Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

My next experiment with baking is a double layered carrot cake. Make this delicious, super moist, melt-in-mouth, spicy carrot cake with cream cheese frosting this Christmas and surprise your near and dear ones. This cake is rich and flavourful and the cream cheese frosting gives another dimension to the cake, a must try for all the cake and bake lovers. Got this recipe from the net and with all those red juicy sweet carrots of the winter the recipe was simply irresistible….so off I went with it.

Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Chicken Dak Bungalow ~ An Anglo-Indian Delicacy

The name itself takes you back to the British colonial era, you can picturize a quaint loghut with British architecture amidst a dense forest. The Dak Bungalows or the bungalows on the postal (dak) route served as rest houses during the hunting trips or long journeys to the remote places for the British officers who spent some days in the serenity of the woods and enjoyed country fowl curry whose more popular Bong term is ‘Bon Murgir Jhol’ cooked by the caretakers or the ‘Khansamas’ of that bungalow. This special curry was cooked with the elementary spices freshly ground, potatoes and boiled eggs.

Chicken Dak Bungalow

Daal Puri (Indian Bread With Dried And Split Yellow Chickpeas Stuffing)

Continuing with my exploits with the winter delicacies, here’s the next one in the series…. Daal puri. With a delectable stuffing of chana daal (dried and split yellow chickpeas) this features in the list of my most favorite Indian bread. You can relish these with aloo dum or any spicy potato curry or even without any side dish, just with a cup of steaming tea.

Daal Puri

Pound cake

Christmas is nearing and getting inspired by all the awesome bakes being posted on various food groups couldn’t resist myself. This is a simple bake, nothing too rich and heavy. A pound cake is something you enjoy at anytime, delicious, moist and fluffy, a good accompaniment with tea or coffee which often becomes the saviour in this cold season.

Pound Cake

Though maa n grandma’s pound cakes were typically old school, I baked this using my imagination, added some cashews, dark raisins n tootty truity to make it more appealing to my son. I’m not a baker by any means but this tasted superb. So those of you looking for an easy bake before the real Christmas stuff, this is the recipe for you.

Pound Cake

What you’ll need:

• 11/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 11/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 3 eggs at room temperature
• ¾ cups of granulated sugar
• 15 tablespoons of salted butter melted
• 1/3 cup of whole milk at room temperature
• A fistful of tootty fruity
• A fistful of dark raisins
• A fistful of cashews

 

Pound Cake

Process:

Step1:
 

First soak the cashew and raisins in warm water for  5-7 minutes and strain the water.

Step 2:

Sift flour and baking powder together 2 times.

Step 3:

Now in an electric mixer, mix these along with the sugar on low speed until nicely blended.

Step 4:

Beat the eggs, and add to it the milk and the vanilla essence and mix well.

Step 5:
 

Now mix the dry ingredients in the mixer with melted butter and half the egg mix on low speed for 10 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the container and mix again on low speed for 20 seconds. By now the dry ingredients will be moistened. Pour in the remaining egg mix and again blend on low speed for 30 seconds twice at an interval. Your batter is ready by now.

Step 6:
 

Gently mix the cashew, raisins and tootty fruity with a ladle and pour the batter in a well greased and powdered baking dish.

Step 7:

Preheat the oven to 180 degree centigrade and bake for 55 minutes-1 hour. Do the toothpick test, before removing. The toothpick should come out clean when inserted at the centre.

Pound cake

Step 8:

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack before removing from the baking dish.

Stuffed Parantha #IndianBread

On a chilly winter evening is there anything more inviting than a plate of hot stuffed parantha with a dollop of butter melting on the top, a cup of steaming ginger tea to go with it, curled up inside the warmth of a quilt watching a good movie with your favorite person?

Stuffed Parantha

This is the season when you can indulge in a bit of oily stuff which you normally avoid in the summers. And with all those fresh winter veggies flooding the market you can stuff your parantha with those of your choice. I stuffed mine with potatoes, carrots, beans, green peas, onions, ginger, chopped green chillies and lots of chopped coriander leaves.

