AKHROT O PATALI DIYE STEAMED RICE CAKE

I remember my failure to prepare our family favourite "dhuki pitha" last year. During this time of the year I get nostalgic about the wide variety of "pithe-puli" my family used to make. They were not restricted to the common "malpoa-patishapta or puli".... so many were they which the family learnt from their stay in Assam and brought with them from their country of origin. The main ingredients used were rice flour, coconut, date palm jaggery. Date Palm Jaggery is that winter special jaggery I perhaps can never do away with. I keep getting it from Kolkata every winter, the problem is these days food adulteration has reached such heights in my country of origin that getting a good quality of "patali gur" is tough. I come from a family where date palm jaggery was made at home, it gets difficult for me to accept a bad quality one. That homemade liquid date palm jaggery tasted heaven. The grandparent's home had two big mud oven in their courtyard where she used to cook all vegetarian items, "chirey, muri, khoi, pithey-puli." Those giant mud ovens ran on natural fuel, "ghutey, pat kathi, kath-kuth".... cowdung cakes, dried jute plant sticks, dried branches of trees. You know, I follow few Bangladeshi Pages to keep up with that nostalgic feel, after me no one is to carry forward the family legacy, like the husband's maternal big aunt died and with her vanished a lot of good recipes. She hardly taught her little sister, instead they all pampered her to spoil. My mother-in-law is not in the habit of praising anyone unless one submits at her feet. Watching my mother so active, hearing my mother had learnt to cut live fishes including "shing, magur, koi" in class seven, she told "I am the youngest kid and too pampered." Insulting my family had been her favourite sport, so I do not spare and will not. Our mother always says that she was the eldest of the six kids who had to help her mother, yet she did her graduation and BEd, bagged a government school job.... oh! what a big mistake she did leaving it. So, knowing to manage your home is a quality, knowing to juggle both home and office is a great quality.... sleeping and chatting all day does not contribute anything good to one's life, it makes people crippled sooner! It is surprising to see some enjoy such prisoned life, totally depending on others. I am against it, I wish to die like my father and keep cooking like my mother until then. I will explore easier methods to some complex cooking and create this steamed beauty with date palm jaggery, rice flour, coconut milk with an addition of baking powder and walnuts AKHROT O PATALI DIYE STEAMED RICE CAKE.

As told in the business pages, we loved those crispy fried smaller variety of fish yesterday night. I had shown Cristine how to marinate the fish, she patiently does all kinds of fries so well. The husband so loved that he did not touch his share of chicken. I get angry when they waste rice, where to keep the used rice?

So loved the meal yesterday night with deep fried battered fish, dal, bhadhakopi, salad. Today we have an official party to attend and once I finish writing the post, I have to cook a bit. So you know I have to wrap up soon. I think the idea of this steamed cake popped up from my love for the Filipino sweets and Malaysian Kueh. I am pretty sure that the family veterans would have learnt to prepare kueh & puto cakes too if  such countries existed in their map. I find one variety of kueh very similar to our patishapta. To my disgust, I cannot have them on a regular basis. This vegetarian, vegan, gluten free steamed cake with date palm jaggery, rice flour, coconut milk, walnuts AKHROT O PATALI DIYE STEAMED RICE CAKE will lessen your time of cooking and give you the feel of "puli pitha", to some extent of "dhuki" too.

INGREDIENTS :

RICE FLOUR : 1COFFEE MUG
BAKING POWDER : 1/3TSP
THICK COCONUT MILK : 200ML
DATE PALM JAGGERY : 4-5TBSP
WALNUT : 8-10
A LITTLE OF WATER

PROCEDURE :

We are using the following ingredients.

We will take together the rice flour and the baking powder. Sieving is better.

We will mix both very well.

Add the coconut milk to the flour and whisk very well. There should not be any lump. You can add little water to get that consistency. This home is not too fond of the smell of coconut milk.

Take water in a deep vessel and put for boil.

Grease a cake tin with few drops of oil and then dust with rice flour.

Pour the mixture to it and tap lightly on the kitchen counter.

Shredded the date palm jaggery and spread atop. Break the walnuts and spread atop. Lightly tap the bowl on the kitchen counter top.

Place a "jhai" bowl, a wide bowl with holes, colander atop the vessel when the water starts boiling.

Place the batter filled bowl right in the middle.

Tie a lid with a heavy towel and cover the whole thing. Cook at low heat for 13-14 minutes.

