Chapor Ghonto

This is part 2 of our pujo spread post. Prompted by our friends going to a pujo spread buffet at a local Indian restaurant, I decided to make a pujo spread of our own.

In this post I bring to you chapor ghonto. This is a medley with bitter gourd being predominantly featured along with other seasonal vegetables. This recipe is a variant from my boro-pishi (dad's oldest sister), where she skipped the other veggies and used only potatoes along with a generous helping of ghee.

Ingredients

• 1 cup yellow split pea or motor daal washed and soaked overnight
• 1 large potato cut into medium sized cubes
• 2 bitter gourd or karela cut into thin half moon slices
• 1 tsp. paanch phoron
• 1 tsp. dry roasted paanch phoron powder
• 1 tsp. ginger paste
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. ghee or clarified butter
• Salt to taste
• Oil

Procedure

Step 1

Drain excess water from the soaked dal and grind it coarse with salt. Gently beat the batter for a minute. 

Heat a griddle or tawa and grease it with oil. Now place the batter on the hot griddle and spread it flat over the tawa with a flat bottom spatula. Let it cooked on the medium heat for a minute or two. Now crank up the heat to high and let it sit there for another minute.

Noe with your spatula try to turn it. you will see it will break unevenly.  These uneven pieces of the lentil cake is called chapor. Flip those uneven pieces on the tawa and apply oil with a spoon from the sides. Let this side sit for two minutes on medium heat and one minute on high heat. 

Remove those chapors from the tawa and keep aside.

Now add oil in a wok and fry the slices of bitter gourd on medium heat till they are crispy. Set aside.

Add two tsp. oil in a wok and temper it with paanch phoron. Wait till they stop spluttering. Add potato cubes to it and fry them on medium heat for a while. Add turmeric powder and ginger paste and mix well. you might need to sprinkle water to it to avoid the spices from burning. 

Season with salt and sugar and add little water to it. Cook it covered till the potato is almost cooked and ninety percent of the water is evaporated. This is the time you add the lentil pieces and the fried bitter gourd to it. Mix well. The chapor will absorb the excess water.

Finish it off with a dollop of ghee and dry roasted paanch phoron powder.

Serve with hot rice and enjoy.

Not Pumpkin Flower Fritters

Every year during this time everyone in USA gets crazy about pumpkin for all the wrong reasons (ahem ghosts). They drink pumpkin lattes and pumpkin beers, decorate their home with hideously large pumpkins.
Last year I started looking out for pumpkins flowers and vines. My queries were met with strange looks. A farm owner in Ballard even offered me to get tones of the vines because essentially it is waste for them. However, I rarely found the flowers.
This year, I decided to grow my own, but not pumpkins, but rather zucchini, a cousin of the pumpkin which is easier to grow. The flowers are almost identical and I can vouch they taste exactly the same.
Using zucchini flowers this is how I made my kumro phul er bora or pumpkin flower fritters.

Ingredients

• 10 zucchini flower
• 1 tbsp. kalonji / nigella seeds
• 1tsp. turmeric powder
• 5 tbsp. Besan / Bengal gram flour
• 2 tbsp. rice flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying

Procedure

Wash the flowers carefully in running water. Now cut the stem short and make a vertical cut through the flower to take out the stamen and the pistil.

In a mixing bowl mix gram flour, rice flour, nigella seeds, turmeric powder, salt and baking soda very well.

By adding water little at a time make a thick batter.

Heat enough refined oil for deep frying in a pan. Coat each zucchini flower with the batter and gently slide it in the hot oil. Fry on medium heat till crispy and golden brown.

Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Serve with hot rice and your favorite daal.

Dim Fulkopi R Rezala

Few days back I posted the story of our new family tradition of making Prawn-pulao every Mahalaya. Now you cannot really eat pulao by itself, even though mysteriously the pulao kept decreasing as I was busy making it’s accompaniment. While I do plan to summon Mr. Holmes to get to the bottom of this mystery, here goes the recipe of egg-cauliflower rezala that I made to go with the pulao.

This rezala goes really well with the pulao because of it’s mild smooth taste. Since the pulao itself has a very distinct flavor, serving it with anything stronger like mutton doesn’t work that well. We also really enjoyed the left over rezala with some laccha paratha.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs boiled and de-shelled
• 2 medium potatoes cut into halves
• 8 medium sized florets of cauliflower
• 1 cup sliced onion
• 2 tbsp. minced ginger
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1tbsp. cashew and raisin paste
• 1/4th cup milk
• 1 tbsp. ghee
• 1 tsp. dry spice powder of the following dry roasted spices
• 1" cinnamon stick
• 4 green cardamom
• 5 cloves
• 1 tsp. caraway seed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Heat oil in a pan and fry onion, ginger, and garlic for about five minutes on low heat.

