CHICKEN SAMOSA / SHINGARA / CHICKEN STUFFED SNACK

Doing a minced chicken & potato filled savoury snack was in the wish list for long. Back in India there is a practice of making meat filled chicken & mutton samosa / shingara which might had been a colonial influence. I mean was meat samosa being influenced by meat patty? No local shops usually sell it. Because we had been very very middle class and I did not even know anything about club culture or the food hunts in Park Street, I did not know if Flury's sold meat samosas besides sandwiches & patties or not. The institute I attended during my teens was within a protected area which housed a clubhouse that sold mutton shingara / samosa. I used to get those hot from the wok around 4 pm on some days, these days I surely had marked in the calendar to remind the mother next month; "mani, its one month already; when can we get again?" Once the confectioners like Tulika, Monginis, Kathleen opened their doors in the nook & corner of the Kolkata neighbourhood, pastries & patties became easily available to us middle class Bengalis.

I first entered Flury's after marriage, till date I am not comfortable spending that amount on a piece of cake or on a teatime fair. Does that mean I do not respect history, tradition? Not really, I am just conditioned that way. We always preferred buying patties & pastries from Nahoum's; go home, change clothes, take shower, sit under the fan and eat; eat for the next two days. The very rustic father did not have any interest about meat filled patty also, he was so contained with his "tiffin" with mango, banana, jackfruit, milk and beaten rice, popped rice, chapati or puffed rice. Why haven't I blogged about his favourite "kathal kheer" as yet? I fear the jackfruit variety we get here may not get us much of juice / nectar whatever. Before I decide on it, let me share a non-vegetarian savoury snack recipe CHICKEN SAMOSA / SHINGARA / CHICKEN STUFFED SNACK which we can do with whatever ingredients are available in the kitchen considering there might be 250-300 gm of minced chicken lying in the corner of our freezer all the time.

Though the local confectioners then in Kolkata got meat patties and savouries to the doorstep of the middle class Bengalis, we were not allowed them on a regular basis; for health reasons and also because of both our parents' extreme control on finance. We did not even have electric oven at home, so no question of our mother trying fish & meat patties at home. Fulkopir Shingara was what she would make during winters; egg & meat filled paratha rolls were a regular at home. Monthly few times, we did get samosa / shingara, rolls from outside, my most coveted ones still remains to be meat & fish cutlets; I love those in Kolkata. But you must know the right shops to buy them, else you fail to find decent amount of meat & fish in them. With food adulteration rampant in India, if one has the ability, they should avoid eating meat & fish from anywhere & everywhere.

For the present me, quality is a big concern. Hygiene was always a concern in the family; after a decade of stay in this island, this concern has multiplied. I have taken the mother's route, what she was in her hay days and try my hands on different kinds of sweets & savoury snacks, bread & rice dishes. I already have two Bengali and a mutton samosa / shingara / stuffed savoury snack recipe in the blog if I am not wrong. Let me add this new one, a non-vegetarian fried savoury snack recipe with a filling made of chicken & potato, spices CHICKEN SAMOSA / SHINGARA / CHICKEN STUFFED SNACK. Below is how we had it last Friday, that is my plate, we still have some to fry.

I keep eating around in the island, get outside food too but restaurant hopping on a regular basis is not my cuppa. I will not do that. I have ample time to try my hands on things that are within my limit. In fact, I make things simpler bringing them down to my level of convenience, hence seldom I get to use the authentic tag to my food. About this snack; the shapes are not exactly like the store bought. I shaped only one or two, Cristine did the rest. All the other jobs with regards to it is done by me but that shaping part is very important. I had to keep Cristine's contribution on record. This morning, there was practically no job for us. Believing in zero waste, I used all of the stale rice to prepare a potato-egg rice and packed the man's lunch box. His snack box has swiss roll and a ladoo made by me, I know it's rakhi poornima around. My brother can get happy with a meat samosa, not all who are celebrating, I have to balance the varied needs. Our lunch would be paratha / porota / flat bread; the son gets mutton on the side, I will have the bitter gourd bhaji, Cristine shall decide her's. Yesterday, for lunch I had got chicken chop meal for the men, I had "double dimer omelette & fried kangkong rice"; all the three of us had "doi maach" meal for dinner. Cristine again does not eat with us on Sundays.