Stuffed Paranthas

Here’s the recipe of this delish Indian bread…..

Ingredients:

• 3 large potatoes peeled
• 3 carrots peeled
• 300 gms green peas peeled
• 12-14 beans
• 2 large onions finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon ginger finely chopped
• 2 tsp green chillies finely chopped
• Lots of coriander leaves finely chopped
• 2 tsp chat masala powder
• Wheat flour for the parantha dough
• Salt to taste
• A mix of white oil and ghee/clarified butter for frying the paranthas

Stuffed Paranthas

Procedure:

Step:1

Cut the potatoes in four dices, and boil/ steam them together with carrots and beans. In a separate bowl boil the peas with a pinch of salt. Keep on a plate to cool after straining the water. The veggies must not be overboiled.

Step 2:

Prepare the dough for the parantha. Knead it soft.

Step:3

Now prepare the stuffing. Mash all the boiled veggies and mix chopped onions, ginger, green chillies and coriander. If the stuffing becomes a bit soggy sprinkle some flour and mix. Add salt and chat masala powder. Check the seasoning before stuffing.

Step 4:

Now tear out small dough, flatten it with hands, fill in the stuffing and carefully fold it in all sides so as not to spill the filling. With the help of a rolling pin flatten it out into paranthas.

Stuffed Paranthas

Step 5:

On a tawa fry the paranthas well on both sides and serve hot with any chutney dip of your choice or malai. I just love them with a heap of butter. Yummmmmmm……

Nolen Gur diye Sewainer Payesh (Vermicelli Pudding With Date Palm Jaggery)

Date Palm Jaggery/ sugar is a special sweetener made from the juice/sap of date palm trees. The sap is collected by tying a pot with the tree trunk, and later boiled to make date palm sugar or jaggery. You associate the name with Bengal only because of the availability and as this state has been producing sweets of incredible variety and taste with date palm jaggery since time immemorial. The uniqueness and popularity of the flavour of this special jaggery have made it reach places outside Bengal and India. Now available almost at all the places nested by Bongs, I manage to get hold of it from C.R.Park a predominantly Bong inhabited region in Delhi.

Nolen Gur Diye Sewainer Payesh

Date Palm Jaggery is available as both syrup and solid. I usually use the solidified form better known as ‘Patali Gur’ for payesh/pudding/kheer. This pudding is most often cooked with rice, but other variants like suji/semolina, sewain/vermicelli prove to be equally delectable.

Nolen Gur Diye Sewainer Payesh

Nolen Gur Diye Sewainer Payesh

Nolen Gur Diye Sewainer Payesh

Now the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 litre whole milk
• Date palm jaggery according to the sweetness you want
• A fistful of cashew
• A fistful of raisins/kishmish
• A fistful of vermicelli/sewain
• 1 tablespoon ghee/clarified butter

Process:

Step:1

Boil the milk and reduce it to two third. Now in a pan heat ghee and roast the vermicelli until it takes a brownish hue.

Step:2

Throw in the cashews and raisins, stir for a minute.

Step:3

Pour the whole thing (vermicelli, cashew, raisins) into the milk. Let them simmer in the milk until the vermicelli is done.

Step:4

Now add the date palm jaggery broken into small pieces and stir the milk until they are completely dissolved.

Nolen Gur Diye Sewainer Payesh

Step:5

Serve warm or chilled, it will taste divine.

Bikrampuri Murg Salaan ~ A Simple, Aromatic Chicken Dish From Bangladesh

I came across this palatable recipe in one of the food groups. As you all know by now that I’m always attracted to the simplest of recipes with a new twist. This is one such chicken recipe I felt worth trying, a delicacy of Bikrampur in Bangladesh… and the new angle given to it is by a smooth paste of roasted spices called ‘Chhaag’. This makes the dish wonderfully aromatic and lends a lovely brownish texture.

