at 21:27

Til Kumro (Pumpkin cooked in sesame paste) ( Bengali Dish)

I am going through a phase when cooking seems like a real hard work. Well, I did do some cooking in the weekend but the whole idea of clicking snaps and writing recipe seems too much. I just want to eat and sleep and go to work.  

But.. I realised that I have not posted anything on the blog for a long time. Which I should have, now that I have a blog and that I need to try to make it popular. In fact almost wishing that I did not have a blog!!!!!!! Well too late, I guess.

Posting a recipe of Til Kumro or Pumpkin cooked in sesame paste. It is a very ‘everyday’ dish at my home in kolkata. Most likely originated from Bangladesh…. Well I am not sure. However, it does have the flavor of coconut, mustard and sesame mix, which is very typical of my mother.  She also cooks chicken in the same combination.  So do I. I had some drumsticks at home, drying in the fridge. I used them. but, you do not actually need them.

Try this dish for its simplicity and sweetness. Moreover, it is a healthy dish without any compromise on taste

Ingredients:

400g-Pumpkin, diced

2-stick of drumstick, cut length wise (optional)  

3-tablespoon sesame seeds (increase the quantity if you like)

1 ½- tablespoon grated coconut (increases the quantity if you like but then also increase sesame too)

1-teaspoon mustard seeds (I used black) ((increase the quantity if you like and if you have increased the other ingredients)

1/4-teaspoon Nigella/kalo jeera/kalonji

1-long green chili (add more if you like hot)

Salt to taste

Pinch of sugar

1-tablespoon oil

 

Method:

1.    In the blender/ grinder  mix coconut, sesame, mustard and green chili and make a paste, add little water in case needed

2.   Keep the paste aside and add little salt to the whole paste, otherwise it might turn bitter due to mustard

3.   Heat oil in wok or karahi

4.   Add Nigella seed and fry a little

5.   Add the diced pumpkin and drumstick ( if using) and fry until the pumpkin is half done

6.   Add the paste  and combine with pumpkin

7.   Fry for a while, add salt and pinch of sugar

8.   Sprinkle little water in case sticking at the bottom or add water to make thick gravy

9.   Cook until pumpkin is well done and gravy thickened

10.                 Serve with roti or boiled white rice

Enjoy the day and hope to you see you next time when I have more energy than today. Take care!

at 22:23

Maushumi r Doi Begun (aubergine with Yoghurt-a recipe by Maushumi)

Maushumi, a friend of mine astounded me with her Doi Begun (aubergine with Yoghurt). She grew up in Orissa and shared with us the amazing recipe that belongs to the state. When I saw the picture of her dish, I knew it was something that I would definitely cook, and rather soon. But the dish over exceeded all my expectation

We Bengalis cook aubergine with mustard, yoghurt and sometime even with Kasundi (fermented or pickled mustard sauce, very traditional mustard sauce from West Bengal). I love aubergine cooked with Doi (yogurt) and Shorshe bata (mustard paste). But this dish…. ohhhhhhhhhh ummaaa.. is the right expression!!! Simple to make, looks beautiful & stunning and taste…. Ohhhhhh… I do not have words to describe it.

I am in love with it. When I eat it for the first time last weekend, the newness of the taste, the minimalism of the ingredients, layered texture and freshness of spices took my breath away. Since then I have cooked the dish three times already, treated friends and would treat to few more.

I am giving almost exact recipe from Maushumi with little changes in the quantity as I made to suit my palate.

Please please, give dish a try.. Otherwise, you would be missing something out of the world.

Ingredients:

1-aubergine/begun/brinjal/eggplant, cut into round slices

1-teaspoon turmeric

½-chili powder

1-cup yoghurt, I used Greek fat free. You can use hang curd or any other you like.

