Mango Kheer

The count down is over now and Durga Puja is onto us. The usual cues of blue skies and fluffy white clouds are missing and so is the sound of dhaak from the local pandal. Instead we have the stinging cold air and thousand shades of gray covering the Seattle sky.

The childhood memories of gathering shiuli flowers before puja, the endless hours of deciding which new clothes to wear on which day, the smell of new clothes and shoes, the time spent with friends and family at the puja pandal all seemed so unreal as we drove towards Rama Krishna Math near Seattle to attend our local puja.

However, as we arrived at Tapovan (the temple) everything suddenly seemed like the same. Women were shivering but still flaunting their saris, everyone was in their best attires. There was a huge queue in front to get into the pandal to offer pushpanjali. My daughter confusedly asked, “is this the airport that we need to take off our shoes?”.

The queue infront of the food stalls were even longer. Even though it was a pot-luck, most people including me had got the same Khichuri and Labra. Some had got some nice sweets as well. I kind of felt bad about not doing the same. I had made some Aam (mango) kheer couple of days back and realized it would’ve gone really well. Maybe that’s what I’ll get next time.

Sharadiya Subhecha to all my readers.

Ingredients

1. 1 lit full cream milk
2. 1 can sweetened condensed milk
3. 1/2 cup sugar
4. 1 cup mango pulp (I used canned one, you can make your fresh mango pulp as well )
5. Few cubes of fresh mango

Procedure

Take milk in a heavy bottom pan and bring it to a boil. Keep on thickening the milk till it reduces to half of its initial volume. While doing so stir it continuously to avoid scalding at the bottom of the pan. Also control the temperature so that the milk does not froth over.

Remove the pan from heat an bring it to room temperature.

Now add condensed milk to it and stir.Taste it. If you think the sweet level is less adjust by adding sugar to it. If you are planning to add canned mango pulp, add less sugar. Refrigerate and chill.

When it is cooled add the mango pulp and swirl. Pour in dessert bowl and garnish with the cubes of mango.

Egg Curry

Last week my daughter carried back some exquisite virus from the local sickness exchange center (also known as school). One by one all of us got knocked down like dominos.

So when I went down, my husband made some egg curry from the crude recipe I blurted out. I was told that the results were pretty good. I cannot really comment as I couldn’t taste or smell anything. However, Shreya our resident expert who is 3 year old and unforgiving in her opinions said that she really liked it.

Since I didn’t really have good egg recipes in my blog, I asked him to take photos all the way. I guess he did a decent job of it, what do you think?

Ingredients

1. 6 hard boiled eggs
2. 8 baby potatoes peeled
3. 1 large onion finely chopped
4. 1 tsp. ginger paste
5. 1tbsp. garlic paste
6. 1 large tomato roughly chopped
7. 1tsp. turmeric powder
8. 1tbsp. kashmiri red chili powder (You can use paprika powder as well)
9. 1 tsp. sugar
10. Salt to taste
11. 1/2 tsp. Bengali garam masala powder
12. For tempering
    1. 2 bay leaves
    2. Whole garam masala ( Pound it in a mortar and pestle)
       1. 1” cinnamon
       2. 2 green cardamoms
       3. 2 cloves

Procedure

Heat mustard oil in a pan and add boiled eggs. Fry the eggs on high heat. Wait till one side is fried properly before you turn them over. Remove with a slotted spoon when both sides turn brown.

To the oil add bay leaves and bruised whole garam masala. Sauté for a second before you add chopped onion to it. Fry the onions till they are light brown. Now add baby potatoes followed by ginger garlic paste. Fry everything together till you see oil separates out from the gravy.

Add chopped tomato, turmeric and chili powder. Mix well and cook it covered for 4-5 minutes. By this time tomatoes will become mushy. Add salt and sugar to it.

Drop the fried eggs and give a nice mix. Add water depending on the gravy you want and cook it covered till potatoes are tender.

Turn off the heat and add garam masala powder.

Chicken Tikka Wrap

I had made chicken tikka the day before we were flying to Boston to meet up with some friends. Flight food is bad everywhere but the food served on the US flights are pathetic. Travelling to the East coast from the West is upwards of 7 hours of flying and so I decided to make some quick take away food. I wrapped the chicken tikka I made, in tortillas. They turned out to be a great option and I think I’ll be able to pack it for my daughter’s school lunch as well.

Ingredients

1. 4, 10” flour tortillas
2. 2tbsp. grated cheese (I used cheddar)
3. 4 skewers of chicken tikka
4. 4 leaves of iceberg lettuce
5. 4tbsp. thick curd or plain Greek yogurt
6. 4tbsp. green chutney (You can use mayonnaise or ranch dressing instead)
7. Salt

Procedure

In a bowl stir together yogurt and green chutney. Season with salt.
Place tortillas on a flat counter and start building up the layers. Spread yogurt mix just enough to cover the surface.Top with lettuce, one skewer of chicken tikka. Don’t forget to take out the skewer from the chicken. Drizzle a spoon of yogurt mixture over it.

Carefully fold one side over and roll it up tightly. Place the wrap on a plate with the seam side underneath and cut into halves.
Your lunch box is all set to go!

