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.