Bengali mom in Mumbai

Phulkopir Chire Ghonto - Cauliflower cooked with rice flakes

2012-12-14T11:06:00.003-08:00

Little S hates cauliflower. As a result it is rarely cooked in my kitchen. After a long day at work, I cannot usually think of cooking multiple courses, so it is usually my favourites which are sacrificed. But not today. S has gone for a Birthday party, and I am assured by the host who is a very dear friend that he will not come back by dinner time. So today I have the liberty of cooking and eating cauliflower to my heart’s content. There is one problem, though. There is no cauliflower in the refrigerator. :( But when there is opportunity, can the mere absence of the wonder flower deter me ? Of course no! What can stop me from going down and getting the coveted vegetable from the sweet Bangladeshi girl sitting with her vegetable-ware spread across the pavement - all in just two minutes? When will I take advantage of Mumbai being one big market place?

So today I cooked this wonderful flower. The original recipe is from a cookery book in Bengali written by Shatarupa, but over the years, I have modified it to suit my convenience...and D’s taste.

Ingredients:

Cauliflower: 1 medium

Potato: 1(optional)

Whole cumin seeds: a pinch

Flattened rice flakes(chire/poha) : a handful fried/roasted. You can also use 1 tbsp soaked rice if you donot have chire.

Whole garam masala: 1 tsp

Bay leaves: 2

Green chillies: 2

Ginger : 1 inch, grated

Jeera powder: ½ tsp

Salt: to taste

Sugar: ½ tsp

Turmeric pdr: ½ tsp

Raisins: 1 tsp(optional)

Peanuts: 1 tbsp(optional)

Green peas: a handful

Tomato: 1, chopped

Ghee: optional

How to:

1. Heat 1 tsp mustard oil. Saute the cauliflower florets and potatoes lightly, with a little salt and turmeric. Remove. You can also boil the potato like I did instead of sauté-ing.

2. Add a little more oil, and throw in the bay leaves, whole cumin seeds, and whole garam masala and the peanuts. If you are using soaked rice, add it too along. Mix and cover for apprx. 5 mins.

3. Now, add the green peas , tomatoes, ginger, green chillies, Jeera powder, mix well. If you are adding flattened rice, add it now. Sprinkle a little water if it sticks to the wok. Cover for some more time.

4. When the tomatoes are nicely cooked, Add sugar, the cauliflowers potatoes and raisins. Mix well and cover. Cook till the cauliflowers and potatoes are completely cooked and mushy.

5. If you are adding ghee, add it just before turning off the flame.

Enjoy with hot rotis or dal-rice !

Chaat from Mumbai Streets – Dahi Puri

2012-12-06T10:45:00.000-08:00

Another chaat item I make regularly at home is Dahi Puri. When S comes back home from school, its almost 7 in the evening, and he is famished. But not enough so that he will eat anything that I give him. Atleast not if it is bland. So I need to cook up something that needs little preparation ( since I too return the same time), is healthy and TASTY. This Dahi puri is an item which S loves, and is not bland, and you can almost call it home-made.

Ingredients:

Panipuri puris: readymade or homemade.

Potatoes : 1 large, boiled and chopped/ mashed

Moong sprouts: as it is or steamed for 5 mins with salt

Curd

Chutney: tomato/imli/you can also use tomato sauce

Onion: 1 chopped

Coriander leaves

Green chillies: finely chopped

Chaat masala/ roasted and ground cumin seeds

Bareek sev: optional

Rock salt

How to :

1. Fill in the boiled potatoes and sprouts.

2. Pour dahi generously

3. Add the chutney

4. Sprinkle the chopped onions, coriander, rock salt and barik sev.

Serve with a smile J and be ready for a big hug from the kid!

Fish Fry

2012-12-05T08:00:00.002-08:00

Good friend Z has been asking me the recipe for this typically Bengali fish fry for a long time now. This s for you Z!

Fish fry

Ingredients:

Fish fillets: bhetki, salmon, rawas

Ginger : ½ inch

Garlic: 5 pods

Onion: 1 small

Green chillies: 2

Lemon: 1

Bread crumbs: 1 cup

Egg: 1

Salt

Oil for frying

How to:

Grind the ginger, garlic, onion, green chillies, into a paste.
Marinade the fillets with the paste, juice of a lemon, and salt. Keep for atleast 20 mins. If you are keeping it for longer, keep in the refrigerator.
Beat the egg with a pinch of salt in a bowl large enough to fit the fish fillets.
Spread the bread crumbs in a plate.
Now coat the marinated fish fillets with the bread crumbs, dip it in the beaten egg and then again in the bread crumbs
Heat oil in a frying pan or wok.
Deep fry.

Serve with salad on the side.

Stuffed Capsicum with left over pulao

2012-12-05T07:43:00.000-08:00

What do you do when you have had a party at home the previous night, you have little bit of every thing left, but your family will not have the same food again today ? Simple, you cook up some new dishes with the leftovers.

Stuffed Capsicum with left over rice dish

Ingredients:

Fried rice/ any vegetable : any quantity

Capsicum: any number enough for the left over

How to:

1. Remove the top of the capsicum, clean the inside of the capsicum of seeds

2. Fill with the leftover rice.

3. Top with dry fruits

4. Grill at 200 degrees for 7-10 mins.

Done!

Tip1: If you are cooking in a microwave oven, cook it in a micro+ convection for about 5 mins.

Tip2: If you are cooking in a pan, fry the capsicums, till they are semi-cooked. Remove from heat, cool and now fill the stuffings. Put it back on the pan, cover and cook till the capsicums are fully done.

Keema Sandwich

2012-11-28T01:41:00.003-08:00

“Imagine you are one of the smartest employees in the office - all your peers acknowledge the fact. And you are reporting to two of the dumbest blokes on earth. How would you feel? That is exactly how your teenaged child feels.”

These are the observations of Dr. Don Fontennele – renowned child psychiatrist, not mine. And I am seeing a lot of truth in it already, even as my little devil is on the threshold of being ten years old. He challenges all my instructions with a defiant “Why?”. He confronts all my reprimands with “ You also did that yesterday, or the day before, or last week, or last year”…okay, you got it. Are your experiences same as mine ?

