KATA O GURO MOSHOLAI KUCHO MURGI

IF I AM TO HAVE CHICKEN; I AM TO HAVE CHICKEN MY STYLE!

I am not a hardliner in most of the matters, I think. With regards to food, I am not a quitter. In the past few years; I have lost interest in chicken, gradually in mutton too! I think, not getting the Kolkata variety of them is one major reason. The other reason is our age; the senior rightly says our tastebuds do not accept meat much as we age. This is no new in the Indian, non-muslim households. At least, in our family, among the relatives; I have noticed after a certain age, they quit or lessen the quantity of meat intake. I think following the latter is wiser. Why should we quit a food ingredient unless the doctor asks us to? Okay, I was asked to quit any kind of meat altogether back in 1994; I could not. Those days, I used to immensely love meat. Till date, I couldn't quit meat. What I do is I bring them less. After the son left home for his college, we have no reason to get chicken & mutton frequently! Although, I buy meat every week for my clients, I do not cook for ourselves or may be I cook few pieces; say half a chicken or 500 gm of mutton! We have a Cristine too whose heart is not fulfilled with tyangra, pabda, rui, ilish alone! She has adapted to Bengali / Indian Cuisine does not mean I expect the maximum of sacrifice from her. I think she eats her quota of beef & pork when she goes out on Sundays! I cannot have chicken with lots of onion & garlic pastes added in it. I enjoy it in simply made curries. Oriental Style chicken dishes are my anytime pleasure!

CHICKEN ER AMI, CHICKEN ER TUMI!

Yes, I need some light jokes to bring myself back to life; after a heavy lunch, every other minute my eyelids are betraying. I want to write and finish off a blogpost in time, I am so unable to! I have trained myself hard not to take an afternoon nap but your family has it's stamp all over you. The family women or say, it had been a part of Bengali daily life to lie down for few hours after lunch and wake up before the evening tea / coffee time! There had a reason; these women worked hard for the household; no one calculates or values a homemaker's sweat is a different issue. But look at me! I live with a whole time help and still want to sleep in the day time! I had walked only 5.5 km today, yet feels lethargic. I was trying to eat a healthy lunch; but to drive away the untimely sleep; I already ate one malpoa and a narkol er sandesh; HOMEMADE!

Now, I am thinking what was the point heading back home, taking a shower, doing the afternoon prayer and cooking a healthy lunch if I had to have two sweets thereafter? Can you see the self-made tomato-corn soup and gram-flour crepes? I dislike chilla and cook them bad; I liked them today, somehow. In the morning, I had two pieces of bread, after an hour I would have two-three air-fried onion rings & a vegetarian curry puff with my coffee; and retire to the bed having me cooked Bengali food without any amount of rice or roti! I cannot sleep without having my bowl of dal! It seems, I cannot ever overcome my eating disorder syndrome and eat clean! I liked having that soup but ask me who am I? I am exactly what I ate for lunch yesterday! It was dried Bombay Duck with egg plant; raw papaya with coconut, roasted moong lentil curry with brown rice. I did get for the man a chicken & omelette rice meal from Riverside Indo Grill, stationed at our neighbourhood mall's food court!

Litchis are good after meal dessert, aren't they? 

WHAT IS KATA O GURO MOSHOLAI KUCHO MURGI?

What is KATA MOSHOLA? I consider it CHOPPED SPICES instead of a paste! What is GURO MOSHOLA? It is SPICE POWDERS! I think I came across many such one pot meat recipes with the marination done at one go with spice powders & chopped raw spices and cooked in a pot. I guess these are innovations of & for busy homes! I liked the idea before and have one or two recipes with meat chunks; in the blog! A few months back, I tried the same trick using MINCED CHICKEN and was born this NON VEGETARIAN, GLUTEN-FREE, CHICKEN RECIPE; KATA O GURO MOSHOLAI KUCHO MURGI! May be there are similar recipes, already existing in the blog, I did not consult any! I enjoyed it because it is a SIMPLE, LIGHT, SOUPY CURRY. But I must have the full platter to enjoy the meal fully! That "mulo diye bhaja moong er dal & fulkopir dalna" I must have for a fulfilling experience! By now, I could get over the "gum ghum bhab"; absolutely cannot give up the idea of having the snacks with my coffee, that definitely kills your system! I cannot give up my pleasures altogether!

