MUTTON KEEMA DIYE SHOBUJ MOTOR ER GHUGNI

I am dilly-dallying since the morning about when to sit with my blog. I do not put myself into a fixed routine anymore, not possible if you are living with two weird stuffs at home. I do not remain what I had been pre-marriage; neither our mother could remain that much of a disciplinarian. To be so, the rest of the people around have to be co-operative. It is not so in either of the cases. Most of the days; I go out for a walk at 2 pm; come back and have a late lunch around 4 pm. All these I can do only because I have a full time help. Else, I would have got stuck at home. Had  I been in Kolkata; I would not have been able to exercise this amount of freedom. Going out anytime is out of question there; I was not this free when I had a full time chauffeur too; okay our baby was tiny then. Now too if I go back; my life would again undergo a sea change. 

Leave that; listen to this story of the two frozen minced mutton packets that were lying in the freezer; each weighing 400 gm. Having them, I continued buying fresh mutton; portions from the front leg of the sheep meat does taste good, if slow cooked for long. Last week, I felt I must use up the frozen stuffs first. So, I prepared this  MUTTON KEEMA DIYE SHOBUJ MOTOR ER GHUGNI with dried green peas and half of one packet of the minced mutton. The rest of the one and half packet was used to make SHAMI KEBAB. I have updated the blog post with new pictures. I had one Cristine made sandwich and me made oats cake this morning with tea. I dislike sandwich!

The excess of the kebab the man has to eat for lunch. I think we will have "magur maach er jhol, mochar ghonto, tok dal" for lunch and "ruti o fulkopi, gajor, motorshutir torkari" for dinner. I work extra time on a Saturday just for this; a relaxed week. Our mother could not learn this from me. "Mani no one cares, no one will value what you do in today's world; our skills are worthless; you are doing a thankless job! You must be in motion; I will hate to see you sitting idle all day; but execute it like a normal human." Yesterday night only I gave a vocal tonic for 11/2 hours. She wants to do irrelevant talks with me but does not use the WhatsApp call facility. I do not know why I gifted her a smart phone. "Mani, tomai amai dekhley keu bolbey na amra lekhapora shikhechilam konodin; tumi phone chalatey janona, ami computer." Yes, I curse her, I curse myself for not been able to be at par with the rest; not having a voice. "jar golar jor joto, prithibi tar haath er muthoi tototai; eei shar kathata ami onekdin agei bujhechi." 

Anyway, dried green peas or yellow peas curry had been very regular in my parental home; perhaps the grandmother too used to do it. Our mother either did a vegetarian version or with minced chicken or with minced mutton like this MUTTON KEEMA DIYE SHOBUJ MOTOR ER GHUGNI. She never did let us eat ghugni from the vendors visiting our neighbourhood or from the stalls in a fair. I could have them when I was there in the maternal grandparents' home during vacations. I have so many memories associated with that place. Just early morning, the place visited my dreams; me and T caught a rickshaw from the station and on the way saw our friends Saubhik & Mousumi; they had also come there with their theatre group to perform. I insisted them to visit the grandparent's home as  used to happen 30-40 years back during the grandmother's era; even our daddy's friends used to visit that home. My weird dream ends watching dadu having his evening tea in their dilapidated "baithak khana ghar" alone; Tommy, the Alsheshan sitting near his feet. We were too young when Tommy died; I remember how he was loved; how ferocious he was for the strangers, how indulgent our rules & ritual bound grandmother was when it came to Tommy who ate vegetable & mutton rice stew for his meals. 

Gradually things changed, it is really hard to be together as a big family under one roof. Today, I will also not be able to welcome a guest visiting without a notice; both the maternal grandmother; the paternal grandparents handled guests with a smile every day. Things will change; what I expect from my own is harmony; live your life but harmonise with your own. I have my own reasons not visiting a place that I considered my prime once; so much so that our father had to slap me when I was in class 7. I got out of control hating the Kolkata life; I wished to go back to the Mary Immaculate School even if Sister Marylyn died, watch Soumitra Chottopadhyay's "abritti" in an open ground, visit to the Ghurni. After that "Thappad", I gradually grew up; understood people there have their own life now; the grandparents were aging and I am a guest there, not a part of that family; my home is my parents and brother; in Kolkata! I cannot discriminate, determine who of my maternal uncles or aunts are nearer to me; they all contributed to who I am today. Particularly; I am absolutely not in the habit of gathering news about what is going on in other homes. It is their turn now to visit us here; we will do our utmost to make their visit memorable. I owe them; when our mother was busy with her college; they even cleaned up my waste; yes true.