Keema Sandwich:

What you will need:

Kheema Sandwich (makes 4)

What you will need:

Bread: 8 pieces, white/brown/ multigrain

Butter: 1 tsp (optional)

Chicken keema: 100 g

Onion: 1 large

Garlic pods: 2, chopped

Green chillies: 2

Cumin seeds: ½ a tsp

Salt: acc to taste

lemon juice: 1 tsp

chilli pdr: ½ tsp

How you will go about it:

Marinade the keema in lemon juice, salt, chilli pdr. Heat oil in a wok
Throw in the cumin seeds
Throw in the chopped garlic
After 30 secs, throw in the chopped onions,
When the onion take a beautiful golden hue, and you can feel the lovely aroma of frying onion, add the marinated keema, green chillies & grated ginger.
Add salt, Mix well, cover, and cook till the keema is done, and the water dries up.
Remove, cool.
Put a good quantity of filling in between two pieces of bread, and toast in a sandwich toaster.If you want you can butter the breads on the top, I don't, for me and hubby, but for S - yes.

Have it with tea or coffee. Makes an excellent breakfast, or even an evening snack.

Green Moong & mothbeans salad

2012-11-28T01:34:00.000-08:00

“How to be a connoisseur of food and still remain trim” is a book my friend M should write. Her food is always so yummy, so wonderfully flavourful and so appetizing to look at. While I always secretly wished I too had a metabolism (read: figure) like her, I was shocked to find her in a fitness clinic, for reasons diametrically opposite to mine – to gain weight ! So that’s it. Nobody is happy with herself. The dawning of the eternal truth upon me made me feel a lot better, so much better that I immediately soaked some legumes to carry a nice salad tomorrow for work. Without Dressing, and yet mouth-watering.

Moong –Matka salad( Green Moong & mothbeans salad)

Ingredients:

Moong sprouts

Matka(moth beans) sprouts

Cucumber

Tomatoes

Capsicum

Fruits of your choice

How to:

1. Steam or microwave moong and matka sprouts for 3-4 mins

2. Mix it with grated ginger, rock salt, chopped green chillies and any or all of the fruits like pomegranates, chopped apples, chopped grapes and chopped muskmelons.

3. Sprinkle juice of half a lemon and chaat masala. Keep aside.

4. Scrape 1 cucumber 1 capsicum and 1 tomato with a scraper.

5. Now line a salad dish with the scrapes of tomato, capsicum and cucumber. You can also add shredded lettuce leaves.

6. Sprinkle some rock salt and lemon juice.

A Add chopped fruits.

7. Now pour the sprouts mixture on the bed prepared. Garnish with some chaat masala, coriander leaves and serve.

It’s yummy. The rock salt and lemon juice soak into the scrapes, and make such a heavenly combination. Its better had 10 mins after preparation, to allow the juices of all the ingredients flow into each other.

Amazing Grated Papaya Salad

2012-11-28T01:22:00.002-08:00

Good friend M recently told me that she was leaving early that day as she wanted to accompany her younger sis to meet a guy whom her parents wanted her to meet (for marriage prospects). She told me that this was the 11th guy she was meeting and she has already rejected ten (!) guys before this. Thanks to the skewed sex ration in our country !! That set me thinking...what is it that these young girls are looking for, that they are not finding ? What is it exactly, that girls are seeking while sizing up a guy for marriage prospects…what is it ? I was too interested n finding out ...so I decided to speak to all the PYT's I could get in touch with and asked them the most important question...what do you look for in a guy. Here is what I found:

Dependability…it means literally in all senses. The guy has to be able to manage expenses in a situation where the girl decides to stay at home to look after kids, or whatever reasons. It also means he should be there for her whenever she is in distress, both emotional and physical…of course this will not include the distress when she cannot choose which shade of blue skirt will go best with her new green halter neck.
Emotionally expressive…A woman hates it when the only emotions her guy displays are hunger, anger and frustration. Joy comes only in the event of Brazil winning a football match. There is another emotion very important to women, called love, and every girl wants to see her guy expressing love once in a while with a simple gesture like a kind word, a public praise, or an sms. Expressing love is not only PDA.
Caring…small helps around the house, understanding when the stress levels are high and acting accordingly, are small manifestations of caring. You cannot show care, unless you really do…if you fake it, you’ll be caught.
Presentability: Yes, the guy has to be someone she is not ashamed to introduce to her friends and colleagues. Which means you need to be polite, courteous, and if you have a sense of humor-nothing like it ! It also means that if your weighing scale tips more towards the right, do something NOW !

Today’s dish is healthy, tasty, and can be readied in a jiffy. AND if the way to your girl’s heart is through her stomach, it might be of help. Girls, this may work other way round too…if the guy has really impressed you, now it might as well be your turnJ

Grated papaya salad:

Ingredients:

Green papaya: 1 small

Tomato: 1

Green chilly: 1

Rock salt: pinch

Tamarind chutney: 1 tsp (optional)

Pomegranate: 2 tbsp

Cumin seeds: ½ tsp, roasted, ground

Garlic: 1 pod, chopped

Herbs: basil, coriander leaves, or acc to choice

Peanuts: 6-8, roasted

How to:

Grate raw papaya.
Mix with rock salt, imli chutney, chopped green chillies, pomegranates, chopped tomatoes, roasted cumin seeds, chopped garlic and dried basil leaves.
Garnish with coriander leaves and roasted peanuts.

There you are! Guilt free indulgence is readyJ

Black Chana Chaat

2012-11-28T01:02:00.004-08:00

Little S was not like this. Infact he was completely opposite of what he is now. Till the age of 6 he ate only healthy food. My mom-in-law was not very happy about this habit of palate for different types of food, so that he doesn’t have difficulty with food when he grows up and leaves home. She tried to feed him on bits of samosa, and was aghast that he just refused after the first bite ! My boss said children not liking potato chips have some serious problem, I should consult a doctor !

I did not need to. He soon started behaving normal, much to the relief of everyone, and today he is the king of junk food….and in the process of being so, has made me the queen of home made junk food. Sneaking in bits and pieces of good health in his favorite snacks…..

Black chana chaat:

The day after the day I make pani puri’s is usually fixed for a chaat – be it aaloo, or moong or chana. To use up the broken pani puri crumbs left in the packet, after enjoying pani puris the previous day.

