Masala dosa from Benglar Heshel

Bengalis are food lovers and they try out food from all over the world!! Banglar Heshel also tries and tastes good from several locations!! Here I am sharing masala dosa recipe as I make!! I learned this from my South Indian friends!! I did not post here for some years as I don't get time to click pics with my DSLR when I serve food as mostly I have to run after busy schedule all day!! Although it sounds little nerd but here it is exactly how really it is!! 

Thought myself forget about photography of quality for some time and let's just think of writing and culinary adventures as they are still continued!! 

While I was having my morning chat with my dear hubby over Skype while having my breakfast, took a quick snap with my iPhone and I am done!! 

Wrote this long post during my commute time to office. Will add this post to my blog too!! 

Here you are with late breakfast from Banglar Heshel!!

Who loves South Indian breakfast like me? join me to have morning dose of happiness with Dosa, sambar and peanut chutney from my kitchen

Recipe: 

Dosa batter: soaked 1 cup of urhat dal, 1/2 cup rice in the morning with water! Added few fenugreek seeds in the water with water! This adds flavor to your batter! It was soaked for 10 hours!! I have ground  dal and rice separately to a smooth paste!! Left them overnight covered in my kitchen to add some fermentation!! Next day Morning i found them well fermented!! Mixed both the paste together and continually whisked it to make a fluffy batter!! This amount of batter will be enough to make bunch of dosas and Idlies!! 

Masala recipe: Now make the filling for Masala dosa!! Boil some potatoes with skin!! Take the skin off!! Now add a teaspoon of oil and fry some peanuts and keep them separate!! Now add another spoon of oil, add 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds,  one dry red chili whole, 1/2teaspoon asafetida or hing, one split green chili, 1/2 teaspoon Chana dal and a few curry leaves!! Fry them until nice aroma fills your kitchen!! You can add onions and fry them brown and soft! Since I made it without onion added pinch of turmeric and red chili powder and followed by boiled potatoes!! Mix them well!!! Fry and mash the potatoes with the pressure of the backside of your ladle in the kadhai itself!!  Masala is ready!!

Sambar recipe: boil toor dal with thick cut vegetables available in your kitchen!! I added papaya, eggplant, beans, carrot and tomato!! You can add onions too!! Boil dal with the vegetables and little salt in cooker till 2/3  whistles!! Check if it is boiled soft or not! If not, boil it again!! Now, add a spoon of oil, add 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds, one dry red chili whole, one split green chili, 1/2 teaspoon Chana dal and a few curry leaves!! Add turmeric powder, red chili powder to the pan, add sambar masala, little ginger paste! Then add the boiled dal with vegetables and mix it with the masala paste!! Now add 2 teaspoon of tamarind paste to dal, followed by sugar and salt as per taste!! Add 1/2 teaspoon Readymade garam masala!! Turn off the heat!! Sambar is ready!! 

Peanut chutney: pour a packet of salted peanuts (10 rs packet), salt as per taste from that packet only, 2green chillies, 2 teaspoon of ginger cubes in the small container of mixi! Grind to a fine paste adding as little water as possible!! Now heat one spoon of oil, add 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds,  one dry red chili whole, 1/2 teaspoon Chana dal and a few curry leaves!! Fry them and add it on the peanut chutney and mix it with a spoon!! 

Dosa recipe:: Now take some quantity of the batter separately in a bowl and add little water to get right consistency of dosa!! Add little salt in the  batter to taste it better!!

Now heat your non stick pan, add just 1/2 teaspoon of oil and with a cooking brush spread it well through it!! Let the pan get hot then turn the gas to sim !! Next add 1/4 cup of the batter  on the pan and with hand rotate the pan to get the batter evenly run on the pan!! Increase the heat to medium!! When you see bubbles appear on it add masala to the center and fold it carefully to make your dosa as desired!! Add little oil to get it fried properly!!!

Now it's time to serve and help yourself!! 😊😊

Gandhoraj Mutton-- Mutton curry with a Special Lemon Flavor

After the hot and humid summer days in Kolkata finally the rain is here. The pitter patter rain drops buzzing on the window pane, the asbestos roof on a nearby garage create a natural rain tune. Tadpoles are jumping and playing in the puddles. The rain drops and those tiny froggy leaps make ripples over the water logged puddles.

