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Mango Mango and Rain Rain Once Again....

2014-05-27T02:04:00.002-04:00

Kolkata was burning hot due to heat spell for last 2 months continuously and only good news I have is my mother's mango tree is expecting lots of mangoes this time. This time hardly I have seen mangoes anywhere let alone mom's good old tree which my father carefully cultivated using hybrid of two famous variety of mango trees namely Himsaagar and Langra. These two mangoes are native/cultivated in West Bengal and we Bengali proudly consume them voraciously during these season. They are just sweethearts and in my opinion no other mango in this whole wide world come close to their taste ..so sweet, still right amount of firmness, fabulous aroma and texture, no one can beat them. Our home grown mangoes are juicy when ripen though they may appear as green raw mango from outside. So it is tricky to decide when to eat the fruit and needed careful examination before eating.

Now that the temperature has gone down atleast 10 degrees here due to the blessing of rain God..we are enjoying our mangoes with cool weather. Let me know what kind of mango do you like and if you have any sweet memory with mangoes….

Let me finish the king of all fruits .... will see you soon...enjoy your mangoes.

Photo Credit: Shubhadip Ghosh

Summer Salad: Day 2: Asian Grilled Chicken with Creamy Chili Mayo Dressing

2014-05-22T06:06:00.001-04:00

Now that we are going through extreme weather condition in this part of the world...we have opted out for some salad now and then. Nothing seems to be right when weather is so hot and humid as it is in Kolkata, India this year. I have grown to admire light food, bitter vegetable, raw mango, yogurt and salad now a days. This keeps me going. So here is my recipe for hearty grilled Chicken Salad with full flavor mayo dressing.

I have a habit of not measuring my ingredients and so the recipe varies everyday. This brings out the unpredictability of the dish, so anyone who loves to stick to rule book will have problem with this recipe. But hey, I love this way and so I am sharing the joy of just adding an ingredient to the recipe as you go...total freedom. Well isn't that amazing? Best way to build up a creamy dressing for your salad is to choose the right base..which is mayonnaise in this case. Buy a good quality one as you find in your neighborhood. I like my food little bit on hotter side..well I am born in hot climate you know...what can I do. So if you are not for that much of heat you can omit chili and go for rest of the stuff, it will still come out good. But chili adds certain oomph factor in the dish and certainly it increase your food intake.

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Ingredients:

Spinach
Tomato
Sweet corn
Green bell pepper
Cucumber
Cashew nuts/ any type of nuts for crunchiness
Chicken pieces

Chili Mayo Dressing :

Mayonnaise
Chili flakes
Salt
Italian seasoning
Onion chopped
Green chili chopped
Vinegar
Sugar
Black pepper

Marinade for Chicken:

Soy sauce
Tomato ketchup
Salt
Vinegar
Chili powder
Chili flakes
Cumin powder
Onion chopped
Garlic chopped
Black Pepper

To Assemble the Salad:

Marinade the chicken with the ingredients listed above for 1-2 hours. I have not mentioned the exact portion of each condiments as I normally don't measure up. You can start by adding them as per your choice and experiment. I have grilled the chicken in a oven on highest temperature for 20 mins with the liquid ...in this way the chicken is not dry and is still moist when you eat. Each and every oven is unique, so it is difficult to say how much time exactly needed for the chicken pieces to be done. I have used medium sized chicken pieces with bone.

Blend all the ingredients listed under dressing and keep it refrigerated until you are ready to use.

Wash and dry spinach thoroughly, cut round cucumber slices after peeling the skin, Wash and microwave sweet corn for 1 minute. I have used prepackaged corn which is faster to steam and fresh to eat if microwave it with little water. Any kind of nuts can be used for this salad...currently I have one bag of salted & roasted cashew nuts that I bought from Goa. So most of the time you will see me using these babies.

Arrange the vegetables, cut the chicken pieces and remove any bones and mix creamy chili mayo dressing with chicken and vegetables. Serve immediate. Enjoy!!

Photo Courtesy : Shubhadip Ghosh ( who eats all my experimental and not so experimental food)

Summer Salad : Day 1

2014-05-20T12:59:00.000-04:00

Summer salad: Spinach green with apple, roasted cashew nuts, fried sunny side up egg and vinaigrette

Ingredients: Spinach/ or any other green you like to have
Apple slice
Roasted cashew nuts/ walnut chopped coarsely
Vinaigrette ( Recipe follows)
Fried egg/ Poached egg

Vinaigrette preparation: This is one of the easy preparation for basic Vinaigrette which is nothing but emulsion of Olive oil and Vinegar. I have used chopped onion, chopped chili, salt, sugar & pepper and added olive oil and white wine vinegar into this slowly and stirred until everything is combined nicely.

