The temperature rising high and its becoming tougher by the day to sustain this heat almost throughout India and of course in Texas. The global warming is taking its toll. Though its quite pleasant out here in Bangalore, I’m just worried about my loved ones in Kolkata – almost no rain and the temperature rising above 36 degree celsius almost everyday with the terrifying humidity.

The only way out is to have a loads and loads of fruits – chopped to bite sized pieces or blended to a refreshing juice. Mango and watermelon are the kings of summer. Wherever you go, you’ll definitely get hold of these two at least.

There was a big watermelon lying in my fridge for the last couple of days, and even though the maid chops it into small pieces, am still lazy enough to bite into each piece, separate those hundreds of seeds and savour it. So, thought of a better idea – why not to puree it to a refreshing drink. Here I am gulping on the watermelon juice and writing about it.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of chopped watermelon
• 2 tablespoon sugar (optional)
• Pinch of salt

Preparation:

• Puree the watermelon and strain out the seeds
• Serve with ice cubes in martini or whiskey glasses

Hot Tips- If you are planning to have this on a weekend, I suggest that you mix a little vodka with it and treat yourself with a watermelon martini.

Health Tips – If you worry about your health a little then watermelon is the best fruit to have. The nutritional fact for watermelon says that it consists of more than 90 percent of water and very less in fat. So, enjoy this summer with watermelons.

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Its already Holi time and nothing much to say. Here are some authentic Bengali recipes that you can try out for this doljatra.

Breakfast:

• Banana Pancake
• Bread Chopsuey
• Chal Diye Alu Dum with Luchi
• Egg Roll
• Mughlai Paratha
• Upma

Lunch:

• Doi Rui – Rohu in Yogurt
• Ilish Bhapa
• Chingri Bhapa in Microwave
• Mochar Tarkari or Banana Flower
• Dhokar Dalna
• Alu posto/ Potato in poppy seed paste
• Chanchra
• Jeera Rice/ Cumin flavored Rice
• Fried Rice in Microwave Oven
• Chicken Keema Curry
• Chicken-do-peyaja
• Kasha Mangsho – Bengali Mutton Curry

Desserts and Chatni:

• Tomato Chatni
• Amer Morobba
• Rasogollar Payesh
• Rajbhog
• Chaler Payesh

To search for more recipe click to All Recipes.

Wish you all a very Happy Holi!!! Play safe and don’t forget to share your Holi pics and memories with us.

If you like this post, please consider linking to it or sharing it with others. I’ll love to hear your comments too.You can also Subscribe to BengaliCuisine by Email, or Subscribe in a reader

In addition to the entries listed for the Cooking with Seeds – Poppy event, here’s some more.

Biscuits with dates from Jayasri of Samayal Arai

Aloo Posto (Potatoes in Poppy Seeds Paste) from Arundhati of  My Saffron Kitchen

White Vegetable Korma from Denny of  Oh Taste n See

And, last but not the least an entry from a non-blogger friend, Subit Datta. I am writing the recipe for Papaya with Poppy Seeds here.

1. Grate a small papaya.

2. Make two tablespoon poppy seeds into paste with 1/2 green chillies.

3. Heat  one and a half tablespoon vegetable oil in a non-stick pan.

4. Put in 1/2 teaspoon onion seeds (kalojeerey).

5. Add grated papaya. Add salt. Cover and cook.

6. Add poppy seed paste. Keep stirring till dry.

7. Garnish with green chillies.

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]]> http://bengalicuisine.net/2010/cooking-with-seeds-poppy-event-round-up-addendum/feed/ 4 http://bengalicuisine.net/2010/kolkata-style-vegan-frankie/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=kolkata-style-vegan-frankie http://bengalicuisine.net/2010/kolkata-style-vegan-frankie/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 10:17:18 +0000 Sudeshna Banerjee http://bengalicuisine.net/?p=2318

It so happened that I used to wake up late (I still do:P) and then need to rush without grabbing a proper breakfast. But, this had a bad toll on me and my health. I felt that pre-afternoon hunger and sluggishness. So, I made it a point to have a good and wholesome breakfast. You can check some of the quick breakfast recipes.

