Watermelon Rind Barfi / Tarbuje ka Chelka ka Barfi

In this lock down state we should try to keep our mental state healthy, the best way is to keep ourselves busy and work on hobbies we love. We also have to eat proper food, since the whole family is at home, we need to make some delicious dishes that our family will enjoy.... Keeping in mind that simple ingredients which are easily available should be used, zero wastage policy should be taken into consideration. Try to use the complete vegetable including the vegetable peel and transforming the leftover meals into delicious recipes. 

There are many vegetable peels that can be eaten and can be made into delicious snacks or vegetable or sweets... like we can make Chutney out of the peel of bottle gourd, pointed gourd, ridged gourd, raw banana, water melon rind, peas etc. In Bengal we have many types of bata / mash  that are made with different vegetable peels like raw banana, pointed gourd, cauliflower stem etc. 

Some delicious fritters/ fry can be made with peels of bottle gourd, potatoes, water melon rind etc. Some sweet dishes too can be created with the peels of watermelon and green peas like candy, Halwa, barfi or kheer. Today we will make water melon rind Barfi... 

Ingredients 

Grated Watermelon Rind from 1 medium size Water Melon 

1/2 cup or as required Sugar

1/4 cup Water + Juice extracted from the grated Watermelon rind 

1/2 cup Milk 

2 Pinch of Salt 

1/2 tsp Cardamom powder 

2 tbsp Milk Powder

2 tbsp Almond and Pistachio flakes 

Few Saffron strands

Method 

Squeeze out the juice from the water melon rind. Add water, juice of grated water melon rind and sugar in a pan. In few minutes add salt and let the liquid simmer for a minute. Add 2 tbsp milk and continue to simmer. Strain the liquid out and pour the liquid back into the pan and let it continue to simmer until one string is formed. Add the water melon rind into the sugar syrup and continue to cook on low flame until the ingredients changes it’s colour to golden brown. Add the milk, cardamom powder, milk powder, few saffron strands and 1 tbsp of almond - pistachio flakes into watermelon rind. Continue to stir and cook on low flame until all the ingredients form into a lump. Pour in the mixture into a greased square mould, level the barfi evenly. Sprinkle the remaining saffron, almond and pistachio flakes. Leave the mixture to cool down. Cut the barfi into square pieces and serve them.  

Pyar Mohabbat ka Sharbat

It’s extremely hot... only way to cool yourself down is to have a cool summer drink and to get back into life. This is a very unique drink originally found in the lanes of Old Delhi during summers.. but now sold in many places. it’s also a popular drink during the month of Ramadan... 

This drink is an ideal drink for summer.

 This drink is a sweet rooh afza flavoured milk and adding watermelon pieces makes the milk more flavourful. 

To make a glass 

Ingredients 

1/2 Glass Milk

2 tbsp Rooh Afza Sharbat

2 to 3 Ice Cubes 

2 to 3 tbsp small Watermelon pieces 

Garnish with Dried Rose petals

Method 

Add rooh afza sharbat into 1/2 glass milk, stir the milk, add the ice cubes. Then add small pieces of watermelon and garnish it with dried rose petals and a cube of watermelon. Enjoy this drink with your family and friends... 

Home Made Healthy Cookies

This healthy cookie is not only delicious in taste, but healthy too. These can be enjoyed not only with a hot cup of tea, but you can munch on at anytime of the day. Hope you will enjoy this recipe. 

                  

       

Ingredients 

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour 

1/2 cup Jaggery Powder 

1/2 cup Clarified Butter / Ghee

1 tsp Chia Seeds

1 tbsp Almond Flakes 

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Nutmeg Powder 

1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder 

1/2tsp Baking Powder 

1/2 tsp Ginger Powder 

1 tbsp Any Vegan or Cow Milk

Method

Sieve the wheat flour, jaggery powder, salt, nutmeg pd, cardamom pd, baking pd and ginger pd together. Add the almond flakes and chia seeds and mix all the ingredients together. Add the ghee and knead the ingredients into crumbs. Take small lime size portions and try to make small balls. Incase it does not bind, add 1/2 tsp of milk and mix the ingredients again. Take a greased baking tray. Take small portion of the crumbs, flatten the ball and press it gently from the center. Preheat the oven at 190 degrees celsius. Place the flatten balls on the baking tray, leaving little gaps between the two cookies. Bake the cookies at 190 degrees celsius for 15 - 20 minutes, depending upon the oven temperature. Once done remove the tray, leave the tray above the hot oven until the tray cools down... don’t worry if you still find the cookies soft at this point... by the time the tray cools down the cookies will be done.

