I was bored of having Pomfret with regular onion, garlic, ginger paste. So tried it with 'Kalojire Bata', or Nigella or kalonji paste this time. When served with steamed rice, everybody was busy guessing about the secret ingredient. :-D
Ingredients:
- Pomfret fish - 6
- Kashmiri Chilly Powder - 1 tsp
- Tomatoes, 2, roughly chopped
- Medium Onions, 3, finely chopped
- Nigella/Kalojire/Kalonji Seed
- (Grind to a runny paste)
- Slit Green Chillies - 4,
- Turmeric Powder
- Mustard oil
- Salt
Apply Salt, Chilly Powder, Turmeric Powder and Mustard Oil to the fish and set aside for 30 minutes. Then lightly fry on both sides and keep aside.
In the same pan heat Mustard Oil and add the Onions. Fry them until they are just about to change color. Add the tomatoes, stir and then cover and cook until they soften.
Add half cup of warm water and mix well till it makes a thick gravy.
Place the fried fish pieces on the masala mix. Cook on low heat till the fish is done. Spread the kalojire Seeds paste over the fishes and cook for 5 more minutes.
Adjust the seasoning and the green chillies. Keep covered for 15 minutes before serving. Serve with steamed rice.
This tasty and filling salad is a must have in my family during winter. Very easy to make, you can have any dressing of your choice, just spoon it over or serve as a side. A delight for the weight watchers as well, you may have this with a piece of fish or boiled chicken, if you are on a low carb diet. What a satisfying dinner without the guilt.
Ingredients:
- Cauliflower - 1, cut into florets
- Spinach leaves - 10-12
- Olive - 10 - 12
- Onion - 2, sliced
- Olive Oil - 2 tbsp.
- Tomato - 2, pureed
- Tomato Sauce - 1 tsp
- Green chilli - 1, pureed with tomato
- Parsley - 1 tbsp.
- Salt and Pepper
Steam the cauliflowers in salted water for 5 minutes, then remove from water and lightly sauté in olive oil.
In the same water, blanch the spinach leaves and keep aside. Don't discard the liquid.
Fry the onions with a pinch of salt and sugar in the same oil till golden brown. Keep aside.
In the same pan, add the remaining olive oil, then add the tomato, green chilli puree with salt and sugar. Add the tomato sauce and the olives. Add the reserved liquid and stir, till it makes a semi thick sauce. Add the dried parsley. Adjust the seasoning. This is your dressing.
To serve, arrange the blanched spinach on the plate, then add the sautéed cauliflower. Sprinkle fried onions. Spoon the dressing over as per your taste. You may serve the dressing as a side as well. A tasty salad dish is ready within 15 minutes..
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Soup,,, ahhhh... the soul food. We love soup like anything specially during winter months. Since winter is knocking the door here in Bengal, I have started exploring it once again. This simple and easy home made soup recipe is packed with awesome flavours. It is best to have it fresh, so make it just before your dinner and serve immediately. I keep the cabbage a bit crunchy to get more punch.
Ingredients
- Potato - 1, boiled
- Cheese - 1 cube
- Cornflour - 1 tsp
- Black Pepper - 2 tsp
- Green chilli - 1, chopped
- Cabbage - 1 bowl, roughly torn
- Tomato - 1, chopped
- garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
- Ginger Paste - 1/2 tsp
- Salt
To prepare the cheese ball, mix the boiled potato, grated cheese, chopped green chilli, black pepper powder, salt and corn flour.
Make small balls and fry them in batches in little oil over high heat till golden brown.
Make 15 - 16 cheese balls this way. Keep them warm.
In the same oil, add the garlic paste. When it releases the burnt smell, add the chopped tomato and roughly torn cabbage leaves and add 3 cups of water immediately. Add salt and stir. Cook for 5 minutes. Now add the ginger paste and boil for 2 more minutes. Add 1 tsp of corn flour mix in 2 tbsp. cold water and add it to the soup. Stir.
Remove from heat. Serve hot with more black pepper if required. Make sure to add the cheese balls just before serving.
A very quick and delicious recipe of chicken, with very less ingredients, but no compromise on taste. If you can marinate it for 6 hours, nothing like it. I am not happy with the photograph though !!!
Ingredients
- Chicken - 500 gms
- Curd - 50 gms
- Garlic Paste - 2 tbsp.
- Green Chilli Paste - 1 tbsp.
- Fresh Cream - 2 tbsp.
- Kasuri Methi - 1 tbsp
- Methi seeds - 1 tsp
- Salt and sugar - as per taste
- White oil for cooking
Marinate the chicken with curd, garlic paste, kasuri methi, salt and green chilli paste preferably for 4-6 hours.
Add oil in a pan and whe it is hot, add a pinch of methi seeds into the oil. Stir fry for a while till it turns black. Then remove the seeds from the oil.
Add the marinated chicken in the same oil and mix well. Stir fry over high heat for some time till oil comes out of it.
Now add a cup of water and cook covered for 10 minutes over low heat. Check the doneness of the chicken. If chicken is cooked, add the cream and mix well.
Heat it through so that the cream melts and mix well with the chicken. Adjust the seasoning. Add sugar if you like at this stage and mix well. Serve with Parota.
Got a pack of thai rice noodles as a gift from one of my friend. This soup recipe was on the pack itself, just some minor tweaking here and there as per our taste, addition of some extra veggies and a delicious dish is made quickly. Incidentally I bought a bottle of thai fish sauce some days before, but never used it since I was not very sure of the outcome and it was sitting idle on my pantry. Since the recipe on the pack asked for it, I used it here...and it comes out really well. In fact it reminded me of my Singapore days, now I realized that the trademark smell of Singapore food courts were due to this fish sauce.
