tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52409403558482349872024-02-19T18:03:38.623-08:00Zanis CornerA culinary odyssey...Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-36425504941276912862016-07-02T16:19:00.000-07:002016-07-02T16:19:06.140-07:00Parathe Aloo ke<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aloo ( potato) stuffed parathas with some spicy mango pickle and creamy yoghurt on side<br /><br /><br /></td></tr>
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Another dish which makes me feel very satisfied when I can serve on the breakfast counter for family and friends. Used to be quite a frequent part of my childhood when Ma made these stuffed parathas and also brings back the nostalgic University days , being a paying guest with a Delhi punjabi family- sunday morning breakfast aloo ke parathe with a dollop of homemade creamy <i>Safed Makkhan </i>(white butter) drooping and melting on them. Believe me or not, I can still smell the freshness of butter- have to try to make it someday although these days try to rush away from such heavenly cravings.<br />
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Sometimes while making these parathas- rather while rolling them, the stuffing tries hard to peep out of the thin film of pastry- the tick is not to have watery boiled potatoes. I would generally cook the potatoes in the microwave after giving them some pricks on their body. This would help in avoiding extra moisture which makes the potato ooze out while rolling them. But trust me, even if a bit of the stuffing still behaves impatient and peeps out- its absolutely ok as while frying the parathas those bits get quite crispy and adds to the tastebuds quite positively.<br />
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Depending on the mood of the day and what's available - I add accessories to the main ingredient -potatoes. Some days it could be some boiled spinach( usually the frozen ones- just cook them in the micro for few mins), grated paneer, methi leaves or kastoori methi, Crushed peas. One can be as experimenting as you can think of to give that extra twist and nutrition too (need to be quite active about nutrition specially planning family meals)<br />
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What I used-</div>
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<li>Atta ( wholemeal flour) 2 cups</li>
<li>Maida ( plain flour) 1 cup</li>
<li>Potatoes- 3 </li>
<li>1 finely chopped onion</li>
<li>small piece of ginger chopped fine</li>
<li>Some green chillis chopped fine</li>
<li>Chopped coriander leaves</li>
<li>Kastori Methi- 3 tbsp</li>
<li>Roasted cumin powder - 1 tsp</li>
<li>Paratha masala - 2 tbsp ( I use Shaan paratha masala- if not available, any mix of cumin, coriander, chilli powder, ajwain can be used)</li>
<li>Ajwain- 1 tsp</li>
<li>Seasoning- Rock salt and pepper </li>
<li>Oil </li>
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Method</div>
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<li>Start the potatoes cooking in the mirror- prick them with knife on the body and put them in a bowl and cook for 5 mins covered. This could vary for different microwaves- you probably have to do it few times to get the right time. It should not get over soft- just the texture which can be held against a garter- after cooking I would grate the potatoes- to avoid any lumpy potatoes in your mouth</li>
<li>Knead the flour- mix both- add some salt and a tsp of oil-with little amount of warm water - not pouring all at once but with intervals. knead to a soft dough. Spray some oil and keep the dough covered well most for half an hour atleast. This would guarantee soft parathas ( my theory to this the dough gets quite pliable with time and adjustment)</li>
<li>Add the chopped onion, ginger, chillies, kasturi methi, all the spices to the potatoes and mix them with loose hands to keep some texture</li>
<li>Make some balls from the dough. Roll 1 ball to about 3 cm radius and add 1 big tbsp of the stuffing and close the edges and press with your fingers to make it look like a dumpling and make sure the edges stick to each other.</li>
<li>Roll with a soft hand again - trying not to squeeze out the stuffing . </li>
<li>Now heat a tawa or thick bottom frying pan and put the paratha on it. Wait till you see some light brown spots and then turn for the other side to cook. Its cooking at its best if a there are pockets of swollen up paratha. Then add oil or ghee to the side facing you and turn it. Lower the heat and press hard on the paratha with a spatula. After a minute cooking on that side, add some more oil to the paratha and cook the opposite side by turning. Keep pressing hard to get the crisp.</li>
<li>Sprinkle some rock salt and pepper and serve with condiments like pickle and raita.</li>
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ENJOY !!!</div>
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Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-50320297193453443822016-07-02T07:12:00.000-07:002016-07-02T07:12:49.571-07:00Oodles of Noodles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stir Fried noodles with hot fresh chillies in soy sauce and some Szechwan chilli sauce as condiments<br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">Have been off my blogging for ages and ages, but a strong drive pushed me to come and say Hello to Zanis Corner- hence this post about a comfort food for me and my son on a cold Saturday winter night while he was engrossed in Australian Poll analysis- a sudden new deep interest in my 10yr old. Hubby away on business trip- something quick but tasty was on the taste bud for us after a tired long day. Thought of using some leftover vegetables and had defrosted a lonely piece of a chicken thigh fillet. So here goes a very very simple stir fried noodles with chicken- and indeed a very simple without any fancy trims- just some carrot and capsicum stick to add to the colour.</span></td></tr>
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What I used-<br />
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<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>3 cakes of egg noodles</li>
<li>a carrot julienned</li>
<li>a red capsicum julienned</li>
<li>2 small onions sliced</li>
<li>Sliced 3 garlic cloves and a small piece of ginger julienned</li>
<li>2-3 fresh green chillies chopped</li>
<li>2 eggs </li>
<li>1 chicken thigh fillet chopped into small cubes</li>
<li>Sauces- Oyster sauce, soy sauce, Sweet chilli sauce, Vinegar, chilli Sauce</li>
<li>Oil for cooking</li>
<li>some drops of chilli Oil </li>
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How I did it-</div>
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<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Started the boiling of the noodles first while I did my prep with the veggies- chopped as explained above. Sometimes the chopping can actually take some time but once you master the chopping, it actually becomes a fun element of the cook- just like using colours while painting. Might sound weird but indeed you draw a picture of your final dish and trace the shapes of the veggies to be cut.</li>
<li>Mise -en -place ( french word used in Culinary meaning having all your ingredients measured, cut, sliced etc before cooking) - have all on a plate along with beaten eggs.</li>
<li>On a Wok heat a teaspoon of oil- smoking hot- and throw some of the ginger and garlic and the chicken pieces- moist with some soy and oyster sauce and fry for couple of minutes. Gets cooked really quick with high heat and stirring. Keep the cooked chicken aside.</li>
<li>Make sure the noodles are not overboiled- strain the noodles and shower with cold water instantly to wash off the starch.</li>
<li>Next heat the wok with some more oil - add the rest of the ginger, garlic and onion with the chilles- then goes the carrots and capsicum- stir fry on high heat- add a teaspoon of all the sauces mentioned above. Finish this before the veggies loose their crunch and keep aside in a plate</li>
<li>Now the finale- heat a teaspoon of oil and pour the beaten eggs . Just as the egg is cooking, strain the noodles again with some cold water and use your fingers to separate them a bit on the colander. Add the noodles to the eggs and stir in a brisk motion- sprinkle salt and pepper seasoning to the noodles -add the veggies and the chicken and stir quick with the noodles. </li>
<li>Squeeze some lemon - trust me adds some flavourable twist to the dish and sprinkle some more pepper and some chilli oil.</li>
<li>Serve simple with a szcechuan sauce and chillies in soy sauce to give that extra chinese takeaway flavour and enjoy.</li>
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That was my simple noodles- any vegetables like beans, mushroom, spring onions etc could be added. </div>
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Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-63653830324860698312013-08-07T07:05:00.000-07:002013-08-08T05:47:56.630-07:00Pasta Veggie Medley<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />Colours of my Pasta</span></u></b></div>
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Its been ages since I have penned down a recipe here. Not that I never felt like or I was not trying out dishes, but you can blame it on the big move from Singapore to Australia...I am also getting busy busier busiest with my 8-5 job ..alas not a lady of leisure anymore ...there can be so many factors..I know I had started my last blog Petite Potatoes with similar excuses!!!<br />
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Finally I have my recipe from my bright and sunny cherrybrook kitchen...with all the greenery peeping in through my French window.<br />
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So lets get to plate up some colours and flavours happening on my new hob and yes, also my new rangehood!! I still have some of my old companion with me, my good old oven and grill. Picked up my son from after -care and gave him a choice between pasta and noodles..N pasta got the thumbs up!<br />
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Had to use up all the vegetables and yet the condition was both healthy and attractive to get my boys' appetites growing. So cooked up macaroni with bright orange pumpkin, fresh green capsicum and broccoli- ofcourse I had to add broccoli as that is one of R's favourite vegetable and some lamb sausages to add the protein factor and make it a wholesome dinner.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinENcV9DNKQkHFWwMXKftJUWXRKmh6EFqIiHi7T_PvmcbRrm-XnAJ4FhZKv4M0rbqkBlgE7XDcYnmqPV6uBHGsGLKgQNHp6B5MESvKYV9AKCnWr2r94yHP_tBc2BJJ3g4iPkPwXNyu3teS/s1600/IMG_1817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinENcV9DNKQkHFWwMXKftJUWXRKmh6EFqIiHi7T_PvmcbRrm-XnAJ4FhZKv4M0rbqkBlgE7XDcYnmqPV6uBHGsGLKgQNHp6B5MESvKYV9AKCnWr2r94yHP_tBc2BJJ3g4iPkPwXNyu3teS/s1600/IMG_1817.jpg" width="320" /></a><u>What did I use-</u><br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>5 Gourmet Lamb Sausages</li>
<li>Some chopped Pumpkin - rough cubes</li>
<li>1 capsicum chopped into long cubes</li>
<li>Half a broccoli- chopped florets</li>
<li>1 Spanish Onion- sliced</li>
<li>1 whole garlic</li>
<li>Couple of fresh chillies</li>
<li>Half a packet of Macaroni pasta</li>
<li>A dash of Lemon and Herb dried spice</li>
<li>1tsp of Sambal apste (optional- that's my added fusion and twist to the Italian dish-may name it Oriental pasta actually)</li>
