BIRYANI FLAVOURED FULKOPIR DALNA O CHICKEN RICE BOWL

I am supremely excited about going for the pedicure & manicure session this afternoon; after quite a few months; they badly require to be pampered. I am in a hurry, yet I wish to share this non-vegetarian rice & meat dish with biryani flavours; BIRYANI FLAVOURED FULKOPIR DALNA O CHICKEN RICE BOWL with my readers! I know these body pampering stuffs are excesses in life but I need them at good intervals. I feel so lazy going through the process at home. 

I am never stopped from doing what I want, I dislike interference & coercion in my life! I manage everything within the stipulated amount given to me every month and save a bit too. Yes, I do not work is true but I take good care of my home. 

Who take excellent care of their homes? I see one staying in Canada, perhaps is working and maintaining a fabulous home together at a time; I see one in Malaysia whose home & garden I so like, who might be working part time; I know excellent homemakers in Thailand, in an India's neighbourhood country. They inspire me but I do little; I always had a lethargic body & mind. I only love sitting in a quiet corner and brood, dream, think. These days, I enjoy getting this seed and that root end from the roadside and try my hands on them. Please wish my okra / bhindi / dhyarosh / ladysfinger plant some luck!

I so wished to shift to a ground floor flat here this season; they come with a bigger balcony, at times with one at the backside too. I would have planted so many more. I am sad all the nurseries got scattered, there were six side by side and just a station after; so convenient. Besides doing some gardening as approves my tiny space; cooking is my all time love. Both these interests have been inherited from my family off course. I may be lazy but I will not take the last breathe either watching television or sleeping all day. I will engage myself in activities that does not require much of sweating. 

Life got very much mundane, I miss the normal rhythm my life was used to but I will not give in. I will engage myself in what I enjoy. Last Friday evening, it was a bowl of non vegetarian chicken+rice+potato+cauliflower dish for us. Actually, I cooked our very Bengali Aloo-Fulkopir Dalna with the Taiwan variety of cauliflower in bulk last week. We had it with chapati, we had it with rice and then I got bored with another bowl. Some makeover was required!

I not only love food but also want to serve my own or guests a variety of food. For a makeover, I had got some chicken, soaked some basmati rice, chopped the required ingredients, took down the bottle of me made flavoured spice mixture; SHUGANDHI MOSHOLA MIX; and there you are! You will regret if you do not try my recipe of BIRYANI FLAVOURED FULKOPIR DALNA O CHICKEN RICE BOWL; that is a dish cooked with mixed spices, clarified butter, chicken, basmati rice, leftover cauliflower-potato curry, etc.

INGREDIENTS :

BASMATI RICE : 1 COFFEE MUG

CHICKEN : 6-8 PIECE [BIG CUT]

LEFTOVER CAULIFLOWER-POTATO CURRY : A BOWLFUL

PLAIN YOGURT : 6 TBSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TBSP

CUMIN POWDER : 2 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 2 TSP

SHUGANDHI MOSHOLA MIX : 1 TBSP [A HOMEMADE AROMATIC SPICE MIX]

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP

SLICED ONION : 2 SMALL TEA CUP FULL [OF TWO BIG ONES]

MINT LEAF : A HANDFUL

CORIANDER LEAF : A HANDFUL

GREEN CHILLI : 5-6

GINGER PASTE : 1 TBSP

GARLIC PASTE : 1 TBSP

LEMON JUICE : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP SIZE

CINNAMON STICK : 2-3 TWO INCH SIZED

GREEN CARDAMOM : 3-4

BLACK CARDAMOM : 1

STAR ANISE : 1

CLOVE : 3-4

MACE : 2

CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1/2 TSP

MILK POWDER : 1 TBSP

BAYLEAF : 2-3

SALT : AS REQUIRED

GHEE / CLARIFIED BUTTER : 1/3 SMALL TEA CUP + 2 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Let us wash the chicken pieces at first. I took a mix of legs, thighs and breasts.

I had beaten together the powders of turmeric+ cumin+coriander+red chilli +SHUGANDHI MOSHOLA MIX, plain yogurt, salt, lemon juice taken in a bowl.

I marinated the chicken with it.

We had marinated the chicken at least for 3 to 4 hours or little more.

For the rice, we washed the basmati rice in required amount and soaked in water for 1/2 an hour. we tied the cinnamon sticks+green & black cardamom+mace+cloves+star anise in a piece of white, cotton, clean cloth.

We had thrown it and some salt to a pot of boiling water.

When the water has boiled for sometime, we added the soaked rice, discarding the water.

Once the rice had cooked 70%, we strained it.

While the rice was getting rid of moisture, we got readied the ginger & garlic pastes, washed & sliced onion+chopped coriander+mint leaves+slitted green chillies.

