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!!!

Mutton Sidha Sadha/ Soja Sapta Mangso

The month long festive season just ended. It started from Mahalaya, followed by Durga puja, Laxmi Puja, Kali Puja and then finally Bhai Phonta. Like a famous saying in Bengali  "Jar shesh bhalo tar sab bhalo" (All is well if it ends well), the brother special thali/meal has to be the best one, too. Hope all of you have enjoyed the festive season. The brothers must had been treated with best food from starter to dessert, from breakfast to dinner. After the Indian festivities are over, we continue to enjoy festivities of the country we are currently located. Thanksgiving season is approaching followed by the happy holidays of the year. All of us will be engaged in partying around or at home. To continue with the festive mood, let me present you the simple goat meat curry.

Some days I don't feel to cook but not also feel to eat outside. So the rescue is to cook simple and easy recipe yet tasty. Let me share with you my simplest recipe of mutton curry. I don't cook it following any traditional recipe but just follow my mood that day. I am presenting you the recipe first the way I have thought and cooked that particular day and then the regular way. I am sure all of you feel some day alike and do similar things.

Oh, look at the time. It is already late and nothing is yet ready for dinner. Yes, tomorrow is another week day and we all have to wake up early  in the morning. But what to eat for dinner. Well let me open the freezer. Yes I see goat meat is in stock. Yeh this week we did not eat red meat. Once in a week it is okay to eat that, right!!! But look at it..it looks like a block of ice . No problem..let me put that in a glass bowl and microwave it for 5 minutes. By the time, let me make some spices ready. Let me chop some onion; peel ginger and garlic. No, not finely chop, please..that might take time. Yes, let me put the chopped ginger garlic and onion altogether into the mixer and grind it to a fine paste. Oh, I forgot to make some potato ready for the curry. Yes.. Bengalies eat a lot of potato in each meal and specially into mangsho r jhol/meat curry. I can now peel the potato and just half them into big pieces. It is time to put the pressure cooker on heat. Heat some mustard oil/white oil in it. Add some whole garam masala (whole cardamom, clove and cinnamon stick) into the cooker. Now add the ground onion/ginger/garlic paste into the cooker. Fry it for 5 minutes. Oh, I forgot to marinate the meat. Now, no time for marination but let me add some mustard oil and turmeric powder to the meat pieces. Now the fried onion paste has changed color, now I can add some turmeric powder followed by cumin powder, coriander powder and kashmiri red chilli powder. Well after 3 minutes I see that oil separates from the masala. Okay, now it is time for adding the meat into the cooker. Mix it well so that meat pieces get coated with spices mixture. It is the time to cover the pressure cooker. Oh, I forgot to add salt. Okay, I can open it again and add salt and put the lid and pin back on. In the mean time, I can shallow fry the potatoes (rubbed with salt and turmeric). I just heard two whistles. Let me take the pressure cooker off the heat. Now I need to add the potatoes in the cooker. The masala has dried up. I have neither added yoghurt nor tomato, the gravy does not taste that good. At this point I can not add any tomato. Wait a minute, why don't I add tomato sauce. Yes, my Maggie hot and sweet tomato sauce is on the rescue mission. Stir it well with the rest of ingredients in the pressure cooker. Now time to add water. Heat 1.5 cups of water in microwave oven and add it to the cooker. Now time to cover the cooker for the final cooking time. Meanwhile, I can make rice. Cut vegetables for salad. After 4-5 whistles I know the meat should be ready. I switched off the heat and took the pressure pin off the cooker so that pressure releases automatically. Umm I can smell the rich aroma. Let me taste it. It is good but not best. What did I miss. Yes let me add some (1 teaspoon) home made biriyani masala to it. And also to add the richness to the gravy I can surely add two teaspoon of ghee (clarified butter). Now let me mix them well and again taste it. Yes..It tastes just perfect. It tastes exactly the way I wanted. My soja sapta magso bhat is ready to serve.

Now let me present the recipe in the regular manner so that it is easy to follow.

