Does anybody have a recipe for pish pash?

Ann, sorry for the lack of response but its nothing I've heard of and google seems to be suggesting its several different things.. a common theme seems to suggest a hotch potch of meats and vegetables mixed with rice ?

Steve

It is some sort of Khitcheri, a mix of things, just as Steve says, but I have never made it. It is more Anglo-Indian than an Indian dish, I think.

Hello

Yes you are correct Mamta, it is an Anglo-Indian dish. From recall it has rice (of course), spinach or silverbeet, stock, onions and a dash of garam masala.

Also from memory of a distant past what she used to do was - Fry the onions, add spinach until wilted,add garam masala, add rice and stock and let it come to the boil. When most of water has evaporated stick lid on pan and place in hot oven to finish cooking.

I suppose it is like a pilaf but the rice grains were sort of mushy and not individual. I am not sure if long grained or short grained rice was used.

Not sure if this helps but I do remember all the old aunties calling it 'pish pash'Cheers

June

Ann, you don't need to be registered to post here. That is only for those people who have to work on the site. You just write the Message Subject and User Name every time you post.

Your Pish Pash recipe looks like some sort of chicken Khitcheri, though Indian Khitcheri will usually have some lentils in it. Interesting recipe, but very similar to one of the vegetarian khitcheries of India.

It must indeed be an old recipe, using the old measures of Chatak.

For those who are interested, this old recipe of my dad's gives the old Indian measures;

http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10564

Mamta

I have a recipe for this in a book called Taste of the Raj by Pat Chapman - a great book full of anglo-indian recipes and stories from the time of the Raj.

I wonder what the copy right situation is, if you were to post her recipe, with her name as author here, exactly as it is!

I would think you would still infringe copyright as it would negate having to buy the book to use the recipe !

Steve

Pat Chapman is a he not a she, Mamta LOL.

The recipe looks very easy. The book - taste of the raj - has some interesting looking recipes in it, but I haven't tried any of them yet. I need give some a try.

A man called Pat? I am sorry, no disrespect top him!

Possibly short for "Patrick" but lots of men are called "Pat" (like the childrens TV programme "Postman Pat" !...

Steve

Anybody out there i have the recipe for Pish Pash, also probably have the first anglo indian cookery book by Dora Lamond published by swallow press in calcutta an Anglo Indian owned buisness.

Karl, Auss now in Scotland

Copyright law says one can copy the list of ingredients with impunity, but the method is copyright. One could copy the list of ingredients, then write your own account of what you did, this is permitted.

In fact, most recipes are historic documents, as in, 'this is what I did'. OK some of the time, but usually recipes have not been tested for variation, that is, what if a tsp of xxxxxx were used instead of half a teaspoon? The variables, like quantities, times and temperature, have not been tested for ruggedness. And it is usually due to these variables that a recipe stands or falls.

It has been mentioned recently that some 'easy' recipes are sometimes the most difficult to get right, and it is usually down to the variables mentioned.

I have only glanced at Pat Chapman's offerings, I believe the quality is far below that which we see on this forum. Not recommended.

Method in published recipes is copyright? Maybe not.

Phil

I've looked into this.

List of ingredients is not copyrightable.

The method is. That is, what the person did, and how they wrote about it, not the actual method, like braising. So:

''place the whole chicken in the pot, add the other ingredients, and enough water to bring the level of the liquid half way up the bird. Seal the pot with a ribbon of dough, and cook in a slack oven for one hour.'' This is copyrightable.

or, ''braise a chicken'', that is not copyrightable.

Yes, it's not the method itself that is copyrighted but an author's words used to describe it.

If the original author writes "Chop the chicken into small pieces, then brown them to a light brown, in the oil" I can't use those exact words but if I wrote "Dice the chicken, fairly small, about a cm cubed. Brown lightly in oil", that would be fine.

yep, that's how I understand it.

I love pish pash, my nanna would make it for us when we were sick, I'm making it tonight as son is sick, but it never tastes like my nannas

The recipe I have for it suggests that it is some kind of soup. I've never tried or made it before.

