Taler bora: Sweet Fritter from Ripe Sugar Palm Fruit

Taler Bora -- Sweet Fritter from Ripe Sugar Palm Fruit

Palmyra palm or sugar palm (Borassus flabellifer), is very common in our region and we make a delicious fragrant sweet dish from the ripened sugar palm fruit. We can call it sugar palm sweet fritter. My mother makes it every season and we help her.

We remove the outer black husk and get this. These are the fibrous kernels of the ripe fruit.

We rub this on a grater and this fragrant yellowish pulpy substance comes out. 

We add sugar or jaggery (non-centrifugal cane sugar from sugar cane or palm sap) and ripe and soft banana into it. Adding banana is optional and it has to be much less in quantity compared to “tal”. (You can also add grated coconut.) Then everything is mixed very well. Now this mixture is too soft to give it a shape. So, rice powder is slowly added and mixed until we get the required thickness. It is also quite common to add refined wheat flour (Maida) but my mother and grand-mother prefer rice powder to it.

Then we make flat and round shapes by hand and deep fry. You can also shape it like round balls. To fry, we usually use sun flower oil. 

Traditionally, Atap rice used to be soaked and then ground using “shil-norha” at home. "Shil - norha" are basically a set of grinding stones very similar to mortar and pestle. "Shil" is bigger, flat and not moved. The spices, or rice in this case, are placed on it and ground moving the "norha" on it, sprinkling water every now and then. The result is a thick paste. “Atap” is a Sanskrit word that means “sun (sunrays/sunlight)” or “heat”. We get “atap” rice by husking sun-dried paddy.  Nowadays we buy ready made rice powder from local shops. We eat less rice/ rice items nowadays and we no longer stock Atap rice at home. We still have shil-norha but it is rarely used. Mixer-grinder is the more efficient replacement for our generation. 

Taler bora is a must-have for the Hindu religious festival of “Janmashtami”, the birthday of God Krishna, celebrated in the month of Bhadra ( pronounced “bhaadro) of Bengali calendar.

Ridge Gourd with Muastard Paste

Ridge gourd, Luffa acutangula, is the main ingredient of a very popular traditional Bengali plant based dish called "alu jhinge posto", i.e. ridge gourd and a little potato cooked with poppy seed paste. Ridge gourd is a close relative of the less popular sponge gourd, L. aegyptiaca, which was traditionally used in Bengal to make loofah by letting it ripen and then dry in the plant itself, then it is very fibrous, one just has to take the dried and hardened skin off which can be done with naked fingers and if you shake it vigorously, the dry black seeds will come off, too! It is eaten , too, when it is very young. 
But today, I am not going to post alu jhinge posto recipe here. Rather, I have decided to share a less famous and less common but no less tasty ridge gourd dish that is without potato. So, here is my favourite ridge gourd with mustard paste.

I peeled the gourd and cut into big cubes. I heated mustard oil and added sliced green chilli and mustard seeds and immediately added the gourd. Then I added turmeric powder and salt to it and stirred and mixed very well. Then I covered the pan with a lid. Water will start coming out from the gourd. I don't add water into it.

After the gourd is half cooked, I add the mustard paste, stir to mix it well and leave it cook further. If I find that a  lot of water has come out, I don't cover it again.

After the gourd is thoroughly cooked it is ready to serve. I always have it with steamed rice.

This is how I prepare the mustard paste: --

To make the mustard paste, I soak it in cold water for a long time, say, half an hour. If I want it hot and spicy, I add fresh green chilli to it. After the paste is made, I add a little water to it and strain it through a sieve to remove the husk. This is how we make sure that the dish doesn't get bitter because mustard can taste a bit bitter.

