Begun Pora - Scorched Brinjal

 Today's a Friday, and I am in super-relaxed mode. My work is done with, and I an looking forward to a long weekend of chilling out, because Monday is a holiday. I was flipping through a couple of books, trying to decide what to cook, and I realized Italian cooking's a bitch! They make their food difficult to cook on purpose!!! "Julienne the basil... and Oh! Dried basil won't do!!!", "Use pretentious cheese... normal cheese just does not cut the fit"! I'm in no mood to cook elaborate stuff.

As you may have guessed, I went back to brinjal. I dabbled with the idea of cooking fish for a while, but I didn't want to put on too much of an effort, so brinjal won! This recipe is for scorched (or grilled) brinjal. It's super-healthy, easy to make, and completely guilt free!!! It should take you 15 minutes tops, to make. Here's what you will need:

Stuff You Will Need: 

Large Brinjal - 1

Mustard oil - About 2 tsp

Salt

1 Small Onion finely chopped

2 Green chillies chopped

Chilly Powder (if you like it spicy)

A Pinch of Amchur/Dry Mango powder (And I seriously mean a pinch)

A pinch of Sugar

Wash the brinjal and pat it dry with a tissue (or whatever else you use to dry stuff). Coat it evenly with 1 tsp of mustard oil. Put it over the gas flame directly, or on a grill if you are blessed with better luxuries in life. Keep turning it until the skin gets burned and starts peeling off. Take out the brinjal and peel off the burned skin. Mash the brinjal and add the salt, chilly powder, onions, chillies, mustard oil, amchur, and sugar, and mix. 

If you are one of those skinny bitches that can eat anything and never put on weight, go ahead and stir this mixture in another tsp of oil, over a medium flame and add some scrambled eggs to add brownie points. Ok, I gotta go now. I need to refill my whiskey and soda. You have a good weekend!

Bon Apetit!!

                                                             

Shorshay eelish

I am not a huge lover of fish. I know - weird since I am a Bengali ( bong). Rui maach (rahu) has been the bane of my existence. But there are certain fish that I will eat and eelish (hilsa) is definitely one of them. There are many different recipes involving eelish, but the most made in Bong houses is that of shorshay eelish (hilsa with mustard).

Yes, you guessed again. This is definitely going to be the easy version of shorshay eelish. My mom is legendary in this sense. We've cooked so much stuff in the microwave of late, its not even funny anymore. The traditional way - the only one I know involves cooking it with the rice as well, but I am not a pro in that method. I will try and become one and put it up here

Prep time : 5-7 mins (depending upon what's on TV)

Cooking time : 10 mins ( yes yes you read it right, 10 mins)

Ingredients : (Serves 2)

1. 4 slices of eelish
2. 2 tbsp of curd (plain yogurt)
   
3. shorshay'er tel ( mustard oil)
   
4. Sunrise Mustard powder ( my mom got it from Kolkata this time, makes life so much simpler. You don't have to make the mustard powder anymore ;) )
   
5. 2 tsp turmeric (holudh)
   
6. Salt to taste
   
7. 3-4 green chillis - slit in the middle
   

Directions :

1. Clean the fish and put it in a microwave safe dish. Make sure you remove any trace of blood from the fish, cause it will make the dish bitter otherwise
   
2. In a separate bowl, add the other ingredients except the green chili. Mix. The reason I haven't specified the amount of oil is because its all based on your intuition. I usually add about 2-3 tsp of oil first in the mixture and then later on the fish directly.
   
3. Coat the fish with this mixture. If you think it requires some more oil, drizzle a tsp of oil over it and put the green chili on the fish.
   
4. Now, put the dish into the microwave and make sure you have covered it with another microwave safe plate or something of that sort. That way if the mixture splatters, you have contained the turmeric stains. Cook for 5 minutes on high.
   
5. After one side is done, turn the fish on the other side and cook again for 5 minutes on high. You can add another tsp of oil if you think it needs some more of it. Before you deal with the fish, make sure the dishes are cool enough to be handled. I don't want you to blame me for burnt fingers :P
   

That's it you are done. Add coriander if you'd like.
Hot steaming rice and shorshay eelish, what more do you really need

Have fun
~Shreyasee

Begun Bhaja - Fried Brinjal/Eggplant/Aubergine/Melongene

I am feeling a bit lazy today. I want to cook something easy and fast. The other day I knocked myself out buying brinjal. Big sized brinjals are not very easily available in Hyderabad, so when I found some in Spar, I picked up as many as I could. I need to use them up now, so I decided to make the classic 'Begin Bhaja'. It's another classic Bengali dish, which is almost as famous as the Bengali fish.

Begun bhaja was always my favorite. You can have it with both rice and roti's, and if you are feeling experimental, put it between two slices of bread and make an indie sandwich. This is a very nutritious vegetable too... not that I care so much about that. :P
Ok so here's what you will need.