½-musterd seeds

7/8-curry leaves (you can buy them at any Indian/Sri Lankan shop)

½-inch finely chopped ginger

2/3-dried red chili

Pinch of Heeng (Asafoetida, this is the first time ever I used heeng ever in my life)

Salt to taste

Oil to fry the aubergine as well as for later use

 Method:

1.    Soak the aubergine in salt water for 1 hour, so that it takes less oil to fry

2.    Take them off the water and Marinate the aubergine with turmeric, chili and salt

3.    Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the aubergine until both sides are dark brown and aubergine is soft like cotton

4.    Place the fried aubergine in a serving bowl

5.    Beat the yoghurt with salt and keep aside

6.    Heat little more oil in a pan

7.    Add mustard seed and fry until they starts to splatter

8.    Add the dried red chili,  ginger and fry until ginger is almost  golden brown

9.    Add curry leaves and fry so that now ginger is  crispy and curry leafs are fried but yet green

10. Add heeng and take off the fire in 10 secs

11.  Now spread the yoghurt over the fried aubergine so that they are fully covered

12. Spread the fried spices over the yoghurt like in picture

13. Serve with white boiled rice and enjoy the bliss!

Note: after adding the yoghurt, do not cook or warm the dish as it might curdle the yoghurt  

at 23:26

Onion/Shallot Thoran ( Kerala)

Very unique as far as I am concerned and very tasty. I do not know why I got to know about it so late. However better late than never.

Ingredients

2-big red onions, chopped finely

100-grated coconut

1-teaspoon chana dal (Bengal gram)

1/2-teaspoon mustard seeds

1-green chili chopped

10-curry leaves

Salt to taste

2-tablespoon oil

 

Method:

1.    Heat oil in a pan

2.    Add mustard seeds and fry

3.    Add  chana dal, half of the curry leaves and fry until dal is light brown

4.    Add onion, green chili, salt and fry until onions are soft

5.    Add coconut and rest of the curry leaves

6.    Cook for while, 5 mins

7.    Serve as salad or as accompaniment with other main course

For regular update from my blog, please visit my face book pagepet pujo and adda  and click ‘like’. Also, follow me at my blog here. I am featured at Networkedblogs.  You can also leave your comments here. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Hope to see you again!

 

at 23:24

Narkel Kumro ( Narikel Kumra)- Pumpkin cooked with Coconut

My mallu friend A’s amma says that this dish is from Kerala. I believe her, as I am no expert on the Kerala cuisine. However, my mother says same dish minus the curry leaves is cooked in many parts of coastal Bangladesh as well as her home. It seems didon cooked it as well but used fenugreek seed instead of mustard seek. I never eat it before though.  Today, I cooked it for the first time. Trust me, it was sooooo good.  In addition, the combination is so unique to my palate that I just loved the newness of the recipe. The use of roasted coconut is the distinguishing feature of this dish. This is one of the two new dishes that I cooked during the weekend. I would recommend you to at least give it shot. Who knows you might just fall in love with it like me. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

400-pumkpkin cut in to small dices

100-fresh/packed grated coconut ( you can use more if you like)

1/2- teaspoon chili powder

1/2 –teaspoon turmeric powder

1-teaspoon cumin seeds

10-curry leaves

½-teaspoon mustard seed

3/4 -dried red chili powder

1-tablesppon oil

Salt to taste

Method:

1)   Heat 400ml water in a pan

2)  Add the pumpkin and the half of the grated coconut

3)  Also add salt, chili and turmeric powder and boil until pumpkin is almost cooked

4)  Meanwhile in a blender combine the rest of the coconut and cumin seeds and make a paste

5)  Heat oil in a pan

6)  Add Mustard seed  and fry them

7)  Add dried red chili and curry leaves and fry a little. Do not make the chili go totally black

8)  Add the coconut-cumin paste and fry until coconut is roasted well

9)  Add the fried coconut-cumin mixture with the  boiling pumpkin and cook for another 5/10 mins

10)               Serve with boiled rice as side dish or one of the many main dish

For regular update from my blog, please visit my face book page pet pujo and adda and click ‘like’. Also, follow me at my blog here. I am featured at Networkedblogs.  You can also leave your comments here. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Hope to see you again!

