Fish Fry

I have been blogging for some time now. While my blogs have touched various nooks and crannies of Bengali and Indian cuisine but somehow a mainstay of Bengali food, the famed Kolkata Fish fry has been missing. I did blog the recipe awhile back and it was one of my more popular posts but somehow the post got deleted.
So here it is back on bongcook, and to make up for the deletion I actually have a video to go along with. I love short and sweet videos and in that theme this is only around 2 minutes.
The reason I call it restaurant style is because while a lot of people make it at home it doesn’t quiet get the restaurant look. In the video I tried to cover how to really make it look good as well.
Hope you enjoy the video and as always I have the recipe below as well.

Ingredients For Marination

• 250gms bhetki fillet cut approximately 2 inch by 2 inch
  
• 1 lemon
  
• 2 tbsp. onion paste
  
• 2 tsp. ginger paste
  
• 2 tsp. garlic paste
  
• 2 tsp. green chili paste
  
• 1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper corn
  
• Salt to taste
  

Procedure For Marination

Mix all the ingredients above including the juice of one lemon and apply to the fish fillet so that all the sides are well covered with this spice mixture. Marinate for 3 - 4 hrs.

Ingredients For Coating & Frying

• 2 eggs
  
• Plenty of bread crumbs
  
• Enough refined oil for deep frying
  

Procedure For Coating & Frying
In a bowl beat 2 eggs with salt.
In a wide tray or plate take bread crumbs and spread it to form a layer.
With a spoon or fork take each fillet out, and dip it in the egg wash and place flat on the bread crumb layer. With your dry hands sprinkle a fistful of bread crumb on the open top layer of the fillet so that that this surface too is covered with bread crumbs.
Press gently with the palms of your hand to flatten them.
Use the blunt side of a knife and press it along the all 4 edges of the breaded fillet to give them a professional look. :)
Heat enough oil for deep frying till it smokes. Reduce the temperature and let it cool down a bit before you slid in the breaded fillet. Fry on medium high heat till both sides turn golden brown and crispy.
Remove on a paper towel and serve with salad.

Cook Friendly Chili Chicken

One of my most ardent readers is now one of my very good friend and neighbor. One day over tea we were discussing, how hard it is to make chili-chicken when you have food robbers in the house. The moment we are done with frying the chicken it starts disappearing. Finally the chili-chicken results in lot of chili and very little chicken.

Just to handle this situation I have come up with the cook friendly version where the chicken is not fully cooked after frying and that stops the robbers.

Ingredients

For Marination

• 1lb boneless chicken cut into small pieces
• 2 tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 tbsp. ginger paste
• 2 tbsp. dark soya sauce
• 2 tbsp. chili garlic sauce
• 2 tbsp. green chili sauce
• Salt to state
• 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. corn meal or rice flour
• 4 tbsp.. oil

For Gravy

• 1 large onion cut into cubes
• 1 green bell pepper cut into cubes
• 2 tbsp. chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp. chopped green chilies
• 1/.2 cup chopped green onion.
• 1 tbsp. vinegar
• 2 tbsp. green chili sauce
• 2 tbsp. chili garlic sauce
• 2 tbsp. dark soya sauce
• 2 tbsp. corn starch diluted in half cup water
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Marinates chicken pieces with all ingredients listed under margination without the flours and the oil. Marinate for half an hour. Sprinkle all purpose flour and corn meal over the chicken pieces and coat very gently.

Now heat oil in a wide shallow frying pan. Shallow fry the chicken pieces in one layer first on high heat for a minute and then on medium heat till the meat is ninety percent done. You will see the surface of the chicken pieces are crispy because of the application of corn meal. Remove and reserve for later use.

In the rest of the oil add chopped garlic and fry for a minute before you add onion and green chilies to it. Sauté everything together for a minute or two on high heat. Now add fried chicken pieces to it and mix well. Cook it covered on low heat for couple of minutes. This will cook chicken through and through.

