We have this Bangladeshi restaurant in Kolkata named Kasturi where we have tasted this delicious dish for the first time. Here the prawns are cooked with kochu pata or young colocasia leaves with coconut and mustard paste. Flavor of Mustard oil is very dominant in this dish and you have to be really really careful about the leaves, since colocasia leaves may give you an itchy throat. In a nutshell, a dish not for the faint hearted.
Ingredients
- Colocasia / Kochu leaves - finely chopped, 2 cups
- Green chilli and mustard paste - 3 tbsp
- Prawns - 200 gm, cleaned and deveined
- Desiccated coconut - 2 tbsp
- Coconut milk - 1 cup
- Salt, turmeric
- Mustard oil - 4-5 tbsp, more, if required
Boil the colocasia leaves in hot water and then discard the water. This is a mandatory step to omit the itchiness of the throat. Now pour mustard oil in a pan. Lightly fry the prawns with a pinch of salt and turmeric and keep aside.
Remove the prawns, then in the same oil add the mustard paste, sugar, salt and turmeric, Fry quickly.
Now add chopped leaves which were steamed in the hot water.
Stir it to mix with the masalas, then add the fried prawns.
Cook over low heat for 5 minutes, then add the coconut milk and desiccated coconut.
Cover and cook till the milk dries up and oil starts coming out the sides. Adjust the seasoning. Switch off the heat and then pour one or two tbsp of mustard oil more over it. Keep covered for some time. Sprinkle some more desiccated coconut and serve with plain rice.
You may add some more chopped green chillies, if you can handle the heat. Enjoy !!
Prepared these for my hungry monster at home, who is always for the lookout of something yummy, something different for his chicken tooth.
Ingredients
- Chicken wings / lollipops - 250 gms
- Coriander leaves - 1 cup
- Onion - 1, chopped
- Garlic paste = 2 tbsp
- Ginger paste - 1tbsp
- Green chilli paste - according to taste
- Salt
- Turmeric
- Oil
Marinate the chicken wings in some salt and vinegar for 30 minutes. Then saute them in oil till golden brown.
In the same pan, add the garlic paste followed by the ginger paste. Fry till the raw smell is gone.
Add the chopped onion and continue frying. Make a paste of coriander leaves along with green chilli and add it to the pan.
Add turmeric and salt if required. Continue frying till the coriander paste is cooked thoroughly and starts changing the green color.
Now add the fried chicken wings and fold them nicely to get evenly coated by the masala paste.
Sprinkle some water and cook covered till the chicken is cooked through and the masala is clinging to the chicken. Sprinkle some garam masala powder and you are done.
Serve hot as a side dish or as snack.
Shutki or Dry Fish has this typical smelly characteristics, a pungent smell that may evoke nausea in its uncooked form. Before marriage, I never had Shutki, it was never an item in my Mom's or even in my Grandmom's kitchen. After marriage, my Mother-in-law asked me affectionately whether I like to have it once and the adventurous foodie in me jumped out of excitement, why not. Yes, it smells terrible, you feel like, your kitchen exhaust is not working at all, whole house is filled with the pungent fishy odour, but once it is done, and once you have it with your plain rice, you will reach heaven. You need to cook it with lots of chilli and garlic, two must must ingredients to tame the smell and enhance the taste. Once I have started loving it, there is no looking back. I picked up the recipe from my Mother in law, she usually cooks it with Brinjal. Here is her signature recipe.
This time, I tried mashing it with masalas, and it tastes awesome. You can have it with rice, or use it as a chutney or side dish with your dal and rice.
Ingredients
- Dried fish, Bombay Duck - 5-6 piece
- Onion - 4, chopped
- Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
- Ginger Paste - 1 tsp
- Tomato - 1, chopped
- Green Chilli - as per taste
- Salt
- Turmeric
- Coriander Powder
- Mustard oil
To remove the smell, soak the dry fish in water after micro it for 3 minutes. Terrible smell, remember !! :-D
Discard the water, then fry the soaked dry fish in mustard oil till golden.
Remove from heat and keep aside.
Once it is cook, mash it in a grinder with lots of green chillies, and keep aside.
