Winter Eggless Fruit Cake

After spending a delightful 5 months with us, my parents left for India this week. I got used to having them around so much, the house feels extremely empty, and maybe the heart somewhat more so. The following morning we woke up to find our neighborhood covered in a snowy blanket. We don't usually get this much snow. My son's school was closed due to the inclement weather. 

We decided to take advantage of the snow and make our very own snowman (or snowbird) in the backyard.

Anyway, after freezing for an hour outside we came inside and planned to do some work together, as my son wanted to help me bake a cake. I thought of baking a traditional fruit cake. While working on it, I was remembering my parents even more as my last cake was a coffee cake, when my parents were staying with us. They loved it so much that they ate the cake for lunch 😊. Fruit cakes always bring back lots of nice childhood memories too. We always used to look forward to eating fruitcakes that my parents would bring home on christmas eve from the Anglo-Indian bakeries in our city. They taste significantly different from any other cake. Not sure if it were the cake or the festive season had something to do with it. They were a little hard, fruity, and looked brown. Although it used to have rum in it, I didn't use rum in my cake. If you wish you can soak the fruits in rum for a couple of nights before baking. Also, this time I decided to make it eggless, for which I followed the recipe from Joy of Baking.   

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup fine brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk at home you can make buttermilk by mixing 1 tbsp white vinegar to 1 cup of plain milk and let it sit in the room temperature for 10 minutes. you will see the milk gets curdled a little bit)

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup dried fruits and nuts (I have used raisins, dried cranberries, dried apricot, candied pecan, walnut, cashew)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Recipe:

Mix the dry ingredients first

Melt the butter and add to the dry ingredients

Add the buttermilk and vanilla extract

Mix everything very well with a spatula

Spray oil on a loaf pan

Pour the mixture

Bake at 350F for 1 hour

A skewer inserted comes out clean says your cake is ready

Fish Roll

Fish roll is another popular fish snack. Sometime fish rolls are stuffed with leftover portions of a fish or minced meat. While in Kolkata, although we used to devour fish rolls from street food joints or snack corners, we were equally in love with my Dad's homemade fish rolls. Among some of his other delicious recipes, this one is something that I can have anytime, anywhere. However this summer, I thought of learning the recipe while my parents' visited us. This is the easier version. I watched him from a distance as he is very particular about the uniformity of each rolls. I have to admit, the end result was excellent. 

Ingredients:
White fish fillet cut in very thin slices (I took 2 Tilapia fillet)
Onion paste, quarter of a big onion
Ginger and garlic paste, each 1 tbsp
Lemon juice, 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 to 2 egg white
Flour 2 tbsp
Bread crumb, 1/2 cup to one cup




Recipe:
Marinate the fish with salt, pepper and lemon juice for 15 minutes
Now add onion, garlic and ginger paste to the fish and marinate for 2 hours or more
now with the help of a skewer carefully roll the fillets
Whisk the flour with water in a bowl
Now roll them on the bread crumbs
Dip the rolls in the egg white
Heat some oil to deep fry

Bottle Gourd with Hilsa Head (Ilish maacer matha diye lau)

One of my caucasian friends once told me "you know, I have seen fish heads sold separately in Asian stores, they look kinda gross". To her shock, I replied, "in our cuisine we don't leave out any part of the fish either". 

I had some Hilsa head in the freezer. Unfortunately, my husband is not a fish-bone lover. I like to cook fish heads but because of him my consumption of dishes, using fish bone/head, has gone down significantly. In Bengali cuisine, fish head is cooked with dal/lentil or with vegetables or with rice. And the type of curry varies as well. This time I thought of preparing the heads with lau or bottle gourd. Bottle gourd is famously prepared with prawns. I have even heard some friends refusing to make lau without prawns. Lau with fish heads, however, is a common recipe. For this recipe I have used minimal spices to keep the aroma of hilsa intact. 