Green Banana Kofta Curry

Green Banana Kofta Curry

I posted the original recipe here http://kayhavingfeasts.blogspot.in/2011/07/kanchkolar-kofta-curry.html

This time I made some changes though: 1) I didn't add potato, 2) I added red lentil paste to the kofta because 3) I didn't use chick-pea flour

The Kofta Curry SErved with Steamed Rice

Koftas ready for the curry

Spices for curry in the mixer

The Gravy Being Prepared

Green Banana Fritters

“Kofta” means “meat ball”. Before becoming vegan, I used to make kofta curry with chicken or turkey and now I make those with green banana but it is not really my act of replacing the meat with the vegetable here; it is a very traditional way of making vegetarian kofta curry in Bengal and I learnt this recipe from my mother. We thought of having green banana kofta curry at dinner.

Mourola Machher Chachchori

Anchovies with Egg plant and Potato

Main course
Serves two

Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

Mourala fish: 100 gm
Potato: 50 gm
Egg plant: 50 gm
Green chili -- two small
Onion -- 25 gm
Turmeric
Salt
Sugar -- a pinch (optional)

Mourala Fish in Salt and Turmeric

sliced green chili, shredded onion, potato, egg plant

How to prepare:

Clean the fish. This will take considerable time.

Marinade the fish in salt and turmeric.

Cut the vegetables as shown in the picture above.

Fry the fish. Keep at one side.

Fried Mourala

Add potato to the oil and saute. As the potato starts turning golden, add the green chili and onion into the oil. Saute a little.

Add the egg plant. Saute. Stir a little. 

Add turmeric and salt.

Stir well to mix well. 

You may add very little water.

Cover the pan and make the flame small.

As the vegetables are almost done, add the fish. Stir to mix well.

Cover and let everything cook on small flame for about five more minutes.

Serve with steamed rice.

The Year-End Lunch

Recently my ex-student and now friend visited Kolkata for just a few days. We got the opportunity to see each other after eight long years!

I invited her to have lunch with us. And I cooked!

A Bengali meal usually consists of several courses. The meal traditionally starts with something a little bitter, fried bitter gourd, shukto for example. Usually a lentil soup accompanied by something fried or mashed potato with finely chopped raw or glazed onion and finely chopped green chili or, fried fish is served then. For my friend I fried green beans, cauliflower and potato together to have with rice and “daal”, red lentil soup as the entry course; I did not prepare anything bitter for this lunch.

Then comes some very typical and popular vegetarian dish. For my friend I prepared kumror chhenchki (at the left side of the plate) and alur dom (in the middle). 

The Vegetarian Side-Dishes: Kumror Chhechki, Alur Dom, Alu Kopi Beans Bhaja and  Musur Daal with Rice

Fish is the most popular and the most important food for us. No wonder that fish is often the main course of a Bengali meal, especially of daily meals. For guests, sometimes, we replace fish with chicken or mutton (from goat). We, Hindu Bengalis, usually do not eat beef mainly because it is prohibited in our religion. Even though I am not selective about meat and eat every thing: pork, beef, lamb etc., I do not cook those at home. I cooked chicken this time.

The main course is followed by sweet yogurt (mishti doi) and some sweets like rasogolla. However, we eat every day neither bitter gourd nor sweets and the healthier regular yogurt (tok doi) replaces sweet yogurt. But this lunch ended with pantua and rasogolla. This was the last lunch of the year after all and her visit made it even more special.

Pantua

Rasogolla

Here I am sharing with you the recipes for the vegetarian side dishes.

Musur Daal 

Ingredients:

Red lentil

Finely chopped onion and garlic
Water
Salt

Red chili, dried 

Turmeric powder,

Oil

How to prepare:

Heat the water until it starts boiling. Now add the lentil. Let it cook. You can also use a pressure cooker.

Add salt only after the lentil is completely cooked.

Heat oil in a small frying pan. Add the red chili into it and wait till it starts truning brown. Now add onion and garlic. As soon as the onion starts turning golden, pour all these, including the oil, into the boiled lentil.

Let everything cook together for about 2 minutes.

Musur daal is ready to serve with rice.

Alu Phulkopi Beans Bhaja

Ingredients: (all cut into very small pieces)

Potato (Alu)
Cauliflower (Phulkopi)
Beans
Black caraway seeds (Nigella Sativa)
One small green chili -- sliced
Sun flower oil

How to prepare:

Heat the oil. Add chili and then the nigella seeds. Add the vegetables. Add salt and turmeric powder and stir well so that they mix well with the vegetables. Saute till the vegetables are cooked.

