DAL BHAPE / STEAMED LENTIL

It was so easy to do.... I totally loved and enjoyed doing it. I am scared of whatever is complicated..... recipe or otherwise. Whatever is easy makes me happy.... whether it is a recipe or easy going people, gives me pleasure. Yet, I respect some dear people who put all their heart and soul in preparing and drafting a recipe, or may be preparing a lesson plan for their next day class or say put immense effort to be a near perfect housewife. I am none of them, rather would say I feel myself enriched been surrounded by such beautiful people. 

Everything seems happy happy, going to meet the family and friends soon. It feels great to be silly with your dear ones. The ones with whom I was a bit angry few days back.... I am settling meeting dates in advance with the same.... we are as silly as we had been many winters back...... the silver streaks, the under eye bags could not reach deep inside. Some of them are coming down to the city at the same time, just to sit together, giggle, do naughty talks going back to our teen hood. The only glitch is that my senior is not been able to accompany me this time.... who happens to be as dear to them as much as of mine.

This typical 'kochughechu' type Bengali was happy to discover this recipe at a friend's place last month.  Her name is Paramita Chakrabartty, a foodie herself and a fabulous cook. We were giggling all through when she was telling us the story of her daddy's diet till date which is a full 5-7 course typical Bengali meal. I could suddenly connect with it as we have seen it in our family years back. A fat wallet? A colourful home decor? Gadgets? Decades back these were not an important part of life but the food plate had to be full from Gondhoraj lebu to chutney. 

This steamed dal is not to be confused with Dhokar Dalna's Dhoka which was / is regular at my side of the family. This dal is prepared by totally steaming it. My friend did not use onion like me. She did with matar dal, I did with moong dal. The process was hassle free, just prepare the mix and put on steam. So it was an altogether 'dhinka chika' kind of cooking listening to my favourite numbers. This dish do I dedicate to myself because my not that Bong men hardly love such things, though the son grew up on dal-rice & khichuri, aloo sheddo-bhaat. We can save time by doing it in microwave but I am yet to try. Let us prepare this Dal Bhape or Steamed Lentil together following the stepwise pictures.

INGREDIENTS : 

Moong Dal [skinless moong bean lentil] : 1 big cup
Shredded Coconut : 1/2 big cup
Onion : 1big [sliced]
Green Chilli : 2 [chopped]
Turmeric Powder : 1/4 tsp
Salt : As Required
Mustard Oil : 1tsp + As required to drizzle atop later

METHOD :

Dry roast the dal till it turns light brown. Wash and soak in hot water for 2-3hours. Grind to a paste adding water little by little. Transfer to a bowl.

Add the sliced onion, chopped green chillies, shredded coconut, salt and turmeric. Mix well.

Now grease a steel container with mustard oil. Transfer the dal mix to it. 

Cover the box tightly. Heat enough water in a wok. Place the steel container in the middle of the wok. 

Let it cook for 1hour 15 minutes to 1&1/2hour. Let cool. Take out and remove the cover.

Loosen the sides with a knife and turn onto a plate. Serve hot with piping hot steamed rice drizzling some mustard oil atop it. Since my men are less of a Bong, and cannot have raw mustard oil, they had with ghee.

BIRD NEST FRIES

Fry, Fry, Fry..... You are too worthy to try..... I know the health aficionados will be after me. Then we are heading towards the weekend, I would keep my ears shut to what I preach. I am neighbour to a health freak couple friend who help me a lot with my diet. Though not always do I follow their valuable inputs, but yes, I always give a thumbs up to them for their self control. I love food so much so that it is impossible to follow a routine. Hence, I am far from my dream body, but then we cannot have the best of both the worlds. My friend tries her best to keep me in track, wants to introduce me to her personal trainer, but I am a laid back character in all aspects.

 If four days of the week is healthy eating for me, the rest of the three days are to indulgence. For my men, all of the days are indulgent days, anything from burgers to poori / paratha with meat curries.

I got the idea of bird nest from the various food groups I am part of. This was my first attempt of doing this evening snack, I could not create a perfect shape of it. I took a safer path of doing a full covered one. My main ingredient here is yogurt because I too much love and wished to have dahi kebabs which I am yet to master at home. That thin cover making process I need to correct. I had to take help of a dough to cover it... coat with vermicelli and deep fry. Let us do this yummy, vegetarian snack together and enjoy it with our evening tea the coming weekend.

