KAJU KISHMISH BATA DIYE DAL ER BORA ALOO METHI

Ahh! Last two days had been busy, I was going places. In fact, last two weeks I was on roads. Today, I think I can restart swimming sessions I enjoy. For some reasons, I was unable to go on with my habit of doing what I wish when, I can go back to that status now. I am feeling relaxed. I cannot do high intensity workouts, I simply cannot force myself with something I don't enjoy, neither can do away with my carb intakes..... I have a feeling regular swimming helped toning my mid section a bit. I have put on in last two weeks, an average of 7km of walk does not really help in losing weight given my diet pattern. I have variety of breads for breakfast, butter toasts, cheese buns, custard buns with tea, coffee, frequency has to lessen. However, experimenting with tasty vegetarian curries like this KAJU KISHMISH BATA DIYE DAL ER BORA ALOO METHI, serving it with handmade luchi / porota / ruti is pleasure. 

In this curry, I have used some home grown methi, masoor dal pakora / fritters, boiled potato+cashew nut+raisin pastes+ few other ingredients. We had our dinner with it, mutton, puffed bread. None of my men did keep away this vegetarian curry and had their luchi only with mutton means it's acceptable. It was packed with paratha, taken for Miss.W. beside "moton, chichinge boti, radhuni phoron tomato diye mushurir dal, kancha kola aloo diye katlar jhol, dimer kosha, bhaat." Who told you only Southern India and Eastern India love rice? Miss.W is still not prepared to visit our home, there goes my note to Bossy, "boss, we all have to take her out together one day, else she will not." I am a girl, I can understand where the problem is. She is like one Deepro Roy!

You have known by now I have habit of doing "gourchandrika." What people can express in two sentences, I may require a paragraph for same. Actually, I do not wish to do away with my literary exercises. Most of you are in job or doing a course, attend seminars, there's brain exercise done. If I do not keep myself engaged a bit then I would end up watching those stupid soaps all day. My husband writes an essay sitting in office once every 15 days, he told me once else he would forget writing English. A college mate Nishi teaches English in college, practices regular. People have many qualities, I have none. 

I stay in one of world's best nations but that college in Bagula keeps haunting me. If you fail to act wise while taking major decisions in life, you are gone. I remember when I joined our school in class 6, it had a number of good teachers who were paid peanuts, quite a few of them left it for better career. I specially remember those who loved this new comer girl..... the drawing teacher Amit Sir who was an alumnus of Kala Bhavan, Shantiniketan never got fed up with my poor drawing skills, then the geography teacher who became a lecturer of Balurghat Girl's College Rita Roy Choudhury Miss, teachers should be like them. They both were much in love with each other that even this 12 year old girl could see, feel. Then after few years, when in college may be in the 12th standard, we saw Rita Miss in Kolkata Book Fair married to someone else. T was with me, he saw and was not bothered, and I? 

It felt sad, I could not go up to her, ask why miss? What went wrong? Many times husband told me these are part of life, quite natural..... people meet, they depart, we are not same in all stages of life. I remain myself, still eager to know what actually happened between them. I feel a literary circle would keep me engaged. The utopia I believe in could be expressed in print. For that I had to start young, concentrate, practice.... not everyone is born Tagore. I told husband, attending parties, get-togethers alone cannot be my life. By  end of 2020, I have to find out ways to happiness, that would keep me fruitfully engaged. Actually, I am too whimsical. Today morning, I felt I should have chia, yogurt, papaya to start off the day, so I did!

I would go for a Ban Mian meal for lunch, the Vietnamese girl at the back of our condo makes it great, will have ilish-shorshe, millet for dinner besides dal, veggies. Food is important, I like experimenting with ingredients. This vegan, gluten-free curry KAJU KISHMISH BATA DIYE DAL ER BORA ALOO METHI is an experimental vegetarian. I clicked the steps so you can do it without problem, just do one thing.... chop methi sprigs after cleaning for more of flavour.