Bikrampuri Murg Salaan

I was introduced to this magical blend of rustic yet flavorful dish by Purna Chowdhury, a friend, fellow blogger and foodie. For the past week seeing all celebrating thanksgiving in their own special way… here is my thanksgiving to Purna di for such a beautiful dish. Wouldn’t have known the taste and flavour if I hadn’t made it!!

I have come to know from Purna di’s introduction about this dish that it was influenced by the union of many cultures which chronologically enriched Bikrampur and its cuisine. Among them were Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist. The special blend of roasted spices named ‘Chhaag’ came into being as a result and brought a revolution in the gravies and curries of the region.

Bikrampuri Murg Salaan

Bikrampuri Murg Salaan

Now sharing with you the recipe….

Ingredients:
 

• 1 kg chicken with bone regular cut
• 6 onions roughly chopped/grated
• 1 inch ginger grated or coarsely chopped
• 8 pods of garlic coarsely chopped/grated
• 2 tablespoons of red chilli flakes, you can use according to your own taste
• 2 slit green chillies, I used for additional flavour
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• Mustard oil as per requirement

For the ‘Chhaag’:

• 2-3 bay leaves
• 2-3 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
• 1 heaped tablespoon garlic chopped or grated

Process:

Step:1

Marinate the chicken with onion, ginger, garlic, mustard oil, turmeric, red chilli flakes and salt. Keep it for 45 min-1 hr.

This is the chicken with the marination

Step:2

Prepare the ‘Chhaag’ in the mean time. Put a little oil in a skillet and roast bay leaves, cumin seeds and garlic until brown. Remove from heat and let it cool completely. Now make a smooth paste in the blender by adding a little water.

This is how the 'Chhaag' will look like

Step:3

Heat the same skillet again and add the marinated chicken. Cover and cook. Stir once or twice in between.

Step:4

Now when the chicken is almost done add the ‘Chhaag’. Stir to mix it well with the chicken. Now cover and cook it again and let the flavors mingle for an additional five minutes until the chicken is fully done.

Bikrampuri Murg Salaan

Note: No souring agent or water is needed except for the pasting of ‘Chhaag’. The chicken gets cooked in its own juices.

Mochar Ghonto (A Mixed Veg Dish with Banana Flowers And Potatoes) ~ A Bengali Delicacy

Presenting two back to back traditional veg recipes… This is a classic Bengali delicacy Mochar Ghonto universally loved by Bongs at every nook n corner. Again my Maa was the tutor of this recipe and made this often on Sundays because this was my Baba’s favorite. Engulfed by a nostalgia, I am writing down the recipe reminiscing those effervescent childhood days. We used to wait upon this exquisite dish to be served at lunch and what a feast it turned out to be!!!! But sadly and rarely do you find this signature dish from Bengal at any servings nowadays.

Mochar Ghonto

‘Mocha’ is the Bong term for banana flower. Bongs do love bananas and literally use all the parts of the tree in cooking. The flowers for ‘Mochar’ Ghonto (a mixed veg preparation with banana flowers and potatoes), the bark for ‘Thorer’ Ghonto ( a veg dish with the bark of banana tree) and even the leaves for ‘Paturi’ ( a special Bong preparation of fish like Hilsa, prawns, Bhetki steamed in banana leaf).

Though cooking this dish doesn’t take much of a time, the real challenge is chopping the mocha or the banana flower. A tedious job and nothing like it if you can get hold of a help to do it for you. But how much boring it might be, there will be no regrets regarding the outcome of the amazing preparation. It is so delectable that you can scarf up a whole plate of steamed rice with it.

Mochar Ghonto

Mochar Ghonto

Now the recipe…

Ingredients:
 

• 1 banana flower or mocha
• 2 potatoes cut in small cubes
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
• 2 green cardamoms
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 cloves
• 1 bayleaf
• 1½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 ts deghi mirch powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2-3 tablespoons grated coconut
• 1 tablespoon ghee/clarified butter
• Salt n sugar to taste
• Mustard oil as per requirement

Process:
 

Step:1

First take out all the banana flowers from each layer of mocha. Take out the stiff filament like structure from each flower. The rest is edible, so chop the rest. In this way take out the flowers from each fold and chop them until there’s no more left. This will take some time but hold your patience. Now when you can’t tear the folds anymore chop the whole upto the stalk.  Now soak the chopped flower with turmeric and salt overnight.