You will need:

Black chana: 1/2 cupful(soaked overnight and boiled)

Onion: 1 medium, chopped

Ginger: julienned, 1 small tsp.

Tomato: 1 chopped

Green chillies : 1 chopped( for adults, I would recommend 2)

Oil: 1 tsp (optional)

Jeera: 1 pinch (optional)

Rock salt/ table salt/ masala namak: according to taste

Chaat Masala: ½ tsp(optional)

Amchur powder/ lemon juice

Coriander leaves

pani puri crumbs

How to:

Heat oil in a wok.
Throw in the cumin seeds
And the boiled chana. Toss for 2 mins, on high heat and remove.
Garnish the chana with copped onion, tomatoes, green chillies, amchur pdr, Coriander leaves and finally the pani puri crumbs.
Squeeze the juice of ½ a lemon. Serve.

You can omit the 1^st 3 steps, and start directly from 4^th, if you want to avoid oil. Trust me it tastes great too ! It’s very healthy, low in calories, and yummy.

Burger patties...healthy n yummy

2012-11-28T00:57:00.000-08:00

Women are essentially multi-taskers. I will even go to the extent of calling it Compulsive Multi-tasking Disorder (CMD) that most women suffer from. Women who might not even be familiar with the term, do so with effortless elan.

I chanced to come across this rather remarkable lady in the local train the other day. While most of us manage one other task while talking on phone, here she was sitting on the floor near the door doing 5 things all at once -

Selling hair clips,
Breast-feeding a tiny baby in her arms
Cleaning fenugreek leaves ( dinner preparations, probably)
Talking on her cell-phone(business for next day), and of course
Travelling in a crowded Mumbai local !

It’s a pity such wonderfully efficient women expend their talent just making the two ends meet !

Coming back to today’s recipe, it’s about burger cutlets. My S just loves burgers, as I’m sure the lovely kids at your home do too. Osho tells that if you want to wean your kid of something, give him so much of it that he simply gets bored of it. Voila ! Now to give him too much of burger would mean I would have to find a healthier burger…I can’t just let him have the regular version…so I decided to be a spoilsport, as always.

I replaced the burger bun with brown bread.
I made the patty at home
Increased the amount of greens in it.

S has given up on eating M burgers since. He is yet to give up on the home made ones…however I’m not the one to lose hope J

I prepare large number of cutlets on weekends, and freeze them. Once your patty is ready, preparing a burger is a matter of 5 mins.

Burger Patties:

You will need:

Onion : 2 large

Garlic: 6 cloves

Green chillies: 2 ( add more if you want it hot)

Ginger: grated, ½ tsp

Potato: 1 boiled

Carrots: 2

Beetroot: 1

Cauliflower: 4/5 florets

Capsicum: 1

French beans: 10-12

Green peas: a handful

Cumin seeds : toasted and ground

Oil: 1 tbsp:

Salt : to taste

Bread crumbs: 1 cupful

The above quantity will be enough for about 10 cutlets.

How to:

Grate all veggies and keep aside.
Heat oil.
Add chopped garlic
When garlic is slightly browned add the onions.
When the onion is translucent, add all the remaining vegetables, salt, ginger, mix well and cover.
Remove cover occasionally and stir.
Towards, the end, remove cover, to allow the moisture to escape. Since the veggies are grated, they will take not more than 10 mins to cook
Remove from heat, allow it to cool.
After it has cooled, mix it with boiled and mashed potato, shape the cutlets,
Roll them in breadcrumbs

At this point your patties are ready to be stored in the freezer. You can safely store them for 10 day.

Before consumption, prepare a batter of egg + salt, or cornflour+ milk+ salt.
Dip your patty in the batter, roll them in another round of breadcrumbs, and shallow fry them. You can also deep fry them, if you want to, and if you are not watching the calories.

13.Do what you want with the patties. Have them just like that with a hot cup of chai, place them in the middle of buns, cheese slices and salads, to make a burger. Or have it on the side with your plate of salad to make it more palatable J

Cheese toast...for those who donot need to watch their weight

2012-11-25T03:39:00.004-08:00

Tomorrow, I promised to myself. Tomorrow I can set myself a goal of losing half-a Kg ever week, tomorrow I can dial that Institute which promises to “Shed 5 Kgs in 5 weeks or else your money back”. Tomorrow I can go ahead and pretend that Beetroot raita is the best tasting food in the world, second only to celery chutney. For now, I want to immerse myself into the celestial bliss called Cheese Toast.

Cheese toast

Ingredients:

Bread pieces: 2 (I use whole wheat bread, you can use any)

Garlic : 6 cloves grated

Butter : 1 tsp

Mozzarella cheese shavings: As much as you want

Oregano

Chilli flakes

You can also sprinkle basil & thyme…I donot.

How To:

Butter the bread slices.
Grate garlic on the slices
Grate mozzarella cheese on them.
Sprinkle chilli flakes and oregano.
Line your baking tray with kitchen tissue (to prevent the toast from getting soggy underneath)
Grill on Pizza mode for 10 mins.

You’re done !!

Hubby loves this with his evening chai J

You can also make this in a tawa. No need of adding the tissue underneath. Just keep the tawa covered. Your toast is done when the cheese has melted. It should take around 5 mins.

2011-07-01T10:01:00.000-07:00

Jhinge Poshto – Ridge gourd cooked with poppy seeds

This is one of the most common but always highly regarded delicacies for a Bengali tongue. And at the same time not so appealing to a non-bong one. When I first came to Mumbai and saw a friend not exactly gushing over jhinge poshto, I actually thought he was weird, but now I know – Poshto and Bengali are made for each other and others sitting on the fence may not just understand the relationship – and that’s OKAY. So I’m posting this recipe for all my Bong friends out there - with a faint hope that atleast one non-Bong friend will try it out, maybe by tweaking the recipe a little to suit her and her family’s taste…………

Jhinge Poshto - Ridgegourd cooked with poppy seeds

What you’ll need:

Ridge gourds: 2/3

Tomato : 1 medium

Paanch foron: 1 tsp

Salt: 1tsp

Whole red chili: 2

Poshto/poppy seeds / khuskhus : 2 tbsp

Oil : 1 tbsp

How to:

Step1: Soak the khus khus seeds and the whole red chilies in warm water for as long as you can (say abt 2 hrs), that would make it soft and easy to grind. Grind in a mixer or a grinding stone, whatever you wish. My mom thinks grinding in the stone gives the real taste of poshto. I do it in my mixer – you guessed it right !