Ingredients:

1. Goat meat: 2 lbs
2. Potato: 2
3. Onion: 2 medium
4. Ginger: 3 teaspoon
5. Garlic: 3 teaspoon
6. Kashmiri red chilli powder:  1.5 teaspoon
7. Cumin powder: 1 teaspoon
8. Corriander powder: 1 teaspoon
9. Biriyani Masala: 1 teaspoon
10. Ghee/clarified butter: 1 teaspoon
11. Mustard oil/white oil : 4 tablespoon
12. Water: 1.5 cups
13. Whole garam masala: 1 teaspoon 
14. Salt: As per taste

Steps:

1.  To bring the frozen  meat in room temperature heat it in microwave it for 5 minutes in a glass bowl. Marinate with some turmeric powder and mustard oil.

2. Chop onion; peel ginger and garlic. Grind the chopped onion, garlic and ginger altogether into a fine paste.

3. Peel the potato and half them into big pieces.

4. Put the pressure cooker on heat. Heat some mustard oil/white oil in it.

5. Add some whole garam masala (whole cardamom, clove and cinnamon stick) into the cooker.

6. When it releases nice aroma, add the ground onion-ginger-garlic paste into the cooker. Fry it for 5 minutes.

7. When the fried masala paste changes color, add some turmeric powder followed by cumin powder, coriander powder and kashmiri red chilli powder. After 2-3 minutes oil separates from the masala.

8. Add the marinated meat into the cooker. Mix it well so that meat pieces get coated with spices mixture. Add salt. Cover the pressure cooker.

9. In the mean time, shallow fry the potatoes (rubbed with salt and turmeric).

10. After two whistles take the pressure cooker off the heat. Add the fried potatoes in the cooker. The meat has released some water and masala is cooked completely.

11. Put the pressure cooker back on heat. Add 2 tablespoons of  Maggie hot and sweet tomato sauce into it. Stir it well with the rest of ingredients in the pressure cooker. Let it simmer for 3/4 minutes.

12. Now it is  time to add water. Heat 1.5 cups of water in microwave oven and add it to the cooker. Cover the cooker for final cooking.

13. After 4-5 whistles the meat should be ready. Switch off heat and take the pressure pin off the cooker so that pressure releases automatically.

14. Add 1 teaspoon home made biriyani masala and two teaspoons of ghee (clarified butter) to it. My soja sapta magso bhat is ready to serve.

Enjoy!!!!

Alu kabli/Alu Chat/Potato-Chickpeas Salad

As the spice adds the taste in your meal, tasty snack adds the spice to your daily life . Choice of snack everyday for me is a difficult job. Although we keep in home a lot of ready made snacks but nothing can compare with chat. The tangy and spicy taste literally waters mouth when ever we even talk about it. I make often dahi bara (lentil dumplings in yogurt sauce), papri chat, fruit chat, samosa chat, raj kachori and fuchka at home, but the easiest one is alu kabli or alu chat. This item is a healthy snack, too. This can be served as a salad item, too, in a lunch or dinner party.

 

Remember the tiffin time in our school days. We used to have a line of snack providers outside the school gate. Only two vendors were allowed to enter inside our school campus during the tiffin time. One was samosa seller and the other was the alu kabli seller. Though I never got a chance of buying any of those items during my school days as my parents being very strict did not hand over to us any pocket money but my friends being very generous and close to us used to share the tasty tangy alu kabli chat in a shalpata shell (one kind of container made out of shaal leaf) served with kathi/sticks. Those pieces of tangy salty and spicy potato and bites of chickpeas made our chitchat during lunch break memorable forever.  Till now everywhere in India out of all street food corners alu chat or alukabli is one of the hot selling chat item amongst all.

Ingredients

1. Boiled potato: 2 cups
2. Chickpeas: 1 cup
3. Tamarind date chutney: 1/4 cup
4. Black salt: as per taste
5. Green chillies : 3/4
6. Onion: 1 small
7. Ginger: 1 teaspoon (optional)
8. Cucumber: 2 tablespoon
9. Bhaja masla (roasted spice): 2 teaspoon
10. Lemon juice: 2 teaspoon
11. Jhuri bhaja : 2 tablespoon for garnishing

Steps:

1. Boil the potato. I boiled medium sized two potatoes. Don't over cook the potato. While boiling please add a spoon of salt into the water. This will actually help to let the salt enter inside the potato. Cool the potato before you make the alu kabli. Hot potatoes don't add the taste needed here.

