PAT PATAR BORA O SHAAK

Memories are associated with dishes cooked with pat pata / jute leaves. Most Bengali homes had during its season. We didn't know Cleopatra ate jute leaves, we have for love of it, family told it cools our stomach.. "pet thanda korey". Our family used to prepare young jute leaves three ways. The above PAT PATAR BORA O SHAAK and a garlic tempered light curry with it which happened to be of sticky / slippery texture. Let us not reminiscence memory today, I think my beautiful memories cause irritation to many around. Let me be nice to these people at times, if not possible always. I wish to talk only about myself today, well that is case mostly.... I am all about I, Me, Myself. 

It was nice day yesterday, I promised myself to go for walk. Ever since I am enjoying pleasure of going down for swim any time of day, going out for walk has taken back sit, I am lazy. Yesterday, I walked for 5km, immediately had chilled coconut drink. Its wrong to have chilled food when body is warmer than normal, more wrong to have canned drinks leaving fresh juices. Thereafter, I had favourite hot mini wok. On way back, I had to walk to nursery because 5km of walk is not enough for a hippopotamus. 

It was after coming out of nursery, being seated to have sugarcane juice I felt something has gone wrong... I have got sore throat. Back home, Cristine did necessary work with saplings, me being uneducated instructor. After shower, I felt feverish. Once home around 10.30pm, husband indeed asked me to visit doctor this morning. I had Calpol at night, slept. I woke up late this morning, around 6am to a beautiful view.... shouldn't I hum "baharon.... mera jivan bhi sanwaron.... baharon.. sanwaron"... I must learn lyrics of this old favourite. While I was paying my tribute to deceased soul of Vidya Sinha in one forum, I got news of demise of Khayyam Sahab.... Umrao Jaan was as much as of him as of Rekha, the Diva. I wish I had courage of having Rekha's life.... "queen of her own self"... Women are not to be caged anymore. I keep telling my brother to take good care of his wife.... she is nice to our mother, we need not monitor her life, she would not allow anyone either.

Should I have Calpol again? If I can walk 6 km to Indian market, I can have chaat or Southern Indian Rice platter. Then, tomorrow I have to visit there for an oncoming occasion. I keep eating out, what goes to their lunch boxes are homemade. Today, it was ruti with eggplant-egg bharta in lunch boxes, beside snack box as that.

Coming to vegetarian sides PAT PATAR BORA O SHAAK, they were regular at home, still is. The problem is I don't get regular supply in island. All of us can finish two plates of batter fries within minutes, though husband never crosses limit. The son would definitely not have garlic tossed jute leaves. These are common, rustic, authentic Bengali dishes, I sincerely wish to keep them alive at this home, in blog.

INGREDIENTS : FOR GARLIC TOSSED YOUNG JUTE LEAVES

PAT PATA / YOUNG JUTE LEAF : 500 GM 
CRUSHED GARLIC : 2TSP
DRY RED CHILLI : 2
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 1OR 2
TURMERIC : 1/4TSP
NIGELLA SEED : 1/4TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 1TBSP [I USE MUSTARD, YOU CAN USE ANY]


INGREDIENTS : FOR THE BATTER FRIED YOUNG JUTE LEAVES

PAT PATA / YOUNG JUTE LEAF : 500GM - 750GM
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 2TSP
RICE FLOUR : 1SMALL TEA CUP
GRAM FLOUR : 1/4SMALL TEA CUP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
SUGAR : 1/3TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 1OOML - 150ML TO DEEP FRY [THE EXCESS CAN BE STORED FOR A LATER USE]

PROCEDURE :

For both dishes, it is required to dress each young leaf of jute plant. We would fold each leaf, tear off, discard mid section. Thereafter, we would wash them few times well. We would let water drain. Leaves are ready to be used for both recipes.

Let us prepare PAT SHAAK ..... Jute Leaves tossed in crushed garlic at first.

Heat 1tbsp of oil in wok, temper with nigella seeds, dried red chillies, crushed garlic. Stir at low heat for a minute.

Add leaves as much you are using [They become 1/4 of amount you are using after being cooked.]

Add turmeric, slitted green chillies, required amount of salt. Fold in, lower heat to minimal.

Cover cook for 10 minutes checking in between. They release water, get cooked in it. If not, keep sprinkling water every 2 minutes.

Once all of water dries up, its done.

Now let us do PAT PATAR BORA .... Batter Fried Jute leaves Fritters.

