Peas or Koraishutir Kochuri

Peas Puri or Koraishutir Kochuri as bongs call it is brings on fond memory of Kolkata. It reminds me of the "freezing" 60°F (15°C) winters in Kolkata. It’s during that time fresh green peas hit the local market. The kids in the house were given the chore of taking the peas out of their pods. The yield rates were around 50%, the other 50% were stuffed in the mouths with small little hands.

These days in the world of frozen goodies, the famed Koraishutir Kochuri can be made any time of the year, all that is needed is a short trip to the local store. 

Please also checkout the video recipe on my youtube channel by clicking this link or on the play button below.

Ingredients

SERVING 16 pieces

1. Frozen peas- 700gm 
2. Ginger-2 inch
3. Green Chili - 4-5
4. Bhaja Mosla - 1tbsp
5. Refined Oil - 3 tbsp
6. Salt to taste
7. All Purpose Flour– 2 cup
8. Salt- 1/2 tbsp
9. Sugar - 1 tbsp
10. White oil or ghee(clarified butter) -2 tbsp
11. Water - 1 cup ( Approximately 
12. Refined oil for deep Frying

Procedure

In a grinder add a little water, peas, ginger and green chili. Make a fine paste out of them.

Take oil in a frying pan. Add one pinch of asfoetida. Now add the paste you just made. Keep on stirring till the water completely evaporates and the pea mixture becomes dry and thick enough to make small balls out of it. Now add salt to your taste and if the peas are not sweet enough you can add little sugar to it. Let it cool and then sprinkle some dry roasted cumin powder.

Now we need to make the dough. In a wide vessel take the flour, salt and the oil or ghee for shortening. Rub the ghee into the flour with your finger tips. Now slowly add the warm water and knead it until the dough becomes soft and smooth. Cover it with a damp cloth or kitchen towel and allow it to rest for 30 minutes. Once again knead it and make small ping pong sized ball out of it.

Take a ball you made out from the flour and keep it on your palm. Using the other palm press it and make a small disc. You can also use your rolling pin to make this disc. Make a small ball out of your pea stuffing and put it in the center of the disc.  Bring the sides together and cover the opening. Now flatten it with your palm.

Roll out by applying little oil on both the sides.

Take oil in a wok or kadai and heat it. Deep fry the kochuri till both sides puff up.

Traditionally koraishutir kochuri is had with chana dal or potato curry (aloor dum). However, this time when I made it we had some home made mango chutney from my Tamil friends, it made a killer combo.

Healthy option

If you are like me and need to take care of someone who is prone to over-eat you can take the healthier option of making Peas Paratha.

The stuffing is made exactly the same way. For the dough replace with whole wheat flour. While rolling out the dough use more dough to create larger parathas. Also the dip-fry step is omitted in the Paratha. Heat a tawa or a skillet. Place the paratha on the heated tawa and cook for half a minute. Now flip the other side and pour oil with a spoon around the edge. Cook this side and flip again. You will notice brown spots on the surfaces  when the paratha is cooked.

Egg Parantha

I make this hearty breakfast for my daughter when she heads out to play, either in the summer sun or on snowy winter days. It is easy to make and at the same time tasty and very filling. An extra dollop of butter over it makes her extra happy.

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour (Atta)
• 1 cup all purpose flour (Maida)
• 5 egg
• 4 tbsp. minced onion
• 2tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 2 tbsp. minced ginger
• 2 tbsp. minced green chilies
• Salt to taste
• Refined oil for frying

Procedure

In a mixing bowl mix two kinds of flour. Add salt to it and mix well. Now break one egg and add to it. Sprinkle 1 tbsp. chopped cilantro. Start kneading to make a soft dough. If required you can add water little at a time. Cover the dough and keep aside for half an hour.

Divide the dough into four equal sized balls. Now take dry flour on a rolling surface and roll out each dough ball into a disc of about 10” diameter.

Heat a skillet and transfer the disc on the skillet. Keep he heat mark on low.

Beat one egg with little salt and pour it over the disc. Gently spread the egg evenly all over the disc. Increase the heat mark to medium.  Sprinkle chopped cilantro, ginger, onion and green chilies over it. Now fold the paratha a shown in the picture. Brush oil on the top surface of the paratha and flip it over. Brush oil on the other surface too.