<li>Some drops of Tabasco sauce</li>
<li>Salt and Pepper to season</li>
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<u>How did I play with the above</u>-<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Heated my grill pan on the hob with a slight spray of oil to brown the sausages.</li>
<li>Coated the pumpkin pieces with some golden spray oil and popped them under the hot griller to caremelize them and brighten the golden colour. Must mention here to be careful not to cook too much and make them mushy pushy..but just keep their size and shapes intact with just a bit of caremelizing and enhancing the colours.Threw in some garlic pieces with the skin intact on the same tray with the pumpkin and waited for them to melt within and spread the flavours.</li>
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3. While the sausages were cooking, stirred in the onion, capsicum pieces in the same grill pan..stir fried in the same fat that oozed out from the sausages.</div>
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4. Took the sausages out and sliced them and they got to go back on the pan with the veggies. </div>
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5. Blanched some broccoli and added them to the same pan when almost everything else had cooked.</div>
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6. By then, my pumpkin and garlic were ready to be mixed with the sausage and veggies on the grill pan. Skinned the garlic and just mushed them too with the rest but this should be done last ..as I didn't want to get them overcooked and loose the strong garlicky flavour.</div>
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7. Then it was turn for my magic- all the flavours go in- sambal sauce, lemon and herb seasoning, tobasco sauce, salt and pepper. Did not stir much as my target was to leave the vegetables in their shapes but tossed to mix it thoroughly.</div>
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8. While this was happening, had my Macaroni boiled to al dente. That would mean lots of bubbling water, poured the macaroni shells with a pinch of salt. The water should be bubbling rapidly though. The pasta should be cooked till just done ( and that's where I can wear my chef's apron and declare the pasta shells Al dente). Then strained the pasta. Never strain with cold water- main difference in cooking pasta and noodles- Noodles always strain with running cold water but pasta should not be washed with cold water. The starchy texture of the pasta helps the veggies or sauce to stick on and flavours the pasta.</div>
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9. To the hot pasta poured some olive oil ( good virgin olive oil for better flavour) - and the warm meat veggie compliment and stirred on a hot pan.</div>
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10. Seasoning well is a trick here to get the flavours balanced. </div>
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I plated this pasta with some thinly sliced salami and shredded cheese. Had a lovely fresh green salad to go as a side with some sparkling white wine!!! </div>
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Yes!! Boys happy at the dinner table and did name it Oriental pasta..and my little man rated 8 star ..!!<br />
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Let me know if you try, what do your boys and girls rate?<br />
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Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-35738251963769802662013-03-19T07:14:00.001-07:002013-03-19T07:14:36.465-07:00PETITE POTATOES<!-- begin htmlcommentbox.com -->
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Yes friends, blogging indeed after a long gap!! No excuses!! Have been cooking but not organised with photos and write ups. Too many things happening and changes..Yes, a big move again..back to my home corner soon in April. My bright kitchen at Cherrybrook will be the next lab for me to experiment. Relocating back to Sydney in April. You caught me there..I started with a declaration that there won't be any excuses but....actually these are not excuses but sharing the news with you all.</div>
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OK to my cooking now- Bongs love their Aloo Dum with luchi , paratha etc. But again I must admit here that I was not a big fan of Aloo Dum as a kid, which of course changed with so many other transformations and adaptations in adulthood. And I must say, one of my very dear and close friends <i>Rima </i>introduced me to this delicious and delectable taste of Aloo Dum. </div>
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This is just another version of Aloo Dum - I just drafted a taste in my mind and tried to play around the spices on the wok. This was last weekend, I had invited my best buddies in Singapore for an adda and of course eating ( which is a part and parcel of adda anyways, right!). I wanted to make a vegetarian dish keeping a friend in mind, who is not much of a non-veg eater but also wanted to make it more interesting for me...hence came up with this from the picture I had in my mind- Petite potatoes. And luckily, I had picked a bag of tiny- minny potatoes from Little India. My hero ingredient here was the Cinnamon powder.</div>
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<u><b>What I used-</b></u><br />
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1. 1 bag ( may be around 1 kg) baby potatoes</div>
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2. 1 big onion-chopped fine</div>
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3. Ginger paste-11/2 tbsp</div>
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4. Garlic Paste- 1tbsp</div>
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5. 1 Tomato- chopped</div>
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6. Shah Jeera- 1 tsp</div>
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7. Few whole pieces cinnamon and Cardamon </div>
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( just pounded 2-3 times)</div>
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8. Cinnamon Powder- Dry Roast Cinnamon and grind-1 tbsp</div>
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9. Cumin Powder-1 tsp</div>
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10. Kashmiri Chilli Powder-1 tsp</div>
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11.Turmeric- 1tsp</div>
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12. Roasted Cumin Powder- 1tsp</div>
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13. Some fresh Chillies and Chopped Coriander Leaves</div>
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14. Salt and Sugar for seasoning</div>
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<u><b>What happened in my kitchen-</b></u><br />
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1. I peeled the potatoes, which actually takes lot of patience and time...blame it on the size. But they definitely leave their mark as highlight in this dish, which will be missing with the normal sized potatoes. Shallow fry the potatoes, just to coat them with the oil and the spice. I added some turmeric and salt at this stage. Let me stress here I did not fry the potatoes well done or in too much oil. This process of sealing the potatoes lets the cooked spice mix stick to the them. The potatoes were kept aside, waiting for their turn to be back on the drill.</div>
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2. If oil is not enough, add some more oil to the wok. Throw in the Shah Jeera and whole spices and let them do their magic..splutter. Then comes the zingy ginger and garlic paste and wait for them to sizzle up.</div>
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2. Add the onions and saute till golden. I do this at high heat to start with ( which could be a bit Chinese cooking influence in me) and then lower the flame to medium. Add the tomatoes and cook till they are pulpy.</div>
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3. Add the spices except the Garam Masala and blend with onion mixture carefully and patiently. If too dry, water needs to be added for some moisture in which the spice mix will be cooked. One tip here would be to cook the mix very brown and completely. No short cut in this, otherwise they will not be ready for the potatoes. Also remember to add the salt and sugar at this stage to your taste.</div>
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4. Then add the potatoes ( here I would add the "<i>gaye holud makha aloo"</i>) and stir to coat the onion mix to all the potatoes. Add the fresh chillies now. Cover and cook for a minute and add about a cup of hot water and cover and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.</div>
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5. This dish did not have much gravy, but a sticky gravy on the potatoes. Your kitchen will have a lovely aroma of cinnamon. Sprinkle the Garam Masala and coriander leaves and turn off the heat.</div>
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6. Enjoy this dish with hot rice or paratha and let me know the outcome.</div>
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<!-- end htmlcommentbox.com -->Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-75716267305842794122013-01-09T08:40:00.001-08:002013-01-14T02:00:30.177-08:00Dhoka- Bengali Dhokar Dalna<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Dhoka-</i> One of my favourite dishes..<i>hindi mein bole to " Dhoke mein mat rehna</i>" ( really hard to translate- Do not live in illusion). As a <i>Probashi</i> Bong, the name would be quite double meaning to me..but no doubt the taste would leave a distinct flavour and texture.<br />
But honestly, every time, I made an effort to cook Dhoka, I would not be impressed as either I would not get the right texture, or the tightness in the dhoka or the flavour. And ofcourse, not to mention.. just at the point of serving, the dhokas would fall apart due to lack of bonding. And then the magic Ready to Cook Masala Dhoka Mix Packet was introduced by my mum...and dot on..since then no failures. Every attempt has been super duper and star attraction on the dinning table. Honestly, this is not praising myself..but what I mean is that I did not have those previous complaints like dhokas falling apart etc.<br />
Hence, these packets are one of those essential items in my suitcase on my way back from my holidays in India. It is just an easier and quicker method to cook this authentic and traditional bengali dish without the complex efforts, although the taste remains intact.<br />
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<u>Not many ingredients had been used-</u><br />
1 packet Cookme Masala Dhoka<br />
2 tsp- Cinnamon powder- I just dry roast the cinnamon and grind them.<br />
Cumin Seeds- 1tsp<br />
Ginger grated- 1 tsp<br />
Cumin Powder- 1tsp<br />
Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp<br />
Chilli Powder-1 tsp<br />
Bay Leaf and Dried Red Chilli- 1 or 2 each<br />
Green Chillies- 2-3 nos.<br />
Garam Masala- 1 tsp<br />
Sugar- 2 tsp<br />
Tomato - 1 - I pulsed it in my grinder<br />
Some Freshly chopped Coriander leaves<br />
Salt - to taste<br />
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What happened in my Kitchen-<br />
