Coconut Sweets

Ingredients:

(1) Two freshly grated Coconuts

(2) One litre full- cream milk

(3) Sugar - a little less than half the quantity of grated coconut

(4) 4/5 crushed green cardamom seeds/ cardamom powder.

Put the milk on low flame and keep stirring till it reduces to half its original quantity. After this add the freshly grated coconut in it and keep stirring continuously. Need to be cautious since the mixture has the tendency to get burnt at the bottom if not stirred continuously. Since coconut releases a lot of oil anyways, there is no need to add any ghee/butter/oil in this preparation.

After 10 minutes add sugar and keep stirring till it turns light brown. Take a bit of this cooked/fried coconut mixture in hand. If it is sticky enough and you can make balls out of it, then it is ready. If not, then the sugar hasn't dissolved yet and you need to keep stirring.

Sometimes, even after constant stirring the mixture doesn't stick and you can't make balls out of it. This happens if you have over heated or kept the mix on the oven for too long. This often happens when the sugar dries up completely. In this case add more milk to the mixture and keep stirring till the mixture becomes sticky.

Finally, make little sweet balls and eat them :-)

Note - The following can also be made using jaggery instead of sugar. Those are a little darker in colour and taste different - a lot more sweeter.

Sooji Ka Halwa

Sooji ka Halwa or in Bangla Sooji r Halua - A simple and quick something for those with a sweet tooth :-)

Ingredients:

(1) Sooji or Semolina - 1 cup

(2) Sugar - 3/4 of  a cup or as per taste

(3) Bay leaves - 2

(4) Ghee - 2 tsp

(5) Vegetable oil - 3 tsp

(6) Raisins -15

(7) Sliced almonds or Cashew nuts

(8) Water

The procedure

• Heat oil in a pan. In general Halwa is prepared in ghee but if health doesn’t permit the use of ghee then either use vegetable oil or  a mix of both. In total it should be – 4 to 5 tsp of ghee/oil/mix of two.
•  Add the bay leaves till crackling followed by Sooji. 
• Fry till light brown. 
• Keep stirring continuously on medium or low flame, so that the sooji is uniformly brown in colour and doesn’t get burnt.  
• When the color turns dark brown (as in picture), add sugar and water followed by raisins and chopped almonds/cashew. 
• Keep stirring continuously to avoid any lumps, till the sugar gets dissolved. 
• Cook over low flame till water dries up. 
• Garnish with cashew and raisins, if desired.

Halwa is ready. Serve hot.

Matar Paneer

Matar paneer is one of the most common curries of North-India. As usual I am going to talk about the easiest and least time-consuming method of preparation.

Matar paneer as the name suggests is made out of green peas (matar) and south-Asian cheese (paneer). Paneer is prepared by curdling heated milk with lemon juice. 

Ingredients

(1) Half Kilogram paneer/Indian cheese.

(2) 250 to 300 grams of green peas/matar. If you don't like matar, put lesser quantity. If you like matar, then put more :-D

(3) Three Onions, Two green chillies.

(4) Two potatoes (my mother's only saviour in the entire dish, put only for her:-D)

(5) Tomato puree or two finely chopped tomatoes (without seeds)

(6) Ginger paste. A bit of garlic paste, if desired.

(7) Salt, Sugar

(8) Mustard powder, Methi powder, Dhania powder, Jeera/Cumin powder, Kashmiri mirch.

(9) Two teaspoon vegetable oil

Method of preparation

• Add a little bit of salt to chopped onions and potatoes and keep aside. You could put a little salt on green peas too but typically green peas are very soft and don't take too much time to boil.
• Cut the paneer (non-melting farmer cheese of India) into pieces and put them in lukewarm water. Not only does it clean the paneer (since its bought from the market) but also softens it.
  
• Put two teaspoon of oil in a pot/pan and heat it.
• Add finely chopped, fresh onions in it and fry till they are light brown in colour. Instead of chopped, you could use a paste of onions and ginger here. Add very little of garlic, if desired. Garlic heats up the body.
• Add half teaspoon of spices - mustard/haldi powder, cumin/jeera powder, a pinch of methi powder
• Add kashmiri mirch for colour. Add two green chillies. Stir on low flame till everything mixes well. (Don't burn it though :-D).
• Add tomato puree or chopped tomatoes in it and stir. Add finely chopped potatoes in it and stir.
• Add water, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, a pinch of sugar and put the lid and let it cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
• Add matar/green peas in the curry and let it boil till the green peas and potatoes are soft.
• Finally when the curry is ready, taste it for salt and add salt/chillies accordingly.
• Add paneer to it and let it boil for some time, till the paneer absorbs the curry. Test for salt again.
• Put out of flame and eat with Roti or Paratha or even Jerra rice. :-D

Stuffed Luci/Puri (Green peas)

Luci is a Bengali cousin of the "Indian Puri". Like puri it is fried flat-bread but unlike it, luci is made of refined flour and not whole wheat flour. So technically, puri is healthier that its cousin.

