Soup À la leftovers

Another experimental dish that just turned out great! Well ... let's just cook :)

Ingredients
1. Daal (cooked lentils) [1 cup]
2. Rotis [2-3]
3. Butter Milk [2 cups]
4. Water [1 cup]
5. Black Pepper
6. Salt
7. Butter [ 1tsp]

Method
In a grinder, mix all ingredients from 1 to 4 into liquid consistency. Slow-cook the mix for about 30 minutes. This can also be cooked in an oven for 30 minutes on 300F. When the liquid has reduced to half and the desired consistency has reached, serve hot. Top it with a dollop of butter and sprinkle crushed black pepper.
All the ingredients are usually available at home. The leftover lentils have the necessary spices and onions and tomatoes, which will add to the taste. This soup is easy to make and the taste is perfect for winter dinners.

Lauki Chilka Bhaja ... A bengali dish

Bengali Cuisine is very elaborate, even the everyday food. One of the typical accompaniment of the food is a fried dish to be had along side rice and daal. Also, known as a "Bhaja", this is usually a deep fried vegetable (or fish) by itself or battered with Bengal Gram paste.

Chilka is the skin and Lauki Chilka bhaja is the fried skin of Bottle Gourd. I have not had it any where else outside of my house. But, it tastes simply delicious... at least, people who have a taste for Bengali food will love it!

Ingredients
1. Lauki Skin [of 1 Gourd; remember, we made a lauki dish earlier, preserve the scrapped skin]
2. Poppy Seeds [2 tsp]
3. Potato [1 large]
4. Oil for frying
5. Ghee to garnish
6. Cumin [1 tsp]
7. Turmeric Powder [1/2 tsp]
8. Green Chillies [6-8]
9. Salt

Method
1. Cut the scrapped skin of lauki in julliens.
2. Cut the Potato in fine gingerly juliens. First remove the potato skin and cut fine round slices of potato. Then take a bunch of the round slices and cut them lengthwise finely
3. In a wok, heat some oil and let cumin splutter
4. Add the potatoes and turmeric and cover the wok. Let is cook for 1-2 minutes
5. Add the Lauki (gourd) skin and mix the vegetables.
6. Add salt and cuddle the vegetables to the center of the wok and cover and cook on low heat for another 2-3 minutes
7. Add the poppy seeds and mix well. Stir the vegetables and fry for a minute or so.
8. Finally, add the slit green chillies and stir in ghee and cover for another 3-4 minutes or till the potatoes are tender.
Serve hot with Daal and rice. This tastes very well with hot rice and ghee. This can also be had with Roti, I learned it from Shekhar... but, not a recommended practice :)

Daal - Lauki [Bottle gourd with lentils]

This is a variation to the usual lentils that is made almost everyday in Indian menu. Adding lauki (bottle gourds) not only adds to the taste of the dish but also adds vegetable to the diet.

It is very easy to prepare, read below to know how.

Ingredients
1. Lentils (Chana or Tuar) [1/2 cup]
2. Lauki [1/2 of 1 small]
3. Onion [1/2]
4. Tomato [1]
5. Garlic [2 clove]
6. Red Whole Chilly [3-4]
7. Cumin [1 tsp]
8. Mustard Seeds [1 tsp]
9. Turmeric Powder [1 tsp]
10. Red Chilly Powder [1/2 tsp]
11. Salt
12. Ghee [1 tsp]

Method
1. Scrap the Bottle Gourds and cut them into small cubes. Boil them with a little salt
2. Pressure cook the lentil with double the quantity of water and pinch of turmeric and salt
3. In a wok, let the whole red chillies, mustard seeds and cumin seeds splutter in oil.
4. Add the garlic cloves and chopped onion
5. Once the onion starts to turn golden yellow, add the turmeric powder and red chilly powder
6. Stir for 2-3 minutes and then fold in the chopped tomatoes
7. Cook cover for a minute and add the boiled lauki and mix it with the spices
8. Add the boiled lentil along with the water in the pressure cooker
9. Add salt and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes
10. Just before removing from the heat, add 1 tsp of ghee

Additional Tip
You may add sambhar powder with the spices to make sambhar daal. The picture below shows the Sambhar Daal with Lauki.