In the same pan, add some oil, then add a green chilli with kalonji seeds / kalojire. Once it splutters, add onions with a pinch of salt and fry till golden. Next goes the ginger garlic paste followed by chopped tomatoes.
When tomatoes are cooked, add salt, turmeric and coriander powder and fry well.
Next add the fish mash with sprinkle of water. Mix well with the spices and continue frying.
Fry till oil comes out of the mash. Adjust the seasoning. The dish should be Bharta type.
Serve with plain rice and some more green chilli.
This is monsoon in Bengal and the most annoying part of a good monsoon is the associated damp that you face everywhere, in your wardrobe, with your bed, and specially in your pantry. If you are a good stockist like me, I am sure monsoon is a nightmare for you to keep your food storage out of moisture. Even after taking enough precautions, they gets spoiled most of the times. If you can catch them just before spoiling and want to use them quickly, what do you do? I try to do some experiment and most of the time it gives amazing results. Like this checken dish, that I have cooked on a weekend for dinner, I just reach to my storage cupboard and sprinkle some herbs in the cooking pot. The result was finger licking good.
Ingredients
- Chicken Liver, Neck, breast pieces
- Chopped Garlic, 1 tsp
- Grated Ginger - 1 tsp
- Onion - 1, chopped
- Capsicum - 1, chopped
- Tomato - 1, chopped
- Mixed herbs - Rosemary, Parsley - 1 tsp each
- Cumin powder - 1 tsp
- Paprika Powder - 1 tsp
- Oil
- Salt
- Green chilli - as per taste
Heat little oil in a flat pan and add garlic and grated ginger. Fry till brown.
Then add the chopped onion, saute over high heat, then add the chopped tomato and capsicum.
Next goes the chicken pieces, mix them well with the masalas. Add the salt.
Lower the heat and let the pink color of chicken disappears. Then add all the herbs and paprika. I have added some cumin powder too.
These are the herbs that I have used.
Mix everything together, chicken will release water.
Cook till the chicken is cooked through. You may add some water during the process if it seems very dry and masalas start sticking to the pan.
Cook till the gravy thickens. Adjust the seasoning and serve immediately. A very quick recipe that tastes wonderful.
This week is dedicated for Pritha from Guilt Free , who is a journalist by profession. A new comer in the blog front, ( she has started blogging since February 2014 ) her blog is a delightful experience in terms of content and photograph quality.
I have tried one of her Egg recipe this time, which is a very common but extremely popular dish in Bengal. Its a dry curry, goes well with Roti / Paratha or even with Rice. Almost every bengali household has their own version of Egg / Dim Kasha, and all are equally delicious. Sharing the original recipe here.
Ingredients:
- Duck Eggs. boiled - 3
- Onions - 2, sliced
- Tomato - 1, chopped
- Green chillis - As per taste
- Baby Potatoes - 6, parboiled
- Turmeric powder
- Red Chilli powder
- Cumin powder
- Coriander powder
- Ginger paste - 2 tsp
- Gralic paste - 2 tsp
- Mustard Oil
- Ghee - 1 tsp
- Salt, to taste
- Sugar - to taste
Rub the boiled eggs & baby potatoes with a little bit of turmeric, red chilli powder and salt and lightly fry them in a little bit of oil in a non-stick pan. Set aside.
In the same pan add onion slices and fry till translucent and soft. Add ginger and garlic paste and stir for a couple of minutes more.
Add the sugar and green chillis and continue stirring till oil separates. Now add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, red chilli, cumin and coriander powder and let the masala thicken. Add salt according to taste.
Add the fried eggs and potatoes now and mix well with the masalas.
Add little water and let it boil for some time till potatoes are completely done.
Simmer for some 5-10 minutes till gravy thickens to your desired consistency. Adjust the seasoning. Sprinkle garam masala powder and a dollop of ghee. Keep covered for 10 minutes.
Garnish with chopped green chilli and spring onion / coriander leaves and enjoy !!
Sending this entry to 'Know Your Bloggers 2014' event organised by 'Kolkata Food Bloggers'.
