Bengali Servings

Most Indian meals are served in a thali with all dishes neatly arranged in a pattern. I actually remember being chided by uncle for not serving the Taat(Plate) according to the set norms. In my Konkani home, esp on festival days, all the dishes cooked for the prasad, has to be served in a defined pattern on a banana leaf.
Now married into a bengali family, i was exposed to a whole new world of food n etiquette.Bengali cuisine may be well know for its diverse cuisine but what i found interesting is their serving style. It follows a 5 course meal pattern similar to the West but with an Indian touch.
The first course is lighter, easier on the stomach kind of menu consisting of rice, dal, vegetables cooked in mild sauces(alu poshto/dalnas) and a fried option(alu bhaja/begun bhaja). Second course is rice with some fish serving. Third course is the main course - a meaty option, generally with chicken or lamb dishes. The fourth course is part fruity-part vegetable dish called Chaatnis. But unlike the usual chutneys used as accompanements, these chutney are eaten as a dish by itself. They are gen sweet, rich with dry fruits and in a semi liquid state (Tomato-Khajur-Raisin/ Pineapple Chutuney). Lastly they end their meal with a wide range of famous bengali sweets.

Coming from a non bengali family, i always wanted to serve a complete bengali meal to my bengali hubby. With recipe advise n lots of support from my mother-in-law, i actually managed to achieve this feat. Since my hubby is vegetarian, my sec and third course got combined into one heavy duty vegetable option called labra.

For this meal i made rice, masoori dal, alu poshto, pumkin fry, labra, tomato-rasin chaatni and ended the meal with store bought rossagullas. Need i say how happy n excited my hubby was that day.

Today i will be blogging the recipes for Labra and Tomato Raisin Chaatni.

Labra:
This dish requires 9 different vegetables. But its very important to have the said vegetable to maintain the bengali taste. This is a typical bengali Saatvic dish with no onion garlic.

Ingredients:
Pumpkin
Bottle gourd (Doodhi)
Ridge Gourd (Parwal)
Small parwal (called Zinga in bengali...looks slightly bigger than a tendeli)
Eggplant
Sweet Potato
French Beans
1-2 pieces of radish(Just for flavour)
Potato
If any one of these vegetables are not available, you can substitute with squash or turnip.

1 tsp mustard oil
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp panch phoran
2 bay leaves
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp turmeric pdr
1 tsp sugar
2-3 green chillies, chopped
2 tsp ghee
1 tsp wheat flour
salt to taste

Method:
Chop all vegetables to medium-to-large size pieces.
Heat a mixture of both oils.
Add panch phoran n bay leaves. Saute till aromatic.
Then add all the vegetables. Mix well. Add salt.
Lower the flame n let the vegetables cook in their own juices.
When almost done, add some more water, then add ginger paste, turmeric, sugar, chillies n ghee and mix well.
Add atta lastly n cook for a while.
All vegetables should get mushy and becomes as one. Thats when the dish is done.

It may not look very appealing but the subtle taste of ghee n panch phoran takes it to a whole new level.


Tomato-Raisin Chaatni
This chaatni has many variations. You can make it with only tomatoes, or with tomatoes and raisins or with tomatoes-raisins-dates. The possibilities are endless.

Ingredients:
3 big tomatoes. chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp garlic juliens
1 tsp ginger juliens
2-3 slit green chillies
1 tsp panch phoran
2 tsp mustard oil
3 big tsp sugar
1 tsp crushed methi seeds
3-4 dry red chillies
salt to taste

Method:
Heat 1 tsp oil and add panch phoran.
Once aromatic, add ginger, garlic n chillies. Saute for a while
Then add the chopped tomatoes
Let this mixture cook for a while.
Just when the tomatoes are losing shape, add sugar and raisins
Let it caramelise.
Lastly add little salt.

Heat the other tsp of oil in another pan.
Add methi seeds and red chillies. Saute till chillies turn dark brown.

Add this tempering to the tomatoes and cook for some more time.
The dish is done when the tomatoes have mashed well n u can smell the red chillies in it.

This dish is sweet slightly spicy preparation.

Fusion Corn

My earliest introduction with CORN was the ubiquitous "Bhutta" which was available during the monsoon season. Bhutta is a perfectly roasted corn on a bed of coals held within a Shedgi or stove. The bhutta bhaiya would fan the coals to create the required heat to roast the corn. After roasting, he would dip a lemon piece into a mixture of salt n red chillie pdr and apply this spicy-sour-salty mixture to the bhutta. That was the perfect snack for a rainy day.

For a long time, this was the only form of corn i ate. Till we had a brigade of fusion food in Mumbai...from American Bhelpuri to the now famous Corn in CUP. Now that ive experienced the taste of fresh corn, its founds a way into multiple indian dishes...creating a new fusion experience everytime. Today was one such experiment. I converted the usual palak paneer to a new fusion dish Alu Corn Palak. And it tasted really good. This recipe can also be used to make only Alu palak or only Corn palak.

