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India – Mumbai Blogg https://www.mumbaiblogg.com Tips, Tricks and Things Not to Miss in Mumbai Thu, 10 Jun 2021 13:14:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.25 https://www.mumbaiblogg.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/cropped-dpa-stp-140166-32x32.jpg India – Mumbai Blogg https://www.mumbaiblogg.com 32 32 Country Captain Chicken— Easy and Quick Parsi Recipe. https://www.mumbaiblogg.com/food/19th-century-parsi-recipes/country-captain-parsi-style-india/ https://www.mumbaiblogg.com/food/19th-century-parsi-recipes/country-captain-parsi-style-india/#comments Thu, 03 May 2018 07:18:36 +0000 http://www.mumbaiblogg.com/?p=1260 Country Captain from India, An Easy and Quick Parsi Recipe.

The Feature Image at the top of this Recipe of  ‘Country Captain Chicken’ is taken from Humayun Hassain’s third and last series of Anglo Indian Cooking. The Recipe itself is from my Family recipes as handed down.

THIS RECIPE WAS ADDED TO THE FAMILY RECIPE BOOK AROUND THE SAME TIME IN MID-1850S  WHEN THE DISH WAS IN ITS INITIAL PRISTINE STAGE.

LATER VERSIONS ARE SPOKEN OF,  AT THE END OF THE RECIPE.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE SIMPLICITY, TASTE AND SPEEDY COOKING OF THE ORIGINAL RECIPE.

COUNTRY CAPTAIN — A Parsi Chicken Recipe from India

Country Captain, really!! I laughed when I first heard the name. A friend asked me whether I had heard of this dish. I rolled my eyes. “Country Cousin Chicken is supposed to be very tasty”, she informed me, “but very difficult to make; and I want the recipe”. I let it pass then. Imagined it was yet another meat and Masala thing.

When I asked them at home and got to taste the dish. I wanted more. Unlike on the wood-stoves, today with the mixer and gas and pressure cookers it is very easy to make. Amongst the Parsis, the Country Captain Chicken does not contain the curry powder and other spices, nuts and dry fruits thrown in by the European and especially American chefs. It is more simple and more tasty . The name suggests a very tasty (deserving of a salute), straight laced  quick and easy cooking out in the country where facilities were few and far between. USA and a few others claim origin of the dish, but Could it have been a Parsi’s dry sense of humour ?! Country Cousin!!

I have changed the weights and measures of yesteryear (Ser and Ratal and Tola) to the metric system we use today. The recipe I give you is noted in the mid- 1800s about the time the Country Captain Chicken gained popularity and  traversed the three Oceans – Indian, Atlantic and Pacific- to the Southern USA via the British Isle, where it changed shape and colour and so, the flavours and became quite elaborate and developed a completely different and more spicy character, Arcadian in Nature (today called “Cajun Cuisine’) .

Some weights prescribed are most picturesque. The amount of saffron is described as ‘equal to the weight of a 2 Anna coin’.

After sharing this recipe with you a week ago, curiosity gained me a few interesting facts about this recipe with an  unusual name. I thought I’d share these with you and so, edited the publication, today. Country Cousin has had quite a history;  steeped in the romance of sailing ships and exotic trade destinations.  Do check at the end of the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1 young layer, (chicken /duck/ any fowl, young enough to still lay eggs);

2 large or four medium sized onions (preferably white);

450 Gms ghee/ cooking medium of your choice but the taste will change according to the medium used. (The original recipe calls for ghee);

1 heaped teaspoon salt;

COUNTRY CAPTAIN
SAFFRON

5 grams saffron strands;

2 large dry Red Chilies.

METHOD:

Grind the red chilly to powder;

Separately grind the saffron strands;

Slit the fowl down the underside,

Remove all the organs from within;

Wash the chicken clean,

Keep it whole.

Grate  half the quantity of the onions and keep aside;

Cut fine the other half quantity of onions and fry them till golden brown stirring all the while.

Keep aside the fried onions for garnish;

COUNTRY CAPTAIN
ONIONS WHITE AND PINK

Retain the Ghee in the same pot.

 

In the same pot, in the same remaining ghee,

Fry the grated onions till pink,

Add the ground chillies and Saffron to the pinked onions;

Add the fowl and salt;

Fry for a few minutes, sealing the fowl on all sides;

Cover and let the fowl cook;

Add a liter of water, cover and cook;

Stir from time to time and turn the chicken over so it is done on all sides but does not burn.

IF:

cooked in a pressure cooker reduce the quantity of water to 250 ml or as much as you would usually add, depending on the cooker.

Once the fowl is cooked, well done and is moist with a thick gravy say about 100 to 200ml,

Take the whole chicken out of the pot and Sprinkle the fried onions over it.

Serve hot with white crisp bread/ white rice and lettuce and tomato salad.