INGREDIENTS : 

FRESH METHI / FENUGREEK LEAF : 2HANDFUL

POTATO : 2MEDIUM SIZED OR 1BIG

MASOOR DAL / RED LENTIL : 1SMALL TEA CUP

ONION : 1MEDIUM

TOMATO : 1MEDIUM

GREEN CHILLI : 2

CASHEWNUT : 7-8

RAISIN : 8-10

CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP

GREEN CARDAMOM : 3-4

CINNAMON STICK : 4-5 OF 2INCH LENGTH

CLOVE : 3-4

BAYLEAF : 1-2

GARAM MASALA POWDER : 1TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4TSP + 1/4TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 2TSP

SUGAR : 1/2TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 5-6 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Wash, soak red lentil for an hour. You can use dal of your choice. The decision to prepare this curry was impromptu, red lentil boils quickest.

Wash potatoes, prick all over with fork. Take it on plate, microwave at high for 2 minutes. Leave to cool.

Those are my home grown fenugreek greens. We have discarded root ends and dried leaves, washed them under running water, left to drain. Chop them further for a better flavour.

Peel, cube potatoes, rub turmeric, salt. Heat oil in wok, fry them until light brown.

Blend dal / soaked lentil to a paste discarding water. Thereafter add to it turmeric, salt, sugar, washed & chopped green chillies. Mix well.

Fry pakoras lightly. We are not eating them as fritters but adding them to curry, remember this. they have to soak in curry.

Prepare paste with peeled, washed, chopped onion, washed, chopped tomato, cashew nuts, raisins, melon seeds / charmagaz!

Heat remaining oil in wok. Temper with bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, green cardamom, cloves, cumin seeds.

Add spice paste, rest of remaining turmeric, red chilli powder, salt to it. Stir at low heat for 2 minutes.

Now add methi / fenugreek greens. Later I felt I should have chopped them further.

Fold in well, stir fry at low heat for a minute. Add lemon juice.

Add 1&1/2 coffee mug of water, bring to boil.

Add fried potato cubes, dal pakoras; let simmer at low heat for 4-5 minutes. Add garam masala powder.

Let it simmer for 4-5 minutes at minimal heat before adding sugar! Let simmer for another minute, take down!

Serve and have it fresh, hot with handmade bread or rice varieties. Get salad, pickle alongside.

PALAK DHONEPATA RICE

I keep experimenting with varieties of flavoured rice, most of time I haven't failed. Fresh ingredients, flavours put me on, artificial isn't my favourite.... neither flavour nor people. I do store artificial colours & flavouring agents in refrigerator, hardly use them.... not unless required. The above  rice plate is extremely nutritious I felt, we need not do any research to make this statement. I prepared it  on a day when cooking was less, simple. 

I feel something need be added to spinach to suit our family's tastebud. I kept thinking what can it be. A bunch of coriander leaves was resting in refrigerator needed to be used at earliest, I felt like "eureka, I have found it!" Fresh Coriander is an extremely loved herb of mine, to that I have added another favourite of mine, my home grown Culantro leaves / bilati dhonepata. You can now well imagine how flavourful, healthy could be this rice main PALAK DHONEPATA RICE. 

Be it preparing vegetarian main or side, I have to plan the platter I serve my men. They are less fond of vegetarian food, I was too but in the past few years I am enjoying those vegetarian recipes my family is preparing for ages. However, I can't have vegetarian food continuously. Last Saturday, I cooked my family dishes, there had to be more of dishes my men would enjoy. If they get meat, egg, fish, they will eat the vegetarian dishes. You all know how poor I am in mathematics, but I manage my kitchen pretty well. The husband thinks I am disorganised, I accept but few can cook ten items for hours, then set out for attending an event even if they have help. Cristine indeed is great help, I only cook but she arranges everything, wraps up too. Why do I take hassle one day of week? So that on a Monday morning I only have to prepare chapatis fresh, just reheat the veggies to be packed. Once done, the junior most says there is no school today. That is why I call it a weird creature.

Food wrapping is an important part of setting up lunch box, remember people would be eating it hours later. Now what? This lady, Cristine have to eat his share of chapati, reheating. I have to set out for Indian neighbourhood both today & tomorrow, Cristine would make some fresh porotas for lunch. 

