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.

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

Tomato Khajur Aampaapad Chutney (Khejur Aamshottor Chutney)

During the winter months this is a must accompaniment with lunch at home specially in the weekends. Though much loved for its perfect combination of sweet and sour taste with an extra bit of tickle for your tongue because of the addition of dry red chilli, it’s pretty easy to make and gets ready in a jiffy. The zing attributed to the dish comes mainly from two ingredients dates/ khajur and aam paapad or aamshotto, the Bong name given to dried leather of mango pulp and sugar syrup. I always have a stock of aamshotto handy in my fridge for this chutney and for those depressing times to eat just like that. Often having just a slice of aamshotto uplifts my mood. So whenever I chance to go to C.R.Park I pick up quite a few of them.

 

Tomato Khajur Aampaapad Chutney

Vegetable Croquettes/Chops

Vegetable Croquette or Bhegitabil chop as we Bongs lovingly call it is a recent request from a very dear friend. She wanted a very easy and simple recipe. So Reshmi the simplest way to make this delectable, all time favourite snack is here for you. Though I knew the main ingredients but always have this habit of calling up Maa to ensure them. I followed the process she told me over the phone. Beetroot, carrots and potatoes are the vegetables generally used for the stuffing, but you can add other veggies like beans, peas if you desire. These crispy, delish croquettes are a delightful nosh with a cup of tea in the winter evenings with the obvious accompaniment of Bong Adda….

Vegetable Croquettes

The Authentic Bengali Malpua

We shifted to our new house about twelve days back. This is my first post here since I managed to get the broadband connection yesterday only after much follow up. There are several other works piled up, setting up of a new house is so much trouble and labour. Carton full of clothes, books, other household items etc. are lying around but nothing can keep me off my passion, cooking and blogging for long.

Authentic Bong Malpua

Kolkatar Singara ~ Samosa Bong Style

The Bengali New Year or Poila Boishakh is just round the corner and this is a special recipe for the special occasion. Also it will complete one year of my blog. This is the first one in the series. ‘Kolkatar Singara’…. does this stir up any pleasant memory in your mind? Well, it does for me. A Bong at heart I can never erase these wonderful gastronomic experiences in Kolkata during my younger days there. Singara is a Bong name for samosas, a triangular Indian pastry with mainly savoury stuffing of spiced potatoes, peas etc., but the flavour is strictly Bengali. The stuffing, taste, texture everything is just out of the world, a class apart, incomparable with any samosas I have tasted after that.

Alu-Phulkopir Singara

Jhaalmuri/Masalamuri ~ Street Food Of Kolkata

This is one nostalgic and very special write up for me as it’s about street food of Kolkata and is quintessentially Bengali. My love for the city I was born in has increased over the past decade considerably enough as I stay away and miss all the vibe, festivities, warmth, adda, Book Fair and of course the food that the city is about. My vehement desire for the incredible ‘biryani’, ‘champ’, chinese, ‘fuchka’, ‘jhalmuri’, rolls, ‘chop’(croquettes), cutlet, ‘kochuri’, ‘fulkopir singara’(cauliflower samosa), ‘sandesh’, ‘roshogolla’, and so much more…(the list is endless), finds an escape through my writing. That’s all I have, I pen down my love for the city whenever I get time and recreate the Kolkata delicacies in my kitchen which gives some solace whatsoever now and then.

Jhaalmuri

Begun Poraa (Bong Style Baingan/Eggplant Bharta)

Today I’ll share with you the easiest recipe of all in this ‘GO GREEN’ series, perhaps easier than tossing up a salad or stuffs like that for yourself in which at least you have got to chop the veggies or fruits that go into your salad. But this one is the fastest  because you just roast the eggplants well on all the sides, peel the burnt skin , mash it and eat, and yes the tangy flavour of raw mustard oil and freshly chopped coriander fill up your senses and being paired with hot fulkas conjure up a brilliant meal for you.

