Dum Aloo ~ Without Onion And Garlic

Dum Aloo Bong Style when offered to deity as bhog during puja/festival is cooked without onion and garlic but is one of the front runners in taste and flavour amongst all the vegetarian dishes. The beauty of the dish lies in the fact that it’s cooked sans onion and garlic which aids the bursting of flavours of various spices like cumin seeds, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf, asafoetida, whole red chillies, ginger etc in every mouthful. The dish pairs brilliantly with luchi/puri, pulao, jeera rice, roti/parantha. Cook this Bengali ‘Aloor Dum’ whether festival or no festival, occasion or no occasion and see the beauty of simplicity in the dish. It’s a very easy and quick dish, no hazards, no exotic ingredients but an amazing result in three simple steps. The cooking medium should essentially be mustard oil and nothing else.

Kosha Murgi Posto (Bhuna Chicken Khus-khus)

Do you have on your mind something special this weekend? Look no further because this is the dish you have been searching for. An awesome dish grand in texture and amazingly delectable, flavourful, will give your palate a heavenly feeling with each bite. Was thinking of making a completely different kind of chicken dish for some time which will go well with both rice and roti/parantha and will spurt surprises both at lunch and dinner table. Came across this recipe in a recipe book after enormous search, but made some changes here and there to suit my requirements.

The way I made it:
 

Spicy Prawn Bowl

Spicy Prawn Bowl is a dish which acquires its taste from covered slow cooking in a skillet without the addition of any water. The flavour of the spices gets mingled to perfection with the prawns to result in a superlative deliciousness that has to be savoured to understand. Monsoon is here and it’s the most apt dish to accompany your plate of hot steamed rice. This dish uses mustard paste to give a touch of tanginess to the palate. You will need large or jumbo prawns with head intact for this dish. Try this and see what magic it creates at the lunch table on a rainy day…..

#ProductReview/ProductTalk~Exclusive Collection Of Teas On ChaiSafari

There’s a common saying that Rabindranath Tagore, chai/tea and adda intertwine inseparably with a Bong’s life. For every situation, every mood, every feeling, every weather Bongs need a delightful cup of tea and of course RabindraSangeet (Songs of Tagore) and I’m no exception to that. I just love tea be it anywhere, anytime and with anyone. So a request for a product review of my most loved beverage couldn’t be ignored.

Aloo Posto (Potatoes In Poppy Seeds/Khus Khus Paste)

Today I’m posting a dish which can be called the soul-food of Bengal. 'Aloo Posto' or Potatoes in Khuskhus/Poppy Seeds Paste is some thing with which I’m sure every Bong can connect with. Whichever part of the world may a Bong live in, he/she is bound to have a soft corner for ‘Aloo Posto’. A Bengali platter is never complete without it. It’s one of the easiest and simplest of dishes that I know of but the taste …can any vegetarian dish beat it in taste? It’s without onion and garlic, requires the minimum of ingredients but those who haven’t tasted it must make it today to fall in love with the quintessentially Bong ‘Aloo Posto’.

ATypical Bong Platter of Aloo Posto, Masoor Dal(Lentils), Plain Rice

Shorba-E-Tangri

This is one of the most delicious chicken recipes I have tasted so far. Innovation in the non vegetarian dishes has become a necessity now to meet my family expectations. I fail to figure out at times whether this is a positive or negative aspect of food blogging. Every time I rack my brain to come up with something new or google for some simple and new ideas which I have not experimented with as yet in my kitchen. This time I managed to dig up a recipe called Shorba-E-Tangri which seemed to be pretty interesting to me. Happy with myself to have saved my face, I started with going to the market to get hold of some fresh chicken leg pieces needed for the dish.

Chicken Stew

After a marvelous vacation in Goa and gorging on spicy Goan cuisine my heart was craving for some home cooked simple and delicious chicken stew and rice. Though pretty much excited about relishing some exotic and awesome seafood for about a week, there is nothing like some homemade soul food I thought to myself. So the last Sunday was a simple and wholesome 'chicken stew day' with minimum spices. This stew is a solace to those who are looking for a break from continuous consumption of rich and spicy food. It’s very nutritious and easy on your stomach when the heat is relentless, soaring above 40 degree Celsius and though less spicy it’s not at all bland.

#Summer Cooler Recipe 4 ~ Kancha Aamer Chutney/Kacche Aam ki Chutney (Raw Mango Chutney)

Summer Cooler Recipe 4:

‘Knacha Aamer Chutney’ or raw mango chutney is an all time Bong favourite. A lunch or dinner accompanied with a fingerlickingly delicious chutney specially on Sundays is what we call a Bong signature meal. Our family is no exception to this. Whatever delicacies may I cook, a chutney/aumbol/tok  and mishti doi must mark the end of our Bong meal. I am sure most of you love raw mango chutney too. So here I am with the recipe of raw mango chutney the Bong way…..

