Chingrir Malaikari

As promised here I am with my “Chingrir malaikari” recipe to mark the 2000+ hits of my blog. Prawns are always a delicacy in all Bengali household and even those who loves fish but are afraid of those bones. I would share one very interesting fact about prawns, though we call it Chingri mach(fish) in Bengali , but actually it is not a fish. According to the characteristics of prawns scientists have grouped it as an arthropode,i.e, it is an insect. You can also use shrimps for this preparation.

Ingredients:

Prawns (Chingri): 1kg, deshelled

Coconut milk(Narkeler dudh): 1 1/2 cup

Whole garam masala: 1tablespoon

Ghee: 2 tablespoons

Curd (Doi): 1/2 cup

Garlic-ginger paste (Aada-rasun bata): 1teaspoon

Turmeric powder(Halud guro): 2 pinches

Chilli powder (Sukhno lankar guro): 1/2 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Prologue:

Just a few words before we start with the cooking procedure. Prawns are very delicate, so beware when you are deshelling them. Keep the head of the prawn intact, but wash it carefully. Marinade the prawns after washing with curd and garlic ginger paste for at least an hour.

Whole garam masala consists of green cardamon: 3 /4, cloves: 5, cinnamon: 1” piece

Preparation:

• Heat the ghee in an wok and add the whole garam masala, sauté for just a minute.
• Add the marinated prawns to the wok.
• Sauté the prawns for just a few minutes so that it becomes a bit stiff.

• Add the coconut milk, chilli powder, salt and turmeric powder.
• Cook till the gravy thickens.

Serve with rice and enjoy the delicious but easy to cook chingrir malaikari. Keep looking for more recipes here. Till then happy cooking and happy eating.

CHEERS ! ! !

Thanks to all my dear viewers for making my blog a success. It has crossed another hurdle , today I can proudly declare my blog to be among the 2000+ viewer blog group. It felt so great to see that 2006 hits when I logged in this evening. And hold on, my blog has attained this new feather in just 3 months.

So there should be a gala treat to all of you. Aah !!! Let me think what to treat you with……

Ok, may be with the delicious “Chingri macher malaikari”. So my post coming up will the Chingri macher malaikari (Prawn in delicious coconut gravy). So watch out for it.

Dum Alu

Writing after a long long time. These few days I was absolutely burdened and couldn’t even enter my kitchen with the right state of mind to cook something new. With all the calorie consciousness all of us have really started avoiding potatoes and as such any high calorie fruits and vegetables. But you know what at times you also need to give a break to the thinking procedure and pamper your taste buds.

The dum alu is all about pampering that secret emotion of yours, which is now almost covered with the weight of the calorie conscious thoughts.

I tried this out yesterday, and had it with paratha. But I felt that this would as good as a snack on an evening enjoying and partying with friends.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

Potato (Alu) : 1kg

Onions (Peyaj): 200gms

Garlic (Rasun): 10 /12 cloves

Ginger (Adaa): 10gms

Turmeric powder (Halud guro): 1 teaspoon

Chilli powder (Lanka guro): 2 teaspoons

Garlic-Ginger paste (Aada-Rasun bata): 2 teaspoons

Mustard oil(Sarser tel): 2 tablespoons

Sugar (Chini): 1/2 tespoon

Coriander leaves(Dhane pata) to garnish

Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Take the vinegar in a small bowl and add julienned ginger to it. Keep it aside for the ginger to soak.
• Boil the potatoes un-peeled with 1 teaspoon of salt, don’t over boil. Just boil them till the hardness goes off.
• Take them out, drain the water and peel off the skins. Cut the potatoes into halves if they are of medium size. You can also use the smaller potatoes, then don’t need to cut them into pieces.
• Julien the onions and keep it aside.
• Heat oil in a wok. Add the oinions, garlic cloves and saute’ till the onions start becoming golden brown.
• Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté till the fried smell comes out.
• Add turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt along with two cups of water.
• As steam starts coming out, add the boiled potatoes. Cook till the potatoes become soft. you can add water in the way if it gets too dry. Add the sugar and mix well.
• Take the potatoes and keep in a serving bowl.
• Garnish with the soaked ginger and chopped coriander leaves.

