Meat n Poultry

Egg Biriyani

8:36 AM


“The Indian subcontinent owes a deep debt to the Muslim community, for it is they who introduced the gamut of biryanis and pulaos to us.”- Pratibha Karan

My first taste of Biriyani was when I was 7.
and for that first time, I was lucky enough to taste the real deal- cooked by khansamah from Lucknow and served as a community meal.

Bengali

Hansher Dimer Kosha (Spicy duck egg curry)

5:54 PM


'Maa see Robin eggs" squeaked my little 5 years old. a second later the brother too joined in the excited jumping.
and even before we could realize they gathered around the old man who was sitting on the pavement selling those light blue eggs. Something that we haven't seen ever before. We enquired about it and was very surprised to know that these are duck eggs. How the markets in Kolkata never ceases to surprise me. 

Bengali

Lebu Lonka Murgi /Chicken with Gandhoraj Lemon and green chillies

8:00 PM


As much as I love cooking, eating and writing about Bengali food, it's a strict NO for me to go to Bengali restaurants when eating out. The reason being we eat Bengali food every day at home and when out I rather prefer to experiment and experience new cuisine. But that is not the case with my father, who lives with us. Every time he agrees to accompany us for a meal outside he would make sure that we head to a Bengali restaurant. Following the tradition he made us visit Bhajohori Manna this Nababarsho when I announced loud and clear that am not going to cook a five-course meal them to celebrate the Bengali New Year.

Meat n Poultry

Malaysian Spiral Curry Puff

7:50 PM


As a food enthusiast, I love to explore a country through its cuisine. So every time we plan a travel I do extensive research on what to eat and where to eat. So my joy knew no bound when my husband took up a new job in Singapore.

Singapore can by no means be defined by its tiny size. Rather its the melting pot of various cultures with people coming from all over the World. But the four prominent culture that could be seen in its culture, food and art are the Chinese, Indian (Tamil), Malay and Peranakan or Baba Nyonya.

Curry

Mutton Do Pyaja (Goat meat with two types of onions)

9:01 AM


Now that winter is here t and we find reasons to veer towards the richer spicier gravies, let me present to you this rich, spicy, soul satisfying dish called Mutton Dopiyaja or dopyaja. Do piyaja literally means with two types of onions. Traditionally fried onion or birista and fresh onion are used to create a thick brownish gravy. But in my recipe, I have used onions thrice. The third variant is those whole small purple onions, which I cook along with the mutton and by the time the dish is ready the whole onion becomes soft and jammy, a delightful addition to the succulent meat and spicy gravy.

Meat n Poultry

Chicken Tikka

9:41 PM


No self respecting Indian restaurant, anywhere in the World would miss out on having chicken tikka or butter masala on their menu.  It might be frustrating and crib worthy for us Indian but in reality, anywhere in the World this will win hands-down as the most popular and loved Indian dish.

Bengali

Mutton cocktail samosa

11:52 AM


While I sit and write this I can hear many crackers bursting behind the verandah. Diwali, the biggest festival of India is certainly upon us. While most of you are busy prepping for snacks and sweets for the coming festivities I am yet to gather enough energy to start making some. There is something about Diwali, the hangover and guilt pangs of over indulging from Durga puja, The shortest holiday break and between exams in school, it makes you little skeptical to go overboard with these fried stuffs. But unless you start making them you really do not get the feel of the festivities.

This recipe of cocktail samosa is a regular one for my family. Whenever I get time I make a batch of  The samosa skins or more commonly known as pattis. In Kolkata we are not lucky enough to get readymade samosa pattis or phyllo pattis so we have to make them. These are good for making spring rolls as well. 

This recipe has three parts, Making the skin, making the filling and finally filling and shaping and frying. Hopefully my long term plan of making videos would be soon materialised to make a detailed post for this but if you follow my step by step instruction here, you would be fine.

Curry

Bangladeshi chicken roast

11:47 AM


Sorry for being MIA for sometime. First the Sonny boy's half terms kept me busy and then had to travel all the way to home at Santuniketan for the arrival of the littlest bundle of joy-my Nephew. His arrival kept my hands and heart full. We returned a couple of days back, just in time to clean the house and prep for Durga Puja.