We should be done.

We will have it fresh, if storing keep the bowl atop another bowl filled with water.... never to refrigerate..... it will turn hard. It will still turn hard, we will steam it for sometime either in the microwave or on the stove top if having later.

FLAKY POROTA

"Roti-Prata" is a regular affair at this home but with less use of ghee or oil. We definitely love these soft, moist, "oporta muchmuchey" flat breads or porota that is used to prepare egg-chicken-mutton roll in the streets of Kolkata. Many Bengali Homes do prepare such porotas with good amount of sugar in it. Reaching this island, I saw they make similar something; starting to blog, I knew Kerala makes awesome porotas too. That awesomeness comes from kneading the dough with a lot of oil, sugar, salt, may be baking powder and in shaping the balls. My kind of FLAKY POROTA uses less oil than is required, the shaping of the balls may be less accurate, yet I feel mine are worth sharing. It is not so that this home eats very healthy, I am not actually comfortable with the idea of using a lot of ghee, oil, butter, cream in my cooking. An average Bengali will echo me, our stomachs are seasoned to "ada-jirey-lanka bata," I refer to the majority of the middle class Bengali, what they eat is my focus. My blog will always reflect what we eat at this home, the environment I grew up in. My effort or wish will always be to connect my place of origin to my present. In fact, my Friday share would also reflect my mind. I do not know about the rest of the "minorities" of India, if they eat every day in five star restaurants or not. We should always act according to our ability and taste buds. Even if the doctor prescribes us salad at every meal, we cannot, we will not. "Patla maacher jhol, shukto, patla korey dal" had been our health food for ages and I do not believe they kill you, every day having biryani is definitely a big no no!

You see I am not in the habit of faking much. I told you I will feed my men Parshe Maach along with chicken, I did. Mumma debones fish for the son of the house and he eats them too. I definitely will not touch chicken when I have cooked my kind of fish.

I eat fish like a cat since age 6, the maternal grandfather taught me the technique of deboning fish then. An Eastern Indian, an outwardly Bengali will be mad about river water fish. What is so hurtful in that? I reach out to people with FLAKY POROTA too. At this home, normal porotas or flat breads are made adding different ingredients, cooked in less oil. This was my  "khasta porota" without using sugar and I felt it is worth sharing. I always have time to prepare at least a basic "aloor dom" for my family beside any kind of handmade breads, I do not go out to work. You can choose any sauce or pickle to go with it. If you wish, prep up a salad too.

INGREDIENTS : 

REFINED FLOUR : 11/2COFFEE MUG + 11/2TSP
MULTI GRAIN ATTA FLOUR : 1/2 OR LITTLE MORE OF A COFFEE MUG
BAKING POWDER : 1/3TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 3TBSP+3TBSP
GHEE : 1TSP FOR FRYING EACH FLAT BREAD + 2TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Take both the flours in a bowl. Add the baking powder and mix well. Make a hole in the middle and add 3 tbsp of oil.

Rub well for 2-3 minutes.

Now, add water little by little to prepare a dough, soft and smooth. It may take some 7-8 minutes.

Add 3tbsp oil to the dough and knead again for 3-4 minutes.

Keep covered for 15-20 minutes with a clean, moist, soft, white cloth. I am not so particular and covered it with a plate.

Open cover, knead the dough again for 2-3 minutes.

Tear off tennis ball sized portions, smoothen between your palms.

Prepare a paste mixture with 2tbsp ghee and refined flour. 

Roll out each balls into a big roundel. We need not be too particular about a round shape. Brush the paste mixture all over.

Now keep folding in parts {plates kind of?]  starting from the top to the bottom.

Now start folding from the sides to give a round, ring shape to each of the portions.

Once all are done, cover them for half an hour.

Heat a pan on the gas top. Open cover, take one portion at a time on the rolling base and press on the middle.

Roll out a round porota / flat bread shape. The excess amount of ghee makes it slippery and I fail to get them perfectly round.

Put one flat bread on the pan at a time. We will cook both sides well before adding 1tsp ghee to each.

Fry each of them in this manner. Take all of them together on a plate. Press from all the sides before serving. Be careful, do not burn your palms.

Serve with any side of your choice or with a pickle or sauce.