Serve hot with Rice or Roti. Enjoy!

Sweet Mango Pickle

This is one of my favorite recipes - impossible to find in any restaurant or shops. And I have not met with anyone as yet, who could make it the way Ma makes it. Most recently, in an attempt to search for the recipe online, I stumbled upon this site and to my genuine pleasure, I found the recipe quite close to how Ma would make it. Later, I called up Ma in the evening and got her recipe that was a little different as mentioned in that site. However, when I made it, I was amazed by the fact that I came very close to how Ma would make it. Here it goes ...

Ingredients
1. Raw Green Mango [1 large mango]
2. Jaggery [Crushed in 1 cup]
3. Whole Red Chilly [3-4]
4. Panch Phoran* [2 tsp] [Read below for more info]
5. Oil [2 tsp]
6. Salt

Method
1. Peel and cut the mango into small pieces
2. Rub salt to the mango pieces and keep aside for 2-3 hours
3. In a wok, heat the oil and add the Red Chillies and Panch Phoron
4. When the Panch Phoron starts to splutter, add the mango pieces
5. Stir them in the oil for 3-4 minutes and then add the Jaggery
6. In low-medium heat, cook the mango - jaggery mixture until the jaggery melts completely and the mixture becomes sticky. The mangoes should also soften by now
7. Remove from heat and let it cool. Store in air tight container

Don't wait, just take one mango piece and indulge yourself completely in the sweetness of this pickle. This can be enjoyed with Paratha by itself or as an accompaniment to any food.
This is sweet dish, made out of something that is not typically sweet and no points for guessing it correct, Shekhar does not like it! One of his fundas, where he does not like distortion of a food from its normal behavior ... for example, Puran poli is sweet roti and he does not like it.... eh !
*Please Note
I was waiting for a recipe to include Panch Phoron, a spice mixture that is used in typical Bengali vegeterian dishes. It has a unique flavor and is used for the sole purpose of flavor. More information on Panch Phoron can be found here. In subsequent posts, I will add recipes that require Panch-Phoron. However, for this sweet pickle, if Panch Phoron is not readily available, you can simply use fennel seeds. According to my Ma, you can lightly fry and grind the fennel seeds and add the powder to the mango- jaggery mixture in the wok.

Bharma Karela [Bitter Gourd / Melon]

Bitter Gourd, as the name suggests is Bitter in taste. Even watching my dad, who is a diabetic, eat 2 boiled bitter gourds everyday with ease, did not encourage me to try out the bitter gourd. Fried bitter gourd was a part of my meal, every other day, which I ingested as a medicine. But, in North India, they make "Bharwa Karela", and this preparation is one of my favorites. I learned making this, after I got married. Of course, Shekhar likes bitter gourd, any which way!

Ingredients
1. Bitter Gourd [4 medium sized]
2. Onion [1 large]
3. Green Chillies [8 -10]
4. Turmeric Powder [1/2 tsp]
5. Red Chilly Powder [1/2 tsp]
6. Coriander Powder [1 tsp]
7. Amchoor Powder (Dry Mango Powder) [1 tsp]
8. Garam Masala Powder [1/2 tsp]
9. Cumin [1 tsp]
10. Mustard Seeds [1 tsp]
11. Salt to taste
12. Oil

Preparation [at least 4-6 hours before, overnight is best]
1. Scrap the outer skin of the bitter gourds, make one vertical slit in each of them, scoop out the seeds and rub salt all over and inside the bitter gourd
2. Preserve the scrapped skin and the seeds aside
This preparation will remove the bitterness from the gourds.

