Doodh wali Tori/Turai/Jhinge/Ridge gourd

While growing up, I had no interest in food. I was too caught up with my love for music, needle work and everything else but food. Therefore, I never entered the kitchen but to seldom chop some onions for my mom. It was perhaps in those rare visits to the kitchen that I subconsciously picked up few recipes and techniques of cooking. Visual learning is pretty mighty, I discovered later in life. When I began my tryst with kitchen affairs, I would recall all of that and put them to experiment.

My Great Grand Father had come to Calcutta from Punjab and had set up his transport business. Living in Calcutta, my Great Grand-mother, my Grand-mother and then my mother adopted the local produce and used them in our typical Punjabi recipes. For example, we put the raw Papaya into our Parantha's and made a new avatar which nobody in Punjab is aware of. The raw banana found its way in our style of Kofta curry and the humble Jhinge/Ridge gourd found itself in a creamy milk and cream gravy.

This week, at Kolkata Food Bloggers the theme of our ongoing series of event is "Family Signature Recipes" where Debjani Chatterjee Alam is the featured blogger who blogs from Debjanir Rannaghar. For this event, I decided to share our family favourite recipe of Doodh wali Tori/Ridge gourd. 

A super simple way of cooking the ridge gourd and then simmering it in milk and finishing up with some cream to give it a delicious creamy avatar. At home, at times, we make this dish with more milk and then dunk in small pieces of Roti and chopped onion to make it into a one bowl dish. 

Do try this rather amusing and simple dish of Tori/Jhinge/Ridge gourd and pair it with your Roti/Parantha and some onions.

Ingredients : For 2 servings

• 4-5 Tori/Turai/Jhinge/Ridge gourd
• 1 medium size onion, chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1-2 green chilly, chopped
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• salt to taste
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tbsp cream
• 1 tbsp oil

Procedure : 

Peel and chop tori/ridge gourd.

Take oil in a pressure cooker and add cumin seeds. As they start spluttering, add chopped garlic, green chilly and onion. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes or till the onion becomes slightly brown. 

Add turmeric powder and salt and stir it well.

Add the chopped tori/ridge gourd and mix again.

Put the lid of the pressure cooker and allow 3-4 whistles on medium heat. 

Let the pressure release on its own.

Take a kadai/deep pan and add the cooked tori/ridge gourd. On medium heat, evaporate the excess water from the cooked tori. 

Now, add milk and let it cook on medium heat for 5-10 minutes or till the milk reduces to a required consistency. 

Finish off the dish by stirring in cream.

Our family favourite one bowl dish with small pieces of roti and chopped onions in the Doodh wali Tori/ridge gourd 

This recipe is part of KFB's ongoing event where Debjani is the featured blogger who blogs from Debjanir Rannaghar. 

Happy family recipe enjoying

Amrita

Ara’yes- Crispy Mutton mince stuffed Pita

I have been sharing so many posts on desserts and cakes that I have actually started feeling guilty for doing so. It makes me feel so unhealthy especially because I am very particular about our daily eating habits, trying to make it as healthy as possible. I exercise daily and adopt portion control to satiate my sweet desires. In fact even the desserts I make are just for 2 portions, my daughter Vaanya and my husband Vishal. 

Since Baking is my prime love, I cannot help but keep experimenting some form of it in my tiny kitchen. This time I decided to try some Savoury baking. With Kolkata Food Bloggers ongoing event 'Bake Mania', I decided to experiment with an interesting recipe I came across while going through a book called 'The middle Eastern kitchen' by Rukmini Iyer. 

As I learnt from the book, Ara’yes is a simple and traditional Levantine recipe which has a crispy meat stuffed Pita bread. The traditional recipes call for the raw mince meat to be mixed with spices and then stuffing it in the Pita bread to be baked, grilled or toasted. The book, however, suggested to cook the mince meat first and then stuffing it. I followed the idea in the book of cooking the meat first. The basic recipe of the mince meat is the one that I keep making at home, a basic and homely mutton keema recipe. I made the Pita breads at home and kept them a little thin than usual because I wanted a more crispy Ara’yes. 