Stuff You Will Need

Large Brinjal - 1
Oil (Preferably Mustard)
Salt
Pepper or Chilli Powder
Turmeric Powder
Cardamom seed powder
A Little bit of Sugar

This dish is super easy to make, and is perfect for a day when you don't want to sweat it too much. Wash the brinjal ans chop off it's head and tail. Cut it into 1/2 inch thick round pieces. Rub in the Salt, Pepper, Turmeric, Cardamom powder, and the Sugar.

Heat the oil, and fry the brinjal pieces one by one, in medium to low heat. Remove the pieces when they are a dark brown. It will be a good idea to use tissues to soak out excess oil.

OK I hear my stomach growling now. Time to go fill it with warm food. Catch you later.

Bon Apetit!

Musuri Daal

The quintessential ghoti badi in Bengal will most likely include Mushur daal in their everyday meal. In fact, I've been known at times to have put on a frowny face if there was no daal in the menu.

This is usually for two - you can change it according to your needs

1. 3/4 cup mushur daal ( masoor daal)
2. 1 tsp jeera ( cumin)
3. 2-3 green chilli (finely chopped)
4. one onion (chopped lengthwise, I don't like to finely chop it)
5. 1 tsp holudh (turmeric)
   
6. salt to taste
   
7. coriander leaves to garnish
   

Directions :

There's two ways to do - the first one is definitely the more traditional way that the other. The faster way is something my mom has developed in the US since time is of the essence these days.

Relatively traditional way :

• Boil the daal in the pressure cooker. You are more than welcome to add in the turmeric and salt in the pressure cooker with the daal. I tend not to do this since if the water comes out, you will have yellow stains to tackle later on
• In a pan, kadhai, something where you can fry stuff, put a tbsp of oil. Put the jeera in first, then the green chilli, and finally the onions.
  
• Once the onions have reached a golden brown color, put in the turmeric and salt and mix properly. ( if you have already put them in the pressure cooker, ignore this step)
  
• Then pour the daal into the tadka (the onion mixture). Add water if necessary. You don't want the daal to look like a khichdi.
  
• After the daal comes to a boil, turn off the gas. Add the coriander leaves on the top as garnish.
  

Faster, fatafat, way

• Put all the ingredients, except the coriander, in the pressure cooker. Once the pressure cooker whistles, your daal is ready :)
• Add the coriander as garnish later
  

You are done. Enjoy !!!

~Shreyasee

Blooming Onion

One of my biggest nightmares before a dinner party is appetizers. I cannot seem to decide beforehand what I want to make and that has landed me in trouble quite often. Recently though, a friend's mom gave me a recipe that involved the simplest of things and is very quick and easy to make. I have made substantial changes to that recipe, so I will give you my version of that recipe

You will need :

1. A loaf of French bread ( sourdough French bread is fine)
2. 1 Green capsicum ( bell peppers)
3. 1 Red capsicum ( red bell pepper)
4. 1 Yellow capsicum ( yellow bell pepper) if you want to indulge in that
5. 1 bunch of Spring onions
6. 1 Tomato
7. Parsley (if you like)
8. Oregano ( if you like)
9. Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheese
10. Olive Oil
11. Basil (if you can get it)

Directions :

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Cut the loaf of bread in the middle, but be careful not to cut it all the way to the bottom. Then make cuts across the middle ( you should be able to make at least 10 such cuts) , again making sure you don't go all the way in the middle; they should look like grooves. The idea is that you should be able to tear each small piece when you begin to eat. On a baking sheet/pan, place a sheet of aluminum foil and put the bread on it.

Put a good amount of cheese in the grooves of the bread, this will help the vegetables stay in place when the cheese melts. Finely chop all the vegetables and stuff the bread with it. Don't worry about people not getting the vegetables, it'll just be an added effort on their part ;). Once that is done, put the rest of the cheese on top. Coat the top with some chopped parsley and oregano. You can add other herbs that you would like but I wouldn't go too overboard. Drizzle olive oil on the bread.

Cover the bread with the aluminum foil and place it in the preheated oven for 15 mins. Then unwrap the bread and leave it in there for another 15 mins. And you are done

You can serve it as is or you can serve with a dipping oil.

For the dipping oil, chop the basil finely. Pour olive oil in it and let it sit for about 15-20 mins. This should add a lot of flavor to your olive oil. Serve it with your bread.

