CHANA DAL VADA / CHOLAR DALER BORA / LENTIL FRITTERS

Any kind of fries / fritters / pakoras are a favourite at  this home as an evening snacks or with a lentil curry and rice. Both ways it rocks. If I fry pakoras everyday, they would have it, particularly the son. Considering the health factor, I prepare them at a gap of say 10-15 days. Pakoras or fries at home are a must when guests visit. I love treating my guests with nice platters of starters..... both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. We love getting cosy with our guests over wine and food. 

Last week, we had some guests for whom I made Sami kebabs, which I blogged about earlier, I saw my senior having quite a couple of them which is unlikely of him. He even skipped his dinner. I got the message, I will do it more often. If I serve him a lentil Sami kebab, he gets upset; this is not the case if I serve him veg pakoras!

These Chana Dal Vada / Cholar Daler Bora were prepared a couple of days back for a visiting friend. I remember mom used to prepare vada or pakora with dal / lentil varieties. Later, I watched the man's eldest maternal aunt frying pakoras / vada which had been too tasty. Too simple were the ingredients. I too love doing the same. 

I have added some shredded coconut to the dal mix, I have always felt chana dal / Bengal Gram and coconut makes a good combination. Let us prepare these Chana Dal Vada / Cholar Daler Bora together.

INGREDIENTS :

CHANA DAL [BENGAL GRAM LENTIL] : 100 gm
SHREDDED COCONUT : 50gm
RICE FLOUR : 2 tbsp
GREEN CHILLI : 2-3[chopped]

DRY RED CHILLI : 2
TURMERIC POWDER : 1 tsp
SALT : As Required
SUGAR : 1 tsp
OIL : 150ml-200 ml [for frying]

METHOD :

Wash and soak the chana dal / Bengal Gram Dal 2-3 times and soak in hot water for 2 hours. Drain the water and prepare a bit coarse paste along with the dried red chillies in a blender. Add a little of water in between, if required. Transfer to a bowl.

Wash and chop the green chillies, add to the dal paste. Add the shredded coconut, rice flour, salt, sugar, turmeric powder. Mix all the ingredients very well.

Heat the oil in a wok. The oil should neither be too hot or too less. We want crispy vada / pakora, well cooked without burning.

Take out smaller portions  from the paste and drop into the oil carefully. Turn over after 2-3 minutes. Repeat 3-4 times till the outside is brown. Keep adjusting the heat from time to time.

Once done, transfer onto a tissue paper before serving.

Serve the finger food / snacks with your choice of chutney or sauce, else enjoy with rice & lentils!

ILISH MACH BHAJA / FRIED HILSA

Ilish /Hilsa, somewhat similar to the Shad fish is our religion when it comes to food. Our Community is a fish loving one, Ilish and Prawns featuring on the top. As of me, I perhaps can have Ilish everyday, at every meal. Though it's skyrocketing price does not allow us to do that. In fact, Hilsa fish & mutton prices started going up and out of reach of the middle class Bengalis from the 70's. However, we fail to resist ourselves when we see this silvery beauty in the market. It is recommended that we buy an  ilish weighing more than a kilogram to get the best taste. Back home, they say it has really become a pinch in the pocket to get a good quality, big one. What was a weekend pleasure during the monsoon has become an occasional one these days for us. In particular, I hail from a humble family that bought the freshest of the Hilsa just below a kilogram of weight, say 800-900 kilogram and that few days in the season. There is a difference between the price of a Hilsa weighing 1 kg & above and below it. We were just fine this way, the sky did not break on our head. But both my brother and I love food, explore food and spend on food these days. This fried Hilsa or Ilish Bhaja we love to the hilt. If it is a good quality fish, it releases it's own oil. It is with this oil we love to have piping hot steamed rice accompanied by a green chilli and the fried ilish or Ilish Baja. On my husband's side of the family, if it is Ilish, the lunch will be a two-course one with Ilish Mach Bhaja and it's curry and nothing else they would prefer. They tended to buy big, classy Hilsa. Our son is a less of a Bengali who loves salmon, baked fish fillets, however loves Hilsa fish eggs, fried. Let us prepare this super simple and quick Ilish Bhaja and enjoy with steamed rice.

