Boondi Raita

I had this lip-smacking Boondi raita first time at a friend's house and I fell in love with it the very instant I had the first mouthful. A number of times that I prepared it home has earned me immense appreciation from whoever tasting it for this raita is simple in concoction, less time-taking, yet mouthwatering.

 

 

As regards boondis, you may either prepare them at home or buy them readymade from Indian stores. I usually stick to spicy boondis believing the extra spiciness adding a zest to the overall flavour. If you wish to eliminate the factor of calorie, then soak the boondis in water for some time before squeezing the oil out and dunking them in yogurt. Some people don't add sugar to boondi raitas, but I love that light tinge of sweetness in mine one.

 

Rui Macher Matha Diye Badhakopi Ghonto - Cabbage Dry Curry with Rohu Fish Head

Dry Cabbage Curry with Rohu fish head, a traditional delicacy in Bengal is cooked very rich with an array of spices and dollops of ghee boosting the flavour. The heady aroma pervading each corner of your home while the dish is in making might bring in the next door neighbour knocking at your door inquiring of the menu for the day, the all-pervasive savour announcing of a grand feasting.
 

Known best as an accompaniment to Bhoger Khichuri, this cabbage preparation is relished in every household of Bengal. Both my mother and mother in law with their magical touch of love cook this curry bringing out a mouth-watering taste that an entire plate of rice can be consumed only with this dish by the side; one simply doesn't need anything else.

 

Immediately after marriage when I was not very comfortable with cooking, for the most part relying on the cook for every small meal, I often wondered why only rohu fish is to be added in cooking this cabbage curry. So twice, out of sheer curiosity, I switched the rofu fish head with that of hilsa and bhetki and the turnout came nowhere near to the one cooked with rohu. With the twin failures of my experimentation, I finally dropped the idea having stuck to the traditional way of cooking the cabbage with rohu fish head only from the next time on. Thenceforth, I never made any attempt at distorting the traditional recipes.

Egg Drop Curry

For some time I have been planning to post the recipe of this egg curry, but incidentally either I was too busy to capture snaps or the snaps came too horrid to make a favorable impression on the readers that I withheld each time. Finally, last Sunday when I made this curry again, I wishing to click some nice, at least, presentable snaps under the daylight prettily organized the bowl containing the egg curry on our dining table nearby the window, but just when I was readying myself to take snaps, the Sun hid behind a puff of cloud without meaning to show up again, and my hopes were dashed when upon waiting for half an hour, it started raining. My enthusiasm ebbed away, I dropped the plan of taking any picture at all busying myself in serving lunch when my husband stepped forward managing to click some shots of the egg curry which although was somewhat dimmed by the absence of sufficient amount of light turned out to be decent enough for posting.

 

 

I promise I would post some good snaps of the curry when I will prepare it next time. Two words of caution I would like you to note down before attempting the curry -

1. Don't stir after the eggs are dropped into the curry.

2. Break the eggs gently into the curry without upsetting the yolks. It will lose its essence then. 

Poppy Seeds Bread with Mango Glaze

The end of weekend always leaves me pensive, the thought of waking up to another Monday begins to well up from Sunday evenings, precisely while enjoying a whirlwind weekend amid fun and merriment and now and then my mind wages in counting hours so as to remind myself of the time of revelry left. Mondays were always blue for me, from that very childhood, posing the beginning of yet another tumultuous week between schools, tuitions, studies and deadlines; after studies were over and a tryst with job came into picture, Mondays projected a dreadful threat of a long stretch of week with no respite from work in sight.

 

Now that finally I am enjoying the sought-after break from work, I am at leisure to fathom the reason why blue is associated with Mondays. It's interesting to note that before the invention of washing machine, Mondays were kept aside for washing clothes manually with a blue dye to preserve color. Blue signifying depression corresponds well with the cheerlessness that Monday evokes to the atmosphere of a work place; hence Monday & blues perfectly juxtapose each other.