Step2: Peel the ridge gourd. If little skin is left, its okay, but the ridges have to be removed. Cut it into small pieces. Chop the tomatoes also and keep aside.

Step3: Heat a little oil in a wok, and throw in the paanch foron.

Step4: Throw in the ridge gourds.

Step5: When the ridge gourds are almost cooked, add the tomatoes and the salt. It will be slightly watery as ridge gourds release a lot of water.

Step6: When all the water has dried up, add the poppy seed paste and mix well. Since this paste will also contain some water, you will need to stir it a little to dry up the dish…..you’re done!

Some people like this dish a little wet, some like it dry…you pick your choice. If you like it dry, you will need to stir it for some more time…thats all.

Jhinge poshto is one of the tastiest dishes in the world…..at least for all Bengalis !!! We have it with rice...but there are stories about how Queen Victoria used to love eating rotis with Jhinge or Aloo poshto !!!

Chicken legs with capsicum and spring onions

2011-06-30T10:57:00.000-07:00

Little S needs his daily dose of stories before he goes off to sleep. All efforts to try and dodge him fails as miserably as the talks between the Indian and Pakistani govts ! If I tell him I’ll read, he’ll immediately refuse…he hates the sight of books….it reminds him of studies. What he wants me to do is, read the story before getting into his bed, and then narrate it to him in my own words. Now that calls for preparation, which needs prior planning. I keep doing it for all my activities during the day, and the last thing I would want to add to my to-do list is a prior planning and preparation for bed-time stories. But S wants it that way, and everyone who has a child knows who the boss at home is after babies arrive! So I do too….had to learn the hard way. I have tried to trick him by making up stories after going to bed without a preparation, but who has ever got away trying to fool a child? I would be nudged out of my doze by an irritated S
“Mamma just now it was a crocodile pulling the deer to the water; how did it become a tiger? You are not concentrating…” the little one would complain, to my embarrassment.

So now I have resorted to a trick. Once in a while I play a game with him, where I tell a sentence and ask him to continue the story with another, then again I tell a sentence and then he…hope you get the drift. Whoever dozes off, loses….and the other person wins a prize. Guess who wins everytime ? I know its bad to trick a child out of a bed-time story…but even Mamma needs a break once in a while :P.

My dish today is a chicken drumstick preparation with capsicum and spring onions that S loves..

Chicken legs with capsicum and spring onions

Ingredients:

Chicken legs

Eggs : 1 for 3 legs

Capsicum: 1 cut into thin slices

Spring onions: chopped into 1” pieces

Onion: 1 large cut into thin slices

Ginger garlic paste: 1 tbsp

Tomato: 1 small, finely chopped

Chilli pdr: ½ tsp

Worcestershire sauce: 1 tsp

Oyster sauce: 1 tsp

Cornflour 1tsp

Salt: ½ tsp

Turmeric: pinch

Oil: 2 tbsp

How to:

Step1: Marinade the chicken legs with ginger-garlic paste, salt and chilli pdr. for about 1 hr. If you can marinade for more, nothing like it.

Step2: Beat the cornflour , the egg, a little salt and keep the batter ready.

Step3: Dip the marinated chicken legs in the batter and shallow fry them in a frypan till they are cooked and remove.

Step4: In the same oil, fry the onion till golden.

Step5: Add the capsicum slices and the spring onions, the remaining batter and sauté a little.

Step6: Add the Oyster and the W’shire sauce and the legpieces. Mix well, cover for 2 minutes and remove.

Done !! Simple, hassle-free and excellent with Chinese rice or any variety of fried rice. Little S loves it with noodles on a Saturday night!

Dum Arbi

2011-06-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

We rarely cook Arbi/ kochu/Taro at home. Not that it is not available here in Mumbai…they are aplenty everywhere, but somehow I didn’t cook much of it. But all of a sudden I find myself cooking a wee bit too much of arbi. Today is the third time I cooked arbi in the past two weeks! It is an extremely nutritious root vegetable with a lot of essential trace nutrients and most importantly has a very low glycemic index. But just like any other food varieties, too much of Arbi also not good. High consumption daily is said to cause kidney stone problems, so a controlled portion is the key word.

Today I prepared Dum arbi on the lines of Dum Aloo.

Ingredients:

Arbi : 8/10

Oil : Mustard/any other 2 tbsp

Cumin seeds : 1 pinch

Bay leaves : 2/3

Onion : 1 large

Garlic: 2/3 cloves

Ginger: 1 “ piece

Tomato : 1 large

Green chillies: 2 slit

Dhaniya pdr: 1 tsp

Garam masala pdr : 1 tsp

chilli pdr :1/2 tsp

Salt: 1 tsp

Turmeric: 1 tsp

Sugar/jaggery : ½ tsp

Coriander leaves : for garnishing

How to:

Step1: Boil and peel the arbi. Cut the large ones into half. Leave the smaller ones as it is.

Step2:Heat mustard oil in a wok.

Step3:Throw in the jeera and the bay leaves in succession .

Step4:Add the garlic, and afer they have browned slightly, add the finely chopped onion and the grated ginger. Fry till oil separates.

Step5: Now add the dhaniya pdr, garam masala pdr chopped tomatoes and fry for some more time before adding the salt, turmeric, sugar and chilli pdr.

Step6: When a nice smell emanates, add the previously boiled and peeled arbi.

Step7:Mix well, throw in the green chillies and cover, allowing the arbi to soak in the masala and the flavors.

Great with hot chapattis! Will also go great guns with dal-rice J

Alu Kabli – Aloo Chaat Bengali Style

2011-06-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

“Sob bangalir moto tomar-o alur dosh aachhe dekhchhi !

a statement from a very senior Bengali dada in my neighbourhood. If you are scandalized by the above statement – rest assure, I was so too! For a Bengali hailing from West Bengal alur dosh had a different meaning altogether J ….adding potatoes to every dish was NOT a dosh by any standards!