INGREDIENTS :

CHICKEN MINCE : 300-400 GM

DICED GARLIC : 1 TBSP

SLICED ONION : 1/2 MEDIUM TEA CUP

DICED GINGER : 1 TSP

SLITTED GREN CHILLI : 2-3

CHOPPED CORIANDER : 2 TBSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1/2 TSP

CINNAMON POWDER : 1/4 TSP

GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 2 PINCH

CLOVES POWDER : A PINCH

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP

BAY LEAF : 1

LEMON JUICE : 2 TBSP

OIL : 2 TBSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

PROCEDURE :

We will wash the chicken mince well taking in a strainer, under running water! Then, we are to marinate it with salt, turmeric, lemon juice, slitted green chillies, sliced onion, diced ginger & garlic! We will keep it covered for an hour!

After an hour of the marination, we will heat the oil in a wok and temper it with a bay leaf!

We will add the marinated chicken mince to it along with the marinade and give a stir!

Thereafter, we will add the cumin+coriander+red chilli+cinnamon+green cardamom+cloves powders and fold in well!

We will cover cook it at minimal heat for 12-15 minutes. Removing the cover, we can see a considerable amount of water has released! We need not add any extra water if so!

We will add the chopped coriander and fold in well! 

After a minute or two, we will take it off the gas stove and serve it with breads or rice!

 

OVEN COOKED TRIKON NIMKI

THEY SAY LIVE, ACT, COOK SMART; I SAY A BENGALI KITCHEN DEMANDS LOVE, SINCERITY, PATIENCE!

I am really in awe of those expats who juggle home and office with elan. Whoever lives outside India and manages home and work without an outside help deserves accolades. I wonder how can they? I do not go out to work, neither I do the household chores. Sitting far from India, I do have a whole time help. After the son left for college, we never thought of asking Cristine to go back home. We want her to stay as long as we are here; we do not know if she would want to renew her contract with us again in 2022. Her father is not keeping well; her elder sister too works here. Her brother has shifted to their home with his wife & child from Manilla but himself has heart ailments. You need strength to work & guide the labourers in the farm. The sister's husband & four children also stay in the same house but everyone looks unto Cristine for every help; financial & otherwise. She was to go home last December; we promised her a two months of paid leave instead of one, her father wants her. The pandemic jeopardised every plan of people. We can understand her plight but helpless at this time. We only tell her she needs to think a bit about her future also; she has to save enough for her old age. I doubt if her family thinks of marrying her off; realise that she should also have her own family! Coming to the point, I shiver at the thought of mopping & sweeping, washing stuffs all day long! Then you see, those who cook smart, do they do the arrangements to cook shukto or labra or chyachra or panchmeshali using a couple of vegetables? Also kofta, fish & meat, dal? Aren't they devoid of savouring homemade mocha or echorer chop, paneer er cutlet? I dislike dishwasher and different gadgets, neither can eat bland food that belongs to no land!

MY INABILITY TO ACCEPT MODERNITY AND RUN WITH THE TIME; IS MY GREATEST BARRIER!

The couple at this home has mental blockage about doing household chores. Because I am pretty sure about the fact that the senior hates washing & cleaning stuffs; he would not be able to become a helping hand ever. That is the reason why he prefers keeping a help instead of renting an apartment of my choice. I am not an "ujbuk" who would ask him to rent one for 4500-5000$. I am only asking him to leave the idea of living in a prime location and go a little further. Here; living in a distance similar to Habra, Bashirhat or Naihati, Pairadanga is not a big deal. Am I asking for too many things at a time? My son must study where he wants to; he should be able to achieve higher degrees; at the same time I wish to relocate at least to a well donned home. The senior cannot ever say I have demanded expensive dresses & jewelry, properties for myself. I know of couples who say they cannot afford to send their kids to a country where our son went; but they have way more savings and properties than we have; their wives have triple the amount of jewelry than what I own; they are more of social beings and travel bugs than we are. I have no regrets about not having. I always believe our most fruitful investment is for our child's education & future. I am angry with the senior only because of him not wanting to change some 7-8 years old furnitures. Locked at home with nowhere to go, life gets monotonous with "purono jinishpotro"! Till date, he could not arrange for a separate prayer room for me, that is frustrating! We miss our weird, mischievous son; and we must have a little bit of life to let our lives flow further! We hardly agree on any matter! What I do is I watch movies whenever I am free; we can go to the movie theatres, he does not agree to! Then, I cook, keep cooking! Some days, it is a healthier form of a very popular but non-pedigreed snack item of Bengal; Trikon nimki / Triangular Nimki!