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1. Fried the Dhoka diamond pieces as per the packet instructions. Ofcourse this is the time I really have to control myself from throwing in some of the fried dhoka pieces in my mouth..specially the corner pieces.<br />
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2. To the same hot oil, added the cumin seeds, Bay Leaf and Dried Chilli. Once the flavour infused, I added the Ginger and the cinnamon powder and let it cook for couple of minutes.<br />
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3. I stirred all the spices except the Garam masala with the tomato paste. Then poured the paste to the oil and let it cook till colour changed to brown. The sugar and the cinnamon powder helps this caramelising stage.<br />
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4. After 4-5 minutes of cooking when oil separated on the edges, I poured about 2 cups of hot water and let it boil.<br />
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5. Added the Dhoka pieces to the boiling gravy and covered it for few minutes to let it simmer.<br />
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6. Just before finishing off, I added 1 tsp of ghee and garam masala and garnish with coriander leaves.<br />
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6. There is a very important point to remember, generally after cooking, the gravy thickens on standing. The Dhoka pieces have an amazing capacity to absorb the fluid and get softer and fatter. So I generally finish it with generous amount of gravy. Sometime, I do keep some gravy separately in a bowl. Just before serving, I reheat the gravy and add it to the dishes if required.<br />
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Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-58530084213705574952012-11-30T21:21:00.000-08:002013-08-27T17:42:45.437-07:00Muro Chochchori- A game with Fish Head<!-- begin htmlcommentbox.com -->
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A long awaiting post to be published and a big apologise to my friends and readers..I can blame it on the lovely holiday I had into the Kingdom of Wonders- Cambodia. Although I was quite optimistic to write about this before heading off, but alas, poor time management, I guess. I know you all are really really understanding ..thank you!! </div>
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So here goes the story..For a Bong <i>Macher Muro</i> ( Fish Head) is very auspicious and delicacy on any important occasion. <i>Macher Muro</i> is an integral ingredient for all ceremonies- and mostly its a huge presentation - I mean a whole <i>muro</i> is presented intact on the plate or <i>thali</i>.<br />
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Though I must admit, as a kid, I was quite reluctant to even have a go with the <i>Muro</i>. I would just sometimes ponder how could one eat the bony structure and get that overwhelming taste and pleasure. Of course it was always my dad who would go for the fish head. I used to think it could be a boy thing...Oh God ..I definitely lived in a La La Land...<br />
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And then when S stepped into my La La Land, the prospective of food changed and took an entire different route.. I was told <i>Macher Muro</i> was one of his favourites and I actually witnessed that <i>Muro</i> was almost a daily ingredient in the <i>daal</i> ( lentils) or vegetables in my in-law's dinning table. All parts of Fish were like vital...and being a foodie, my palate changed too...This was history and the present picture- I play around <i>muro</i> with whatever I feel like. Made it Indian , Chinese,Malay ingredients..have used different flavours and given twists. Overall outcome has always been relished and the side effects have resulted to an entry to my son's little palette too. He would demand a share of <i>Muro</i>, whenever he feels like.<br />
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This was something which I was cooking to clear off my fridge before the trip..so I used a medley of stuff. Some Bong, some Singaporean, some Thai...some leftover veggies.. All married together with white snapper head.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpO4uOWzRdSl4QiTuE_vX5mQvnF9VOvO6Iz1EXmki_uOVP9Pqi8lrcFF2kVf6MMH-UDmsALFpbwPwDSAB6tsQhDBnSlRwmsu7bOn2Up-2unJOd3i8k-nu_Xs3yWkwPFz9AissMS3k0OGcP/s320/IMG_1541.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpO4uOWzRdSl4QiTuE_vX5mQvnF9VOvO6Iz1EXmki_uOVP9Pqi8lrcFF2kVf6MMH-UDmsALFpbwPwDSAB6tsQhDBnSlRwmsu7bOn2Up-2unJOd3i8k-nu_Xs3yWkwPFz9AissMS3k0OGcP/s320/IMG_1541.jpg" height="260" width="400" /></a><u><b>So I grabbed</b>-</u><br />
1 White Snapper Head - cut into two halves and marinated with salt and turmeric<br />
1 tbsp each of Ginger and Garlic Paste<br />
1 Onion Sliced thinly<br />
Half a Radish- Grated ( i just used up leftover radish)<br />
1 Tomato- chopped<br />
A handful of Kaffir Lime Leaves<br />
2 tbsp Mustard Paste<br />
1 tbsp- Black Pepper sauce<br />
1 tsp of Cumin powder<br />
1tsp Turmeric powder<br />
1tsp Coriander powder<br />
Some Kaffir Lime Leaves<br />
Fresh Chillies Split<br />
Fresh Chopped Coriander Leaves<br />
Salt and Pepper to season<br />
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See I told you I am going to make a mix and match of spices and flavours with some Indian touch of Muro <i>ghonto( </i>Stir Fry of Fish Head with Veggies).<br />
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<u>How did it all mix and match on my wok-</u><br />
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1. I fried the Fish Head in Mustard Oil. This is totally Bong influence ..I mean it ..The tangy and strong Mustard oil really breaks the flavour into the fish head. Need to fry it well at this step and keep it aside.<br />
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2. Then in the same oil,I sauteed the ginger and garlic. Once the zing was in the air, threw in the sliced onion and continued stirring. Waited till the translucent stage and added the grated radish. This is a funny ingredient , quite a few of you might fold your eyebrows...but honestly was a good idea and went well with the mustard paste that I added later. Let the veggie mixture cook for couple of minutes.<br />
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3. Now in goes all the blends- all the spices, black pepper sauce,mustard paste, tomatoes, lime leaves, chillies. This was when I gave a oriental angle to this dish and stirred for a while. I also added some salt and sugar. Need to be careful with the salt as the Fish head also has some salt.<br />
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4. Then I added the Fish Heads, and stirred to coat the main ingredient with all the spice. Let it cover and cook for about 6-7 minutes. <!-- end htmlcommentbox.com --><br />
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5. Some of the fish head piece would break and that would add to the taste as well. I actually prefer them broken.<br />
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6. Finished with Coriander leaves and enjoyed with boiled rice.<br />
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Prawns, a seafood, which is very much, my permanent guest on my dinning table every week...loved by all of us and R's favourite. And I am sure most of the kids would go for it without any hastle and stories. Last weekend, at the fish market trip, I was overwhelmed to get these fresh water , nice looking healthy prawns. The aunty ( generally the local practise in Singapore- is calling the lady at the market aunty ..the name which really makes them feel so important and helpful..and the next moment they are at your side, helping you out to get the best catch). I generally would give my full trust on them and let them go on with the stories of their catch. Brings some similarity with the Indian fish market scenes. Yes, there you go, the logic behind declaring Singapore - the best of both the worlds.<br />
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And talking about prawns, I generally do not go for those jumbo size prawns, if I am not grilling. For gravies, or stir fries the medium size ones taste better as the spices blend more into the prawn muscles and do not leave a divorced taste from the spices. I just wanted to do it in a different way, yet not too overpowering spices. Opened my fridge to check out on my treasures..and decided to use some Thai chilli sauce to give a subtle yet different taste to the palate. Also used up some cauliflower florets - probably its a bong instinct..Prawns marry well with cauliflower and the dash of the sauce would add a bright colour to the dish.<br />
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<u>So I used</u><br />
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1. Prawn- 500 gms ( deviened and shelled ofcourse)<br />
2. Half a Cauliflower cut into florets<br />
3. 1 Onion-Fine chopped<br />
4. Ginger and Garlic- Grated ( 1tsp each- I went a bit more with the ginger for the zesty sauce.<br />
5. Chillies- 2 Chopped ( I just used 1 )<br />
6. Cumin Powder- 1 tsp<br />
7. Coriander Powder- 1tsp<br />
8. Turmeric- 1/2 tsp<br />
9.Cumin seeds- 1 tsp<br />
10. Bay Leaf- 1 or 2<br />
11. Thai Chilli Sauce- a dash or 2 tbsp<br />
12. Salt and Sugar to taste<br />
13. Garnish with Garam Masala Powder ( a mix of dry roasted Cardamom, cinnamon, Cloves)<br />
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<u>What happened in my kitchen</u><br />
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1. Marinated the prawns with salt and turmeric for about half an hour. This helps in bringing out more flavours. Heat some oil in a pan and saute the prawns. Do not fry for long to avoid toughness of the prawn meat.<br />
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2. Keep aside the sauteed prawns in a dish. Add some more oil to the pan and add in the cumin seeds and bay leaf. Just be patient till the seeds splutter and add the ginger garlic and chillies. Soon the sizzling sound and aromas fill the kitchen.<br />
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3. In goes the chopped onions and stir for a while. If you would like to cook with less oil, which is what I did, cover the pan for couple of minutes on low flame. The low flame cooking also induces more flavours. Add all the powder spices and the cauliflower and cover.<br />
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4. The steam inside the pan would cook the cauliflower. If you wish you could fry the cauliflowers separately. Then add the lovely pink prawns and stir once, so that the prawns get coated with all that is happening in the pan. At this stage add the Thai chilli sauce ( the star flavour in this recipe to create the twist).<br />
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5. Stressing on, that let this dish laze around a bit on a low flying blue flame...You can add some water or stock to the dish at this stage, depending on the amount of sauce you want. I did not add much water but this is all the water which oozed out from the seafood and onion mix. And my sauce also did some wonders to the dish. The gravy should not be boiling as my photo reflects..there should be lazy bubbles here and there ( simmering in culinary terms).<br />
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6. Adjust salt and sugar. Keep peeping in as and when you feel like, opening the lid. This went on my gas stove for about 12-15 minutes.<br />