 

If you are regular in my blog, you might have noticed that most of my cake recipes are posted on Mondays which is because my hubby loves having a slice of cake at breakfast. This week I wanted to try this wondrous recipe of Poppy seeds bread with Mango glaze. Actually, you may substitute mango juice used in the glaze with any other favourite juice of yours, guava, orange, and apple and so on and so forth, applying your creativity into work. To keep the bread simple in texture, I didn't add walnuts or raisins or chips of any kind, but according to your taste, you may toss some into the bread you bake.

Elish Korma - Hilsa Korma

Our bedroom is west facing because of which the sunbeam penetrates our room towards the afternoon, which by the way rankles me a lot for though I don't sleep in the afternoon usually but sometimes while reading a book when the eyes feel heavy and I yearn for a nap, the heat of the sunlight forces me to remain awake, totally putting me out. Thanks to my engagement with an interesting book over the last week, I have taken to the habit of sleeping late but since hubby dear wakes up early in the morning for office; I too get up early keeping things ready for him. Because of the deprivation of required hours of sleep, I have begun to feel drowsy in the afternoon, but the bedroom blazing with sunlight interferes with my siesta and I snarl mutely in frustration.

 

Now I know an amazing way to channelize frustration into something positive. So there I go writing a recipe of a fish curry I cooked few weeks back. This Hilsa preparation needs generous amount of mustard oil, any addition of water might dilute the effect. So if you eat counting calories, this dish might not be what you are looking for, but taste wise, it is mouthwatering, completely singular in flavor.

Rui Posto - Rohu with Poppy Paste

Since morning today the sky outside is wearing a morose look, so much so that, around 7.30 am when normally the sunlight seeps into our bedroom giving us an indication to rise up, today we spinned out our sleep turning off the alarm clock every time it started buzzing, mistaking the gloomy sky outside for the crack of dawn, a tad too early to open eyes and get into our daily grind. By the time we finally woke out of our lazy slumber stretching hands and legs for the morning inertia to wear thin, we noticed the time ticking past 8 o'clock at which my husband jumped out of bed and with a lightning speed got dressed up for office, he had a meeting to attend.

 

Last week during our ritual weekly shopping, we bought a rohu fish, 2.5 kg in weight and about 1.5 feet in length, reason enough for you to check out my space for upcoming rohu recipes...lol....anyway, as I was saying under my supervision the rohu was cut into several curry pieces and then packed into 5 different batches for the benefit of sparing us the labour of sorting for every round of cooking.

Today I cooked the first batch, pulled out the freezing packet and thawed it under water. I was meaning to cook something tried and tested before like Rohu withFennel Seeds or Rohu Kajuri, but then the memory of eating a rohu curry, long back, at a friend's house fixed me on trying Rohu Posto and that my hubby drools over posto added a further impetus to press forward with the dish.

 

To enhance the richness, you may add mustard paste to the curry, but desiring to relish the flavour of poppy paste in its entirely, I gave the mustard paste a miss purposefully.

Chocolate Vanilla Cheesecake

Chocolate is sinful, we all know that but the knowledge cannot restrain us from indulging in the guilty pleasure of allowing lumpful of chocolates melting in the mouth, the pleasure of embracing the lapping sweetness is priceless. The first thing that chocolate calls to my mind is Mr. Willy Wonka, the eccentric chocolatier in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory whose ingenious chocolate creations take the world by surprise. The chocolate room so beautifully depicted by Roald Dahl is an epitome of edibility; from its pavements to grasses being edible, Mr. Wonka's statement only accentuating the assertion "“Everything in this room is edible. Even I'm edible. But, that would be called cannibalism. It is looked down upon in most societies.”

 

 

The centre of all attention was the chocolate river where the chocolate mixed and churned by the waterfall is the only one of its kind as proclaimed by Willy Wonka "No other factory in the world mixes its chocolate by waterfall."  The seductive and tempting way each candy, a piece of genius invented by Willy Wonka is described gets saliva dribbling from the reader's mouth. I have never read any other book that has chocolates painted in words in such bewitching manner.

