Chingri maacher jhaal

It was very difficult for me to write this post. I mean how can Ii not salivate while writing? How can I not stop writing and go whip up some prawns? But it is work and it has to be done.
So in Bangla the word “jhaal” generally refers to a mustard based gravy. “Jhaal” also means hot and spicy. In this dish i have used mustard along with poppy seeds and coconut. And these three make an awesome combination. I also use the same masala with potatoes and it also turns out lip smackingly good. Also add lots of green chillies. And you have both kinds of “jhaal”.
I have used the larger variety of prawns. You can use any you can lay your hands on. Now about mustard. Do use yellow mustard seeds as the black seeds are more pungent. Cooking in mustard oil also imparts a certain unique flavour. Moreover it has been established that mustard oil is healthier option.


Ingredients

250 gms prawns tossed in some salt and turmeric
½ cup grated coconut
3 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
2 tbsp khus khus
5 green chillies
¼ tsp kalo jeere/kalonji/nigella seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
A pinch of sugar
½ cup mustard oil


Toss the prawns in salt and turmeric for about 15 minutes. Soak the coconut, mustard and khus khus in lukewarm water for some time. Now add a pinch of salt and the green chillies into it and grind into a smooth paste. Heat the mustard oil to smoking point. Add the prawns and sauté for a minute. Drain the prawns and keep aside. Add the kalonji in the same oil. Once it starts spluttering add the coconut paste and cook on low heat. Add the salt, sugar and turmeric and cook till the oil starts to separate. Add the prawns, fry for a minute and add ½ cup of water. Once it comes to a boil, lower the flame and simmer till done. The gravy will thicken. Garnish with some coriander leaves.

Murg Pasanda

Another chicken dish! I am sure one day I will run out of chicken recipes. But until that day somes let me carry on!
One amazing ingredient in cooking non vegetarian food is Barista. No not the Cafe Coffee Day type. Barista is sliced onions fried golden brown. Just add crushed barista to any dish and se the change in color, flavour and texture. Now you can easily get golden fried onions in bulk packets in supermarkets. And not just one kind. You get fried white onions, fried pink onions, desiccated onions and much more. Who says consumerism is bad.
You can plan this recipe a day prior, keep the marinated chicken in the fridge overnight and cook just before serving. Easy peasy!


Ingredients

1 chicken, cut into pieces
½ cup hung curd
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
2 tbsp chicken masala powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
 2 tomatoes, pureed
2 green chillies, slit
2 large onions, sliced fine
Salt to taste

Deep fry the sliced onions till they are golden brown. This is your barista, now keep this aside. You can also keep it in an airtight container in the fridge.
Marinate the chicken in hung curd, turmeric powder, chicken masala powder, red chilli powder and salt. Keep it at least 2-3 hours or even overnight.
Heat some oil. Add the ginger and garlic paste. Fry for a minute. Add the tomato puree and cook till the oil separates. Now add the marinated chicken adn cook on high heat for 5 minutes. Crush the barista and add to the chicken. Fry for a minute or two. Now add a cup of water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer till cooked.
Your murg  pasanda is ready.

Paneer Jalfreize

Paneer Jalfreize is a very common restaurant dish. You pick up any menu inn any hotel and 99% chances are that you will find it under the vegetarian fare. Basically it is a very simple dish. The real beauty lies in the interplay of colors of the bell peppers. I, unfortunately, could not lay my hands on red and yellow bell peppers and had to make do with green capsicums. You must try and get as many colors as possible on the palette.


Ingredients

250 gms paneer, cut into long fingers
1 capsicum, cut lengthwise
1 yellow bell pepper, cut lengthwise
1 red bell pepper, cut lengthwise
1” ginger, cut into juliennes
1 large onion, sliced
2 tomatoes, boiled and pureed
3 tbsp ready made tomato puree
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 dry red chillies
1 tbsp coriander powder
½ tbsp cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp kashmiri mirch powder
Salt to taste


Heat some oil. Add the cumin seeds and dry red chillies. Once the seeds start spluttering add the ginger juliennes. Now add the sliced onion and cook till translucent. Add the pureed tomato and ready made tomato puree and cook till oil starts leaving the sides. Now add all the dry masalas and sprinkle some water. Cook till the masalas are done.
Toss the sliced capsicum and bell peppers and cook for 2 minutes. You don’t want to overcook as you want the veggies to have the crunch. Now add the paneer and half a cup of water. Check the seasoning. Cook on high flame so that the water is quickly absorbed. The aim is not to cook the bell peppers and yet coat the paneer pieces with masala. You can garnish with chopped green coriander.

