijingers who will only wish to modify Step 5 to … 6 pm …
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 7th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
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What no dessert! Also, Samar, give us the tyre shop number please for kebabs.
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 7th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Oh, ok. Here it is: 9810764449 or 9818989786. It’s called Aap Ki Khatir at night. Address: B-781, Lodhi Road, Hazrat Nizamuddin. The kakoris are divine.
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My dinners are similar… I second the salad and the flavored rice. Another yummy raitha consists of beating curd with crushed garlic, salt, honey, a pich of jeera powder, and a few drops of lemon juice. Sprinkle chilli powder on top. I also have this thing I do where I buy chicken thighs, marinate them in balsamic vinegar, oil, salt, garlic and whatever dried herb I happen to have on hand. Then about 20 min before dinner stick ‘em in the oven at 200 deg (if you have one) or pan fry over low heat until dry. Arrange on a platter and strew pretty garnishes of coriander leaves over it.
Namita: dessert at my place is usually icecream or rosogolla from mishti.
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 7th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Will use your raita next time Suman. Thanks
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Well we at Nirvana Country (Gurgaon) have these Jhatka Dinners all the time. Try the bar-be-que option too! Its great and time tested and mostly delicious. We get together on the terrace, light the fire and get going. All we have to arrange is marinated chicken, lamb, fish and prawns. Some lettuce salad to go for it. Stock enough beer, wine and single malt. No body is hungry and everybody is eating all the time. For those who still have some place left in their stomachs, there always some dal, rice and some vegetable.
Enjoy!
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 7th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Ah yes, the barbeque. Always a hit. It’s just that at home it takes quite some preparation to do at the last minute with no help. So, what’s Nirvana Country Amrendra?
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Sonal Reply:
March 7th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
must be one of those high rise apartments!
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I guess the key word here is PLANNING. I love hosting get togethers and enjoy the process of putting the evening together. I think any host who is good at planning will pretty much do all thyat is mentioned…..just a small input here….i think biryani and raita is one of the best quick and easy dinners serve.
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 7th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Biryani and raita is indeed the quickest Smriti. We do that sometimes, and it always works. It’s just that so many people think biryani is, er, unhealthy so they tend to eat not too much of it. Have you had that experience?
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okay instead of going to the airport i just went to the kitchen with your rice recipe…and it worked out super!!! and i haven’t hauled the great indian pressure cooker to Beijing…made it in a battered pan covered with a plate stolen from my mom’s kitchen : )
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 7th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
And that’s all you need! Glad to hear it turned out fine, very simple isn’t it?
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Hiiiii
Someday you must discover the easiest to cook Bengali dish — the Hilsa in crushed mustard (yellow) with a just a little poppyseed paste mixed. Gets done in 10-15 minutes — faster if you microwave. If your guests can manage the bones — there nothing else with more wow
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 9th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Suman, will do! Excellent idea
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Samar, thoroughly enjoyed your blog. The stir-fry is a great recipe. Thanks. Consider starting a restaurant anytime soon or writing a cook book? Cheers.
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 7th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
I ALWAYS wanted to start a restaurant when I was in my 30s. Then I realised it was too much hard work, especially being there night after night. Already, being a journalist means your evenings are shot to pieces; this would only make it worse.
As for a cook book, I just don’t know enough, I must confess. What would I call it? Jhatka cooking?
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Great Samar. I do a lot of these quickies as well. Some things I always keep in stock and have found useful for a quick dish are Thai curry pastes – red or green or a Penang curry paste – all available in the supermarket -and canned coconut milk. Can always whip up a veg or non-veg version of a Thai curry in a jiffy. I also get my cook to make fish cutlets (sole or bhetki) or mutton chop (with keema filling in an outer layer of potatoes and bread crumb coating) on Sundays and freeze them. Can be taken out and fried anytime. I also keep sausages in the freezer and if required can make a quick pasta sauce with a bottled Ragu or Arrabiata which I open up and warm up with fried onion, garlic, sausages, pepper, herbs and parmesan. Takes zero-effort.
Incidentally, in our house jhatka goes by the name of zero-effort. My Dad says – we’ll come for lunch but make sure everything is zero-effort!
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 7th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Thai curry pastes work wonderfully too. Glad you mentioned them.
Your zero-effort effort sounds delicious.
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 7th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Hey everyone, you know what? We should all get together one day and have potluck. Everyone bring one jhatka/zero-effort dish….hmmm?
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TSinha Reply:
March 9th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Absolutely! Lets do it. I am based in Delhi though. But am always keen to have a dinner do at the drop of a hat. Let us know how and when…
wife Reply:
March 7th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Samar used to make a mindblowing thai-konkan curry (fish and veggie versions) with these paste packets and some kokum.
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what a post,..even i do jhatka cokin just like u,..:-)if u can spare a min or two,..do go through my food blog,…will appreciate ur feedback,..and now i wont miss ur single post,..i guess first time at ur spacend ya i am goin to try zucchini stir fry,.
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wife Reply:
March 8th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
welcome! and yes, i will
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Hey , but do we get all this in supermarkets in India, I mean iceberg lettuce, pine nuts and balsamic vinegar, zucchini, well….I haven;t been back home in 2 years so my question may seema bit odd and I belong to lucknow, where getting red and yellow peppers was not very easy, so just wondering.
