Malabar Egg Curry

 

One of my friends is from coastal Karanataka and this is her signature dish. First time she made it for a large gathering, everyone loved this over mutton keema which goes to say how awesome the malabar curry tasted. This is a slightly modified version of the same malabar curry, the change being that I didn’t use turmeric and red chilli powder, you can always try with those as well.

 

Ingredients

• 4 boiled eggs
• 2 tbsp. onion paste
• 1 tsp. ginger paste
• 1 tsp. garlic paste
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 4 star anise
• 4 dry red chili
• 10 curry leaves
• 2 tsp. ghee
• 2 tbsp. refined oil
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

In a pan heat oil and lower the temperature to medium. Fry the boiled eggs so that the they take a light brown hue. Don't over fry them. Remove them and keep aside.

Now temper the same oil with star anise and dry red chilies. When you start getting a nice aroma, add the onion paste to it. Fry on low heat for about three to four minutes. Now add ginger garlic paste and keep sautéing them on very low heat till the raw smell goes away.

Now add fried eggs to it and season it with salt and sugar. Add one fourth cup of water and mix them well. Bring it to a boil before you pour the coconut milk to it.

Now let it simmer on low heat for about five minutes. Turn off the heat and add the rest of the ghee and curry leaves to it. Give a stir and keep it covered till you serve..

Serve it with laccha parota, jeera rice or peas pulao.. 

Crab Malaikari

In all our trips to Costco my daughter insists that I pick up the huge king crabs they have on sale. I mostly land up making Konkani Crab or Red Curry. This time I decided to adapt the traditional Bengali Prawn Malaikari to Crabs. It turned out to be really yummy. Hope you would enjoy it as well.

Ingredients

• 2lbs. crab cleaned and cut
• 1 medium onion
• 3-4 green chilies
• 2” ginger 
• 2 tsp.red chili powder
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 4-5 tbsp. ghee (Clarified Butter)
• Whole garam masala (1’ cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, 2 green cardamom, 1 bay leaf)
• 1 tsp. Bengali garam masala powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp. of vegetable oil
• Small piece of cinnamon and few cloves
  

Procedure

Make a paste of onion, ginger with two green chilies.

In a wide vessel heat ghee till it melts. Now temper it with whole garam masala and bay leaf.

Add the ground onion paste to it and sauté on low heat till the raw smell goes away.

Now one by one add turmeric and chili powder to it. Sauté on low heat till you see oil gets separated from the spice mixture.

Add crab pieces to it and fry them on medium heat for about two to three minutes. Make sure that all crab pieces are well coated with the spices. season them with salt.

Pour half a cup of water and let it simmer on low heat for about ten minutes. Add coconut milk to it and give a nice stir. Cook for another three to four minutes.

Finish it off by adding a spoon full of ghee, green chilies and a spoon  Bengali garam masala powder. Serve hot with plain rice.

Narkel Posto Potol (Parval in Poppy Seed and Coconut paste)

Potol posto, potol-dorma and potol-dalna are the three common dishes made out of potol in a Bong household. This post covers the first with a twist of coconut.

This dish gets its special aroma from the spices that are fried first and then ground.

Ingredients

• 15 parwal (Potol or Pointed gourd)
• 1/2 tsp. methi seeds ( Fenugreek )
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. mouri (fennel seeds)
• 3 cloves
• 2 cardamoms 
• 1 red dry red chili
• 1/2” ginger chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen grated coconut
• 2 tbsp. poppy seed
• 1 tsp. Kashmiri chili powder
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 2-3 green chilies
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• Mustard oil

Procedure

Heat 1 tsp. oil in a pan and roast methi, cumin, fennel, cloves, cardamoms, red chili along with chopped ginger, grated coconut and poppy seeds. Fry all these ingredients on low heat till you find a sweet aroma. Cool and transfer the content in a blender. Dry grind this mixture and then add water to make a fine paste out of it.

Wash potol and scrape their skin, don’t peel it. Lengthwise cut them into halves and smear them with a pinch of turmeric and salt.

Heat oil in a pan and fry potol on medium heat till they turn yellow. Remove and keep aside.