My mother, like all Bengali mothers loved to add potatoes to all her dishes. So much that she even prepared sweets from sweet potatoes! As a result I have grown up eating potatoes as a very integral part of my diet. I cannot say that I didn’t enjoy potatoes myself – alur dom (Dum Aloo) 10 years and 20 kilos later is still my all time favorite! Never really thought eating potatoes was a sin until I landed in Mumbai – and started inviting people home as a courtesy! My husband’s friends were horrified to find potatoes in mutton curry…that’s when I realized that I too add potatoes in literally everything! For me not adding potato in mutton curry was blasphemy….I loved that potato more than the mutton!!! Ofcourse now I have learnt to keep that potato to myself and out of everyone else’s visibility !

The truth is that Potato is one of the most underrated vegetables –branded guilty for no fault of its own! A large boiled potato weighing about 100g has only 44 calories, as against 2 chapattis weighing the same (100g) contains about 300 calories! So, my alu kabli, which I’m going to share here has only 70 – 75 calories…far less than what 1 chapati contains!! That’s what I call guilt free indulgence J

Alu Kabli – Aloo Chaat Bengali Style

This Alu-kabli is made by a vendor who is selling this amazingly chatpata dish outside the Ram-Mandir in Durgapur, for the past 30 yrs atleast ! He was there when I was small, and he is still there till date. Whenever I go to Durgapur on my yearly visit, I always make it a point to have this mouth watering dish of his!

What you’ll need:

Potato: 1 large, boiled and peeled

Kabuli chana: 10-12, boiled

Tamarind: a handful

Rock salt: ½ tsp

Sugar: 1tsp

Jeera : 1 tsp

Dried red chillies: 2

Pani puri: 2 crushed

How to:

Step1: Soak the tamarind, for about an hour, strain and keep aside.

Step 2: Heat a few drops of oil throw in a few cumin seeds and add the strained tamarind juice. Add sugar salt and chili pdr, bring the liquid to a boil and your Imli chutney is ready. Keep aside.

Step 3: Roast the chilies and the cumin seeds and dry grind it into a coarse powder. (See Kochu kumror chhokka)

Step 4: Cut the boiled potato into thin slices.

Step 5: Add the chickpeas, rocksalt, roasted masala, and imli chutney and whisk them together.

Step 6: Spread the mixture and garnish with crushed pani-puris, or coriander leaves or anything according to your taste, availability and imagination !

The Rains and the khichuri combination

2011-06-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

When I landed up in Mumbai city about 10 years back, there were two things that surprised me the most. 1. White earthworms painted all over the buildings 2. Before you purchase or rent a flat, you are asked if you are a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian.

With time I learnt that the earthworms are nothing but chemical treatment applied over cracks to prevent leakage. It is funny, but if you look out of your car/bus local train window, you cannot help noticing these white serpentine lines all over buildings….you never see this in any other city. I later came to know that most of the extended Mumbai is built on reclaimed land, and hence does not stand on a very firm ground. That and the substandard quality of materials, and the black salty sand used in the construction are responsible for poor quality construction work.

And for the second query, I came to know societies enquire upon your food habits because theirs must be an all vegetarian society and they are unwilling to accommodate anybody who is not!

But for each thing that surprises me in Mumbai, there are ten that I love. One such thing is the zest and revelry with which various religious and regional festivals are celebrated here. Durga Puja is celebrated here with as much enthusiasm as Ganesh Utsav or Navratri or Christmas. Its kind of sad, but little S is keener on being at the Navratri ground than at the Durgapuja Pandal ! I for one, just adore the Durgotsav observed here in Mumbai. Its out of West Bengal….and simply out of the world. It is distinct from West Bengal and more of gharoa in approach rather than the club-centric puja’s back home in West Bengal. It is more tolerant towards wholesome participation of the Boudi clan – hence more appealing for me. And the Bhog ! Its Awesome..with a capital A. The bhuni khichuri, labra(mixed veggies with a typical East Bengal drift), begun (thin slices of eggplant dipped in a batter of besan, and deep-fried)i, kumro bhaja (batter or plain fries of yellow pumpkin), chutney , papad, payesh(rice pudding) and rosogolla….I think the platter is worth waiting for a whole year….

Ever since it has been pouring in Mumbai, I have been meaning to make the typically Pujo flavored bhuni khichuri, but had to wait for a rainy Sunday afternoon, and finally got one this Sunday….so off I went…

Bhuni Khichuri

Ingredients:

Rice (Gobindobhog chaal / or any small grained rice) : 1 cup

Moong daal: 1 cup

Green peas: 1 cup

Cauliflower (optional): 4/5 big florets

Ginger: 1” piece, grated

Tomato: 1 small

Garam masala : whole (2 clove,2 Elaichi, 2” piece of Dalchini ground)

Garam masala powder (optional) : 1 tsp

Paanchforon: 1/2 tsp

Tej pata : 2

Salt: 1 tsp or to taste

Turmeric: ½ tsp

Oil: 2 tbsp

Ghee: 1tsp

How to:

Step 1: Wash and soak the rice in water.

Step 2: Roast the moong dal till it takes a beautiful golden hue. Be careful to stir continuously, to avoid burning. A beautiful aroma will fill your room by the time your dal is nicely roasted. Let it cool, wash it and keep aside.

Step 3: lightly smear the cauliflower florets in salt and turmeric and shallow fry them in 1 tsp of oil so that they have a nice brownish tint, but not ready to eat as yet. Keep aside.

Step 4: In the same pan, heat a spoonful of oil, and add the Paanchforon first and then the whole garam masala and tejpata.

Step 5: Add the green chilly, ginger, roasted dal, green peas, turmeric, tomato and fry till it starts to stick at the bottom.

Step 6: Now add the soaked rice, about a spoonful of salt, a tomato cut into quarters and stir well.

Step 7: When the rice turns translucent, add 5 cups of water and stir nicely. After you have made sure that no lumps have formed, cover and let it cook. Keep checking as it doesn’t take much time.

Step 8: When the rice and dal are almost cooked, add the pre-fried cauliflower.

Step 9: At this point taste the khichuri and check for salt, sweetness and tanginess. Add salt or sugar or chili powder so that you are satisfied with the taste, and cover. Remember as it cooks for some more time, it will get denser, so the taste will intensify. Add your enhancers accordingly. Add water if required.

