Though not an Indian custom, Valentine’s Day has become a very integral part of the Indian custom. TV commercials, newspaper ads 14^th of February has turned into another day of celebration and festivities. Gifting red roses and chocolate have become the new custom. Only on 14^th Feb 189 million stems of red roses are sold in US in comparison to 1.2 billion throughout the year.

It’s just not only among the teens; the festivities have even sipped into the minds of the older generation. Just as an example, my mom deliberately took off her nose pin this morning to show my father that she urgently requires a new nose pin. So, whats your Valentine’s Day gift this year. Share it with us.

When there are festivities, food cannot be far off. So, here at Cook Like Bong, we are celebrating this V-Day with an authentic Kashmiri style Rogan Josh shared by Debjani, our guest author. The name of the dish comes from rogan or roghan meaning color and josh meaning passion – what better way than to have this dish filled with colour and passion on the day of love.

Rogan Josh is generally made of lamb, but mutton rogan josh is a very popular dish throughout India. It was brought to Kashmir by the Mughals, and outside Kashmir it’s generally prepared in its commercial form.

The authentic Kashmiri rogan josh gets its colour from two things – the Kashmiri red chilli which is mild, yet gives a great colour to the food, and the dried Muawal flower, which grows locally in Kashmir or the Ratanjot, a root hat infuses the color .

Hot Tips – Ideally its served with warm white rice, but you can also serve it with paratha or chapati.As this is a slow cooing preparation, its better not to use a pressure cooker to tenderize the meat. While adding the spices, you can first add the Kashmiri chili and fennel paste, stir it for sometime and then add the other spices.

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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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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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There’s nothing as nice. As a new Teddy Bear.
To tickle and cuddle, And take everywhere
To share all your secrets,Your laughter and tears
To keep by your side Through seasons and years.
There’s nothing as nice As a new Teddy Bear…
Except for an old one With memories to share.

~Jeannie Hand-Stuart~

Did any of you get a teddy today? Today is Teddy Day and as promised we are here with the third Valentine’s Week special recipe. There’s Matar paneer on Propose Day and Microwave Chocolate cake on Chocolate Day.

After these two it’s a simple and non-greasy preparation for the menu. You can have it with the spicy Mutton kasha, or the healthy Cauliflower curry.

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 10min

Cooking time: 30min

Ingredients:

• Long grain or Basmati rice (Chal): 2 cups
• Farmer cheese (Paneer): 200gms
• Peas (Matar shuti): ½ cup
• Cumin (Jeera): 2 tablespoon
• Onion (Peyaj): ½ cup, finely chopped
• Water (Jal): 4 cups
• Sunflower Oil (Sada tel): 5 tablespoon
• Coriander leaves (Dhane pata) for garnishing
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Wash the rice and spread them over a clean newspaper so that the water gets drained off
• Cut the paneer in small square pieces
• Heat 3 tablespoon of oil in a wok, and fry the paneer pieces till golden brown
• Plunge them into warm water with little salt, keep aside
• In the rice cooker pour the extra oil, onions, cumin and salt, mix well, turn on and cook for 2-3min
• Add the rice and mix well with the sautéed onions, pour in 4 cups of water
• Cook for about 15 min
• Add the peas and cook for some more time, check in between whether the rice has been cooked well
• Add the paneer, and cook for 4-5mins more
• Serve with chopped coriander garnished

Hot Tips – You can also prepare it over flame. Just follow the steps, but use a little less water and cook over low flame.

Further Reading – Paneer pulao, Zafrani Paneer Pilaf

What’s your Teddy Bear Memory?

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“Lovely Chocolate and Lovely you. And lovely are the things you do, but the loveliest is the friendship of the two, one is me and the other is you. HAPPY CHOCOLATE DAY”

My day started with this message. Most people I know love Chocolates (and chances are, you too) and when a day is dedicated to this, it ought to be celebrated.

Chocolate Pudding

Chocolate Day

Chocolate Day is 2^nd day of the Valentine Week. As promised, each day of the Valentine week, I would post recipes befitting the occasion. I started with Matar Paneer with a Bengali twist on the Propose Day, and here’s  chocolate cake for the C-Day.

Uh oh, not so soon. Before jumping to the recipe, lets talk about Chocolate for a little while.

History of Chocolate

Cocoa trees grow in the wild in Latin America, and that’s where Chocolate is said to have originated from. It was the Olmec tribe who started preparing chocolate as early as 1000BC. Chocolate beans used as currency in many parts of Latin America almost till 19^th Century. The Mayas also used chocolates for rituals and ceremonies, but it was strictly for drinking. The first chocolate bar came from Cadbury’s in England in 1842, and that started a new era of chocolates. [Source: Wikipedia]

Benefits of chocolate

No, seriously. You may be surprised to know that Chocolate has its own share of benefits.

