MUSHUR DAL VEGETABLES MINCED CHICKEN CURRY

CHICKEN & EGG; THE TWO MAJOR GAME PLAYER IN FOOD-O-NOMICS!

I look around and see exactly this; it is chicken & egg that rules! I am unable to feel people's excitement with regards to these two food stuffs. What people understand by "Chicken & Egg is life", I do not get! Actually, the duo did not enter our family home until the mid seventies. My paternal grandparents and maternal grandmother never had tasted them. It is only when the parents reached Kolkata that they introduced the two in our home, chicken got a warm welcome among us siblings, egg did not. Duck Egg Curry was a weekly once affair in our home, I had my share of a "gota dim" only after marriage. I have always felt, it was never the question of affordability, it was the parents' habit, extreme control over finance! The sibling did not touch eggs then, we did not bother about it much. Because, both parents valued money; we never had to stop eating fish. The month end; each day of the month were same for us; we got to eat fish every day, at both meals! So, any day, a "chara pona maach" was dearer to us than a duck egg curry; "poultry r dim" did not enter our home until some 25 years back or may be it did rarely for only omelettes, rather "mamlets". 

ITS BEEN LONG THE BENGALI / INDIAN MIDDLE CLASS EMBRACED BREAD, EGGS, CHICKEN; WE COULD NOT CATCH UP PERHAPS!

The world outside our main door reached further heights; we did not know what a "bread & eggs" breakfast is; every morning, the first ritual in the kitchen was preparing a dough with either wholewheat flour or refined; else it was rice, seldom. Though we are Bangals; the earning parent and the sibling did not want rice in the breakfast; I loved but I had weight issues, was not allowed to! I loved handmade breads then too, the Sunday Night's chicken curry with thin chapatis is an experience to remember. When did I start disliking CHICKEN? It is not like that; it is this island's chicken that I do not enjoy. The garlic here too lack that smell. Taken together the chicken, onion & garlic variety here, a CHICKEN CURRY does not suit me. I still do not agree to quit. I keep experimenting with MURGI; which cuts would suit me, the combinations, etc. You can say, the idea of cooking a chicken curry with CARROT, BEETROOT, POTATO, GREEN BEANS, RED LENTIL is actually drawn from DAL GOSHT. I am not the kind who wish to be another contributor of dal gosht in the net after consulting twelve recipes of it, where is the thrill? So, I did this SOUPY CURRY and named it MUSHUR DAL VEGETABLES MINCED CHICKEN CURRY!

WHY THIS MINCED CHICKEN SOUP, OF ALL THINGS?

The reasons can be manifold; our inability to make salad our main food; fresh hilsa selling at a high price, that too coming from Myanmar; limited fish variety, of my choice; my severe allergy to make cooking a monotonous job; my affinity towards experimenting with food ingredients; and more! Yes, I do feel responsible towards contributing to the "what to cook and eat list" of the students living abroad, busy professionals or anyone who manages both home and work with elan. CURRY AND SPICE should take care of their needs too. I have always believed; Indians need not blindly follow the West, we can moderate our own age old recipes with a little of addition and subtraction, keeping the DISHES essentially Indian. Some days, we do not wish to cook elaborate; neither all of us have a full time help or very helping hand kind of family member. In such a scenario, an all-in-one, HEALTHY NON-VEGETARIAN CHICKEN VEGETABLES LENTIL CURRY saves us. We can have it with rice or any kind of bread. This home cannot have it with rice, so our help made us some parathas; I got pretty tired after the cooking & clicking part!

We also had egg plant / begun bharta on the side!

Again, my lunch today was green matar+potato curry, bandhakopir ghonto & porota!