Masala Soya Chaap

I am a hardcore non vegetarian. During parties and marriages I always steer clear of any vegetarian dish. However I had to go to a friend’s wedding in Meerut and there I had the most awesomest vegetarian dishes. Two have remained in my memory since. One was a grape sabzi and the other was soya chaap. The soya chaap, when cooked properly, looks and tastes exactly like non veg. now I get hold of these frozen chaaps whenever I can and make them.


Ingredients

5 frozen soya chaap
1 bay leaf
2 green cardamoms
1” dalchini
2 onions, cut
2 tomatoes, cut
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
10 cashews, soaked and made into a paste
½ cup milk
Salt to taste

First defrost the soya chaaps. If you are running short on time you can boil them. Heat some oil in a pan and saute the chaaptill they are evenly browned. Keep aside.
Boil the cut onions and tomatoes for 10 minutes and make a puree.
Heat some ghee and add bay leaf, green cardamom and cinnamon. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute. Add onion and tomato puree and cook till the oil separates. Add all the dry masalas and cook. Add the cashew paste and saute. Add the chaap and salt and stir gently so that the chaap is well covered in the masala. Add ½ cup of water and bring to a boil. Now add the milk, cover and cook till oil floats to the surface.

Sorse Posto Chingri

It is prawn time again.
One thing I have learnt from my little culinary journey around the country is that we are most comfortable with the palette we are born with. Since childhood we are brought up on a certain style of cooking. Sure we love to try out different cuisines but then we always come back to the food from our childhood. Also i am sure genetics has a large part to play in this scheme of things. A South Indian might try out chole bhature and hakka noodles but he always finds solace in his regional food. A Bengali, likewise. Might enjoy idli and dosa a lot but will always crave for “maach bhaat”.
On our recent trip to Goa we gorged on Prawns and se fish. Totally loved the vindaloos and prawn masala fry. But finally my heart yearned for a typical Bengali preparation of prawns with mustard and poppy seeds. The thing about Bengali cuisine is that we use powdered masalas very sparingly. We let the food do the talking. The natural essence and flavour of the food is allowed to shine through instead of being swamped under lots of dhani, jeera and garam masala. In this dish too the main taste is of the fresh prawns supplemented by the mustard and poppy seeds. No other masalas.

Ingredients

250 gms prawns
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric powder
5 tbsp yellow mustard
3 tbsp khus khus/poppy seeds
3 green chillies, slit
½ tsp kalonji
½ tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric powder
Pinch of sugar
½ cup mustard oil

Marinate the prawns in the salt and turmeric powder for some time. Soak the mustard and poppy seeds in hot water for half an hour. Grind it to a paste along with some salt.
Heat the oil. Sauté the prawns and keep aside. In the same oil ad the kalonji and green chillies. Add the mustard paste, salt and turmeric powder. Cook on low flame till the oil separates. Add a cup of water and bring to a boil. Add the prawns and sugar, cover and cook till the oil floats on top.

Sorse Chingri /Prawns in Mustard sauce

What is the height of your fish obsession? Mine is a bit funny and weird. Staying at 11,000 feet it is very difficult to get hold of fish. Even if I am able to get some it is mostly “rahu”. For a Bengali those ice packed days old rahu is merely pedestrian fare.
Although Delhi is just 50 minutes away by flight yet it seems like a different universe. Home reminds me of all the delectable fish dishes prepared regularly. My mom keeps the fridge stocked with at least five different varieties of fish which keep getting changed every ten days or so. When she came over to visit me I pestered her into getting at least five kilograms of fish. Those were the best two weeks I had relishing fish after such a long time. Then again came a season of fishless drought.
So when I went home for a week to celebrate Durga Pooja my main objective was to get some fish again. I brought back 7 kgs of fish and I had to ditch most of my clothes at home so that I don’t have to pay for excess baggage. My friends laughed at me. I relished the yummy fish. Bengali genes, you see!!!
This is one of the dishes I prepared from that cache !!