Instead of mustard oil you can also use vegetable or sunflower oil.Enjoy the DUM ALU with roti, paratha or just as a snack in a lazy evening with friends and family. Happy eating and happy cooking.

Patla Macher Jhol

The monsoon here, and the humidity rising. All those days when it doesn’t rain in those tropical areas, I presume it is absolutely painful to live. More so when it comes to have food. Living in the heart of Kolkata for a long, long time, I understand the feelings of those people now in the mid of June. In those humid weathers you don’t even feel like eating anything spicy and for those the ladies in the kitchen its painstaking to stand and cook for hours together.

So, here I am with a little recipe of my own to beat the heat in the kitchen as well as at the dining table. You can prepare this with any kind of fish that is fresh and is not stinking much. You can get the taste of it with any fleshy fish, better if it is fresh water fishes.

When I was young and used to go to school I would call this fish preparation as “Kara kari jhol”(Bengali for snatch it curry), because my mom used to cook it so well that it felt like the best thing in the world, and still it remains one of my favorite dishes.

Ingredients:

Fish (any fresh water fleshy fish): 200gms

Black cumin (Kalo Jeera): 1 teaspoon

Mustard oil (Sarser tel): 2 tablespoon

Turmeric powder (Halud Guro): 1 teaspoon

Green chilli (Kacha Lanka): 2 / 3 pieces

Salt to taste

Water

Preparation:

• De-scale and wash the fishes well, add ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder and 1 teaspoon of salt to the fish and mix them well.

• Heat oil in a wok and fry the fishes. Don’t over fry, Take them out of the flame just after little frying.

• Add black cumin to the oil in which you have fried the fishes. Add turmeric powder, green chilli, salt and 2 cups of water.

• Let it boil for 2 minutes, add the fried fishes and cook for some more time, till the water takes up the yellowish color.

• Serve with rice and enjoy this non-spicy fish preparation in the humid weather of this summer.

Addendum:

Those of you who still don’t care about that extra fat on your tummy can add two or three pieces of potato to the preparation also.

Cut the potato like those of French fries. Fry it and keep separately. Add the potato soon after you add water to the wok. When the potatoes are almost cooked add the fried fishes to it.

Bhindi South Indian Style

I just came back from home a few days ago, and when the daughter goes home after a long time, surely there are all kinds of dishes she likes and invitations from all relatives. So there was I going around from one relative’s place to the other satiating my tummy with all those wonderful dishes and collecting ideas to post on my blog.

Ingredients:

Ladies finger (Bhindi): 250gm

Onions (Peyaj): 4 medium size

Sambhar Masala: 2 teaspoons

Cumin powder (Jeera guro): 2 teaspoons

Turmeric powder(Halud guro): 2 pinch

Sunflower oil: 2 tablespoons

Salt to taste.

Preaparation:

• Cut the onions length wise into halves, one inches piece.

• Julienne the onions.

• Heat oil in a fry pan, when the oil is heated saute’ the onions.

• As the onion start getting brownish add the ladies finger and salt.

• Fry the ladies finger till it becomes dry.

• Add the spices , and fry for a minute.

• Serve at the evening table as snacks or you can serve it as a side dish at the dinner table.

Enjoy the great South Indian style ladies finger. Happy cooking and happy eating.

Khichudi

Khichudi, the name reminds me of those rainy days and rainy nights. Khichudi had always taken a special soft corner in my heart. Mom used to cook it whenever it started and rain means no going out and so everybody at home. The whole family waiting impatiently for the hot and yummy porridge to be served at the dining table. I especially remember one night. It was raining cats and dogs; mom was very ill that night and couldn’t even get up from bed. But we were all in full mood to enjoy khichudi. So what to do? The answer came from my dad, let’s prepare it ourselves. Hearing that my mom started screaming, here to mention at that time my dad was a terrible cook, though with the passage of time and because of his transferable job he has learnt a lot about cooking. Now let’s go back to that night. So here we were me and my dad in the kitchen preparing porridge. That night at last we had to call a nearby restaurant to deliver food, that porridge was absolutely burnt and had to throw away everything.