Besides being a mood enhancer, chocolate has a very high food value, delays aging and helps avoid cardiac problems. It is believed that chocolate consumption releases chemicals in the body very similar to ones when you are in love. So, the next time you indulge yourself with a bar of chocolate, just think about all its good effects. J

Note: Indulging in chocolate doesn’t mean watching this movie.

Cooking Chocolate Cake in Microwave Oven

I tried making a chocolate pudding that I read in a Thai recipe book. The pudding was to be steamed in braine marie, but I tried doing that in the microwave. Now, here’s the news. The pudding didn’t seem to be like the one in the book pic, but it was a perfect cake like texture. That was my eureka moment, baking cake in a simple microwave oven. The tasters loved it.

Prepare Chocolate Cake

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 15min

Cooking time: 6min

Ingredients for Chocolate Pudding

For the cake

• Plain flour (Maida): 1 cup
• Caster sugar (Guro chini): 1 ¼ cup
• Egg (Dim): 3
• Cocoa powder: 4 tablespoon
• Unsalted butter (Sada Makhan): ½ cup + for greasing
• Plain chocolate: 100gms

For chocolate sauce

• Unsalted butter: 2 tablespoon
• Cocoa powder: 2 tablespoon
• Milk (Dudh): ½ cup
• Caster sugar (Guro chini): 3 tablespoon

More Chocolate Pudding

Preparation steps for Chocolate Pudding

For cake

• Beat the egg and caster sugar together, whisk well till frothy
• In another bowl sift the flour and cocoa powder
• Gradually add flour and cocoa powder into the beaten egg, whisk well
• Pour in individual bowls and place in large tray filled with water
• Microwave high for 6 min or till a tooth pick inserted at the middle of the cake comes out clean

For the chocolate sauce

• Melt the butter and cool down to room temperature
• Mix milk, caster sugar and cocoa powder well, whisk well
• Pour in the butter and stir again

Decoration

• Take a dessert plate and place the cake on it, pour in the chocolate sauce and garnish with chocolate chips

Further Reading – Black Forest Chocolate Cookies, Chocolate Dessert

Happy Chocolate Day folks!

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Matar Paneer

A woman proposes a man. The man rejects. And then the man is punished for the refusal. Ever heard of such a thing?

Custom dictated if a man is proposed on 8^th February, he can deny it only at the risk of punishment, which varied from a kiss to buying a gown or a pair of gloves.

The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach

Well, you know that already. So, Ladies lets get started. In case you are a man, there’s nothing better for a lady to see a nice dinner table decked with her favorite food. You bet.

I love cooking, but there can’t be anything better if I see my man cooking dinner for me. Even if that’s not so good to taste, I would just devour that.

We at Cook Like a Bong are celebrating this week of love. Valentine’s Day is just round the corner. I am sure you all are busy thinking of what best to present to your loved one:). To make that special person feel how much you care, I am sure, you all are ready to do a lot (but not like the Hindi movies “Main tumhare liye jaan bhi de sakta/sakti hoon!” [– “I can sacrifice my life for you!”] – that’s too much:) ).

StepMom Proposal Scene, my favorite

Propose Day

Today is Propose  Day and I thought of preparing something simple yet special. K is not here, but I’m sure he would have loved it. The Matar Paneer is Bong-ofied by yours truly. Bon Apetite!

Ingredients of Matar Paneer

Farmer cheese (Paneer ): 200gm
Potato (Aalu): 2 medium sized
Peas (Matar, ): ½ cup
Tomato: 1 medium sized
Cumin (Jeera): 1 teaspoon
Cumin powder (Jeera guro): 1 tablespoon
Turmeric powder (Halud guro): 1teaspoon
Chili Powder (Lanka guro): 1 teaspoon
Garam masala powder: ½ teaspoon
Clarified butter (Ghee): 1 teaspoon [optional]
Sunflower Oil  (Sada tel): 1 ½ tablespoon, + extra for frying

Fresh Paneer

Preparation for Matar Paneer

• Cut the paneer and potatoes into small 1 inch size cubes, chop the tomato
• Simmer about 2 cups of water with little salt
• Heat oil in a wok and gently fry the paneer cubes till golden brown, drop the fried paneer in the salted water
• Fry till half cooked in the same oil, keep aside

Half Fried Paneer

• Drain excess oil keeping just about one-and-half tablespoon of oil for the cooking
• Heat the oil, throw in the cumin seeds and wait till they start popping, reduce the flame
• Add the tomatoes, cook till they soften and the oil starts coming out
• In the mean time, add all spices in a small bowl and pour in just about half cup of water to make a smooth paste
• Pour the spice paste in the wok and cook, if it starts getting too dry then pour in some more water
• Throw in the half cooked potatoes, salt and just as much water to cover the potatoes
• Cook till the potatoes are almost done
• Slowly drop the soaked paneer and cook till the gravy thicken
• Sprinkle the garam masala and pour in the ghee
• Take out of flame and serve with roti, paratha or vegetable pulao

More Matar Paneer

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