The four main reasons to skip breakfast, what I have learned from family and friends are:

1. I don’t have time
2. I really don’t have time
3. I seriously don’t have time
4. I’m skipping breakfast to lose weight

You can either set your alarm just 15min earlier or rush to the office with the hungry tummy aching to have some food. I chose the first option, nothing is better than to have a healthy breakfast and plan for a good day. Now, if your reason to skip breakfast is solely to shed some pounds, then beware skipping breakfast has a reverse effect on your weight loss plan. This is a good read on skip breakfast, get fat.

Ingredients:

For the filling:

• Potato (Alu): 3 large, boiled, peeled and mashed
• Onion (Peyaj): 1 medium size, chopped
• Tomato: 1 medium, chopped
• Green chili (Kancha Lanka) : 2, chopped
• Coriander leaves (Dhane Pata): ¼ cup chopped
• Salt to taste

For the wrap:

• Wheat Flour (Maida): 2 cup
• Water

Preparation:

• Make a dough using the flour and prepare parathas
• Mash the boiled potatoes, add the other ingredients and mix well
• Once the parathas are ready put a generous amount of the filling mixture and roll the parathas
• Cut each roll into two from the middle and serve hot with tomato sauce, lemon juice and salad

Hot Tips – I have used parathas for the wrap you can use chapattis too. You can also use the left over rotis or parathas from last night to prepare the wrap. The filling can also of your own choice of vegan or meat, check the egg roll post for more ideas.

Further Readings – Breakfast with eggs, Mumbai Frankie roll

]]> http://bengalicuisine.net/2010/kolkata-style-vegan-frankie/feed/ 4 http://bengalicuisine.net/2010/bhat-bhaja-fried-rice/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bhat-bhaja-fried-rice http://bengalicuisine.net/2010/bhat-bhaja-fried-rice/#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:55:42 +0000 Sudeshna Banerjee http://bengalicuisine.net/?p=2309

As far as I remember, my mom had always told me, breakfast is the main food of the day; you should have your breakfast like a king. At home, of course that was maintained, but when am away I am always out of ideas to what to have for breakfast. Cornflakes and milk then becomes the best option. I am sure this happens to most of you.

On most weekends I wake up late and my breakfast becomes the luncheon. This was an easy and simple breakfasts come lunch I had on last Saturday, I hope you like it too. I had some rice left from last night and added some colorful vegetables to make it a sumptuous meal.

Ingredients:

• Rice (Bhat): 1 bowl
• Peas (Mator shuti): ½ cup
• Sweet corn (Bhutta): ½ cup
• Cauliflower (Ful kopi): 1 few florets cut into very small pieces
• Potato (Alu): 1 small, cut into small squares
• Oil (Tel): 2 tablespoons
• Cumin seeds (Jeera): ½ tablespoon

Optional –

• Cashew nut (Kaju badam): 5/ 6
• Raisins (Kismis): 10 /12

Preparation:

• Wash all the vegetables well. Heat oil in a wok and throw in the cauliflower and potatoes
• Fry till they are half cooked and put in the peas and sweet corn, continue till the vegetables are cooked
• Keep aside the vegetables and pour in just a dollop of ghee to the wok
• Add the cumin seeds, as the seeds start sputtering, add the vegetables and rice
• Cook over low flame till the vegetables and rice are mixed well
• Garnish with cashew and raisins (if using) and serve hot

Hot Tips – If you want to add any other seasonal vegetables then go ahead and use it. The more the colorful the food, the more your kids will love it. While mixing the rice and vegetables together take care so that the rice grains do not break. You can have this with some side dish like Dimer malpua, Chal Diye Alu Dum.

Further reading – Fried rice in microwave, Jeera Rice

Sending this recipe for Scrumptious Delights From Leftovers hosted by PJ.

With the end semester examinations knocking at the door steps, and also because I got a bit lazy I was unable to post for quite a long time now. Due to the Municipal elections in my state end of this month, my exams have been postponed and I’m back to blogging.

A few days back WaterBearer (as she likes to call her) sent me a mail with a wonderful yet simple recipe of strawberry chutney. As she writes in her mail, she learnt this preparation from her mother-in-law. If you are not Pepper Potts from Iron Man reading this post, I’m sure you love strawberries. You had posted another guest post from Soma, to read about that click here.

