Since I came to US, I had been travelling. All thanks to Kalyan and his job, I had visited 5 states in a span of 3 months. The latest was a visit to the city of dreams – New York City. It was a 8 day trip with work for K and travel for me, and I made the best use of the time. Travelled almost every part of the city from Harlem in upsate New York to the Liberty Island down South. Tasted the roadside pretzel (which I hated, sorry to say), chicken gyro, hot dogs and also the different cuisines in the much talked about restaurants of Manhattan.

Even though everything seemed so awesome and the food tasted so great, something was missing. I figured it out this afternoon after coming back home. The missing part was home cooked food – warm rice with moog dal and begun bhaja (aubergine fries) and tilapia jhal. Whether its psychological or just that your taste buds are used to the food you have grown up with, nothing beats home cooked food.

Yellow lentil or moog dal is one of the many dals cooked in every Bengali household. To start with moong dal can be cooked either directly boiled and sautéed with your spice of choice or roasted, boiled and then sautéed with spices. The roasted version definitely tastes better, but those with digestion problem should leave that apart. You can cook mung dal using just cumin seeds, cumin powder and ginger paste or make it rich and spicy putting in some fried fish heads.

Hot Tips – Roasting the dal is optional, you can directly wash the dal and boil it. Moog dal tends to absorb a lot of water, so make sure there is enough water even after the dal is fully cooked.

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Kumro or pumpkin is one of the most used vegetables in Bengal. From just boiled pumpkin with a dash of mustard and salt with warm white rice or chachori (type of Bengali curry) – it has its grand position. Generally pumpkin is used in vegetarian curries, but exceptions make the rule. A post in BongMom Cookbook website compelled me to try this recipe.

If you are somewhere outside India, I think getting hold of a nice sweet pumpkin is little tough unless you visit an Indian store. So, you can try the same with butternut squash. I was trying to search for the difference between squash and pumpkin. Though they fall under the same family in the plant kingdom, the difference is in how the stalk is attached to the fruit. The pumpkin has a bright orange skin with woody stem, while the squash is lighter and stem is soft and spongy. Coming to the taste, they are almost similar.

The word boti is probably a borrowed word in the Bengali dictionary. It means while preparing the dish you need to chop the vegetable in small bite sized cubes. Any other comments on how the “boti” word evolved, do share it with us.

On a sidenote, Mother’s Day is coming up on 13 May and if you want to gift your mom something customized, try VouchersMate.

Hot Tips – here’s a video on how to clean prawns or shrimps

From other blog – You can try the kumro chingri boti from BongMom’s site.

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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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Yes, we bled blue. After 28 years of wait, at last the world cup came back once again to India. The excitement and thrill was at its peak. Just as Dhoni played the shot the last 6, the dream for Sri Lanka was over. The entire country rejoiced. Just before the match, the roads seemed to be deserted like in during strikes, but the scene changed just after that last shot. It seemed the entire city has come out – age no bar – every body was on the road sharing their bit of joy. Here’s one click from the roads, for more click on to Chak De India album.

To share this joy here’s a simple recipe from us – ilish paturi in microwave. Paturi literally means cooking something wrapped in fresh leaves, generally plantain. The mkicrowave recipe is a simple and quick one without any hassle. Click for more hilsa recipe.

Ingredients:

• 8 pieces of ilish/hilsa
• 8 pieces of 6” square plantain leaves
• ½ cup mustard seed paste
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 8 green chillies
• 4 tablespoon mustard oil
• Salt to taste
• Kitchen thread for wrapping

Preparation:

• Clean the fish, mix all the spices; season with salt
• Pour the oil generously over the fish
• Wrap each piece with plantain leaf and tie with the kitchen thread
• Place the pieces on a microwave safe plate
• Micro high (100% /  800 watts) for 6-8min
• Serve hot with warm rice

Hot Tips – Before wrapping, roast the leaves for a minute to make them soft and easier to fold. The fresh leaves tend to break along the veins. While wrapping make sure that no part of the fish is outside the leaf, which will make it very dry.