Days have passed, a lot has changed, but still I can’t separate monsoon rain and porridge. I have learnt to prepare it myself and so whenever it rains, you can smell khichudi in my kitchen. Oh! I missed out something. To make this delicacy something more special don’t you forget to fry those hilsa pieces or at least an omelet. This combination is just awesome.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Rice (Chal): 150 gm

Pulses (Massor dal): 150 gm

Turmeric powder (Halud Guro): 1 teaspoon

Chilli powder (Sukhno Lankar guro): 1 teaspoon

Onions (Peyaj): 3

Garlic (Rasun): 4 /6 cloves

Ginger paste (Aada Bata)

Panch Phoron: 1 teaspoon

Green chilli (Kacha Lanka): 2/3 pieces

Mustard oil (Sarser tel): 2 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Preparation:

So we are ready with the ingredients, now before we start just a few word. Cut one of the onions into half and the other two julienned. You can add some vegetables like potato , cauliflower (cut into small florets), carrot, peas, etc.

• Wash the rice and dal together.
• Take water in a handi and heat it just for 2 minutes.powder,
• Add the rice, dal, half cut onion, garlic cloves, vegetables, turmeric powder, chilli green chilli and salt.
• Now leave it and let it cook by itself.
• Add water whenever required.
• When the rice is almost cooked, heat oil in an wok and add the left out onions and panch phoron. Sauté it.
• Add this to the cooked rice.
• Then cook the rice for 2 minutes more and your porridge is ready to serve.

Khichudi with ladies finger fries
You can have it with any kind of fries, or even with chutney and papad (poppadam). There are some more ways to cook porridge, check out my following posts to find out how.

Tips: Porridge tends to become very dry, so before you take it out of the stove ensure that it has not become too dry and so leave out some water.

Thank you

Thank you all my visitors to this site for making my work a success. The blog is not even 2 months old and it has crossed that 1000 hits hurdle. This has given me a new zeal to work on new recipes and post those all for you.

So till my next post happy cooking and happy eating.

Kala Paturi

I had been writing about different dishes, fish, chicken , vegetables and everything but nothing about desserts. So thought of writing about a sweet for those who have that extra sweet tooth and even if you don’t have , I’m sure you’ll definitely like this one. This is a special sweet, typically Bengali, which you will never find in any shop throughout India I bet.

The sweet gets its name from the banana bowls it is served on, and if you don’t find any banana leaf to serve then just call it “Chhenar Sandesh“.

Ingredients:

Milk (Dudh) : 2 litres

Lemon (Lebu): 1

Caster sugar (Guro chini): 2 tablespoons

Raisins (kismis): 10 /15

Rose water (Golap jal): 2 taespoons

Banana leaves (Kala pata)

Preparation:

• Heat the milk in a pan, as it starts boiling pour in lemon juice or calcium lactate.
• The milk will form farmer’s cheese or chhena, drain out the water.
• Take the chhena in a plate and mash it well, and continue doing so till the surface becomes oily. You can feel with your fingertips that there are no lumps in it.
• Add the caster sugar and the rose water and mash again till it is well mixed.
• Make small round balls and add a raisin over each ball.
• Put the balls in small banana leaf bowls. You can also serve it without the bowls, those are only for decoration.

Serve at the dinner table and enjoy that great Bengali feeling, anywhere anytime. Happy cooking and happy eating.

Picture: Courtesy my Sis, PUPU

Macher Jhol

Fish had always been my love at the dining table. Fish of all types and fish of all kinds does always bring that extra smile to my face. This is the reason why I am just enjoying my stay here in Bengal. I feel that it is for all Bengalis wherever they are, fish is the best way to end the meal. My mom used to cook a very simple but the most delicious fish curry, when I used to go to school. I still like that fish curry. Here it is for all you readers. To tell you one simple trick to make this curry a bit more spicy, cook it with any kind of fresh fish brought from the market that same day.