INGREDIENTS : 

Plain Yogurt : 500ml
Refined Flour : 1big cup
Gram Flour : 1/4small cup
Corn Flour : 1small cup
Green Chilli : 2-3[chopped] 
Cumin Powder : 1/2tsp 
Coriander Powder : 1/2tsp
Chilli Powder : 1/2tsp
Cumin Seed : 1tsp
Baking Soda : 2pinches
Chaat Masala : 1tsp
Black Salt : As Required
Sugar : 1/2tsp
Salt : As Required
Vermicelli : 100-150 gm
Ghee [clarified butter] : 1tbsp
Oil : To deep fry

METHOD :

We will take the yogurt in a bowl and beat well; pour it onto a clean, white cloth and tie to the kitchen tap. Let it be like that for 2-3 hours. By then all of the excess water will go.

Now we will take together the refined flour, gram flour and the baking soda in a big, wide mouthed bowl and mix well.

Then we will add the chopped green chillies, cumin powder, coriander powder, chilli powder, cumin seeds, a little of salt and ghee to the flour mix. We will rub well for 2-3 minutes, add water little by little and keep kneading to form a firm dough.

We will keep the dough covered for 1/2 an hour. We will take the vermicelli in a plate. Prepare a batter with cornflour and a little of salt.

We will take down the yogurt and transfer to a bowl; add the sugar, black salt, chaat masala and mix well.

We will prepare medium sized balls from the dough, fill with the yogurt mix, close and flatten lightly with our palm. Now we will dip each one in the batter and roll onto the vermicelli well.

We will heat enough oil in a wok so that we can deep fry. We will fry them in batches until both the sides are brown and well done.

We will transfer onto the tissue paper first and then into serving plates. We will serve them hot with our choice of chutney or sauce.

LIGHT RIDGE GOURD CURRY

There is a saying that chillies and oil come for free in our home. Every visiting friend has by now by hearted it perhaps. No, I do not take it as an assault or criticism on me because that is not his nature except for accusing a large number of people for choosing a wrong guide of late. His research did not match the result.To that I say cool darling it is not an one of case, echoing you I would say people learn from their mistakes. We are also doing the same mistake of treating someone as Godly who is actually far from it. People will either realise or struggle and juggle through / with life. Next month when I will give a big note to the poor vegetable seller, he / she will look at me with blank, painful eyes. Nothing happens to our class; we eat, merry, drink whoever holds the rein, it is the lower strata of the society who suffer, always.

Coming back to the chilli and oil discussion, it is true that I use them generously in my cooking. I love spices actually. At times, I just open the containers and smell them! Oh! Lovely. I may sound silly to the world, what to do I am that way. I was never smart enough to change according to other's needs..... Stubborn to the core?.... yes I am.... take me as I am or quit..... it was some 19 autumns back.... on this day a worried mother told someone, "my daughter does not understand life, she is fragile, handle her with care please"..... a promise was made and kept till date... Hopefully he is not reading this otherwise would have gone wild as to why I went public with this day after repeated requests of not to .... and the duo will always conclude mamma is such a silly thing....

This kind of light curries are an after effect of the scoldings and warnings.... S...... we need to cut down on spices and oil. This recipe of a healthy curry with ridge gourd was learnt from a dear friend....  Piyali Mohanty..... our kids were in the same pre-school. When our kids were in the class, we used to sit and discuss about everything.... from films to food. A good cook herself, she told me about this healthy curry. I do not remember the exact recipe, neither did I whatsapp her for the details..... I just went ahead with it in my own way. Before I get engaged with some special cooking for the evening, I wished to share this simple, easy to do healthy and light curry with ridge gourd for all of you today. Let us do it together.

INGREDIENTS :

Ridge Gourd : 1-2 [We get here large sized only]
Milk : A small bowlful
Turmeric Powder : 1/4tsp
Nigella Seed : 3pinches
Ajmod Seed / Radhuni : 3pinches
Ginger Paste : 1/2tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1/4 tsp
Salt : As Required
Sugar : 1/2tsp [optional]
Oil : 2tbsp

METHOD :

Peel and wash the ridge gourds. Cut half each one and then cut further length wise. Discard the seeds if there are too many. Apply a little of salt and turmeric, red chilli powder, mix well.

Heat the oil in a wok, temper with nigella and ajmod seeds. Add the ginger paste and stir for a minute, now add a little of turmeric and salt.

Add the marinated ridge gourd pieces. Stir well and cover.

After 5 minutes, remove the cover and you will see it has released water and is almost done.

Add the milk,  cover cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add the sugar, stir and take down after 1 minute.

