Kaberi Kitchen...a journey to the culinary world

Veg. Snacks/Starters recipes....

2011-11-05T06:43:00.000-05:00

Vegetable Chop :::

Chop is very popular evening snack specially in rainy season in three states of India, Bengal , Assam and Orissa. Almost every sweet shop in North Eastern part of India has vegetable chop at their display. People gather at those shops for hot tea and chops. I prepare sometimes as snacks or sometimes as starter for my vegetarian guests. Very common recipe yet all time favorite for us and here I m sharing with you the way I prepare and have some suggestions from our sweet friend-sister Tanushri too.

Ingredients :::
For 6-7 vegetable chop...
1 big size potatoes, peeled
1 big size carrot, peeled
1 small size beetroot, peeled and halved
1/3 small cup of fresh / frozen peas,
1/3 small cup corn,
3-4 nos. cauliflower florets,
2-3 nos. green chillies,
one small size onion, finely chopped
1/5 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
1/2 roasted cumin powder,
1/3 tsp red chilli powder,
a hand full of roasted peanuts, broken
very little corn flour,
oil for deep frying,1/2 tsp salt,
1/2 small cup of fresh coriander leaves.
For coating:::
6- tsp of all purpose flour/moyda,
1 tsp of corn flour,
a pinch of red chilli powder,
a little salt,
one big cup of bread crumbs.
Method:::
1. First boil all the vegetables until done or put in a pressure cooker and cook until one whistle comes. Drain out water putting in a colander and smash them all together adding salt.
2. Heat 1/2 tsp of oil and add finely chopped onion and saute for half an minute. Then add ginger-garlic paste and saute again for a couple of seconds.
3. Add all the smashed vegetables, roasted cumin powder, red chilli powder and roasted peanuts and mix everything nicely and cook on slow flame until extra water goes off. This is very important for deep frying as if there is water in the mixture it will break while frying.
4. Now add corn flour to the vegetable mixture and mix properly. If you feel little water on your palm while mixing add little more corn flour. Make 6-7 portions of this mixture and then make nice balls out of it.
5. Take all purpose flour ,corn flour , red chilli powder and salt in a bowl adding water to prepare a thin consistency batter and spread bread crumbs in a plate.
6. Take one vegetable ball and dip it in batter and roll it over bread crumbs 2-3 times so that it gets coated evenly from all the side. Repeat the process for all the balls. Now your chop is ready for frying.
7. Heat sufficient oil in a frying pan or kadai, add one or two chop for deep-frying while stirring oil constantly to fry the balls evening. Do not touch the balls just keep on stirring oil for air flowing and that helps you to have evenly fried chop. Do the entire frying process on medium flame.
8. When chop becomes red in color from outside, take out on paper napkin to drain out excess oil and serve hot with shredded cucumber,carrot and onion or tomato ketchup and hot tea.
I use corn flour to take our if there is any excess water left after frying the smashed vegetable. But try to take out extra water while frying only. And I try to keep vegetable dishes strictly vegetarian but you can also use beaten egg and a little bit all purpose flour / moyda for coating and if you feel sogginess after dipping the chop in flour batter then roll it more times on bread crumbs. I prepare bread crumbs at home toasting the old bread in toaster and then make smooth powder adding red chilli powder in blender. You can buy it from store too.

Rava Idli :::

Another authentic preparation from in-laws family. Rava Idli or semolina steamed cake is very healthy preparation and takes less time and effort to prepare than normal rice cakes or idli. This preparation is good for people who are taking care of diet too because of less carbohydrate and no-oil . Very easy to prepare yet yummy rava idli is actually my grand mother-in-law's recipe and I also follow the same.

Ingredients :::
one cup urad daal / black gram lentils,
two cup rava / coarse suji / semolina,
salt to taste.
Method:::
1. Wash urad daal til clean water comes out and then soak with two cups of water for 5-6 hours or preferably overnight.
2. Take semolina / suji in a large bowl and soak for 15 minutes and then wash carefully and take out excess water and keep aside.
3. Make a smooth paste of urad daal in mixer or wet grinder. Then add washed semolina to the paste and give two or three pulse to the paste so that semolina / suji get mixed up with urad daal paste. Put it back to large bowl and let it stand for 5-6 hours for fermentation.
4. After 5-6 hrs of fermentation, add 1/4 cup of water to the rava mix and mix thoroughly adding salt. If needed put some more water. It should be little thicker consistency to get soft and spongy idlis.
5. Take idle stand and grease the plates and pour idli batter and cook for 12 mins adding water to the vessel. Once done, serve hot with coconut chutney or any other spicy chutney.
Unlike instant rava idli, this authentic one needs proper fermentation. So if you want to cook rava idli today evening then soak urad daal one night before and make batter next day morning so that the rava idli mix can stand till evening and batter will be ready. If you are in USA, turn warm button of oven for 5 min and then switch off and then keep your idli batter inside the oven. You can do seasoning with curry leaves,mustard seeds,nuts and add to the batter before putting in idli stand too. Most importantly don't throw soaked water. Use it while grinding urad daal and that will give you the best fermentation.

Burger with soy chunks patties ::

I wanted to prepare something new with soybean nuggets which I brought from Indian store long back. Suddenly I saw this recipe while surfing web and tried with little modifications. In USA, you can find soy patties in big supermarkets or wholesale store like Sams club or Costco. But if you have time then prepare these patties at home and then put it in deep-freezer and whenever, you are ready to prepare burger just thaw it or microwave it for two minutes and use it for your burger. My little admirer loves it for lunch or sometimes for snacks. Even elders also enjoy for snacks.

Ingredients :::
for preparing patties :::
one cup soy chunks or a fistful nuggets,
one clove of garlic,peeled and finely chopped
one small white onion,finely chopped,
one jalapeno / green chili,finely chopped
1/3 freshly grounded black pepper,
salt to taste,
1/4 cup bread crumbs,
a few drops of oil.
for burger:::
four hamburger buns,
one slice of cheddar cheese,
1/2 tsp mayonnaise,
few drops of tomato sauce,
one medium size lettuce leaf,
one big slice of onion and tomato each,

Method:::
1. Boil soy chunks / nuggets till cooked. Take out extra water and put in mixer or blender along with salt. Don't add water while blending. Set aside in a large bowl.
2. Now heat little oil , add chopped garlic, onion and green chillies and saute one minute. Now mix with soy chunks paste adding black pepper and bread crumbs. This mixture should be firm enough to make balls. If necessary, add little more bread crumbs to the mixture.
3. Now grease your palm and make 4 four patties from the mixture.
4. Heat 1 tsp of oil or spray cooking spray in a non-stick frying pan and lay all the patties and fry lightly on both sides on medium flame. Patties will become light brown crispy on both sides. Remove from heat and drain extra oil placing on paper towels.
5. Toast the buns lightly and place cheese slice, lettuce, sliced onion and tomato along with soy patties and mayonnaise inside buns stacking one by one and serve with chips.
You can grill or bake the patties in microwave or conventional oven brushing with little oil and egg can be added into the soy mixture. If you want to do this in Indian style red chilli powder and garam masala also can be added into the mixture and you can have with chutneys like kebabs.

Carrot Masala Vada :::

Masala vada, another delicious and spicy snack belongs to Southern part of India. I first had this masala vada in one of southern railway station while coming back to my home. It was extremely tasty and crispy snack. After a long time, while surfing internet, I have come across the same snack in Sanjay Thumma's website and had the idea of adding vegetables from Sailaja's website. It is very easy and non-messy snack or starter to prepare as you don't need any side dishes with this preparation. I have recently prepared this vada for one of my friends birthday celebration. The aroma and taste of cinnamon and red chilli gives a distinct and awesome taste which you can't keep yourself away from this snack. Try it and let me know how your loved one appreciate you too.

Ingredients :::
one big cup / 200gm chana daal / split chick peas,
one small cup of grated carrot,
4-5 nos. big cinnamon stick,
1/3 tsp of whole cumin seeds,
6-7 nos. whole red chilli,
1 small onions, finely chopped,
4-6 nos. green chillies,finely chopped,
a few curry leaves, chopped,
one cup of chopped coriander leaves,
salt to taste and oil to deep fry.

Method:::
1. Wash and soak chana daal for minimum 4 hrs.
2. Take out a handful of soaked chana daal and then in a blender or mixer, first place cinnamon sticks, cumin seeds and red chillies. Then add chana daal and salt. Make a slightly coarse paste of all the ingredients.
3. Take the mixture in a large bowl and add chopped onions,green chillies,grated carrot,curry leaves and coriander leaves and that soaked chana daal what you kept aside before grinding rest of the daal. Mix everything nicely and kept aside. Adjust salt here.
4. When frying, heat sufficient oil in a deep bottomed pan or kadai, take a handful of mixture and make a small ball and then press in the middle in the middle to give a flat shape and slowly place one at a time in oil on medium flame. Allow the vadas to fry for 2-3 mins and then turn them to fry on the other side.
5. Take out the vadas on paper napkin and let it cool a little. Serve hot with coffee or tea.
Now you can prepare these vadas instantly but if you keep the mixture inside the refrigerator for 4-5 hrs before frying. Then it will never break or crack while frying. You can add salt just before frying the vadas.Cinnamon is the most important ingredient and rest of the things are optional.These vadas become more crispy when a little cool. Don't cover the vadas that will make them soggy.

Musur daler bora :::

Musur daler bora, means red lentils fritters is always my favorite rainy day snack. Sometimes mom used to prepare when there is nothing as side dish for daal and rice. After a long time, I prepared at home as evening snack and everybody liked it a lot and it is very easy to prepare too.
Ingredients::
2 cup musur daal / red lentils,
4-5 nos. green chillies,
1 dry red chilli ,
1 inch ginger, peeled
1/3 tsp turmeric powder,
salt to taste,
one cup chopped coriander leaves,
1 small size onion, coarsely chopped,
oil to fry.

Method:::
1. First soak red lentils for atleast 4-5 hrs. Take out extra water from lentils and then make a smooth paste of ginger,salt , dry red chilli,turmeric powder and half of chopped onions without adding water.
2. Mix chopped coriander,chopped green chillies and rest of the chopped onions together. Keep aside for 15mins.
3. Heat sufficient oil in a frying pan. Take a handful of daal mixture and fry on medium flame carefully. Serve hot with tea.
Try to not use water while grinding the whole mixture, otherwise bora will scatter while frying. To avoid that, keep the whole mixture inside the refrigerator for overnight and then mix with freshly chopped coriander leaves and onions and then fry and serve hot.

Alu Tikki ::::

Alu Tikki or potato cutlet is one of the most popular snacks in mostly North-India. I still cherish the memories of going out with friends or elder sisters for evening walk and stopping by near the street vendors for yummy tangy yet spicy chaats.Potato cutlets are one of them too.One rainy day when my husband called whats there for evening snacks with hot tea I only thought of this preparation taking very little time to prepare.Here's the recipe I m sharing with you.

Ingredients::
3-4 big golden potatoes,
half cup green peas,frozen or fresh,
3-4 nos. green chillies chopped ,
1/2 small onion finely chopped,
1/3" ginger finely chopped or 1/3 tsp ginger powder,
1/3 tsp roasted cumin powder,
1/2 tsp chaat masala powder,
1 tsp lime juice,
salt as per taste,
half cup of coriander leaves,
oil to fry.

Method :::
1. First boil all the potatoes with salt and water for 8-9 mins(microwave timings).
2. Strain water and peel off the skin and then smash potatoes nicely.
3. Now heat little oil in a skillet / kadai, add chopped onions and ginger and saute nicely and add smashed potatoes and peas and mix thoroughly until water evaporates.Take off from the stovetop and let it cool for sometimes.
4.Now add chopped green chillies ,roasted cumin powder and chaat masala powder and mix nicely with hand and you can use mixer too. Add lime juice and then keep it aside.
5.After 5 mins, make medium size 4-5 balls from the mixture taking one at a time,gently flatten each ball into a round patty shape of about half inch thick.
6.Heat 1 tsp oil in a non-stick pan and place the patties one by one and fry on low heat until both the sides becomes crisp golden brown.Add little oil if required.Serve hot garnishing with shredded onions and mint coriander chutney or tomato ketchup.

Kucho Nimki :::

One of the best snacks I've ever had as my Mom used to prepare this dish and we all used to sit together with hot tea after Dad came back from office. I used to help her for cutting those Nimkis fast so that i could get a handful of hot Nimkis before she served. Now I do the same for my family . This snack is usually done in Eastern parts of India. You can serve this dish as starters also.

Ingredients :::
2 cups of maida / all purpose flour,
1/4 tsp of salt,
a pinch of baking powder,
1/4 tsp kalo jeera / kalongji OR ajwin seeds,
4-5 tsp oil for mixing flour,
oil for deep frying.

Method :::
1. In a big bowl,preferably salad bowl, take flour salt and oil. Knead thoroughly .
2. Now add warm water to this mixture and make a nice & little tight dough adding little water slowly.
3. Cover the dough for 10-14 mins with a wet cloth or simply with a lid.
4. Now make 4-5 balls from that dough.
5. Spread some flour powder on clean slab or chapati stand and take one ball and flatten it
as much as possible with a rolling pin.It should be thinner than ruti or chapati or tortilla.
6. Now cut the same with knife to make square or diamond shaped (as shown in pictures.)
7. Repeat the same process with rest of the balls.
8. Heat sufficient oil in a pan, slowly put these shaped ones in oil and fry on medium flame.
9. Fry until it becomes brown both the sides .When done,take out from pan and place them on paper towel or napkin. When cooled,you can store these for some days and Serve as snacks with tea and coffee.

Spinach & Onion Pakora :::

This is one of my favourite starters for any get-together at our home. It is very easy and fast to prepare and everybody loves it with drinks too.Sometimes I serve with tea in the evenings too. I learned it from one of very sweet Punjabi friend, Shikha.

Ingredients :::
3 cups of besan / gram or chick peas flour,
5-6 green chillies cut lengthwise,
1 medium size onion sliced ,
one bunch of spinach diced,
1/4 tsp dry mango powder,
1/4 tsp coriander powder,
a pinch of turmeric powder,
a handful of dry fenugreek leaves crushed,
1/4 tsp red chilly powder,Optional
a pinch of black salt powder,
salt as per your taste,
oil to deep fry.

Method :::
1. Take a deep bowl or salad mixing bowl.
2. Keep all the ingredients except oil in the bowl and mix thoroughly.
3. Now slowly add water and mix to make smooth batter not to watery not to thick.
4. Heat oil in the kadai / wok, bring the flame on medium level .
5. Spread a handful of batter to oil and deep fry until it becomes brown and crispy .
6. Take out, once done, and spread on a paper napkin to absorb extra oil and serve hot with any spicy chutney or simply tomato ketchup.

You can mix the gram flour with all the ingredients except spinach and onion and then dip the vegetables into the batter and fry them separately.

Vada / Vadai ::::

This palatable snack is originally from Southern parts of India. There are varieties of vadas you will find different parts of South India in different shapes and taste and all are delicious but spicy. Whenever any guest is there for dinner or lunch, you can see hot yummy vadas on the table. Here's the simplest one I m sharing with you.

Ingredients :::
3 cups of split black gram dal / urad dal,
1/4 cups of Moong dal/green gram dal,
4-5 green chillies ,
1 inch of ginger sliced,
4-5 peppercorns,
1 small size onion finely chopped, Optional,
a bunch of coriander leaves,Optional.
salt as per your taste,
oil to deep fry.

Method:::
1. Wash and soak both the dal for 5-6 hours. Take out from water.
2. Grind to a little coarse thick batter with ginger,green chillies,peppercorns and salt.
3. Try not to use water as much as possible while grinding. Just sprinkle a little water if needed.
4. Now take the batter in a big bowl and onions and chopped coriander leaves and start mixing by hand for at least 10 mins .Do it little fast because while mixing air goes inside the batter and that helps to make vadas soft from inside.
5. Keep the batter aside for a while and heat sufficient oil in skillet / kadai.
6. Brush little water / oil on your left palm and take a handful of batter in right hand and take
in your left palm and make a nice ball and now dip your right hand fingers in water a little and take the ball in your right hand fingers and make an impression / hole in middle and press the ball a little and leave it in oil.
7.Repeat the above steps for everyone. and fry all the vadas on medium flame.
8. When vadas turn brownish both the sides, take out on a paper napkin to absorb extra oil.
9.Serve hot with any chutneys and sambar.

Generally for normal Vadas, I don't mix onion and coriander leaves. For beginners,the step 6 is difficult (as I felt so) ,so i will suggest you to make the balls and fry it.Dahi Vada :::
This dish, fried lentil balls in thick hot & sweet yogurt,is an Indian chaat .Every parts of India ,this dish is very popular whether preparing at home or eating from road side stalls in the evening . So you can prepare dahi vada in different ways but here's the recipe I follow all the time.

Ingredients :::
For Vadas...1 cup split black gram / urad dal,
1/4 green gram /moong dal,
1/4 cup chopped onion,
2-3 green chillies,
salt.

For Dahi...
5 cups curd / yogurt,
3 green chillies finely chopped,
1/2 tsp grated ginger,
7-8 curry leaves,
1/4 tsp mustard seeds,
a pinch of asafoetida,
1 tsp sugar,
1 tsp red chilli powder,
1 tsp dry roasted cumin powder,
1 tsp chaat masala.
little salt.

Method:::
1. Soak urad dal and moong dal for 5-6hrs or overnight.
2. Drain and grind both the dals with onions and green chillies to make a smooth batter.If you want make the vadas spicy then you can add more green chillies and ginger also while grinding.
3. Keep the batter inside the fridge for 2 hrs and then before making vadas mix salt .
4. In oil, deep fry a handful of batter making balls.
5. Then in a flat tray,take 1 1/2 cup of curd and mix water ,chaat masala and salt. Try not to make too watery.
6. Now take out the vadas from oil and soak in the tray for half an hour.
7. Then squeeze out the excess liquid from vadas gently and keep arranged in serving tray.
8. Add salt and sugar in rest of the curd ,beat well.
9. Add grated ginger and green chillies and beat again .
10. Keep the curd inside fridge until chilled.
11. Take a small pan ,heat one drop of oil and add mustard seeds ,curry leaves and asafoetida.
12. Now while serving ,pour chilled curd on top of vadas .Sprinkle chaat masala,roasted cumin powder and chili powder on top.Sprinkle coriander leaves on top.

Vegetable Sandwich :::

This is one of easiest and stomach filling dish i have ever come across after i started cooking. I had this at last year summer picnic when my sweet smiley friend Vinita brought it for everybody. But i never tried before one fine evening i was out of idea what to prepare for snacks. But if you want, you can prepare for kid's lunchbox and for your own lunch too.

Ingredients :::
5-6 pieces of normal bread,
1 big potato,
1 small carrot shredded,
4-5 cauliflower florets,small
1/2 black pepper powder,
5-6 pieces cheese slices,
1 small onion,chopped,
a hand full of green peas,
a pinch of dry mango powder,
salt as per your taste,
oil.

Method:::
1. Boil the potato in microwave / on stove.Peel and mashed with a flat spatula or by hand.
2. Take a small pan,heat little oil and fry onion a little.
3. Add mashed potatoes,peas,carrot and cauliflower.Add black pepper powder,dry mango powder and salt. Stir nicely to mix everything together.Keep the mixture aside.
4. Heat the sandwich maker,take one piece of bread and spread a very little butter and then add a big spoonful of potato mixture and place one cheese slice and then close with another and place to sandwich maker.
5.Once done,cut diagonally and then serve hot with tomato ketchup or any spicy chutney.

You can use any finely chopped /shredded vegetables with potato of your choice and you can mix the fillings raw and no need to use oil also. In case you don't have sandwich maker ,then use your microwave or oven (preheat to 130'F and keep for 2-3mins.).Or,simply put the sandwich on tawa on high flame and cover it for two mins and turn again repeat the process.

Khasta Puri :::

One of my friend & neighbour told me about this recipe for snacks when my friends gave me surprise birthday party at her home .I came home and tried this easy recipe and really came out well. It goes well with coffee or tea in the evening.

Ingredients :::
2 cups all purpose flour / maida,
a pinch of salt,
little baking powder / baking soda,
1/4 tsp of kalo jeera /kalonji /onion seeds,
1/5 tsp of ajwain / carom or caraway seeds,
oil to fry .

Method:::
1. Take maida ,kalo jeera, ajwain,salt and baking powder in a deep bottomed bowl and mix nicely.
2. Now add 6-7 tsp of hot oil to that mixture and knead gently and then thoroughly for 5-7 mins or when you can make small balls pressing that mixture in your palm.
3. Add little warm water into that mixture and knead smooth dough.Keep aside covered with wet cloth / with a lid for 15mins. That helps not to dry .
4. Knead again nicely to make the dough more soft and make small balls from that dough.
5. Take one ball in your hand and press gently with fingers of another hand to make flat a little. And then roll it gently into 2 to 3 inches in diameters. Repeat the same process for all the puris.
6. Now heat sufficient oil to deep fry in a wok / kadai until very hot and then bring the flame less than medium.
7. Fry puri one by one until it becomes reddish in color. Take out from kadai on a paper napkin to absorb excess oil.Serve hot with tea or coffee .It will be very crispy also.

If you are using self-raising flour ,then no need to use baking powder.

Festivals..

2011-10-06T23:01:00.000-05:00

Subho Bijoya r subhechha..

The sounds of drums are getting feebler. A sombre ambiance, seems to cast a spell on the ever glowing face of "Maa Durga". The news of her departure is becoming more and more certain. However, we are all looking for her arrival next year. Let her bless all and make our lives happy. Let Bijoya start with a sweet note]

Subho Bijoya Dasami..........:)

Happy Durga Puja :::

Wishing all my readers and followers A very Happy Durga Puja..May Maa Durga showers her blessings to you and your family with all success and happiness in your life...enjoy your days and eat well too :)

Vinayaka Chaturthi ....

