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.

Chicken 65

Now why is this dish called Chicken 65? We are not using 65 spices here! And I can not think of any other explanation. Whatever the reson be the one who created the dish had the right idea. An intriguing name to catch your attention and an amazing taste to keep you hooked to the dish. Now we also have paneer 65, gobi 65, aloo 65. Why shouldn’t vegetarians have some fun??
The two distinctive points of the 65 is that one it is very soft and succulent and second that it is hot and spicy. The soft part you get by marinating the chicken pieces for a long time. I personally like marinating it overnight so that the chicken gets infused with all the flavours. The hot and spicy part comes from the use of chillies. Now this you can adjust according to your taste. I have had chicken 65 in restaurants that have made my eyes water and had steam coming out of my ears.


Ingredients 

½ kg boneless chicken, cut into small portions

Marinate the chicken in :
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp cumin powder
½ tsp garam masala
Juice of ½ lemon
2 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp cornflour
Few drops red food color
Salt to taste
1 egg, beaten

For tempering
1 onion, chopped fine
6 garlic pods, chopped fine
6 green chillies, chopped fine
1 sprig curry leaves

Sauce mix
½ tsp soya sauce
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
¼ tsp vinegar

Marinate the chicken for at least 3 hours. I do it overnight.
Deep fry the chicken pieces.
Heat some oil. Add the curry leaves, green chillies, garlic and onion and cook on high flame. Mix the soya sauces, ketchup and vinegar in ½ cup of water and add to the pan. Toss the chicken pieces in it and cook on high flame till the mix becomes dry. 

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.

Pepper Garlic Prawns

There are times when I get tired of planning the day’s meal everyday. Thinking up three meals a day gets so boring. So at times when hubby dear is away for a day or two I feel a sense of relief. Sonny boy and I can do with shortcuts. He will be ever too happy to have Maggi the whole day. But then that is a big no-no in the house. No fast food, no ramen noodles. The quickest thing to cook is a fish. Takes very less time to prepare it.
So today again hubby is having lunch outside. And i am making this hot pepper garlic prawns to be accompanied by steaming rice. That is it. Prawns, for me, is soul food. On a recent trip to Goa we hogged on prawns. You visit a coastal region and have chicken...that is blasphemy!! And for  a Bengali fish is fruit of the sea. And you can have as much fruit as you want.
This recipe is ridiculously simple. Just a handful of ingredients and a total cooking time of 10 minutes. And you are done!


Ingredients

10-12 prawns
4 tbsp chopped garlic
2 green chillies, chopped
1 tbsp butter
½ tsp pepper powder
Salt to taste
1 tsp chicken masala
1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder

Apply some salt an turmeric powder to the prawns and keep aside for some time.
Heat the butter. Add the chopped garlic and chilli. Add the prawns, pepper powder, salt, kashmiri chilli powder and chicken masala. Sauté for a few minutes. Cover and cook for 5-6 minutes. Your prawns are done.

Chicken Chettinad

A South Indian preparation that uses coconut and poppy seeds among other things. I have used this coconut-poppy seeds combination for fish and prawns also and i have always loved it. Dry roasting spices and grinding them for any dish makes it tastier. Nowadays we get all kinds of masalas easily. However I remember my grandmother soaking the basic spices and grinding them on a mortar pestle for everyday cooking. The way that food used to taste cannot be brought about by readymade masala. So whenever I get a chance to make my own masala I feel nostalgic.


Ingredients

1 chicken
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice

For the Chettinad masala
4 tbsp poppy seeds
½ coconut grated
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
5 dry red chillies
2 green cardamoms
1” cinnamon
2 cloves

For the gravy
3 onions, pureed
2 tomatoes, pureed
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
Salt to taste
6 curry leaves

Marinate the chicken in salt and lemon juice for an hour. Dry roast the ingredients for the Chettinad masala. Dry grind them to a fine powder.
Heat some oil. Add the curry leaves. Add the ginger garlic paste and sauté. Add the pureed onions and tomatoes and cook till the mix starts drying. Add the Chettinad masala, turmeric powder, kashmiri red chilli powder and salt. Fry till the oil starts separating. Add the chicken pieces and fry on high flame for 10 minutes. Add a cup of water and bring to a boil. Cover and cook till done. Garnish with some grated coconut.