Ingredients:

Fish (Maach): 4 pieces

Potato (Aalu): 2 , cut like finger chips

Onion (Peyaj): 1small, chopped finely

Turmeric powder (Halud guro): 1/2 teaspoon

Chilli powder (Sukno lankar guro): 1 teaspoon

Cumin powder (jira guro): 1 teaspoon

Mustard oil (Sarser tel): 2 tablespoons

Bay leaf (Tej pata): 2

Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Half fry the fish pieces, potatoes separately and keep aside.
• Take oil in a wok and sauté the onions, and the bay leaves.
• Add all the spices to the sautéd onions and fry a bit.
• Add 2 cups of water and to it add the fried potatoes.
• Cook the broth till it starts boiling and then add the fish pieces, take care so that those do not break.
• Cook till the potatoes get fully cooked.
• Serve with rice and enjoy eating.

I prepared this dish with Rohu (rui maach), you can do the same with any fleshy fish.

Panchmeshali Tarkari

Here I am at my father’s place and enjoying all kinds of Bengali dishes cooked by mom. She is preparing all kinds of dishes that I love. Tonight was as usual one of my favorite platters at the dinner table. It’s a mixed vegetable curry cooked in without any kind of spices and is a delight to have as a light dinner or as a breakfast side dish along with paratha or roti. So this one to all you people who loves to shed off that extra carbs.

Ingredients:

Ridge Gourd (Jhinga) : 50gms

Pumpkin (Kumro): 50gms

Radish (Mulo): 50gms

Potato (Aalu): 50gms

Sheem: 50gms

Brinjal (Begun): 50gms

Green chilli (Kacha Lanka): 2 / 3 pieces

Mustard oil (Sarser tel): 2 teaspoons

Wild celery (Radhuni): 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves (Dhone pata): for garnishing

Preparation:

• Slice the vegetables in 2 inch small slices.
• Take the oil in a wok and add the radhuni to it. Sauté for 30 seconds and add the sliced vegetables.
• As the oil gets mixed up with the vegetables, add water and salt.
• Boil the vegetables till they become soft. Add more water if required.
• Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.
• Serve with rice, roti, paratha.

You can add other vegetables like beans, gourd, etc. Happy cooking and happy eating till next time.

Morola Macher Chachori

Recently I visited my parents’ house and had that awesome treat with all kinds of fish one can think of. I’m writing one of those preparations today. You can prepare this with any cat fish like Tangra, Morola, and Kachki acoording to your wish. What my mom prepared was with Tangra.

Ingredients:

Tangra : 200gm

Onions (Peyaj): 4 medium sized, chopped

Potato (Aalu): 2 medium sized, cut like small longitudinal strips

Tomato: 2

Turmeric powder (Halud guro): 3 pinches

Chilli powder (Sukhno lankar guro): 1 teaspoon

Green chilli (Kacha lanka): 3 / 4

Mustard oil (Sarser tel): 2 tablespoons

Preparation:

• Take oil in a wok and heat it, fry the fish and keep aside.
• In that same wok sauté the onions.
• Add the fried potatoes and tomato, and fry it till the tomato softens.
• Add the turmeric powder, green chilli powder, water and salt.
• As the gravy starts to thicken add the fried fish to it.
• Cook for 2 to 3 minutes more, till the potatoes get cooked.
• Serve with rice.

