পাতলা চিতই পিঠা -- A Porous Rice Flour Pancake

 This is a traditional age-old recipe from the former East Bengal ( পূর্ববঙ্গ) that turned into East Pakistan overnight with India's independence, which became Bangladesh later in 1971. So, East Bengal doesn't exist any longer but East Bengal food culture is alive in India with the  Hindu Bengali community who fled to this side of the border after partition and gradually established themselves in India. And of course it is very much alive in today's Bangladesh. In fact, Bangladesh's hospitality and food is extraordinary. 

This pancake was a snack my Grandmother often prepared for my mother and her siblings to eat after they returned from school.

I have never been to Bangladesh, my ancestors' motherland, where they were the children of the soil since time immemorial. But I want to and I can keep the food culture alive.

I made this yesterday morning with the leftover soaked Gobindobhog rice and mug lentil for the day before. I manually made the paste on the traditional shil-norha, শিলনোড়া ( see the photo below). 

Shil -- the flat stone, Norha -- the small, cylindrical one

The Paste

I added salt, baking powder, shredded green chillies and onion, and more water into it and mixed very well. Beating the batter well is essential, too. The consistency needs to be watery. There can't be any lump left. 

The Batter is Ready

We need really very little oil to make this pancake. Just baste the pan with the oil of your choice. I used rice-bran oil. Pour some batter on the hot pan bearing in mind that the pancake will be very thin. The flame should be medium. Flip and cook both sides. It took about a minute only to cook one side. You will see and understand how long (or how quick) it will take as you do it. 

Note: 1) Traditionally only rice flour is used but I wanted to use up the soaked mug from the previous day. 

2) We serve it with some kind of curry/ meat dish but I was to have only the pancake; therefore I added green chillies and onion. 

Vegan Omlette with Sattu Filling

 

I often prepare myself a pancake early in the morning and semolina is my regular ingredient . I make a light batter of semolina adding salt, shredded green chillies, shredded onion, and sometimes a pinch of cumin powder. To make the vegan Omlette above I added cumin seeds and green chillies and a little flour to the semolina, and of course, salt. 

To  make the filling I made a paste of sattu adding salt, freshly shredded onion to it. I don't like hot and spicy but you can add chillies, too, and a little lemon juice, if you want. Also, it tastes good when we add a little shredded coriander leaves, tomato and bell peppers but we don't have our usual supply of vegetables during this quarantine. 

First, I make the pancake cooking it by both sides. I put the filling like in the photo below, roll it and cook it just one or two minutes changing the sides. Et voila! My breakfast is ready. 

Note: sattu is roasted split Bengal gram flour.

Sautéed Okra and Potato

 Sautéed Okra and Potato or আলু ঢেঁড়স ভাজা is a common side dish with rice and lentil soup. It's super easy and very quick. You don't need much oil.

Add long and thin slices of potato to heated oil. In one or two minutes add nigella seeds and sliced green chillies. Stir and add medium cut okras into it. (Okra cooks faster than potato. Therefore, we add the potato first.) Add turmeric powder and salt. Stir and mix well. The flame should not be two high or too low. Stir and cook for some time. Stir to make sure it doesn't burn. You will see the colour will start changing. Cover and let it cook for a few minutes. The reason I can't specify exactly how many minutes because I have been doing it since I don't remember when based on guess and feeling. I keep an eye and check from time to time. Cook it until the vegetables are done. 

I prefer preparing it in mustard oil. But that's not a must. 

We prepare the simple okra and potato curry the same way with the same seasoning. But in the curry the okra is tenderer and practically wet, a little viscous because we use even less oil, put the vegetables right after adding the seasoning in the hot oil, add salt and turmeric and cover and let it cook on a low flame. It is practically steamed. Therefore, while frying, don't cover in the beginning, but only at the end for a few minutes. Many people don't like the viscosity and for them this recipe is an option. 

Basamati Rice with Bitter Gourd!!!

 No normal person would add bitter gourd to mixed veg rice. But this is not a normal time. We are not having a normal life. Every day more than sixty thousand new Covid infections. These are only symptomatic and documented ones. Often we are at the top in the number of daily death, too. 

We are not going to the local market any longer. Supply of vegetables is less and infrequently. So, unlike a normal person, I prepared mixed veg rice with bitter gourd. Below are the ingredients. The egg is kept to show the size/quantity of the vegetables.

I cut the vegetables in tiny  pieces and sautéed them separately and later added them later them to the rice. Carrot and bitter gourd--- what an unusual combination.

I used Basamati rice. The process is similar with the other veg rice recipes I have here. Below is the final product and it tasted good. 