 The hot and dusty earth drenched in the shower fills the air with a beautiful earthy aroma. The brown dusty leaves have been washed fresh with the rain splash. It has washed away the old dusky look ushering a fresh rejuvenated green look.

 It seems like the nature is busy applying a green make over everywhere. We love the rain soaked earthy smell coming from the drenched land, natural melody created with rain splashing sound mixed with the gusty wind sound with occasional lightening and thunders.

 The nature seems partying through rain dance with beautiful rain melody created around.

In this romantic atmosphere, we feel like to celebrate rain with good food served on the plates. If the nature is partying in, then should we not join nature’s table with our delicacy cooked. Jokes apart, on a rainy day snacks being varieties of fried food with puffed rice combined with spiced tea increase the craving for heavy lunch. Checked my fridge and found goat meat in storage and instantly I decided to make mutton but not the regular curry. It should be something different. To keep in sync with nature’s green I thought of adding something new in the ingredient that is green in color and is rejuvenating, too. Yes, I had good amounts of Gandhoraj (Aroma King) limes collected from local market. The fragrance of this lime cannot be compared with any other lemon. Other than Bengalies I do not know if any other community uses this lime at all in their recipes. Many of us are really fanatic about this Gandhoraj lime.

As the name suggest, the lime has an incomparable excellent aroma which is strong yet very pleasant. We make several recipes with this lime. The leaves of this lime tree have equally good aroma as its fruits. We use its leaves too in our recipes along with the lime. The origin of the use of this lime lies in Bangladesh.  Therefore, it is commonly used in many East Bengal recipes.

However, the Bengalies from West Bengal have adapted many of those recipes and started using this lime. I had been missing this lime for years and now feeling lucky to have it back on my daily life after returning to Kolkata. During my childhood I have always had this lime in our garden. My mom used to make lime juice out of those limes and stored in the fridge. She used to make sherbat with the lime juice. The fragrance was far better than store bought lime syrup. She also used to apply leaves of this lime tree while making sherbet with bel or wood apple (scientific name: Aegle marmelos). However, my mom being a perfect ghoti (West Bengal origin) has never used in in her cooking, though.

Goat meat tastes very authentic with the mild flavor of this lime leaves added along with its zest to the gravy. Sometimes goat meat, specially, older goat meat carry a strong smell in the meat. This smell is very much strong and similar as that in lamb meat. That is why my hubby always refuses to consume lamb and also does not like to eat all recipes of goat meat. To subdue the strong smell of the meat this aroma king lime is actually the best. The recipe of the gandhoraj mutton is described below:

Ingredients

 

Mutton: 1 Kg (2 lb)

Onion paste: 4 tablespoon

Ginger paste: 1+1 tablespoon

Garlic: 1 tablespoon

Green chilies: 3-4 (as per taste)

Coriander powder: 1.5 teaspoon

Cumin powder: 1 teaspoon

Red chili powder: 1 teaspoon                          

Turmeric: 1 teaspoon

Garam masala powder (cardamom, clove and cinnamon freshly made): 1 teaspoon

Bay leaf: 1

Whole Cardamom, Clove and Cinnamon Stick: 1 teaspoon

Nutmeg powder: 1⁄2 teaspoon (freshly made)

Gandhoraj Lime: 1

Kaffir/Gandhoraj Lime Leaves: 3-4

Vinegar: 1 teaspoon

Salt: As per taste

Sugar: As per taste

Mustard oil: 3 table spoon

Steps:

 

1. Clean the mutton, take the fat out of the pieces. Rub 1/2 teaspoon of salt and one teaspoon vinegar. Marinate it for 1 hour.

2. Grind onion, ginger and garlic separately. Marinate the mutton pieces with 2 table spoon of onion paste, 1.5 teaspoons of ginger and 1.5 teaspoon of garlic paste, 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder, one tablespoon of mustard oil, 1.5 teaspoon of gandhoraj lime juice, 1/2 teaspoon of lime zest and a few pieces of lime leaves for 2 more hours.

3. Grind cardamom, clove, cinnamon to a fine garam masala powder.


4. Heat mustard oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add the bay leaf, whole garam masala, 1 teaspoon of crushed nutmeg, 2/3 petals of mace and one teaspoon of sugar.