It feels good to have used up the rice by morning; although the senior prefers his rice freshly cooked, never messy over cooked rice unless it is "fena bhaat" served.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CHICKEN & POTATO FILLING :

MINCED CHICKEN : 250-300 GM
POTATO : 2-3 MEDIUM SIZED
GARLIC PASTE : 1 TBSP
GINGER PASTE : 1 TBSP
SLICED ONION : 11/2 MEDIUM TEA CUP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1 TBSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP
GARAM MASALA POWDER : 2 TSP
DRY MANGO POWDER : 2 TSP
CHAT MASALA : 1 TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/2 TSP
CORIANDER SEED : 1/2 TSP
LEMON JUICE : 2 TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 3 TBSP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH :

REFINED FLOUR : 2 COFFEE MUG
NIGELLA SEED : 1 TSP
SALT : 1/2 TSP
OIL : 3 TBSP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FRIED SAVOURY SNACK / SAMOSA / SHINGARA :

THE COOKED FILLING
THE KNEADED DOUGH
OIL TO DEEP FRY


PROCEDURE :

We have marinated the washed and drained minced chicken with a little of salt, turmeric, lemon juice and kept aside covered for an hour.

What I do most of the time with regards to boiling potato is; wash & prick each with a fork; take them on a microwave proof plate and microwave at high for 4-5 minutes, say for those 3 potatoes, I used this time.

We will peel and mash the boiled potatoes with some salt once they are cold. You can use any method to boil them.

We have heated 3 tbsp oil in a wok and tempered it with the cumin and coriander seeds. We have pressed the seeds with the back of our ladle. 

We have added the ginger-garlic paste and fried for 2-3 minutes.

We have added the washed sliced onions & chopped green chillies and added to the wok.

We have cooked them until golden brown and added the minced chicken with the marination; folded in well and thereafter added the turmeric+cumin+coriander+red chilli powders.

We have folded in well and cover cooked for 7-8 minutes at minimal heat.

We have opened the cover, added the boiled potato and chaat masala, dry mango powder.

We have folded in very well and stir cooked the entire thing for 5 minutes at low heat. We have added the garam masala powder and some salt if only required and stir cooked for a minute or two.

We have transferred the prepared chicken & potato filling on to a plate.

For the dough, we have taken the flour, nigella seeds and salt together and mixed well.

We have added 3 tbsp of oil and rubbed well for 2-3 minutes.

Now adding water little by little; we have kneaded the flour mix to a firm, smooth dough.

We have kept it covered for 15-20 minutes, opened cover and kneaded again for 2 minutes.

We tore off small portions and smoothened each between our palms. We have rolled each onto small roundels and cut half with a cake knife.

We have applied some water at the corners and folded to join from the straight line side.

We have filled the pocket with the stuffing; and pressed the open ends to close.

I did one, Cristine shaped the rest.

Once done, we refrigerated it for an hour or two. We took them out just before frying.

We have heated the oil in a wok just little and never let it get too hot. We have added a few uncooked snacks / samosa / shingara at a time so that they can move around and we do not have a problem  turning them over. You can see the oil is mildly hot.

Once done, we will keep them onto tissue papers.

It was still hot and crisp after 20 minutes of frying them only because of the right temperature of the oil and the right technique of frying. This is what I have learnt over the years.

I served it with tamarind sauce, Thai Chilli sauce and the salad with Vietnamese lemon grass salad dressing.

PEPE ALOOR SHUKTO

This is that light, soupy, vegan curry I have been wanting to blog about for long now. It was just not happening. I do not know how authentic Bengali it is, if other Bengali Homes do it or not. It used to be done in our family every week throughout the summer. I am a very disorganised person. I could have asked the mother at least yesterday if this vegetarian curry was done in their family or in our father's side or she had learnt it from any parent in our school. I call her, then forget to ask what is required. Now if I call, she will not take calls. In the mornings, she is busy with "jharu-pocha, gate e jol, snan, shokal er pujo, gachey jol." After mid-afternoon, she gets free. The major problem with her is her mania for cleanliness. Else, with two part-time helps, she need not overwork. Just now I have learnt a word that perfectly describes our mother, "fastidious."

So many times I try to tell her to be less judgmental and be thankful. She still expects me to do "mani-mani" all the time as before; how is it possible? I have a husband, a boy; they are my responsibilities, love. Love gets distributed proportionately; it's natural! I cannot be her; with only "baap er bari" on her mind. I know she is just waiting for the train services to resume and will risk life to travel in the Sealdah main line. I may sound selfish, our grandmother got sores cradling me. Then, one has to understand I have a family now and love & affection is learnt, gotten by inheritance and executed. "ja pelam, ja shikhlam, ta amar agami ke diye jabo." The baton is passed on naturally.