MINCED CHICKEN : 250 GM

RED LENTIL : 3-4 TBSP

BEETROOT : 1/2 OF A STANDARD SIZED

CARROT : 1 MEDIUM SIZED

FRENCH BEAN : 3-4

CUBED TOMATO : 1

CHOPPED ONION : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP

SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 2-3

MINCED GARLIC : 1 TBSP

MINCED GINGER : 1 TSP

LEMON JUICE : 2 TSP + 2 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 11/2 TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 11/2 TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP

DRY MANGO POWDER : 1 TSP

GARAM MASALA POWDER : 1 TSP

BAY LEAF : 1

CINNAMON STICK : 2-3 ONE INCH STICK

GREEN CARDAMOM : 2-3

CLOVE : 4

BAKING SODA : A PINCH OR TWO [helps retain the colour of vegetables after been cooked]

SUGAR : 1 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 2-3 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

We will wash and strain the chicken mince well! We will wash the lentil well too! We will take both in a bowl; marinate with 2tbsp of the lemon juice, some salt & turmeric.

We have all the chopped, minced, slitted vegetables washed & ready on the kitchen tap. We will marinate the carrot, beetroot, potato, French beans, with little of salt & turmeric! 

The potato we will marinate just five minutes before adding it to the cooking pot, else it gets black spots.

We will add each of them separately to the pot, hence kept separately.

We will heat the oil in a deep bottomed vessel, temper it with the bay leaf and the cinnamon stick, green cardamoms, cloves!

We will add the minced garlic & ginger and stir fry for a minute or two.

Thereafter, we will add the chopped onion and stir cook for 2-3 minutes.

We will add the beetroot pieces and, stir and cover cook for 5-6 minutes.

Then, we will add the beans & carrots, and a pinch of baking soda.

We will add the lentil & mince chicken, potato, cumin+coriander+red chilli powders and stir cook for 3-4 minutes.

We will add 11/2 coffee mug of water, stir and cover cook for about 20-25 minutes!

We will remove the cover, add the washed cubed tomatoes & slitted green chillies, dry mango powder, garam masala powder now, cover cook for another 7-8 minutes!

We will add 2tbsp of lemon juice, give a stir and it is done!

All the cooking is to be done in minimal to low heat!

Serve it hot with your choice of main!

 

LAU SHAAK SHEEM DHONEPATA BATA TYANGRA

 

FISH AND BENGALIS; CAN BE A NEVER ENDING SUBJECT FOR MANY A NOVELIST!

Fish; rather fresh water fish & Bengalis are intertwined! It was only when we were in middle school that pomfret entered West Bengal's market! Till date, I could not allow pomfret in my life. In our growing up years, we stayed in a big junction station area, DumDum which had a huge wet market; where sting gray was sold; also tortoise meat. Only may be 3-4 times in our lifetime, the two mentioned were bought only to be disliked by us. Stingray only our mother can cook well roasting it for hours in spices. However, I find it a wastage of time to cook it, neither it is wanted here. In this island city, we get to see a lot of sea fish; once in the wet market. No, the sight of stingray or shark do not give me any pleasure! I can take the responsibility and  say on behalf of the majority of the Bengalis that sea fish is not our fantasy; specially if we have grown up in and around Kolkata. Only recently, I found out that Bangladesh's favourite "Roopchanda Maach" may be golden pomfret and not the silvery one. The later I can still cook for my family; the golden, grey and black pomfrets, I cannot. I just fall sick for a week, if I do so. These farm bred tyangra, a smaller variety of cat fish are better; even in Kolkata, the actual river water, deshi tyangra are getting rare in sight, so highly priced they got! Though farm bred, I got the tyangras fresh and cooked a very family recipe; they say they had got from Comilla, their ancestral place! The recipe uses green chilli & coriander paste, bottle gourd leaves & stems, broad beans; I call it LAU SHAAK SHEEM DHONEPATA BATA TYANGRA!

ARE YOU SURE YOU DO NOT LIKE SEA FISH?

That I am! Exceptions only prove the law. I may like Bombay duck, sea anchovy and few other smaller sea fish variety but that does not change my stand a bit. Sea Fish varieties have a smell, I cannot tolerate. Bombay Duck I have accepted, the fresh ones started coming to our home only when I was in college or university. We actually were used to having dried Bombay Duck! See, how I stock them at home. They are taking some sun bath, they stay well if given so! I cook it regular, once at least every fifteen days!

