Vegetable chops - Bengai style

Vegetable chop is a very famous snack of Bengali's. I have always fallen in love with the unique flavors of the mashed veggies with each crunch filled bite of this delicacy. The recipe and method is very straightforward with a few add-ons here and there. I love to play with masala's and taste!!!
1. Pressure cook 2 large potatoes, 1 large beat, 2 medium carrots. After cooling mash these and keep aside. 
2. In the kadhai roast 1/4 cup of split groundnuts and keep aside. 
3. Next fry some grated ginger, add the mashed veggies. Cook till required dryness. Add masala( bhaja masala or garam masala) and cook for another 3 mins. 
4. Next add the peanuts, 3 tbsp breadcrumbs, salt and sugar as per your taste. Mix and switch off the gas.
5.Cool the mix and make croquet's, roll once in breadcrumbs. You can shallow fry immediately or keep it refrigerated till use. Serve with chat masala. I haven't done a repeat breadcrumb coating, it was crunchy and yumm without a second coat too.

Mutton Biryani

Here's the recipe for the Mutton Biryani my way.. :)

Keep the ingredients handy before starting the masala. And yes, one more thing I am really not that into taking the exact measurements of each ingredient, I add as per my choice. So you gotta excuse me with this thing.. :)
Ingredients needed:

1. Curd - little bit for the marination and a good amount for masala.
2. Whole garam masala- whichever is present - I use Badi Elaich, Choti Elaich, Cloves, Cinnamon sticks, Bay leaves, Star Anise)
3. Ground Garam masala/ Biryani masala - both or whichever I wish to use.
4. Finely chopped Dhaniya and Pudina leaves.
5. Slit Green chilly as per taste.
6. Finely Sliced Onions- 1.5 cups
7. Finely chopped Tomatoes - around 3/4 cup
8. Half cut potatoes (around 2 big ones should be good- cut these into 6-7 big pieces)
9. Ginger Garlic paste - Around 3 Tbsp
10. Oil- for frying the masala
11. Ghee - for added flavours
12. Of course Basmati Rice.. :)

For the mutton-

1. Marinate it with Curd(use little amount as I have used curd in the later part of the recipe), haldi powder, chilly powder, biryani masala, dhaniya powder, jeera powder, ginger garlic paste(in short whatever masala I prefer.). Keep the marinated mutton for around 3-4 hours, the more the marination time more good.

2. After the marination time(4 hrs in my case) pressure cook the mutton till 4-5 seetis.

Mutton gravy/masala -

1. Mix finely chopped dhaniya and pudina leaves with curd in a separate bowl and keep aside till use, Do this step ahead of starting the masala cooking so that the pudina flavor starts mixing into the curd.

2. In a kadhai take a good amount of oil(enough for nicely frying the masala) and Ghee(for the wonderful aroma), add Whole garam masalas(I added Badi Elaich, Bay leaf, Cinnamon sticks, Choti Elaich and Star Anise). Fry some half cut potatoes and keep aside.

3. Next add the Ginger-Garlic paste. Fry it till it emits the aromas.

4. Next add the green chillies(let fry) and the Onions slices. Fry till the onions start emitting good fried aromas and start becoming golden brown.

5. Add the curd mix to this masala and fry for some more time.

6. Finally add the pressure cooked Mutton pieces and chopped tomatoes and cook covered under medium flame. When you feel the masala is cooked, open the cover and let cook till the masala consistency is good to use.

Keep this aside for some time.

The Rice -

1. Take the Rice, add water, choti elaich, bay leaf and ghee. Let this cook in the m/w or whichever way you prefer till its nearly done(maybe 75 % or so)

The final steps:

1. Add ghee to the Kadhai or Vessel where the biryani will be cooked and turn on the heat to melt it.

Add the layers - First Rice, then the masala layers. I added sliced boiled eggs as well. Add some chopped dhaniya and a drizzle of lime juice on top and cover the vessel with foil or just the cover. I kept the vessel on a pan so that the bottom layer didn't get burnt. Keep this for 30-40 mins over a low flame.

Switch off, let the Biryani cool. Enjoy with Raita or simple.

Chicken Tandoori

When we first tried Chicken Tandoori, we searched on Youtube for preparation videos.

Now whenever we want to make Tandoori, we follow the below steps:

1. Wash the chicken legs thoroughly and make slits using a knife.
2. In a separate container make a paste of Chilly powder, Salt with water, the variation depends on how spicy we want. Apply this paste nicely into the chicken legs inside and outside the slits. Keep this aside for some time while you prepare the marinate/ tandoori mix.
3. For the marinate in a bowl add Yogurt, Turmeric, Chilly powder, Salt, Ginger-Garlic paste, Meat masala, Dhaniya powder, Jeera powder and color(optional). Mix it well using hands.
4. Apply the marinate nicely to the Chicken pieces and add a little amount of oil to coat the pieces so that the marinate sticks to the legs pieces and the masala starts entering them. Keep this aside.
5. Prepare the Tray for keeping in oven, Use two layers of Aluminium foil to avoid messing up.. :)
Take some oil and apply to the foil.
6. Arrange the chicken legs on the tray(You can add the oil from step two here and allow the tray to rest for a while before turning the oven ON.
7. Preheat the oven at 400-450 and place the tray inside the oven.

