Cashew Coconut Prawn

Tired of cooking 'Prawn Malaicurry'? Try this royal cashew coconut prawn to satisfy your tastebud !! On this auspicious day of 'Bhai Phota' or 'Bhai Duj' I am dedicating this dish to all my brothers.

Ingredients

• Golda Chingri - 8 pcs
• Onion -2, medium, chopped
• Ginger paste - 1/2 tbsp
• Garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp
• Cashewnut - 2 tbsp, soak in water
• Coconut Powder - 2 tbsp
• Green chillies - as per taste
• Whole Cumin - a pinch
• Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Salt, Turmeric, Sugar - as per taste
• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Kishmish / Raisin - 1 tbsp

Clean and devein the prawns and then marinate the prawns with salt and turmeric. Make a paste of soaked cashew nut and coconut powder and keep aside.

Fry the marinated prawns in mustard oil. Keep aside.

In the same oil, add whole cumin and slitted green chilli. Stir for 30 seconds.

Then add chopped onion, Once it is browned, add ginger garlic paste and mix well.

When masalas are fried, add salt, kasmiri chilli powder, sugar and turmeric with a splash of water. Then add cashew coconut paste and mix with the masala quickly.

Add a cup of hot water. When it starts boiling, add the fried prawns. Mix gently.

Add some more green chilli and soaked raisins and let it cook for 5-7 minutes over low heat.

Once the prawns are cooked, adjust the seasoning and remove from heat. add 1 tbsp of ghee and keep covered for a standing time of 10 minutes.

Serve the delicious prawns with steamed rice.

Fusion Gujiya - Gujiya with Apple Pie Filling

Today is Diwali, we are celebrating the festival of lights with diyas and patakas and of course with sweets. Shops are flooded with sweets and chocolates of different size and shapes, you get gifts in the form of dry fruits and sweets from friends and relatives, some are home made, where you feel the love of your friends and so on. Now when it comes to home made sweets from my part, I am a bit skeptical, since we, as a family, donot have a sweet tooth ( quite unusual as a Bengali though), So, home made goodies has to be extra ordinary, with a kick, may be with a touch of fusion or else the effort will go unnoticed. For this reason, I usually avoid to prepare sweets at home, but this year, I have decided to give it a try and zeroed in to prepare Gujiya.  
Gujiya is quite a well known item in Northern part of India, this is kind of a deep fried pastry in half moon shape usually filled with nuts , coconuts, jaggery and sweet spices. To give it a fusion twist, I have prepared an Apple Pie filling and baked the stuffed pastry instead of deep frying. I am thrilled with the results, the combination of aromatic stuffing and flaky pastry is amazing. And yes, it is well accepted in my family.

I picked up this recipe from 'http://divinespicebox.com/' . You may see the original recipe here.

Ingredients

For Pastry Dough

• 2 cups All purpose flour
• 3/4th cup butter (Salted variety, very cold/frozen and cut into cubes)
• 2 tablespoon cold Milk
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar (make your own by mixing 1 tablespoon of icing sugar with 1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder)
• Milk for brushing the gujiyas on top

For the filling

• 2 apples 
• Fat pinch of Cinnamon
• pinch of Nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons mixed fruit jam
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• A knob of butter
• 2-3 cloves
• 1 tablespoon corn starch (dissolve it in 1 tablespoon of milk)

To prepare the dough, sieve the flour. Add butter cubes and mix with your finger tips till you get a coarse bread crumb like texture.

Now add 1 tbsp of cold milk at a time to make a dough. Be careful not to add extra milk or else the dough will be soggy. Keep the dough refrigerated for one hour.

To make the apple pie filling, chop the apple. Then add the butter in a pan with two types of sugar. Let the sugar melt., 

Then add the mixed fruit jam and mix well.

Stir occasionally till the apple is cooked and the mixture becomes sticky. Then add the cinnamon and nutmeg. Add vanilla too.

When the spices are incorporated well, add cornflour dissolved in milk and stir quickly. Your filling is ready. Let it cool a bit.

To make the gujiya, take out the pastry dough from refrigerator and divide the dough into 15-16 pieces. Using a rolling pin, flatten each dough into a circle. Use a sharp bowl or cutter to cut a neat disk from the circle. Please a tbsp of filling onto the disc and fold it into half to give your gujiya a half moon shape.

Seal the edges and using a fork, press the edges securely. I have also pricked the filling part to let the steam evaporate.

Prepare all the gujiyas. Preheat the oven at 180 degree C. Place the gujiyas side by side on your baking sheet / tray and brush them generously with milk. 

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top. Then bake them for 20-25 minutes.

When the top of the gujiyas are browned slightly, the baking is done.

Remove from oven and let them cool. Enjoy the happiness with your family and friends.

Happy Diwali to all of you !!

Mutton with Tomato

One of my mutton recipe which I have cooked without marination. Since childhood I have seen my mom marinating the mutton with spices and I have this feeling that the longer the marination the better taste of the mutton dish. 
However, there was a sudden guest last week end and Hubby brought mutton for a quick lunch. Now I was in a kind of trauma, I have no time for marination, how will I cook. Then I calmed myself and cooked it in a completely different way with lots of tomatoes and a new dish is born.

Ingredients

• Mutton - 1 kg
• Potatoes - 3-4, halved
• Onion - 5, chopped
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 3 tbsp
• Green chilli, chopped - as per taste
• Tomato - 4-5, chopped
• Salt, Turmeric
• Bayleaf, whole garam masala

Smear some salt and turmeric to the mutton, then pressure cook for 5-6 whistles with a spoonful of ginger garlic paste. Keep aside. Don't through away the water.

In a pan, heat mustard oil, then add byleaf and whole garam masala. I have added a pinch of cumin seeds too.

In a separate pan, fry the potatoes with salt and turmeric till golden brown. Keep aside.

Add onions and fry well.

When onions turn brown, add ginger garlic paste and chopped green chilli and fry well.

Next goes the tomatoes. Fry well till the mixture is mushy.

Add salt, turmeric and kashmiri chilli powder and incorporate well.

Now add the boiled mutton and mix well till the mutton pieces are coated with masalas. Continue frying with the sprinkle of mutton stock. Add the potatoes too. When all the stocks are incorporated, add 1-2 cups of hot water and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.

When oils are coming out of the surfaces, the dish is ready. Adjust the seasoning.

Serve hot with plain rice.

Butter Poached Prawns

This quick dish is a savior when you need to serve something delicious within a short span of time. Hubby's friends came over for a drink and hubby dear asked for some chatpata snacks. I had only some 500 gms of shelled prawns in fridge. Made this is a jiffy and got a good round of applause from the guest.

Ingredients

• Medium sized Prawns - 300 gms
• Butter - 2 tbsp, the more the merrier
• Green chilli - As per taste
• Garlic Paste - 2 tsp
• Onion -, one small, chopped finely
• Dried Parsley - to Sprinkle
• Salt, Kashmiri chilli powder

Marinate the cleaned prawns with salt and kashmiri chilli powder for 30 minutes.

In a flat bottomed pan, heat the butter. Then add garlic paste and chopped green chilli and fry quickly.

When the raw aroma of garlic is gone, transfer the marinated prawns into the pan. Stir quickly to get them well coated with butter and masalas.

Then add the onion slices and mix well.

Prawns have released some water. Let it get poached in its own juice.

Keep the heat high so that the water evaporates. Sprinkle Parsley and stir once.

When water completely evaporates and prawns are cooked the dish is done. Adjust the seasoning if required. Serve immediately.