Bengali Style Malpua

Bengali sweets are the best in India. If you have any doubt take it up with our Rasgolla, Chamcham and Sandesh. Even though Malpua is a generic Indian sweet which every region prepares differently, the Bengali version stands apart with a distinct taste of fennel and its crispiness. In the Northern parts of India Malpua is made out of khoya and maida whereas in Bengali household suji or semolina is used instead.

Couple of days back one of my cousins called up to get the recipe. I made the crispy malpuas which are immediately taken out after a quick dip in sugar syrup. You may also soak them for awhile and make a more soft and soggy version.

Ingredients For Batter

1. 1/2 cup maida or all purpose flour

2. 1/2 cup suji or semolina

3. 1tsp. sugar

4. 1tbsp. fennel seeds crushed

5. 300ml. evaporated milk (If you are using whole milk, take 500ml of the milk and thicken the milk to 300ml. by boiling) 

Ingredients for sugar syrup

1. 1 cup water
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 2-3 whole green cardamoms

Ingredients for frying

1. Oil for deep frying

Procedure

In a mixing bowl take all the ingredients listed under “Ingredients For Batter” and mix it well so that there are no lumps inside it. If you feel this is too thick add little milk.

Allow it to rest for 1-2 hrs.

In a saucepan take sugar, water and  cardamom pods and  boil them together till you get  a syrup of one thread consistency (thin consistency).

In a frying pan heat sufficient oil for deep frying.

Pour a ladleful of batter in the oil to form a small pancake of 2” – 2.5” diameter.

Fry on medium heat. Cook one side then flip it over.

When both sides turn brown remove them with a slotted spoon and immediately immerse in sugar syrup. Leave it for maximum 30seconds.

Remove and serve hot.

French Toast

French toast used to be our default, no-brainer snacks when we were kids. If we came back home with a bunch of friends after an evening game, or if a neighbor made a sudden visit, it was always French toast that saved the day. Very tasty yet, extremely easy to make, I use it even now when my 7 year old monster demands “snaky snaky!!”.

Apparently the French has two variant of this. A sweet version is made with egg, milk, sugar and cinnamon. We however, have their savory version which is made with egg, salt and spices.

Ingredients

1. 2 slices of sandwich breads
2. 2 eggs
3. 1tbsp. finely chopped onion
4. 1tsp. finely chopped green chilies
5. 1/2tsp. chopped ginger
6. 1tsp. chopped cilantro
7. Salt to taste
8. Oil for deep frying

Procedure

Cut bread slices into squares or triangles according to your choice. In a bowl whisk two eggs with salt, onion, ginger, green chili and cilantro.

In a wok heat enough oil for deep frying. Now dunk each pieces of bread into the egg mixture and carefully slide it in the hot oil. Fry till both sides turn light brown.

Remove with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towel.

Serve hot with some ketchup as an evening snack.

Chaanar Payesh

Let me start by wishing all my readers Subha Mahalaya.
Today is Mahalaya, which signifies the start of the fortnight long celebration of Durga Puja at our home. Mahalaya is very significant to Bongs. It marks the day, the schools close for Durga Puja. The roads are choked with gazillions of people putting in their final effort to close the pujo shopping. Frantic efforts to finish the extravagant pandals, lighting gets underway.
In our childhood the morning of Mahalaya used to start at four to listen to Mahisasuramardini on the All India Radio. In this digital age many of these customs are losing it’s meaning. You can now stream mahisasuramardini at your own convenience, at any place and time, like from this site. It’s hard for our kids to imagine the ritual of getting up so early in the morning just to listen to a radio program.
Like most households our home also got into festive mood on that day. Since it was a holiday for my mom, she made lots of great stuff for us. One of the regulars used to be Chanar Paayesh (Cottage Cheese Pudding). Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients

1. 1+1 liter full cream milk
2. 1/4th cup granulated sugar
3. 1/4th cup lemon juice or synthetic vinegar
4. 1/2 tsp. cardamom powder
5. Few pistachios and almond finely chopped

Procedure

In a heavy bottom pan take one liter of milk and bring it to a boil. When the milk rises to its surface slowly add lemon juice or vinegar to it and turn off the heat. Stir it well to mix. You will see the milk curdles and gets separated from the yellowish green whey.
Keep a strainer lined with a cheesecloth ready. Pour the curdled milk over it to strain the whey . You will see that the paneer or chana is collected in the cheesecloth. Pour one or two glasses of cold water over it to wash any residual sourness and the flavor of lemon out of it.
Tie the four corners of the cheesecloth and hang it from your water faucet for about half an hour.
In a separate thick bottom pan start boiling the rest of the milk and keep stirring continuously to avoid scalding. Lower the heat and let it cook for about half an hour. It will become a shade darker than its original milky white.
Add strained chaana or paneer to it and keep stirring to mix everything well. Let the paneer cook in the milk for 10 minutes. Add sugar and mix well. Taste and adjust accordingly. Remove from heat and sprinkle cardamom powder. Garnish with chopped pistachio and almonds.
Chill before you serve.

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.