 

Mystery and Romance of the Country Cousin

By the mid-Nineteenth Century, ‘The Country Cousin’ was a popular enough meal for the recipe to see publication in Miss Leslie’s New Cookery Book in Philadelphia, America in 1857 —- the year of the Indian Sepoy Mutiny. The dish obviously pre-dates the publication of its recipe. In the early 20th century, it was served as part of his Menu by Alessandro Filippini, at Delmonico’s a restaurant on Wall Street, the Country Cousin’s simplicity was upgraded (?) to become a more elaborate ‘Cousin’.

In time, Country Cousin fan, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced General George Patton to the dish who became an instant adherent of the dish and today, two centuries since its origin — in 2000s  — the Country Cousin becoming part of U.S. Army’s Meal, Ready-To-Eat field Rations; all in honour of Patton.

The history of the dish is replete with romance of a “mysterious captain drifted into Savannah, (Georgia) via the spice trade and entrusted his recipe to southern (American) friends”; to “a British sea captain who originally introduced the dish in Charleston”. Savannah has always fought Charleston on claiming the origin of the Country Captain.

Documents also, points to probability of the dissemination of the recipe to the European and American Continents by the ‘country captains’ of Indian Merchant or “country ships” and the staple chicken curry on these trade ships.

In the first, still extant documentation of the recipe in the 1857 publication, Miss Leslie attributes Country Cousin is an “Indian dish and a very easy preparation of curry.” Leslie explains the name “Country Captain” signifies “a captain of native troops (or Sepoys) in the pay of England; their own country being India, they are there called generally the country troops.” Leslie ‘supposed’ the dish was “introduced at English tables by a Sepoy officer.”

Infinite variations stretched from inclusion of orange juice and tomatoes to currants, thyme and Curry Powder; from cooking it dry in a skillet to a curry eaten with rice; from retaining whole to serving it cut up in pieces (Leslie records a full, uncut chicken).

Ultimately, it all boils down to the original 18th Century recipe — Chicken with a few Indian spices including Saffron (variations replace saffron with Turmeric Powder) — and the baroque early American (South) dating from nineteenth and 20 the Centuries (variations include adding white wine, bacon, chicken broth, celery, peanuts, almonds, currants, tomatoes, zucchini, cauliflower, peas, turmeric, mace, allspice, citrus, flour, butter, cream, a full spectrum of Curry ingredients and myriad others and omitting two main ingredients, ginger and saffron).

To demystify the Country Cousin in its place of origin and recipe would be to take away its romance and appeal. Cook it the Parsi way and await the accolades of your family and guests.

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INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICY— FROM CHANAKYA TO MODI https://www.mumbaiblogg.com/mumbai/indias-foreign-policy-chanakya-modi/ https://www.mumbaiblogg.com/mumbai/indias-foreign-policy-chanakya-modi/#comments Thu, 10 Aug 2017 10:32:24 +0000 http://www.mumbaiblogg.com/?p=541 INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICY— FROM CHANAKYA TO MODI

Indian Foreign Policy–an overview by Aparna Pande, Director of the Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia, at Hudson Institute, Washington D.C.

Want to dispel the opinions and views formed on rumours and personal tales about the way India deals with its neighbours and the world? Read the evolution of the India’s Foreign Policy in the book ‘FROM CHANAKYA TO MODI’, by Aparna Pande.  and  student from Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, JNU and Boston University,

India’s foreign policy like that of “Every country’s foreign policy, has an underlying paradigm that explains what has influenced its policy and why that country takes its own unique stand. This paradigm is the product of the nation’s history and its view of self. Leaders, especially those in premier positions for long periods, also shape how a nation sees itself in relation to others”, says Aparna

Aparna Pande’s new book, launched last week at a function at the  Observer Research Foundation on August 5, ,traces the evolution of  India’s Foreign Policy all the way ‘From Chanakya to Modi’ today.

It is a book that Aparna has dreamt of writing for a long, long time and a book that we as individual citizens of India have wanted to read for an equally long time: factual, intelligent, and objective elucidation of India’s position on the globe and in the Global Political World; the events, circumstances and people that caused this position and policy—India’s Foreign Policy.

A book that explains India’s foreign policy to the world and to its people: what are the ideas that have influenced foreign policy, the individuals who have left their mark and the institutions that play and played a role in shaping the policy?

…And who better than the learned to give us an overview of the Indian foreign policy as shaped from ancient times to the present millennia. Aparna has examined both sides of the border. She had earlier written a treatise on” Explaining Pakistan’s Foreign Policy: Escaping India” (Routledge, 2011), a policy much discussed by every Indian, all the time. She is also the editor of Contemporary Handbook on Pakistan (Routledge, 2016).

At book launch last week Aparna was impressive; succinct, clear, confident and knowledgeable. Her short but to the point speech left the audience panting for more; surprised at its brevity, richness and precision.

