ORIENTAL STYLE CHICKEN & SPICE COATED BATTER FRIED EGG

How self centric I am, I had to share something I enjoy on this day, not really thinking of vegetarians around, of my veg loving readers. I don't plan anything ahead, not an organised planner, husband can give you well described note in support of it. I had some boneless chicken in freezer. I went to Indian Super Store weeks back, got bottle of Ching's Oriental style sauce back home. There is an aberration of particular spelling, do not know clearly which one is corrupted form of other.

I don't enjoy chicken curry anymore, enjoy tender chicken fries, popcorn chicken, Oriental preparations, minced chicken kebabs, also like light soupy "robibarer murgir jhol"! The thick curries, kormas are not suiting me, I keep doing them for my men, skip my share of chicken, taste curry. Curries with almonds, milk, ghee together are getting difficult to digest, its an "ada-jirey bata diye patla jhol seasoned Bengali pet... that is stomach".. How I wish to survive on "choto rui, katla, tyangra, aar, kajoli, pabda, koi er patla jhol". That is the reason I am absolutely disliking eating at speciality restaurants while in Kolkata, there I wish to visit local market, buy my kind of fish, vegetables, cook, eat. On my last visit, I did not make any attempt to buy "hansher dim".. duck eggs, one reason is that it is summer... they rot faster in the heat, if your man is fond of eggs, specifically duck eggs, you feel awkward eating it alone. It is better I cook something which we would enjoy together when we are together, in fact our son gets overjoyed to see this kind of non-vegetarian platter ORIENTAL STYLE CHICKEN & SPICE COATED BATTERFRIED EGG. Both my men enjoy sleek platters of homemade bread with suitable vegetarian, non-vegetarian sides, a variety of fried rices. Their life is sorted out, I have a mental block here at this point, I told my loving readers several times that I experience severe amount of identity crisis if I do not cook authentic Bengali often. You can see I was cooking "kochur shak"that is taro leaves, this time with smaller prawns simultaneously on that day.

If you have a Cristine, you can prepare them often, my men do not fancy Bengal's signature, pride, history associated to food .... I do and I keep cooking them though in less frequency. I share them with few of my Bengali neighbours. They too send me good food when one of their mother is here for six months every year, I get to eat my preferences coming from her, "kathaler bichi + aloor dalna, potoler bharta, kathaler bichi diye niramish tarkari".... I immediately switch back to an "egaro-baro kathar opor birat bagan ghera bari, gorur goyal, dhan sheddo kora, jatitey chal guro kora, chirey-muri bhaja, pithey-puli banano, moya banano, chatey bori... achar.. sheyoi shukono, jhorey baganey aam porey thaka o ta kurono, kamini gachey shap joriye thaka, khater nichey jomano narkol, sheshob bosta bhorey bikri kora".... I did not want to shift to Kolkata from that home, how come I would get over that nostalgia? However, that doesn't stop me from baking often, I prepared a decent garlick bread yesterday evening, today I cannot associate Bengal, India or any other place other than this island and it's neighbours in particular with my share. I couldn't name egg dish "byashoner golai moshola makha dim bhaja". I must show allegiance to my second home today that has given us safety & security, feeds our stomach.

I need not mention either what occasion it is, if I have learnt any good lesson from blogger friends around, I wouldn't do that. Let me call this non-vegetarian delight with boneless chicken, egg ORIENTAL STYLE CHICKEN & SPICE COATED BATTER FRIED EGG an Asian Delight that the world would love to have. Here is my plate;

INGREDIENTS FOR ORIENTAL CHICKEN :

BONELESS CHICKEN : 500GM [PORTIONS FROM THE BREST PREFERABLY]
CUBED ONION : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 3-4
SZECHUAN SAUCE : 100-150GM [I USED STORE BOUGHT]
SOYA SAUCE : 2TBSP + 1TBSP
CORN FLOUR : 2TBSP
WHITE SESAME SEED : 1/2TSP
BLACK PEPPER POWDER : 1/4TSP + 1/4TSP
VINEGAR : 2TBSP
SUGAR : 1/2TSP
GINGER MINCE : 1TSP
GARLIC MINCE : 1TBSP 

EGG : 1
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 1 MEDIUM TEA CUP; THE EXTRA CAN BE RESERVED FOR A LATER USE

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SPICE COATED BATTER FRIED EGG :

BOILED & HALVED EGG : 4-5
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1TSP
CHAAT MASALA : 1/2TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2TSP
GRAMFLOUR : 4-5TBSP
RICE FLOUR : 2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED [REMEMBER CHAAT MASALA HAS SALT]
SUGAR : 1/2TSP
OIL : 5-6TBSP


PROCEDURE :

Let us prepare Oriental Style Chicken at first.