Alu Corn Palak

Ingredients:
Bunch of spinach leaves, blanched n pureed
1 big potato, chopped
1 cup fresh corn kernels
1 onion
1 inch ginger
2-3 garlic cloves
2-3 green chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tomato..pureed
1 tsp turmeric pdr
1 tsp red chilli pdr
1 tsp cumin pdr
1 tsp coriander pdr
1-2 tsp yogurt or fresh cream
salt to taste
1 small tsp sugar
oil

Method:
Heat some oil, add cumin seeds..let them sizzle
Grind together onion, ginger garlic green chillies. Add this mixture to the oil. Saute till brown.
Add tomato puree and the masala pdrs. Let the mixture cook till aromatic
Saute potatoes in little oil. Then add potatoes to the masala mixture and cook till almost done. Can add little water if mixture is drying up.
Next add the pureed palak and corn. Cook till done.
Lastly add cream or yogurt.
Adjust salt n sugar

I serve it hot with jeera rice and dhaniya ka bada. Truely Fusion Experience!!!!

Comfort Food

My idea of comfort food has always been steamed rice, dal and potatoes in any form. This is the simplest, fasted and easiest meal to prepare and taste divine after a feasting episode.

Today was one such day when i wanted to keep it basic but was itching to try something different. The only form of dal which i had never cooked or eaten was the (Red) Masoor dal. Somehow it was never cooked at my mom's place but my hubby used to always rant about how nutritious it was and how great it tasted when cooked in bengali style. A brief search on Wikepedia confirmed it. With 26% protein, lentil is the vegetable with the highest level of protein other than soybeans. And i found a authentic bengali recipe on this blog.

So began my expt....since i was cooking on a friday, when i cannot eat sour, i omitted the tomatoes n lime juice from the recipe and added a few things of my own but it tasted just as great.

Masoor Dal
Ingredients:
1 cup masoor dal - boiled
1 big tsp of Panch Phoran( bengali mix of 5 spices..luckily i found a pkt of it)
1 medium onion
1 small piece of ginger chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic chopped.
1 tsp pf turmeric
2-3 green chillies slit
1 tsp of sugar
ghee or oil
water

Method:
Mash the boiled dal and add the turmeric pdr to it
Heat up a tsp of oil and add panch phoran to it. Let the flavours of the spices come out. Do not let it burn.
Then add green chilles, ginger & garlic. Saute
Also saute the onions.
Lastly add the boiled dal. Adjust salt n sugar.
Add water to maintain a watery consistency

It supposed to be fun to slurp it as it runs thru ur fingers. It can also be had as a soup on a rainy day. Masoor dal has a very distinct nutty taste and the nutritious punch added can have you asking for more.

I served masoor dal with steamed rice n Alu Bhaja...another bengali classic. Its a spicy brother of the french fries.

Alu Bhaja
Ingredient:
2-3 Potatoes
1 tsp turmeric pdr
1 tsp chilli pdr
salt
oil for frying

Method:
Cut potatoes into match size pieces n soak in salt water for sometime.
Drain out the water and add turmeric and chilli pdr. Adjust salt.
Heat up the oil and fry pototoes till golden brown.
Take care as the oil may spurt due to the water in the potatoes.

A comforting meal of steamed rice, masoor dal and alu bhaja was served to lift our spirits after an unusally busy day.

Dhaniya ka bada

I had taken a break from blogging as my blogs werent doing the right justice to the food without the tempting pictures of the dish. I had vowed to get back only after having the resources but in the process, i was losing out documenting a lot of amazing experitments which turned out in flying colours. Hence ive decided to carry on posting the recipes and adding the pictures later.

One such successful experiment was making Dhaniya ka bada as they call it in Bengali. My only tryst uptill now with Coriander wadas was Kothimbir Wadi made by Maharashtrains. I assumed it would be almost the same but was in for a plesant surprise. This dish taste like a cross between Kothimbir Wadi n Khasta kachori but it taste great anyways.

Here it goes...

Ingredient:
Bunch of fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1 big tsp besan pdr
2 big tsp rava
1 big tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp turmeric pdr
1 tsp chilli pdr or 2-3 green chillies chopped
1 big tsp sugar
salt to taste
oil for frying
water

Method:
Mix all ingredient except the oil and make a thick paste.
Let the oil heat up in tha kadai
Drop small portion of the mixture into the hot oil and fry it till golden brown.

The results are amazing crispy Dhaniya badas with a mixed flavour of Corainder, fennel n slightly sweet. They taste great by themselves but u can also pair them with any chutney of your choice.

Keep in mind that the besan is only for binding and shouldnt influence the taste. If the first batch of badas taste like normal bhajis , add more rava to the batter to balance it.

Enjoy!!!!