5.When the sugar changes color, add the onion paste. Fry it until it changes color and dries up.

6.Add ginger and garlic paste respectively and mix it well with the onion paste by stirring continuously.

7. Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and little red chilli powder on the wok. Fry it with other pastes. You can actually soak  all the dry masala powders with a few teaspoons of water for10-15 minutes and then add this paste to kadhai, it tastes better.

 

8.  When all the masalas are well cooked, add the marinated mutton. Mix it well with the spices mixture.


9.  Cover and cook. As I have not used pressure cooker it took little longer time for the mutton to get boiled. If you are in a hurry, pressure cook the mutton with other mixture. It might take 3-4 whistles for the mutton to be fully cooked depending on the type and quality of mutton. For my case, cooking on the wok, it took 1 hour. Stir in between to make sure it does not stick to the bottom.


10. Till now I have not added any extra water, The mutton should have been tender by now. Now add the rest of lime leaves and quartered piece of a gandhorah lime and 1/2 cup warm water to the gravy. Again cover and cook.


11. After 5 minutes add 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger. If you want to add potato to your mutton like a perfect bong, add the fried pieces of potatoes now. Cover and cook again for 10 minutes, until the potatoes get well coated and mixed with the mutton gravy and fully done.


12. Add 1 teaspoon of the ground garam masala. Cover and turn off the heat.


13. Serve it with hot rice. As it was raining that day, I added papad fry to our plates. 

 

Happy cooking!! Enjoy!!!

Sajne Fuler Jhal / Drumstick Blossoms Curry

The spring is in full blossom all over the world. We see colors on bare trees. Red, pink, purple, white, yellow, magenta are gushing over the greenery. The breeze carries over mesmerizing fragrance from the  flowers. We see Palash, Shimul, Ashok, Bel, Jasmine, Rangan, Madhabi lata, Swarna Chanpa, Dolon Chanpa are on full swing. In the other part of the world, we see cherry blossom through Tulips, Rose, Gardenia, Hyacinthia, Lily, Water Lily, Marigold, Mums, etc. We not only take the fragrances of them but also use them in various purposes from religious to household decoration, and to even cooking.  “You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.” Spring is in our heart, spring is in our life. So let us celebrate Spring.

To keep in sync our kitchen basket also gets filled with flowers, too. Due to weather change during this season, we also tend to fall sick either by different allergies or by some virus. Our traditional cuisine entails some seasonal flowers in our cuisine. We use bak ful, kumro ful (zucchini flower), sajne ful or drumstick flower to spice up our tongue, to satiate our saliva and also to fight against the seasonal infections. Drumstick flowers are white in color with a pink tench on the bottom. They are believed to be very healthy.  Bengali families use drumstick leaves, flowers and drumsticks in daily meal. Out of all recipes of Sajne ful or drumstick flower the most popular recipe is  sajne ful er jhal or the drumstick blossom curry.

Ingredients:

1. Potato: 2 medium
2. Flat beans or Seem: 50 gms
3. Egg plant: 50 gms
4. Sajne Ful or drumstick flower: 100 gms
5. Mustard paste: 2 tablespoon
6. Green chillies: 2
7. Panch Foron: 1 teaspoon
8. Green peas: One Handful
9. Mustard oil: 1.5 tablespoon
10. Turmeric powder: 1 teaspoon
11. Salt and sugar as per taste

Steps:

1. First wash the sajne flower rigorously before use. As we collect it mostly from the ground, lot of dirt and dust come with it. Also inspect it cautiously for worms.

2. Boil the sajne ful in hot water for 5 minutes and throw away the water. Sometimes the flower is little bitter. This boil step helps to take the bitterness off the recipe.

3. Dice the potatoes. Also chop the flat beans, egg plant into small pieces. Take green peas off the pea pods. 

4.  Heat oil in a kadhai or wok.

5. Add panch foron and slit green chillies in it.

6. Add potatoes. Fry it for a while.

7. Add flat beans and then egg plant into the wok. Mix it with potato and cover. Keep the heat to medium or low.

8. After 5 minutes take the lid off and stir it again. Now add the pea pods. Mix, stir and then add turmeric powder. Add salt. Cover and let it simmer for a while.