INGREDIENTS :

Ilish / Hilsa Pieces : 4
Salt : As Required
Turmeric : 1/2 tsp
Mustard Oil : 2 tbsp [the fish itself releases oil]

METHOD :

Clean and wash the fish pieces very well. Apply salt and turmeric and keep aside for 10 minutes.

Heat the oil in a wok. Add 2 fish pieces at a time. Fry at low heat each side 4-5 minutes. They need to be crispy fried.

Reserve the oil to have with piping hot steamed rice, with a green chilli, a dash of salt and a crispy fried hilsa piece.

CHICHINGE CHINGRI / PRAWNS WITH SNAKE GOURD

Keeping in tune with my wish to compile a series of my family recipes that are essentially Bengali, I thought of presenting this dish of snake gourd with small prawns today. This is common in both sides of my family. There is both vegetarian and non-vegetarian version of this dish. Our mother used to prepare the non-vegetarian version more to feed her vegetable hater, fish loving daughter some veggies. The brother had no interest in food when young! 

I do both versions in turns to go with lentil and a fish or meat curry. In general, at Bengali homes we cook a lot of veggies like cabbage, bottle gourd, ash gourd, pointed gourd, even bitter gourd with small prawns. I play the same trick as our mother, the man & the son are not fond of vegetables! If I add fish or make koftas of them, they would eat! I cannot think of serving a meal without vegetables, all in my family have to have vegetables!

In Bengali, we call snake gourd.... chichinge. This dish called Chichinge Chingri or Prawns with Snake Gourd is done very simply with almost no spices. Cutting the chichinge or snake gourd is a bit time consuming, otherwise the rest of the cooking is quick given that snake gourd is soft and takes less time to cook. Let us prepare Chichinge Chingri or Prawns With Snake Gourd together.

INGREDIENTS :

Snake Gourd [chichinge] : 2-3big

Prawns[small] : 150-200gm

Dry Red Chilli : 2[halved]

Green Chilli : 2[slitted]

Nigella Seeds[kalonji/kalojeera] : 1/4tsp

Turmeric Powder : 1tsp

Salt : As Required

Sugar : 1/2tsp [optional]

Oil : 3-4tbsp

METHOD :

De shell, clean and wash the prawns thoroughly. Apply little salt and half of the turmeric powder. Keep aside.

Scrape the snake gourd with the back of a knife. Discard the two ends, cut half width wise and then length wise. Cut into thinner slices. Wash thoroughly and apply little salt and turmeric.

Heat the oil in a wok. Fry the small prawns till golden brown discarding the marinade and keep aside.

Temper the same oil with nigella seeds and halved dry red chillies. Add the cut snake gourds, stir and cover.

A lot of water would  release. Uncover and stir every 3-4 minutes until the water dries up till 80 % and the veggie is cooked well.

Add the fried prawns, sugar and slitted green chillies. Stir and let cook for another 2-3 minutes. Its done.

Enjoy with piping hot steamed rice!

                    

MURIR MOYA / PUFFED RICE N JAGGERY BALLS

In our childhood, evening snacks or say breakfast at times meant this kind of food, all homemade with lots of love and care. When I was at school, I used to visit my maternal grand parents' place during the vacations, paternal place been far off, in Assam. It was an altogether different concept of life, where summer meant picking mangoes from the garden and having them with puffed rice as breakfast or visiting the nearby lychee garden with our youngest aunt. I remember, my typical middle-class father hailing from the eastern part of undivided Bengal refused to have Indian breads during the summers, he loved having puffed rice or pre washed flattened rice with mango or jackfruit puree.