Prepare batter with rice flour, gram flour, red chilli powder, chopped green chillies, turmeric powder, salt, sugar adding little water at a time. Batter should be paste like. Keep batter standing for 6-8-10 minutes allowing all ingredients to incorporate well.

Heat 100-150ml oil in wok. Take 3-4 leaves together, dip in batter, coat well. We do not thickly coat these leaves, we should be able to get taste of leaves, which should be crisp after being fried.

Now add them carefully to hot oil. Fry them in batches, turning over constantly. 

We have to adjust, readjust heat constantly during process. Take down as leaves get crisp without letting them burn.

Both items go great with steamed rice, you may try fritters with tea / coffee.

CHICKEN IN GREEN CHILLI SAUCE

Why did this recipe happen? Winglet, Wing Stick, Drumlet together in bowl, yellow coloured  green chilli sauce chicken? When guests visit, I usually don't add those pieces to curry I make for guests. About green chilli sauce, it was wrong choice. While in Kolkata, I had seen store bought green chilli sauces could not satisfy my taste bud. This I got home with hope few months back, got disappointed.... green chilli sauce instead of being hot had overpowering sour taste. If I want sour tone I would have tamarind sauce, would not want it in chilli sauce. I am planning to prepare few sauces, chutneys at home sooner, lethargy is not letting me get ingredients. I am unhappy with taste of "kasundi" we get here, I am not willing to get it from India fearing my dresses, specially saris may spoil, neither willing to consult ten recipes to prepare mine..... So I would do something with raw mango that we get throughout year, mustard seeds, green chillies, mustard oil, vinegar... share recipe in due course. I would also prepare better quality green chilli sauce. Quite irritated with store bought green chilli sauce, I thought of using half the remaining bottle to cook leftover drumlets, winglets, wing sticks of chicken days after get together. Thus this non-vegetarian, easy side dish of chicken CHICKEN IN GREEN CHILLI SAUCE was created. It is fine for an evening to be served with some brown rice, onion dal, semolina fritters, paneer stuffed tomatoes. Even if you are vegetarian, you can manage meal with rest of items. About yellow colour in green chilli sauce chicken, it's more about kitchen light, my poor knowledge of photography, it turned pale green after cooking actually.

It rains throughout year here, monsoon is between October, February. During this period it rains more, climate gets bit cooler. While many countries wrap themselves in heavy blankets, dab bottles of cold cream on their face, body, we use thin bed spread at night with fans on. Yes, my skin gets drier during this time, I fail to maintain decent skin care regime. I never had an interest, now lost it. I need to change my profile pictures in social media, people should know how I look "now"..... that too requires some preparations like plucking off greys from eyebrows, colour my hair. I consider that too much of a job, specially when I am occupied most of time with reading, cooking, having what I cook. 

All of a sudden, yesterday evening after a cuppa of fine Darjeeling, store bought snacks, I baked some egg free cup cakes. .... I must say cooking, writing, reading gives pleasure. The cup cakes went to their snack boxes today with mangoes.... can't stay off mangoes. What went to their lunch boxes is flatbread, okra tossed in crushed garlic. This foodie had to taste everything before starting to write this post.... how obsessed I am with food. Within an hour I would have 4-5 table spoon of muri with half mango, then around 3 pm I would have my kind of fish curry AAR DHONEPATA BATA JHOL with fox tail millet, around 6:30pm I must have coffee or tea with biscuits, around 10pm I would stop for the day having dinner with fox tail millet and 3 items of what I cooked on Saturday. Even Rujuta Diwekar can't do anything to my expanding belly. A swimming session of 50 minutes, walks alternately cannot be proportionate to this pattern of eating. If I eat healthy, joy of life would be gone. BTW, I did not like taste of snack, must do it at home sooner.

All above activities store enough energy in me to share recipe of this quick, easy non vegetarian meat dish CHICKEN IN GREEN CHILLI SAUCE. I remember there was little bit of spices used in it, major idea was to finish off remaining green chilli sauce with an addition of few ingredients of which onion, garlic were must. 

I although have a PAPAYA CHICKEN recipe in blog that doesn't use onion, yet good in taste..... I learnt it from Sanak...  since marriage I saw him, his elder sister doing experimental cooking. Okay, Sanak's wife also does, is chicken-o-phobic unlike me, I do not but she earns decent. We bond over one factor, both are submissive in nature.... I have decided to live my life without bothering much about happenings around, my joy is witnessing fulfilment of our son's dreams. Sanak's wife cannot live without people hovering around her. I can understand she needs people, an aura encircling her 24/7. 