Step 10: When your khichuri is done,ie all the ingredients soft and consistency desirable, stir in one spoonful of ghee, to get that distinctly pujo-pujo flavour.

Enjoy Bhog khichuri with papad, chutney, beguni, or with an omlette like my blasphemous son S...choice is yours !

Tip : I you want to store leftover khichuri and have it next day, add a little amount of warm water while you re-heat it in a karhai. It tastes even better the next day….I usually keep a little purposely to have it with a little onion and potato fry!

7 secrets of happiness and Alu-kopir chochchori

2011-06-24T05:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, so before we go to the eighth secret of happiness -the yummy alu-kopir chochchori, let us quickly go through the first seven:

Delink your happiness from possessions. As long as you have a long “To possess” list – you cannot be happy!
Seek happiness from your achievements
Keep yourself extremely busy – so much so that you crave for some free time, and when you actually get it, it feels like the best thing on earth. Believe me lots of free time are the root of many troubles.
Take very good care of your physical being – your health, your weight, your skin and your appearance in general.
Re-kindle an old passion – it can be reading, writing, gardening, cooking, pottery, art, craft, anything you can get lost into for hours without even realising. Please don’t choose shopping –it has to be something which is either free or very cheap…..remember rule no.1!
Involve yourself in some social service. Look around for work that needs to be done and don’t wait for the Municipal Corporation or an NGO to do it …do it yourself. Trust me, it gives you unparalleled satisfaction.
Keep-in-touch. With parents, relatives, friends, ex-colleagues, your babysitter – all the people who touched your lives in some way and are far away now. NOW…that does not mean hook yourself to Facebook or Twitter or Orkut. I by no means want to belittle these wonderful networking platforms, they have made the world a small place in the real sense, but how you use them to your benefit and not to detriment – is up to you!

My recipe today is another simple dish which is a very integral part of all Bengali households – alu-kopir chochchori. We used to have it with roti’s on normal mornings and with luchi’s on special mornings.

Alu-kopi’r chochchori

Ingredients:

Potato: 1 large

Cauliflower: ½ , cut into little florets

Jeera: 2 tsp

Dry red chillies : 2

Salt: ½ tsp

Oil: 1 tsp

How to:

Step1: Roast 1 tsp of the jeera and the dry red chillies and grind them into a coarse powder. (For pictorial details of this step check out kochu kumror chhokka)

Step2: Chop the cauliflower and the potatoes into small pieces. If you wish, you can peel the potatoes, I donot.

Step3: Heat 1 tsp of oil and add 1 tsp of jeera.

Step4: Once the jeera is fried properly, add the potatoes first, and then the cauliflower after 5 mins. Potatoes are added first as cauliflower cooks very fast.

Step5:Add the salt, stir and cover.

Step6: When both the cauliflower and the potatoes are cooked, (in about another 5 mins), add the roasted jeera pdr, mix well and your chochchori is done ! Goes very well with rotis, plain triangular parathas and puri/luchis.

Watermelon Orange Rocktail

2011-06-23T04:53:00.000-07:00

I had a small wedge of watermelon left in my fridge which S wouldn’t have. After polishing off 90 percent of it, he suddenly decided that the melon was not sweet! The truth is that the summers are over, and its pouring outside – it’s not exactly the season for watermelon any more…its amazing how he knows about season and off-season so naturally, when I have such a tough time teaching him as much as the spelling of season in Geography!

Now the problem in hand was that I had this teeny-weeny wedge of watermelon which was not even enough for a decent glass of watermelon juice, and I had a friend coming over to say Hi. Since I also had an orange sitting thankfully beside the wedge, an orange watermelon drink is what I could think of, and it turned out surprisingly pleasant !

Watermelon orange Rocktail:

Ingredients:

Watermelon pulp : deseeded ( about a cupful)

Orange juice: ½ cup

Sugar: 2 tsp (you can add less, u can also use sugar substitute)

Rock salt: a pinch

How to:

Just blend all the above ingredients and garnish any way you like. Voila !

You can also add a spoon or 2 of vodka to give you a splendid mocktail !

Alu – potol bhate – Potato and pointed gourd bharta

2011-06-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

What you’ll need:

Potato: 1 medium

Pointed gourd: 3/4

Onion :1 sliced

Chilly: 1 green or red dried

Cumin seeds: ½ tsp

Mustard or any other oil: 1 tsp

Salt: 1 pinch

How to:

1. Skin the pointed gourds as shown.

2. Boil the potato and the gourds. You can also put it inside your rice pot. That’s how it was done by my mother.

3. Skin the potato.

4. Fry the cumin seeds, chilly and sliced onion in the oil, and pour the

entire thing on the boiled veggies, add salt and mash.

Healthy and delicious. Just try it out. You can also make similar bhartas with pumpkin, eggs or brinjals. You will find pumpkin bharta here.

Kumro-alu bhate - Yellow pumpkin and potato mishmash

2011-06-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

What you’ll need:

Potato: 1 medium

Pumpkin slice: any size

Onion :1 sliced

Chilly: 1 green or red dried

Cumin seeds: ½ tsp

Mustard or any other oil: 1 tsp

Salt: 1 pinch

How to:

1. Skin the pumpkin if it is yellow. If the skin is soft and green, you can leave it on.

2. Boil the potato and the pumpkin. You can also put it inside your rice pot. That’s how it was done by my mother (all our mothers), and that' how the name came by. Since I cook my rice in the microwave I boil them separately.

3. Skin the potato.

4. Fry the cumin seeds, chilly and sliced onion in the oil, and pour the entire thing on the boiled veggies, add salt and mash.

YOU'RE DONE !!

Looks great and tastes absolutely delicious. Just try it out. You can substitute the pumpkin with pointed gourds/ eggs/ brinjals – tastes great any which ways.

Mumbai monsoons and the Corn Festival

2011-06-21T04:57:00.000-07:00

Come Monsoons and Mumbaikars join a season-long celebration called “The Corn Festival”. Pavements are seized by colourful canopies, Bhutta sellers ready with their coal stoves smoldering and eager patrons surrounding him for their treat of roasted corn on the cob smeared with a mix of rock salt and chilly powder, and a wedge of lemon rubbed generously. Monsoons in Bombay are colder than winters J so the added interest is to enjoy the warmth of the earthen stove.

