Bada Memsaheb ka Vegetable Seekh Kebab

Pic courtsey Kamalika Chakrabarty

Kolkata, or Calcutta as we all fondly still call, is a city that has been a host to various religions and nationalities like British, Chinese, Jews, Sikhs, Gujratis, Biharis etc. All these settlers with time have brought in some unique changes to the cuisine of Kolkata. One such famous and irrefutable change in the local cuisine was brought in by The British rule. Usage of local ingredients, restrained use of spices and western techniques gave birth to a unique cuisine which lived especially on a variety of 'Finger food' popularized in the clubs of Kolkata.

We are proud to announce that Kolkata Food Bloggers are working as co-organizers of the annual event Nutrifest, 2013 organized by KPC School of Nutrition and Food, Kolkata. Extensive research has been done by the KPC team to dig out recipes and history from places like Rajbari's to restaurants and clubs. The theme for this year is "Laatsaheb er Bangali Khanshama" which means the influence of British rule on Bengali cuisine. The search was for food which originated in the British era and can still be found in some prestigious clubs of Kolkata. 

The recipe that is shared here today is one of the by-forgotten ones and is uniquely named Burra Memsaheb-er vegetable Seekh Kebab (Bada Memsaheb ka Vegetable Seekh kebab) Along with its unique name, the kebab is supposed to be constructed of three elements each of which gave a Sweet, Spicy and Tangy flavour to it.

I have tried to recreate this famous dish by incorporating all the three flavours into the kebab. For the sweet flavour I have used Raisins and sweet corns, for the spicy flavour I have added green chillies and red chilli powder and for the tangy flavour, I have used chaat masala and lemon juice. 

Kolkata Food Bloggers got together to make a video shoot of this recipe along with some others. The video link shall be uploaded to this blog post as soon as it is released. 

Ingredients : For 5-6 seekhs(as in the picture with 2 kebabs in each)

• 2 large potatoes, boiled
• 1/4 cup green peas, boiled
• 1/4 cup sweet corn, boiled
• 1 carrot, chopped and boiled
• 10 french beans, chopped and boiled
• 1/4 cup cabbage, chopped
• 2 tbsp roasted gram flour/besan
• 1 tbsp cashewnut powder
• 5-6 pieces of raisin/kishmish, chopped
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1 green chilly, chopped (optional)
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 1/2 tsp chaat masala
• 1 tsp roasted cumin/jeera powder
• Green bell pepper, tomato and onion squares for garnishing

Procedure :
Take 1/2  tbsp oil in a pan and saute the ginger-garlic paste and the chopped green chilly for 2 minutes. Add the chopped cabbage and saute for a minute.  Remove from heat and keep aside.
Take a big bowl and add potatoes. Mash them. 
Add the boiled vegetables like green peas, sweet corn, carrots and french beans and mash them well. 
Now mix in the ginger-garlic, green chilly and cabbage mixture.
Add in salt, red chilli powder, chaat masala and roasted jeera powder.
Now add the cashewnut powder(made by simply grinding 5-6 cashewnuts), roasted gram flour/besan (made by dry roasting gram flour/besan) and chopped raisins. Mix well. 
Soak some wooden skewers in water for 1/2 hour. 
Take a little portion of the vegetable mixture and press it around the wooden skewer shaping it as a cylinder. Make two such shaped cylinders on one skewer.
Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius. 
Line a baking tray with an aluminium foil and lightly grease it with oil.
Place the skewers on it and bake for 15-20 minutes or till golden brown from all sides. You will require to turn sides in between for uniform browning. 
Take 1/2 tbsp oil in a pan and saute the green bell pepper, tomato and onion squares.
Insert the sauteed garnishing in the skewers and serve with a yogurt-mayonnaise dip where you add equal quantity of hung curd and mayonnaise and adjust seasonings.
Add a dash of lemon juice on top of the kebabs before serving.

