Dim Posto (Egg in Poppy Seed Paste)

Dim posto is an uncommon bong dish. It’s pretty dry and makes a great lunch with hot steaming rice. I made this with a little twist and added sesame seeds. This is is optional and you can skip and only use poppy seeds.

Ingredients

• 4 hard boiled eggs shelled
• 1 red onion thinly sliced
• 5-6 green chilies slit lengthwise
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 4 tbsp. posto (poppy seed)
• 2 tbsp. til (Sesame seed)
• Salt to taste
• Mustard oil

Procedure

First dry grind poppy seed and sesame seed in a grinder and make a coarse powder of it. Now make a paste of them with a green chili by adding some water.

Smear the boiled eggs with turmeric powder and salt.

Heat 4 tbsp. mustard oil in a pan and fry the eggs on medium heat till they turn golden yellow. Remove the eggs and keep aside.

Add onion slices and green chilies to the same oil and fry them on medium heat for a minute or two. The onions should retain their crunchiness so don’t over cook them.

Now add the poppy seed and sesame seed paste to it. Add boiled eggs and keep sautéing everything till oil gets separated. Add the seasoning and mix once more.

Drizzle one spoon raw mustard oil to get an extra zing. Serve with plain hot rice.

Daab Chingri

I was super busy due to moving home and it’s aftermath. In the mean time couple of our main festivals went by. Even though I was not able to blog I did manage to make something special. I captured the photos and jotted the recipe down and hopefully now that things are settling down, I will find more time to blog about them.

Daab chingri or green-coconut shrimp needs the coconut to be cut and stuffed. I was struggling hard to open the coconut when my husband jumped in for my aid. He got his drill out and actually dilled holes to finally tame the coconut. It was worth the effort!!

Ingredients

• 1 young green coconut (In absence of whole coconut you can use young coconut flesh available in the frozen section of Asian store)
• 15 medium sized prawns deveined
• 1 tbsp. black and yellow mustard seeds
• 2 green chilies
• 1 tsp. kalojeera (Kalonji)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• 2-3 tbsp.mustard oil

Procedure

Make a 2 inch by 2 inch square cut on top of the young coconut. Pour the water in a glass and reserve it for later use. Insert a spoon and scrape off the coconut flesh. Take out the coconut flesh and make a smooth paste of it using the coconut’s water.

If you are using packaged coconut flesh, make a paste of it with little water.

Make another smooth paste of mustard seeds and green chilies.

Heat oil in a pan and temper it with a spoon of kalonji seeds. Add chopped onion and garlic. Fry them on low heat till they turn soft. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

Take clean prawns in a mixing bowl and one by one add turmeric powder, salt, mustard paste and coconut paste to it. At last pour the fried onion and garlic along with its oil. Mix well with a spoon. If required add few spoons of coconut water to it.

Cooking Process 1:

Cut the bottom end of the coconut flat so that it can stand up right.

Stuff the prawn mixture inside the coconut shell and seal the open end. I used folded banana leaves as a sealer, you can use flour dough to seal it. Pre heat oven at 400F and cook it for half an hour inside the oven.

Cooking Process 2:

Transfer the prawn mixture in a steel lunch box. Place the lunch box inside a pressure cooker. Pour 2-3 cups of water in the cooker so that the water level is halfway of the lunch box. Careful not to submerge the lunch box under water.

Close the pressure cooker lid and cook till 2 whistles come. Let the vapour release on its own before you open the lid.

Best enjoyed with plain rice…

Carrot Sondesh

Finally I am back after the longest break since I started this blog. We moved to a different house and to another city (in the same area though). The good news is that I have a bigger kitchen and more room to take better photographs. So hopefully I will makeup for the lost time.

Let me re-start blogging for something sweet to mark the occasion.

Ingredients

• 5-6 large carrots grated
• 1 cup freshly made chena (Cottage Cheese)
• 1 cup grated khoya (dried whole milk)
• 1/2 cup cashew powder
• 2 black cardamom crushed into powder
• 1 tsp. saffron soaked in warm milk
• 3/4 cup sugar (adjust according to your taste)
• 2tbsp. ghee (clarified Butter)
• Few chopped almonds,pistachio, saffron and silver leaves for garnishing

Procedure

Heat ghee in a nonstick pan till it melts. Add grated carrot and a spoon of sugar. Sauté on low heat for about five minutes. Turn off the heat and let it cool.

In a mixer grinder take carrot along with chena and khoya and make paste of them.