Khichuri with Very Little Vegetables

 

This is an example of my quarantine cooking.  Since lock-down started, we are consuming much less vegetables to make, in the beginning, my visit to fresh market, and now the visit of our domestic help to us, much less frequent.  

Today morning I made this khichuri -- the traditional Bengali rice and lentil dish -- with a few ground nuts and a small piece of carrot as you will see the ingredients in the pictures below. 

Usually we use at least the equal amount of rice and lentil and mostly more lentil than rice to prepare khichuri. But today I used relatively less mug lentil since we are having Dal with every meal nowadays. First I roasted the mug in hot wok and then washed it and kept it at one side.

In a separate pan I sauteed carrot, potato and the ground nuts in the seasoning of shredded onion and cumin seeds, adding turmeric powder, salt and coriander powder.

 I kept this at one side and started cooking the mug and rice together in water in a covered pot. I started on a high flame but reduced it as it started boiling. ( I had soaked the rice already for about half an hour ). After the rice and lentil are almost done, I added salt and stirred and mixed well and let it cook for a few more minutes. When both the ingredients are thoroughly done, I mixed the sauteed vegetables and mixed everything well and let it cook until the water dried up. That was it. I had a filling and satisfying meal. 

Mixed Vegetable Curry Without a Single Drop of Oil

A Successful Experiment

Anyhow I must keep the oil intake within the maximum quantity recommended by health and nutrition professionals that is no more than 20 grams per day. If I cook vegetables in our traditional method, I definitely add a lot more oil. So I decided to try making a vegetable curry without compromising the taste.

I simply boiled these vegetables and with mug (yellow) and musur (red) dal and then, just after serving added some salt and pepper. It was bland but not bad.

The quantity was enough for more than one meal. I had it for dinner. Next morning I mixed some semolina into it because I want my breakfast heavy. I also added a little more salt, just a little turmeric powder and some pepper and goda masala. Then it looked like this:

My Oil-free Upma

It was tasty and filling but no too heavy.

Garbanzo Beans and Kidney Beans with Vegetables

Delighted by this success, I decided to try oil free dishes every day.
So, yesterday I prepared another oil-free dish of garbanzo beans and kidney beans with carrot, fresh french beans, a little potato and cauliflower.
I soaked garbanzo- and kidney beans overnight. During this time I changed the water once. In the morning, I cooked these beans first in the pressure cooker for eight whistles. I cookef them simply in water. Then I waited for some time so that the air pressure inside the cooker reduces. Then I added all the vegetables and added salt, garam masala, a little coriander powder and black pepper, mixed everything well and closed the lid. I let it cook once again for eight whistles. Later I boiled this for a few minutes to make the gavy thicker. I mashed the garbanzo beans and the potatoes a little bit. So, you cannot see the beans a lot but you can see the kidney beans here:

I had it with roti today. It will taste good with steamed rice, too.

Pointed Gourd with Coconut

Pointed gourd is not available in every part of India. In Bangalore  and in Pune I rarely found it. In Mumbai I get a smaller type of it and it is always very costly. So, I don't prepare this often. In Bengal we make a number of dishes withis vegetable: light fish curry with poipted gourd, patol posto (pointed gourd with poppy seed paste, pinted gourd with potato in light watery gravy etc. Most of the time we add a little potato also. I prepared this dish on the 12th of June. Finally I have the time to write about it.

I peeled the vegetables and cut them into pieces as they are in the pictures at the end of this post.
This is how we commonly cut them for many dishes but not for all preparations.
I heated mustard oil and added cumin seeds and dried red chillies for seasoning. I took the seeds of the chillies out so the curry didn't become too hot. UsuallyI add beat leaves, too, but I hadn't any. Also, my mother usually adds a little grated ginger which I didn't use either.
I added the vegetables into the oil with the seasoning and stirred well. I let the vegetables sautéed for a few minutes. Then I added turmeric-, cumin-, coriander-, and red chilli powder. Red chilli powder is optional and I added just a little. I mixed everything well and let it cook for a few more minutes. I added finely grated (and dried) coconut now. I buy this from the supermarket. Now I added salt. Mixing everything well, I added water and I let it boil until the vegetables were thoroughly cooked. Now I added garam masala. I let it cook a little longer to reduce the water. I wanted the curry near dry.
I had it with steamed rice.

Day before yesterday my Mom prepared a curry with coming and bay leaf seasoning. I made the vegetables ready for cooking and then I took these photos to show you how the fresh vegetable looks like.