2. You can soak chickpeas overnight or for 6-8 hours and boil it in water. Make sure they are soft but not mushy. This should also be cooled down completely before you make the chat. You can also use canned cooked chickpeas. You need to strain away the liquid from the chick peas, Wash it before you make the preparation.

3. To make the bhaja masla, dry roast cumin and whole red chillies. I used 2 whole red chillies and 3 teaspoons of whole cumin seeds. When you see the color of red chillies and cumin changes to darker shade and nice aroma comes out, take the pan out of heat immediately. Don't let it burn. Cool it and grind it in a mixer. I used my coffee grinder for this purpose. You can store this masala in an air tight container for future use.

4. Chop cucumber, onions, green chillies into fine/small pieces. Also finely chop ginger but this input is optional. If you do not like the taste of ginger, you can skip it. That does not differ the taste a lot.

5. You can make tamarind chutney fresh at home or you can also use regular store bought tamarind or tamarind-date chutney. I have used this time tamarind-date chutney of  Deep brand. I love this chutney. For chat preparation this ready made chutney saves a lot of time.  To make Tamarind chutney at home follow this steps:

    a. Soak 1 cup tamarind (without seeds) in two cups of warm water for half an hour.
    b. Extract pulp and strain to remove fiber.
    c. Take a heavy-bottomed pan, add the tamarind pulp and 1.5-2 cup jaggery .
    d. Cook on low heat.
    e. Add salt as per your taste.
    f. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
    g. Store in an air-tight container.

6. Now your job is to mix all the ingredients. In a bowl first add the potato, then the chickpeas or kabuli chana, then the chopped vegetables like cucumber, onions and green chilies. Add the lemon juice, black salt, and the tamarind chutney. Mix them well. Check for salt taste. Adjust as per your requirement. You might add chopped cilantro if you like. I did not add it, so I did not mention in the ingredients list.

7. Your alu kabli is ready to serve. Garnish it with some jhuri bhaja or bhujia.

Enjoy!!!!!

Narkel Nadu/Sweet Coconut Balls

Although the Puja days are gone, hang over is still on me. Still reminiscing the days of Puja this year and previous years. The last day of Durga Puja is known to us as Bijaya Dashami. Ma Durga returns back to Kailash with her children after a short 5 days trip to Mother earth and we give her farewell offering sweet and sindur (vermillion). Although we feel deeply disheartened at the depart of Devi Durga, but the sadness is balanced with sweets and savories for Bijaya Dashami. We used to visit all relatives and friend's homes nearby and offered pronams(regards) to our elders and best wishes and love to our friends and younger ones and were blessed to get plates of nimki, narkel naru (sweet coconut balls), dai borha (lentil dumplings in yogurt syrup), sandesh (sweet made of cottage cheese), chandrapuli (coconut sweet made in a special mold) etc. Our Puja vacation fun used to get doubled with the fun visit to many homes in evening with our parents to their friends' homes for Bijaya trips. Although there was a custom that only males can do kolakuli (hugs in a special way), the kids used to follow them. And in each home we used to get varieties of snack plates consisting sweets and salty snacks. But each plate surely used to contain narkel naru (sweet coconut balls) made of either sugar or jaggery.

Far off from home, we now follow the Bijaya tradition by calling our relatives and friends over phone or drop an email or by another smart way - updating Facebook status for all but that does not stop us to crave for the traditional Bijaya snack plate. And yes if there is none to serve you the plate then self-help is the wisest way. I made the ideal Bijaya dashami snack plate with ghugni (spicy peas curry), nimki (or namak paray), and two types of narkel naru. Let me share with you the recipe of narkel naru here.

Narkel Naru with Jaggery

Narkel naru is an essential part of our festive savory. We make it very often it on or off purpose. Although I love narkel naru made with sugar, my hubby's favorite is narkel naru made with gur/jaggery.

Ingredients:

1. Shredded coconut : 1 packet (I have used frozen shredded coconut, you can use fresh shredded coconut, too)
2. Jaggery/Gur: 2.5 cup (almost double the coconut amount)
3. Cardamom  powder : 1 teaspoon
4. Water: 1/4 cup
5. Ghee for making balls (optional)

Steps:

1. First you need to thaw the frozen coconut. I have kept the frozen coconut packet outside for more than 6 hours to thaw. If you are using fresh coconut, you don't need this step at all.