Remove the lid and crank up the heat to high. Add bell pepper and toss everything well. Turn off the heat.

In another sauce pan combine vinegar, chili garlic sauce, green chili sauce, dark soya sauce with half

a cup of water. Bring it to a boil. Bring the heat to the lowest and slowly add diluted corn starch to it.

Crank up the heat while stirring it continuously till you see the sauce thickens up. Add the fried chicken mixture to it and turn off the heat.  check the seasoning and adjust. Garnish with green onion.

If you want dry chili chicken then you add all the sauce directly over the fried chicken mixture and fry everything together till the chicken pieces are well coated with the sauces. Add diluted cornstarch over it and mix on high flame till the moisture dries up. Check the seasoning and adjust. Finish it off with chopped green onion.

Khichuri Kancha Maslar

Winter is coming up and so is the season for khichuri for those sleepy rainy Sunday lunches. This khichuri is from my dida and is not the typical bong niramish version (for that you have plain Khichuri). This has the flavor or raw spices and is made without any oil. However, you can indulge yourself with a large dollop of ghee on top of it.

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice
• 3/4 cup musur dal ( Red Lentil)
• 2 medium potatoes cut into halves
• 1 cup cauliflower florets
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1” ginger knob grated
• 2 fat cloves of garlic grated
• 1 medium sized onion cut into quarters
• 4-5 green chilies
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Wash rice and dal thoroughly.  Take a big pan and put rice and dal  along with salt, sugar and turmeric powder. Mix well and pour enough water, about six cups. Throw the potato halves into it. Cover it up and let it come to a boil on high heat. Once it starts boiling remove the lid and one by one add bay leaf, onion, grated ginger, garlic and green chilies, cauliflower florets and green peas. Keep boiling on medium heat till rice , dal and potatoes are cooked and look a bit mushy. You might need to add water to get the desired consistency.
Serve it with a big spoon full of ghee.

Mutton Pulao

Durga pujo is just around the corner. The fall weather in Pacific North West is very close to that of Kolkata just before Pujo. The sky is blue with fluffy clouds hanging around. The first nip of chill is in the air. Some variant or atleast look-a-like of kash flower abounds in our area.

I have already started planning for the Durga pujo feast at home. A must have is the simple rustic mutton pulao. Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. mutton pieces on bone
• 3 cups basmati rice washed and soaked
• 1 medium sized onion sliced
• 1 tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 tbsp. garlic paste
• 12-14 green chilies slit lengthwise
• 2 tbsp. plain yogurt
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp. Bengali garam maala
• 2 tbsp. whole garam masala (2” cinnamon stick, 8 cloves, 8 green cardamom)
• 4 tbsp. clarified butter (Ghee)
• Sugar to taste
• Salt to taste

Procedure

In a pan heat 1 tbsp. ghee till melts. Add onion slices and fry on medium heat. Add four slit green chilies along with ginger garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell goes away.
Add meat pieces to it and sear them on high heat along with the spices for about two minutes. Reduce the heat to the lowest mark. Sprinkle salt, sugar. Now add yogurt along with 1 tsp. garam masala powder and mix well.
Cook it on low heat till the mutton is three fourth done.
In a deep pan take enough water and bring it to a rolling boil. Add the soaked and drained rice to it and wait till it just starts to boil. It takes around three to four minutes time. Drain the rice on a colander.
Now in a wide pan heat two tbsp. ghee. Add bay leaves, green chilies, and whole garam masala. When it stops sputtering add the drained rice to it. Fry on medium heat gently so that the grains don’t break.
Add salt and sugar to your taste.
Now in a pressure cooker take the fried rice, put the meat pieces. Measure 3 cups of liquid (includes mutton stock + water) and pour over it. Put the pressure lid on and cook on high flame till one whistle comes. Let the pressure release on its own.
In a separate pan heat 1 tbsp. ghee till it melts and add green chilies and garam masala powder to it. Once they start sizzling pour over the pulao and serve….