Just before serving, assemble spinach in the bowl, topped with roasted nuts and thinly sliced apple. Fry the egg sunny side up and remove from heat when yolk is about to set. Place egg on top of salad and drizzle vinaigrette and Parmesan cheese for extra flavor. Voila.

Fish Korma and....a new start!!

2014-05-06T06:35:00.000-04:00

After a long long time I am back again .... so much time has passed and we have a lazy dog in our household now...I figured I am not being able to remember my own creation after all...need to keep some diary for my everyday dishes and some one of a kind, experimental one...so what is better than writing blog again....I know some of you have liked my blog previously and wrote to me ....hope you will usher your love and read my journal again and share your thoughts...

Until next time please enjoy Fish Korma...recipe coming soon....

Bong Connection.....Shingara

2009-04-01T14:24:00.010-04:00

I am feeling blessed at the moment for the food I am consuming at home and outside (the street food I mean…yummy, mouthwatering, nerve tickling, unhygienic but equally can’t-ignore type of stuff). Being in West Bengal brings joyful memories of evening tea outside my house, milk is boiling over and over with CTC (cut- turn- cut)tea in almost never-washed pot, people gathered around the jhupri stall taking a sip from small earthen pot, lovingly called “Matir Bhar”. And the stall for frittatas (Chop stall/ or stall for Bengali fast food) is one of favorite hangout spot for me, where I relish every kind of frittatas available with puffed rice, green chillies and black salt. This is the place you will hear all the town gossips, while you munch on the tasty bites. Once in a while I indulge in healthy drink like fresh coconut water and if I am lucky, I will get tender, sweet, and milky kernel of coconut, melting in my mouth.

But this time I am staying in a different place rather than my ever-known planned town Kalyani, which has abandoned the idea of plastic and trying to be a model town in India. This place where I am living now or you can say choking my breath is a bustling and overly inhabited with human species , part of North Calcutta with lots of markets and street foods. The daily fish market near the house is busy from the dawn – Bengalis are serious creature on the subject of fish, and proud to show their knowledge on fresh catch of the day. I am enjoying the seasonal vegetable market too; veggies here are not as big or beautiful as available in USA but taste great. Varieties are the name of the game & this place offers different shape and size of goodies. Most of the time I wander around this city with narrow roads and buildings are too close to each other, drains are open and children are playing cricket, people are speaking my language and all of this makes me feel at home. This place is not as comfortable or planned as my current home in USA, but coming to Calcutta has a strange feeling and I love that when the flight touches Shubhash Chandra Bose International Airport.

Today you will have quintessential Bengali snack….Shingara (Famous cousin is Samosa/ Stuffed savory snack). This is vegetarian version, but you can fill it with anything you like to eat. This versatile snack is number one seller in the sweet shops around West Bengal and one of the favorite evening snacks with hot tea. Traditionally made with potatoes and peas but I have tried the recipe from a famous Bengali Magazine, though altered few things according to the availability in my pantry. So why wait, grab your plate and let’s have some Shingara.

Channa er Shingara (Cottage cheese stuffed Indian Pastry)

Ingredients:

For Stuffing: Channa (cottage cheese) 1 cup
Boiled potato 1 cup
Salt & sugar as per taste
Cumin seeds a pinch
Turmeric powder ½ teaspoon
Ginger 1 teaspoon (finely chopped)
Green chillies 1teaspoon
Garam masala 1 teaspoon
Bay leave 1
For wrap: Maida/ All purpose flour 4 cup
Salt as per taste
Baking powder –pinch
Vegetable oil 1 cupMethod:

1. Make fine paste of cottage cheese and add salt, chopped ginger& turmeric. Mix well. Add mashed potato and mix again.
2. Heat 1tablespoon of oil in a kadai or frying pan, temper with bay leave & cumin seeds. When the spices starts to release aroma add chopped green chilles, potato & cottage cheese mix.
3. Fry for few mins and add garam masala and fry for 1 more min. Keep aside and let it come to room temperature.
For Shingara Wrapper:
1. Mix flour with salt, oil and baking powder together. Add warm water in the mixture and kneed well for 5-6 mins or kneed until the dough is smooth and tight. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and then with a lid and leave it for 15-30 mins.
2. After 15 mins of resting, knead the dough for 1-2 mins again. Divide the dough in 6 equal parts and make small ball of each. Roll the ball in circle of 4 inches of diameter and cut from the middle with sharp knife. Make funnel using each half circle. Stuff the funnel with potato-cottage cheese stuffing, and cover the open side of funnel using little amount of water/ oil.
3. Fry the shingara in hot oil. Don not fry in high heat, which makes the outer portion brown and inner is not cooked well.
4. Serve hot with tomato sauce or homemade chutney. Enjoy with evening tea.