INGREDIENTS :

MINCED MUTTON : 250-300GM
DRIED GREEN PEA : 100-150GM
SLICED ONION : 1 SMALL TEA CUP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 3-4
GARLIC PASTE : 1TBSP
GINGER PASTE : 1TBSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
CINNAMON POWDER : 1/4TSP
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/4TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP + 1TSP
CORIANDER SEED : 1TSP
DRY RED CHILLI : 2
CINNAMON STICK : 2-3 TWO INCH STICK
GREEN CARDAMOM : 2-3
CLOVE : 3-4
BAYLEAF : 1
TAMARIND JUICE : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP
LEMON JUICE : 4-5TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 4TBSP
CHOPPED ONION & GREEN CHILLI TO GARNISH!

PROCEDURE : 

I had washed the green dried peas, soaked them in water for 6-8 hours. I had then drained the water and taken them in a heavy bottomed vessel, filled it with 5-6 coffee mugs of water, added little salt and turmeric and put it for boil.

We will boil covering about 80% of it, else the water overflows. Pressure cooking does not give me the right consistency of the matar. The boiling part may take 45-50 minutes.

You can see, I have marinated the minced mutton with the lemon juice, salt and turmeric at least 2 hours before starting to cook it.

When the dried green peas get boiled, they look like this.

We will dry roast 1tsp of cumin & coriander seeds, 2 dry red chillies in a pan and blend them to a dry, coarse powder.

In the same pan, we will heat the oil; temper it with 1/4tsp of the cumin seeds + cinnamon sticks + green cardamoms + cloves + a bay leaf.

Then, it is time to add the washed & sliced onion, use two medium sized onions.

Once the onions get brown, we will add the ginger + garlic pastes + the remaining turmeric powder.

We will stir fry it for 2 minutes and add the minced mutton keema. We will fold in well.

We will cover cook it at low heat for 20-25 minutes. We will check in between so that it does not dry & burn. Usually it releases water, if not keep sprinkling water every 5 minutes.

After 20-25 minutes; add half of the ground spices to the wok and fold in well. Stir for 3-4 minutes.

We will add the boiled dried green peas now and along with it 2 coffee mugs of water. Give a stir and cover cook for 12-15 minutes.

We will open the cover and add the washed and slitted green chillies. We will cover cook again for 5-6 minutes.

We will open the cover and add the cinnamon & cardamom powders. We will fold in well and cook uncovered for about 3-4 minutes.

We will now add the tamarind juice, give a stir and switch off the gas. For the juice; we will soak 2tsp of tamarind pulp in a medium tea cup of water, squeeze it and strain.

We will transfer the content to a serving bowl. We will garnish it with the remaining coarsely ground spice powder, chopped onion & green chillies.

We can have it with luchi, porota, pao; feels heavenly! We had it with spinach flatbreads, spring onion+eggplant+potato stir fry!

CHILLED VEGETARIAN PASTA SALAD

This is something I have on my lunches some days. When the men at home carry pasta with lots of cheese in their lunch boxes, I ask Cristine to keep some boiled pasta aside.... later in the afternoon I prepare a salad with the pasta and few vegetables, use some store bought dressings. The thing is that do I wish to share such recipes in the blog? Is it a May Day kind of a share? What is more important is that today is the birthday of my Eye Surgeon based in Kolkata... if he sees this, he is not going to furnish me with first track appointments anymore.... today's share had to be a chicken or mutton chap or something with "ilish or chingri".... that is however a meat-o-phobic family. Then, if they set out for a foreign tour every six months, they might have trained their taste buds to different cuisines, they definitely would not get our kind of Biryani in Athens or Johannesburg. You never know, we have such friends who after a seven days of stay in Greece fell homesick, unable to eat local anymore, they followed a gentleman from Bangladesh for a couple of kilometres and requested for "dal, bhaat, aloo-sheddo, maach bhaja".... I loved and laughed at it. 

