As of Bangalore, I found quite a few Durga pujas this year. The most popular being the Bengali Association Puja in Palace Ground and of course there are some more in Koramangala Kalyana Manthapa, 6th Block; another Durga puja a few steps from this one is the Durga Puja near Jyoti Nivas college. The fourth is near to the place where I stay now – the Sarjapur Road Total Mall.

Here’s a list for the Durga Puja timings for 2011.

Eid is just a few days to go. And to celebrate this day of celebration here we are with some eid special recipes. To start with the celebration. Here’s guest from Sohini Biswas.

Ingredients:

• 10 hard boiled eggs
• Paste of 2 onion
• 2 teaspoon ginger paste
• 2 teaspoon garlic paste
• 3 tablespoon tomato ketchup
• 2 large plum tomatoes, you can use the canned ones too
• 1 teaspoon Cumin powder
• 2-3 tablespoon MDH Meat Masala
• 2 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves
• ½ cup Full fat milk/Cream
• Salt to taste

Preparation: 

• Slice the eggs in thin round slices.
• Heat oil in a wok and add the onion paste to it.
• Fry the onion paste till golden. Add ginger garlic paste and fry well.
• Once the paste is well cooked and changes color then add the tomato ketchup and the plum tomatoes.
• Cook well for 15-20 minutes.
• Add splashes of hot water whenever necessary but do NOT over flood it.
• The main secret it to cook the masala paste. The more gently you cook the better will be the taste.
• Add the cumin powder and meat masala, salt and keep cooking for at least 30 minutes, adding splashes of hot water whenever necessary.
• Add the eggs and mix well.
• Add the milk (or the cream) and mix well and cook on a high flame to reduce the extra liquid.
• Keep stirring otherwise it’ll burn at the bottom.
• Add the chopped coriander leaves and mix.
• Take off heat once all the extra liquid has evaporated.
• Garnish with a few slices of boiled eggs and coriander leaves.
• Serve with Naan or Paratha.

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Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers – it’s the IPL match today at Eden gardens, Kolkata, and am on way to watch it. After a long gap of 15 years, I am going to watch a match at Eden. The mishap in ‘96 World Cup semi finals compelled me to stop going to cricket grounds. But, a box ticket and the idea of sitting close to King Khan (read Shah Rukh Khan) compelled me to give it a shot.

Its Monday and probably most house holds stick to the no non-veg on Monda regimes, so thought of picking up a vegetarian recipe for today, an authentic Bengali recipe for Paila Baisakh series (check out the Tel Koi in this series) – fritters of pumpkin flower (kumro ful) is one of the most special vadas in Bengali cuisine. The flower dipped in a batter of gram flour with its crunchy yet smooth taste appeals to everyone.

Ingredients:

• · A dozen pumpkin flowers
• · ¼ cup tablespoon rice flour
• · ½ cup gram flour
• · 1 teaspoon nigella
• · 1 tablespoon mustard oil
• · Sunflower oil for deep frying

Preparation:

• · Take out the anther from the flowers and wash well
• · Mix all the ingredients except the oil for frying with 2 cups of water. The batter should be runny
• · Heat the oil in a frying pan or wok
• · Dip each flower in the batter and deep fry separately
• · Once done, wrap the flowers with a kitchen paper to absorb the extra oil
• · Serve hot with rice and dal

Check for more Bengali style bara (vada) – Bombay Duck fritter, Macher Dimer Vada

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Paila Baisakh, the first day of the Bengali New Year is just a week to go. Its definitely a big day for all Bongs all over the world. It’s a day to celebrate the joy of being a Bengali – food, new clothes and of course Rabindra Sangeet. The way of celebrating may have changed over time, but you just can’t find a Bengali who doesn’t want to celebrate this day. The Chaitra sale in Gariahat market is just something indispensable. If you are in Kolkata at this time of the year, you should definitely make it a point to visit Gariahat – from big shops to the street vendors, everybody has the “SALE” tag hanging.  The essence of Poila baisakh is being a Bengali in heart. You may celebrate it in a club with friends over a peg of JohnnyWalker, but your heart still beats to the rhythm of “esho hain Baisakh esho esho”.

We at Cook Like a Bong wanted to share our joy with you all, and so we have planned to share one recipe everyday till Paila Baisakh. Starting from today, the menu starts with the Bong favourite – fish. Tel koi is an authentic Bengali recipe, and a must have with warm rice for lunch.