 What you see above, is a family love. Many years back, the best quality used to come home from Tripura. Our father was an extremely sociable person who kept in touch with the remote family branches settled in Tripura, Assam; even visited Bangladesh in 2000 to meet his school time friends! We do not even know who our relatives are. I last saw few of them in the marriage ceremonies of both sides of our uncles & aunts. My brother is least bothered; but I feel like exploring the thread these days, but how? What I can do is cook and share the family kind of recipes; like this MAACHER JHOL with laushaak, sheem, tyangra maach / LAU SHAAK SHEEM DHONEPATA BATA TYANGRA. The men are not used to this curry but eats without any fuss, I just serve them sans the stems, I eat them all and a bowlful of the curry! If I do not get to eat my kind of sides with the mains, I prefer a dahi poori and ranga aloor puli pithe.

Both the blog posts got updated with new pictures!

PATLA MAACH ER JHOL IS A FAMILY RITUAL; LAU SHAAK SHEEM DHONEPATA BATA TYANGRA; A SMALLER CAT FISH CURRY IS JUST ONE AMONG A COUPLE OF!

I am feeling very tired today, the entire morning I had spent time perfecting a "fuchka poori" and I definitely could nail it like a Kolkata Phuchkawala. I had captured the entire process, soon to share in public. I am actually eating excess; given my age, I am getting more lethargic because of eating more than required! This a problem since childhood! This was an obese girl who loved food, reading fiction, day dreaming, light music and nothing else. If yesterday lunch was with rui maach er jhol & bhaat, at night I wanted some pizza, we got two of them, one chicken pepperoni and one super cheese for 24$ from the Canadian Pizza chain! 

Pizza may be destructive but we just love it. I cannot survive on it, my men can. On their three weeks of stay in a hotel last August; they ate only pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, fried rice! I want home cooked food after a week of staying away from home. Any day, I would love staying at home and cooking something like this LAU SHAAK SHEEM DHONEPATA BATA TYANGRA, if only my own understood my mental needs, my agony and be a little nicer towards me. Anyway, I have started getting a bit of clients who think I cook very good mochar ghonto; they have re-ordered the dhonepata diye mushurir dal I had delivered last Saturday and wants a kofta curry too midweek! Life goes on, its good if our digestive system is stronger!

INGREDIENTS : 

TYANGRA MAACH / A SMALL FRESH WATER CAT FISH VARIETY : 500 GM

YOUNG BOTTLE GOURD LEAVES & STEM : 250-300 GM

BROAD BEAN : 5-6

FRESH CORIANDER PASTE : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP SIZE

GREEN CHILLI PASTE : 1 TBSP

SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 1-2

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

KALOJEEREY / KALONJI / NIGELLA SEED : 1/4 TSP

BAY LEAF : 1

DRY RED CHILLI : 2 [HALVED]

OIL : 2 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

You can see the young bottle gourd leaves and stems. Dressing them is easy but it takes time, not too much!

Tear off the good leaves, chop roughly. Throw off the yellow, dry leaves, if any! Cut the stems finger length size and thinly take off the fibre. Discard the hard joints. 

Wash thoroughly taking in a colander, marinate with salt and turmeric. Keep aside for sometime.

Above, you see one variety of sheem / broad bean! Throw off the two ends, cut each into 3 pieces, take off thinly the fibre.

Wash and marinate with half of the red chilli, little salt and turmeric. Keep aside!

About the tyangra, best is if you can instruct the vendor how to clean them. Here in this island, they do not cut smaller fish!

Cristine did the cleaning with a scissor. She had cut off the whiskers, fins, tail end, gills. She took off the waste from the stomach and washed them thoroughly!

Thereafter, I marinated the fish with the rest of the red chilli powder, turmeric and salt!

If the fish is fresh and have not been freezed, we do not need to fry them. I did not in this case!

We will heat the oil in a wok and temper it with the nigella seeds, a bay leaf and the halved red chillies.

We will add the marinated broad beans and give a stir. We will cover cook them at minimal heat for 3-4 minutes, not letting them to burn.

