অন্নপূর্ণার হেসেল / from a bong kitchen

আমার মা বাবা ওপার বাংলার লোক. আমি কোনদিন বাংলাদেশ যাই নি কিন্তূ দেশ টাকে চিনেছি মায়ের স্মৃতি চারণায় আর রসনায়।তাই আমার রান্নায়ও সেই একই পূর্ববাংলার স্বাদ।

my parents originally belonged to undivided Bengal. I had never been to that country thou i know that place so well from memories that my parents had shared with fairy tales when i was small and i know that country from the palate that i inherited. 

though away from home for a considerable period of time i had tried to retain the flavors of my mom and grandma's kitchen as much as i can.

i will start this page with a typical Bengali starter: 

সুক্তনি /সুক্ত /sukto

Ingredients:

the basic three veges are

1. bitter gourd/ karela: 1
2. brinjal/ baigan :1
3. Potato : 1

you can also add:

1. drumstick
2. sweet potato
3. radish

spices;

1. wild celery/radhuni
2. poppy seeds/khus khus: 1 tsp
3. asafotedia/hing
4. bay leaves/ tejpatta
5. dry masala made by dry roasting panchforon: a five spice mix of jeera, corriender, methi, radhuni,sarshe & tejpatta & grind ed into a fine powder:1 tsp

ginger paste :1/2 teaspoon

1 tbs of milk

fresh butter/ghee

bari/ fried lentil balls

Method:

cut the vegetables length wise or as per choice.

heat oil;add bay leaves & very few seeds of radhuni (you can always substitute radhuni with methi seeds or panchforon: a five spice mix of jeera, corriender, methi, radhuni,sarshe )

fry the karela ; add the vegetables; cover & simmer till the vegetables are boiled.

add a paste of poppyseeds, dry masala powder & hing.

add the fried bari.

add milk and let it dry up to a thick consistency.

add ghee and switch off the flame.

cover &let the aroma settle for a while; serve hot with plain rice.

potato fries/ঝুরি ঝুরি আলুভাজা 

Ingredients & method
for this all you require is potato.
cut the potatoes into thin strips. now the crispiness all  depends upon how much thin you can make.
soak in chilling water for sometime.
heat oil in a very high flame and then lowering the flame into medium fry in batches and soak in paper towel.

aloo posto/ আলু পোস্ত 

ingredients:
potato: two medium
poppy seeds: 3 tablespoon 
 green pepper: as per taste

method:
make a paste of poppy seeds and green pepper.
boil the potatoes and cut them in small squares;
now you can either saute the boiled potatoes or simply skip this step and mix it in a pan with poppy seed & pepper paste and serve hot.

for a not so Indian palate

 griddle /तवा  sizzler

when i had to shift from Delhi I had to leave back almost all of gadgets from kitchen except for a few basic essentials...Korea is not a place where we decide to settle so had to restrict my buying but I had to find ways of retaining the flavors of my kitchen....sizzlers are a hot favorite in dinner menu and since its easy and not time consuming I was experimenting with a few alternatives. it just stroke me the other day,while frying tadka for panchmeli dal, why not try out Sizzler in the roti tawa?and it worked wonder !!!! the taste was absolutely perfect with the chicken grilled lying in a bed of fresh salads and fume.

well I tried it with chicken breast but anything can go in the sizzler plate from steak to sausages or tofu as per your choice...


all that we need

1. Chicken breast/Steak/Tofu
2. Steak Sauce
3. Vegetables as per your choice; I use Iceberg Lettuce, Cucumber,Bell Pepper,Carrot,Onion
4. Boiled potato and green peas (i use this as a replacement of  traditionally served french fries)
5. Mayonnaise,coarsely ground black pepper,parsley, ginger garlic paste.
6. Lemon Juice 
7. Butter

and then 

Marinade the chicken/ tofu with mayonnaise,coarsely ground black pepper,parsley, ginger garlic paste.Leave aside for at least an hour.

Grill the Chicken/ Sausage/Tofu. In the mean while put your tawa or griddle on flame and let it heat up.

In a pan put a little butter, saute for a while the mashed potato and green peas .

Prepare the vegetables...you can either grill or dress with your favorite dressing. 

Now that your tawa is ready put a dash of butter,to it add the steak sauce.You will see the flame and nice fume on the tawa.....add chicken put a dash of lemon juice to retain the fume ...serve with the boiled potato and pea casserole and vegetables.

to start with

যদি  চাও tanduri

খুব  বেশি তারাতারি 

try out my recipie

pressure cooker এ শুধু  দুটো  সিটি 

if u relay want to roast

your chicken  in a haste

try out my post

i promise you will thank me in the last!!!

but

all you need is a little patience with the cleaning part...now leave that tension aside for a while, its not that tough if you soak your pressure cooker in a pinch of baking soda and vinegar and then heat up with enough water before scrubbing...

well this is all that we need

1. A small whole chicken of around 700-800 gms
2. Tandoori masala if you have in stock else a teaspoon each of of mace powder, amchur powder,powder of star anise pinch
3. 2 tbs of mayonnaise
4. 1 tbs of oil or butter
5. 1 egg
6. salt as per taste
7. preferably an aluminium pressure cooker 

and this is how we will cook

Make slits on the chicken to let the marinade in and let the chicken sit on the marinade for at least 4 hours....make sure that you have put some of the masala inside the chicken too.

