Bombay Potato - A spicy Indian potato curry with minimum fuss and great taste

Bombay potatoes is a unique recipe which carries an Indian name but you will not find it in any restaurants in India. Although virtually unknown in India, this dish is a very popular on Indian restaurant menus in other parts of the world. Crispy from outside, fluffy from inside this dish is considered a richly spiced one with Indian flavors in foreign countries but to a Bengali or an Indian this recipe is not that spicy. Spicy or not, this recipe is super tasty and super easy to make with minimum ingredients. If you are looking for an easy side dish to go with curry or korma, look no further than these tasty spuds! You can either cook it in oven or in non-sticky deep bottomed vessel. The preparation becomes crispier if you cook it in oven. Taste wise I could not find any difference. I have described both the procedures here.

Preparation Time: - 5 min
Cooking Time: - 1 hour if you cook in Oven otherwise about 40 min
Servings: - 4~5 persons (varies according to the consumption capacity)
Ingredients:-  

1. 1 kg medium sized potatoes. It is better to use waxy ones with thin skin. They hold the shape when boiling.
2. 4 tbsp Ghee or vegetable oil. I personally prefer a mixture of 2 tbsp. Sunflower oil with 2 tbsp Ghee. Ghee adds to the aroma.
3. 2 tsp Panch phoran mix. You can make yourself the mix from equal quantities of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, nigella seeds and fenugreek seeds.
4. 2 tsp Turmeric powder
5. ½ tsp Black pepper powder or crushed whole black pepper
6. ½ tsp Red Chilli powder (optional for spice lovers – I did not use it)
7. 2 tbsp Tomato purée
8. Salt to taste
9. 300 ml of Natural yogurt or curd
10. Few chopped coriander leaves for garnishing.

Preparation:- 

1. Pre heat the oven at 180^oC/ 350^oF/ Gas Mark 4. You can skip this step if not using oven.
2. Put the whole potatoes into a large saucepan of salted cold water, bring it to boil, then simmer until the potatoes are just cooked, but not tender; the time depends on the size of the potato, but average-sized ones should take about 15 minutes. This method is for oven use. If you do not want to use oven then boil the potatoes in a pressure cooker till one or two whistle.
3. Drain the potatoes in a strainer and cut each one into approximately 4 cubed pieces. Rub about 1 tsp turmeric powder on them thoroughly and keep aside.
   
4. Take a kadai / frying pan and heat the oil and ghee over high heat. To check the oil is hot enough, sprinkle few mustard seeds. If they pop the oil is ready. Now turn the burner to medium heat and add the panch phoran.
   
5. Once the spices start crackling, add black pepper, salt, remaining turmeric powder and yogurt.
   
6. Mix everything, sauté for 1 min and add tomato purée.
   
7. Stir and mix properly.
   
8. Add the potatoes to the pan. Mix everything thoroughly so that each potato piece gets a fair amount of spice coating. Cook for 2~3 minutes until the potatoes are smothered in the spices and appear to have crispy edges. They will look bright yellow in color.
   
9. Now if you are using oven transfer the potatoes to a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven for 30~40 minutes, flipping the potatoes once half-way through. Remove from the oven when the potatoes are fork-tender.
10. If you are not using oven like me then cover the pan after step 8 and continue cooking. You need to stir occasionally so that the mixture does not get stuck in the bottom. It should take about 10~15 min for the potatoes to be fully done. If the mixture becomes too dry before the cooking is complete you may need to sprinkle a bit of water.
    
11. Garnish with chopped coriander leave.

Your yummy Bombay potato is ready to be served hot now. It goes with any Indian meal, especially with Chicken curry and flavored rice or paratha. My son loves to have it solo with tomato ketchup.

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

How to make Mango Milkshake - A healthy yummy summer drink

Summer is rampant in India now and what better to quench your thirst with a big glass of milkshake and if it is with ripe Mango then it brings heavenly feelings. And hold on – Mango in summer is very good for health too – it is full of antioxidants and vitamins which nourishes your body and reduces the chance of cancer. Its rich fiber contents help digestion and constipation. A list of benefits can be found here - https://guardian.ng/life/wellness/10-health-benefits-of-mangoes/ . There are many recipes of mango milkshake but here I am presenting one of the simplest and quickest one with some tips to make it more interesting.

The most important part of making this drinks is to get the mangoes that are right for this preparation. We need ripe and sweet mangoes which have a soft pulp for this drinks. When we prepare something with mangoes the name Alphonso comes to mind but it is very costly and the availability is very short. What most of us do not know is that Badami is another variety of Alphonso which is as good in taste. Actually the sweetest mangoes in India are Chausa from Himachal Pradesh and Langra from West Bengal. Any sweet mango can be used for this recipe.