Today the dish of my day is corn- chaat.

Corn Chaat

Ingredients:

Sweet corn – boiled with a little salt

Rock salt

Lemon / raw mango

Chilli powder/ roasted & ground jeera and whole red chili (my wonder masala – which I use in many of my dishes, in my jhaal muri, dahi vada, raita and in my chaats)

For garnishing

Raw onions – chopped

Tomato – chopped

Green chilies – chopped

Coriander leaves - chopped

Sev – handful

How to:

Step 1: Strain the boiled corn from the boiling liquid. Mix all the ingredients together. I add both lemon and grated raw mango. I like to have it just like this. But for my S I also follow step 2.

Step 2: Serve the boiled corn in a plate and garnish it with all the things listed under “For garnishing”

Alt Step 2: You can also serve it on papri’s( small crisp puri’s) and serve it as “Corn Papri Chaat”

S's portion

My portion

There are so many reasons to love the rains....the above one is just one of them :)

Drumstick Crispies

2011-06-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

Good friend Sucharita, who’s an Oriya had once told me about these Drumstick crispies which was a must with the pokharo (day old rice soaked in water) they had as breakfast on summer mornings back home in Bhuvneshwar. I have been meaning to make these crispies for a long time but could manage only last week, that too because I had promised myself to make something new for hubby on his birthday. He liked them…hope you like them too…..

Drumstick Crispies

Ingredients:

2 Drumsticks: peeled and chopped into 3” pieces

For the batter:

Rice flour: 2 tablespoons

Besan: 1 tablespoon

Ginger garlic paste: ½ tsp

Chilly pdr: ½ tsp

Salt: ½ tsp

How to:

Step1: Steam the drumstick pieces lightly. Blanching them for 2 minutes is also enough. Be careful not to overcook them.

Step2: Mix all the ingredients for the batter with water and make a thickish batter somewhat like that for a cake.

Step 3: Heat oil in a pan

Step4: Dip the steamed drumsticks in the batter and fry. I had deep fried them, but shallow-frying them also gives perfect effect.

They turned out so tasty, that I had planned it as a part of hubby’s birthday lunch spread, but they got polished off while the frying was on L

Picture Story:

Peeled and steamed drumsticks

The batter

Frying until they take a rich golden brown hue

Lip-smacking !!!

Pur Bhara KaNkrole (Spiny gourd stuffed with paneer)

2011-06-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

KaNkrole (Biological name Momordica Dioica, commonly known as spiny gourd.). My love for KaNkrole dates back to my childhood. Even today I always keep an eye open for the sweet cousin of the bitter karela. In Bengali it is known as KaNkrole or ghee-kawrola . Why ghee, don’t ask me. I have tried finding answer to the question – to no avail. If you have, do let me know. In Maharashtra its known as Kantole´. I love it by any name, any form and while my mom used to stir fry it, I have tried making a stuffed version to bring in a little variation.

Pur Bhara KaNkrole (Spiny gourd stuffed with paneer)

Ingredients:

KaNkrole: 4/5

For the stuffing:

Oil: 1 tsp

Jeera: a pinch

Paneer: 100 g

Chilly pdr: ½ tsp

Roasted jeera pdr: ½ tsp

Amchur pdr:

Salt

Turmeric

For the batter:

Besan: 1 table spoon

Rice powder : 1 table spoon

Salt: ½ tsp

Chilly pds: ½ tsp

How to:
Step 1: Cut the KaNkrole lengthwise into half. Scour out the seeds, chop them and preserve.

Step 2: Smear a little salt and turmeric and keep aside.

Step 3: Mix all the ingredients of the batter with water and whip well in a mixing bowl. The viscosity should be of a cake batter. Not too flowy.

Step 4: Heat oil, throw in the jeera

Step 5: Throw in the scraped and chopped KaNkrole inners, with a little salt and turmeric. When they are done, add the paneer, chilly pdr, amchur pdr and the roasted jeera pdr, stir well and remove. Our stuffing is ready.
Step 6: Fill in the cooled stuffing, dip in the batter and shallow fry both sides in a non-stick pan.

Done ! Great with Dal rice or as an accompaniment with khichdi. I also like to have it just like that…..or may be with a cup of hot chai…

Bharwa baingan –brinjal stuffed with coconut and groundnut paste

2011-06-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

I feel sad to see good friends, colleagues suffering from what I call expectational paranoia. It is the name I have given to the depressing feeling we go through when we expect a certain kind of behavior /response/action from others and do not get it. Suppose you have done a favor towards X, and you are expecting a return favor or at least a Thank You note at your desk. But X instead surprises you by not only not returning your favor, but also by not even thanking you. This do happen – I admit, and we cannot help wondering why, but then we can control only our own actions. And at the same time it’s only fair that the other person also should have a choice over his actions, really. If he doesn’t feel the urge to thank me or to express his gratitude, he has all the right NOT to do so!

There is so much of good all around us, in the people who touch our lives in one way or the other, within ourselves, then why do we pain ourselves by dwelling on the things that hurt? Why not accept it as it is and move on?

Today I made Bharwan Baingan after a really long time. A dear old friend Sucharita had told me about this dish long back, and I used to make it regularly at that point of time. With time work pressure increased and also little S growing up speedily to take more and more of my time - eating had become an activity to be pulled off anyhow and move on to the next task in hand.

Now, little S is no longer as little – will be nine soon. I have also amended my work schedule so as to allow me a little more time at home, and once again Bharwan Baingan has re-surfaced on my dining table.

I usually prepare the filling on one day and make the dish the next day, so that it doesn’t seem too much effort. You can decide how it will suit you.

Bharwan Baingan – Brinjal stuffed with coconut and peanut filling

Ingredients:

For the filling:

Peanuts: ½ cup

Coconuts: grated

Oil: 1 tsp

Ginger : ½ tsp paste

Garlic: ½ tsp paste

Greenchillies: 2 pasted

Salt : ½ tsp

For the dish:

Baby Brinjals: 8-10

Salt : ½ tsp

Oil: 1 tbsp

How to:

Step 1: Roast the peanuts and keep aside

Step 2: Add all the ingredients for the filling (except oil)and make a paste in the mixer.