Serve as an accompaniment with daal and rice.

Kumro chhenchki

Ingredients:

Unripe pumpkin,

Turmeric powder

Salt

Dried red chili

Shredded onion

Potato (optional)

Mustard oil (/Sun flower oil)

How to prepare:

Cut pumpkin into small cubes.

Heat the oil. Add red chili and wait till it turns dark brown and then add shredded onion into it. Wait till the onion turns golden.

Add the pumpkin to it. Add salt and turmeric powder. Stir a little. Then let it cook.

Alur dom

This recipe is shared here when I started blogging:

http://letterwoods.blogspot.in/search/label/Potato since I had not started my food blog yet!

Lau Chingri

Bottle Gourd with Shrimp

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Bottle gourd (lau) – 1 Kg

Shrimps – 200 gm

Salt

Sugar – half a tea-spoon

Turmeric

Green chilies – two small, sliced

Cumin Seeds

Bay leaves

Mustard oil (or sun flower- or olive oil)

How to prepare:

De-vein the shrimps and clean the heads very carefully. Usually we do not behead the shrimps ;) but yes, you can get rid of them since cleaning is not an easy task. Marinade them in salt and turmeric powder. Set aside for about fifteen minutes.

In the meantime, peel the skin off from the gourd and cut it into very thin and small pieces.

Now heat some oil in the pan. If you use mustard oil heat it enough so that the typical smell of the oil vanishes. Fry the shrimps and keep them in one side.

Add bay leaves, green chilies and cumin seeds to the oil.

Add the shredded gourd. Let it sauté a little and then stir. Repeat this. Add turmeric and stir well so that it mixes with the vegetable uniformly. Add salt. Stir and mix well. After adding salt water will start coming out from the vegetable slowly; you do not need to add water from outside; so, just cover it and let it cook.

When the vegetable is almost done, add the friend shrimps and half a tea-spoon sugar, stir and mix well and cover again and let it cook for ten more minutes.

Serve with steamed rice.

Next time I prepare it, I will make a better photo to replace the one above!

Mankochur Torkari

Taro Roots with Potato

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Taro root – 500 gm

Potato – 200 gm

Salt

Turmeric powder– one tea-spoon

Bay leaves (dried) -- two

Cumin seeds – a pinch

Green chilies – two small (sliced)

Ginger paste/ powder – half a tea-spoon

Cumin paste/ powder – 2 teaspoons

Coriander paste/ powder – half tea-spoon

Mustard oil (or sun flower oil) – one and a half table-spoons

Water

How to prepare:

Cut taro and potato in small cubes, wash with water and drain all the water carefully. Keep these in one side.

Heat mustard oil until the colour changes and the typical smell of mustard oil vanishes.

Add bay leaves, green chilies and cumin seeds.

Add the vegetables; add salt, sauté for some time, till taro starts turning golden by stirring it now and then. Add ginger paste. Stir a little. Add turmeric, stir and mix well. Add Cumin- and coriander paste/ powder, and just like before, stir and mix well. Add water. Add sugar. Cover and now make the flame small. Let it cook in low heat until the vegetables get tender. By then the gravy will also thicken. Serve with steamed rice or roti.

Begun Chachchorhi

Side dish

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Brinjal (begun, "eggplant") – 500 gm

Mustard paste – 3 tea-spoons 

Nigella – “black Caraway” (Kalo jeeray) – a pinch

Salt,

Sugar -- a pinch

Turmeric powder – half a tea-spoon

Mustard oil (or sun flower oil) – one tablespoon

Green chilies -- 2 small

Coriander leaves (shredded)

How to prepare:

Cut Brinjal into small pieces.

Heat oil. Add nigella and thinly sliced green chilies to it.