WHAT IS OVEN COOKED TRIKON NIMKI? What is oven-cooked food? Any food cooked in the combination or bake or in the microwave mode; instead of on the gas top; can be termed so! OVEN COOKED TRIKON NIMKI is TRIANGULAR BENGALI SNACK cooked in the oven using very less oil! The neighbourhood sweet shops and the road side tea stall all over Bengal including that of Kolkata would fry them every morning. People would queue up in those shops; asking for a plate of roshoshogolla, pantua & this nimki / fried triangular salty snack. Yesterday evening, I tried recreating in my kitchen; a less oil version of it! I followed every step of doing the BENGALI VEGETARIAN SNACK, only cooked the last step in the oven. My bake mode is not working, but they were crisp even after being done in the combination mode! The little tweak I used is the use of fresh mint & coriander beside the use of nigella seeds in the authentic Bengali one. It came out extremely flavoursome and tasted exactly like cream cracker biscuits with fresh flavours!

The idea of making that paste with the refined flour & clarified butter / ghee is drawn from Tarla Dalal ji's recipe of BENGALI TRIKON NIMKI!

INGREDIENTS :

REFINED FLOUR : 1 COFFEE MUG + 2 TBSP

NIGELLA SEED / KALOJEEREY : 1 TSP

CHOPPED FRESH MINT : 1 TBSP

CHOPPED FRESH CORIANDER : 1 TBSP

GHEE / CLARIFIED BUTTER : 2 TBSP + 2 TBSP

OIL : A LITTLE TO BRUSH

SALT : AS REQUIRED

WATER : AS REQUIRED

PROCEDURE :

We will take the flour, chopped mint & coriander, nigella seeds, salt required, 2 tbsp of ghee in a wide mouthed bowl. We will rub the entire thing well for 2-3 minutes!

We will add water little by little and knead it to form a smooth, firm dough!

We will cover the dough roughly for half an hour. Meanwhile, we will paste together 2 tbsp of refined flour & 2 tbsp of ghee / clarified butter!

We will remove the cover of the dough and knead it for 2-3 minutes, again. We will tear off  luchi sized dough balls.

We will roll out small luchi roundels and brush a bit of the paste.

We will fold half and again brush with the refined flour & ghee paste. We will now fold from the side! A triangle shape is formed!

With the use of rolling pin, we will stretch it a bit, mini paratha likes!

We will grease an oven-proof plate with some oil and place some uncooked nimkis at intervals. We will brush a little of ghee or oil on top of each!

We will place the low height wired stool inside the microwave oven and place the oven proof plate on it!

My bake mode has stopped working. I cooked them in the combination mode at 300* power, one side for 8 minutes!

I had turned them over, brushed the top with a bit of oil or ghee and cooked in combination mode, at 300* power for 4 minutes to 4.30 minutes.

While eating, I just wanted some jam or spread atop but I am a diabetic. You can try!

DHONEPATA MUSHUR DAL ER BORA

OUR ETERNAL BOND WITH SNACKS, FRIES & FRITTERS!

Any day, any time can be a good time for snacks. It feels exactly so to me, even to the rest! The Filipino got adapted to our food habits and loves our fries to puffed and flat breads. As told earlier, the senior loves but controls for the health's sake. It is the son and his mumma who would not count when it comes to FRIES & FRITTERS! I cannot resist making them, I also feel sad unable to feed them to the son. Then, we are not the kind who would stop living or postpone all of our family plans waiting for a homecoming. Instead, I insist the son to buy at least two to three varieties of fruits per week. This way, in a month he can have a couple of the varieties. He might not be having the INDIAN STYLE FRIES & FRITTERS there, but SNACKS is there in his life. In fact, I am scared and warn him not to eat too many fried stuffs. Snacks freshly prepared at home and those bought from outside have a difference, I fear of the preservatives & the taste enhancers used! Even I do not prepare them often, although I want them everyday. Earlier, it so happened that the men skipped their share of vegetables & even non-vegetarian food if I had served them "bora-tora"! Unless it was a meat or fish variety of their choice, they would prefer fries or bakes! What I am to share now is a humble, BENGALI STYLE FRY made with RED LENTIL PASTE & CORIANDER LEAVES! I named it DHONEPATA MUSHUR DAL ER BORA!

A BENGALI PLATTER KEEPS ME HAPPY & FULFILLED!