Remove from heat and let it come down to room temperature. Now make a paste of all these three ingredient with half a cup of yogurt.

Heat oil in a wok and fry cauliflower florets on medium high heat. Ensure the florets don't change their white color. Remove with slotted spoon and reserve. Fry potatoes and eggs in the same way.

Now in the same oil add dry whole red chilies and pepper corn. When they stop sizzling add onion, ginger, garlic paste to it add fried potatoes and sauté till the raw smell subsides.  If required you may add water during the sautéing process.

When the potatoes are three quarter done add cauliflower florets to it. Sprinkle salt and sugar to your taste. Mix well so that every pieces are well coated with spice mixture.

Add half a cup of water and let it simmer on low heat till both the vegetables are tender. Now goes in the fried boiled eggs along with the cashew and raisin paste. Add quarter cup of milk to it. Let it simmer for a while till it takes a thick gravy consistency.

Turn off the heat. Add one tbsp. ghee along with one tsp. of dry roasted spice powder. Mix once and keep it covered till you serve.

Bhuni Khichuri from Bhaskar da, Simkie di

After a long hiatus I am back to food blogging. This post is brought to you by a bad bout of cold. The last time I had a cold was when I visited, ahem, a very cold place.

It was January of 2017, when few of us visited the cold sleepy town or rather village of Roslyn, up in the Cascade mountains. Like any true Bong outing, it was less about where we went, but more about what we ate.

Since I was down with a cold, I mostly stayed indoors helping others cook. One of our friend BhaskarDa made this amazing Khichuri based on his better half SimkiDi’s  recipe.

The great thing about this Khichuri is it’s simplicity and rustic taste.

Ingredients

• 1 cup gobindobhog rice ( Jeera rice)
• 1 cup yellow moong dal
• 2 tbsp. cumin seeds
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 2-3 dry red chilies
• 1” raw ginger grated
• 1 cup medium sized cauliflower florets
• 1 cub medium sized cubed potato
• 4 tbsp. oil
• 2 tsp. ghee
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Wash rice and drain the water and keep aside.

In a frying pan take moong dal and dry roast it on medium flame till you get a nutty aroma and dal starts taking a nice brown hue.

Remove from the heat and wash it. Now soak the dal in water.

In a heavy bottomed pan heat two tbsp. oil and temper it with one tbsp. cumin seeds, bay leaves and dry red chilies. When you get a nice aroma add washed and drained rice to it and fry them on very low heat for about five minutes.

Once you start getting the flavor of the fried rice add soaked dal along with its water to it. Give them a hearty stir. Add salt and cook it covered. you need to check the water level time to time and need to replenish if required.

In the mean time smear the cauliflower florets and potato cubes with little salt and start heating the rest of the oil in a frying pan..

Once the oil is hot enough  fry the cauliflower florets and the potato cubes on medium heat. Remove them from oil and keep aside.

When the rice and dal mixture is three fourth cooked add the fried cauliflower florets and potato to it.  Check the seasoning and the water level and adjust accordingly. This is the time you add grated ginger and sugar. Mix once more and cook it covered.

When the khichuri is done, turn off the heat. In a small frying pan heat ghee till it melts and temper it with the rest of the cumin seeds. When they stop sputtering, pour it over the khichuri and immediately cover the pot. Keep it covered till you serve.

Italian Style Chicken Stew

Sometimes I need to make lunch for my daughter and her friends of European origin. It’s hard to get something to plate which both would equally enjoy. This chicken stew seems to fit the bill. It has both Indian spices as well as Italian herbs.

 

Ingredients

• 1lb. chicken on bone
• 1/4th cup onion juice
• 2 medium sized onion sliced thinly
• 1 large tomato sliced lengthwise
• 5-6 baby potatoes
• 1/4 cup minced garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped leek (optional)
• 1 tbsp. chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp. whole pepper corn
• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper powder
• 1 tbsp. saffron
• 1/4 cup fresh cream
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. olive oil (you can use any vegetable oil)
• 2 tsp. all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

 

Wash and pat dry chicken pieces and marinate them with onion juice, black pepper powder and salt..

Keep it aside for an hour or two.

 

Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a pan and fry the chicken pieces on medium low heat till all sides take a light brown hue. This way you can seal the juice of the chicken.

 

In another pan take butter and allow it to melt on very low heat. You need to be careful not to burn the butter. Add whole peppercorns to it followed by minced garlic. Sauté till you start getting a nice aroma.

 

Add sliced onions and leek and fry on medium heat till the onions turn a little brown.. Next to go in are the tomato slices.. Fry on medium heat till the tomato starts to melt.. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool down and come to the room temperature..

 

Put the fried mixture in a blender and blend it for half a minute.. Now strain the blended mixture through a strainer and reserve the pulp.