Let us all live our lives in our own ways .... giving blind eye, deaf ear to anything that does not attract us. I have track record of not talking to my little brother an entire day as teen, I bathed him, fed him, combed his hair but forgot to talk. He was hurt, complained to parents. I am not Ms. Angelic S anyway. Let us proceed with recipe, pleasure always!

INGREDIENTS :

CHICKEN : 500GM MEDIUM SIZED
CRUSHED GARLIC : 1TBSP
SLICED ONION : 1SMALL TEA CUP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 2-3
COARSELY GROUND BLACK PEPPER POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
GREEN CHILLI SAUCE : 6-8TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 2-3TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Wash, pat dry chicken pieces. Marinate with crushed garlic, coarsely ground black pepper powder, little salt for 30-45 minutes.

Heat oil in wok, add sliced onions. Fry them until golden brown. Add chicken pieces discarding marinade. Stir at high heat for 3-4 minutes.

Reduce heat to minimal, add marinade. Fold in, cover cook 10 minutes checking in between. We cannot let it burn, if water doesn't release, add little water.

Remove cover, add green chilli sauce, slitted green chillies, stir fry at low heat for 2-3 minutes.

Add 2 tea cups of warm water. Adjust salt if required. Fold in, cook uncovered at minimal heat for 5-6 minutes.

We are done. Have fresh, hot with rice. 

We had semolina fritters, paneer stuffed tomato, onion dal alongside. 

This is my choice dinner, could be best if there had crispy fried river water fish instead of chicken.

CHATUR POROTA

I was willing to go Bengali today, some around stopped me. You know what, if once I get off mood, It gets difficult for me to mend. Leave that, I fear "pat patar" season may go away before I share in the blog about it. I am not wise, my whims decide who to throw off, who to hug when.... Did you come across "chatur shorbot" sellers in streets of Kolkata, let me dedicate "chatter porota" to them. Although I just finished reading Tilottoma Majumder's novel "ektara", I wish I had that guts like the protagonist. 

Let us talk about what I enjoy "food"...  Sattu / Chatu / Roasted Bengal Gram Flour was common in Bengali homes in our childhood. Barley, Sattu, Chana Dal Sattu were two varieties which were bought on regular basis, I enjoyed having it with puffed rice, milk, banana, sugar [dudh, muri, kola, chatu, chini]. With memory still alive inside, I got big packet of Sattu few months back, felt I can have it sans sugar, I will never have sugar free alternatives on regular basis. Then, its typical Bengali "ayeshi" body, lethargic self that owns a big mouth to give big talks, severely unable to gobble glass of "noon-lebu deoa chatu" or bowl of "chatu... jol.. noon...lebu... lanka... peyaz diye"..... and work all day under the sun.... 

If these vendors lack manners that is because they did not learn it in the process of earning fodder for family or state.... at least they are not parasite like me. If in a country, states fight constantly throwing filth at each other, what was purpose of getting freedom in first place. How would development happen is my question. CURRY AND SPICE in public setting willing to reach right kinds of food loving people, speak in support of secularism, harmony, peace. Doing that, I would relieve, reveal life, my own self in own space. I think I should go ahead with what I love doing.

You know this variety of sattu / chatu / Roasted Bengal Gram Flour came home with noble idea. But this is not wise soul. It lay neglected in container for months until when idea of CHATUR POROTA popped up. Indian / South Asian homes do prepare flat breads with a stuffing made of sattu but I wanted to go simpler, hassle free, that costed me some time. I am scared of stuffed hand made breads, but dough made with chatu or roasted chana dal / barley flour may not give you feel of easy roll. I had to use that cap for good looking shapes with smoother ends. What I got were healthy flat breads yum to eat, easy to digest. I had some left over beresta / fried onions that evening. Not in habit of wasting food, I used sattu, carom seeds, some chaat masala powder I think, oil in dough that fetched me enough flat breads to feed family. 

My bread loving family enjoyed vegetarian main CHATUR POROTA with tomato ketchup, green chilli sauce, an egg plant, onion and black chickpea vegetarian side. Add combination of ingredients in your sattu dough, roll them, cook them for healthy meal plan, you can blindly follow mine to get your family smile..... I mean if your family has universal tooth.

