Sardine Curry with Methi

Since I prepared the SardineKalonji Jhal I was thinking of something similar but healthier. Then the idea of Methi came into mind. Sardines are rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, which are good to lower your LDL Cholesterol to prevent heart diseases and are also good for your skin and hair. The small bones of Sardine are good resource of Calcium. Methi or phenugreek controls your blood sugar and cholesterol. It also aids digestion and reduces heart burn or acid reflux. I replaced mustard with methi and it gave me this wonderfully tasty but healthy recipe.

Preparation Time: - 15 min

Cooking Time: - 40 min
 
Servings: - 2~3 persons

Ingredients:- 

1. 8 pieces of Sardine Fish
   
2. 1 ½ tsp Methi seeds
3. 3 tsp turmeric powder
4. 1 medium onion grinded to paste
5. 2 tsp Ginger Garlic paste – you can use readymade ones or can prepare yourself by grinding. If you use grinded one then you may need more of it.
6. 1 small tomato
7. 1 tsp tamarind pulp
8. 2 tsp coriander powder
9. ¼ cup dhania (coriander) leaves chopped (optional)
10. Salt - To taste
11. Sugar to taste – if you have sweet tooth like all Bengalis have
12. 7 tbsp white or vegetable oil. I used sunflower oil but any vegetable oil also can be used.
13. 2 green chilies silted. You can add more or use red chili if your taste permits so.

Preparation:-

1. Wash and dry fish well. Rub all over with turmeric powder and salt. Keep it for 10 minutes for marinating.
   
    
2. Put the tamarind pulps into little bit of water and make a paste. Keep aside.
   
3. Heat 4 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan with high flame. Shallow fry the fish for some time on both sides.
   
4. Drain the excess oil with the help of tissue paper and keep aside.
   
5. Take a separate kadai /pan and heat 3 tbsp oil with high flame. You can wash the previous kadai and re – use it.
6. Add Methi seeds and one green chili to the oil. Turn the burner to medium flame and wait till they splutter.
   
7. Now add the onion paste.
   
8. Sauté for 1~2 min and add ginger garlic paste.
   
9. Fry till the raw smell goes away and then add tomato, coriander powder, little bit of turmeric powder, remaining green chili (red chili powder if you want) and salt. I do not use red chili as I consider it not so healthy.
   
10. Pour water to make a smooth masala paste.
11. Stir and fry until water dries and oil begins to separate from the mixture.
12. Add tamarind paste and sauté for a min.
    
13. Now add the fried fish and pour water. Water should be sufficient to be just above the fish level.
14. Cook till the fish is done.
    
15. Now add the dhania leaves and optionally sugar. Stir to mix well and simmer (at low flame) for another 2 minutes.
    
16. Switch of the burner and your delicious Sardine with Methi is ready.

You can add some more dhania (coriander) leaves for garnishing. This is one item to be eaten with rice.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.

Bhindi Chorchori / Chochochori - Ladies finger curry in mustard paste

Summer in Bangalore is in full swing and my favorite sabjis, Brinjal and Cauliflower are vanishing from the market. In fact they do appear but they are not so fresh now. My readers already know that I am mad about the healthy food. So I am now left with fewer options – lauki and Bhindi/ Okra/ Ladies finger. There are few recipes already present in my blog aboutlauki. So I chose bhindi this time. This preparation is a traditional Bengali recipe with Bhindi and mustard. I explained in one of the earlier post that chorchori or chochochori are Bengali preparation with vegetable and mustard paste.

But before coming to the preparation let me give you some idea about the benefits of Ladies finger. Lady finger (Okra) has been a part of Indian cuisine for ages. Its rich fiber content is what mainly contributes to its benefits. Doctors always suggest this vegetable for its effect in losing weight, heart disease and controlling blood sugar levels. It also improves digestion and constipation. 

