NOTUN GURER ROSHOGOLLA

Though I live in a tropical country, back home it is still winter and people are enjoying all sorts of pithe [steamed and fried snacks / dumplings] and sweets made of notun / nolen / patali / khejur gur [date palm jaggery]. As told earlier, it is available only during the winter, I felt why not prepare few more favourite sweets with  notun gur  / date palm jaggery before it goes off the market. I get a small amount of this gur, say about a kilogram from Kolkata because I have seen refrigerating them for too long hardens it and its unique flavour is lost. In such tropical weather we cannot keep it in normal temperature as it spoils quickly, neither it has a shelf life in the Kolkata summers! 

In such a scenario, I prefer to finish it off quickly preparing goodies for my family. I remember since childhood till date roshogolla and Marie biscuit ruled among all other sweets and biscuits at my parent's home. Oh, cream cracker biscuit too, topped with homemade jelly. The mother used to make guava, mango and pineapple jelly. Kolkata winter and date palm jaggery is synonymous, it is part of our culture, of our being! I do not believe in selling them in tubes but it is necessary, else the Bengali expats' kids would never know what Nolen gur is, neither they are bothered! Because they are not bothered, I make it a point to get our culture on a plate & serve them!

Roshogolla / Rasgulla is not something I do on a regular basis, I prefer doing sandesh, ladoo and kheer rather which I find easier. However I feel I need to do roshogolla more often at home because what we get here is not that much tasty as it is back home. While preparing roshogolla, the most famous of all Bengali sweets, my heartbeat gets faster. I get too tensed thinking will it break while it's boiling or not. I have slowly and gradually learnt the tricks of getting it right. Now only practice can get me off the fear. Earlier I blogged about a rose flavoured roshogolla, hence each time while doing it I take the measurements according to it. I have tried to give stepwise pictures for the rosogolla preparation with date palm jaggery. Come, let us prepare together this winter treat from Bengal.

INGREDIENTS : [for the chena / paneer]

Milk [fresh] or a Good Quality Milk Powder : 1 litre [I never get good paneer from tetra pack milk]
Lemon Juice : 1/4 small tea cup [of one big sized]

Water : 2-3 tbsp
Ice Cube : 3-4

INGREDIENTS : [for the jaggery syrup]

Patali Gur / Date Palm Jaggery : 200 gm

Sugar : 2-3 tbsp [enhances the taste]
Water : 6- 8 coffee mug [while doing rasgullas we cannot allow the syrup to get sticky] [the paneer balls should get enough space to move around while boiling]

INGREDIENTS : [for the final thing]

Paneer : As we get
Semolina : 1 tsp [you can use Refined Flour too]
The Boiling Jaggery syrup

METHOD :

Pour the milk in a heavy bottomed vessel. Bring it to a boil, add the lemon juice & water mixture. As the milk curdles, switch off the gas stove, add the ice cubes at once. 

Strain the paneer through a clean white cloth, put over a strainer, to separate the whey water! I was in a hurry & directly strained! Then, tie the cloth with paneer on your kitchen tap. Keep tied for about 40-45 minutes and take down, untie.

If you are doing it my way, a little of the paneer goes with the water, too little but the time is saved! Transfer to a bowl or plate, add the semolina or refined flour to it. We need to knead it well.

Keep mashing and kneading for about 10-12 minutes. Stop kneading as your palm starts feeling greasy / wet!

Prepare small balls from the dough. We get about 9-10 roshogolla  from the dough.

Break the jaggery further into smaller pieces. Take 6-8 coffee mugs of water and the sugar & date palm jaggery / patali gur in a deep bottomed vessel. Put for boil.

As it starts boiling vigorously and the jaggery melts, drop the paneer balls, cover and let boil for 18-20 minutes at medium to high heat!  The heat should be at medium to high! Switch off the gas stove, they should be done. 

Transfer carefully to a bowl. Serve warm or chilled as your family prefers.

CORIANDER POORI

It is a long weekend for us starting today. If you are thinking these pooris are made this morning you are wrong. The senior at home does not like elaborate breakfasts anymore. Gone are the days when he loved a plateful of luchi / poori / paratha / chapati with a vegetable bowl accompanied by a sweet. That does not mean he has stopped loving them, I had to change the schedule a bit. As I told earlier, my family does not go by the healthy rule of having a heavy breakfast, light lunch and lighter dinner. After all day, we meet together at dinner and love to have the best meal of the day then, that too at 10 pm. 