2. I have used date's molasses or  nolen gurh as the jaggery. You can also use normal jaggery or sugar cane jaggery for this purpose. You need to dilute the jaggery with water. To melt solid jaggery you can microwave it with little water (1/4cup approx.) for 2-3 minutes. Or you can directly pour mentioned amount of water in the kadhai and then the jaggery. You  can break the jaggery with little pressure through your ladle. When the jaggery melts, you can proceed to the next step.

3. Now add the shredded coconut and mix it well with the melted jaggery. Don't cook it on high heat. Always cook on medium heat and don't leave cooking unattended at all for a minute to stop the risk of burning.

4. Add fresh cardamom powder.  Mix it well with the coconut mixture. If you are offering it to God/Goddess, you can also apply some camphor dust with this mixture to get a special smell. When you feel the mixture is enough sticky to make small balls, switch off the heat. For me it took 10 minutes to get the desired consistency. Longer time the mixture on the heat makes the naru harder.You can keep on heat depending on how hard naru/ball you want to make. 

5. Cool it off for 5-6 minutes. Apply some ghee on your palm and make balls from the mixture.

6. Serve it and Enjoy.

Narkel Naru with Sugar

Although my mom used to make mostly jaggery version of naru but I have always liked the white narkel naru made with sugar instead of jaggery. To make it more tastier you can add khoya kheer/mewa/milk powder.

Ingredients

1. Shredded coconut : 1 packet (I have used frozen shredded coconut, you can use fresh shredded coconut, too)
2. Sugar: 2.5 cup (almost double the coconut amount)
3. Cardamom  powder : 1 teaspoon
4. Khoya kheer/milk powder/mawa: 1cup
5. Ghee for making balls (optional)

Steps:

1. First you need to thaw the frozen coconut. I have kept the frozen coconut packet outside for more than 6 hours to thaw. If you are using fresh coconut, you don't need this step at all.

2. If you are using khoya kheer/mawa block, shred it for use. In case you don't have khoya, you can substitute it with milk powder. 

3. Take a heavy bottomed pan and put it on a medium to low heat.

4. Add shredded coconut and sugar.  The sugar will start melting and coconut will change the color. Stir it continuously to mix it. Don't let it stick it to the bottom of the pan.

5. Add Khoya kheer to the pan and mix it well with the sugar-coconut mixture. Stir it until khoya melts and makes good bond with the mixture.

6. When you see the mixture dries up and no longer sticks to the pan, your mixture is ready for making balls. Do not over dry it other wise you can not form the ball. When you feel it is almost done, you can take a spoon of mixture and try to make ball to test the accuracy.

7. Cool it off for 5-6 minutes. Don't cool it completely. When the mixture is warm, make balls out of the mixture.

8. Store it in air-tight container and refrigerate it.

Durga Shosthi Special Luchi, Chholar daal, Begun Bhaja ar Alu Chechki/Puri,Chana dal, Fried Egg Plant and Bengali Potato Curry

Durge Durge Mangalo dayini 

Mahisasur Mardini Jai ma Durge

The biggest festival of the year is here. Today is Maha Shosthi. This auspicious day marks the beginning of Durgotsav. Every Bengali household is agog with warm enthusiasm to welcome Ma. Once in an article Bir Sanghvi has penned down correctly " You can take the craze of Diwali in Delhi, Christmas in London, Summer Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Valentine's day in Paris and then add it to the month long madness of Olympic Games or the World Cup and cram all that into a span of 5 days and you still wouldn't know what you are missing if you haven't been in Kolkata during Durga Puja". Being far away from own city, street, till I can feel the madness, craze, and passion about this particular time over there. The unique rhythm of Dhak (one special percussion instrument), fragrance of Shiuli ful, Stholo Padma (flower grown on land that looks like Lotus), kash ful, Mahisasur Mardini recital by Legend Birendra Krishna Bhadra, people around all decked up in new fashionable clothes, accessories, puja special editions of favorite magazines, special editions of music albums by favorite singers, and what not. The number of such Puja special items goes on to infinite.

