Ucche, Shozne Data, Bori ar Alur Tarkari - Bitter Gourd, Drumstick, Lentil Dumpling and Potato Stir Fry

One of my favourite side dishes on a Bong platter. The combo of Bitter Gourd and Drumstick is very rare, and takes the dish to an entirely different level. I fail to express the taste of this side dish, one has to taste it to feel it. The presence minimal spices lets one taste all the veggies in their natural form unadulterated.

I learnt it from Ma who learnt it from someone else. She must've told me that someone's name atleast 24 times. But I forgot. Anyhow, whoever it is, god bless her! My ears have a special filter which only let in what is necessary out of Ma's non-stop iterative speech! Anyway, all credit goes to her for me learning Benagli so quickly. I picked it up by imitating her tape recorded excerpts which get repeated with each word in the same order each time. Jokes apart, I can't stand Ma's silence. Ma, you keep talking (while my ear filter is intact, lol)

Ingredients:

Bitter Gourd – 1 medium, sliced

Drumstick – 2 to 3, cut into finger sized pieces

Potato – 2 medium sized, cut in french fry style

Bori – ½ cup (optional)

Panch phoran – 1 tsp or Nigella seeds – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – 2 tsp

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

Oil – 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Shallow fry bitter gourd, drumstick, potato and bori by marinating them with salt and turmeric powder in a tbsp of oil. (Make sure you fry the boris at the end coz they absorb all the oil)

1. Heat remaining oil in a pan. Add panch phoran or nigella seeds.
2. When they splutter add all the shallow fried ingredients, turmeric powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder, salt and combine.
3. Add 1 cup of water and cook on low flame covered till all veggies are cooked.

Note:

There is no need to cook till all water is evaporated. You could leave some amount of water coz if it is left to stand, Boris and Potatoes might absorb any remaining water.

This goes out to Jagruti's Complete my Thali event

When Carrot Halwa played hide 'n seek with Wantons

Whenever we eat out at Chinese restaurants, all I look forward to is to order deserts. I have a soft spot for Chinese sweet somethings. Darsan is my all-time favourite! Only cuisine Abbas is fond of other than Indian is Chinese. I recently ordered a book online on 'Chinese Cooking' by Sanjeev Kapoor. There are recipes of soups, starters, main course and desserts. One of the items in dessert section read Mango Wantons. It called for dried mango pulp filled in wantons. Since I had made Carrot Halwa a day before, I screamed 'Eureka!'. The sudden urge to twist the tale of Wantons hit me and I made this after 10 PM in the night on Abbas's birthday (Although I had made cake and Payesh that day). Sanjeev Kapoor had ice-creams as serving suggestion. But since I had Payesh / Payasam, served with that. My Wanton wrappers for the first trial had turned out a bit thick leaving some parts of the interior uncooked. Make sure you roll the dough as thin as 1mm in thickness. Will post my Carrot Halwa recipe when I prepare it next. Coz I couln't click this time around.

Ingredients:

For filling:

Carrot Halwa - 1/2 cup

For Wanton Wrappers:

Maida - 1/2 cup

Warm water - 1/4 cup

Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Knead maida with warm water to make a firm dough.

2. Roll the dough into a large thin square sheet, about one millimetre think. Cut the sheet into three-inch squares.

3. Place the carrot halwa in the centre of each square. Fold into a triangle. Twist the two edges of the folded sides and bring them together, moistening the ends with water to seal.

4. Heat the oil in a wok and deep fry the wantons till golden. Drain on absorbent paper.

5. Serve hot with vanilla ice-cream.

This goes out to Priya's Bookmarked Recipes - Every Tuesday Event

Choco Chip Cookies

Have been baking cakes and muffins for quite some time. Yes, the baking bug has bitten me hard. And I wanna venture into new arenas of baking. All thanks to Sweet Punch team and fellow bloggers, I'm learning and growing as a baker. Several times while I blog-hop, go through mind blowing recipes and check the ingredient list first. I frown at the sight of ingredients that I don't have access to or won't be able to procure. Specially ingredients related to baking are like treasures to be hunted for in India. Some time ago, I bumped into Suma's blog where she has written a post on availability of baking raw materials in Bangalore along with address and contact details. That page delighted me more than my pay-slip or even offer letetrs for that matter!