I do not have patience of chef Sanjot Keer who the other day was minutely slicing each chicken strips into same sizes for stir fry. I watch few of them including that little boy of Cooking Shooking?even Sayan's Kitchen. Sayan knows well the art, don't know why his food pictures look overly dressed, like an excess of make up on face. Mr. K's casual cooking style rules over me though. I just chopped them into smaller cubes. 

I washed chicken cubes, drained water, marinated in salt for half an hour. I washed chicken again, drained water! I marinated them with vinegar, little salt, 1/4tsp black pepper powder, 2 tbsp soya sauce. I kept bowl aside for an hour or may be two.

Meanwhile, I prepared a mixture with Szechuan sauce, 1tbsp soya sauce, 1/4tsp black pepper powder, sugar, salt.

After stipulated time of marination, I drained off marinade from chicken, added little salt, rice flour, corn flour, an egg to it.

I folded in well, kept aside for 5 minutes. I heated 50ml oil in wok. We are supposed to deep fry chicken pieces, was unwilling to reserve too much of excess oil.

Once hot, I fried coated chicken cubes until light brown.

Once frying was done, I took off excess oil leaving behind 2tbsp oil. I added, stirred ginger garlic mince in it for a minute.

I added cubed onions, slitted green chillies, stirred until onions turned translucent pink. 

I added fried chicken pieces, stirred for a minute or two! Then I added prepared sauce, stir cooked for 2-3 minutes.We should be done. The best is to serve it immediately.

Now let us do South Asian style Spicy Egg.

We know how to boil egg, it is universal, you ain't Parvin Babi's screen avatar. There is a point here, if I cannot insert a figure to an excel sheet even in 2019, August, there might be people like on screen Parveen Babi. 

Boil eggs for 7-8 minutes. Once cool, de shell, wash, half. Add salt, half of turmeric + cumin + coriander + chaat masala + half of red chilli powders, marinate well. Keep aside for few minutes.

Prepare batter with gram flour, rice flour, remaining chilli powder, salt, sugar, little water. Beat until its lump free.

Heat oil in wok, coat egg pieces well with batter fry in batches. Deep frying gives you better result!

We enjoyed them hot, fresh with dry noodle bowl!

CHILLI GARLIC TOMATO SAUCE

I did not click decent pictures of this condiment, neither thought of blogging about it. It was after tasting it with bread, mushroom months back I realised its tasty. Now, there's something about "store bought".... in one row I see variety, quality of brands, sauces, price ranging from 2$ to12$. I am miser, I settle for 4-5$ one, was just thinking how about preparing basic sauces at home like this CHILLI GARLIC TOMATO SAUCE  or green chilli sauce.... I mean we can make sauces, chutneys, pickles that require minimal ingredients. We should do them in small batches at regular intervals, try them alongside rice, bread varieties, in wraps. Trust me its good idea, sauces take less time to prepare, vinegar alone plays role of preservative avoiding chemicals. Considering pros, cons, my ample free time, I have started the wise exercise, would you?

I do not know why I am feeling restless today, it usually happens when people either target me or something that I love.... that can be a person, feeling, tribe, clan, my pride. You definitely can play matches among yourselves, world is place to meet varied people, shake hands, not at cost of sanctity of my courtyard.... I will not take time to retaliate if so. That may look silly of a 48 year old, I am whimsical. I will do what I think I should. I will tolerate attitudes only if one has helped me at one point in life, or may not at all; else you do not have anything to do in my life, at least in social media forums. Did not I dig a grave for my younger baby which happens to be my blog behaving like this? Oh yes, I know but I cannot be otherwise. I do not use my blog only for my recipes to reach heights of acceptability, I wish to make my life an open book doing it. I am not being able to reach amount of readers I wish to is true, after son gets settled down in life in few years, I may look for an editor / proof reader who would turn my miserably poor English & Grammar to decent something, be able to give me pleasure to see my life, cooking in print. Oh God! Day-dreamers hardly reached anywhere without effort. I see girls travelling alone around world, our mother made a dumb out of me, the scene she created when I travelled alone to Houston with our littler is unforgettable. This was because I stayed there alone at a hotel for three days as man't ship was late to reach port. 