Ingredients:
2 fish heads cut into halves
3 small bottle gourds, shredded
2 whole chilies slit
1 tsp turmeric
Oil for cooking
Salt and sugar to taste

Recipe:

• Rub the heads with salt and turmeric 
• Fry (or bake for 30 mins at 400F) the heads very well and keep aside
• Heat some oil
• Add chilies, be careful of the spluttering
• Add the fish heads and the shredded bottle gourd to the oil
• Add the turmeric, salt and sugar
• Saute on medium heat very well until the water from the bottle gourd dries up

Bandhakopir Kofta (Cabbage Balls)

Cabbage curry is a well-known dish and all Bengalis probably make it quite often. The one that is slightly more unusual, is probably the cabbage koftas. Strangely, I don't remember having them in Kolkata. I remember having plantain kofta, and loving that over the plantain curry. But because of the complexity of the procedure I don't remember having much of that. As far as I remember, I had my first cabbage kofta curry in California. We used to call her grandma, and she was a well-known cook among friends and families. She was originally from Bangladesh and the kofta she used to make was out of this world. Unfortunately, my koftas are no where close to them. Now thinking of that I am wondering if this dish was more popular in east bengal. I used to make them very often right after I learned it from her. But just realized I haven't made them in a while, probably because they are time consuming.

Ingredients:

1 whole cabbage shredded and boiled
2 potatoes cubed and fried with salt and turmeric
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
2 green chilies slit lengthwise
2 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 chopped tomato
1 whole boiled potato
1 tbsp flour
Salt and sugar per taste
Oil for frying the koftas and cooking
Ghee and garam masala (optional)

Recipe:

Squeeze the boiled shredded cabbage very well and let it rest in a strainer for 2/3 hours until water completely drains out
To this cabbage add the boiled potato, a pinch of turmeric, cumin powder, half of the ginger paste, flour, very little salt (please keep in mind koftas will absorb salt from the gravy)
Knead it to a fine dough, that shouldn't be too soft or too tight, you can add more flour or potato if needed
Add oil to a skillet and shallow fry the koftas one by one
Add some more oil if needed for rest of the cooking
Add the bay leaf and cumin seed to the oil
Add the ginger paste, saute for one minute then add the tomatoes
Add green chilies
Add the coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt and sugar and saute until oil leaves the spices
Add desired water for gravy (the koftas will absorb some of the gravy and become almost double in size)
Add the koftas and fried potatoes
You can add some ghee and garam masala in the end 

Bhetki Jhol (Bekti cooked in a light gravy with potato and cauliflower)

As voracious fish-eaters Bengalis have been able to add numerous fish delicacies on their list of favorites for decades. It's hard to find all the varieties outside of Bengal though, as most fishes that are eaten in Bengal are fresh-water fish, caught from ponds or rivers. On the other hand, the fish we get outside of Bengal are mostly sea-fish. But no matter what, we have never been able to stay away from fish for long. Hence, I have tried a whole bunch of different fishes that I have found in the Asian markets. Once we got a fish called Idiot Cod in California, that tasted exactly like Bhetki. Later I found Giant Perch, which also tasted like Bhetki, and looked more like it. Traditionally, Bhetki fillet is used for making fish fries. Whole Bhetki can be prepared in a variety of ways, from a light gravy to a thick mustard paste based sauce. It can be even steamed while wrapped in a banana leaf. Because of the hot weather I decided to make a light stew with potato and cauliflower.

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Ingredients:
1 big potato
Few florets of cauliflower
1/2 tomato
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp cumin powder
1 medium giant perch
Salt, turmeric per taste
2 o 4 Green chilies
1 tsp whole cumin
1 tbsp oil
1 cup water

Recipe:
Heat oil in a skillet or kadai
Temper the cumin seeds, add the chilies to the oil
Add potatoes first and then cauliflower and fry lightly until half done
Add ginger paste and tomatoes
Sauté for some time
Add turmeric, salt, cumin powder and saute well
Add water
Cover and cook until the gravy reaches its desired consistency