Ingredients:

• 8 koi fish

• 2 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• ½ teaspoon garam masala
• ½ teaspoon clarifies butter
• 3 tablespoon mustard oil
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Grind 1 ½ tablespoon cumin seeds, and mix with the chilli and turmeric powder

• Strain with a chakni, and mix with water
• Heat the oil in a wok and add the extra cumin seeds
• Put in the koi fish and the spice mixture
• Pour in water and cook covered till the fish is soft
• Sprinkle the garam masala and ghee
• Serve hot with rice

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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.

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Spring is here and so are the thousand colors of nature. Every nook and corner of the street is filled with red, yellow, orange blossoms. Though with the heat rising in Kolkata, there’s not much feel good feeling about this time of the year but still there is a grand festival coming up in just a few days from now. Yes you have guessed it right, its HOLI time. Holi, the National Festival of India is celebrated throughout the states of the sub-continent and West Bengal too is not far behind. The main attraction of holi, or doljatra (as we Bengalis like to say) is the Boshonto Utsav or Spring Festival in Shantiniketan. Thousands gather at the Viswa Bharati grounds on the day from all over the world.

Thinking of colors, the first thing that comes to mind is red, green, blue and yellow.  Remember those days in school, the houses had these names and everybody used to fight with the other houses – Yellow, yellow dirty fellow or the first love letter you wrote – roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and so are you. Do you have any other such poems or phrases, you used to throw, then share it with us!

Thinking about a colourful preparation I scratched my head but nothing authentically Bengali came to mind. So, thought of mix matching the Western with the Eastern. And, there it is the result – paneer kofta in thick poppy paste with slices of red and yellow bell pepper to spice and color it up.

Ingredients:

For the kofta:

• 400gms of paneer or cottage cheese, mashed finely
• 4 teaspoon gram flour or besan
• 1 tablespoon ginger paste
• 2 teaspoon chilli powder
• ½ teaspoon sugar, preferably brown sugar
• Sunflower oil for frying
• Salt to taste

For the gravy:

• 4 tablespoon poppy seeds
• 1 tablespoon sesame, ground to a fine paste with the poppy
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 red and yellow bell pepper diced coarsely
• 2 tablespoon sunflower oil
• Few black pepper
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon clarified butter or ghee (optional)
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Mix all the ingredients required for kofta excepting the oil and make a soft dough
• Prepare small balls each having a rough diameter of 3cm
• Heat oil in a wok and deep fry these balls in batches, keep aside
• Heat a wok with 2 tablespoons of fresh oil, throw in the cumin seeds, as they start sputtering add the bell pepper and toss for a minute or two
• Add the turmeric powder and season with salt and black pepper
• Pour in the poppy and sesame paste and cook till the oil separates
• Cover the gravy with 2 cups of water and stir well, cook covered for 10-12mins, check the seasoning
• Put in the fried koftas as the gravy starts boiling, cook for 2-3min more and take out of flame
• Serve hot with chapattis or rice

Hot Tips – Koftas tend to dry up the gravy, so if you are a gravy person try putting in more water or else, take out the koftas after cooking and serve the gravy and koftas separately.

Further Reading – Bengali Style Matar Paneer, Palak Paneer with a Twist

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For you see, each day I love you more
Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.

• Rosemonde Gerard

Wish you all a very Happy Valentine’s Day. It may be a regular day for most of us, but still at the back of the mind, this day may seem to be a little different from the other 364 days of the year – a day to love and of course to express your love for the one person who has made all the differences in life.

Though the history of this day has no connection with romance and was celebrated to commemorate the Christian martyrs who were named Valentine. The romantic tinge of this day came with Saint Valentine. Roman Emperor Claudius II, supposedly ordered that young men to remain single as he felt that married men did not make good soldiers. On the other hand, Saint Valentine secretly performed marriage ceremonies to young men. When the emperor came to know about this he persecuted Saint Valentine. Want to know more about the history of 14^th February, click to see the wiki page.

This day is celebrated all throughout the Western world. Thanks to globalization 14^th February has become a day of celebration for the non-Christian countries too. Though a candle light dinner would be the perfect choice to celebrate this day of love and passions most people remains content with flowers and chocolates. We at Cook Like a Bong would love to share our part of celebration with a dessert – the apple crumble. This dessert is just perfect for Valentine’s Day – rough and course from outside, soft and gooey from inside – just like your Valentine. Choose more of our Valentine’s Day recipes.