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While you may heard of having chicken kofta or mutton kofta or may be the raw banana kofta, kofta prepared with yam (ol in Bengali) is quite an unique preparation. When Suchismita posted this recipe in Cook Like a Bong Facebook page, I just couldn’t help myself but request her to use it as a guest post here.

Koftas originated from Middle East, it being a variation of the more known meatballs in the Western countries. As the preparation touched the Indian shores, each state started turning this meat preparation into a different. The Bengalis were at pace and you can find a varied version of koftas ranging from potatoes to paneers and from mutton to beef.

Ingredients:

For kofta:

• 200gms yam or ol
• ¼ cup gram flour
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon chopped ginger,
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic,
• 1 tablespoon chopped green chilli or red chilli powder,
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon whole garam masala
• 1 teaspoon sugar,
• Salt to taste

For curry:

• 1 large potato, cut into 1” squares
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste,
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder,
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 teaspoon sugar,
• Salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon ghee,
• ½ teaspoon garam masala powder

Preparation:

For kofta:

• Boil the yam in water, mash the boiled yam
• Add the chopped onion, chopped ginger, chopped garlic, chopped green chilli ba icche hole red chilli powder, sugar, and salt and mix well
• Roast the cumin and garam masala, and grind to a fine powder
• Sprinkle the roasted spices to the mashed yam, add the gram flour
• Make a dough
• Make small balls of this dough
• Heat oil in a wok and deep fry the yam balls, take out and drain out the excess oil using a kitchen paper

For curry:

• Half fry the potatoes and keep aside
• Throw in the bay leaves and cumin seeds in the same oil, as the seeds start sputtering add the onion, and sauté
• As the onions turn brown, put in the ginger garlic paste, chopped tomatoes, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, sugar. Fry till the oil separates
• Add the potatoes
• Pour in about 2 cups of warm water
• Season with salt, cook covered
• As the potatoes get cooked, add the koftas and cook for some more time
• Sprinkle the garam masala and pour in the ghee
• Take out of the flame, and serve hot

I’m a little confused with the actual English for ol/wol. If you know please share.

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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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Bengalis mostly live to eat, and with the scores of spices we use to prepare food each day, it’s really important to have something soothing and less spicy to nullify the effect of all these rich food. Shukto is an answer to all these questions. This typical Bong favorite is a concoction of all seasonal vegetables.

A Bengali lunch is never complete without Shukto. Shukto can loosely be compared to the Western culture of having soup before starting the main course. Though, Shukto is totally different from soup, it’s always made with vegetables chopped in large pieces and best tastes with warm white rice. There are many variations of shukto, and it depends on the availability of the vegetables, but the most popular is dudh shukto (vegetables cooked in milk). Before saying anything more about this classical Bengali preparation I should warn you, bitter gourd is one of the must have ingredients in this preparation. Even if you hate that bitter vegetables, I’m sure if you have shukto once, you’ll definitely ask for more.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup each of potato, sweet potato, papaya, carrot, beans, string beans, green banana chopped to 1” size pieces
• Drumsticks cut to 2” length
• 10 – 12 Bodi
• ½ cup of bitter gourd, cut to small round-shaped bite size pieces
• 4 tablespoon of mustard oil
• 1 teaspoon clarified butter (optional)
• 2 Bay leaves
• 2 tablespoon panch phoron
• 1 tablespoon wild celery
• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
• ½ cup milk

Preparation:

• Heat 2 tablespoon of mustard oil and fry the bodi and bitter gourd separately, keep aside
• Pour in rest of the oil and throw in half the spices (panch phoron, wild celery, and mustard seeds), as they start sputtering add all the vegetables except the fried bitter gourd
• Sprinkle a little water
• Cover and cook till all the vegetables soften. Stir once or twice in between
• Heat a thick bottom skillet and roast rest of the spices, grind them to fine powder and mix with the milk
• As the vegetables get cooked pour in the spice mixed milk, fried bodi, bitter gourd and pour in the ghee

Hot Tips – The trick to prepare shukto is cutting the vegetables, so while chopping the vegetables always try to keep the pieces almost the same size. Panch phoron is a concoction of fenugreek, fennel, wild celery, nigella and mustard seeds in equal proportions.