Looking at that kind of couple bond, I turn to the rebels at this home and say... "look at you, why cannot you guys agree with me in most of the matters?"....  On a tour, they will not look for Bengali eateries, that is when I prefer having oats and yogurt... I even carried "muruku" to Australia, now thinking of carrying "chirey-muri-naru" from my next trip.... I mean it. If I eat variety on tours, that is only to share my experience with my readers. Had my men agreed and bonded with me in this matter, I would have owned a "Didir Hotel" in Australia. I loved the quiet, smaller townships there with lots of greens. People who can have burgers & pizzas three times a day, who lack poetry in them will not understand my requirements. "prokritir roop rosh gondho ahoron korer jonyo ekta anubhutishil mon chai..... onekta Shirshendu, kichuta Buddhadeb Guha portey hobey, Rhitu Guhar gaan o shuntey hobey".... You see I do not care, in my broken, untrained voice, I do sing "jokhon prothom dhoreche koli amar mallika bone".... often.

When in such a mood, it is difficult to prepare a spinach & garlic stuffed bread or share the recipe of this more or less healthy CHILLED VEGETARIAN PASTA SALAD. I do these for you all who do not share similar taste buds as mine. Like the garlic tempered spinach & cheese filling I used to stuff my buns yesterday did not go with my taste bud. I did taste them, where is the spice factor? I have my share of oriental soups adding spoonfuls of chilli paste.

Some ten years back, I used to enjoy cheese, not anymore except for smoked cheese, okay, feta to an extent. I enjoy pizza, not when there is some brown rice and "shutkir bhorta or ilish-kanchalanka or mutton curry" in the refrigerator. In that case, I reserve my share of the pizza to be had by the men the next day. This salad with pasta I do enjoy if not love. This can be your easy, lunch solution. I keep a couple of salad dressings in stock. I got my hands on a Vietnamese Lemon Grass salad dressing some two months back. About a month back, I had a visiting vegetarian friend, a Marwari last month. It was our evening teatime which was actually nearer to their dinner time. I fried some pakoras and prepared this pasta salad.... I never imagined this would become such a hit with the person.... I was surprised I was unable to handle the applause. I decided to share the recipe of this vegetarian delight  CHILLED VEGETARIAN PASTA SALAD in the blog. The ingredients I have used are boiled pasta, chopped coriander + green chilli + tomato + cucumber +onion, olive oil, black pepper.

You can browse similar recipes clicking on the bold letters : CHILLED PASTA SALAD, RAW MANGO AND GREEN MOONG SALAD CHAAT, YELLOW PEAS SALAD CHAAT

INGREDIENTS :

BOILED PASTA : 1COFFEE MUG
CHOPPED FRESH CORIANDER : 2-3TBSP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1TSP [YOU CAN ADJUST OR SKIP]
CHOPPED TOMATO : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP
CHOPPED CUCUMBER : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP [I USE THE JAPANESE VARIETY]
CHOPPED ONION : 1TBSP
CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1TSP
LEMON JUICE : 1-2TBSP
VIETNAMESE LEMON GRASS SALAD DRESSING : 3-4TBSP [CHOOSE YOURS]
SALT : VERY LITTLE IF YOU WISH, CAN SKIP
OLIVE OIL : 2TBSP

PROCEDURE : 

I always add few drops of oil and some salt to the bubbling water when boiling the pasta. Once cool, refrigerate the drained and boiled pasta for an hour.

Chop the vegetables directly taken out of the refrigerator. Discard the seeds of the tomato, peel the onion well. Wash all of them thoroughly.

Get everything ready on the kitchen counter.

Better we take the pasta in a wide mouthed bowl, the mixing part gets easier. We have added every thing to the pasta except for the salt, olive oil, Vietnamese salad dressing, lemon juice.

Mix them well. Now add the lemon juice, Vietnamese salad dressing, olive oil and salt. Add the salt only if required. 