9. At this point add the drumstick flowers. Mix and cook covered again for a while.

10. By this time all the vegetable would be soft and cooked. Mash and mix them with the flat part of the ladle.

11. Add a pinch of sugar to taste.

12. Now make a paste of mustard seeds with green chillies. Add this paste to the mix. Use your hand to sieve off the skins of mustard if, any.

13. Turn off the heat. Add 1/2 spoon of mustard oil on top.

14. Serve it hot with rice.

Enjoy!!!!!

Tanduri Chicken

First of all I want to wish all of my readers a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!!! May this year make your dreams come true, brings you in with lot of opportunities and the scope of utilizing them in the desired way. I also want to apologize for being away from my blog for some time. I was tied up with my personal stuff a little. I had been busy relocating from USA to India. I am now back to my country and happy finding the stuff I was missing there. I am loving the road side vendors selling locally grown fresh vegetables, varieties of fresh fish, meat, rickshaws, auto rickshaws, same old bargain between buyer and seller, cheating in the weigh machine by the sellers and fights related to that, gossips in the coffee shops or street side tea stalls, hot political discussion between daily passengers, the tune of Shehnai from a far-off place in the silent night and the typical late night "jagte raho" stomps by the night watchman in a housing campus. Yes, they all make me feel that I am in Kolkata. Each city has its own life and features and so does Kolkata. But being a perfect bong I feel these features are unique and incomparable to any other city of the world.

To unlock one of my US brought cellphone I had been to one famous market in central Kolkata. There I got to see the busy lanes, man pulled rickshaws, competing small business owners doing same technician jobs for years, the inter-dependence between each and every business, their unity, timely "namaz" break during business hours, the holy prayer echoing all over, over burdened thellawalllas delivering goods, lack of cleanliness till existing amongst the majority of the population. It was my first time visit to that chowk (street).  I was overjoyed to find the one and only restaurant "Sabirs" famous for authentic tandoors and mughlai cuisines over there. I recently read about Sabirs in a Bangla blog hosted by famous Indian/Bengali daily. I resisted myself to visit the restaurant instantly as my better half was not accompanying me that time. The restaurant does not have a great ambiance from outside but the appreciation I have received before about that food served there from my friends and also that famous food critique demands a sure and certain visit to that shop. Now to compensate the loss of visit to the restaurant let me present you the recipe of Tandoori chicken here. The rich aroma and taste of the roasted meat is a good platter for winter.

Ingredients:

1. Chicken leg piece: 6
2. Ginger paste: 4 tablespoon
3. Garlic Paste: 4 tablespoon
4. Hung curd: 1/2 cup
5. Red chilli powder: 6 teaspoon
6. Black pepper powder: 3 teaspoon
7. White pepper powder: 3 teaspoon
8. Nutmeg powder: 2 teaspoon
9. Cumin powder: 3 teaspoon
10. Coriander Powder: 3 teaspoon
11. Red food color: 1/2 teaspoon (optional)
12. Salt: 2 teaspoon or to taste
13. Garam masala powder: 3 teaspoons
14. Kasauri methi: 3 teaspoons
15. Lemon juice: 2 teaspoons
16. Oil/ ghee/ butter for brushing
17. Gram flour: 2 teaspoons

Steps:

1. Take the skin and fat off the chicken pieces. I have used leg pieces attached with thigh. You can use either.
2. Prick the chicken with fork. With a knife make little gasp on the thicker sides of the chicken.
3. In a bowl mix salt, red chilli powder with the lime juice.
4. Rub the salt and red chilli powder mixture on the chicken pieces. Keep it marinated for atleast 30 minutes.
5. In a separate bowl mix all the spices with hung curd.
6. Apply the spices mixture on the chicken pieces nicely. Marinate the chicken pieces for atleast 6 to 8 hours in the refrigerator. The longer the marination, the better is the chance of penetration of spices inside the chicken.
7. After the long marination keep it outside the refrigerator for 30 minutes so that the chicken pieces come to the normal room temperature.
8. Preheat the oven at 400 degree F or 200 degree C.
9. Brush the chicken pieces with some oil or ghee.
10. Place the chicken pieces on the grill plate. When oven is preheated, place the plate inside the oven.