As the name suggests, Aparna’s book starts with the legacy of Chanakya and the ancient philosophers on the India’s Foreign Policy, moving on, to the medieval era of the sultans, through to the much reviled British colonial strategists of the Raj and finally the Indian National Movement for an independent India. According to Aparna, these legacies are still perceptively evident on India’s external relations.

The book lays out four major strands in the contemporary India’s Foreign Policy: Imperialist legacy, Messianic Idealism, Realism and Isolationism.

The ‘Imperial’ school of thought draws primarily from period of the British Raj. For this outlook, India Policy is the central policy and Delhi knows best. India’s post-independence policy towards its immediate South Asian neighbours best exemplifies this idea. Delhi, whether under the British or thereafter, has always believed that India’s central government is best suited to make security decisions.

‘Messianic Idealism,’ reflecting the mantra of global peace, justice and prosperity has served as the strong moral component of India’s foreign policy, inspired by the moral legacy of ancient Indian thought reiterated during national struggle under Mahatma Gandhi. Proponents of this perspective believe that India is an example for the world to emulate and that India has a duty to set such an example.

India has had no qualms in anchoring external relations in ‘Realism’. Belief in moral principles did not turn Indian leaders into pacifists. Notwithstanding the idealism, New Delhi has always recognized the importance of hard power for the success of the State.

Then there is the contradiction of ‘Isolationism’. India has been obvious in its reluctance to be drawn into global issues or ideologies and yet, has always chooses to play a global role. There is this strong streak of ‘isolationism’ in India’s global outlook. It is one of India’s many paradoxes that it wants to be seen as a great power and is still often reluctant to do what is required of most great powers.

Aparna  analyzes the what and the why of the foreign policies followed by all the Prime Ministers of independent India – from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi; The rationale and raison d’être for each Prime Minister’s policy. Interestingly, Aparna finds that while each Premier tried to walk his own path, there is a remarkable degree of continuity in the policies followed over the independent decades of different governments.

Individuals aside, Aparna details the role of an array of institutions that played a role in formulating and shaping India’s foreign policy— the primacy of the prime minister’s office, the role of ministry of external affairs, parliamentary oversight, the responsibility of the national Security Council, the role played by the media and new actors.

This book by Aparna Pande makes interesting and informative reading for the lay and the cognizant; dispelling rumour and myth that rules the Indian polity and lay opinion.

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INDIA ENHANCES ITS P-81 FLEET BY FOUR MORE https://www.mumbaiblogg.com/business/india-enhances-p-81-fleet-four/ https://www.mumbaiblogg.com/business/india-enhances-p-81-fleet-four/#comments Fri, 07 Jul 2017 08:38:55 +0000 http://www.mumbaiblogg.com/?p=416 The P-81 fleet of the Indian Naval Air Squadron 312A received, this June, the Chief of Naval Staff’s Unit Citation for Outstanding operational performance.The fleet manufactured by Boeing Defense, Space, & Security has completed 10,000 flight hours since the squadron’s induction in 2015. Boeing congratulated the Indian Navy and its squadron on this occasion.
In view of its successful performance, the navy has ordered four more P-81s from Boeing. The deliveries commence in 2020.

It was these P-81s that were used by our boys in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in 2014.

On December 19, 2012, at Boeing’s Seattle facility, the first P-81 was handed over to the Indian Naval Team. On May 15, 2013, The Indian Navy inducted its first P-8I. The eighth aircraft was delivered in November 2015. INS Rajali carries these P-81 aircrafts. India operates the P-81 in anti-submarine warfare missions and long-range reconnaissance.

The P 81 Neptune ordered by the Indian Navy operates in conjunction with the unmanned vehicle of the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton Broad Area Maritime Surveillance. It has an early warning self-protection ability (electronic support measures) while it conducts shipping interdictions and anti surface and anti-submarine warfare. It carries torpedoes. Depth-charges, anti-ship missiles (Harpoons) and is able to monitor and drop sonobouys.

The P-81 is a custom-made export variant of the P-8A (used by US Navy) suggested by Boeing for the Indian Navy in January 2008. The P-81 has two major abilities which the P-8A does not have—a telephonic APS-43 Ocean Eye aft radar and an MAD (magnetic anomaly detector).
Australia, U.K. and Norway all, use the P-81 but the Indian Navy was the first international customer to order P-81s and this was Boeing’s first military sale to India.

The Indian Navy needed to replace its aged Russian Tupolev Tu-142M turboprops used in maritime surveillance and the contract with Boeing was signed on January 4, 2009 for the delivery of eight P-81s. The entire delivery under the contract was completed in November 2015.

MAKE IN INDIA.

HOW P-81 WORKS:

The P-81 has a integrated IFF system developed by Bharat Electronics Ltd.(BEL) and exchanges tactical data between aircraft, ship and shore through the BEL Data LinkII.

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