Recently visited this small shop called General Additives in Seshadripuram, which had most of the items in my wish list. The best part is that the prices are genuine. I bought whipping cream powder, choco chips, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, cake tin, muffin cups... For the next two days, I would open the packet of these goodies, and wonder what to make with my long-awaited belongings. I zeroed in on something that I had never made before. Ria's choco chip cookies were the best bet!

I'm glad I chose her recipe coz they are 100% trust worthy and one can follow the recipe blindly to the T without any apprehensions about results. Thanks Ria, for being an inspiration to budding bakers like me...

Indo-Chinese noodles

This dish makes an appearance atleast once in a month on our table. Abbas and I both don't eat rotis or chapathis for lunch or dinner. For rice patrons like us, absence of rice means an incomplete meal. But when we crave for a change once in a while, we go for Noodles. Kids love it too and the quantity of consumption would be more than compared to rice. My Amma would always tell us siblings that you have two different stomachs in there. One for your favourite food which always has space to accomodate and the other for your non-favourites which always claims to be full!

Ingredients:
Hakka Noodles - 1 packet
Veegies - 1 cup, sliced to thin long juliennes(Carrot, Beans, cabbage (par boiled), capsium, spring onions)
Onion - 1 medium, sliced
Tomato sauce - 1 tbsp
Soya sauce - 1 tsp
Green chilli sauce - as per taste
Maggi cube - 1
Salt - to taste
Pepper powder - to taste
Scrambled eggs - 2 (optional)
Oil - tbsp

Method:
1. Cook noodles as per instructions on the packet. After draining water, spread it on wide plates and let them cool completely.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add onions and saute for 2 mins.
3. Now add all the veggies and saute for another 2-3 mins. Add rest of the ingredients and noodles and toss them well so that all sauces and veggies are uniformly mixed with noodles.

Note:
1. I generally don't add tastemaker while making instant noodles for kids. I use all those stocked up tastemaker sachets while making noodles. You may add Maggi cubes instead.
2. Since soya souce and tastemaker / cubes have salt in it, be careful while adding extra salt.
 

Prawn Biriyani

My Amma made two versions of Prawn biriyani - Red and Green. As soon as Annu (dad) would get fresh prawns, we would vote for Green or Red. Irrespective of the colour, both tasted heavenly. I don't remember the recipe for Green version but Red is the easiest with minimal ingredients and simple cooking procedure. This recipe was my Dad's sister's whom we too call Akka. If I remember right, she had sent this recipe to Sanjeev Kapoor's cookery contest and won a reward. Beenakka, thanks for this wonderful recipe!

Ingredients:

Prawns 1 cup - deshelled, deveined and cleaned

Onions - 3 medium  sized, sliced

Salt - to taste

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Bay leaves - 2

Oil - 2 tbsps

For the masala:

Red chillies - 10-15 (or as per taste)

Cumin seeds - 2 tsp

Garlic - 1 tbsp

For the rice:

Basmati rice - 3 cups
Tejpatta – 2-3 (optional)
Cloves – 3-4 (optional)
Cinnamon – 1”inch piece broken into small pieces (optional)
Cardamom – 3-4 (optional)
Black pepper – 4-5 (optional)
Jeera – 1 tsp (optional)
Red chilli – 1 (optional)
Vinegar - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

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

To Prepare Prawn Masala:
1. Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and bay leaves.
2. Saute oinions on low flame till translucent or light golden brown.
3. Add the ground masala and again saute till oil startes oozing from the edges.
4. Add prawns, salt and saute till they are well cooked.

Assemling:
You may either layer the rice and prawn masala as in a Biriyani or lightly mix them taking care not to break the rice grains by mixing vigorously. Tastes best when it is left to stand for 3-4 hours. (We siblings used to fight over the leftovers next day)

Note:
1. Prawn can be replaced by fish. Use fish with least bones. Lightly boil fish pieces so that removing bones would be easier.
2. I have given the method of preparing rice as in Biriyani. You could even you plain rice but make sure you add salt while preparing rice.

