ও শিব কবে হবে কাল, নিম দিয়ে ছেচকি আম দিয়ে ডাল By definition, summer is a little away but the heat has already set in. The markets are flooded with raw mangoes. These sour tasting mangoes are a wonderful ingredient for varieties of Bengali recipes. Beat the Heat with Raw Mango Dal. Here's how to cook Aamer Daal in easy steps.

On the occasion of International women's Day, we have a guest post from Soma Chowdhury, who is pursuing her MS from Louisiana State University. She writes about Natun Alur Nirmaish Dam or curry of baby potato, a tweaked version of her mother's natun alur dom. We thank Soma for her contribution. Enjoy the recipe and let us (and Soma) know how it fared.

This is for intermediate skilled cooks, or mere amateurs who want to prove that given adequate instructions, they can cook (I fall in this category). You can have Dimer Devil for an exotic evening snack. I had this at lunch with steamed rice, musuri daal and ketchup. In short: the eggs are boiled and the yolks are removed, and re-stuffed with a mixture prepared from the yolk, boiled potato and some vegetables. The re-stuffed egg is then dipped in besan, then in bread crumbs and fried in oil. Read on for the complete recipe and pictures.

After the good response (800 views and counting) to Part 1 of Potpourri, we’re here with the second edition. Read on for interesting resources on several aspects of Bengali Food: Book Review - Critiques of Chitrita Banerji's 3 books on Bengali Food Popular Culture - how the time around Durga Puja is the Sweet Season in Bengal City Bites - Bengali food chains spreading wings across India and more

Remember the jars of pickles lined up on the roof, a little hands approaching to steal a handful? And there came the bigger hand in between the little hand and the jar of tangy pickle. The fear coated adventure of stealing pickle in the summer afternoon is one of the best memories I have of my childhood. Mom never allowed to have pickles and so stealing and having pickles had an extra feeling of happiness, if not I got caught. The cauliflower pickle was given to me by my neighbor this morning and it happened to be one of the best pickles I tasted so far. So couldn't resist but share the recipe with you all. Prepare it and enjoy the tart taste of this good looking pickle.

There are many a things that we don't want to do, but have to do it because of some reason or the other. For some people it may be studying (most common trait in children), eating or may be even cooking. There are hundreds of people who don't like cooking, for that matter never wanted to get inside the kitchen, but have to cook because they are away from home. Today's recipe is for all those people who never wanted to spend the rest of their life in the kitchen. This quick and easy yet very yummy paneer preparation should be your path to nirvana. Its the easiest way to prepare a great looking and awesome tasting recipe in a matter of minutes. Cook it and enjoy it.

9 new posts for this month including the January Round-up. Starting from Bengali's favorite sandesh to the cake in microwave. The Valentine's week had a new recipe each day of the week. We also published our first product review, the Gits Karaisutir Kachuri mix. Though it was a free review, we got the products from the company. The festival of colors knocked at the end of the month and it was a pleasure to play with the colors after 3 long years.

This post reviews Gits Karaisutir Kachori mix. If you cook regularly, I'm sure you may want to take a break sometime and enjoy this ready to cook snack. In case you cook only occasionally, all the more reason to try it out. I mean, why spend half a day in kitchen preparing kachori when you can do the same using Gits Karaisutir Kachuri Mix in 20 minutes.

When you think about Teddy, what comes to mind? Cute, sweet, soft, friendly, crying shoulder. Think of any good adjective and that becomes descriptive of a Teddy. Usually, guys hate teddies (of course there’re exceptions). I am still to find out why. Any ideas? Enjoy Paneer Pulao in Rice Cooker on Teddy Day today (don’t ask the relation). On first two days of Valentine’s week, we’ve talked about Matar Paneer Bengali ishtyle and Chocolate Cake. Enjoy the simplicity.

A Bong cant be separated from sweets, and not without reason. Sample soft rasogollas or smooth sandesh, and you would know. Sandesh is of several kinds. This post explains in easy steps how to prepare Strawberry Sandesh, which is a little twisted from the veritable way of preparing you general run of the mill kind sandesh. The curd cheese is sweetened and flavored with fresh strawberry puree to give the light pinkish tinge and the irresistible flavor of this dessert. Prepare it, have a bite and let me know how you fared. Bon Appetite!