Pomfret maach sorshe bata diye (Pomfret in mustard paste)

This is one of Abbas' favorites. Pomfret fish cooked in a spicy mustard paste, a delight to relish.

Ingredients:
Pomfret fish - 3 medium sized, cut into two pieces
Onion - 1 medium sized
Tomato - 1 medium sized
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Green chillies - 2-3
White Mustard - 2 tsp
Turmeric pwd - 1 tsp
Red chilli pwd - 1 tsp
Onion seeds(kalaunji) - 1/2 tsp
Mustard oil (Any other oil may be used but mustard oil gives any Bengali dish an authentic taste)
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

1. Clean the fish and marinate with salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder.
2. Deep fry in oil and keep aside.

3. Grind together mustard seeds, green chillies and salt.
4. Use 2 tsp of the same oil to cook the dish.
5. In a pan, heat oil. Add onion seeds.
6. Add onion and saute till they turn golden brown.
7. Add ginger garlic paste, saute till raw smell goes off.
8. Add chopped tomatoes and saute till oil starts oozing out.
9. Add mustard paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and saute well.
10. Add 1 cup of water, adjust salt at this stage. Add fried fish and bring the gravy to boil.
11. The gravy must be think in consistency. Add chopped corainder leaves.

Minty Fried Rice

Today I had a lot of veggies in my refrigerator. Was in a mood to eat fried rice. Had a few chicken pieces and shrimps also. I was fully determined to prepare mixed fired rice. Then there was a bunch of mint leaves and coriander leaves which made me drift from Fried Rice to Biriyani for a moment. But I was determined to prepare the former. Hence tried it with a twist. The tangy taste of mint and coriander gave a new dimension to this dish.

Ingredients:

Basmati rice - 2 cups
Chopped veggies (carrot, beans, capsicum, onions) - 1 cup
Shrimps - 15-20, deshelled, deveined and cleaned (optional)
Shredded chicken pieces - 15-20 (optional)
Eggs - 2 (optional for vegetarians, but I don't like my fried rice w/o eggs)
Mint leaves - 1 bunch, finely chopped
Coriander leaves - 1 bunch, finely chopped
Soya Sauce - 1 tbsp
Maggi Cube - 1
Pepper powder - to tase
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp
vinegar - 1 tsp

Method:

1. Wash and soak rice in sufficient water for 30 mins.
2. Boil 4 cups water in a vessel. Add soaked rice, salt, few drops of oil and vinegar. Let it cook. Keep checking to make sure the rice doesn't get fully cooked. Remove from flame when the rice 'almost' cooked. Drain the water away. Spread rice on a flat surface. Do not cover it. Keep aside.
3. In a pan, heat 1 tsp of oil. Add eggs, salt. Scramble the eggs and keep aside.
4. In the same pan, add 1 tsp of oil, fry chicken pieces and shrimp with some salt. Remove and keep aside till the rice cools down.
5. In the same pan take rest of the oil, add all the veggies.
6. Once the veggies are sauted, add soya sauce, shrimp, chicken, scrambled eggs, chopped mint and coriander leaves and rice. Sprinkle maggi cube powder. Mix well.
7. Check salt at this stage. If less, add a bit more of soya sauce or maggi cube (both are salty and mix well with rice instead of raw salt) and mix.

Chingri Macher Malai Bhapa

Prawn Malai Curry is a rich Bengali delicacy. This dish came up when I tried to use the same ingridients but followed an unconventional cooking procedure.

Ingredients:

Jumbo Prawns – 500 gms, deveined and cleaned

Mustard Oil – 2 tsp (I would suggest not to substitute mustard oil with any other oil coz it gives the dish the perfect touch)

Coriander Leaves – to garnish

Grind Together:

White Mustard Seeds– 2 tsp

Coconut Milk – ½ Cup

Green Chillies – 4-5 (Or according to taste)

Turmeric Powder – ¾ tsp

Salt – To taste

Method:

Mix together all the ingredients. Sprinkle a few drops ofmustard oil on top and steam for 15-20 mins. If you do not have a steamer, you may follow the procedure that I did. Take a small bowl and place it inverted in the center of a pressure cooker. Add about a cup of water. Place the marinated prawns in a bowl on top of the inverted bowl and close it with a lid. Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles. If you think the water level has reduced in between, then remove the lid and put some more water and pressure cook again.