Salmon Batter Fry

One of my friends recently invited us to a dinner at her place where she served fish batter fry, another delicacy from Kolkata. It reminded me of so many sweet memories. As a lover of deep fried food, I used to look forward to fish batter fry in weddings and receptions. Another place where it became a custom to have fish batter fry was the Kolkata International Book Fair. There was a company called Ben-fish that used to sell varieties of fish-snacks in the fair. Although, many would argue about the quality of their products or fish, I cherish those memories and miss standing in the long queue for one of those batter fries. 
Traditionally, batter fries are made from Bhetki fillets. Unfortunately, I couldn't wait to make them till I got some white fillets, therefore, I made them with the Salmon fillets that I had in the freezer.

 

Fish:
8 pieces (about 2"/3")
Marinate with salt, lemon juice

Batter:
4 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp gram flour
2 egg whites
2 tsp coarse ground cumin and coriander
2 tbsp butter
Salt to taste
2 tsp black pepper or to taste
Water as required

Recipe:
Heat oil for deep frying in a deep kadai or skillet
Dip the fish pieces one by one in the batter and deep fry until cooked
Serve with salads

Prawn Coconut Pulao

I found some prawns in the freezer this morning. While thinking whether to bake them or cook them on stove top I remembered a prawn pulao that I once had at a party long ago. I distinctly remember the taste and smell of butter in the rice. It was cooked to perfection. It's somewhat hard to recreate the taste especially when something seems so perfect. Here, I went by the taste and the aroma from the memory lane. It turned out to be quite yummy. And as the French have figured out, the trick is, the more butter you add, the tastier it gets.

Ingredient:
About 10 large prawns, cleaned and fried
2/3rd cup grated coconut, lightly fried
1tbsp oil
1tbsp butter
Whole spices- bay leaf, black pepper, dried red chili
2 cups basmati rice, washed and dried
2 cups coconut milk, 2 cups water
Turmeric, salt, sugar per taste


Recipe:
Heat some vegetable oil and butter together in a deep skillet
Temper some 2 bay leaves, 2 or more whole dry red chilies and a few black pepper
To this add the basmati rice and fry until light brown
Add turmeric (1/2 tsp), salt and sugar per taste
Add all the coconut milk and water
Cook the rice on medium-high heat, adjust the heat as needed
Add the coconut and prawns, cover and cook for about two minutes
Serve hot

Salmon in Mustard Gravy

It's a hard for me to rule out salmon when I think of comfort food. Healthy, tasty, filling, and quick to make. It can be prepared in many ways, some of which definitely reminds me of childhood dishes. We had never seen salmon growing up in India. The only fish that could be compared to salmon was hilsa. It would also spend most of its lifetime in the ocean, then would migrate upstream to spawn. I personally don't find any similarity in taste between salmon and hilsa, but both have similar properties from a cooking perspective. Both take very little time to cook, and would become fibrous if overcooked. Therefore, I like to cook salmon in a traditional bengali way as well. As Shorshe Ilish (hilsa in mustard sauce) is a very popular dish in Bengal, I made Shorshe Salmon (salmon in mustard sauce).

Ingredients:

Salmon 1 fillet cut into around 2"/3" pieces
1 1/2 tbsp yogurt
1 tbsp mustard paste
2/3 green chillies slit
Salt and sugar per taste
Oil for cooking
1 tsp mustard oil

Recipe:
Mix mustard paste, yogurt, salt and sugar together, marinate the fish with the mixture
Add oil to the pan
Add the fish along with the marinade to the oil
Cover and cook in medium heat, after 2/3 minutes turn the fish pieces over
Cover and cook for another 2 minutes (avoid overcooking)
Add the mustard oil and the green chilies
Immediately remove the pan from heat
Serve with rice

Simple Chicken Tandoori

It's been long since I posted my last recipe. Life has become crazy, literally. Especially with the kiddo at home for summer vacation and my folks around. It's fun but sometimes it can be too tiring. Cooking has taken a backseat now. I cook to eat instead of eat to cook nowadays. Hence, these days I am all for making one-dish meals. But one thing I realized years ago, that, simple or complex, it has to taste good otherwise we will eventually end up getting dinner from outside. I had some chicken quarters in the freezer last night, and I was craving for the chicken kabobs that we used to get in the San Francisco Bay Area. I miss those kabobs, cooked to perfection, with their juices intact, yummmmmm! Not a single day, do I remember them coming out dry or look too red, like we are used to seeing in many Indian restaurants. As the name suggests, it's hard to make perfect tandoori without a tandoor (traditional clay oven). This is what I tried and this was worth it. 