Perhaps, each day I retire to the bed thinking of starting a new day the next morning with clean eating. It does not happen, I get weak at the sight of food! Take the example of today. I had started the morning with a cup of sugar free, milk free coffee with 11/2 patishapta / jaggery-coconut filled crepes! I went for a walk, on my way back I felt hungry and ate a prawn pancake kind of. I did walk for 6.1km, went for a hair cut too! I wanted a gradual layer this time. Back home, had my humblest & beloved "ruti torkari"! Now, I will be trying something in the air fryer to go with my tea. Thinking if I should have a chilled tea or coffee. Its pretty hot here in the island!

Any wise person would have had a smoothie in the morning and only this chapati platter for lunch! Oh! I also had a homemade coconut sweet and litchis in between! I started with the blog post very late, now feeling sleepy. There is an empty look around, the man is in office from today, as of now for every alternate week. Anyway, he does not make any amount of noise, closes himself in the son's room until he retires little before dinner time! What angers me is his reluctance to talk to me. Because I do not like chatting with people all day, I expect him to talk to me, about our home, future and child. He is more interested in CNN, WHISKY, CHEESE CAKE, HOLLYWOOD MOVIES, STAND UP COMEDY, and others I have no interest in. So, I keep myself engaged in the kitchen and eat way more than him!

WHAT IS THIS DHONEPATA MUSHUR DAL ER BORA?

What is Dhonepata? Dhonepata is fresh Coriander Leaves. What is Mushur Dal? Mushur Dal is Red Lentil! Today, we are using split, de-skinned red lentil. DHONEPATA MUSHUR DAL ER BORA is a VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE FRITTER RECIPE, just perfect to go with your evening cuppa or if you are a proud Bengali; have it with your "dal, rice and a kora korey maach bhaja". As I write, I make a sharp slurp sound; I want that platter in the picture for our dinner but I am not eating carbohydrates at night. How silly it is to have ilish maach with salad but I will. After visiting the doctor this week; I am to decide if I have to shift back to intermittent fasting again or not, it depends on my blood sugar level! I cannot live a life dependant on oats, salads, smoothies, millets! Happiness is growing your own coriander, that too in your tiny green space!

Won't you want to know what is there in the platter? They are Bengali homely, rustic dishes; Banana Blossoms with Potato, Coconut, Peanuts; lentil curry; Kharkol Pata / A variety of yum leaves Bharta! Our mother never served us cold, burnt fritters. She cooks for longer period in so less oil. She does not have time to be active in social media and make friends with the world; curiosity to know their whereabouts!

INGREDIENTS :

SPLIT DE-SKINNED RED LENTIL : 1 MEDIUM TEA CUP SIZED

FRESH CORIANDER : A HANDFUL OR TWO

CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 2 TSP

CHOPPED ONION : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP SIZED

SALT : AS REQUIRED

SUGAR : 1 TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1/2 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1/2 TSP

OIL : 4-5 TBSP TO FRY

PROCEDURE :

Soak the red lentil / mushur dal in a bowl for at least an hour.

Thereafter, wash two times and discard the water. 

Prepare a paste of it in the blender.

Transfer the paste to a bowl. Add the chopped onion and green chillies, salt, sugar, cumin+coriander+turmeric powders!

I had harvested those coriander leaves on that very day; washed and chopped well discarding the root ends!

We will add the coriander leaves to the dal paste and mix well.

We will heat the oil in a pan and slow cook both sides very well at minimal heat!

We never should cook them in high heat; they get burnt from outside and remain under cooked inside!

Have them hot and fresh to get the best taste!

 

STOVETOP SUJI APPLE CAKE

   

SEMOLINA; A MAGIC INGREDIENT!

Yes! To me, Semolina indeed creates magic in the kitchen. Even the Filipino at home keeps saying the Suji Idli I make tastes the best. The man and the son definitely enjoyed the suji / semolina flat bread I made and blogged about earlier. It did not happen regular but our luchi / poori done on a regular basis definitely has good amount of suji in it. For long, I have the plan to prepare a Raj Kachori; serve the rest with Ghoogni and myself would further dress it to make a chaat. It did not happen as yet. I may roam around the island and sit to eat alone; but at home, I do not like to have different from the rest. The son went to his college and a royal puffed bread did not happen. I am actually to prepare a couple of semolina dishes following the recipes of my Instagram co-workers; it's just not happening. About Raj Kachori; it feels to be a better idea to visit my favourite joint Kailash-Parbat after the lockdown is over, than to work so much only to cater me. Proper Northern Indian Chaats do not require labour; they require detailing. They demand a little of this and that on them. I would have gladly taken the ordeal if the rest at home had shown interest! The only chaat item the man eats is fuchka / golgappe! The son and Cristine would not touch. The common uses of semolina in our home are the making of idli, various desserts, Bengali upma, cakes. I find SEMOLINA CAKES easier to do requiring less ingredients! Because the son was not fond of suji halwa unless made a fusion with fresh fruit juices, neither of upma; I made CAKE & IDLI, PAKORAS mostly with it, still do! Here is one with SEMOLINA, APPLE, BROWN SUGAR; the simplistic STOVETOP SUJI APPLE CAKE.