Sahi Mutton Chanp

Southern Amenia, a famous restaurant in Golpark, Kolkata served a different kind of Chaap. It differed from the traditional Kolkata Chaap in being a bit mellow. When we were in college we used to love frequenting Southen Amenia just for this Sahi Chaap. Unfortunately worker dispute lead to it’s closure. Some of the workers even started making it on their own and selling it from a shack right outside the Amenia building. Now that all remnants of it has disappeared I have to make it for myself. Hope you enjoy it as well.

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb. mutton chops
• 1 medium onion coarsely chopped
• 7-8 garlic cloves crushed
• 2-3 dry red chili
• 4 tbsp. thick plain yogurt
• 1 tsp. red chili powder 
• 8-10 almonds blanched and peeled
• 1/4 cup milk 
• 1 tsp. freshly ground Bengali garam masala
• 1 tsp. rose water 
• 2 tbsp. ghee (Clarified Butter)
• 2 tbsp. oil 
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Make a smooth paste of almond with milk and reserve it for later use.

You need to get mutton (goat meat) chop pieces to make chaap. In Kolkata you can just let the butcher know and he will make the chops ready for you. Outside your homeland, you need to specifically instruct the butcher to break the chops with the broad side of their flat knife. Otherwise use your metal meat tenderizer to flatten the chops.

Heat 1 tbsp. ghee in a pan till it melts. Now add chopped onion, sliced ginger and crushed garlic to it. Fry on medium heat till the onions start getting a golden brown hue. Turn off the heat and let them cool down to room temperature.

Now add the fried spices to a grinder and make a smooth paste of them with a spoon of yogurt.

Wash the chops and pat them dry.In a mixing bowl mix yogurt with the onion, ginger, garlic paste and red chili powder. Season the mixture with salt.

Rub this spice mixture well on both sides of the chops. Allow it to rest for half an hour.

Heat oil in a wide frying pan till it melts. Now reduce the heat and temper it whole dry red chilies. Arrange the mutton chops in a single layer. Cook it covered on very low heat for about 45 minutes.  Frequently remove the cover and mix the spices. Fry the chops till you can see that the oil gets separated from the rest of the spices.

Now add almond paste to it and cook for another five minutes on low heat.

Sprinkle rose water and garam masala powder over it. Drizzle one spoon of ghee and keep it covered till you serve. Enjoy with Biryani or laccha paratha.

Pish pash

Living in the Pacific Northwest I am used to rain. Unlike others I never grow tired of it. After a spell of hectic summer schedule I loved when rain decided to return to our evergreen state. The parched trees and my mind welcomed it. I decided to just soak it in and be a bit lazy. But I also wanted to provide something warm for everyone’s plate. Pish pash works wonders in these scenarios. It’s an Anglo-Indian one pot meal, where rice is cooked with Indian whole spices, meat, veggies and potatoes. It is primarily flavored with Ginger.

As the name suggests it’s a medley and you can play with what you decide to put in it, chicken works equally well as mutton or goat meat.

Ingredients

• 1 cup long grain rice washed and drained
• 500 gm. medium sized mutton pieces on bone
• 1 onion cut into medium sized chunks
• 2 medium sized potato cut into quarters
• 2 cm. square of ginger cut into thin square slices
• 1/2 cup green peas (I used frozen)
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp. refined oil
• For tempering
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1” cinnamon stick
  • 2 green cardamom pods
  • 2 cloves
• For garnishing
  • 1 medium sized onion thinly sliced
  • 8-10 cloves garlic cut into round slices
  • 5-6 dry red chilies

Procedure

Heat oil and add onion chunks and potato pieces to it. Sauté on medium heat for two to three minutes and then remove them and keep aside.

To the same oil add ingredients listed under tempering. When the spices starts sizzling add mutton pieces to it and sear the for a minute or two. Add salt and 4 cups of water. Pressure cook till the meat is tender. When the pressure releases on its own remove the lid.