After four hours or so put very little oil and grease the base of the pressure cooker.Place the chicken  and cook up till 1 whistle.Switch off the flame. Once the pressure releases turn the chicken and cook till 1 more whistle.

Your tandoori chicken will be ready to serve within 20 mins. enjoy with fresh salad and green chutney.

food from the street and more

ফুচকা/पानीपुरी 

.....in a lazy spring afternoon, far from homeland, if a walk in down memory lane, takes you to the man/দাদা /ভাইয়া , standing ad mist the hubbubs of busy Saturday market, selling ফুচ কা/ गोलगप्पा  , what can you do?close your eyes for awhile and sigh? crib to your mom  over Skype or update you status with a sad emoticon on Facebook  or 
simply give it a try and be the master of the trade;the most wanted women in community gatherings and the star auntie who can make golgappa!!!!
choice is yours for sure but trust me its easy & worth experimenting...
miles away from India i can still enjoy ফু চ কা / golgappa thanks to the vendor at Park Street , Kolkata, for sharing with me the recipe.
দাদা  আপনাকে প্রচুর ধন্যবাদ আমার এবং আমার বন্ধুদের  তরফ থেকে। ...জানি আপনি কোথায় এই লেখা পড়বেন  তবু...

ok getting back to the recipe:

Ingredients for Poori:

1.  Sooji/Semolina:       1cup
2. Whole wheat flour:  1/4 cup
3. Refined flour :          1/4 cup
4. Baking powder:      1/2 tsp
5. Oil for deep frying

Procedure:

Make a dough of all the above mentioned ingredients using enough water and leave aside covered with a wet towel at least for an hour.
the more the settling hours the better though.....

check the dough, if its too tight or too dry, with little water knead it again.

take a little dough and roll it to a thin roti...be careful enough not to roll it too thin as it will make papri. cot out small poori with a cookie cutter or lid of your oil jar or with whatever whose shape suits you.

deep fry in medium flame and drain in a kitchen towel....repeat till the dough is over
keep changing the kitchen towel and don't stack too many poories at one place.

leave it open for around 2 hours till it gets crisp.

Stack in an airtight container or serve thereafter.

Note: using the same dough you can make rajkachori making a big single poori.  

Ingredients for Masala:

Well this varies from State to State depending on the palate ;like  Delhi  prefers सौंठ  the sweet tamarind chutney with smashed boiled potatoes,chole but in Kolkata we would love to have it with bangali  style chaat masala, made dry roasting coriander cumin red pepper bay leaves and dry grinding together; to it add black salt, as much green pepper as you can risk, a dash of lemon juice, pulp of tamarind as per taste and fresh coriander leaves.

for the tamarind water 

 you can either mix your tamarind pulp with pudina ormint leaves, cold water anda litlle of pepper or just make a combo of tamarind pulp,water , black salt ,green chilli and fresh coriander.

well taking about गोलगप्पा। and Delhi if you are in for a Vasat Kunj PVR style then surely try your pooris with the shot of vodka!!!!!!!

am sure you are going to rock specially amongst all those expecting mummies who are dying for ফুচ কা/ गोलगप्पा abroad.

रामलाडू   

when i had first came to Delhi to study advertising some 12 years back it was June. monsoon in Kolkata...i was already missing my পেয়াজি & আলুর  চপ   but only to discover during one of my first visit to Sarojini Nagar market that actually there's nothing much to loose...every city has its own flavor the fast you get adopted the better...and then onward every shopping spree at Lajpat or Sarojini would end with a plate of pipping hot रामलाडू  topped with green chutney and grated white radish.

well there are two variations of the recipe that i had learnt from the street vendor:the choice of using channa daal depends absolutely on your palate. 

 well so these are the few things that we require:

1. yellow moog dal   : 1 cup
2. channa daal (if using) : 1/4 cup
3. fresh coriander (1 cup) , mint leaves(1/2 cup) & green chili as per taste for the green chutney
4. grated white radish for topping

method:

soak the daal/daals for at least 5 hours

grind with very little water & a bit coarse.

add salt, i prefer a pinch of hing & chili powder which might as well be omitted.

meanwhile let the oil heat up

in a medium flame fry small size ladoos

in the same batter you can coat green chili slit a bit length wise & fry.

for the green chutney

blend together all the ingredients with a little water 

(i also add a dash of lemon, i pod of garlic & 1 teaspoon of grated radish for extra flavor)

now that your ram ladoos are ready...u have already made the green chutney & grated radish देर  किस बात की ?