I never deny where I come from, my roots, the womb that nurtured me; that quality sperm that never will allow me to be dishonest, wrong the people. I just cannot satisfy her expectation level; I express my gratitude towards them through the recipes I cook and share. This light, soupy, non-spicy, vegetarian, vegan curry with raw papaya & potato, white sesame seed PEPE ALOOR SHUKTO is one such tribute to the family repertoire. The mother does it with poppyseed paste / posto bata which is banned in this island.

Whichever society I come from; I have always believed and maintained that post marriage, both the boy and the girl should build a separate home for themselves and take utmost care of both homes without any discrimination. I have always hated this concept of "cheler bari meyer barir mathar opor thakbey." Let us ease the situation or may be I am going to put you in a soup! You can keep wondering for the entire day & week; "how an overweight woman at 50 can eat four, carb filled meals in a day?" Okay, I really can. Yesterday, the man did not go to the office, he had a headache. We packed his lunch box with four flatbreads & chicken. I do not let them eat cold food if at home. So, I had two parathas with mango achar for breakfast, he had a mango bowl that went into his snack box.

For lunch, I had "shabu makha", sagoo+mango+banana+coconut+milk+little amount of sugar. I had a toasted bread with a piece of chicken too. They had paratha & chicken.

Around 6:30pm, I wished to have some outside snacks. Cristine got two salty buns for the son and we shared half & half of a salty bun & potato curry puff which is similar to samosa. The man will have nothing with tea, snack he has only when there are guests at home.

Thereafter, which middle-aged will have dinner? I had. Our dinner was mutton kosha and this light, vegan curry with raw papaya & potato, roasted white sesame seed paste PEPE ALOOR SHUKTO. It did not remain soupy anymore, may be the potatoes did not let it. I had them with pearl millet, they with fine basmati. I must have a bowlful of dal for lunch today.

Today, I felt I must put a check on the food intake, having oats appe made by Cristine in little amount of ghee. After having six of them, I want more! May have two biscuits.

Anyway, the plating you see is not totally fake. I mean I can have the vegetarian curry with rice, but I need a "rui-katla bhaja ba duto charapona bhaja" to have it happily. The men too must have a fish or meat curry of their choice to have it. Neither, our mother dared to serve it without fish or meat.

INGREDIENTS :

RAW PAPAYA : A SMALL SIZED OR 1/2 OF A STANDARD SIZED
POTATO : 1 MEDIUM SIZED
WHITE SESAME SEED : 2 TSP [YOU CAN USE POPPYSEED IF ALLOWED AT YOUR PLACE]
TURMERIC POWDER : A PINCH
RADHUNI / AJMOD: 3-4 PINCH [WIKI says radhuni is dried fruit of Trachyspermum Roxburghianum, a flowering plant; smells like parsley, tastes like celery. Honestly, until I had a blog, I did not require to know what radhuni is called outside my family; some called it wild celery seed, I took it, now WIKI says it is this]

BAYLEAF : 1 SMALL
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1TSP
OIL : 2TSP

PROCEDURE :

Discard the two ends of the raw papaya, cut half and peel off. Cut further and thinly cut off the inner line, likewise the seeds. Throw the seeds in  potted soil.

Cube them small. Peel off the potato. Cut half and further, get cubes a little bigger than that of the raw papaya.


Take them in two separate bowls and wash. Marinate with little of salt.

Now dry roast the white sesame seeds, take in a strainer and wash. Thereafter, prepare a paste of it adding a little water.

We have to be very careful about the amount of sesame & ajmod used, they tend to add bitterness to a dish.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with the ajmod & the bay leaf. Add the marinated raw papaya. 

Add a pinch of turmeric and stir well, reduce the heat to the minimal and cover. Cook until the raw papaya cubes are 50% done.

Add the marinated potatoes now and cook covered at minimal heat for 3-4 minutes.

Open cover, add the roasted white sesame seed paste, sugar, a little of salt and fold in well.

Add a coffee mug of water and cover cook at low heat for 5-6 minutes. 

We have it with rice, it should go with chapati too.

KATHAL CUTLET

This was our dinner last night and we enjoyed it. As I always say, vegetarian meals have to be meticulously planned at this home. Last Saturday, when I prepared the echor chingri / prawns with raw jackfruit, I kept aside a bowlful of the boiled jackfruit to prepare these vegetarian cutlets sometime this week. Yesterday morning, I shaped & dressed the cutlets and refrigerated them to be fried at night. Refrigeration helps them not break whilst frying. Yet, I would say my cutlets taste good but look wise they do not satisfy me. Anyway, because we enjoyed having them, I consider them worthy of getting a space in the blog. Raw Jackfruit is a very common kitchen ingredient in our families; however my family never prepared cutlets with it. Our mother was not into western cooking except for jam & jelly round the year. The snacks she prepared were mainly chicken fritters, fish fry, different kind of stuffed porota o kochuri / Indian bread, fulkopir shingara. Desserts were made at home, even ice-creams rarely but cutlets & sweets, cakes were store bought. When I learnt baking basic cakes, then too cakes continued to come locally from Monginis, now Mio Amore and every two to three months from Nahoums when we used to visit New Market. Our's was a typical middle class family which gave us a happy childhood, youth. Because food was the prime in the family, because food was / is prime in my life; I have learnt a little bit of cooking, take a lot of interest in it. When I look at the culinary skills around, I feel I am not even halfway there; yet you can try my KATHAL CUTLET recipe done with raw jackfruit, potato and regular spices.