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Bengal had always been the land of invasions. Dutch, Portuguese, Muslims and the British – everybody had ruled over this state at one point of time or the other. These invasions had a great impact in the social and economic arena of the state. The culinary field was not left behind. The indigenous Bengali cuisine had been influenced by these invaders. In spite of these influences there are some recipes which can always be called as authentic Bengali recipe. One such is the pui-er dana diye chingri maach (Malabar spinach seeds with shrimps).

This recipe is a typical Bangal style recipe and is cooked with a concoction of few spices to retain the green and fresh smell of the seeds. I have used fresh shrimps to prepare this recipe, but you can also use chingri shutki (dried shrimps) too. While using the dried shrimps, fry it similarly as when using the fresh shrimps.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Malabar spinach (Pui) seeds
• ½ cup small shrimps
• ½ cup thinly sliced potatoes
• ½ cup thinly sliced pumpkin
• 1 medium sized onion, julienne
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic paste
• 4 tablespoon mustard oil
• Salt to taste

Preparation

• De-vein and clean the shrimps
• Heat 1 ½ tablespoon of mustard oil in a wok, as it turns piping hot, add the shrimps and stir fry till they turn a little hard, keep aside
• Pour in the extra oil and sauté onions, add the garlic paste
• Drop in the potatoes and pumpkin as the onions turn translucent, cook for sometime
• Season with the spices and salt
• Add the pui seeds and cook till they soften
• Add the shrimps and cook for 2-3 minutes more
• Take out of flame and serve hot with warm white rice

Hot Tips – It is very essential to clean the shrimps properly. While frying the shrimps, just don’t let the shrimps turn too hard, else the shrimps will turn chewy.

Further Reading – Chanchra, Lutiya Shutki

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After The Mainland China Cookbook (read the book review) was delivered last Saturday, I was just trying to find that opportunity to prepare something from it. Though I prepared crackling spinach, but before I could even get a chance to take a snap, it was all finished.

Last night prepared chilli chicken. Chilli chicken is probably the most popular Chinese dish prepared in IndiaJ. According to Mr. Ranjit Banerji, one of our very active users of the Cook Like a Bong Facebook page, chilli chicken and chicken manchurian is the innovation of the famous Nelson Wang, the founder of China Garden restaurant in Mumbai. It seems almost everybody can relate to this juicy and succulent Chinese preparation. From roadside stalls to fine-dining Chinese restaurants, chilli chicken finds it place everywhere. During my school days, I remember our favorite party-time combo was fried rice and chili chicken.

The Mainland China cookbook has the Keong style of chilli chicken documented. I have made a little variation to this dish to add the extra hint of greens in this saucy Chinese dish.

Ingredients:

• 200gms of Boneless chicken, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 egg
• 2 heaped tablespoon of cornflour
• ½ cup capsicums, cut into 1” triangles
• ½ cup onions, chopped into 1” squares
• ½ tablespoon of Ginger-garlic paste
• 6-7 green chilies, chopped
• 2 ½ tablespoon dark soya sauce
• 1 teaspoon of vinegar
• 3-4 tablespoon vegetable oil
• ½ cup of spring onions, chopped to 1” sizes
• Few spring onions finely chopped for garnishing, optional
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Dissolve half the cornflour with 1 tablespoon of soya sauce and one beaten egg
• Mix this with the chicken, marinate for ½ hour
• Stir fry the chicken till the outside turn crispy, remove from the wok and soak the extra oil in a kitchen paper
• Heat oil in a wok, as the oil turns smoking hot add the capsicum and onions. Stir well till the onions turn translucent. Add the green chilies
• Dissolve the extra cornflour in the remaining soya sauce, and pour it in the wok, stir
• Add the fried chicken and spring onions, and adjust the seasoning
• Cook till the chicken is evenly coated with the sauce
• Serve hot with noodles garnishes with chopped spring onions

Hot Tips – You can keep the chicken in the marinade for longer hours, but then refrigerate it.

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