To bake the cookies in the wok, place a cooker stand on the base of the wok. Cover the wok and preheat the wok for 10 minutes on medium flame. Open the lid and place the baking tray, close the lid. Bake the cookies for 25 to 30 minutes on a low medium flame. Once done open the lid, switch off the flame and leave the baking tray in the wok until the wok cools down completely. Remove the cookies from the tray once the cookies cools down completely.

Cool the cookies further for another hour or two. Enjoy the cookies with a hot cup of tea. 

Healthy Whole Wheat Bread Loaf

Basic Healthy Bread can be made with ingredients that are easily available in your kitchen. One key ingredient Whole wheat flour is always there in your kitchen pantry. Yeast can be made at home too if time permits, or else dry yeast is easily available in shops. It’s more healthy when you bake a bread at home. Do try this recipe and enjoy this bread with jam or Chutney.

Ingredients

4 cups + 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 cup Oats

1 tsp + 1 tsp Mix Seeds (Sunflower, Watermelon, Flaxseed, Sesame, Pumpkin Seeds)

1/2 tsp Chia Seeds

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Lukewarm Water

1 tbsp Dry Active Yeast

2 tsp Honey

1 cup of Water

2 tbsp Oil

1 tbsp Milk + 1/2 tsp Honey 

Method 

Take the honey and mix it with the lukewarm water, mix the yeast little at a time into the lukewarm water. Leave the yeast to rise. Mix all the dry ingredients together, except for 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1 tsp of mix seeds. Add the yeast water, mix the ingredients well, add a cup of water, mix and knead the ingredients into a dough. At this point the dough is a bit sticky. Add a tbsp of oil and knead it. Cover the bowl and leave it aside for 2 hours. After 2 hours, open the lid. Add the remaining flour little at a time and knead the dough. Take the dough on to a flat surface. Add oil, knead and roll the dough into a long cylindrical shape. Place the cylindrical dough into the greased bread loaf mould. Cover and let it proof for an hour. Meanwhile preheat the oven at 190 degrees. Brush Milk + Honey on the bread and sprinkle some mix seeds on the bread. Bake the bread at 190’ degrees celsius for approximately 25 - 30 minutes. Every oven temperature differs, so please adjust the time accordingly. Once done, remove the bread. Let the bread cool down for 10 minutes, remove the bread and let it cool on a cooling rack. Slice the bread once completely cool. 

Fish Tikka

Tikka is a dish that can be eaten as starter or appetiser. Tikka can be made with meat, fish, panner or vegetable. It’s a popular dish of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. 

 The meat or fish is marinated with spices and lime or curd. The marinated meat or fish is skewered and cooked on a tandoor.  The pieces are brushed with butter or ghee at intervals. It is served with Coriander Chutney, Onion and Lime. 

Today I have made fish tikka. You can use any boneless fish. I have used Tilapia fish.  

Ingredients 

500 grams Any Boneless Fish Pieces 

Juice of 1/2 Lime 

1 tsp Ginger paste

1 tsp Garlic Paste

1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli Powder 

1/2 tsp Cumin Powder

1/2 tsp Garam Masala powder

Salt to taste 

1 tbsp Butter 

Method 

Take a bowl, add lime juice, chilli powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, salt to taste, ginger paste and garlic paste. Mix all the ingredients together. Add 2 to 3 tbsp of water. Mix the ingredients again. Add the boneless fish pieces and marinate the fish for an hour or two. Take a skewer, insert the fish pieces into the skewer. Place the skewers on the tandoor. Apply butter on the fish at intervals and cook the fish on both the sides. Garnish with onion, tomato and lime wedges. Serve with green chutney. 

Crispy Fritters made with home grown Spinach and Pumpkin flowers...