We will open the cover and add the marinated bottle gourd leaves & stems, give a stir. 

We will cover cook at minimal heat for 3-4 minutes. Water will be released.

We will open the cover and add 11/2 coffee mugs of water and bring to boil, uncovered, keeping the heat at low.

We will add the slitted green chillies & the marinated fish along with the marinade, simmer at low to medium heat for 4-5 minutes.

We will add the green chilli and fresh coriander pastes and gently give a stir. We will cook at low heat for another 3-4 minutes.

It is to be had with rice. The other sides; onion stalk+carrot+green peas+potato fry, bottle gourd leaves & stem dal, pointed gourd with chilli+mustard paste can be had with chapati / porota!

 

LAMB SHABU SHABU FISH FILLET TORKARI BHAAT

MAACH MANGSHO ALOO BHAAT; YOU ARE RIGHT! WE ARE BENGALIS!

You bet; all my ventures from this market to that market in the look out for "Essentially Bengal" or it's food is not valued at this home. My associates in the family heavily endorses fish and meat; its me who jumps over the wall at the site of a mocha / banana blossom or echor / raw jack fruit, potol / pointed gourd, etc; even rejoice at the discovery of ghatkol / kharkon pata in the island. Even, I cannot go without FISH & MEAT, but at least one or two vegetarian dish is a must each day in my house. This rule of mine creates a bone of contention among us; the family members. All they want on their plate is a RICE MEDLEY with fish, meat, some vegetables too which they can eat with a spoon & fork with their eyes fixed o the screen; television or the laptop! To me, the time of eating is auspicious. For a foodie like me, it is a holy ritual when my sole concentration should be o the plate. This dedication for food I do not see in my associate. One should honour food to remain in my good book! Yet, I keep cooking because it gives me pleasure. I feel no guilt forcing people at home to eat what I cook! Spending 5-6 hours cooking this dish; LAMB SHABU SHABU FISH FILLET TORKARI BHAAT with some meat, fish, carrots, peas, potatoes was no big deal because my own love it!

IT IS RAINING HARD; IT BRINGS FORTH A LOT OF MEMORIES; SO DOES A PLATEFUL OF MANGSHO BHAAT; MAACH BHAAT; ALOO!

Though the incessant rain, more this year is causing me irritation and giving my plants a tough time; it also brings in the memory of having hot khichuri / rice & lentil hotchpotch with maach bhaja / fish fry! Biryani was never a family thing, the family veteran started preparing it for few years now ever since my sibling fell for it! Biryani is an entire family love, my immediate family enjoys any rice dish that has meat or fish in it. I keep doing such ONE POT MEALS for them, never forget to include some vegetables in it. They eat vegetables with big chunks of meat or fish! They want to minimise my cooking time wanting to have an ALL IN ONE MEAL everyday. Then, I feel responsible to my tradition; to the word BENGALI! I must get lau shaak / bottle gourd leaves and stem and cook with aloo, bori or do a curry with spinach & vegetables. Amazing enough, I manage to feed those to my people, all they want is a good amount of fish & meat on their plate; some days a LAMB SHABU SHABU FISH FILLET TORKARI BHAAT. Life is all about adjustments!

LAMB SHABU SHABU CUT MEAT FISH POTATO CARROT PEAS RICE IS A COOL COUSIN OF BIRYANI; ONE DOES NOT SWEAT WHILST COOKING IT!

You may well ask me why a lamb shabu shabu cut in a Bengali kitchen? May be some day, I felt like buying a packet to do a MEAT & VEGETABLES HOTPOT, then it lay in the freezer for months. FISH FILLETS keep coming to my home; my kofta, kebab, cutlet, tikki making sessions get way easier! I had very little of the fish fillets left; carrots, green peas, potato are a kitchen staple! Instead of using each in separate dishes, I used all to prepare a  wholesome meal. The family feels happy, I work way less in the kitchen! Most importantly, this NON-VEGETARIAN MEAT & FISH MEAL; LAMB SHABU SHABU FISH FILLET TORKARI BHAAT is a good way to wish those in my Kolkata family, who are celebrating! I had the plan to use dry fruits in the dish, I forgot to assemble them. Later, it felt dry fruits would have been completely unnecessary in the dish. It took me a lot of time to cook it but I did not have the pressure on me to use the perfect spices, this and that required in a biryani! I do not like amounting tension on me whilst cooking! I took extreme liberty while cooking the dish which is not possible in case of biryani; there is no space to experiment if you are cooking a perfect biryani!