7. Sprinkle some Garam Masala and Coriander leaves and serve with hot rice. I am sure you will get quite a few thumbs up on the dinner table..enjoy!!<br />
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Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-11414971505061128942012-11-13T01:10:00.000-08:002012-11-15T16:58:20.035-08:00Deepavali Treats<!-- begin htmlcommentbox.com -->
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<u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">HAPPY DIWALI...The festival of Lights and Yummy treats!!</span></u> </h2>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; line-height: 21px;"><b>Diwali is the festival of light</b></span></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; line-height: 21px;"><b>Diwali is the victory over evils</b></span></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;">Let us celebrate the victory of God </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 21px;">Over the forces of darkness</span></b></span></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The festival of lights ....Diwali. I know most of us, specially who have spent childhood in India will get nostalgic about the fire crackers, chocolate bombs, Rockets, Anars ..the list goes on and not to mention the sweets, namkeen, the diyas, candles, decorations. I can just rewind and bring back my childhood days in Ranchi- the best place to be in for this festival. I know sounds cliche ..but yes, for you it would be your city the best place. And why not!! You have spent the most carefree, delightful childhood days. And specially for these festivals you remember the best possible memories and yes like me, we all try to atleast create some of it, if not replicate the entire surroundings, for our children. Why should they be deserted from this beautiful feeling, just because they are staying in a foreign land. Specially staying in Singapore, it has been quiet easy to embrace the festival aurora ...Spending more than 10 years in Oz Land, I had adjusted myself with the limited resources available but Singapore really opens your door to India and can compete equally, I must say. Ofcourse the Diwali melas and Kali Puja in Sydney was a great affair. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">For me, if I rewind..Diwali.. going to the market with Baba and buying fire crackers...collect so many of them. And the messy ones too like the "Saanp ( Snake) ", which used to leave black marks on the verandah. Yes, we had to sun them out on a huge lay out of newspaper..My verandah would transform to a display of fire crackers. Friends used to hop from one to another to ensure that we all had a nice combination of all the crackers. Buy new clothes of course, candles, diyas and then the aromas from the kitchen. All the sweets and authentic Indian dishes..oh yumm!! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Let me come back to the present scene now. No more black and white right!! Yes, we did a couple of trips to the Diwali Mela , first few times with my girl friends and then of course a family one was the finale. My hubby went gala with the crackers, specially now that R is no more fearful of them. The star attraction for me was my mehendi on my hand done by my dear friend RM. It had, no doubt, a professional touch with fine artworks but the best part was the colour..uh la la..yes they all had their share of teasing me for my hubby's love for me. For those who are unaware of this, if your mehendi (Henna) colour is really bright and dark, it relates to your partner's intense love for you. So there you go. We also had some quality time - mum and son- painting diyas. And I must admit R is growing, so not much mess this year.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #351c75; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Then we had the decorations and lights. The house looks so different with all the glitters.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The best part of doing all these was the team work with hubby and son. I really enjoyed the family time and the little boy's excitement for all the do's.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR7t3bAiWcVUo-Zy5MPcDXLw13JNtgTBZqTujrDi4-J4-iQ50u41DzgSfo8vD3F_hpiMWi6fm7wElL35naGKGU6c670WF9bsd3MaFX171Dl0kMVBWMhiSiAtMIFU7YQxV5RR8dvwbxUCKC/s1600/IMG_1385.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR7t3bAiWcVUo-Zy5MPcDXLw13JNtgTBZqTujrDi4-J4-iQ50u41DzgSfo8vD3F_hpiMWi6fm7wElL35naGKGU6c670WF9bsd3MaFX171Dl0kMVBWMhiSiAtMIFU7YQxV5RR8dvwbxUCKC/s1600/IMG_1385.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">And now the foodie time. I remembered something again my ma used to make- Shahi Tukda and tossed it from my list. Easy ingredients and quick method. Something I could just pop in from my pantry. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><u>What I looked for in my pantry-</u></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For Shahi Tukda-</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">1. White Bread slices - preferrably day old</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">2. Sugar - 1/2 cup </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">6. Pistachios- Chopped fine</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For the kheer-</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">1. 500 ml full cream milk</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">2. Condensed Milk tin- 1/2 tin</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">4. Cardamom Pods- 2</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><u>What happened in my kitchen-</u></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">1. Prepare the Kheer/ Rabdhi. I took the short cut process and added condensed milk. Also I like this version a lot, it actually gives a rich creamy taste without too much of hard work. You could omit condensed milk and add Sugar to it. In that case go for more milk with the traditional method.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So I boiled the milk in a thick bottom pan, let it reduce half. Then added the condensed milk and the trick is continuous stirring. Rub the saffron threads between your fingers and mix to a little bowl of few tablespoon of milk. Then add saffron induced milk to the boiling kheer. Throw in some cardamom pods after opening them. When you get the rich look, the kheer is ready to be poured. Garnish could be slivered pistachios.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">2. Cut off the sides of the bread slices. I had cut them into triangles. You could even go more creative and give them funky shapes or use cookie cutters. The key here is to go by your creativity and innovativeness. Deep fry them in oil in small batches. Remember breads are really thirsty for any kind of fluid, so you need to be careful. Rest the fried bed on a lined plate before dressing them up for plating.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">3. Now Sugar syrup's turn to be cooked. Boil the water and the sugar in a saucepan till its syrupy. Easy to say but I am not sure whether you are aligned with me for this. Basically if you a dip a spoon in the syrup, the spoon should have a layer sticking to it and not dripping too smooth. You could add some cardamom to this syrup to induce flavours. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">4. Now 2 methods can be followed. Either drench the bread into the syrup or pour some syrup on the slices. Depends on the amount of sweetness your tongue is longing for. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">5. Plate the slices in an angle. Pour some syrup on it and go generous with the kheer drizzling on the tukdas. Make sure to get some of the saffrons as garnish and sprinkle pistachios. After all, the aim is Shahi Tukda..so a lot of "<i>Shahiness</i>" needs to be portrayed. This dish actually used to be in the royal menu. You can serve the bread hot and cold kheer. Enjoy.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Have</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #6aa84f;">a</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #9fc5e8;">safe</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #741b47;">Diwali </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">and</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">enjoy</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">with </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;">your</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;">family</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;">and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">friends</span>.</span></h4>
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Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-17453230120580639202012-11-04T20:37:00.000-08:002012-11-15T16:58:47.169-08:00A Steaming Kitchen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<u><b>STEAMED SEA BASS WITH COLOURFUL FLAVOURS</b></u></h2>
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Had some friends for dinner on the weekend and promised them for Malay food, a new entry in my kitchen. A typical characteristic of Malay Cuisine, as they say, in culinary world, a dish with a distinct blanket of oil as a drape and rich dark colour. And here I would be unfair not to mention the aromas and appetising taste with all fresh ingredients and spices pounded and married together.<br />
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I needed a balance with that amount of spice and richness to serve for the dinner and chose the Cantonese style steamed fish with light flavours but added lot of colours to marry with the theme and not make my Sea Bass feel out of place on the colourful table. I was a bit apprehensive too. as this was probably the first time I was going to experiment to this extent with my friends. Generally, I go safe with my Indian palette and its S and R who are frequent guinea pigs for my experimentation. Of course, my gang in Sydney would oppose, they had their share of being guinea pigs few times too. But I am happy to declare the menu was hit and thanks to my friends, they did really push me to play up with more cuisines in future.<br />
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I must say it was a good idea to go and fetch some fresh fish for this dish too. I was friendly with my uncle at the market and he butterflied the whole Sea Bass very carefully. This is a good idea if you want to make your fish the show stopper rather than just have the whole fish. And its so convenient to slice and plate to individual plates, and not to forget that the juices penetrate to all the muscles of the fish uniformly.<br />
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To place the butterflied fish on the steaming dish, just press a bit on the spine and spread the wings ( sides of the fish- I call it wings here as it is acting like a butterfly. If you are not lucky enough to the get the fish pre-cut as a butterfly , then the process would be clean the gut of the fish. Then cut along the spine, from head to tail, and loosen the fillet on each side of the fish. To a go step ahead use your knife and a bit of skill ( not actually , a lot of skill) and slit near the bone on both sides to take off the bones. This is a complex cut. I do not want to scare you..you may go along with this recipe even without the butterfly cut, if that's going to a big issue. Just take a whole fish and clean the gut and descale etc and start over with the process. Butterflying is just a better edge over the dish.<br />