Preparation Time: - 5 min

Cooking Time: - 5 min

Servings: - 1~2 persons

Ingredients:- 

1. 2 medium sized Mangoes (approx. 1 ½ cups or 300 gm. Mango cubes)
2. ½ cup cold boiled Milk
3. 2 tbsp Sugar or as per your taste.
4. 2 tbsp Honey (optional)
5. 2 whole green Cardamom / elaichi pods (optional)
6. 1 tsp smashed Cashew nut (optional)
7. Few strands of Saffron ( Kesar ) for enhancing the taste (optional)
8. Few Pistachios or Almond for garnishing
9. 3 ~4 ice cubes (optional)

Preparation:-

1. Boil the milk and cool it. You can use pasteurized milk which is available in tetra pack without boiling.
2. Remove the green husk of cardamom and crush it along with the cashew nuts in a pestle and mortar. Strike the seeds hard to make a fine powder and keep aside.
3. Wash and peel the mangoes. Discard the stone and chop the juicy flesh into small cubes.
4. Transfer the mango pieces to a blender and pour the milk. Add sugar, honey, cardamom and cashew nuts.
5. Blend all of them until smooth and creamy. There should not be any pulp left. You can use a strainer for this purpose also.
6. Refrigerate or add the ice cubes.
7. Sprinkle the strands of saffron and add pistachios /almond for garnishing.

Your delicious and healthy mango drinks is ready to quench your thirst and satisfy your taste buds.

Tips: - 1. If you want to make the milkshake thicker then you should refrigerate the mango pulp in refrigerator for 15 minutes and do not use ice cubes.

            2. You can add more milk if you want the shake to be thin or more liquid.

            3. Top it up with one or two scoops of Vanilla ice-cream for mango shake with ice-cream experience.

            4. Use mangoes with less fiber and more flavor to enhance the taste and smooth shake.

            5. You can use readymade mango pulps if fresh mangoes are not available. This way you can enjoy this drinks even in other seasons.

            6. If you want to omit dairy product to make this shake a vegan recipe you can use any of the coconut or almond milk.

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

Kancha amer Misti Chutni / Ambol - Green / Raw Mango chutney

Summer is fully on and the heat makes us all tired but Bengalis always find some recipes for every season. Summer is no exception. This recipe is about the raw mangoes which are available especially this time of the year. This is called kacha amer chutney or ambol. The taste of this one is a fine balance between sweet and sour. It removes the bad effect of the summer heat and keeps us healthy.

Preparation Time: - 15 min

 

Cooking Time: - 30 min

 

Servings: - 2~3 persons (varies according to the consuming capacity)

 

Ingredients:- 

1. Raw Mango: 1
   
2. Black Mustard Seed: 1 Tsp.
3. Ginger: ½ inch finely chopped
4. Cumin seeds: ¼ tsp
5. Fennel seeds: ¼ tsp
6. Panch phoron (Indian five spice blend): 1 tsp
7. Dry Red Chilli: 1 (optional)
8. Turmeric Powder: ¼ Tsp.
9. Jaggery : ¾ cup or Sugar: 4 Tbsp. or as per taste
10. Salt: as per taste
11. Mustard Oil: 1 tsp. ( Since this is a traditional Bengali recipe I used mustard oil but you can use vegetable oil if you do not like the pungent smell of mustard oil ) 
12. Water: 3 Cup

Preparation:-  

1. Wash raw mango in running water. Peel and cut the Mango into small chunks discarding its stone. I prefer to retain a bit of the skin of the Mango. You can also remove the skin of the mangoes before chopping.
   
   
   
   
2. Grate the piece of jaggery so that the amount is about ¾ cup. Keep aside.
3. Chop the ginger and keep aside.
4. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel /wok /kadai sufficiently in high heat and once hot, change the burner setting to medium.
5. Temper the oil with dry red chilli, cumin seeds, fennel seeds and black mustard seeds. Adding dry red chilli is optional however, I prefer to temper the oil with a chilli for its aroma as well as for spicy taste.
   
6. Now add Mango pieces and cook for 2-3 minutes in low flame.
7. Sprinkle turmeric powder on to it.
   
8. Add Salt, jaggery / sugar and mix properly.
9. Add Water to cover Mangoes and then cook in low flame for around 10 minutes or till Mangoes soften.
   
10. You can adjust the consistency of the chutney as per your choice by boiling the solution more or less.
    
11. Roast panch phoron till you get a good smell, cool and dry grind it.
12. Sprinkle this powder on the chaatni.
    
13. Now take the Ambol / chutney out in a bowl and refrigerate and hour before serving.

Serve this as dessert with a traditional Bengali meal. In fact, you can have this after any type of meal.

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