Step:2
 

Now wash the chopped flowers thoroughly and pressure cook upto 5-6 whistles. Strain out the water and keep aside.

 

This picture was taken after pressure cooking the flowers

Step:3

Heat a little mustard oil in a skillet and splutter jeera,bay leaf and whole garam masalas. Now add the ginger paste, sauté. Add the potatoes and keep frying, until almost done. Now add the seasonings, the powdered masalas and the boiled banana flowers.  Stir for a few minutes. Cover and cook for 5 minutes more for the banana flowers to absorb the flavours.

Step:4

Now turn off the heat and finish it off with a drizzle of ghee and grated coconut. Give some standing time before serving. 

Mochar Ghonto

Chhanar/Paneer Kofta Curry (Cottage Cheeseballs Curry)

A quintessentially Bong vegetarian dish is Chhanar Dalna. Chhana means cottage cheese or paneer in Bengal. I grew up having this special chhanar dalna by Maa and always it was made from homemade paneer. Those were the days when paneer was not readily available in the Kolkata local markets and so homemade paneer was the only way out to savour this dish. But all who can connect with what I mean to say that the taste of the dish gets enhanced a thousand times with home made paneer. You get soft, juicy melt-in-mouth chhanar/paneer koftas and the curry tasted out of the world that too with the minimum use of spices. It was one of the must served dishes as an offering during the Durga pujas or Lakshmi pujas and a vegetarian delight in the menu of most of the Bong marriage invitations I have attended.

So if you are thinking to make this dish I would advise you to go for homemade paneer to take the level of this dish several notches higher. Now follows the detailed recipe of this dish….

Chhanar Kofta Curry

Chhanar Kofta Curry

Chhanar Kofta Curry

Chhanar Kofta Curry

Ingredients:
 

• 1 litre whole milk
• 1 lemon
• 3-4 green cardamoms
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 3 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
• 2 large potatoes cut in big dices
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
• 2 tsp cumin powder
• 2 green chillies slit
• 1 tablespoon maida/ all purpose flour
• A few raisins/kishmish
• A few cashew nuts
• 2 tablespoons ghee/clarified butter
• A little white oil
• Salt n sugar to taste

Procedure:

Step:1

To make the chhana take the full cream milk and bring to a boil and squeeze in a whole lemon juice. Wit for a minute and strain out the water to get the paneer.

Step:2

Now mix maida with the chhana for binding and knead it well. Take out small portion from the dough and press two raisins filling inside and roll it into a ball. Make small koftas/ paneer balls from the dough in this way.

The Koftas Will Look Like This Before Frying

Step:3

Heat ghee and oil together in a skillet and fry the koftas brown. Take out and keep aside. Now fry the potatoes and take out.

Step:4

In the same ghee/oil splutter whole garam masalas, jeera and bay leaf. Add ginger paste, sauté. Add tomato paste, all the powdered masalas and salt n sugar. Add a few raisins and cashew nuts. Keep stirring for a some minutes before adding a cup of warm water. Add the potatoes. Cover and cook until the potatoes are almost done. Now add the koftas and after a few minutes turn off the heat. Add green chillies and a drizzle of ghee before serving.

Oreo Cookie Cake

Oreo Cookie Cake
 

Yesterday being the Children’s Day wanted to bake something for my son because he just loves home made cakes. Though I’m not much into baking but enjoy producing goodies occasionally, specially during winters. I was introduced to this super easy, moist, melt-in-mouth chocolate cake by a friend Shyama Amrita Choudhari. Thank you Shyama for this wonderful recipe. No one can go wrong with this one. It’s a microwave cake and needs only 6 minutes!!! Yes, this one is a real quickie and so yummilicious too. Made my kid a happy soul. This is how I made it….