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OK now time for noting the ingredients I used-<br />
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<u> For the fish</u><br />
1/ Whole sea Bass<br />
2/ 1 inch Ginger - thin sliced<br />
3/ 1 inch Ginger - Juliennes<br />
4/ 3 Garlic cloves - thin sliced<br />
5/ 2 stalk Spring Onion- Juliennes<br />
6/ 2-3 Red chili Julienne<br />
7/ A stalk of Lemongrass, crushed<br />
8/ A quarter of capsicum- very small diagonal cuts<br />
9/ Coriander leaves chopped<br />
10/ 4 Tbsp Cooking Oil<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sea Bass waiting to be steamed with all the colourful flavouring mates</td></tr>
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<u>Sauce-</u><br />
1/ 6 tbsp water<br />
2/ 2 tbsp Light soy sauce<br />
3/ 3 tsp Sesame oil<br />
4/ 2 tsp Oyster Sauce<br />
5/ 2 tsp Dark Soy Sauce<br />
6/ Chinese Wine -1 tsp<br />
7/ Crushed Coriander root- nice wash and clean the root and crush it rough with the back of the knife<br />
8 / 1/2 tsp Ground white pepper<br />
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<u>Ginger Oil</u>-<br />
Deep Fry some ginger julienne in oil. This should be done just before serving the hot steamed fish. Pour the hot sizzling ginger oil on the fish and sprinkle the crispy ginger. I promise you this will enhance the whole dish to another level.<br />
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<u>What happened in my kitchen-</u><br />
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1. Place the butterflied fish on a steaming dish. Hide some ginger and garlic slices underneath the fish and some of the greens and reds on top of the fish. Season the fish with salt. Not too much as my sauce will be salty from Soy sauce. Feed the fish with the lemongrass stalk and push it till the stomach. My photo will help you to know what I mean. Steam the fish for 15 minutes. My fish was too big for my steamer, so what I did was, wrapped the fish with foil leaving lot a space within. So not a tight wrap but let it balloon up. I cooked my fish in a hot oven for 15 minutes. But ideally the taste and texture is much better if you can steam.<br />
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2. While the fish is steaming prepare the sauce. Add all the ingredients of the sauce in a saucepan, cook until boil. On the other hand prepare the ginger oil.<br />
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3. Key point is everything should be done simultaneously as you would need all in the same temperature zone.<br />
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4. Take the fish out and take out all the ginger, garlic, lemongrass and spring onion as they have given up their flavours to the fish already. Pour some of the sauce over the fish. Sprinkle some greens and reds on the fish and pour the rest of the sauce. Bathe the whole fish generously with the sauce. Finish up with the ginger oil.<br />
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5. Serve hot and enjoy with rice.<br />
<br />Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-7613358589424062782012-11-02T03:53:00.000-07:002012-11-02T03:55:52.431-07:00Vegetabley Colourful<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><u>VEGGIE CORNER</u></span></h2>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Lunch today- Mixed Veg with Palak Chapathi</td></tr>
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Now that I am back to those days of my having ample amount of leisure, after finishing my new expedition of gaining knowledge in Culinary skills, I will be sharing more of my kitchen stories here. Just out of the moon, felt like creating a colourful yet striking canvas on my kitchen bench top. It was getting too boring but unfortunately my fridge and pantry was not complimenting my thoughts. OK dealt with it, move on, took it as a challenge and I remembered all the techniques and culinary terms- moist heat cooking and dry heat cooking. Sorry friends, will not start one of those lectures...but kind of keep getting inclined to those terms and tips when I am cooking..Simple dish from basic and daily vegetables- Carrots, Beans, Cauliflower..I would generally make them quite simple stir fry or sautéed and that's it...Done!! But today has to be different..so thought of using steaming, sautéeing and broiling...Looks like complex but trust me ..not complex , its just the air of using all the techniques of cooking and giving a different crunch. Actually you can start with blanching the veggies, if steaming is an issue (like not proper equipments or timing). And this is handy when you have a list of things to do simultaneously and you want to also divide your attention to your little one doing a project of his own or something. This is when multi tasking is on demand!!<br />
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OK, why did I bake again, a trick which helps to retain the colours as well as crunchiness. Of course, I could also get the similar texture with a Chinese wok and more oil and high heat...but yes here goes my health watcher mind. I actually did not use more than 1 tbsp oil and may be a teeny tiny bit of butter as a finishing touch (which could be optional). And this is another version of crunchiness ...a western shift from the Chinese wok. I think I have given quite a few reasons supporting my "Combi cooking techniques" but I can assure you that the outcome was Yummy!! And my judge at the dinning table R approved it.<br />
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<u>What I used-</u><br />
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Carrot strips ( not Juliennes)- 1 large<br />
Beans - 1 cup ( diagonal strips)<br />
Cauliflower florets- 1 cup<br />
Onion (chopped fine) - 1 small<br />
Ginger (chopped fine)- 1 inch<br />
Garlic (chopped fine)- 3 cloves<br />
Olive oil- 1 tbsp<br />
Italian dried herbs- 2 tbsp<br />
Worcestershire Sauce- 1 tbsp<br />
Sweet Chili Sauce- 1 tbsp<br />
Salt and Pepper - to taste<br />
Butter- a dollop to give the shine.<br />
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<u>How I cooked-</u><br />
1. Season the vegetables with salt and steam them. I actually used a bamboo steamer for the cauliflower and the beans. I used a stainless steel steamer for the carrots. Not for any particular reason but just that I wanted to do it all simultaneously. Here I go..my rational mind, automatically which stopped me from mixing carrots with other..had to cook the lovely orangey carrots in isolation as they are fastest ones to soften. "Ladylike" ( actually read good adaptability and flexibility..!!)<br />
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2. Now put your pan on fire and add olive oil. Do not wait for it to smoke. Another bit of advice here , olive oil has a very low smoking temperature unlike your other cooking oil. And mind you it will not just smoke your garlic but actually burn it or sometimes in polished culinary tempo "caramelised garlic". Ofcoure we do not need that..we just need the nutty flavour from garlic to enhance the overall aroma and taste eventually. We are not going to be harsh on any of the vegetables here, just a soft touch and some TLC ( tender love and care). So in goes the ginger and garlic ( in the same order, as ginger takes longer time to cook than garlic). Then throw the onions and stir till translucent.<br />
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3. Now what I eyes were longing for- the colourful medley. Throw in the steamed soft yet firm veggies mix them well with already sauteed onion mixture. Coat all the pieces well , do not be biast to any.<br />
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3. Add the seasonings - Worcestershire sauce , Sweet chili Sauce, Italian herbs , salt and pepper. You could go well with chillies too but I just wanted to keep a subtle flavour. Don't want to move towards a stir fry.<br />
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4. Do not cook much on the pan. Transfer onto a warm dish, add the butter and shove it in a preheated 160 degrees oven and bake it covered for about 15 minutes. Uncover and broil for 5-6 minutes to get the colour. Ideally the hot pan used on the fire should go on the oven. But mine was not ovenproof, so warmed a glass dish in the oven for few minutes.<br />
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So here goes my fusion medley of vegetables- Subtle with flavours and crunchy veggies retaining their shine and natural colour. Have it nice and warm with Roast chicken or pasta or even love it with Indian <i>Roti</i>. </div>
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<br />Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-41127011327558206952012-10-15T08:35:00.000-07:002012-10-16T05:59:06.242-07:00MAHALAYA BHOG<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<u><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><i>LUCHI</i> AND <i>GAJARER HALWA</i> (DEEP FRIED INDIAN BREAD WITH CARROT PUDDING)</span></b></u></h2>
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Yes, this is the TIME OF THE YEAR!!! The festive time ..<i>hoi hullour</i> ( Extreme excitement- may not be the proper translation but I know you will understand my feelings)..the celebrations, the clothes, the food, the ....I can keep adding and I know my bengali friends will love to read them as much as I would love to describe them.</div>
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Yes, <i>DURGA MA ki JAI</i>!!! Today is <i>Mahalaya</i> and each one of us have a bundle of deep rooted childhood memories. I would love to engrave such precious memories in my son's life too. Yes, I did play the <i>Mahalaya shloka </i> in the morning and welcomed all the questions from R, even before he could get up from the bed to do his daily chores before going to school. Yes, tried to answer as much as I could before I stepped out of the house and promised him something special in the evening. </div>
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And it was his wish list <i>Gajar er halwa </i>( carrot pudding). R's wish list and my top priority of course. My close friends would understand the obvious reasons. OK not a big secret, but R generally is not a big eater, hence he proposing something is like so IMPORTANT for me !! All mums would now go..oh yes, there you go.</div>
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Ok I will keep it short today.. I tried a different kind of luchi today - Went for <i>Aloo Puri </i>..something I used to love when I was a kid..but kind of forgotten this particular dish somehow.</div>
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Inspired by Sanjeev Kapoor ( one of my Gurus in this field), I fabricated the recipe and poured the oil can onto the kadai to start pumping my puris. I just cannot stop story telling ..have to share these stories with you my friends..This was when I was a kiddo, and my dad had some Russian colleagues for dinner at our home. Mum fried some <i>Luchis </i>with chicken curry. They were super impressed with the <i>phulko luchis</i> ( nicely puffed up), and their main query was - Where is the hole on the<i> Luchi</i>? How did you pump the air in to balloon it up to this lovely round shape? Yes, thats the secret of<i> Luchi</i>!!</div>