Here’s some facts about strawberries I didn’t know before I wrote this post:

• Strawberries are very rich in Vitamin C and a cup of these red juicy berries provide more than a day’s requirement of ascorbic acid.
• They are low in calories and so for the health conscious people indulge without that sinful brain
• It’s very good for expecting mothers as 8 strawberries contain 20% of the folic acid required in your daily nutrition
• Strawberries are said to reduce the risk of cancer and heart diseases

Now, am sure I would eat more strawberries than ever before. J

Ingredients:

• Strawberries: 6 pieces, chopped
• White oil (Sada tel): ¼ spoon
• Sugar (Chini): 2-3 tablespoons
• Green chili (Kancha lanka): 1/ 2, chopped [optional]
• Mustard seeds (Sarse dana): 10-12
• Salt a pinch full

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a pan, add the mustard seed

• Throw in the chopped strawberries. Cover the pan till the strawberries soften. Stir gently from time to time
• Add the sugar, green chili and salt
• Stir till it becomes a thick jelly like substance. Remove from flame.
• Serve it on the side with rotis / parathas as a tangy chutney

As with most chutneys this one too can be stored in the refrigerator, so you can enjoy this rich and tangy preparation anytime you wish to.

If you like to send any recipes, please forward it to benaglicuisine[at]gmail[dot]com, preferably with one or more photos of the preparation. We would love to hear your suggestions and comments.

]]> http://bengalicuisine.net/2010/guest-post-strawberry-chutney/feed/ 4 http://bengalicuisine.net/2010/egg-maggi-noodles-in-easy-quick-steps/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=egg-maggi-noodles-in-easy-quick-steps http://bengalicuisine.net/2010/egg-maggi-noodles-in-easy-quick-steps/#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:13:35 +0000 Kalyan Banerjee http://bengalicuisine.net/?p=2196 Follow me on Twitter. Fan us on Facebook . Visit my Flickr photostream. You can also Subscribe to BengaliCuisine by Email

Recipe in 8 words

Prepare Egg Bhurji, prepare maggi and mix both.

Seriously, that’s Egg Maggi for you. If you want to learn the details, read on.

Egg and Maggi Noodles

Maggi noodles – the Youth Icon

Over the years, several folks have enjoyed the status of being voted MTV Youth Icon – SRK, Rahul Dravid, Anil Ambani, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Orkut etc. These figures touch your life, but not a daily basis.

Maggi Noodles is undoubtedly the Youth Icon. Calories notwithstanding, Maggi comes to your help during late nights, rush breakfast, supper or when your cook hasn’t turned up.

Last was true in my case when I decided its time for Egg Maggi Noodles as a standalone dish.

Preparing Egg Bhurji

Preparing Egg Bhurji

How to prepare Egg Maggi Noodles

Serves – 1; Prep time – 12 min

1. Beat the eggs, salt and pepper (if you like) – I usually do it in a steel glass, just like your neighborhood anda wala
2. In the frying pan, add some oil and let it heat
3. Pour the mixture from step 1 on the pan
4. Make egg bhurji i.e. use a spoon to mix the egg mixture so that it mashes well
5. In another pan, add two cups water and boil
6. Add Maggi tastemaker to water and stir
7. Break the Maggi noodles into 4 and add broken Maggi noodles to the boiling mix. Mix well.
8. 3 minutes later (rather when the Maggi noodles have soaked enough water – but don’t worry about this too much), add the egg bhurji to boiling Maggi noodles. Mix well.

Boiling Maggi Noodles

Egg Maggi Noodles

Voila! Your Egg Maggie Noodles (Anda Maggi) in front of you. Enjoy with ketchup.

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Have you ever made a promise? The everyday ones. A promise that you could have written in caps with a bold and font size 72.

This post is a part of the Valentine’s Day Special recipes. Valentine’s day is just 2 days away, and today is Promise Day. Earlier we talked about Paneer Pulao in Rice Cooker on Teddy Day, Chocolate Cake in Microwave on Chocolate Day and Bengali Style Matar Paneer on Propose Day.