 

Oreo Cookie Cake

Ingredients:
 

• Oreo chocolate biscuits 19 (that makes total 38 biscuits for the cake because they come in pairs with chocolate cream in between)
• 1 large cup full cream milk
• A fistful of tutti fruiti (optional)
• 4 tablespoons of castor sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder

Oreo Cookie Cake

Oreo Cookie Cake

Process:

Step:1

Roughly break the biscuits (with the cream) into smaller pieces in a bowl.

Step:2

Now put them in a blender. Add all the other ingredients except the tutti fruiti. Give them a spin. The cake batter is ready. Add the tutti fruit now and remove it to a well greased glass baking bowl. You can line the bowl with parchment paper too if you want a clean top after inverting the cake.

Step:3

Microwave at full powder for 6 minutes exactly. Your cake is ready. Don’t worry if you see some moist portions in the cake. Give it a standing time of 10-15 minutes to let the cake cook in it’s own heat before taking out.

Step:4

Top the cake with powdered sugar. Take some castor sugar in a strainer and sprinkle all over the cake.  Now place an Oreo cookie in the middle.

Mutton Rogan Josh ~ A Kashmiri Delicacy

#Mutton Rogan Josh #Kashmiri mutton curry recipe #Popular Indian Curry Recipe

This dish needs no introduction. Rogan Josh is a signature and the most popular dish from the land of ethereal beauty and fabulous cuisine, Kashmir. Though most of you know about the origin of this dish I would like to resonate the same lines for those who don’t know. Rogan or roughan means ‘fat’ in Persian and Josh means ‘cooked at a very high heat’.  So its presumed that the dish was brought to Kashmir by the Mughals whose cuisine was again influenced by the Persians. Another interpretation of the word Rogan is ‘red color’ and Rogan Josh is meat with a red color. But Rogan Josh got a different dimension altogether later from the Kashmiri Bramhins who cooked this meat without onions and garlic. So if you come across a recipe of Rogan Josh with onion and garlic or tomatoes that’s not Rogan Josh though many eateries you come across nowadays rarely serve the authentic one. It’s best made at home.

Mutton Rogan Josh

This dish essentially is accentuated with the flavours of soonth (dry ginger powder), saunf (fennel seeds) powder, hing (asafoetida) and mustard oil. Another important spice for this dish which lends to the striking red color of the mutton is ratanjot. It’s very difficult to get hold of ratanjot in the regular grocery stores. So you can use Kashmiri red chilli powder in generous amount in lieu of ratanjot to bring the same color. But no tomatoes please. This dish is not cooked with tomatoes and neither has the red color anything to do with it.

For making this dish I have followed Sanjeev Kapoor’s recipe which seemed to me the authentic one, with a few variations here and there. While buying mutton for this dish choose the portions with more fat and preferably meat from a baby goat. I have marinated the mutton with yogurt for over two hours for that soft, juicy and succulent meat. Rogan josh is best when accompanied with plain hot steamed rice but you can also serve it with naans or pulao.

Here comes the recipe of this amazingly aromatic and delectable dish….

Mutton Rogan Josh

Mutton Rogan Josh

Mutton Rogan Josh

Ingredients:

• 800 gms mutton
• 200 gms yogurt whisked to a creamy texture
• 8 black peppercorns
• 6 green cardamoms
• 2 sticks 1 inch each cinnamon
• 5-6 cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 black cardamoms
• 4-5 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
• 2 tsp saunf powder
• 2 tsp soonth powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp asafoetida
• Salt n sugar to taste
• Mustard oil as per requirement

 

Mutton Rogan Josh

Process:

Step:1

Marinate the mutton pieces with yogurt for 2-3 hours

Step:2
 

Heat oil in a thick bottomed skillet and throw in the whole spices cardamoms, cinnamon peppercorns, bay leaves and asafoetida. Wait for the crackle.

Step:3

Add the marinated mutton and stir on high flame for quite sometime. Add the powdered masalas, salt and keep stirring for a few minutes more.

Step:4
 

Add water about 2 large cups and let the mutton get cooked covered until it gets tender. The dish should ideally have a thin gravy with a layer of fat/oil on the top.