We had heated 1/3 tea cup ghee in a pot and added the bayleaves, onions to it.

When the sliced onions are brown, we took out some to garnish later. To the rest, we added the ginger & garlic pastes.

We stir cooked for 3-4 minutes and added the marinated chicken to the pot and folded in well.

We covered it with a lid having no holes. We had put the heat to minimal. In between, we opened the cover and gave a stir.

We had warmed our leftover "aloo-fulkopir dalna" too.

After 15-20 minutes, we had opened the cover and added some crushed black pepper.

We gave a stir and added most of the the washed green chillies+ fresh coriander+fresh mint. We are to add the cauliflower & potato curry at this stage but I forgot. Please, you need not be so forgetful.

We gave a stir and added the rest of the fresh mint+coriander & ghee, milk powder, kewra / screw pine  water. I added the "aloo fulkopir dalna" at this stage.

We had put on the lid and lightly shaken.

We had placed a pan atop the gas stove and kept it at low heat.

We had placed the rice, vegetables & chicken pot atop the pan, cooked at minimal heat to low heat for 10-13 minutes. We would be done.

We switched off the gas stove and shaken the pot well before serving it hot with raita & salad.

 

LEFTOVER JILIPI CHALER GURO DIYE PUDDING

 

It is a beautiful "shorot er akash" today. Autumnal sky in Kolkata used to be brighter than usual, with a bit of cold feel. My lack of proficiency in English is not allowing me to explain the term "shirshirey thanda amez". In the later years, there was lack of that cold feel, may be because of global warming? Who knows! Yet, a morning in Autumn is always special for a Hindu Bengali; it ushered in Durga Puja which is a festival, not purely religious you know. I call it a fair, mela; Ananda Mela. 

From our tiny corner, I could not stop freezing the moment and whisper, "esho maa". If I cannot be a part of the celebration, I will create an ambiance at home. Cristine has been asked to clean my God Family's Abode and change their clothes whilst I write this easy & yum lightly sweet, vegetarian dessert recipe with left over jalebi / jilipi, rice flour, corn flour, milk, LEFTOVER JILIPI CHALER GURO DIYE PUDDING. Oh my God! I am so happy to discover there is still a set of new clothes left for my Gods. 

Each year, on my Kolkata visit; I buy two sets of new clothings for my God Family. They wear new clothings every Poila Baishakh[Bengali New Year Day] & Durga Puja. I do not know what will happen next April! Here I do not get the right size and they are too expensive. Do they even have a variety & stock like our Shyambazaar-Hathibagan Market?

Now, the thing is again I had cooked an unsatisfied batch of jilipi / jalebi / spiral shaped fried sweet in syrup; you know I do not serve awkward looking stuffs to my family. They tasted very well; like a jilipi when fresh, later like a thin malpoa, like a jibey goja too; but they fell flat refusing to be called jilipi. I tried them using Housebrand's Readymix Idli powder. They tasted so well that I had to do something with them; you know how I hate wastage. It is then the idea of this easy sweet popped. I prepared a thickened, lightly sweet dessert using milk, rice & corn flour, vanilla essence; added broken pieces of the jalebis with the sugar syrup and got this LEFTOVER JILIPI CHALER GURO DIYE PUDDING.

You can see, it is a yellow bowl of beautifully tasted sweet in sugar syrup but we cannot call it jilipi; they fell flat while frying and got soggy after dunking in the sugar syrup. I had to do something with them, before that I ate quarter portion of the bowl but I do not serve my family poor looking stuffs. 

You will not go for such time consuming mistakes and then use them in a milk pudding or have with ice-cream. I know when Indian Families buy jilipi / jalebi, they buy a bit of excess, there are some leftovers the next morning. Indians love their jilipis warm & crisp; only diabetics like me would buy only 2-3 at a time. What to do with the stale jalebis? Try such easy pudding with them. If you have the dessert warm, you can feel there is jalebis in it; if eaten chilled, the jilipis feel like rabri or extra dose of cream or "dudh er shor" in a pudding. 

Our father so liked having "dudh er shor". After a double boil the next day, the mother would transfer the thickened milk to a clean bowl. Then, the father would sit with the "korai layered with dudher shor" and scratch, have until it looked clean & barren, that too after having a snack of "dudh-muri" . The mother who wanted to move ahead in life was like "shei Bangladesh er gramer motoi roye gyalo, egobar kono icchey nei eder family ter." Thereafter, she sat to prepare "chirey-muri-khoi er moya, naru, nimki" for the three of us. So, we did not bother much about their couple fight.

I wish to finish off quickly; I will go for a walk, then book a pedicure-manicure session for tomorrow; have to do this much for the festive season. Now, I must make the maximum out of the sunny day.