Paan Polo alias Neer Dosa alias Coconut Dosa

I like my Dosas 'Size 0' in thickness, crisp and fiery hot right off the tawa. Post marriage, my in-laws wanted to try out Nayi Naveli South Indian Bahu's 'Dhosha' (thats how Bengalis pronounce it and I scream in my mind on hearing the mis-pronunciation. One of the reasons why I always knew my kids' names would begin with any alphabet but S or A, S would become Sh and A would be O, Phew!) The tawa they had was not anywhere near to the traditional flat Dosa tawa. It was the one in which they made Roti which was steep in between. The batter would go and settle in the centre as if in an Appam Kadai. Well then one of my closest friends got a Dosa Tawa shipped for me all the way to Kolkata and it is now one of my prized possessions. It always yields me fool-proof Dosas and earns me showers of appreciations.

Neer Dosa is very easy to prepare. I generally prepare it with Batata Song. You may also serve it with grated coconut + melted Jaggery combo, or simply melt some Jaggery and serve as a dip with the Dosa. Also another best accompaniment would be previous night's left over chicken curry. Yummm!

Ingredients
Raw rice - 1 cup
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Salt to taste

Method

1. Soak the raw rice overnight.

2. Grind it with coconut to a smooth batter.3. Add salt to taste and water if required.4. The texture should be a little more thinner than the regular dosa batter.
5. Once the dosa tawa is fuming hot, sprinkle the batter using a ladle all over. Add enough oil. Reduce flame to sim and close with lid. No need to roast on both sides. Open the lid after a minute or two. Increase flame and remove using a spatula (My daughter pronounces Pakula)

Grilled Chicken

Having full chicken translates to 'celebration' for me. When in Chennai, I worked in Ascendas Tech Park. We were a gang of 5 people who named us 'Foodie group'. I was the only one lady among a bunch of men. We would daily taste different dishes from different outlets. There came a time when we had almost tasted everything on each of their menus. There was this eatery called 'San's Kitchen' famous for South Indian Non-veg specialities. They would serve Full Fried Chicken on Thursdays and we would longingly wait for it. When I saw this full grilled chicken on Jaya's blog, I just couldn't wait to try it at home. The only problem was that I got a big chicken and the top got slightly over roasted. Only thing I would change when I prepare this next is that I would get a baby chicken and follow the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 baby chicken

For marination:
½ cup of yogurt
2 tsp of red pepper powder
2 tsp of red pepper flakes
1 tsp of turmeric powder
2 tsp of cumin powder
2 tsp of coriander powder
3 tsp of Shaan Shekh kabab masala powder
1 tsp of dried thyme or any other herb
2 tbs of cooking oil
Salt as per taste
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl with yogurt.Whisk in gently till they blend well.

For the stuffing:
2 slices of whole wheat bread made into crumbs
1 bunch of spring onions chopped finely
1 tsp of red pepper powder
2 fat garlic chopped finely
Salt as per taste

Method:
1. Wash the chicken well in lukewarm water specially inside the cavity.
2. Make the marination: whisk in cumin+coriander+red pepper +turmeric+shekh Kabab masala+dried thyme+red pepper flakes +salt as per taste in yogurt very well.
3. Generously rub it all over the chicken and also to inside the cavity of chicken. Keep refrigerated overnight. (Please do not skip this stage for making roasted stuffed chicken.)
4.Chop spring onions and garlic and then add in red pepper powder,salt and rest of the marination of chicken.
5. Stuff this mixture inside chicken cavity. You may tie or sew the chicken with thread so that the stuffing don’t come out.
6. Preheat oven at 190 deg Celcius for 2mints.
7. Line a roasting tray with foil and then place the chicken stuffed over it. Place in the second shelf of the oven.Bake it for 45 mints without skin and if the chicken has skin, then add in more 4-5 mints. Half way thro ,take out chicken and bast/brush it with some oil.

Note-
You may use any stuffing also, I have used many times celery+mushroom or mushroom+bell pepper as stuffing for the chicken.