Muri Ghanto/ Fish Head Dish/Machli ke sar ki sabji

Servings: 3-4 persons Ingredients:          Rui/Katla Maacher Muro – 1 (from a 2-3 kg fish) Aatop Chaal (Gobindo Bhog) – 2 tbsp Potatoes – 4 medium, halved Onion – 1 medium, finely chopped Ginger – 1 inch, grated Garlic – 2 cloves, grated Turmeric – 1/2 tsp Red Chilli powder – 1/2 tsp Cumin powder – 1/2 tsp Green Chillies – 3-4, slit Bay leaf – 2 small Green Cardamom – 3, coarsely crushed Cinnamon – 1 inch stick, coarsely crushed Salt – To taste Ghee – 1 tsp White Oil – 6 tbsp for frying Mustard Oil – 3-4 tbsp for cooking

Preparation: Cut muro into 3 big pieces Wash aatop chaa (rice)l, drain and keep aside. Make the masala paste = ginger, garlic, turmeric, chilli powder, and cumin powder   Cooking procedure: Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add aatop chaal to oil and fry tilll white (should take less than a minute) Add 3 tbsp oil, heat and fry potatoes till golden brown. Keep aside. Deep fry muro, should turn brown. Browning the fish gets rid of odours. Remove oil since it cannot be used for further cooking. Heat freshly taken 3-4 tbsp mustard oil in a pan. Add bay leaves, cardamon, and cinnamon and fry for 30 sec. Add chopped onions and fry for 4-5 min till onions are soft. Add masala paste (prepared above) and aatop chal. Fry till oil separates out (usually about 2-3 on medium heat). You may sprinkle water, if required, to avoid masala from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add 2 cups water, salt and bring to boil. Add fried potatoes and simmer for 10 min without cover. Add muro. Simmer on low heat till potatoes and chaal are cooked. Add ghee, green chillies and remove from heat.                                                                               Serving Suggestions: Serve with white rice. A very delicious part of a Sunday lunch menu. A good item for a lunch party.

Food Fiesta at Lucknow part 2

On 15th August ( happy independence day again ….) we reached a drenched and rain pelted Lucknow at 1:30 in the noon.

Moms food beckoned and we sat down to a great lunch of rice, arhar dal, shukto ( yes the self same …but with karela), moong dal and chana sprouts salad, Muri Ghanto and Rui Macher Tel Shorshe.

I had a great time having loads of food with dollops of pickle and Mangoes to polish off the meal. Cant say the same for mitali who ( she’s hates fish) stared in horror at the growing pile of fish bones by my side.

All recipes coming up.  And stay tuned for Prawn Malai curry that we had on sunday.

Kancha Posto/Kachcha Khuskhus/Raw Poppy Seeds

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Posto/Khuskhus/Poppy seeds: 30-40 gms

Green chilli: 1-2

Red Chilli powder: 1/2 teaspoon

Salt: to taste

Mustard oil: 1 1/2 teaspoon

Procedure:

1. Soak the posto in water for 15-20 mins. (just wash it if you’re running out of time.) Strain the same by a tea strainer.

2. Grind the posto along with the green chilli with a pestle ( sil batta) or just use the wet grinder small jar in a food processor.( the food proc works only on a slightly larger quantity of posto).

3. Mix posto paste, salt, red chilli powder, mustard oil and 2 table spoon of water in a small katori/ dish and heat it on a electric heater/very low flame till the mixture bubbles slightly. 2-3 mins at the most and you’re done.

Yipee enjoy this pungent and crunchy side dish with boiled rice or by itself.

Food Fiesta at home and Lucknow part -1

Happy Independence Day!!!

Ok so I’ve been away for the weekend, a hard earned break at that and three days of hols meant running of to my home town- Lucknow (capital of U.P.).