 

In a separate pan melt another spoon of  butter on very low flame and add flour to it.. Fry for a little while. Add the reserved pulp to it and pour about 4 cups of water to it. Mix well. Bring the mixture to a boil before you add the fried chicken pieces to it. Add the baby potatoes. Season with salt and sugar. Cover it. Allow it to simmer on low heat to infuse all the flavors together. When the chicken and the potato is just done sprinkle saffron strands and mix it well. Let it simmer for another minute before you add 2 tbsp. of  fresh cream to it. Turn off the heat and garnish with parsley. 

 

You can serve with garlic bread or plain bread.. 

Gondhoraj Bhetki

Gondhoraj Bhetki is one of the most popular dishes served in the famous Oh Calcutta! restaurant in Kolkata. If you landed on this page searching for that, then this is not it. Oh Calcutta created it’s own version to appeal to a more cosmopolitan clientele. Gondhoraj Bhetki or fragnant bhetki presented here is the authentic traditional summer food prepared in Bengali households, something my grand mom or mom would’ve made.

 

Ingredients

• 4 medium sized steak pieces of bhetki (substitute with Cod or Tai Snapper steak based on local availability)
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tsp. ginger paste
• 1/2 tsp. garlic paste
• 1 tsp. green chili paste
• 2 large gondhoraj lime (substitute with any fragrant large lime)
• 1 tsp. gondhoraj lime rind
• 4 kafir lime leaf
• Sugar to taste
• Salt to taste
• White vegetable oil

Procedure

Clean and wash the fish. Pat it dry with a paper towel.

Grate one lime. Now cut and squeeze the juice of both the limes and reserve it.

In a bowl take half of the ginger, garlic, chili paste along with lime juice and salt. Mix it well and apply on both sides of the fish steaks. Let it rest for about thirty minutes.

Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a pan and one by one shallow fry the fish steaks after shaking off the extra marinade. Remove from oil and keep aside.

In a pan take 3-4 tsp. of refined oil and add ginger, garlic and chili paste to it. sauté on very low heat till the raw smell subsides. Turn off the heat and let it cool down a bit. Now add beaten  yogurt to it. Mix well. Add salt and sugar to your taste and add half a cup of water. Mix well and let it come to a boil. Throw the kafir lime leaves and gently slide the fish steaks in. Cook till the fish is cooked and the sauce is thick. Sprinkle the lime juice along with its rind.

Serve hot with plain rice..
 

Prawn Butter Masala

In our last Kolkata visit my venerable Buria Pishi asked my daughter, what she’d like to have. My daughter asked for some butter masala without eluding to butter masals of what. Pishi cooked up this amazing prawn butter masala. I asked her for her recipe and she sent me this beautiful hand written note.

I followed her recipe and made some fantastic prawn butter masals (if I may say so myself ). Hope you get equal success.

Ingredients

• 1kg tiger prawn cleaned and deveined
• 2 medium onions chopped finely
• 2 medium onions ground to paste
• 2 tsp. ginger paste
• 1 tsp. garlic paste
• 100gms. cashew
• 50gms. golden raisins
• 50gms. chaar magaz
• 1tsp. coriander powder
• 1 tbsp. Kashmiri chili powder
• 1 tbsp. turmeric powder
• 1 lit whole milk
• 1 tsp. Bengali garam masala powder
• 3 tbsp. ghee (clarified Butter)
• 1/2 cup refined oil
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• Tempering
  • 4 whole dry red chilies
  • 2 large bay leaves
  • 4 green cardamom
  • 1" cinnamon
  • 4 cloves
  • 1/2 tsp. shahi jeera

Procedure

In a grinder make a fine .paste of cashew, raisin and chaarmagaz with minimum water and keep it aside for later use.

In a mixing bowl take the cleaned prawns and smear them with turmeric powder and salt. Keep aside for about 15 minutes.
In a pan take 2 tbsp. oil and heat it. Add the marinated prawns and sauté. Lower the heat and keep it covered for a minute. You will find water releasing from the prawns. Turn off the heat and reserve the sautéed prawns along with its water.
Take another big clean pan and add rest of the oil along with 2 tbsp. ghee to it. Heat it up and temper it with whole red chili, broken whole garam masala, bay leaves and shahi jeera. When the spices stop buzzing lower the heat and add 1tsp. sugar to it. Soon you will see the sugar frothing. Immediately add chopped onions to it and fry on low heat till the onions turn golden brown.
Add onion paste along with the ginger garlic paste to it. Sauté till you see oil seeping out of the spices. In a bowl mix coriander and chili powder with little water to make a paste.
Next to go in are the reserved sautéed prawns along with coriander and chilii powder paste. Mix everything well on low heat for about 2 minutes. Add cashew, raisin and chaar magaz paste. Mix well. Now add about a liter of whole milk and give it a nice stir. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly. Remember don't boil too long after you add milk. So adjust the quantity of milk depending on how much gravy you want.
Let the entire mixture simmer for about a minute or two.
In a small pan heat 1 tbsp. ghee and temper it with Bengali garam masala powder. Pour it over the gravy and turn off the heat. Keep it covered till you serve.

