CURRY AND SPICE: OVEN COOKED COCONUT KEBAB

VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE FOOD; IS NOT A BAD IDEA!

I am finding it interesting these days! It's to me another food venture; more experimentation with food! Inside my head, there are end number of vegetables & fruits waiting for me to combine them and put into either a kebab, cutlet or ice sticks / potong, respectively. When I discovered the potong ice-cream in this island, I was taken back to the olden days; how I loved the flavoured ice-sticks that came in a box. I could taste them only at the grandparent's place! The parents did not buy us anything the vendors would bring in the neighbourhood! Okay, "not anything" may be wrong to say; we were bought ankh / sugarcane sticks every weekend; the Joynagar er Moya packets our Muriwala / the popped rice supplier got us from Joynagar, every winter, cloaks & shawls too were bought from the Kashmiri Shawlwalas! All of a sudden they stopped coming; the humble businessmen were forced into something they might not have wanted to get engaged in! Oh God! Life is so precious; hatred is such a moron! Anyway, I liked the rest, could never like the too sweet Joynagar er moyas! The parents were in the habit of treating us with kulfi-falooda, ice-cream, fruits, sweets when out; I was the kind who waited for a "nemontanna bari" to have 2-3 fish or meat fries / cutlet at one go! Once in college, I got to have them but not frequently; our pocket money was meagre! What I earned from the tuitions majorly went for savings; yup; that was a bank employee's home! It is this woman who introduced the family to outside food; convincing the other members it is not that bad to have them at times; neither it would make big holes in our pocket! But I could merely get them to snacks; dining-in could not be accommodated with the tiny amount I drew. Today, as I stand as a dusk in the evening sky; I see myself under the shadow of my family; no showing off; no going out with friends for dine-ins often; wanting to cook at home with love!

HOME COOKED FOOD GOT DEARER AS I AGE!

An hour back, I had a fulfilling lunch with shutki mach / dried fish bharta, stuffed pointed gourd, lentil curry. The entire morning was a fruitful engagement, I had an esteemed client to deliver!

Yes, my lunch was pretty late, I was getting the pictures for the post ready; I updated an older blogpost ROSE FLAVOURED "MOCK" BAKARKHANI ON STOVETOP! We had it for our dinner yesterday!

I call it mock because originally, the texture is biscuit like as is done in the oven, also I used way less sugar in the dough! Mine were not so crisp but they were freshly made with quality ingredients! I need to stop buying the overly salty halloumi & feta cheese! Yesterday lunch time too, we had a good home-cooked meal!

I did not forget to have my share of swiss roll with the afternoon tea. I am too fond of swiss-rolls, more of those I get six for three dollars! I was feeling less hungry back in Kolkata; may be because the mother was cooking more variety of vegetarian dishes and making me eat them all at lunch! Had our son or T be there, the cooked dishes would have been a bit different. Otherwise, the brother & his wife eats homely Bengali; on top of that they order food from outside! The mother is not in the age to cook varied! I took cooked food for the in-laws too, they do like the food cooked by our mother. On this trip, I could not feed home cooked food to T's sister & her spouse! I think here I exercise a little bit, consequently feel hungry! In Kolkata, the water was not suiting me this time; in fact I would want to blame the uncanny heat there; else I was walking a lot!

WHAT IS THIS OVEN COOKED COCONUT KEBAB?

Meat is still dear to our heart; in my case I enjoy the Kolkata variety of mutton & chicken; but the problem is I wish to stay abroad with ditto the Kolkata Food Scenario on my plate! We cannot get the best of both worlds. Neither the frozen fresh water fish, nor the meat varieties entice me here. It is not about the quality, they do not match my tastebud! You cannot have such problems with the vegetables in offer, if we can excuse the overgrown ridge gourds & few other vegetables. With paneer & veggies I think I can prepare pretty good number of appetisers / finger food! There is also age involved in what I say; our stomach's capability is weakening! We are not set to turn vegetarian but our non-veg intake can be reduced! To incorporate more of vegetables in our life; "I" cannot cook for them rustic Bengali altogether, just a little this & that like this vegan, gluten-free coconut titbits OVEN COOKED COCONUT KEBAB can be had, prepared in the microwave! The ingredients used are less; I wished to make it potato free; used green peas instead! But a bit of cornflour was required to bind the dough! I have plans to get you more of such healthier finger food! As of now, let us savour the long weekend!

INGREDIENTS :

SHREDDED COCONUT : A COFFEE MUG

CRUSHED GREEN PEA : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

CHOPPED ONION : 1/2 SMALL TEACUP

MINCED GARLIC : 1 TSP

CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1 OR 2

CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP

DRY MANGO POWDER : 1 TSP

CHAAT MASALA : 1/2 TSP

CUMIN SEED : 2-3 PINCH

ASAFOETIDA : A PINCH OR TWO

CORNFLOUR : 1TBSP

CASHEWNUT : 1/2 OF ONE FOR EACH KEBAB

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 2 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

We have taken the shredded coconut in a bowl. We would then wash & crush the green peas. We would also chop & mince the green chillies, onions, garlic, wash well!

We need to heat the oil in a pan or wok; temper with the cumin seeds & garlic mince! We would fry them until light brown & fragrant!

We would add the chopped onions & green chillies thereafter!

We would stir fry them for 4-5 minutes at low heat & add the shredded coconut!

We need to stir fry the shredded coconut at low heat for 8-10 minutes. Thereafter, we would add the crushed green peas & all the spices, salt!

We would keep stir cooking the mixture for 6-7 minutes at the lowest heat. Then, we would add the corn flour, sprinkle some water!

The cornflour and water would act as the binder to the dough! We would transfer the mixture to a plate!

We would grease an oven proof plate with oil!

We would grease our palms; shape the kebabs tearing off smaller portions. We would place one halved cashew nut atop each! I showed, Cristine shaped them!

We would place the kebabs atop the plate! We would place the low height, wired stool inside the microwave oven. On top of it the plate of kebabs is to be placed!