Besan Ladoo

Its the season of festivals in India. The nip in the air is the indicator of a month long list of festivals falling one after the other. After all the fun and frolic and major binging during Durga Puja, we start afresh with the Diwali celebrations. 
Staying in Kolkata, we had the privilege as children to enjoy a month long holiday which started with the Durga Puja and ended with Diwali. Pre-Diwali preprations meant cleaning up every nook and corner of the house with great zeal by every member in the family. I remember as a kid I would love to scrub floors and feel elated at the tiny help I would provide my mother. Alongside, Grandma and mum would prepare all the Diwali goodies which ranged from sweet to savoury. I would love the job of making tiny cuts on the savoury 'Mathri'. By Diwali eve, our house smelled heavenly with Gulabjamuns, Balushahi's, Gujiya's, Mathri's etc and my personal favourite Besan ladoos. I remember relishing on these ghee laden balls of sweetmeat. 
Diwali nowadays is not the kind of Diwali I have grown up into. Its no more about making all the yummy sinful stuff and distributing it to all the neighbours. It is no more about the joy of hopping into all the neighbourhood houses and eating all the homemade yummies at their place. People have become lazy with time and prefer buying instead of enjoying the fun of making things at home. 
This Diwali, I attempted to bring back a slice of my childhood fun with these Besan ladoos. I have tried to give it a contemporary look with a little drizzle of chocolate. The pat on my back was my husbands question when he returned back from his trip to the Sunderbans, "Who gave these?" 

Ingredients : Makes 6 medium sized ladoos

• 3/4 cup besan/gram flour
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar 
• 3 tbsp melted ghee (or a little more if the mixture does not bind)
• 1/4 tsp elaichi/cardamom powder
• Silver warq for  garnishing
• melted chocolate compound for drizzling

Procedure : 

Take a heavy bottomed pan and dry roast the besan on low heat for about 10 minutes or till the raw smell goes away. Keep stirring all along as it can easily get burnt. 

Add melted ghee and stir well. Keep stirring and cooking on low heat till you see the mixture binding well and leaving ghee. 

Remove from heat and add the powdered sugar and cardamom powder and mix well.

Allow to cool completely.

Shape them in round balls and place them in an individual wrapper or place them on a greased plate. 

Garnish with silver warq and drizzle the melted chocolate on top. 

After some major convincing my 'now camera shy' daughter agreed on getting some pics clicked while she enjoyed the ladoo just like I would do when I was her age. Circle of life, they say. 

This recipe is part of Kolkata Food Bloggers ongoing event "Dessert/Festive Dessert" where Sarani Tarafder is the featured blogger who blogs from Cocawind. 

Wishing you all a happy and safe Diwali

Amrita

Crepes with Spinach Paneer filling

This Durga Puja turned out the best one for Vishal Vaanya and me as we had the lovely company of my sis-in-law and her family from Lucknow. We spent seven crazy days full of fun, non stop eating out and visiting beautiful places. It was more of a 're-discovering Kolkata' for me and I have replenished my love for the city. 

Park street, as usual, enthralled us with its beauty and I discovered some lovely restaurants there serving amazing food. Along with my niece, I enjoyed the street food served opposite Vardaan market from the famous Puchka's, Bhelpuri, Jhaalmuri and the irresistible Kulfi. With my sis-in-law, I discovered some amazing shops that I have never visited before. The Santiniketan trip was like a cherry on the cake. I was unaware that there exists such a relaxing and beautiful getaway from the city life. 
Well, everything good comes to an end and their short trip ended soon and now we are struggling to come back to our routine life. 
This particular recipe was tried a month back when I saw it on a tv show. I am a sucker when it comes to breakfast options and the fusion crepes shared on the program excited me. The healthy ingredients made the otherwise 'lazy Savoury experiment' person in me try them soon. 

I served the crepes with some balsamic vinegar and honey glazed beetroot. 

(To make them, take olive oil in a pan and add the chopped beetroot. Add balsamic vinegar, honey and soy sauce and let it cook. Adjust seasoning and serve.)

Ingredients : 

Crepes : 

• 4 tbsp all purpose flour (maida)
• 4 tbsp besan (gram flour)
• a pinch of turmeric powder and red chilli powder
• salt to taste

Filling : 

• two handfuls of spinach leaves, washed and finely chopped
• 50 gms paneer, crumbled
• 1/4 cup sweet corn kernels
• a small onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
• 1 tbsp oil
• salt to taste

Procedure : 

Filling : 

Heat oil in a pan.

