SPICED BROWN RICE PATTIES

ANOTHER MONDAY ARRIVED AND I HAVE NOTHING NEW IN MY KITTY!

I am still not bored with life, getting to live is beautiful. I I do not have a success story about myself to tell you but I have tales to tell about my own; the son, man, brother, sisters, even about our mother's same old stories of her inhibitions. Most importantly, I am yet to taste many a dishes. The Burger King has recently launched a 3$ worth Chocolate Affogato done with Milo. I don't know why they did not name it Milo Affogato. I am not a chocolate fan, yet would try it. Affogato is new to me, you would not find it easily in Kolkata. I did not have it till date because I was unwilling to spend some 8$-10$ on something that has chocolate in it, that I have never tasted. I would not mind spending 3$ to try it. A couple of new items Burger King has launched, Cempedek Mochi to the chilli-garlic balls, it's decent pricing attracts me. I love most Popeye's fried chicken; earlier KFC's was my favourite. I still have KFC's given Popeye's is a bit pricier, but it's garlic rice and the spice factor of the fried chicken is unmatched. Then, you would not find it's branches easily here like KFC and MacDonald. I remember I first had a fish burger meal at the MacDonald of Essel World, Borivali, Mumbai back in 1999.

IN 1999, IT FELT KOLKATA IS LAGGING BEHIND!

Back to Kolkata from Mumbai, I felt I have to move out of Kolkata. I do not earn, I do not have to bother about the finance, I wanted to taste how life is in a financially stable place. That happened after 11 years, in 2010, we did not move to Mumbai but to another seaside, in this island. No one can say I spend extravagantly but I enjoy the upwardly living standard of a first world country. Since I do not have to earn, I remain obsessed with the jazzy outlook. The mother is in safe hands and happy in her world. May be I am self-centric and have no qualms thinking in this way that our mother has led the household the way she wanted, she has lived without much of regrets, I need to concentrate more on our son's future. Your kids need your care and attention, it comes naturally to me. Not a minute I can stay without thinking about the son. Today, I wish to wrap up quick and watch something on the OTT Platform.

WHAT IS SPICED BROWN RICE PATTIES?

The idea behind this can be the Arancini, actually not the Arancini but from the Bengalis' version of Arancini, "leftover rice pakora"! We rarely would have it. Our mother would cook fresh the right measure. Unless there had guests at home, not much of leftovers would be there. I know about Arancini for the past ten years of blogging. Before I have started the blogging journey, I shared the leftover rice pakora pictures in G+, later I found out it is common among the other South Asians, many bloggers did blog about it. I thought of blogging about leftover khichuri pakora, did not happen as yet. Another source of idea can be the Moss chain's rice burgers, I have to taste it. The SPICED BROWN RICE PATTIES are vegan and gluten-free with the added goodness of vegetables and herbs, some spices. The local brand turnip and cabbage pickle somewhat near to Kimchi in taste gives it an Oriental touch.

Few rice recipes from my Blog are PRESSURE COOKER MATTA RICE KHICHURI, KHUDER CHAL DAL SHOBJI KHICHURI, CHICKEN RICE IN MEMONI SPICE MIX

INGREDIENTS :

COOKED BROWN RICE : 1 COFFEE MUG

CARROT : 1 STANDARD SIZED

GREEN BEAN : 3-4

RED CHILLI PADI : 2 [OR USE CHILLI FLAKES]

GREEN CHILLI : 2

CORIANDER LEAVES : 2 SPRIGS

ONION : 1

GARLIC : 2-3 CLOVES

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2 TSP

LEMON JUICE : 2-3 TBSP

CORNFLOUR : 1 TBSP

A PICKLE OF CHOICE : 2 TBSP [I USED A LOCAL OILY TURNIP AND CABBAGE PICKLE] 

SALT : AS REQUIRED

PROCEDURE :

Wash the brown rice 3-4 times and soak in water for 2 hours.

Peel, cut and wash the vegetables, take in a mincer and mince.

