White chicken curry ( Chicken Rezala)

This recipe belongs to my mother... Chicken rezala is very popular in eastern part of India.

Ingredients:
500gms diced boneless Chicken
3/4 cup unsweetened yoghurt
4 medium sized onion
1tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 cardamom pods
2-3 Green chillies
2tbsp clarified butter or oil
Salt to taste
1tsp sugar

Garam masala :
1" Cinnamon stick
1/2 anistar
2 cloves
6-8 pepercorns
2 bayleaves
A pinch of nutmeg powder
1tsp cumin seeds

Method:

Marinade the chicken pieces in ginger-garlic paste and yoghurt for an hour.
Dry roast the garam masala spices in a wok,then grind into fine powder.
Chop half of the required onion in round slices and the other half into a coarse paste.
Heat Oil/clarified butter in a heavy bottomed pan.Add onion paste and fry till the onion just starts to change colour. Add onion slices ,fry for a minute, then add the marinated chicken with the marinade.
Fry in high flame for a minute stirring continuously.Add the garam masala spice mix , salt and sugar. Fry for another couple of minutes.
Simmer the heat ,cover the pan with a lid and let the chicken cook till tender.
Add green chillies.Cook for 2-3 minutes more till oil starts to separate.
Serve hot with rice, pulao ,chapatti or paratha.

Prawns and raw banana/green plantain curry (Chingri kaacha kolar daalna )

Wedenesday : Fish recipe

Ingredients :
250gms Prawns deshelled
6 peeled and diced raw bananas( green plantains)
2 medium sized diced potatoes
1 finely diced tomato
1tbsp of ginger paste
1tsp turmeric powder
1tsp cumin powder
1tsp chilli powder(optional)
1tsp garam masala powder
1 bay leaf
1tsp cumin seeds
Salt to taste
A pinch of sugar
2tbsp Oil

Method:

Heat 1tsp of oil and lightly fry the prawns .Take them out and keep separately in a plate.
Heat rest of the oil ,add bay leaf and cumin seeds .As soon as the seeds start to crackle,add diced banana and potatoes.Fry continuously for a minute,then add ginger paste,diced tomato and all the other spices including salt and sugar.
Fry for couple of minutes to coat the the spices to the potato and banana pieces.Add 1/4 th cup of water ,fry again till the oil starts to separate. Add 1/2 cup of water and the prawns to the curry ,simmer the heat and cover with a lid.
After 5mts, remove the lid . Once the potato and banana pieces are cooked,put off the heat. The gravy shouldn't be too dry or runny.
Serve hot with hot rice or chappatis.

Kachha kolar khosha bata ( Raw banana peel bharta)

Today is Tuesday: It's Vege time...

Since ages Bangal vs Ghotti comaprison has been a point of discussion in any adda.
Being a bangal myself ,I thought of writing some real bangal dishes in my blog. This particular recipe is a very uncommon one,but beleive me it tastes very yummy...

Ingredients :
6 Raw bananas
Green chillies ( according to your taste)
1 Red dried chilli
1tsp Panchphoran
Salt to taste
Pinch of Sugar
1tbsp Oil

Method:
Peel the raw bananas and boil the skin in a pressure cooker.
(You can use the bananas for making Shukto,mixed vegetable, kofta,Avial etc.)
Once they have cooled down a bit,put them in a blender with green chillies and blend to a smooth paste.
In a wok heat oil,add red chilli and panchphoran ;as soon as the mustard in the panchphoran starts to crackle,add the banana skin paste .Add salt and sugar to the paste,and start frying. Bhuno fry till oil starts separating and the paste is totally water free.
Serve hot with rice .

My version of Seekh Kebab

This recipe is my version of Seekh kebab. I got inspired to make this sort of kebabs to encourage my son to eat veges..

Ingredients :
500 gms lamb / beef/ goat mince
1tsp garlic paste
1tsp gnger paste
1/2 green capsicum deseeded
3tbsp finely chopped frsh coriander
2tbsp finely chopped mint leaves
1tsp cumin seeds
1tsp garam masala powder
1 egg to bind
2tbsp chickpea flour (besan)
2tbsp lemon juice
2tsp salt
2 green chillies(optional according to the taste)
1/2tsp Oil

Method:
Roast the Cumin seeds on a dry pan and grind it into powder.
In a grind ,make a paste of raw green capsicum.
Mix all the ingredient with the mince and oil thoroughly.
Make round patties or put the mince thinly onto skewers and grill on a BBQ or oven @ 240C for 7-10mts.
Serve hot on a salad base with Raita .
The kebabs can be serves as fillings in wraps or panini's or even burgers !!!

For Bangalis abroad !!

Dear Friends Welcome to my blog!!!

We Bengalis ,as my mother says are "petkendrik".We love to talk about food,enjoy eating food and cooking too.We believe in the saying " An entry Man's heart is through his stomach".
Being away from India makes us more try hard to keep the essence of India and Bangalityo by food ,music and culture .

I am from NewZealand ,where we donot get any of our favourite fish(maach) like Rui,Pabda,Illish,koi..... ,sweets or some of the vegetables too...So we go a little more ahead in incorporating our flavours in whatever is available in the country we live.

My blog is dedicated to those Indians who are away from India but want to keep the flavours of India intact .... Please feel free to comment and give suggestions to my recipes which I will be posting. My blog will be active on weekdays ...

I divided the fifferent categories of food among the five weekdays.
Mondays: Starters or Snacks
Tuesdays: Vegetarian delights
Wednesdays: Egg or Fish recipes
Thursdays: Chicken or Meat recipes
Fridays: Dessert recipes..

Enjoy cooking !!!