Zarda Pulao

When I first posted this picture to facebook a few asked me why have I used Zarda (chewable tobacco) in a recipe. I hope someone doesn’t get that idea again, here Zarda means yellow color and the name comes from the bright yellow pulao (pillaf).
This is a dry fruit pulao and not overtly sweet as some other sources might indicate. IT is very easy to make and goes very well with mughlai meat dishes like chicken roast in the picture.

Ingredients

• 1 cup long grain  basmati rice
• 10-12 cashew nuts
• 10-12 sliced almonds
• 10-12 golden raisins
• 1/4 cup crispy fried onions (beresta)
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder / few drops of yellow food color
• 4 tbsp. refined oil
• 2 tbsp. ghee
• 1/4 cup of mawa / 1/2 cup of whole milk
• 1 tbsp. Bengali Garam masala powder
• 2 tbsp. rose water
• 1 silver warq optional for garnishing
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• Whole Garam Masala
  • 2' cinnamon stick
  • 5-6 cloves
  • 5-6 green cardamom
  • 2 bay leaves

Procedure

Wash rice and soak it in enough water for about thirty minutes. In a big sauce pan take enough water to cook the rice and add salt and turmeric powder to it. If you are using yellow food color this is the time you add few drops to the water instead of the turmeric powder. I prefer to use turmeric powder.
When the water starts boiling add the soaked rice to it and cook till the rice is just done. Now drain the water completely. Spread the cooked rice on a flat tray and allow it to cool.
By the mean time heat one teaspoon full of ghee in a pan and fry cashew, almond and raisin on low heat till they turn golden brown. Drain it on an absorbent paper and reserve.
Now in a non stick pan heat four tablespoon of oil on medium heat. Temper it with whole garam masala. When the oil becomes fragrant add rice along with salt, sugar and three fourth of the fried nuts. Mix well gently so the rice grains remain intact. Now lower the heat and add either mawa or full cream milk to it. Along with it also sprinkle rose water and Bengali garam masala powder. Mix gently, and cook it covered on very low heat for three to four minutes. Turn off the heat and add the rest of the ghee. Transfer it to a serving dish and garnish with the rest of the fried nuts, crispy fried onions and silver warq.
Serve it with Dhakai chicken roast..

Chicken Hariyali Kebab

We had a steady stream of guests over the holidays. Especially to cater to the palate of our local friends I chose this mild kebab, which goes really well with wine and beer. I serve this as a starter as Hariyali kebab turns out to be an excellent conversation starter.

Hariyali means green which is the color of the kebab, in this regard this is very different from the other kebabs. The green comes from the paste of cilantro, mint and fenugreek leaves that is used as marinade.

Ingredients

For 4 people. serving size 4 pieces

• 1lb. boneless chicken breast cut into 2” pieces
• 4 tbsp. thick curd
• 1 lemon
• 1 cup cilantro ( Coriander Leaves )
• 1 cup mint leaves
• 1/4 cup fenugreek leaves ( Methi )
• 1” ginger
• 5-6 fat cloves of garlic
• 3-4 green chilies
• 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp. red chili powder
• 2 tsp. chicken tandoori masala
• 3-4 tbsp. ghee ( Clarified Butter)
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Take chicken pieces and apply salt, lemon juice and red chili powder to it. Keep aside for 10-15 minutes.

In the mean time make a smooth paste of cilantro, mint, fenugreek leaves along with ginger, garlic and green chilies.

In a mixing bowl add curd and all other ground spices and mix them with the green paste. Add chicken pieces to it and mix them well with the marinade so that the chicken pieces are well coated with it. Keep it covered for at least two to three hours.

Soak the skewers in plain water for half an hour to avoid burning. Now arrange chicken pieces on the skewer and apply some clarified butter over it.

Pre heat the oven at 400F and grill them for 12-15 minutes. Turn the skewers once when they are half way through for even cooking.

Remove the kebabs from the skewers and arrange them on a serving plate. Serve with some green chutney and lemon wedge.

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.

Instant Oats Idli

My daughter having grown up in South India loves to eat Idli. Unfortunately I do not make it regularly enough to keep a supply of idli-rice, grinding equipment and such. The easy alternative I have found is to make rawa idli or use oats. I have already covered making rawa idli on my blog and this post is about the later.

Oats idli is an excellent choice for people on a diet as its much lower in calories than rice.