Did you notice I am writing, romancing, day dreaming less in blog, not cooking less. I will go public with the reason sooner. Remember one thing, spending time in kitchen never causes me irritation. Last Saturday evening, friends found me tired in the venue which was natural after good amount of cooking. I usually relax on Saturday evenings until Sunday. Thereafter, the week is for experimenting with simple bakes & sweets, dishes that are not family's. I am okay with extra sweat on Saturdays. I have to change routine if we have invitations for Saturday Lunch like next week we have. What I do is cook few dishes on Friday evening, don't cook till Monday evening. This routine works good for me. BTW, the yummy, healthy, vegetarian rice main PALAK DHONEPATA RICE should suit you. I kept chicken curry, fulkopi+aloor dalna, shorshe+lanka bata diye begun jhol on side to choose from. However, I felt this rice dish is meal in itself that can be paired with pickle, raita.

INGREDIENTS : 

 BASMATI RICE : 1 COFFEE MUG SERVES 4 OF US
SPINACH LEAF : A BUNCH
CORIANDER LEAF : A SPRIG
CULANTRO LEAF : 2-3 [GIVEN IT'S RARITY, YOU CAN SKIP IT, IT IMPARTS FLAVOUR]
SLICED ONION : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
GREEN CHILLI : 2-3
MINCED GARLIC : 1TBSP
MINCED GINGER : 1TSP
CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1TSP
CHAAT MASALA : 1TSP
LEMON JUICE : 4-5TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 3-4 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Let us wash, cook rice in enough water until 70% done, pass it through colander. Keep that way for half an hour, let all the water drain away. I think I used left over rice on that day.

Wash green chillies, spinach leaves, coriander, culantro leaves discarding root ends. Take them in blender, blend to paste.

Peel, wash one big onion, slice. Peel few cloves of garlic, one finger length ginger, wash, mince.

Heat oil in wok, add minced garlic, ginger. Stir for half a minute.

Add sliced onions, stir fry at low heat for a minute. Let them turn just golden brown.

Add green paste, stir for 2 minutes, the raw smell has to go off in a Bengali home.

Add chaat masala, salt, stir further for a minute at medium heat.

Add crushed black pepper, fold in well.

That is Cristine's soft, supple, fair palms.... not worn out like maam's who is holding ladle.

Add rice slowly, Keep folding in gently, it is not Chinese Stir fry.... Oh! What a skill that is.

Fold in well all of rice gently at medium heat for 3-4 minutes.

Serve it fresh and hot with a side of your choice or have just with raita & pickle.

PRESSURE COOKER E MUTTON

Pressure Cooker it is not much in use in my kitchen except for boiling certain variety of lentils, "thor & mocha, ghugnir motor" in it. Pressure Cooker when used wisely becomes important kitchen tool. I hardly use it for "cooking" purposes because I have seen final step if done in pressure cooker does not give same taste that cooking in wok gives. Because I may not know right use of pressure cooker that concerns mainly timing, recipe cooked in it doesn't appeal my taste bud. Only  meat stews I do in pressure cooker. People who make extensive use of pressure cooker would counter me saying curries done in it locks in nutrients. I agree! May be because I do  not know how to use it diligently, dishes done in it doesn't look good, tastes a bit bland. 

Same happened with microwave oven, it majorly remained a medium to reheat food. For quite sometime, I get to hear that using microwave oven for reheats is bad for our health but I cannot do without it. I remember how my side of family didn't accept it, reheated stuffs before dinner in wok, again cleaned gas stove before going to sleep.  I cannot even ask Cristine to perform this exercise each day, let me use both pressure cooker, microwave the way I wish to my convenience. Doing this mutton curry with lemon juice, tomato, plain yogurt in pressure cooker PRESSURE COOKER E MUTTON saved 1/2 an hour of total time I require doing it in wok. The taste was good but I would still hold the view that mutton or chicken cooked in wok tastes better.