11. Cook it for 30 minutes, then take the tray out. With the help of a tong turn the pieces to other side .  If you see the pieces getting dry, brush some more oil or ghee on top. Cook it for another 15-20 minutes.
12. After that time if you see chicken pieces are cooked properly, turn the heat off.

13. Sprinkle some chat masala and lime juice on top and the tanduri chicken is ready to serve. I have served with grilled corn, zucchini, celery sticks, and onion. Grill the vegetables for 15 -20 minutes except the corn.The grilled vegetables go very well with Tanduri chicken.

Enjoy!!!!!!!!

Nolen Gurer Sandesh

We are approaching to the end of this year 2013. Everyone is in Happy Holidays mood. Many of you must have brought new Christmas trees to your home, decorated the trees with beautiful ornaments and lightings or the old boxed artificial Christmas trees might have been out from the closet to your living room by now and rejuvenated by the lovely touch and design of your family members. Out hearts glow with the Glitter Sequin Buck Christmas Decor, colorful wreaths, or illuminated candy canes. We have started shopping for gifting something special for all special members of our family or friends on this special auspicious occasion. The end of a year marks the fresh start of a new year, new resolution, new hopes, and new aspirations. To celebrate the special occasion we will always indulge into sweet treats from cakes, pies, cookies, ginger breads to custard, chocolates and Indian savory sweets.

This time in India specially in Bengal we devour into special date/palm molasses. The sweets made from this molasses are super tasty and the smell is awestruck. If you have any sweet from rasogolla to sandesh from this nolen gurh (date molasses), you can't stop to smack your lips. I love the local market where small vendors sell the molasses in earthen pots and the the smell of aromatic jaggery/gurh/molasses spreads all around. Once I visited Diamond Harbor.There I saw how a person was making molasses from the syrup collected from a date tree. The date syrup is collected very early morning from the top of a date tree and then the syrup is boiled and processed for a long time to make the molasses. But the authenticity and the scent can not be compared with any other item.

To keep the tradition of our originality of winter I prefer to make Nalen gurer sondesh or sweet made from date molasses. I often buy date molasses from Bangladeshi store. But this item is not available in all parts of the world. So I thought of making it this time without the date molasses. Believe me friends, the taste really does not vary much. I have made it with date molasses and also without it, the taste really does not differ a lot. So people who are not getting date molasses can confidently substitute it with brown sugar. Let me share the recipe below:


Ingredients:

1. Ricotta cheese: 2 lb or 1 Kg
2. Khoya: 341 gms
3. Brown sugar: 1 lb
or Date molasses: 1/2lb

Steps:

1. Shred the khoya block to get crumbled khoya.
2. Grease a deep and heavy bottomed  pan with clarified butter or ghee. Put it on heat.
3. Add ricotta cheese on the pan. Who does not have access to ricotta cheese they can make it from home made cottage cheese or chhana. After making the cottage cheese, strain the sour water from it by washing it with cold water once or twice and then strain the water with a cheese cloth.
4. When the ricotta cheese melts in the pan, add the shredded khoya to the pan. Stir it well.
5. You need to keep stirring for long untill they mix it well and starts drying up. You need to ensure that it never sticks to the bottom. So you need to be patient for some time. I have cooked it on medium heat.
6. Add brown sugar or date molasses to the pan now and mix it very well. It will again add some liquid to the pan. You need to continuously stir and mix it well with ricotta cheese and khoya until it dries up. When you see that it has dried up and no liquid is left, and you think that you can form sondesh from it, switch the heat off. 
7. Cool the mix for 5 minutes. Grease your mold with butter or ghee. I recently bought some silicon molds online. I love them. Now take a 1 tablespoon of mix from the pan and put it in the mold. Press the mix lightly to the mold so that mixture gets the print and shape of the mold. Then take the mold off the mixture slowly. Repeat the procedure until the whole mixture is exhausted. If you don't have mold, just use your hand to form a flat ball. You can garnish the balls with raisin or cashew nut.
8. Refrigerate for couple of hours and you can start eating right away. The left over can be stored in refrigerator for some days until they are over.

Your sondesh is ready to serve.