This weird, happy family does not go by any rule, each one of us love our freedom  and give due respect to each other's space. I love them and try to stir up dishes they love. The son would leave home for higher studies in few years, the very thought plagues me! How to survive without my child moving around me? Then, human beings adjust to any situation! My concern is my child's security & well being, if he stays hale & hearty, I  would remain happy!

It may not sound healthy, but it is during the dinner time that I prefer doing different kind of Indian breads for my men. This coriander poori was done on such a day. I usually serve them with one vegetarian and one non-vegetarian side. At times, there is also a sweet and dessert bowl to accompany. This coriander poori is not a stuffed one. I have used chopped fresh coriander leaves in the dough itself. That prevents the puffed breads getting fluffy, I had to struggle to. Let us prepare this easy, peasy and yum Coriander Poori together. I have tried to provide stepwise pictures for the entire process.

INGREDIENTS :

Whole Wheat Flour : 1coffee mug

Semolina : 1/2 coffee mug
Fresh Coriander Leaves[chopped] : 1 small tea cup full
Salt : 1/2 tsp
Oil : 100-150ml [or as required to deep fry] + 2 tbsp

METHOD :

Take both the wheat flour and the semolina in a wide mouthed vessel. Add the salt, mix together well.

Now add 2 tbsp oil and coriander leaves, rub well for 2-3 minutes. 

Add the water little by little and keep kneading until it's smooth, yet tight. Cover it for half an hour; remove the cover and knead again for 2-3 minutes!

Now make balls tearing smaller portions from the dough.

Roll each into round shaped poori with the help of a rolling pin and base.

Heat the rest of the oil in a wok and fry each poori on both sides until crisp. Take out draining the excess oil.

Serve hot with choice of your sides and pickle.

PATALI GURER KANCHAGOLLA

Patali Gur / Nolen Gur / Khejur Gur / Notun Gur .... these all are actually Date-Palm Jaggery. Patali Gur is the hardened form while Nolen or Khejur Gur is in liquid form. Is there any difference between them ..... remains always my question to the shopkeepers back home who do not come clear with their answer. At this point, I miss our maternal grandfather who would have given satisfactory answer to my query. What I have found is that when we boil the patali gur adding some water, we get the liquid form called nolen gur. Going back to my childhood, I have seen our maternal grandmother boiling Date Palm Juice in big pots for hours in clay ovens to get Date Palm Jaggery. Later our mom used to do the same in her gas oven. Now she has stopped given the skyrocketing price of a gas cylinder back home. 

On my winter visits to Kolkata, I buy my Patali Gur, pack them nicely and bring here. This time I almost bought a container of liquid Khejur Gur [date palm jaggery] too but changed my mind fearing they may spoil my sarees and all the new clothes I was carrying. For whom do I take the risk, my men do not have a Bengali tastebud. They love their share of Bengali sweets, chicken, mutton and fleshy fish varieties though. At times, I tell them you are not mine, one whose winter morning does not start with Triangular Paratha and a small bowl of liquid Khejur Gur, cannot be called a Bengali. Looking back I can see a little girl wearing a divine smile, tearing small pieces of parathas, dipping it into the khejur gur..... and then what happens is a divine pleasure.... as accompaniment I always had with me my favourite characters 'Tenida', 'Ghanada', 'Felula'. At that tender age, I even enjoyed reading Homer, but when it came to Science, Mathematics or even doing Topo Maps, I used to get totally numb and dumb. 

Those mornings when the balcony of our two roomed rented home glittered with 'Shuktara' and 'Anandamela' [bi-monthly Children Magazine], I couldn't concentrate at my school, eagerly waited for the homecoming. I loved only literature and history, chose a wrong subject as major. Later during my masters, wished to switchover to anthropology but was not eligible. Then I continued with the same subject because the mother of the house wished to see the tag. No wonder why our son has developed this much  love for history.