Transfer the content of the mixer into a non stick pan. Add cashew powder and sugar to it. Sauté on low heat till the mixture comes together and starts leaving the sides of the pan. Sprinkle black cardamom powder and saffron infused milk to it. Turn off the heat and immediately transfer it in a flat plate or tray.

Flatten the mixture with a knife and let it cool down completely. Carefully place the silver leaf on top and garnish it with slices of almond and pistachio. Sprinkle few dry saffron strands and cut them into your favorite shape.

You can store this sweet upto couple of days in the refrigerator.

Potoler Dorma

This is a traditional Bengali delicacy. Potol also known as parwal or pointed gourd is first de-seeded to create a cavity inside. The potol is first fried, then filled with cooked shrimp and finally served in a gravy.

Ingredient

For Stuffing

• 8 pieces potol (Pointed Gourd or Parwal)
• 2 cups shrimps
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 green chilies chopped finely
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp. red chili powder  
• 1 tsp. Bengali garam masala powder
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• Oil

For Gravy

• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. raisins
• 1 tsp. ginger paste
• 1 tsp. garlic paste
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp. Kashmiri red chili powder
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp. Bengali garam masala
• Whole Garam masala ( 1’ cinnamon, 2 cloves, 2 green cardamom, 1 bay leaf )

Procedure

First scrape the skin of the potols. Don’t peel them. Cut one end and scoop out seeds and flesh from one end with the back of a spoon. The other end will remain closed.

Wash and pat them real dry. Rub them with salt and turmeric powder and shallow fry them till their outer skin turn soft and golden yellowish. Remove and keep them aside.

Now make the stuffing. Heat 2 spoon oil in a pan and add chopped onion and crushed garlic. Fry on low heat till they turn soft and translucent. Now add shrimp, salt, sugar and all dry spice powder.  This stuffing will be on sweeter side. Add raisins and mix well. The shrimp will release water. Cook them on medium heat till all the water is dried up. Turn off the heat and let it cool down completely.

Take each potol and carefully stuff them with the shrimp mixture. Keep them aside.

Heat 2 tsp. oil in a pan and fry onion slices along with raisins till they turn golden brown. Remove and allow them to cool. Now make a paste of them.

Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a pan and temper it with crushed whole garam masala. When the oil becomes fragrant add ginger garlic paste along with turmeric and chili powder. Fry on low heat till the raw smell goes away. Now turn off the heat and wait for few minutes before you add yogurt to it, else the yogurt will form tiny lumps in the gravy. Mix yogurt with the spices and turn on the heat. Add fried onion, raisin paste to it and mix well. Keep sautéing till you see oil oozes out of the spices.

Add 1/2 cup of water to it and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and carefully arrange stuffed potols in it. Let it simmer for a minute or two and then turn the heat off. Add a spoonful of ghee and sprinkle garam masala powder.

Best enjoyed with rice, and ghee bhat. 

Tandoori Stuffed Gobi

My mashi (aunt) loves cauliflower and so my cousin Puja went out and bought some with the intention of making Tandoori Gobi for mashi’s birthday. Puja was not that successful in finding a recipe online which she could successfully execute. She requested me to make some and post here.

I mixed mashed paneer (cottage cheese) with tandoori spices. Then stuffed the cauliflower with it and also smeared it on top. Finally baked it in an oven.

Ingredients

For Stuffing

• 1 medium sized cauliflower
• 250 gms. of grated paneer (Cottage cheese)
• 4 tbsp. plain yogurt
• 1 tsp. chopped ginger
• 1 tbsp. raisin paste
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1 tbsp. Kashmiri red chili powder
• 2 tbsp. chicken tandoori masala
• 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp. butter
• Salt

For Infusion

• 2” cinnamon stick
• 5 cloves black cardamoms
• 3 bay leaves
• Salt

Procedure

Take a deep wide vessel and pour enough water to cover the cauliflower. Add all spices along with salt to the water and bring it to a boil. Keep boiling on medium heat for about 20 minutes till the water is fragrant.

Place the cauliflower in the water and boil on high heat for 10 minutes. Do not cover the pan while boiling. By this time the cauliflower would be 80% done. Gently remove cauliflower from the water with a slotted spoon and allow it to cool so that you can handle it comfortably.

In a mixing bowl take mashed paneer and one by one add yogurt, butter, lemon juice, chili powder, tandoori masala, chopped ginger, raisin paste, honey and salt. Whisk it thoroughly to make a paste.