Enjoy!!!!!!

Chicken 65

Severe snow storm warning from weather forecast department on a weekend is depressing specially when someone doesn't get to go outside other than a week end. Also sever snow might lead to power cut for indefinite period. Still I can remember powerless 5 freezing days of snow in Massachusetts. We were really helpless when our oven did not work because of no power at home, restaurants were closed for power failure. Although offices were closed due to lack of power but who can enjoy such forceful vacation without food and warmth (heater off due to power failure) at home. Everyday we were having candle light breakfast to dinner with bread, butter and some fruits. Finally, last two days one of our friends gave us shelter in their home.They were lucky to have power at their home as the electric wire in that place is not over head but underground. We had a gala time with another friends family staying there, too. We had a feast there with khichuri (hotchpotch), omelet, beguni, or dimer jhol ar bhat (egg curry and rice) and full masti with lots of adda. This snow-storm warning made me remember those days.

Mid -Central America and southern part received untimely snow attack yesterday. One of my friend from that area has shared her thought in facebook.  Since they don't get much snow in that area this snow storm has made them happy and she is rejoicing it with good home made food. Although she is on a strict diet, she is going to skip it for celebrating the white fluffy fortune. That's the spirit. Way to go girl!!!
Now to get our life rolling we should make some good food. On a rainy day like this let us spice our evening up little with our favorite snack or starter item Chicken 65. Most of us always have it in a restaurant here served  in a lunch buffet or order as a starter item in the dinner plate. Although we have it often, in a stormy day like this we might not be able to drive to a restaurant. So it is better that we make it at home and add some smile to your face or members of your family. Although I am posting here the recipe of chicken 65 here, it can definitely be made with paneer or cauliflower. Paneer 65 or gobi 65 is equally appreciated item. The recipe is same except the main ingredient is substituted with vegan item from non-vegan.

 

Ingredients:

1. Boneless Chicken Thigh pieces: 4 lbs
2. Ginger chopped: 2 tablespoon
3: Garlic chopped: 2 tablespoon
4. Ginger paste: 1.5 tablespoon
5. Garlic paste: 1.5 tablespoon
6. Curry leaves: 1 spring
7. Salt: as per taste
8. Corn starch: 3 tablespoon
9. Red food color: 1 teaspoon
10. Chilli-Garlic paste: 1 tablespoon
11. Cumin seeds: 1.5 teaspoon
12. Green chillies: 12-14 finely chopped
13. Cumin powder: 1.5 teaspoon
14. Corriander powder: 1.5 teaspoon
15. Red chilli powder: 1.5 teaspoon
16. White Oil for deep frying
17. Cilantro/coriander leaves and spring onion: 4 tablespoon for garnish (optional)
18. Eggs: 2

 

Steps:

1. Cut the chicken pieces to small bite size pieces. Take the fat off the meat if it exists.

2. Make a fresh paste of ginger and garlic. I have grated them to make the paste.

3. Now marinate the chicken pieces with ginger -garlic paste, salt,  2 eggs and corn starch for 15-20 minutes.  Before you marinate the chicken pieces make sure they are not wet. If you find moisture in the chicken please pat them dry with a paper towel, otherwise the marinate would not stick to the chicken pieces.

4. Heat oil in a deep pan and deep fry chicken pieces in small batches until they turn golden brown.This would take little time and it needs your patience. You can give yourself an energy boost-up by putting some of the fried pieces to your mouth. That can make you stand for longer and not letting you loose the hope.

5.After you have fried all the chicken pieces take a heavy bottom pan. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in it.

6. In the oil add cumin seeds, finely chopped green chillies, chopped ginger and garlic. Fry them well untill they turn golden. Make sure you are frying it in medium heat, otherwise, you might burn the spice.

7. Now add cumin powder, coriander powder followed by red chilli powder and chilli garlic paste and red food color. Mix them with the ginger and garlic in the pan.

8.Add chicken pieces now and coat them well with the spices in the pan. Cover the pan to let the chicken pieces sizzle a bit. Give them a good stir.

9. If you find it is too dry and all the chicken pieces is not getting coated with the spice mixture evenly, sprinkle a few drops of water, stir, and cover.