INGREDIENTS :

LEFTOVER JILIPI / JALEBI : 5-6 [WITH THE SYRUP]

MILK : 400ML

RICE FLOUR : 11/2TBSP

CORN FLOUR : 1TBSP

VANILLA ESSENCE : 1/2TSP

SUGAR / HONEY : 1TBSP [OPTIONAL]

CHOPPED DRY FRUITS TO GARNISH

PROCEDURE : 

Break the jalebis roughly into medium sized pieces. 

Take the milk in a bowl.

Take 4-5 tbsp from it and store in a glass. Add the rice flour & corn flour. Mix very well.

Put the milk bowl for boil, bring it to boil and boil further for 7-8 minutes at minimal heat. I did not use sugar, jaggery, honey or any sweetener, you can. For us, the syrup of the jalebi was enough.

Add the rice flour + corn flour + milk paste to the boiling milk and start stirring immediately.

Boil it for another 4-5 minutes, while you stir continuously. Take down the bowl and let cool.

Add the vanilla essence and give a stir.

Add the jilipi / jalebi pieces and the sweet syrup that comes along; half of the chopped dry fruits too. I used toasted & chopped almonds, walnuts, raisins.

Pour onto a clean bowl and garnish with the rest of the toasted & chopped dry fruits.

Let it set for half an hour before having or refrigerate to chill.

KANCHAKOLA ALOO DIYE RUI / KATLAR JHOL

 I am too tired to start with a blog post at this time of the day, 5:10pm it is! I walked to the next station earlier the day, called Cristine to catch the train to join me. We see, all the nurseries are relocated to different venues leaving one. I had the news earlier but today we found the job done; only one is still there, the rest are turned on to a green patch of land. As of now, we do not know what the government's future plan is. In this island, this "bhangagora" / construction work goes on. They have money, they maintain it to look like a five star hotel. What I expect is a little bit of space to be left out from urbanisation. I mean when my mind hovers around folk songs, I do not find a matching place where I can sit away from home and enjoy that moment, the particular wish may vanish the next day or the day after. Again, I may get into Bollywood soft romantics, even item numbers while walking in a crowded street.

This is me, predictive or not others can say. I think my moves are very much predictive but I am not a consistent person, nothing is constant in my life except the love for my own. Okay; my love for typical Bengali, fish varieties & dishes is constant; this one with Bengal Carp variety, raw banana , potato and regular kitchen spices KANCHAKOLA ALOO DIYE RUI / KATLAR JHOL has to feature! I could have done way more fish shares with a variety of fish but I do not get them as fresh here. I like to write my blog posts, else you would have seen me sleeping now! We felt tired looking for the new venue of the nurseries; some has been relocated in the same area but we could not find in a hurry; others went to quiet far. I finally decided to buy the pots, soil, fertiliser from the existing shop; The sister at the counter and the brother who chooses the soil for me or get me the tubs are friendly. This guy can be a Southern Indian or a Bangladeshi; while talking to him, I missed that particular Bangladeshi guy who sat in another shop beside. The sister has given me a printed leaflet, I have to see which shop went where. 

Me and Cristine had sugarcane juice & my favourite chives kueh. Look at the table, we wiped it with an antiseptic wet tissue before sitting there. We cannot have lunch right? There are certain people who will not heat the food, take on the plate and eat, we have to serve everything; when I just served hot, people start calling colleagues. Arey, there should be something called lunch break; I get irritated. I did nothing but instructed Cristine and got tired; she did all the work of repotting. I had to write an easy and extremely favourite fish recipe today like this one with rui ba katla, kanchakola, aloo aar shadharon moshola; KANCHAKOLA ALOO DIYE RUI / KATLAR JHOL.

Thereafter, we both took shower and had our lunch.

INGREDIENTS :

ANY BENGAL CARP VARIETY [BIG OR EVEN BABY] : 6-8 STEAK [using fresh fish is recommended]

RAW BANANA : 1 STANDARD SIZED

POTATO : 1 BIG

SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 2-3

CUMIN SEED : 1/4 TSP

BAY LEAF : 1

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1/3 TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 2 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 5-6 TBSP [I ALWAYS USE MUSTARD OIL FOR THE FAMILY BENGALI DISHES]

PROCEDURE :

Clean & wash the fish steaks. Drain the water, rub with salt & turmeric; keep aside for 10 minutes.

Take out the skin of the potato & raw banana, wash and cut as you wish. Rub with salt & turmeric; keep aside for 5 minutes.

In a bowl, take the rest of the turmeric, little salt, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder; add little water and mix to get a paste.

Heat oil in the wok and fry the raw banana & potato pieces in batches. Take out on a plate.

Fry the fish steaks lightly and take them out.

Temper the oil with the cumin seeds & a bay leaf. Add the spice paste and stir cook at low heat for 3-4 minutes. Add 2 coffee mugs of water and give a stir.