Hilsa with Steam

Serves 4

With the first rain drop, the thing that comes to the mind of all Bengalis all over the world is Ilish. This salt water fish that comes to lay eggs in fresh water is a delicacy among all fish lovers. Today is a special recipe for this special fish. Though we call it Ilisher Bhaape, but the name I have given is from a seven-star hotel menu card, that makes you think what actually it is. The preparation is very simple and the whole cooking takes maximum 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

Hilsa (Ilish): 6 pieces

Mustard seed (sarse): 2 tablespoons

Poppy seed (posto): 2 tablespoons

Green chilli (kacha lanka): 6/7

Mustard oil (sarser tel): 3 tablespoon

Turmeric powder (Haluder guro): 3 piches

Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Make a paste of mustard and poppy seeds along with 2 /3 chillies.
• Wash the fish pieces well, take them in a shallow microwave bowl.
• Add salt, turmeric powder to the mustard and poppy paste.
• Mix the paste to the fish well and pour the oil over it, also add the remaining chillies.
• Microwave for 5 / 6 minutes at 800watts (microwave high), in between check whether the fish has become soft and the mustard smell is coming out or not.
• Serve hot with rice , and enjoy this great delicacy.

Chicken in chilli garlic sauce

Sometimes back I read about a chilli garlic crab preparation in a cook book. Thought of trying the same preparation but with chicken in place of crab. The experiment turned out to be a very spicy and yummy platter, so here it is sharing with you all.

Ingredients:

Chicken (murgi): 1kg

Red chilli powder (sukhno lankar guro): 3 teas-spoons full, mixed with water to make a paste

Garlic (rasun): 15 cloves , chopped well

Mustard oil (sarser tel): 2 table-spoons

Tomato: 3 small sized, 2 of them grinded to make a puree

Onions (peyaj): 1

Cornflour: 2 table-spoons

Vinegar: 1 table-spoons

Spring onions : 2 stalks, chopped

Eggs (dim): 2, beaten well

MSG (ajinamoto): 1/4 teaspoon (optional)

Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Take the chicken , one tomato, one peyaj (cut into half) and boil the whole in a deep pan with sufficient water such that the ingredients get covered with water.
• Take it out , when the chicken is half cooked. Keep the stock for later use.
• Heat oil in a wok and deep fry the half cooked chicken. Keep aside.
• Take some more oil and sauté the garlic for a minute. Add the tomato puree, chilli powder paste, and the stock and bring it to boil. When it starts boiling add salt.
• Take the cornflour in a boil and mix it with water. Add it to the boiling sauce, cook till it gets thickened.
• Now add the chicken along with vinegar , MSG and spring onions to the sauce and mix. Add the beaten egg in trickle and cook till the egg strands rise to top.

Your chicken in chilli garlic sauce is ready to serve , spicy and yummy. Serve hot. Enjoy cooking and happy eating.

Ful Kopir Tarkari

Serves: 4

Winter has gone away, but it has still left us with many vegetables to feel that dry cold winter afternoons. Cauliflower is one with which you can experiment out a lot many things. For today is the most simple one, I would be writing about the some more recipes with cauliflower in my following posts.

Ingredients:

Cauliflower (full kopi): 1 medium size

Potato (aalu): 2 pieces

Tomato: 1

Green chilli (kacha lanka): 3 / 4

Turmeric powder (haluder guro): ¼ tea-spoons

Chilli powder (sukhno lankar guro): 1 tea-spoon

Ginger paste (aada bata): 1 tea-spoon

Cumin seeds (gota jeera): 1 tea-spoon

Cumin powder (jeera guro): 1 ½ tea-spoon

Mustard oil (sarser tel): 2 table-spoons

Salt to taste

The Ingredients

Preparation:

• Cut the cauliflower in 1“ size florets and the potatoes also of the same size.
• Pour oil in a wok and fry the cauliflower and the potatoes separately. Keep aside.
• Add the cumin seeds to the heated oil and let it fry a bit.
• To it add the ginger paste and the tomato, cut into one-fourth.
• Take 2 table-spoons of water in a small bowl. Add the cumin, chilli and turmeric powder and make a smooth batter. Add this to the wok. Cook for 1 minute.
• When the gravy starts boiling add the fried cauliflower and potatoes.
• Cook till they become soft. In between add little water for the vegetables to cook well.
• Serve hot with rice, roti, paratha.




Platter ready to Serve

Potato Tibetan Style

Hi, had been writing about Bengali cuisine all these time, so just thought of changing your taste a bit. There was a Nepali cook at my place a long time ago; he used to cook the potato in Tibetan style.