Cook on medium heat till you see brown spots all over the surface of the paratha.

Serve with ketchup or achar.

Keema Parantha or Porota

It’s been a long time since I last blogged. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I have not been cooking anything interesting, rather it is the contrary. I have been hosting a lot of friends and family through the holidays and my pipeline of blogs is almost full.

Today I bring to you Keema Parantha. Most Indian restaurants around our area serve variants of this. However, they mostly use Beef or Lamb. I have used chicken instead because a lot more Indians eat that. You can easily replace chicken with your choice of meat without any other modification.

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. oil
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 500 gm. minced meat
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 small tomato finely chopped
• 2 green chilies finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp. red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp. cumin powder
• 1 tsp. garam masala powder
• 1 tsp. oil
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

In a mixing bowl take flour with salt and oil. Rub flour with your finger to give it a crumb like texture. Add water and work on it to make a smooth dough. Keep it covered.

In a wide frying pan heat 1 tsp. oil. Fry chopped onion in it till they turn soft. Add turmeric powder, red chili , cumin powder and ginger garlic paste to it. Fry them together till the raw smell goes away.

Add chopped tomato to it and fry till they turn mushy. Now add minced meat to it.

Season with salt and sugar. Mix well and keep frying on medium heat till the entire moisture is evaporated.

Add chopped green chilies and cilantro to it. Sprinkle garam masala powder and mix well. Turn off the heat and spread the meat mixture in a plate to cool down.

Divide the dough into eight equal portions and make roundels with each of them.

Roll out each roundel  into a disc of four inch diameter. Make sure to thin out the edges of the circle with a rolling pin. Fill this up with 2 tbsp. of filling and then using your finger close the open end and seal.

Flatten it by pressing gently within your palm. Now on a flour dusted surface roll out each stuffed dough ball into a circle of six inch diameter.

Heat a skillet (Tawa) on medium high heat. Brush the surface with oil. Place the rolled out disc on hot tawa and let this side cook for thirty seconds. Flip it over and cook the other side. 

Your parantha is ready to serve.

Dahl Puri

One of our friends kept raving about some Dahl Puri which he had at a small restaurant in Seattle. He was so impressed that I had to also try it out. After a few attempts we finally got to Pam’s Kitchen at the University District one evening. I was surprised to know how a large percentage of Caribbean population is of Indian origin and our food has taken a different twist in their kitchen. I loved the Dahl Puri which they served along with a medley of Goat curry and Potato-bean curry. Even though they call it Puri it is more closer to Indian Parantha than the traditional Puri.

This is my recreation of the same, but obviously with a bong twist.

Ingredients

For the filling

• 2 cups yellow split peas
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. ground roasted cumin
• 2 green chilies
• Salt to taste

For the dough

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. instant yeast 
• 1 cup water

Procedure

Wash split peas and boil them in a sauce pan with about six cups of water and a pinch of turmeric powder. Once it comes to a rolling boil reduce the heat and cook for about thirty minutes.

Drain them on a strainer and let it cool down.

Take all the ingredients of the filling in a food processor. Grind them into a smooth mixture. There should not be any whole piece of grain left in the mixture.

In a mixing bowl take flour, yeast, salt and baking powder. Add water little at a time and start kneading. You might need to add little more water than a cup. keep kneading until you make a firm dough.

Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let it rest for thirty minutes.

Divide the dough into six portion and make smaller balls out of them.flatten out each dough ball in your hand to form a six inch circle and dust one side of it with dry flour. Fill this up with 3 tbsp. of filling and then using your finger close the open end and seal.

On a flour dusted surface roll out each stuffed dough ball into a disc of 12 inch diameter.

Heat a skillet (Tawa) on medium high heat. Brush the surface with oil. Place the rolled out disc on hot tawa and let this side cook for thirty seconds. Flip it over. Once the puri is done it well swell up like a ball. Remove from tawa.

Serve hot.

Mughlai Paratha with Spicy Potato Curry

Updated: With new pictures

Moglai Porota as we actually pronounce it brings back memories of durga pujo, college-street, secret rendezvous with boyfriend and so many other things. It’s not just a food, but rather a ritual. You cannot possibly complete pujo shopping or finish your pandal visits without stopping for one.