Ingredients:

• 2 apples, peeled, stoned and coarsely chopped
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup icing sugar
• 2 tablespoon butter
• Vanilla ice-cream or fresh cream for serving (optional)

Preparation:

• In a thick bottom flask take the chopped apples and mix well with ½ cup icing sugar
• Stew the apples over low flame with occasional stirring
• The apples should become soft but not totally pureed
• Place the apples in an oven proof pan
• Mix the remaining sugar with the all-purpose flour and butter until it looks like bread crumps
• Cover the cooked apple with the flour mix
• Preheat the oven to 150°C
• Place the pan in the middle rack of the preheated oven and cook for 30 min or till the upper layer turns light brown
• Take out and serve hot with fresh cream or vanilla ice-cream

This recipe goes to Cooking with Fruits event hosted by Smita of  Tastebuds, also to Bake-off event . As this recipe is very easy to prepare and requires few ingredients, I’m sending it to Any One can Cook under the categories FB and WLI. This apple crumble is on its way to Monthly Mingle: Food for your loved ones hosted at Paulchens Food Blog?!, the event being the brainchild of Meeta of Whatsforlunchhoney.

The Calcutta Cookbook: A Treasury of Recipes From Pavement to Place

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While the entire world is busy dieting and maintaining a good figure, we Bengalis can’t just get rid of our sweet tooth. Come January and here’s another reason to celebrate the genetically transmitted sweet loving characteristics of Bongs. The reason this time is simple – Sun (Lord Surya) has come to visit the house of his son, Saturn (Lord Shani) – yes, you have guessed it right its Makar Sankranti held each year on 14^th January. This day celebrated as Poush Sankranti (sankranti meaning end of a month). There is a whole range of sweets prepared especially for this occasion, named as pitha – these may be steamed, boiled, or even fried; the main ingredients being rice flour (rice grains ground to fine powder), jaggery (the golden harvest of winter in entire Bengal) and coconut.

This day is celebrated throughout India in different ways; it’s the time of harvest. You can search an array of recipes from throughout India in the Harvest the festival of rice event round up part I and part II.

Our guest, Dipanwita Sarkar was good enough to share a recipe of bhapa pitha with us. If you don’t like it that sweet you make it like savory dumplings.

Ingredients:

• Rice flour 2 cups
• Grated coconut 2 cups
• 1 cup jaggery
• Hot water for kneading the dough

Preparation:

• Make a dough with the rice flour and boiling water [Boiling water is important otherwise pithe will break]
• Heat a wok, and mix the grated coconut and the jaggery with continuous stirring till it becomes dry. Keep aside and let the filling cool.
• Now make very small balls from the dough and press each ball with your finger to make a small bowl shape to put in the filling [The thinner the outer the tastier the pithe but be cautious that it should not break.]
• Put the filling and close the bowl in whatever shape you like. [You can give a triangular shape with frills at the borders. Be creative give different shapes for different fillings].
• Steam the pitha in a steamer/rice cooker or simply place the pitha on a sieved bowl and place it over boiling water.
• It takes almost half an hour to be fully cooked. [So pour water accordingly. Make sure water doesn’t touch the pitha.]
• Check at intervals. First it feels sticky, but when it feels dry, then it is done.
• Remove and keep open for 5mins to evaporate touches of moisture on it. Then you can store in a casserole or enjoy steaming hot pitha then and there.
• Serve pithe with liquid jaggery.
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Hot Tips – You can prepare savory pithe similar to this. Just replace the coconut and jaggery filling with vegetables (Dipanwita has used potato and cauliflower) or even minced meat or chicken. If using vegetables cook the vegetables with ginger paste, chili powder and/or tomato puree and coriander leaf. Dry out excess water while preparing the filling. You can also use mashed peas for the filling. Cook the mashed peas with roasted cumin seeds and red chilies. Serve the savory pithe (steamed dumplings) with coriander dip.

Further Readings – Patishapta, Chaler Payesh

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Here’s another new year and new hopes in mind. But, before we usher in the new year with new posts and recipes in our blog, its time for a little backward journey to the year gone past.

As we stepped into this new year, I would say the last year was another year of learning and gaining new experiences. The main aim for 2010 was to gain a niche in the blogging world, and yes we did it.

I would say 2010 was a good year!