Your grandparents, parents are not watching right? Just taste a bit, make sure to wash your hands before you touch the food again. I have been scolded on several occasions for this habit [etho-katar bichar nei, ghenna lagey amar].... our mother says so!

You bet it is still cold and I enjoy having it just this way.

ALOO KABLI

This world is not always good to me you see, specially when some people swing "bok phooler bora" in front of my nose.... that too on a rainy day! This off course is a cruel act ! Everywhere on my walks, there are greens grown! In a sudden discovery.... I did I locate a "koromcha" / "karonda" / cranberry tree & a Wok Phool / Agati Flower tree! There has to have a good number of the flowers for me to steal some! I indeed found few "akondo phooler gach"whose flowers we offer to the Lord Shiva! I did not make any extra effort to get that flower during "shivratri".... I am angry with him.... he made me spend my life with an unromantic, impossible kind of a guy! 

Depression & irritation double every now and then at this home! A phone call went to the neighbouring country yesterday evening with a wish to get a bit romantic and utter few lyrics..... "teri dhadkano ko meri dhadkane sunaye.... teri khwahison se meri khwahishein riha hain".... the answer was instant... "S, I am in a meeting now will call you back in 15 minutes".... that precious moment after 15 minutes never came in my life, not in the last 20 years! I do not have money to deploy a detective agency to find out who he was having a meeting with at 8:30 pm in the night! I will enjoy an ALOO KABLI.... kala chana & potato medley / chaat guilt free without him!

I strongly felt it was cranberry .... could not touch them as you know I have severe height issues! I have most of the issues with my men rather .... why they had to be impossible for me to handle! Few days back I told the husband you know bhai [my brother] and the brother-in-laws hit love sign on their wive's pictures, poses intimately with their wives before taking selfies, writes beautifully ornate comments and anniversary-birthday wishes! The "talpatar shepai" was watching BBC or CNN or a Sports Channel may be.... sprang up all of a sudden and said "what... I have to go and like your pictures and wish you on your birthday in public? There was something in his voice that made me run and take refuge in the bedroom in fear of a slap! At that hour of the night, I cannot go and ask for a shelter at our friends' home or call and ask the brother to file a case! I keep sharing such bedroom stories here so that any aspiring daughter-in-law, if at all any can step in without expecting anything normal.... I live with weird stuffs! What I can guarantee you is a genuine, loving paa-in-law.... my old man was that too! Our relationship is going to be sour because this home's paa-in-law will not support the wife against the son's woman.... The not at all crafty, neither a clever witch can only guarantee you good food... like this spicy & tangy bliss ALOO KABLI!

ALOO KABLI is a Bengali street food too famous and best made in Kolkata! Where does it taste the best? The uncle who stood with his box in front of our college gate made it the best... ahh! what a bliss was it! Now a days I am scared to even taste on my visits there... you know NRIs develop a nose even if they have a flat one. We always have all the ingredients for ALOO KABLI at home... Bengali Gram Black Chana, Potato, Fresh Coriander, Onion, Green Chilli, Tamarind Juice, Lemon, Chaat Masala, Black Salt, Red Chilli Flakes, Oil .... uff I am craving for one more plate today! Actually, I am trying to eat a bit healthy... doing so I felt let me get my salad a bit tastier!... I had a meat ball soup after a walk day before yesterday and then this chaat or salad or street food around 4:30 pm....

Then I have to do a blunder of having a short bread cookie at night which is suicidal if you are in a weight loss mission! Either you have to push yourself way bit while exercising or / and you have to be very strict with your diet! I cannot do either of the two and look like a football these days given my height! I immediately need to change a certain profile picture which is 3 years old.... I think my profile picture should reflect how I look now! All said and done I am thinking of making some "shingara" / samosa tonight.... to celebrate someone's homecoming for a "week"! The son is not fond of ALOO KABLI.... he is not bothered either if mumma cooks some meat for him to enjoy! I tried to prepare this famous Kolkata street food just the way as is done by the vendors there .... As I say that I did not have it from the vendors for a long time.... I remotely remember that they may not use cucumber in ALOO KABLI .... I added it to make it healthier.... I have to take into account my loving island if not always.... "bok phool" can wait until I meet the mother!