 

at 23:23

Narkel Diye Anarosh r Chutney (Pineapple Chutney Cooked with Coconut Milk-Bengali version)

Ingredients

300g-Pineapples cut into small pieces

½- teaspoon Panch Phoron

½-teaspoon turmeric

1/4-chili powder

1-dry red chili

½-ginger paste

½-cup sugar

500ml-coconut milk

Salt to taste

1-teaspoon oil

 Method:

1.    Heat oil in pan

2.    Add panch phoron and dry red chili on the hot oil, fry a little

3.    Add the pineapple

4.    Add turmeric, chili, salt,ginger and cook the pineapple

5.    Add sugar when the pineapple’s have  softened

6.    Then add coconut milk and cook until it has reduced and the chutney has become sticky

  For regular update from my blog, please visit my face book page pet pujo and adda  and click ‘like’. Also, follow me at here. I am featured at Networkedblogs.  You can also leave your comments here. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Hope to see you again

 

at 00:01

Sunday Saga: Starting with Potol Posto (Pointed Gourd/Parwal Cooked with Poppy Seed Paste)

Sunday lunch special is not a thing of my house. We always had special food- there was always something new on the menu. We always had elaborated meals. Even now, when we are all away from home, my mother would cook a five-course meal. It always starts with a leafy vegetable and finishes with dal (yes we eat dal at last not at the beginning of a meal). In between there will  be a mix vegetable or a vegetable cooked with fish or fish head, sometime some vegetable bhorta ( mash), fish jhol ( gravy), chicken ( idea is to cook for my brother who does not eat fish but of course she cannot just cook for him. So we all eat it) and then the dal to finish. This is like a regular menu for us. Moreover, my mother can never cook same thing within two weeks time. Therefore, there is always a different fish dish and chicken dish on the table. For many household in Bengal, my husband’s for example, Sunday is associated with eating ‘mutton jhol’ (goat meat gravy) and other special dishes. But not in my house. Despite of being very busy, both my parents took interest in food- they would cook ‘special food’ every night and store them as well for later use.  Mutton was never something we eat very often due to health reason.

Now of course things are different. I make mutton occasionally when R wants to eat and when I am inviting A and D who love mutton. In addition, I try to cook for 3 to 4 days lunches at one go on Sunday afternoon so that both of us can take food to office. Dinner is mostly cooked fresh as we have salads or soups. Today is Sunday and I am cooking in bulk- to eat today and in the hope that some will last for another 3 to 4 days office lunch (which never really happens).

Today I cooked Potol Posto (Pointed Gourd/Parwal Cooked with Poppy Seed Paste), Shorshe Ilish (Hilsa cooked with mustard paste in Bengali style), capsicum, motorshuti, sweet corn diye paneer ( Paneer cooked with capsicum, peas and sweet corn), Mutton Jhol (goat meat gravy), tomato Chutney (Bengali Tomato Chutney) and musuri r dal ( Red lentil cooked in Bengali style)  . I am giving the recipes one by one in separate posts starting with Potol Posto.

For Shorshe Ilish (Hilsa cooked with mustard paste in Bengali style), Click here 

For Mutton Jhol (goat meat gravy) click here

For Tomato Chutney (Bengali Tomato Chutney) click here

 

 

Potol Posto Ingredients:

10- Potol (pointed gourd), de skinned and cut lengthwise in four sections or maybe two

½- teaspoon of Nigella seed/kalo jeera

1-small onion cut into thin and fine slices

1 -teaspoon Turmeric powder

3-small green chili, cut lengthwise

5-tablespoon poppy seed/Posto

2-tablepoon oil (vegetable or mustard)

Salt to taste

Method:

1.    Heat oil in a pan

2.   Marinate the Potol with turmeric and salt and fry them. Keep them aside

3.   Make a paste of the Posto and 1 green chili using blender or shil nora

4.   Heat more oil in the pan

5.   Add kalo jeera and let it fry for a while

6.   Add the cut onions and fry them until soft

7.   Add the Potol and salt. Fry for 5 mins

8.   Add the Posto paste and add green chili

9.   Cook until Posto is cooked and water have dried down

10.                Serve with hot white/boiled rice

For regular update from my blog, please visit my face book page pet pujo and adda and click ‘like’. Also, follow me at my blog . I am featured at Networkedblogs.  You can also leave your comments here. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Hope to see you again!