Alur Dom

 

Small Potatoes - 500 gms (Normal potatoes may be cut into lemon size pieces)

Tomato – 1 Pureed or squeezed well

Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder – 1tsp (Just for the eyes to feast on the red colour)

Turmeric Powder – 1 tsp

Salt – To Taste

Sugar – 1 tsp

Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp

Bay Leaves – 2 Small

Oil – 1 tbsp

Coriander leaves – to garnish

Grind together:

Ginger Paste – 2tbsp

Green Chillies – 5-6 (Or according to taste)

Onion – 4 medium

Garlic – 8 cloves

Method:

Par boil the potatoes and keep them aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Add salt, turmeric powder and boiled potatoes and stir fry. When the potatoes turn golden in colour, remove them from oil and keep aside.

In the remaining oil, add cumin seeds and bay leaves. When cumin seeds start spluttering, add the ground paste and sauté till oil oozes out. Add the potatoes and tomatoes. Saute for 2-3 minutes. Add a little water, sugar and coriander leaves. Cook till the dish reaches your desired consistency.

Microwave Cake

I got ths recipe in the cookery book that came as complimentary with my microwave oven. This is a very simple, easy to prepare, quick recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

¾ cup sugar (Better to use powdered sugar as the beating effort and time are minimal)

2 eggs (You may use ½ cup curd if you are a vegetarian)

½ cup butter

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp soda bi-carbonate

5 tbsp milk

2 tbsp cocoa powder

Method:

1. Beat eggs/curd, butter and sugar, till fluffy and creamy.
2. Mix flour, cocoa powder, soda-bi-carbonate and baking powder together.
3. Add the flour mixture to the beaten batter slowly.
4. Add milk and stir gradually.
5. The batter should be of a thin ribbon consistency.
6. Pour the batter into a greased round microwave safe dish.
7. The dish should be filled to atmost 3/4^th of its capacity to allow space for the cake to rise.
8. Microwave for 8 mins at 540ºC.
9. Leave the cake to stand for 5 mins.
10. Evenly spread chocolate sauce. Decorate with choco chips or grated chocolate or cherry or use your creative ideas.
11. I prefer to eat the cake after refrigerating it for a while.

My Family's fav Alu ki sabzi

This is one of the favourite 'alu ki sabzi' that my family would love for breakfast with Puri or Luchi (in bengali) The recipe came up when I tried Tarla Dalal's Tandoori Aloo. I made my own modifications to it and the result goes (Never mind the shape of the puri guys):

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 3 medium diced into 1/2" cubes or small potatoes can also be used

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Cream - 1 tbsp

Egg - 1 (Optional, but all those non-veggies better not skip this ingredient)

Kasuri Methi - 2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil - 1 tbsp

For the masala:

Red chillies - 2-3 (Depending on how spicy you would want it)

Ginger - 1"pice

Garlic - 4-5 cloves

Coriander seeds - 3 tsp

Cumin seeds - 2 tsp

Grind the above ingredients to a fine paste with a little water.

Method:

1. The original recipe suggested deep frying the potatoes. But I

 take 1 tbsp oil in a kadai. Add the potatoes, salt and stir fry on a high flame for some time. Then cover the kadai and let the potatoes cook on a low flame. Once the potatoes are fully cooked, remove them from oil and keep aside. The remaining oil can be used for the main dish. This is how the potatoes would look at this stage:

2. In the remaining oil, add the ground masala and turmeric powder. Saute it for a min till the raw smell goes away.

3. Add cream and the potatoes. Adjust salt at this stage if required.

4. Break an egg and pour it on top. Stir well so that the egg is evenly scrambled.

5. Add kasuri methi and stir well again.

6. Serve hot with Puri or Chapathi.

Vodi

My gran n mom used to prepare this during summer. These had to dry in the sun for 7 days. They were then preserved and fried in oil. At my home, vodis were partially prepared for this purpose. They were mostly prepared as we all loved to eat it raw. More than half of the quantity was consumed by us raw. Raw or fried, they are too yummy to resist.