Achari Gosht (Pickling Mutton/Lamb with Green Chillies)

2009-03-21T14:02:00.007-04:00

Achari Gosht

Ingredients:
Mutton/ Lamb small pieces with bone 1 ½ lb
Green chillies (whole) 5-6
Ginger paste 1 tablespoon
Garlic 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder ½ teaspoon
Yogurt 1 ½ cups
Onion 1 large (finely chopped)
Lime/ Vinegar 2 tablespoon
Panchphoron (fenugreek, fennel, cumin, kalonji, mustard seeds) 1 tablespoon
Amchur powder ½ teaspoon
Shaan achari gosht masala 1/ 2 packet (Use less if you prefer mild flavor)
Mustard Oil for frying 5/6 tablespoon (approx)

Method:

1. Make slit lengthwise of green chillies. Mix Shaan Achaar Gosht masala, lime, amchur powder and fill the chillies with this mix.

2. Marinade the meat with lime juices, little amount of salt & red chilli powder.

3. Roast panchphoron spice/ fenugreek, fennel, cumin, kalonji & mustard seeds and grind coarsely.

4. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan and add red chilli and garlic. When the garlic starts to change color, add chopped onion, meat, Shaan masala, yogurt, ginger paste. Cook on low flame with lid closed. Stir occasionally

and add little amount of water as needed.

5. When the meat is tender after cooking 1 ½ hrs- 2 hrs depending upon the type of meat, add green chillies filled with spices, roasted panchphoron spice. Cook for few more minutes. The oil will separate from the meat.

6. For preservation add vinegar instead of lime and can be eaten for 7 days if stored in airtight container in refrigerator.

I am sending this entry for Think Spices event hosted by Divya of Dil Se....

Street Photography-Phase1

2009-03-12T11:42:00.005-04:00

I am posting few photographs of interesting people I captured on the street of greater Calcutta (Particularly Sodepur). Hope you will enjoy them.

Visiting India...and some Garlic Paratha

2009-03-11T00:41:00.007-04:00

I was craving for crisp, fluffy paratha on these winter days of February when the sky was cloudy, and the snow was piling up in front of my house and my lousy but cute husband of tropical nature bragging about cleaning up the car and how he hates snow and would love to curl up in bed and sleep all day and night. Born in a Bengali household never helped me making stuffed paratha which my north Indian cousin would make with obvious flair. So I avoided kneading flour and was anxious about the right measurement of water & flour, which are the main ingredients for making soft but crisp from the outside paratha (Indian Flat bread) or roti. But gradually as I have tried making them it only got improved with practice and surely the force behind this success story was need. Being alone in USA made me realize that I just can’t ignore my gastronomical soul forever, thus I have started making parathas regularly and now my husband loves them as I do.

My longing for garlic paratha came on a chili night and surely the result was heavenly with warm soft paratha on my mouth, robust smell of garlic lingering in my senses, hot chillies kicking my head and crisp layer of paratha breaking between my tounge and teeth. My work is done …..now you run to your kitchen for this paratha to celebrate last few days of winter and warm up.

Garlic Paratha

Ingredients:
For Filling: Garlic 5-6 cloves (chopped)
Green Chilles 4-5 (chopped)
Coriander leaves (¼ cup chopped)
Amchur powder/ Mango powder ½ teaspoon (available from any Indian grocery)
Salt & lime as per taste

For dough: Maida/ Refined flour 2 cups (you can substitute with Atta or whole wheat flour)
Oil ½ teaspoon
Yogurt 1 teaspoon
Salt & warm water as required
Oil/ Ghee for frying.

Method:
Mix all ingredients for filling and set aside. Use very little amount of lime as we don’t want the filling to be soggy.

Mix flour with salt, oil and yogurt together. Add warm water in the mixture and kneed well for 5-6 mins or kneed until the dough is smooth and little soft. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and then with a lid and leave it for 15-30 mins. This process makes the most excellent paratha, soft, fluffy and yummy to eat.

After 15 mins of resting, knead the dough for 1-2 mins again. Divide the dough in 6 equal parts and make small ball of each. Make a circle or small cup out of the dough and take small porting of the filling inside the dough ball. Close the circle/ cup around the filling like an envelope. Between your palms rotate the dough again to make a ball.

Start rolling the dough ball using little amount of oil (if you are avoiding oil use flour for easy rolling). Start rolling from center to the edges and try not pressing too hard so that filling stays inside the paratha. Roll the dough into 6-7” circle.

Heat the tawa or flat griddle and place the paratha/ flat bread. Turn the paratha once it starts to change color and gets small blister from heat. Do the same with other side. Press the paratha lightly to make it fluffy and crisp on the outside but soft inside. At the end use little amount of ghee for extra taste or oil on the paratha and flip both side.