Makhmali Butter Chicken

I have to keep living up to my son’s expectations. He loves to eat and he loves anything to do with chicken. If you look at my blog I have scores of chicken recipes. And every day I find some new and interesting one to try out. I have taken this recipe from the website guardian.co.uk. Butter chicken has crossed the seas to become one of the favourite Indian recipes in the UK. It seems to have captured the Western palette.
The basic butter chicken is made in a tomato based gravy. Here the tomato puree has other elements added to it.


Ingredients

1 kg chicken

For the marinade
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
½ cup yogurt
Salt to taste
Few drops lemon juice

For the gravy
5 ripe, red tomatoes
1” ginger, crushed
5 garlic pods, crushed
6 cashews, soaked in warm water
6 almonds, soaked in warm water
4 green chillies, slit
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli powder
2 tbsp kasuri methi, crushed
1 cup ready made tomato puree
1 tbps ginger juliennes
4 tbsp butter

1 cup cream

Marinate the chicken overnight. If you are short on time then marinate for at least 2-3 hours. Grill them at 200 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. If you don’t have a grill/oven then pan fry them in a pan on high heat.
Make slits on the tomatoes and put them to boil. After 10 minutes add the crushed ginger, crushed garlic, soaked almonds and cashews, green chilli, turmeric powder, kashmiri chilli powder, kasuri methi. Boil for another 10 minutes. Drain the water and puree the tomato mix.
Heat the 4 tbsp butter in a pan. Add the pureed tomato mix. Keep cooking on low flame till it starts drying up. Now add the ready made tomato puree and ginger juliennes. Cook till oil starts leaving the sides. Add the chicken and a cup of water. Cook for 10 minutes. Add the cream and simmer for a few minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Lagan ka Murg

Lagan ka Murg is a Hyderabadi dish cooked in a cooking vessel called a “lagan”. It is wide, thick walled and has a slightly curved thick bottom. It is easily available in Hyderabad, ofcourse but I am not too sure if one can find it in different parts of the country. In case you do not have a lagan you can cook it in a heavy bottomed pan. I had this thick bottomed milk pan and I decided to cook the lagan in that.
I had marinated the chicken and kept it overnight. I find that doing this enhances the flavour of the chicken tremendously. The chicken is then slow cooked in the lagan in a mix of homemade spices. I am not claiming that this is an authentic lagan ka murg recipe. I have tweaked it to suit my availability of material and to my personal taste.


Ingredients

1 chicken, cut into pieces
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
Salt to taste

For the spice mix
¼  kopra, grated
2 tbsp poppy seeds
½ cup cashews
2 green cardamoms
1” cinnamon
3 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp caraway seeds/shah jeera seeds
4 dry red chillies

For the gravy
3 onions, sliced fine
1 cup ready made tomato puree
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
4 green chillies, chopped
1 tbsp kashmiri red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
½ cup yogurt
Chopped coriander leaves and julienned ginger to garnish
Marinate the chicken in salt and ginger garlic paste and keep overnight.

Dry roast the ingredients of the spice mix. Grind them to a powder without any water.
Heat some ghee. Add the ginger garlic paste and chopped green chillies. Sauté. Add the sliced onions and cook till the onions become soft and translucent. Now add the ready made tomato puree, spice mix, kashmiri chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Cook till the mix starts drying up. Add the yogurt and cook till the oil starts leaving the sides. Now add the chicken pieces and sauté on high flame for 5 minutes. Add a cup of water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer till the chicken is done. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and julienned ginger.

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.

Peshawari Chicken Kabab

Sitting in -20 degrees in Leh gets to be a bit boring at times. You can not go out much because of the bone chilling cold.

You are stuck within the four walls and there is just so much television you can watch and just so many books you can read. The best way to ward off the boredom is to keep yourself busy. I do so by cooking.

In extreme winters all the mountain passes get blocked basically cutting off all supply from the flatlands. People here have to survive on dry rations. The locals start stocking up on dried turnips, apricots, carrots, etc from the month of November. What we do have in ample is chicken. The aircrafts bring in loads of frozen chicken and that is what sustains us for these four months.

So it is the time to experiment everyday with new dishes. Many are major flops and few turn out really well!!