Ingredients

• 2 cups oats
• 1 cup sooji (Semolina)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1.5 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. chaana dal (Bengal gram)
• 1 tsp. urad dal (Black gram)
• 1/2 tsp. black mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 pinch hing (asafetida)
• 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 3 cups of plain yogurt
• 2 tsp. oil

Procedure

Dry roast oats in a pan on medium heat stirring continuously until it turns light brown. Keep aside and let it cool down. 

In the same pan dry roast rawa for a minute on low flame.

When the oats is cooler, grind in a spice grinder to make a coarse powder of it. 

In a mixing bowl take ground oats, roasted rawa, salt and baking soda. Mix really well.

Heat oil, add mustard and cumin seeds to it, when the seeds begin to splutter add chana and urad dal to it and sauté for a few seconds.

When the dals turn brownish, add hing to it and immediately turn off the heat.

Pour this (oil + dal and spice) mixture on the dry mixture of oats and semolina. Mix very well.

You can prepare this dry mixture ahead of time ( Can be refrigerated for 5 days) and prepare the idli later.

Grease idli molds.

Just before steaming add 3 cups of yogurt and chopped cilantro to it and mix. Put spoonful of this mixture into each mold and steam for 5-7 minutes.

When its cool remove each idle carefully and serve with coconut chutney of your choice.

Notes: Remember only add yogurt when you are ready to steam, else the effectiveness of baking soda will decrease and the idlis will not rise up.

Korola Pyaj Posto (Karela and Onion in Poppy seed paste)

This recipe has been waiting in the queue for quite a while now. Couple of months back we went for a 10 days road trip to California. We really had a fun time together. The super sunny weather, 6000 km driving, traffic, visiting new place, restaurant food all together it was overwhelming. At the end of the trip we just wanted to eat some home cooked food.

Since we managed to reach home ahead of lunch, I made a super fast two course meal with karola pyaj posto, dal and omelet. My today’s post will be karola pyaj posto. The sweetness of caramelized onion was in great contrast to the bitter crunchy karela (bitter gourd). The smooth posto (poppy seeds) induced a real good sleep in that afternoon as well.

Ingredients

• 2 bitter gourd finely chopped
• 1 large onion thinly sliced
• 2 – 3 tbsp. poppy seed ground to a thick paste
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
• Salt
• Oil

Procedure

First take the dry poppy seeds in a chutney grinder or coffee grinder. Dry grind it for 15 – 20 seconds. Add little water and a pinch of salt and mix. Now finally grind them together to make a paste.

Heat oil in a pan and add chopped bitter gourd followed by turmeric powder. Turn the heat low and fry them on low heat till they are done. Remove and keep aside.

Take another 2 tsp. oil and add onion slices to it. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and fry on medium heat till they turn golden brown.Add fried bitter gourd along with poppy seed paste. Mix everything together and keep cooking on low heat for few more minutes till it turns dry.

Serve at the beginning of a Bengali meal with plain rice. 

Molto Bene Penne

My husband’s office café has a chef exhibition area where different kinds of food are made each day. One of those days is the pasta day. In case I am in the vicinity I drop by those days to have lunch together. I love the Molto Bene Penne which in Italian means “very good penne”. Based on the taste I tried re-creating it at home and this comes pretty close.

Ingredients

• 1 cup penne pasta cooked according to the package direction
• 1/2 cup chicken keema (minced meat)
• 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. chopped red onion
• 4 small tomatoes cut into halves
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 2 tbsp. chopped green onion
• 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp. chili flakes
• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. crushed fennel seeds (mouri/sauf )
• 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese 
• 2 tbsp. butter
• Salt

Procedure

Heat butter in a pan and let it melt. Add crushed fennel seeds and minced garlic. Sauté on low heat till you get a nice aroma. Add chopped onion and fry till it turns translucent. Add minced meat to it and fry on medium heat till its cooked. Add peas, tomato halves and fry lightly along with it. Turn off the heat.

In another pan melt 1 tbsp. butter and add 2 tbsp. flour. Sauté on low heat for about a minute. Pour milk and cream and mix them well. Let it simmer for about 5 – 8 minutes till it has reduced by about quarter and starts to thicken. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to keep the sauce from sticking.

Stir in 1/2 cup parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper powder.

Add the meat mixture to this sauce and mix well. Keep aside.

How to serve

Transfer boiled penne in a serving bowl and pour 2 – 3 ladleful of sauce over it. Garnish with chopped green onions, cilantro and chili flakes.

Paneer Butter Masala

Long time back when we used to live in India, my husband came on a trip to US with one of his colleagues Neeraja. They went shopping together and landed up buying the same clothes and jackets for their children. So in couple of work parties my daughter had the exact same attire as Neeraja’s daughter. It was pretty funny. Couple of months back Neeraja came to visit us and I was reminded of this incident.

