Gandharaj Ilish Bhapa

Ah... finally this is a winner. I have these good quality Hilsa sitting in my fridge and I have some Gandaraj Lebu - (Kaffir Lime) too,, which needs to be used immediately. So made Jugalbandi of these two otherwise awesome ingredients, and the end result is just WoW !!!

Ingredients:

• Ilish fish/ hilsa - 6 pc
• Mustard seed - 4 tbsp 
• Poppy seed - 3 tbsp 
• Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
• Kalojeera/ kalonji/ nigella seed - ½ tsp 
• Green chilly - according to taste
• Red chili powder -½ tsp 
• Turmeric powder
• Mustard oil
• Gandharaj lebu zest - ½ tsp 
• Gandharaj lebu pata / leaves - 3-4
• Gandharaj lebu rash/  juice - 1 to 2 tsp 
• Fresh cream -2 tbsp
• Salt to taste

Blend mustard paste, poppy seed paste, grated coconut, kalojeera, green chili paste, red chili powder, salt, turmeric powder. Mix with mustard oil and gandharaj lebu ( kaffir lime) zest.

Marinate the fish with this mixture and set aside for 30 minutes. 

Now heat the pan with some more mustard oil. Place the marinated fish piece onto it and pour all the masala over the fish. 

Put the flame low, cover and cook till the fish is done. If require, sprinkle a splash of water.

When the fish is well cooked add fresh cream and gandharaj lebu  juice. 

Then tore the gandharaj lebu leaves in to pieces and slightly mix them with the gravy.

Put off the flame and cover with a lid and give 10 minutes standing time so the fresh flavors of kaffir lime get mixed with the fish.

Serve with plain rice.

Mango sweet and sour Jam

 I love the sweet and sour taste of my pickle and like to have some during meals. This jam is a perfect choice for that and best part it, you can refrigerate it for long.

Ingredients

• Raw mangoes - 2
• Sugar - 1 cup, depends on the sourness of mango
• Green cardamom powder (elaichi powder) - a pinch
• A pinch of salt
• Bengali 5 spice / Panch Foran - 1 tsp
• Dried red chilli - 1
• Raisin - 1 tbsp
• Roasted jeera / cumin powder - a pinch

Wash the mangoes thoroughly. Then Cook the mangoes in the pressure cooker with 1/2 cup of water for about 4 whistles. After the cooker has cooled down take out the mangoes and let them cool. Squeeze the pulp out of the mango in a bowl. Discard the seeds.

In a clean pan, add 1 tsp of oil. Then add the panch foran / Bengali 5 spice with whole red chilli and let it crackle. Add in the sugar with the mango pulp and cook it till the mixture become thick. Add the raisins.

Adjust the sweetness according to your taste. Add in the cardamom powder. Wait till the mixture cools down. Sprinkle roasted jeera powder and store in a clean jar. Keep in the refrigerator.

Karola Pakora - Bittergourd Fritters

For those who don't like bitter tasting Karola or Bittergourd!! I am sure you will start liking bittergourd, once you have these Pakoras. Have it bong style, with steamed with and some ghee.

Ingredients

• Bittergourd - 4
• Salt, Turmeric
• Sugar - a pinch
• Besan / gram flour - as required
• Oil for frying

Chop the bittergourd finely. Then add salt, sugar and turmeric and keep it for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Lot of water will be released. Now add required amount of Besan in small quantity at a time so that the bitter gourd is just assembled. 

Take a spoonful and deep fry till it turns brown. 

Serve with rice and ghee.

Dutch Buttermilk Pudding

One of the best part of Facebook and blogging world is, you get plenty of friends and you learn a whole new concept ( in terms of cooking or otherwise ). This Dutch Buttermilk Pudding is one of them . I really  didnot know that buttermilk is a favourite among the Dutch. And this buttermilk pudding is a celebration of that love till I saw this in one of my fellow blogger's ( Priyadarshini) post and the simplicity of this dish just knocked me off. Prepared this very recently during a small get together at home and got huge applause. I made the buttermilk at home by adding juice of a lemon in 2 cups of milk and let it sit for 15 minutes. You may try the ready-made one available in the market.

You may find the original recipe here.

Ingredients

• Buttermilk - 2 Cups
• Amul cream - 1 Tetra Pack
• Strawberry jelly Crystal 2 tbsp
• Warm water - 1/4 cup
• Strawberry essence - few drops
• Sugar - as required
• Strawberry Syrup and Chocolate Rice for topping

Prepare the buttermilk and keep aside. Stir in the Strawberry jelly Crystal in the warm water and keep aside to cool.

In a pan bring the cream and sugar to a boil on medium heat.Let it simmer for a few minutes while stirring continuously.

Remove from heat and stir in the strawberry jelly mixture. add the buttermilk too and blend till smooth.

Pour the mixture through a sieve into individual serving glass. Refrigerate for 4-6 hours or until set. 

Top with Strawberry Syrup and garnish with chocolate sprinkle. Serve chilled.