Take the rice and 2 coffee mugs of fresh water in a pressure cooker, cook up to 3-4 whistles at minimal heat.

Once the lid opens, mash the rice grains a bit. Transfer to a bowl.

Add to it the rest of the ingredients, shape into patties. Grease an oven proof plate with a bit of oil and place the patties on it.

Mine is a convection mode microwave oven, I placed the high wired stool inside and on top of it the oven proof plate with the patties.

I cooked them in grill mode for 15-16 minutes. Enjoy them with sauce. Adding an egg or two to the mixture would have made the patties tastier, but I wished them to be vegan and gluten-free.

SPICY MIXED VEGETABLE SOUP

MY SOUP BOWL HAS TO BE TASTY!

I made this soup in February 2022. I can make soups but I rarely do. However, I enjoy only a few variety of soups, neither maintain the authenticity while making it. I would add this and that to make it suit our tastebuds. I like mushroom soups but it is bland, I add crushed black pepper and Tabasco to enjoy a bowlful of it. I want to say that I follow no rule whilst cooking a soup and having it. You cannot associate my soups to a particular cuisine. I would do anything. You can see I have added a couple of spices in it, somewhere I had a mulgatawny soup, I liked. May be ideas for recipes keep coming this way.

YESTERDAY'S BENGALI LUNCH I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED!

Only that the fish piece was too big for me. As a young girl I loved bigger steaks of fresh water fish curries, today I cannot. I was enjoying the piece but the amount felt too much. Now onwards, I may buy a Bengal Carp only when I would get a fresh one weighing 5 kilograms and above. Though I am fond of the smaller fish varieties, the smaller Bengal Carp fish do not taste good here, the rest in our home fear the bones.  

My mother-in-law and her son are fond of fleshy, less boney fish, long back I used to love fleshy pieces but not anymore. It is surprising how I enjoy tiny and smaller fish varieties these days. How I created scenes if one day the mother did not cook a big, fleshy fish besides a small fish & vegetables dish. I had thrown a lot of tantrums as a girl with regards to food, our mother never said no to it, she should have. The man and the son never did that to me. If the son did not like the food I cooked, he ordered food from outside using the pocket money we gave him. We do miss him around but you have to let them fly in time, they have to learn to be independent. We have to keep praying for their well being. There was a time the doctor barred me from reading the newspaper as part of my treatment. In the present day, I cannot stay off from the news, my anxiety level shoots up but I cannot call back my child and stop his growth, that is wrong. You have to assess the potential of your child and encourage him or her to achieve things as per his or her ability.

 

Yesterday evening was pretty hot, I wasn't feeling to cook anything for dinner. The man is not an issue, he is happy with an egg-potato boil, butter or ghee rice on his plate. But I am avoiding rice two times a day and I did not cook any dish suitable to have with breads. At one point, I felt like going to the mall opposite and get meals for us. Then, I was feeling lazy enough to change over, also we were waiting for the son's call. The man can skip dinner, wouldn't go and buy food. We do not use apps to order food like the brother who does it often, the son too does. I made those vegetables paratha. The dough got overly moist, they are not looking good. We enjoyed having it with pickle.

WHAT IS SPICY MIXED VEGETABLE SOUP?

You all know I can't have bland food. Even a mushroom soup requires some condiments to be added to suit my tastebud. I like a mushroom soup, hence I take the effort. Though I like soup, I do not cook it often because I enjoy cooking a variety, it is never a compulsion for me. Why to limit myself to salads and soups? But I have the plan to cook them often once I finish the first round of updating my blog. I would prefer a Bengali mixed vegetable bowl with or without small fish over a salad bowl. Bengalis have such a wide variety of vegetable recipes in their repertoire, at least my family has. Soups do happen rarely, when I do I must make them suitable for my taste bud. From the stepwise pictures later you can see how I made a pretty spicy vegetarian, gluten-free soup; SPICY MIXED VEGETABLE SOUP. Skip the butter to make it vegan.