Was I at peace, confident there? I would have died out of fear if Amit & Ujjaini weren't there or newly wed Bangladeshi officer Harun, his wife had not being there in adjacent room in hotel due to join same ship. When I called mother to give her comforting news, she asked me to stay stuck to that honeymooning couple all day, just imagine. Now her daughter-in-law goes for training, seminar to other states, mom-in-law thinks she is desperate, smart.... tell me who made me this? BTW, taking pride saying that my brother's wife works at a leading school in Kolkata, teaches mathematics at middle school there should not cause bitterness in others, or saying that I manage my home pretty well with Dettol floor cleaner, incense stick considering it my temple doesn't mean I am taking dig at anyone.... I do not know why some souls are complicated, unconfident of themselves so they have to shout at every gathering how big they are. Lets be humble and let others speak good about us. Coming to me, my mother, husband are equally responsible making me worthless.... I know only homemaking, this guy isn't letting me start food home delivery business, our mother makes secret calls to people urging them not to bother, stress her girl .... secret because she still wants her girl to be spoon fed, secret because I do not want her to speak much, beyond a limit.

Our island is waiting for a long weekend, I don't believe in divide and rule policy ever since I learnt to take note of few things..... I have to go ahead with home-made, vegetarian sauce CHILLI GARLIC TOMATO SAUCE done with few ingredients like chilli padi, tomato, garlic, etc. You see I got scared looking at condition of my in-laws, I am more into home cooked food, keeping myself engaged in areas of interest. Their major problem is being mentally & physically idle which took severe toll on their physical health. 

The son carried egg fried rice today in lunch-box, home-made bread pudding, apple in snack box. How old would have been my mother-in-law when her kids were at school? The father packed their lunch boxes everyday while mother slept till noon. He never uttered a word against her sedentary lifestyle, did he do any good to her? An active, self-sufficient, diligent person like him is scared to go to toilet alone today, why? The reason is that each morning his routine is same, better half talking about diseases all day, no friends coming in, no interest to visit people... is this healthy way of life? 

Our father, champion of "bindasgiri" had "chompakoli" death, he went for morning walk, to his club to play bridge, never knew what mental illness is, laughed, chatted with son before going to ultimate comatose state. I want same life, death as our father, will pass off silently having "muri chanachur makha".... before d-day to cook for a week stacking enough food for my beloveds.

INGREDIENTS : 

RED CHILLI : 5-6 [I USED CHILLI PADI]
RIPE TOMATO : 5-6
GARLIC CLOVE : 3-4 [BIG SIZED, ELSE 6-7]
DRY RED CHILLI : 2
CORIANDER SEED : 1/2TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1TSP
CHAAT MASALA : 1TSP
VINEGAR : 1TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Dry roast cumin, dry red chilli, coriander on tawa for 1-2 minutes at low heat, once cool ground them to coarse powder. 

Wash tomatoes, roughly chop. Wash red chillies or chilli padi, discard root end, half, take off the seeds. Peel, wash garlic cloves.

Take washed tomatoes, garlic, de-seeded chillies in pressure cooker, add 1 coffee mug of water to it. Add salt, turmeric.

Close lid, pressure cook at lowest heat up to 2 whistles. Take down, let cool.

Open lid, transfer entire content to blender. Add 1tsp of ground spices, chaat masala, salt as required, sugar, vinegar to it.

Blend at high for 3-4 minutes pausing in between. Strain through thin, white, clean cloth. We get this bliss home-made Chilli Garlic Tomato sauce, a yum condiment.

COCONUT PINEAPPLE SANDESH

Age is catching me up fast! Rakhi Poornima.. the Sibling's Day is mid of this month and oh! I thought it is today. I always prefer or like to share a sweet or dessert recipe on any occasion, I enjoy doing so. Then this morning, I discovered today is 5th August, Rakhi Poornima is on 15th. I was thinking of reserving this dish for a later share and blog about something else today. I had to keep few things on my mind, it has to be something which our loving island would have no problem to eat, my men have to enjoy it, my family back in India should like it, it should be a tribute to the people I owe my love for cooking to and it  need not be "authentic Bengali". Considering all these factors, I thought of sharing this healthier sweet recipe COCONUT PINEAPPLE SANDESH today so that you can try them for the oncoming occasions. 