Wish all my readers and followers a Very Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi. May Lord Ganesha gives you and your family a very healthy and successful life..

Fish recipes...

2011-09-07T10:02:00.000-05:00

Rui in creamy tomato gravy ::

Rui or Rohu is one of our favorite fish in Bengal or other north-east parts of India and my favorite too. Whenever I get a chance to do shopping for fish I always pick Rui and then like to prepare different dishes with this fish. Suchididi , my best adviser after my mom in Bengali cooking shared this recipe in one of popular facebook group long time back and I followed her with slight modification and gave a nice fancy name.
Ingredients :::
6-7 medium size fish pieces,
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
a pinch of whole cumin seeds,
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder,
1/4 tsp black pepper powder,
1/2 tsp red chilli powder,
1/3 tsp of cumin / jeera powder,
2 big juicy tomatoes , sliced
a pinch of garam masala powder and sugar,
3 tsp of yogurt / full cream (optional),
chopped coriander leaves for garnishing,
salt to taste,
oil to fry.

Method:::
1. First wash and clean fish pieces and marinate with turmeric powder and salt for half an hour.
2. Fry all the fish pieces lightly from both the sides and keep aside.
3. Take a medium size bowl and mix red chilli powder,cumin powder, turmeric powder and pepper powder adding yogurt or full cream and 4-5 tsp of water and keep aside. Make a smooth paste of tomato slices too.
4. Now in the same pan , heat oil and sprinkle sugar and whole cumin seeds and saute for sometime and then add ginger-garlic paste and then add spice mix what you kept aside.
5. Fry nicely all the ingredients unless oil separates on medium flame. If needed sprinkle some water. Once done, add tomato paste and let it cook for 7 minutes or until nice aroma comes out.
6. Now add two small cups of warm water and let it boil and then add fried fish pieces and let it simmer for at least 10 minutes.
7. Sprinkle garam masala powder and chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with plain rice.
If you want to make this preparation little more rich in taste then add cashew-nuts and poppy seeds paste while adding tomato paste. But I cook this dish in simple way. You can use clarified butter / ghee for cooking but I prefer mustard oil for this dish.

Bhapa Ilish :::

Bhapa Ilish aka steamed Hilsa is one of most popular dish or you can call it signature dish in Bengali community all over the world. I think every Bengali has had this dish at least once at home and we just love it. My mom used to prepare with fresh and big pieces of Hilsa in dinner time and I never touched any thing else except bhapa ilish and hot steamed rice. First time here in USA I tried to cook and it came just perfect. I brought steel tiffin box from India this time specially to cook steamed ilish. This is my mom's recipe which she learned from her mom.

Ingredients :::
5-6 nos. of medium steak size Hilsa / Ilish pieces,
8 nos. green chillies,
one small cup of yellow mustard seeds,
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder,
salt to taste,
a pinch of sugar,
3 tsp of mustard oil.
Method:::
1. First soak mustard seeds in water for 2 hrs and then make a smooth paste with salt and four green chillies. Add turmeric powder,little oil and sugar to the paste.
2. Wash fish fillets or pieces nicely and then take fish pieces in a big bowl and pour mustard paste onto the fish pieces and toss slowly so that all the fish pieces nicely get coated with all the ingredients.
3. Now take a steel bowl or aluminum bowl or tray and apply one tsp of mustard oil at the bottom of the bowl or tray and then place all the fish pieces in a single or double layer and pour extra mustard paste and slitted green chillies on the top of the fish pieces. And lastly, drizzle rest of mustard oil all over the fish pieces.
4. Cover the bowl with a lid or if you are using aluminum tray, cover with foil tightly and then take a deep heavy bottom pan or pressure cooker and fill water up to 3/4th part of the vessel and place the covered bowl of fish pieces inside the big vessel carefully and then cover the big pan / close the pressure cooker and let it cook for 15-20 minutes on slow flame. Once done, let it stand for another 10-12 minutes.
5. Now open the lid / foil and then serve hot with plain steamed rice.
I used steel tiffin box and large pan where I kept the box putting some weight on the lid and then cooked it. You can use conventional or microwave oven also. In that case, you take medium size aluminum foil tray or oven safe bowl and then do the same process. If you are cooking in conventional oven then do it at 350F for 10-15 minutes. If you don't like the pungent smell of mustard seeds, then add grated coconut or poppy seeds or both while grinding mustard seeds. Mustard oil is must here to have the flavor and taste. Do not use any other oil.

Masor tenga.. Assam cuisine:

Mas or fish has very important role in our meals in Assam, my native land. People are very simple living and their food is also very simple with very less spices. We use tomatoes a lot in our food and another ingredient called thekera or mangosteen as souring agent for curries and other dishes. Mangosteen , a tropical fruit , is grown in the Southeast Asian countries. This fruit is used as raw or can be sun-dried and preserved. It is green in the beginning and get purple when ripe and become almost reddish black when dried. While coming here in USA, I generally brings dried ones with me to use for daal or fish curry for souring agent.

Ingredients :::
4 -5 nos. big fish pieces,
2 nos. green chilli, slitted,
one small piece of thekera,
one big tomato, cut into four pieces,
a pinch of Panch Phoron,
a pinch of red chilli powder,
1/3 tsp of turmeric powder,
oil for frying, preferably mustard oil,
salt to taste,

Method:::
1. First, soak thekera in warm water. A piece of thekera is enough for serving one bowl of curry. So use how much you want.
2. Marinate fish pieces with turmeric and salt and fry them lightly in little oil and keep them aside.
3. Boil tomatoes with little salt until soft and then peel off the skin and clean seeds and mash boiled tomatoes a little with hand or spatula. Keep aside.
4. Heat oil in a kadai / wok, add panch foron and green chillies and saute for half a minute. Then add mashed tomatoes, turmeric powder and red chilli powder.Let it boil and then add the cup of water with THEKERA. Add half cup of water if needed. Let it boil for 5 minutes and then fried fish pieces and simmer for at least 10 minutes on slow flame till thekera juice gets cooked and a tangy flavor comes out. out. Once done , serve hot with plain steamed rice.
Generally this dish is prepared only with thekera soaked in water. But as I have limited quantity , I use with tomatoes. You can replace thekera with kokum or tamarind pulp, both easily available in Indian grocery store and use big fishes like rohu, buffalo, carp etc for better taste.

Tel Koi :::

Koi or Gangetic Koi or Climbing Gouramie is one of my favorite fish since my childhood. This fish can stay long time without water as they have lungs and have lots of medicinal value and no fat.In eastern part of India,people prefer to eat this live fish because of its taste. I was very scared of these fishes as they always used jump out of the shopping bag. But last week when I found these fishes, where were frozen and clean in market here in USA, could not stop myself to bring home. I tried one of Bengali's favorite recipe, Tel Koi following suchididi's recipe and it turned out an awesome one.Hope you all will like it too.

Ingredients:::
6-7 whole koi fish,
1 big tbsp of yellow split mustard seeds,
1/2 big tbsp of poppy seeds,
1 tsp of turmeric powder,
1/2 tsp of panch phoron, a mixture of five spices,
3-6 nos. green chillies,
1/4 tsp of red chilli powder,
1 tsp of curd / yogurt,
a pinch sugar,
salt to taste,
3 tsp of oil, preferably mustard oil,
fresh coriander leaves for garnishing.

Method::
1. Wash and clean fish and nicely marinate with turmeric powder and salt and a few drops of oil.
2. Make a smooth paste of poppy seeds,mustard seeds, 4 green chillies,salt and yogurt / curd and keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a skillet / kadai, fry all the fishes and keep aside. Be careful not to break the fishes.
4. In the same kadai, add panch phoron, 2 slitted green chillies, a pinch of turmeric powder and sugar. On low flame, fry for a half minute. Now add the poppy seed and mustard seed paste and add half a cup warm water. Fry nicely stirring continuously for a minute. Let it fry for 5 mins covering the skillet. Adjust salt and gravy too.
5. Now place slowly all the fried fishes in the skillet / kadai and cover the skillet again for 5-7 mins on low flame. When done, add 1 tsp of mustard oil on the top of the fishes and let it boil for 1-2 mins. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with plain hot rice.
You will get all the spices including panch phoron in Indian grocery store and you can black mustard seeds too but that gives a bitter taste while making paste in mixie / blender.
You can check the link for panch phoron ..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panch_phoron

Sarse Ilish..Hilsa fish in mustard gravy :::

In every Bengali's kitchen shelf, you will find a nice big container of mustard seeds and without that as if our kitchen shelf looks very empty. At home, a nice aroma used to come out when our maid servant used to prepare the paste on grinding stone which locally called SHIL-NORA. Here in USA, I really miss that. But every now and then I bring Ilish / Hilsa , Bengali's most favorite fish from Bangladesh grocery and prepare this most popular and essential dish in Bengali Cuisine.

Ingredients ::

1 big Ilish / Hilsa,( you can use Shad fish)
5-6 nos. green chilllies,
4 tbsp mustard seeds, soaked in water,
1/2 tsp black cumin seeds / kalonji ,
1 tsp of turmeric powder,
salt to taste,
oil to fry, preferably mustard oil.

Method:::
1. Clean and wash the fish and cut into medium size pieces and pat dry.
2. Marinate fish pieces with turmeric powder and salt and keep aside for 10-5 mins.
3. Make a smooth paste of mustard seeds with green chillies and little turmeric powder.Mix with little water and keep aside.
4. Heat oil in a frying pan or skillet, fry the fish pieces until both the sides becomes light golden. Take out from oil and keep aside.
5. In the same skillet or kadai, add little more oil and when smoke starts coming out, turn the flame or heat to medium and then add kalonji seeds / black cumin seeds.
6. When black cumin seeds start spluttering, add mustard paste and stir continously for a minute. Add 1/4 cup of water if needed. After 4-5 minutes, when the mustard paste mixture starts bubbling ,then add 3-4 no. slitted green chillies and then fried fish pieces. Let it cook on slow flame until oil comes out on top or for 5-7 minutes and adjust the salt and gravy here.
7. Once done, serve with steaming hot plain rice.
There is one trick to make mustard paste if you are doing in mixer/grinder. Use a pinch of raw rice or half tbsp of curd while grinding mustard and green chillies. Make it in one time only means do not stop while grinding.Otherwise, the paste will become bitter in taste. My mom used to keep a thin gravy for this preparation and I do the same. In USA, Shad fish can be used instead of Hilsa fish too.

Chepa Vepudu..a simple fish roast :::

I didn't have much time to prepare dinner last night and with daal and plain rice I was thinking what to prepare and then I saw this recipe and tried with Cod fillets. This preparation is very simple yet tasty and you can use as starters or with plain rice and daal too. You can use any boneless fish for this recipe. I followed this recipe from sailusfood , a beautiful blog specially for Andhra recipes.

Ingredients ::
4 -5 medium size Cod fillets,cleaned
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste,
1/2 tbsp coriander powder,red chilli powder,turmeric powder each,
one lemon,
salt to taste,
1 tbsp oil,
a few fresh curry leaves,
1/4 tbsp mustard seeds.
Method :::
1. Take a medium size bowl, mix all the ingredients except lemon juice nicely with oil and then rub this mixture nicely on each fish pieces to make a nice coat of spices and keep covered for minimum 20 to 25mins.
2. Now heat a flat pan or kadai, sprinkle a very little oil and add mustard seeds and curry leaves and saute for some seconds and then place all the fish pieces carefully in the pan and let it fry on medium flame for 4-5 mins. Then flip over the fish pieces gently and sprinkle lemon juice on all the fish pieces and let it fry for another 5-6 mins.
3. Once done, place all the fish pieces on the serving plates and sprinkle little lemon juice and serve hot.

You can mix lemon juice and cumin powder while marinating the fish pieces and if you need more spicy and flavoured then sprinkle garam masala too. Here though I used Cod fillets but those are very soft and breakable ones.You can use any other fish like salmon and pomfret.

Rui Machher Dumpokt :::

Before festival starts ,I just wanted to get rid of extra fish pieces from fridge and thought of preparing something new for our potluck party and then I noticed this recipe and surfed internet for the same recipe and then taking three recipe from here and there I tried this recipe and it was absolutely hit at home and of course at party too.Rui or rohu fish,a sweet water fish, is very common in Eastern parts of India and I really don't know how come this Dumpokto name came from.But this preparation supposed to be baked one after marinating with all ingredients for couple of hours.But I used the recipes on my way.

Ingredients:::
5-6 medium size fish pieces(preferably rohu,katla,carp,buffalo or cat fishes)
half cup yogurt or curd,
1 medium onion,
4-5 nos.green chillies,
1" ginger piece,
7-8 big cashew nuts,soaked in water.
half cup fresh coriander leaves,
1/2 tsp garam masala,
1 bay leaf,
1 dry red chilli,
salt and sugar as per taste,
1 tsp turmeric powder,
4-5 tsp oil.

Method :::
1. First clean and wash fish pieces and pat dry.
2. Marinate fish pieces with turmeric powder and salt and little oil.Keep aside for some time. Fry slightly and keep aside.
3. Heat half spoon oil and saute sliced onion for one min. Now make a smooth paste of onion,ginger,green chillies,coriander leaves and cashew nuts and at last mix yogurt with the paste and half cup of water.
4. Now heat rest of oil in a skillet / kadai, sprinkle sugar for caramelizing and then add dry red chilli and bay leaf and saute for some seconds.
5. Add the paste and mix with oil on low flame and add little more water and let it cook covered for 10 mins on low flame.
6. When oil starts separating, add salt and then slowly place the fish pieces and let it cook covered for minimum 10-12 mins on low flame.When done, sprinkle gorom masala and mix carefully with the curry and then garnish with coriander leaves .Serve hot with hot plain rice or any fried rice.

The whole process you can do marinating the fish pieces with the paste for one hour minimum and then heat oil in pan and then cook on slow flame adding the marinated fish pieces. But the method I used ,was real hit as there is no chance of raw smell of fish.

Doi Machh...fish in curd gravy:::

Machh or Fish is always favorite and common in all Bengalis meals.This dish is very common and popular mostly in West Bengal and Bangladesh. Fish prepared in light spicy curd gravy is commonly made when special guests are coming or any festival time.Here I have followed the recipe of one of my sweet and poet friend,Shraddha.

Ingredients ::

6-7 big pieces fish(Rohu /Carp/Buffalo),cleaned and washed.

1/4 tsp whole cumin seeds,

2-3 nos. cloves,

2 nos.cinnamon,

2 nos. green cardamon ,

4-5 nos. whole black pepper,

1 no. bay leaf,

a handful of raisins,(optional)

1 big onion paste,

2-3 nos.green chillies,slit lengthwise,

1tsp ginger paste,

1 tsp garlic paste,

1 cup curd/yogurt,beaten nicely.

1 tsp cumin powder,

1/3 tsp turmeric powder,

salt as per your taste,

8-9 tsp of mustard oil or vegetable oil.

Method::

1.Marinate fish pieces with turmeric powder and salt. Keep aside for minimum 10-12mins.

2.Heat oil in a skillet/kadai. Fry the fish pieces nicely. Try not to over fry.

3.Now,in the same skillet,add 1tsp oil and make it smoking heat and then keep the flame low.

4.Add bay leaf,cumin seeds,cloves,cardamon,cinnamon and black pepper to oil and saute for two minutes until nice aroma comes out.

5.Now add onion paste and saute thoroughly.Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for one minute or until onion turns light brownish.Add green chillies.Now saute nicely.

6.Now take a bowl,mix cumin powder and turmeric powder with little water to make paste and pour it in skillet.Stir occasionally and saute for 6-7mins or until oil separates from the spices.If you want keep the flame low to avoid burning the spices.

7.Add the raisins and after a minute,add beaten curd mixed with little water.Mix properly and add salt as per taste.Let it boil once.Then place the fried fish pieces in the skillet slow and nicely.Bring the flame low and let it cook for 5-7mins.

8.Now garnish with green chillies and then serve hot with plain rice.

Here I have used red chilli powder and more green chillies as we eat more spicy foods specially my dear husband.You can adjust the spice level using more green chillies and red chilli powder and without adding raisins.To make little more sweets,you can sprinkle little sugar while heating oil.and another thing,you can add little all purpose flour/moyda while beating the curd to get more gravy which I don't like to do.and don't use curd directly as it will end up with lumps in gravy.

Rui Machher Tel Jhal:::

Very simple dish yet delicious with hot steaming plain rice.You can use cat fish steaks and salmon and other big fish steaks too.Nothing much I have to say about it..just cook and enjoy the taste.

Ingredients:::
3 pieces rohu fish ,
2 tsp of turmeric powder,
3 tsp of red chilli powder,
2 tsp of coriander powder,
4-5 green chillies slit lengthwise,
salt as your taste,
oil to fry and marination.

Method:::
1.Wash and clean fish pieces and pat dry. Then marinate with 1 tsp turmeric powder,salt and half a tsp of oil.
2. Shallow fry all the fish pieces on both the sides.Don't over fry .
3. Now take a bowl,mix red chili powder,coriander powder and turmeric powder.
4. Heat oil in skillet / kadai until smoke comes out. Now bring the flame on medium and pour the spice mixture in oil. Cover the lid and let it cook until oil separates from the spice mixture.
5. Once done, gently place the fish pieces in skillet and cook it covered on slow flame. Add salt and green chillies when fish pieces are almost cooked. If you need more gravy ,add half a cup of warm water . When done,garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

The fish curry is very spicy and mustard oil is better for actual aroma and taste.But you can use any other oil too. According to your taste, reduce red chili powder and green chillies. You can prepare this dish with vegetables of your choice too.

Rui Machher Korma ::::

Rohu ,a sweet water fish,is very common and popular in North-Eastern parts of India. Korma or Kurma means thick and spicy curry specially made of coconut,poppy seeds and cashew nuts along with other ingredients. This Fish kurma is generally prepared in special occasions at home or weddings. I have learned this dish from one of my adorable and respected elder sister ,Suchismita didi. You will just love the taste of this curry with hot steaming rice or sometimes with fried rice or pulao.

Ingredients:::
8-9 medium size rohu fish pieces,
1 medium size oni0n,
1 big juicy tomato,
1 inch ginger,
2-3 garlic flakes,
1 small cinnamon,
2 cloves,
2 cardamon,
3 tsp turmeric powder,
2 tsp red chili powder,
1 tsp coriander powder,
2 tsp cumin powder,
1 tsp garam masala powder,
1/4 cup fresh scrapped coconut,
1/2 tsp poppy seeds,
3-4 no. cashew nuts,
1/2 tsp raisins,
1 bay leaf,
a pinch of sugar,
1 tsp milk,
3 tsp yogurt / curd,
1 tsp chickpeas flour / besan,
1 tsp cream,
1/2 tsp ghee,
7-9 tsp oil, and
coriander leaves for garnishing.

Method :::
1. Wash fish pieces and pat dry. Now in a bowl,take 2 tsp turmeric powder,2 tsp salt and 1 tsp oil and mix together nicely and take the fish pieces and rub this mixture thoroughly and keep it aside for 5 mins.
2. Make a smooth paste of onion and ginger and garlic separately.Keep aside. Make a smooth paste of tomatoes and keep aside also.
3. Make a smooth paste of poppy seeds,coconut and cashew nuts along with 1 tsp of milk.Keep aside.
4. Now heat 4-6tsp of oil in a skillet or kadai. When smoke comes out from oil, place fish pieces in oil and bring the flame to medium level. Let the fish pieces fry for 2-3 mins and then flip over and let it fry for another 2 mins. Don't keep more than that fish pieces will become crispy from outside and not good for curry.
5. Now take out the fish pieces in a plate and fry washed raisins in the same oil and keep aside.Avoid not to burn the raisins.
6. Add little more oil in the same skillet,heat it properly and then sprinkle a pinch of sugar and let it melt in oil.
7. Add cardamon,cinnamon,cloves and bay leaf and saute for half a minute.
8. Now add onion paste and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Add ginger-garlic paste and saute for another 2-3 minutes.If needed sprinkle some water and then again fry until nice aroma and oil separates.
9. In between,take a small bowl and mix 1 tsp turmeric powder,coriander powder,cumin powder and red chili powder with 3-4 tsp of water.Keep aside.
10. Once oil separates from the mixture in skillet,pour the spice mix in oil and add 1/4 cup of water and mix everything nicely and cover the lid and let it cook for 7 minutes on less than medium flame.
11. Now add the tomato paste and mix properly and let it cook covered for another 5 minute.If needed sprinkle very little water.
12. Now add the poppy seed,coconut and cashew nuts paste in the skillet. Fry until oil separates from the spices.
13. Once done, beat curd and chick peas flour / besan nicely until lumps disappear and then pour the mixture in skillet.Adjust salt now. Cover the skillet and Let it boil.
14. Once it starts boiling,very slowly place all the fish pieces in the gravy and add water if you need more gravy and let it cook on very low flame for 6-7 minutes.Sprinkle fried raisins on the gravy and then cover again for 3-4 minutes.
15. Now beat the cream very nicely and then pour over the gravy. Your fish kurma is ready.
16. While serving pour one tsp of melted ghee on the kurma and garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

For decoration, my didi says that you can fry onion and cashew nuts separately and then sprinkle over the kurma too.You can use any other fish steaks like buffalo,carp,cat fish or shad fishes too. Wash the raisins in water properly before using.I generally make a paste of onion and ginger-garlic together to save some time. But you can make a paste separately. While grinding poppy seeds,first grind dry with coconut and cashew nuts and then at last add milk and then make a smooth paste.Before frying fish pieces take out excess water from marination and then shallow fry very less time.
I generally try to use very less oil and little more spicy according to my family's taste buds.That's why while grinding onion i add 3 to 4 green chillies too. So if you need little less spicy you can adjust with red chillies and green chillies.