By now my readers must have known I use this space to pen down my thoughts about life and various social issues. I love to keep my life as an open book, I am not Kareena Kapoor that my TRP goes down doing that.Today happens to be my little brother's birthday. I remember it was a Basant Panchami day and  the celebration of the birthday of the Indian national hero Subhash Chandra Bose...... had he been allowed to continue as the leader after independence, we could have seen a better India. Of course West Bengal would not have been treated as a step child as had been for the past sixty years. I am not interested in who Gumnami Baba was, I like many others lament over the fact how a promising leader was sabotaged. 

Coming to my brother, he is seven years younger to me, I had always been a very protective elder sister. He is adorable who does not understand life till date. I do not know when the happy go lucky will grow up, I blame it on the over protective mother. It also happens to be my sister-in-law's wedding anniversary.... I wish them all a blissful and happy life.

These Patali Gurer Kanchagolla [a sweet with date palm jaggery] can be made in a jiffy. I do have a Kanchagolla recipe in the blog done with sugar as I love it since my childhood. While in Kolkata last time, our friend Chandreyee got us this nolen gurer kanchagolla from Balaram Mallick... a famous sweet shop in Kolkata. We used to buy it from the neighbourhood sweet shops, they were good if eaten fresh! It is particularly during the winter, when the Bengali markets are flooded with nolen / khejur / patali , each Bengali home and sweet shop make pithe and sweets with it. We call it notun gur because we get it with the onset of winter and finish off by the start of spring. All Bengali bloggers will have an array of Date Palm Jaggery sweets displayed on their blog during this  period of the year, I am adding mine. Let us prepare this Patali Gurer Kanchagolla together with homemade paneer and date palm jaggery. 

INGREDIENTS :[for the homemade paneer]

Fresh Milk : 2lt 
Lemon Juice : 3tbsp [I used 2 tbsp vinegar + 5 tbsp water mixture]

Ice Cubes : 1 medium cup

INGREDIENTS : [ for the final product]

Homemade Paneer : As we get
Patali Gur [date palm jaggery] : 100-150gm

METHOD :

Pour the milk in a heavy bottomed pan. Bring to a boil and add the vinegar mix. As the milk curdles, add the ice-cubes, strain through a cotton mesh immediately. Wash under the tap water, tie to the kitchen tap for about 40-45 minutes.

Once the water has drained, take down and transfer to a bowl. Mash and knead well. We will get a smooth ball of paneer / chana / cottage cheese.

Melt the date palm jaggery adding 2-3 tbsp water.

We will take 1/2 the paneer dough, more than 1/2 of the jaggery, 1 tbsp ghee in a pan we do not use to cook vegetables, meat, fish.

Cook at minimal heat until when the water just dries up, 8-10 minutes, add to the remaining uncooked paneer, also the rest of the date palm jaggery. Knead everything well once the cooked stuff cools a bit.

You can add green cardamom powder and raisins or other dry fruits if you wish to, I did not. Shape into round balls called Kanchagollas. It tastes the best if served fresh and warm.

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BEGUN ALOO BORI DIYE PALONG SHAKER GHONTO

This was also a part of my 200th blogpost a year back or so. I was never happy with the post, felt it incomplete without the use of 'bori', that is sun dried lentil balls. I never bring bori from India as they say carrying bori while travelling far is a bad omen. A friend here who is less superstitious and prejudiced as compared to me got me a priceless packet of Bori. Did she ask anything in return? No, she knows when S  makes palong shak with bori, begun, aloo; a bowl full would go to her house, in return S waits for her salad varieties. Extremely health conscious that she is, her day starts religiously with visiting the gym. Yet she envies Priyanka's curves while I shamelessly gobbled four to five pakoras yesterday night without a bit of exercise in the past two months. The health conscious couple friends definitely find it fearful. 

By the way, I love being treated as a mother hen here by some dear ones. I still regret though for no one falling or feeling for me since my teens and hence destiny got me to live with such a tiger and non-foodie under one roof. Not for a single day he read my blog, neither do I watch CNBC with him, so no fights. My dream of having a small eatery of my own will remain a dream always. Coming to the reason of regret, I have promised to start with my walks and jogs from next Monday, though my friend says there is no toning possible without taking weights. Moreover the true heart Bengali cannot sacrifice her love for spicy and fatty food altogether. 