Ingredients

600 gms chicken mince

1 tbsp ginger, coarsely pounded

1 tbsp garlic, coarsely pounded

2 large onions, chopped fine

2 large tomatoes, chopped fine

4 green chillies, chopped fine

1 egg

1 tsp black pepper, pounded

1 tbsp roasted cumin, pounded

1 tbsp roasted coriander, pounded

2 dry red chillies, pounded

4-5 tbsp besan, for binding

Green coriander, chopped

Salt to taste

½ tsp amchur/chat masala

Keep the chopped tomatoes aside. Mix the rest of the ingredients. We have not included the tomatoes now because it will release water and the mixture will become soupy.

Keep aside for 2-3 hours. You have to add the tomatoes just prior to frying the kababs. Add the tomatoes and mix well. Make small, round patties. Shallow fry.

Spicy Chicken Curry

Spicy Chicken Curry

Chicken is a versatile dish. You can make it with vegetables, spinach, kasuri methi, pulses, and so on and so forth. 

For me it is a good medium to make my kid eat all these things camouflaged amongst the chicken. He is such a brat that for him no meal is complete without chicken. And my Labrador is the same. He is also a chicken fellow. So both my kids are hard core non vegetarians and I, the poor mom, has to come up with interesting recipes.

This spicy chicken curry has very basic ingredients. The spiciness comes from dry red chillies and the tanginess comes from a whole pack of tomato puree. I love eating it with hot steaming rice. However it tastes good with roti and paratha too.

Ingredients

1 chicken, cut into pieces

1 cup hung curd

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

For the gravy

3 green cardamoms

1” cinnamon

1 bay leaf

1 tsp black peppercorns

7-8 dry red chillies

4 onions, cubed

4 tomatoes, cubed

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp red chilli powder

2 tbsp coriander powder

 1 tbsp cumin powder

Salt to taste

1 cup milk

1 cup cashews, soaked

Marinate the chicken with hung curd, ginger garlic paste and salt for half an hour.

Make a paste of the cashews.

Put the cubed onions and tomatoes to boil for 10 minutes. Skin the tomatoes and make a puree of the onions and tomatoes.

Heat some oil. Add the green cardamoms, bay leaf, cinnamon, pepper and red chillies. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry. 

Add the onion-tomato puree and cook. 

Add the tomato puree, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and salt. 

Cook till the oil starts leaving the sides. 

Add the cashew paste and cook for five minutes. 

Now add the chicken pieces and saute on high heat for 7 minutes. 

Add the milk gradually and bring to a boil. Now lower heat and cook till the chicken is done. 

If the chicken seems too dry you can add some water.

Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori Chicken

One Indian dish that is famous all over the world is Tandoori Chicken. You can ask a person of any nationality and 95% chances are that he will be able to identify this dish. 

And why not? It is undoubtedly one of the best Punjabi dishes. Marinated in curd and spices and smoked in a tandoor, the chicken is cooked in its own juice. The charcoal adds to the flavour. 

Whenever you visit any market it is a very common sight to see marinated chicken hanging on a skewer. Just pick a piece and the cook pops it into a hot tandoor and about 15-20 minutes later you have a platter of red and smoky tandoori chicken, with chaat masala sprinkled on it, onion roundels and a big slice of lemon.

Ohh slurp!!!

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, wshed and cleaned

1 cup hung curd

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp lemon juice

Few drops tandoori red color

Salt to taste

Tandoori masala

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

5-6 black peppercorns

4 cloves

1 bay leaf

4 red chillies

1 “ cinnamon

3 green cardamoms

2 black cardamoms

Stuffing

4 carrots, cut into fingers

3 baby onions, quartered

1 cup French beans, cut into fingers

First make the tandoori masala. Dry roast all the ingredients and then grind them to a fine powder.

Make a marinade out of hung curd, ginger garlic paste, food colour, tandoori masala, lemon juice and salt. 

Wash the chicken well. Make slits all over the chicken.

Apply the marinade liberally all over the chicken. Put the marinade inside the cavity too. 

Now stuff the cavity with the carrots, onions and French beans. Scatter the rest over the chicken.Tie the chicken up with a thread so that the filling does not fall out. 

Wrap in a cling film and put in the fridge for 6 hours.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Bake the chicken for 30 minutes. turn it over and bake another 15 minutes.

  

Maacher Dimer Boda/Fish Egg Fritters

Maacher Dimer Boda/Fish Egg Fritters

Maacher dimer boda or fish egg fritters are another Bengali delicacy. During the monsoon season the fresh water fish start breeding. 

Those who know their fish can simply look at the fish and tell whether it has eggs or not. Some less knowledgeable might need to poke the fish’s tummy. 