If there is any oil left use that or else add some more oil. Temper the oil with green chilies and add coconut poppy seed masala paste to it.

Sprinkle turmeric and Kashmiri chili powder and fry the masala on low heat till oil oozes out from the sides.

Now add fried potol and seasonings. Mix well with masala so that each of them are nicely coated. Add half a cup of water. Cover and cook till potol is done. This is a dry dish so boil off any excess moisture left at the end of the cooking.

Serve with hot plain rice.

Coconut Chutney

The taste of a lot of South Indian snacks like Idli, Vada and Dosa is heavily dependent on the coconut chutney served with it. A lot of South Indian cafés are famous just for their chutneys. Some serve a rainbow of them varying from the milky white, brown, red, green varieties. This recipe is the rational white coconut chutney without peanut paste commonly served in places like Chennai.

Ingredients

• 1 cup grated chutney
• 1/3 cup roasted Bengal gram or puttana
• 3-4 green chilies
• 1/4” ginger
• For tempering
  • 1/4 tsp. mustard seeds
  • 1/4 tsp. cumin seeds
  • 1/4 tsp. urad dal
  • 1 pinch asafetida (Hing)
  • 2-3 dry red chilies torn into halves
  • 5-6 curry leaves

Procedure

In a grinder grind coconut with ginger, green chilies and Bengal gram and make a smooth paste of it. Keep it in a bowl.

Heat 2 tsp. oil in a pan and add mustard seeds,cumin seeds, hing and urad dal. Fry on medium heat till dal turns golden brown. Now add curry leaves and dry red chilies. Turn off the heat immediately to retain the colors of those two. Mix everything once again and add to the paste. Season with salt and give it a nice stir before you serve.

Chingri–Sobji Diye Cholar Dal (Lentil with Shrimp and Vegetables)

Sometimes the bongcook is tired of cooking. Interestingly even though my little one will gobble down pizza/pasta when offered, prefers to eat at home, especially for dinner. So I take refuge in one of these simple recipes.

One of my daughter’s favorite food is daal. Adding Prawn quenches the non-vegetarian bong soul as well.We use this as a healthy one-pot dinner along with hand made soft rotis.

Ingredients

1. 10 – 12 medium sized prawns cleaned
2. 1 cup chana dal
3. 1/4th cup carrot chopped
4. 1/4th cup beans chopped
5. 1/2 cup cauliflower cut into small florets
6. 1 medium tomato finely chopped
7. 2tbsp. chopped coconut
8. 1 cup thick coconut milk
9. 1tsp. garam masala powder
10. 1tsp. turmeric powder
11. 1tsp. chili powder
12. 1tsp. sugar
13. 1tsp. ghee (clarified Butter) 
14. Salt to taste
15. For Tempering
1. 2,3 Bay leaves
2. 1” cinnamon stick
3. 2 cloves
4. 2,3 green cardamom
5. 2,3 Dry red chilies
6. 1tsp. whole cumin seeds
7. 1 pinch hing (asafetida)

Procedure

In a pressure cooker boil daal with 2 cups of water and turmeric. It takes 10 minutes if you are cooking on medium heat.

In a separate pan boil 5 cups of water with little salt. Now add carrots, beans and cauliflower florets to it. Turn off the heat and keep it covered for 5 minutes. Drain the water and dunk the vegetables in cold water for 10 more minutes. Drain the water. This will help the vegetables to retain their color.

Heat mustard oil in a pan and fry prawns. Remove and reserve them.

Temper the same oil with all the ingredients listed for tempering. When the oil turns aromatic and the spices sizzle add chopped coconut pieces to it. Fry till they turn light brown. Now add tomato and steamed vegetables to it. Season with salt and sugar. Sprinkle red chili powder over it. Mix everything well and fry on medium heat till oil separates out.

Add boiled daal to it. Mix the daal with sautéed vegetables. If you want pour little hot water to it and let it come to a boil.

Once it starts boiling add fried prawns and pour the coconut milk. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.

Finish it off with a spoonful of ghee, green chilies and garam masala powder. 

