Bhetki Fish Fry

Bhetki Fish Fry

  A superb hors d'oeuvre, or a cocktail snack or even a surface to the main course, yes that is all about Bengali style “Bhetki Fish Fry”...it is marvelous amalgamation of crusty surface with tender inside which makes it a perfect snack with hot tea or coffee on rainy day…!!!

It would be inapt to mention that, when a Bengali says “Maach Bhaja” (which when translated to English means “Fish Fry”), but he actually means simple “Maach Bhaja”, that is any fish (mostly Rohu) mixed with salt and turmeric powder & fried in hot mustard oil. So, it can be avowed that the word “Fish Fry” generally depicts a British legacy “Bread & Fish Fry”...also the “boneless” feature adds to the exquisiteness of the recipe.

Ingredients:

Ø  Bhetki fish fillets: 6 Nos

Ø  Lemon juice:  4 tsp

Ø  Eggs: 2 (Beaten)

Ø  Ginger-garlic paste: ½ cup

Ø  Onion paste: ½ cup

Ø  Salt: 1½ tsp

Ø  Red chilli powder: 1 tsp

Ø  Breadcrumbs: 1 cup

Ø  Oil for frying

Method:

· Marinate the fish fillets with the above ingredients (except the beaten eggs, breadcrumbs & oil) overnight.

· Next day, take some breadcrumbs on flat plate. First coat the fillet with beaten egg & then with breadcrumbs. Refrigerate for 1 hrs.

·  Take out the coated fillets and again put second layer of coating only with breadcrumbs now. This second coating makes the fish fry crispier.

·  Take a karai & heat it. Add refined oil enough for deep frying the 6 fillets.

·   Then start adding the fillets one by one to the hot oil. Should initially cook on medium heat, and then once fish is fully cooked, adjust to high flame for proper crispy frying. Serve hot with mustard sauce (Kasundi)

Happy Holi with Gujiyas

Rasila Gujiyas

On the colorful of Holi today..its absolutely apt to upload my gujiya recipe. Gujiyas are a lip smacking sweet dish prepared using maida and Khoya, especially popular in North India. It is a kind of customary to prepare Gujiyas which is a sort of “fudge filled fried pastries” on holi.

Ingredients:

·         Maida (flour): 500 gms

·         Khoya: 1 Kg

·          Suji (Semolina): 200 gms

·          Grated fresh coconut: 300 gms

·          Kishmish (raisins): 3 tsp

·          Almonds (cut into thin strips): 200 gms

·          Pistachio (cut into thin strips): 100 gms

·          Milk maid: 400ml (1 can)

·          Cooking Oil: ½ L

·          Water: 200 ml

·         Sugar: 500 gms

Method:

Inside filling mixture:

• You can take 2 L of milk and allow it to reduce down to 1L by evaporating the water & by constant stirring. Reduce down till you get Khoya (reddish brown color). Fry till it becomes dry. Or take ready made 1 Kg Khoya and keep frying it till it turns brown in color.
• Add milkmaid to the Khoya and stir it till both are properly blended.
• Fry the semolina in dry heated pan till it turns golden brown in color.
• Fry the grated coconut in another dry heated pan till it turns golden brown in color.
• Add semolina and coconut to the above prepared mixture.
• Add sugar, almonds and Kishmish, pistachio into the mixture and mix well.
• Remove from the fire and let it cool.

Making the dough:

• Mix the six tablespoons of oil with the maida. You can add some more oil, as the “moin” should be good to make the out layer crispy.
• Now add some water as required and knead into soft dough.
• Set aside and cover with a damp cloth.

Making of Gujiyas:

• Roll out the kneaded dough into a small and thick chapatti.
• Fill half the chapatti with the Khoya mixture and seal the round, twisting the edges inwards. You can use it with Gujiyas moulds also.
• Deep-fry these Gujiyas to a deep golden brown color on slow flame.
• Take them out with a sieve type ladle and drain the oil completely. These are dry Gujiyas.
• In case, you want to make wet Gujiyas, dip the hot fried Gujiyas into sugar syrup (take ½ L water, boil it and add 200 Gms sugar to it, allow it to boil. This is of medium consistency.
• Makes about 40 Gujiyas.