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup

Red chillies - 8-10

Salt - to taste

Onion or garlic (don't use both) - 1 cup finely chopped

Method:

1. Wash and soak rice for 4-5 hours in enough water.

2. Grind rice along with red chillies to a smooth paste with a little water.

3. Mix double the quantity of water, ground paste and rice.

4. Take it in a saucepan and place on medium flame.

5. Keep stirring till it starts boiling and lumps begin forming and becomes thick. 

6. Remove from heat. Keep it covered overnight.

7. In the morning, mix onions or garlic. 

8. Place the batter in the form of small round vodis on a plastic sheet in sun.

9. They should continously dried for 7 days in sun.

10. Store in air tight containers.

11. Deep fry them as and when required.

Crispy Indo-French Fry

This is my favourite tea-time snack. Why I called it Indo French fry is because its the Indian spicy version of French Fry.... It can be prepared in a jiffy and a delight to eat...

Potaoes - 3 medium sized, cut in French fry style

Rice flour - 1/2 cup

Red chilli powder - to taste

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Asafoetida - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Oil - for frying

Method:

1. Mix all the infgredients together.

2. If the potatoes are moist, mix a little more rice flour.

3. Deep fry in oil.

4. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Kundapur Chicken

Chicken – 500 gms

Onions – 3 medium sized, finely chopped

Tomatoes – 3 small sized, finely chopped

Ginger paste – 3 tsp

Garlic paste – 3 tsp

Curry leaves – 15-20

Tejpatta – 2

Kundapur chicken masala powder – 2 tbsp

Coconut milk – 1 cup

Salt to taste

Coconut oil – 2 tbsp

Method:

1. In a pan, heat oil.
2. Add tejpatta, curry leaves and onions.
3. When the onions turn golden brown, add ginger and garlic paste.
4. When the raw smell of ginger and garlic is no more there, add tomatoes.
5. When the oil starts separating, add the chicken pieces and salt.
6. Let the chicken cook on a medium flame.
7. Cover the pan with a plate that holds some amount of water in it. (One of my friend Vanitha’s mom had told me this. I forgot the reason why it had to be done. But there was some logic  to it, trust me)
8. Once the chicken is done, add the Kundapur Chicken powder. (I do not know the ingredients of this masala. Vanitha’s mom had given me this masala. I would try to get the recipe soon)
9. Add the coconut milk and salt. (I used to not prepare this dish earlier although I loved it, just at the thought of the pain in extracting coconut milk. Recently I bought Maggi’s Coconut milk powder which helped get instant coconut milk done in a jiffy and the taste was good too)
10. Do not boil for long.
11. The longer the gravy exists, the tastier it gets…
12. This is a delight to have with Kori Rotti or ghee rice (Famous Combination in south)

Methi Paneer

Paneer cubes – 250 gms

Tomatoes – 3 small

Ginger – 1” piece

Garlic paste – 3-4 cloves

Green chillies - 2

Honey – 1 tsp

Cream – 1 tbsp

Garam masala powder – 1 tsp

Kasuri methi – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

1. Fry the paneer cubes in a little oil in a frying pan and keep aside.
2. Grind together tomatoes, ginger, garlic and green chillies and salt together.
3. Boil this mixture till it thickens.
4. Add cream and honey and sauté for 2mins. Adjust salt at this stage, if required.
5. Add kasuri methi and garam masala powder and sauté for a minute.
6. Now add the fried paneer pieces and mix well.
7. Serve with hot paranthas.