Add brinjal pieces. Add salt. Make the flame small. Cover. Let it cook till the brinjal becomes a little brown. Add turmeric. Stir well. Cover. Let it cook till the brinjal becomes soft. From now and then stir as the brinjal cooks.

Now, as the brinjal has become tender, add the mustard paste. Stir well so that it gets mixed well. Add coriander leaves. Cover and cook further for about 5 minutes. 

Serve with steamed rice.

  

Luchi and Mangsho

I can't remember when I experienced luchi after I left West Bengal.
Luchi is a deep fried flatbread made of bleached wheat or maida and much more, much more than just something delicious to eat! Luchi means a puja (worship), a birthday clebration; luchi means a Sunday breakfast! When luchi is there, we know we are going to have payesh or halua and/or alur dom or mangso or alubhaja or chholar dal! Luchi is closely associated to festivity, to happy occasions! That is why I used "experience" instead of "eat" or "have".

In Germany I never prepared luchi or roti although I cooked for my friends often but always chose something I could cook fast, even though the preparation before cooking was long sometimes. Every time I had such a party, I wished if my sister could be there! So, I decided to cook chicken curry which was popular among my friends in India and abroad and luchi for dinner because my sister loves chicken and I missed luchi.

                                                               Luchi

                                             Murgir Mangsho: Chicken Curry
I bought sandesh and lal doi to have at the end. We, Bengalees, love sweets and our meals must end with some sweetness: madhureNa samapayet!

                                               Lal Mishti Doi and Sandesh
Not just in our food culture, the popular luchi has its well-desereved place in our literature as well.
Who among us doesn't feel nostalgic about the popular rhyme by Mohit Ghosh: "phulko luchi phulko luchi/ pet ta phule dhak/ phulko luchi phulko luchi/ peter bhitor phank!/ "?
But not all children can enjoy luchi since their parents cannot afford it. Examples are Apu and Durga, the young protagonists of "Panther Panchali" by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, another classic of Bangla (Bengali) literature: Apu felt happy seeing luchi on his plate as he accompanied his father to his disciples' house and sad too, at the same time, since he could not share it with her sister at home. Luchi is something they seldom had.

One Year Completed in Germany

Yesterday was the day. Last year on Nov. 6 I reached Germany.
And this is how I am celebrating: I have prepared sweets for those who made my life enjoyable and successful in Germany.

Here is halwa (of semolina, almond and a lot of butter since I did not have ghee here!)

And the one below is made of fresh cottage cheese and carrot.


It took me eight hours from starting from scratch till packing the end-products in the fridge. Even the cheese I made myself. I am tired but very happy. Now I will try to sleep for a few hours before I set off for work taking these late night creations with me.

Beet-er Tarkari (Beetroot curry)

Beetroot curry and laal shaak (tiny red leafy plant)were my favourites when I was young and lived in Doors region with my family. It was fun for me to have them with rice because they turned the rice red. I cook beet root here in Germany in the typical Bengali way with bay leaves, green chillies and of course potato. But I use olive oil instead of mustard oil. Ya, that makes the flavour a little different but still, I can't say that I really miss the flavour of mustard oil because I have the same fun as it turns my rice red. I remember of those good old days of winter in Doors!

Sujir Payesh

Friends for Dinner and My First Narkol Naru

Instructions via a few international phone calls to Mom in India and ingredients of wonderful quality from German supermarket made it possible.The result was a super hit. I prepared my first in life narkol naru --tiny coconnut balls, Kokonussbaellchen!
I am so happy that my friends enjoyed it. It was for them.




Ingredients:
Grated coconut
Sugar
Cinnamon (powdered)
Water(very little, not needed if you can grate the coconut at home)

How to make it:
Mix the ingredients very well.
On a low flame cook it by continuously stirring it until it gets a little sticky.
Let it cool down a little.
Make small balls.

Important:
1) Do not overcook. If it becomes totally dry, it will not be possible to make balls.
2) Make the balls before it becomes cold. When it is cold, it is too tight to give it a shape.

