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

Orange Chiffon Cake

While I love cakes and baking, it's hard to find enough excuses to bake a cake nowadays as we have got to watch our calories. I miss those teen-years when one could burn-off anything they consumed. Unfortunately in those days, I was not a big fan of the tedious chore of eating.
However, baking wasn't too common in Eastern India where I grew up. In my household, I have seen my aunts baking traditional english fruit cake in a pressure cooker on Christmas Eve or on kids' birthdays at the most. However, I have tried different types of cakes over the years and Asian cakes are among my most favorite. This cake I am going to make today is a fluffy orange flavored cake that I have learned from Stephanie George's Joy of Baking. However, I have reduced the portions to make a smaller cake, which turned out pretty awesome and serves well for 6-8 people. 

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks, 4 egg whites
Cake flour you can make at home by mixing .75 cup + 1.5 tbsp all-purpose flour or maida and 2.5 tbsp cornstarch
.75 cup or 3/4th cup superfine sugar
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp grated orange zest
1/4 cup vegetable oil
12 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
1/5 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

 Recipe:

• Preheat the oven to 325F
• Grease a 2-3 qt. casserole type oven safe bowl (it's a good idea to use baking sheets at the bottom for softer cakes)
• Beat the egg-whites with a hand mixer or a stand-mixer until soft peaks form, add the cream of tartar or substitute with 4-8 drops of lemon juice
• Add about 1-2 tbsp sugar during the process (optional)

(A few tips for whisking the egg whites to the desired consistency is making sure the white is completely yolk free. Add the cream of tartar or citric acid after you get some bubbles in the beaten white. You can gradually add some sugar during or at the end of the process)  

• Mix the egg yolks along with all the wet ingredients
• Mix the dry ingredients including the rest of the sugar in a separate bowl
• Now mix everything together (dry and wet ingredients except for the meringue)
• After everything is mixed well, fold in the meringue or the beaten egg whites in the mixture
• Pour the mixture in the greased pan
• Bake for 50-60 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean
• Take it out immediately on a cooling rack, or else the cake will lose it's fluff
• Serve when cold

Kucho Machher Bora (Small Fish Fritters)

We consume pretty much last bit of a fish. Also, in Bengal, you can have fish of different sizes that you can cook in different ways like frying them whole, making a curry out of fish head, making a curry with vegetables, making kebabs or even making fritters with very small fishes or fish pastes. Since we don't get those familiar fishes here I tried these small fish fritters which unbelievably tasted pretty similar to the onion fritters that we get in the street food stalls in Calcutta. 

Ingredients:
Silver Fish 2 cups
1 tbsp mustard oil
1 tsp vinegar
1 cup cilantro chopped
2/3 cup onion chopped
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 pinch ajinomoto
2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp garam masala powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1/4 cup black pepper ground or to taste
2 tsp red chili powder or to taste
1 cup mashed potato
Salt and sugar to taste
2 tbsp gram flour
2 tbsp rice flour
1 egg (optional)
Oil for frying

Recipe:

• Wash the silver fish, squeezing all the excess water
• Mix all of the above ingredients except rice flour and gram flour
• Add the flours at the end as needed to bring it to the right consistency, you might want to add more if you think your batter is too runny or less if manageable
• Add 1 egg if the batter looks too dry
• Heat about a cup of oil in a pan for deep frying
• Make small flattened balls with the fish mixture

Fry them on medium heat, making sure fish is cooked from inside