Bring the curry to boil at low heat; let it boil for 3-4 minutes. Add the fish pieces and cover cook at minimal heat for 4 minutes.

Open cover, turn over the fish and add the fried potato & raw banana pieces, slitted green chillies. Cover cook at low heat for another 3-4 minutes.

We should be done. Have it with rice. On that day, we also had eggplant-potato-okra fry, broad beans with coriander paste, lentil curry, chilli-coriander paste on the side; all Bengali items.

BHAJA MOSHOLA OATS DAL SAVOURY BAKE

Doing a savoury cake was a wish for sometime; ever since I came across the mentions of Handvo, Muthia, etc. I mean, when we Bengalis cook the "dhoka mix", it seems something like this before frying. The thing is, as per my habit; I did not consult in details a handvo or muthia recipe, I find it a very boring exercise. Whatever idea I could make from the pictures my co-bloggers shared and the short description that came along, I thought of baking this BHAJA MOSHOLA OATS DAL SAVOURY BAKE. "Bhaja Moshola" is Bengali spice mix; a variety of! The most common in my family is the one where we dry roast cumin-coriander seeds & dry red chillies; dry grind them. I totally love this spice blend, may be because I have grown up having it in various dishes including achars [Indian or South Asian Pickles]. We can call today's share a savoury cake, vegetarian bake / vegetarian baked teatime snack made with oatmeal, soaked yellow lentil / moong dal, semolina.

The man is at home for the next two weeks, starting from today. The new system in their office is to work at office for two weeks & work from home for two weeks. How happy could be the days if our heart had been here. The son kept himself closed in his room mostly, when in the living room, he would mostly fight with mumma; how badly I miss those days. Each time, I console myself thinking it's for his good. Did not I want my brother to explore the unknown outside the boundary wall of his home? I still believe, it was required in his life; so let it be!

Then, why I am lost most of the time, I do not even like wandering outside for long. I like sitting in my favourite corner trying to catch hold of the son and talk timeless. I have not been successful as yet, may be some day, as of now he allows me texts. Because, I do not know the details of his class time, I do not make calls now and then; that is not the right thing to do. Had he been here, at this time I would have served him a big slice of this vegetarian, savoury bake, a supremely tasty evening snack BHAJA MOSHOLA OATS DAL SAVOURY BAKE with his choice of sauce. We will be having it now with our sugar free, black tea / coffee. 

I had blend together soaked moong dal, oatmeal, semolina, baking soda & powder, the Bengali spice blend , salt, oil, plain yogurt; added minced garlic, sliced onion & chopped green chilli, cashews & raisins; poured the batter into an aluminium foil, baked and its done! I actually wanted a healthy something to gorge on and here it is!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SPICE MIX :

CUMIN SEED : 1TSP

CORIANDER SEED : 1TSP

DRY RED CHILLI : 3-4

REST OF THE INGREDIENTS FOR BAKE :

YELLOW SPLIT MOONG BEAN : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

OATS : 1 MEDIUM TEA CUP SIZE

SEMOLINA : 2-3 TBSP

PLAIN YOGURT : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

THE SPICE MIX [BHAJA MOSHOLA] : 2TBSP

SLICED ONION : 1 SMALL TEA CUP SIZE

CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 2

MINCED GARLIC : 1TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

BAKING SODA : 1/2TSP

BAKING POWDER : 1TSP

OIL : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP SIZE

CASHEW NUT : 8-10 HALVED

RAISIN : 12-13

PROCEDURE :

The first thing I did was to wash & soak the amount of split yellow moong dal in enough water.

Whilst we will let it soak for at least 11/2 hours, we can do the rest of the prep work like slicing the onion, chopping the green chillies, mincing the garlic and wash them all.

We will take the oats & semolina together and blend it to a powder.

We will add the baking powder & soda and pulse it for just few seconds to mix well.

We will drain the soaked water & add the moong bean to the blender.

We will blend the mixture to a paste and add the yogurt & salt to it.

We will switch on the gas stove & dry roast the cumin, coriander seeds & dry red chillies for less than a minute at minimal heat.

We will take the prepared batter in a bowl, add the dry spice powder / Bengali Bhaja Moshola to it!

We will also add the onion slices, green chillies, minced garlic.

We will mix the batter well and pour in to an aluminium foil cake tin, then top it with cashew nuts & raisins.

Mine is a convection mode microwave oven. I had placed the low height wired stool inside and preheated for 10 minutes @ 180*C.

Then I had placed the batter filled bowl on top and baked for 28-30 minutes @ 180*C.

Be careful, every electrical apparatus differ from the other; temperatures may differ.

Once done, take out.

It is best to have it warm & fresh with tea / coffee.