The Daddy, who we lovingly call Papu, even our cousins called him by the same name, had a transferable job. He stayed alone in remote townships of Bengal and visited us fortnightly. On his way back to the workplace, our mom would pack such snacks like murir moya, chirer moya, chirey bhaja for him, so that he could have them as evening snacks back from the office. Isn't that love? Though not dove kind of....

I too prepare such things like Murir Moya / Puffed Rice n Jaggery Balls at home, mainly during special prayers at home, as an offering to the God. We need less ingredients to prepare this Murir Moya / Puffed Rice n Jaggery Ball, the trick is in the stickiness of the jaggery in right consistency. The puffed rice has to be crisp. Its common in every Bengali home. Let us do the murir moya together, a sweet snacker. Now I know Southern India also eats it, even this island makes some kind of it.

I cooked it back in 2016 and successfully made the balls, but thereafter I was failing to. Today, a day in June, 2024, I again made them and updated the pictures.

INGREDIENTS :

Puffed Rice : 250gm
Jaggery [ankher gur] : 100-150gm
Ginger Extract : 1tsp
Shredded Coconut : 3-4tbsp [to garnish]

METHOD :

Few years back, I did them well, thereafter, I was failing. I have watched several videos, talked to our mother. I have learnt, a good quality jaggery is a must, I see the jaggery here has / have high quantity of sugar. But I wished to do them and click the stepwise pictures. I wanted to tell my readers that I was finding it difficult to do it. We are to prepare the balls while the mixture is pretty warm, I could manage some and the jaggery got cold & sugary. Let me go to Kolkata, buy the jaggery from a known shop and do again.

Place a wok on the gas top and heat moderately. Dry roast the puffed rice to get a crisper consistency, take down. 

Break the jaggery cubes into smaller pieces or just add the chunk to the wok. Add about half small cup of water. Let it melt.

Keep stirring the molten jaggery mix continuously, if there is impurities, we have to strain it.

Thereafter, we are to add the ginger extract. After 10-12 minutes, it will reach a sticky consistency. Add the puffed rice now slowly and little at a time and fold in well.

Transfer to a plate. Let cool a bit. We need to shape into balls while it is still warm. Wet your hands before you do it.

Garnish with shredded coconut before serving.

We can store Murir Moya for a week without refrigerating but no garnishing should be there. Coconut spoils very fast.

Enjoy Murir Moya / Puffed Rice n Jaggery Balls as a sweet snacker. It had been a childhood favourite.

                      

MINT LASSI N SWEET LASSI..... YOGURT DRINK...

In this part of the world it is hot throughout the year. Any kind of cold beverages are welcome always. However, I am not fond of soda & isotonic drinks. When I stepped into this land few years back, I was awestruck to see a variety of juices with interesting blends they have in offer. My afternoon ventures are to try and test / taste each one of them. I have tried to prepare a few of them at home too. Nothing beats a humble, health loaded yummy yogurt drink we grew up having. Among us sweet lassi / sweet yogurt drink was more common. Our mom infused in us the habit of having salted lassi also which happens to be healthier, appetising and digestive. A family holiday beckons, after that a series of interesting events, new ventures. Before I get busy with them, I thought of sharing two healthy and yummy yogurt drinks with you.... one with  fresh mint leaves and plain yogurt.... Mint Lassi..... and the other is sweetened yogurt... Sweet Lassi. Come let us do them.

INGREDIENTS : [for the Bengali style Sweet Lassi]

Yogurt : 1big cup
Sugar : 2- 3tsp
Black Salt : 1/4tsp
Lemon Juice : 2tsp
Ginger juice : 1/2tsp
Cumin Powder [dry roasted] : 2-3 pinches.

METHOD :

Take the yogurt, sugar and salt in a glass and beat for 2-3 minutes.

Top it with cold water and stir. Add the cumin powder, ginger juice and lemon juice. Stir gently.

Serve it chilled. You may 2-3 ice-cubes.