It was a Saturday, so I did not make any effort to take stepwise pictures of recipe. You might have noticed  I don't click steps of recipes my family veterans may not doubt my limits. These simpler mutton, chicken, fish recipes don't need stepwise photo guide, anyone can do! I get mutton once every two weeks, wisdom is to restrict intake to once a month, red meat does no good to our body but we love mutton, cannot resist having. This is case for most in family, they definitely struggle to resist having it. 

I think I have mentioned earlier the following. It was 2017 February, our parents were in their yearly visit to Puri.... the land of fish. They used to stay there for 15 days every year, our mother preferred to cook herself given they get fresh fish there! Our father loved prawns so much, prawns in Puri are too fresh. In the land of fish, he got some mutton one day, had it in the land of temples just two months before his death. I prefer not to have mutton outside home, if its not cooked properly I get smell. 

Yesterday, the mutton of the mutton-rice of a famous Bangladeshi chain did smell. The mutton supply here comes from Kangaroo Land whose mutton & lamb variety is not per our likeness, We should have patience while cooking it. This Bangladeshi chain uses bigger in size, better quality of mutton pieces on Saturdays & Sundays. We better cook mutton with lots of love at home, somedays  in a pressure cooker like this PRESSURE COOKER E MUTTON.

INGREDIENTS :

MUTTON OR LAMB : 1KG
PLAIN YOGURT : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
CHOPPED TOMATO : 1SMALL TEA CUP
CHOPPED OR SLICED ONION : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
MINCED GINGER : 11/2TSP
MINCED GARLIC : 2TBSP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 4-5
LEMON JUICE : 4-5TBSP
VINEGAR : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP
CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 2TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TBSP
FENNEL POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP + 1TSP
CINNAMON POWDER : 1/2TSP
CLOVES POWDER : 1/4TSP
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/4TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
BAYLEAF : 2
SUGAR : 1TSP[OPTIONAL]
OIL : 2-3TBSP 

PROCEDURE :

Wash mutton thoroughly getting rid of any amount of skin, hair. This work took 40-45 minutes alone at our homes. Cristine hardly listens to me.

Drain water, marinate with vinegar for an hour. Wash mutton again thoroughly, discard any amount of water.

Marinate it with beaten plain yogurt+some salt+cumin powder+red chilli powder+coriander powder+fennel powder+1tsp turmeric powder very well rubbing for 3-4 minutes.

Keep it in a tightly covered container for at least 5-6 hours, I marinate it over night. Take it out an hour before starting to cook.

Heat oil in pressure cooker, temper with the bay leaves. Add washed & minced garlic, ginger, 1tsp turmeric. Stir fry for 1/2 a minute.

Add chopped onions, fry until brown at low heat. Add mutton pieces sans marinade. Stir at high heat for 4-5 minutes.

Reduce heat to minimal, add marinade, stir, cover with a plate, cook for 15 minutes. Remove cover, check level of water being released. Stir for 1-2 minutes, cover cook at minimal heat for another 15 minutes. Remove cover, stir for a while, cover cook again for 8-10 minutes.

Remove cover to see if water has dried. If so, add washed, chopped tomatoes, slitted green chillies, cinnamon+green cardamom+cloves powder. Stir well for 2 minutes.

Add 11/2 coffee mug of water to pressure cooker, stir, close tight lid. Pressure cook at low up to 1 whistle, switch off gas oven. Let cover open by itself. Add lemon juice, stir.

We are done. The curry tastes better next day. We also had simply made paneer curry, split urad dal with skin, thinly sliced egg plant fry on that day. Have it with steamed rice, pulao, fried rice, or bread varieties.