Chilli Mutton

Mutton is my weakness and I have tried various mutton recipes, experimented with many till date. Each time I got amazed with the zing that mutton can bring to a dish whatever the recipe might be. This time I tried an Indo Chinese version of mutton. Chilli Chicken is loved by everybody all over the world, thought of substituting chicken with mutton to see if it enhances the flavour and this time also I was astonished with the result. Chilli Mutton is an exotic dish, superlative in taste and texture, and it was a real wonder for me. This is a must try mutton dish and just relish it with whatever you wish, its bound to get polished off in seconds.

Summer Special ~ Methi (Fenugreek) Chicken

Methi/Fenugreek Chicken is one of the easiest and yummiest of chicken recipes I have made. So befitting to these scorching summer days this cooks real fast and requires a very few ingredients and above all not too fiery or spicy. I was introduced to this dish a long time ago during my school days by a very dear friend of mine. I fell in love with the taste instantaneously. But I vaguely remember the exact recipe now. I could only recall the main ingredients required to cook the dish, rest I substituted with mine and it turned out to be a winner!!

#Summer Cooler Recipe 3 ~ Melt-In-Mouth Lauki Muttar (Bottle Gourd With Green Peas)

Summer Cooler Recipe 3
 

This is the third in this series of summer cooler recipes that is becoming quite regular in my kitchen nowadays. It is another healthy, easy and fit for summer recipe yet extremely delicious to make you addicted to it. It’s flavourful, melt-in-mouth, without onion and garlic and cooks so fast, a perfect dish to provide you respite from this gruelling heat, at the same time being easy on your stomach. Bottle gourd/Lauki and muttar/peas are combined with some flavourful whole spices and pressure cooked to give a brilliant result. Try it out today….

#Summer Cooler Recipe 2: Seem Baingan (Flat Beans With Brinjal/Aubergine)

Summer Cooler Recipe 2

This is the second in the series of summer cooler recipes that I have been posting. It is a very simple and easy-to-cook recipe ready in 7-10 minutes saving you the trouble of staying in the kitchen for long hours in this heat. This is a vegan recipe with the least number of ingredients and without onion and garlic. The dish is healthy as well as delicious slightly on the sweeter side and can be relished with either roti/ Indian bread or rice.

# Summer Cooler Recipe 1: Flavourful Dahiwale Aloo (Baby Potatoes In Flavourful Yogurt Gravy)

Summer Cooler Recipe 1

Summer is truly a testing time for me. In Delhi’s inexorable heat I prefer to cook something that’s not too spicy, light on the stomach, fast to cook, yet not compromising on the taste. As the availability of variations in veggies is limited I innovate something with whatever at hand. The other day I had some small/baby potatoes lying in the kitchen and some fresh dahi/yogurt in the fridge. Made Dahiwale Aloo putting together some more ingredients that were readily available in the kitchen. Very easy to cook and extremely delicious, this recipe is a must try in the summers.

Sausage Fried Rice~Indo-Chinese Cuisine

Sometimes we get bored with cooking and eating the same food everyday…rice/roti, dal/lentils, one vegetarian dish or a non vegetarian dish. What about trying something else rather than these routine stuffs which will be a complete meal by itself, both nutritious and delicious at the same time? This is a rice dish but not the usual pulao or biryani but a kind of fusion dish with Chinese flavours. Sausage fried rice as I love to call it, is a very easy and simple dish for which you need good quality aromatic long grained basmati rice, some assorted chopped veggies and chicken sausages/frankfurters and soy sauce (light or dark whichever you prefer). Though always a hit among kids this dish is bound to please you as well.

 

Prawn Tikka Masala

When Indians in every nook and corner of the world are celebrating Makar Sankranti/PoushParbon/Lohri with sweets, coconut, jaggery, rice flour here’s something deliciously savoury for you to be enjoyed with steaming Gobindobhog or Basmati rice. Prawn Tikka Masala is a taste of divinity on your palate with a creamy sauce of yogurt, tomatoes and fresh cream much similar to its chicken and paneer (cottage cheese) counterparts with a bonus of the flavour of prawn. Though many restaurants have this dish on their menu, I think it tastes best when home cooked. Quite an easy peasy, hassle-free recipe, it can be made with medium to king sized prawns for the desired outcome.

 

Prawn Tikka Masala

Fish Pakoda~A Super Delectable Snack

Happy New Year to all my readers…lets start this year with something crispy, munchy and blissful. Very suitable as winter bites these crunchy fish pakodas are a delectable snack any time of the day. Moreover quite hassle free they do not need a dip in the egg or a roll in the bread crumbs, can be prepared with rohu/katla/seabass/prawns… the choice is yours. It’s a perfect dish to entertain your guests.

Fish Pakoda