Well I was in school then and this had been my lunch during the break for many a days. It tasted so good with roti or paratha. All my class mates used to run behind me to have a spoonful of the curry.

So here it goes for you all.

Ingredients:

Potato (aalu): 5 large ones, peeled and cut into dices of 1 inches size

Onion (peyaj): 1 finely chopped

Fenugreek powder (methi guro): ½ tea-spoons

Garlic (rasun): 2 cloves finely chopped

Ginger paste (aada bata): 1 tea-spoon

Turmeric powder (halud guro): ¼ tea-spoons

Tomato: 2 medium sized

Olive oil: 2 table-spoons

Green chilli (kacha lanka): 3

Preparation:

• Sauté the fenugreek seeds in a pan until they become golden brown.
• To it add the chilli, garlic, ginger paste, and onions. Fry till the onion wilts.
• Cut the tomato in quarters and add along with the turmeric powder. Fry for 1 or 2 minutes more.
• Add the whole sautéed masala in a blender and puree until it becomes smooth.
• Boil the potatoes and fry little.
• Add the puree and gently cook for a minute.
• Serve with roti or paratha or just have it over an evening chat.

Potato Tibetan Style
If you don’t want to add olive oil , then cook it with sunflower or mustard oil also. You can also add some coriander over it as a garnishing just before serving.

Happy cooking.

Sorry

Hello everybody ,

I had been busy with my profession  so couldn’t give much time to my hobby. I am sorry for my absence. Would be writing about a new recipe tomorrow.Till then please do bear with me.

Egg Curry

Hi.

I had been writing about chicken, fish and vegetables all these while. I think my eggetarian viewers will be angry with me. So this goes to all those who are in love with eggs “Sunday ho ya Monday, roj khaiye aande”. This was from the advertisement that used to be telecasted on DDI years ago.

The egg curry is a very simple one; anybody can cook it in no time, especially when you are thinking of what to cook for a lat e night dinner.

Ingredients:

Egg (dim): 4

Potato (aalu): 4 medium sized

Onion (peyaj): 2 medium sized

Turmeric powder (haluder guro): 1 tea-spoon

Chilli powder (sukhno lankar guro): 1 tea-spoon

Ginger garlic paste (aada rasun bata): 1 table-spoon

Garlic (rasun): 3 / 4 cloves

Mustard oil (sarser tel): 2 table spoon

Water: 2 cups

Salt to taste

Preparation:

• Cut the potatoes into halves.
• Boil the potato and the egg. Make the egg hard boiled.
• Heat the oil in a kadai. Fry the egg and potato separately till they become golden brown. Keep aside.
• Again take little oil, fry the onions. As they become golden brown, add the ginger garlic paste and the garlic cloves to it. Saute for a minute.
• Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt and water. Let it boil for a while.
• Add the fried eggs and potatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
• Serve with roti, paratha, or rice. Or just have it like that.

Those of you who don’t like potatoes can withhold the potatoes.

Do keep looking for some more egg preparations in the forth coming posts. Till then happy cooking and happy eating.

Aalur Malaikari

Serves 6

Thanks all for making my post in the 100 hits list of blogs. So lets have something special one this occasion. It goes to those potato lovers, who still don’t give a damn to the extra weight. For those who really do, you can sacrifice that for a day and try this out.

Ingredients:

Potato (aalu): 8 big ones

Onions (peyaj): 4 medium sized

Ginger paste (aada bata): 2 table-spoons

Garlic (rasun): 6 cloves

Curd (doi): 200ml

Coconut milk (narkeler dudh): 1 ½ cup

Garam masala (only Elaichi and cardamon)

Green chilli (kachaa lanka): 4

Turmeric powder (halud guro): 1 tea-spoon

Coriander leaves (dhone pata): for garnishing

Sunflower oil: 3 table-spoons

Preparation:

• Cut the potatoes in halves and boil them without peeling. Ones they soften take them out and peel them off. Keep aside.
• Heat the oil in kadai. Add the elaichi and cardamom, sauté for a minute.
• Add the onions, garlic, and ginger paste. Fry till the onions become golden brown.
• Add the boiled potatoes and fry. Add salt and turmeric powder. You can avoid turmeric if you don’t want to make the curry colored.
• When the potatoes become half fried add the whipped curd and cook for 2/3 minutes.
• Add coconut milk and leave it for the gravy to become bit dry.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with roti, luchi, parota, or the all time Bengal favorite rice.