Ingredients

250 gms prawns, cleaned and marinated in salt and turmeric
5 tbsp yellow mustard
1 large tomato
A pinch of salt
2 green chillies, slit
½ tsp kalonji/Nigella seeds
½ tsp turmeric powder
Pinch of sugar
Salt to taste
¼ cup mustard oil

Soak the mustard seeds in warm water for half n hour. cut the tomato in four large pieces. Make a paste of mustard seeds and tomato adding a pinch of salt while grinding.
Heat mustard oil to smoking point. Lower heat and add the prawns. Saute for a few minutes and take them out. Add slit green chillies and kalonji to the same oil. Add the mustad seeds paste, salt, sugar and turmeric powder. Cook on low heat till the oil starts leaving the sides. Add a cup of water and bring to a boil. Add the prawns, cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Paneer Taka-tak

Amritsar is known as the food capital of the north. And rightly so! Apart from the famous Golden Temple and Jalianwala Bag the streets of Amritsar are teeming with all kinds of food. There are food items that carry the name with them..Amritsarimachli, Amritsari naan!! What can be a greater testament of the food legacy of a place?
I really liked this paneer recipe when I first heard about it. You first marinate and grill the paneer slab. Then you add it to the gravy. There are two layers of flavour here. I simply had to try it out.


Ingredients

½ kg paneer slab

Marinate in 
1 cup hung curd
3 green cardamoms
5 cloves
1 tsp ajwain
¼ ysp cinnamon powder
1 tsp chaat masala
Seeds of 1 black cardamom
1/2 tsp salt
½ tsp turmeric powder

For the gravy
2 onions, sliced fine
2 tomatoes, sliced fine
1” ginger, grated
2 green chilies, slit
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
 1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

Make the marinade first. Grind together green cardamoms, cloves, seeds of black cardamom. Add to the cinnamon powder, chat masala, ajwain, salt, turmeric and hung curd. Apply to the paneer slab well on both sides. Keep aside for an hour. Then heat a pan and add some ghee. Fry the paneer slab on both sides till golden brown. Cut into pieces.

Heat some oil. Add the green chillies and cumin seeds. Add the grated ginger. Now add the sliced onions and cook till translucent. Add the tomato slices and cook some more. Now add the tomato puree and all the dry masalas. Cook till oil starts leaving the sides. Add a cup of water and bring to a boil. Add the paneer pieces and cook till the gravy thickens.

Malai Masala Murg

I recently read a post on vegetarianism versus no vegetarianism. Vegetarians say that if all the slaughterhouses were made of glass the whole world would be vegetarian. And this recent post said that if all the vegetarians had to wash off fresh manure off their vegetables they would turn non vegetarian.
I am a die hard non vegetarian but even I agree that if I saw an animal being slaughtered I wouldn’t be able to eat it. And the debate rages on!! I, personally believe that it is a matter of personal choice. After all the food chain has to be kept intact. You can’t blame the lion or the tiger for killing the beautiful, doe eyed deer. Similarly humans also eat animal meat. You can’t change that. The mature thing is to not be judgemental regarding food habits of half the people on this planet.
This recipe is sort of a fusion dish. It has the Indian masalas and also uses cornflour for thickening which is more commonly used in continental cuisine.


Ingredients

1 kg chicken
3 onions, chopped
2 green chillies, slit
1 cup cream
2 cups milk
1 tbsp cornflour+2 tbsp milk
3 tbspkasurimethi

For the dry masala
1 tbsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp black pepper
2 cloves
1” cinnamon


Dry roast the masala and grind to a smooth powder. Heat some oil. Add the green chillies and onions. Saute till the onions are translucent. Add the dry masala and kasurimethi and cook for 2 minutes. Now add the chicken and bhuno for 5-7 minutes. Add the cream, milk and salt. Simmer until the chicken is cooked. Mix the cornflour and milk and add to the chicken. Cook for a few minutes till the gravy thickens.