Alubhaja–Extra Crispy Potato Fry

It is hard to explain to someone who has never had daal with crispy potato fry, how good it is. It all sounds very simple until you really give it a try. The cut and fry has to be just perfect.

Digha a beach town close to Kolkata is a regular vacationing spot for most Bongs. We used to also go there for our Zoology field trips. None of those visits were complete without the visit to Parijat and Baluchari restaurants in Digha. They were known for their seafood and more for their crispy potato fries. They were what we used to call “plate system” where you choose the type of meal and they would ensure your plate is never empty. However, they soon imposed the upper limit on the fries as people would go on asking for it.

I had to impose a similar upper limit when I made the same fries. My daughter was unstoppable.

Ingredients

• 4 medium sized potatoes
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• Ice cold water
• Oil for deep frying

Procedure

Peel the potato and cut it into thin round slices. Now with a sharp knife cut them into juliennes. You will have to cut the potato very thinly and evenly. Make sure to dunk them in water as soon as you cut them.

Once you are all done with cutting wash them thoroughly and dunk them in ice cold water for about 15 minutes. Drain the water and again dip the potato juliennes in another set of ice cold water for 20-30 minutes. This time add half a teaspoon of turmeric powder in it.

Drain the water and spread the potatoes on a paper under fan to make them completely dry.

Take enough oil in a deep wok and heat it till it smokes. Add a handful of potato juliennes in hot oil at a time and keep it stirring continuously with a slotted spoon for even cooking. It also prevents formation of any lumps.

Continue frying them in the hot oil. It takes about 3-4 minutes for the potatoes to become crispy. Now reduce the heat and remove them with a slotted spoon. Drain them on a paper towel.

Sprinkle salt just before serving. Alubhaja tastes best with hot rice and plain musur dal. 

Chingri Potol er Jhal

Potol or Parwal was rarely available outside Bengal. However, with the whole world shrinking I do see them now even in the US at the local Indian grocery store. It is one of those veggies which kids (at least mine) hate eating. So I add shrimps to make it more enticing.

The masala used has to be freshly roasted and ground spices without which the dish is incomplete.

Ingredients

• 10-12 potol or parwal
• 3 medium sized potato peeled and cut into quarters
• 20 medium sized prawns deveined and cleaned
• 1 small knob ginger
• 2-3 green chilies slit lengthwise
• 1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. whole cumin
• 1 tbsp. whole coriander seeds
• 1 dry red chili
• 2 green cardamom
• 2 cloves
• 1” cinnamon stick
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. red chili powder
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp. ghee (Clarified butter)
• Mustard oil

Procedure

Scrape off the skin of parwals and cut them into halves.

Marinate the prawns with 1 tsp. turmeric powder and salt. Keep them aside.

Now dry roast 1 tbsp. cumin seeds, coriander seed, dry red chili, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and 1 bay leaf. Roast till you just starting to get their aroma. Immediately remove them from the hot pan and allow them to cool down.

First dry grind the roasted spices into a powder. Add ginger to it and make a paste with all of these by adding little water.

Heat mustard oil in a pan and fry the marinated prawns on low heat for a minute. Remove and save them for later use.

Temper the same oil with 1 tsp. cumin seeds and 2 bay leaves. Let the sizzle. Add parwal halves and potato quarters to it. Fry on medium heat till the edges of the vegetables take a brownish hue.

Add the spice paste you made and reduce the heat to low. Keep sautéing till the raw smell goes off. You may need to sprinkle some water if the spices tend to burn.

Pour about a cup of water. sprinkle sugar and salt to your taste and mix well.

Cook it covered on medium heat till the veggies are done. Add the fried prawns and let it simmer foe another two minutes.

Add a dollop of ghee along with the green chilies and keep it covered till you serve with plain hot rice.