10. Switch the heat off. Garnish with chopped cilantro and spring onion. Your chicken 65 is ready to serve.

Enjoy!!!!!

Alur Chop / Mashed Potato Fritter

"Fall is a shivering touch of cold

and cozy quilts,

Fall is the color of  orange

and red and yellow. 

Fall is the season of pumpkins 

and scarecrows.

Fall is the season of harvest and saying thanks

Autumn is Fall and Fall is autumn."

The entry of the chilling wind in northern hemisphere that gives us goosebumps and early morning shiver, makes us shuffle our closet with jackets in handy instead of light cotton clothes. Bare tress seem to wait to get covered with snow-quilt  in the ushering winter. All these change the world from the colorful days to the black and white days; make us almost concealed at home most of the time. In the chilling season we can spend our leisure while watching our favorite thriller movie or reading some novels, or we can play some indoor games with our kids at home. To go with the mood we need a good snack with a cup of hot coffee, tea or chocolate. And to serve with tea or coffee what can be better than alur chop!

I feel that all the nations in the world are more or less inclined to potato dishes despite having the health hazard associated with it. Also we can not discard carb  from our daily diet, rather we can optimize it. therefore we can treat ourselves once in a week or may be fortnight with hot singara/samosa or alur chop kind of food. This sounds like a self consolation..Isn't it!!!

As diabetes has erased potato from my daily diet, I notice that the crave for potato has increased more than before. Although I can not eat potato, my next post is dedicated to all potato lovers like me in earth. Also in this chilling cold season approaching we feel to chill out our evenings with a cup of ginger tea with sizzling snack to spice up the evening. So here I present you our favorite snack Alur chop or mashed potato fritter.

 

 

Ingredients:

1. Potato: 3 medium size

2. Asafoetida or Hing: 1/2 teaspoon

3. Ginger grated: 2 teaspoon

4. Turmeric powder: 1.5 teaspoon

5. Green chillies: 5

6. Besan or Gram flour: 2 cups

7. Corn flour: 2 Tablespoon

8. Baking soda: 1 teaspoon

9. Oil for Deep Fry

10. Black salt: 1 teaspoon

11. Onion seeds or Kalo jeere or Kalonji: 1/2 a teaspon

12.  Red chilli powder: 1 teaspoon

13. Sugar: 1/2 teaspoon

Steps:

1. Boil the potatoes with skin on. You can microwave, too, but make sure that the skin of potato does not dry up in the cooking process. If you are boiling the potatoes in water, add some salt, too. This will help to speed up the cooking and also will inject some salt inside the potatoes. 

2. Cool the boiled potatoes. Take the skin off now and then mash it nicely.

3. Meanwhile you can grate ginger and green chillies. You can use finely chopped chillies, too. I wanted to make my alur chop really spicy, therefore, added the shredded chillies for this purpose.

5. Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a pan. Add shredded ginger followed by green chillies, asafoetida or hing,  turmeric powder and red chilli powder. When the spices are fried, add the mashed potatoes to the pan. Mix it well with the spice mixture. Add some salt for taste in the filling. Turn off the heat.

6.  Now to  make the batter mix Besan or gram flour with corn flour and baking soda. Mix it thoroughly before adding water or any other ingredients. This will help to stop forming any lumps in the batter later. In this mixture also add salt, little amount (1/2 teaspoon) of sugar, onion seeds or kalo jeere or kalonji, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and slowly add water to make a thick batter.

7. Heat oil for deep frying. Add some hot oil into the besan batter (Say 2-3 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon). This will make your chop or fritter more crispier. 

8. Now take some amount of potato mix and form a ball out of that. Then flatten the balls to make disks. I could make 8 disks. 

9. Now dip the disks into the besan batter and deep fry into hot oil. When one side browns up flip it over to fry the other side. When two sides are fried equally, take the chop/fritters out of oil and put them in a paper towel so that it absorbs excess oil from it. 

10. Fry all the disks one by one or two at once. I would suggest you to fry in small batches so that it gets cooked evenly. If you have a wide pan for deep frying, you can use bigger batches as well.

11. Alur chop is ready to serve. Before serving you can sprinkle some black salt on top. Serve it with hot tea or coffee along with puffed rice or murhi-makha.

 

   Enjoy!!!