Tangra Machher Holud Jhal Alu Begun Bori Diye :::

Tangra ,again another sweet water small fish,is popular and mostly prepared in West Bengal, Orissa and Assam. I thought a lot what header I should keep for the recipe in English but did not find any appropriate name instead of keeping its original name and explaining you all. This fish is prepared in various ways but here I m sharing with you a recipe what is commonly prepared in our house and very delicious and simple too. I followed one of my Sweet friend Debolina's recipe here.

Ingredients:::
5-6 Tangra fishes,
2 medium size potatoes,
2 long slender egg plants,
3-4 daal bori / black gram lentil dumplings,
5-6 green chillies slit lengthwise,
1 tsp red chilli powder,
3 tsp turmeric powder,
1/4 tsp kala jeera / kalongi / onion seeds,
2 1/2 tsp salt,
6 tsp mustard oil,
fresh coriander leaves for garnishing.

Method:::
1. Wash and clean fishes properly.Now marinate fishes with 2 tsp turmeric powder,2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp oil.Keep aside for 10 minutes.
2. Peel off the potatoes and dice in medium sizes.and cut the eggplants into the same size.
3. Take a small bowl, add turmeric powder,salt and red chilli powder and mix with water until lumps disappear.Let it rest for some time.
4. Now heat 4-5 tsp of oil in a wok or kadai until smoke comes out. Shallow fry all the fishes on the both sides until slightly brown.Don't over fry the fishes and while frying keep the flame to medium level.
5. Take out the fishes and in the same wok,fry egg plants,potatoes and lentil dumplings and keep aside.
6. Now add rest of oil in the same wok and heat oil and add kala jeera and saute for half minute.
7. Pour the turmeric and red chili mixture in oil and stir constantly for 2 mins. Let it cook on medium flame until oil separates.
8. Add diced potatoes and mix with the spices nicely and fry for 2-3 mins. Sprinkle some water to avoid burning.
9. Now add half of cup water in wok and cover with lid and let it cook until potatoes half-boiled. Add eggplant pieces and lentil dumplings and cook until potatoes and eggplants boiled.
10. Gently add fishes and green chillies and cook for 6-7 mins on slow flame.Adjust salt .
11. Once done,serve hot garnished with fresh coriander leaves.

Lentil dumplings are made with split black gram pulses and you can get it in Bangladeshi store in allover USA and very soon I will share the recipe. But you can skip these too.Long slender eggplants are good for this curry and you will find the same in all Chinese store and Indian store. Again I will suggest you to use less red chili power and green chillies if you don't like more spicy.

Rui Macher Kalia (Recipe I ) :::

This dish ,a signature of Bengali food,is very rich in color n taste..specially made in parties, weddings and Sunday menu.As I m very poor in cooking Bengali food but still i tried,thanks to one of the great orkut community and it comes out very well.You can use other fishes like salmon,carp,buffalo,cord etc.This dish goes well with hot steaming plain rice,fried rice or pulao.

Ingredients:
Rohu fish 8 pcs.medium size pieces.
1 medium onion,
1 medium tomato chopped,
2-3 pieces garlic,
1' inch ginger,
1/2 tsp red chilli powder,
1/4 tsp turmeric powder,
1/2 cup curd/yogurt,
1-2 no bay leaves,
1-2 nos. cinnamon,
2-3nos.cloves,cardamon and peppercorn each,
1/2 garam masala powder,
4-5tsp oil ,
salt as per taste,
sugar a pinch,

Method:
1.First wash the fish pieces properly and marinate them with turmeric powder and salt.Keep aside for 10-15mins.
2.Paste onions and ginger-garlic separately and keep aside.
3.Now take a deep frying pan, heat oil and fry fish pieces nicely.Try not to over fry.Now keep them aside.
4.Heat oil in the same Pan and add sugar,bay leaves,cloves,cinnamon,cardamon and peppercorn and stir for one min.
5.Now add onion paste and fry nicely for 1-2 mins and add little bit of salt so the onion cooks nicely.
6.Now add ginger-garlic paste and stir.After a while add chopped tomato and fry until onion turns brown in color and now take a bowl and mix curd,red chilli powder and salt and pour in the pan.Stir well and let it cook until oil separates.
7.And now add 2 cup of water and let it boil for 5-7mins.
8.Now add fried fish pieces and cook in very low flame for 5 mins.
9.When done,garnish with coriander n slit green chillies leaves and Serve hot.

Rui Machher Kalia (Recipe II ) ::::

On his birthday,my son asked me to prepare some dishes when I asked what he wanted for dinner. The whole day I was busy to prepare different dishes and didn't have time to make fish curry so I made it in a shortcut way.But the taste came really good and my little sweetheart really appreciated this dish.

Ingredients :::
5-6 medium size Rohu / Katla / Buffalo / Carp / Cat fish pieces,
4 tsp of turmeric powder,
2 nos. cardamon,
4 nos. cloves,
3 nos. cinnamon,
1 bay leaf,
a pinch of sugar,
7-8 nos. raisins,
1 medium size onion,sliced,
1 small size tomato,sliced,
half inch ginger,
2 nos. garlic,
3-4 nos. green chillies,
1 tsp red chilli powder,coriander powder,cumin powder each,
1/2 tsp garam masala powder,
1 tsp beaten curd / yogurt,
oil to fry,
salt to taste.

Method :::
1. Wash and pat dry fish pieces and marinate with salt and turmeric powder.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add 2 tsp of oil and fry the fish pieces slightly from both the sides.
3. Make a smooth paste of onion,green chillies,tomato,ginger and garlic with little water.Keep aside.
4. Take a bowl and mix all the spices with curd nicely and let it settle down.
5. Heat oil in the same pan, sprinkle sugar to caramelize and then add whole spices and saute for some time.
6. Now add the paste and then mix nicely with oil and then cover the lid and let it cook for 10 mins on low flame. Stir and sprinkle little water to avoid burning at the bottom of the pan.
7. As soon as oil separates,stir nicely to fry the spices for another 3-4 mins until nice aroma comes out. Sprinkle water if needed.
8. Now add fish pieces and coat with spices carefully and then add one cup of warm water. Let it boil for 5 mins on low flame so the spices go inside the fish pieces nicely.
9. Once done, serve hot with plain rice or pulao.

This is the short cut process of Macher Kalia but this comes very good if you carefully fry the spices. You can add potatoes also and then garnish with coriander leaves or add coriander leaves while coating fish pieces and then water. Adjust spice level and gravy too.

Pabda Machher Jhal...Pabda Fish in spicy gravy :::

Pabda,a sweet water small fish,is very popular in my place.There in India,it is little difficult to
cut and clean these fishes.But in Bangladeshi Store of USA,once i got this fish washed and cleaned.Though frozen,still i said wow no need to clean! Here's for the first time i prepared a common dish which very often made in Bengal.You can make different types of dishes with this fish.Here's i follow my orkut friend Piyalee's recipe.

Ingredients::
8 pieces of Pabda fish,
1 cup chopped onions,
1/2 cup tomato finely chopped,
4-5 lengthwise cut or chopped green chillies,
1/4 tsp kalo jeere/kalonji/onion seeds,(Indian store brought)
1tsp turmeric powder,
1/4 tsp red chilli powder,
a little garlic paste,(optional)
1/2 cup mustard oil
10-12 coriander leaves,
salt as per taste,

Method::
1.Wash the fishes very well and then marinate with salt and turmeric powder.keep aside for minimum 15mins.
2.Now take a pan and heat oil and fry marinated fishes.Try not to over fry as fish will become tough.Keep aside.
3.Now heat oil in the same pan,add kalonji / kalo jeere ,garlic paste and green chillies and fry nicely for 2-3mins.
4.Add chopped onions and tomatoes and stir continuously.if necessary, sprinkle little water while frying.
5.Add Salt and turmeric powder and red chilli powder.Fry nicely until oil separates. Stir evenly to avoid
burning.Sprinkle water if needed.
6.Now add the fish pieces and half cup of water and mix nicely.Let it boil.
7.When done,garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with plain steaming hot rice.

If you want this dish little dry ,then don't add water and after adding fish ,mix nicely.here's the link for kalonji if anybody needs to know.

kalonji/onion seeds,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigella_sativa

Paneer / Cottage cheese recipes..

2011-09-02T22:46:00.000-05:00

Shahi Paneer :::

Shahi Paneer is a combination of right proportion of cream, tomatoes and spices. It is very common and popular north-Indian cuisine and because of its richness and color it gets the name shahi means royal. You will find lot of recipes in internet website. But I prepared it in my way and took very less time and came really good in taste.

Ingredients :::
10 medium pieces of paneer / cottage cheese.
one small size onion, sliced,
one small ripe tomato, slice,
1 tsp ginger sliced,
3 nos. cardamon, slightly crushed,
1/2" cinnamon,
2-3 nos. cloves,
4-5 nos. green chillies,
1/2 tsp dry mango / amchoor powder,
1 tsp red chilli powder,
1/2 tsp coriander powder,
1/4 tsp garam masala powder,
1/3 tsp turmeric powder,
a pinch of whole cumin seeds,
5 tsp whole milk,
1 tbsp kasuri methi / dry fenugreek leaves,
salt to taste,
a pinch of sugar,
oil to fry.
Method:::
1. Heat oil in heavy bottomed pan, fry paneer pieces until all the pieces become light brown in color. Keep aside.
2. Now add whole spices,sliced onion,tomatoes,ginger pieces and green chillies and saute for 3-4 minutes. Then add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and salt and mix thoroughly and fry on medium heat for 4-6 minutes or until moisture goes off. Switch off the heat and let it cool and then make a smooth paste of the mixture adding half cup of water.
3. Again heat little oil in the same pan and then add cumin seeds and when it starts spluttering , add the paste and add milk and amchoor powder and fried paneer pieces. Cover the lid. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.
4. When done, take dry fenugreek leaves or kasuri methi on your palm and rub it to make powder and sprinkle all over the curry. Adjust salt here and serve with any Indian breads like roti, paratha or naan.
This is my version of shahi paneer and I try to use less fat contents in day to day preparation and if you want, you can use ghee or clarified butter instead of oil and full cream instead of milk.

Paneer Capsicum fry :::

This is very simple stir fry and dry preparation when you have less time to cook or want to add another dish for your lunch or dinner party for vegetarian friends. This preparation goes very well with paratha or chapathi or you can use as stuffing for your normal sandwich too.

Ingredients ::
one small packet or 10 cubes of paneer,
one big size of green capsicum / bell pepper,diced
one medium size onion, diced,
1/2 tsp garlic paste or garlic powder,
a pinch of cumin seeds / jeera,
4-5 nos. slitted green chillies,
1/2 tsp coriander powder,
1/4 tsp red chilli powder,
1/2 tsp tandoori masala powder,
salt to taste and oil to fry.

Method :::
1. Heat oil in a frying pan, add cumin seeds,slitted green chillies, garlic paste and saute for some time. Then, add diced capsicum and onion together and sprinkle all the red chilli powder,cumin powder, salt.
2. Mix everything nicely and fry until capsicum pieces are almost done on medium flame. Do not use water.
3. Now add paneer cubes and sprinkle tandoori masala powder and fry for 2-3 mins or until paneer cubes become light brown in color and get coated with all the spices. Mix carefully to avoid breaking paneer cubes. When done, take off from heat and serve hot with any breads like paratha, naan or simply jeera rice.
You can sprinkle garam masala powder instead of tandoori masala powder. And, adjust red chilli powder according to your taste bud.

Methi Malai Paneer ::::

Last month I wanted to make a good menu for our vegetarian friends who are coming for dinner at home and that also some dishes without onion and garlic. I saw this recipe somewhere but only the name what I remembered and while surfing internet I got three recipes from different websites and I tried to improvise the recipe and it came very good.

Ingredients :::
7-8 medium pieces of paneer or cottage cheese,
half cup of kasoori methi or dry fenugreek leaves,
4-5 tsp of malai or heavy whipped cream,
12-15 whole cashew nuts,
1/4 tsp cumin seeds,
2 tsp of powdered white pepper ,
3 nos. green chillies,
half cup of milk,
oil for frying ,
salt to taste,
a pinch of sugar and turmeric powder.

Method :::
1. Soak cashew nuts in a half cup of warm water for 15 mins. Make a smooth paste of cashew nuts and green chillies.
2. Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan, slightly fry the paneer pieces and keep aside.
3. Now in the same oil, add cumin seeds and when it starts splutter, add dry fenugreek leaves crushed by hand and saute for a little and then add cashew nut paste and let it cook covered for 6-7 mins on medium flame.
4. Then sprinkle salt,sugar,turmeric powder and pepper powder and mix nicely and again cover the pan for 2 mins.
5. Now in a bowl,mix milk and cream or malai with warm water and add to the pan and mix thoroughly and let it cook covered on slow flame for 10mins.When oil starts coming out, add paneer pieces and let it boil once and take off from flame. You can sprinkle little dry fenugreek leaves while serving.

If you can add paneer pieces just before serving and give it one boil or warm in a microwave. You can also adjust the spice level with or without using green chillies. Dry fenugreek leaves are the best option for this dish. And at last, you can heat oil in a separate pan and add cumin seeds and then while serving just do tempering with the same.

Paratha,Luchi,Stuffed bread etc....

2011-08-02T21:54:00.004-05:00

Our Indian bread has a wide varieties like Paratha, luchi, kachoris etc and some of them are complete meal on its own too and some of them are served with vegetables and salad and curd. Indian breads are flat breads,made of whole wheat, puri or luchi,made of maida . Here I have shared with you different types of Indian bread which is essential part of our everyday meal.

Koraishutir Kochuri / Kachori :::

Koraishuti means green peas and this is very famous preparation of Bengali cuisine and other parts of North India. In winter specially my aunt used to prepare with special vegetable curry. I had half a bag of frozen peas at home and I wanted to get rid of those peas before buying fresh ones. There are lots of different recipes all over the web but I have shared with you the original one what I learnt from my aunt long time ago.

Ingredients:::
For stuffing's ::
2 cups of fresh or frozen green peas,
1/4" ginger cube,cleaned
4 nos. green chillies,
1/3 tsp fennel seeds / saunf / mouri,
a pinch of sugar,
salt,
a few drops of oil to fry.
For dough :::
two and half of maida,
a pinch of salt,
2 tbsp of oil, preferably vegetable oil,
water to make dough,
sufficient oil to fry.

Method :::
1. Soak green peas, if frozen for one hour. Make a paste of green peas,salt, fennel seeds,green chillies and a pinch of sugar.
2. Heat little oil in a frying pan, add the paste and fry for a while unless water evaporates and cooked properly and the paste starts separating from the corner of the pan. Make it cool and keep aside.
3. Now make a smooth dough using all the ingredients under the heading dough. Keep aside for 30 mins covered.
4. Knead the dough again for sometime and make 6 balls out of the dough. Take one ball and flatten a little and fill with peas mixture and bring the edges together to close the flatten circle and slowly make a ball again pressing the stuffing's inside. Now roll out to make a thick puris (as shown in the picture). Repeat the same to make other puris.
5. Heat sufficient oil in a deep frying pan or kadai and then deep fry the puri on medium flame unless both side become brown in color. Remove and keep on paper napkin.
This is a very easy preparation and you only have to be careful with the flame while frying the puris.
After heating the oil , keep the flame always on medium while frying the puris. You can make the puris little sweet adjusting green chillies and also add hing or asafoetida while frying peas stuffing's. This Kochuri goes very well with Ghugni or spicy Dum Alu but you can prepare any other gravy dishes.

Chutneys or condiments etc..

2011-07-08T22:35:00.006-05:00

Chutneys and podis / powders or widely known as condiments are very important part of our any meal whether it is main course or snacks. Chutneys in India are meant for spicy and sweet taste. It generally consists of fruits and vegetables along with lentils, spices and other ingredients to enhance the taste. Here I have shared some of the chutneys which I make at home and you can use with other ingredients for your crackers,dips and sandwiches and with Indian meals too.

Coconut & Peanut Chutney ::

This Chutney, also called pachhadi in Andra Pradesh is commonly prepared at every home as side dish for Idly or dosa. This is very simple yet spicy and yummy side preparation.

Ingredients :::
one cup of freshly or frozen grated coconut,
1/2 cup of peanuts,
5 nos. green chillies,
salt to taste,
For seasoning::
2 whole red chillies,
1/4 tsp of mustard seeds,
8-9 nos. fresh curry leaves,
oil to fry.

Method:::
1. Make a smooth paste of grated coconut, peanuts and green chillies adding salt in a mixer or blender.
2. Now heat oil in a small frying pan and add mustard seeds, curry leaves and whole red chillies and saute until mustard seeds starts spluttering. Switch off flame and then make it cool and then add to the coconut and peanut paste adding little water. Make give a two or three pulse to the paste or blend it for some seconds. Your chutney is ready. Serve it with dry red chilli and curry leaves seasoning with dosa or idli.

Tomato n Peanut Chutney :::

This is one of the delicious chutney my family love to have with Idly , Dosa or Uttappam. I have learned from my mother in law and modified a little bit while going through one of best websites of Sailus food.

Ingredients:::
3 big juicy and fresh tomatoes,sliced
5 nos. green chillies,
1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
one small ball size tamarind,soaked in warm water,
one handful of peanuts,
a pinch of mustard seeds,
6-7 nos. fresh curry leaves,
2 nos. dry whole red chillies,
1/4 tsp turmeric powder,
a pinch red chilli powder,
salt and oil to fry.
Method :::
1. Heat few drops of oil in a frying pan and add sliced tomatoes,red chilli powder,turmeric powder and salt.Saute for a minute and then add ginger-garlic paste and and again saute nicely until tomatoes are cooked.
2. Now take out tamarind pulp from tamarind you already soaked in warm water. You can use store-brought tamarind pulp also.
3. Add tamarind pulp to the frying pan and mix nicely with cooked tomatoes and then cook for 3-4 minutes. Then let it cool down and make a smooth paste of tomatoes.
4. In the meanwhile, heat little oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds,curry leaves,whole red chillies and peanuts and fry for a minute. Add half of the seasoning to tomato paste and again paste it together.
5. Adjust salt and then serve it with the rest of the seasoning on the top of chutney as garnishing.
I prepare this chutney spicy so if you want to reduce the spice level then do not add red chilli powder and put one green chilli. You can add the whole seasoning with tomatoes while making the paste or you can use everything as garnishing too.

Coconut N split dalia chutney :::

This is very popular South Indian condiment or chutney used as side dish for dosa,idli ,pongal and other meals too. Some people says idli chutney or dosa chutney and in my in-laws house it is called putinal pappu chutney.Very simple preparation yet yummy spicy taste. I prepare in two different ways and I have learnt from my in laws and that I am sharing with you.

Ingredients ::
one small cup of roasted chana dal / split dalia, soaked for one hour,
one small cup of freshly or frozen scrapped coconut,
5-7 nos. green chillies,
a pinch of mustard seeds,
8-9 fresh curry leaves,
one or two whole red chillies,
salt as per your taste,
little oil for seasoning.

Method:::
1. Make a paste of soaked daal, coconut ,green chillies and salt in mixer jar or blender.
2. Heat oil in a small pan, make seasoning of red whole chillies,mustard seeds and curry leaves.
3. Add the seasoning to the paste and turn the mixer or blender again for 2 mins. Adjust salt.
Sometimes I add a handful of peanut while seasoning and that enhances the taste. and you can make the seasoning and just pour it over the chutney but I like it smooth. You can adjust the proportions of lentils and coconut according to your taste too.

Indo-Chinese recipes...

2011-05-09T21:09:00.006-05:00

Vegetable Chowmein :::

Vegetable Chowmein or noodles in Indian style is one of best food for youngsters in India specially in North-Eastern part of India. l become nostalgic whenever I think of this dish. My father used to wait until I finish preparing chowmein without saying a word and he used to appreciate so much however the taste came. We used to hang out after college at those roadside restaurants with friends a lot. After coming here in USA, I came to know that noodles what Chinese people prepare is completely different than this preparation. Almost every week I prepare this either for breakfast or dinner . I have no idea what is the authentic way to prepare this but before leaving India I collected this recipe from one of my friend who had restaurant in Assam.

Ingredients :::

one packet vegetable Hakka noodles,

one small medium onion, finely sliced

one big cup of mixed vegetables, cleaned and diced,

1 tsp dark soy sauce,

1 tsp green chili sauce,

1/2 tsp rice vinegar,
1 tsp hot chilli tomato sauce,
salt to taste,
oil to fry.

Method:::

1. Take plenty of water in a big pan adding a pinch of salt and few drops of oil and let it boil.Once done, switch off the flame and add noodles and cover with a lid for 7-8 mins or until down. Now drain the water from noodles and spread cooked noodles on a strainer to take out excess water or you can spread on a plate for minimum one hour.
2. In the mean time, heat oil in a wok or kadai, add sliced onions and saute for half a min. Now add all the chopped vegetables and sprinkle salt and fry on high flame until almost done stirring continuously.
3. Once vegetables are almost done, add soy sauce,chili sauce and vinegar one by one and mix thoroughly. Keep the flame or electric heat on higher side and stir continuously.
4. Now add cooked and dried noodles and mix with vegetables thoroughly and let it cook for one to two minutes and then sprinkle hot chilli tomato sauce. Switch off flame and serve hot.
Now I use potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, beans, capsicum and big diced leaves of cabbage and corn sometimes. But you can use what vegetable you want and scrambled egg also can be used along with vegetables. If you don't want too spicy then use only tomato sauce instead of hot chilli tomato sauce. I used to sprinkle ajinamoto before serving but nowadays it is advised not to use MSG so I stopping using the same.

Noodles with spicy shrimp ::

I wanted to prepare something special for Friday night dinner and I didn't do shopping. So whatever was there in my pantry I just tried to use for this preparation. It came very good and luckily, I wrote down the ingredients and prepare couple of times and every time this dish came very good. This is one of the complete dinner what you would like to try.