Railway Mutton Curry

[Updated]

Railway mutton curry takes you back to the colonial era when travelling by first class train was for the privileged. This not too spicy  mutton dish used to be served in the railway refreshment room and long distance train to cater the British palate. This curry was generally served with bread or dinner rolls. The vinegar used in the curry used to extend the shelf life for the long haul train rides.

There are many variants of this recipe which clearly indicates the train route they were served on. The usage of tamarind and curry leaves are tell-tale sign of Southern Railways. Eastern recipes omitted these. I chose the one which is more close to my choices.

Ingredients

1. 1lb. goat meat cut into medium pieces
2. 2 medium onions finely chopped
3. 3 potatoes peeled and cut into  halves  ( I used 5 whole baby potatoes )
4. 4-5 cloves of garlic
5. 1” ginger finely minced
6. 1/2 tsp. dry roasted whole cumin seeds
7. 1/2 tsp. dry roasted whole coriander seeds
8. 1 tsp. turmeric powder
9. 2tbsp. vinegar (Original recipe suggests half a cup of tamarind juice)
10. 5-6tbsp. oil
11. 1tsp. sugar(This one is added by me. The original one doesn’t have sugar )
12. Salt
13. Tempering
    1. 1” cinnamon stick
    2. 2 cloves
    3. 4 black peppercorn
    4. 5-6 curry leaves ( I didn’t use )
    5. 2 dry red chilies broken into pieces

Procedure

Take half oil in a pan and temper with the ingredients listed under tempering. Let them sizzle and add whole garlic cloves, chopped onion and mince ginger to it. Fry on medium heat till they turn golden brown.

In a grinder take all the fried spices along with roasted whole coriander and cumin seeds and grind them to a fine paste by using little water.

In a mixing bowl take mutton and mix it with the ground spices. Let it rest for 15 minutes.

In a pressure cooker take the rest of the oil and fry the potatoes on medium heat till they take a light yellow hue. Remove and reserve for later use.

Add the marinated mutton pieces to the oil and fry on high heat for 5 minutes. Add vinegar or tamarind juice to it and season it with salt and sugar. Pour sufficient warm water and pressure cook it till 1 whistle on high heat. Turn off the heat and let the pressure release on its own. Now throw the fried potato pieces to the gravy and give a nice mix. Do the rest of the cooking covered but without the pressure on low heat till the meat is tender and the potatoes are done.

Serve with rice or bread. 

Chicken Cutlet

My first choice in cutlets is braised cutlet. While growing up I used to regularly visit Ashoka Restaurant in Behala, Kolkata for their sumptuous cutlets. On Thursdays in Kolkata we have “no meat day” which weirdly boils down to restaurants not selling mutton. Chicken and fish is apparently not meat. On those days my fall back option was chicken cutlet. I present here my second choice, hope it might become someone’s first :)

Ingredients

• 1lb. minced chicken
• 1 large potato boiled and grated
• 1 large onion minced
• 2” ginger minced
• 8-10 fat cloves of garlic minced
• 2 green chilies finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp. black pepper powder
• 1 lime juice
• Salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups bread crumbs
• Oil for deep frying

Procedure

In a large mixing bowl take minced chicken and add chopped onion, ginger, garlic, green chilies to it. Sprinkle salt and add lime juice. Mix well and let it rest for at least an hour.

Now add cilantro and black pepper powder. You will notice that after an hour of marination the mixture has released some water. To help in the binding this is the time to add grated boiled potato to it. Mix it once again.

In a bowl take two eggs and add half teaspoon salt to it. Beat it well to make the egg wash. In a flat tray take enough quantity of bread crumbs and spread it to cover each cutlet.

Take a handful of chicken mixture and give them a shape of rectangle by pressing it gently in between your palms. Now dip each of them in the egg mixture and roll them on the breadcrumb. Arrange them on a tray and keep it refrigerated for at least half an hour.

Take out half an hour before you want to fry them. Heat enough oil in a wok. Gently slide each cutlet in medium hot oil and fry them till they turn brown and crispy. Take it out with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Serve hot with some onion rings and mustard sauce. 