Since Neeraja is vegetarian I made Paneer Butter Masala along with some Doi Phulkopi. Here goes the recipe for the former as requested by Neeraja.

Ingredients

1. 200gms paneer cut into cubes
2. 3tbsp. finely chopped onion
3. 1tsp. ginger paste
4. 1tsp. garlic paste
5. 1tsp. cashew powder 
6. 1tbsp. tomato paste or tomato puree
7. 1tsp. coriander powder
8. 1tsp. cumin powder
9. 1tsp. Kashmiri red chili powder 
10. 1/2tp. garam masala powder
11. 1/2tsp. chicken tandoori masala
12. 1tbsp. tomato ketchup
13. 1/2 tsp. kasuri methi (Dry fenugreek leaves)
14. 1/2 cup milk
15. 1tbsp. sugar
16. Salt to taste
17. Chopped cilantro
18. 1/2 cup fresh cream or whole milk
19. 4tbsp. butter

Procedure

Cut paneer into medium cubes and dunk them in lukewarm water. Keep one or two cubes aside for garnishing.

In a bowl take garam masala powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, chicken tandoori masala, chili powder, cashew powder, tomato ketchup, kasuri methi and mix well. Slowly add 1/2cup of milk and whisk it o make a smooth mixture. Keep it aside.

Heat butter in a pan and add chopped onion to it. Fry on low heat till they become translucent. Add ginger garlic paste to it and sauté till the raw smell goes away. Add tomato paste and fry till you see a fine line of oil oozing out of the spices.

Add the liquid spice mixture you made before and stir everything well. Cook it covered for 3-4 minutes and then turn off the heat. cool it down completely.

Transfer the mixture in a blender and blend it really well. Now strain this mixture to get a smooth and silky gravy.

Transfer the strained gravy to the pan and once again bring it to boil. Drain the water and add the paneer cubes to the gravy. Sprinkle salt and sugar to it and give a gentle mix. Let it simmer for 2- 3 minutes and then pour the fresh cream over it. Mix once again before you turn off the heat. Garnish with chopped cilantro and shredded paneer.

Serve with naan or roti.

Rawa Idli

Having lived in the southern part of India for one fourth of my life has had it’s effect on my cooking as well.One of the things we picked up heavily from Bangalore and Hyderabad is idli.

Making idli in a South-Indian household is easy because there is always batter ready at hand as it’s used in a variety of their cuisine. However, the same is not true for a bong household. So making idli turns out to be an involved affair.

In our Hyderabad home we had a cook who used to make and also taught me the much easier Rawa Idli. The good part of Rawa idli is that there is nothing to grind before hand and no lengthy fermentation process. It tastes great though.

The soaked+ground dal in the ingredient below is optional and something I had only seen my cook use.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup rawa (sooji)
2. 1/4 cup urad dal (split black gram) soaked and ground into a thick paste (optional)
3. 1tsp. dry urad dal (for tempering)
4. 1/4 cup finely chopped carrot
5. 1/4 cup thinly sliced French beans
6. Handful of chopped coriander leaves
7. 1 cup plain curd
8. 1/2 tsp. Eno Fruit Salt (or baking soda)
9. 1tsp. mustard seeds
10. 1tsp. dry chana dal
11. 1tsp. hing ( Asafetida)
12. Few curry leaves
13. Salt
14. 2tsp. oil

Procedure

Heat oil in a frying pan and temper it with mustard seeds, hing and curry leaves. When they stop sputtering add chana dal and urad dal to it and fry till they turn golden brown. Lower the heat and add rawa to it and fry for 2- 3 minutes. Switch off the heat and allow it to cool down completely.

Mix the roasted rawa mixture with urad dal paste and curd. Add all the chopped vegetables and salt. Lastly add fruit salt to it and mix everything together to make a batter. Keep it aside for 15 minutes.

Grease the idli molds with ghee and add idli batter to it. Steam for 12 – 15 minutes. If you are using pressure cooker, remove the weight.

Allow it to cool before you un mold.

Serve it with coconut chutney…

Egg Salad Club Sandwich

We are avid hikers. One of the challenge of a hike is to pack good food. You want to ensure that you pack something that is easily packable, non-messy, nutritious, tasty and at the same time is rich in good calories. Egg salad sandwich fits that bill perfectly. After a soul crushing hike, eating the sandwich at the top of a mountain with a view as below adds an extra dimension to the whole experience.

Ingredients

1. 3 slices white sandwich bread
2. 3 hard boiled eggs chopped
3. 2tbsp. finely shredded cabbage or lettuce
4. 2 tbsp. grated carrots
5. 1 ripe avocado peeled and mashed
6. 1 tsp. chopped fresh parsley
7. 2tbsp. mayonnaise
8. 1tsp. freshly ground black pepper
9. Salt to taste

Procedure

Add chopped egg into a medium mixing bowl. Add mayonnaise, mashed avocado, shredded cabbage, salt and pepper to it.