Add jeera and as it splutters, add chopped onion.

Cook for a minute and add the chopped spinach leaves.

Cook for another minute or two and then add the crumbled paneer , sweet corn kernels and salt. 

Mix and cook for another minute. 

Allow to cool.

Crepes : 

Take all purpose flour and besan in a bowl. 

Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt and mix well.

Add water, as much as required, to attain a crepe like consistency. 

Heat a non stick pan and pour a little oil.

Add a ladle full of the crepe batter and let it cook.

Turn side and allow to cook.

Remove and let it cool to touch.

Take a crepe and make a slit from the centre.

Arrange the filling on the side next to the slit in a triangular manner.

Start rolling the crepe in a triangular shape with the filling till you finish the entire circle.

You may saute the rolled crepe on the oiled pan again to give it a glaze on top. 

Happy healthy indulgence

Amrita

Kache Aam ki Kadhi and memories of my Summer holidays

Summer holidays for me as far as I can remember meant a three day long journey, the majority of which was travelling in sleeper class of Punjab Mail and the rest in the rickety-rackety state buses of Punjab to finally reach my maternal grandparents house in a small town called Kotkapura. 

It used to be such a grand affair. The suitcases very meticulously filled with clothes by my mother and simple delicious food was prepared for us to survive the journey which was always 'aloo di sabji' (potato sabzi), stuffed karela's and the quintessential Parantha's. Few pieces of the homemade 'aam da achaar'(raw mango pickle) would also make our train journey a little more yummier. And how can a Sardar gene swallow all this without some raw onion. Yes, we also carried raw onions which if my Paternal grandfather was travelling with us, would always be smashed with his fist and then torn in pieces and distributed. All this would be like a picnic on the train and an exciting event that I would look forward to while travelling. I still call it 'Train wala khaana'.

Once in Punjab, Summer holidays was all about playing non-stop with my cousins in the scorching heat. Strangely, I have no memory of feeling uneasy or feeling very hot in that heat. Perhaps we had no idea what that was and were anyways too busy enjoying ourselves running around in those wide spread open landscapes. And then there was always Lassi to cool us down. 

After a month of non stop fun, on the day of our departure, it was a ritual for me and my cousin sister to hug each other and cry as if we will never meet each other again. But we did because every single Summer vacation my mother would make sure we visited the land of our roots. 

Summers always bring back these lovely memories. Today all my cousins are living abroad and there are no more Summer vacations for us.

As a Mother, I feel it as a responsible duty now to have my daughter have the same wonderful feeling about Summer vacations.  And so I make sure that Vaanya gets to spend some amazing time with her cousins and build on beautiful memories that will stay with her forever. 

The recipe that I am sharing today is one that I make each Summer for the last 3-4 years and love it for the simplicity. It is very easy to make and is very light except the boondi added on top. I love to pair it with some boiled rice and raw mango chutney and find it an extremely yummy Summer meal. 

Ingredients : Serves 2-3

• 1 medium sized Raw Mango
• 1 tbsp panchphoron (equal quantity of jeera, saunf, methidana, kalaunji and sarso seeds)
• 3-4 tbsp besan
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp red chilli powder
• salt to taste
• sugar to taste
• 2 glass water
• a handful or two of plain boondi

Procedure : 

Boil mango with 2 glass of water in a pressure cooker for around 5 minutes.

Allow to cool and then peel off the skin of the mango.

Use your hands to squish out the pulp of the mango. 

Discard the seed inside.

Strain the mixture to remove any mango threads.

Take a bowl and mix the strained mango pulp with besan, salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder. 
Take a tbsp of oil in a deep pan and add panchphoron to it. 
As it splutters add the mango mixture and stir continuously. 
Let it come to a rolling boil and then cook on low flame for about 5 minutes. 
Add sugar and adjust seasoning according to your taste. 
Add boondi just before serving to keep it crisp.

Relish this light and summery kadhi with boiled rice and raw mango chutney

Sending this recipe to KFB's ongoing event Mango Festival.

