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.

Dosa in Bong Kitchen

 

We love Dosa, but since it is not our staple food, we do not have the gadgets to make it easily. Unlike a South Indian household we do not have a wet-grinder. Having lived in the South of India for a long time and later with South Indian neighbors in another corner of the world, I picked up this easy recipe which anyone can use to dole out Dosas.

Ingredients

• 4 cups rice flour
• 1 cup urad dal
• 1/2 tsp. fenugreek seeds (Methi)
• 1 tsp. flattened rice (Poha) optional
• 1 tsp. salt
• Oil

Procedure

Wash urad dal thoroughly and soak it for 4-6 hrs. along with the fenugreek seeds.

Soak rice flour in a cup of water.

After the dal is soaked drain the water and in a regular grinder grind it into a smooth paste. Grind till the paste is soft and foamy. You may need to add water.

After the dal is completely ground, gradually add the rice flour mixture to it and grind them together.

Transfer the batter into a large bowl. Add salt and mix it.

Add enough water to the batter so that it is thick but when you scoop it with your hand it falls through your fingers.

Cover the bowl with a lid. Make it sure that the bowl is not airtight.

Keep the batter in a warm place for about 8-10 hrs. to ferment. For those living in a cold area keep the batter bowl inside your oven with the oven light on. The light will provide the temperature of fermentation. The ideal temperature for fermentation is around 95F or 34C.

Once the batter is fermented it will double in volume and should be frothy. If the batter is too thick add little water to make it pouring consistency.

Heat a round non stick skillet. Drizzle few drops of water. The water should sizzle and evaporate. Brush the pan with little oil and now put a ladle full of batter. Swirl the back of your ladle in concentric circles to evenly spread out the batter.

Once the batter is spread out drizzle few drops of refined oil around the edges.

Cook dosa on medium high heat till the bottom appears light brown. To make crispy dosa turn them over and let the other side take a light brown hue.

After you are done cooking each dosa make sure to cool down the skillet by sprinkling water to it. If the skillet is too hot you won’t be able to spread the batter.

Fold and serve either with aloo masala, chutney and sambar or enjoy plain with chutney and sambar. 

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.

Upma

Having grown up in Sothern India, this is my daughters staple school lunch. She takes it at least once a week. This is common weekend breakfast for us as well. Even though this is super common in South India, folks in Kolkata are just picking this up. I got a call from one of my relatives asking about upma and hence I am writing this down.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sooji ( Cream of wheat )
• 2 tbsp. small dices of carrots
• 2 tbsp. thin slices of beans
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 tbsp. chopped ginger
• 1 tsp. chopped green chilies
• 1 tsp. hing ( Asafetida )
• 1 tsp. urad dal
• 1 tsp. chana dal ( Bengal gram )
• 1/2 tsp. black mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp. whole cumin seeds
• 8 – 10 curry leaves
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp. oil

Procedure

Heat oil in a pan and temper it with whole mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal and chaana dal. Fry on low heat till they turn golden brown. Add chopped onion, ginger, green chilies and curry leaves to it. Sauté on low heat till the onion turns pink.

Add 2 cups of water and season it with salt and sugar. Stir well. When the water comes to a boil slowly add suji while whisking it continuously.

You will see the water is al absorbed by the suji in no time. Turn off the heat and keep it covered for another 2-3 minutes.

Serve with thick coconut chutney.

Bread Upma

I learned to make this when I used to live in Hyderabad from a neighbor. It makes good use of bread when the expiry date comes knocking. We make it sometimes for breakfast and also for my daughter’s school lunchbox.

Ingredients

• 6 slices brown bread cut into small cubes (preferably stale bread) 
• 1 large onion chopped roughly
• 1/2 cup green peas 
• 1 tsp. finely chopped ginger
• 1 tomato finely chopped
• 2 green chilies finely chopped
• 1/2 cup coriander greens finely chopped
• 5-6 curry leaves 
• 1 tsp. Black gram
• 1 tsp. chaana dal  (Bengal gram)
• 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. oil
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Add oil in a pan. Temper it with 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, mustard seeds, black gram and chaana dal. Allow them to splutter. Add chopped onion, green chilies and ginger. Fry till onion turns translucent. Add tomato and green peas followed by all dry spice powders, sugar and salt. Mix well.

Pour half a cup of water to it and add bread pieces. Toss them. Sprinkle chopped coriander and serve hot.

Medu Vada

Medu vada or vadai is a common South Indian snacks. Everyone seems to make them at home. However, really good quality medu vada simply stands out and is very hard to get even in the Southern parts of India. My husband is a vada fanatic. He hates waiting in line to get food, but would still queue up at Chutneys in Hyderabad at 3:30 waiting for their specific vada maker to come in at 4:00 and make scorching hot vadas. He judges a Southern café or restaurant just by their vada and most fails that test, some of the exceptions being Chutneys, Kamath, Saravana Bhavan and the likes.

Good vada has a super crunchy exterior contrasted by a soft yet well cooked interior. The vada has to be served right after making it.