In the kitchen there was definitely more to learn. I shifted from Bangalore to Kolkata, now I had the direct access to my mom’s kitchen and whatever she cooks, especially the authentic Bengali recipes. Be it the lotiya vada or the lotiya shutki, dim posto sorse or dimer malpua – 2010 taught me there’s definitely more to Bengali recipes than just panch phoron and posto.

We published our first e-book, Saradiya Rannabati – one that became an instant hit among the Bong food lovers with a first month download crossing thousand. The Cook Like a Bong Facebook page launched in 2010 nurtures a community of more than three thousand Bong foodies with thousands of active users each month who share their comments, recipes and feedbacks. The page has more than 270 recipes contributed by the users.

Nurturing the idea of the Top 7 Bengali Food Bloggers since the end of 2009, we completed the series of interviews of the masterminds behind the best Bengali food blogs on the web. Thanks to all the good ladies to share their valuable time and making our idea a fruitful venture. There were also guest posts from various bloggers and non-bloggers that we featured. We would love to receive more such appetizing recipes and ideas from you all. If you have any unique recipes in mind, cook it, click it and send it to us. A special thanks to all those wonderful people who found us worthy of receiving awards for our work.

For the first time, Cook Like a Bong got the opportunity to review the ready to cook products of Gits Food, a product review on Gits Karai Sutir Kachori was thus published. Next was a restaurant review idea when I won a voucher for a meal for two at Fava, the Mediterranean Restaurant from Food Lovers Magazine, Bangalore.  And of course the Mainland China Cookbook review, a book worth buying and archiving.

Professionally, I am in the verge of gaining a masters degree in Biotechnology, and had an incredible learning experience from my teachers, friends and family. One of my aims in the last year was to develop my photography skills. The stepping stone was 4 of my photographs getting featured in Bangladesh tabloid – Bhorer Kagoj, view more Kumartuli photographs. I started using more of natural lights to photograph my subjects rather than clicking photographs at night with a higher exposure to get the effect of sun light. 2010 gave me the first opportunity to have a taste of wild life photography in the jungles of North Bengal. Photographing tuskers with a search light at the middle of night in the dense forests of Hallong was an experience worth remembering.

Somebody quoted, “He who breaks his resolution is a weakling. He who makes one is a fool.” There aren’t any resolutions for this year, but of course there are some goals to fulfill in 2011, and much more to learn. We would love to know about your comments and feedbacks for our blog, please do comment on the post or write to us through email.

We would love to thank our readers, friends and family for the support they had ushered on us. Wish you all a very Happy New Year!

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Clicked by Kalyan - St. Patrick's Church, Bangalore

School’s over and so is the innocent madness. These days Christmas has become synonymous to a partying late night on Christmas eve and perhaps a visit to the church mostly to see the Winter Fashion of the year (chuckles…). But, this time just thought of doing something a little different – planning to have a gala dinner on the 25^th night. What’s your plan for the day?

Decided on the dessert for the night – tartlets with meringue filling decorated with red cherries and sprigs of mint just to retain the colors of Christmas – white, red and green. I have used marzipan to make the crust along with maida, but you can omit the almond powder and use only all purpose flour.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup almond powder
• ½ cup castor sugar
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½ tablespoon ghee/butter
• Water as required

For the filling:

• 2 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 3-4 tablespoon castor sugar
• Cherries to decorate

Preparation:

For the crust:

• Add all the dry ingredients together and pour in the butter/ghee
• Mix these ingredients to make a bread crumb like texture
• Pour cold water and knead with your hand to make a not-very-moist dough
• Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1 or 2 hours
• Preheat the oven to 180°C
• Roll out the dough and line 6 small flan tins. Press the dough into the corners and trim off the excess dough with a sharp knife. Alternatively you can use a single 8” flan tin
• Prick the dough with a fork and bake for 10-12 min or till the crust turns golden brown
• Take out and set to cool

For the filling:

• Beat the egg whites till they form soft peaks
• Add the castor sugar, vanilla essence and continue beating

Put Together:

• Pour the filling over the tart crust and bake in a preheated oven at 150°C for 5-6 min on the upper rack till the peaks turn a little brown
• Serve hot or cold decorated with cherries

Hot Tips – You can create your own filling. Use thick custard or soft cream and seasonal fruits like strawberries, pineapple, raspberries, etc to decorate your tart. Do let us know about your favourite tart fillings.

Further Reading – Irish cream and Strawberry Tartlet, Toblerone tart.