Bread Paratha etc

Chicken n Veg Tikka- Tortilla Wraps

3:23 AM


I love to cook and guess that’s why am a food blogger. But more than cooking I love chatting and guess that’s pretty much evident in my blog posts too. Whenever I invite friends over meal I prefer to cook and arrange everything beforehand. Be it the food, the decoration, the utensils, the starter…I prefer to plan and arrange everything before my guest’s arrival. That way I get plenty of time to talk and catch up with and also I don’t have make several trips to the kitchen to pull a spoon from here or a plate from there. But the whole scheduling goes haywire if guests come without or with a very short notice. That way Hubby loves to taste me. For instance once just after our marriage he invited two of his friends with family for dinner. Then on another occasion when entire cooking for the day was done, he remembered to update that he had invited two of his childhood friends for lunch. The problem with such occasions is not ingredients as I always have a well-stacked pantry but it’s the time crunch that puzzled me.  Initially it freaked me out but with time and experience I have learnt to keep cool. These days I don’t go overboard and slave over in the kitchen chopping, grinding and cooking three-course meal with an eye fixed on the clock, rather settle for some elegant one-dish meal with an easy dessert to finish off the dinner. It provides me ample amount of time to spend quality time with friends.






A couple of weeks back at about 12 in the noon I got a call from Hubby informing that a very dear friend of ours was coming over to spend the night with us. They were going somewhere else and due to sudden cancellation had to stay with us as a stopover.  I was delighted, as they are the people whose company we enjoy and can relate to them in different levels. But then again a small gathering like this needed some food too and with Hubby in the office I had to make do on whatever I had in hand. Luckily for me previous night I freezed my first Ice Cream (recipe coming next) so dessert was done, the only worry was the meal. I decided to make my never failing chicken and veg tikkas with some whole-wheat tortillas for main meal and some Root vegetable soup as starter. Which are easy and needs minimum supervision. Thus gave Hubby a call to bring some fresh salad leaves, mushrooms and curd, and when the baby took his afternoon nap I ground the spice, marinated the chicken, chopped the veggies for soup, pressure-cooked and pureed them and made the green chutney with home grown mint and coriander. Everything was done under a little more than ½ an hour. Then I tidied up the guest room and was all set to have a gala evening. Just before dinnertime grilled the chicken for 30-45 minutes under the timer, without any supervision. In the meantime kneaded the dough and while cooking the tortillas on one burner, quickly heated the soup with onion, garlic and seasoning on another. Hubby washed and made the salad. The friends were glad to have such a lavish yet light spread. With a lively conversation and good company I was happy to spend a pleasant evening with them. La vie est belle! Life is Beautiful!
Chicken and Veg Tikka
Ingredients:
Boneless Chicken pieces: 500 gms; cut into bite size pieces
Capsicum: 1 large
Firm ripe tomato: 2 medium
Onion: 1 big
Mushroom: ½ cup
Lemon juice: 1/2 tbsp
salt

For the marinade:
Hung curd: ¾ cup
Onion: 1 big
Garlic: 8 fat cloves
Ginger: 2” piece
Black pepper: 1 tsp
Sattu/ Chatu: 11/2 tbsp (or substitute with dry roasted besan/chickpea flour)
Red Chili powder: 11/2 tsp
Ajwain: ½ tsp
Oil/ghee: 1 tbsp (I use either mustard oil or pure ghee)
Red food colour (optional): a pinch
a pinch of mustard (optional) but I like the little heat
salt; as per taste

Method: 
Wash the chicken pieces and then put them on kitchen paper to soak the excess water. Once they are dry mix in the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. keep aside for 10-15 minutes.
Grind everything under the marinade and make a coarse paste. Pour ½ of the marinade over the  chicken pieces and mix well to coat everything well. Cover and freeze for minimum 2 hours.


The vegetables don’t need much marination time. Just before mealtime soak them in the spice mix for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven at 225C.

Take a wooden skewer and arrange the vegetables and chicken pieces according to your preference. Baste with melted butter or ghee.

Line an oven safe tray with aluminum foil. Place the skewers over it and with another piece of foil wrap them to make a packet. This helps to cook the chicken pieces without drying them too much.  .

Grill for 15 minutes and then remove the upper layer of foil to expose the skewers. Baste with ghee/butter and remaining marinade and grill for another 10 minutes.

Flip the skewers, baste and again grill them for 10 minutes or till they are cooked and a little charred.

Serve with salad, sauce and tortillas or in itself with sauce for a pleasant snack.