When you have vegetables growing in your small balcony, it’s happiness to eat your home grown vegetables. You can feel the freshness and taste of the vegetables. Here is a snack or a side dish recipe made with pumpkin flowers and spinach that had grown in our place. Fritter is crispy and delicious snack that can be made with different vegetables that are dipped in chickpea and rice flour batter. It is then deep fried until crispy and golden brown in colour.

Ingredients
10 to 12 small size Spinach leaves
10 to 12 Pumpkin flowers
6 tbsp Chickpea Flour
3 to 4 tbsp Rice Flour
1 Green Chilli finely chopped
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1/4 tsp Nigella seeds
1/2 tsp Poppy Seeds
Water as required
Oil to fry

Method
Take a bowl, add chickpea flour, rice flour, salt to taste, turmeric powder, nigella seeds, poppy seeds and green chilli. Mix the ingredients well. Add little water at a time and mix the ingredients into a batter. It should be semi - thick dropping consistency. Keep it aside for 5 minutes, meanwhile heat up the oil in a wok. Dip the pumpkin flower or spinach one at a time and fry them on a low medium heat until crispy and golden brown in colour. Remove the fritters on a paper towel and serve it hot.

Kumro Pata Diya Chana Bhapa / Steamed Paneer with Pumpkin Leaves

Steamed Paneer is a Bengali vegetarian side dish. I have added pumpkin leaves, as pumpkin leaves are good for our health and when it grows in my balcony, then definitely it is good to use it in the dish. I have used homemade Aam Kasundi, but you can use mustard and any pickle masala oil incase Kasundi is not available.This dish is normally eaten during lunch. Serve this dish with hot steamed rice. 

For the Wet Paste 

Ingredients 

3/4 cup Fresh Grated Coconut 

2 tbsp Aam Kasundi or use 1 tbsp Mustard seeds and 1 tbsp any pickle masala oil 

2 Green Chillies  

2 to 3 Garlic cloves 

3 tbsp Hung Curd 

Salt to taste 

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder 

Method 

Grind all the above ingredients into a fine paste. 

To make the Steamed Paneer 

Ingredients 

250 grams Paneer cut into small pieces 

10 Pumpkin leaves chopped 

4 to 5 Green Chillies slit into half and then cut into pieces 

Wet Paste 

2 tbsp Mustard Oil 

A big piece of Banana Leaf - optional 

Method 

Take a bowl, add all the ingredients in the bowl, mix all the ingredients together and keep it aside for an hour. Take a container with a lid. Lay the banana leaves at the base of the container, it’s optional. Add the marinated paneer into the container. Close the lid. Take a steamer, add water into the steamer. Keep the container into the steamer. Steam the paneer for 20 minutes. Once done, enjoy this dish with hot steamed rice. 

Easy Grilled Chicken

An easy delicious chicken recipe... that can be enjoyed as starter... Grilled chicken can also be served with sautéed vegetables. Chicken can be substituted with fish, prawns or paneer. 

Ingredients
250 grams Boneless Chicken cut into big pieces 

Juice of 3/4 lime

1 tsp Garlic powder 

1 tsp Dried Mixed Herbs 

¼ - 1/2 tsp Chilli Flakes 

Salt or Pink Salt to taste 

2 tbsp Melted Butter 

Method 

Marinate the chicken with all the above ingredients for an hour. Take a grill pan, let it heat. Grill the chicken pieces on a low flame until cooked and golden brown on both the sides. Remove the chicken pieces from the grill and cut the chicken into smaller pieces. Drizzle the juice on the chicken that was left on the grill. Serve it hot. 

Stuffed Chicken Mushroom Bombs

This dish is extremely tasty. It’s crispy from out and juicy from in. This dish is best to serve as starter.

