3 different pastas, 3 tastes….
Posted by: mantramugdha on: September 4, 2009
As a couple, Mitali and I are fairly health concious. Time permitting, we make it a point to hit the gym , though I am somewhat of a slacker in this dept. (then again , who needs a gym with a size/shape like mine 
) anyways… we have paid a bomb and joined the recently opened Addiction gym near our place in Noida. Day one saw me hitting it with gusto and then not going for the next two.
Anyways Monday I decided to push Mitali off to the gym and then practice some of my awesome culinary talents ( just kidding…..well..not really ). So I went ingredient hunting and got loads of stuff.
I prepared penne parboiled pasta and 3 types of sauces to provide the variations. One was a Basil and thyme based braised Chicken breasts with pasta, a white sauce with mayo, cheese and boiled veggies and the last one was a boiled grams ( chana) based pasta in a groundnut and tomato base.All three turned out great with my personal favourite being the Chana one, while Mitali favoured the white sauce.
Hey and did I tell you we had mustard and honey dressing also. and washed it down with peach juice. Heaven
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- Chana Pasta in tomato and groundnut sauce
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- Chicken pasta
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- Pasta in white sauce with veggies and olives
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- Spiced Penne with braised chicken breasts
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- Pasta galore
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- Digg in .. pasta dinner
Jheenge Posto/Ridge gourd with poppy seeds/
Posted by: mantramugdha on: September 2, 2009
This dish is a simple and easy to cook item that is also my father’s and Mitali’s favorite. There are also a number of variations that we do , typically some are from my moms side and some from my fathers.
Jheenge Posto
Serving : 4 people
Ingredients:
- Jhinge- 200 gms
- Green Chili – 4
- Poppy seed (Posto) Ground to paste – 5 tbsp
- Oil – 4 tbsp
- Salt- to taste
- Sugar – to taste
- Kalo Jeera – 1tsp
Method:
- Wash and cut Jhinge (about 1/2 ” size). Marinate with salt and sugar for 15 mins. Heat the oil in a pan and add Kalo Jeera. Add the Jhinge and stir. Add green chillies, posto paste and salt. Cook on a medium flame. Add water as required. Cover the pan till Jhinge is cooked.
Variations:
- You can add finely chopped onions to the oil and fry it for some time before adding the jheenge.
- You can use mustard and red chilli powder inplace of kala jeera/kalo jeere.
Feeding My Somali Cousin
Posted by: mantramugdha on: August 25, 2009
My cousin Abhishek and I are really close. We both are single kids and thus are more blood brothers than others. Its funny how fate has always taken us every where together. I wound up doing my engineering from Bangalore and he followed suit a year after me. I worked all over the country before settling down in Noida ( at least for the time being) and voila’ my brother lands up at IMT ghaziabad for his management degree.
Well anyways, he drops down on weekends at our place and these weekends turn into food binges like never before. He eats rice and dal in quantities that would beat 5 best Andhraites eating their fill ( which is a lot ) . When Mitali start cooking I tell her to cook for 5 if Abhishek is around. If all people in the world were like him, we would finish all food reserves in a month.
We saw GI Joe- Rise of the Cobra on Saturday and had Dal Bhaat (rice), Shukto ( vegetable stew, read elsewhere) and Aalu bhate ( boiled potato with butter) . Simple but filling.
One great thing is that Shukto premade masla is now available at most speciality Bong food stores and that makes making Shukto really easy.
On Sunday I gave a call to my parents in the noon. They were preparing to have Dal, Bhaat, Kumdo diye Pui shaker chochchodi ( will write soon about this) , Begun bhaja ( brinjal fry ), Aalu Bhaja( Potato fries) and Chingdi macher malai curry (Prawn Malai Curry ) ( this dish is coming up next).
Mitali and I swore to match up and prepared a nice feast of sorts with Dal, Bhaat, Shukto, Kancha posto, Posto diye aalu begun potol bhaja, Lauki ka raita ( Bottle gourd in curd base ) and Seviyan ki kheer.
We managed to finish all and then slept the food off till 7 PM.
Dum Aloo Recipe / Dum Aloo Kashmiri
Posted by: mitalibanerjee on: August 12, 2009
Dum Aloo Kashmiri
Dum Aloo Kashmiri is a tried and tested delicious dish with which you can never go wrong! It is a very good option as a Veg main dish along with some Non-Veg dish in your Dinner Party… Let’s see how it is prepared!
Ingredients Required:
Aloo (Potatoes)
Water
Salt To Taste
Ghee or oil for deep-frying
1 cup ghee
1 large Onion (chopped)
4 tbsp tomato puree
Curd (Remember, the gravy is made of Dahi/ Curd and not Tomato!)