Now interesting things can be done with this luci. And such an interesting experiment led to the preparation of - stuffed puri. The stuffing used here is of green peas. It tasted quite well actually.

Ingredientsfor stuffed luci (green peas)

Green peas, green chilies, ginger, garlic, whole wheat flour, refined wheat flour, vegetable oil, water, Hing and Ajwain.

Method of preparation

First boil green peas with salt. Drain and make a fine paste of them (as shown in picture).

 

Then chop green chilies, giner, garlic and make a paste of them. Quantity used should be according to taste.

 

Now fry the green peas paste, paste of green chilies, ginger & garlic with hing and ajwain till a fine mixture is formed.

Time to make the dough. Making the dough is the most important step in making nice round luci, stuffed or otherwise. A typical luci is made of refined flour only. However here I have used whole wheat flour and refined flour in the ratio 1:2. 

For a simple luci- Mix the whole wheat and refined flour well. Start mixing the two by adding vegetable oil (about two tbls) slowly. Thereafter add water to make a uniform dough.

Now for this stuffed luci- 

After adding and mixing vegetable oil with the flour properly, we add the mixture of green peas (etc) prepared earlier. Add water slowly, as and when required and keep kneading till we get a uniform and soft dough. As mentioned earlier, the real secret of making nice lucis lies in making the dough, it should be smooth with the right consistency/smoothness.

 

Now, make small balls of the dough and roll them in the shape of circles (in my case, they aren't always circular! :-D )

 

Finally, deep fry them one at a time, pressing very gently in each side with a slotted spoon. This will help the luci to puff up. Take out of pan when golden brown.

Serve hot!

Fish Curry

A preparation of Rohu - Rui Macher Jhol or Rui Macher Kaalia.

There is little difference between the two, the former being a much simpler and lighter preparation of Rohu. However, I have used a bit of both and made my own simple preparation. The time taken for the entire preparation has been "less than 30 mins" (in real! though I have used two stoves simultaneously, one for frying and another for jhol preparation).

Ingredients-

Freshly cut Rohu (1/2 kg or four pieces) , Onions, turmeric, ginger paste, salt, green chillies, kashmiri mirch, tomatoes, mustard oil.

(With these, you could also use red chillies, garlic, potatoes, cumin, garam masala, salt, sugar, ghee/oil). The taste of the curry would vary according to the ingredients used. There is no fixed rule of the number of ingredients used in jhol and it depends quite on the cook and his preferences.

Method of Preparation.

This preparation is meant for four pieces of Rohu fish.

(1) Clean the fish pieces properly.

(2) Marinate them in turmeric and salt for 30 mins to one hour.

(3) Chop one big onion or two small onions into small fine pieces and sprinkle some salt. This makes the onions softer and easier to cook and boil.  You could also make a paste of onions. That would lead to a thicker consistency of jhol.

If you are planning to use potatoes then cut them and put some salt over them too.

(4) Cut a tomato into small pieces. Throw away the seeds of tomato, since they are hard to digest and definitely not good for aged people.

(5) Fry the fish pieces slightly in mustard oil. (Fish is often fried in mustard oil since that brings out the taste of the fish ... or so they say!). A deep fried fish would lose much of its food value, so try to boil/roast or a light fry. Keep the fried fish aside.

(6) Using two teaspoons of oil (mustard oil, esp if you've used mustard oil to fry the fish)  heat the frying pan. Always use a spoon while pouring oil since it gives you an idea of how much oil you are using. For instance, next time you'll realise that the same preparation could be made with one spoon of oil too.

(7) After the pan is heated, add onions in it and fry till they are brown. Then add the spices, i.e 1/2 spoon of turmeric powder, 1/2 spoon cumin(jeera) powder, 1/2 spoon dhania (coriander) powder, two pinches of fenugeek powder (methi), garlic paste and salt to taste. You could also add half a spoon of kashmiri Mirch to it for colour.

One should realise that the curry/jhol would taste much better if the paste of the spices (whole) was to be made at home. The powdered spices will never give the same taste but they are definitely time-saving. One could also make a paste of the whole/seed/sticks of these spices(instead of powder) and refrigerate and use as and when required (but I am too lazy for all that...yawn).

(8) After frying it for 30 seconds to one minute, add potatoes and stir for approx 30 seconds. Do not stir for long if you see the pan getting too dry and there is a possibility of burning the mixture.

(9) Add tomatoes and stir. You could also use tomato puree here. In either case tomato has a bit of moisture in it, so stir till for another 30 seconds and then add water. Add two green chillies (as per taste actually).