Combine all the ingredients well using your spoon stirring firmly.

Spread breads on a chopping board. generously soon the mixed egg salad onto one slice of bread. Spread evenly using the back of the spoon. Now cover it up with another slice of bread. Spread the egg salad mixture on the top surface of the second bread. Close the sandwich with the remaining bread slice.

Cut the sandwich diagonally across with a sharp knife.

If you are packing them for lunch, wrap the sandwiches in a cling film or take them in zip locks.

Moong Palong / Spinach with yellow lentil

Our last couple of dine outs have been to African restaurants. Interestingly I saw that Ethiopian and Moroccan food has heavy use of lentils. It is served as one of the main course in both Queen Sheba and Marrakesh restaurants that we visited. It reminded me of some of the traditional Bengali lentil recipes. These are not the traditional daal soup or curry but more dry and filling.

In Winter when fresh spinach hit the markets my mom used them with yellow lentil to make a thick dry side dish which we used to have with white rice. Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup yellow moong dal
2. 1lb spinach coarsely chopped
3. 1" grated ginger
4. 1tsp. cumin seed
5. 2,3 bay leaves
6. 3,4 dry red chilies
7. 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
8. 1 tsp. ghee ( clarified butter )
9. Oil
10. Salt
11. Sugar

Procedure

Dry roast moong dal on medium heat till you get a nutty smell and the dal turns light brown. You need to stir it continuously.

Once you are done, wash dal thoroughly. Now cook dal with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder in a pressure cooker with one cup of water. If there is any excess water allow it to dry on high heat. Don't overcook the dal.

In a pan heat 2 tbsp. of oil and temper it with whole cumin seeds, bay leaves and dry red chilies. Wait till it sputters. Add grated ginger to it. Next to go in is chopped spinach. Season with salt and a tsp. of sugar.

Mix well and cook it covered on medium heat. Soon the leaves will start wilting and release enough water. Remove the lid and cook it on high heat allowing all the water to evaporate. Add boiled dal to it. Mix the dal well with spinach. Check seasoning and adjust accordingly. Let it cook together till all excess moisture dries up.

You need to stir frequently to avoid sticking to the bottom. Add a dollop of ghee and turn off the heat.

Enjoy with hot rice.

Grilled Prawn with Lemon, Tomato and Basil Sauce

Winter break means that lots of meals are had at home. No banking on kids and husband finding their stuff in the cafeteria so that I can relax a bit. Making mundane stuff in the holidays doesn’t appeal to me either, more so because the first thing the little one asked me after getting up was what’s in lunch. “Can we get something interesting”. Grilled prawn is very interesting to me because it’s superfast to make and very very tasty :). The sauce I made went pretty well with it. Hope you enjoy it as well.

Ingredients For Grilled Prawn

1. 10 medium sized prawns cleaned and deveined
2. 1tsp. lime juice
3. Freshly ground black pepper powder
4. 1tbsp. butter
5. Salt to taste

Procedure

Rub the cleaned prawns with salt, lime juice and black pepper powder. Keep them marinated for 15 minutes.

Skewer them in the bamboo skewers and brush little butter on both the sides. Heat a skillet and grill them by frequently rotating the skewers .If you want to get a charred effect hold the skewers directly on top of the flame or the hot coil, whichever you have.  Remove and place it on a serving dish.

Ingredients For Sauce

1. 1tbsp. chopped onion
2. 2 garlic cloves chopped
3. 2tbsp. butter
4. 1tbsp. all purpose flour
5. 1 tomato on vine ( ripe )
6. 2tbsp. basil ( Fresh or Dry )
7. 1/2 cup vegetable stock or broth 
8. Juice of one lemon
9. Black Pepper
10. Salt

Procedure

In a sauté pan add butter, onion and garlic and cook for few minutes on medium heat. Whisk-in the flour until they all get combined.

Add the broth to the pan and simmer for a couple of minutes till it starts to become thick. Toss the tomatoes till they turn soft. Season it with salt and pepper. Turn the heat on low and now add lemon juice and basil to it and mix well.

Pour over your grilled prawns and serve.

Hinger Kochuri with Kumro Aloor Torkari

Once Halloween comes up in US, everyone finds excuse to put some form of pumpkin in anything they eat or drink. While some like pumpkin pie makes sense, others like pumpkin latte seems weird to say the least.

I had to get pumpkin for the little devil at home, so I decided to make something Indian out of it. Since my husband worked really hard at carving it up, I decided to treat him with his absolute favorite Hinger Kochuri (asafetida stuffed poori) and pumpkin potato curry.