When the cauliflower is ready to handle, over turn it and stuff the paneer mixture through the gap between the florets. Use your finger to reach almost every corner of it.

When the bottom portion is done, gently slather the stuffing on top of the cauliflower.

Allow it to rest for 30 minutes. Preheat oven at 350 F. Place the stuffed cauliflower on a baking dish and drizzle one spoon butter over it. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. After 10 minutes drizzle another one spoon of butter over it.

Remove the baking dish carefully and sprinkle chopped coriander before serving.

Note: If you have a microwave with convection,  bake it for 15 – 20 minutes at 180C. For microwave with grill you can cook it at micro-grill combination mode for 10-15 minutes, but you need to brush oil at every 5 minutes.

Muri-Ghonto (Fish Head with Rice)

[Updated]

Folks from Bangladesh ensure that nothing from a fish goes to waste. Not only they don’t waste anything, they have the knack of turning them into delicious food. A great example is muri-ghonto. Its hard to believe how tasty fish head and bone become.

I made muri-ghonto last week. I served it cautiously to my daughter expecting her to not eat it. I was however, awarded with a 4-thumbs up, which involves her sitting down and giving me thumbs up with her hand and feet :)

Ingredients

1. 1 head of rohu / catla cleaned and cut into quarters / halves
2. 2 tbsp. of uncooked gobindo bhog / basamati rice washed and soaked in
   water for 30 mins.
3. 2 medium potatoes cut into quarters
4. 1 medium onion finely chopped
5. 3,4 green chilies slitted length wise
6. 1/2 tsp. garlic paste
7. 1/2 tsp. ginger paste
8. 2 + 1 tsp turmeric powder
9. 1 tsp. chili powder
10. 1/2 tsp. Bengali garam masala powder
11. Whole garam masala ( 1' cinnamon, 2 green cardamom, 2,3 cloves )
12. 2,3 bay leaves
13. Oil
14. Ghee (Clarified butter )
15. Salt
16. Sugar

Procedure

Marinate fish head with 2 tsp. of turmeric and salt. Heat oil in a pan till smoky. Fry fish heads on medium heat till all sides become yellow. Remove and drain on a paper towel. Discard used oil.

Take fresh oil and temper with bay leaves and pounded whole garam masala. Wait till oil becomes fragrant. Now add chopped onion and slitted green chilies. Fry on medium heat till onion becomes light pink.

Add soaked rice to it and fry for 1-2 min. Next to go in are potatoes followed by ginger garlic paste. Add turmeric and chili powder. Fry potato pieces well with all spices. You can sprinkle little water if the spices tend to stick the bottom.

Add fried fish heads to it and give them a nice mix. Season with salt and sugar. Pour about 1/2 a cup of water and bring it to a boil on high flame. After it starts boiling reduce the heat and cook it covered till potatoes are cooked and there is no excess water left in the pan. Sprinkle garam masala powder and add a tsp. full of ghee to
finish.

This is best enjoyed with pain rice in a lazy afternoon.

Marble Cake

[Updated post]

One of the things we dis-allow or severely limit our child from having is high-fructose corn syrup. This is present in most commercial sweet food, hence I land up having to make sweet stuff frequently at home.

Now my daughter is down with fever and is in general refusing to eat most things. However, even her fever cannot down her sweet-tooth. So I took the easy route and made her some wholesome cake. It looks as (or more) good as it tastes and makes a great school snack as well.

Ingredients

1. 2 cups all purpose flour
2. 2 cups powdered sugar
3. 150 gms of unsalted butter
4. 3 eggs
5. 1 tsp vanilla extract
6. 2 tsp baking powder
7. 3-4 tbsp of cocoa powder

Procedure

Pre heat you oven at 350F. In a bowl sift together flour and baking powder and keep them reserved.

Bring butter to room temperature. In a large mixing bowl using electric or hand mixer beat the butter till it becomes smooth and creamy. Gradually add sugar and continue beating till the mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.Beat in the vanilla extract with the mixture.

Now alternately add flour mixture and milk to the batter and beat in low speed. After preparing the batter divide it into two portions and pour them in separate bowls. Stir cocoa powder in one portion the second portion will remain as is.

Place the batter into a prepared baking pan by alternating spoonful of vanilla, chocolate. Once you have finished with your batter, take a table knife or wooden spatula through the batter in a swirling motion to marbelize it. Don't over-mix.

Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 45-60 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow it to cool on a wire rack before you remove the cake. Serve it warm or at room temperature. This cake can be preserved at room temperature for upto 3 days.