Ingredients

• 1 cup urad dal whole or split (Black lentils without skin)
• 2 green chilies
• 1/2” ginger
• 5 – 6 pepper corns crushed
• 1/2tsp. asafetida (Hing)
• 1tsp. whole cumin seed
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying

Procedure

Wash and soak urad dal in enough water for 5- 6 hours.

Drain and grind it into a coarse paste with green chilies and ginger. You might need to add very little water. Water should be just enough to make a soft but not watery dough – as its the consistency of the batter that determines the shape and softness of the vadas.

Transfer the paste in a bowl add add salt to it. Now beat it with your hand till the batter is light and fluffy. To make sure it’s right, run the following floating test. Take a cup of water and drop a little dough into it. If the dough immediately floats up, your dough is ready. If it sinks you need to beat it some more.

Add hing, cumin seeds and crushed pepper corn. Mix once more.

Heat oil in a kadai.

Wet your hand and take a portion of the mixture and start giving it the shape of vada by making a hole at the center with your thumb. When the oil is really hot upturn your hand and carefully slide the vada in oil.

Deep fry till both sides turn golden brown.

Note:

• Make the vadas as soon as the batter is ready as they will absorb too much oil if left for a long time.
• Add the vadas when the oil is really hot. It will make the outside of the vadas crispy while keeping the inside soft.

Remove and drain on an absorbent paper and serve with coconut chutney.

Aloo Phulkopi-r Chorchori (Dry Potato-Cauliflower Curry)

I just posted about making Bengali Triangular Paratha. The most common accompaniment to these parathas were aloo-phulkopir chorcori, especially in the winter when fresh cauliflowers were easily available in the market. Generally a breakfast of paratha’s and chorchori was followed by some nolen gurer sondesh.

This is super simple to make, fresh cauliflowers and green-chilies dominate the flavor. In today’s world it’s hard to fresh cauliflowers (or for that matter anything). We hunt our local farmer’s market to get our share.

Ingredients

• 3 – 4 medium sized potatoes cut into small cubes
• 2 cups small florets of cauliflower
• 3 – 4 green chilies
• 1tsp. nigella seed (Kalonji)
• 1tsp. turmeric powder
• 3 – 4tbsp. mustard oil
• 1tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Heat oil in a pan and temper it with green chilies and nigella seeds. Let them sizzle before you add cauliflower florets to it. Sauté for a minute or two till you smell the fragrance of cauliflower. Add potato cubes. Sprinkle salt, sugar and turmeric powder.

Mix everything well and cook on medium heat for 2- 3 minutes. Add half cup water and cook it covered on low heat till the vegetables are done. You may crank up the heat now to dry the excess moisture.

Serve with triangular paratha and nolen gurer sondesh.

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…

Bengali Aloo Phulkopir Singara (Samosa)

In my last trip to Kolkata, I reached Delhi airport in the wee hours of the morning. As we were departing out of the international arrival I overheard another fellow Bengali talking loudly over the phone. He was instructing his parents at 4:00 in the morning to ask their driver to buy Singara from “Bhola’s shop” while coming to pick him up from the Kolkata airport. I could really understand his craving for Singara. This is something we miss dearly on weekend breakfasts and when friends come over for some pure Bengali “adda”. We get Samosa’s here but they differ considerably in their filling with the traditional Bengali Singara.

Last week we were heading out to our friends home to meet their new-born and to spend the evening there. I decided to make some traditional Bengali Singara with cauliflower and potato filling. Thousands of miles away from home the “adda” got a special authentic touch.

TIPS

Singara is not that hard to make, however, there are some common pitfalls. You need to ensure that you have the right “moyen” which is the amount of oil in your dough. This will decide how crisp your singara will be. Too much oil results in brittleness. The local stores use dalda and other stuff to make over-crispy samosas, so that they can sell it through out the whole day. It’s not healthy and we will refrain from that.

Similarly the temperature of the oil in which you fry is also very important. It should be low so that the shell gets evenly cooked and it remains crisp for a longer time.

Also note that re-heating the Singara in Micro-wave makes them go soggy. Make them fresh or re-heat in conventional oven.

Ingredients for the Filling

1. 5 medium sized potatoes boiled and peeled
2. 1 cup cauliflower florets
3. 1/2 cup green peas
4. 1/4 cup roasted peanuts
5. 1”ginger grated
6. 2 green chilies finely chopped
7. 1/2tsp. turmeric powder
8. 1/2tsp. dry red chili powder
9. 1tsp. whole cumin seeds (jeera)
10. 2 – 3 tsp. bhaja masala (dry roast whole cumin, coriander seeds along with dry red chili and grind them into a powder)
11. 1tsp. sugar
12. Salt
13. 1tbsp. vegetable oil

Procedure For the Filling

Bring a pan of water to a boil and add cauliflower florets and peas to it. Cook them covered for 2 – 3 minutes and then drain the water. Break all the vegetables ( Potatoes + Cauliflower) in uneven shapes with a spoon.

Heat 1tbsp. oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. Let it sputter and then add roasted peanuts and green chilies to it. Fry for a while and then add cauliflower and peas. Keep them frying before you add boiled potatoes to it. After potato add grated ginger, turmeric powder and chili powder. Keep frying till everything mixes well. Since all the vegetables are cooked be gentle while frying so that they don’t become mushy.