For the veggies especially mushroom. Don’t cover them with foil. Just grill for 5 minutes, baste, flip and grill for another 5 minutes. Enjoy with a final sprinkling of lemon juice.
Tortillas
(Makes 6 pieces)

Ingredients:
Wholewheat flour (atta): 11/2 cups
Refined oil: 11/2 tsp
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Salt
Warm milk: ½ cup
Water: as required

Method:
Sieve the baking powder and flour and mix in the salt.

Pour in the shortening and rub to have coarse sand like texture. Mix in the warm milk and water. Knead on a floured surface to have soft and firm dough.

Cover with cling film and keep aside until used. If you intend to use it hours later, keep it in the freeze.

10 minutes before making the tortillas make small balls, smoothen them by rolling in your palms and again cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Roll out in uniform thickness to a circle.

Cook on tawa or pan for a minute on each side. Keep covered.

Serve hot with spicy Tikka, salad and sauce.

Salad
Fresh Lettuce
Cucumber
Onion

Was and cut the lettuce in big chinks.
Peel and cut cucumber and onion in half moon shape.
Serve with the tortilla and tikka.

Final Assembly

Serve the Tikka pieces with Tortilla, green chutney, tomato sauce, fresh salad, lemon wedges, salt and pepper powder. you could also include some finely chopped green chilies.
Take a tortilla place some salad, chicken tikka pieces, green chutney and sauce. Sprinkle some salt and pepper powder. squeeze some lemon juice.
Roll and enjoy your wraps.

Heaven!!!



Sending this to Umm Mymoonah's Iftar Moments; Hijri 1431 at Taste of Pearl City.

Global Kadai this month hosted at Sandhya's kitchen and the theme she chose is Indian flavored flat bread.A monthly event started by Cilantro.

Tags:
Chicken tikka, how to make chicken tikka, tandoori chicken, veg tikka, mushroom tikka, tandoori mushroom, grilled chicken, broiled chciken, chicken wraps, tortilla wraps, tortilla, atta tortilla, whole wheat tortilla, green chutney chicken, vegetable skewer, ajwain, tandoori masala, broiled chicken, fresh salad, party food, meat and poultry, Indian tandoor recipe, spicy grilled chicken, spicy chicken appetiser, chicken for snacks, grilled veggies, spicy veggies, chicken kebab. kabab, indian kabab, kabab in oven, chicken tikka recipe, murg tikka recipe, chicken tikka amritsari recipe, chicken tikka masala recipe, murg makhani recipe, 

Bread Paratha etc

Sprouted Mung and Ragi Adai (Savory Mix Lentil Pancake)

9:14 AM


I guess all the bloggers who have posted Adai recipes recently will remember me telling them how much I love this savory Indian pancakes. And they will also remember Commenting that I don’t make it, as Hubby does not like to have something so filling for breakfast. A couple of months ago when everyone was posting Ragi recipes for an event, I got inspired and bought a ½ kg packet of Ragi. I tried to sprout and mix it with our regular salad but honestly dint like the taste very much. So it was lying at one corner of the cupboard till I discovered these at Usha's Veg Inspiration.  She has some real good recipes, which are amazingly tasty and very very healthy. So I decided to give it a try with some more lentils. I wanted to reap the maximum benefit of the grains and planned to sprout them first and then make Adai or Indian lentil pancakes.
Adai is a kind of lentil and rice pancake just like dosa but is thicker and spicier. Apart from the regular rice and urad dal, which goes into the Dosa batter, Adai also requires South Indian staple legume Arhar. The best part of preparing Adai at home is it does not need any fermentation. Just soak the grains, grind and fry with little oil. Besides you don’t have to be a pro to spread batter on a sizzling hot pan like you do for thin Dosas, Adai is comparatively thick and two of the normal size pancake for breakfast will make you go through late afternoon. It’s awfully easy but incredibly delicious with some chutney or podi (powder) at the sides. I prefer to have them for a healthy light lunch with regular coconut chutney.This is the perfect Home alone meal that I can prepare  and enjoy for consecutive 3-4 days.
I was not sure of the exact quantities of lentils that go into the Adai batter and everyone seems to have their own version. So I just decided to follow my way, which included some udad dal to act as the binding agent and chana dal for extra taste.  Also finally called for the pack of Kerala rosematta rice, which was happy to sit and adorn my pantry shelf with her bright brown hue. And then it was time to grind and fry the pancakes. I used a non-stick Tawa and the urad in the batter made it very easy to spread the batter. The sizzling sound and the tempting aroma that wafted out of the pan comforted and tempted me all at the same time. I was amazed to see the crunchiness and the beautiful spotted texture that sprouted ragi lends it. My son who is very fond of South Indian food came again and again to me with an open mouth indicating that he needs some more and he made it clear by pointing at the chutney that he needs the condiment with the pancake as well. God only knows how this little kid can eat the red chilies that went into grinding the chutney but he loved it. Same with Husband. I just asked if he would like to have one as an after office snack to which he reluctantly agreed. But after the first bite he was delighted and enjoyed the taste. Now he wants me to make these for breakfast sometimes. This time my effort has been rewarded so thanks to all of you goodies for inspiring us in making better and healthy choices in life.
Sprouted Ragi and Mung Adai
(Yields 8 medium size pancakes)