Curd- Alternative for tomato in white gravies
1 green Chillie (seeds removed and sliced)
Spices:
Saunff
4 cloves
4 bay leaves
6 black peppercorns
4 green cardamoms
1 brown cardamom
1piece cinnamon stick
Garam masala powder
Paste:
1 large onion (chopped)
12 flakes garlic
2 tbsp ginger
6 black peppercorns
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 dry red chilies
1 tsp turmeric powder
A pinch of ground mace
A pinch of ground nutmeg
Method:
1. Make a fine powder by blending together the ingredients of the masala in a blender. Keep it aside.
2. Remove the peel from boiled potatoes (not too soft) and prick them.
3. Take oil in a frying pan and heat it for about one minute. Fry the potatoes on a medium heat until their color changes from white to light brown. Keep it aside.
4. Add grated onion, asafoetida, bay leaves and ginger-garlic paste to the remaining oil.
5. Fry the mixture till the paste turns reddish brown.
6. Add the masala prepared and heat for about 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Add turmeric, chilli powder and salt.
8. Fry again for about a minute.
9. Now add fine curd to make the gravy.
10. Keep stirring continuously, add water if the gravy appears too thick.
11. Now add pricked potatoes to this gravy till the oil comes up.
12. Remove from the flame after 4 to 5 minutes.
13. Garnish it with fresh coriander leaves.
14. Dum Aloo is ready to serve. Serve with hot paranthas or Rotis!!
Tips and Variations:
1. What we do is roast the garam masala components like cloves, dalchini etc. on a pan and then crush them in a mixer grinder. This gives a great taste to the dish. Try this in other recipes as well!
2. To make the gravy gritty and thick, a good option is to grind some poppy seeds (khus khus or posto dana) with little water and add to the gravy. This improves the consistency of the gravy!!
Poppy Seeds... A very less known ingredient of most white gravies!
3. Another variation can be to add ground peanuts which will give the gravy a unique taste and gritty consistency!
Peanuts... An important ingredient in some of the best gravies!
ENJOY the delicious and mouth watering Dum Aloo and earn accolades from your friends and family!
Testing Pixelpipes’ awesome new service
Posted by: mantramugdha on: August 12, 2009
If you are reading this then our Pixelpipe account is correctly set up.
check out their services at www.pixelpipe.com
Paneer Makhana Gravy/Makhane ki Sabji/Fox Nut and Cottage Cheese Gravy
Posted by: mitalibanerjee on: August 11, 2009
Following is the recipe for a mild and delicious paneer dish with makhana (also known as Fox Nut or Gorgon Nut). You need very basic ingredients for this and it takes hardly 15-20 mins prepare.
Ingredients are:
- Makhana (Fox Nut): 2 cups
- Paneer (Cottage Cheese): 200 gms
- Milk: 2 small cups
- Malai / Cream: half cup
- Tomato: minced , 2
- Onion paste: 2 in number
- Garlic and Ginger Paste
- Ghee
- Oil
- Cashew Nuts (Optional)
Masala / Spices:
- Lal mirch / Red Pepper
- Haldi / turmeric Powder
- Dhania Powder
- Freshly ground Garam Masala (Dal chini, javitri, cloves, kali mirch etc. or you can use the ready made garam masal powder)
- Salt to taste
- Sugar
Prerequisites:
Roast the makhana for few minutes in miminum ghee by continuously stirring it. This is important to propoerly cook the makhana which otherwise would taste uncooked. Meanwhile, prepare the following pastes separately: Ginger Garlic paste, Onions (2), Tomato and Green Chillies (2 each). Also, cut the panner in small cubes. There is no need to fry these. If the panner is not spft enough, the best option is to boil the cubes in salt water for a few minutes.
Gravy:
Heat the oil in a pan or kadhai (Just 2 table spoons of oil). Add garam masala to the oil, then add Ginger-garlic paste and cook it till iy becomes mild brown. Now add the onion paste and cook the same till it becomes golden brown. The main trick is not to add too much of onion as that would make the gravy pungent. 2 small onions should be enough. Now add the spices to this paste as mentioned above and allow it to cook for 2 mins till the oil comes up. Now add the tomato and chilli paste and cook it for a few minutes.
This is followed by adding malai / cream and two cups of milk. Add salt to taste and a pinch of sugar. Cook the gravy to a boil and then add panner cubes and roasted makhanas to the gravy. Add water just enough to make the gravy a bit lucid. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 5-8 mins till the makhanas become soft.
Garnish the dish with coriander leaves and some malai / fresh cream.
Your sabji is ready to serve!!
Muri Ghanto/ Fish Head Dish/Machli ke sar ki sabji
Posted by: mantramugdha on: August 20, 2008
Ingredients: (Servings: 3-4 persons)
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, cardamom, 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
Posted by: mantramugdha on: August 20, 2008
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
Posted by: mantramugdha on: August 20, 2008
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
Posted by: mantramugdha on: August 20, 2008
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….