Set aside in a closed container until you consume or serve hot with vegetable and yogurt, salad, pickle.

P.S: Dear Readers, Take my apologies for not posting anything for few days. Well, I am visiting India at the moment and this journey came suddenly. As you might understand (at least people from my country), it is not easy getting Internet connection everywhere in India and even if you have one, it takes long time to upload any pictures or writing. But I am determined not to miss the fun of blogging so I am posting one of few pictures that I have taken just before I left USA. I am really thankful to your encouragement and the way you are supporting this blog from the very first day. So please visit my blog as many times as you wish and leave a message, it means lot for me.

The photos are taken by my hubby SG and me.

Orange-Lime Granita

2009-02-27T01:09:00.006-05:00

I think everyone has their favorite dessert recipe and mine is associated with citrus fruit. I used to spend lots of hours watching Food Network program on TV and my list of beloved chefs grew day by day. The inspiration of making my own punch for the cocktail parties came from one of this show. It was long time back that I developed this citrus fruit punch with slight kick of soda made me realized that this Valentine’s Day I would made granita from this extraordinary flavorful punch recipe. I love to watch the American-Italian chef Giada in Food Network show and vaguely remembered her making sorbet or granita. So I started without delay hoping that if it’s not successful as a dessert I will drink it up as punch.

It took me a while to decide which type of oranges to choose and in what quantity, but finely I committed to tangerines, naval oranges, grape fruit and some limes. I was little skeptical of the idea of spending too much time working around this recipe as it needs frequent scraping and lots of attention. As you have probably noticed, I am not a very measuring or time spending cook by nature, rather I will improvise my recipe. So it was indeed a challenge for me to make orange granita.

Granita(pronounced as grah-NEE-tah) is a close cousin of sorbet & Italian ice, though available in coarser form all over Italy. Mainly its semi frozen dessert made of fruits predominantly citrus and sugar syrup. This is can be prepared in Gelato machine or by scraping the frozen mixture manually time to time.

Orange-Lime Granita

Tangerines- 2
Naval oranges -2
Grape fruit - 1
Limes -2
Sugar – 1 ½ cups
Water – 1 cup
Limoncello liquor 1/ 4 cups

How to Make:

Combine water and sugar and bring to boil. Stir the mix constantly as long as the sugar doesn’t dissolve. Cool the simple syrup to room temperature.

Extract juice from oranges, grapefruit and limes. Combine them all together with limoncello liquor and simple syrup.

For extra texture I have used ½ of tangerine, chopped into smaller pieces and seeds removed. Try to remove the white membrane as much as possible. This is optional and can be omitted if you want to have smoother texture. Though at the end of the freezing, the small chunk of orange pieces taste like sweet hard candy into my granita.

Pour the mixture with the small chunks of oranges into a shallow or deep dish/pan and place inside the freezer.

Stir the mixture every 30-45 mins for at least 4 hrs. Depending on the scraping it will form the less or more coarser. Break up any large lumps and freeze until it is completely frozen.

Enjoy.

Hope I am not too late for the lovely FIC-Orange event hosted by Aparna of "My diverse Kitchen" blog.

...another Prawn Malaikari

2009-02-19T00:37:00.010-05:00

I am big enthusiast of Chingri Malaikari aka Prawn Curry in coconut milk, and who is not in Bengal? This majestic dish appears in all the special occasions, be it wedding ceremony, birthday, simple Bengali party… Bengali loves prawn to death.

In West Bengal, the morning in a nearby bazaar starts with lots of noises and freshly picked vegetables and fish from different corner of the state. We love to get our fish fresh everyday and cook and consumed them too at the same day. Using day old prawn was not an option in my household. Due to the high price in those days to buy large tiger prawn, we were rarely blessed with this tasty creature. But it always brings heavenly smell of coconut milk, mustard oil and prawn into my senses whenever I remember Sunday lunch with my family. Smoking hot white Rice with Dal (lentil soup), Begun bhaja(fried eggplant), Shukto (another Bengali delicacy), Potol er dalna( Pointed gourd curry) and Prawn Malaikari on hot summer days cooked lovingly by Mom was most enjoyable meal in my life.

I tried my mother’s Chingri Malaikari in USA with limited success because of the prawn I get here mostly. I use raw, deveined, shell removed, frozen middle sized prawn which is no match for Galda/ Bagda Chingri aka fresh tiger prawn from rivers& sea banks of Bengal . Though I can’t complain about the canned coconut milk we get here. It would take half of my day to grate the coconut, extract the milk from it and then use for this recipe. For authentic flavor I would recommend using fresh prawn with head & tail intact and coconut milk extracted from the coconut.