Few other similar recipes from the Blog are SPICY VEGETABLES AND CHICKEN SOUP, BEET GAJOR ALOO DIYE PATHAR MANGSHO , TOMATO EGG DROP SOUP

INGREDIENTS :

FRENCH BEAN : 6-7

POTATO : 1 BIG SIZED

BROCCOLI : 1 STANDARD SIZED

CARROT : 2 STANDARD SIZED

CELERY STALK : 2

TOMATO : 1 BIG SIZED

ONION : 1 STANDARD SIZED

GARLIC CLOVE : 3-4

DRY RED CHILLI : 1

CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP

CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1 /4 TSP

TOMATO CHILLI SAUCE : 2 TBSP

VEGETABLE STOCK CUBE : 1 [MAGGI OR KNORR]

SALT : AS REQUIRE

BUTTER : 2-3 TBSP

METHOD :

Wash and cut the vegetables randomly. Wash again and take them in a pressure cooker with the dry red chilli, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt.

Add 1 & 1/2 coffee mugs of water and close the lid tight. Pressure cook up to 4-5 whistles keeping the heat at minimal. Let cool once done.

Open the lid, blend the boiled vegetable in a blender. Do it in batches. Strain the semi-liquid mixture.

Pour the mixture in a vessel and switch on the gas stove. Add the vegetable stock cube, crushed black pepper, butter. Adjust the salt if only required. 

Give a stir and simmer at minimal heat for 4-5 minutes stirring continuously.

Enjoy it fresh and Hot with toasted bread or steamed rice or thin roti. I however made some "koraishutir kochuri" to  go with the soup.

 

REGULAR BENGALI RECIPES

SOME DAYS I HAVE TO RISE ABOVE MY MENTAL BLOCK AND DECIDE TO BLOG ABOUT THE RUSTIC VEGETARIAN DISHES!

I do have a mental block with regards to the recipe that would go to the blog, it has to be something the son and the man would want to have. This however deviates me from the primary motive of blogging about the Family Bengali Recipes or just Bengali Recipes. There is another reason why I do not want to call myself a Bengali Food Blogger; I became friends with people from different parts of the world; I do not wish to confine myself to my community, I am against grouping. The men are not typical Bengali, they are cosmopolitan, be it food or their way of life. Coming to that mental block, you see I am using "Poppins" font today, those who know us would understand this. My question is are the duo at this home equally bothered about me?

YESTERDAY, I SUCCESSFULLY MADE SATTU PARATHA!

After two failed attempts at Bread Gulab Jamun  and a  Microwave made Mutton Rice, that success was a necessity for a sound sleep. I know only few things to do, that too if I do not do well how would I survive?

We did enjoy the mutton rice but the mutton and the rice seemed hard to me. Cristine ate it sometime back and says, "ma'am it tasted such good, why did you delete the stepwise pictures?" I just wish to use a better quality of mutton on bone! When you do not get a satisfactory result after a lot of effort, you feel exhausted, yet I went ahead with the spiced roasted gram flour stuffed flatbreads. After few attempts, last night I got them right. I loved my meal, the man too I believe. He is diplomatic, he loves both biryani kind of meals and handmade breads. He would not comment if both are not made equally good. Our mother never made sattu stuffed paratha, the grandma never knew about it. We ate sattu / chatu with puffed rice, banana, sugar. In the recent years, I have embraced dosa, different stuffed paratha kind of stuffs.

WHAT ARE THESE BENGALI RECIPES ACTUALLY; SHOJNE DATAR TORKARI, MAAN KOCHU BATA, KOLMI SHAAK BHAJA, SHOJNE DATAR JHOL?

The above mentioned are the homely Bengali regular vegetarian dishes, they are vegan and gluten-free too. Today, I wished to blog about a couple of the vegetarian recipes I grew up having. I never did want them in my life, I was force fed. Only in the recent years I have started enjoying the vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free recipes that I have seen being cooked in the family, at friends' or at the relatives' homes. I do enjoy recipes from other cuisines. Let us cook the Family recipes all of which REGULAR BENGALI RECIPES like the SHOJNE DATAR TORKARI, MAAN KOCHU BATA, KOLMI SHAAK BHAJA, SHOJNE DATAR JHOL. The other Bengali Homes would have more or less the same recipes for these.