Ingredients 

100grams Chicken minced  

1 packet of Mushroom

1 tbsp minced  Onion

1 tsp minced Garlic

1 tsp minced Green Chilli 

1 cube Cheddar Cheese grated 

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp Garlic powder

1/2 cup  All Purpose Flour 

Water as required 

1/2 cup or as required Bread crumbs 

Oil for frying 

Method 

Take a mixing bowl, add the chicken, garlic, onion, cheese and salt to taste. Mix all the ingredients well and keep it in the fridge for 30 minutes. Take the mushrooms and remove the stems. Take little portion of chicken stuffing and fill the stuffing into the cavity of the mushroom. Repeat the process. In a small bowl take all purpose flour, add salt to taste and little water at a time and make a thick batter. Take bread crumbs in a plate, add garlic powder and little salt. Mix the bread crumbs. Take a wok, add oil. Let the oil heat up. Lower the heat. Dip the stuffed mushrooms into the batter and then coat the mushrooms with bread crumbs. Fry the mushrooms until golden brown. Serve it hot with any dip or ketchup. 

Kheer Kamala / Kamala Lebur Kheer

This is a seasonal sweet dish from Bengal. It’s made with oranges. When the oranges are added to the reduced milk... it takes the dish to a different level. As this being my favourite sweet dish, after marriage when ever I visited my Ma during the orange season, she would make this dish along with alur dom and luchi or korisutir Kochuri. Ma Ke haat ka khana can never be forgotten. 

This dish is easy to make with only 3 ingredients, it taste heavenly.

Ingredients 

1 1/2 litres Milk

3 Oranges 

1/2 cup Sugar or more as per required 

Method:

Heat the milk in a thick-bottomed pan till it comes to a boil. Reduce the flame, and allow the milk to simmer, stir the milk occasionally until the milk reduces to half the quantity. Add the sugar and continue to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes more. Keep the milk aside. 

Meanwhile peel the orange, separate out the orange segments. Remove the skin, seeds and the fibres from the orange segments. Cut them into  small pieces. 

Once the reduced milk cools down, then add the chopped orange segments and pulp to the milk and mix it. Refrigerate the kheer. Server it cold.

Date and Walnut Cake

Merry Christmas to all... may peace and happiness fills your heart 🎅🏼

We all have some sweet and naughty stories to tell of our childhood..... This recipe takes me back to my teenage, almost 30 years back. I being a teenager, was learning to open up my wings... exploring new things. I was always found of cooking.. as my school always encouraged us for the extra curricular activities - we had cooking class in our school. I had got this recipe from one of my neighbour Aunty, since this recipe content rum... me and my friend became very excited about this recipe. We use to buy a quarter bottle rum... half went into the cake and the other half into our stomach... with Bryan Adams songs playing at the background....

and my mother screaming at another end.

Later there was a Savvy magazine contest about the dishes you can store for a longer period of time... I had posted this recipe to them and this recipe was selected...

This cake can be prepared for any occasions... 

This cake is moist and the taste is amazing. Please eat a day after you bake... this cake can be store for 2 months in the freezer. Wrap it in a foil and then in a sealed bag..

Ingredients

500 grams of Dates deseeded and chopped

200 grams of Walnuts chopped

50 grams of Black Raisins deseeded and chopped

50 grams of Truti Fruti

500 grams Sugar

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 to A cup of Rum

6 Eggs

4 tbsp Ghee

3 1/2 cups of Whole Wheat flour

3 tsp Soda Bicarbonate

3 cups of Water

Method

Soak the chopped walnuts in rum for a day or more. Boil 3 cups of water, switch off the flame. Add the dates, raisins, truti fruti, sugar, salt, ghee and the soda bicarbonate. Cover and keep it aside to cool. Beat the eggs. Add the eggs and the the flour gradually into the date mixture and beat it. Add the walnut soaked in rum and mix it again. Take 4 baking mould - 2 of 1/2 kg and 2 of 250 grams each. Grease the baking moulds. Pour the batter up to 1/2 the baking mould. Bake the cake at 180 degrees for an hour approximately in an pre heated oven. Check the cake by inserting a tooth pick after 50 minutes, as different oven has different temperature levels. Once done, remove the cake. Cool the cake and remove from the mould. Cool it further on a cooling rack. Enjoy the cake the next day... this cake can be stored in a freezer for 2 months. Wrap the cake in a foil paper and then keep it in a sealed bag.