 

INGREDIENTS :

COOKED RICE : 4-5 COFFEE MUG [I USED COOKED BASMATI]
LAMB SHABU SHABU : 400 GM

FISH FILLET : 250-300 GM

CUBED POTATO : 7-8

CUBED CARROT : 7-8

GREEN PEA : A HANDFUL

CHOPPED CORIANDER : A HANDFUL

CHOPPED TOMATO : 1 BIG

SLICED ONION : 1 BIG

GREEN CHILLI : 3-4

CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP

SHUGANDHI MOSHOLA MIX / FRAGRANT SPICE MIX : 2 TSP [click on the title for the recipe]

CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1/2 TSP

CINNAMON STICK : 3-4 TWO INCH STICK

GREEN CARDAMOM: 2-3

CLOVE : 4-5

CINNAMON POWDER : 1 TSP

GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/2 TSP

CLOVE POWDER : 1/2 TSP

BAY LEAF : 2-3

LEMON JUICE : 5-6 TBSP

VINEGAR : 2-3 TBSP

SUGAR : 2 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

GINGER PASTE : 2 TSP

GARLIC PASTE : 2 TBSP

MILK POWDER : 2 TBSP

GHEE : 4 TBSP

OIL : 2-3 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

The first thing to do is to wash the lamb shabu shabu cut meat and marinate it with vinegar for about an hour!

We will drain the marinade, wash again the meat thoroughly and marinate again with little salt, turmeric and 2-3 tbsp of lemon juice, half of the red chilli powder required!

We will cut and wash all the vegetables; get them ready on the kitchen top. We will marinate the potato & carrot with little salt & turmeric only 5-6 minutes before we add it to the vessel!

About the fish fillets; I have cut them into finger sized. I washed and marinated them with little of salt, oil, crushed black pepper and 2 tbsp of lemon juice; kept aside for 1/2 an hour!

Thereafter, I cooked them in grill mode for 10 minutes one side, 6 minutes the other; placing the oven proof plate on the wired, high stool!

We took off the cooked fish and kept aside for a later use!

We had tempered the heated oil with the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, bay leaves and added the washed & sliced onions.

We have the ginger & garlic pastes ready for use!

Once the onions get caramelised; we will add the ginger & garlic pastes.

After cooking the mixture for 2-3 minutes, I had added some salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, the rest of the turmeric powder, cumin & coriander powders and stir cooked for a minute!

We had added the marinated lamb shabu shabu and folded in well.

We will cover cook it now until tender which may take about 50-60 minutes at minimal heat. We will close any outlet with a clove. In between we have to check; if the water released dries, we have to add little water!

Once the lamb shabu shabu pieces are tender, we will add the shugandhi moshola mix / the fragrant spice mix, cinnamon powder, green cardamom powder, cloves powder and fold in well!

We will add the chopped tomatoes, cubed potatoes & carrot, green peas; all washed!

We will again cover cook for about 35-40 minutes; by that time the lamb would be done and the gravy semi dried. We will add 1tbsp of ghee at this stage.

What I had to do next was to add the pre-cooked rice that had been cooked until 60% in enough water in which we added salt. 

We had added the rest of the ghee on top of the rice, sprinkled the chopped coriander; pushed in the cooked fish and the whole green chillies!

I cover cooked it for 20-25 minutes at low heat. I was not particular about placing a pan underneath the vessel because there was enough gravy in the pot, neither we were cooking biryani!

Some of us in the family do need a raita alongside, whilst the rest would want a chicken chaap instead!