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….
Shukto…a traditional bengali vegetable stew
Posted by: mantramugdha on: August 13, 2008
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:
-
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.
-
Leave 1 tbsp oil in kadhai and heat. Add mustard seeds and fry till seeds splutter.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Cover the kadhai and simmer till vegetables are cooked.
-
Add fried karela, and mustard + poppy seed paste. Stir and cook for a minute. Remove from heat.
-
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.