It is said that when a fish is with eggs its taste deteriorates. The fish might look plump and weigh a lot but when you clean it you end up with almost half a kg of fish eggs.

 Now fish eggs are available only for a month or so during the breeding season. So even though the fish might not be as tasty yet the egg is highly valued. 

You can cook the fish slices with the eggs attached to them and make the usual gravies. 

You can make a fish egg gravy. 

And best of all you can have these fish egg fritters.

Ingredients

½ kg fish eggs, washed and cleaned

5 tbsp wheat flour

2 green chillies chopped

1 onion, chopped

Sal to taste

Mustard oil to fry

Wash and drain the fish eggs. Add the chopped green chillies, onion and wheat flour. Add salt according to taste. It will make a messy, gooey batter.

Heat the mustard oil to smoking point. Lower heat. Now add spoonful of the batter to the hot oil and deep fry.

Crackling chicken with Burnt Garlic Mayo

Crackling chicken with Burnt Garlic Mayo

Anyone coming to Leh must eat at The Eclectic Kitchen. The ambience is nice. I love their rustic furniture. The hostess is an absolute delight. Her name is Sherab and she is in her twenties. For a girl this young to have started her own restaurant and serve few of the best dishes in Leh is an accomplishment.

One of our favorite starters in her restaurant is the Crackling Chicken with burnt garlic mayo. It is simply yummm!! The dish in itself is pretty simple. Marinated chicken breast is beaten thin and rolled in beaten rice/poha/chiwda. This poha is what gives the dish its crackle. And the burnt garlic mayo is to die for. Wars can be fought on this!!Lolzz. 

Sherab was gracious enough to share her recipe with me. I have tried to recreate her dish here.

Ingredients

2 boneless chicken breast

2 tbsp ginger garlic paste

Salt to taste

1 cup flattened rice/poha/chiwda, crushed

1 egg, beaten

4 pods garlic, chopped

½  cup mayonnaise

Cut the boneless chicken into thin strips. Marinate with ginger garlic paste and salt for half an hour. then take each strip and beat them into thin sheets using a mallet.

 Dip each strip into the beaten egg and then roll in the crushed poha.

 Deep fry.

Make the burnt garlic mayo. Heat some oil. Once the oil is really hot, lower the flame and add the chopped garlic, sauté on low flame till the garlic browns. Add the oil and fried garlic to the mayonnaise.

Enjoy the crackling chicken with the burnt garlic mayo. The crackle in the chicken comes from the coating of crushed poha.

Sorse Ilish

Sorse Ilish

Do you know what is the reaction of a Bengali when he/she is presented with an Ilish dish?

Ufffff!!!

Ahhhhhhh!!!

Drool!!!!

This king of fish brings out the gastronomical connoisseur in us.  This is a feeling that cannot be expressed in words. 

When we cook Ilish for some guests it conveys what a great esteem we hold them in. When someone buys Ilish at the fish market he is looked upon with great respect and affection by people standing around him. And when the fish is cooked at home it is said that all the neighbourhood cats get into a frenzy because of the aroma. 

However this fish is not for the faint hearted. Only one born or bred in the Bengali way of life can tackle Ilish. This is because it is full of “kaanta”. And it is very easy to get one stuck in your throat. But if you get the trick of overcoming this obstacle then this is one of the most delicious fish you can ever eat.

Ilish is cooked in various ways. The Sorse Ilish or mustard preparation is one of the commonest and simplest preparations. I personally feel that it is the best way to bring out the actual flavour of the fish.

Ingredients

4 Ilish pieces

3 tbsp mustard seeds

2 tbsp khus khus

2 green chilies

1 potato, cut into wedges

½ tsp Nigella seeds/kalonji

1 small tomato, sliced

1 tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste

½ cup mustard oil

Apply some salt and turmeric to the fish and keep aside for half an hour. Soak the mustard seds and khus khus in warm water for some time. Make a paste with some salt and green chillies.

Heat the mustard oil to smoking point and then reduce flame. Lightly fry the fish pieces.

In the same oil add the Nigella seeds. Add the potato wedges and fry till the potatoes are golden brown. 

Add the sliced tomato and cook till it is mushy. 

Add the mustard paste and cook till oil starts leaving the sides. Add salt and turmeric and cook some more. 

Now add a cup of water and bring to a boil. 

Add the fish pieces, cover and simmer till the oil floats on top. Garnish with sliced green chillies.