Jhinge Alu Posto (Ridge gourd with Alu in poppy seeds paste):

                    Jhinge Alu Posto

(Ridge gourd with Alu in poppy seeds paste):

Bongs and posto are just like two sides of the coin. They are inseparable from each other. Indubitably the much loved variation of posto is Alu posto. Yet, another favorite variant of posto preparation especially in summer months is Jhinge (Ridgegourd) Alu posto with Beuli-r daal. This is how the authentic combination goes…….

Ingredients:

·         Potatoes (Alu): 3-4 medium sized cut into vertical slices (2’’-3’’ width)

·         Ridge gourd (Jhinge): 2 Nos (Peel it & make thin slices (2’’-3’’ width)

·         Onions: 1Nos medium sized (finely sliced)

·         Posto (Poppy seeds):  4 tsp (soaked in warm water & blended into fine paste). Consistency should not be too thin.

·         Green chillies: 3-4 Nos (Slit vertically)

·         Mustard oil: 4-5 tsp

·         Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp

·         Red chilli powder: ¼ tsp

·         Water: ½ cup

·         Salt: to taste

                

Method:

Ø  Heat the karai. Add 3 tsp of mustard oil to it.

Ø  When oil is hot, add sliced onions to it. Let it turn golden pink in color.

Ø  Add sliced Alu, Jhinge and all the masalas except posto baata (poppy paste should be added just at the end to retain its aroma).

Ø  Keep stirring. Add little amount to water just to cook the veggies. Cover it putting some heavy weight on the lid to create pressure inside.

Ø  Once the veggies are properly cooked, add the posto baata to it and stir for 2-3 mins at high flame. Curry should be watery.

Ø  Add 1 tsp of mustard oil from the top and let the burner OFF.

Serve hot with steamed rice & Beuli-r (white urad) daal

Chicken-Egg Talumein soup

Chicken-Egg Talumein soup:

Paint the town red with a quick bowl of hot Chicken-Egg Talumein soup. Enjoy its astoundingly unprejudiced flavors. It’s a indeed a healthy extravagance! 

Ingredients:

Ø  Boneless Chicken pieces: 250 Gms (cut into small size)

Ø  Capsicum, carrots, beans, cabbage (shredded / cut into small pieces): As per requirement (just to prepare the vegetable stock)

Ø  Eggs (Beaten)- 2 Nos

Ø  Corn flour- 3 tsp mix in water

Ø  Noodles-50 gms (1/2 packet) Boiled

Ø  Soya sauce-1 tsp

Ø  Vinegar-2tsp

Ø  Salt- to taste

Ø  Chilli sauce- 1 tsp

Ø  Tomato sauce-1 tsp

Ø  Ajinomoto (optional) - ¼ tsp

Ø  Sugar-1/2 tsp

Ø  Refined oil-2 tsp

Ø  Onions (1 medium sized)- cut into thin slices

Ø  Ginger(1 small piece)- cut into Julian’s

Ø  Garlic (4-5 small piece)- cut into Julian’s

Ø  Black pepper powder- to taste

               

Method:

Ø  Boil the chicken pieces in minimum water, till it becomes tender. Keep the chicken stock for further use.

Ø  Similarly boil the vegetables in minimum water. Keep the vegetable stock for further use.

Ø  In a heated karai, add 2 tsp of refined oil. Add slices onions, ginger & garlic. Sauté till golden color appears.

Ø  Then add the chicken & vegetable stock to it along with the chicken & vegetable pieces. Keep the flame high and keep stirring. Add the boiled noodles to it.

Ø  Then add all the remaining ingredients except the corn flour and beaten eggs. Stir for 2-3 mins.