He was so happy to have it, that he dug out the photo he took many years ago of his favorite dingy kochuri shack in Behala. He insists that the guy is pure genius and an artist (see English Vinglish)

Kumro AlooR Torkari

Ingredients

1. 3 large potatoes cut into medium cubes along with their skin
2. 100gms pumpkin peeled and cut into cubes
3. 1tsp. turmeric powder
4. 1tsp. chili powder
5. 1tsp. asafetida powder or hing
6. 2-3 dry red chilies broken
7. 1tsp. paanch phoron
8. salt
9. 2 tsp. oil

Procedure

Heat oil in a pan and temper it with paanch phoron, hing and dry red chilies. Wait till you get a pungent smell. Now add pumpkin and potato cubes to it. Add turmeric and chili powder and fry them for a minute. Season with salt and mix well.

Now add one and half cups of water to it and cook it covered on medium heat till potatoes are done and pumpkin cubes are very mushy and melts. There should be no solid pieces of pumpkin, they should’ve all turned into a gooey paste.

Remove from heat and transfer to a serving bowl.

Kochuri

Ingredients For Stuffing

1. 1 cup white urad dal soaked overnight
2. 1 tsp.ginger paste
3. 2-3 green chilies
4. 1 tsp. turmeric powder
5. 1/2tsp. kalonji  (nigella seeds)
6. 1+2 tbsp. hing (asafetida)
7. !/2tsp. sugar
8. Salt
9. 1 tsp. oil

Procedure To Make The Stuffing

In a grinder grind urad dal along with green chilies into a paste.

Heat oil in a frying pan and temper it with a spoon of hing and kalonji.

Now add the paste of dal to it. Sprinkle turmeric powder, salt and sugar over it and mix well. Fry the dal mixture on medium heat till you see the paste is coming together.

Turn off the heat and let it cool.

Once it cools down, add the rest of the asafetida and ginger paste to it. To retain the flavor of hing in hinger kochuri, we add asafetida at the end. Knead it well.

Ingredients for dough

1. 2 ups maida (All purpose flour)
2. 1tsp. salt
3. 1/2 tsp. sugar
4. 1/2 – 3/4th cup of water
5. 2 cups oil for deep frying

Procedure To make Dough

In a mixing bowl take all the dry ingredients (1 through 3) and mix well.

Add 2tbsp. of oil to it and mix with the flour mixture using your fingertips till it takes a crumb texture.

Knead it by adding water little at a time till you get a soft smooth dough. Keep it covered with a damp cloth for 30 minutes.

Knead once more and then make ping pong size balls out of the dough.

Approximately you will get around 20 balls.

Procedure of making kochuri

Take each balls you made from the dough and press it between your palm to flatten it. Now put a spoonful of stuffing at the centre of the flattened dough and round the dough again by gathering the sides together.

Roll them into discs as you would make pooris.

Take enough oil in a wok and heat it up before you slide the kochuris in. Give both sides a minute before flipping them.

They might not always fluff up like a puri as they have stuffing in it.

Your kochuris are ready.

Egg Korma

The surprise birthday party dinner my husband threw for me was all good, but for the egg kurma. I didn’t like it and it left me craving for some great egg korma.

A long long time back my mom had made egg korma for my birthday. I could almost visualize the eggs partially submerged in a creamy, fragrant, silky sauce which had layers of flavors. Mild but still redolent with spices, that korma was the best that I ever had.

After all this craving I decided to go ahead and make myself some of that korma.

Ingredients

1. 5 eggs hardboiled
2. 2tbsp. boiled onion paste
3. 1tsp. ginger garlic paste
4. 1tsp. green chili paste
5. 2tbsp. cashew paste
6. 1/2 cup plain yogurt
7. Mint leave (optional)
8. 1tsp. sugar
9. salt to taste
10. Oil
11. Tempering
    1. 1tsp. whole black pepper corn
    2. 3,4 whole dry red chilies
    3. 2 green cardamom
    4. 2,3 cloves
    5. 1” cinnamon stick

Procedure

Heat oil in a kadai or wok and temper it with all ingredients listed under tempering. When the oil becomes fragrant remove dry chilies and keep it reserved for garnishing. Add onion and ginger garlic paste to it. Fry on low heat till the spices turn light brown and the raw smell goes off.

In a mixing bowl mix yogurt with cashew and green chili paste. Pour the yogurt mixture over the fried spices. Add boiled eggs to it and fry together till each egg is well coated with spices.

Add 1 cup of warm water and crank up the heat. Season with salt and sugar. Simmer till the gravy is thick and oil floats over the surface. Sprinkle 1/2tsp. garam masala powder and dried mint leaves and garnish with fried red chilies.

Serve with luchi, parantha, Biryani or pulao.