INGREDIENTS :

ROASTED BENGAL GRAM FLOUR / SATTU / CHATU : 1 COFFEE MUG
BERESTA FRIED ONION : 2-3TBSP
CAROM SEED : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4TSP
CHAAT MASALA : 1TSP
SALT : 2-3PINCH
OIL : 1TBSP + 1TSP FOR FRYING EACH OF THE FLAT BREAD

PROCEDURE :

Take all ingredients along with 1tbsp oil in wide mouthed bowl.

Then, rub well for 2 minutes.

Then, add water little at a time to prepare soft, smooth yet firm dough. This may take some 7-8 minutes.

Tear off small portions, smoothen between your palms. Do you wash hands before touching food items? A must!

Dust with flour before starting to roll. I do it, experts do not I have heard.... not dusting gives you softer breads they say.

While rolling, I faced trouble of uneven, split ends. Never mind, use your cookie cutters or container caps to shape.

I was happy that my impatient self had shown patience, you can too! To test my patience level, I didn't take help from Cristine.

We are ready to cook them. Heat tawa / griddle enough. Place one flat bread first. Toast one side for 30 seconds. Turn over, toast 30 seconds. Add oil... 1tsp, cook both sides well. They would turn light brown.

Serve them with your choice of sides.

MIXED NUT DRIED VEGETABLE TOMATO RICE

It's Rakhi Poornima for us Bengalis, we celebrate occasions getting more carnivorous or follow Bengal's tradition of "no meat" during happy occasions, eat varieties of fish.... What about those who would be celebrating Rakshabandhan tomorrow? They may eat vegetarian food. I skipped idea of sharing a post about a combined platter of rice and chicken, decided to share the recipe of that oil free chicken at a later date, go ahead with a vegetarian main dish MIXED NUT DRIED VEGETABLE TOMATO RICE. I have paired it with side of chicken, salad.... way my sibling would love it, my son, man would. If you are vegetarian, have it with NAVRATAN KORMA or  MIXED VEGETABLE KOFTA IN A CREAMY RICH CURRY already there in blog. 

My family would have been happier if there had fish or meat dish alongside the vegetarian. The chicken had to be there on plate today. I am not fond of chicken but like few dishes with chicken, could have this one from my new experimental dish. I am not really willing to write long post today, wish to swim. Ever since, I am experiencing excruciating pain on left side of my body over a year now, only swimming helps to keep the pain under control. I already take four varieties of medicine each day.

These days my favourite pastime is to look back to mid 90's, try see what I could be otherwise. In that case, I would have taken up that part-time job at Bagula College, complete my MPhil course.... not all lecturers have to reach Nishi's level staying in profession or be stark feminist like Prama or become school's principal like Rupadi, Nupur, Ratnadi to feel complete. I know I would have become  full time lecturer by now in a "ganj or grameen" college, happily roaming India wide with "Kundu Special" Travel Agency ..... alone of course.... this self-centric wanted an absolute free, loner's life for herself. Once back from tour of Southern India in 1992.... free of mother's policing too.... uff, I cannot be my brother. I do not believe I have to live by family's wishes, I feel free to make some secret visits while in Kolkata, there are no family ties in those relationships, no family matters to be discussed, no carrying family into those houses..... just one to one conversation. My beloved Iva Dutta Miss is one such. 

Besides academics, rest of decisions in life are good, only that T's & mine have different temperaments. I would say in my defence that no one of us have taken or can take 100% correct steps in life. We have to accept this truth and move on. Our kids make lives heavenly. Most of  Indian / South Asian Families give wrong lessons to girl child, to be "submissive, hone Herculean digestive powers".... Learn to say "shut up" to those who take you for granted. Come, have some "porota achar" with me or just be like me, a happy, lonely wanderer who loves going out alone, have some melon and reduced sweet "yuan yang". Do what you like, be a little cautious how you project yourself in social media, in real life too.

Take good care of your wishes in real life scenario. Because I don't allow anyone to decide what I do, what I don't,..... I have to love myself enough not caring about what they think of me. When son is not at home, I wander alone, I spend quality time with Cristine, with one Miss.W, few friends. I decide how much time do I give to people who I find superfluous.... isn't it better to sweat out in kitchen, stir up main  rice bowl like this  MIXED NUT DRIED VEGETABLE TOMATO RICE? Life would have been better if I could earn little something from this loving hobby.... I wished to! 