Chingri Macher Malaikari / Prawn Curry delicately flavored with Coconut Milk

Main Ingredient:
Prawn – 1 lb raw, de-veined, medium-large size

Spices:
Bay leaves/ Tejpata – 2
Red chilli pepper – 2 whole
Garam Masala for tempering – ½ teaspoon (coarsely grounded cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, black pepper)
Turmeric – 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
Salt & sugar as per taste

Side Ingredients:
Onion – 1 medium (chopped finely)
Garlic – 1 teaspoon finely chopped
Green chillies – 4/5 slit lengthwise
Poppy seeds paste – 2 table spoon (make the paste with little water)
Mustard paste – 1 ½ table spoon( Make the paste with salt & green chilli to get rid of its bitter taste, if still tastes bitter use a small sieve to strain the liquid)
Coconut milk – 2 table spoon
Yogurt – 1 tablespoon
Mustard oil – 2 tablespoon (this is highly recommended as the taste will totally change without mustard oil, but in case you don’t have access to mustard oil use vegetable oil)

Method:
If you are using freshly caught whole prawn then de-vein and wash thoroughly. I have used raw prewashed and deveined medium size prawn for this dish. Feel free to use whatever is available or favorite for you. For me I still like the fresh Galda chingri(type of prawn in Bengal) bought from farmer’s market/ bazaar, still moving their claws.

Marinade the prawn with pinch of turmeric, salt and sugar. Sometimes I add little amount of lime juice.

Heat oil in kadai/ deep frying pan and add whole red chillies, bay leaves and lightly grounded garam masala. Add chopped garlic. When the garlic starts to change its color to golden brown add chopped onion. Add turmeric and red chilli powder.

When the onion starts to get translucent add marinade prawn to the heat. Prawn is very sensitive ingredient and overdoing it leads to gummy like taste. So when it turns to orange yellowish color add poppy seeds & mustard paste.

The prawn gets cooked within 5 mins and turn to orange yellowish color.

Add salt and sugar to the curry and coconut milk. If needed add little amount of water. This recipe is neither very dry nor soupy consistency. Cook for 5 more mins. Beat the yogurt and add to the curry.

For rustic flavor add green chillies at the end which gives a nice aroma. Enjoy with white rice preferably Basmati rice.

Valentines day love for my Mom

2009-02-14T10:42:00.002-05:00

Praying to God for your speedy recovery and sending love from Our hearts.

SB & SG

Bhindi Bhaja / Fried Okra with Turmeric

2009-02-13T00:44:00.007-05:00

Lady’s Finger, Okra, Bhindi, Dharash whatever name we call, it is one of the versatile and widely eaten and loved vegetable in the world. Originated from West Africa it has routed into almost all regional cuisine. Southern part of America love their fried okra, Persian makes okra stew and like to add okra in their meat dishes, North Indian makes okra with onion or spicy stuffed okra, Louisiana people add okra to gumbo and South Indian makes okra with gravy and so on.

Today I am making one of the easiest recipe I know of okra and lovingly eaten in my home. In fact I just had it today night and thought why not share it. No measurement is needed. Use as much of okra you want to use. I used more the ½ lb of it. Make sure you wash and dry the okra before you start to cook. It is one of the tricks to make okra crispy while frying. You can use any kind of oil but I prefer to use mustard oil. Fry okra in oil and add pinch of turmeric and 1 teaspoon of red chilli powder and cook until tender but crispy. Another important point of cooking okra is to keep their colors…don’t make it brownish /pale green or anything other than green. You will not only loose the important vitamin & nutrition but also its vibrant green color which makes it so appetizing. Don’t forget to season with salt and serve hot and enjoy equally with rice, roti or paratha.

This recipe is considered staple in my household. I am not a measuring person so I toss whatever is available in front of me and seasonal at the moment. To get some variation in the recipe as we consume okra almost every other day, addition of julienned ginger, chopped onion or tomatoes, chat masala or amchur powder makes the dish more special.

Oh! I wanted to share this joke I stubled on Internet. Let me know your favorite okra recipe. Till then enjoy.

Knock Knock
Who's there !
Okra !
Okra who ?
Okra Winfrey !

Kasoori Methi Gobi/ Cauliflower with Fenugreek Leaves

2009-02-11T14:30:00.015-05:00

I love to make cauliflower as many ways as possible. Most of the time we prepare the way every Bengali household make “Phulkopi Aloo er Tarkari” aka Cauliflower Potato Curry. My mother never liked onion in her vegetables, probably because it was not consider as sattivk, probably she grew up in a conservative Hindu Brahmin family or maybe she disliked smell of onion. So I ended up eating cauliflower & other vegetables with freshly grated ginger, tomato & cumin paste. Devour of richly taste of onion, I decided to use them whenever I cooked alone. Hostel days were assorted with different types of cuisine, someone bringing Aloo paratha( stuffed Indian flat bread) with Chana masala (Chickpeas curry) or Rajma (kidney bean curry), sometimes Bagare baingan (Eggplant in rich gravy) with Hyderbadi biriyani or kesari bath ( semolina dessert) and many more. My house was far away in West Bengal and I am the one who occasionally (read rarely) brought Narkel naru( coconut ball prepared with winter jaggery) , Luchi (deep fried flat bread) and Aloo-er- dum (Bengali style pressure cooked potato in rich gravy)and Kasha mangsho (spicy mutton cooked without water) . Here I found my next best friend Cauliflower with Kasoori methi form one of my North Indian class mate.