Add washed and drain rice to it along with the sautéed onion and potato. Season with salt. Add enough water so that there is 5 fingers of water left above the rice mixture level. Mix well and cook it covered on medium heat till the rice is cooked and mushy.

By this time heat butter in a pan and fry the red chilies and garlic slices till they turn crispy. Remove them on a paper towel. Use the remaining butter to crisp fry the onion slices.

Take a ladle full of pish pash and top it up with the crispy fried red chilies, onion and garlic. Best enjoyed on a lazy rainy night. 

Chicken Cutlet

My first choice in cutlets is braised cutlet. While growing up I used to regularly visit Ashoka Restaurant in Behala, Kolkata for their sumptuous cutlets. On Thursdays in Kolkata we have “no meat day” which weirdly boils down to restaurants not selling mutton. Chicken and fish is apparently not meat. On those days my fall back option was chicken cutlet. I present here my second choice, hope it might become someone’s first :)

Ingredients

• 1lb. minced chicken
• 1 large potato boiled and grated
• 1 large onion minced
• 2” ginger minced
• 8-10 fat cloves of garlic minced
• 2 green chilies finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp. black pepper powder
• 1 lime juice
• Salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups bread crumbs
• Oil for deep frying

Procedure

In a large mixing bowl take minced chicken and add chopped onion, ginger, garlic, green chilies to it. Sprinkle salt and add lime juice. Mix well and let it rest for at least an hour.

Now add cilantro and black pepper powder. You will notice that after an hour of marination the mixture has released some water. To help in the binding this is the time to add grated boiled potato to it. Mix it once again.

In a bowl take two eggs and add half teaspoon salt to it. Beat it well to make the egg wash. In a flat tray take enough quantity of bread crumbs and spread it to cover each cutlet.

Take a handful of chicken mixture and give them a shape of rectangle by pressing it gently in between your palms. Now dip each of them in the egg mixture and roll them on the breadcrumb. Arrange them on a tray and keep it refrigerated for at least half an hour.

Take out half an hour before you want to fry them. Heat enough oil in a wok. Gently slide each cutlet in medium hot oil and fry them till they turn brown and crispy. Take it out with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Serve hot with some onion rings and mustard sauce. 

Rum Ball

Each time we go home to Kolkata we make it a point to visit Nahoum’s in New Market. This store has been at this place from 1916. Rulers have come and gone, the country has changed it’s boundaries, cities have changed name around it, but Nahoum has stuck to it’s origins. My favorite at Nahoum is their rum-balls. It is an European delicacy that had reached the shores of Kolkata via the British. It is generally made in the bakery with the left over cake/cookie crumbs bound together with chocolate and flavored with rum. Rum-balls taste the best after a few days of making them when the taste of Rum matures.

It had been some time since I last sent some goodies with my husband for his team-mates. Generally I send some Bengali sweets like Rasgulla/Sondesh but this time I thought of making a fresh batch of Rum-ball. Even though the rum-ball has it’s roots in Europe, it takes me back to my roots in Kolkata.

Ingredients

• 500 gms. chocolate cake
• 100 ml. golden rum
• 4 tbsp. dark raisin
• 4 dried plums
• 4 candied cherry
• 10 roasted almonds broken roughly
• 3-4 tbsp. powdered sugar or honey
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder ( plain or Dutch processed)
• 1/2 + 1 cups semi sweet cooking chocolate bar ( instead you can use 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips)
• 1 cup white chocolate chips or white cooking chocolate
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter

Procedure

If you are making chocolate cake don’t use it on the same day. Use after a day or two so that the cake becomes a bit dry.

Cut all dry fruits into tiny pieces and soak them in 30 ml. of rum.  Best if you can soak it overnight.

Cut cake into small pieces and put it in a blender. Give them a very quick pulse to make coarse crumbs. Put all the crumbs in a big mixing bowl.

Now take the soaked dry fruits in the blender and give a very quick run of a second or two to just crush them. Just make sure you do not process the nuts into a paste.