Eggplant and Potato Curry in Tomato and Onion Gravy

It had been raining in Mumbai for days. I didn't have vegetables left in my kitchen. But my umbrella was broken. And it was not possible to dry clothes, so I didn't want to get out on the road. (In India we don't often use a drying machine and our hostel doesn't have any.) So, for a long time, as long as a whole week, I was eating mainly rice, different types of lentils and onion fritters (because I had some onions left.) So, I was clearly not having a balanced diet for many days.

Onion Fritters and Red Lentil Soup to go with Steamed Rice

Rice-Lentils-Chowli Beans Khichuri and Fried Potato

Eating some green vegetables became urgent. I asked my flatmate if I could borrow her umbrella and my list of vegetables started with "umbrella"! While leaving home for the market, I discovered that my flatmate wasn't there. She had to go out. Started walking in the rain, I got totally drenched as I reached my destination. It goes without saying that the first thing I bought was an umbrella. Then I bought vegetables enough for a week because I was planning a surprise visit to home.

Eggplant and Potato Curry in Tomato and Onion Gravy

I made an easy but delicious eggplant and potato curry to have with steamed rice.
Heating up some mustard oil, I added the pieces of potato first. Make sure that the potato is cut into small pieces, much smaller than the eggplant because eggplant is a softer vegetable and cooks faster than potato. After the potatoes turned golden, I added shredded onion and a little green chilies. If you like it hot and spicy, you can use for seaoning dried red chilli, too; in addition, you can also use cumin seeds.
After the onion was glazed, I added finely chopped tomatoes and turmeric-, cumin-, coriander-, and a little red chilli powder. I also added a little 'goda masala' which is a Marathi traditional combination of spices. I added the eggplant now, after everything else. I usually cut them in bigger pieces, bigger than the potato. I stirred and mixed everything well. Finally I added water and covered it with a lid and let it cook for about twt minutes. At this point you should lower the flame. But in our kitchen the flame is always low, thanks to no regular servicing for the oven in spite of several requests from us.
In about ten minutes it was cooked and the quantity of water reduced. I had it with steamed rice.

Jawl - Bhaat

Steamed Rice soaked in Cold Water, with Lemon and Fritters

        This is a summer delight! "jawl" means water. "Bhat" means cooked rice. So, literally, it is 'water-rice'.

Jawl-Bhat ("Water Rice"?!!)

          Indian Summer can be deadly, especially if you are outside under the scorching sun for a long time. Even indoors it is not really comfortable. Our entire house is not air-conditioned. We have ceilings fans and we have comforting food! Jawl-Bhat is one example!

To make Jawl-Bhat. I cook steamed rice, drain the starch and then, leave it to cool. Then I add cold water and salt and squeeze a lemon to it and mix everything well. Usually a green chili is eaten with it, too, which I can do without. (My taste buds are rather d-e-l-i-c-a-t-e!)
          Common side dished to go with this are thinly cut and fried potato, lentil fritters and / or onion fritters. You can check my posts for recipes of fritters.

Onion Fritter:-

http://kayhavingfeasts.blogspot.in/2015/08/onionfritter-i-crave-for-fried-food.html

Cabbage Fritter:-

http://kayhavingfeasts.blogspot.in/2013/01/cabbage-pakora.html

       
Plantain Balls:-
http://kayhavingfeasts.blogspot.in/2011/07/kanchkolar-kofta-curry.html

Jawl Bhat and Peaji and Lalshak (red leafy vegetable)

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.

Cabbage Pakora

Snacking is easy and fun!

Serves 6 -- 8

Ingredients:

Cabbage – very finely shredded – 500 gm

Besan – chick pea flour (gram flour) 100 gm

Onion – shredded – 100 gms.

Salt

Turmeric powder (optional)

Green chili – finely chopped -- one

Water

Sunflower oil

Sugar – half a tea-spoon

Preparation time: 

15 minutes

Cooking time: 

about 5 minutes on small flame (depending on the size of the frying pan, how many pakoras you can fry at a time)

How to prepare:

Shred the cabbage.

Add salt and sugar (and turmeric powder) to the besan and mix very well.

Add water little by little to this mixture of besan and salt to make a thick paste.

[Or you can add the salt (and turmeric powder) to the water and after the salt is dissolved in it, add this water to besan to make the paste. But do not add salt after mixing besan and water because salt will not mix uniformly in a paste.]

Now mix this paste and shredded cabbage, shredded onion, and finely chopped chilies all very well together.

 Make small flat circular shapes, like tiny pan cakes and dip fry them over low flame. Serve hot with puffed rice (muri).

Cabbage Pakora

Note: While frying you have to make sure that the cabbages are cooked soft enough but not over-fried or burnt. If you have a big pan, you can fry all the pakoras at one go. If your pan is smaller, the cooking time will increase.