Though the love affair of onion and kasoori methi started late but ended in a tasty journey. And they never failed to uplift my gastronomical soul. I have omitted garam masala (Indian fragrant spice mix) for this particular dish to make room for distinct flavor of kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves). This dish is so versatile that you can only replace cauliflower with chicken, potato, paneer or any other vegetable of your choice and follow the recipe and voila; you got another delicious North Indian style dinner.

Kasoori Methi Gobi ( Cauliflower cooked with Fenugreek Leaves)

Cauliflower 1 large (Medium sized florets)
Onion 1 large (Chopped)
Tomato – 2 small size (Cut in halved)
Ginger paste – 1teaspoon
Green Chillies – 4/5 (silted)
Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon
Whole Red Chillies - 3
Turmeric 1 tablespoon
Red Chili powder 1 ½ tablespoon (you can reduce depending on how much hot you want)
Kasoori Methi Leaves (dry fenugreek leaves) – 2 teaspoon (grounded)
Coriander leaves for garnish

How to Make:
Wash and dry cauliflower. Heat oil in a large sauteing pan or kadhai. Add Whole red chillies, cumin seeds. When the spices start sizzling add cauliflower florets.

After 5 mins of frying, add chopped onion, turmeric and red chilli powder to cauliflower. Fry on medium heat for another 6-7 mins with lid closed. Add ginger paste and tomato, seasoned with salt.

Usually I don’t add water for this recipe but if you feel the cauliflower is burning or the spices are sticking at the bottom of the pan sprinkle little water. When cauliflower is almost done add kasoori methi( ground fenugreek leaves) and cook for 2 mins.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves & green chillies. Savor the cauliflower curry with poori, roti, paratha or rice.

Facts of Kasoori Methi/ Fenugreek leaves:

Fenugreek is probably the earliest herb used by mankind for medicinal purpose. Fenugreek starts its journey as amber yellow colored seeds from which young, robust green plant emerges. The tender leaves are eaten as regular leafy vegetable in India and they are harvested when 3-4 leaved stage after which it became bitter in taste. The dried leaves are used as flavor inducer in Indian curry and have a pungent and spicy smell.

Fenugreek seeds have numerous valuable applications which include whole or ground seeds for preparing curry, pickle and tempering. Young sprouts are eaten as green salad & paste of seeds and yogurt makes excellent hair conditioner particularly for dandruff. The fenugreek seeds are given to breastfeeding mother to increase the milk production. Though it is not sure how but surely helps within 24-72 hours of taking this herb. In the treatment of diabetes, bronchitis, cough, respiratory problem fenugreek is used as herbal medicine.

(Information: Wiki & everyday use)

I always wanted to participated in JFI event initiated by Mahanandi, hosted this month by Paajaka . This recipe used cauliflower as main ingredient made me realized that I can certainly send this recipe for JFI- March 2009.

Its is a cauliflower season, so I am sending this recipe for Eating with the Season-February event hosted by Maninas.

Valentine’s Day Card

2009-02-08T02:23:00.002-05:00

Well, now you know my rambling area is Scrapbooking/ Cards making. Besides from cooking I am making cards and scrapbooks on and off. The days from my childhood, like any other kids in Bengal got winded up with music, painting and reciting. But I always liked painting and anything associated with it and that childhood love still flows in my heart like an undying river. Many years had passed without touching a brush or pencil, but one fine day I discovered magical & inviting world of scrapbooking in USA and it never stopped amusing me. As a kid I prepared Birthday cards for my friends and now I have started doing it again & loving every piece of it.
So this is my first greeting card posted for Valentine’s Day. Who doesn’t love glamorous Lady Bug? This is dedicated to all elegant ladies who are visiting my Blog. Enjoy.