On 14th august we had awesome dinner at home (noida). A littlte back ground here.

anyways back after our gym ( we were going to miss it for next three days), we decided to cook rice, chapati, arhar (toor) dal , Aalu Lauer Papor diye torkari ( aalu lauki aur papad ki sabji/ potato, gourd and papad dish)and Kancha Posto to top it all.

Mitali has become quite the expert in making bengali vegetarian dishes and uses mustard oil with every other dish. The Gourd with papad was made by her and turned out great…the veggie was very fresh and tender and the papad was crunchy and soggy in parts , a dash of ghee made it just super….yay

The dal was great as usual. It was the Kancha posto ( kachcha khuskhus/ raw poppy seeds) that was made by yours truly more as an afterthought that turned out so great. it took only 5 mins and was awesome…mitali had it for the first time and loved the crunchy , pungent taste with the rice.

All recipes coming up….

Shukto…a traditional bengali vegetable stew

Ingredients:

Karela/Bitter Gourd – 1 small, cut into rings

Alu/Potatoes – 1 medium, cut into1 inch cubes

Sojne data/ Drumsticks – 1 inch long pieces

Kancha Kola/Green Banana – 1 small, 1 inch cubes

Begun/Egg plant – 1 small, 1 inch long pieces

Pepe/Papaya – Quarter of a whole papaya, 1 inch cubes from a

Sheem/Broad Beans – 8-10, cut edges only

Potol/Parwal – 4, slit into quarters longitudinally

Ginger – 1 tsp, paste

Mustard Seeds – 1tsp

Mustard + Poppy seed paste (shorshe + posto bata) – 1 tbsp

Bori/Vadi – 8-10; How to make bori (vadi)?

Sugar – 1/2 tsp

Salt – To taste

Oil – 2 tbsp

Note: It is not mandatory to have all vegetables listed here except karela (bitter gourd) which is an integral part of this dish.

Note: Please do ignore the above note…both mitali and yours truly hate karela. Sorry mom…i never put karela in my shukto.

Cooking procedure:

1. Heat oil in pan and fry the bori till they are crunchy. Keep aside and fry the cut karela pieces in the same oil till brownish. Set the fried karela aside.

2. Leave 1 tbsp oil in kadhai and heat. Add mustard seeds and fry till seeds splutter.

3. Add all vegetables and salt. Cover and cook on medium low heat. The vegetables will be cooked in the water that is derived from the vegetables.

4. When the water dries up add ginger paste, sugar and 1/4th cup water or as much as is desired to cook the vegetables and also that leaves some gravy. Shukto is not a dry preparation.

5. Cover the kadhai and simmer till vegetables are cooked.

6. Add fried karela, and mustard + poppy seed paste. Stir and cook for a minute. Remove from heat.

7. Crush and sprinkle the bori (vadis) on the dish.

 

Serving Suggestions:

This curry may be served hot with rice as a perfect starter for a bengali lunch.

 

Through your stomach…into your heart…

Before you groan and say “not another food blog”, read on ..

Hi all,

Nomoshkar,

My name is Vidyut Banerjee and like 99.9999% bengalis of India and elsewhere (pretty much anywhere in the world) I am a hardcore foodie. I like to think I am a pretty decent cook too (this runs in the genes and is verifiable :- ).

I have been married for six months now and we manage to whip up great dishes day after day. I do however remember my days in the engineering college hostel and know of the desperate situation which guys and gals get into….away from home and family, missing mom’s home cooked food and having to cope up with slurry served at the mess ( opinions may differ on this last part)

So any ways here my blog to

1. Share some great indian recipes with mouth watering photographs with you ( atleast you could drool.)

Keep in mind that the recipes might sway heavily towards Bay of Bengal.

2. Keep you updated on the Dining scene in Delhi/NCR (especially Noida).

3. Let you know of what we are cooking today and how. ( if I could do it so could you)

4. Let you know of our occasional disasters and the more-often fusion food gems.

That more or less it then …lets take our first step into this gastronomic journey.

Vidyut