Add the crushed dry fruit mixture to it along with powdered sugar,cocoa powder and rum. mix thoroughly with a spoon.

Now take half a cup of semi sweet cooking chocolate or chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and warm it up for 30 seconds. Give it a stir and heat it up for another 30 seconds. Take it out and mix it with a spoon. If it is already melted fine, else you can again heat it up for another 10 or 20 second. Remember to take it out and stir it every 30 seconds, else the chocolate will burn and become unusable.

Add the melted chocolate to the cake mixture little at a time and keep mixing. You will notice that after mixing the ingredients together, the batter is quite sticky. To prevent your hands from becoming a mess and to ease the process of making balls chill the mix for at least 30-45 minutes.

Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and let the mixture cool in the refrigerator for about 30- 45 minutes till it hardens a little.

Take it out and shape them into 1 inch balls with your hands. Place them on a cookie tray lined with butter paper.

Once you are done, then comes the glazing. Take 1 and 1/2 cup of dark chocolate and 1 tsp. of unsalted butter in a microwave safe bowl and heat them up for 30 seconds. Stir it and again heat it for another 30 seconds. Take it out and mix well to make a lump free chocolate glaze.

Dip each ball in the glaze of melted chocolate, making sure that the entire ball is coated with chocolate. Using a fork remove the ball from the glaze allowing any excess glaze to drip back in the bowl.

Place the glazed ball on the cookie tray lined with butter paper. when you are done place the tray in the refrigerator to allow the chocolate to harden.

By this time mix 1 tsp. of unsalted butter with white chocolate chips and make a white chocolate sauce following the same procedure as described before. Let it cool down a bit then pour it into a pastry bag. Cut a small hole in the corner and drizzle it over the rum balls.

Keema Cutlet

In Kolkata just around movie theatres there are these small restaurants/café’s which serve tea and various kinds of chops and cutlets. I think they are remnant of the British era. People flock to these cafés to have evening snacks after watching some bollywood flick. However, I cannot imagine having another dinner post this heavy snack. So for us now, I make this as dinner. We have it along with some great artisan bread and olive oil. Global food at its best.

Ingredients

• 1lb. mutton keema (minced meat)
• 1 medium sized onion finely chopped
• 10 cloves of garlic finely minced
• 1tsp. chopped ginger
• 5 – 6 green chilies finely chopped
• Handful o finely chopped cilantro
• 1tsp. Bengali garam masala powder
• 1isp. freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tbsp. dry roasted besan ( Chickpea flour)
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2 eggs
• Salt
• Refined vegetable oil for frying

Procedure

In a pan boil mutton keema with salt and 1/2tsp. garam masala powder. Cook it covered on medium flame till they are soft and all the moisture released from the meat is dried up.

Bring it to the room temperature.

Add chopped ingredients, all dry spices and roasted besan. break one egg and add into it. Mix well.

Start making the cutlets by giving them a oval shape.

Heat enough oil for deep frying. Beat one egg in a dish. Dip each cutlet in the egg wash and roll them in bread crumbs. Deep fry till golden brown.

I served with some bread and salad for our dinner. 

Laccha Paratha (Multilayered Indian Flatbread)

Laccha means coil or bundle. As this name suggests this paratha is made by coiling dough together. Essentially instead of following the flat-bread approach, here the dough is flattened and then coiled around so that the final paratha becomes layered. This paratha is known in different names, like flaky-paratha, lacchedar parathha, laccha paratha, Kerala-paratha. All of these are essentially the same with slight variations (e.g. Kerala-paratha has egg in it).

Originally laccha paratha was available in Kolkata as just a paratha. We used to have it all the time in Golpark Bedwin. It was generally served with some Mughlai meat curries like chaap, rezala, rogan-josh, korma. However, with time it is become more popular as the standard Mughlai paratha. Today most street food joints serve egg-rolls and chicken-rolls wrapped in Laccha paratha.