Vaanya, my daughter loved it more than anyone else. In fact, while I was taking pics I thought that she will not be interested in it but when she saw me taking a bite of it, she got inquisitive and after the first bite she demanded more of it. That obviously made me super happy and we ended up making a dinner meal out of it. I paired my Ara’yes with a hung curd dip to which I added chopped onions, tomatoes and fresh coriander leaves. 

Make it more spicier to suit your taste buds and enjoy this crispy meat filled sandwich. 

Recipe Source : Adapted from Rukmini Iyer's book 'The Middle Eastern Kitchen'
Meat filling

Ingredients :

• 300 gms Mutton mince
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 tomato, grated
• salt to taste
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tbsp refined oil

Whole Garam masala (Khada masala)

• 1" cinnamon stick
• 2 whole green cardamoms, slightly crushed
• 1 whole black cardamom
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 cloves
• 1-2 dry red chilli (de-seeded)
• 4 whole black peppercorns
• 1 tsp cumin seeds

Procedure : 

Wash the mutton mince and strain it to let the water drain out completely.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add the whole Garam masala (Khada masala). 

Now add the onions and cook on medium heat till they are brown in colour and nicely caramelized. 

Add the ginger garlic paste and cook till it leaves oil. 

Now add the mutton mince and stir it in well. 

It will leave some water. Keep cooking it on medium heat till the water evaporates. 

Cook till the mutton mince leaves oil. Now add the grated tomatoes and salt, turmeric powder and garam masala powder and cook for 5 more minutes. 

Add 1/2 cup water and close the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook for 2 whistles and then reduce the flame to low and cook for 15 minutes. 

Let steam escape naturally and if there is water in the mutton mince, reduce it on medium flame. 

Whole wheat Pita

Ingredients : Yields 4-5 pita breads

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• a pinch of sugar
• warm water for kneading (about 1/2 cup)

Procedure : 

Take flour, instant yeast, salt, sugar and olive oil in a bowl. Mix well.

Add warm water little by little and knead it to a dough using water as required. 

Take a greased bowl and put the dough in it. Cover it with a damp piece of muslin cloth and allow to rise for an hour or more or till it doubles in size. 

Heat a griddle or tawa.

Make 5-6" round pita bread from the dough and put on the griddle on low heat. Cook both sides and allow it to puff up by placing it on the heat. 

Alternately, bake the pita bread in a preheated oven (at 200 degree Celsius) for 10 minutes or till it puffs up. 

Cut them in halves. 

Ara’yes assembly : 

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Grease an oven tray.

Take halved pita breads and stuff them with the mutton mince mixture.

Brush with butter or olive oil and sprinkle some salt on it. 

Place these on the baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or till they become crispy. 

Serve with a dip made with hung curd, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes and chopped coriander leaves. 

This recipe is part of Kolkata Food Bloggers ongoing event called Bake Mania where our member Urmi Ghosh who blogs from Ume's Kitchen is the featured blogger of the week. 

Happy Savoury Baking
Amrita

Mutton Pasanda-Amma's recipe

As a result of the unprecedented advancement in the information technology the availability of recipes and culinary information through the internet has brought about a new wave of food related interest, hobbies, readership and profession that could have never been imagined before. With a simple click of a mouse you have all the information about your food subject at your fingertips. The current generation has witnessed a new trend of 'foodology' through blogs, restaurant reviews, online courses etc. In fact, you can book a table in a restaurant through the internet through a simple click. It is hard to imagine our world today without the internet.

Our mothers and grand parents, however, never had the luxury of the internet world as we enjoy today. For them it was a painstaking effort, without any short cuts, to figure out and prepare dishes that have become more or less the signature dish of our families. They also didn't have the luxury of microwaves and other appliance to make cooking a little more convenient. It is majorly because of this that our mothers and grandparents are the true masters of the traditional cuisines and our source of inspiration. One secret ingredient was that all the dishes were made with a lot of love. 

Amrita and I have been so blessed to have the years of experience of our mother(s) at our disposal. We often spend a lot of time in the kitchen together which also strengthens our bonding. 