Ingredients:::
10-12 nos. medium size shrimp,cleaned and de-veined,
one packet of Chinese noodles,
one small onion,finely sliced,
half packet of chicken broth,
one cup of frozen peas,
2 tbsp of tomato sauce,
a pinch of black pepper powder,
1 tbsp chilli garlic sauce,
fresh chopped parsley,
2 tsp shredded cheese,
a pinch of red chilli powder,
salt to taste and olive oil to fry.

Method:::
1. Cook the noodles as per instructions and drain and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in skillet or frying pan, fry shrimps or prawns with turmeric power,a pinch of red chilli powder and salt. When shrimps becomes yellow red in color, take out and keep aside.
3. Now in the same oil, add sliced onions and peas and fry for a minute adding salt and black pepper powder.Add tomato sauce and chilli garlic sauce and stir continuously for half a minute.
4. When the water little dried, add chicken broth and allow to boil once.
5. Now make some space in the center of the frying pan, add fried shrimp and parsley. Let it fry for a half a minute and then add noodles and toss altogether sprinkling shredded cheese.Adjust salt and serve hot with a nice glass of wine.
You can substitute shrimp with leftover shrimp,chicken or white chunks of chicken or any canned fish too. While cooking noodles,I generally add salt and little oil too.

Hot n Sour Soup :::

Whenever we go to any Chinese restaurant, the first thing I order is this soup. I wanted to try this soup at home for long time but didn't get any good recipe. At last I tried my own and it came really well. I followed Vahrevah chef's recipe with little modifications. Try this simple yet yummy soup for Chinese food lovers and kids specially love this too.

Ingredients :::
One cup chicken stock,
2 tbsp soy sauce,
1 tbsp rice vinegar,
2 tbsp chilli sauce,
1/4 tbsp ajinamoto,
one cup of small cubed mixed vegetables,
2 -3 nos finely sliced mushrooms,
1/4 tbsp white pepper powder,
half inch cleaned and finely sliced ginger,
2 no. egg beaten,
2 tbsp corn flour,
salt and 1 tbsp oil.

Method :::
1. Heat a big deep bottomed pan or soup pot, add chicken stock,soy sauce,rice vinegar,chilli sauce and pepper powder and mix well.
2. Now add salt and sugar and vegetables and keep stirring slowly for 4-5 mins.Add mushrooms.
3. Once starts boiling add oil and ginger. Remove the froth what comes up while boiling the soup.
4. When vegetables are cooked then adjust the salt. and mix corn flour with water till lumps disappears.
5. Add slowly while stirring the soup and let it boil on slow flame and keep on removing excess froth or it will taste very bad.
6. At last, very slowly add beaten egg while stirring the soup continuously. Serve hot garnishing with spring onions.

Vegetables I use are carrots,broccoli,beans,snow peas and peas. You can use small cubed tofu too. Be careful with salt as soy sauce,chilli sauce and vinegar have salt too. If you need more thickness, then add more corn flour mixed with warm water.

Chilli Chicken :::

This is one of my family's favorite dishes and I love to make it on Friday nights with Chinese hakka noodles or sometimes as starters. Manchurian and chilli chicken recipes are very much similar. I followed Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe but again with my own variations and that I m sharing with you.

Ingredients:::

6-8 small pieces of boneless chicken,

2 nos. big green bell pepper,

1 no. big onion,

1 medium size tomato(optional),

4-5 nos. garlic cloves,

4-5 nos. green chillies, slit lengthwise,

2 tbsp dark soy sauce,

2 tbsp red chilli sauce,

1/2 tbsp ajinamoto(optional),
2 tbsp rice vinegar,
half cup chicken stock,
3 tbsp corn flour,

salt to taste,
half cup finely chopped spring onions,

oil to fry.

For Marination :::

3 tbsp all purpose flour or Maida,

1 tbsp crushed black pepper,

1/2 tbsp green chilli sauce,

1/4 tbsp salt,

1 no. egg,

1 tbsp corn flour.

Method :::

1. Wash and pat dry all the chicken pieces. Then mix all the ingredients for marination and then mix nicely with chicken pieces. Keep aside for 15 mins and then deep fry all the pieces until golden brown in color and spread over paper napkin.
2. Cut the bell pepper, tomato and onion into medium size cubes. Make a coarse paste of garlic cloves.
3. Now heat 3 tbsp of oil in a wok / kadai, saute garlic paste and then add green chillies and saute for half minute.
4. Now add bell pepper and onion cubes and fry nicely for 2 mins on high flame. Keep stirring to avoid burning. Add tomatoes and keep stirring until nicely cooked.
5. Add soy sauce and mix nicely and then add other sauces. Keep stirring.
6. Now add fried chicken pieces and rice vinegar. Mix thoroughly everything on high heat and stir fry for 3 mins.
7. Mix corn flour with chicken stock without leaving any lumps and then sprinkle over chicken pieces.Adjust salt.
8. When done, sprinkle ajinamoto and chopped spring onions and serve hot.

I generally prepare this dish very spicy but if you want not so spicy then do not add green chillies and less black pepper and adjust red chilli sauce. Here I use chilli garlic sauce and every sauce you will get any Indian store or supermarkets.If you need little gravy then add more corn flour with chicken stock and then add to it. Sometime I use wine instead of rice vinegar for nice flavour and taste but strictly not when your kids are also having the same dish.

Chicken Manchurian:::

Whenever I used to go any Chinese restaurant in India with my college friends, chicken Manchurian is one of dishes which we never forgot to order. I just love the tangy yet spicy flavor with Chinese veg.fried rice. Last week, I wanted to have some Chinese food outside but didn't happen so thought of trying my hand on this dish and it came very well. I actually surfed the internet and mixing up couple of recipes ,prepared this dish.

Ingredients :::
1/2 kg or 1lb boneless chicken breasts,
1 big green bell pepper / capsicum, cut into 1 inch diagonally,
1 big onion, cut into 1 inch diagonally,
4-5 nos green chillies, slit lengthwise,
2 cloves garlic finely chopped,
1 no. whole dry red chilli,
2 tsp soy sauce,
1 tsp chilli garlic sauce,
1 tsp white rice vinegar / white wine,
salt as per your taste,
1/2 tsp ajinomoto (optional),
half cup finely chopped spring onions,
1 tsp tomato sauce,
oil to fry.

for marination:::
1 cup all purpose flour or Maida,
1/4 cup cornflour,
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
1 tsp green chilli paste,
1 tsp red chilli powder,
1/3 tsp salt.

Method:::
1. Wash and cut the chicken pieces into half inch cubes and pat dry.
2. In big mixing bowl,take all ingredients for marination and mix nicely with blender or hand for 4-5mins. Now add water slowly and prepare a nice smooth thick batter. Keep for 5mins.
3. Add all the chicken pieces into the batter and keep marinated for one hour.
4. Heat sufficient oil in a frying pan, deep fry battered chicken pieces 4-5 nos. at a time. Strain extra oil and keep on a paper napkin. Repeat the process for all chicken pieces.
5. Now heat 2 tsp oil in a skillet / kadai, add chopped garlic and dry red chilly and saute for one mins and then add diced onion,green chillies and bell peppers and fry for 3-4 mins or until onion becomes transparent. Now add soy sauce and chilly garlic sauce together and mix thoroughly on high flame. Stir continuously to avoid sticking at the bottom.
6. After mixing sauce , add vinegar / white wine and ajinomoto and then tomato sauce and mix thoroughly for 2-3 mins.
7. Adjust salt now and then add fried chicken pieces and slowly mix with the sauce to make a nice coat and cook for 4-5mins on high flame. When done, sprinkle finely chopped spring onions and serve hot.

If you need gravy then mix one cup corn flour with warm water nicely to avoid lumps and then add after mixing chicken pieces.

Szechuan Chicken ::::

Recipe I:

This Chinese preparation is such a delight that my husband and me just love to have it whenever we go to Chinese buffet. This dish has perfect balance of sweet and spicy taste and lots of vegetables. Szechuan chicken recipe gets its taste and flavor from the sauce Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce and also dry sherry or rice wine and all of them you can get it any Chinese or big supermarket. I surfed internet again and got this recipe from food network website and modified a little to prepare.

Ingredients:::

3 boneless & skinless chicken breasts,cut into 1" pieces,

2 no. eggs,

2 tsp cornflour or cornstarch,

2 tsp cooking wine,

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce,

1 tsp soy sauce,

2 tsp Tabasco sauce,

1/2 tsp red chilly powder or cayenne pepper powder,

2 nos. dry red chilly whole or crushed,

2 inch finely chopped ginger,

2 cloves finely chopped garlic,

2 nos. big carrots ,cut lengthwise thin,

one cup diced red and green bell peppers / capsicum,

1 no.small onion,diced,

half cup chopped spring onions,

oil to fry,

salt as per taste,

Method:

1. Wash and pat dry with paper napkin. Mix egg whites with corn flour and dip the chicken pieces into the mixture and keep aside for some time.

2.Take a big bowl,mix all the sauces nicely and then keep aside.

3. Heat 2 tsp oil in a kadai /skillet, add finely chopped garlic and saute for one min and then add all the chicken pieces until cooked. Remove chicken pieces and place on paper napkin to absorb extra oil.

4. Heat 2 tsp oil in the same kadai / skillet, add bell peppers and carrots and saute for 3-4 mins. Now set aside all the vegetables in the skillet and add the sauce and let it boil nicely on high flame and add chicken pieces to the skillet.

5. Mix vegetables and chicken pieces with the sauce and stir continuously for 2-3 mins on high flame. When done sprinkle spring onions and serve hot with rice.

Be very careful while cooking on high flame as there is chance of sticking or burning. You can use other vegetables also like french beans and broccoli and dry fruits like, almonds and walnuts and then bamboo shoots too.

Vegetables.....

2011-02-23T11:35:00.003-06:00

When I started my blog ,my Vegetarian friends complained me why I have not started posting vegetarian dishes till now. Though we eat non-veg ,but I love mostly vegetable dishes more and preparing vegetable dishes, I strongly feel, is more difficult and time consuming than non-veg dishes. Here's some recipes I have tried some of my experiments and some of the dishes I liked a lot while eating at my friends or relatives' house.

Jhinge aar Matar daler borar sukto :::

Sukto is the traditional vegetable stew of West Bengal and it is always served first of your meal. There are different version of Sukto are there. I will try to post here one by one. This recipe I have recently learned from one of our great groups where one expert chef, Subrata posted the recipe. This is little sweet in taste but keeping my family's taste buds I made a little spicy too. This sukto goes the best with hot steamed rice only. And you can keep for one two day in refrigerator and the tastes enhances as well.

Ingredients :::

one big jhinge / Ridge gourd , cleaned and diced,

1/4 tbsp of mustard seeds,poppy seeds,radhuni each,

1/4" ginger cube,cleaned,

1 or 2 no. bay leaf,

1/4 tsp of panch phoron,

a pinch of coriander powder,

oil to fry,preferrably mustard oil,

very little ghee or clarified butter,

salt to taste.

For bora / vada ::

1 cup matar dal / yellow split peas or split peas,

salt.

Method:::

1. First soak matar dal for 5-6 hours and make a smooth paste with salt using a blender or mixer.

2. Make small size ball with that paste and deep fry until they are brown in color and crispy. Keep aside.

3. Make a fine paste of mustard seeds,poppy seeds or posto, radhuni and ginger adding little water. Keep aside.

4. Now heat oil in a wok or kadai, add bay leaf and panch foron and saute for half a minute.

5. Now add ridge gourd / jhinge pieces and sprinkle salt and sprinkle coriander powder and fry for 2-3 minutes. Do not overcook them. Now add the mustard and poppy seeds paste adding little water and mix nicely and cover the wok or kadai with lid and let it cook until the ridge gourd pieces are nicely cooked. Make sure vegetables are not overcooked. Cook always on medium flame.

6. When done, add matar dal vadas and mix nicely without breaking the vadas and vegetables. Sprinkle half cup of warm water as vadas always make gravy thicker and adjust salt too. Let it cook for another 3-5 minutes on slow flame.

7.Now add little ghee/clarified butter on the top of it and serve hot with hot steamed rice.

Ridge gourd or jhinge what we call in Bengali must be sweet in taste otherwise the whole preparation will be bitter in taste and I generally use yellow mustard seeds to avoid the bitterness while making paste in mixer or blender.I used 3-4 nos. green chillies while making the paste of mustard seeds along with others ingredients. RADHUNI is one of the main ingredients of Panch Foron . But in USA, it is not easily available so you can skip that. Panch foron will be available nowadays in any Indian grocery shops here in USA and other countries.

Cauliflower Butter Masala :::

Another north-Indian delicacy of cauliflower I wanted to share with you my dear friends. As I told you before, cauliflower is my most favorite vegetable. At-least one cauliflower should be there in my refrigerator. Any cauliflower dish is my favorite and here's another one. This is very delicious dish and you can add cottage cheese / paneer or green peas to it. If you prepare with patience and time, it will be surely your party hit. This recipe is modified version of a recipe from a beautiful blog whose host name is Pari.

Ingredients:::

one big cauliflower, cut into medium size florets,

one big size onion,sliced,

4-5 nos. green chillies,

3-4 garlic cloves,peeled,

1" big ginger,cleaned and sliced,

a pinch of kasuri methi,

1/4 tbsp of garam masala,

2 tbsp butter,

1 tbsp whipped / fresh cream,

6-7 nos. dry red chillies,

1tbsp coriander powder,

a pinch of sugar or 1/2 tbsp honey,

1/4 tbsp amchoor powder / dry mango powder,

1 bay leaf,

2-3 nos.cloves,

2-3 nos. cinnamon,

2 nos. green cardamon,

salt to taste.

Method:::

1. Dry roast bay leaf,cloves,cardamon and cinnamon. Crush everything together and keep aside.

2. Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in the same pan, add sliced onion,green chillies ,dry red chillies and ginger-garlic.

3. Saute nicely for 3-4 mins or until onion becomes pink in color. Take out from the pan and make a smooth paste of it. Keep aside.

4. Take cauliflower florets in a big bowl of water and add salt to it. Microwave for 7 mins on high powder. Or you can boil for 5-6 mins on stove top.

5.In the same pan, add sugar,butter and add crushed garam masala and then add onion paste and fry for 10 mins on medium flame covered with a lid.

6. Now add coriander powder and cream and mix thoroughly and let it cook for another 10 mins. Avoid not to burn the masala and adjust salt too.

7. Add cauliflower florets now and add half cup of warm water and mix nicely and let it cook for another 7 to 8 mins or until oil comes on the top of gravy. Sprinkle crushed kasuri methi and garam masala now and simmer for some more time.Serve hot with roti,kulcha or naan and salad.

Now you can use sliced tomatoes while frying onion and make paste of it. I use extra hot red chilli powder for extra spiciness and that gave nice red color without tomatoes. You can add whole spices instead of crushing and then take out all the whole spices before serving.In original recipe, cauliflower stock is used instead of warm water but I get kind of bad smell after boiling cauliflower in water and don't like to use it for gravy. If you are using honey instead of sugar then use it when you are mixing cream.

Phulkopi Kosa :::

Phulkopi or Cauliflower is my most favorite vegetable and I always love to prepare something with this vegetable. I saw this preparation in my sweetheart friend Romi's blog and made it right way. In Bengali, Kosa means dry stir-fry preparation and takes very little time and easy to prepare. Mostly you will love to serve as one of your party menu too.

Ingredients:::

one big size cauliflower,
1/4 tbsp of whole cumin seeds,
1 no. bay leaf,
one cup of onion paste,
1/2 tsp of ginger and garlic paste,
1 big fresh tomato, finely chopped or paste,
1 tsp of cumin and coriander powder each,
4-5 no. green chilli,
1 tsp of turmeric powder,
salt to taste,
1 tsp of whole garam masala,
coriander leaves to garnish,
salt to taste,
oil to fry.
Method:::
1. Cut cauliflower into medium sizes and soak in cold water.
2. Put oil in a frying pan or skillet, fry cauliflower florets sprinkling turmeric powder and salt for 3-4 minutes or raw smell disappears. Once florets are all nicely coated with yellow color and slightly fried,take out from the pan and keep aside.
3. In the same pan, heat little more oil and add bay leaf and whole cumin seeds.
4. When seeds start spluttering, add onion paste and stir fry for 2 mins on medium flame.Once onion becomes light brownish in color, add ginger-garlic paste and fry again for couple of seconds.
5. Now add tomato paste and add turmeric powder,cumin and coriander powder. Stir fry for 7-8 mins sprinkling some water on medium flame.
6. Fry until the spices are cooked nicely and leaves a nice aroma and then add cauliflower florets and mix everything together to make a nice coating. Sprinkle very little water and add salt here and then cover for 2-3 min on low flame.
7. Now on high flame keep on frying until florets are cooked.
8. Crush whole garam masalas lightly and sprinkle over the florets and mix again slowly.
9. Once done, garnish with fresh coriander leaves and thinly sliced onion. Serve hot with parathas or rotis.
For whole garam masala, I use cloves,cinnamon and cardamon. You can use store-brought garam masala too. For tomato paste, I generally boil tomatoes with salt and then make a smooth paste out of it. Again you can use store-brought tomato puree or simple ketchup too. But the taste will vary for the same. If use a pinch of sugar to caramelize oil while heating then it will give the dish a very nice color too. Then you have to adjust your spice level too.

Doi Potoler Dum :::

Potol or Parwal or the pointed gourd is one of the vegetables what you get only in summer season that specially in north and north-eastern part of India. After coming here in USA, I hardly got a chance to get big ones in Indian grocery store and most of them are frozen and not so good in taste either. Last week when I saw big and fresh Parwals I did not even see the prices and brought the packet and here I have tried didi's yummy yet simple and pure vegetarian Bengali recipe.

Ingredients :::

7-8 nos. big potol / parwal ,

1/4 tbsp cumin seeds,

1 no. bay leaf,

a pinch of asafoetida or hing powder,

1/3 cup of yogurt or curd, beaten nicely,

1 tbsp ginger paste,

1 tbsp cumin powder,coriander powder,red chilli powder each

1/2 tbsp turmeric powder,

1/2 tbsp garam masala powder,

1 tbsp besan / chick peas flour

salt to taste,

1/4 tbsp ghee, optional.

4 tbsp oil, preferably mustard oil.

Method:::

1. Wash potol thoroughly and scrub it lightly with a knife to remove the harder skin and then cut off both the ends. Slit slightly from the end up to 1/4" towards middle part of every potol and marinate with turmeric powder.

2. Heat oil in a skillet , fry all the potols until nice aroma comes out or 10 minutes. Try to avoid burning.

3. Take a bowl, mix besan, curd and all the spices except garam masala powder without leaving any lumps. Keep aside.

4. Now add oil in the same skillet and then sprinkle cumin seeds. When splutter, add bay leaf and hing powder. After half a minute, add ginger paste and salt and stir nicely for a minute. You can add sugar if needed.

5. Now add the curd and spice mixture to skillet and fry adding 2 tbsp of water until oil comes out on medium flame. You can cover the skillet.

6. When done, add fried potols and add 1/3 cup of water and let it cook on low flame for 10-14 minutes.

7. While serving, heat oil / ghee in a small pan, add garam masala and mix it. Then spread over the dish and serve hot.

You can mix ghee and garam masala while cooking but the aroma goes off. and again I would say to adjust salt and spices according to taste. This dish goes very well with plain hot steamed rice or paratha and luchi too.

Palak ka Salan ::::

This is one of the dish I have learned from Neeta Mehta's vegetarian cookbook. My husband bought that book for me when I came back with my 3 month old son to Hyderabad and just started learning cooking. I prepare this Mughlai dish very often as it goes very well with paratha, roti and rice also and specially my son and husband love a lot. When I prepare this dish for parties or potluck, it is always a hit.

Ingredients ::::

one cup chana daal or split chickpeas,soaked for 30 min.

2 lb fresh or frozen spinach,

half cup finely chopped onion,

4-5 nos. finely chopped green chillies,

3-4 nos. garlic cloves,coarsely crushed,

1/2 tbsp coriander powder,

1 tbsp red chilli powder,

2 nos. whole dry red chilli,

1/4 tbsp garam masala,(optional)

salt to taste,

2 tbsp oil,

1 tbsp ghee / clarified butter.

Method :::

1. Wash and clean thoroughly spinach leaves and chop coarsely.

2. Heat oil in a deep-bottomed pan, add crushed garlic and green chillies and sauté for half a minute.

3. Add chopped onions and saute until onion becomes light brown in color. Now add chopped spinach and cook until oil separates or spinach cooked.

4. Wash chana daal and add to the pan and add coriander powder,red chilli powder,salt and sugar. Mix nicely and let it fry for 3-4 mins. Stir nicely to avoid burning at the bottom. Sprinkle water if needed.

5. When done frying , add one and half cup of warm water and cover the pan and let it cook for 25 mins or until done on medium flame. Adjust salt and gravy too.

6. When daal is almost cooked, smash everything with a flat spatula lightly or you can use hand blender but do not make a paste. Then cook for another 10 mins on slow flame.

7. When done, pour in a serving bowl and then in a small pan,heat ghee and temper red chilli and red chilli powder for a minute and then pour over the curry. Serve hot.

If you can use a pressure cooker for this preparation ,it would be the best to reduce preparation time. In that case, cook only for 10 mins or two whistles and then open the pressure cooker when cooled down and then cook on medium flame for another 10mins. You can sprinkle garam masala when done and slightly mix once. Any dishes with spinach always become a little bitter in taste and for that I have used a pinch of sugar but that is optional.

Sabzi Bahar ::::::

Though I m Bengali but I am not comfortable with Bengali cooking as I learned my cooking lessons after marriage.So before trying anything I always either surf the internet or the experts ladies I know and here's another recipe from one of elder sister I met through Orkut, Suchismitadidi what she made with only eggplant but here I prepare the same recipe with lots of vegetables and little modifications.