We love to have laccha paratha with chaap (mutton, chicken), you can use this recipe as your first step for making rolls as well.

Ingredients

1. 3 cups + 2tsp. all purpose flour
2. 1tsp. salt
3. 1tsp. sugar
4. 4tbsp. oil
5. 4tbsp. clarified butter
6. 1 cup warm water
7. Oil for shallow frying

Procedure

In a small bowl mix ghee with 2tsp. dry flour to make a paste and keep aside.

In a big mixing bowl take rest of the flour, salt, sugar and mix them well. Add 4tbsp. oil to it and rub in the flour using your finger tips. Add warm water little at a time at knead it into a soft smooth dough. Keep it covered for about 30 minutes.

Knead the dough once again and divide it into 8 – 10 equal portions. Shape each dough into a round ball and flatten a little.

Flour a rolling surface lightly and rolled out a dough into a flat disc of about 6” in diameter (1/3” thick).

Apply the ghee + flour paste (made in the first step) evenly on the top surface of the disc.

Start folding the disc from one side like you fold for a paper fan. Continue folding till you reach the other end.

Now this will look like a long rope. Stretch it gently.

Start rolling up the rope from one end and tuck the other end underneath the dough bud. By this time it will look like a flower bud.

Roll out the dough bud with very gentle pressure without affecting the layers. Roll out only one side, do not flip and roll because it will spoil the layers.

Final rolled out discs should be little thick with visible layers.

Place the rolled out discs on a hot griddle. Fry for about 30 seconds and then turn it over. Pour half tsp. oil and spread it on the paratha. Shallow fry over low heat. Flip it over and again pour oil on the other side. Cook on medium heat you see nice golden spots all over.

Remove from the griddle and apply gentle pressure on the sides with your palms to loosen and make the layers visible.

Your laccha paratha is ready to eat!!!

Chicken Cutlet - Bengali Style

My first love is Mutton Braised cutlet. I used to always head to our neighborhood “Ashoka Café” to get my fix. However, sometimes I used to land there on Thursdays. Thursdays in Kolkata is a no meat day and slaughter houses and butchers are closed and most restaurants do not serve meats other than fish and chicken. So the only option was to eat chicken cutlet. I know I am making this sound bad, but in reality the chicken cutlet is pretty tasty.

Ingredients

1. 10 pcs. thin cut boneless chicken breasts cut into rectangles 
2. 12 fat garlic cloves
3. 1” ginger
4. 5 – 6 green chilies
5. 1 lime
6. 1tsp. black pepper powder
7. Salt to taste
8. 1 egg
9. Enough bread crumb for coating
10. Refined oil for deep frying

Procedure

If the chicken pieces are not thin enough, wrap each of them in a plastic and pound them with the flat side of your meat tenderizer.

In a grinder make a paste of ginger, garlic and green chilies. In a separate bowl take this spice paste and add black pepper powder, salt and lime. Whisk everything together.

Take the chicken pieces and apply this mixture on both the sides. Keep them marinated in a refrigerator for 5 – 6 hour. Take them out of the refrigerator at least an hour before you want to fry them. Break the egg and mix it well so the chicken pieces get a coating of it. Spread bread crumbs on a flat platter and roll the cutlets in it. Define the edges by pressing the blunt side of the knife against it. Once the coating is done let them rest in the refrigerator for 1/2hour.

Heat enough oil in a kadai till it smokes. Now reduce the heat to medium high and gently slide the cutlet in. Let that cook till both sides turn golden brown and crispy.

Remove and place on a paper towel with a slotted spoon. Sprinkle black salt and serve with some salad and mustard-sauce or tomato ketchup.

From Street to Home: Kolkata Style Phuchka and Churmur

Our Kolkata college memories are filled with standing infront of the local phuchka vendor starting the conversation with “দাদা টাকায় কটা" and ending with “দুটো ফাউ”. Later when we moved to other cities, it was one of our eternal quest to find a phuchka center and explaining to everyone that gol-gappa or the panipuri is NOT phuchka. Phuchka is a West Bengal and Bihar specialty which varies significantly from rest of India.