Baked Chingri Begun

This is a side dish made with prawns and brinjal. Though the wet paste made with mustard seeds and other ingredients are commonly used in Bengali dishes to make Jhal, Paturi, Bhapa etc, and even brinjal is a common ingredient used along with fish to make curry, here I have tried out the recipe in a bit different way... 

This dish can be made with other small fishes. 

You can serve this dish with steamed rice.

Ingredients 

1 medium size Bharta Baigan / Brinjal 

10 to 12 medium size  Prawns cleaned and deveined
1 small Onion or 1/4 part of the Onion

4 to 5 Garlic Cloves 

4 to 6 Green Chillies as per the spiciness you require 

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder 

1 tbsp Fresh or Desiccated Coconut  

1 1/2 tbsp Mustard seeds

1 tsp Poppy seeds

1 tbsp Coriander leaves chopped 

2 tbsp + 1 tsp Mustard Oil 

2 tbsp Curd (Optional)

Method 

Take the brinjal, cut the brinjal from the center horizontally leaving the end tail part of the brinjal intact. Scoop out the inner part of the brinjal on both the sides. Keep it aside. Now chop the scooped flesh of the brinjal and keep it aside. Take a grinder, add the onion, green chillies, garlic, mustard seeds, poppy seeds, coconut, turmeric powder and salt. Add little water and 2 tbsp of curd (optional), make a smooth paste. Rub little salt on the inner and outer parts of the brinjal.  Take a bowl, add the prawn, chopped brinjal flesh, coriander leaves, 2 tbsp mustard oil and the paste. Mix all the ingredients together. Now stuff the prawn stuffing on one side of scooped brinjal. Cover it with the other side of the brinjal. Tie up the brinjal with a thread. Keep the stuffed brinjal in the refrigerator for an hour, Remove the brinjal from the fridge.  Place the brinjal into a baking tray, pour the remaining mustard oil, and apply the oil on the brinjal. To bake, you can either bake it in a preheated OTG at 200 degrees Celsius for 15 to 20 minutes, turning the brinjal after 10 minutes to cook it evenly or to bake it on a gas stove, take a wok, place a pressure cooker stand into the wok, cover the the wok for 5 minutes on medium flame. Open the lid, place the tray on the cooker stand. Cover the lid and bake for 10 minutes on medium low flame, after 10 minutes turn the side then continue to cook for another 20 minutes with the lid covered. Remove the baking tray from the wok. Remove the thread, place the brinjal on a serving plate and open one side of the brinjal. Pour in the liquid of the baked brinjal and prawns. Garnish with coriander leaves and green chillies. Serve the dish with hot steaming rice.

Pork ar Tomato r Acchar

Pickle making is my passion, I love to develop new pickle recipes,  specially when it comes to non veg pickles adding up with vegetables...This is a Bengali style meat and tomato pickle. You can use any meat, here I have used pork. 

For the Masala

Ingredients 

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp Coriander seeds 

1 tbsp Mustard seeds

1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds

25 Garlic Cloves 

2 to 3 small piece of Ginger 

10 to 15 Green Chillies depending upon the spiciness you require

Method 

Take a grinder, add the dry ingredients and coarsely grind into a powder. Keep it aside. 

Now grind the ginger, garlic and green chillies into a coarse paste without adding any water, keep it aside. 

Pork and Tomato Acchar 

Ingredients 

250 grams Pork meat + 125 pork fat cut into small pieces 

375 grams Ripe Tomato chopped into small cubes 

Dry Masala powder 

Wet Masala

1 tsp Turmeric powder 

1 tbsp Kashmiri Red Chilli powder 

Salt to taste 

1 1/2 tsp Sugar 

1/2 tsp Panch Phoran 

1/2 cup Vinegar 

1/4 cup + 1/4 cup Mustard oil

Method 

Take a strainer, add the pork pieces along with the pork fat in the strainer, sprinkle and apply salt on the pork, keep it aside for an hour or two for draining out the extra water. Pour 1/4 cup mustard oil in a heavy bottom pan. Let it heat up, add the pork pieces and fry the pork until golden in colour on a low medium flame. Remove and keep it aside. In the same pan, add the panch phoran, sauté for few seconds. Add the wet paste. Add the remaining mustard oil. Sauté and cook the paste on a low flame until the oil separates from the masala. Now add the tomato pieces. Sauté and cook the tomatoes until the tomatoes have become pulpy and the oil has separated from the tomatoes. Add the pork, continue to cook for 10 minutes. Add the dry masala, salt, sugar, turmeric powder and chilli powder. Continue to cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Switch off the flame and add 1/4 cup of vinegar, stir and then add the remaining vinegar and stir, let the pickle cool down completely. Store the pickle in a dry glass container. This pickle can be preserved for 2 to 3 months in the refrigerator. 