Serve hot and fresh with rice. Since we are using milk here, it is preferred to be had fresh and not refrigerate for the next day. Or you may just refrigerate it for a day.

FRESH FRUIT STUFFED SWEET

In our home, weekends call for a sweet and I love doing them, the simple ones though. The Indian supermarket here has an array of packaged sweets air flown from India. I do buy the dry varieties at times when there are special occasions or prayers at home. Once a friend told the sugar syrup of the tinned sweets has bacteria. Ever since I try to prepare sweets fresh at home. There is also a sweet shop in the Indian Market selling fresh sweet. I do buy them whenever I visit that area, however I miss the touch of that professional hands in the making, not like what we get back home. 

West Bengal's sweets are famous worldwide. Off course, we do not get the winter special date palm jaggery sweets anywhere here, for that we have to travel a few hundred kilometres which I feel is worth it. Until then, my men have to be happy with whatever little I can do.

The fresh fruits are kept at home to pack along with their lunch boxes. The peculiar duo will eat fruits only that way, if given at home they will not touch. In all of these years, I am adjusted to such things and play my own tricks as and when required. I do eat fruits but has been prescribed not to eat much. This morning I saw its about to be the weekend, yet there are a few leftover fruits that needs to be used. Everything has a shelf life. 

Not in a mood to do elaborate cooking these days, I planned for this Fresh Fruit Stuffed Sweet. We can do the stuffing with any fruit but not with the one with too much of water content. Take note that the fruits have to be sweet. I used bread because the coverage of the sweet had to be little harder as it is a no cook one. Moreover, it will be stuffed with fresh fruits, hence should be firmer than our usual sweets. I have provided stepwise pictures for the entire process. Let us prepare this Fresh Fruit Stuffed Sweet together. I tried with a little amount of ingredients, you can adjust as required.

INGREDIENTS : [for homemade Khoya / Mawa / Semi-Solidified Milk]

Milk : 1/2 small tea cup
Milk Powder : 4 tbsp
Sugar : 2 tsp

Ghee / Clarified Butter : 2 tbsp

INGREDIENTS : [for the sweet]

Homemade Khoya Kheer : As we get
Bread : 3 slices
Chopped Orange: 1 tbsp 
Chopped Grapes : 1 tbsp

Chopped Apple : 1 tbsp

Ghee / Clarified Butter : 1 tbsp
Garnish as you wish or do not
Any other fruits can be used with less of water content, I did with what I had at home

METHOD :

Usually, we need not add sugar to make this instant Khoya but in this recipe, we will do it. Adding the sugar to the dough is not recommended. 

We will mix together the milk, milk powder, sugar & ghee, microwave for 3-4 minutes. We must pause after every 30 seconds, stir.

We will heat 1tbsp ghee in a frying pan. We will cut the sides of the bread slices and toast both sides brown. 

Once cool, we will tear and add the bread pieces to the khoya kheer. We will mix and knead well. We will leave it like that for 15 minutes.

We will wash and chop the fruits. We will knead the dough again, tear off smaller portions.

Cristine made pockets, filled with the cut fruits, closed and made round balls of them.

GRAVIED SPICY PANEER

Last week, the daddy thing at this home went on a short trip, the mumma - son duo had a fulfilling dinner with their favourite Paneer [Indian Cottage Cheese] ..... that definitely does not mean the daddy of the house has any problem with wha its cooking in the kitchen.... I wished that he peeped into the kitchen once in a while .... but then that will be much in contradiction with what he says.... No Rule is the only Rule in this House. If I say there has to be certain rules set for the teen,  he says he will learn from his mistakes..... I want my son to be happy in life..... 

No wonder many years back, some of us, his friends would visit his home more often.... which was a kind of 'thandi haoa ka jhoka' .... space for freedom and fun.... a relief from our military moms whose 'don't' list seemed long for us.... Coming back to the present... he only urges his lady not to feed him much of 'ghaspus' / vegetable dishes. That is where the lady needs to exercise a bit of pressure.

The new neighbourhood we shifted to a month ago also has an Indian minimart nearby and I really do not have to travel 5-6 km always to get Indian stuffs often .... that makes me happy.... It is there I found this new brand of paneer which proved to be a good deal. I am not really that sincere to prepare fresh paneer at home always. I enjoy my long outdoor walks, chitchat with the friends, at times the girls' get-together, family get-together, sometimes a weekend outing with the family. 