INGREDIENTS : [ for the Mint-Yogurt drink]

Plain Yogurt : 1 1/2 big cup
Roasted Cumin Seed Powder : 1/4tsp
Roasted Carom Seed Powder : 3-4 pinches
Chaat Masala : 1/4tsp
Salt : As required
Sugar : 1tsp
Mint Leaves : A handful
Water : 1 big cup
Lemon Juice : 1tbsp

METHOD :

Take the mint leaves, yogurt, roasted cumin powder n carom seed powder, salt, sugar, mint leaves, water in a blender and blend for 3-4 minutes at interval.

Pour the lassi into  2  glasses. Add the lemon juice and mix well.

Sprinkle chaat masala and garnish with mint leaves.

Enjoy the refreshening, digestive drink, which is healthy too !

Try to set yogurt in your home on a regular basis and prepare an array of chilled drinks with it.

BADHAKOPIR GHONTO / CABBAGE POTATO MISHMASH

This is one of those rustic vegetarian dishes that are cooked at Bengali homes. I get drenched with many a memories when it comes to such dishes. How beautifully the ladies of the house cooked them, who never knew or bothered about showcasing their talents. I remember my senior's grandma, a super active lady even in her 80's some 18-20 years back cooked up wonderful vegetarian dishes with minimal ingredients and in a small stove. I am just trying to keep the family / community's tradition alive. Hopefully the future generation will try them besides their '2 minutes dinner menus'. This particular vegetarian preparation with cabbage, tomato, green peas and potato requires a minimum amount of spices. Yet it is extremely flavourful with a garnish of cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves powder and ghee [optional but adds flavour]. We call it Badhakopir Ghonto, which if translated can be called a Cabbage Stir Fry. Let us prepare this easy and simple dish of Badhakopir Ghonto / Cabbage Stir Fry together.

INGREDIENTS :

Cabbage : 1small
Potato : 1big
Tomato : 1medium
Green Pea : 2 tbsp
Green Chilli : 2 [slitted]
Dry Red Chilli : 1[halved]
Cinnamon Powder : 2pinches
Green Cardamom Powder : 2 pinches
Cloves Powder : A pinch
Cumin Seeds : 2pinches
Bayleaf : 1
Sugar : 1tsp
Salt : As required
Ghee[clarified butter] : 1tsp [Optiona]
Oil : 3 tbsp

METHOD :

Shred the cabbage thin, wash well taken in a colander.

Wash and chop the tomato. Peel, wash and cut the potato into 8 pieces. Rub with salt and turmeric.

Heat the oil in a wok. Lightly fry the potato pieces. Take out and keep aside.

Temper with cumin seeds, bayleaf and the halved dry red chilli. Add the cabbage, salt and turmeric powder, stir and cover. Remove the cover and stir every 3-4 minutes.

You will see a lot of water been released. When about 75% of the water has dried up, add the tomato pieces, fried potato pieces, slitted green chillies. Stir and cover cook for 3-4 minutes.

Remove the  cover, add sugar, green peas, cinnamon, green cardamom and cloves powder. Stir and cover cook for 2 minutes. Remove the cover, garnish with ghee [optional]. Switch off the gas stove.

It goes well with both rice / roti.

MIXED VEGETABLE KOFTA CURRY

Life got busier with a couple of things cropping up together. The cook at home is cooking less these days. Cooking is an awesome art that requires a good amount of concentration which is lacking in me at this time. Life's other priorities have taken over which needs to be taken care of. As they say we need to be calmer and think wisely when it comes to taking major decisions. The mind and body is craving for a break or may be to start with something constructive.... oh how I wished to have a small eatery which would be entirely mine. That long standing wish has again taken over me in the truest sense. Its a weekend again, before we get busier, I thought of sharing an easy recipe of Mixed Vegetable Kofta Curry with everyone. Vegetarian dishes are not that welcome in our home except for me. If I bring a little difference in a vegetarian dish, turn the vegetables together into a yummy kofta curry, the men would eat it with love. I had some veggies like green peas, carrot, beet root, potato in the pantry. I thought bringing them together will make a good vegetarian side. I used the potatoes and cornflour to bind the koftas. Let us do the Mixed Vegetable Kofta Curry together.