STOVETOP CAKES ARE INTERESTING!

I am really finding the exercise interesting. Baking a cake on stove top does not seem that dreadful. It is time consuming but once we accept it, it's cool. You set the heat at minimal and its done. Okay, STOVETOP CAKES may not be saleable. I am okay with it! I have always been aware of my limitations; the problem is I am so lethargic that I fear to work towards overcoming my limits. At this time, all my bones seem like breaking; I want to lie down and go to a deep slumber! Why? Yesterday, night time I had walked 6.2 km and today I went to the local market and the mall, may be it was 3.4 km in all; and I was unable to go for a swim; instead had brown rice with mutton, boiled okra and dal. But I fulfil my targets, I am not an irresponsible kind. I know I must finish my blogging assignment and then I have to cook our dinner. I do not eat carb at night, they do! Someone is locked in another room, constantly sitting in front of the computer screen; morning until night without taking a lunch break. We serve the food there! I feel happy that the guy is not refusing whatever HOMEMADE FOOD is served with the evening tea! Hence, I  prepare a snack or two at intervals. Else, what to do. I do not block each day of the week serving my clients. I must have time for my home and leisure. In the madness of doing too many things within a timeline; I would perform poorly. Hence a VEGETARIAN BAKE can be done within the scheduled time of the day allocated for cooking! Just that our parents did not put any kind of pressure or challenges  in front of me; I did not learn to work hard and excel. 

WHAT IS THIS STOVETOP SUJI APPLE CAKE?

Stovetop Cakes are those that are cooked on gas top. I am not new to it. Pressure Cooker Cakes were done in the family in the 80's; until I got an electric run solo cake oven. I loved Bollywood Music then and I love it till date; I will continue to love! As I write this post; I am listening to an old favourite number from the mid 80's! 

Rishi Kapoor & Poonam Dhillon paired well on the screen. Like the other boys in my class, I too was / am fond of beautiful girls! A young Poonam Dhillon's beauty was flawless except her thin eyebrows! I do not have any of these girls' physical features but I give lip to their songs; even when baking a cake or writing a blog post! Me baked cakes are not Poonam Dhillon look a-likes; but they are as good accompaniment with your tea & coffee. Who am I? One who is very self-centric and does not like any interference whilst her rendition of "mausam par ka, rang badalta rahe, yuhi chalta rahe", whilst her beautiful, lonely walks or when at home! Neither her man, nor their child bothers her! They let me be, I love it! I hear the child took music and taking a lot of interest in it! It feels great, just waiting when baby starts cooking of it's own! Such SIMPLE BAKES wants some more lovers!

INGREDIENTS :

SEMOLINA / SUJI : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

APPLE : 1 RIPE

PLAIN YOGURT : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

BAKING POWDER : 1 TSP

BAKING SODA : 1/4 TSP

BROWN SUGAR : 4 TBSP

OIL : 1/4 SMALL TEA CUP + 1 TSP TO GREASE

REFINED FLOUR : 1 TSP TO DUST THE CAKE TIN

DRY FRUITS & NUTS TO GARNISH; I USED PUMPKIN SEEDS & CASHEWNUTS

PROCEDURE :

We will take the semolina, baking soda and powder in a bowl and mix together well.

We will wash and cut the apple small! 

We will take the yogurt, brown sugar, apple, oil in a blender and blend to a puree!

We will add it to the semolina flour and fold in well!

We will keep the mixture covered for half an hour. 

We will grease a cake tin with oil and then dust with flour.

We will pour the batter onto the cake tin and garnish with cashews & pumpkin seeds!

We will place a pan on the gas top at first; on it in the middle a wired rack. We will let it get heated for 10 minutes. Thereafter, we are to place the cake tin atop!

We will cover the entire thing with a lid without any hole. I covered any hole with a clove!

It took 55 minutes at low to minimal heat for the cake to get ready to eat!

We would let it cool. After an hour, we can turn it over easily!

It should be eaten fresh for the best taste. Mine was dense and we do not like adding any syrup to it. You can add syrup or blossom water for a more moistened version!