Ingredients ::::
1 no.long slender eggplant / brinjal,
3-4 nos medium size cauliflower florets,
2 medium size potatoes, peeled
1 no. ridge-gourd, cleaned
one cup of cauliflower stems,slit lengthwise,
3-4 nos. green chillies,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder,
1/2 tsp red chilli powder,
3 tsp yogurt / curd beaten,
one and half tsp mustard seeds,
one and half tsp poppy seeds,
half cup fresh coconut,
1/3 tsp black cumin seeds / kalo jeere,
salt as per taste,
1/2 tsp sugar,
4-5 tsp mustard oil / vegetable oil,
half cup chopped coriander leaves(optional)

Method:::
1. First clean and cut the vegetables into 2"long and 1"wide and keep aside.
2. Soak mustard seeds for sometime and then grind with poppy seeds,salt ,sugar and green chillies to smooth paste.Add coconut to the paste and grind it again adding little water.Mix yogurt / curd with this mixture
3. Now heat oil in a deep pan or skillet, add black cumin seeds and 1 green chillies and saute for one min.
4. Add turmeric powder and salt to the oil and then add all the vegetables (first add potatoes as it takes more time to get cooked).Fry all the vegetables for atleast 8-9 mins on medium flame.
5. Now add the mixture to the skillet adding half cup water and mix thoroughly. Adjust salt and sugar and sprinkle red chilli powder on it and mix nicely and let it cook covered until cooked.
6, When oil starts separating and all cooked properly, spread one tsp of mustard oil on it and garnish with coriander leaves.
You can make it with one vegetable or mixed vegetables too.If dish is too dry,mix one cup of hot water and mix thoroughly and it goes well with hot steamed rice.

Alu Tomator ki sabzi ..A typical Bihar cuisine :::

Here in St.Louis, I have met lots of people but one of amongst them is Reena,my friend,well-wisher and elder sister. Whenever I miss my mom or my home , I just go her house and just like my mom, she made me sit and then ask what you will eat. One day,I was angry and depressed , as usual I reached her house and with roti and this curry. Til now ,I cant forget the taste of this curry. I tried this time at home and my husband just said awesome.Here's the recipe I m sharing with you.

Ingredients:::
4 nos.potatoes,
1 1/2 juicy big tomatoes,finely chopped.
2 tsp yellow mustard seeds,
2 garlic cloves,
1/4 small onion,
1/4 tsp methi / fenugreek seeds,
1/4 tsp turmeric powder,
1/2 tsp coriander powder n red chilly powder each,
salt as per taste,
3 tsp oil, preferably mustard oil.

Method:::
1.Grind mustard seeds,garlic and onion together smoothly.Keep aside.
2. First wash and peel potatoes and cut into 1/2" inch cubes. Boil with salt.
3. Now heat oil in a deep frying pan, add fenugreek seeds. When it splutters,add the mustard paste and fry nicely for 2-3 mins. Stir continuously to avoid burning and using extra water.
4. Add chopped tomatoes and sprinkle turmeric powder and then fry for 3-4 min. When tomatoes are half-cooked ,add coriander and red chilly powder and salt. Stir properly to avoid sticking. If needed sprinkle little water every now and then.
5. Now add boiled potatoes and half cup of water and cover the lid and let it cook. When done, serve hot with roti or also hot rice.

Here I first fried potatoes cubes and then added into the curry and cooked until potatoes done. Both of the methods are good. And to increase the spice level you can grind green chillies also with mustard seeds. Black mustard seeds don't go with this curry as its taste and flavor would be absolutely different.

Dondakaya Poriyal :::

Dondakaya or Kundli or Ivy Gourd is very common vegetable in any South Indian kitchen.Here the other day I got some fresh ones in Indian grocery store and prepared one of my favorite South Indian dish and here's the recipe which I follow.

Ingredients :
1lb Dondakaya / Ivy Gourd,slit lengthwise,
one cup of fresh coconut /dry coconut powder,
4-5 nos. green chillies,
1/2 tsp of mustard seeds,
2 nos.dry whole red chilli,
5-6 nos. curry leaves,
1 tsp of Bengal gram lentils / chana daal,
a pinch of turmeric powder,
salt as per taste,
2 tsp oil.

Method:::
1. Heat oil in a skillet and add mustard seeds and When mustard seeds start splutter, add dry red chilli,curry leaves and chana daal. Saute for 1min.
2. Add dondakaya and green chillies together and saute thoroughly adding turmeric powder and salt.Let it cook covered until the vegetable becomes half - cooked on slow flame.
3. Now open the lid and add coconut and mix nicely and let it cook uncovered for 4-5mins stirring occasionally.When done, serve hot with any kind of sambar and hot plain rice or chapati.

Potato - Capsicum fry ::::

When I came to USA for the first time almost 5 years back with my baby son,I didn't know so much about cooking. I just started learning the basic things about cooking. One day I went to one of my neighbor and husband's colleague house and his newly married wife was cooking this dish. Before that,I didn't have any idea how to cook Bell pepper or Capsicum except stuffed one. After coming home,I cooked and till now I prepared so many times for veggie guests and normally at home and everybody just loved it,This is a North-Indian dish but with trial and error this is my version what you can have with Chapati,paratha, roti or you can make tortilla roll with that.

Ingredients :::
3-4 nos. big potatoes,peeled and diced.
3 nos. big green bell pepper / capsicum,washed and diced,
1 no.medium onion,sliced or chopped,
1 tsp ginger paste or 1/2" finely chopped ginger,
2-3 nos. green chillies,slit lengthwise,
1/4 tsp cumin seeds,
1 no. dry red chilly,
1 tsp coriander powder,
1/4 tsp turmeric powder,
1/2 tsp red chilli powder,
1/4 tsp garam masala (optional),
3-4 oil,
salt to taste.

Method :::
1.Heat oil in a skillet .Add cumin seeds and red chilli.
2.When cumin seeds starts spluttering,add chopped onions and ginger and saute for 2 mins or until onion becomes translucent.
3.Now add potatoes and sprinkle turmeric powder .Fry on high flame for one minute and stir continuously.
4.Bring the flame low and sprinkle some water and cover the skillet to cook potatoes for 4-5 mins.
5.when the potatoes are half-done,then add bell pepper pieces and mix nicely and then sprinkle coriander powder,red chilly powder and gorom masala and mix everything nicely.
6.Add salt and then cover for 2 mins to cook and then open the lid fry on medium flame.When vegetables are cooked nicely,you can sprinkle a little gorom masala and serve hot.

You can use mustard seeds and curry leaves instead of cumin seeds.After adding bell pepper / capsicum, try to cook without covering the skillet then little crispness will come.Again adjust salt and spices as your taste.

Jhinge - Alu Posto (Ridge-gourd n Potato in poppy seeds gravy) :::

Posto or poppy seeds is one of the most common ingredient you will find in almost every kitchen of West Bengal. In south India also ,poppy seeds are used for some of the special dishes.I will share with you some of the dishes of Bengal where poppy seeds used as main ingredients.

Ingredients :::
2-3 nos. ridge gourd / jhinge ,freshly available at Indian grocery,
4-5 nos. big potatoes,
3-4 nos. green chillies,
1 small onion,peeled and chopped finely,
black cumin seeds / kalo jeere for seasoning,
3-4 tsp oil, preferably mustard oil,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder,
salt as per taste.

Method :::
1. First wash and clean potatoes and ridgegourd and cut into 1 inch size.Keep aside.
2. Dry grind poppy seeds with green chillies first and then put little water and then make a smooth paste.
3. Heat oil in a skillet , sprinkle black cumin seeds.When it splutter, add chopped onion and fry until onion color changes or nicely cooked.
4. Add potatoes and fry for one min.Then sprinkle turmeric powder and salt. Let it fry for another 2-3 mins. Don't cover the skillet.
5. Now add ridge-gourd pieces and fry for 3-4 mins on high flame. Stir continuously and if needed sprinkle little water.6. Now cover the skillet and let the vegetables cook.If needed, add little water.When half done, pour poppy seeds paste and 1/4 cup of water and mix nicely and cover the lid for 10 mins. Adjust adding water how much gravy you like to have.
7.When the raw smell of poppy seeds gone, sprinkle finely chopped green chillies and serve hot with hot plain rice.
You can adjust the spices and salt. I have seen one of my West Bengali friend to spread one tablespoon of mustard oil over the curry as soon as it is done.

Palak Alu / Potato in spinach gravy :::

This preparation is very healthy and easy to cook. Specially I prepare for my son who doesn't eat green or leafy vegetables at all. Sometimes I add paneer or tofu also in this preparation.

Ingredients :::
one big packet baby spinach,
2 big potatoes, peeled and cubed,
1 no.medium onion,sliced,
4-5 nos. green chillies,
1 inch ginger,
1 clove garlic,
1/2 tsp cumin seeds,
1/2 tsp coriander powder,
1/2 tsp red chilli powder,
1/4 tsp garam masala powder,
1 no.bay leaf,
a pinch of sugar,
salt as per taste,
2 tsp oil.

Method:::
1. Wash and clean spinach leaves with warm water. Grind into a smooth paste with green chillies and Keep aside.
2. Make a smooth paste of ginger,garlic and onion and Keep aside.
3. Heat 1/2 tsp of oil in a deep-bottomed pan, fry potato cubes lightly and keep aside.
4. Heat oil in the same pan, add a pinch of sugar and then cumin seeds and bay leaf.
5. When cumin seeds splutter, add onion paste and saute on medium flame for 5 mins. Stir nicely to avoid burning. Add little water if needed.
6. Now sprinkle all the spices and fry for 3-4 mins adding very little water.
7. Now add spinach paste and salt and mix nicely and cook covered until the raw smell goes off.
8. When done, add fried potatoes and cook on very low flame for 7-8 mins.
9. Sprinkle garam masala and serve hot with rice or roti or paratha.

If you feel the gravy is too thin, mix corn flour with warm water and pour at last and mix nicely. You can add sweet corn, cauliflower ,tofu etc. When the preparation is done, I generally sprinkle half spoon of clarified butter or ghee and cover the lid.

Left-Over recipes...

2011-02-08T22:35:00.001-06:00

You always feel what to do with these leftover foods after dinner or specially next day when you go to kitchen for cooking. Your refrigerator is half full with these left over foods and you are biting your nail(i do specially)..hmm here's some recipes to get rid of those and make you happy not throwing foods into dustbin.

Cabbage vada / Badhakopir Bora :::

After my son's birthday party, I was feeling bad to throw left-over cabbage fry. I had two times with plain rice and then everything about to throw in dustbin. That day one of my friend gave me excellent suggestion to prepare couple of dishes with the same. I made three new dishes from that cabbage dish. Every time, I had a feeling that I m eating something fresh. These cabbage vada, one of the recipes, was so yummy and the best for evening snack with a cup of hot tea.
Ingredients:::
one cup of left-over cabbage fry,
one handful of kosuri methi / dry fenugreek leaves,
one and half cup of besan / gram flour ,
a pinch of amchoor / dry mango powder,
salt as per your taste,
sufficient oil for deep frying.
Method:::
1. Make a rough paste of cabbage fry with blender or mixer adding a pinch of salt.
2. Take a big bowl and take cabbage paste and mix with all the ingredients except oil.Add little water
if it is too dry. Mix nicely to avoid any lumps. Make small flatten shape vadas.
3. Heat sufficient oil in a pan and deep fry all the vadas until deep brown in color on medium flame.
4. Keep the vadas on paper napkins to absorb extra oil. Serve with any chutney or simply tomato ketchup.
You need to blend the left-over vegetables to give a better taste . But you can also smash with hand nicely and then mix all the ingredients.You can use store-brought Pakora masala instead of using dry fenugreek leaves and dry mango powder. I generally use MDH pakora masala. While using kosuri methi / dry fenugreek leaves, take on your palm and rub nicely and then use it. For extra spiciness, you can finely chopped green chillies too. I made little dry dough like to make flatten balls, but you can add more water to make thick consistency batter and put a spoonful of batter to prepare pakora.

Patta Labang Rice :::

Another simple rice preparation I m sharing with you. First time after our marriage, one fine morning my husband asked me to prepare this rice for his lunch box.That's my mother-in-law used to prepare for lunch box for kids. Now whenever there is nothing for lunchbox I prepare as you need only yogurt / curd as side dish or sometimes I give simply this rice dish. This recipe I have submitted to the Event : Quick and Easy recipes too.

Ingredients :::
2 cups cooked rice,
1 small onion,finely chopped or sliced,
4-5 green chillies chopped,
4-5 cloves,
3-4 cinnamon,
3-4 cashew nuts ,optional.
salt as per taste,
oil to fry.

Method :::
1. Heat oil in a pan,add cloves and cinnamon and fry until nice aroma comes out.
2. Add onions and green chillies fry nicely adding salt .
3. Now add cooked rice and mix thoroughly. You can add little ghee here too and Serve hot.

This preparation I tried sometimes with Basmati rice too and then I add a handful of fresh or frozen green peas too.Use a little ghee / clarified butter while frying to get nice aroma.

Coriander/Cilantro Rice:::::This dish is very delicious and even if you don't tell nobody can understand that you made with last night left-over rice.All you want you have to be careful about this dish is,rice should be cold and better if you cook the rice before 12 hours.You can make this dish very well with Basmati/any flavored rice.But here I used last night's leftover rice.I have seen long back this recipe from some website..I don't remember now and I have made this dish with a little variation. You can serve with raita and salad.

Ingredients:
4-5 cups cooked rice,
part I..to paste :
one bunch of coriander/cilantro leaves,
5-6 pudina/mint leaves,
5-6 green chillies,
1/2 grated coconut,
1 piece garlic,
less than half inch ginger,
2-4 cashew nuts,
salt as per taste,
Part II...for seasoning::
1/4tsp mustard seeds,chana dal,urad dal each,
1 whole red chilli,
4-5 curry leaves,
5-6 cashew nuts,
7-8 tsp oil.

Method:::
1.Make a smooth paste of all the ingredients from part I except the seasoning.If necessary add some water to paste the ingredients. Keep aside.
2.Now take a deep frying pan,heat oil and add all the ingredients from part II for seasoning.here you can add half cup of chopped onions if you wish.and fry nicely for 3 mins.
3.Now add the paste and stir nicely .Add salt as per taste and add some water.and cover with a lid and let it cook for 5-7 mins on medium flame.
4.Open the lid and stir once again. When done ,nice aroma will come out and then you can add cooked rice and mix thoroughly.and serve hot with any gravy dishes or any chutney.

Lemon Rice / Pulihora :::

The first thing comes to my mind whenever I see left-over rice in my kitchen is Lemon Rice or commonly called in South India as Pulihora. This dish is very common in Southern part of India, specially in Temples and everyday cooking too.Puli means sour taste. Pulihora can also be referred as sour rice.Very easy to make and tasty dish.Most of the south Indian families love to make this dish with leftover rice.Nowadays, other parts of India people loves this dish a lot. I learned from my mother-in-law. Every family has their own way to prepare the recipe. But here I am sharing my recipe.

Ingredients:
1/4 mustard seeds,chana daal,urad daal,
2 whole red chilli,
a pinch of hing/Asafoetida powder,
4-5 curry leaves,
1/4 tsp chopped ginger,
1/5 tsp turmeric powder,
5-6 lengthwise cut green chillies,
10-12 peanuts or cashew nuts (you can use both),
5 cups cooked rice,
1 medium size lemon.
salt as per taste,

Method::::
1.Take a pan,heat oil and add mustard seeds,chana daal,urad daal then curry leaves, hing, peanuts/cashew nuts,chopped ginger,green chillies and fry nicely for 2-4 mins.
2.Add turmeric powder and salt.Stir continuously.
3.Now add cooked rice (at least 12 hrs before you cooked).and mix thoroughly.Now take off the flame.
4.Squeeze the lemon in a cup/bowl and add half of it to rice.and mix thoroughly.you can use your hand but i like to do with a spatula.and taste it ,if you feel to pour little bit more than mix rest of lemon juice and mix very thoroughly.Cover it and keep aside.while serving just warm it and serve.

Now, some people after frying the ingredients,take off the pan and mix the cooked rice and then add lemon juice and mix cooked rice and serve cool.and some places,then mix lemon juice to cooked rice and then add to the seasoning.it is your wish how you feel comfortable. You can cook rice immediately make it cool and them make this dish.but if the rice is little hot too,lumps will come and doesn't taste good.

Chintapandu Pulihora / Tamarind Rice ::::

Pulihora or Puliyodhara is another very common dish in Southern parts of India. You will find this preparation in most of the temples of South India as Prasadam. I prepare once in week for lunch box sometimes when leftover rice is there. The ready mix wet or dry packet is available in Indian grocery store but I love to prepare from scratch. Try this recipe and tell me how is it next time.

Ingredients :::2 cup cooked rice ,
1/2 tsp mustard seeds,
1/2 tsp chana dal,
1/2 tsp split black gram /urad dal,5-6 curry leaves,
2 whole dry red chillies,
a pinch of asafoetida powder,
1/3 tsp of turmeric powder,
1/4 cup of fresh scrapped coconut / dry coconut powder,
a medium size tamarind balls (available in Indian grocery),
a small piece of jaggery,
a pinch of red chilli powder,
7-8 no. peanuts,
salt as per taste,
oil to fry .

For masala :::a pinch of asafoetida,
2-3 red chilli whole,
1 or 2 tsp mustard seeds,
1.5 tsp of sesame seeds,
1 tsp chana dal,
a handful of peanuts,
1.5 tsp coriander seeds.
Method :::1. In a bowl, soak tamarind with warm water for 1-2 hrs or until you can mash with hands to take out pulp.
2. For masalas, heat wok or kadai, heat 2-3 drops of oil and add hing and then the rest of ingredients and saute nicely and then cool and grind to a coarse powder.Keep aside. You can store this ground masala and use it again.
3. Heat oil in the same wok or kadai, add mustards seeds,asafoetida,chana dal,urad dal,red chillies,curry leaves and peanuts and stir fry nicely.
4. Now take tamarind pulp and jaggery and let it boil until jaggery melts. If needed add half of cup of warm water.Cover it on medium flame.
5. Now add rice and mix thoroughly and then sprinkle ground masalas and salt and mix it nicely again.
6. Add scrapped coconut or dry coconut powder and drizzle little water and cover it for 5 mins on very slow flame.After that toss slightly and serve hot.
I used to prepare this dish with ready-made paste but after getting the original recipe from one of my husband's aunt I stopped using store-brought ones. Always be careful to prepare on low medium flame to avoid burning. This dish is always more tasty if you prepare and let it set for 4-5 hours then all the spices including tamarind get infused inside rice and that gives more flavor and taste to the dish..

Mutton n Lamb recipes..

2011-02-07T22:49:00.000-06:00

Mutton fry ..Andhra Style :::

Sometimes when you want to have something very rich and spicy food, this mutton fry is one the best choice with hot plain rice. I first had this preparation at in-laws house and almost cried out because of its spiciness. Lots of black pepper and fresh curry leaves give nice aroma and taste and you specially would love to have this dish in winter season.

Ingredients :::
2 lbs goat-meat , cut into medium pieces,
one big onion, chopped finely,
4-5 nos. green chillies, slitted
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste,
1 tsp black pepper powder,
1/2 tsp coriander powder,
1 tsp red chilli powder,
few fresh curry leaves,
1/4 tsp garam masala powder(optional),
2 tsp turmeric powder,
half cup lemon juice,
salt to taste and oil for frying.
Method:::
1. Wash mutton pieces thoroughly and then marinate with lemon juice,salt and turmeric powder for 3-4 hrs.
2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker or heavy bottomed pan, add chopped onions,curry leaves and green chillies and saute until onion becomes translucent and light brown in color. Sprinkle salt.
3. Now add ginger-garlic paste and mutton pieces and fry on medium high heat for 5 mins stirring continuously. Add all the dry spices to the pan / pressure cooker and fry until oil separates and then add two cups of warm water and cover the lid and let it cook on medium flame until done. If you are using pressure cooker then cook until 2 whistles.
5. Once done, wait for the steam come out completely and then open the pressure cooker and keep the cooker on medium flame and keep stirring until gravy thickens. Serve hot with plain rice or roti or paratha.
I generally like to have this preparation dry that's why I add only one cup of water while cooking in step 3. But if you want little gravy then add more water and make gravy as desired. This is very spicy preparation but if you want to adjust the spice level then don't add green chillies and red chilli powder.

Bengali Mutton Curry :::

This mutton preparation is purely Bengali style, the best Sunday lunch menu or any festival or wedding party menu. We say Pathar mangsher jhol, has its own different aroma, rich color and awesome taste. Any Bengali menu without this dish is totally incomplete. After my marriage, this is only recipe I used to use while preparing mutton and all my neighbors used to appreciate me telling that what a great cook I m. Every family has their own style of preparation and I also use my mom's recipe. Once you prepare this dish, you would not like any goat meat dishes as I don't.