INGREDIENTS :[for the kofta]

Potato : 1 standard sized
Carrot : 1 standard sized
Beetroot : 1medium sized
Green Pea : 2 tbsp

Green Chilli : 2
Cumin Seed : 1/4 tsp

Cumin Powder : 1 tsp

Coriander Powder : 1 tsp

Dry Mango Powder : 1 tsp
Salt : As required
Sugar : 1/2 tsp
Corn Flour : 1tbsp
Oil : 1tbsp

INGREDIENTS :[for the curry]

Tomato : 1small[grind into paste]
Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Cumin Powder : 1 tsp

Coriander Powder : 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Ginger Paste : 1tsp
Sugar : 1/2 tsp [optional]
Salt : As Required
Cinnamon Stick : 1inch
Green Cardamom : 2
Cloves : 2
Bayleaf : 1
Oil : 2 tbsp

METHOD :

Peel, wash and cut the potato, carrot and beet root into smaller pieces, apply salt and boil them in enough water. You can pressure cook them too.

Once cool, discard the water and mash the vegetable with hand. Add the green peas.

Heat the oil in a pan. Temper with the cumin seeds and washed & chopped green chillies. Add the vegetable mixture.

Add the salt, turmeric, sugar, spice powder. Fold in well. Keep stirring until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.

Add the corn flour and fold in well. Cook for another 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool.

Shape into kofta of your choice. Heat the oil in a wok. Fry the koftas lightly in batches. 

Or oven cook them like me. I cooked for 10 minutes in the microwave+grill combination mode.

Take out and place onto the tissue papers.

Temper the oil with cinnamon stick, cloves, green cardamom and bay leaf.

Add the ginger paste. Fry for 2 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and fry for another 2 minutes. Add the spice powders, salt, sugar and turmeric powder. Fold in well and stir for a minute.

Add a big cup of water and bring to a boil. Let cook for 4-5 minutes. 

Arrange the koftas in a serving plate. Pour the gravy over the koftas just before having them. Keep standing for at least half an hour before serving.

INSTANT BREAD JALEBI / JILIPI

Sweets are an integral part of the Bengalis, just as fish. One cannot imagine what revolution and innovation went in the sweet industry back home in the past few years. From the neighbourhood sweet shops to the famous ones..... each one has something unique to offer, be it in flavour, texture or taste. One has to really visit our city to get an authentic taste of our sweets, freshly served. One definitely cannot get the actual taste from the air flown tinned ones. Taste of hot Rasgullas straight from the oven is heavenly and incomparable. The tinned ones are rubbery. 

Perhaps, a lifetime is not enough to taste and be satisfied having all the varieties of our sweets. Though I belong to Kolkata, I am yet to taste some unique sweet recipes of my place. There is an interesting sweet shop in Kolkata, Hindustan Sweets, which in collaboration with the Jadavpur University introduced us to interesting sweets like Spinach Sandesh or Beetroot Sandesh. I do not remember the other varieties they offer but I really wish to visit their shop on my next visit. I have tasted sweets from different states of India, I would always vote for Kolkata's sandesh and roshogolla and the motichur ladoo from the northern India.

Ever since a friend told there is a possibility of the presence of bacteria in the tinned sweet syrups, I avoid buying them. We do have a sweet shop here that sells fresh sweets. I get them for my family at times. I also try to prepare some easy sweets at home. This Instant Bread Jalebi or Jilipi is somewhat similar to the bread gulab jamun I prepared few months back taking the idea from a number of recipes in the internet. Back home, authentically a similar looking sweet is done with home made paneer, but I tried an easier and instant one with bread and milk. This sweet requires few ingredients, yet is yum to eat. Let us prepare this soft and juicy Instant Bread Jalebi / Jilipi together.