With the priceless gift of bori [dried lentil balls] from Ipsita, I made this Palong Shak er [spinach]  Ghonto with begun [eggplant] and aloo[potato]. The thing is that our son was fed one variety od spinach everyday, now that he is clear about what he wants, he says he does not want spinach, kebabs he may eat without knowing it's presence in it. This is a non-spicy, vegetarian dish that we usually have with rice. It also goes well with Indian breads. Let us prepare this Begun Aloo Bori diye Palong Shaker Ghonto together.

INGREDIENTS :

Spinach [palak] : 500gm
Potato : 1 medium
Eggplant [begun] : 2 small
Green Chilli : 2
Dry Red Chilli : 1
Panchphoron : 1/4tsp[an equal amount of fenugreek, fennel, cumin, ajmod / radhuni, nigella seeds mixed together]
Salt : As required
Turmeric : 1/2 tsp
Bori [sun dried lentil balls] : 7-8 [no need to break if they are small]
Oil : 3-4 tbsp

METHOD : 

Peel and cut the potatoes into small cubes. Wash. Cut the eggplants into cubes too. Rub salt and turmeric.

Chop the palak leaves finely and wash thoroughly.

Heat the oil in a wok. Fry the potatoes and egg plants separately and keep aside. Fry the dried lentil balls and keep aside. They may soak in oil, so add a spoon if required.

Temper the same oil with panchphoron and the halved dry red chilli.

Add the chopped palak, add salt and a little of turmeric. Stir and cover. A lot of water will release.

After 10 minutes uncover and add the fried potatoes and slitted green chillies. Stir and cover. 

Remove the cover after 5 minutes, the water should dry up by now. Add the fried eggplants and bori. Stir carefully, let cook for 1-2 minutes. Its done.

Have it hot and fresh with rice or chapati. We have it with steamed rice.

BAKED SANDESH

Yes, this is how a true heart Bengali expresses love for her roots sitting in another country. It is also true that I got this tart pan to try  tarts, an egg tart to start with. As usual, extremely scared to do what is not my forte, neither wanting to keep the tart pan as a showpiece, I thought let me inaugurate it with something easy and less time consuming. Why I am posting dessert one after another.... Oh! I am trying to remain calm and sweet keeping aside all of the tension. My help, now a family member Cristine is yet to come back from her vacation and I am literally going crazy. Moreover, with a son going for his boards in another fourteen months, my mind is literally in two pieces, should I take a long break or not? Going by the standards of a Bengali mother, I can see myself ranking almost in the last. 

Each time I come back from Kolkata I feel more of guilty watching my friends back home dedicating and sacrificing everything for the kids. Moreover with a senior like mine, I am going extremely crazy with his patent dialogue that he does not want his son to be in any rat race, he wants him to be happy. How much I disagree, he is firm on his belief that a child is only liable to fulfil his / her own dreams and not their parents'. Now the son, going by his extreme love for history says he wants to be the curator of a museum, while his average, typical Bengali mother wished to see him somewhere near and around the NASA. There is nothing wrong in the mother's wish as her son has the potential going by all his teachers' feedback, what he lacks is effort.

Taken into account all these factors, no wonder why the fat old lady is getting fatter and greying super fast. I am too used to Cristine's service .... dear, knead the dough little more, Cristine do the stuffing and I will roll them. Amidst all these mess, I much appreciate my fellow food bloggers doing a great job sharing many dishes every other day. Whether they are doing it with or without a help is not important , the effort and love for it is what I appreciate. This Baked Sandesh was done during the Diwali celebration, then for one reason or the other my wish to share it with the world got delayed. Today, I felt I should share this mess free way of making a Sandesh, a recent occurrence at West Bengal's urban sweet shops. Bengali sweets are famous worldwide. I have provided stepwise pictures for the entire process to prove my point that it does not require kneading or mashing . I even used store bought paneer for this sweet. Let us prepare this Baked Sandesh together. 

What I must admit is that I tried to do it without using condensed milk, hence I used corn flour, thats a slight compromise with the taste. I am more enjoying the crisp exterior. Usage of Condensed Milk may get you a tastier finish!