Notes : 

• You may reduce the spiciness to suit your taste buds by not adding the green chilly.
• In case, you cannot shape the kebabs on the wooden skewer, shape them into cylinders and bake them and later thread them through the skewers. 
• In case the vegetables feel hard while mashing, roughly grind them in a mixer and then add to the other ingredients.

A special and heartfelt note of thanks to Kamalika Chakrabarty for providing me these lovely pictures which were taken during the video shoot. 

Check some more interesting recipes from the British era like Deemer devil and Country Captain Chicken on these links. 

Disclaimer : The entire history and recipe has been provided by KPC team. I have just tried recreating the original version with my little changes.
 

Happy By-gone era kebab relishing

Amrita

Savoury Mini Kugelhopf

With the KFB blogging marathon getting over, my thoughts of using up all my draft posts remained unfulfilled. Its amazing how as a food blogger, experimenting new recipes and taking pics becomes such an easy way of life. The difficult and daunting task(to me) is to write a post and publish. And thats the reason so many recipes just keep on getting accumulated in the draft folder.

This unusual and unheard bake was part of our monthly challenges, We Knead to Bake, and was scheduled for the month of July! One thing led to the other and this post got buried in the drafts. 

Kugelhopf  is a yeasted sweet cake well known in the Alsace region of France, as well as in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, and variations of this are also found in some countries of Eastern Europe. Its unusual name comes from the German word “Kugel” for ball referring to its round shape, and “Hopfen” meaning “to brew up/ up or rise up under the influence of yeast.” Typically it is baked in a special pan that is round with a hole in the center, somewhat like a bundt pan.

'We knead to bake' decided to bake a lesser known version of the Kugelhopf which is savoury. This is an  Alsatian version called the Kugelhopf aux Lardons. “Lardons” is the French word for bacon, and this version is typically made with onions, ham/ bacon, walnuts and herbs.

I omitted the cheese and walnuts in it and baked in my doughnuts pans in the spirit of the traditional bake. They turned out a very fine savoury tea time bake and looked like a savoury Doughnut !

 

Ingredients: I reduced the recipe by 1/3 to get 6 Kugelhopf

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp Instant yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 25 gms butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup milk, warm
• 1 small egg
• 1/3 tsp oil
• 1/2 medium sized green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 medium sized tomato, deseeded and chopped
• 1/2 medium sized onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp mixed dried herbs

Procedure :
Take flour, yeast and salt in a bowl.
Add butter and mix.
Add warm milk and mix.
Add egg. At this stage, you will have a soft sticky dough.
Knead with little flour till the dough pulls away sides from the bowl. Now, the dough will soft and elastic. Take care to not add too much flour.
Transfer dough to a well oiled bowl, turning it to coat all sides. 
Cover with a damp muslin cloth and let it rise till double in volume which should take 1-1 1/2 hours.
I usually place my covered dough in the microwave oven to rest.
Heat oil in a pan and add bell peppers, tomato, onions with salt and black pepper, to taste. Saute for a minute or two and remove from flame.
Grease your palms well. 
Deflate the dough and flatten it roughly.
Sprinkle the prepared filling and knead. The dough at this stage will be super sticky but do not add any more flour.
With oiled palms divide the mixture into 6 parts and put in the greased doughnut pans or any muffin mould.
Take care not to fill to the top. Keep it halfway as the dough will rise.
Let this rest and rise for another hour.
Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius, 10 minutes short of the rising time.
Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top
Bake for 15-20 mins or till the tops brown up well.
Allow to cool and remove from mould.

Before I sign off, I wanted to share the new Cupcake stand I got made. This is a cheap version and required materials that costed me less than Rs 100. It has 2 different sized Plywood round plates and a wooden long piece which is normally used as legs in furniture. Combined together by a carpenter, it gave me a very cheap and rustic cupcake holder. Now, all it needs is a coat of paint to look dainty and pretty. I even got cake stands made the same way.

Happy Savoury Bake Eating
Amrita