Method - Stuffing
1. In a wok, heat the oil
2. Add cumin and mustard seeds and fry till they start to splutter
3. Add the chopped onions and green chillies and fry till golden yellow
4. Add the spices from 4 to 8 and mix well. Add salt
5. Sauté for another 3 -4 minutes and turn off the heat

Method - Frying the Karelas (Gourd)
1. Stuff the Gourds with the filling. Preserve the left over stuffing aside
2. Tie each gourd with a thread as shown in the picture below
3. Deep fry the tied-up gourds
4. Fry the scrapped skins and seeds in the hot oil. Take them off the oil, when the scrapped skins are crisp
Serve the gourds on a bed of left over fillings and the crispy fried gourd skins. Eat hot with roti.

Gajar Ka Halwa [Carrot Dessert]

My fondest memories of winters from past is of "gajar ka halwa". Winter would bring those juicy carrots in the market and at home, it would be a perfect division of labor. My dad usually bought the finest of carrots, never less than 2 kilos and of course, a good bargain. My job was to grate the carrots (whenever, I wanted to give up, I faked bruising my hands with the grating board and my Dad usually took over). And my Mom used to stand for 30 minutes or so next to the wok, stirring the milk and the carrots to make the delicious "Gajar ka Halwa".

This is also one of those dishes that Mom used to make "just to bring that sparkle in my eyes". And that makes it so special ...

Today, when carrots are available all through the year, the "all so special" feel about it is kinda gone - but, it still remains my favorite sweet dish. Let us start cooking now ... or what?
Ingredients
1. Carrots [1 lb]
2. Ghee [1/4 cup]
3. Milk [2 cups]
4. Sugar [1 cup]
5. Blanched cashews, raisins, almonds [1/4 cup] - optional

Preparation
1. Wash and peel the outer skin of the carrots
2. Grate the Carrots. [I use food processor these days]
3. In a bottomed saucepan, heat the ghee and fold in the grated carrots
4. Stir the carrots for about 3-4 minutes or until the ghee and carrots have nicely mixed
5. Pour the milk and stir occasionally till the milk starts thickening (on a medium heat)
6. Keep an eye because as the milk starts thickening, you will need to stir continuously
7. Add the sugar and stir some more
8. You may want to add some more ghee at this point of time depending on your appetite for ghee.
9. Once all the milk is condensed and the ghee starts oozing out, the halwa is complete. It will be of thick consistency
Serve hot, garnished with dry-fruits. You may preserve the halwa in refrigerator until consumed in a day or two. But serve hot each time - it tastes best when hot.
Additional tips
1. The more the ghee, the tastier is your halwa - but remember the fat quotient!
2. You may add some Khoya to add to the richer taste. If you have some sweets in your refrigerator like Kaju Katli, Milk Barfee - add 2-3 pieces of the same to the halwa - This will add to the thickening of the milk and replace the khoya.

Enjoy the delicious treat !

Yummy Chicken Sticks

This is a very interesting finger food and can be served with your drinks. Easy to make, and delicious to eat!

What you will need:

1. Chicken.
Breast Pieces cut in thin stripes. You can have about 4 stripes from one regular sized chicken breast piece. Glaze lightly the chicken stripes in 1 tbs melted butter.

2. Batter.
There will be a dry batter made with the following:
- Red Pepper [1 tsp]
- All purpose flour [2 tsp]
- Black Pepper [1 tsp]
- Grated Parmesan Cheese [2 tsp]
- Lemon Zest [1 tsp]
- Salt [to taste]

Preparation
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F
2. In a plastic pouch, put all the dry ingredients and shake well
3. Put the glazed chicken in the pouch and shake again - rigorously
4. The shaking will cause the batter to nicely coat the chicken stripes
5. Put the coated chicken stripes in oven for 10 minutes
6. Take tha chicken pieces out. They will be almost done. Glaze them thoroughly with some barbecue and spicy sauce on all the sides
7. Put the chicken back in oven and bake for another 5 minutes

Bake the chicken right before you are ready to serve, because you will not be able to resist the spicy and hot chicken for long!

PS: You can use this chicken in the quesadilla recipe, I have mentioned earlier 0r as a filling for sandwich.