Had the government not allowed us to go for a walk outside, I would have weighed 75kg by now, in fact it is not allowing us to walk in the basement. I am never an adventurist, I usually listen. I walk, cook and eat and the weight is stagnant at 58kg with a 4'11" height. Day before yesterday, I cooked some atta kochuri, served it with an egg plant mash dish. I had four kochuris, again two yesterday morning.

Yes, Cristine became a pro luchi / poori maker, the second picture has her's. BTW, can you see what damage tube lights does to a photograph. With her at home, I needed to go to Kolkata; for the family and my home that needs some repair work, spring cleaning. When I can I do not know. People at this home do not chat with me, the senior does not allow me to talk as the living room is his work station. In this scenario, cooking is a good engagement. Weekly once, I work with my greens too. There is nothing much to do there. I so wish to change this condo and rent a bigger elsewhere. Both the showers of one toilet are licking, the kitchen is falling down, yet this guy will not listen to me. This me sits and plan vegetarian meals like this KATHAL CUTLET with shemai / vermicelli polao for their dinner. The brother would really loved those cutlets; the thing is the 70+ woman cooks a lot but hardly shall attempt at a cutlet at this age; she did a lot for us, stopped cooking a wide variety after my marriage because the brother mostly likes mughlai dishes & pizza, burger. His wife cooks but I doubt if it will attempt a cutlet. I have a Cristine who helps me immensely. Yet, sadness is a part of my being, it was so depressing to see my potato plant destroyed by the  wind yesterday night. They might not have bore potatoes, at least I was trying.

What else to do but to eat one more reheated jackfruit cutlet this morning and half of a walnut bun I got yesterday back from my walk.

You must remember, reheating a cutlet softens it, so cook and eat them fresh. Here is the detailed recipe with stepwise pictures.

INGREDIENTS :

BOILED RAW JACKFRUIT : 2 COFFEE MUG [1/4 OF A STANDARD SIZED]
BOILED POTATO : 1 COFFEE MUG [OF TWO MEDIUM SIZED]
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 
CUMIN POWDER : 1/2TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1/2TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
DRY MANGO POWDER : 1TSP
CHAAT MASALA : 1/2TSP
BLACK PEPPER POWDER : 1TSP
CRUSHED CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
CRUSHED CORIANDER SEED : 1/4TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
BREAD CRUMB : 150-200GM
CORNFLOUR : 2TBSP
REFINED FLOUR : 2TBSP
OIL : 2TBSP + 200ML

PROCEDURE :

Two days back I cooked prawns with jackfruit and reserved this amount of boiled jackfruit for these cutlets.

You remember how to clean them after peeling, cutting and discarding the hard mid section? Take out the seeds, took off the yellow cover, that we throw.

I had boiled 2 potatoes in microwave, cooled peeled and mashed both the raw jackfruit & potato using the right palm. 

If you wash the potatoes, slit them, take on a plate and microwave at high for 2 minutes; they are boiled.

We will take them together, add salt, turmeric+red chilli+cumin+coriander powders and mash well with our palm.

We will wash & chop the green chillies and crush the cumin & coriander a bit.

We will heat 2tbsp oil in a wok & temper with the crushed cumin+coriander seeds & green chillies. 

We will add the boiled potato+raw jackfruit spiced mixture to it and stir cook at low heat for 3-4 minutes. 

We will add the black pepper+dry mango+chaat masala powders and stir cook for 2 minutes.

We will transfer the mixture to a plate and let cool. We will let prepare shapes taking portions out of it.

We will prepare a semi liquid batter with the refined flour and corn flour. We will take the bread crumb in another plate.

We will dip the cutlets in the batter and then coat with the bread crumb, we will repeat the steps as shown.

We will refrigerate them stored in a covered container for few hours.

We will take them out and fry in oil, I was still away from frying in deep oil you can see. Now, I have to reuse this oil which I do not like.

Always place them onto tissue paper before serving them hot & fresh.