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For the Aloo Puris, its just a simple twist to add in Grated boiled Potato and some spices to make it more interesting along with the flour in the dough.<br />
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<u>I just mixed the following-</u><br />
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<ul>
<li>1 cup <i>Atta </i>( wholemeal flour)</li>
<li>1 cup <i>Maida</i> ( Plain flour)</li>
<li>2 Boiled potatoes- grated ( make sure it is dry and not watery, otherwise the dough will be too watery and make your life difficult while rolling them)</li>
<li>A mixture of spices- Salt<i>, Chat Masala, Cumin Powder, Garam Masala, chilli powder</i> ( all about 1 tsp each )</li>
<li>A pinch of <i>Ajwain</i>(Carom Seeds) and <i>Kalo Jeera</i> ( Nigella seeds or Black Cumin)</li>
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I added some oil while making the dough and used hot water. Please do not make the dough too soft. The mashed potato will make the dough soft after resting. And then just roll out small Luchis after resting the dough for a while and fry them in hot oil.<br />
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You can actually eat them as it is as they have the lovely spices in them. But I served with a mixed vegetable and Halwa to have a complete meal. Also my offerings to the GOD was Luchi and Halwa.<br />
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For the CARROT HALWA, I used the traditional and original recipie which has coming over many many years. There are many versions like pressure cooker or microwave versions for today's technic modern lifestyle. But I do trust the authentic ones in these tastes.</div>
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So I grated 3 large carrots. For my preparations, I also blanched some almonds and raisins to make them softer which would compliment my carrot texture too. Mind you, the health freak side of me, I added one and half tablespoon of <i>Ghee</i> (clarified butter) to a pan and sauteed the grated carrots for a while. Now what does "for a while" mean, to be more specific, till the colour is a tiny bit darker. Then I added around a cup of milk and cooked the carrots. I generally warm the milk and add. Made the milk bubble up to give the rich colour to the dish. Now a good twist is adding some <i>Khoya</i> or <i>Kalakand</i> to this dish at this stage to give some body, but unfortunately, this was an unplanned menu today, hence no stock of those lovely sweet compliments. I had some milk powder, and made the most use of it. I threw a generous amount of the milk powder, around 3/4th cup and another 3/4th cup raw sugar to the cooked carrots. Continuous stirring does the magic and the texture starts to come up. I threw in the chopped and blanched almonds and raisins at this stage and finished with cardomon. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mahalaya Bhog </span></u></b></td></tr>
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Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-85355668975526146032012-10-07T03:50:00.001-07:002012-10-07T07:17:23.711-07:00Malay Roasted Chicken<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><u>AYAM PANGGANG</u></span></h2>
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This is a roasted chicken marinated in fresh spices. Very similar ingredients used in Indian cooking, except the diary component- yoghurt. This goes really well with the Nasi Lemak. It would actually go well with our very own <i>pulao</i> etc. The trick is also to use a very nice juicy tender part of the chicken, so I went ahead and bought the boneless chicken legs. I just went a bit towards more yummy..let the skin cling on to the chicken meat. The logic here I can give..with the experience from cooking the Indian kebabs, even though they are all lean meat ( without the skin), we have yoghurt which acts as the moisturizer to the meat, hence it doesn't end up dry and meaty roasted chicken. But in this case, I don't have my yoghurt buddy, so I listen to the locals here, and let the drape on the chicken meat..The photograph here is obvious of what I mean the crispy yet succulent skin draped on the juicy chicken. YUMMY!!! yes, its just not the words here but it tasted the same.<br />
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Not too many ingredients but very simple and straight forward recipe leading to a great compliment to Nasi Lemak. In my recipe, I have used not too much chillies , obvious reason R being the centre of attraction, S and I just add more chillies while eating..you can go more friendly towards a more spicy version. <br />
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<u>What I used-</u><br />
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Boneless Chicken Leg- 3 pieces ( wash and clean, leave it whole, do not cut) - it is always advisable to roast a bigger piece and then cut or trim the final product- a tip from a local chef.<br />
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Onions- 2<br />
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Ginger - 1 inch or a bit more ( as I used more ginger than the original recipe, as I went low on chillies)<br />
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Garlic- 6-7 cloves<br />
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Lemongrass- 3<br />
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Chillies- as much hot as u want<br />
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Galangal- 1 inch<br />
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Turmeric- 2 tsp<br />
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Cumin- 3 tsp<br />
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Coriander- 3 tsp<br />
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Salt to taste<br />
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<u>How I cooked-</u><br />
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1. Blend Onion , Ginger, Garlic, Lemongrass, Galangal, chillies into a crunchy paste. Now this is a weird description I have used here - crunchy paste. What I mean is not a smooth paste but coarse one. It gives a good texture when roasted.<br />
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2. Marinate the chicken pieces with the blend and the dry powders and salt. Remember to massage the chicken nicely and let some of the marinade peep underneath the skin too. I marinated the chicken for 12 hours. It can be kept for a day too.<br />
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3. Preheat the oven to 210 degrees Celsius.<br />
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4.Take a baking dish and line a aluminium foil. Season the foil with oil. Place the marinated chicken skin side up. Sprinkle some oil on the chicken and massage it again. This would prevent drying skin.<br />
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5. Once you are satisfied with the your tray full of lovely bright yellow chicken..pass on the magic words and put them in the oven at 180 degree Celsius for 20 minutes. Now you need to keep an eye on the chicken, if required, baste some oil in between and go for another 5 minutes may be.<br />
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6. Once the chicken is cooked to your liking, take them out and allow to rest. A new term I have been introduced- Carry over cooking- this is very important for a good roast.<br />
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7. After resting, now slice the chicken. It could be a bit tricky to gather the everything together as the skin is nice and crispy and would like to come off easily with the knife, but the skill here is to manage to hold the skin with the meat and not leave the chicken meat naked on the plate.<br />
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8. Go ahead with your imaginations and plate it with any garnish. We were just too hungry and my boys could not wait to taste...as they had been waiting patiently even after being appetized with the Nasi Lemak flavours around the kitchen.<br />
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<br />Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-34290434123035343122012-10-07T01:44:00.001-07:002012-10-07T07:15:54.607-07:00Entry to Malay Cuisine<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Nasi Lemak </span></u></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This is my first trial with Malay Cuisine and yes it was quite successful and welcomed into my family's dinning table palate. I must mention that there is lot of resemblance with Indian spices. There are lot of new flavoured veggies which I got introduced too, like the Galangal ( called Blue Ginger in Singapore), Pandan Leaves etc. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This dish Nasi Lemak is a lovely flavoured rice infused with coconut milk mainly and other flavours like Pandan Leaves, Ginger, Galangal, Lemongrass. Though all of them are probably optional and the main ingredient is Coconut milk and the Pandan leaves commercially, but I have used other flavours too. But we need to be careful with our Indian instinct not to overpower with too many flavours and transform the Nasi Lemak to Biriyani or pulao. Also another catch here is the high cholesterol coconut milk ..yes once in a while its ok. traditionally, this is served with fried peanuts, Ikan Bilis(salted fried small fish) and fried egg and of course fried chicken. I have omitted the Ikan Bilis and the fried chicken. Instead I served this with another Malay Chicken dish Ayam Pangaang and also some healthy salad and stir fried veggies. After all I am trying to role model my son R , a right balanced diet. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><u>Ingredients I used</u>-</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Rice- 2 cups ( wash thoroughly)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Coconut Milk- 1 small cartoon</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Pandan Leaves - about 5 ( wash them nicely and make a knot as shown in my garnish or even tearing them will do)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Galangal- 1 inch and chopped roughly big chunks</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Ginger - crush with the back of a big knife..this will help to marry the juice with the rice while boiling.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Lemongrass Stalk- 2 - crushed again...remember to take out the outer skin.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Cinnamon stick- 1 whole</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Nutmeg Powder- 1 tsp (to give the magic fragrant).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Water- 3 and half cup</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Fried Peanuts - a handful.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Some sugar and salt to do the Tender Love and Care to the Nasi Lemak, which would go according to your taste.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><u>How I made it-</u></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">1. Add water to the washed rice in a pot. Pour the coconut Milk and mix.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">2. Throw the knotted Pandan Leaves, smashed ginger, Galangal and Lemongrass and the cinnamon stick.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">3. Now add the salt and sugar and sprinkle the nutmeg powder and stir.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">4. Now let the rice cook on low fire. Soon the whole house and kitchen will wear the lovely aromas of coconut milk, pandan leaves and lemongrass.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Infusion in process-all the flavours and aroma</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">5. Just before the rice gets well cooked, uncover the pot and take out the whole herbs and ginger etc. Stir the rice well and let it cook till done.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">6. Serve the rice in a pot and garnish with the Pandan leaf and lemongrass stalk.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I fried a egg and served with some cucumber slices, red onion slices, chopped chillies and a swirl of dark soy sauce.</span><br />