Besides all these, getting lost in the Bollywood fantasies is a favourite..... Living with two overly practical men, I have to balance. Done with all these, I do cook. The other day I got this small packet of paneer and prepared it fresh. It was 8pm already, hence I wished something simple and hassle free. You will see I did the curry with minimal spices. The use of cashew nut paste made it thick, creamy and mildly sweet. The marination of paneer with spices and lemon juice made it flavourful and tastier. Let us prepare this Gravied Spicy Paneer together.

INGREDIENTS :

Paneer : 250gm
Cashew nut : 4-5

Melon Seed : 1 tsp

Green Chilli : 2
Onion Paste : 1tbsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1/4 tsp
Coriander Powder : 1tsp
Cumin Powder : 1tsp
Lemon Juice : 2tbsp
Salt : As Required
Cumin Seed : 1/4tsp
Bayleaf : 1
Oil : 4tbsp

METHOD :

Marinate the paneer with the cumin powder, coriander powder, little chilli powder, a little of salt and the lemon juice. Keep aside for 15-20 minutes.

Prepare a paste with the cashew nuts, green chillies, melon seeds adding a little of water.

Heat the oil in a wok. Discard the marinade and lightly fry the marinated paneer pieces in batches. Keep aside.

Temper the oil with cumin seeds and a bayleaf. Add the onion paste, a little of turmeric powder, salt and fry for 2 minutes. Add the cashew nut-melon seeds-green chilli paste and fry for 2 minutes. Add a medium cup of water.

As the gravy comes to a boil, add the paneer pieces along with the marinade. Let cook for 3-4 minutes.

It is done. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve hot with rice or chapati.

DANADER

Danader / Danadar is a non-pedigreed sweet from Bengal. I chose to prepare it because I used to love having it once upon a time. I remember how I loved having fried sweets and the amount of scolding I used to get for an unhealthy tastebud. In our home, only roshogolla was considered as a 'healthy sweet', just as marie and cream cracker among the biscuit varieties. The sibling duo craved for cream filled biscuits at times which were rarely allowed to us. Whenever mani sent me to the sweet shop to buy roshogolla and sandesh, I craved to have this danader. At times, I could not resist from buying me two, knowing the rest at home would not eat it. I loved to eat, the scolding did not affect me much when it came to food. I was threatened with fear of anything, from worms to early death. 

At this stage in life, I feel I could have been a little more wise and listen to what the mother had to say. Wish I could rewind and correct few actions of mine.... I remember reading 'Chander Pahar' the evening before the Chemistry examination .... always failed to understand what railways has to do with mathematics ..... I rather loved travelling in a train, sitting beside the window and watching the wonders of nature passing by. The fat, old lady continues to be a dreamer, lost in her own small world of fantasy... in spite of someone saying S.... there is something called reality.... remove the headphone and come down.... She giggles ....... "I married you to handle the harsh reality on my behalf".... undaunted... she makes her way to the kitchen singing .... "dil hai chota sa.... choti si asha"....

WHAT IS A DANADAR SWEET?

This Danader is near similar to rasgulla, but much harder in texture and sugary in taste. The ingredients are of rasgulla / roshogolla, but the paneer balls are overly boiled in the sugar syrup, may be until the syrup dries up to get crystallised! One who really has a sweet tooth would love it. I really did not have a sweet tooth, just once in a while I craved for a DANADAR or two! For the recipe I had drawn inspiration from GEOCITIES.ws. I had to keep in mind that unlike rasgulla, we will fry the sweet before adding to boiling sugar syrup yet they should not turn totally brown on frying like gulabjamun. 

Recipe Inspiration : GEOCITIES.ws

INGREDIENTS : [for homemade paneer]

Milk : 1 litre
Vinegar : 2tbsp
Water : 1/4 small tea cup

INGREDIENTS : [the finished product]

Paneer / Chana : As we get
Sugar : 1 small tea cup
Water : 2 coffee mugs
Green Cardamom : 3-4

Baking Soda : A Pinch


METHOD :

Let us prepare the paneer [cottage cheese] at first. Pour the milk in a deep bottomed vessel. Switch on the gas  burner and put the vessel on it..... Once the milk comes to a boil, add the vinegar that is added to  1/4 small tea cup of water. Switch off the gas burner.  

Strain the whey through a thin cloth, wash the paneer & tie it on the kitchen top... squeeze the extra water. Let rest for 1/2 an hour. I kept the rolling base atop it!

Take it out on a plate and mash for 10-12 minutes. Add a pinch of baking soda & keep kneading for another 10 minutes. 

Prepare table tennis sized balls!