Shrimps N Egg Stir Fried Noodles

This is one of the most favorite snack/lunch/dinner in Indian Kitchen. Indians love noodles in any form be it stir fried, gravied, pan fried, deep fried, steamed in soup or even instant noodles. My son loves munching them anytime a day. Made Stir Fried Shrimps and Egg Noodles on Sunday evening complying with his request. A rather simple one to dish out but tastes heavenly this noodles was made without using any sauce. Try this superbly tasty dish in your kitchen…here comes the recipe…

Shrimps n Egg Stir Fried Noodles

Shrimps n Egg Stir Fried Noodles

Shrimps n Egg Stir Fried Noodles

Shrimps n Egg Stir Fried Noodles

Ingredients:
 

• 1 packet plain noodles/egg noodles (whichever you prefer)
• 200 gms shrimps
• 3-4 eggs
• ½ cup chopped carrots
• ½ cup chopped beans
• ½ cup chopped capsicum/green bell pepper
• ¼ cup chopped spring onions
• 2 chopped onions
• 3-4 cloves of garlic chopped
• ½ tsp black pepper powder
• ½ tsp white pepper powder
• ½ tsp ajinomoto (monosodium glutamate) (optional)
• 2 tsp white vinegar
• Salt to taste
• White oil as per requirement

Process:

Step:1

First take a wok with water and bring to a boil. Throw in some salt and sprinkle a few drops of oil. Now put in the noodles and boil them roughly for a minute or so. Drain out the water from the noodles, wash them in cold water n let dry.

Step:2

Wash the shrimps clean in warm water and smear with salt. Now heat oil in a wok and fry them for a minute, take out and set aside.

Step:3

In a bowl take 3 eggs and whip them with ½ tsp salt. Heat oil in a nonstick pan and pour the whipped eggs and fry stirring continuously. Your scrambled egg’s ready.

Step:4

Now heat oil in a separate wok and toss in the chopped garlic n onions. Fry them translucent, now throw in all the chopped veggies except spring onions. Adjust salt n pepper and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the boiled noodles and stir fry. Add vinegar, continue stirring. Put in the shrimps and eggs. Add ajinomoto and spring onions. Fry for another two minutes. Your Shrimps and Egg Stir Fried Noodles is ready to be gobbled up…. :D

Tilottama Rui (Rohu Cooked With Sesame Seeds)

Today I’m posting a traditional Bengali fish preparation Tilottama Rui (Rohu fish with sesame seeds). This classic Bong dish acquires its name from the word Til which is the Bong name for sesame. Sesame seeds paste is the main ingredient in the dish along with yellow mustard paste which gives this dish the most wonderful flavor. Making use of the least number of condiments this dish is a winner any day. We need a portion of Rohu fish weighing at least 3 kgs or more for this because the taste comes out best with a bigger fish. This dish should ideally be paired with a plate of hot steamed rice for a perfect lunch. Here’s the recipe….

Tilottama Rui

Tilottama Rui

Tilottama Rui

Tilottama Rui

Tilottama Rui

Tilottama Rui

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 700 gms Rohu cut in large pieces
• 4 tablespoons white sesame seeds  
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
• 6-7 green chillies
• 7-8 cloves of garlic pasted
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 3-4 tablespoons of milk
• Salt n sugar to taste
• Mustard oil as per requirement

Process:

Soak mustard seeds with 4 green chillies and some salt for half an hour and make a smooth paste. Now dry roast the sesame seeds on a pan/tawa, soak them in water for 10 minutes and make a smooth paste. Keep aside. Wash the fish pieces and smear them with salt and turmeric. Heat oil in a skillet and fry the fish pieces golden on both sides. Take them out. Now in the same oil put in the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell is gone. Make a mixture of the mustard paste with milk and add it. Add the fried fish pieces, n salt. Now add the sesame seeds paste and a big cup of water, give a good stir. Cover and cook for 5-7 minutes. Turn off the flame and garnish with slit green chillies and chopped coriander leaves.