If you don’t want to make it vegetarian , i.e, without onions, then just avoid oinions and garlic.

Badha Kopir Tarkari

Serves: 4

Its Monday today, most of the houses prefer to vegetarian food, no difference at my place too. So cooked cabbage today and of course Bengali style. My maternal gets a credit for this, she cooks this dish, just too well. I have never tasted somebody cook better badha kopir tarkari than her.

There are lots of option to make it spicier and tastier, I will start with the basic requirements and eventually add the addendums.

Ingredients:

Cabbage (Bandha Kopi): 1 medium sized

Ginger paste (Aada bata): 2 table spoons

Potatoes (aalu) : 2/3, diced to make 4 pieces out of each

Tomato: 1 big

Turmeric powder (Haluder guro): 1 tea-spoon

Cumin powder (Jeera guro): 1 table-spoon

Chilli powder (Sukhno lankar guro): 1 ½ tea-spoon

Green chilli (kacha lanka): 2

Sugar (Chini): 1 tea-spoon

Bay leaves (tej pata): 2

Garam masala: ½ tea-spoons

Mustard oil(Sarser tel): 3 table-spoons

Optional items:-

Peas (matorsuti): ½ cup

Macher matha: 1

Preparation:

• Boil the cabbage till it become soft. Drain out the excess water and keep the cabbage aside.
• Heat oil in a kadai, fry the diced potatoes and keep apart.
• Heat oil in the kadai , and add the ginger paste, bay leaf, tomato and just sauté.
• Add the cabbage and the potatoes and just let it cook by itself. Put a lid over the kadai for faster cooking.
• Check after 5/6 minutes whether the potatoes have softened, if not then add little water.
• Cook in simmering flame and turn it around after regular intervals so that it doesn’t stick to the base of the kadai.
• You can add the peas and let the whole curry to dry as much as possible without letting it to stick to the bottom.
• If you want to add something non-veg to it then go ahead. Fry the smashed fish head and add it to the cabbage and let it cook.
• When it becomes almost dry, add little garam masala and serve hot with rice or roti.

Badha Kopir tarkari

Enjoy your meal, happy cooking.

Chicken Manpasand

This is a new style of chicken I cooked a few days ago. It was absolutely experimental, but it turned out to be good. So posting it in this blog.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Chicken (murgi): 1kg

Onions (peyaj): 5 medium sized ones

Tomato: 2 medium sized

Potato (aalu): 4 pieces

Mustard oil (sarser tel): 4 tablespoon

Ginger garlic paste (aada-rasun baata): 2 tea-spoons

Garlic (rasun): 4/5 cubes

Turmeric powder (haluder guro): 1 tea-spoon

Chilli powder (sukno lankar guro): 2 tea-spoons

Kasuri methi: 2 tea-spoons

Salt to taste

Preparation:

· Wash the chicken well. Take chicken, two onion cut into halves, tomatoes, 1 tea-spoon of ginger and garlic, and water to cover the chicken in a deep bowl. Boil the chicken; keep aside the boiled chicken and onions. Keep the chicken stock apart.

· In a kadai, pour the mustard oil and heat it. Add the diced potatoes and fry. Keep the potatoes aside after they become golden brown.

· Add diced onions in the oil and fry for 1 or 2 mins. Add garlic ginger paste and the garlic cubes and fry one more minute. To the fried spice add chicken and the boiled onions. Add the stock along with the turmeric and chilli powder. Cook for 7 minutes with a lid over the kadai. Add the fried potatoes.

· Check if the chicken has softened, add more stock if required.

· Add crushed kasuri methi and cook for 1 minute.

· Serve hot with rice, roti , paratha.