Baking Supplies n Kolkata

Shapla Chingrir Torkari

9:13 PM

Water Lily stem and Shrimp curry

I have written about water lily or Shapla (Nymphaeaceae) in two other posts with two different recipes (Shaplar Bhyala and Shaplar ghanto) before. Today while writing this recipe I decided to include the write-up that I posted on my Facebook page a few days back. It for a change was in Bengali where I wanted to describe how monsoon is experienced in rural Bengal. For people who do not read Bengali I have included a small English write-up in the same line. Hope you will enjoy it. 

The recipe today is very simple but with a spectacular flavour that with every morsel will remind you of monsoon. Just a few pantry staples and a handful of shrimps that are easily available in this season. That is the merit of regional cooking, celebrating the seasonal flavours while retaining all it's goodness.

Bengali

Niramish Dimer Dalna, Bengali Faux Egg Curry

3:06 AM

Niramish dimer dalna, Egg prepared with cottage cheese and chana dal
A Bengali delicacy

 Today is Jamaishoshti, a special day dedicated solely to the son-in-laws in a Bengali family. A day when the parent in-laws spoil and shower their jamai with love, blessings, gifts, and an elaborate feast with almost a never-ending list of dishes.

Jamai Shoshti falls on the sixth day of the bright fortnight on the Bengali month of Jaisthya. In this case, Shasti does not only refer to the sixth day, Rather it also mentions the Hindu folk goddess Maa Shasti- The deity of reproduction, saviour, and bestower of children. She is worshipped by every mother wishing to ensure the protection of their children and every woman waiting to conceive. The goddess is embodied as a motherly figure riding a cat and nursing up to eight babies. Though every month of the year has a devoted day to pray to maa Shoshti, the month Jaisthyo is marked only for the son-in-laws.

Now The Bengali word Jamai is associated with many other notions, like jamai ador, Jamai thakano proshno (Question to befool the son in law) and even a proverb

Curry

Paneer Masala

9:22 PM


It's funny how with just a change of time makes things feel precious to us. The other day the husband came home feeling triumphant with a block of our favourite paneer. I am not much of a paneer lover yet the sight of new ingredients made us happy. Though not on her usual track, life sure has found a new normal to carry on.

Bengali

Hansher Dimer Kosha (Spicy duck egg curry)

5:54 PM


'Maa see Robin eggs" squeaked my little 5 years old. a second later the brother too joined in the excited jumping.
and even before we could realize they gathered around the old man who was sitting on the pavement selling those light blue eggs. Something that we haven't seen ever before. We enquired about it and was very surprised to know that these are duck eggs. How the markets in Kolkata never ceases to surprise me. 

Bengali

Chingri macher Dhokar Dalna

9:11 PM


Who you do not depend entirely on your family tree or upbringing. but there are certain traits that you are born with, some times inexplicable but that's what makes us unique. Often as parents, we ignore the early signs of what a person is passionate about and what makes them happy. and most often than not as a person you do not understand where your happiness lies. Blessed are those who at least gets to find it in their lifetime but my heart goes out to all those who never get an opportunity to find out their inner soul.

Bengali

Kajli macher Jhol

9:45 PM



I have never believed in cooking separately for the kids and once they crossed the age of 18 months they have been eating the regular food. But there were adjustments. Like no chilies, less spices, less oil, and absolutely no small fish.

Being a Bengali our meals are never complete without a dish or two of fish. But since we always encouraged the kids to eat on their own we had to omit these small river water fishes from our menu. Glad that this phase is almost over. The little girl now is enjoying the small fish curries with equal gusto and is often demanding for her share of mourola mach bhaja (crisp fried Indian anchovies). 

Curry

Authentic Punjabi Sarson ka Saag

9:51 AM


I never thought I would post this recipe as I have never cooked it before this day. But somedays you just do the unthinkable. because some recipes are perfected over generations and all you need to do is to follow the path and keep the trust.

Though I never made it but over the years I had gathered enough tips and tricks to make it from various TV shows and my blogger buddy, Amrita. I especially loved Amrita's stories when she went to her ancestral home in Punjab and documented this recipe. The biggest tip was to use the stems or the dathal as they say in the local dialect. 

The recipe I followed belongs to Bobby Chinn's flavour cafe Asia which I noted down in my diary many years ago. I just love how he is so down to earth takes on everything with his great sense of humour. The dish was made in a remote village alongside a mustard field. The recipe I believe is as authentic as it can get, made in a Handi and slow cooked for hours with pure ingredients, patience and love.