INGREDIENTS :

BLACK BENGAL GRAM / KALA CHANA : 1SMALL CUP
POTATO : 2BIG
ONION : 1MEDIUM
GREEN CHILLI : 2CHOPPED
FRESH CORIANDER : 2TBSP CHOPPED
CUCUMBER : 1/2OF ONE [OPTIONAL]
RED CHILLI FLAKES : 1TSP
LEMON JUICE : 1TBSP [I USED THE ROYAL BENGAL GONDHORAJ]
TAMARIND JUICE : 21/2TBSP
BLACK SALT : AS REQUIRED
CHAAT MASALA : 1/2TSP
OIL : 1TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Wash the black chana and soak in hot water for 2-3 hours!

Soak 1-2tbsp of tamarind in half small bowl of water!

Make slits on the washed potatoes on skin! Take them on a plate and microwave on high for 3 minutes! Let cool.

Peel the skin of each and and chop / slice roughly!

I used my home grown coriander leaves for this dish... it gave me a high! Chop the peeled and washed onion, washed fresh coriander and also the green chillies.

Now take the potato, chopped onion, black chana, chillies, black salt, chilli flakes in a bigger bowl.

Fold in well! 

Add the lemon juice! Mix well! Then strain as much as tamarind juice is required! I suggest to add it little at a time. 

I decided to add some chopped cucumber later! Add the oil and chopped, washed fresh coriander too!

Toss in everything well and have it fresh! This is never to be refrigerated, it does not taste well if so!

SPICY SHRIMP SALAD

"Ufffff chine badam, shosha, tomato, kucho lanka, bhutta... besh ektu lebur rosh aar dhonepata kuchono .... tar opor besh moshladar chingri chorano ..... wooooow slurp! Didi eto macher chaat hoye gelo .... dekhun bhaya .... didi obdi thik achey .... kaal jodi Ranvir Kapoor didima daakey.... ami heart fail kori apni tar dai neben moshai? tai bhaat takey nahoy ektu side korlam, mach takey ektu ebhabey rakhlam .... kolbalish aar mach.... e dui chara Bangalir mete ki aash" ..... I must translate it for you ..... after some shameless eating .... I have to go for some cleaning the system phenomena .... thats when my Bengali counterparts are questioning my integrity .... prawns on salad instead of rice .... are you a Bengali? My answer is clear ..... who will take the responsibility if Ranvir Kapoor calls me grandma and I suffer a severe heart attack? With 70% of grey hair I do force myself to the gym out of that fear .... I am yet seven kilograms away from the right BMI, hence keeping aside all the invitations from our friends in Mumbai..... again ..... what if Ranvir calls me grandma ?..... 

Haha these are healthy jokes just as healthy and yum is this spicy shrimp salad. The phrase in the beginning is quite influenced by Tanmoy Mukherjee who blogs at bongpen.net, he has few books to his credit too . He does not require my recommendation and this is not the right post to discuss him..... he is that typical Bengali who does his breakfast with Luchi .... Aloor Dum... jilipi.... golapjam and ends the day with Kosha Murgi / Mutton / Ilish and Mishti Doi ..... You see our entire community is hale .... hearty and alive after this kind of a diet ..... my question is what is wrong if we adopt some healthier habits? ...... I will always recommend that ..... given that I am a foodie since childhood who dumped her stomach with carbs beyond limit for ages and now paying hard for it ..... wearing a garland of quite a number of diseases . That should never make a good example to follow.... I cannot follow any hard rules in life but I try to keep the cheat days limited to two in a week..... yet I will never claim my blog to be one of the kind of healthy food share ..... it is more about what an average Indian or I / We eat everyday. Coming to the writer Tanmoy Mukherjee what I like about his writing style is that they are on similar lines as that of Munna Bhai's philosophy ..... they help keep melancholic characters like me in high spirits ....  this guy has to say a lot about life and philosophy keeping the tone lighter .... hence the follow.