5 Vegetables Stew with Lentil Dumpling

2009-02-07T23:21:00.005-05:00

Panchmeshali Tarkari aar Daler Bora (5 Vegetables Stew with Lentil Dumplings)

Vegetables:
Cauliflower – ½ medium size (Cut into medium florets)
Potato – 2 medium size (cut into 1 inch cube)
Pumpkin – 1 cup (same size as Potato)
Green Beans – 1 cup (cut into 1 ½ inch length)
Tomato – 2 medium size (cut into 4 parts each)

Spice & Others:
Turmeric – 1 tablespoon
Panchphoron/Mix of five spices (Fenugreek, Nigella, Mustard seeds, Fennel, Cumin) – 1 teaspoon
Salt & sugar as per taste
Ginger paste – 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder – ½ teaspoon
Green chillies – 3/4
Mustard Oil – 3 tablespoon

Optional Addition:
Daler Bora/ Lentil Dumpling
Coriander Leaves

How to Make:
Prepare Bengal gram fried dumpling (Daler Bora) using my previous post. You can omit this also but it certainly adds loads of flavor to this dish. I prefer to make dumplings previous day and use it in various other recipes. It is a classic Bengali touch to any vegetable dish.

Wash thoroughly all vegetables and cut them as described above. Heat oil in kadhai or a large frying pan and fry Cauliflower & Potato one after another. Remove them with slotted spoon & drain on paper towel.

Remove the frying oil and keep aside. Again heat 2 teaspoon of mustard oil in Kadhai and add Panchphoron. Add turmeric powder, ginger paste & red chilli powder as soon as whole spices start splattering.

After a min add cauliflower & potato. Add salt and sugar & cover with lid. Let them cook for 5 mins in medium heat. Add pumpkin, green beans and tomato to this and cook for another 7-10 mins.

Add 1 cup of water and when the water starts to boil add fried dumpling to this. Cook on high heat for 3-4 mins or until vegetables are done but not mushy & still can hold their shapes. Add green chillies & coriander leaves and serve them super hot with rice.

This is a staple food for every Bengali family and I grew up on it. This recipe calls for lots of vegetables and less amount of oil with lentil dumplings, not only a nutritious & wholesome dinner menu but tasty too. I am sending this recipe to this month's Monthly Mingle : Healthy Family Dinner of Meeta, hosted by Whats Cooking Blog. What can be more appropriate than to start New Year and my new Blog with healthy note.

Salmon Fry & week long Cleaning

2009-02-05T01:25:00.006-05:00

Of course the plan didn’t go as well as I had planned and hoped for. I was shifting to my new home and various other dependable factors worked against me. Being a newcomer to Blog world, I could not foresee my absence will be for so many days due to house shifting. In the process of packing and unpacking the “stuff”, invariably forgot which box is holding my pottery & kitchen essential. Did I mentioned, I was Internet less for few days? That is most frightening of all. And then came loads of humongous cleaning and sanitizing of the house and anything & everything that has traveled with me to new place. I am not a germ freak (at least I think so), but my Mom instilled few good rules of hygiene and I still stand by them. She was not very keen to fancy products but knew few homemade tricks, like cleaning with lime and vinegar or some time tamarind. Most of the Bengali family back in ‘80s would use narkeler chobra (coconut husk), coal ash & mati ( top soil) to clean their daily utensils and sometime leftover lime or tamarind. Sometime later detergent was introduced in household which are most of the cases scathing to hands and harmful to our already fragile ecosystem. I am trying to do whatever small ways I can contribute to the environment and started using vinegar for all of my cleaning recently. To my surprise, I am getting outstanding results and intend to use it more. Here is a list of efficient thing can be done with natural products that’s available in our kitchen. Hope you will write if you think you know some helpful use of kitchen products/grocery items for cleaning & sanitizing.

1. I use full strength white vinegar on kitchen towel to clean kitchen platform after heavy cooking. It takes away even taut grease from the surface.
2. To remove unpleasant odor from my kitchen & house I boil 2 parts of water with 1 part of white vinegar and leftover orange or lime peels.
3. To sanitize my pedicure kits, I use 1 part vinegar & 1 part soap water give them a good bath for 15 mins. Comes out clean as new.
4. Furniture gets new life, when I wipe them with lemon juice & olive oil.

I will keep on adding so check them on regularly.

Here is my frill free recipe for Fish fry aka Salmon fry for this week. Hardly cooked anything for myself & hubby last week. We were taking invitation for dinner from our lovely friends so far and enjoying it too. God bless them.

Broiled Salmon with pinch of Turmeric & Lime

Salmon ½ pound
Pinch of turmeric
Salt per taste
Lime 1
Mustard oil 2 tablespoon
Green chillies – 2 chopped
Ginger 1 teaspoon Julienne
Black peppercorn 1 teaspoon ground

How To Make:

Rub all the ingredients on salmon and marinade it for 10 mins.
Preheat the oven at 425 degree F. Cook the fish for 15 mins or as long as the golden orange color with browinsh bit is not achieved.

I like my fish to have a little crunchy bite on outside and juicy inside, so I broiled it for another 3-4 mins.
Serve with hot rice and daal or savor it as an appetizer.