Ingredients:::
2 lbs of mixed goat / mutton pieces,
4-5 medium size potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes,
2 big size onion, peeled and washed,
6-7 nos. green chillies,
2 inch ginger,peeled
5-6 nos. garlic cloves,
1 or 2 nos. bay leaf,
2 tbsp cumin powder,
1 tbsp turmeric powder,
1 1/2 tbsp of yogurt / curd,
6-7 nos. whole dry red chillies,
a pinch of sugar,
a pinch of whole cumin seeds,
1/2 tbsp garam masala powder,
salt to taste,
7 tbsp cooking oil, preferably mustard oil.
Method:::
1. Slice one big onion. Take a blender and make a smooth paste of onion,green chillies,ginger,garlic and bay leaf. Now in the same blender, add yogurt,cumin powder and turmeric powder and blend all together adding little water.
2. Wash and clean mutton / goat meat. Take a big bowl and marinate mutton pieces with the paste adding salt and 3 tbsp oil. Cover it and leave aside for at least 2 hours.
3. Now cut the other onion into medium size cubes. Keep aside.
4. Heat rest of oil in a pressure cooker,add little turmeric powder and add potatoes and fry nicely. When potatoes become light brownish in color, take out and keep aside.
5. Now in the same oil,sprinkle a pinch of sugar in oil.When sugar melts, add cumin seeds.
6.When seeds start spluttering, add marinated mutton pieces in oil and starts stirring. Add left-over marination also in oil.
7. Fry mutton pieces on medium to high flame for minimum 15 minutes or until oil comes out. Stir every 5 minutes. Now add cubes onion pieces and mix nicely and stir for 5 more minutes.
8. Add fried potatoes and mix with mutton and sprinkle garam masala powder and one cup warm water and close the pressure cooker and let it cook for 15-20 minutes or up to two whistles. Let it cool and when pressure goes off, open the pressure cooker and serve hot with plain steamed rice.
Now I generally crush cinnamon,cloves and cardamon together and then use it to get fresh and nice aroma what you can't get from store-brought ones. In India, my mom used to add raw papaya pieces instead of yogurt for easy cooking because in India, goat meat takes longer time to cook. It is better to use a pressure cooker for mutton / goat-meat for fast cooking. In normal pan, it will take longer time to cook. You can use tomatoes while frying and garnish with coriander leaves too.

Mamsam Pulusu / Andhra Mutton Curry :::

I brought the other day lamb which we generally don't eat but again I need to prepare something different and but spicy too. What would be the better idea to search a pure Andhra delicacy and make my south Indian friend happy. Andhra dishes specially non-veg ones are known for hot spicy taste and yet yummy too. This is very simple dish with one most important ingredient, tamarind along with basic ones which gives the dish a different aroma and tempting taste and you will try once more. Originally this recipe is from Sailusfood website which I prepared with little modifications.

Ingredients :::
1/2 kg or approx one lb lamb pieces,washed
2 tbsp turmeric powder,
2 tbsp extra hot red chilli powder,
2 large onions,
5 big garlic cloves,
3" ginger,
5 no. green chillies,
one big ball tamarind,
oil to fry,
salt to taste.
Method:::
1. Marinate lamb pieces with turmeric powder and salt.
2. Make a coarse paste of onions,green chillies,ginger and garlic. Keep aside.
3. Heat sufficient oil in a pressure cooker or deep bottomed pan, add onion paste and fry nicely up to 6-7minutes on medium flame and sprinkle a little bit salt to cook faster. You can keep the pan covered too.
4. Add lamb pieces and red chilli powder and saute for 3-4 minutes or until oil separates .You can sprinkle little water if needed here. Then pressure cook adding one cup warm water up to two whistles or until almost done.
5. In the mean time, soak tamarind into warm water for one hour and extract pulp out of it.
6. Add tamarind pulp into the pressure cooker or pan mixing slowly and let it cook for almost 25 minutes on low medium flame. You can add one cup warm water if you need thinner consistency. Adjust salt too. Try to avoid burning at the bottom stirring sometimes.
7. When lamb pieces are totally cooked and simmered in tamarind gravy, serve with hot plain rice or any rice dishes of your wish.
You can directly add lamb pieces in oil as the original recipe was but I marinated to avoid the raw smell.I already extracted tamarind pulp and simmer it with red chili powder and jaggery before which I used for this dish and that gave the dish extra tangy and spicy taste with a little touch of sweetness. You can adjust spice level too. and garnish with coriander leaves if you wish.

Gongura Mutton curry:::

This is one of south Indian states, Andra Pradesh special preparation which they prepare specially in winter season and this recipe has been prepared by my great-grandmother-in-law. I know I cannot make so good like her but I tried my best to prepare good. Gongura leaves are easily available in all the southern states of India and I have seen the same bunch of leaves in Eastern parts of India too but with different name. I don't know the English name but here in USA or countries this leaves are available.

Gongura leaf

Ingredients:::

a bunch of gongura leaves, finely chopped

1 lb or 1/2 kg mutton pieces,washed and cleaned,
one medium size onion,finely chopped,
4-5 nos green chillies, slit lengthwise,
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
one small ripe tomato,finely chopped or pureed,
1 tsp turmeric powder,
2 tsp dhania powder,
1 tsp red chilli powder,
1/2 tsp cumin powder,
1/2 tsp garam masala powder,
salt as per taste,
2-3 tsp oil,
1/2 tsp ghee / clarified butter,
coriander leaves (optional)..

Method:::
1. Heat one and half tsp of oil in a pan.When smoke starts to come out, make the flame low and then add mutton pieces and half of the turmeric powder,red chilli powder,cumin powder,coriander powder and fry nicely on medium flame for 5 mins.
2. Now pressure cook mutton pieces with half cup of water for 3 or 4 whistles / 25 mins.Keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a kadai / deep bottomed pan, add chopped onions,green chillies and then saute for 2 mins. Then add ginger-garlic paste and saute again for 2 mins.
4. Add turmeric powder and chopped or pureed tomatoes and then chopped gongura leaves. Fry for 5mins.
5. When the leaves melts or cooked nicely then add cooked mutton pieces to the pan and mix everything properly and if needed add half cup water and then let it simmer on slow flame for 10-15mins.
6.When done, sprinkle garam masala and ghee on top and then serve hot.
Here in USA the leaves are very matured so after the step 4,make it cool little and then grind it to paste and then mix with mutton pieces.If the leaves are tender then no need to grind the leaves.

Mutton Chops Masala :::

This is an experimental dish of my dear husband.Whenever he wants me to give a treat or rest from kitchen,he goes to kitchen and never finds anything so whatever he feels good puts together and makes something.But this dish came very good and I love to eat again and again.This dish goes well with again hot steaming rice,fried rice or pulao and roti too.

Ingredients:
2lbs Goat/Lamb chops or ribs(approx 10-12 pieces),
1/2 cup curd/yogurt,
2 medium size onion finely chopped,
2 medium size tomatoes finely chopped,
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
6-7 green chillies chopped,
1 tsp red chilly powder,
1tsp cumin powder,
2 tsp coriander powder,
1/4 black pepper powder,
1/2 tsp garam masala powder,
oil n salt,
1 cup coriander leaves,
a few curry leaves.

Method::
1.Wash and clean chops and marinate with curd,ginger-garlic paste,coriander powder,cumin powder,red chilly powder,black pepper powder and little oil.
2.Keep aside for 1hour.
3.Now take a pressure cooker,heat 1 tsp oil and fry marinated mutton chops properly until raw smell goes off.Keep on stirring not to burn those pieces.
4.Add half of water and pressure cook up to 3 whistle or for 20mins(for pressure cooker without whistle).
5.Now heat oil in a pan ,add chopped onion,curry leaves and green chillies. Fry until onion becomes light brown in color.
6.Add chopped tomatoes and fry until oil separates.
7.At last ,add cooked ribs/chops and mix thoroughly and sprinkle garam masala and adjust salt.
8.Stir fry on very low flame first and after 5 mins on medium flame another 5 mins.
9.When oil separates,garnish with coriander leaves and Serve hot.
Always try to cook mutton in a pressure cooker or oven.If you don't have both,try it in a saucepan too.But that will take lot of time to cook. You can avoid tomatoes if you want.

Mutton Dakbangla :::

Dakbangla means resthouse in the forest. This Dish used to be prepared when people goes for picnic or hunting and in camping.There they don't have time for marination. I have come across this recipe in one of great communities of Orkut and given by Kaushik.I tried couple of times for parties and Sunday lunch. Every time it was hit . Here is the my version of this dish.

Ingredients:
2lb Goat/Lamb (approx 1 kg),
1 medium size onion,
5-7 nos green chillies cut lengthwise,
1/2 cup yogurt,
1/2 black pepper powder,
1 tsp ginger & garlic paste each,
1/2 tsp gorom masala powder,
2" cinnamon stick,
4 cloves,
2 nos. Cardamon,
2 bay leaves,
1 tsp turmeric powder,
2 tsp cumin powder,
1 tsp coriander powder,
1 or 2 tsp red chilly powder,
coriander leaves for garnishing,
a pinch of sugar for caramelizing,
salt as per taste,
oil.

Method::
1. Wash and clean properly Goat/Lamb pieces and Keep aside after draining excess water.
2. Make a smooth paste of 3 green chilies and onion and Keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a deep saucepan, add sugar and let it dissolve in oil.
4. Add bay leaves,cardamon,cloves and cinnamon and saute for half a minute.
5. Now add green chillies and onion paste and fry until it becomes translucent.
6. Add ginger & garlic paste and saute for a minute on medium flame.
7. Now add turmeric powder,red chilly powder and yogurt and stir fry continuously for a min.
8. Now goat/lamb pieces and rest of the green chilies and fry on high flame .
9. Add black pepper powder,cumin & coriander powder and sprinkle little water and saute for
some time until oil separates.
10. Now add salt and 3 cups of water and cover the saucepan with a lid and let it cook.
11. After 15-20 mins or when it is cooked nicely,sprinkle gorom masala & coriander leaves and cover the saucepan until you serve.

I always use pressure cooker for this dish for fast cooking and you can use this recipe for chicken too. But don't use pressure cooker for chicken.

Keema Fry :::

Keema or Minced(ground) fry is very common recipe in India.You can use chicken,goat or lamb anything of your choice.I have learned this recipe from one Bengali cookbook to use as stuffing's for Singaras.I modified it a little bit as south Indian style. I serve as side dishes for Biriyani ,Naan or porota or sometimes with hot plain rice.

Ingredients :::
1.5 / 2 lbs keema,
1 big size onion,finely chopped,
5-6 green chillies ,chopped,
2 tsp ginger & garlic paste each,
1/4 tsp whole cumin seeds,
5-6 curry leaves,
1 dry red chilli ,
1/2 turmeric powder,
1/2 tsp cumin & coriander powder each,
1/4 cup tamarind pulp(soak tamarind in hot water and squeeze to take out pulp)
1/4 tsp gorom masala,
coriander leaves for garnishing,
salt ,
oil to fry.

Method:::
1. Wash & drain keema nicely. Try to drain excess water properly.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan or pressure cooker,add cumin seeds,curry leaves, whole red chilli and saute for half a minute.
3. Now add chopped onion,green chillies and saute for another half a minute.
4. Add ginger-garlic paste and stir nicely until onion turns light brownish in color.
5. Add turmeric powder,cumin-coriander powder,red chilli powder and sprinkle little water and let ti cook covered until oil separates .
6. Now add keema and stir continuously to avoid burning.If needed sprinkle little water too.
7. Now add salt and let it cook in pressure cooker for three whistles.
8. Once done,open the pressure cooker and keep on stirring to fry keema until excess water goes off on high flame.
9. Sprinkle gorom masala and coriander leaves on it and fry for some more minutes.Serve hot and you can garnish with fresh coriander leaves too.

If you are not using pressure cooker ,then from step 6 sprinkle little more water and cover the pan and let it cook for 20-22 mins. Keep on checking whether you have to add little more water for cooking to avoid burning.At last,keema will taste better if you fry nicely .

Chicken recipes...

2011-02-01T16:16:00.029-06:00

Pepper Chicken in Coconut gravy :::

I wanted to make something different for dinner and then I tried to prepare north and south Indian fusion with whatever was in my refrigerator.This is very easy preparation and came really well and goes well with chapathi, parota or naan.

Ingredients:::
1 whole chicken , cut into medium size pieces,
For gravy :::
one small size onion, sliced finely,
4-5 nos. of green chillies,slitted,
one cup freshly or frozen grated coconut,
3 nos. whole red chillies,
2-3nos. cloves,cinnamon stick,cardamon each,
very few coriander seeds,
salt to taste,
oil to fry.
For marination ::
one cup of lemon juice,
2 tsp of ginger-garlic paste,
1 tsp of salt,
2 tsp of black pepper powder,
little oil.
Method::
1. Wash and marinate chicken pieces with all the ingredients mentioned for marination.Keep aside for 6-8hours in refrigerator.
2.Heat a few drops of oil in pan, add cloves,cinnamon,cardamon, dry red chillies and coriander seeds and saute for one minute on medium flame. Now add sliced onions and green chillies and saute for two minutes and at last, add grated coconut and fry everything on low flame stirring continuously until nice aroma comes out. After that, keep the coconut mixture aside to cool down.
3. Make a smooth paste of coconut mixture adding half cup of water.
4. Heat oil in the same pan, add marinated chicken pieces and fry on medium flame until oil separates.Stir occasionally to avoid burning chicken pieces. Now add half cup of water and mix thoroughly and then let it cook for 10 minutes or until chicken is done.
5. Now add coconut paste slowly mixing with chicken pieces. Check salt and if needed sprinkle little water and then let it simmer for minimum 10 mins on low flame. When done, serve hot with Indian breads like naan,paratha or chapathi.
When you prepare this dish, coconut flavor should come nicely once done. So the proportion of coconut will be always more than any other ingredients if you want less spicy than reduce pepper powder and whole red chillies. Coconut itself leaves oil while getting cooked so do not use more than 2 tsp oil while cooking.

Kosha Chicken :::

First time while going for potluck here in Charlotte that also luchi or puri would be the main preparation, I wanted to prepare authentic Bengali dish, chicken kosa. Kosa means stir-fry without water and goes well with luchi,porata or naan. After having lots of suggestions from our famous facebook group friends, I prepared this preparation with little modifications as usual.

Ingredients :::
3 lbs of chicken, cut into medium pieces,
2 medium size onion,
4 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
3 cloves of garlic,
half cup of yogurt / curd,
1 tsp of turmeric powder,
a pinch of coriander powder,
1 tsp of red chilli powder,
1/4 tsp of garam masala powder,
1 bay leaf,
salt to taste,
5 tsp of oil ,for marination and frying.

Method::
1. Take one and half onion and make a paste. Marinate Chicken pieces with onion paste,ginger-garlic paste,salt,turmeric powder, yogurt and little oil. Keep it inside refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
2. Chop rest of the onions into fine pieces and crush garlic cloves.
3. Heat rest of oil in a deep frying pan or wok and sprinkle sugar in oil and allow it for caramelizing. That helps to get nice red color for chicken.
4. Add chopped onion and crushed garlic in oil and saute for a min. Now add marinated chicken and sprinkle coriander powder and red chilli powder. Mix and fry chicken pieces on medium flame until oil separates.
5. Chicken will be fried and cooked in yogurt and onion sauce. Be careful while cooking not to burn at the bottom. When done, sprinkle garam masala powder and adjust salt and turn off the flame. Serve hot with luchi,parota and naan.
This preparation is generally little sweet but I wanted to prepare spicy one that's why I used red chilli powder but if you want to use only for color then use kashmiri red chilli powder.If chicken is not cooked properly, cover the pan with lid and let it cook for 10 mins and then fry again on medium flame.

Chicken Bahar ::::

This chicken preparation is a modified version of Chicken Pasanda , a Pakistani dish which I m going to share with my friends later. Though it is a long and tedious process but if you prepare with patience, you will have a real good result. I tried three times till now but every time I have got better taste and aroma.

Ingredients :::
1 lb of whole chicken, cut into medium size,
1 big size onion, thinly sliced,
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste,
2 medium size tomatoes, finely chopped,
1 cup of plain yogurt,
1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice,
4 tsp of coarse powder of whole cloves,cardamon,cinnamon and bay leaves,
a pinch of jeera / whole cumin seeds,
8-9 nos. big cashew nuts,
1 tsp of coriander powder,
1 tsp of turmeric powder,
1/2 tsp of red chilli powder,
coriander leaves for garnishing,
salt to taste,
oil to fry.
Method:::
1. Wash and pat dry chicken pieces and take in a big bowl.
2. Marinate chicken pieces with lemon juice ,turmeric powder,coriander powder,red chilli powder and salt and set aside for 5-6 hrs.
3. Take a pan,dry roast cashew nuts and make a smooth paste with yogurt. Keep aside.
4. Now heat oil in a skillet and sprinkle cumin seeds.
5. When cumin seeds starts spluttering ,add coarse powder of garam masala and stir for some seconds.
6. Add onion slices in the skillet and fry for 2-3 min or until raw smell goes off. Now add ginger-garlic paste and stir fry for a minute. Sprinkle salt.
7. Now add tomatoes and fry nicely for 2-3 min. Cover with a tight lid to cook for 5mins or until tomatoes are cooked.Mix everything together smashing nicely. Sprinkle water if needed.
8. Now add marinated chicken pieces and fry for at least 10-15mins on medium flame. Avoid burning at the bottom. Sprinkle a very little water if needed. When oil starts coming out at the top , add yogurt paste slowly mixing them with chicken and let it cook for another 10 min covering with lid. Adjust salt and spice here.
9. When done, you will have a a thick,creamy and rich gravy with well cooked chicken. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve with paratha or fried rice.
Now if have less time then you can make a smooth paste of all the ingredients after step 7 and return the paste to the skillet and continue. Chicken should be well marinated and nicely fried then only you will get the good texture and taste of this gravy also. If chicken is not marinated for more than 6 hrs then fry the chicken pieces for more time. You can use boneless chicken breasts and lastly adjust your spice level too.

Achari Chicken ::::

Whenever the word Achar or Achari word comes to mind, tangy but lightly spiced taste comes in front of eyes. Achari chicken is a north-Indian dish and my sweet friend Nabanita gave me the recipe. I modified a little bit according to my comfort level and here's my version I m sharing with you.

Ingredients ::
1 lb chicken , cut into medium pieces,
4-5 nos. big green chillies, cleaned
1 big size onion, finely chopped,
1 medium size tomato, finely chopped,
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste,
1 tbsp vinegar,
1 tbsp red chilli powder,
salt to taste.
oil to fry.

For The Achari Masala ::
3 nos. whole red chillies,
2 tbsp kalo jeere or kalonji or Nigella seeds,
1/2 tbsp whole cumin seeds,
1/2 tbsp fennel seeds,
1/3 tbsp mustard seeds,
1/3 tbsp methi or fenugreek seeds,
2 nos. big cardamom,
3-4 nos. cloves.
a pinch of salt.
Method :::
1. First roast all the spices until a nice aroma comes out. Let it cool and then grind with salt.
2. Take one green chili and make a deep cut leaving 1/4" inch from the bottom and top side and clean seeds and stuff with 1/3 tbsp of powdered spice.Repeat the process with all the green chillies and keep aside. Use only half of the powdered spices and you will use the rest for the curry.
3. Marinate chicken pieces with vinegar,ginger-garlic paste,red chilli powder and salt for 2-3 hours.
4. Now heat oil, preferably mustard oil, in a skillet or pan and add chopped onions. Fry nicely until onion becomes brownish or translucent.
5. Add roasted spice powder and mix thoroughly and let it cook for one minute. Sprinkle little water if needed.
6. Add chopped tomatoes and fry until tomatoes are half done or for 6-7 mins.
7, Now add marinated chicken pieces and saute continuously for 3-4 mins. and then sprinkle salt and let it fry until oil separates on low medium flame. Don't add water and let it fry for atleast 15 mins.
8. Now place the stuffed chillies in the pan. Add enough water to make a thick consistency. Let it simmer only for 7-8 on low flame. Once done, serve hot with paratha or puri or even any fried rice items.
Now, I use bigger size Thai green chillies which is easily available in any Chinese or Indian grocery store.You can use small size banana peppers too and clean the seeds and then put the stuffing inside. Again adjust oil and spice level as your taste.

Spicy Chicken Kurma :::

At my in-laws house, whenever any chicken items are to be prepared,most of the time I have seen this dish only. So as usual my husband also loves to have with plain rice or roti and sometimes with dosa. Though I m not so fond of kurma just because of last minute addition of some ingredients still I love to prepare for my dear hubby. Again I have improvised this dish and here's the recipe. This dish is always a eye-catcher and your guests will definitely appreciate you when you will keep on the table.

Ingredients :::
2 lbs of mixed chicken pieces,
2 large onions, finely chopped,
1 large ripe tomato,finely chopped,
2 tsp ginger - garlic paste,
1 bay leaf,
2 nos. green cardamon,
4-5 nos. cloves,
3-4 nos. cinnamon,
5-6 nos. curry leaves,
1/4 tsp fennel seeds and cumin seeds each,
a small bunch of mint leaves,
half cup fresh chopped coriander leaves,
2 tsp of coriander powder,red chilli powder and garam masala powder each,
3 tsp of turmeric powder,
4 tsp yogurt or beaten curd,
1 tsp sour cream,
6-7 nos of cashew nuts,
1 tsp poppy seeds,
half cup of scrapped coconut,
salt to taste,
1 tsp ghee or clarified butter,
4-5 tsp of oil.

Method :::
1. Wash and clean the chicken pieces and marinate with 2 tsp yogurt,turmeric powder and salt.Keep aside for 15-30 mins.
2. Now heat oil+ghee in a deep bottomed pan or kadai, add a pinch of sugar and then add bay leaf and curry leaves. Saute for a little and then add fennel seeds and cumin seeds.
3.When seeds starts to crackle, add cinnamon,cloves and cardamon and saute a little.
4. Now add ginger-garlic paste and fry for half a minute and then add chopped onion. Stir fry until onions start changing colors.
5. Now add tomatoes and then turmeric powder,coriander powder and red chilli powder with 1/4 cup of water to mix the spices nicely.Cover the pan and let it cook for 5-7 mins.Mix yogurt with cream and then pour over the spices.
6. Add marinated chicken pieces,chopped mint and coriander leaves and mix nicely with spices and let it fry until oil separates. Stir in between nicely so it doesn't burn at the bottom of the pan.
7. Now sprinkle garam masala and cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for 15mins on medium flame
8. When chicken getting cooked, make a smooth paste of cashew nuts,coconut and poppy seeds with one cup of water.Keep aside.
9. Now open the lid and add the paste slowly stirring with a spatula and mix nicely otherwise chicken pieces will break. Simmer the curry for atleast 15 mins on low flame or until the raw smell of coconut and poppy seeds will go off. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot .

Chicken Chettinad :::

This is one of the spiciest yet delicious and aromatic chicken preparations in Tamil Nadu, southern parts of India. First time I had in Chennai and after that ,had so much of sodas and then ice cream. I tried couple of times at home as my south-Indian husband just loves it and I followed the recipe of one of my first orkut friend, Mullai's website. Here's the recipe I now follow nowadays.

Ingredients :::
8-9 pieces of medium size chicken (approx 1lb),
2 tsp lime juice,
2 tsp turmeric powder,
2 tsp salt,
1 nos.bay leaf,
2 medium onions finely chopped,
1 big juicy tomato finely chopped,
2 nos.green chilli,chopped,
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
2 no.black stone flower,(I dint get it here in US,but available in India),
1 tsp red chilli powder,
8-9 curry leaves,
a bunch of coriander leaves,
3-4 big spoonful oil.(preferably veg.oil).

For ground masala:::
4 dry red chilli,
3 tsp poppy seeds,
2 tsp fennel seends,
2 tsp cumin seeds,
2 tsp coriander seeds,
5-6 nos.black peppercorns,
1 tsp chana dal / split gram,
3-4 clove,
2 nos. cinnamon(1" inch each),
3 nos.cardamons,
2 nos mace,
1 no. star anise,
3-4 tsp dry coconut powder / fresh coconut,

Method :::
1. First marinate chicken pieces with turmeric powder,salt and lime juice and keep aside for minimum 30mins.
2. Heat a small pan, add all the dry ingredients (from ground masala) and roast until nice aroma comes. Now grind to coarse dry powder.Keep aside.
3. Now heat sufficient oil in deep bottomed pan or skillet, fry curry leaves,chopped onion and green chillies sprinkling a pinch of salt.When onions become transparent, add ginger-garlic paste and saute for a minute.
4. Now add marinated chicken and fry for 6-7 minutes on medium flame or unless raw smell goes off.
5. Add finely chopped tomatoes and red chilli powder and saute for another 3-4 mins.Mix very nicely slowly.
6. Now add the ground masala and salt. Mix on very low flame to avoid burning and then when it becomes dark brown in color and oil starts separating, garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Seve hot with hot plain rice or biriyani or porota.

Generally this dish is little dry preparation so sprinkle water whenever needed to avoid burning. Add ground masala a little first and then check the spice level and add more if you needed only. You need little more oil for this preparation too.

Chicken Roast ::::

Very simple yet delicious chicken preparation which you can prepare within half an hour. You dont need to marinate the chicken so whenever you are in hurry or unexpected guests are at home, just make this delicious dish and guests will be appreciating you.I followed this recipe given by one of my good friend Piyali.

Ingredients::
8-10 medium size chicken pieces,cleaned and washed,
1 big onion,
3-4 green chillies,
1 tsp coriander powder,
1 tsp red chilli powder,
1/2 tsp garam masala powder,
1/4 tsp turmeric powder,
salt as per your taste,
oil for frying and little bit of ghee for sprinkling(optional),

Method:::
1. Make a fine paste of onion and green chillies.
2. Heat oil in deep frying pan ,add this paste and saute nicely upto 5mins.Sprinkle little water when needed to avoid burning .
3. Now add chicken pieces and fry nicely up to 7-8mins or until the chicken pieces becomes brown in color.
4. Take a bowl and mix coriander powder,red chilli powder and turmeric powder with 1/2 cup of water properly.Make sure no lumps are there.Pour the mixture in pan and mix with chicken pieces and again fry for 8-9mins sprinkling little water to avoid burning.
5. Now add 1/2 cup water and let it cook covering the pan on low flame.
6. When chicken nicely cooked and oil starts separating, sprinkle garam masala powder and ghee. Serve hot with any rice items or chapati.

Again adjust the spice level according to your taste buds.Make sure onion and green chilli paste should be one big bowl,not less than that. Here I have used one whole chicken cut into 1 inch pieces.You can use boneless chicken pieces also.

Chicken Kofta Curry :::::

I wanted to prepare this dish for long time but never got that much courage unless and until one of orkut friend assured me that kofta means minced meat balls are quite easy to prepare at home.I made dry fried balls first to have with tea as evening snacks but then changed my mind and made curry for dinner. Here I prepared the whole dish in South-Indian style.This dish will go well with vegetable fried rice or any pulao or biriyani too.

Ingredients:::
For koftas.....7 to 8 balls will come.1 1/2 lbs or 1 kg minced chicken,
one medium onion sliced,
7-8 green chillies,
2 1/2 inch ginger,
8-9 garlic pieces,
2 dry whole red chillies,
1/2 cup of fresh coriander leaves,
2 tsp of coriander seeds,
1 tsp of cumin seeds,
1 cinnamon,
2 nos.cardamons,
4 nos. cloves,
8-9 cashew nuts,
salt as per your taste,
oil to deep fry.

For curry...1/4 cumin seeds,
4-5 curry leaves,
1 small medium onion finely chopped,
1 tomato puree or finely chopped,
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
1 tsp coriander powder,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder,
1 tsp red chili powder,
1/2 tamarind pulp(tamarind soaked in hot water and then squeezed) ,
salt and oil.

Method:::for koftas..
1. Wash minced chicken and drain excess water and then spread on two or three paper napkin to take out extra water left in chicken.
2. Heat a pan and dry roast cumin seeds,coriander seeds,cinnamon,cloves,cardamon,red chillies and cashew nuts until cashew nuts turn light brown in color. Do this process on slow flame to avoid burning all the spices.
3. Wait until spices become cool and then grind the roasted ingredients with garlic,ginger,onion and green chillies.Then add chicken,coriander leaves and salt to the grinder and make a smooth paste. Don't add water .
4. Now take the paste in a bowl and grease your right hand with one tsp of oil and then mix nicely into the paste until you can make small little tight balls.
5. Place all the balls on paper napkin to take out excess water if left inside the balls.
6. Now heat sufficient oils in skillet until smoke comes out.Bring the flame to medium level and then deep fry those balls to a light golden color.It will be very crispy from outside but little soft from inside.

For curry...1. Heat oil in a different pan or kadai, add cumin seeds and curry leaves.Saute for half a minute.
2. Add finely chopped onion and salt and saute for two mins.Add ginger &amp;amp; garlic paste and then fry for some more time.
3. Add tomato puree and then turmeric powder,coriander powder and red chili powder and sprinkle little water and mix nicely.
4. Now add tamarind pulp and let it cook until oil separates.Add little water if needed.
5. Once gravy done,slowly place the balls in the pan and cover it for ten mins.
6. Serve hot garnishing with coriander leaves.

You can grill or bake minced balls for curry to avoid excessive oils too. But if you are just having those koftas as appetizers then deep frying goes well. If you have boneless chicken pieces ,you can grind it with all the kofta ingredients but before that try to take out excess water from chicken.You can use other meats as well too.

In-Law's Chicken Curry :::
First time when i started cooking my husband taught me this simple chicken curry.This is my
mother-in-law's recipe.But when i cooked the same and my husband said that the taste is different...though i cooked how the recipe was.May be,a Bengali's touch changed the taste of Telugu's dish.I gave the name of the dish as In-law's as i dint get any suitable name for that.This
goes well with hot plain rice,ruti or porota.

Ingredients::
6-7 pieces medium size chicken pieces,
1 cup onion chopped,
1cup tomato chopped,
4-5 medium size potato pieces,
3-4 no.green chillies(slit lengthwise),
1/2 tsp turmeric powder &amp;amp; red chilli powder each,
1/4 tsp coriander powder &amp;amp; black pepper powder,
1 no.red chilli whole,
1 bay leaf,
1 pinch whole cumin seeds,
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
1/2 cup beaten curd/yogurt,
salt to taste,
oil

Method :
1.First clean the chicken pieces and marinate them with curd,ginger-garlic paste,coriander powder,red chilli powder,black pepper powder,turmeric powder and keep aside for 30mins.

2.Take a deep frying pan,heat oil and add turmeric powder and potatoes and fry until turns light red in color .Then keep aside.

3.Now add 3-4tsp oil,add whole cumin seeds,bay leaves,chopped onions, green chillies and fry nicely for 3-4 mins.

4.Now add chopped tomatoes and marinated chicken pieces together and fry in high flame until oil separates.Try not to put extra water while frying.

5.Now add salt and potatoes and pour how much gravy you want and then cover with a lid and let it cook for 20-25 mins.

6. When done,open the lid and keep on low flame for 5 mins and Now garnish with coriander leaves and green chilies.and serve hot.

In USA,you don't need pressure cooker for cooking chicken.In pan only it cooks very well.But if you are in India,then you need to do the same process in pressure cooker to save gas.Only one/two whistle is enough to cook this chicken as already marination is done.

Tandoori Chicken :::
Tandoori chicken..name is enough to bring water in your mouth. Yummy hot and juicy chicken legs as a starters for any parties or with any veg/non-veg fried rice go always well for us.Sometimes,for snacks also i prepare this dish.It's all about marination and how you maintain the temperature while baking. Here's the way i prepare this dish.

Ingredients:
6-7 leg pieces,
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
2 tsp red chilly powder,
2 1/2 tsp coriander powder,
1/4 tsp cumin powder,
2 tsp turmeric powder,
2 tsp garam masala powder,
a pinch of dry fenugreek leaves crushed nicely,
2 1/2 cups of yogurt/curd beaten,
1/2 cup of lime juice,
salt as per taste,
1 tsp oil,
a pinch of red color mixed in hot milk,
1/2 tsp dry mango powder &amp;amp; black salt powder

Method:::
1.Wash and dry chicken legs with paper napkin/cloth.
2.Poke the chicken pieces one by one with a sharp knife or fork so that while marination spices go inside the flesh up to bone.
3.Now rub salt and half of lemon juice each and every leg pieces.Keep aside .
4.Once done,mix all the spices ,red color and curd together and rest of the lemon juice.
5. Marinate all the pieces nicely and put one tablespoon oil and mix again.
6.Keep aside for at least two hours.
7.Now preheat the oven 400'F .
8.Take big baking tray,cover with aluminum foil and thread marinated chicken onto skewers. Keep skewers on the tray. That will help to get rid of water coming out of chicken while cooking.
9. Now set the oven for 375'F and let it cook for 12-13 mins.
10.Turn the skewers after 12 mins and then let it cook for another 10 mins.
11.Now set the oven for broil and keep the tray for 6-7 mins until chicken becomes crispy a little bit.In that way,tandoori chicken will be crispy from outside but juicy and soft from inside.
12.When done ,sprinkle black salt powder and dry mango powder and lemon juice and Serve with onion and bell pepper rings.

You can place the marinated chicken pieces on baking tray directly but then keep for broiling until extra water dries off. Oven timings always vary so first time keep an eye on the process may be you need less or more time to cook.The simplest ways of preparing this dish is to bring Shan tandoori masala and marinate and follow the baking process.

Chicken Do-pyaja :::::This dish is my invention. After taking out the chicken leg pieces for Tandoori Chicken some marinated masala/spices were left in the bowl and I had little time to make some thing for another dish for guests as there were about to come. When done,everybody just loved that and asked me to prepare again. Lots of my friends asked me for the recipe after seeing the picture. So today I m sharing with everybody.

Ingredients:::

10-12 small pieces of boneless chicken pieces ,
1 medium size onion diced,
1 capsicum/bell pepper diced,
1 tsp red chilly powder,
left over tandoori chicken marinated spices,
salt as per taste,
oil to shallow fry .

Method::
1. In the bowl,places the small boneless chicken pieces and mix them thoroughly and keep aside for some mins.
2. Now take frying pan,heat oil and add diced onions and fry until it becomes transparent.
3. Now add bell pepper/capsicum and marinated chicken pieces and fry nicely.
4. Add the left over masalas and red chilly powder and stir fry nicely.
5. Sprinkle some water and cover it for 3 mins and again stir fry .
6. Repeat the process until chicken pieces are cooked nicely .
7. Serve hot and sprinkle coriander leaves if you want.

You can use the ingredients of chicken tandoori masala too and i tried too.But the taste dint come so well as it comes to the spices after two hours of marination .

Prawn / Shrimp recipes...

2010-09-14T16:48:00.001-05:00

Whenever someone talk about Shrimp or Prawns, all I see nice and hot simply fried ones marinated with turmeric powder and salt. I used to stand in kitchen whenever my mom used to fry those pieces.That's one of my childhood memories which I cherish. I feel lucky enough that I donot have seafood allergy or I would really miss the yummy taste of shrimp or prawns. Though it is high in calcium but also high in cholesterol and low in food energy but we can have prawns once in a while. There are many recipes I have gone through when I started learning cooking and I will share with you here.

Chingrir Rosa :::

Rosa , means spicy curry in Bengali, is very common in West Bengali's kitchen. This recipe has a combination of sweet and spicy taste and a party favorite too. It takes a little time for beginners but once you make it, everybody will appreciate you. Anupa,one of my UK friends from orkut gave me this recipe and I modified this recipe a little as I didn't have couple of ingredient at home.Here's my version of Chingrir rosa.

Ingredients ::

10-15 medium size shrimp / prawns,cleaned and de-veined.

1 big size onion, finely chopped,

1 big tomato, finely chopped,

2 inch ginger,

half cup fresh lemon juice,

1 tbsp plum sauce,

1 tbsp turmeric powder,

1 tbsp coriander powder n kashmiri red chilli powder each,

1/2 tbsp garam masala powder,

1 tbsp poppy seeds paste,

1 tbsp sesame seeds paste,

1/2 tbsp tomato sauce,

salt to taste,

a pinch of sugar,

oil to fry .

for seasoning ::

1/4 tsp black cumin seeds / kalonji,

4-5 green chillies, slit lengthwise.

Method:::

1. Take half chopped onion and make a nice paste with little warm water and squeeze out onion juice. Make a nice smooth paste of ginger and take half portion and mix with onion juice and now marinate prawns along with lemon juice,turmeric,salt and plum sauce for one hour. Then fry all the prawns nicely and keep aside.

2. Now in the same pan, heat oil and add black cumin seeds and slitted green chillies and saute for a little.

3. When black cumin seeds starts spluttering, add rest of chopped onion and fry until it becomes translucent. Now add chopped tomatoes and saute for a minute. Sprinkle a pince of salt to cook nicely.

4. Now add ginger paste,turmeric powder, coriander powder,kashmiri red chilli powder and garam masala powder. Fry for 2-3 mins nicely until oil separates. Sprinkle little water if needed.

5. When oil comes out, add sesame and poppy seed paste with half cup of water and stir continuously to fry nicely to avoid burning at the bottom.

6. When oil separates again, add sugar,tomato sauce and salt and continue stirring. When water comes out and the mixture is nicely fried then add fried prawns and sprinkle lemon juice and 1/4 cup of warm water and let it cook on low flame for 5 mins.

7. Once done, garnish with fried onion leaves/ spring onion and lemon wedges.

In the original recipe. Anupa used Tahini paste but I replaced with sesame seed paste. Plum sauce and Tahini paste are easily available in Chinese supermarket and I used little more red chilli powder to make the dish spicy. Try to use medium to large size prawns and you can use olive oil but I love to use mustard oil as it gave a nice aroma.

Sarse Narkel Chingri :::

My mom used to prepare when I used to go home on vacation. I used to stand near mom and as soon as she was done with frying prawns, I used to have hot yummy prawn fry. I really miss those days. Here's my mom's recipe I m sharing with you which goes just perfect with hot steamed rice or any fried rice preparations.

Ingredients ::::

9-10 medium size shrimp / prawns,

half cup freshly scrapped coconut,

4 tsp mustard seeds,

1/4 tsp black cumin seeds / kalo jeere / kalonji,

5-6 nos. green chillies,

1 tsp turmeric powder,

1 whole red chilli,

salt to taste,

6 tsp mustard oil / any other oil.

Method :::

1. Wash and pat dry all the prawns and marinate with turmeric powder and salt and Keep aside for

minimun 15mins.

2. Heat 2 tsp oil in a saucepan or kadai and fry all the marinated prawns until the color changes to red. Take out from kadai.Don't over-fry prawns, it would be spongy.

3.In between, make a smooth paste of mustard seends with green chillies and turmeric powder and soak with little more water and make smooth paste of coconut also.Keep aside.

4. Now in the same pan, heat 2 tsp more oil and then sprinkle black cumin seeds and pour the mustard seed paste and let it cook for 3-4 mins and then add fried prawns and adjust salt. Let it cook for 5 mins.

5. Now add coconut paste and mix nicely altogether and then let it boil once or until raw smell of coconut goes off.

6. Switch off the gas and spread little mustard oil over the dish and garnish with green chillies and coconut.Serve hot.

Adjust spice according to taste. Mustard oil goes the best with this dish but you can use any other oil too. Sometime people first add coconut paste and then lastly mustard paste or you can mix together and add to the kadai.

Mixed Vegetables fry with salad shrimp :::

This dish is one of the simple preparations and very common dish in Eastern India specially in Bengal. My mom generally used to prepare with dried shrimp or sometimes with big ones what is called prawns specially in winter season.Here I tried with salad shrimp easily available in any supermarket here in USA.

Ingredients:::
one small packet of salad shrimp,
one small onion,finely chopped,
4-5 green chillies,slit lengthwise,
a handful of diced fresh vegetables of your choice,
1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder,
1 dry whole red chilli,
1 tsp turmeric powder,
a pinch of sugar for caramelizing,
salt as per your taste,
oil to fry.

Method:::
1. First wash all the vegetables and salad shrimp separately.If frozen,soak in warm water for sometime.
2. Marinate shrimps with turmeric powder and salt and they fry in one spoon oil.Strain from oil and keep aside.
3.Heat sufficient oil in a wok / kadai, add a pinch of sugar and when melts add chopped onion and green chillies and saute for some time until onions started changing color.
4.Add all the vegetables and sprinkle turmeric powder and salt and stir nicely over high flame for 2-3mins and then cover the kadai and let it cook for some time and when almost done ,add fried shrimp and mix thoroughly and then sprinkle roasted cumin powder.When done,serve hot with plain lentils soup and hot plain rice.
Here I used potatoes, pumpkins,ridge-gourd and Chinese brinjal/eggplant and these vegetables go well too.Sprinkle water whenever needed to avoid sticking the vegetables at the bottom of the wok / kadai. If you want ,you can use fresh coriander leaves for garnishing and garam masala too.

Starters / Snacks..Non-Veg

2010-06-25T12:51:00.000-05:00

Fish and Cabbage Balls :::

When my husband bought Surmai fish from market, the first thing I asked whether he knows how to prepare. That fish is very popular in coastal region of India specially in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu areas. As I predicted, he could not make it properly and all fish pieces were in freezer. I just wanted to get rid of those fish pieces and that's why I tried this recipe and it really came very good. A very good preparation for starters or snacks but it needs early preparation. Just make the balls and keep it inside freezer covered and whenever you want to serve just fry or bake and your starter is ready.

Ingredients :::
6-7 pieces of surmai fish / king mackerel fish ,
one big cup shredded cabbage,
3 nos. green chillies, finely chopped,
a very little finely chopped onions,
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste,
1/4 tbsp turmeric powder,
1 tbsp red chilli powder,
1/2 tbsp coriander powder and cumin powder each,
1/2 tbsp corn flour,
salt to taste,
oil to fry.
For Deep-Frying :::
4 tbsp of all purpose flour
1 egg beaten,
2 tbsp milk,
1 cup of breadcrumbs,
oil for deep frying.

Method :::
1.First clean the fish pieces and then marinate with turmeric powder and very little salt. Keep aside.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet or kadai, add ginger-garlic paste and saute for a minute. Then add finely chopped onions and slitted green chillies.Sprinkle salt and fry nicely for 2-3 mins.
3. Now add fish pieces and add red chilli powder,coriander powder and cumin powder and fry untill fish pieces are half cooked or at least for 10mins covered with lid on medium flame.
4. When nice aroma starts coming out, add chopped cabbage and mix thoroughly and again let it cook for another 10-15 mins .
5. Let it cool and then sprinkle corn flour and then make 5-6 medium size balls out of the mixture.Keep aside.
6.Take a large bowl, whisk egg, milk and all purpose flour and very little salt nicely and dip the fish cabbage balls one by one and then immediately roll over breadcrumbs and place on paper towel.
7. You can keep these balls inside freezer and before serving, heat sufficient oil in a deep bottomed pan, deep fry all the fish balls and serve hot with ready made sauces or tomato ketchup. You can preheat oven at 400'F and then bake for 15mins and then put the oven for broil mode and then keep for 4-5 mins to make the fish balls crispy.

If you don't want to use egg then mix corn flour with water nicely without leaving any lumps and use it instead of egg and milk. While frying cabbage and fish pieces, mash the mixture with spatula. I generally make breadcrumbs at home using normal bread pieces, preferably old leftover breads. Just toast them and then grind them to make coarse fresh breadcrumbs.

Fish Chop :::

Fish chop with a hot cup of ginger tea is one of the favorite snacks or starters for Eastern parts of India on rainy day or winter evenings. I was planning to prepare the day I had at Romi's house when I visited in India. It was so yummy that I wanted my husband to taste.So at last I took the recipe from Romi, my sweetheart buddy and of course followed our beloved Suchismitadidi's recipe and did in my way.

Ingredients::
6-7 medium size fish pieces,
2 big potatoes,
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
4-5 green chillies finely chopped,
1 medium size onion finely chopped,
1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder,
1/4 tsp red chilli powder,
a pinch garam masala powder(Optional),
1 tsp lime juice,
2 tsp of corn flour,
2 eggs beaten,
half cup bread crumbs,
1/2 cup coriander leaves chopped,
salt as per taste,
oils to fry .(preferably vegetable oil).