Coming to the food share today, I force myself to have salads, it is not a natural love for me. So I need to think of some yummy add ons .... life gets easier for me that way.... I have anyway sacrificed my love for few things in life ... take for example rice and luchi .... two tablespoon and one number is never enough for a greedy like me but I try to follow what the wise men say .... old Dr.Chang been one of them. I have never been too particular about my salads..... I do them with whatever is available in my kitchen .... legumes, greens, nuts, seeds, cucumber, tomato, sprouts .... to that I will add some spicy prawn / shrimp, or minced chicken or at times eggs too .... nonetheless to mention there will be some tofu or paneer too. If you think my men ate the salad happily just because there were spicy prawns atop it .... then you are not following my posts sincerely .... their girl has to prepare some fried rice kind of thing with the masala prawns. I am kind of indulgent about their diet. Salads are usually a part of my lunch spread, so that I can have two tablespoon of what I love sitting with my men at night ...... which is again a big no according to the fitness experts.... but a Bong and a bongpen.net follower will take that much of liberty.This was a simplistic salad with some greens, corn, green pea, onion, cucumber, tomato, peanut tossed with lemon juice and olive oil and atop it some grilled masala shrimps .... you got to love it. To prove that how tasty it was we need to cook it together which means getting together the ingredients, washing, tossing, light grilling of the shrimps and done .... as simple as that.

INGREDIENTS : 

Shrimp : 150-200gm
Cucumber : 1 medium [peel, wash, chop]
Tomato : 1big [wash, cut half, deseed, chop further]
Assorted Greens : 1big cup [washed, chopped, alternatively use lettuce]
Corn : 1/4small cup
Green Pea : 1/4small cup
Onion : 1small [peel, wash, chop]
Carrot : 1small [peel, wash, chop]
Green Chilli : 2[chopped]
Peanut : 2-3tbsp [skinless and roasted]
Lemon Juice : 2-3tbsp + 1tbsp
Olive Oil : 1tbsp
Black Pepper Powder : 1tsp [coarsely ground]
Black Salt : As Required
Coriander Leaves : 2tbsp [washed, chopped]
Tandoori Masala Powder : 1tsp
Garam Masala Powder : 1/2tsp
Mustard Oil or any other : 1tsp

METHOD :

Let us prepare the grilled masala prawns first. De shell, de vein all the shrimps and wash thoroughly. Marinate with 1tbsp lemon juice, 1tsp mustard oil, tandoori masala powder, garam masala powder and keep aside for 20 minutes. We will place them in a greased grill plate and grill one side for about 8 minutes, turn over and grill for another 5 minutes. They are ready to be savoured either in a salad or fried rice.

Sorry, the greedy girl was in a hurry to eat and forgot to take stepwise pictures.

Now we will bring together  all of the ingredients for the salad. Take the chopped greens, green chilli, onion, tomato, cucumber, coriander leaves, corn, carrot, green pea, peanuts in a bowl. Add the remaining lemon juice, olive oil and black pepper powder, black salt and toss well.

Add the grilled, spicy shrimps atop .... keep the big prawns for some chingrir malaikari... haha... thats the Bengali way.

CUCUMBER N BLACK GRAM CHAAT

I am taking interest in chaats and salads these day that I never liked before. I keep looking for some good alternatives to carbohydrates, I find such dishes best suited to my changed tastebuds. I do not follow any strict diet as such or as prescribed by the dieticians. I am unable to have a heavy breakfast, light lunch and even lighter dinner. I usually prefer soups or salads for lunches. Since I had never been a salad kind of person, I try to make them suit my taste buds, turning them into chaats. I do this so that I can have two spoonful of my most favourite rice sitting together with my men at night. We usually have our dinners late when perhaps others plan to go to the bed. Well, we never claim ourselves to be healthy eaters, but then our body clock got used to it. Let me share this easy and yummy chaat recipe.This dish is a chaat kind of salad made with boiled and sautéed black gram. Though not a Bengali recipe, our mother used to prepare black gram / kala chana this way sautéed with onion and green chillies. Actually this was sold in the road side carts throughout Kolkata. How much would I slurp looking at them, our mother would not allow me to buy. Instead she would prepare it at home. At times, we used to have it with puffed rice. Modifying it into a chaat is my contribution to the dish and I can assure it will not dishearten you. A bowl full of health and taste. Let us prepare this Cucumber and Black Gram Chaat together. But black gram causes wind formation in my stomach.