Preparation Time: - 15 min

Cooking Time: - 30 min

Servings: - 3~4 persons

Ingredients:-

1. 25 pieces of Bhindi/ Ladies finger
   
2. 1 tsp Panchforon (Bengali 5 spices) / Black cumin (Nigella seeds). I prefer panchforon for this preparation.
3. ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
4. 2 tsp Mustard paste
5. 1 big size onion chopped 
6. 2 green chili slit horizontally
7. Little bit of water
8. Salt to taste
9. Sugar to taste (optional)
10. 7~8 tbsp mustard oil ( I used Mustard oil and this makes it authentic Bengali style but you can use vegetable oil also)

Preparation:-

1. Wash the ladies fingers thoroughly. In Bangalore if you buy from supermarket you need to wash every vegetable really well for hygiene purpose. Cut the tip of Bhindi and slice it vertically into two parts.
   
2. Chop the onion and keep aside.
3. Grind the mustard seeds into smooth paste. If you have acidity or gastric issue you can use Sunrise mustard powder which is the peeled version of mustard seeds and hence healthier. Keep the paste aside.
4. Take a Kadai and pour the oil. Heat in high flame and add panchforon and a green chili.
   
5. When it splutters add onion. Stir and fry on a medium-low heat until they turn light brown.
   
6. Now add Bhindis - Stir intermittently and fry for 5~6 minutes.
   
7. Now add salt, turmeric powder and the other green chili. Cover the lid and cook for about 10~12 minutes
8. Remove the lid and check if the bhindis are tender or not. Generally ladies fingers have lot of water and it will be released to aid boiling. But some old okras may not yield so much water. In that case you may need to sprinkle little bit of water on them and continue cooking. Then the cooking time will be more.
9. Add the mustard paste. Stir to mix well with the preparation. Boil for 5 minutes.
   
10. Bring to a simmer and add sugar if you are sweet tooth like most Bengalis.Mix well and sauté for couple of minutes.
11. Switch of the flame and your delicious dish is ready.
    

This one is a side dish for mainly rice. You can eat with roti too.

Please note:-

1.      We can remove the seeds from bhindi by cutting the tips of it and then slitting vertically. This also reduces the slipperiness of it. My child does not like the slipperiness and hence I remove it. It reduces the uric acid content also – good for elder people.

2.      The taste of this preparation can be enhanced if you increase the content of mustard in the preparation. I kept it low as I do not consider mustard seeds to be very healthy.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.

Rasgulla / Rosogolla - Bengali syrupy dessert

Two days back it was Bengali New Year or Nababarsha as we call it. Any Bengali festival would not have been completed without eating the favourite Bengali sweet – Rasagolla or Roshogolla or Rasgulla. It is such a common food in a Bengali home that probably every Bengali in any part of the world has eaten these divinely sweet balls of chana in his / her childhood.  It is entangled with the Bengali culture. As you know I live in Bangalore and here it is not so readily available - we always crave for it. We used to get this from some special sweet shops but the taste was not as good as in our childhood. I tried to make this in home but few times it turned out to be failure – either too sweet or too soft or too rough etc. This nababarsha I was determined to make it perfect and here is the result.

Preparation Time

Paneer/chana/chenna: - 15 min
Chana balls: - 15 min
Sugar Syrup: - 10 min

Cooking Time: - 

12~15 min for each batch. I did it in two batches.

Servings: - 

Fully depends on the personal capacity. My husband in younger days could eat them all.

Ingredients:

• Milk – 1 ½ L
• Sugar – 3 cup or roughly ½ kg.
• 2~3 tbsp of lime juice or 3 tsp White Vinegar
• 1 tsp All purpose flour / Semolina (Suji) / Corn starch– this is for binding
• 5~6 Cardamom
• Safron – about 10 strands
• 6 cups water

Preparation:-

1. Prepare chana / chenna from the milk by following my earlier recipe here. Please remember to squeeze even the last drop of water from the chana /paneer.
   
2. Once the paneer /chana dried up mix the all purpose flour / Semolina (suji) with chana. You can use corn starch instead if you prefer the rasgulla to be totally gluten free.
   