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Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-81966449045727218502012-10-05T22:14:00.001-07:002012-10-05T23:32:54.209-07:00My weekend Breakkie..PoheYes, I think I just should be blogging more frequently than this..took a long break..yes I can use the excuse for joining my new journey of the culinary art skills. But no, honestly, this should be make me pen down or rather type away more regularly. There are so many ideas and cuisines bubbling in the foodie mind of mine, but probably just too many. OK now is the time to bring on to my home kitchen one by one and then straight to the screen for my blog.<br />
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But this is not from the ones I am being trained at the school, but a very traditional Maharashtrian snack or breakfast. Actually I should confess I never liked <i>Poha </i>(in Hindi) or <i>Cheerer Pulao </i>( in Bengali) when I was a kid. But as we all mature and our tongue matures too...<i>Poha</i> became one of my "Yum" dishes and of course the best part is also that it is not very oily or spicy too..(Of course depending on individual taste). I just tend to bend towards the healthier version for the family..having said that, when I was younger, I always thought ..Why don't ma add more oil and spice and just make it like of those roadside eatery's yum dishes...nice and bright colour and the zing too? But again as my hair greys out, I now know why she didn't listen to my logic of adding more and more oil. Any one can make the food tasty and look nice with dripping oil and spices ( mind you the word "Tasty" here is objective again- the grey toned hair ones will be probably on my side and of course with Generation Y, things have changed too with healthy eating habits). It takes lot of patience and infusing TLC on the pan to make the food bright and colourful yet tasty with less oil and spice.<br />
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I think I had enough blabbering about healthy eating..now for the ones who do not understand the <i>Poha </i>and <i>Cheerer Pulao-</i> this is Flattened Rice ( also called beatened rice) is deshusked rice which is flattened into flat dry rice flakes. If you want to understand more you may read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poha_(rice) .<br />
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Here goes how I made it..</div>
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Ingredients- </div>
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<i>Poha or Cheere-</i> 1 and 1/2 cup </div>
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Boiled Potato- 2 medium ( I boiled it in the microwave ..super fast for my sudden breakfast ideas)</div>
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Onion- 1 chopped very fine</div>
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Ginger - Young 1 inch- chopped fine- cut juliennes and fine chop</div>
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Curry Leaves- a handful ( I just plucked them fresh from balcony garden)</div>
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Green chillies- As much as you want , I used chopped chopped.</div>
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Hing ( Asaefotida)- a pinch</div>
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White <i>Urad dal</i> and mustard seeds mix - 1 tsp for tempering</div>
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Sugar- 2 tsp</div>
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Turmeric- 1/2 tsp</div>
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Chilli powder- 1/2tsp</div>
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Salt to taste</div>
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Peanuts- 1/4th cup</div>
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Peas- Frozen- 1/2 cup</div>
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Coriander leaves - to garnish. ( I did not have any in the fridge)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pohe </i>with Potato crisps and the sugary watermelon</td></tr>
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How I made-</div>
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1. Wash the <i>Poha</i> in a bowl and drain it in a colander and squeeze out the water . Let it dry and then add 2 tsp sugar and 1 tsp salt and mix with your hand. Make sure all the flakes are seasoned well.</div>
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2. Fry the Peanuts brown in oil and keep aside. Be alert, they burn very easily.</div>
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3.To the hot oil, add the hing, Mustard and <i>urad daal</i> mix and curry leaves. Let the flavour infuse the oil and the seeds crackle. The kitchen just smell heavenly, I throw in the chillies and ginger.</div>
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4. To this fragrant oil with so many flavours zinging together, throw the chopped onion and fry till translucent.</div>
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5. Now goes the powdered spices- not too many- just turmeric, chilli, some sugar and salt. Wait for the lovely colour. Keep stirring, remember its not simmering but similar to chinese stir frying.</div>
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6. Chop the boiled potaotes into small cubes and add to this. Also add the peas and mix nicely.</div>
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7. Now goes the main ingredient - the <i>Poha</i> , now its the time to show your hand skills on the ladle and mix the onion mixture well with the <i>poha</i> flakes and see how beautifully the white dull flakes get the lovely bright colour. Mind you , all this I did with quite a less amount of oil and not too many spice. I am sure everyone can do it too. </div>
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8. Add the fried peanuts and adjust the seasoning if you need to. </div>
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9. Last but not the least , squeeze some fresh lemon juice to bring the tang on to taste. Sprinkle the fresh chopped coriander and serve on a light coloured plate to highlight the bright colour. </div>
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10. I like to have some potato crisps, or we bongs say <i>Jhuri bhaja</i> on the top , to give that crunchy. Of course the peanuts make it quite crunchy too.</div>
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11. And yes, passed my son's tasting buds too. </div>
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P.S. You can go more on the veggies like carrots, but as much of veggies you use, the traditional <i>poha</i> concept will transform to the <i>Upma</i> concept. So I would suggest try to keep it as basic to preserve the authenticity.</div>
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<br />Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-31784918437031136372012-09-12T03:34:00.000-07:002012-10-05T23:23:23.660-07:00Eggey Times<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Eggs--How do you like your eggs? If some one asks me this question..the immediate honest answer would be..whatever way you cook them. Indeed when I was a child I would have said not boiled though! But soon when I went to my PG days in Delhi, I found the <i>chatpata</i> ( spicy) way to even make the boiled eggs devine..just add some chopped onions, chillies, coriander leaves and chat masala..and MAGIC done!! And they actually became my favourite when the <i>dubba</i> (tiffin carrier) food used to bland and watery...I know not everyone who is reading this can actually visualise this..and cheers to the ones who can relate to this..Now this blog is about eggs and omlettes and..but definitely not <i>Dubba </i>food..will write another one on it sometime definitely. </div>
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I even used to crave for eggs and eggs when I had the little one tucked in me. OMG..typing away at my workdesk ..and seeing all kinds of eggs in front of me. But honestly there were no eggs even at the premises. One day I actually called up S and said I need to have eggs badly!! And poor him, could not even react much, thanks to my baby in me..Best period in any woman's life and the best excuse..I am pregnant and blame the little one being created.</div>
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And to my shock when R was 1 year old, we found out that he has egg allergies and the rule was no eggs at home. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Noteworthy; line-height: 24px;">Both S and I were waiting for the day when R would grow off his egg allergy and we could introduce him to the eggie world which he really missed out (specially on the birthday parties). The first reaction on the eggs challenge test few months ago, after he tasted a bit of the boiled eggs was 'Mumma this is so creamy buttery' and I must honestly admit that the boiled egg he was having did not even have salt, leave alone butter or anything else. So I opened my kitchen doors to eggs and a new addition to my breakfast table were eggs..oh my my!! Both S and I were delighted to see our little one enjoying his newly discovered food..</span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Noteworthy; line-height: 24px;">Todays's post was supposed to be Omlette curry ...kind of right! Just realized that I have not yet mentioned anything about Omlette..okay we all know Omlette ..I can go on and on if you don't stop me..but you know what! Omlette curry ( or rather what we Bengalis call it Omlette'r <i>Jhol</i>) is such a dear dish for me..I used to love when <i>ma</i> ( mum) cooked this for dinner with <i>fulko roti</i> ( Indian bread). It is actually quite a regular dish in the menu like Egg Curry.</span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Noteworthy; line-height: 24px;">So here goes how I made it and yes R loved it..I added more chillies to the leftovers and had it with bread the next day!!!</span></blockquote>
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2 medium sized onions - chopped fine </div>
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Tomato -2 chopped fine</div>
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Ginger grated - 2 tsp<br />
Garlic Grated- 2 tsp<br />
Chopped Green Chillies- as much spicy as you want or as little.<br />
Coriander Leaf- Chopped fresh and green<br />
Cumin seed- 1 tbsp<br />
Bay Leaf-2<br />
Turmeric Powder-1tsp<br />
Cumin powder- 1 tsp<br />
Coriander powder-1tsp<br />
Chilli powder-1 tsp ( I did not use it though)<br />
Garam Masala - 1tsp<br />
Salt and Sugar to taste<br />
I used Mustard oil to cook this to bring that special aroma..If you want some other oil, go for it.<br />