Ingredients:

3 Chicken quarters
Tandoori spices, store bought
Ginger 2 tbsp
Vinegar 1 tsp
Red chili powder 1 tsp or to taste
Mustard oil 1 tbsp
Salt and sugar per taste
Ghee for brushing





Recipe:

• Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients except ghee
• Preheat the oven at 375F and bake for 50-55 minutes or until chicken is throughly cooked
• Brush ghee on both sides during baking to keep the chicken from drying
• At the end broil on each side for 2 mins or to your liking

Duck Egg Curry

Duck egg curry is considered a delicacy in Bengal. Since it isn't easily available in the US, I look forward to Summer when I could buy them from the farmers' market. Our cooking lady was allowed to make a very spicy duck egg curry, as it was prepared once in a while. I also prefer making it a little on the spicier side because of the powerful taste the eggs have. Here is the recipe for you.

Ingredients:
12 Duck eggs boiled
2 tbsp mustard oil
1/4 chopped onion
1.5 tbsp garlic paste
1.5 tbsp ginger paste
1 tsp cumin powder
.5 tsp mace powder
2,3 green chilies chopped
1/2 can tomato juice
Salt and sugar per taste
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chili powder

Recipe:
Boil the eggs and cut in halves
Heat oil, add some turmeric, salt and red chili powder to color the oil
Add halved eggs to this oil to fry well. Eggs will take a beautiful red color
take out the eggs, add some more oil
Add onion to this oil, fry well
Add ginger garlic paste, and saute till oil leaves the spices
Add the dry spices
Add tomato juice instead of water to make sure spices don't get stuck at the bottom
Add green chilies
Add some water to this and bring to the boil
Add the eggs to this gravy, yolk side up
Take out the eggs carefully
Pour the gravy on top of the eggs

Gathi kochu aar aloo (Potato-Taro Curry)

There was a time when I couldn't think of eating taro let alone making it of my own volition. The home where I spent most of my childhood had some sort of taro plant in the backyard. We used to have taro made in different forms. I remember how my mother would highlight its rich mineral contents every time we had taro. However, nothing could have changed my dislike for taro until a few years ago a friend of mine made some taro curry for us. I can't say that was the best dish I have ever had, but it was definitely worth trying at home. Then I thought of how I could make it so different, that it would wipe off that nagging childhood taste. Why not make it a little chatpata (hot-and-sour-flavor) than the usual way indian vegetable curry dishes are made. I came up with this recipe that I made a few times since then and yaaayyy, we added one more vegetable to the list that our family now has on a regular basis.

Ingredients:
4 cubed taro
1 big potato, cubed similar to the size of taro
1/4th cup onion chopped (optional)
1 tsp amchur powder
green chili chopped
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Oil for cooking
Salt and sugar to taste

Recipe:

• Heat some oil
• Fry onion if using, then add taro to the pan and fry for a minute
• Cover and cook the taro until soft
• Add potatoes, cook until done, you can sprinkle some water to make sure it doesn't get stuck to the bottom
• Add the amchur powder, salt and sugar to it
• Turn the gas off, add the chopped cilantro and green chillies and cover for 2 minutes
• Serve with hot rice

Khoya Paneer

After a long break, I finally got some time to write today. Life changed a bit during this time, making my days busier. After making paneer for dinner tonight I suddenly felt a compulsion of sharing this recipe with you all. I have never made paneer this way before. After last weekend's biryani I had some left over khoya with which I could have made some dessert but as I am fighting an eternal war against my carb-craving, I decided against it. Hence, came up with this recipe.