On each day of Durga Puja we eat special items. That starts from Mahashosthi itself. Especially all the mothers have to perform special puja for their children. I remember my mother used to put a big tip/bindi/tilak on my forehead of yogurt and turmeric powder mixture and also tie a thread soaked into the same mixture. I am following the same tradition. Although I presumed to have a strong opposition to apply the bindi on my son's forehead,  to my astonishment I found that my son asked me to make the bindi bigger on his forehead and proudly carried the same way to school. I love this little traditional instinct in my son.
On this auspicious day we are not supposed eat any rice item and also burnt or roasted items. Also we eat only vegetarian food. And Bengali vegetarian food means the food should be cooked with no onions and garlic. So the traditional way of shosthi platter would be luchi/puri, chholar dal (chana daal/ split black gram),alu chenchki (Bengali special potato curry) and makha sandesh (Handmade cheese ball) as desert.

Luchi/Puri

Ingredients:

1. Flour/Maida: 4 cups
2. White Oil: 4 tablespoon for the dough
3. Salt: 1.5 teaspoon
4. Water: 1 and 1/4 cup
5. White oil for frying

Steps:

1. Take flour/maida in a deep bowl. Add salt and 4 tablespoons of oil and mix in together with your hand. The amount of oil in the dough is very important to make good quality luchi/puri. After a lot of experiments I have discovered that 1 cup flour : 1 tablespoon of oil makes good soft luchis. Also Bengalies make luchi only with maida, not mixed with ata (wheat flour) or only ata (wheat flour).

2. Add water slowly in the bowl and mix it well. Pour water as and when needed. Depending on the variety of flour the water amount varies. I have checked this time it took 1 and 1/4 cup of water. Knead it well untill the dough stops sticking to the wall of the bowl.

3. Heat oil in kadhai. You need to put enough oil so that you can deep fry the flattened balls.

4. Divide the dough into equal sized round balls. We call it in Bengali "lechi". With my dough I could make around 30 lechis/balls.

5. With the help of a rolling pin/belna flatten the balls into smooth round discs. Use little oil to roll it on. Many people use flour to dust the surface. I have seen my mom to use oil to flatten the balls to discs, so I have followed the same. Another reason is that the surface remains clean and mess-free with oil compared to using flour. I do not use chaki to flatten on, use counter top, only. I have flattened 5/6 lechis to discs at a time and then fried them and started to flatten the next batch. You can flatten all the balls into discs at once but make sure they do not dry up.When you are frying in large quantity, batch by batch rolling and frying can give you better result.

6.  The temperature of the oil is very essential to get white luchis. What should be the perfect temperature of oil you can understand by experience I say. I can not mention the exact temperature in degree measurement, as I do not have cooking thermometer. But one hint is that the oil should be hot enough but the smoke should not come out. Also when oil is hot, reduce the temperature to medium and then fry.

7. Put the disc into kadhai/pan from side, use a frying ladle or jhanjhri to continuously stir and press the disc from sides so that it pops up. When one side is done, turn it to the other side and fry. Take it out of the oil and serve.

 

 

Chholar Daal

Chholar daal/Chana daal is one kind of lentil/daal that we eat on special occasions mostly. In our home we used to eat chana daal on Durga Shosthi or Maha Ashtami day. Although today I did not cook it but have clicked the pictures some days back and had been thinking to post but somehow it did not materialize. But today since I made luchi, I thought of sharing with you the ideal meal that can not be fulfilled excluding chholar dal.

Ingredients:

1. Chana daal/Split Black Gram/Chholar Daal: 3  cups
2. Whole Garam Masala: 1 cinnamon stick, 4 green cardamom pods, 5/6 cloves
3. Bay leaf: 3
4.Green chilli: 2
5. Raisin: 8/10 (soaked)
6. Turmeric powder: 1 teaspoon  
7. Ginger crushed: 1 tablespoon
8. Cumin powder: 1 teaspoon (optional)
9. Asafoetidia/hing: A pinch
10. Dried Red chilli: 2
11.Shredded coconut: 2 tablespoon
12. salt as per taste
13: Sugar: 2 teaspoon (as per taste)
14. Oil/Ghee/Clarified butter:1.5 tablespoon


Steps:

1. Boil daal with approximate double amount of water with 2/3 green cardamoms, 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves, half of a cinnamon stick, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric. You may use a pressure cooker to boil it faster. I have used pressure cooker. Mostly after 10 minutes of cooking the steam would be built up and when you can hear one whistle turn the heat off. Take the pressure pin out and let the pressure slowly release the steam. By then the daal should be soft, tender yet not mushy. If you find it is not cooked properly, cook it little longer but be cautious of not over cooking it. 