Ø  Mix cornflour in minimum water to make a paste. Add this to the soup to make the consistency thick.  Quantity of cornflour to be added depends on type of consistency one wants.

Now in another frying pan, heat oil. Add the beaten egg and spread it in thin layer and then make it into scrambled eggs. Add these on the top of steaming hot Talumein soup 

Kaacha Aame-r thok (Raw mango chutney)

Kaacha  Aamer  thok (Raw mango chutney)

A unique amalgamation of sour, spicy and sweet (tok, jhal, mishti) concoction with unripe raw (Kaacha) mango (Aamer-r) and sugar. It is also called “am-ol” in Bengali. Refreshing chutney for summers…

Ingredients:

·         Raw mangoes (4-5 small sized): Cut into longitudinal slices of 2’’ inches width

·         Sugar: 9-10 tsp or can add more f more sweet taste is required

·         Paanch Foron (It’s a mix of 5 spices) : 1 tsp

·         Mustard oil: 2 tsp

·         Salt: to taste

·         Dry Red chillies: 2-3 Nos

·         Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp

·         Red chilli powder: ¼ tsp

                      

Recipe for Paanch Foron: Mix all the following ingredients and get Paanch Foron

·         Jeera (Cumin): 2 tsp.

·         Kalojeera (Nigella): 1/2 tsp.

·         Methi (Fenugreek): 1 tsp.

·         Radhuni* (Ajwain): 2 tsp. This is optional

·         Sorshe (Mustard seeds): 1 tsp.

·         [Most popular and typically use Mouri (Fennel seed)]

                Method:

· Heat the karai. Add 2 tsp of mustard oil to it.

·  When oil is hot, add Paanch Foron to it. The spices will start splintering.

·  Add broken dry red chillies to it.

·  Add sliced raw mangoes into it and sauté for 2-3 minutes.

· Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, sugar, salt & minimum water (just to tender the mangoes). Stir it. Cover it and let it simmer for 5-10 mins till the mangoes is fully cooked& Serve hot with steamed rice.

Welcome to Amaar Ranna Ghar…

Greetings..!!!

“Khai khai koro keno, esho bosho aharey…

Khawar ajob khawa, Bhoj koy jaharey…”

The opening dialogue of Orsino in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night goes like, "If music be the food of love, play on”. Yes, out of these three (Love, Food and Music) lexis, food is the most essential element of Bengalis. They are the greatest food lovers and take conceit in their cuisine. Every Bong is a food connoisseur...!!!. The Bengali’s love for food is legendary. Blessed to be born in a Bengali family…since early days I have erudite one thing…and that’s “Bengali’s live to eat and not eat to live...”…having set such a punch line in mind I developed an ardent flair for cooking over years. I conjecture growing up in such an ambience…love for food and love for cooking was quite obvious.

I have always seen my ma…in whatever busy schedule she is….she will never forget to make the apt combinations for breakfast, lunch, dinner…” Luchi with aloo-r dom”, “bhaat, Bhaja Moog-r daal, Dhokar dhalna”…”bori diye Thor (Banana stem) or Narkel diye mocha (Banana flowers)” just make for an ideal dinner or lunch…

I belong to such a cluster where we discuss lunch in breakfast table and dinner in lunch table…..!!! 

My blog is a token of appreciation and acknowledgement to my ma, baba, my little sis (my greatest critic forever), friends  (especially those on facebook) who are a source of constant impetus behind my innovations & experimentation with various types of cuisines….their valuable comments are and will be always be regarded……….Thanks for being with me..!!!

My blog is for all those foodies across the globe who have a covet to experience the perfect blend of sweet and spicy flavor ..also have craving for the culinary customs of the foreign invaders…savour a truly delightful meal…I will endeavor to make this blog a modest assortment of Bengali recipes along with other recipes which would keep our taste buds invigorating……

Happy Cooking...

Bon Appetite....