Happy Kadhi relishing

Amrita

Matar ke Chilke ki Subzi aur Pakode-Grandma recipe

Matar ke chilke ki subzi

Matar ke chilke ke pakode

I have beautiful memories of my Grandmother, who we fondly called 'Beji', warming herself in the winter sun while her fingers working non-stop on one thing or the other. Either it was peeling loads of carrot to make her lipsmacking Gajar ka halwa or my favourite Gajar ki kheer, or peeling loads of peas which were used with all sorts of vegetables. She had some amazing recipes under her sleeves which she would love to rustle up for her family. And her mantra was no wastage. Almost everything that could be cooked was put to use. She would walk herself to the market and get vegetables and fruits picking the best with her experienced eyes. Every month, I remember, she would hand wash the wheat grains, cleaning them to be ground to flour for everyday use. I remember she would keep telling us, spend as much as you want when the thing is really important and save as much as you can when that thing is not very significant. Penny by penny, she saved to run her family and tend to it very lovingly. 

It has been about 10 years she left us for her heavenly abode but I still miss her. Miss her warmth, her love, her wise words, her sweet chatter and her amazing recipes. Time heals the pain of losing her but I think of her every now and then and wish I could have spent more time with her. She lives today through her recipes that I keep attempting which are far from mimicking that same flavour and taste. I am sure it was that extra dollop of love that went in each dish which made it so special.

Today I am sharing my Beji's special Matar ke chilke which she would use to make a subji and even make Pakode out of it every winter. 

How to peel the chilke:

Take out the peas from the pods and open it. Break a little tip from the top and pull it down. You will see a thin peel coming off. Try and bring it all the way down. If it breaks in the middle, try peeling from the other end. Throw the thin peels and save the chilke for use.

Chilke ki subzi 

Ingredients : For 2 servings

• 20 pieces of peas chilka
• 1 large potato, peeled and cut in bite size
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 2-3 garlic pods, chopped
• 1 mediom sized tomato, chopped
• 1 green chilly, chopped
• salt to taste
• 1/8 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Procedure : 

Wash and pat dry matar ke chilke.

Chop them roughly in 1" pieces.

Heat vegetable oil in a deep pan/kadai and add the chopped onions. As they start changing colour add the chopped garlic and green chilly and cook for a minute.

Add chopped tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes. 

As you see the oil separating from the masala, add turmeric powder and salt and stir well.

Add the potatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add a little water for the potatoes to cook. Cover and cook for another 2 minutes. 

When the potatoes are half done, add the chopped matar ke chilke. 

Cook for about 5 minutes or till well cooked.

Serve with roti or rice and dal.

Chilke ke Pakode

Ingredients : For 2 servings

• 10-15 Matar ke chilke
• 1 tbsp besan/chickpea flour
• 1 tbsp chawal ka atta/rice flour
• salt to taste
• 1/4 tsp red chilli powder
• a pinch of turmeric powder
• oil for frying

Procedure : 

Wash and pat dry matar ke chilke.

Cut them in 1 1/2" pieces.

Take besan and chawal ka atta in a bowl. Add salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder. Mix well.

Add water, little by little to get a dropping consistency of the batter. It should not be too thick or thin. 

Heat oil in a deep pan/kadai.

Drop the batter laden chilke in the hot oil. 

Cook till they get a light brown colour and drain on an absorbent paper.

Serve these crispy yummies with imli/tamarind chutney.

Matar chilka chaat

I experimented with the crispy pakodas and added them to my chaat along with chopped onions, chopped coriander, imli/tamarind chutney, dollops of curd and bhujia sprinkled on top. It was truly amazing.

Happy Chilka experimenting

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

Besan aur Sattu ki barfi

Kolkata Food Bloggers is a group that is enriched with not only some amazing food bloggers but moreover some really amazing people. One such person that enriches this group is Sarani Tarafder. A very beautiful person inside out, Sarani is an ex-banker by profession and has an amazing knack of taking wonderful pictures besides being a fabulous writer. She blogs from Cocawind and has a collection of some very easy and impressive dishes.

I personally got the opportunity to interact with her one to one on our Gourmet Indulgence in The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata experience and cherish each moment of the fun we had there. A very selfless and dedicated person, Sarani is a true example of 'A friend in need is a friend indeed'. 

With the festivity in the air, I naturally had no choice but to jump onto her Besan Ladoo recipe. It so reminded me of my childhood when mummy would fondly make all sweets at home. One of my favourite used to be these big Besan ladoo. I have tweaked the recipe and added some sattu to it and have followed my mother's tried and tested method of making it. Check out Sarani's very cute bite size Besan ladoo's adorned with almonds here. 

