Doi Magur - Catfish cooked in a Curd Gravy

Magur is a kind of Catfish which is considered very healthy  in Bengal. This fish can be had as a simple jhol or soup, or can be made as a spicy preparation in a curd gravy, like this one.

Ingredients

• Catfish - 6-7 pieces
• Potato - 1, sliced
• Onion Paste - 2 tbsp
• Chopped onion - 1
• Ginger paste - 1 tbsp
• Garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Hung curd - 2 tbsp
• Cashew nut paste - 1 tsp
• Green chilli - as per taste
• Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric, salt
• Mustard oil

Wash the fishes thoroughly. Then rub salt and turmeric and keep aside. Fry after 15 minutes.

In the same oil, fry the potatoes too and keep aside.

Heat some more oil in the same pan and add panch foron ( Bengali five spice) with slitted chillis. Let them splutter.

Next goes chopped onion. Fry till golden brown. Then add onion paste, ginger garlic paste and fry till done. Next add all the ground masalas with salt and mix well.

Fry the masalas with sprinkle of water. Add 2 cups of hot water and let it boil.

Carefully add the fried fish and potato and cook with a lid over medium heat.  When fishes and potatoes are cooked add the curd and cashew paste and mix well.

Adjust the seasoning, then remove from heat. Add some slitted green chilli and keep covered for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and serve with plain rice.

 

Chicken Chaap

Got this recipe from the net and it was a superb one. The best part is the gravy which is finger lickin' good. :-) Planning to do this with some fried onion next time.

Ingredients

• Chicken - 1 kg, cut into big pieces
• Hung card - 1/2 cup 
• Ginger paste - 1 tbsp 
• Garlic paste - 1 tbsp 
• Whole red chilli - 4-5
• Some green chilli, if you like extra tang
• Poppy seed paste - 1/2 cup 
• Cashew paste - 2 tbsp 
• Nutmeg powder - 1 tsp 
• Mustard oil - 2 tbsp 
• Ghee - 1 tbsp 
• Whole Garam masala
• Salt to taste
• Few drops of rose water

Make a paste of ginger, garlic with all the chillis and a tbsp of curd.

Marinate the chicken with this paste along with the remaining curd overnight.

Add the oil and ghee in a pan. When it is hot, add whole garam masala.

Once it splutter, add the marinated chicken and cook slowly over low heat.

When the cooking is midway add the poppy seed paste and continue cooking.

Add some kasmiri chilli powder dissolved in water.

After 10-15 minutes, add the cashewnut paste and cook till the chicken is cooked thoroughly.

Adjust the seasoning. Remove from heat and add the rose water and nutmeg powder. Keep covered for 10 minutes.

Serve with roti or paratha.

Doi Chicken - The Bengali Way

I have this famous Bengali Cookbook - 'Benudir Ranna Banna', where some fabulous recipes are written with a cute story. Tried quite a bit of recipes from this book, and this Doi chicken or chicken cooked with curd is quite popular in my dining table. No fancy ingredients are required and you can cook it with very less oil too. 

Ingredients:

• Chicken - 1 Kg
• Curd - 200 Gms
• Onion - 6, chopped
• Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
• Vinegar - 2 tsp
• Green Chilli - 6-7
• Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Salt, Sugar, Turmeric

Marinate the chicken with vinegar for 30 minutes. Then discard the liquid if any and marinate with curd, garlic paste, salt and a pinch of turmeric powder for 2 hours.

Fry the onions with a pinch of salt and sugar and keep aside.

In the same pan, add 1/2 tsp garlic paste and chopped green chilli. Before it turns brown, add salt and kashmiri chilli powder and a pinch of sugar. Splatter some water and fry till the water evaporates.

Now add the marinated chicken and stir.

Cook covered for 5 minutes stirring occasionally, then add half of the fried onions and mix well.

Chicken will release lot of water so donot add any water. Continue cooking till all water evaporates.

Add half cup of hot water if you want some gravy, the dish is on the dry side so adjust water accordingly. Once chicken are cooked, adjust the seasoning. Mix the remaining fried onion and serve.

Doi Galda

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.

Dahi Methi Murg (Chicken with Yoghurt and Fenugreek)

An extremely flavorful recipe which I have adapted from Pritha's blog,and I have used fresh methi leaves instead of the dry ones to cook this. Have never anticipated this taste before cooking and we just loved the taste. You may find the original recipe here.

  

Ingredients:

• Chicken, cut into pieces: 1 kg
• Onion, roughly chopped: 2
• Onion, sliced finely: 1
• Ginger paste: 1 tbsp
• Garlic paste: 1.5 tbsp
• Green chilies: 3
• Yoghurt: 1 cup
• Corn flour: 1 tsp
• Fresh methi/fenugreek leaves: 1/2 cup
• Kashmiri red chili powder: 1 tsp
• Green cardamoms: 6
• Cinnamon: 1 stick
• Bay leaf: 1
• Cloves: 4
• Mace: 1/2 tsp
• Ghee: 1 tbsp 
• Garam masala powder: 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves: for garnish
• Salt, Sugar, turmeric to taste

 Make a paste of 2 onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies. Mix half of the paste with half cup yoghurt. Marinade the chicken pieces with the mixture along with salt and kashmiri red chili powder. Marinate for 1 hour or more.

In a deep-bottomed pan/kadhai, heat oil and ghee. Add bay leaf, dry red chilli, cloves, cinnamon, cardamoms and mace. Allow them to splutter and release aroma.

Add the remaining half of the ginger-garlic-onion paste and sliced onions alongwith green chilli paste and saute on medium heat for 2 minutes. 

Add salt and the chopped methi leaves and keep stirring for another 5-7 minutes till the onions become golden.

Put the marinated chicken in the pan, coat them with the cooked onion mixture, lower the heat, cover and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes till the chicken is cooked through.

Once the chicken starts releasing oil, add the yoghurt (beat it with cornflour beforehand so it doesn't form lumps) and mix well. Cover and cook for another 10 minutes.

Uncover and simmer for another 5 minutes. If you want a thickish gravy, crank the heat up. Check seasoning and add sugar if required. Sprinkle some garam masala, add a dollop of ghee. 

Give a final stir, garnish with coriander and serve with luchi/paratha/pulao/plain rice.