SHOJNE DATAR TORKARI

INGREDIENTS :

DRUMSTICK : 2-3

PUMPKIN : 1/2 OF A SMALL SIZED

POTATO : 1

DRY RED CHILLI : 2

GREEN CHILLI : 1

NIGELLA SEED / KALOJEEREY : 1/4 TSP

BAYLEAF : 1

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

SUGAR : 1/2 TSP

OIL : 2 TSP

PROCEDURE :

This vegan, gluten-free, Bengali regular vegetables dish can use a variety of vegetables. I have used only the pumpkin, potato and drumsticks. I think I was running out of the eggplants on the day I cooked it.

Thinly take out the skin of the drumsticks discarding the two ends of each of the sticks. Cut them lengthwise and wash.

Wash the potato well, we need not peel it! Cut it into 8 pieces.

Peel off the pumpkin and cube as much as required, like 8-9 pieces.

Wash all of the vegetables again, drain the water.

Marinate the vegetables with some salt and turmeric. Keep aside for 4-5 minutes.

Heat the oil in a wok, temper with the bayleaf, halved dry red chillies and the nigella seeds. 

Add the marinated vegetables along with the marinade. Give a stir and cover cook at the minimal heat.

Every 3-4 minutes, remove the cover and give a stir. 

Once the vegetables are almost cooked, remove the cover, add the washed and slitted green chilli and the sugar. Stir and let cook at minimal heat for another 2-3 minutes. We should be done.

                                         MAAN KOCHU BATA

                          

INGREDIENTS :

MAAN KOCHU / TARO ROOT : 150-200 GM

SHREDDED COCONUT : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

BLACK MUSTARD SEED : 1 TBSP

GREEN CHILLI : 4-5 [CHOOSE YOURS']

SALT : AS REQUIRED

MUSTARD OIL : 2 TBSP

PROCEDURE : 

This is no cook Taro Root paste, vegan & gluten-free. Here is how every Bengali Home would do it. The veteran Family women or every Bengali women in those days would do it in a "shil-nora", a specific variety of a mortar & pestle, that was good enough exercise for their arms and they did not require dumbbells. Till date I could not use a "boti" and "shil-nora", I use knife for cutting and my blender for doing the pastes.

We have to peel off the taro root, wear gloves for the purpose, cut it into smaller pieces and wash well.

We would wash and soak the mustard seeds in water for an hour. Take it in the blender with some salt and the washed green chillies. If you are doing it in a blender, you do need the soaked water, about 1/2 small tea cup.

We would blend them to a fine paste, add the shredded coconut, again blend to a paste.

Thereafter, we would add the small cubed taro root,  blend it to a paste. If we are doing it in a blender, you would get this watery texture, if done in a "shil-nora", they take the taro root paste in a piece of clean, white cloth and squeeze the water. After that, they paste together the mustard seeds+chillies+the shredded coconut and add to the taro root paste.

We pasted everything in the blender, right? We will take it in a bowl, adjust the salt and garnish with the mustard oil. You may add a little of sugar while pasting.

                            KOLMI SHAAK BHAJA  

INGREDIENTS :

KOLMI SHAAK / KANGKONG : 300-400 GM

GREEN CHILLI : 2

GARLIC CLOVE : 3-4

DRY RED CHILLI : 1-2

BAY LEAF : 1

NIGELLA SEED / KALOJEEREY : 1/4 TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

Oil : 2 tbsp

PROCEDURE :

This is the Bengali stir fried water spinach / kangkong, vegan and gluten-free recipe. Back home, it would grow anywhere, my family always got it from the market. 

The yesteryear ladies finely chopped the spinach in a "boti", that was no less than an artwork. Our mother till date does not allow anyone to cut the vegetables, she does not like. Our Cristine does a decent job with the knife. 