Saoji Chicken Curry

Halba Kosti Tribes from Madhaya Pradesh, who are weavers by professions came to Vidharba region of Maharastra Nagpur and  settled there. They settled in large numbers and took up job at Empress Mill. They introduced Saoji Cuisine, their cuisine is fiery hot and spicy that needs an acquired taste.  It’s the unique spice blend that makes the difference, it’s is slow cooked and linseed oil is used in the authentic recipe. Each house adds their twist to the spices.  The recipes are closed guarded secret to each family. In 70s the first Saoji joint was opened in Nagpur, there after now many restaurants have opened selling Saoji Cuisine. They are mainly non vegetarian having mutton, chicken, fish. The cuisine is now known to the world by word of mouth. 

For Saoji Masala 

Ingredients 

2 tbsp Coriander seeds 

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp Shahi Jeera 

8 Dry Red Patna Chillies  

8 to 10 Black pepper corns

1 inch Cinnamon stick 

1 Black Cardamom 

4 Green Cardamom 

4 Cloves 

1/2 Nutmeg 

1 Star Anise 

1 tsp Dagad Phool / Stone Flower 

1/4 piece Nutmeg 2 Bay leaves 

1 tsp Poppy Seeds or White Sesame Seeds

1 tsp Rice

2 tbsp Dry Grated Coconut / Dessicated coconut 

1/2 tbsp Chana Dal   / Split Chickpeas 

3 Bay leaves 

Method 

Take a pan,  on a low heat stir and roast Coriander seeds, Split Chickpeas, Rice, Cumin seeds,  poppyseeds or sesame seeds, cinnamon, cloves, black and green cardamom, nutmeg, star anise, pepper, bay leaves, stone flower, whole red chillies and dry grated coconut . Roast until you get an aroma out of the spices. Cool the spices down and then grind the spices into a powder. 

To make the Saoji Chicken 

Ingredients 

1 kg County Chicken / Gavti Murgi / Komdi cut into pieces 

2 Onions sliced 

1 tsp Garlic paste

1 tsp Ginger paste

Few Coriander leaves chopped 

2 Bay leaves 

1 tsp Turmeric powder 

1 tsp Spicy Chilli powder 

3 tbsp of the Saoji Masala 

Salt to taste 

1/2 cup Oil 

Method 

Take a pan, add a tbsp oil, fry the onion until brown, cool it down and make a paste with little water. Take the saoji masala, add little water and make a paste.. 

Take a pot, add oil, add bay leaves, add ginger and garlic paste, sauté for few seconds. Add the fried onion paste, sauté for a minute, add few chopped coriander leaves, turmeric powder, chilli powder, Saoji masala paste,  chicken and salt. Stir and cook the ingredients on a low flame. Cover the pot and cook for 5 minutes. Open the lid, now add a cup of water. Stir, cover  and let it cook for another 15 minutes. Open the lid, add 2 cups  of  water, close the lid and cook until the chicken has cooked. Garnish with chopped coriander.  Serve the chicken with Roti, bhakri or rice. 

Chicken Chaap

The Nawabs moved to Murshidabad from Dhaka in 18th century, they introduced Awadhi cuisine to Bengal. This cuisine became a part of Bengali Muslim Culture. They introduced many dish, the Biriyani and Chicken Chaap became a combination which is sold in many of the old Muslim restaurants in Kolkata. 

Chicken Chaap
My memories take me back to my childhood where every summer my visit to Kolkata and visiting Nizam or Shiraj or Royal Indian Hotel for the chicken Chaap, Rezala and Biriyani with my cousin was a must.
The chicken full leg marinated and fried in ghee is a rich affair. There are lots of ingredients that goes into the marination.
I followed the recipe from you tube channel Uttar Bangla shared by Royal Indian Hotel which I found relatively easy to make with less ingredients.