Rum Ball

Each time we go home to Kolkata we make it a point to visit Nahoum’s in New Market. This store has been at this place from 1916. Rulers have come and gone, the country has changed it’s boundaries, cities have changed name around it, but Nahoum has stuck to it’s origins. My favorite at Nahoum is their rum-balls. It is an European delicacy that had reached the shores of Kolkata via the British. It is generally made in the bakery with the left over cake/cookie crumbs bound together with chocolate and flavored with rum. Rum-balls taste the best after a few days of making them when the taste of Rum matures.

It had been some time since I last sent some goodies with my husband for his team-mates. Generally I send some Bengali sweets like Rasgulla/Sondesh but this time I thought of making a fresh batch of Rum-ball. Even though the rum-ball has it’s roots in Europe, it takes me back to my roots in Kolkata.

Ingredients

• 500 gms. chocolate cake
• 100 ml. golden rum
• 4 tbsp. dark raisin
• 4 dried plums
• 4 candied cherry
• 10 roasted almonds broken roughly
• 3-4 tbsp. powdered sugar or honey
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder ( plain or Dutch processed)
• 1/2 + 1 cups semi sweet cooking chocolate bar ( instead you can use 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips)
• 1 cup white chocolate chips or white cooking chocolate
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter

Procedure

If you are making chocolate cake don’t use it on the same day. Use after a day or two so that the cake becomes a bit dry.

Cut all dry fruits into tiny pieces and soak them in 30 ml. of rum.  Best if you can soak it overnight.

Cut cake into small pieces and put it in a blender. Give them a very quick pulse to make coarse crumbs. Put all the crumbs in a big mixing bowl.

Now take the soaked dry fruits in the blender and give a very quick run of a second or two to just crush them. Just make sure you do not process the nuts into a paste.

Add the crushed dry fruit mixture to it along with powdered sugar,cocoa powder and rum. mix thoroughly with a spoon.

Now take half a cup of semi sweet cooking chocolate or chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and warm it up for 30 seconds. Give it a stir and heat it up for another 30 seconds. Take it out and mix it with a spoon. If it is already melted fine, else you can again heat it up for another 10 or 20 second. Remember to take it out and stir it every 30 seconds, else the chocolate will burn and become unusable.

Add the melted chocolate to the cake mixture little at a time and keep mixing. You will notice that after mixing the ingredients together, the batter is quite sticky. To prevent your hands from becoming a mess and to ease the process of making balls chill the mix for at least 30-45 minutes.

Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and let the mixture cool in the refrigerator for about 30- 45 minutes till it hardens a little.

Take it out and shape them into 1 inch balls with your hands. Place them on a cookie tray lined with butter paper.

Once you are done, then comes the glazing. Take 1 and 1/2 cup of dark chocolate and 1 tsp. of unsalted butter in a microwave safe bowl and heat them up for 30 seconds. Stir it and again heat it for another 30 seconds. Take it out and mix well to make a lump free chocolate glaze.

Dip each ball in the glaze of melted chocolate, making sure that the entire ball is coated with chocolate. Using a fork remove the ball from the glaze allowing any excess glaze to drip back in the bowl.

Place the glazed ball on the cookie tray lined with butter paper. when you are done place the tray in the refrigerator to allow the chocolate to harden.

By this time mix 1 tsp. of unsalted butter with white chocolate chips and make a white chocolate sauce following the same procedure as described before. Let it cool down a bit then pour it into a pastry bag. Cut a small hole in the corner and drizzle it over the rum balls.

Baked Rasgulla

One of my cousins is getting married soon. Like all big fat Bengali weddings the menu is being planned the first. Even though the wedding is close to an year away that’s what we are mostly discussing over trans-Atlantic calls. I am especially looking forward to the dessert which is baked rasgulla. Since it’s hard to wait that long I decided to make some for ourselves.