3. Begin kneading with the heels of your palms. Keep on collecting the chana / chenna from the sides and continue to mash and knead. When you feel your palms are becoming a bit greasy, its time to stop. Just a bit of greasiness is required. Do not make the whole chenna greasy. This is actually very boring and I do this when watching any TV serial. But this is very important as the softness and sponginess of the rasgullas depend on this. It generally takes about 10 minutes for me but may vary with you as it depends on the quality of chenna and the pressure you apply while kneading.
   
4. Pinch small portions from the chana and roll them between your palms to a smooth round ball. It is very important that the balls are very smooth. You should break one to find if any impurities are there or not.
   
5. I got about 18 balls from my preparation.
   
6. Cover the balls in a slightly moist cloth / kitchen towel and keep aside.
   
7. Now we need to make the sugar syrup. Here I used a flat heavy bottomed steel pot /pan (dekchi in Bengali). You can use pressure cooker as well. Now my pan was not very big and I had to give space for the rasgullas to inflate ( In fact the rasgullas swells almost 3 times after cooking) – so I prepared the syrup twice each time for 9~10 balls.
8. Take 3 cups of water and 1 ½ cups of sugar and mix them well.
9. Put the mixture on gas stove and turn on the stove in high setting. Add 2~3 cardamom and 5 strands of saffron. If you want pristine white rasgulla then do not add saffron.
   
10. Stir occasionally to dissolve the sugar fully and bring it to boil.
11. When it starts boiling turn the burner to medium heat and put 9~10 balls of chana in the pan gently.
12. Shake gently so that the rasgullas spread themselves evenly in the pan. Cover the lid and start cooking the rasgullas.
13. Cook for about 12 min. If you use pressure cooker you may need lesser time (8 min+ 2 min before releasing the pressure).
    
14. Turn off the burner and check whether rasgullas are properly cooked. They should increase in size considerably and feels spongy. You can check by putting each one in a small bowl of water. If the ball sinks fully then it is done.
    
15. Keep the rasgullas and the warm sugar syrup in a seprate bowl to cool down.
    
16. Use the same pan for making sugar syrup again and repeat step 7 – 14. I could have used the same syrup twice but that dilutes the taste. Hence I prepared twice for two batches.

That’s all folks. You can serve warm or Freeze and serve cold. It is said that warm roshogollas are good if you have stomach upset. But hey, it is summer time and I want everything to be chilled.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.

Shubho Nababarsho - Happy and prosperous Bengali New Year to all

সমস্ত বাঙালী reader দের আমার শুভ নববর্ষের প্রীতি ও শুভেছা জানাই

Crispy prawn fritter

This is my 2^nd venture in the prawn recipe space and this time I am presenting a Chinese cum Indian dish which can be used as appetizer or snacks. Crispy prawn fritters or prawn pakoras are quite popular dishes which we generally eat in restaurants. We can prepare the same dish in home at a fraction of cost. Hope my recipe here will make someone’s taste buds happy.

Preparation Time: - 20 min

Cooking Time: - 15~20 min

Servings: - 2 persons

Ingredients:- 

1. 8~9 extra large prawns. I did not buy the normal prawn from market, but purchased IFB manufactured frozen prawn.
2. ¼ cup all purpose flour
3. ¼ cup Corn Flour
4. 1 egg
5. 2 tsp Black pepper or red chili pepper if you like it spicier.
6. 1 tsp Oregano seeds (optional)
7. 1 tsp ginger grinded (you can use ginger paste also)
8. 1½  tsp garlic paste
9. ½ tsp Soya Sauce
10. 1 tsp Tomato Sauce ( chili lovers can use chili tomato sauce )
11. ½ tbsp salt (needed only to make salt water to clean the prawns)
12. ½ tsp lemon juice
13. ¼ cup Bread crumb ( if you do not have bread crumb you can grind 5~6 crackers biscuit in dry grinder )
14. Any vegetable oil (I used Sunflower oil) of sufficient amount to drown the shrimps completely in your frying pan.