Cholar Daler Bora

2009-01-20T23:40:00.005-05:00

Cholar Daler Bora ( Bengal Gram Dumplings)

Cholar Dal (Bengal Gram) 1 Cup
Green Chilli 3 finely chopped
Ginger 1 teaspoon (Julian)
Salt as per taste
Baking soda ½ teaspoon
Cilantro 1 tablespoon finely chopped
Oil for frying

How To Make:
Soak Bengal gram dal for overnight. In a food processor or mixer add Bengal gram dal, salt, chopped chillies, ginger, cilantro, baking soda and little bit of water. Coarsely mix all of them to a thicker consistency.

Heat oil in deep frying pan or kadhai. Use a spoon to release small amount of prepared Bengal gram mix on the hot oil. Mind the temperature of oil. It should not be very hot or less.

Fry the Bengal gram bora/dumpling until it is golden from outside. Remove with slotted spoon and serve hot with chutney. You can eat with hot rice and dal.

Frying some serious daler bora in my small deep frying pan.

I am sending this recipe for "My Legume Love Affair - Eighth Helping" hosted by Susan for month of February.

What's in your plate ?

2009-01-20T13:34:00.000-05:00

Are you looking for light little snack, that you can prepare in a whip?
I am a great snack person, but not believer in spending too much time in kitchen for that. Well, because I am hungry.
This is one of my favorite healthy, tasty cracker recipe. I used fire roasted tomato & olive oil triscuit, evenly spreaded with Laughing Cow Cheese (Original Swiss flavor), small amount of tamarind chutney, tomato slice & cilantro.
How easy is that? Well, go on… bite on that.

My Cupp of Java

2009-01-16T09:13:00.000-05:00

I enjoyed my cup of coffee with a slice of Tiramisu yesterday evening when outside is 13 degree Fahrenheit.

Seriously, I will not pretend, but I quite get obsessed with this blogging world sometimes. I told myself that I won’t start reading the blog until its evening and I am relaxing. I have lots to do in the morning and thereafter. You might think, I don’t go to Job and I don’t have kids or at least a dog, then what do I do whole day? It’s not the objective but it’s become subjective, well hold on, I will try to explain. Every morning I get up, I have so much idea in my head. You can say I have list of to do work. Then as the day pass by I jump on other people’s world (Blogging world of course), sometimes TV takes up my time and honestly I started writing this blog to do something my own, something to share. Sitting alone in your house when no one is around gets quite boring and unproductive. So this is my way of letting my boredom vanishes away. Please feel free to share your experience of unproductive phase of life which may be present or past and what did you do to challenge it. And even those people who wants to take a break from continues circle of productive life, feel free to share your experience in my blog. Hope you all are doing well in this biting cold days and keeping your loved one & yourself warm.

Paneer Aloo Tarkari ( Indian Cottage Cheese & Potato Curry)

2009-01-15T00:06:00.000-05:00

Paneer Aloo Tarkari ( Cottage Cheese & Potato Curry)

Paneer 1 Pkg (rectangular cube)
Potato 3 medium size
Onion 1 medium size
Tomato 1 medium size
Ginger paste 1 table spoon
Green chillies 4
Salt & sugar according to taste
Oil
Red chillies 2
Garam Masala 1teaspoon
Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon
Turmeric 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder ½ teaspoon
Ground cumin 1 teaspoon
Kasoori Menthi (Fenugreek Seeds) ground 1 teaspoon

Coriander leaves for garnish

How To Make:
Fry Paneer cube in 2 tbs of oil for 3-4 mins in medium heat. Keep them aside in large bowl of warm water, so that paneer doesn’t get dry after frying. Fry potato cube and set aside.

In the mean time make a paste of onion, ginger, tomato, chillies in a food processor with little bit of water. Heat 4 tablespoon of oil and fry red chillies, garam masala & cumin. As soon as they start splutter add onion paste that you made ahead. Fry in low heat for 10 mins.

Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and fry for another 5 mins. When oil starts to separate from the masala add fried potatoes and little bit of water. Fry the mix for another 5-10 mins and add 2 cups of water and let it boil.

When the gravy start boiling add paneer cube and ground kasoori menthi. Serve hot with rotis or rice and garnish with coriander leaves.

Wellcome All

2009-01-13T19:30:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my daily journal and hobbies that I will keep on sharing with my virtual world friends. Several times I have read several blogs by other people and wonder it will be nice for me to write a memoir of my interesting and most of the time boring life. I stopped working after marriage and become housewife for a while, though this is not the state I would like to remain in my life. But as I am very private kind of person by nature it become more difficult for me to express. I am here to make friends and meet fellow human beings who some time gets stuck in life and want to speed up their life. Hope you will read my journal and write your constructive comments.

Happy New Year to you ALL!!