2. Heat oil/ghee/clarified butter in a kadhai/pan. Add the remaining whole garam masala, bay leaf, red chillies whole in to the pan. I have cooked it with white oil and added 1 teaspoon ghee at the end.

3. When the nice aroma comes out, add freshly crushed ginger and remaining 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder and cumin powder(optional). Fry well and add asafoetidia/hing and green chillies and also shredded coconut into the pan. Don't let the masala burn.

4. Add the boiled daal and let it simmer 3/4 minutes. Add salt and sugar at this point.  Stir to mix well.

5. Add water and also pre-soaked raisins to the pan. Mix well. Let it simmer and boil for sometimes. The daal would not be very much liquid, mostly would be thick.

6. Turn the heat off. If you have not cooked it with ghee ,at this point add the ghee and cover. Wait for 2/3 minutes and you can serve it with luchi/Puri, Pulao, Fried rice.

Alu Chenchki/Bengali Simple Potato Curry

Alu is an everyday food of all Bengali. Being diabetic, I have to discard alu now from my daily meal. But whenever if by chance I am having the taste of atleast one piece cooked potato, I feel like I am in heaven. Now I realize the need of this item more than before. When ever we cook luchi at home my hubby wants me to serve it with  his favorite alu chenchki. It is cooked with least spices and supposed to be served white in color. Although there lies little controversy in the proposed color and varies family to family.

Ingredients:

1. Potato/Alu: 3 big
2. Onion seeds/Kalonji/Kalojeere: 1.5 teaspoon
3. Asafoetidia/hing: A pinch
4.  Salt: As per taste
5. Sugar: 1 teaspoon
6. Oil: 2 tablespoon
7. Green Chillies: 4

Steps:

1. Peel and dice the potatoes into small cubes. 

2. Heat oil in a kadhai. Add the kalojeere/kalonji/onion seeds and slit green chillies in the oil. Let them sizzle and reduce the heat.

3. Add the diced potatoes, stir them well so they get coated with oil and then cover the kadhai and let the potatoes simmer.

4. Add salt, give a stir again and then cover. I try to always cover and cook. I try to use less water to make things tender unless mandatory. It helps to keep the taste of the spice and vegetable/item intact, not getting diluted with water.  

5. When the potatoes are soft, add little sugar.  To make gravy add 1/2 cup of water. Let it boil and then break the potatoes with the laddle in the kadhai. This curry will be not watery, rather dried  sabji. 

6. The color of your sabji/alu chenchki would be white. Goes very well with luchi/puri. You can also serve it with chapati/roti. If you want you can add turmeric powder but I prefer this sabji to be white only.

Begun Bhaja

Do you all remember the Dhara mustard oil advertisement long back. They used to display begun bhaja/ fried egg plant pieces that made me feel hungry instantly. Bengalies signature includes this simple item and common in every household. Although we taste it very often but we want more. "yeh dil mange more". So when I am making luchi, why should not I make my favorite begun bhaja. Yes my heart wanted it and I made it. Also my son is a fond of this item.

Ingredients

1. Egg plant: 1 big
2. Salt : 1.5 teaspoon
3. Turmeric powder 1 teaspoon
4. Sugar: 1/2 teaspoon
5. Oil for frying

Steps:

1. Cut the egg plant into thick (roughly 1/2 inches thick) round shapes. The bigger rounds can be halved.

2. Rub the pieces with salt, turmeric and sugar and set it aside for 10 minutes.

3. Heat oil in a nonstick pan and shallow fry the egg plant pieces. Egg plants absorb a lot of oil. After one side is cooked, don't add more oil. Turn the eggplants to other side. Cover the pan and cook. It will slowly release the oil it has absorbed. Check in between so that they don't get burnt. If needed add 1/2 teaspoons of oil. 

4. Switch off the heat and serve it with luchi or ruti or even rice.

Alu Potol die Machher Jhol/Carp Cooked in a Potato-Pointed Gourd Gravy

I have been off for quite some time due to my ill health. I have been recently diagnosed with diabetes. That makes me feel sick for on and off. Although I am on a very strict diet and medication, my negligence towards my health is forcing me to highly pay off. Uhhh..Now I understand why the yearly check up is so important for us.

