The Delhi Winter BBQ

One of the few pleasures of living in a madcap city like Delhi is perhaps its wonderful winters. And perhaps, the best way to enjoy the onset of winters is to do a bar-be-que at home! We recently purchased a mini grill to try out the experience, and we realized its the best way of cooking food - it's how mankind had cooked stuff for ages!!

Here's presenting our list of things we would recommend to grill on a cold winter evening or afternoon:

1. Sweet and Spicy Pineapple: Let's start with the easiest and perhaps the tastiest. Coat medium-thick slices of fresh pineapple (not the tinned variety) in regular Indian spices - salt, black pepper, chat masala, and red chilli powder. Add a touch of lemon juice to complete the marinade. Grill till the corners start getting blackened. We loved this combination of sweet and spicy flavours coupled with the beautiful aromas of smoked pineapple.

2. Garden Vegetables in Smoked Paprika: Give this recipe a twist by marinating them in salt, lot's of lemon juice, and smoked paprika. We purchased smoked paprika in US but it can be found in some good grocery stores in Delhi like Le Marche or Godrej's Nature Basket. The subtle taste and aroma of this spice creates a well differentiated recipe.

Apart from using the standard bell peppers, we also used broccoli, zucchini and spring onions. We learned that veggies take different times to cook, so its best to skewer them separately (E.g., zucchini takes way more time than say bell peppers or spring onions)

3. Mushroom Masala: One can make this in a regular Indian tandoori marinade. And again, we have to say that mushrooms cook the best on a grill. They just become so juicy and soak all the flavours of the marinade. Check here for the recipe: Tandoori Tikka Marinade

4. Kali Mirch Chicken Tikka - Of course, you can't do a BBQ without meat. Marinate relatively thick pieces of boneless chicken in a marinade of yoghurt, ginger-garlic paste, salt, white pepper, and lot's of freshly crushed black pepper. With thick pieces it took some time to cook, but we loved how the chicken got really crisp on the outside yet tender inside. Slurrp!

What you grill is really up to your imagination, and almost everything cooks well if given the right marination, and often some patience! A few tips from our experience

1. Use as thin a skewer as possible to allow for bite sized cuts.
2. If using bamboo sticks, do not overload them as they might break under the weight and heat. Also, keep the skewers submerged in water for at least 1 hour before using
3. While marinating, one can use toothpicks to make small holes in the veggies or chicken to enhance proper soaking of flavours
4. Let the coal get properly hot and the fire to stop. You should ideally start cooking when the bottom half of all coal pieces are red-hot
5. Finally, if you are going to cook a lot of food for a lot of people, its probably a better idea to pre-cook some of the dishes. E.g., you may steam the veggies before grilling, or boil the mushrooms slightly.