 

at 23:21

Sunday Saga Yet Continues: Last but not the least THE Tomato Chutney

Ingredients

5-ripe and sweet tomatoes cut into small pieces

½-teaspoon panch phoron

1-green chili

½-teaspoon grated/paste ginger

¼-teaspoon turmeric powder

5-tablespoon sugar (or as per taste of sweetness)

Pinch of Bhaja masala (dry roasted masala dust. See my spice section for details)

Salt to taste

1-tablespoon oil

 Method:

1.    Heat oil

2.   Add panch phoron and green chili and fry until spatters

3.   Add the cut tomatoes

4.   Add turmeric, ginger and salt

5.   Cook until tomatoes have become almost mash

6.   Add sugar and cook until melted and gravy thickened

7.   Take out in a bowl and Sprinkle the bhaja masala before serving

For regular update from my blog, please visit my face book page pet pujo and adda  and click ‘like’. Also, follow me at my blog. I am featured at Networkedblogs.  You can also leave your comments here. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Hope to see you again!

 

at 22:55

Winter Warmer Root Vegetables and Chicken One Pot Dinner

Well, after thousands of Christmas lunches, between shopping eating, endless New Year Parties and then of course the  Poush Sankranti eating extravagance- it is time for me to remember ( at least I am trying. So you are not allowed to laugh) that I had promised to eat healthy for my dinner.

I am not one of those people who think healthy food is essentially bad food or no food at all. I actually like my food to be light, easy to cook –something that does not make me sluggish after eating. I love eating vegetables, fish and chicken. At the same time, I do not like bland food. My food needs to have texture, flavor and the spices. A combination of sweetness from vegetables, that meaty taste of fish or chicken and the zing of Asian spices like little green chili, black pepper, mustard, cumin, coriander etc. And of course the color: it has to be inspiring.

I am cooking a one-pot dish today, which has everything that I like. Note:  I am using chicken for protein and as I like it so much. That is optional. You can use kidney bean (rajma), chickpeas (chana) or Paneer in case you want some protein in your food. Otherwise, you can make this dish with just vegetables and it tastes equally wonderful.  

 

Ingredients (Measured for Two):

100g-carrots cut into small cubes

100g-Swede cut into small cubes

100g-Parshnip cut into small cubes

100g-Potatoes cut into small cubes

6-small pieces of chicken (optional)

1-large onion, cut in to thick wedges

3-cloves of garlic, sliced

3-tablespoon of tomato puree/ketchup ( I used  no added sugar version)

1-tablespoon of whole grain mustard paste

½-cup red lentil, washed

1-teaspoon dried oregano

1/2-teaspoon red chili flakes
 

1-tablespoon oil

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

 Method:

1.     Heat a pan with oil and fry garlic until you can smell it

2.    Add onion and fry the onion until almost caramelised

3.    Add the chicken and salt

4.    Add black paper and fry for a while

5.    Add the washed lentil

6.    Add rest of the vegetables and fry for 10mins

7.    Add water and boil

8.    After 10 mins to add tomato puree,oregano and red chili flakes

,

9.    Slow cook until water has reduced, chicken cooked and gravy thickened

10. Add more water and add the mustard paste

11.  Cook until desired gravy achieved

12. Serve  hot as one course meal or with  a slice of bread

For regular update from my blog, please visit my face book page Pet Pujo and Adda and click ‘like’. Also, follow me at my blog. I am featured at Network bloggers.  You can also leave your comments here. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Hope to see you again!