Thank you to all of you who mailed and messaged me to inquire about my whereabouts and asked for recipes. sorry again for not being able to answer in time. Hopefully now will be able to post the recipes you have requested for one by one.

Today am posting this delectable recipe of Bangladeshi Chicken Roast, A scrumptious, creamy, nutty, delightful gravy with big juicy pieces of chicken thighs in it. It's a staple at home whenever we need some pick me up without going overboard with cream, ghee or spices, we cook this. 

I first tasted it long back in my childhood when maa's Bangladeshi friends from Santiniketna art college used to claim our kitchen on holidays and prepare a feast. I was very small then and it never crossed my mind to write down the recipe but Maa did. Many moons later,  few years back when fellow blogger Archita cooked this dish for a fun competition and I was going gaga about how awesome it looks, Maa smiled  and took out the hand written recipe for me to copy. Over Time I saw more recipes and tweaked it here and there.

Bengali

Bangladeshi Mutton Tehari (Spicy aromatic rice and goat meat medley)

3:34 AM



The truth is I had never eaten Mutton Tehari before I watched this video. The Tehari of North India which we were served every Sunday for lunch in our Delhi hostel is quite different. This peasant dish of UP basically is a vegetarian dish made with winter veggies like cauliflower, peas and potatoes but this Tehari from Bangladesh could be the close cousin of a basic Biriyani. It's a cross between an yakhni pulao and a Biriyani and it's uniqueness is the zing that it gets from Mustard oil and green chilies. Quite humble at heart but hearty and satisfying for lazy afternoon.

No wonder I again decided to make it for Eid lunch this year. I was running very bsuy with my cooking Demo and and full fledged meal planning for my clients and had every intention to put my feet up for the long weekend. and thats exactly what I did. Just got out of my lazy cocoon on Minday late morning and whipped up this delicacy under 2 hours.


Curry

Keema Matar (Curried minced meat with fresh peas)

12:01 PM


Hope you all had a wonderful Holi celebration this year!

Ours was not that good and both hubby and I laid in bed and watched the festival of fun and frolic around colour go by. Yes both of us were down with Chicken pox after the daughter and thank God the Doctor this morning announced us completely healed. It was a complete nightmare as somehow we were very scared of this contagious disease and sent baba and the sonny boy to My brother's at the earliest possible. Even released the house helps in the fear that they might catch the bug. At the end it was just us managing the house and the little one.

Meat n Poultry

Bone broth

9:50 PM


Its wonderful what 20 minutes of brisk walk in a chilly evening can do to your mood. I am not good at selfcare, I have never been. and with two small kid and plethora of work that needs to be done no matter what i hardly get any time to call my own. But this year I made a concious effort to niche out some 'me time' to do things that makes me happy inside out. and the first I did was to commit to a 20 minutes brisk walk everyday. For the kind of lifestyle I have I know I need to go for a more serious commitment but right now am happy with my small step towards my goal. 

But then most days especially the days when I go out with the day light still there the kids love to tag along. That definitely slows me down as they wonder about everything on our way and ask plethora of questions. It's like a full on blabbering session with one running after the butterfly and the other collecting leaves and flowers, playing with a sprig of twig as an imeginary car steering and what not. Those days definitely my 'all by myself' time is lost but I gain another perspective that us mothers  need to be flexible with our self care routine too. Our precious me time might look different everyday but no matter how disturbed it is we need to carry on and there still would be a certain joy. because we always know it in our hearts that this phase soon will go away and we would all be left to ourselves. 

Bengali

Dak Bangalow Chicken Curry

9:18 AM


From Time immemorial the fertile lands of Bengal has lured many traders and settlers. If you look at Bengal in the World map then you will find that not only it's the gateway to the Eastern parts of the Indian subcontinent but also has the shortest distance from any port (Bay of Bengal) to the Himalayan foothills (the Silk route). No wonder the traders have always found Bengal a convenient place to settle in, as carrying their goods through the sea and trading through Silk Route was way easier than any other place.

Apart from this huge geographical advantage The Ganges Bramhaputra Delta, the biggest of it's kind in the whole world, that had one of the most fertile land made Bengal another advantageous place. History has witnessed this land could grow almost all commercial crops like Indigo and opium so very profitably. Add to that the exquisite craftsmanship of Bengali weavers and their finest quality of Muslin which at one point of time made Bengal the foremost muslin exporter of the world.

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