INGREDIENTS :

BASMATI OR ANY LONG GRAINED RICE : 1COFFEE MUG
DRIED MIXED VEGETABLE : 2SMALL TEA CUP [ I got from Istanbul, you can use fresh veggies]
WALNUT : 2TBSP BROKEN
CASHEW NUT : 10-12HALVED
ALMOND : 10-12
TOMATO PASTE : 1COFFEE MUG
SLICED ONION : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
CURRY LEAF : A HANDFUL
CUMIN SEED : 1/2TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
GARAM MASALA POWDER : 1TSP
BLACK PEPPER POWDER : 1/2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 4-TBSP + 2TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Let us prepare rice first. We would boil it until 60% done, then strain, wait for half an hour for all water to drain.

In that time, we would arrange everything on kitchen counter. We would wash sliced onion, curry leaves. You can soak dried vegetables in warm water for sometime before use, I did not.

Heat oil in wok, temper with cumin seeds.

Add onion slices and curry leaves. Stir for a while until onion slices turn translucent. 

Add nuts, stir for a minute or two. 

Add tomato puree, stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Add turmeric + cumin + coriander + red chilli + black pepper + garam masala powders + salt as required, stir for a minute.

Add vegetables, fold in well.

Add cooked rice, here we have to be cautious. We will try to avoid breaking of rice, use two ladles to gently fold in and mix all ingredients.

Towards end, you can add 2tbsp ghee / clarified butter for an awesome flavour, that would not keep it a vegan dish!

Enjoy while it's still hot. We had it with chicken curry, salad. You can skip chicken, have fish or mutton.... skip non vegetarian part, add in vegetarian koftas, kormas or just enjoy delightful rice main with simple serving of salad and raita.

SPINACH PEANUT PANEER KOFTA

This vegetarian curry tasted great. If they say "palak & paneer" taste amazing, we have to believe... when I say addition of roasted, ground peanuts took taste to new heights, you must accept, try it... you win. It was cooked two months back when my family visited Singapore. I discovered 50 grams of paneer in freezer one evening, forgot to stack it before they arrived, was unwilling to boil 2 litres of milk to get little. Availability of spinach / palak isn't problem here, we get locally Thai, Chinese varieties, for Indian variety we need visit Indian super store, Southern Indian Marts. Thai Palak tastes exactly like Indian variety, its welcome. When two bunches of palak got cooked with little amount of crumbled paneer, amount looked little, I had to feed seven people. I always have big jar of roasted peanut stored at home, husband needs it everyday with his beer. I tried other combination of mixed nuts, dried fruits on him, he doesn't enjoy them on regular basis. Adding roasted peanut powder wasn't problem. It made big difference, all in family loved warm, tomato based creamy curry with non-fried kofta. I could not stop thinking of daddy, he loved kofta curries, made of raw banana most. I started cooking KANCHAKOLAR KOFTA CURRY for his love of it but hardly got any chance to feed him. 

Our mother does not let anyone get away with accolades, to keep rein in her hands, she is ready to take pain of tremendous labour at this age. She enjoys household activities, doing groceries. We don't stop, she should have some engagement around attractive enough to make her live decent life. Else, my brother's wife cooked fabulous keema chana curry the day we reached Kolkata this time, I cook better dal than our mother, I find her dal varieties bland.... 

Anyway, along with my brother, his wife, she also liked the vegetarian curry, the side of SPINACH PEANUT PANEER KOFTA I served them. That definitely was big satisfaction. The mother truly had grown old, one who loved dosa & idli, could not digest giant sized dosas served here. She liked the idli I prepared at home with semolina, dalia. She was willing to have oriental style light soups that did not have pork or beef. On every outing, I had to instruct outlets how to make customised soup with fried, boneless fish, egg, prawn, chicken, .... she preferred vegetarian soups adding soya sauce, sesame oil, red chilli paste to it. I prepared soup for her too, one we loved I did click, shall share with my loving readers at later date.

Coming to this SPINACH PEANUT PANEER KOFTA, I forgot clicking all steps. When kofta mixture was done, I forgot clicking. Anyway, I did entire process with regular kitchen spices we usually use in our cooking. I mean being in food space for sometime, I came across different variety of spices, tour of Istanbul Spice Bazaar further enriched my experience but I had to throw off half of Ottoman Meat Spice I bought from there, meat curries with that didn't catch my fancy. Its either South Asian Spices or Oriental Sauces for me... ok different salad creams too are favourite. 