Ingredients:
Paneer cubes (1 nanak slab)
1/2 cup green peas 
2 slit whole green chillies
1-2 tsp ginger paste (I added 2 tsp, you can add less if you like)
1/2 tsp garam masala (cinnamon, cloves, cardamom)
Oil
Salt and sugar as needed

Recipe:

• Heat some oil in a kadai
• Fry the paneer lightly with some salt. Keep aside
• Add ginger paste to the oil and saute well while sprinkling some water from time time
• Add the chilies
• Add the green peas
• Add the paneer back to the kadai
• Add salt, sugar and the garam masala
• Add about 1/4th cup water. Cover and cook for couple of minutes
• Your paneer should be ready to serve

Semolina and Coconut Pakora (suji-narkol bora)

In our childhood, I remember a lot of people used to snack after work, as in Kolkata most people are or at least were used to eating dinner very late like 9 or 10 at night. A lot of which included street food like shingara (samosas) or chop (fritters, patties). Because we eat dinner pretty early we don't get a lot of chance to snack except for weekends. This afternoon I had a dejavu of this particular snack that I was longing to have for a few days now. One of my grandmothers used to make it for evening snack. As we will have late dinner tonight because of my son's swimming class, I felt the urge to make this. Although, I seldom used to take a peek in the kitchen as a kid I somehow remember the taste and I believe I guessed the ingredients correct as it tasted exactly like it used to.

Ingredients:

1 cup Semolina

1/2 cup grated coconut (frozen ones will do just fine)

1 green chili chopped

Milk about 1/4th cup or as needed for the batter

2 tsp corn flour

Salt to taste

sugar to taste

Oil for shallow frying

Recipe:

• Mix semolina, coconut, corn flour, salt, sugar, chilies, with milk to make a thick batter
• Let the batter sit for half an hour until semolina absorbs some of the milk
• You can add a little milk if the batter looks too dry at this point, or a little semolina if it looks too runny
• Heat some oil in a flatter pan for shallow frying
• Fry the batter giving them a patty like shape
• Serve with tea

Mutton Biryani

Biryani, originally a Persian food, is believed to have arrived in India with or before the Mughals. The current Biryanis we get in India has a lot of Mughal influence. Typically there are three types of biryanis from the taste perspective in India at this time, Awadhi (somewhat light and infused with exotic spices), Hyderabadi (spicier), and the Bangladeshi Biryani (infused with cow milk ghee and special biryani essence). 

I have seen my mom and aunts cook biryani differently, all trying to manage recipes from different chefs to beat each other. I got my recipe from a chef that made biryani at our place in India on some occasion. I remember that guy didn't eat anything since morning in an effort to keep his smell and taste buds unsullied. So far, I have used the ingredients per my taste, and never really measured them. Here I have tried to give a rough estimate, please use the spices per your discretion. Here is the recipe for you. 

Ingredients:
Mutton about 2.5 lbs
1/4th cup ghee+oil
1 big onion
2 tbsp garlic juice
2 tbsp ginger juice
Salt per taste
1 tbsp red chili powder or to taste
2 tsp mace
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp rose water
1 tsp kewra water
1/2 tsp biryani essence
2 tsp garam masala (made with cinnamon and cardamom, without cloves)
6 potatoes halved 
Salt and red chili powder for boiling the potatoes
5/6 strings of saffron soaked in 1/4th cup milk warmed
5 cups basmati rice, 1/4th cups salt to boil the rice
1/4th cup yogurt
1/4th cup khoya
5 boiled eggs cut in halves

Ingredients for the biryani spice (this wasn't part of the original recipe, you can do this if you like your biryani a little spicier)
1 tsp mace
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp sha-jeera or caraway seed powder