If you prefer using less oil, you can also go for shallow fry. Then, make your pakoras flat and turn them over while frying to make sure that they are well cooked from both sides.

Mangold: German Influence in My Kitchen!

Nowadays I am trying things I never tried in India. Not only I am trying my hand on German recipes but also I am picking up new vegetables at the supermarket and trying to cook them independently without looking into a cookbook.
This week I cooked brussel sprouts and swiss chard. I did not even know about these vegetables as I was in India. Another new entry to my kichen is the button mushroom. Yes, of course I tasted them before, many times actually, but I never cooked them at home. I enjoyed my learning experiences, especially the one with Mangold.

Peas and Sausage Fried Rice

Nowadays I go to gym because I eat like this:


This is my sausage fried-rice!
The meat in the sausage was from poultry.
I used butter instead of oil to make it tastier because butter makes everything yummy! This was a very successful experiment.

Sunday Dinner with Friends: a Wonderful Evening

Food is an important part of culture of a country. It is not just eating but it reflects a lot of things about the social culture of the socity it belongs to. After coming to Germany I am discovering a very different food culture. This discovery is one of the most pleasurable experiences I am having here, more so, because I am not just a taker enjoying passively whatever coming on my plate but also participating in a food tandem partnership with Germany.
Last Sunday I invited some of my friends for dinner to experience some typical Indian home-cooked food. So, I cooked for my friends:
Alu Paalak --- Spinach and potato (North India)
Dimer jhol --- typical eggcurry we cook at home (Bengali food)
Kashaa Mangsho --- spicy chicken curry (Bengali food)
Aluseddho --- mashed potato, our kind
sada bhat --- steamed rice
Narkol naru (see below!)
Sujir Payesh (see below!)

My friends brought differnt types of chocolates for me, and wine of Wuerttemberg. Yes, I am, at the moment, in the heaven for chocolates and bread and bier! I must learn how to make these chocolates, some of them at least, before I leave this country!
But, icing on the cake was this:


I am really food-happy here because I am open to taste everything. Maultaschen is one of my favourites and so is Gaisburger Marsch, too. They made me fall in love with Swabia during my first few days here at the hotel.
As I browsed through the book, I came across this piece of wisdom I must share with you:
" Bei den Reichen lernt man das Sparen, bei den Armen das Kochen!"
So true!`

I am so glad that I will be able to cook some of the dishes I have enjoyed and appreciated only in restaurants so far.
Thank you so much, people, I love you! You gave me such a wonderful evening as a gift. And you are the motivation for my most serious hobby i.e.cooking!

Foodpuzzle: Tell Me, Dear, What You Ate Just Now!

I was thrilled to find soya nuggets here! OK, in Indian stores you can get everything but still, I was happy, thinking that now I would able to serve my friends soya in a form that is eaten only in India, as much as I have experinced.
So, this was my soya-preparation, "Soya Nuggets in Onion and Tomato Sauce", for our party yesterday!

Unlike in India, I cooked this without adding potao or any other vegetables since it was supposed to be a finger food, and not to accompany steamed rice or roti.
"What are those small balls?" --- my frineds asked me.
"Taste and tell me!" --- was my reply!
And...... nobody passed the test of taste!!! Ha Ha Haahh!

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.

Potato Pan-Cake with Schmand: My Russian Weekend 2

This was my favourite of all! This was our Friday dinner that gave us enough calories to burn for the whole next day! On Saturday we walked for eight long hours!
I can cook this for my friends!Recipe will follow.

Beef with Pepper

Today I tried my hand for the first time on beef as I cooked my lunchinner (= lunch + dinner, since it was too late for lunch but quite early for dinner).
I mixed pepper, salt, and a little turmeric with the beef, cut in tiny peices and let it stand for about fifteen minutes. I sauteed the beef on olive oil with shredded green chillies and shredded white onion.
After that I added water into it and cooked for some time.
I had it with steamed Basmati rice.
It was tasty but at the same time easy to cook.
I am very satisfied with my f-i-r-s-t beef curry!

A Turning Point

I have four monkeys! Was should that mean?
I have four moneys who are not my pet but rather very independent individuals.
I feel I am very lucky that they have become my friends. Because not everybody can have the rare chance of having monkeys as friends! And these monkeys have understood my interest so well that they have picked up this for me:

, as they wished me 'Guten Appetit!' on my birthday. Hillarious!
Love you, monkeys! Mmmuuuaaahhh!!
This book has a rich collection of recipes from all over Germany! But it is not just a long list of recipes like a coomon conventional cook book but gives me a good introduction to German food culture and food tradition!
And a new phase of learning begins for me!