Puja is knocking our door. All of your puja shopping must have been complete by now. The matching accessories and jewelry must have been added to your stock, too. Those like us who are far from our home country now rely a lot on online shopping. Some are fortunate to be close to a few Indian shops. Some rely on the good recent trips to own country and bring a lot of special clothing and accessories to use in the special occasions like Durga Puja, Diwali. This year I had been planning to visit India which some how did not materialize. I had planned to buy some sarees from a few boutiques in Kolkata but that did not happen. So I was little morose. But I had no idea how Durga Ma has stored surprise for me. The last week end we visited Diwali Mela in DC. There were many stalls carrying varieties of clothes and sarees, and jewelries. I found there one and only Bengali stall carrying the sarees of my choice. I got one and felt really blessed.  After 3 years I am going to wear a new saree in Durga Puja.

Now lets come to the food part. Certainly we will be engaged in tempting, mouth watering, rich aromatic food during this festive season. So before the Puja starts I thought of cooling the body with simple machher jhol and bhat. It can make your stomach ready for the upcoming ceremonial food varieties. I got good big pointed gourds during my last visit to local Indian grocery store. I have not made fish curry with potato and pointed gourd for some years as we don't get the good sized potol or pointed gourd here very often.  Whenever I got them, I have made several other recipes than this. This time I did not leave the chance of making this simple every day delicacy of all Bengalies.

Ingredients:

1. Carp/Rohu/Katla fish: 6 pieces
2. Alu/Potato: 1 big
3. Pointed Gourd/Potol: 8
4. Ginger paste: 1 tablespoon
5. Tomato: 1 medium
6. Panch Foron: 1 teaspoon
7.Randhuni/Carom seeds: 1/2 teaspoon
8.Slit green chillies: 4
9. Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon
10. Cumin powder: 1 teaspoon
11: Turmeric powder: 1 teaspoon  (additional required for marinating fish)
12. Red chilli powder: 1/2 teaspoon
13. Salt as per taste
14. Hot Water: 2 cups
15. Mustard oil


Steps:

1. Marinate the fish with salt and turmeric for 10-15 minutes. Add little mustard oil on the fish and rub before adding it to Kadhai/pan. That helps less oil spluttering while frying the fish.

2. Heat mustard oil in kadhai. When the smoke comes out, reduce the heat to medium and the fish pieces to the pan. I have fried the fish until they browned from all the sides. You can fry it to your desired level.

3. Meanwhile you can cut the potato and pointed gourd to longitudinal pieces. You need to peel the potato and then cut them into vertical pieces. We have been following this particular way of chopping potato for any jhol/soup cooking for generations. Really I have no reason of following this pattern of chopping other than to maintain the tradition.

4. Peel the ponited gourd in way that it has some ridges left on the skin. You can actually peel off every alternate strip. 

5. Rub the potato and pointed gourd with salt and turmeric.

6. Make a paste of fresh ginger. Since I am not using a lot of spices, I have not used any store bought ready made spices. That really varies the taste. I do not use at all ready made ginger garlic paste from stores. Specially for this kind of simple dishes, the taste varies a lot with fresh ingredients.

7. Add Cumin powder, Turmeric powder, Red chilli powder and Coriander powder in a bowl. Add little water to it and make a mixture of spices and set aside.  I prefer to make fresh coriander and cumin powder at home as I don't like the store bought ready made powders that does not contain any flavor.

8. Heat 2 tablespoons of Mustard oil in a kadhai. I have used a fresh kadhai to make the jhol/gravy. I have not used the same kadhai or the oil left over after frying the fish. Since I am not using any onion or garlic in the recipe, the oil left after frying the fish would still contain the smell of fish. I have discarded the left over oil. You can save it and use it later to fry next batch of fish in future. When smoke comes out, turn the heat to medium.

9. Add  panch foron, carom seeds/randhuni (optional) and slit green chillies in kadhai. 

10. Add marinated potato in the kadhai. Fry it from all sides. Then add the pointed gourd pieces and fry them, too, also for a while until they change color. 