We are to discard the root end of the spinach stalks, then chop as finely as possible. We would take the chopped Spinach in a colander and wash thoroughly. Let the water drain away.

We would heat the oil in a wok and temper it with the crushed garlic, bayleaf, nigella seeds and the halved dry red chillies. We will give it a stir.

We will add the washed spinach to the wok, turmeric and some salt, then cover.

Once the spinach starts releasing water and a lot of it, we would stir it and cook uncovered at low heat for 5-6 minutes. We would add the washed and slitted green chillies and give a stir. We would cook it until all of the water dries up. We can adjust the salt if required towards the end.

Our mother always boiled and discarded the water of the spinach and then added it to the tempering and cooked further until dry. I do not cook it that way.

                                    SHOJNE DATAR JHOL

             

INGREDIENTS :

DRUMSTICK : 2-3

POTATO : 1 BIG SIZED

EGGPLANT : 1 MEDIUM SIZED

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP

NIGELLA SEED / KALOJEEREY : 1/4 TSP

GREEN CHILLI : 2+1

RED CHILLI : 1

BAY LEAF : 1

MUSTARD SEED : 1 TSP

OIL : 2 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

This is another vegan and gluten-free recipe. Thinly take off the skin of the drumsticks discarding the two ends, cut them finger length.

Keep the potato skin on, cut into 8 pieces. Also cube the eggplants. 

Wash them thoroughly and marinate with the salt & turmeric. Keep aside for 3-4 minutes.

Wash and soak the mustard seeds in water for an hour. Blend together with 3 green chillies and the salt. Get a smooth paste of them.

Heat the oil in a wok and temper it with the nigella seeds, bayleaf and the halved dry red chillies.

Add the marinated vegetables except the eggplants along with the marinade. Give a stir and cover cook at minimal heat for 5-6 minutes.

Once the drumsticks and the potato pieces are 60% done, add the eggplants and cook for 3-4 minutes, covered.

Remove the cover, add the mustard paste, take a cup of water in the same bowl and add to the wok. Add one or two washed and slitted green chillies. Give a stir, adjust the salt if required.

Cook at low heat for 3-4 minutes. We should be done.

If you love vegetarian recipes, you would enjoy these low spiced, easy made, healthy Bengali vegan & gluten-free recipes.

BENGALI STYLE CURRY PAKORA

 AFTER FEW ATTEMPTS, I GOT WHAT I DESIRED!

I am talking about the curry you see. It is not a Bengali Recipe, there is no harm cooking and having what is not authentically our's. I do try some that are not that much of a mismatch to our tastebuds. Because I did it for us, there is a hint of sugar in it. Today morning, I cooked a full Bengali menu to be delivered to a known family. Because they enjoyed having my food, I am in a good mood. It is not only about the money involved, satisfaction is when your client says they enjoyed the food sent. I did not go for my walk or swim and ate a plateful of rice.

In fact, the amount of rice is not that much, I added a boiled potato and dried lentils; that made the plate look bigger. Made flavourful with a tablespoon of ghee and a green chilli, such plates have always been my favourite.

The litchi season may be over, not tasting great anymore.

If I have used shredded coconut cooking for my client, I would keep a little to have with puffed rice sprinkling a little of brown sugar. I did not do intermittent fasting today, neither did any exercise, just wished to sit and relax after the food delivery. If I continue this, I may become an obese in no time. Tomorrow morning I must go out for a walk and then swim. Again I have to go out later in the day, I am planning a late lunch at the Saizeriya. It pains if I tie my hair, but I must tie when I am cooking for my client, forgot to wear the cap. Without Cristine's help, I    would not be done in time, she dressed the banana flowers required, also stuffed the pointed gourds. I would share the dishes in public.

LONELY SUNDAYS AIN'T PATHETIC, HOWEVER I DO NOT WANT THEM!