I can say even the non sweet lovers would enjoy it because we get good quality pineapples here & you need little sugar to be added to sweeten a dish with it. Here it is a vegan, gluten-free sweet which took me a little over an hour to complete. I work and experiment a lot with coconut after relocating to this island because you get shredded coconut at every nook and corner of our island. I will be more praiseworthy of this island this week, the reason most of you know. The best thing about this island is that it gives utmost safety and security to us. The only drawback of it is that us foreigners, the Dependant Pass holders hardly get a decent job, neither get a sit in their prestigious universities for many of our kids.... not everyone scores a perfect 44/45, 43/45 in IBDP. Our son is not the kind who would dedicate himself totally into studies, say 18hours a day to get into a "good" local university, he is far away from Kolkata style of education, that no play / entertainment and 10 private tutors for a total of 8 subjects theory. We tried to get private tuitions for English and Mathematics for him but he strongly refused. He follows / solves online questionnaire without any human guide. Then you get to hear about gunning down innocent lives in that crazy land. I feel like standing alone in the middle of an irruptive volcano, I am completely devoid of sound sleep. I am self centric and focussed on our son's non-abrupt higher education for the next five years. No, I am absolutely not great and benevolent like some who once preferred doing social service at the cost of their kids' future. I wish to be known as what I am... an unadulterated version of the self should go viral.

Look at what Cristine prepared for me a while back. I asked her for some 'chirey badam bhaja' with green tea, she made 'chirer upma' for me....

What she cannot do is "jhaley noon e thik kora".... but she does it for us with a smile, I must be grateful. I may not be the ultimate in cooking, but I just cannot false praise a poorly tasted dish. I have the ability to declare in public the husband's cousin's wife living quite a distance from Kolkata cooks extremely well when it comes to Bengali dishes.... the warmth of that humble home is what I find praiseworthy when it comes to the husband's side of the family. Oh My! she is not in my friend's list as yet.... No hurry, it is not a necessity. I better share this easy sweet recipe with coconut and pineapple as main ingredients COCONUT PINEAPPLE SANDESH. 

I value honesty & warmth in any relationship, trying to avoid complicated selves because I think if one has to down play others to praise themselves, they really have something wrong inside. The kind I am, I can only be formal with such kinds at this age. I have never seen a Partha Dey or a Madhuchanda Dey Ghosh or their likes speak low of others to exhibit what exclusive material they are.... If you speak of that Bengali guy in Houston, one Amit Bhaduri is perhaps the only guy in that land who does not know how to hold a ladle as yet, his clinical psychologist wife sacrificed a lucrative career to build a beautiful home. I really do not know when we will be able to sit together again but my loner husband needs them once in a while to unwind himself. I feel good when Partha too says the same. One need to meet these people and learn some good lessons in life.

INGREDIENTS :

SHREDDED COCONUT : 250GM
PINEAPPLE PASTE : OF 1 MEDIUM SIZED {FRESHLY MADE]
SUGAR : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1TSP

PROCEDURE :

We will extract the juice of a pineapple first using a blender or juicer. Then, I decided not to extract the juice but use the entire paste!

NOTE : For this you are to choose a good quality, ripe, sweet pineapple! Some turn out to be a little bitter!

We will now heat a clean wok atop the gas stove. We will add the shredded coconut to it & stir cook for 8-10 minutes at minimal heat!

We will add the pineapple paste to it & fold in well! We will stir cook for 15-16 minutes & add the sugar!

We would fold in well & stir cook at minimal heat for 20-25 minutes, until it becomes sticky!

We will add the green cardamom powder and stir cook for 5-6 minutes more! The melted sugar & the oil released from the shredded coconut would together get a sticky dough! We should be done!

We will transfer the entire amount to a plate and make into desired shapes, then either roll them on chopped dry fruits or garnish them with the same. I kept them as it is!

They taste the best if eaten fresh but I had to refrigerate! Just bring to normal temperature & have in that case!