Ingredients 

2 Chicken Full Leg pieces, make few slits on the chicken. 

1 1/2 tsp Ginger paste

1 tsp Garlic paste 

Salt to taste

1 tsp Garam Masala powder 

1 tsp Red Chilli powder 

2 tbsp Sattu 

4 tbsp Curd

1 tsp Kewra water

2 drops Meeta Athar 

2 pinches of Saffron soaked in 3 tbsp of water

1/2 cup Ghee

Method 

Take a bowl, add curd, saffron water, ginger, garlic, salt, chilli powder, garam masala powder, sattu, kewra water and meetha athar. Mix all the ingredients very well. Add the chicken legs, apply the marination to the chicken. Keep the chicken for 2 hours. Take a heavy bottom pan, add the ghee. Once the ghee melts, add the marinated  chicken. Fry the chicken pieces on both the side on a low flame until almost tender turning the chicken pieces occasionally. Add in the marination and 1/4 cup of water. Cook the chicken in the marination, turning the sides occasionally until the chicken is tender and the masalas have cooked well. Serve the chicken chaap with Biriyani, Pulao or Porotha. 

Beetroot er Sandesh

May this Bijoya Dashami light up for you, the hopes of happiness, peace and prosperity !

Bijoya Dashami marks the end of Durga Puja. It is  celebrated differently across India. It’s the celebration of good over evil. In Bengal it is celebrated after the MA Durga idol is immersed. Young seeks blessings from the elders and share sweets. Men embrace (Kola - Kuli) each other, to wish Subho Bijoya. 

Beetrooter Sandesh 

This is a healthy sweet dish to be shared during Bijoya with your loved ones. 

Ingredients 

1 small Beetroot boiled and puréed 

1 cup Chana / Cottage cheese mashed 

2 to 3 tbsp Date Jaggery 

Ghee to apply on the sandesh mould

Method 

Take a pan, add the beetroot puree, on a low flame stir and cook the purée for a minute. Add the chana and continue to cook for 2 minutes or until the mixture has dried up a bit. Add the jaggery and continue to cook until it forms into a lump, and yet it is soft. Switch off the flame. Take the sandesh out on a plate. Let it cool down. Mix the sandesh dough well. Take the mould, apply ghee.  Take a small portion of the sandesh and shape up the sandesh with help of the mould. Remove the sandesh from the mould and serve. 

Goan Fish Cutlet

These fish cutlets are delicious and can be served with evening tea as snacks or appetiser. These fish cutlets takes me back to Bandra where I had lived for many years. I had few good friends who stayed near my building. One of the friend had a Maharastrian cook. Very frequently, we use to visit my friend’s place for the afternoon adda and cha. This was one the dish that was commonly made and served with tea at my friend’s place, or some time we use to get these cutlets from a local Goan Food Outlet near Bandra Market. 

Now only memories remains of our good old days. 

Ingredients 

2 big Mackerels washed, cleaned and boiled with salt and turmeric. Deboned and shredded

1 Medium size Onion chopped finely 

4 to 5 Garlic Cloves chopped 

2 to 3 Green Chillies Chopped

1 small piece of Ginger chopped 

1 tbsp Coriander Leaves chopped 

Salt to taste 

1 tsp Vinegar or Juice of 1/2 Lime 

1 tsp Goan Garam Masala powder 

1 Egg

2 Bread pieces soaked in water and squeezed 

1/2 cup Fine Semolina 

1/2 cup Oil for Shallow Fry

Method 

Take a mixing bowl, add the shredded fish, Onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies, coriander leaves, bread, salt, vinegar or lime juice and garam masala powder. Mix all the ingredients together. Add the egg and mix the ingredients together until it binds well. Take the semolina in a plate. Take a lemon size ball and flatten it. Coat the semolina on all the sides of the  cutlets. Take oil in a pan. Let the oil heat. Fry the cutlets on low medium heat until golden brown on both the sides. Remove the fish cutlets on a paper towel. Serve the hot fish cutlets with tomato sauce.