Ghee Rice

Rice – 2 cups

Onion – 1 medium sized

Coriander leaves – ½ bunch

Pudina leaves – ½ bunch

Tejpatta – 1

Whole garam masala – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

Oil – 2 tsp

Ghee – 2tsp
Vinegar – ½ tsp

Method:

1. Soak the rice in double the amount of water for atleast half an hour.
2. Boil water in a vessel.
3. When the water starts boiling, add the rice, vinegar, salt and 1 tsp of oil.
4. Keep checking the rice until it is almost done but not fully done.
5. Strain the water away.
6. Immediately spread the rice in 2-3 plates. This prevents the rice from being sticky or stops it from cooking further.
7. In a kadai, heat oil + ghee.
8. Add the whole garam masalas, tejpatta, sliced onions.
9. Once the onions turn golden brown, add finely chopped coriander and pudina leaves.
10. Add the rice and mix well.

Chicken / Mutton Biriyani

Ingredients:
Rice - 3 cups
Mutton or chicken – ½ kilo
Onions – 7-8 medium sized, finely chopped
Tomatoes – 3 medium sized, finely chopped
Vinegar – 1 tsp
Pudina leaves – 1 bunch (take the leaves only)
Coriander leaves – 1 bunch
Biriyani masala – 3 tsp
Rose water – 3 tsp
Kesar – 1 pinch
Milk – 2 tbsp
Ghee – 1 tbsp
Potatoes – 4 medium sized, peeled and cut into halves
Kala jeera – ½ tsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Oil – 2 tbsp

Whole garam masala for rice:
Tejpatta – 2-3
Cloves – 3-4
Cinnamon – 1”inch piece broken into small pieces
Cardamom – 3-4
Black pepper – 4-5
Jeera – 1 tsp
Red chilli – 1


For marination:
Curd – 1 cup
Ginger paste – 2 tbsp
Garlic paste – 1 ½ tbsp
Red chilli powder – 2 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Salt – 2 tsp

Method:

The ‘to be done and kept aside’ tasks:

Marinate the chicken / mutton pieces with the marinade ingredients and refrigerate for atleast half an hour (the more time the better).
Soak the rice in double the quantity of water for half an hour.
Heat oil in a pan. Add kala jeera, potatoes, turmeric powder and salt. Fry the potatoes till they turn golden brown.
Fry ½ cup of sliced onions till they are brown.
Soak kesar in milk. (If kesar is not available, you may use food color to give the rice yellow colour)

To prepare Rice:

Boil water in a vessel along with the whole garam masalas.
When the water starts boiling, add the rice, vinegar, salt and 1 tsp of oil.
Keep checking the rice until it is almost done but not fully done.
Strain the water away.
Immediately spread the rice in 2-3 plates. This prevents the rice from being sticky or stops it from cooking further.


The main dish (masala):
In a pan, heat oil and add tejpatta.
Add rest of the onions. Saute till they are golden brown.
Add the tomatoes and sauté till the oil separates.
Now add the marinated chicken or mutton and finely chopped pudina and coriander leaves along.
Add biriyani masala, fried potatoes and adjust salt.
Add a little water if required. The meat and potatoes should cook in this masala itself. (In case of lack of time, the meat and potatoes can be pressure cooked together. Saves a lot of time but the former method gives extra taste)
If there is any gravy left, heat till the water gravy evaporates and meat is left with thick masala.

Final set-up:
Take a heavy bottomed utensil where you would be setting up the Biriyani.
Grease the utensil with a little oil.
Divide the rice into 3 parts and the masala into 2.
Arrange the first part of rice in the utensil first.
Next put half of the masala.
Repaeat the rice – masala – rice layer again.
Decorate the fried onions on top.
Pour the kesar milk so that it is evenly spread across the utensil.
Pour the rose water similarly.
Put ghee on top evenly.
Place the utensil on the lowest heat.
If the ghee on top melts, then you may know that the biriyani is ready to be served.