(10) Add salt to taste and a pinch of sugar and put the lid back on the pan. Let the water boil for some time, till the potatoes soften. Potatoes at this time of the year would be a bit harder since they've just been harvested (notun aloo). So you should either cut them into smaller pieces or boil them for a longer period of time.

(11) Finally when you see that the spices have dissolved well and the potatoes are soft, add the pieces of fried fish. Let it boil for sometime, approximately five to ten minutes.

A few things to remember :-

• You could prepare this using vegetable oil.
• Instead of onions, jhol can be prepared by panch phoron which is a typical Bengali style of cooking. Panch means "five" and phoron is "flavour" or "spice". Panch phoron is a colourful blend of flavourful seeds: the green of fennel seed, black mustard and nigella seeds, golden fenugreek and buff-coloured cumin seeds. Some variations may substitute anise for the fennel seeds or wild mustard for cumin, radhuni seed for mustard, and possibly black cumin for nigella. Generally the ingredients are added in equal proportions, though this can vary according to taste.
• Panch phoron is usually fried in oil or ghee before adding anything else to the pan, flavouring the oil and releasing the aroma of the oils in the seeds and causing them to pop in the pan.
• In fish preparation if we fry only "jerra" or buff coloured cumin seeds (instead of the five spices) in oil in the beginning, then we don't need to use onions. The use of onions or simple jeera is to negate the smell of flesh, be it fish or chicken. Also a preparation without onions and only jeera in it is simpler and healthier.

Finally, this entire recipe is not to make the perfect "jhol" but to make things simpler,easier and yet maintaining the taste of Rohu, especially when you have a time constraint.

Vegetable Curry of Green Bananas

Our preparation today - Kacha kolar Bora r torkari.

Also known as Kacha Kola r Kofta (fancy name huh?... but preparation here is not so fancy:-) )

Simply put, it is a vegetable curry/tarkari made from green bananas.

It is said that Bananas are the only fruit which can be used completely. The branch/stem, flower of the tree makes for very good tarkari, ripe bananas can be eaten and even banana leaf is used for either serving food or in preparations like Bhapa-eleesh (hilsa).

The Ingredients

(1) Bananas- a dozen

(2) Potatoes- about 6

(3) Oil- as per requirement, about one-fourth of teacup, used for frying.

(4) Green chillis -3 to 4 (or as per taste)- 2 finely chopped and 2 whole.

(5) Salt - one teaspoon

(6) Sugar- a pinch

(7) Onion - 4, finely chopped

(8) Ginger - half teaspoon paste

(9) Turmeric powder - half teaspoon

(10) Dhania/coriander powder - half a teaspoon

(11) Green cardamom -2, seeds crushed, cinnamon and cloves crushed - but optional. Not needed for a simple light preparation.

Method of preparation -

• Boil and peel green bananas and potatoes.  
• After this mix both well and make a consistent  and smooth paste. 
• Add salt, minutely chopped onions and chopped green chilli to it. 
• Make small balls out of this paste and fry it in a container on medium flame till the balls turn golden brown. Use normal cooking oil. Keep the kofta aside.
• Fry one large potato (salted) cut into eight pieces.

(Note the fried bora/kofta can be eaten after it is taken out of pan...they taste quite well too. :-) )

• Add three/four tablespoon of oil in a frying pan/kadai and add  the bay leaves (& crushed cinnamon ,cloves and cardamom if desired) and let it sputter. 
• Add chopped onions, ginger paste (garlic paste can be added but it will make the curry hot and spicier) in it. Fry it till light brown. 
• Add turmeric powder, coriander powder to it and fry that for 2 to 3 minutes. 
• Add fried potatoes and some water to soften the potato. 
• After it has well mixed, add the bora/kofta in the mix followed by water, green chilli, salt and a pinch of sugar for taste.  
• Cook on medium flame for 5 to 10 minutes, till the kofta absorbs the mixture and is soft.  
• Do not over-cook (or add too much water) since the bora/kofta softens very quickly and can actually dissolve. But too little water will make it very dry and can burn the curry.
  

Serve hot with rice.

Tomato Chutney - The Bengali Way

Ingredients -

(1) Red tomatoes - 1 kg

(2) Sugar (one-fourth of a tea cup or more, according to taste)

(3) Bay leaves/tej pata -2

(4) Raisins (as many as you want :-) )

(5) Dry Red chilli (whole and not powder)- one

(6) Mustard Oil- 1 teaspoon

(7) Mustard Seed - 1 teaspoon

(8) Salt- 1 teaspoon/according to taste

(9)Ginger - grated, 1/4th teaspoon

(10) Chopped dates - optional

 

Method of Preparation -

• Heat oil in a pan and add the bay leaves, mustard seeds and red chilli. 
• Temper it for half a minute or so. 
• Add tomatoes and close the lid and cook on medium flame till the tomatoes are completely boiled. 
• Add a bit of water, raisins, dates, grated ginger, sugar and salt and cook for five to ten minutes (or till it all blends together and makes a consistent paste).Mix well.