Me and my hubby both being fond of chocolates always have few boxes of chocolates put away in the refrigerator which sometimes I toss into my cakes adding an extra richness or sometimes simply pop a slab into my mouth luxuriating in the succulent flavour, but the craving always remains insatiable.

 

 

The following recipe is of a no baking required cheesecake. What I find most appealing about the concoction is the base made from a good many chocolate cookies. The creamy texture of the filling accompanied by crunchy base makes it a savory treat enjoyed by all.

Banana Raspberry Bread with Walnuts and Butterscotch Chips

Winter is not a pleasant season that I look forward to anymore as I used to, in Kolkata and Bangalore. Winter is rather a dreaded season here when going out amid the bone-rattling cold wind sends a shiver running through my body and the chilly blast on my face makes me run for cover. Winter is yet to set in here with full force, but given that the previous year had witnessed very few sheets of snow, the weather forecast for winter this year is pretty rough with blizzard and frequent snow falls in the offing.

 

Of all the things that I hate most about the freezing cold here is the inability to stay alfresco, the stinging cold forcing you to bury under piles of clothes while barring you from walking in the fresh air or holding an outdoor picnic. I find it worse than the scorching summer afternoons of Kolkata when going out under the blazing sun poses an appalling affair, but despite the soaring temperature, summer does not confine one to home as severe winter does, not to mention a pall of gloominess enveloping the atmosphere.

 

With winter impeding the outdoor activities coercing people to soak in the warmth holed up in the cocoon of home by the fireplace, it is a great time to culture hobbies and arrange get-togethers at home, more frequently than usual. I have few plans lined up to utilize the captivity of winter to its best; one of them is fine-tuning my baking skill. Check out my space for more updates on baked goodies in the coming months.

 

Banana flavoured bakes are my favourite and after a recent thread on FB enlightened me about the usefulness of eating over ripe brown bananas, I have become fonder of it than ever. According to Japanese Scientific research, full ripe bananas with dark spots on skins produce a chemical called TNF which helps fight abnormal cancer cells. The riper the banana, the higher is the anti-cancer quality, a reason strong enough to include bananas in your regular diet. So go bananas with unbridled joy.

Potato Curry (South Indian Style)

Too many recipes are there in the pipeline to be downloaded and I am so busy wrapping up the last few pages of the book I am currently reading that I don't get enough time to post them. So I will try to keep the prelude short here in minimum words.

This Potato curry made in South Indian style infused with the fragrance of curry leaves is one of my favourite aloo preparations, I first having tasted it on our trip to Hampi. There was a small shack restaurant near to the hotel we were staying in Hampi with thatched roof and minimal furniture sparsely arranged inside that drew our attention in the very morning we reached there. Hungry and tired of the overnight journey, we were craving for a fulsome breakfast. Hence instead of searching for an aesthetically appealing and tastefully furnished eatery, we went into the one that was within our walking distance.

 

Twinged by the hunger pinch, growing larger every passing minute, we waited patiently for at least over 45 minutes for the breakfast to be served, the tea arriving within 15 minutes of our placing the order. The hot cups of tea in the cold wintry morning helped us remain tolerant to the delay while patiently counting minutes for the meal, which, at a time we were forced to think, was being arranged from scratch by someone rushing to the market to do the groceries few moments after we placed the order.

 

Notwithstanding the delay in serving, the food was really scrumptious. The potato curry accompanied by soft puffed-up puris made up for all the grievances and fumes that the long period of waiting caused in our minds. I swear this potato curry albeit simple in concoction is robust in flavour with high potency to win anyone's heart.

Murukku

Murukku also known as Chakali is originally a South Indian snack of bewitching flavour in spirals, ribbons made from rice flour, urad dal flour, moong dal flour and water, seasoned with an array of spices. Murukku available in diverse flavours - Sweet Murukku, Garlic Murukku, Spicy Murukku and the like is sold in all corners of India as a traditional treat to be savoured during festivals like Diwali and Janmashtami.
 

In Kolkata, Murukku is available in a selection of grocery stores round the year. We would buy the packets in bulk and stash them away in air-tight jars, serving them with tea when guests showed up unannounced. In Bangalore too, Murukku served the same purpose in addition to satisfying those untimely hunger pinches that rises especially when you are catching a movie on television at night.
 