Step 3: Saute it in the 1 tsp oil. Do not add more oil, as both peanuts and coconut release oil.

Step 4: Make 2 slits on the brinjals at right angle to each other keeping the crown intact. Rub a little salt in all the surfaces.

Step 5: Stuff the filling inside as shown in the pic.

Step 6: Take 1 tbsp of oil and fry the brinjals in low flame covering the vessel. After a while turn the brinjals over and let the other side cook. Brinjals cook very fast and it hould not take more than 5-7 mins, so take care that your brinjals do not burn. A little bit of filling may come out – that’s okay, it enhances the taste of the dish.

Enjoy it with rice-dal or Roti – it tastes great with either !!

Palong Shaker Ghonto - - Spinach in a medley of other veggies

2011-06-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

An Internet friend was shocked when I told her that I have a cook.

“You are running a food blog, and your own food is cooked by a cook!” She was astounded. “What do you do then?”

“Well, I click pictures while she is cooking, and then rummage through the 50 odd snaps to select the 10 I’m actually going to post. Then I write about how to cook the dish, with tips and anecdotes. That’s a hell lot of work, you know.” I inform her.

“What if she doesn’t turn up for work?” My pained friend inquires.

“I order home delivery”

Although the above conversation did take place, it,s not true that that I don’t cook. I was just trying to be funny! I do cook, and although there are days I’m too tied up with my professional commitments and I donot cook even though I’m home - everything that I post is cooked by me….till now. And anyways my cook is an Andhraiite and what I post is predominantly Bengali!

Now, that I’ve cleared the doubt, may I please proceed to today’s dish, which is another Bengali delicacy – Palong shaker ghonto. I loved the way my Mom cooked it, and I still ask her to make it for me when I’m visiting her…or for that matter, even when she’s visiting me (how mothers always let you take advantage of themJ) That is when we are together ….but that’s only once or twice a year ! When I’m away, I cook it(sigh) for my family and this is how I do it:

Palong shaker ghonto - Spinach cooked with a medley of other veggies

Ingredients (in order of usage):

Oil: 2 tsp

Bori – 5 (or any number of your choice)

Panch Foron: ½ tsp

Bay-leaves

Potato

Radish

Green chillies – 2 slit and/or chilli pdr 1 tsp

Tomato: 1 chopped

Brinjal: diced

Green peas

French beans/Flat beans: diced

Pumpkin: diced

Ginger paste – 1 tsp

Spinach : cleaned and chopped

Moong dal – handful

Garam Masala – 1 tsp

Salt

Turmeric

Sugar – ½ tsp

{Trivia: Bori is small sun dried lentil cakes – I prefer the ones made from urad dal, but you can get boris made from every possible dal)

I have not mentioned quantity for most of the ingredients – it means you can add any quantity according to availability or your liking. You can also omit some if you don’t have /like any vegetable. If you donot like potato like my hubby D, you omit that too.You can replace or add more veggies like carrot. Sugar can be omitted altogether or replaced by gur.

How to:

Step 1: Heat oil, and fry the Bori’s to a nice golden brown color. Remember bori’s tend to burn fast, so keep stirring continuously. It should be done in about a minute’s time. Remove with a strainer or a slotted spoon and keep aside.

Step 2: In the same oil add the panch foron and the bay leaves and the handful of moong dal in succession in a gap of about 30 secs. Fry till the moong dal turns golden.

Step 3: Add green chillies, tomato, all the vegetables, ginger paste stir well and cover.

Step 4: when all the vegetables are well cooked, brinjals turned to a pulp, add the bori’s, salt, turmeric and sugar, stir well and add the cleaned and chopped spinach leaves. Another round of mixing and cover and let it cook.

Step 5: When the spinach has lost its bright green color, add homemade (or whatever) Garam masala pdr, mix well and let all the water evaporate.

Serve with hot rice. This typically Bengali dish doesn’t go too well with Roti’s, but no harm in trying! Try and let me know…

Kochu – Kumro’r chhokka – Diced Pumpkin and Arbi flavored with roasted spices

2011-06-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

This was one of the first things I had cooked…when I started to cook way back but stopped cooking it for some unknown reason. After many years, my quest for cooking new (read old, forgotten ones) recipes for my blog brought out this jewel my Mom used to cook….in the process filling the entire house and the staircase with the wonderful smell of roasted spices.

Kochu-Kumro’r chhokka– Diced Pumpkin and Colocasia/Taro/Arbi flavored with roasted spices

Ingredients :

Pumpkin – Remove the outer skin if it’s yellow, leave it on if its green. Dice them

Kochu(Arbi/Colocasia/Taro) - Boiled and peeled. You can peel and then boil but boiling first does two goods: a) the nutrition remains intact b) It is much easier to peel after it is boiled. The coat just slips out like opportunities in my hand.

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Dried red chillies: 2 long ones or 4 cherry ones

Ginger: ½ tsp

Paanch Foron: ½ tsp – if you donot like the flavor of Paanch foron, which you may not, if you are not a Bengali, you could use a mixture of jeera, saunf and mustard – lends a slightly different flavour, works just as well.

Oil: 1 tsp (I used mustard, you can use any oil of your choice)

Salt

Turmeric

How to:
1. Roast the cumin seeds and the chillies and grind them in a mixer. You add according the quantity of your dish. You can keep the remaining powder in an airtight container an use it within 15 days. I always make it a point to roast a little more than I need and keep it to be used later in my Masala muri (Bhel puri) or alu kopir chochchori {dish of chopped potatoes and cauliflowers usually taken along with roti’s/plain triangular parathas/ luchi’s(puri’s) as a part of breakfast in a Bengali household}.

2. In a wok, heat any oil of your choice and add the paanch foron. Now add the diced pumpkin and the boiled arbi cut in a somewhat same size. Add salt, turmeric and the ginger, mix well. Cover and let the pumpkin cook.

3. When the pumpkin is done, add the ground jeera-chilly, mix well and ........

DONE IT IS !

PS. Something has happened and the fonts are all messed up, and hoever hard I'm trying I cannot correct. I'M giving up !!!