Each time we go for a movie, here in US, we have a common crib that we should be getting some roll or moglai porota after that. So this time I made them and then headed for the theatre. The fun of the movie was quadrupled by the thought that we had them waiting for us.

for Spicy Potato CurRy

1. 2 large potatoes cut into cubes
2. 1 small onion finely chopped
3. 1 tsp. grated ginger
4. 1 tsp. minced garlic
5. 2,3 green chilies slit lengthwise
6. 1/2 tsp. cumin powder
7. 1 tsp. coriander powder
8. 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
9. 1 tsp. red chili powder
10. 1/2 tsp. garam masala powder
11. 1tbsp. oil

Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion and green chilies to it. Fry on medium heat till the edges of the onions turn brown. Add chopped ginger, garlic to it and fry them together till the raw smell goes away. You may need to sprinkle water if the spice tend to burn.

Add potato cubes to it followed by all dry spice powder.Add salt and sugar to season. Mix everything well so that the potato cubes are coated with all spices. Sear them on medium heat for 2-3 minutes.Now add about half cup of water and cook it covered till the potato cubes are tender. By this time the water should be dried up.If not crank up the heat and make it dry.

Keep it aside for later use.

Ingredients for Paratha

For the dough

1. 4 cups all purpose flour ( Maida )
2. 4tbsp. any vegetable oil
3. 1tsp. salt
4. 1 cup warm milk

In a mixing bowl mix flour with salt and oil and rub with your finger tips till it takes the texture of bread crumbs. Add milk little at a time and knead well. If the milk is all used up and you need more you can now add warm water to it. Knead well to make a medium soft dough. Apply oil to the surface of the dough and cover it with a damp cloth. Keep it aside for half an hour. Knead once more before you use it.

For stuffing

1. 4 eggs
2. 4tbsp. minced onion, ginger, green chili
3. Salt
4. Oil for deep frying

In a bowl take egg one at a time and whisk it with a spoon of minced onion, ginger and chili.

Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and make smooth balls. Now roll them out into a square of 8 by 8 inch. For easy rolling you can grease the rolling pin as well.

Pour the egg mixture in the center of the rolled out paratha and spread a little with a spoon. Now gently fold the sides by overlapping each other so that the egg stuffing in the center gets covered. It will look like a rectangular parcel.

		Folding VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Heat enough oil in a deep wok or kadai and carefully slide the envelope in. Fry on medium heat till you see tiny bubbles appearing on the surface. Flip it over and allow the other side to get cooked. Occasionally press it lightly so that the egg is cooked from inside. Remove with a slotted spoon when both sides take a light brown hue.

Drain it on a paper towel.

Serve it all together as shown below.

Kolkata Kati Roll

Few Indians know that the Kati Roll which is sold across India started in Kolkata. A small restaurant in Kolkata was famous for their Paratha and Kebab. The British clerks (this is pre-Independence) didn’t like to eat with their hands and get it dirty. Hence the restaurant invented the roll where the kebab was placed inside the paratha and wrapped in paper.

You can make some great Kati roll by using the following

1. Make Laccha or Flakey Paratha http://www.bongcook.com/2013/02/laccha-paratha-multilayered-indian.html
2. Make Chicken Tikka http://www.bongcook.com/2012/10/chicken-tikka.html

Wrap up the tikka kebab in the paratha along with red-onions, chutney/sauce of your choice.

If you are a little lazy you can just make them from pre-packaged kebabs and paratha. For some ideas visit http://www.bongcook.com/2011/10/chicken-roll.html.

If you are even more lazy and visiting Portland head on to Bollywood Theatre. It’s an all American run restaurant and serves kati roll. Even though the roll is not 100% authentic, it’s good nonetheless. Apparently the owner visited India and fell in love with everything Indian. As you can see from the picture below he even plays old Bollywood movies. I found posters of Bengal Lamp and advertisement of quacks who could cure your all “personal” issues adorning the wall. Also I am sure Bengali Movie Phooleshwai is not a Bollywood movie :)

Bengali Triangular Paratha

This was the most common weekend breakfast in our childhood. These parathas serves as great travel food. In our childhood we used to take them on the multi-day train journeys and now we wrap them in aluminum foils and take it on our road-trips. I have never seen other non-Bengali, Indian households to make them in triangular shape, and hence the Bengali qualifier in the post title.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour (Maida)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour(Atta) + some dry flour for rolling
• 1tsp. salt
• 1tsp. sugar
• Oil or ghee as needed

Procedure

In a big bowl mix all the dry ingredients with your hand. Add 2tsp. oil and rub the flour with it till it takes a crumb texture.