TILBATA NARKOL DIYE PAKA SHOSHA

Oh My! This picture was hiding somewhere, I just discovered while surfing the Google Photos. Cooking with ripened cucumber was never a regular affair in the family. Bengal ate it, till date some markets in the Kolkata suburbs do sell it, I have seen it at the Baguiati Bazaar too. The thing is "lau-chalkumro thaktey, paka shosha khabo keno?" The maternal grandmother used to cook it however with a simple tempering of kalojeerey+tejpata+shuknolanka & bori+dhonepata or with the head of smaller sized rui or katla. She used this vegetable rarely whenever there was a scarcity of "kochi lau ba chalkumro" on her kitchen roof top or in the market. Till date I could not forget that taste. In most Bengali Homes, vegetables are cooked in minimal spices where the variety of tempering worked wonders and the "koshano" part, slow, covered cooking at minimal heat without using water is the key to the good taste of normal Bengali vegetarian dishes. 

Coming to the rest of India's food, Kolkata restaurants serves those so superbly that the island's Northern Indian restaurants do not impress me much. It is not their fault, where would they get quality chefs in this expensive island? I come from the city of Munna Maharaj, do not tell me all Indian Vegetarian and Chicken or Fish dishes has to have that over powering presence of cream and butter in it. This is one reason why eating out has become less at this home. We eat what I prepare, if going out we prefer South East Asian or Western Joints. If you enjoy cooking light, try this healthy vegetarian dish TILBATA NARKOL DIYE PAKA SHOSHA. I really do not know if over ripened cucumber is cooked this way or not with a little of grated coconut, roasted white sesame paste using a tempering of wild celery seeds, a bay leaf and dry red chillies. Besides the "kumro pui shaak aloor ghyat o dal" we definitely had a meat or fish curry, else my men would need a bowlful of pakoras each to have a vegetarian meal or porota-luchi as we had last night.

It was a vegetarian meal and they had it without a noise, the son with sauce. All in this family love their share of "roti-prata." We love noodles as well and below is what I cooked for their lunch, noodles with eggs, french beans, carrots, onions, garlic, ginger, green chilli, soya sauce, vinegar, salt, black pepper. I definitely would taste a bit.

It is a Monday, there happens to be a lot of overeating, binge eating, eating rich food over the week end. A Monday share should be this light and frill free, why not? Ripened cucumber is sold island wide, natives here love it so much. Moreover, if you are lazy about cooking, you must know that old cucumber cooks quick and this vegetarian curry is soothing on your stomach. Try my TIL BATA NARKOL DIYE PAKA SHOSHA and enjoy the side with steamed rice or roti.

INGREDIENTS :

OLD CUCUMBER : 1BIG
WHITE SESAME SEED : 2TSP
SHREDDED COCONUT : 2TBSP
WILD CELERY SEED / RADHUNI : 1/4TSP
BAY LEAF : 1
DRY RED CHILLI : 2
GREEN CHILLI : 1SLITTED
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1/4TSP
OIL : 1TBSP

PROCEDURE : 

Peel off the skin of the cucumber. Wash, discard the two ends and cut half from the middle. Then cut lengthwise each of the halves. Discard the seeds and wash again. Use a shredder to shred each half. Rub with the turmeric and salt as required.

Heat the wok and dry roast the white sesame seeds and the shredded coconut at the lowest heat for 2 minutes. Cool and blend to a paste using 1/4small tea cup of water.

Add oil to the wok and heat it. Temper with a bay leaf, wild celery seeds, dry red chillies. Add the shredded old cucumber. Fold in well and cover. Let it cook at the lowest heat.

After 5 minutes, open cover and you get to see that a lot of water have released. Never mind, add the roasted white sesame seeds and shredded coconut paste. Fold in well and cover cook again at low heat for 3-4 minutes.

Open cover, add the sugar, slitted green chilli and adjust the salt. Cook at low heat uncovered for a minute or two. We are done.

Enjoy when cold at room temperature with rice or roti!

