So it is a Sunday and Sunday means a special day with something exotic in the Lunch menu. I have some medium sized Golda Chingri or Lobster to cook, but not the usual 'Malaicurry'. So browsing through various food forums on the net and got this recipe. Doi is Curd in Bengali, which is a prominent ingredient of this recipe, though some other spices are also used. The dish is too yummy to resist!!
Ingredients:
- Medium sized lobsters - 1 Kg
- Onions -3
- Dry whole red chilli -3
- Curd- 75 gms
- whole methi/fenugreek seeds - 2 tablespoons soaked in 1/3 cup water.
- Amul cheese spread (plain) - 2 tablespoons
- lukewarm milk - ½ cup
- Salt, turmeric powder, sugar to taste
- Mustard oil
Marinate the lobsters with salt and turmeric powder for 15 minutes. Soak dry red chillies in a little water for ten minutes. Add one third of the chopped onions to it and make a smooth paste.
Now in a bowl mix the ground paste with the yogurt and whip until creamy. Add this mix to the marinated the lobsters and keep aside for 15 minutes.
In the meanwhile heat oil in a skillet and fry the onions golden brown. Add the lobsters taking them out of the marinade and sauté for a minute until they turn reddish.
Now add the remaining marinade. Continue to stir. Add the strained methi/fenugreek soaked water.
Mix cheese spread with the milk stirring well. Now pour it in.
Adjust the salt and sugar according to your taste. Give it a stir and let the whole thing simmer for 4-5 minutes on low flame covered.
Turn off the flame check the seasoning, add fresh coriander leaves and mix with the gravy.
Enjoy the doi golda with plain steamed rice.
Took a french leave just to be with my dear son! He is growing up so fast, sometimes I just want to sit beside him, help him study, giving him comfort, *sigh*, not always possible for a working mom, you know what I mean !! So the day I was home, I thought to cook something special for him for lunch. But my pantry doesnot have anything exotic, all regular stuffs like the eggs, rice, garam masala, potato, and I was wondering for that 'Special' dish that I can cook for him and suddenly this 'Eureka' plan came to my mind. The kind of biryani lover he is, why not try an unusual Egg biryani? A quick googling, something from here, something from there, and this lovely dish is born. And that happy face....
Ingredients
- Basmati rice - 1 and 1/2 Cup
- Eggs - 3, I have used duck eggs
- Potatoes - 2, halved
- Onion - 1 cup, sliced
- Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
- Curd - 3 tbsp
- Fresh Mint leaves - a handful
- Biryani masala - 1 tbsp
- Green chilli, chopped, as per taste
- Rose water - 1/4 tsp
- Keora water - 1/8 tsp
- Oil
- Ghee
- Milk - 1 small cup
- Safron strands - a few
- Bayleaf
Boil the eggs with potatoes. Shell and make 3-4 slits on the eggs. Sprinkle some salt, turmeric and kashmiri chilli powder and keep aside.
Cook the rice with a bayleaf till it is 3/4th done. Drain the water and cool it immediately by spreading.
Fry the marinated eggs and potatoes till brown and remove from heat.
In the same oil, fry half of the chopped onions with a pinch of salt and sugar till crisp. Keep aside.
Add some more oil to the pan, if required. Fry the remaining onions with pinch of salt and sugar till golden brown. Add ginger garlic paste and fry. Next add the chopped green chilli.
When the raw smell is gone, add the curd and fresh mint leaves.
When the curd is incorporated well, add kashmiri chilli powder, turmeric and 3/4th of Biryani masala and continue frying with a splash of water.
Next goes the fried eggs and potatoes. Mix well with a splash of water and cook for 5 minutes till oil comes out. Adjust the seasoning.
In a cup of milk, soak the saffron. Add keora water and rose water and mix well.
Mix salt, sugar and ghee to the rice in a light hand and keep aside. Make sure the rice don't break.
For the final part, to arrange for biryani, take a heavy bottomed pan and smear ghee all over. Now make a layer of rice at the bottom. Put half of the egg potato mixture along with masalas and fried oniosn. Sprinkle a pinch of biryani masala too.
Put another layer of rice onto it, then again put egg masala and finally the rice. The idea is, the top and bottom layer should always be rice. Sprinkle the remaining fried onions. Now carefully pour the saffron infused milk all over the rice.
Seal the pan with aluminium foil, put a lid with a weight and keep it on low flame for 20 -25 minutes. The rice will be cooked of its own steam.
Remove from heat and serve with Vegetable Raita or Burhani.
Dutch, the land of tulips,windmills and canals, is also well renowned for its long timeline of historic ethnicity. Within this culture's numerous recipes, I met this one on a boring weekend. And I was quite impressed by the name. "Dutch Apple Cake"-sounds royal, no?
So to break away the monotony i decided to bake the cake right away. Moreover I had plentiful apples and was desperately close to the deadline of the 'a cake a week challenge'. My son couldn't agree more and so he quickly set everything in order and started then and there. he 'course has got his success in baking from my side :) . so here is the Traditional Dutch Apple Cake which was delightfully tasty.
Ingredients
- Eggs -2
- Caster sugar - 3/4 cup, plus extra for sprinkling
- Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
- Butter - 85 gms
- Milk - 1/3 cup
- all purpose flour - 1 Cup
- Ground cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
- Baking powder - 2 1/4 tsp
- Apples -2, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
Preheat the oven to 200C. Line the sides and base of a square cake tin with parchment paper.
Using a regular whisk, whisk the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla essence in a large bowl until the mixture is thick.
Melt the butter in a saucepan with the milk, cool it a bit and then pour onto the eggs, whisking all the time.
Sift in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and fold carefully into the batter so that there are no lumps of flour.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface.
Arrange the apple slices over the batter carefully.
Sprinkle over a tablespoon of sugar at the top.
Bake at 200C in the oven for ten minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 180C and bake for a further 20–25 minutes or until golden brown. A fork at the centre should come out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin. Cut into squares and serve with your favorite cuppa.