Simultaneously, boil 1/2  small cup sugar and 2 coffee mugs water together. Tear the green cardamoms and add to the boiling water.

We will add the chana balls and cover cook at high heat!

We will overcook them, so they will not double the size like rasgulla.... 

We will take them out when the syrup dries up! We will roll them in more of sugar or may not!

Have it not more than one or two times a year, its quite an unhealthy treat!

BATTER FRIED STUFFED TEASEL GOURD / KAKROL ER PUR BHAJA

Teasel Gourd again takes me down memory lane to a small township..... 100 km away from my hometown to our maternal grandparent's place. I was born there and brought up in that home for a pretty long time..... Our mom being married at a young age who became a mother while still in college, I was looked after by the rest, pampered and spoilt with love to the extreme.... I vividly remember everything about the positive environment I grew up in and deep within try to assimilate all the broken pieces till date. Where is that warmth lost? There is perhaps nothing called right or wrong in the world..... just a difference of perspective. 

Just back from a movie few hours back, there is a question-answer session going on inside. The silly romantic went with certain hopes as her favourite subject is Relationship........ Watching it I could not digest what it had to say and eventually got disturbed, yes I get horribly disturbed when I fail to see emotional quotient in a relationship..... and I realise I am rigid and too old school right from a tender age.... I find myself screaming at the world.... leave me alone with my beliefs.... Looking at me, the senior says there is no problem with the world, all problem is within you... broaden your spectrum madam S..... He  had no qualms with the subject of the movie and considers it to be quite normal..... well we accept and respect each other's differences of opinion.

Coming back to food; this teasel or spine gourd, kantola or kakrol... as we call it in India, were grown in abundance at our maternal grandparent's place.... they do not need any such care, they just grow in abundance during the monsoon. They are either eaten fried, in mixed veggies or as this..... batter fried with a stuffing. Mine is a purely vegetarian stuffing and then batter fried.... as I had long back at a friend's place..... this batter fried kantola was not that much common at our home, we mostly had it fried. 

I followed my friend's mom's recipe as much as I could remember. Such an awkward incident happened that day that it is impossible to forget.... While aunty was batter frying the stuffed teasel gourds and the two sisters; Pampa & Shampa di and I were chatting.... suddenly we heard a hiss hiss sound under the bed. In those days middle class homes had good storage under the bed.... and there came out a snake from a 'hari' [patila, deep bottomed vessel].

I am extremely afraid of the reptile family, specifically snakes put me off. Before I fainted it was driven off, kudos to the sister duo. Both of them were strong & independent as compared to the spoon fed me. This feeble heart self did have this crisp and yum batter fried teasel gourd with a plateful of piping hot rice. Let us do this vegetarian dish together providing stepwise pictures for the same.....

INGREDIENTS : [ for the stuffing ]

Flesh of Teasel Gourd : From 6-8 of them
Shredded Coconut : 1/2 medium cup
Mustard Seed : 11/2tbsp
Green Chilli : 4-5
Salt : As required
Nigella Seed : 2-3 pinches
Turmeric Powder : 1/4 tsp
Oil : 2 tbsp [mustard]

INGREDIENTS : [for the batter]

Refined Flour : 1/4 medium cup
Gram Flour : 2tbsp
Rice Flour : 1medium cup
Salt : As Required
Sugar : 11/2 tsp
Water : As Required

INGREDIENTS : [ finally ]

Teasel Gourd : 6-8 [halved and scooped]
The cooked stuffing
The batter
Oil : 1big cup to fry...

METHOD :

Wash the teasel gourds, cut the ends..... half them... Scoop out the flesh.... Apply little salt and turmeric to the pieces. Keep aside. You can get rid of the skin of the gourds too.... I do not. I just shove off the spine like coverage lightly with a knife.

Wash the mustard seeds through a strainer. Blend all the ingredients for stuffing, in two batches except for the turmeric, nigella seeds and oil.

Heat the oil in a wok and temper with the nigella seeds. Add the blended raw thing, salt, sugar and cook till dry... it will take 10-12 minutes. Add the refined flour, stir.

Once done, transfer to a bowl.

With the help of a spoon, fill in the halved kantola or teasel gourd.

Prepare the batter adding water little by little. It should be a paste like consistency. Coat the stuffed teasel gourd with the batter well.

Heat the oil in a clean wok. Fry each of the battered stuffed teasel gourd in batches, both sides until brown.

Transfer onto tissue papers to get rid of the excess oil.

Enjoy with piping hot steamed rice or millet varieties.