Kanchkolar Kofta Curry

Kanchkolar Kofta Curry --- Green Bannana Balls Curry / Gruenbannanebaellchen in bengallischer Sausse (pfewwwh --- translation, esskulturell unmoeglich!!)


Ingredients:
(For two servings)

Green banana – one
Potato – One medium
Cumin seeds – half a teaspoon
Coriander seeds (optional) – a pinch
Bay leaf – one big
Green chilly – one medium
Turmeric powder – half a teaspoon
Cumin powder – half a teaspoon
Red chilly powder (optional, if you want to make it really spicy)
Tomato – one small
Flour / besan (chickpea flour).
Sunflower oil (or mustard oil)
Ghee (optional)

Cook the green banana and potato until they are soft (completely cooked.)
Sauté finely chopped onion and shredded green chilly.

To make koftas:

Mash the banana and add salt, the sautéed onion and chilly, and a pinch of cumin powder to it.
Mix everything very well.
Make small balls of it.

Make the batter of flour/ besan.
Dip the balls into it and dip fry.
Now the koftas are ready. Keep them to one side.

To make the curry:
Peel and cut the potato into small cubes.
Add oil into the pan.
Add half a teaspoon cumin seeds, the bay leaf, torn into two pieces, into it.
Add potato. Sauté. As soon as the potatoes start becoming golden, add turmeric, a little cumin powder, cook for some time. Add tomato puree. Stir. Add salt. Stir. Add water and bring it to boil.
Add koftas. Simmer for a minute. Turn off the oven.
You can sprinkle a little ghee on top. But, this is optional.
You may not serve immediately. Let it stand for a few minutes. Let the koftas soak in the gravy.

Serve with hot steamed rice.

Patol-alur Tarkari

This is a traditional, popular, common, daily, homely Bengali vegetable curry. The description may sound too long with too many adjectives but this is really simple and quick to cook. Patol is pointed gourd. Alu means potato. So, this is a curry of pointed gourd and potato.

Ingredients:

Pointed gourd – 250 gm
Potato – one medium
Cumin seeds – one fourth of a tea spoon
Coriander seeds (optional)
Green chilly
Bay leaf -- one
Ginger powder – a pinch
Turmeric powder – half a teaspoon
Cumin powder – one tea spoon
Mustard oil (or sun flower oil)


How to do it:



Peel and cut ponted gourds as in the picture above
Heat mustard oil in a pan until the smell goes and the colour changes.
Add bay leaf torn into two pieces, cumin seeds, chopped green chilly.
Add potato immediately. Sauté a little till it turns light brown.
Add pointed gourd. Add salt. Stir well to mix. Let it sauté until the fragrant smell of fried pointed gourd starts coming.
Add turmeric, cumin powder, ginger powder. Mix well by stirring. Stir and cook for about ten minutes. Add water. Cover and let it cook till the vegetables are softened.



Serve with steamed rice.

Kolar bora

Kola means banana. I would like to translate this as ‘banana sweet pakora.’

Ingredients:
Five big bananas
Half a coconut (medium sized) – finely grated
Sugar (according to your taste)
Cardamom 5/6 crushed/ powder, even better
Cinnamon powder – 2 pinches
Sunflower oil (Virgin coconut oil can also be used.)
Flour, to make the mixture tight. (according to the requirement)

How to make it:
Mash the bananas into a fine pulp.
Add coconut, cardamom and cinnamon powder, sugar. Mix very well.
Add flour and mix it by continuously stirring to prevent the flour from forming lumps.

Now heat the oil in a frying pan.
Take the mixture in a teaspoon and dip into the oil.



Fry by turning it from one side to another until it is golden brown.



Enjoy your snacks.