Hi Folk,

Pish Pash is a dish that started in the 19th century, and was eaten by many of the British women in India. My mum's mother and grandmother (with an army background) were from this period and my mum's recipe is, rice, red split lentil, a little turmeric. a little oil, and salt to taste, all boiled together until the rice and lentils are soft (like overcooked). This is them tempered with onions, garlic and dried red chillies. It should be eaten steaming hot with a dry spicy meat fry, or pepper fried mince. Tastes delicioius. This is my mum's original recipe, and will be included in my recipe book, along with other similar recipes, which is to come out in a few months.

If you want to know more, email me at uksecretary@aol.com

Would love to hear from you.

Hello Barbara

Your recipe reminds of what my mother used to make which she called 'Kitcheree'- lentils, rice, turmeric all cooked together.

It is different from Kedgeree which was made with cod, boiled eggs, rice and turmeric which was sserved for breakfast.

Mum made what she called Pish pash with chicken stock, rice, turmeric with a handful of spinach - always made when we were sick.

Cheers

June

Hi June,

It was nice reading your reply. Yes there are a number of variations. Also one where the rice and lentils are not cooked as soft as Pish Pash. We would have this for lunch with Pork Bhooni.

Good wishes,

Barbara

Hi Karl,

It was interesting to read that you had an old Anglo Indian Recipe book by Dora Lamond.

Do you have any idea as to where I could get a copy of this book.

Thanks

Good wishes

Barbara

The recipe I have for making pish pash suggests that it is something called kedgeree with chicken stock added to it LOL.

I know that there are people out there who would beat me sensless with a rolling pin for typing this, but if you have ever tasted the curried pot noodle made by (I think) golden wonder, then I accidentally created a sauce that was very very similar to that once. The base of the sauce was made using pureed roasted pumpkin and different spices and cooked rice.

Sid

Khitcheri or Khicheri in Hindi. There are a few recipes on this side, Indian versions, not Anglo Indian/English versions! LOL!

My brain is starting to hurt now... lol

Kedgerie... smokey fish, rice, onions and bits and bobs.. I make it with things like chorizo in there...

Now I need to know about Indian versions and how they differer from a Biryani ?

Steve

I was reading an old post by Lapis regarding Pat Chapman.

I think that comment was a bit nasty.

Has Lapis not heard of 'live and let live'

I have to be honest here and say that I have a few Pat Chapman books and I don't rate the recipes at all. They appear to be very generic and produce mediocre results at best, but each to their own! Then I discovered this forum and I haven't used any of his books since.

Sid

Thanks sid :-)

I write recipes as I cook them, so I know that they should work. I am not writing to fill the pages and produce a book to make money, but because of my genuine desire to share recipes with others and try theirs, when they share them with me. Sometimes they need adjustments because ingredients and their potency/qualities vary hugely, as do individual tastes.

I also love to try others recipe, time permitting, when they want to share them with me. Same goes for the cookery classes I have started, they are to raise funds for something or the other, not to make me rich ;-)!

Message sent for posting here by E-mail at 13:45

HI ? I tried to offer a reply to this thread but kept receiving a fatal error.

Anyway ? I only wanted to post the below?

My Dad (Anglo-Indian) used to make us Pish Pash. to this day it is still one of my favourites (along with pepper water curry and ball curry) but I can't make it like my Dad used to even though I watched him.

My Dad's family recipe in brief:

Boil the meat (cubed beef) to get all the "scum" out of it. Wash the boiled meat.

Fry Peppercorns (20-25), cloves (15-20) and cinnamon sticks (2-3) with onion in oil.

Add the washed, uncooked basmati rice and toss in the oil.

Add the meat.

Cover the rice with plenty of water. When rice is soft add veges - harder ones first such as potato and carrot, then beans, cauliflower and peas later.

When veges are cooked add milk. salt and pepper to taste and a little butter to finish it off. Consistency is a little more liquid than risotto but still quite gluggy.

We used to eat this with Dad's home-made lemon chutney :)

Thank you Amanda. What was the proportion of meat and rice? A picture so see what it looks like will be most welcome.

Mamta