To prepare Murukku, one item cannot be dispensed with - the mold. It has a number of attachments like the ones that come with icing tube. I have used the star attachment to obtain the desired spiral shape. You may use ribbon or any other single attachment to acquire the desired effect.

Alu Potol er Jhol

My mother in law, as I must have mentioned thousand times in my previous posts, is very fond of veggies preferring it over anything else, fish, chicken, mutton and the like. She, most of the time, abstains from adding tomatoes, onion or any other ingredient deemed as sacrosanct in cooking a delectable curry, yet bringing out a taste that far outweighs the ones cooked grandiosely with miscellaneous items.

 

This Alu Potol er Jhol that I learned from her is very simple in concoction, yet mouthwatering and hence one of my favourites because it saves me the pain of chopping onions, a loathsome task of any cooking arrangement. It accompanies chapati, roti and rice very well. Initially after marriage when I was not so fond of potols, my mother in law whenever we visited them would cook this dish helping a great deal in developing my taste bud for the veggie.

 

 

Egg Keema

Yesterday was Ganesh Chaturthi, the birthday of an elephant headed idol so adoringly worshipped in greater parts of India. The name "Ganesh Chaturthi" rings the same spell for Maharasthrians as Durga Puja does to Bengalis. Throughout Maharasthra, in the sanctum of one's home or the pompously decorated outdoor pandals, prayers are offered to the deity. It's a huge festival lasting up to ten days that brings people from all corners of India closer, irrespective of religion, creed and caste. Muslims take active participation in arranging the puja, same way as we have witnessed pujos taking place in some Muslim predominated areas in Kolkata.
 

In celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi, one of my hubby's colleagues who is a Marathi by origin held a small pujo in his home giving foodies like us a momentous opportunity to dig in with pleasure. Of the many delicacies, the sweet dish called 'modak' struck my taste bud precisely, reminding me of puli pithes with coconut stuffing inside soaked in milk that is very popular in Bengal. Through the discussion on Ganesh Festival, many a thing that was hitherto unknown to me came to my knowledge, making my heart yearn for actively partaking in the jubilation and excitement involving the festivity. I have seen visuals of the celebration being covered in news channels over the house of Bollywood celebrities celebrating the occasion in the most grandiose way possible, but have never witnessed the fervour myself.

My Mumbai and Pune stay were so short that I never got to spend a day of Ganesh Chaturthi there. I swear once I return to my country, I would definitely like to take a trip down to Maharashtra to see the madness through my eyes.

 

About the dish, keema is basically a dish cooked with minced meat. Since the following egg curry is concocted in a similar fashion of a keema curry, the dish has become popularly known as egg keema. For my own convenience I have finely chopped the eggs instead of grating as eggs sometimes crumble haphazardly under pressure of a grater.

Orange Raspberry Bread

Days before on the birthday of one of my hubby's colleagues, his wife "P' requested me to bake one cake emphasizing that she too wanted to lend a hand with the making, wishing to surprise her husband. Now the birthday boy has sugar problem that has turned him little fussy about eating sweets. So we planned to bake low calorie sugarless cake by supplementing sugar with artificial sweeteners, especially customized for him.

 

 

Though I would have loved to bake an orange flavoured cake topped with creamy layers of icing for the b'day boy, but at the last minute considering the amount of sugar in citrus cakes is in excess of normal non citrus cakes, I abandoned the idea and stuck to our original plan of baking a simple vanilla cake.

 

 

Respectful of the request that "P" wanted to chip in for the bake, I let her do whipping of the batter and other nitty-gritty required in the making of a presentable eatable cake. The turnout, though won havoc appreciation from the b'day boy more because of his wife's active involvement in the entire process, was a tad chewy in texture which I guess is common with anyone attempting at baking for the first time, but I was very touched by "P"'s effort to make the day special for her husband. When was the last time I made such an endeavour at learning something new just to make my hubby happy? Hmmmmm....sometimes silence is golden.