Ingredients : For 9 pieces of square shaped barfi

• 1/4 cup besan/gram flour
• 1/4 cup sattu
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup ghee/clarified butter
• 2-3 green cardamoms, powdered
• 4-5 almonds, sliced
• 4-5 pista, sliced
• silver warq/edible silver sheets

Procedure :

Take a deep pan/kadhai and add ghee. Add besan and let it cook on low heat. Keep stirring constantly to avoid burning. After 2 minutes add sattu and cook both till the colour of besan and sattu changes to a deeper brown. 

Meanwhile  take sugar and water in another pan and get it to a rolling boil. Reduce heat and add cardamom powder. 

When the besan and sattu mixture gets cooked, add this sugar mixture to it and stir constantly till the mixture thickens on medium flame. 

Prepare a square tray by greasing it lightly.

Spread the mixture on it evenly. 

Allow to cool.

Sprinkle the sliced pista and almonds and gently press on the mixture.

Garnish further by pressing silver warq on it.

Cut in squares and serve.

Notes : 

• You may substitute sattu with besan for a more authentic recipe which also will give you a little light coloured barfi. 
• You may also try and use only sattu for an even more interesting variation. Remember not to cook sattu for too long in the ghee as it may brown early. 
• You may shape them as balls when slightly cool instead of the barfi shape.

Happy Barfi eating
Amrita

Badami Murgh/Almond Chicken

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Fight for you. Respect you. Include you. Encourage you. Need you. Deserve you. Stand by you.

We all need friends. Friends whom we can fall upon when we are in need, friends who we want to share our sorrow and happiness with, friends who can guide us, friends who can understand us...

Kolkata Food Bloggers (KFB) are my newest bunch of friends. And it gives me so much pleasure and joy to have found such extremely sweet and wonderful people. It is amazing to have found like-minded and very grounded food bloggers in my city. The best part about them all is the humility with which they keep blogging about  food. Humility to me is one of the most important virtues of a human being. And having found that along with the simplicity in their hearts gives me immense pleasure to be called their friends.

A get-together is therefore, always very eagerly awaited and we try and catch with each other as and when possible. Our recent meet was on Eid where we all got some scrumptious food for the Potluck party. I made this Badami Murgh and a Brownie Tart for all my dear friends. Needless to mention it was a very special meet with lip smacking food from all. 

This recipe is specially dedicated to all the lovely members of KFB.

 

Ingredients : 

• 500 gms Chicken pieces, washed

First Marination

• 2 tbsp ginger-garlic-green chilli paste
• juice of 1 lime
• salt and black pepper to taste

Second Marination

• 2 tbsp oil
• 3 tbsp Besan(gram flour)
• 15 Badam(almonds), soaked in water
• 3 tbsp hung curd
• 1/4 tsp haldi/turmeric powder
• salt to taste

1 onion, sliced

 

 

Procedure :

First Marination

Prepare the ginger-garlic-green chilli paste by grounding together  1 1/2" ginger, 6-7 cloves of garlic and 3-4 green chillies. 

Marinate the chicken pieces in this paste along with lime juice and salt & black pepper to taste for at least 1/2 hour.

Second Marination 

Take oil in a pan and add besan. Let it cook on medium flame till the besan gets cooked. Be careful as to not burn it. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl.

Peel the almond skin and ground to a fine paste.

Add the almond paste to the bowl containing roasted besan.

Add hung curd and salt to taste. Add 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder and add the first marinated chicken pieces.

Let the chicken marinate for another 25-30 mins.

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Line a baking tray with aluminium foil and grease it with some oil.

Place the chicken pieces on the baking tray and bake for 25-30 mins or till the chicken turns lightly brown on top and is done. 

Reserve the leftover marinade.

Take oil in a pan and add the sliced onions. As they turn brown add the reserved marinade and mix well.

Add the chicken pieces and gently fold them in.

Notes:

• If you do not want to bake the chicken, you may cook them in a pan with little oil over the gas flame. 

This recipe is part of the KFB Blogging Marathon. Find what my other dear friends are making in the following links :
A Homemaker's Diary
Silence Sings
My Food My Life
Recipe Junction

Happy Badami Murgh Eating
Amrita