Tomato Chatni

We’ve moved to own domain name – bengalicuisine.net. You can follow me on Twitter, visit my Flickr photostream.

It seems as if without a bowl of chatni Bengali platter is never complete. The little bowl of chatni at the end of any meal brings a fulfillment to the meal. Chatni, for those who are not so aware of this word, is a sweet serving prepared of tomato, ripe mango, pineapple, or for that matter any sour fruits and even dry fruits. Chatni is prepared in various styles in all Bengali households. The preparation also depends on the season; tomato for winter, ripe mango for the summers, or any seasonal fruits during its time. The main ingredient though a fruit it is often accompanied with sugar or jaggery for enhancing the sweetness of the dish.
The last time when I went home, mom gave me a whole jar of jaggery. I had completely forgotten about it, last night I was cleaning up the kitchen when I found this jar, and the first thing that came to mind was having it with milk and rice. I was thinking of what else to do with that, when I saw the tomatoes. The answer to my question was instantaneous; chatni is the best option.
I prepared it this way; you can prepare it in any way possible. I will try to post some other types of chatni on my following posts. The combination of jaggery and dry chili helps in increasing its shelf life to almost two days without refrigeration.
For this chatni the only spice used is panch phoron. Panch phoron, as the name suggests is a combination of five different spices; “panch”, meaning five and “phoron” is spice. Nigella, cumin, fenugreek, fennel, and mustard mixed in same proportions are used for preparing panch phoron. This combination of spices is an earmark of Bengali cuisine. It is  used in preparations like Khichudi and vegetarian dishes .

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Tomato: 6 medium sizes
Palm Jaggery (Taler gur): 2 tablespoon
Bay leaf (Tej pata): 2
Dried chili (Sukhno Lanka): 2
Cashew nuts (Kaju): 5 or 6, cut into small pieces
Mustard Oil (Sarser Tel): 1 teaspoon
Panch Phoron: ½ teaspoon

Preparation:

• Cut the tomatoes into quarters
• Heat oil in a wok, as it gets heated throw in the panch phoron and bay leaves
• When the panch phoron starts popping put in the tomatoes and red chilies along with the jaggery
• Add little salt and stir the tomatoes well, partly mashing them
• Let the tomatoes be cooked in low flame
• As the tomatoes softens pour in the cashew nuts and take out of flame

Tips: Do not add water for the tomatoes to cook, this will make the chatni taste watery, and that doesn’t feel good.

Check for more updates from my kitchen, till then Happy Cooking and Happy Eating

Sending this to SWC-Meals on Wheels hosted by Lakshmi.

You can also Subscribe to BengaliCuisine by Email, or Subscribe in a reader

Egg Tomato

We’ve moved to own domain name – bengalicuisine.net. You can follow me on Twitter, visit my Flickr photostream.

Egg is always that easy to make and ready to serve recipe in all households I presume. The advertisement that used to be telecasted in DD National when I was young “SUNDAY HO YAA MONDAY ROJ KHAIYE AANDE” that was lovely. I loved that one very much. From school tiffin, to a side dish for the dinner table egg is always in the menu. So this time thought of tasting the egg in a different way. Here’s the recipe for you all.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Eggs (Dim): 4

Potato (Aalu): 2 medium sizes

Onion (Peyaj): 1 large

Garlic (Rasun):  5 to 6 cloves

Ginger garlic paste (Aada rasun bata): ½ tablespoons

Turmeric powder (Halud guro): ½ teaspoons

Chilli powder (Sukhno lankar guro): 1 teaspoon

Tomato sauce: 1 tablespoon

Garam Masala: ½ teaspoon

Preparation:

• Cut the potato in large square pieces and the onions also.
• Boil the egg and potato together.
• De-shell the eggs and cut into halves
• Heat oil in a wok and fry the potatoes and eggs separately. While frying the eggs do not toss them hard else the yolk will come out.

Fried eggs

• Heat oil in the wok, sauté the onions.
• Throw in the garlic and again sauté for a minute or two.
• As the onions turn golden brown add the ginger garlic paste, tomato sauce, turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt, water and cook till the gravy thickens.
• Add the potatoes and put in some more water if required.
• Add the eggs and toss lightly.
• Sprinkle the garam masala and cook for a minute with a lid to retain the smell of it.

Ready to serve Egg Tomato

Rice and egg tomato

Serve with rice, roti, or paratha. Catch you soon, till then happy eating and happy cooking.

As a large egg contains alomost 43 miligrams of Calcium, I can’t stop but to send this post to Sangeeth

Eat Healthy – CALCIUM Rich Contest .

A little update, I received another award from Priti, so thank you Priti and have passed on to my blogging friends , congrats to all of you. Check my awards page for more details.

You can also Subscribe to BengaliCuisine by Email, or Subscribe in a reader

Dim Lalbahari

After coming back home tonight, I found there was actually no vegetables left. The only thing that I found in my kitchen was two tomatoes, some onions, garlic and of course there was my all time ready stock of eggs. Putting on my apron, I was ready to prepare something really rich and spicy, because the last few days I was only eating blunt non-spicy food and my taste buds were all expecting something to get aroused.

The cooking time was short. Cooked some rice, and served the dinner at the dining table. My little experiment with the left out morsels turned out to be delicacy. Tasty, spicy and easy to cook, the best one can ask after a whole day’s work. The current gone once again for the second time after I reached home, Enrique singing in my laptop, the candle light at the dinner table and the hot food: all added to excellent milieu of tonight’s dinner. I would just love to have it once more.

The recipe here’s for all of you.

Serves: 2

Cooking Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Egg (Dim): 4

Tomato: 2

Onion (Peyaj): 2

Garlic (Rasun): 4 / 6 cloves

Ginger- garlic paste (Aada-Rasun bata): 1½ teaspoons

Turmeric powder (Halud guro): 1 teaspoon

Chili powder (Shukhno Lankar guro): ½ teaspoon

Garam Masala: ½ teaspoon

Sunflower oil (Tel): 2 tablespoons

Salt to taste

The ingredients

Preparation:

• Chop the onions and tomato into small pieces.
• Beat the eggs in a bowl; just add ½ teaspoon salt with it.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok.
• As the oil gets fully heated add the beaten eggs and fry to make a big omelet.
• Set the omelet on a dish and cut it into four halves or you may cut it in your own way.
• Add the left out oil on the wok and heat.
• Add the onion and garlic cloves as the oil gets heated. Sauté until the onions soften.
• Add the ginger-garlic paste.
• Throw in the tomatoes; add all spices along with salt.
• Pour little water if it becomes too dry.
• As the gravy starts becoming thicker add the fried pieces of eggs and toggle them in the gravy.
• Serve hot with rice, chapathi or roti.

Am sure you’ll enjoy cooking it and of course having it. Catch on for the other recipes. Till then happy cooking and happy eating.

Ready to serve Dim Lalbahari