The Good Old ‘Homely’ Bengali Murgir Mangsher Jhol and the By-gone Sunday Afternoons

Sunday afternoon! Lunch time! Say..., two o’ clock! Ya, ya! You are right! It was a bit late for lunch. From Monday to Saturday we used to have some dal-tarkari-machh-bhat (lentil soup – vegetable curry- fish-rice) at ten o’ clock in the morning, drag the bi-cycle down along the stairs and rush to school. Sunday was the day for chicken curry or mutton. Murgir mangsher jhol cannot have an exact translation. It means a type of chicken curry. Murgi = chicken, mangsho = meat, jhol = gravy, soup.
Though hard-core non-vegetarian, Bengalis love fish more than anything else. So, meat is much less frequent in a Bengali kitchen. Sometimes I feel that the trend is changing since some lazybones among us are reluctant to take the pain of sorting out the fish bones from the flesh. Oh, look at me!
I have made a fish-talk such a big part of my introduction to chicken curry, murgir mangsher jhol! Such a fishy Bengali I am!
Back to murgir mangsher jhol, we used to buy chicken from local firms, and not broilers. I used to accompany my father to the shops where he used to choose a rooster usually and the shop keeper used to kill it in front of us. I used to be on the verge of crying every time but later, as soon as the fragrance of the curry tickled my nose, I used to forget the sadness of the poor hen’s self-sacrifice for us. The shop-keeper used to clean it and then hand it over to us, without cutting it into pieces which my mom used do. The drumsticks, “murgir thang”, were the most desired and prestigious pieces. One of the two used to be reserved for my father. The left one my little sister and I used to have in turn. I never saw my mom having a drumstick.
I do not usually buy the whole chicken or even those drumsticks any more. We have been educated long back that the breast is the healthiest part of a chicken. Sundays have become much busier. Murgir mangsher jhol is my quick dinner nowadays.
And this is how I did it last Tuesday.


Ingredients:
Chicken – 300 gm
Potato – if available, use 3 / 4 baby potatoes,

Onion – 100 gm
Green chille – 1 (can add more, according to your taste)
Shredded ginger – a pinch
Ginger powder
Tomato – one medium
Green chilly – one big


Marinade the meat in salt, turmeric podwer, ginger powder.
How long?
As long as you take to do the followings:
1) Peel the potatoes
2) Chop a green chilly
3) Chop onion
4) Shred a very small piece of ginger
5) Grate tomato
6) Pour oil into the pan.
7) Fry the potatoes.
8) When they turn golden, add chopped green chilly, chopped onion.
Now get back to your chicken.

9) When the onion turns golden, add the chicken.
10) Stir well. Let it fry. Stir from time to time. Keep the flame medium.(kasao)
11) Add the tomato. Stir to mix it well. (kasao)
12) Add water.
13) Let it cook till the chicken is completely cooked
14) Serve with roti and rice.

Paat Shaak

If Mom accompanies me, even a day-out turns into a quite nice food experience. Mom is the person who pampered my taste buds the most and actually spoiled them. Now it is not so easy to satisfy them. On the other hand, it contributed a lot to build my food culture.

This time Mom packed chholar dal (chick pea dal), paat shaak (jute leaves), kankrol bhaja (fried yet-to-find-the-english) and rice for lunch, and luchi & alubhaja for snacks.


I am sure you know ‘Jute’ but did you know that you could make curry of tender jute leaves? Jute is ‘Paat’ in Bengali and tender jute leaves that is edible is called ‘paat shak’.


---- Paat Shaak: the green one in the caserole

Ingredients:

Mustard oil
Kalaunji (kalo jire),
Green chille (chopped)
Ginger paste
Paat shaak i.e. tender jute leaves(shredded)
Turmeric powder
Salt
A little water

How to do it:
Heat mustard oil in a kadai till the color looks lighter and the smell goes.
Add a pinch of Kalauji (kalo jire), and chopped green chille
Add a little ginger paste
Add shak (shredded). Stir a little.
Add turmeric powder
Stir a little so that it get mixed well with the shak
Add salt
Stir.
Let it cook. Do not add water now. Let it get fried a little. And stir so as to fry it uniformly.
Add a little water.
Cover with a lid. Let it cook.
Turn off the oven when the leaved are softened i.e. completely cooked and the water it dried. It is a dry preparation Gravy should not be there.

And chholar dal and kankrol bhaja?
And luchi and alu bhaja?

I will tell you later. Bye bye!