Check back after around 40 mins and see whether the pieces start leaving the liquid from the Curd marinate. If the pieces have started leaving the liquid then take the tray out carefully and throw away the excess liquid(this liquid can be used as well, I still have to figure it out). Put the tray for another 15 mins at 400 degrees in the oven.

Once done, switch it OFF and wait for the chicken to cool. Arrange the chicken legs on the serving tray and add chat masala for added flavours...
 :)

Malpua with leftovers....

I have a bad tendency of bying stuff and not using them and finally end up throwing them.... So to stop such activities I ended up looking for recipes on the web for leftovers....

Actually for this particular recipe I was looking for the recipe for actual malpua, but ended up trying with leftover bread.

I took 5-6 slices of bread, some semolina(sooji) and kept them in milk for around 15 minutes(milk used should depend on the consistency of the malpua mixture- semi solid).... After that, I mixed the three to have a semi solid dough. I also added a bit of sugar for a mild sweetness. While the above was being done, I made sugar syrup in separate container.

In a frying pan I fried the malpua pancakes(small uttappa sized cakes as required) till both sided were golden or till the pancakes swelled..... I then arranged these pancakes in a container and covered them with the sugar syrup. Cool the preparation and have as a desert after meal..... The pancakes alone also can be eaten when hot as a separate breakfast option....

Fish curry with Yogurt- on the net I first read it as Fish kaalia

Well now starts my different experiments.... Every preparation contains the very essential Onion tomato gravy. I use this gravy in all my preparation except in some cases where the style is different.

The Onion tomato gravy-

Nothing actually- fry paanch phoron,ginger garlic paste, jeera powder, garam masala, onions and tomatoes(added step wise after the previous ingredient gets cooked) in oil. Cook it till it is gravy like and emits a delicious smell.... :)

Ok now the yogurt curry...

As usual I marinated the fish in turmeric and salt. Fried them till they get cooked. Next in a separate vessel I prepared the Onion Tomato gravy. As a add on I added Yogurt to the gravy and cooked with the required amount of water for making a creamy gravy. In this gravy I added the fried fish and potatoes and cooked for around 10 minutes...

Lo the preparation is done.... :D

Fish Curry(Rohu)- Rul maacher jhol

After marriage when I first came to the US with my husband.. I was totally speculative about cooking fish... I had never ever tried cooking fish/chicken before.... Had hands on experience with eggs though.....

So I ended up learning the cooking technique from my dear husband... Nothing actually.... Marinate the fish with turmeric & salt. Leave it for around 10 mins or so(or till the time you finish cutting the veggies- onions,potato,tomatoes,cilantro).... Fry the fish and the potatoes in a separate utensil till they are nearly cooked... Once done keep them aside for future use... While the fish was getting cooked, take a separate vessel. In it fry each of the masalas- ginger-garlic paste,panch phoron, jeera powder, garam masala and fish masala(if using) in vegetable oil. Fry the masalas step wise, so that the aroma of the different spices mix well in the preparation... Next add the chopped onions, fry them till oil starts separating. Mix the salt as well while frying. Next add any vegetables you want- I used cauliflower in mine. Fry them for some time. Add the tomatoes next and cook till the tomatoes get cooked, they become puree like along with the skin.... Next add the fried fish and potatoes... Add some water(little bit for avoiding the preparation from getting burnt) and the rest as per your gravy consistency requirement.... Cover the vessel and cook on low for around 10 minutes.

There Rui maacher jhol done....

Why marry......

If there is one sure shot advantage of marrying other than meeting your life partner.... It has to be the birth of a cook!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.............. :)
I am dead serious about this.... Till 4 months back I was cooking only for filling my stomach after a tiresome day at work... But now I actually try to cook so that my husband feels proud of his wife's cooking abilities.... Not that I consider myself as some amateur, but yeah trying out recipes after googling them and preparing as per my needs does affect my self confidence.... Kal ko agar mehmaan aa jaaye then I surely know how to entertain their tummies at least......
Ohk... Now why the blog!!!!!!!! Well when everyone else is blogging and pictweeting/picbooking their new tried out dishes on the social sites then why not me too... Just one small difference in those patterns and mine.. I will record my recipes for my future reference and for improving my writing skills... No photos no recordings.... Just my experiments with cooking..... And obviously the results..... :D