When I googled for the word “Promise”, there were more than 9 million hits including some promise day sms, lyrics from a song by Ciara, a wiki page on promise and many many more. I clicked on one particular link showing the etymology of the word.

Have you ever thought of writing promise as “Promys”, am sure the primary school teacher would have come to you with a long stick in hand. But, that was how the word was spelt in 1400s when it first appeared in Middle England. Through the centuries the word evolved and is now spelled differently.

I made a promise to myself today. By next year am going to be a good baker. I had been an awful baker all this time; you can have a look at my baking disasters. Recently, I have made some improvement in my skills, but still pounds to bake before I perfect the art. J.

Today’s recipe is a simple and easy to prepare one. It is a healthy breakfast and an ideal way to start a day. This recipe is on its way to Srivalli’s Kids Delight – Wholesome Breakfast.

Ingredients:

• Bread (Pau ruti): 4 pieces, cut into four squares
• Hard Boiled egg (Sedho dim): 4, cut into quarters
• Boiled potato (Sedho alu): 2 medium sizes, chopped coarsely
• Coriander leaves (Dhane pata): 2-3 sprigs, chopped coarsely
• Sunflower Oil (Sada tel) for deep frying
• Bhujia for garnishing
• Salt to taste
• Lemon juice (Lebur rash): 2 tablespoon

Preparation:

• Heat oil in a wok and fry the bread pieces. Fry till they are almost brown, take out and place over a kitchen paper to soak out the excess oil
• In a large salad bowl put the fried bread pieces, boiled potato, chopped coriander leaves, lemon juice, salt and toss
• Divide the tossed breads in four serving bowls, garnish with  the eggs and bhujia

Hot Tips- Its best to fry a little old bread pieces, fresh bread tends to crumble. I have cut the bread pieces into four. You can cut it with a cookie cutter in any shape of your choice.

Wish you a Happy Promise Day!

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I just came across the event organized by Malar this month. It’s a lovely event, the theme tells you everything about it – Kitchen Disasters. Kitchen disasters are not a new thing in probably anybody’s kitchen, especially for those who recently got married or just moved away from home. When I started cooking a year and a half back even I faced such problems frequently. Kitchen mishaps have now gone down because of the practice, but of course it’s not extinct. But when it comes to baking I am always there to do some kind of mishaps. The main reason behind this probably lack of a proper baking oven. I always try to bake something in the microwave oven and it turns out to be awful. Just last month, after much searching on the internet I got hold of a youtube video which taught to bake a cake in a cup in the microwave. I followed the steps, and the result was horrible. The first one was hard like a stone with an entirely blackened core. One burnt cake could not turn me down, I tried with the other one – that was even worse than the first one, it looked like a cake, but couldn’t eat it. It was so spongy, that my sister and myself started pulling from both sides to tear it into two pieces.

I clicked an image of this disaster, and was waiting for the right time to publish this. And what better way can I find but to send the entry for an event. The burnt cake chapter never turned me down, and so I was again in search of something to bake in the microwave oven. This time it came to my google reader, a post on microwave cookies by Indrani. I was very happy to get this post. First, the post was from a very loving person. Second, the cookies were baked in the microwave oven. I followed almost the same way as Indrani’s but made a little change but preparing two types of dough – one with honey and the other with chocolate, just to bring a little color to the cookies. I used the Cadbury chocolate, broke them down into small pieces. The cookies, to my utter happiness turned out to be good, at least not burnt or having some disastrous textures. But, they were a little hard which was probably because of over baking them. When I asked Indrani about it she said to Microwave the cookies for a less time.

Makes 30 cookies

Preparation time 1hr 15min

Baking time 3-4min

Ingredients:

All purpose flour (Maida): 3 cups

Butter (Makhan): 100gms, at room temperature

White sugar (Chini): ¾ cup

Honey (Madhu): ½ cup

Egg (Dim): 1, beaten well

Almond (Kath badam): A handful, coarsely chopped

Chocolate chips: 90gm

Preparation:

• Divide all the ingredients except honey, and chocolate into two equal parts

For the honey dough:

• Mix butter, honey and half the sugar and heat it over low flame till the sugar gets dissolved, keep it aside to cool to room temperature

For the chocolate dough:

