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.

Pyaji (Bengali Onion Pakora)

Curling up with a good book and some hot pakoras on a rainy day is unbeatable. In Seattle there is no dearth of rainy days, but the leisure time is hard to come by. This Monday I didn’t have anything to cook because there was enough left-overs from a weekend party. So suddenly at around eleven I had nothing to do and there was no one at home. Outside, it was cold and drizzling. A perfect occasion to brew up some hot Darjeeling tea, put on some nice Bangla music and have some Pyaji.

Ingredients

1. 2 red onions sliced into half moons
2. 1tsp. grated fresh ginger
3. 2 – 3 green chilies finely chopped
4. Handful of chopped cilantro
5. 1/2tsp. chili powder
6. 1/4tsp. turmeric powder
7. 1/2tsp. baking powder
8. 5 – 6 tbsp. besan (Chickpea flour)
9. Salt to taste
10. Mustard oil for deep frying.

Procedure

In a mixing bowl take onion, green chilies, ginger, cilantro leaves and sprinkle salt over it. Mix the salt thoroughly by hand. Leave it for 10 – 15 minutes. The salt will bring out the natural juices of the raw ingredients reducing the amount of water required for binding.

Slowly add besan and keep mixing it with the other ingredients. Once you have utilized all your besan you may need to  add little besan or water depending on the requirement to bind things together.

Add baking powder and mix it once more.

Heat oil in a wok till it smokes and then reduce the heat. Now using a spoon gently slide small amount of mixture into the hot oil. Try not to over crowd the oil. Fry on medium heat till all sides are golden brown and crispy. Remove and drain on a paper towel.

Sprinkle black salt all over and serve.

Caramel Custard or Flan

When I first visited a Mexican restaurant, I ordered a desert called “flan” and to my pleasant surprise they served what I know as “caramel custard”, which was one of my favorite. My mom used to make it in the pressure cooker. My daughter loved it and so I frequently make it these days but I use the oven.

You can either make it in small individual ramekins to give it a nice shape or you can make it in a big baking dish, which is what I have done here.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup evaporated milk
2. 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
3. 1/4 cup heavy cream
4. 1/2 cup granulated sugar
5. 3 large eggs
6. 1tsp. vanilla extract

Procedure

Position rack in the entre of the oven and preheat to 350F.

In a sauce pan heat the sugar till it melts and turns golden brown. This is the caramel sauce. Quickly pour caramel into a oven proof baking pan and immediately tilt the pan to coat the base. In another mixing bowl whisk all the other ingredients without creating lots of foam. Pour the mixture through small sieve into the prepared baking pan.

Set the pan into a larger baking tray and pour enough hot water into the baking tray so that it comes halfway up the side. Bake until the center is set. This will take about 25 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack and then chill in the refrigerator till you serve.

Run a small knife around the custard to loosen. Place desert dish on top of the custard pan and holding tightly turn dish and pan upside down. Shake the pan gently to loosen custard. Caramel syrup will run down sides of custard forming a sauce.

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…

Chingri–Sobji Diye Cholar Dal (Lentil with Shrimp and Vegetables)

Sometimes the bongcook is tired of cooking. Interestingly even though my little one will gobble down pizza/pasta when offered, prefers to eat at home, especially for dinner. So I take refuge in one of these simple recipes.

One of my daughter’s favorite food is daal. Adding Prawn quenches the non-vegetarian bong soul as well.We use this as a healthy one-pot dinner along with hand made soft rotis.

Ingredients

1. 10 – 12 medium sized prawns cleaned
2. 1 cup chana dal
3. 1/4th cup carrot chopped
4. 1/4th cup beans chopped
5. 1/2 cup cauliflower cut into small florets
6. 1 medium tomato finely chopped
7. 2tbsp. chopped coconut
8. 1 cup thick coconut milk
9. 1tsp. garam masala powder
10. 1tsp. turmeric powder
11. 1tsp. chili powder
12. 1tsp. sugar
13. 1tsp. ghee (clarified Butter) 
14. Salt to taste
15. For Tempering
1. 2,3 Bay leaves
2. 1” cinnamon stick
3. 2 cloves
4. 2,3 green cardamom
5. 2,3 Dry red chilies
6. 1tsp. whole cumin seeds
7. 1 pinch hing (asafetida)

Procedure

In a pressure cooker boil daal with 2 cups of water and turmeric. It takes 10 minutes if you are cooking on medium heat.

In a separate pan boil 5 cups of water with little salt. Now add carrots, beans and cauliflower florets to it. Turn off the heat and keep it covered for 5 minutes. Drain the water and dunk the vegetables in cold water for 10 more minutes. Drain the water. This will help the vegetables to retain their color.

Heat mustard oil in a pan and fry prawns. Remove and reserve them.

Temper the same oil with all the ingredients listed for tempering. When the oil turns aromatic and the spices sizzle add chopped coconut pieces to it. Fry till they turn light brown. Now add tomato and steamed vegetables to it. Season with salt and sugar. Sprinkle red chili powder over it. Mix everything well and fry on medium heat till oil separates out.

Add boiled daal to it. Mix the daal with sautéed vegetables. If you want pour little hot water to it and let it come to a boil.

Once it starts boiling add fried prawns and pour the coconut milk. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.

Finish it off with a spoonful of ghee, green chilies and garam masala powder. 

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!!!

Hilsha / Ilish Festival at Home

When we went to the “International Food Bazar” in Bellevue I made a sudden discovery. It was a pack of Kochur-lati just on the shelve beside the Hilsa.

My bong soul didn’t even let me think twice. Before we realized we were back in the car with our bags filled with the goodies. The next day we had a Hilsa festival at home. The spread was breath-taking, at least it took my breath away :)

I have posted the recipes already, here goes the links

1. Hilsha roe fried (come on you don’t need a recipe for that!!)
2. Kochur lati
3. Patla Jhol
4. Bhape