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 9th, 2009 at 9:05 am
I don’t know about Lucknow Reena but I find them everywhere in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, the three cities I am most familiar with. They have spread even to kirana stores. I guess you just have to look and ask around. Good luck!
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Hi Samar,
Lovely article. Please share the receipe of Avadhi makkai khumb. sounds very interesting!!!
the concept of jhatka dinner is pretty good specially i today’s fast paced life. i also do few veg receipes, very easy to cook and taste divine. I agree with the above suggestion. lets have a zero effort pot lucj sometime. we all can share and enjoy different receipes!!!!
Regards,
Jaya
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 12th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Jaya, I will certainly post the makkai khumb recipe but next week. It’s at home in Delhi, and I’m in Bangalore right now. How about sending me one easy, veggie recipe. It will certainly help score points with my wife, a vegetarian.
And yes, I will get down to organising that pot luck.
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Hi Samar,
Lovely article. Please share the receipe of Avadhi makkai khumb. sounds very interesting!!!
the concept of jhatka dinner is pretty good specially i today’s fast paced life. i also do few veg receipes, very easy to cook and taste divine. I agree with the above suggestion. lets have a zero effort pot luck sometime. we all can share and enjoy different receipes!!!!
Regards,
Jaya
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Hi, here you go!!!!
honey chilli potatoes
Ingredients
1. 9 potatoes (peeled and cut into flat long pieces as for french fries)
2. salt to taste (1 tsp level salt)
3. 1/2 tsp red chilli powder or deghi mirch
4. 1/4 tsp crushed garlic
5. 2 tsp tomato ketchup
6. a pinch of orange color(edible)
7. also,
8. 5-6 tsp maida
9. oil for frying
10. 2tsp oil
11. 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
12. 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
13. 2 tsp vineger
14. 3 tsp red chilli sauce(make it 2 tsp if want it less spicy)
15. 6 tsp tomato ketchup
16. 1 tsp honey
17. 1/2 tsp salt
How to make honey chilli potatoes
1. mix all the ingredients till no. 6 then add maida and it .fry the potatoes till golden brown in smoky hot oil.keep the fried potatoes aside.
2. heat 2 tsp oil , add garlic (slow fire) , red chilli powder,and stir it.
3, add vineger,red chilli sauce,tomato ketchup, and cook on high flame for a min.
4. add honey and cook for a min.
5. add potatoes , salt and cook till sauces are throughly coated on potatoes and it is almost dry. then turn off the flame..
garnishing:
1. spread potatoes in a serving dish giving it oval shape and spread some dry roasted sesame seeds over it(a very easy way to garnish) or
2. take a capsicum and clean it from inside and place it in the middle of the dish with a small candle lighting inside it n potatoes spread around it.
Bon Apetite
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 16th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Thanks Jaya! I will try this for the wife.
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Hi Samar,
Have cooked fish today for the first time using your Goan Fish Curry recipe…I hope my husband( whose Mom was a Saraswat) approves!
Brilliant blog…Simple,straightforward and about something that we Indians in particular are so passionate about…
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 27th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Vandana, sorry, saw your comment only now. Did your husband approve?
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Vandana Reply:
March 27th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Oh yes! He did….Great recipe and so simple to make! Please keep them coming!
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i totally loved ur blog and will surely try out the goan fish curry u mentioned..sounds yummy and i am feeling hungry already!!!
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Glad to hear that.
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Dear Samar,
I am a keen foodie and I cook meals (non veg) for 2-3 people only. Your blog has broardned my cullinary skills significantly. Please suggest bacis must haves in any kitchen, so that geating in to the cooks shoes becomes easy. By the way my wifey is veggie too
Regards,
Saugat
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Samar Halarnkar Reply:
March 31st, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Makes it so much more interesting, doesn’t it, when both partners are from different culinary worlds?
As for the basics Saugat, hmmm, let me see:
1. A non-stick pan, a wok, a kadhai, a cook and serve
2. Couple of wooden spoons, couple of flat, metal ones
3. Basic spices, powders and whole
4. 2-3 types of oil: Olive, vegetable, sesame (til)
5. A willingness to experiment, fail, try again,
have fun!
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Have you ever been to Green Chick Chop in alaknanda? The smilies and chicken samosas are relishing and it makes Jhatka Dinner a complete affaire
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I was a regular to the Green Chick shop in Green Park in the late 1990s. Great place, as you say, to pick up accompaniments for a jhatka dinner.
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and now i feel like cooking!
There is a desi version for the salad dressing
you should enjoy it (even if you don’t, let me know, both ways)
all you need are the same vegetables, could try carrots and lots of tomatoes too
well chopped, small pieces, so that guests don’t grunt about the carrots
..put all the veggies together,
and now,
the best part
douse two-three spoons of beaten curd over the vegetables (or more, depending on the servings) , squeeze lemon and sprinkle pepper..pptaaaah (tangy for sure) !
still waiting for the Avadhi makkai khumb..go on, am dying to cook it
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oo, i forgot to mention radish..
they taste good to, crunchy , provided they are not bitter
.
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