Method:::
1. First wash and clean the fish pieces and boil with 1/4 tsp of salt and turmeric powder for 7-8 min. Now smash the fish pieces when little warm taking out all the bones from them. Keep aside.
2. Boil the potatoes with water putting a little salt on stove top or in microwave for 8-9 minutes.
3.When done, smash potatoes with fish pieces again nicely and smoothly.
4. Take a skillet / kadai, heat 1 tsp oil and add ginger-garlic paste,chopped onions and chopped green chillies and saute for some time.Now add potatoes and fish mixture and then mix nicely.Now sprinkle roasted cumin powder,red chilli powder,turmeric powder and garam masala powder. Saute everything nicely.
5. Adjust salt and spices and then when done ,take off from flame and let it cool.
6. Add lime juice and coriander leaves and corn flour to the mixture and knead smooth. Now make balls from that mixture and dip in beaten eggs mixed with salt and little red chilli powder(if you need more spicy) and roll them on bread crumbs one by one and Keep aside for some time.
7. Deep fry them on medium flame and keep on paper napkin to absorb extra oil. Serve hot with tomato or coriander chutney or tomato ketchup and salads.
Make sure there is no water / steam left into the mixture then while frying it will break . Here I lightly fried the fish pieces after marinating with turmeric powder and salt instead of boiling. I used corn flour to absorb extra water from the mixture. Some people use roasted peanuts and tomatoes too.

Kebab/Kabab recipes :::

Kebab,as everybody knows, is a meat dish where minced or small cubes of meats or chickens are marinated with different spices and then wrapped on a skewer and finally grilled or broiled.You can use different vegetables also and sometimes,kebabs or kebabs are deep fried too. Here's I have shared some of Kebab preparation which I have learn from my friends and some of the websites.

Mutton Sheek Kebab ::::

Mutton Sheek or sheesh kebab is a preparation where keema or mince goat meat mixed with different spices and wrapped on a sheek or skewer and then grilled on oven.This goes well as starters or snacks.After going through vah re vah chef's recipe and the recipe given by Kaushik , I have prepared this dish.

Ingredients:::
1 lb or 1 kg Goat / Lamb keema(minced)
1 big onion sliced,
1' inch chopped ginger,
4-5 nos. green chillies chopped,
2 cloves garlic chopped,
fresh coriander leaves chopped,
1 1/2 tsp garam masala powder,
1 tsp coriander powder,
1 tsp red chilly powder,
1/4 roasted cumin powder (optional),
half cup lemon juice,
1 tsp chaat masala (available at Indian grocery),
1 tsp oil,
salt as per taste.

Method::
1. First heat 1/2 tsp of oil in skillet and fry the sliced onion until rawness gone.Keep aside.
2. Wash and keep keema / minced meat on a colander to take off extra water.and spread on a paper napkin.
3. Now take a big bowl(preferably salad mixing bowl),mix all the ingredients and knead them very well using half spoon of oil. Be careful it should not be watery as that will break while grilling or baking the kebabs.Keep the mixture aside.
4. Make balls from that mixture and then take little water on your palm and wrap these balls on a skewer to give nice kebab shape up to 4-5 inch length.
5. Now preheat oven at 400'F and then place the skewer on a baking tray and keep inside the oven for 10mins at 300'F. Then brush or sprinkle rest of oil on kebabs and turn the skewer and keep for another 10-15mins.
6. Now take out and serve hot sprinkling lime juice and chaat masala with salads.

Here kneading all the ingredients is very important or kebabs wont come smooth and juicy.I used mixer to mix all the ingredients and then knead them well. Again I must say check the spice level and your oven temperature as it varies .So first time keep an eye while baking to avoid burning and tough dry kebabs.

Mushroom recipes...

2010-03-30T19:53:00.000-05:00

Mushrooms are nowadays very popular all over the World and more than thousands types of mushrooms are available all over the World. Mushrooms are low calorie foods and very good in taste and rich with calcium and riboflavin and good dish for vegetarian too. Recently I have started preparing mushroom dishes as this is my husbands favorite too. I will share with you some of mushroom preparations here which I have learned from my friends and other websites.

Mushroom Masala ::::

This is my first mushroom preparation. I always prefer to be confident before preparing any dish and that day we have vegetarian guests and I had very few vegetables at home.So I decided to cook mushrooms and used the process which I used to make mutton fry long time ago following Sanjay Thumma's recipe. The preparation is little spicy yet nice in flavor and taste and goes will with any fried rice preparations or simply with chapati or roti.

Ingredients :::
10 medium size white mushrooms,sliced
1 big onion,finely chopped,
1 medium size tomatoes,finely chopped,
1/2 tbsp turmeric powder,
2 nos. big green cardamon,
3 nos. cloves,
1 inch cinnamon,
1 no.bay leaf,
1/6 tbsp cumin seeds,
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste,
7-8 nos. curry leaves,
3-4 nos. green chillies, finely chopped,
salt to taste,
oil to fry.

For Tempering :::
3-4 nos. garlic cloves,
1/2 tbsp cumin seeds,
10 nos. peppercorns,
1/2 tbsp coriander powder and red chilli powder each,
a little cumin powder(optional),
one small cube of butter / any vegetable or olive oil.

Method:::
1. Wash and cut mushrooms. Crush all the whole spices a little and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan, add all the crushed whole spices and saute for half minute.
3. Add chopped onions and sprinkle a little salt so onion gets cooked nicely. Now add turmeric powder and ginger-garlic paste and saute nicely for 2 mins.
4. Add curry leaves and chopped green chillies and saute for another 2 mins. Now add chopped tomatoes and mix nicely and let it cook for sometime.
5. When tomatoes are half-done, then add sliced mushrooms and saute for 3-4 mins uncovered. Now sprinkle water and then let it cook covering the pan for 10 mins or untill done.
6. In the mean time, make a coarse paste of garlic,cumin seeds and peppercorns.
7. Now take another pan, heat butter and saute garlic mixture until nice aroma comes out. Add coriander powder,cumin powder and red chilli powder and mix thoroughly.
8 . Now add cooked mushrooms and mix nicely and adjust salt now and let it cook for sometime or until water evaporates. Serve hot and you can garnish with curry leaves and coriander leaves.
You can use any variety of mushrooms here and curry leaves and whole spices are optional. Instead of that, you can sprinkle a little bit of garam masala later before serving.

Daal recipes..

2010-02-20T23:51:00.003-06:00

Daal is a very common side dish for any Indian vegetarian meal because it provides necessary proteins for the balanced diet. It is a preparation of Pulses/Dried Beans which has been taken off their skins and then split(you get whole Dal also). In my family, Daal is always as part of main meals and I have to prepare different types of Daal .Here's some of the recipes i have shared and more to come..

Tomato Sambar ::::

Sambar or sambhar or sambaaru is basically vegetable stew with pigeon peas and tamarind and this is originated from Tamil Nadu only but very popular and main dish in Southern parts of India and nowadays all over India and abroad, people love to have with idli, dosa or with rice also. This is one of complete dish with rice and great combination with idli and dosa. Every house has it own way of preparing according to their taste and environment. But here I am sharing what I had in my in-laws house and now I prepare pretty often at my home.

Ingredients:::

1 1/2 cup toor or arhar daal / pigeon pea lentils,

1/2 tsp turmeric powder,

one small onion, finely chopped,
one small tomato finely chopped,
2-3 green chillies, slitted lengthwise,
1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
one small size tamarind ball,
1 tsp red chilli powder,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder,
1 tsp sambar masala powder,
salt to taste,
1 tsp oil and
fresh coriander leaves for garnishing

For seasoning :::
1/4 tsp mustard seeds,
1/5 tsp chana daal / split chick peas,
1/5 tsp urad daal / black gram lentils,
2 whole dry red chillies,
a few fresh curry leaves,
1/5 tsp of asafoetida or hing.

Method:::
1. Soak tamarind in warm water for 30-45mins and then smash tamarind ball with hand or a spatula unless thick pulp comes out of it. Then sieve the tamarind water through a strainer. If needed add some more warm water and then keep aside.
2. Wash daal properly and then add half of turmeric and little bit of oil to the daal and cook until done or if you are using pressure cooker then wait for three whistles and then let it cool down.
3. Heat rest of oil in a pan or kadai, add mustard seeds and when it starts spluttering then add rest of the ingredients mentioned under seasoning. Saute a little everything and then add chopped onions and ginger-garlic paste. Fry for a minute.
4. Add chopped tomatoes and then sprinkle turmeric powder, red chilli powder, sambar powder and salt. Saute for some time and then add tamarind water and cover the pan with a tight lid to cook until oil separates.
5. Once done, open the pressure cooker and smash cooked daal with a blender or spatula to make smoother adding half cup of water and then add to the pan and adjust salt here. If you want to make little more thinner then add another cup of warm water and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes. Add chopped fresh coriander leaves for garnishing.
You can add vegetables to this sambar like carrots, radish, pearl onions, bottle guard and ladies finger. You can add diced vegetables except ladies finger while cooking daal and then add to the pan before pouring daal and fry with spices a little. I generally use home made sambar masala which you can find in chutney and condiments section but you can good store brought sambar masala too. If you want hotel style sambar then add 1/3 cup of grated coconut while frying onion and ginger-garlic paste.

Chholar or Chana Daal :::

This daal is my son's most favorite daal.Last year when I was at my mom's place after my dad's sudden death, mom used to prepare more often chholar daal and my son is so much fond of this daal I have to prepare weekly once or twice upon his request and he named it dida's (grandma's ) daal. Here's I have shared with you mom's recipe.

Ingredients :::

one cup of chholar or chana daal,

1/4 tsp turmeric powder,

1/2 tsp dry roasted cumin powder,

1/4 tsp cumin seeds,

5-6 nos. green chillies, slit lengthwise,

1 bay leaf,

a pinch of sugar,

salt to taste,

half cup of scrapped coconut,

1 or 2 small green cardamon, smashed

1/2 tsp of grated ginger or paste,

2 tsp oil,

half cup of chopped fresh coriander leaves.

Method :::

1. Wash and soak daal for at least 2 hours and then cook in a pan or pressure cook with salt,sugar and turmeric powder and little oil up to three whistles or half an hour. Make it cool if doing in pressure cooker and then smash slightly and keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a wok or pan, add bay leaf, cumin seeds and when seeds starts to crackle, add grated ginger and green chillies and saute for a min.

3. Add scrapped coconut and then fry for a 2 mins nicely and then add cooked daal and half cup of water and mix thoroughly and let it boil. You can add another half cup of water to adjust the thickness of daal.

4. Sprinkle roasted cumin powder and chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with chapati or roti or with plain steamed rice.

You can mix cumin power with light warm water and then add to the pan while frying coconut if you don't have roasted cumin powder and you can add chopped onion and tomato too.

Dhansaak..a vegetarian delight :::

I was really thinking to prepare something new yet simple as some of our vegetarian friends were coming for dinner. Believe me or not ,I feel cooking veggie dishes are tough than non-veg. I was surfing the net and then I found a nice blog, SAFFRONTRAIL and there I saw this dish and decided to give a try.

Parsi people use lots of meats and eggs in their daily meal. Dhansaak ,one of their hot favorites,is combination of lentils,vegetables and meat in spicy curry but here I replaced meat with vegetables and came awesome ,goes very well with brown rice and Indian breads ,roti,paratha too.

Ingredients::

1/4 cup of moong daal or split green gram,
1/4 cup of m asoor daal or red lentils,
1/4 cup of toor daal or yellow pigeon peas,
5-6 big pieces of red/orange pumpkin(peeled and cleaned),
1 big onion,coarsely chopped,
1 medium tomato,chopped finely,
1 bunch of fenugreek / methi leaves,cleaned and chopped,
salt as per taste,
a pinch of sugar,
4-5 tsp of oil,

For spices::
4 cloves garlic
1" piece fresh ginger
5-7 nos. red chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1" cinnamon stick
2 green cardamoms
4 pepper corns

Method::
1.Wash and clean all the daals together and soak for 15 mins.
2.Pressure cook daals with pumpkins up to 2-4 whistles and keep aside and let it cool.
3.Now take a skillet / kadai, dry roast all the spices except ginger-garlic until nice aroma comes out.
out.Try to do the process on low flame.
4.Make it cool and make a fine paste with ginger and garlic using water.Keep aside.
5.Now heat oil in the same skillet,sprinkle a pinch of sugar and add sliced onions and fry for 2-3 mins or until onion changes its color.
6.Add the masala paste and mix thoroughly and let it fry for 3 mins.
7.Now add chopped tomatoes and fenugreek leaves.Stir nicely to mix everything and let it cook for 5-6 mins until tomatoes are soft and cooked.
8.In between,mash daal with hand or you can use blender. Add little salt as per your taste.
9.Pour mashed daal in skillet and slowly mix all together and add 1/4 cup of water if daal is thick and then let it cook on very low flame for 5 mins.Serve hot.

You can adjust the spices according to your taste and if tomatoes are not so sour,you can use lemon juice or tamarind pulp.I used more fenugreek leaves and less tomatoes,that's why the color is greenish.To get the original color ,Orange red, use one or two more tomatoes. Dhansaak is good when eating fresh with hot rice but taste comes out better when you are having after two days.I like to have with chapathi or phulka after two days.

Aam Daal :::

In hot summer days raw mango dal or lentil soup with plain steamed rice is usually prepared in India. In my place, only early summer we can see small green tangy mangoes and my mom prepares nice dal with that. I used to sit near her eagerly to get one or two pieces and then eating with pinch of salt ,Oh heavenly.
But here in USA, we get green mangoes in Indian stores all year along. This is mom's recipe here I m sharing with everybody.

Ingredients :::
1 cup moong dal / split green gram , 6-7 small green mangoes or 1 large green raw mangoes,(peeled and diced) 2 dry whole red chillies, 4-5 green chili cut lengthwise, 1/4 tsp mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp ginger paste, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, coriander leaves for garnishing, a pinch of roasted cumin powder, salt as per taste,
oil.

Method:::
1. Heat a deep bottomed pan or sauce pan,dry roast moong dal until nice aroma comes out.
2. Now wash nicely with cold water and then keep the dal for cooking with salt. When starts boiling, take half of the water from dal and then add turmeric powder, diced mangoes and green chillies.Let it cooked until dals almost mixed with water. 3. Once dal completely cooked, take out boiled mango pieces and then mash with a spatula or you can blend for smoothness. 4. Now take a skillet, heat oil and then add mustard seeds .Once mustard seeds starts splutter,add ginger paste and dry whole red chilli and saute for half a minute. 5. Add boiled mangoes and mashed dal and let it boil and then if it is too thick add one glass of water and adjust the salt.Garnish with coriander leaves and sprinkle roasted cumin powder.

You can add diced mango pieces on skillet while seasoning and then add the mashed dal.Like this if you need less spicy ,add green chillies directly on skillet while frying mustard seeds and red chilli. I generally don't add sugar,but if you taste little bitterness in dal then sprinkle little sugar on it.Or you can caramelize the oil adding sugar while heating oil.

Moong Dal with cauliflower and peas::::

A very common Bengali dish..i first had in one Bengali occasion here in USA.After having this yummy Dal i asked for the recipes to one of my near and dear ones,Mayadidi and i tried many times at home.You can try with other vegetables too and make it little more rich in taste with spices .Good for vegetarian meals with hot steaming rice and potato chips.

Ingredients::

2 cup Moong Dal(easily available in Indian store),
7-8 medium size cauliflower florets,
1 cup frozen/fresh peas,
6-7 green chillies cut lengthwise/chopped,

1/2 tsp turmeric powder,
1/4tsp paNch foron/cumin seeds,
1 bay leaf,
1 whole red chilly,
1/2 tsp ginger paste,
1/2 roasted cumin powder,
salt as per taste,
oil.

Method::

1.Heat a frying pan,add 3 drops of oil and fry continously Moong dal until nice aroma comes. Wash well and clean Dal in running water.Put Dal and little salt with 5-6 cups of water in a saucepan.Let it boil.You can roast Dal also.
2.Once Dal starts boiling,take out half of the water and add turmeric powder and mix lightly and let it boil again.
3.Once dal is cooked, mash well with a flat spoon or spatula nicely.Or you can blend the dal too.Keep aside.
4.Now take a pan,heat oil.Add Panch Foron/cumin seeds,bay leaf,whole red chilly and fry for a min.
5.Add ginger paste ,green chillies and fry for 2 mins and then add cauliflower florets and peas.fry for 4-5mins or untill cauliflower become light red in color.
6.Now add the cooked dal and mix thoroughly and let it boil.Sprinkle roasted cumin powder.Stir.
7.Once boiling starts,take it off from flame and garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves.
Panch foron is the spice blend typically consisting of five whole spices in equal measure and it very commonly used in most of the Bengali and Assamese dishes.It consists of fenugreek seeds,Nigella seeds(kalonji),radhuni(can be replaced by celery seed),fennel seed and cumin seeds.You can get it in any Indian grocery shop.

Fried Moong Dal with Bottleguard :::

Another commonly prepared Dal in Eastern parts of India and Bangladesh.Very good and well balanced food which goes well with hot plain rice and roti.My mom prepares this dal a lot.

Ingredients::
3 cup Moong Dal(easily available in Indian store),
1 small size bottle gourd ,peeled & diced,

6-7 green chillies cut lengthwise/chopped,

1/2 tsp turmeric powder,
1/4tsp black cumin seeds/kalongi seeds,
1 whole red chilly,
1/2 tsp ginger paste/finely chopped,
1/2 roasted cumin powder,
coriander leaves for garnishing,

salt as per taste,
oil.

Method:::
1.Dry roast Moong Dal and wash in running water.
2.In a saucepan,add sufficient water and moong dal and salt & turmeric powder and let it cook.
3. Once done,smash with a flat spatula or you can blend also in a mixie/blender.
4.Now heat oil in a pan,add cumin seeds and dry red chilly.
5.When cumin seeds splutter ,add green chillis and gingerchopped/paste. Fry for half a min.
6.Now add diced bottle gourd and fry until raw smell goes off.
7.Add cooked daal ,let it boil for 3-4 mins.
8.While it starts boiling, sprinkle roasted cumin powder and adjust salt.
9.Once bottle gourd cooked,garnish with coriander leaves and Serve hot.

Alternately,when Dal is half-boiled,add diced bottle gourd and let it cook with dal only.Smash dal once cooked with a flat spatula carefully to keep intact bottle gourd pieces.

Palak Daal ::::

One of the main dishes which i prepare almost every week whenever palak/spinach are there in my refrigerator. My son just loves to eat with Roti or Rice.This is my mother-in-law's recipe but my husband translated to me when i was newly married as i could not understand her language.

Ingredients:
2 cups of Arhal/Toor/Tuvar/Kandi Pappu(easily available in Indian store),
2 cups of washed chopped spinach,
1 small onion chopped,
3-4 green chilli cut lengthwise,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder,
1/5 tsp mustard seeds,
1-2 broken red chilli,
a pinch of hing/asafoetida,
1/2 tsp of red chilli powder n coriander powder ,
1/4 tsp ginger paste,
6-7 tsp oil,
salt as per taste,
a pinch of sugar.

Method:::
1.Wash arhar dal.Take a pressure cooker,put Dal with 2 1/2 cup of water,little oil and 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder.
2.Let it cook until 2-3 whistles.It depends what type of pressure cooker you are using.it takes 15-20mins to cook.
3. Now let it simmer for some minutes and then switch off the gas/heater.When the pressure is off,open the lid and smash the cooked dal with a flat spatula and you can blend it to a smooth paste.
4.Now,take a pan and heat oil.Add a pinch of sugar to avoid the bitterness of spinach.
5.Add mustard seeds,whole red chilli, asafoetida/hing.
6.When mustard seeds splutter,add onions and fry nicely for half min.
7.Add green chillies,ginger paste and little bit of salt to cook onions.
8.When onions turns light brown ,add chopped spinach leaves ,red chilli powder and coriander powder and cover the pan to fry for 3-4 mins or until it gets cooked.
9.now pour the smashed Dal and add salt. simmer to cook for 5 mins.When done,serve hot with plain hot rice,roti or porota.
I always suggest to use salt and spices how much you want.i always love little spicy but if you don't then use less green chili and no red chili powder.

Egg recipes...

2009-10-27T22:55:00.003-05:00

Eggs are considered a good source of protein and choline.Because of this, the egg falls in the Meats category under the Food Guide Pyramid.We say in India that eggs are bachelor's food as they are easy to make and takes less time too.Here's some recipe i want to share with you which I try at home for my son and husband as they just love to eat egg dishes.

Egg curry in coriander and mint gravy:::

I wanted to prepare some other dish but somehow I was not comfortable with the recipe I tried this one and really came good with hot plain rice and lentils soup.

Ingredients:::
4-5 nos.boiled eggs ,
1 medium onions,coarsely chopped,
4-5 green chillies,
half cup of coriander leaves,
6-7 nos.mint leaves,
1/2'" ginger,
2 garlic cloves,
1/2 turmeric powder,
salt to taste ,
oil to fry.

Method::
1. First heat oil in a kadai/wok, sprinkle turmeric powder and fry the boiled eggs. Keep aside.
2. Now half of the onion,ginger,garlic,green chillies,coriander leaves and mint leaves and little salt and make a smooth paste .keep aside.
3. Add little more oil in the same kadai ,add chopped onions and saute for some time until it becomes transparent.
4. Now mix the paste with one cup of hot water and then pour to the kadai. Cover the kadai and let it cook for 10 mins on slow flame. When oil starts separating, place slowly the fried eggs and then simmer for another 5-6mins.
5.When done, serve hot garnishing with slitted green chillies and coriander leaves.