TANDOORI MOSHOLAI MUCHMUCHE MAACH O DRY FRUIT BHORA MOONG DAL DHOKA

We had a relaxing midweek yesterday, the husband was at home, the weird boy was back from the school in time.... I was out for few hours but managed to cook up a meal for the four of us by 9:30pm. We have a lot of cooked food in the refrigerator but yesterday we had to have some fresh food. The initial plan was to go out or order through Food Panda but you all know how I enjoy cooking, more because Cristine helps so much. Or may be because I inherited the love for cooking from the family veterans of my side. I actually prefer eating out over the weekend. The men at home like this type of platter which has less of curry. Above is a meal that takes merely 11/2 hours but the preparation & arrangement have to be started early if you are aiming to serve it for dinner. The only thing missing was a warm dessert. I could not manage that. Maach Baja-Dal-Bhaat is one of the most common & loving staple for the Bengali kids of our times, my men love it too alongside a "big ball of aloo sheddo." We eat such meals at intervals but yesterday I did not wish to serve that minimal and why should I? I do not go out to work and come back home tired! Neither I am crazily lazy and in the habit of sitting all day and watching television or sleep. I enjoy what I do and this vegetarian and non vegetarian combo of side or snack TANDOORI MOSHOLAI MUCHMUCHE MAACH O DRY FRUIT BHORA MOONG DAL DHOKA. I served them with some Turmeric Rice and Cucumber+Onion Raita.

I love cooking that is an open truth now, that I would want to earn from this hobby of mine remains an unfulfilled wish till date. Blogging cannot be the major engagement for life, it should be my hobby. From end 2020, I do not wish to be called a mad, old, useless lady. That is when frustration creeps in, mediocre people will have this at one point in life, they lack the ability or guts to take risk, neither can they go and get into menial jobs. The reason why I could not continue to be a victim and take odd classes in a school when I knew I can teach better, neither I had the confidence to take up classes in the secondary section. I keep on telling people who allow me to that if you had already taken a long break from job, do not go and settle for less, start something of your own. 

At this moment, it feels like how beautiful it is to be able to do something from home without paying allegiance to anyone. I cook with that same feeling of freedom, the liberty to use ingredients of my choice inside my own den. I did exactly that yesterday night and got these two vegetarian cum non vegetarian beauty TANDOORI MOSHOLAI MUCHMUCHE MAACH O DRY FRUIT BHORA MOONG DAL DHOKA. See, I can give big talks on freedom may be because my man supports me, I know in what circumstances one has to compromise at the work place. What I do not understand is why should a professional.... an engineer or a doctorate should work for peanuts.... that feels too much of an insult to the concerned self. I must find out something for myself next year, then mumma has to keep herself free to travel to her baby in a day's notice. If you think too much, you get crazier. So, let us cook, eat and share. BTW, here is my plate;

INGREDIENTS FOR THE TANDOORI MASALA MARINATED FISH FRY :

ANY FLESHY BIG CATCH : 6-8 STEAK [I USED BENGAL CARP]

TANDOORI MASALA : 1TBSP [I USE EVEREST BRAND]

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP

LEMON JUICE : 4TBSP

CORN FLOUR : 2TBSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 6TBSP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DRY FRUIT YELLOW MOONG BEAN CAKE :

SPLIT YELLOW MOONG BEAN DAL : 2SMALL TEA CUP

CASHEW NUT : 2TSP

RAISIN : 1TSP

CUMIN SEED : 1/2TSP

GREEN CHILLI : 1 OR 2

TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP

SUGAR : 1TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 5-6 TBSP TO FRY

PROCEDURE :

Let us prepare the DRY FRUITS MOONG LENTIL CAKES at first.

We will wash and soak the split yellow moong bean in enough hot water for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, drain the water and take the dal, green chillies, ginger extract in a blender. Blend it to a fine paste, add little water if required. We can never get that texture that our mothers and grand mothers got doing it in "shilnora." 

Heat the oil in a wok and temper with cumin seeds. Add the lentil paste, sugar, salt, turmeric powder!

Give a stir and add the roasted chopped cashew nuts & raisin!

Fold in everything well and keep stirring fast for 2 minutes. There should not be any lump left.

Transfer the entire thing into a greased bowl. Let cool, let it set for some half an hour. Turn it over a plate, cut into desired pieces, fry in little oil. But this time I cooked them in microwave+grill mode for 10-12 minutes at C-1, 300 power! We need to place the low height wired stool at first inside & on top of it the greased grill plate with the lentil pieces!

 

Now, let us do the SPICE MARINATED FRIED FISH now.

Wash the fish pieces, marinate with salt, wash thoroughly after half an hour! Then marinate with the turmeric, lemon juice, red chilli powder and tandoori masala. Keep aside for an hour. 

Just before frying, add the cornflour and coat well. Heat oil in a wok and fry both sides very well.

I served & had both alongside plain rice, ghee, salad.