I still have some amount of dried vegetables I got from Istanbul safe in refrigerator, thinking of making spicy, lemon flavoured pulao to serve with chicken tonight. I find it difficult to add life to a dish, do justice to it if it totally goes against my tastebuds. Principle of "love thyself to be able to love others" works everywhere. I find broccoli too bland, I also know it's health benefits, it tastes horrible if we overcook it. What I do is I serve it over a bed of boiled noodles with drizzle of olive oil, Thai, Vietnamese sauces. I am fond of them, I add to spicy tomato rice. I am happy, family too. 

Cooking occupies major part of my life, it imparts happiness within. Had I have known cooking is pleasure at an young age, would I have pursued something like hotel management course? Nope, cooking is pleasure, literature is love. When I didn't take it as  major in graduation fearing poorer performance, husband[then dear friend], mother told I am doing biggest mistake in life! Yes, I did, Masters in Po.Sc. + bachelor's degree in education seems useless pieces of paper resting in locker, Political Science wasn't my choice. 

In my country of origin, most get master's degree by fluke, not loving subject taken as major, mugging up "previous ten years of question papers". A Nupur Datta told me after our Master's results were out .... " S you got higher score than me because you have superior power of mugging up texts".... I am not our mother that I would get a hell out of people doing positive criticism. There is a but, however our mother is, she means more to me than other's parents. Nupur in her own right was head girl of Ballygaung Shiksha Sadan in 10th standard, in Modern High in 12th may be. In recent past, I was not surprised to see her as principal in full fledged high school. This time too I could not meet her though we discovered we live near to each other, there is next time, I know she would not have problem accepting I cook "maacher jhol" perfectly like wonder women in our grandmother's era .... neither I will hesitate to tell her "listen thought of facing an interview gives me goosebumps till date" if she asks me why I wasted my life sitting at home. Anyway, here is full proof, yummy vegetarian recipe for family, friends, readers .... everyone who follows CURRY AND SPICE !

INGREDIENTS FOR KOFTA BALL :

SPINACH / PALAK : 500GM
PANEER : 50GM-100GM
ROASTED PEANUT POWDER : 1SMALL TEA CUP
SLICED ONION : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1TBSP
CUMIN SEED : 2PINCH
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1/2TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1/2TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 2PINCH
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1TSP
OIL : 2TBSP

INGREDIENTS FOR KOFTA CURRY :

THE PREPARED KOFTA BALLS
TOMATO : 4-5 MEDIUM SIZED
ONION : 1BIG
CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
GARAM MASALA POWDER : 1TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TSP
GINGER PASTE : 1TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
BAY LEAF : 1
BUTTER : 1TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 3-4TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Discard root ends of spinach stalks. Roughly chop them, wash, blanch in hot water for few minutes. Discard water, make paste out of it in blender. Crumble paneer.

Heat oil in wok, temper with cumin seeds. Add cumin seeds, chopped green chillies, stir. Add washed onion slices, fry till golden brown. 

Add spinach paste, stir for few minutes. Add crumbled paneer. Fold in well. Now, add salt, turmeric + red chilli + cumin + coriander powders + salt + sugar. Stir cook for 2-3 minutes.

Take it on plate. Add roasted peanut powder. Let cool, then mix well.

Shape into kofta of your choice tearing smaller portions. 

I cook kofta mixture well, avoided frying them. 

For curry, we would chop, wash tomatoes. We would discard two ends of onion, peel, halve, slice, wash onion. 

We would make paste of tomato pieces.

We would heat oil in clean wok, fry onion until brown in it. We would take them out, cool, make paste of it.

In same reheated oil, we would add bay leaf, cumin seeds. We would then add ginger paste, fry for 1&1/2-2 minutes. 

Thereafter, we would add tomato paste, stir at low heat for 2 minutes.

We would add onion paste there after, fold in well.

We would stir cook for a minute, add turmeric + cumin + coriander + red chilli powders, salt to it.

Mix it well, add 11/2 coffee mug of water. Let gravy simmer at low heat for 3-4 minutes. Add garam masala powder now.

After simmering it for 2-3 minutes, we would add butter. As butter melts, we would arrange koftas in serving bowl. 

After allowing gravy to simmer for another minute, we would pour it over koftas evenly.

We would wait at least 1/2 an hour before serving kofta curry with flat breads / rice or even toasted breads.