This simple mutton pasanda recipe has been handed down by Amma in Allahabad to my wonderful wife Amrita. Amma has also handed down to Amrita a big fat register filled with family recipes that she has personally handwritten herself. Its a priceless treasure filled with compilation of decades of tried and tested recipes.  In Amma's cooking there is always a sense of simplicity to everything genius she creates. We decided to give it a try at our Kolkata Food Bloggers 1st Birthday Party celebrations which was enjoyed by everyone.

           

Ingredients : Serves 2-3

• 1/2 kg Mutton Parcha from Raan (Ask your meat vendor to make parcha or thin strips from the meat. Ensure that there are no fat portions in the meat. Parcha is made by beating up the strip of meat)
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 50 gms thick curd
• 2 tbsp grated raw papaya
• 4 medium sized onions, sliced
• 1 tbsp besan/gram flour
• salt to taste

Masala:

• 3-4 laung/cloves
• 2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
• 2 dried red chillies, deseeded
• 1" piece of dalchini/cinnamon stick
• 4-5 golmirch/black peppercorn

Garnish:

• mint leaves 
• onion rings

Procedure : 

Dry roast all the ingredients under the masala section and grind them finely. 

Wash the mutton and marinate with curd, grated raw papaya, ginger garlic paste, salt and the ground masala. Keep it aside for 1-2 hours or as long as possible(even overnight).

Peel and cut the onion in half. Slice them in cross section as shown below. This helps the sliced onions to break up easily for frying. 

Heat oil in a karahi/deep pan and fry the sliced onions until their are golden brown. Drain on a paper napkin and keep aside.

Heat oil in the same vessel and add the marinated mutton. Cook for 5 minutes and then add the fried onions.

Cover and cook in medium heat for 15-20 minutes or till the meat is done. 

Dry roast besan in another pan and add to the mutton and mix well.

Garnish with onion rings and mint leaves.

Served best with plain rice or chapati/parantha.

Happy relishing

Vishal

Mummy ke Sauce Wale Chhole

Know your Kolkata Food Blogger's event comes to an end with a big bang as I proudly present a very learned and experienced blogger Indrani Dhar who blogs from Recipe Junction. I got the oppurtunity to meet her quite later and have known her as a busy Mother of three beautiful children who balances her real life and blog life with elan. Her blog is a reflection of the loving and caring person that she is with recipes that are tried, tested and approved by her family. 
I had the most difficult time trying to choose one single recipe as her blog is enriched with several interesting and yummy recipes. I finally chose to recreate her Punjabi Chhole recipe which can be viewed here
Coming from a Sikh family, Chhole has been staple to our diet along with Bhaturas and sliced onions. But today I wanted to share my mother's no fuss and very yum recipe which we lovingly call Sauce wale Chole. After the initial boiling of the chole/chickpeas, they are tempered with very simple ingredients and then are mixed with some tomato ketchup which gives the unique yummy flavor. 
I love to have them with hot puris and some tamarind chutney. That is my absolute favourite Savoury side!

Ingredients: Serves 2-3

• 300 gms Kabuli chana/White Chickpeas
• 1 Tej patta/Bay leaf
• 1" dalchini/cinnamon stick
• 2 laung/cloves
• 1 badi elaichi/black cardamom
• Salt to taste

Tempering :

• 1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 2 medium sized tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp garam masala powder
• a pinch of turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup

Garnish:

• Ginger julienne
• chopped Coriander leaves

Procedure :

Soak kabuli chana/chickpeas in water overnight.

Boil the kabuli chana in a pressure cooker with salt, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, black cardamom and cloves with water that should be 1" above the ingredients. 

After 1 whistle, reduce the flame to low and cook for 25 minutes.

Take oil in a pan for tempering and add cumin seeds. As they start browning, add the chopped onions. Cook till they turn brown and then add the chopped tomatoes. Cook for 2 minutes till the oil starts separating. 

Add turmeric powder,red chilli powder and garam masala powder.

Now add the boiled chickpeas and stir well. 

Cook on high flame to dry the water. 

Add tomato ketchup and stir well.

Adjust seasoning. 

Garnish with ginger julienne and chopped coriander and serve with hot puris, tamarind chutney and sliced onions

 

Happy Sauce Wale Chhole enjoying

Amrita