Add water, little at a time and knead well to make a medium soft dough. Wrap it with a kitchen towel for 15 minutes.

Divide the dough into equal sized balls – about a size of lemon.

Flour the rolling surface and roll each portion into a thick disc of about 6inch diameter. Smear the top surface with a drop of oil and fold the disc along the diameter to form a semi circle.

Smear another drop of oil on this half and fold over again. This will now take a shape of triangle.

Roll it with gentle pressure without disturbing its triangular shape. Parathas will be little thick so don’t roll it too thin.

Heat a tawa and place each paratha at a time. Cook each side on medium heat for 2 – 3 minutes before you turn. Gently press the paratha to spread the heat evenly. When the center of the paratha puffs up add a spoon of oil along its edges. Cook till you see light brown spots all over the surface. Flip it over and again add a spoon of oil to fry the other side. Remove after you see golden flecks all over.

Serve hot with alu phulkopir chorchori (dry potato and cauliflower curry).

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!!!

Home Made Tawa Naan

When we make naan at home in the proper way (in the oven) it becomes very tiring on our feet. We have to continually run around opening and closing windows to air out the apartment to stop the blaring fire-alarms. Somehow the fire-alarms do not like the naans (maybe it prefers Biriyani).

The alternative I use is to make naans on the tawa. The results are pretty good and it’s easier to make that way. Here’s the recipe to make naan on a gas or electric stove-top.

Ingredients

1. 2 cups all purpose flour ( maida )
2. 1/2 tsp. salt
3. 1tsp. sugar
4. 1tsp. baking powder
5. 1/2tsp. baking soda
6. 2tbsp. oil
7. 1/2 cup plain curd ( Yogurt )
8. Butter

Procedure

Sieve flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda in a mixing bowl. Add sugar to it and mix well.

Drizzle 2tbsp. oil to it and rub with the dry ingredients till you get a texture of crumb.

Add plain curd little at a time and start kneading. Knead till you get a soft pliable dough. If needed add little milk to it.

Keep the dough covered with a damp kitchen towel for 15 – 30 minutes and knead it once more before you start rolling.

Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and on a floured surface roll them out into flat uniform discs of 8 – 9 inch diameter. The size and thickness depends on your preference, I prefer mine to be a little thick.

Heat a non stick tawa and brush it with butter.

Place the rolled out naan to it and lower the heat to medium. Keep it partially covered and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove the lid and you will see the bread has risen. Brush the top surface of the flatbread with butter before you turn it over. Cook till you get golden brown patches all over its surface.

Remove and serve hot. 

Kolkata Egg Roll

If you have a guy like this close to your home, then count your blessings and skip this post. In case you don’t and this is one of those days when you can do anything to fly across the world and stand in a queue in front of him, then read on :)

Ingredients

For 5 rolls

1. Pack of 5 ready to cook Paratha ( You can make your own parantha as well ). I used
   
2. 5 eggs
3. 1/2  cucumber
4. 1/2 red onions
5. 2 green chilies chopped
6. 1/2 lemon
7. Tomato ketchup
8. 5 tbsp. oil
9. Salt
10. 1 tsp. black salt or beet noon

Procedure

		Folding the roll VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Heat a non stick pan and fry the paranthas on both the sides by using the package direction. Remove and keep them aside.

Make thin slices of onion and cucumber and keep them handy.

Beat eggs one at a time with little salt.

Heat nonstick frying pan with one tsp. of oil. Pour the egg mixture and swirl it. Immediately before the egg sets place a fried parantha on top of it. Press it gently. Lower the heat. Flip it over when the egg is done and cook the other side for a while. Remove and place it on a flat board with the egg side up.

Divide sliced onion, cucumber and green chili in equal portions and line them up in one side of the parantha. Squirt some lemon juice. Squeeze little tomato ketchup over it. Sprinkle a pinch of black salt before you roll it up.

Start rolling from one side and wrap the bottom 1/3 part with grease proof paper to hold.

Your wait is over