Baked rasgulla is rasgulla placed in thick reduced milk and baked to create a crunchy crust on a soft rasgulla base. This combination of soft smooth core and crunchy crust along with cardamom flavored milk is pretty amazing.

Ingredients

• 15 pieces rasgulla (Make your own or use canned)
• 1 cup fresh cream
• 2 cups milk (I used 2%)
• 1/2 cup milk powder
• 3- 4 tbsp. sugar
• 1 pod green cardamom crushed
• 6-8 pistachio blanched and chopped
• 5-6 almonds slivered

Procedure

Arrange rasgullas in a bowl and pour enough water to cover them all. Heat them up in microwave for 30 – 40 seconds. Drain the water. Take out each rasgulla and squeeze out syrup from them. We are removing the syrup so that the rasgulla can absorb the thickened milk.

In a heavy bottom pan take milk along with fresh cream. Add milk powder to it and mix well. Turn on the heat and keep stirring till it reduces to its one third. Now add sugar, and crushed cardamom to it. Let it simmer for one more minute. Turn off the heat and let it cool down. As it cools down the milk mixture will thicken further.

Pre heat the oven at 375F. Take an oven safe serving bowl and spoon a layer of milk mixture. Arrange the rasgullas on top of it. Add another layer of reduced milk on top. At the end sprinkle some chopped dry fruit.

Place the serving bowl on the top rack of your oven and bake it for about 15 – 20 minutes. When the top layer takes a brownish hue you know that baking is done.

Let it come down to room temperature before you serve.

Purir Goja

 

Updated with new photo

Vacation to a lot of Bongs meant visit to Puri, a beach city in the state of Orissa in India. For one of my maasi (aunts) vacation “always” meant visit to Puri. She used to go there every year for almost a decade. Even for me the first time I saw a sea was in Puri when I was 5 years old.

Once in Puri the evenings are generally spent on the beach of the Bay of Bengal. The mornings are scorching hot and hence people generally spend that in site-seeing in video-coaches (buses playing movies in a VCR). One of these must visits is the famous Jagannatha temple. People offer puja there and bring back prasad to Kolkata for their friends and families. The prasad is always the famous Puri’s Goja.

Goja is a crispy sweet. It is a kind of wheat and rice flour cracker dipped in sugar syrup. Making it is easy when you know the exact steps. Otherwise it is easy to mess up the layering process. It took me couple of attempts to get the perfect Goja.

Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup all purpose flour ( maida)
2. Rice flour: 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp
3. White oil (e.g. Sunflower or Cannola): 2 tbsp + oil for deep frying
4. 2 tbsp. ghee ( clarified butter)
5. 1 cup sugar
6. 1 cup water

Procedure

In a small bowl mix 2 tbsp of ghee and 2 tbsp of rice flour and keep aside for further use.

In a thick pan take water and sugar and boil on a medium heat till the sugar completely dissolves and the syrup reaches a medium thick or one string consistency. Keep the syrup warm. The consistency of the sugar syrup should be such that once they dry on the goja it should leave the goja glossy and not caked white.

Take equal portions of maida, rice flour and 2 tbsp of oil in a mixing bowl and mix them well. Knead the mixture into a stiff dough by gradually adding water to it. Keep it covered for half an hour. Knead it once more and you are all set to go.

Divide the dough into even number of portions (2,4,6,8) and roll out each portions into flat chapatti (roti) like discs. Take one chapatti and apply the rice flour and ghee mixture on one surface with the back of a spoon. Now take another rolled out chapatti and cover it. Start rolling up the joined chapattis starting  from one end to other.  Once you finish rolling up cut with a knife into equal sized portion. Take each of these portions and roll them flat by lightly pressing your rolling pin.

Here a step by step guide for you. Click on the images to see enlarged version.

		Goja Steps VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Heat oil in a pan and deep fry till both sides takes a golden brown hue. This is the time when the layers in the Goja will separate out. Remove and drain out the excess oil on a paper towel and dip them into the sugar syrup. Keep them for about 3-4 mins. Take out and serve hot or cold