When I decided to make phuchk the first name that came to my mind was our friend Jhuma. It was oft rumored that she was going to marry a phuchka-walla and settle down :). We always used to go eat phuchka with her because she got heavy frequent customer discount. One of our college professors saw her eating phuchka while he was coming in and saw her do the same while leaving for the day. Next day in class he asked her whether she stayed the entire day in front of the stall gobbling them down.

Jhuma’s phuchka fondness could only be contrasted against my father-in-law’s disgust for it. He’d share graphic details of the contents on the hands of the phuchka-walla as he dipped it inside the tamarind water. Few who could bear to hear him out could eat phuchka for the next few weeks. Ultimately though the craving won out. I started to write down the story he narrated, but then figured out that most of my readers would just leave this page and not read the recipe.

This recipe takes the easier route of getting packed phuchka like Deep Panipuri and taking it from there.

Ingredients for Tamarind Water

1. Seedless dried tamarind (lemon sized ball)
2. 1tsp. beet noon (Black salt)
3. 2tsp. bhaaja masala. Dry roast and grind to a powder the following
   1. 1tbsp. whole cumin seeds
   2. 1 tbsp.coriander seeds
   3. 4 dry red chilly
4. 4 cups water

Procedure of making Tamarind water

Soak the tamarind in one cup of water for about half an hour. Now squeeze the pulp out of it and discard the fiber.

Take around 3 cup of water in a mixing bowl and add tamarind pulp and one tsp. green chili paste to it.

Sprinkle 2tsp. bhaaja masala, 1tsp. beet noon (Black salt) and half a tsp. of plain salt to it. Stir it well till salt dissolves. Taste and adjust salt and sour balance in it.

Ingredients for stuffing

1. 1/2 cup yellow peas soaked in water overnight
2. 3 medium sized potatoes peeled and boiled
3. 4-5 green chilies finely chopped (you can adjust it depending on your spice level)
4. 1/2 cup coriander leaves (cilantro) finely chopped
5. 1tbsp. bhaaja masala (see above on how to make it)
6. 1tsp. red chili powder
7. 1 tsp. beet noon (black salt)
8. Plain salt as required

Procedure

In a pressure cooker boil the soaked peas with salt. Cook it for one to two whistles. Let the pressure release on its own. Allow the cooked peas to come down to the room temperature.

In a big bowl take all the above ingredients and add one or to spoonful of tamarind water to it. Mix them well but try to not squish the peas.

Ingredients For phuchka

I bought Deep Panipuri packet from Indian store. Each of the packet has 30 pieces. Here I have given the measurements enough for 30 panipuris. I use the puffed ones for phuchka, and the flat ones for making churmur.

Bringing everything together

Puchka is best had when someone is continually making it for others. If you wait to eat them it will get soggy.

Take phuchka and poke a hole at the center of each of them with your thumb. Stuff it with little potato filling and give it a quick dip in the tamarind water and serve it immediately.

churmur

Once we were done eating phuchka we’d generally get churmur to-go. This is the same thing as phuchka in chaat format where everything is mashed together. We’d take it back home for the family and also as something to munch on as we headed back home.

1. 5-6 panipuris specially the flat ones
2. 1 medium potatoes boiled and chopped
3. 2tbsp. boiled yellow peas
4. 1/2 tsp. chopped green chilies
5. 1tsp. chopped cilantro
6. 1tsp. finely chopped red onions
7. 1/2tsp. bhaaja masala (see above on how to make it)
8. 1/2tsp. beet noon (black salt)
9. 1/2 tsp. red chili powder
10. 2tsp. tamarind water
11. Salt

Procedure

In a bowl mix everything together other than panipuris. Taste to check the salt and sour balance. Adjust accordingly. and keep it ready. Just before serving crush the panipuris and sprinkle over.