Curry

Mutton Do Pyaja (Goat meat with two types of onions)

9:01 AM


Now that winter is here t and we find reasons to veer towards the richer spicier gravies, let me present to you this rich, spicy, soul satisfying dish called Mutton Dopiyaja or dopyaja. Do piyaja literally means with two types of onions. Traditionally fried onion or birista and fresh onion are used to create a thick brownish gravy. But in my recipe, I have used onions thrice. The third variant is those whole small purple onions, which I cook along with the mutton and by the time the dish is ready the whole onion becomes soft and jammy, a delightful addition to the succulent meat and spicy gravy.

Bengali

Pat shaker jhol (Mulukhiyah)

8:37 PM


I am not sure if I could interchangeably use the term Mulukhiyah for Pat shaker jhol, but the ingredients, cooking process and taste is so uncannily similar that after some serious thought I decided to do so.

Mulukhiyah is an Egyptian dish which I first saw on a beautiful program on BBC called a Cook Abroad. It was one of those off the beaten path food shows where real food of different countries were showcased with the history behind it. On the Egypt episode the presenter Dave Myers (Hairy bikers fame) travelled to the Nile valley and prepared this dish at a farmer's place. I was truly taken aback to see the cooking process. Exactly how maa cooked Nalte shaker jhol. In Egypt they call it 'Asharifa' meaning the noble one. This nutrient rich dish was even mentioned in ancient Egyptian cuisine that dates back to thousands of years. 

Now if you have ever eaten or dealt with Nalte or Paat Shaak (scientific name Corchorus olitorius) then you know how slimy this is. For this reason this green is mostly cooked as a bawra or fritter or is just stir fried with spices. My Mother who was an artist and was running her own handicraft business discovered and learnt this from the many rural women worked in her workshop. In rural parts of Birbhum district these are always cooked as a green soupy dish. We were told that the Muslims of this region prefered to cook it with meat but the Hindu families cooked it just by boiling and tempering it with lots of garlic and chilies...just the way it is done in Egypt.

Bengali

Jukti phool er shukto

10:05 PM


Jukti phool or Sneeze wort flower is a comparatively new ingredient in my kitchen. I first discovered it in my local vegetable market 3 years back. To be honest I was fascinated with how pretty these green flowers were but the vegetable vendor warned me about it's bitterness. Following his suggestion I cooked a simple stir fry of it with Potatoes and simple seasoning at that time and loved every morsel of it mixed with steamed rice. The flower though look delicate has quite a bite to it and holds their shpe well even after cooking.

Cut to today's time, just last week I found them again and the seller told me to make Shukto with it. Which is a classic example of using any bitter vegetable in a Bengali household. Shukto, the iconic bitter gourd curry is a perfect example of balance. It's salty, sweet, bitter, pungent and slightly spicy yet mellow at the same time. It is eaten as the first course in a proper Bengali sit down lunch.

Bengali

Kopi Dantar Charchari (Cauliflower stalks curry)

3:00 AM


Often while I take my clients on market trips in Kolkata I tell them how thrift and foraging have always been a part of Bengali cuisine. But 'Always' is a big time span and I never was sure if this trend really existed in our style of cooking and if not,  then when and why this desire of using scraps and peels of veggies and other ingredients came into existence.

Because of the fertile Gangetic plain Bengal always was the land of abundance and had a huge repertoire of plant based recipes.  The narratives in the MAngal Kavya written during the time between 13th and 18th century has many citation of its rich heritage of vegetarian cooking. Later the Vaishnvaites and widows developed it further. Sometimes out of need and sometimes out of their mastery they created dishes that were as good and sometimes better than their non veg counter part. 

Curry

Alu Gobi dry-restaurant style (Cauliflower and potato dry curry)

7:04 AM


The secret behind restaurant food is a few basic pre-made sauces. My brother who is a trained chef told me this many moons ago but I never tried until a couple of years ago.

We love to eat out and experiment, for which most times we do not opt for Indian restaurant. Rather we look for new joints serving world cuisine. but this rule does not stand when there is a good Dhaba in vicinity and no matter how much we convince ourselves everytime we are in a Dhaba we end up ordering a few favourites and this dry alu gobi dish always always tops the list.

Bengali

Kumro Danta Charchari (Pumpkin Shoots curry)

3:14 AM


What is Fall without a few pumpkin recipes? Right?

Wrong. For us Bengalis pumpkin is a vegetable that is enjoyed year around. especially during the summer days when the most of the veggies cannot stand the scorching heat or the waterlogged months of monsoons, when most plants wilt due to root rot...pumpkin and it's close cousin bottle gourd grow bravely.

There were numerous times in my past when in our drought prone town of Santiniketan, most plants could not withstand the heat and withered yet we could still harvest pumpkins and bottle gourds almost every week. For us Bengalis it's a big source of leafy greens.  

Curry

Bangladeshi chicken roast

11:47 AM


Sorry for being MIA for sometime. First the Sonny boy's half terms kept me busy and then had to travel all the way to home at Santuniketan for the arrival of the littlest bundle of joy-my Nephew. His arrival kept my hands and heart full. We returned a couple of days back, just in time to clean the house and prep for Durga Puja.