Have fun

~Shreyasee

Gai Pad Ga Prao (Thai-style Stir-Fried Chicken and Basil)

One of my first experiences in the kitchen was assisting my mom in cooking this Thai dish

The original recipe includes basil (for obvious reasons), but since in the 90s finding basil in India was difficult unless you wanted to use tulsi leaves, we substituted this dish with the very obvious coriander (dhania/cilantro). This recipe is not for the light-heart , a.k.a, it is quite spicy. So when you make this, be sure to tweak it according to your preference


For this recipe, you will need :

1. 750 gm breast chicken
   
2. 4-5 bunches of coriander
   
3. 5-6 cloves of garlic
   
4. 10 green chilli
   
5. 3-4 red chilli
   
6. 5-6 cloves
   
7. 4 Tbsp of soy sauce
8. 2 tsp pepper
   
9. Salt to taste
10. pinch of sugar ( literally a pinch)
    

Directions :

Dice the chicken into approximately 1"x 1" x 1" cubes. You don't have to be as technical as that, this is just an estimation. I usually like to fry the chicken pieces before itself, that way I don't have to bother later if its cooked or not. To make this even simpler, take a grinder ( mixie like we fondly call it) , put in all the ingredients except the chicken (duh), soy sauce, salt, sugar and pepper, and grind into a paste. Don't make it a very watery paste, it should be thick enough to coat your chicken later on.

Heat oil in a pan, and then fry the coriander paste you just made. When you notice that oil is starting to separate from the paste, put in the chicken. Make sure you have coated the chicken completely with the paste. Pour in the soy sauce. Add salt and pepper. Add just a little bit of sugar. The caramelization of the sugar will bring a nice balance to your spices.

That's it your done. Eaten best with hot steaming rice and nothing else.

Yumm!!!

~Shreyasee ( Shreya / Titir)

P.S You can marinate chicken with lemon pepper if you'd like before just to enhance the taste. Not needed, just another thing you could do

Lau Chingri- Bottle Gourd With Tiny Shrimps.

I love food. When I try to stir up a conversation with new people that I meet, I find food to be the best ice breaker. I can talk all day long about food. Good food, not so good food, home food, orgasmic food, and so on. Of late, I have been cooking a lot, and one day I decided that I should put down my gastronomic journey somewhere, to be chronicled. And just like that, this diary was born.

This is my first post, and I wanted to cook something simple yet earthy, and the first thing that came to my mind was Lau Chingri. This is a dish from my childhood that I used to relish a lot. It's been about 5 to 6 years since I had this. It's a very simple, unpretentious, dish which takes very little effort to make and is healthy at the same time.

What You Will Need To Make This.

Small Prawns - About 250 gms
Bottle Gourd - One small (or about 3 - 4 cups when chopped)
Bay Leaves - 2 of any size
Dry Red Chillies- 2
Fenugreek/Methi Seeds - 1 tsp (about 2 pinches. I don't really like sticking to measurements)
Cumin/Jeera Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin/Jeers powder - 1 tsp
Salt To Taste
Turmeric Powder - A bit
Green Chillies - 2
Mustard Oil (you can use sunflower oil too).

Wash the prawns, soak out excess water, marinate it with salt and turmeric and set aside. Pour about 2 tbsp of mustard oil in a cooking pan.  I prefer using mustard oil because it's low on fat, and brings that authentic bong flavor to food! You don't need to stick to using this oil though. You can use any oil you are comfortable with. Remember, good cooking is all about experimenting.

Fry the prawns in the oil until they are nice and curled. Now, mustard oil can be a bitch when it comes to frying. It splutters and hisses and throws big tantrums. It has always been my childhood nemesis, and I am still a little scared whenever I have to fry anything in mustard oil. However, the trick is simple. All you have to do is ensure that you lower the prawns gently into the oil so that it does not hiss. Just be gentle, and the oil will behave itself.

Once the prawns are fried, set them aside. In the same oil, add the red chillies, cumin, methi, and the bay leaves. Bay leaves are not actually a part of this recipe, but I like adding them to some dishes, as I find it brings out a beautiful and warm taste. Once the spices start giving out a toasty aroma, add in the chopped bottle gourd. Make sure the bottle gourd is chopped into tiny pieces. If you like your men and your food a little spicy like me, go ahead and add a tsp of red chilly powder and mix it up so that it's coated evenly. Cover and cook this for a while. Don't add any water as bottle gourd has a lot of it's own water, and gives it all out when cooked.

When you are cooking watery vegetables like bottle gourd or ladies finger, make sure you use a little extra vegetable than you expect to have. These things always shrink to half their amount when cooked, and this is a constant cause of disappointment. Once the bottle gourd seems to have reduced, add the salt and cover and cook for some more time. After a while, add the cumin powder, turmeric, and the green chillies and cook until all the water is evaporated. A good Lau Chingri is neither dry nor moist.

When everything seems set, add the prawns and a tsp of sugar and stir it in well. Adding a tsp of sugar to any dish is essential in all Bengali cooking. It adds a sense of balance to the dish, and honestly, I think it makes the dish yummier. So all you Non-Bengali know it all's, who gape and throw dramatic fits whenever they see me add sugar to a dish, please try it first. It's an awesome way to make your food even awesomer!

Is your Lau Chingri cooked? I know mine is! I'm going to enjoy it with some good, thin grain, Andhra rice. What are you going to have it with?

Bon Apetit!