The above picture is the original one. This is 2024, I have gotten better  in the art of sweet making. 

INGREDIENTS : [for the syrup]

Sugar : 1 small tea cup [I use less, you can add more]
Water : 3 medium tea cup
Green Cardamom : 4

INGREDIENTS : [ for the dough to prepare the sweet]
Bread : 6-8 slices

Refined Flour : 1 tbsp
Milk : 1/2 small cup
Baking Powder : 1/2 tsp
Green Cardamom Powder : 1/2tsp
Oil : 100-150 ml [the excess can be used later]

METHOD :

Cut the sides of the breads. Take the milk, bread slices, refined flour and the baking powder in a blender and blend to a paste. Transfer it to a plate and leave it for  some 6-7 minutes. This helps get rid of the dough's stickiness.

Knead the dough well for 8-9 minutes. After every 2-3 minutes of kneading, leave it for 1-2 minutes, you get a smooth dough.

Take out small portion from the dough, roll lightly between two palms and then make a ring like shape rolling it inwards.

Warm the oil in a wok and fry each side of the jalebi / jilipi till it turns brown. Fry the whole batch the same way. Take out and keep on a plate.

In a heavy bottomed vessel, take the sugar and water as mentioned for the syrup and put for boil. As it comes to a boil, add the green cardamoms. We will fry the sweets and prepare the syrup simultaneously. 

As the syrup gets thicker, drop the jalebi / jilipi in the hot syrup, one by one. Boil for 2-3 minutes and switch off the gas. Let the jilipis stand in the syrup for 20-25 minutes. 

They would fluff up while frying, further in the syrup. Serve fresh and hot drizzling some syrup over the bread jalebi / jilipi.

EGGLESS DATE CUP CAKE

Over the weekends I try my hands at simple bakes which are quick and hassle free. My junior loves simply baked, plain cakes. He is having summer holidays, so I need to stock more of "tukitaki", meaning titbits for him. If its cake, then it goes well as our week end tea time snack too. The past few days had been too busy for different reasons, and the coming week too will be. Hence, I am really in short of time to concentrate, sit and write a recipe nicely. It is the start of a weekend, I thought of sharing an easy and quick cup cake recipe that I made with dates which usually I store for making chutney mainly. These Eggless Date Cup Cakes were made a couple of weeks back. I was browsing through cup cake recipes at All Recipes.com and came across a simple date cup cake recipe. The basic idea is drawn from there but I have done it my own way, further simplifying the process. Let us do the very simple Eggless Date Cup Cake together.

INGREDIENTS :

Refined Flour : 1big cup [alternatively wholewheat]
Baking Soda : 1/4 tsp

Baking Powder : 1/2 tsp
Dates : 10-12[deseeded]
Plain Yogurt : 1 small cup

Milk : 1 small cup
Oil : 5-6 tbsp
Butter : 2tbsp [optional]
Sugar : 3-4 tbsp
Vanilla Essence : 1tsp
Vinegar : 1 tsp

METHOD :

I preheated my convection mode oven to 160*C, placing the low height wired stool inside.

Wash, deseed the dates. In a bowl, take the refined flour, baking soda and baking powder and mix well.

In the blender, take the dates, sugar, butter and oil, yogurt, milk and blend for 2-3 minutes.

Add the paste and the vanilla essence to the flour mix and whisk slowly. 

Our batter is ready. Initially, I skipped the milk but latter I required to add it.

Now we will pour the batter into the aluminium foil cups or in the cup cake tin directly greasing lightly with oil. 

I baked it at 160*C for 15-16minutes. 

You have to select a time depending on the machine. I would suggest to check inserting a fork after 15- 16 minutes. It should be done in 20 minutes.

Enjoy the cup cakes with your choice of beverage.