Preparing the Meat

1. Heat some ghee + oil
2. Add sliced onions and fry till brown
3. Add some water to this fried onion
4. Add garlic juice + ginger juice to this
5. Then add the meat to this water
6. Put some salt and red chilli powder
7. Cook the meat till tender (meat can be seen just above the water)
8. Add powdered mace, nutmeg, garam masala (without cloves), rose water, kewra water and biryani essence to the meat

Preparing the Potato

1. Boil some water
2. Add salt and red chilli powder
3. Add halved potatoes to it
4. Boil till the potatoes are fully cooked

Preparing the Rice

1. Boil the rice till half-cooked in salted water

Dum

1. Add this rice to the meat (Rice must be half-cooked)
2. Sprinkle yogurt, milk
3. Add biryani spice
4. Sprinkle ghee and khoya
5. Add some of the mutton gravy on top to keep the biryani from drying out in the oven, keep the rest for later use
6. Cover the bowl
7. Keep it on low heat for some time or put it in the oven at 350F for about 4/5 hours or longer

  

Mixed Vegetable with Mustard

Last night while I was looking to make some vegetables, I found a bit of everything in the fridge without anything standing out. That's when I thought of making mixed vegetables but a little bit differently than I usually do. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 Potatoes cubed

1 1/2 cup of each of the following vegetables, diced- pumpkin, ridged gourd, parval or pointed gourd (you can add as many variety as you want)

1 tbsp ginger paste

4 green chilies

1/2 cup sliced onion

1 tbsp yoghurt

1 tsp poppy seeds

2 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp paanch phoron

Salt per taste

2 tsp turmeric powder

Oil as required

Recipe:

• Make a paste of poppy seeds, mustard seeds and the yogurt
• Heat the oil, add paanch phoron
• After it starts spluttering add the ginger paste to saute
• Add green chilies
• Add potatoes, add salt and turmeric, fry lightly, cover and cook for 2 minutes
• Add vegetables one by one in order of time required to cook the veggies, longer to shorter. Keep adding salt and turmeric as needed
• Add the yogurt- poppy seed- mustard paste when the vegetables are 80% done
• Cover and cook for 3/4 minutes
• You can add ghee if you like

Prawn Malaikari

Another bengali recipe that is very commonly cooked and enjoyed is chingrir malaikari (Prawns cooked in coconut milk). Malai means thickened milk. For this recipe we use thick coconut milk. Cooking prawns in coconut milk or with grated coconut is commonly seen around coastal areas in India, where both are found aplenty. Like biryani, every bengali household have their own signature malaikari recipes. I got my recipe from my aunt.




Ingredients:
Prawns about 1lb. Unlike today, I usually like to use prawns with head-on
Mustard oil + ghee
3-4 tbsp onion paste
1 tbsp ginger paste
2-4 green chilies paste
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp yogurt
Salt and sugar per taste

                                            
 Recipe:

• Marinate the prawns with salt and yogurt
• Heat some oil and ghee
• Fry the prawns lightly and take them out 
• Add the onion paste to the oil, saute until completely cooked and oil comes out to the side of the pan
• Add ginger and chili paste and saute well 
• Add the rest of the marinade
• Now keep adding the coconut milk as you saute
• Add the prawns
• Cover and cook on low heat for 2/3 minutes

Chipotle Lamb Chops

I am so glad to have the BBQ days back again. Speaking of BBQ, one dish that I can't live without is Lamb chops. I believe the variations you can make with lamb chops, make it so widely appreciated. What I love about Lamb chops are that you can make it light or spicy or classic or asian style. The one I am going to share today is made with chipotle spices.

Ingredients:
Lamb Chops about 8
1 tbsp yogurt
1 tbsp chipotle mix (I used Los Chileros chipotle rub and mix)
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp oil
Salt to taste (check if your chipotle mix has salt in it)

Recipe:
Make a marinade with all the above ingredients
Marinate the lamb pieces anywhere between 1-8 hours
Cook until brown on both sides on medium to high heat (lambs can get very dry if cooked for a long time)
Serve with grilled vegetables or salad