INGREDIENTS [main] :

Black Gram / Kala Chana : 150gm
Onion : 1 standard sized
Green Chilli : 2-3
Cumin Powder : 1/2 tsp [optional]
Coriander Powder : 1/2 tsp [optional]
Turmeric Powder : 1/2 tsp
Salt : As Required
Cucumber : 2medium sized
Oil : 2-3tbsp

INGREDIENTS : [for the topping]

Date Tamarind Chutney : 4tbsp 
Plain Yogurt : 1/2small cup
Coriander Leaves : 1sprig
Sugar : 1/2tsp
Black Salt : 3- 4 pinches
Chaat Masala : 1tsp
Bhujiya or Chanachur [ salted snack, fried gram flour noodles?] : 2-3tbsp

METHOD :

Wash and soak the black gram in hot water for 3-4 hours, if you are soaking in water at room temperature, then overnight. Wash again and pressure cook up to 1 whistle adding water and a little of salt. Let cool, drain the water and wash again.

Peel, wash and slice the onion, chop the green chillies and coriander leaves. Wash them. Slice the cucumber, wash and apply a little of salt, refrigerate. Blend together the yogurt, coriander leaves, sugar and black salt. If the mixture becomes too runny, add little more yogurt and beat well. Refrigerate.

Heat the oil in a wok. Saute the onion slices and chopped green chillies until they are soft and golden brown. Add the boiled black chana, fold in well. Add the cumin powder, coriander powder, salt and keep stirring for 3-4 minutes. It is done. Let cool a bit.

Transfer the cooked black chana to a bowl. Arrange the cucumber pieces on the sides or chop them and mix. Add chaat masala and fold in well. Garnish with with the chanachur / fried gram flour noodles, dates-tamarind chutney and yogurt-coriander mixture. Enjoy!

ALOO CHAAT / POTATO SALAD

The mention of chaat brings water to my mouth. As mentioned a number of times, my food habits have undergone a change. Chaat was never in my favourite list of food earlier. I preferred rolls, fried stuffs, meats over anything. Be it my age or the unavailability of the things I loved in the place I live, my food preference has changed. Yet, I do enjoy what I eat, if not I cannot even have a spoon of it. The doctor prescribed me to have a lot of salad. A foodie like me cannot have it all the time. Hence, I keep looking for alternatives, which will be nutritious and tasty at the same time. Potato.... though full of carb can be had by those who are prescribed to have a low carb diet. My doctor asked me to boil the potato and discard the water before having it. Even if we are using it in curries, we need to do the same for health reasons. Aloo Chaat or Potato Salad is something I find filling and tasty at the same time. Aloo Chaat is an Indian Potato Salad wherein we boil the potatoes, add few other things to it and toss it with few spices. Let us prepare this quick and easy Aloo Chaat / Potato Salad together. Bengali "aloo kabli" with a little difference is just out of the world, we would make a separate post about it.

INGREDIENTS :

 Potato : 2

Onion : 1 

Cucumber : 1 small sized
Black Gram : 1/4small cup
Sweet Corn : 2tbsp
Red Chilli Powder : 3-4 pinches
Green Chilli : 1
Chilli Flakes : 1tsp
Salt : As required
Coriander Leaves : 1sprig [I did not use]
Lemon Juice : 2-3 tbsp

METHOD :

Wash and soak the Bengal Grams for 2 hrs in hot water and boil in enough water adding salt. Once cool, drain the water. Also boil the sweet corns for few minutes.

Peel, wash and cut the potatoes half. Boil them in enough water adding salt as required. Cut into small cubes.

Peel, chop the onion and green chilli, wash. Discard the two ends, chop and wash the cucumber.

Take the potatoes, Bengal gram, sweet corn, chopped cucumber, onion and green chillies in a bowl. Add the salt, chilli flakes, mix together well.

Add the  lemon juice and mix again.

Garnish with coriander leaves if you may.