Preparation:-

1. If you have purchased from the usual fish market then first remove the shell, remove the central vein of the prawn and thoroughly clean. In my case I used the frozen IFB extra large prawns which are already peeled and deveined.
   
2. Prepare a salt water solution to soak the prawns for 20 min.This will remove the bad smell of the prawn and also will soften it.
   
3. In the meantime mix all purpose flour, corn flour and black pepper in a plate. Optionally you can add the oregano seeds here. Keep aside.
4. Take a bowl, crack the egg and beat it nicely.
5. Add ginger paste, garlic paste, soya sauce and tomato sauce to the bowl. Soya sauce is salty enough and hence you do not need more salt.
6. Take another plate and pour the bread crumb onto it.
   
7. Once everything is ready drain the salt water and add the lemon juice to the shrimps.
8. Keep the shrimps in lemon juice for 10 minutes.
9. Now take a kadai /frying pan and heat sufficient oil. I did not use non-stick frying pan as they tend to have flat bottom. This will require more oil to completely submerge the prawn.
10. Dip the prawns in flour mix so that it is covered from all sides.
    
11. Then dip them in the egg mix bowl thoroughly and put them onto the bread crumbs.
    
12. Again dip them nicely so that all sides are fully covered. Please note that bread crumbs determine the crispiness of the preparation.
    
13. Now turn the gas burner to the lowest and gently release the prawns in the oil one by one so that they submerge fully. Please note that you should have sufficient space in between the pieces to fry them properly. In my small kadai I could put only 3 at a time because of space.
    
14. Wait till the shrimps turn golden brown. You may turn the burner completely off a little before it is finally done.
    

Serve this with tartar sauce or your favorite sauce. My hubby prefers it with tartar sauce.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.

Happy Ugadi

Best wishes for my readers on occasion of Ugadi.

Lau er Khosa Bhaja - Bottlegourd skin peel fry in south Indian style

My blog has turned 9 months old and I was looking back at my first recipe which was made from the humble skins of bottle gourd – a recipe from my mom. Seeing this I had this urge to redo it in my own style with a little bit of south Indian touch. When in Rome (read south India) cook like a Roman (south Indian) huh ! The following recipe is the outcome of that.

Preparation Time: - 15 min

Cooking Time: - 20 min

Servings: - 2 persons

Ingredients:- 

1. Finely chopped peel of bottle gourd of a medium sized Lau/Lauki. For this one we need very fresh and tender bottle gourd. Stale gourds give a bitter flavor. So cook this only in season.
2. 1 chopped medium size onion
3. 2 slit green chilies
4. 1 tsp Mustard seeds.
5. Pinch of turmeric powder (optional)
6. Salt to taste
7. 4 tbsp Sunflower oil or any vegetable oil
8. 1 tsp Sugar (if you like go ahead or else leave, being a Bengali I have a sweet tooth)
9. 2 tbsp grated coconut
10. 5~6 curry leaves
11. 1 ½ tsp chana dal
12. ½ tsp garam masala (optional)

 Preparation:-

1. Thinly slice the bottle gourd peel. It will be easier to fry.
2. Heat oil in the kadai/pan. Use medium flame.
3. Add mustard seeds and green chilies to the oil. Wait till it splutters.
   
4. Now add chana dal and curry leaves. Stir and fry for 1 minute.
   
5. Then add chopped onion. Sauté till they turn golden brown.
   
6. Now add the chopped pieces of the bottle gourd skin.
   
7. Put salt and turmeric powder if you want the yellow colour.  
8. Sprinkle a little bit ( approx ¼ cup ) of water.
9. Cover and cook for 8~10 min.
10.  When the mixture is adequately boiled and water is fully evaporated add the grated coconut, garam masala and sugar (if you like it).
    
11. Stir briskly for 3~4 mins. That’s it folks; your delicious bottle gourd skin fry is ready.
    

Serve this as starter with rice.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.