Tomato Chutney is ready. Serve hot or cold.

Gajar Ka Halwa

Gajar Ka Halwa is a  popular sweet dish, especially in winter when carrots are readily available.

Recipe

Ingredients  (for four servings)

• 1/2 kg carrots (well grated)
• 
•  Milk - 1 litre
• Sugar- as per taste
• Bay leaves-3
• Cardamom/Elaichi - 4/5
• Butter – 2 tablespoon
• Cashew/Kaju - 10
• Raisins - 5/6 (if desired)

Method of Preparation

• Boil milk in a container. Keep stirring it till the milk reduces to half of the original quantity taken.
• Add grated carrots to it and keep stirring on low flame till the carrots are completely soft and the mixture thickens (i.e, the liquid evaporates, leaving the mixture dry) giving it a slight reddish/deep pinkish colour.
• Add sugar as per taste and keep stirring again. Put aside.
• Take another pan, add 2 tbsp of butter. Heat it for 5 seconds and put three bay leaves and cardamom/elaichi (seeds, not whole) in it and fry for half a minute (do not fry for a long time since butter gets heated very fast and might get burnt if not careful).
• Add the carrot mix to this. Stir a while, till the mixture is completely dry. Add cashew to it.

Take it out of flame. Garnish with cashew. Serve as hot.

Semai Payesh

"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all." ~ Harriet Van Horne

So well, there’d be lots of places where you can get fancy ways of cooking Semai (Sweet dish using semolina). But here, I am going to write about the easiest method which takes the least amount of time and tastes just as good. The fast-food way of preparation.

• Take some milk, preferably full cream and some Semolina.
• First put some butter in a vessel (preferably one that has a thicker bottom) and then fry the vermicelli till it turns golden brown. Keep stirring continuously since it might get burnt very easily. 
• Add two bay leaves (tej patta) to it and fry for a few seconds. 
• Add milk and keep stirring. 
• After some time add sugar (as per taste) and raisins. 
• And other dry fruits, if you so desire.

This is what it looks like on the stove. Unfortunately, the payesh became too thick after I cooled it so had to add some more milk. Hence don’t keep it on the flame for a really long time. Serve cold, tastes best.

Just to wrap up - In ingredients (which I realise should have been in the beginning but am too lazy to rewrite the post)

(1) One (or a little less) cup of Semolina

(2) one litre of preferably full-cream milk. Skimmed milk is also fine (as long as it tastes like milk).

(3) Butter - one and a half tablespoon

(4) Four green cardamom or small elaichi

(5) Raisins (as many as you want :-) )

(6) Unsalted Cashew nuts (if you want to spoil the taste by overcrowding it)

(7) Two Bay leaves

All the Best !

Chilli Chicken

Well, I finally ended up making chilli chicken some time back. Here is the recipe that I used. 

One could tweak this a little and get a different taste (will post another recipe for that)

Ingredients

• Boneless chicken, cut into pieces of 1 inch. - 1/2 kilograms
• Onions (medium sized) - 3
•  Capsicum -3
• Vegetable oil
• Ginger, garlic, green chilli
• Soya sauce,
• Tomato sauce
• Vinegar
• A bit of turmeric
• Salt as per taste
• Sugar/honey
• Egg - 1
• Corn flour- 3 tbsp

Method of Preparation

Wash the chicken pieces well and cut them into small pieces of 1 inch each.

Marinate the pieces with 1 tablespoon Soya sauce, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1/2 tablespoon tomato sauce, 2 garlic beads (finely chopped and crushed) and 1 inch ginger (finely chopped and crushed), and enough salt (a bit of turmeric can also be added, though that is not necessary at all).
Beat an egg and pour it over the chicken pieces. To this add 1 tbsp of corn flour and mix well. Allow it to stand for 4 hours.

After four hours, take the chicken pieces and keep the excess liquid in a separate container.

Heat oil in a pan and fry the chicken pieces till they are golden brown. Keep the fried pieces separately.

In the left over oil fry the green chilies, chopped onion and chopped capsicum slightly till they become tender.

Pour the excess liquid (from the marinate) stored earlier. Stir continuously.

Add the chicken pieces.

Pour  1 tbsp of tomato sauce, ½ tsp sugar, salt according to taste and keep stirring.

Take a tsp of corn flour and mix well with water and pour over the mixture and cook on low flame for two minutes, while stirring continuously. If desired one can add ajinamoto (I didn’t).

Stir well and serve hot.