PEYAZ TOMATO BATA DIYE BHOLA MAACH

I love this fish, thanks to neighbour of island to get us freshest of them, fresher than those in Kolkata. Its considered non-pedigreed fish variety in Kolkata, it wasn't eaten in our family. One winter, we were at school, Mani brought it, cooked into my most loved fish gravy, raw fish boiled with eggplants, flat beans in coriander paste based curry. On first day of its arrival, I, brother embraced this Bhola Maach / Indian Jew Fish / Asian Trout Barb. When was the day our mother got it home, may be it was towards end of month! In those days, this fish was available better during winters, two to three kinds of curries were made of it, PEYAZ TOMATO BATA DIYE BHOLA MAACH is one. 

My family doesn't use garlic, onion in fish curries unless this variety, pomfret. Now that Bhola maach is available in island's market, I get it on regular basis, my men don't have idea what Bhola / Poa Maach or Asian Trout Barb / Pama Croaker is, just because this variety isn't boney, they eat without fuss. There is a mid-section bone in this fish, yet I have to debone pieces for son. Our son wants kind of food that can be managed with spoon & fork. The husband will be friends with bones if its of mutton, chicken or hilsa, else he is fond of that Far East nation that sells marinated raw fish, its roe. 

Okay, they love my cooking too because I add love, effort doing it. If you don't, your food can't be tasty. If you call me home, exhibit this lag, serve me cold stuffs, I get angry.... if you can't entertain me do not call.... if you call you must be able to make me feel wanted even with a bowl full of "chop o jhalmuri" but chop & tea have to be hot & fresh.

Coming to Bhola Maach / Indian Jew Fish / Asian Trout Barb / Mama Croaker; they have a lot of smaller scales. No shop in this island would cut it for us because they don't have highly skilled "boti" as their Kolkata counter parts, they do it with electric blade at Bangladeshi shops, they call it Poa Maach. In local, native fish market, they perhaps cut fish with a high end "ram dao". This time I couldn't do "dokan-bazaar" in Kolkata I love doing, one reason is that our mother never let us be ourselves, never respects our freedom. The second reason is that my in-laws were hospitalised.... its regular, continuous feature with my mother-in-law, thats what I am getting to see since marriage. Loose motion = Nursing Home, Fever = Nursing Home.... this time it was serious. 

My husband's parents love gobbling end number of medicines. A little off from the normal route, they get tensed. Anyway, we never know whats waiting next moment. Better I swim around in sea of food, share with you our mother's recipe of bhola maacher thokthokey jhol, a non-vegetarian fish curry PEYAZ TOMATO BATA DIYE BHOLA MAACH both of us siblings love. The recipe is easy, you can relax with "gola ruti or sujir idli with cha" while preparing it just like me!

Come let us start doing it, you will not even have an inkling when you are done, when you have cleaned kitchen counter.

INGREDIENTS :

BHOLA BHETKI / POA / INDIAN JEW FISH / ASIAN TROUT BARB : 5-6 MEDIUM SIZED
TOMATO PASTE : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP
ONION PASTE : 1MEDIUM SIZED TEA CUP
GINGER PASTE : 2TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 2TSP [PASTE IS BETTER]
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP + 1/4TSP
NIGELLA SEED / KALONJI : 1/4TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 5-6TBSP [I USE MUSTARD]
CHOPPED FRESH CORIANDER TO GARNISH [OPTIONAL]

PROCEDURE : 

The most time consuming part of procedure is removing tiny scales. You have to be cautious to get rid of each of them. Once you wash fish after it, more of half work is done. Use tea spoon to remove scales.

Once washed, cut half if they are medium sized. You will find it easier to fry them. Wash again, drain water. Re-check if there is any scale remaining on head, body. If no, apply one teaspoon of turmeric, salt, rub all over body of each one.

Keep aside for 15 minutes. Heat oil in wok, fry fish pieces moderately in batches. Drain excess oil before you take them out.

Add nigella seeds to remaining oil, stir, add onion paste. Keep stirring for 2-3 minutes.

Add ginger paste, stir until raw smell goes off. Now add tomato paste, 2tsp red chilli powder, 1/4tsp turmeric powder, salt as much required to it. Stir for a minute, add 1 coffee mug of water to wok.

Bring gravy to boil keeping temperature at lowest, continue for 2-3 minutes. Gently add fried fish pieces, simmer at low for another 3-4 minutes. You may add little water it required.

Slitted green chillies, chopped fresh coriander can be added as garnish.

It goes best with hot steamed rice. Alongside we had "beguner bhorta, lau er chokla boti, lau + bhaja moong daal er jhali".