INGREDIENTS [for the instant khoya]

Milk Powder : 5-6 tbsp
Full Cream Milk : 1/2 small tea cup
Ghee : 1 tbsp

INGREDIENTS : [for the Baked Sandesh]

Paneer : 150 gm
Full Cream Milk : 3-4 tbsp [skip if using condensed milk]
Sugar : 1/2 small tea cup [lessen if using condensed milk]

Corn Flour : 2 tbsp [skip if using condensed milk]
Rose Water : 2 tsp [alternatively use Cardamom Powder : 1/4tsp]
Instant Khoya : As we get.

METHOD :

I preheated the oven to 160*C. 

Let us prepare the instant khoya / semi solidified milk at first. 

By now, my readers must have by hearted this khoya / semi solidified milk recipe that I have learnt from a you tube video. I just adjusted the amount of the ingredients as it suits my family. We will take all of the ingredients of instant khoya in a bowl and mix well.

We will microwave the mixture for 2-3 minutes pausing and stirring every 30 seconds. Our instant khoya is ready.

Now we will take the paneer in a blender. We will add the corn flour, instant khoya, crumbled paneer, milk, sugar, rose water to it. We will blend it to a paste for 1-2 minutes pausing in between.

I did pour the mixture into an aluminium foiled tin.

Thereafter, I baked it at 160*C for 50 minutes.  The temperature setting of your machine may be different. It is done when the top is brown and crisp. 

Bring it to the room temperature and chill in the refrigerator before serving and having it. Once in the refrigerator, the exterior may not remain crisp.

I suggest you do the mixing with a hand beater instead of doing the same in a blender.

RANGA ALOOR PULI PITHE

Makar Sankranti brings back a number of childhood memories. At this time of the year, we were always at our maternal grand parents' place where it used to be kind of 'pithe puli utsab'; sweet or salted steamed or fried snacks festival during the Makar Sankranti, in and around 14th-15th of January. Our maternal grandfather had some landed property in the outskirts of the small hamlet they lived in, about 100km away from Kolkata. So, fresh farm produce used to come from there, of which date palm jaggery and juice were a part. Our wintry morning started with drinking 'khejurer rosh' / date palm juice. 

Almost everyday in and around the "makar sankranti", the maternal grandmother used to prepare various kind of "pithe puli". The sweet ones had khoya, lentil and coconut fillings whereas the salted ones we had with liquid date palm jaggery. My grandma lived few years in Assam where she had learnt a number of steamed pithe . Wish I could try them all some day. This sweet potato dessert or sweet was part of the winter time bliss.

We get very good sweet potatoes throughout the year in this island. Bengalis do prepare a number of sweets with sweet potato which we call "ranga aloo". This is a simple recipe of sweet potato dumplings with a dal / lentil and shredded coconut stuffing. It is a fried sweet meat or pithe soaked in sugar syrup that is done mainly in winter. I do it when I feel like. Let us prepare Ranga Aloor Puli Pithe together.

INGREDIENTS : [for the filling]

Moong Dal [split yellow dal] : 1small sized tea cup
Shredded Coconut : 1/3small cup
Sugar : 1/2small cup [I use brown sugar]

Green Cardamom Powder : 1/2 tsp
Oil : 2tbsp

INGREDIENTS : [for the sugar syrup]

Sugar : 1medium sized tea cup [I used brown sugar]
Water : 11/2big cup
Green Cardamom : 2-3

INGREDIENTS : [final round]

The Sugar Syrup

The Coconut & Lentil Stuffing

Ranga Aloo [Sweet Potato]: 3-4 [medium size]
Sugar : 1tbsp
Rice Flour : 11/2tbsp
Green Cardamom : 2-3 
Oil : 2 Coffee Mugs to fry the dumplings.

METHOD :

Dry roast the moong dal, wash and soak it in hot water for 2 hours.

We will take out the skin of the sweet potatoes, wash and cut them half. Boil them until tender in enough water or pressure cook at minimal heat up to 3-4 whistles. 

We will let it cool, then drain the water. Thereafter, we will take them in a bowl and mash well adding the rice flour, 1 tbsp brown sugar and cardamom powder.

We will drain the water from the dal, wash and grind to a paste in the blender adding very little water. 