Thank you to all of you who mailed and messaged me to inquire about my whereabouts and asked for recipes. sorry again for not being able to answer in time. Hopefully now will be able to post the recipes you have requested for one by one.

Today am posting this delectable recipe of Bangladeshi Chicken Roast, A scrumptious, creamy, nutty, delightful gravy with big juicy pieces of chicken thighs in it. It's a staple at home whenever we need some pick me up without going overboard with cream, ghee or spices, we cook this. 

I first tasted it long back in my childhood when maa's Bangladeshi friends from Santiniketna art college used to claim our kitchen on holidays and prepare a feast. I was very small then and it never crossed my mind to write down the recipe but Maa did. Many moons later,  few years back when fellow blogger Archita cooked this dish for a fun competition and I was going gaga about how awesome it looks, Maa smiled  and took out the hand written recipe for me to copy. Over Time I saw more recipes and tweaked it here and there.

Curry

Spicy potato roast (South Indian style)

11:54 AM


South Indian roast recipes are one of my favourite ones. These dry, stir fry dishes are spicy and hearty and can pep up any meal within minutes. For me they are the perfect pick me up meal options on a grey, gloomy day like today when the overcast sky somehow makes you lazy yet you crave something spicy and comforting. 

Bengali

chingri, narkol die chichinge chenchki

7:09 AM


As promised here is one more recipe with Chichinge or Snake gourd. 
This is one of my mother's loved recipe and like her while cooking it I dont follow any rule. Though this recipe has prawns, coconut and teeny tiny amount of mustard paste but you can change it as per availability or choice. Somedays I just cook it with a tempering of nigella seeds and green chillies and finish off with a drizzle of mustard oil and it still is the flavour bomb. 



So feel free. If you are vegetarian omit prawn and cook with coconut and mustard. If you dont like coconut then just dont add...it's very versatile yet yummy.

READ MORE

Bengali

Chinchinge Posto (Snakegourd in Poppyseeds Paste)

10:50 AM


Everyday cooking, lately there is a lot of fuss around it. I have been hearing a lot about how time consuming, tiring and intimidating it is and whenever I have tried to argue, I have been dismissed by saying many things. Trust me I cook not only because I love to  but mainly because I care.
  
And with little organising and planning it is very easy to whip up a simple, nourishing meal for your family. On a daily basis I try and experiment to bring in variation and do not do elaborate dishes unless and untill guests are involved. There is no rule, nothing is right or wrong. Good food comes in all textures and colours and but best one is the one that has been prepared with fresh, local and seasonal produce with lots of love and care, preferably following our own regianal recipes. which are precious ancient wisdom, that has been tested by time and have been prepared with lots of thought to suit our climate, body type and values.

For example this humble Chichinge or Snake gourd. It's an native to Indian continent and lesser known in the West.  There was a time when people would buy and cook them regularly during summer. But now in the cities unless and until you are a cooking enthusiast they don't get any place in the weekly grocery bag. But this humble vegetable has a significant amount of fiber, vitamin and other nutrients. 

Curry

Keema Matar (Curried minced meat with fresh peas)

12:01 PM


Hope you all had a wonderful Holi celebration this year!

Ours was not that good and both hubby and I laid in bed and watched the festival of fun and frolic around colour go by. Yes both of us were down with Chicken pox after the daughter and thank God the Doctor this morning announced us completely healed. It was a complete nightmare as somehow we were very scared of this contagious disease and sent baba and the sonny boy to My brother's at the earliest possible. Even released the house helps in the fear that they might catch the bug. At the end it was just us managing the house and the little one.

Bengali

Shish palong er chorchori (Spinach shoots mishmash)

7:24 AM


Kolkata, the city of joy is a mystery to many but I have a love hate relationship with this city. As a child I was awestruck with this city's splendour and glamour. Everytime we would visit from our small sleepy university town, the grandeour of the city with it's neon lights and big roads would mesmerise me. I will look at the building with big eyes from our car window and would think for hours about the kind of people who get to live there.


then adulthood happened and I moved cities to realise how dirty, clumsy, chaotic this city is. In Delhi I found solace in its queer quiteness of some areas and throbbing pulse at others. Later I was happy to settle in the modern and urbane Bangalore and when again I had to move back to Kolkata I could not wait to flee...


Now almost 6 years in the city and finally I can see it's hidden beauty, the very heart that beats in all its chaos and noise. It's not about the old houses, it's pompous history or the unique heritage of art and craft...Kolkata is special for its simplicity...the way it invites and absorbs every stranger...the way it is eager to make you a part of its own unique culture...yet the way it lets you be who you are...


Kolkata is pure magic.

and this is where I belong...


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