Begun Poraa

This is ‘Bong style Baigan Bharta’ that I’m talking of and my mother’s recipe too. ‘Begun Poraa’ is the Bengali term for it ('Poraa' means burnt in Bengali) as the main element should be the burnt smell and those of you who haven’t tasted Baigan Bharta in this way must make it today to see for yourself.

This is how I made it in just two simple steps and with minimum ingredients…..

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

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.

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.

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.

Golbarir Kosha Mangsho (Spicy Bhuna Mutton of Golbari)

Wish you all Shuvo Bijoya and Eid Mubarak!! :)

Today I’m posting a very special, popular and traditional Bengali recipe Golbarir Kosha Mangsho. Bongs have weakness over mutton apart from fish and when it’s Kosha Mangsho (Spicy Bhuna Mutton) the name that’s spelled in the same breath is Golbari.

If you chance to visit the rich cultural and gastronomic heritage of Kolkata and want a comprehensive tour of its gourmet world, Golbarir Kosha Mangsho (Spicy Bhuna Mutton Of Golbari) and Parantha must feature in the list. Situated at the five point crossing of Shyambazar behind the Netaji Statue in North Kolkata, Golbari (‘Gol’ means round and ‘Bari’ means house) is a small restaurant which boasts of the best mutton in town.

People used to flock to this place from different parts of the city and queue for long hours just to get a taste of this delicacy. But I have heard sometimes back that the place had shut down and taken over by another owner (New Punjabi Hotel) who has failed to live up to the age old reputation of the place. They do have kosha Mangsho in their menu list but the old taste, class and flavour are all gone, the succulent juicy divine mutton chunks, the soft  well cooked meat falling most delicately off the bone, got replaced by chewy rubbery tasteless mutton.

 I was despondent about the news, the childhood memories, glimpses of my favourite, much loved restaurant quivered in my mind. This post is dedicated to all those who inspite of the grime and grease, plastic chairs and table more like a wall mounted desk, space crunch and walls blackened with soot, loved the place for the incredible taste it created and were deeply saddened by the termination of its operation. This is my humble effort to recreate the taste of Golbari in my kitchen, to stir up a nostalgia and was successful to a great extent in doing so according to my husband.

Now, providing you with the recipe of the famous dish….

Golbarir Kosha Mangsho

Golbarir Kosha Mangsho

Golbarir Kosha Mangsho

Golbarair Kosha Mangsho

Golbarir Kosha Mangsho

Golbarir Kosha Mangsho

Golbarir Kosha Mangsho

Golbarir Kosha Mangsho

Recipe: 

Ingredients:

·        1 kg mutton (goat meat), be sure to have quite a few nalli pieces ( pcs with bone marrow)

·        7-8 onions

·        12-14 cloves of garlic

·        2 inch ginger

·        6-7 green chillies

·        6-7 green cardamoms

·        4 sticks of cinnamon (1 inch each)

·        6-7 cloves

·        2 bay leaves

·        1 tsp turmeric

·        3 tsp coriander powder

·        2 tsp of cumin powder

·        300 gms of yogurt beaten to a creamy consistency

·        Salt n sugar to taste

·        Mustard oil as per requirement

Golbarir Kosha Mangsho

Procedure: 

For Marination:

First make a smooth paste of two onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies. Marinate the mutton with yogurt, the paste, salt and 2 tblspns of mustard oil for at least 7-8 hours in the refrigerator.

For Cooking:

Thinly slice the remaining onions. Heat oil in a thick bottomed skillet and splutter the whole garam masalas and bay leaves. Add a little sugar and caramalise it. Add the sliced onions and fry them golden. Add the powdered masalas, stir and add the marinated mutton. Fry on high heat until the mutton is sealed and changes color to brownish. No red chilli powder and tomatoes please, because we want the colour to be dark/ blackish brown. Now cover with a lid. Let the mutton get cooked slowly on low flame. Do not try to pressure cook. The mutton will get cooked with its own juice and fat. It will take about 45 minutes – 1 hour for the mutton to get tender. Check at a gap of 10 minutes and stir.  Sprinkle a little water in between if the mutton gets too dry. Serve with hot paranthas/luchis/pooris and onion rings. 

Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry

#Pujo Special 1- Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry

Durga Puja is round the corner. Amidst this festivity, to escalate the celebrations, here’s an outstanding chicken dish to delight your family for Saptami lunch. Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry has created a sensation in the Bong culinary world. An unbelievably easy dish needing only coarsely chopped basic spices and mustard oil, but scores with its amazingly simple rustic flavor. This dish is quintessentially Bangladeshi as it originated from the Muslim boatmen who used to row the mighty Padma overnight to take the passengers from Goalondo, a small town in Bangladesh and a major transportation hub to travel in the eastern parts of Bengal and Assam, to Narayanganj. Passengers had no other options to travel to Dhaka except the waterways because there was no railway track from Goalondo. This chicken curry was cooked by the boatmen on the steamer with whatever the available basic spices yet the freshest ingredients, gradually became popular with the passengers also who in turn have taken the recipe to the world and made it famous. Try this dish to taste what the Bengali gastronomic world is raving about.

Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry

Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry

Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry

Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry

Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry

Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry

Recipe:

Ingredients:

·        1 kg Chicken

·        6-7 onions coarsely chopped

·        10-12 cloves of garlic coarsely chopped

·        1 ½ inch ginger coarsely chopped/grated

·        1 tsp turmeric

·        8-9 coarsely chopped dry whole red chillies

·        5-6 slit green chillies

·        ½ cup mustard oil

·        Salt n sugar to taste

Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry

Procedure:

Now it needs just two steps:

Step 1:

Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

After marination it would look like this

Step 2:

Heat a skillet and pour the marinated chicken, cover with a lid and cook on low flame until the chicken is tender. Stir in between just once. Serve Goalondo Steamer Chicken Curry with steamed rice….bliss

Maacher Matha Diye Bhaja Moong Daal (Yellow Lentils With Rohu/Katla Fish Head)

Maacher Matha Diye Bhaja Moong Daal (Yellow lentils with Rohu/Katla fish head) is a classic Bong delicacy, another priceless recipe I got from my Maa. Sharing with you this glorious recipe which is so popular with all Bongs around the world…..

Maacher Matha Diye Bhaja Moong Daal

Maacher Matha Diye Bhaja Moong Daal

Maacher Matha Diye Bhaja Moong Daal

Maacher Matha Diye Bhaja Moong Daal

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 Rohu/Katla fish head halved from the middle vertically
• 2 onions pasted
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 11/2 tsp garlic paste
• 1 red tomato pasted
• 250 gms dhuli Moong daal/ yellow lentils
• 3-4 green cardamom
• 11/2 inch cinnamon
• 3-4 cloves
• 1 bay leaf/tej patta
• 2 whole dry red chillies
• 2 green chillies slit
• 1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
• Salt n Sugar to taste
• Mustard oil as per requirement

Procedure:

Dry roast the moong daal in a karahi until light brownish, wash and pressure cook upto 3 whistles with some turmeric powder and a little salt. Wash and clean the fish head well and smear with turmeric and salt. In the same karahi heat oil and fry the fish head brown on both sides. Take out and temper the same oil with whole garam masalas, whole dry red chillies, bay leaf and cumin seeds. Add the onion, ginger garlic paste and sauté for a few minutes. Add the tomato paste, the powdered masalas, slit green chillies and adjust the seasoning carefully as some salt is already added to the boiled lentils. Keep stirring the masalas, add the daal. Break the fish head into smaller pieces and add it to the daal. Let them simmer for 7-8 minutes until the fish head gets cooked with the daal. Keep stirring in between. Serve hot with steamed rice…..