Lemongrass Infused Thai Soup (Tom-Kha)

The nip of fall is in the air and the chill of winter is not too far away. The warmth of soup goes really well with the cold nights. The recipe I am going to share with you is based on the famous Thai soup Tom-Kha. Interestingly I had Tom-Kha for the first time not in a Thai restaurant but at the food court in our local REI sports store.

Since all the ingredients have become readily available it is hassle-free to make it at home.

Ingredients

1. 200gms boneless chicken cut into cubes
2. 8 button mushrooms sliced
3. 1 medium carrot cut into cubes
4. 1” Thai ginger
5. 1 stalk lemongrass
6. Rind of one lemon
7. 2 tbsp. lemon juice 
8. 2 tbsp. chopped coriander greens
9. 1 tbsp. chopped green onions
10. 1 can coconut milk
11. Salt to taste

Procedure

Rub the chicken cubes with salt and set aside. Remove the external covering of the lemongrass and slice the stalk. Julienne the Thai ginger (cut into thin strips) and smash it in a mortar and pestle to get maximum flavor.

Boil chicken pieces in a small pan with 2 cups of water. Wait till the chicken cubes are tender. Remove any scum from the top.

In a separate pan heat 5 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Now add one by one all the herbs like smashed ginger, lemongrass and lemon rind. simmer till the water becomes fragrant. Now add mushroom slices and carrot cubes to it. Sprinkle salt and let it cook for 3-4 minutes.

Add the boiled chicken pieces along with its stock. Reduce the heat and slowly pour coconut milk to it. Add all seasoning like lemon juice and salt. Finally sprinkle chopped green onions and coriander leaves.

Serve hot.

Pati-shapta (Indian Rice Flour Crêpe)

Poush-sankranti or makar sankranti is celebrated as the harvest festival in West Bengal. Harvest festival is as expected celebrated with food made from the fresh harvest of rice and date palm jaggery. Bongs famous for their sweet tooth use the festival as an excuse to make all sorts of sweets which are rice flour crepe based. These are called pithe.

Even though I make it every year, this is the first time when my daughter took a sudden liking to it. The liking soon turned into addiction. Even 5 minutes, she’d sneak up to the refrigerator and grab a handful. She even got it packed for her school lunch.

I have tried making patishapta with different proportion of maida, suji mixed with rice flour. However, the proportion used below worked out best for me. The pithe remains soft and yummy for 3-4 days.

Making pati-shapta is a three step process. You need to first make the stuffing that goes inside, then you need to make the crepe, finally bring it all together to make pati-shapta.

Ingredients For Filling / Pur

1. 1 lb. grated coconut
2. 1 lb. khoya/concentrated milk solids (an alternative to khoya is a cup of milk powder)
3. 3/4th cup khejur gur (date palm jaggery)

Procedure Of making Pur

In a large mixing bowl mix all the above ingredients thoroughly and check the sweetness. Adjust according to your taste. In a pan, cook the coconut mixture on a low flame till the mixture comes together and leaves the sides of the pan. You need to stir continuously to avoid the mixture from sticking to the base of the pan. Allow the mixture to cool down. Your filling is ready to use.

 

Ingredients For Crêpe

1. 2 cups maida / all-purpose flour
2. 1/2 cup semolina
3. 1/2 cup rice flour
4. 2,3 tbsp of powdered sugar
5. 3-4 cups of cold milk
6. Ghee (clarified butter) for later use during frying

Make The Batter

Mix all dry ingredients together and slowly add milk to make an uniform batter. Mix well and make sure that no lump is formed. The batter will be little thinner than pancake batter.

Pati+shapta

Heat a non-stick skillet or tawa and evenly spread a teaspoon of ghee/clarified butter. Sprinkle some water over it and when the water starts to sizzle, wipe off the ghee with a kitchen towel. You need to repeat this step before making each patishapta but use just few drops of ghee instead of a spoon full.

Pour a ladle full of batter on the tawa and with the back of the ladle spread it in a circle like making dosa. Cook it on low flame for 2-3 minutes. Put a spoon full of filling on one side and then roll it like a crepe. Step by step guide is below, click to enlarge.

		Making Pati-Shapta VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

You can have it, as it is, or spread 1 or 2 spoon of sweet condensed milk or liquid jaggery over it. Serve it hot.