We will heat 2tbsp ghee in a wok, add the dal and keep stirring until it comes out of the sides and the raw smell goes away. 

We will add the green cardamom powder, brown sugar and shredded coconut; fold in well and stir cook for 3-4 minutes. Our stuffing is ready.

Now shape the sweet potato mix into tennis size balls, smoothen by rolling between palms for a while. Make a hole and fill with the dal and coconut stuffing. 

Add little more of the coverage, shape and flatten a bit. This takes less oil to fry.

Once done, we will refrigerate them in a closely tight bowl for at least 4-5 hours!

We will take the box out just before frying them.

We will heat the oil in a wok. Thereafter, we will fry the stuffed dumplings in batches. Simultaneously, we will prepare the sugar syrup with sugar, water and green cardamom.

We will place  the fried dumplings onto tissue paper, then arrange them on a bowl and pour the hot sugar syrup on the top!

The sugar syrup need not be too sticky, a little will do. 

We will let it be for about 2 hours before serving it!We will serve it warm! If refrigerated, we have to take it out an hour before, warm and have it!

EGGLESS JAGGERY ROSHOGOLLA CUPCAKE WITH A YOGURT PISTACHIO TOPPING

I and the son are just back from a month long holiday, there was no work, only leisure and a bit of shopping. Going back to the same old place gives me pleasure, I never get bored been there though my mind was in two pieces as my senior could not go for a week. This has another problem too, I could not have there the food he loves, did not even feel like having both of our favourite duck egg curry, few fresh water fish he loves. More surprisingly I even did not have what I love. 

All of a sudden, I realised I am ageing mentally too, the sight of high caloric food was getting me tension, strongly felt diabetes kills you mentally too. Yet in between, I did have food I like at people's places, had sinful bites of muffins, fried chicken while with friends, my neighbourhood friends treated me with my favourite momo too. All these I had without a bit of exercise. Now I am really scared to stand on the weighing scale, thought let us start with some workouts first. This time I strongly felt I am no more craving for any food, on my three weeks stay, I hardly felt I have to have it except for some sweets, which I bet you will not get anywhere in the world other than Kolkata.

The above lines should not mean I have stopped cooking. At this moment, I am going slow with it, with lots of other things on the line. Makar Sankranti is near and I am thinking what to prepare on the day. I wish for something that is easy and quick. Before that I wished to share this cup cakes with jaggery and roshogolla / rasgulla. This was my first attempt to prepare a cake with jaggery, it turned out well. For the topping I used yogurt, trust me you will like it. Come let us enjoy doing these yummy and easy  eggless jaggery roshogolla cup cakes with a yogurt pistachio topping together.

INGREDIENTS [for the cup cake]

Roshogolla / Rasgulla : 8-10 [one each for one cup cake]
Jaggery : 1/2small cup [grated]
Refined Flour : 1big cup
Milk : 1/2big cup
Baking soda : 1/2 tsp

Baking Powder : 1 tsp
Vinegar : 1tbsp
Oil : 1/2 small cup
Cinnamon Powder : 1tsp

INGREDIENTS [for topping]

Plain Yogurt : 1small cup
Condensed Milk : 1/4cup
Pistachio : 6-8 [chopped]

METHOD :

Preheat the oven to 180*C. 

Sieve the flour, cinnamon, baking powder & soda in a wide mouthed bowl. Take the grated jaggery in the grinder and grind for a minute. Transfer to a separate bowl. Add the milk, oil and vinegar. Mix well and keep beating with a hand or electric beater for 5 minutes.

Add the flour mix little by little and beat well. Once done it looks as below. Now pour the batter up to 1/4 of each of the cups. Squeeze the juice from the rasgulla and place at the centre of the cup. Pour little more of the batter. Place the cups on the baking tray. They look as below. 

Mine is a convection mode microwave oven. I had placed the low height stool inside & placed the cake tray on top of it.

I had baked the cupcakes at 180*C for 15-16 minutes. The time of baking may differ depending on your machine. Please do check after 16-17 minutes inserting a fork in the middle. 

Take the yogurt and condensed milk in a bowl and beat well. Add the chopped pistachios and mix well. Once cool decor with the topping and enjoy fresh with your loved ones.