BENGALI BEGUNI

I cannot remember how many attempts it took me to correct a "Beguni" batter. I never did realise before that a batter for a chop, be it "aloor chop or beguni" is it's most important part. Each time I was trying my hands on a "beguni", the outer look was not giving me satisfaction. I could see the wrong but  failed to rectify it. I was desperate to make my batter fried egg plants look like what we buy from the "tele bhaja" shops in Kolkata. Preparing fries and fritters is a regular affair at our home, we have to have it. What I do is either thinly slice the egg plants and fry them simply marinating in salt & sugar, then coating them with some rice flour or just cut thick slices, marinate with salt & sugar and fry. Because I find preparing "aloor chop and beguni" quite an exercise, I was just avoiding to try them. Then, I am a primitive from Kolkata living far from there. How long can I control myself from the cravings for "muri-telebhaja." I started trying my hands on this vegetarian snack with egg plant / aubergine BENGALI BEGUNI which apparently does not require a complicated process but all the trick lies in correcting the batter for it. All this while I was learning to correct the batter, doing so I came across https://khadizaskitchen.com's tips about a "telebhaja batter".... I felt following her tips I can prepare decent "beguni o aloor chop"..... earlier, I was really going wrong with my batter fried egg plants. They did not look well but in whichever way you do them, they will taste good. However, the look of it is important to me too. In this context, you may also check my "PAKORA / TELEBHAJA / FRIES & FRITTERS" recipe! But I admit I am not a pro-begun or telebhaja maker!

What you see above tasted very well but I was unable to get the right look. What I am sharing with you today with regards to Bengali Style Batter Fried Egg Plants BENGALI BEGUNI looks way better and nearer to "kaku r dokan er telebhaja."I would not claim it to be 95% perfect, that will require some regular practice, I have seen very good similar recipes and videos around. Taste wise, mine is perfect. How do I stand out from the "morer telebhajar dokaner beguni?" Mine has chunks of egg plant pieces with a thin batter coverage done hygienically. Good enough reason for you to try my recipe.

You see, I keep committing mistakes in my kitchen. Yesterday, I again tried a cornmeal+oatmeal bread, this time with yeast. Somewhere it went wrong, we are eating it but the texture may not be okay, so I felt. Hence, I rested the idea of blogging about it, we will try again and keep trying.

I think I have earned myself some brownie points in controlling my blood sugar level and can treat myself with these mini donuts without any amount of sugar dusted on it. I love it. Mistakes we will make at various junctures of our lives, I excuse those who does is unknowingly, I absolutely wish to detach myself from those who does not know manners and behave wrongfully, I have nothing to do with these elements.... as I always say that I lack oil, specially would never use it for the wrong kinds.  Rest, I am always eager to learn beautiful lessons of life from the qualitative beings.

Important Tips on preparing  a Beguni Batter is learnt from "https://khadizaskitchen.com"

INGREDIENTS :

EGG PLANT : 1 BIG [ I USE THE BIG FAT PURPLE OR LIGHT GREEN VARIETY]
GRAM FLOUR : 11/2 MEDIUM TEA CUP
RICE  FLOUR : 1 TBSP

CORNFLOUR : 1 TBSP
NIGELLA SEED : 1 TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
SUGAR : 1/2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
BAKING SODA : 1/4 TSP
ICE COLD WATER : AS REQUIRED 
OIL : 100ML-150ML TO DEEP FRY

PROCEDURE :

Cut neither thick nor too thin slices of an egg plant in shapes of your choice. My wok meant for deep frying does not support batter frying those big, pear shaped slices of begun I love. Before the cut, we would wash the egg plant / aubergine, discard the two ends.

Now soak them in water and keep aside for 10-12 minutes.

Take the gram flour, rice flour, cornflour, the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt, sugar and nigella seeds a bowl. Mix it well, better is to pass them through a sieve.

Now add ice cold water little by little, keep mixing to get a thick batter [remember addition of salt & sugar liquifies the batter further].

Mix well and keep beating for 5-6 minutes. Do it with your right palm or you can use a whisk.

They say the more you beat the  batter, it works better. I lack patience!

Switch on the gas stove and heat the wok, add oil and heat it at low heat.

Discard the soaked water from the egg plant pieces.

Add the baking soda to the batter & whisk again well! Because the batter has baking soda, we will not keep it standing but start frying as soon as the oil is hot but not to the smoking point.

Dip each egg plant piece to the batter, coat well and deep fry at low heat. For any fries and fritters, we constantly have to adjust the heat.

Keep splashing oil on the top of the fry, turn over when one side is done.

Reserve them on top of a tissue paper before serving & having!

Nonetheless to say, they taste best when served fresh and hot. We have it either with puffed rice [muri] or with lentil curry [dal] and salad.