Season with salt and sugar and fry till there is no traces of moisture. Now add bhaja masla and mix again once more before you turn the heat off.

Ingredients For Shell

1. 3 cups all purpose flour (maida)
2. 4tbsp. clarified butter (ghee)
3. 1tsp. salt
4. 1tsp. sugar
5. Enough oil for deep frying

Procedure

In a mixing bowl take flour, salt and sugar and mix them well. Add 4 tbsp. of ghee and rub it with flour using your finger tips. Knead the flour into a tight dough by adding some water. Let it rest for at-least 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into lime sized balls.

Apply oil on a wooden board or kitchen counter and start rolling each portion of dough in oblong shape with the rolling pin.

Cut the rolled out dough into halves.

Brush water on both sides along the straight edge and then fold the edges to make a cone. Fill 3/4th of it with the potato  stuffing.

Now smear the open edge with water and make a fold just opposite to the join of the cone. This is important to do otherwise the shape will not be retained after frying. Seal the ends by pressing gently with your finger tips.

Take enough oil in a wok and put it on low heat. Add samosas to the oil. Essentially the oil should not be hot. This will make the samosa uniformly crispy which will last longer.

Fry them on low heat for 6-7 minutes and then on high heat for another 2- 3 minutes. Remove when they turn golden

Make sure the temperature of the oil is low enough before you add the next batch of samosa.

Serve hot with masala chai.

If you want to make them ahead of time make sure you reheat them in a oven and not in a microwave.

Aloor Dum (Dry Potato Gravy)

In my last post I gave the recipe of Radhaballavi. Generally Radhaballavi is served with cholar-daal. However, I like to make it with Aloor-dum. Here goes it’s recipe.

Ingredients

1. 10 baby potatoes ( I didn’t have at home so I used 5 medium sized potatoes and cut them into halves)
2. 1 medium sized onion ( 1/2 finely chopped and make a fine paste of the other half.)
3. 1 tbsp. ginger garlic paste
4. 1 large tomato cut into quarters
5. 2 green chilies finely chopped
6. Few twigs of coriander leaves finely chopped
7. 1 tsp. cumin powder
8. 1tbsp. coriander powder
9. 1 tsp. turmeric powder
10. 1 tbsp. chili powder
11. 2tbsp. tamarind juice
12. 1 tsp. bengali garam masala (1” cinnamon stick, 2-3 green cardamom, 3-4 cloves ground to a powder)
13. 1 tsp. bhaja masla
14. 1 tsp. sugar
15. Salt to taste
16. Oil
17. For tempering
    1. 2 bay leaves
    2. 2-3 cloves
    3. 1” cinnamon stick
    4. 2-3 green cardamoms

Procedure

In a pan take water along with a spoonful of salt. Bring it to a boil. Now add potatoes to it and cook till it is just just done. Drain the water and immediately put the potatoes under cold water to ease the process of peeling. Peel off the potato skin.

Heat oil in a wok / kadai and temper it with bay leaves and whole garam masala. Once you get the aroma of the whole spices add boiled potatoes to the fragrant oil and fry them on high heat till they turn golden yellow. Remove them along with the bay leaves and whole spices. Discard the fried whole spices and the bay leaves.

In the same oil add chopped onion with a pinch of salt and fry them on low heat till they turn light brown. Addition of salt makes the frying process faster. Add ginger, garlic and onion paste to it and fry on low heat till they loose their raw smell.

Add fried potatoes to it followed by the dry spice powder ( turmeric + chili + cumin + coriander ). Next to add is the tomato pieces. Fry them together till the tomato pieces are all mushed up.

Pour half a cup of water and season with salt and sugar. Cook it on medium heat till the water dries up and masala nicely coats the potatoes. Add 2tbsp of tamarind paste and mix them well. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly.

Sprinkle bhaja masla and bengali garam masala powder over it. Garnish with chopped green chilies and coriander leaves.  

Breakfast With Eggcellent Toast

I learnt to cook from my mother. I try my best to pass on the legacy to my daughter. But sometimes you learn from the student. My daughter learned about this kid friendly recipe from www.sproutonline.com a learning site used by her school. We equipped ourselves with wads of kitchen towels and cleaning liquids and decided to let her try it out. The result was yummy to say the least.

NOTE: Oven required for this recipe

Ingredients

1. Sandwich bread - 4 slices
2. Eggs - 4
3. Butter - 4 tsp
4. One round cookie cutter
5. Baking sheet

 

Direction

Pre heat the oven to 400F (obviously mom/dad needs to help out with this).

Take a cookie cutter or even a sharp edge small bowl (katori) and press the shape out of the center of the bread. Lightly butter both the sides as well as the cut out part.

Place the outer pieces of the cut out breads onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Gently break eggs into the holes in the center of the bread. Place the bread circle cutout on the baking sheet  as well. Transfer the sheet to the oven.

Bake for approximately 12 mins.

Remove from the oven and serve with the cut out pieces on the top.