• Mix butter, chocolate chips, and the rest of the sugar and heat it over low flame with constant stirring till the sugar and chocolate dissolves, keep aside until cooled

• Pour half the egg into the honey mix and the rest into the chocolate mix, fold well

• Pour the two mixes separately into two halves of the flour and make into two firm dough

• Refrigerate the two dough after wrapping them with plastic film for an hour or so

• Take the two dough and roll them into a half-inch thick circles, now put the chocolate one over the honey mix dough and roll them together

• Cut the roll laterally into half-inch thick cookies and place them on a microwave safe plate

• Microwave high (800watts for my MW) for 3-4 mins; let them cool inside the microwave oven. Keep in an air tight jar and feast on them whenever you feel like.

Hot Tips – When baked in the microwave oven, the cookies start getting baked from the centre, so check the cookies in between baking once to make sure they don’t get over baked.

Further Reading – Microwave Honey Lemon Pistachio Cookies, Microwave Peanut Butter Cookies

Amount Per Serving (1 cookie)

• Calories 59
• Calories from Fat  24
• Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3g
• Monounsaturated Fat  1.4g
• Cholesterol 3mg
• Sodium 28mg
• Total Carbohydrates 8.2g
• Dietary Fiber 0.2g
• Protein 0.6g

Sending this post to Malar Gandhi for hosting a wonderful event  -Kitchen Disasters.

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The starting time of the parade is actually determined by the

length of time of the traditional brunch

-Charlie Brotman

Sundays are meant to be fun days. Since, childhood Sundays were the day to visit my grandpa and of course no-study-day. That made the day more special. On Sunday mornings there was an array of cartoons telecasted on TV those days. Alice in Wonderland, Jungle Book was my favorites. Ma used to serve a heavy breakfast on Sundays and that mostly included luchi, tarakari (Bengali for vegetable curry) and sweets.

Visiting grandpa has long stopped, grandpa passed years before. Nobody watches DD National these days, and I presume they don’t telecast cartoons any more these days. But, having a heavy breakfast that can almost be called a brunch is still a custom at home. Today I thought of having a little different from the usual Sunday brunches and so Dahi vada was in the menu today.

Makes 10 medium sized vadas

Preparation time: 15min

Cooking time: 15min

Ingredients:

Dahi Vada mix (I used the Gits Dahi Vada mix): 1 packet

Plain yogurt (Tauk doi): 200gms

Ginger paste (Ada bata): 1 teaspoon

Raisins (Kismis): 10-12

Water (Jal): 2 cups

Cumin seeds (Jeera): 1 tablespoon

Tamarind chutney (Tetuler chutney): ½ cup

Coriander leaves chopped (Dhane pata): 2 tablespoon

Bhujiya: 1 small packet

Sunflower/vegetable oil (Sada tel): For frying

Preparation:

• Roast the cumin seeds and grind into powder, keep aside
• Empty the dahi vada mix in a large bowl and put in the ginger paste, mix well
• Add the raisins and water to prepare a not-very-runny mixture
• Keep the batter aside for 10-15 mins
• Heat oil in a frying pan, and take one lathe of the batter and gently pour it over the oil, fry both sides of the vada till they turn light brown
• Keep a deep bowl filled with water beside the gas oven, drop the fried vadas into this water and take out after a minute
• Squeeze the excess water by pressing those with both your palms, and keep aside
• Place the vada in a plate
• Stir the yogurt with half-a-cup of water, add a pinch of salt and pour the yogurt over the vada
• Garnish with cumin powder, chopped coriander leaves, tamarind chutney, and bhujiya .

Hot Tips – I have used a ready mix for making the vadas, but you can also prepare it at home. Soak urad dal overnight, and then grind to a fine paste. The other preparation remains the same.

Further Links – Dahi Vada by Sunananda

Please do remember to send in your recipes for the Think Spice: Think Turmeric event ending November 30th, 2009.

I am sending the Dahi Vada recipe to Monthly Mingle: Brunch hosted by MeetaK of What’s For Lunch Honey.

If you like this post, please consider linking to it or sharing it with others. I’ll love to hear your comments too .You can also Subscribe to BengaliCuisine by Email, or Subscribe in a reader.