11. Add finely chopped tomato and fry it until the the red skin melts well in the oil. 

12. Add the spices mixture to the kadhai and fold it in well coated with the vegetables. Keep stirring to make sure the spice and vegetable does not stick to the bottom of the kadhai. When the oil oozes out of the spice, add the salt. 

13. Now heat 2 cups of water and add the hot water to the kadhai. When the gravy starts boiling, add fish pieces to it.  Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes.

14. Serve it hot with steamed white rice.

Enjoy

Stir fried Calamari/Squid

"Esechhe Sharat himer porosh legechhe haoar pore

Sakal belay ghaser agay shishirer rekha dhore"

The Autumn is here. Still I can mesmerize the beautiful autumn in India. White clouds cluster amazing shine on the sky; serene Kash flowers sway in the green meadow; fragrant shiuli flowers make the beautiful flowerbed on the yards of almost every household. It reminds us yes, Puja, the festive season is here. The mellifluous Agamoni songs, mesmerizing shlokas by one and only Late Birendra Krishna Bhadra fill the air with purity and sanctity. Here we miss the Puja committee's race in collecting subscription door to door. Almost every night we used to wait in our childhood who rings the door bell for the chanda/subscription collection and Baba inevitably would ask them for the attractions on the coming program. In this regard, I can share a funny rule set by my grandfather. He use to tell the chanda collectors that whoever can spell his name on the bill/receipt correct, he would give subscription only to them. His name is (Late) Mrityunjay Chatterjee. Most of the youths used to fail in that test and he could successfully handle the sweet nuisance. That time life was not so complicated and there was no hooliganism like now. Nowadays people write the amount of subscription without your permission and forces you to pay that. But remembering the simple yet colorful days I don't know why I can still feel that old excitement. The eager waiting for Puja special edition of our famous magazines, music albums of our heartthrob singers, the pandals here and there;  the shops lining up for Puja-special fair/mela make me really cherish the golden moments of my life.

 A bright Autumn day like this inspires me to cook little different. So here I present you a seafood delicacy from my kitchen to yours - Stir Fried Calamari.

Ingredients

1. Calamari: 1 lb
2. Onion: 1 medium size
3. Garlic: 4-5 cloves minced
4. Ginger shredded: 1 tablespoon
5. Lemon leaves: 4/5
6. Soya sauce: 3 teaspoon
7. Chilli-Garlic sauce: 1 tablespoon
8. Green chilli: 4/5 slit
9. Salt as per taste
10. Chilli Vinegar: 1 teaspoon
11. Worcestershire sauce: 2 teaspoon
12. Red and green bell pepper: 1 each medium size
13. Black pepper: 2 teaspoons
14. Red chilli powder: 1 teaspoon
15. White Oil: 2 table spoon
16. Corn flour: 1 teaspoon
17. Spring onion: 3/4 strands (optional)

Steps:

1. Clean the calamari and cut it into bite size ring pieces. The tentacles would be provided separately (as I have received in the packet from Asian grocery). You can cut them into small pieces as per your choice. I have kept the tentacles intact as they were in comfortable shape and size.

2.  Marinate the calamari with 1 teaspoon vinegar, salt, red chilli powder and black pepper for 15-20 minutes. It will leave lot of water. Strain it before you start cooking.

3. Add the corn flour to the calamari after you strain and  quote all the pieces well. You do not need to add too much corn flour to the mixture but a little to absorb the moisture.

 4. Now heat oil in a wok. Add the shredded ginger, minced garlic and slit green chillies one by one and fry them well until the rich garlic aroma is out.

5. Add the onions. Fry them until translucent.

6. Add green and red bell peppers (chopped them vertically thin) into the mixture. Saute them for sometime until they turn soft. 

7. Add  the marinated calamari now to the wok. Saute for sometimes.

8. Add soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and black pepper. 

9. Cook it covered for 5 minutes. There will be water released from the calamari and it will be cooked in that gravy only.

10. Add Salt. Be careful as soy sauce is little salty. 

11. Add  the chilli-garlic paste. Mix it well.

12. Add  the lime leaves now. Again cover and cook for 3/4 minutes. 

13. By now the gravy should have thickened up and cook it for 2/3 minutes to dry up.

14. Switch off the oven. Garnish with finely chopped spring onions (I did not have any, so had to skip this step)

15. Serve it hot with Fried rice or steamed white rice or lo mein/chow meen.

Enjoy!!!