Ingredients
- Rice Noodles - 1 pack
- Chicken Stock - 1.5 litre
- Star Anise - 4
- Cinnamon Stick - 1
- Ginger Paste - 1 tbsp.
- Dry Red Chilli - 2
- Brown Sugar - 2 tsp
- Fish Sauce - 2 tbsp.
- Vinegar - 2 tbsp.
- Chicken Breast - boiled & Shredded
- Cabbage - 100 gm, thinly sliced
- Corn Karnel - a handful
- Green Peas - a handful
- Lemon juice - 1 tbsp.
Boil the rice noodles until softens. Drain and rinse in cold water. Set aside.
Add star anise, cinnamon, red chilli, ginger and brown sugar in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add all the vegetables, cover and simmer for 6 minutes.
Add the fish sauce and vinegar to the soup. Top it up with the shredded chicken and simmer for 2 more minutes.
Saute the boiled rice noodles in 1 tbsp. olive oil for a minute of two. You may omit this step if you wish. Arrange the noodles in a bowl. Ladle the soup over it. Sprinkle some lemon juice over and serve. I have added some paprika sauce as well. You may garnish with boiled egg and fresh coriander leaves.
Not a very common recipe indeed, however, I got this while browsing through my collection of cookbooks and decided to give it a try.
Ingredients
- Patol/Pointed Gourd - 10-12,
- Paneer - 200 gms
- Bay leaf - 2-3
- Cumin powder - 2 tbsp
- Whole garam masala - 3 each
- Ghee - 1 tsp
- Methi / Fenugreek seeds - a pinch
- Green chilli - 4
- Ginger paste - 1 tsp
- Mashed Paneer - 2 tbsp
- Whole red chilli - 2
- Sugar - 1 tsp
- Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tsp
- Salt and turmeric - as required
Lightly sauté the paneer cubes in little water. Now add Patol into the same oil and fry lightly with a pinch of salt and turmeric.
Add oil and ghee on the same pan. When it is hot, add the methi / fenugreek seeds. Now add the bayleaf and whole garam masala.
When it crackles, add the cumin powder and mashed paneer. Lower the heat and add turmeric and red chilli powder as well. Now fry the masalas well with a sprinkle of water if necessary. Add chopped green chilli as well.
When spice mix releases the aroma, add the fried patol and mix well. Now add 1 and 1/2 cup of hot water and cook covered for 5 - 7 minutes over high heat or till the patol is almost cooked.
Add the fried paneer pieces and boil for 2 - 3 minutes. Adjust the seasoning. Add a tsp of sugar and mix well with the gravy. The gravy will thicken because of the mashed paneer and will impart a unique taste to the curry. Enjoy with roti or parota.
Do you have idea of Balti Cuisine? I don't till date, though I found this name in many of the restaurant menu list but never thought of the origin of this cooking method. Some other day, while browsing through Indrani's Blog 'Recipe Junction' , to decide what to cook from her blog for the ongoing 'Know your Kolkata Food Bloggers' event, this name caught my fancy. Indrani detailed it very beautifully in her blog, I am just copying some part of it for your reference.
What is Balti Cuisine
:
'Balti' translates literally as cooking bucket, and the balti
dish, known as a karai, is a two handled pan like a small, shallow wok in
which the dish is both cooked and served. This cuisine is greatly influenced by
the neighbouring cuisines of India, China, Iran and Afghanistan. The cooking
style is quick, like a stir fry, and assembled straight in the pot, thereby
retaining the freshness of the ingredients and the heat. Balti is traditionally
served sizzling with a large naan bread which is used to scoop up this tasty
dish. Balti cuisine includes from non-veg. Chicken, goat, lamb, prawn dishes
till vegetarian potato, Aubergine, courgette dishes flavoured with whole Indian
spices and fresh herbs.
All said and done, let's now concentrate on the recipe. I have followed Indrani's recipe to the 'T', so I hope, Indrani won't mind, if the content is a copy of hers. ;-)
Ingredients:
- Chicken - 1 kg
- Onion - 3
- Tomato - 3
- Ginger Paste - 1 tbsp.
- Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp.
- Green Chilli - 5
- Kashmiri Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
- Whole Garam Masala
- Whole Black Pepper
- Jeera - 1 tsp
- Curd - 3 tbsp.
- Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp.
- Fresh Coriander - a handful
- Salt, Turmeric
- Mustard Oil
Marinate the chicken pieces with 1 tsp. turmeric powder, 2 tsp. salt and 1
tblsp. oil. Keep aside for 1/2 - 1 hour. Slice the onions thinly and cut
the tomatoes lengthwise.
Heat oil in a karahi(preferably) or in a wide frying pan or wok. Add
the onions and fry till they are golden brown. Add the tomatoes and stir fry
well in medium-high flame.
Add all the whole spices when tomatoes are half done. Mix
well with onion-tomato paste, also add ginger and garlic paste,
turmeric and chilli powder and little salt. Lower the heat and stir-fry for 3-4
minutes.
Then add the marinated chicken pieces few at a time, stir-fry for another 7-8
minutes or till the chicken pieces are almost brown and the spice mixture is
well coated to the chicken pieces.
Add the yogurt at this moment and mix well. Stir-fry till oil separates.
Add
about 2 cups of hot water. Cover with a light lid and cook in low heat until
chicken pieces are done. Check the seasoning and stir in between to avoid
burning. [ I have added a few potato pieces in there, as we love potatoes in
chicken curries.]
When you have your desired consistency of gravy(this is not a completely dry
gravy dish) and chicken are done, add lemon juice. Mix well. Remove from heat
and garnish with fresh coriander leaves.
Serve at once from your cooking pan, I mean from your Balti, with a naan or
paratha or with any Indian Flatbread. We had it with tawa roti.
You may get the original recipe here.