Chal Patol - Parwal Pulao

This is a very traditional bengali veg recipe prepared with gobindobhog chal. Very easy yet palatable, there is a gravy version too, but I used to make it dry, where the portion of rice is comparatively more than the gravy version. It tastes almost like a pulao, you can have it with some side dish or of its own.

Ingredients

• Large potol or pointed gourd - 8 - 10
• Ginger Paste - 1 tbsp
• Cumin powder - 2 tsp
• Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Green Chilli - 3
• Tomato - 1, chopped
• Salt, Sugar, Turmeric
• Whole cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Whole Garam masala - 2 each
• Bay leaves - 3
• Ghee
• Gobindabhog / Aromatic rice - 3/4 cup
• Kishmish - 2 tbsp

Keep the potol whole, peel off the skin and slightly slit them from the top and bottom. Fry them till golden brown.

Take them out of the kadai. Add 1 tbsp ghee to the kadai. Add in the whole spices for the tempering. Then add a paste of cumin powder, turmeric, red chilli powder, tomato and ginger. Fry well.

 Add the washed and dried rice (gobindobhog, or basmati) and the kishmish or raisin.

Add the fried potol. Add slit green chilli.Add enough water for the rice to get cooked. The amount of water should be such that the water will be completely get soaked into the rice when the cooking is done.

Once the rice is done add sugar. The dish is on the sweeter side so you can be reasonably liberal with your sugar.Sprinkle garam masala powder to it. Take it off from the heat and add one more tbsp of ghee. 

Serve your Patol Polao hot with vegetable raita.

Kosha mangsho

Kosha Mangsho is an almost dry spicy mutton curry cooked the Bengali Way. Almost all Bengalis have grown up licking their fingers to Kosha Mangsho's velvety gravy and biting into the juicy pieces of the meat. All families have their secret Kosha Mangsho recipe and each one is unique in a way but every dish tastes heavenly. Here is my version of this dish, which I have discovered accidentally. When I was cooking a mutton preparation, my pressure cooker didnot whistle properly and I end up with succulent pieces of soft mutton wrapped up in a spicy gravy.

Ingredients:

• Mutton - 1.5 kg 
• potatoes - 3 big (cut into querters)
• Onion - 500 gms
• Garlic - 100 gms
• ginger - 100 gms
• green chilli - 4-5 pieces
• red chilli - 4-5pieces
• raw papaya paste - 1 tbsp
• Tomato Puree - 1 tbsp
• Lemon juice - 1.5 tbsp
• Curd - 200gm
• Maida - 1 tbsp
• sugar - 1 tbsp (for caramelisation)
• salt - as per taste
• Jeera powder - 1.5 tbsp
• Dhania powder - 1.5 tbsp
• Turmeric powder - 1.5 tbsp
• kashmiri mirch powder - 1.5 tbsp
• whole garam masala
• bay leaves - 4-5 small
• garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• Ghee - 1tbsp
• Mustard Oil

Beat the curd with 1 tbsp flour. Chop half of the onion and keep aside. Make paste of rest of the onions, ginger, garlic, green and red chilli.

Massage the mutton with all the paste with Lemon juice, Pinch of salt and turmeric. Keep it refrigerated for 3-4 hours, preferably over night.

Rub the potatoes with pinch of turmeric powder and salt. Fry the potatoes till golden. strain and keep aside.

Add the sliced onion and fry them brown. Strain from oil, cool down and make a paste.
Heat mustard oil in a pan.Add bay leaves and whole garam masala and sugar. Fry till it start smelling and colour of the sugar changed. 

Add the marinated mutton pieces. and fry them nicely till they turned into light brown colour. 

Make a paste of the cumin, coriander, red chilli and turmeric powder with a little water. Add them and the chopped tomatoes and fry for some few more minutes.

Add the fried onion paste, some more mustard oil and Mix well. Reduce the flame to low. Pressure Cook till the mutton are almost done.
Add the fried potato pieces and get a final whistle. Sprinkle some water (this moisture will help the potatoes get cooked faster. Add a spoonful of ghee at the end. Serve immediately.

French Toast with Peanut Butter

Got this idea of 'something' stuffed french toast while browsing through the net and thought to give it a try with peanut butter. I was not very sure how it will turn out.So placed the plate in front of my son and eagerly waited for his response.  The first bite got a "Mmmmm", then the second bite got "Maaa.. this is amazing!" :-D  It makes me happy when what I imagine to be good actually turns out to be good! Will be making this many more times for sure.

Ingredients

• milk - 1 Cup
• Eggs - 2
• Strawberry Essence - few drops
• Strawberry  Syrup - 1 tbsp
• Bread - 4 slices
• Peanut butter - 2 tbsp
• Strawberry  syrup - to drizzle on top

Whisk the milk, strawberry syrup and essence and eggs in a shallow plate.

Dip bread slices in egg & milk mixture letting sit for a 15-30 seconds until mixture is absorbed well.

Lightly oil a pan over medium heat. Carefully transfer to soaked bread onto the pan, letting excess egg mixture drip off.

Cook bread on both sides until golden brown.

Spread a tablespoon or more of peanut butter on each slice of bread.

Serve as a sandwich. Drizzle with strawberry syrup and enjoyyyy !!!