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<u><b>How I cooked-</b></u>-<br />
1. Whisk the eggs as briskly as you can with half of the chopped onion, chopped chillies and coriander leaf. On a hot pan of <i>shorsher tel</i> (mustard oil---uuuu I love the aroma) pour the egg mixture and make fatty omlette. I generally repeat this process twice so that I have 2 golden omlettes.<br />
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2. Cut the omlettes into few square cubes.</div>
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3. Now I add some more oil to the pan and wait till it smoke and then throw in bay leaf, cumin seeds. When the seeds splutter, I add ginger and garlic and saute till the kitchen is filled with the fresh garlicky aroma. Then I throw in the rest of the onion and saute till pink. Now tomatoes, are ready to be mashed with the onions on the pan.<br />
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4. Then I mix all the spices in little tiny bowl with water ( this is a trick mum taught me and it does wonders if I am cooking in less oil , the spice gets cooked quickly and nicely..I should have a click for this in my next post). In goes the spice and salt and sugar to cooked mushy tomato onion mixture. Then I cover it for about 5 mins with some more water and let it cook.<br />
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5. In goes the Omlette slices and cook for another few minutes untill the gravy is ready and bubbly.<br />
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6. This is the time to add the pinch of garam masala and coriander leaves. I garnished with some red split red wax chillies.<br />
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Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-65212869175965470832012-08-29T06:32:00.002-07:002012-09-06T03:33:20.958-07:00Koi KoiHeading on to my 2nd post and of course one more bengali cuisine- <i>Shorshe Mach</i> ( Mustard Fish).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRmO2fGpHbSSsG_Q-d11GFouyVxWmC77WkfAEIYiCZM8dq2yH5-1x4FRKEQa0wXWTHBg5mMoXFxzuM-ShyphenhyphencMQLPs2lhmy62WsbIyso_iE5WRiJspZPwv_ai39aWm9QbnaTDBKcsbfDNNCG/s1600/Mustard+paste.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRmO2fGpHbSSsG_Q-d11GFouyVxWmC77WkfAEIYiCZM8dq2yH5-1x4FRKEQa0wXWTHBg5mMoXFxzuM-ShyphenhyphencMQLPs2lhmy62WsbIyso_iE5WRiJspZPwv_ai39aWm9QbnaTDBKcsbfDNNCG/s200/Mustard+paste.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="133" /></a>Last weekend my hubby S wanted to eat some <i>bangla</i> fish, so he decided to go to the Bangladeshi fish market and bought Koi Mach. I was just feeling like <i>shorshe </i>too and had soaked some <i>shorshe</i> for grinding. I generally mix the Yellow and Black mustard to just stabilise the zing and sharpness. And of course this make the digestion a little easier. I must admit the real bongs could strongly oppose this as it would reduce the <i>shorsher Jhaanch</i>..but I can blame being on NRI status for many years now, the stomach has also converted to more gentle handling...whatever!! right!! And of course my little boy can also happily and yummily enjoy this milder version of <i>shorshe</i>. So if you want the strong version go for the Black mustard on its own. Another option could be also the easy but equally tasty one- Sunrise Mustard Powder. Ok I think I had enough of <i>shorshe</i> discussion..lets get to the fish now.</div>
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Thanks to my helper A, she cleaned the fish for me and also related to a Philippine version- called it a small <i>Telapia</i>. Honestly, I had no clue, looked very much Koi to me and was written Koi too. Of course, hubby S is brilliant in choosing fish and I trust him ..after all the love for fish and varieties of fish also evolved in me only after S came in my life. I still remember those newly wed days in Australia, when S bought Salmon for the first time and yes that was me standing with a big question mark!!!Phew!! How do I cook this? This was 10 years ago..and then the story started and an increasing love for fish and cooking varieties of fish...Thanks to S again for this.<br />
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So here goes my recipe for shorshe koi<br />
on a Saturday afternoon with <i>Gorom bhaat</i> and <i>Bhaja Mooger Daal</i>.<br />
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<u><b>Ingredients</b></u>-<br />
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Whole Koi Fish- 7 -8 pieces ( of course I had to give 1 fried fish straight from the pan to S)</div>
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Mustard Paste- 5 Tbsp </div>
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Yoghurt - 3 tbsp</div>
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Ginger-2 tsp</div>
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Black Cumin-1tsp</div>
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Turmeric-1tsp</div>
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Cumin Powder - 1tsp</div>
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Chillies-5-6</div>
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Fresh Coriander Leaves- a bunch</div>
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Mustard Oil </div>
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Salt to taste</div>
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<b><u>How I Made-</u></b></div>
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I rubbed the cleaned Fish with salt , turmeric and some Mustard oil. Now this is something which I learnt from my mum, this oil will stop from any accidents like oil splutters when I fry the fish.</div>
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After about 15 minutes, I fried the fish in Mustard oil, nicely on both sides. Then I took the fish out and put in on a plate</div>
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In a bowl, I added mustard paste, yoghurt, turmeric, ginger, salt, cumin powder. If you want you can add chilli powder too. Mix this into a paste, if required add water. </div>
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Then I heated the pan with the leftover oil from frying . I added Black Cumin and chillies to the hot oil. Then I added the ginger and stirred. To this, I added the spice paste and mixed nicely.</div>
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I added some water to boil the spice. I add hot water for continuous cooking. Then cover the pan and let it cook on slow flame. </div>
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After a nice boil, I added the fried fish and the fresh chillies and covered again. I let it cook for about 10 minutes, until I see the oil separating a bit. It should not be runny gravy though (special instructions from S- <i>makha makha</i>)</div>
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To this I added few drops of mustard oil which gives that special aroma and sprinkled coriander leaves generously.</div>
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Plate this on a flat serving dish and enjoy ...</div>
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Debjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5240940355848234987.post-46707111504666450452012-08-29T02:54:00.001-07:002012-10-05T23:11:24.596-07:00Misthi Mukh<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am sure this is an inner bong instinct in me..." <i>Misthi </i><i>Mukh kore shuru koro</i>"...(Initiate any work with a sweet in your mouth) and hence I am starting my blog with this Yoghurt recipe. And <i>Ma</i> ( mum) being my inspiration in all the experimentation I do in my kitchen...this is a hands down inherited recipe from her....Thank you <i>Ma</i>.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I still remember umpteen number of times she has tried to persuade me to make my own <i>Doi</i> or more easily understood <i>ghore pata doi</i>..( bengali version of Yoghurt). Those childhood days after lunch, we were always given a <i>bati of doi</i> ( bowl of yoghurt) with sugar sprinkled. Of course as the yoghurt was sour. Then Ma starting mixing the sugar when boiling the milk..and it was her version of <i>Mishthi Doi </i>(Sweet Yoghurt). And when I started my own <i>sansar ( </i>my family and probably what I mean that I was the main one responsible to feed my hubby and son), Yoghurt was readily available in the supermarkets. And that too with so many choices..full fat, half fat, 99% fat free..etc..and not to mention the vivid flavours to choose from. Hence I refused to prepare the Homemade version. Even Ma used to give in when she visited as she also relished the flavours available in the supermarket aisles. Of course the full fat ones were always the most favourite...</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now that I have all the time in my hands and I saw ma preparing the yoghurt very closely. I really sneaked into the kitchen and told myself.."C'mon let me try..Good use of so much extra milk I have in the fridge". And to motivate myself , I even bought this lovely piece of <i>Handi</i>( A round ceramic pot) which is perfect to set the yoghurt. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And since then I am actually regularly preparing the yoghurt. I have stopped buying them from the shops. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have made different versions ..used <i>Patali Gur(</i>Jaggery from dates), used raw sugar and sometimes plain without sugar. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This yoghurt, mind you does not remain as thick as it is when set initially. Once you do the first scoop of the yoghurt to serve, then there is some water retention in the handi. I know I have passed as my son R loved it at the first try. </span><br />
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<b>Ingredients-</b><br />
Milk- 5 cups<br />
Yoghurt - 5 Tbsp<br />
Sugar - 5 Tbsp or other sweetners as per taste (optional, you can just make it <i>tok doi - </i>sour yoghurt)<br />
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<b>How I make-</b><br />
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I boiled the milk on a thick bottom pan. Remember not to boil too much. ( it should not be reduced for payesh or khir). At this point, I add the Raw Sugar or Patali Gur if I want to make it sweet. If you just want the plain sour doi, then just leave it as it is.<br />
I keep the pan away from the burner to cool down. Meanwhile I add the already stored yoghurt to my claypot. Now its time to use the magic touch. Use your hands to nicely spread the yoghurt on all the sides of the Handi too, so that when milk is poured, it is in contact with the yoghurt. This will help in better setting of the doi.<br />
Wait till the milk comes down to room temperature. Then pour the milk in the handi and use another spoon to mix it thoroughly with the yoghurt.<br />
Then just say your mantra for a lovely set doi to be prepared...and lovingly cover it and keep it away in a dark warm place and stick a "Do not Disturb " sticker. Yes, this pot should not be handled now until the doi is set and ready. I generally keep it away inside the oven and I know it is safe. Living in a hot humid climate does have its advantagesDebjanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11267999623509002278noreply@blogger.com3Singapore1.352083 103.8198361.098096 103.503979 1.6060699999999999 104.13569299999999