I could have gone out yesterday but I am a lazy self. Every Sunday we feel lethargic enough to go out somewhere. It feels at times we did not do much of outdoor activities with the son, he eventually have become home bound. We do not want him to be a party monger but he should have some solid, good friends around him. They should be close knit enough to be there for each other whenever required. He would be staying alone in a new city for the next two years. I may get panic attacks, what if he fall sick in the middle of the night? Each day, I read many a sad news, someone lost the partner, some the kids or a kid might have lost the young parents. I struggle to keep sane and end up eating the extra. My yesterday's lunch was heavy, I had my favourite mango+puffed rice at night. My today's lunch was heavy too, I am planning for two pieces of bread and omelette for dinner.

It is not easy to stay alone, eat meals alone. I keep telling the mother to complain less in life. She is pretty occupied which is good, neither the grandmother nor the mother ever complained of boredom or told they do not wish to live anymore. I love this. I wish to live longer together with the man, I want to witness the son's progress, roam around, travel far off. What I do not want in our lives are adventures; I have told the son this several times, not be a lone traveler ever or be too curious about the unknown, he has to live a normal life.

WHAT IS BENGALI STYLE CURRY PAKORA?

I have seen Kadhi Pakora and I have seen Mooru Curry, I wished to draw inspiration from the both, cook something similar with a Bengali touch. I have tried Kadhi Pakora earlier following a blogger friend's recipe. I tried foodaholic.biz's recipe of it in the google plus days. The family liked, even some of the friends. But in all these attempts, my curry was turning too thick. That flavour and taste of besan / gram flour I do not like. May be the pictures of mooru curry attracted me more, "doi er suruya" if I may call it. Fritters / Pakora I die for but it has to he hot and spicy. Keeping all these on my mind, I cooked this vegetarian, gluten-free yogurt & gram flour based fritter curry BENGALI STYLE CURRY PAKORA! I used a Bengali style tempering and one of our flavour burst dry roasted and ground spice powder. How lovely is that? Okay, the pakoras flattened because the batter got a bit watery, it proved good because it required less amount of oil to fry! I really enjoyed having the curry.

Few other curry recipes from my blog can be BENGALI PUMPKIN LEAVES MOONG BEAN LENTIL CURRY, VEGETABLES & CHICKEN LIGHT CURRY, CAT FISH BENGALI CURRY

INGREDIENTS :

YOGURT : 250 ML

GRAM FLOUR : 2 TBSP + 1 SMALL TEA CUP

SLICED ONION : A MEDIUM TEA CUP FULL

CHOPPED CORIANDER LEAVES : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP FULL

CHOPPED GREEN CHILLIES : 1 TSP

SLITTED GREEN CHILLIES

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 + 1/2 TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

CUMIN SEEDS : 1/2 TSP + 1/4 tsp

CORIANDER SEEDS : 1/2 TSP

RED CHILLIES : 2 + 3

DRY MANGO POWDER : 1 TSP

GARAM MASHALA POWDER : 1/2 TSP

SUGAR : 1 TSP [YOU CAN SKIP]

BAYLEAF : 1

OIL : 4-5 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

I added together the cup of gram flour, washed and chopped coriander leaves and green chillies, salt, turmeric. I had beaten it well. I heated the oil, and fried both sides of the fritters well. I took them out.

While frying the fritters, I had beaten together 2 tbsp of gram flour, the yogurt, salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, 2-3 coffee mugs of water using a hand beater. 

After the fritters are done and taken out, I tempered the remaining oil with the cumin seeds, 2 halved dry red chillies and a bayleaf. I poured the spiced yogurt  mixture to the wok and gave a stir.

I cover cooke it at low heat. As it started to boil, I added the dry mango powder, the garam masala, slitted green chillies and let it boil more.

Meanwhile, I dry roasted the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and 2-3 dry red chillies for a minute and ground to a coarse powder.

After about 10-12 minutes of boiling, I added the fritters to the boiling curry and then the dry roasted ground spices. I had taken it down after 3-4 minutes of boiling.

It is to be had with steamed rice.