Ingredients:
Mung bean (yellow lentil with skin): 1/3 cup
Ragi: 1/3 cup
Urad or black gram lentil: 1/3 cup
Chana dal (Bengal gram lentil): 1/4 cup
Uncooked rice: 1/3 cup
Dry red chilies: 5-6 pieces
Curry leaves: 2-3 sprigs
Ginger: 1" piece
Salt
Oil: 1/2 tsp for each of the pancakes.
Method:
The sprouting process needs a little bit of preparation if you want to make your own sprouts at home.
For this thoroughly wash the ragi and mung beans and then soak them overnight. Next day drain the water and again rinse under running water. Now wrap the grains in a muslin or thin fabric and keep on the kitchen counter. Every 6-8 hours rinse to keep them moist. After 24-36 hours the sprouts would be ready for grinding. For detailed home sprouting procedure please check THIS.
The rice and other lentils also need 2 hours of soaking so plan the process accordingly. I generally let the sprouts grow for 36 hours and then just 2 hours before the mealtime soak all other lentils and rice.
After all the grains are soft grind them in batches with all other ingredients except salt and oil. Don’t make a very smooth paste. Let it be a little coarse to have texture and crispiness.
Once the lentil-rice mixture is ready, mix in salt and give it a good stir.
Heat a pan and spread a little oil. I used a non-stick pan and just added a few drops oil in the beginning. Use a cut eggplant or onion piece to spread the oil uniformly on the pan. Alternatively a cooking spray would be great option.
Once the pan is sizzling hot place one big ladleful of batter in the center and swirl in a circular motion to spread the batter from center to the side. If the pan is not covered use more batter as required. Sprinkle drops of oil on the edges and the top of the pancake. Using a wooden spatula spread the oil uniformly.
Once the bottom side is roasted with a golden brown colour flip and roast the other side too.
Serve hot with any accompaniment of your choice.


A dish of healthy Adai, Coconut chutney and Coffee, my home alone Lunch.
A Homemaker's Notes:
Traditionally asafetida is also added while grinding the batter. I dint use as I had mine with some coconut chutney with little bit asafetida. 
other accompaniments could be tomato chutney, green chutney with mint and coriander, peanut chutney or gunpowder.
This recipe is very accommodative so just go ahead and use any mix of lentils. You can see This Adai from Saffron hut, which is made with 16-bean soup packet.

A version of Adai, which is only made with Mung beans, is called Pesarattu and is a popular breakfast item in Andhra Pradesh.


Always freeze the excess batter in a covered container. I store mine in a bowl wrapped in cling film. this stays good for a week.

Events:
to MLLA#25 started by Susan and at Siri's Corner this time.

To Lets sprout a new event started by Priya.

Tried and Tasted hosted this month at Taste space, originally created by . This month featuring our lovely Usha from Veg Inspiration. 

Tags:
South Indian breakfast, south indian cuisine, Indian savory pancake, rice lentil pancake, fried lentil pancake, south Indian pancake, light meal, Healthy lunch, cooking for yourself, healthy diet, mung bean, yellow lentil, urad dal, pesarattu, Andhra breakfast, Indian fried breakfast, crispy fried pancake, lentil dosa, ragi dosa, sprout dosa, rice and lentil dosa, sprouted ragi pancake, finger millet pancake, grain in meals, sprout lunch, ginger pancake, curry leaves, curry patta, easy savory meal, easy meal, easy healthy pancake, crunchy lentil dosa, crunchy adai, crunchy pancake.

One Pot meals

Quick Moroccan couscous salad

12:57 PM


I wanted to make Moroccan couscous salad for our anniversary this year but dint find any in the market at that time. So I created THIS with broken wheat or Dalia. Last month at Spar Hypermarket saw this in the soy granule shelf and without wasting much time included that to my basket. Yet again a big thanks to all you beautiful food bloggers out there who have given me courage to buy something totally new with a hopping price tag of RS.425 for a 500 gms packet. But am glad that I did that. Last Saturday after 1 hour 30 minutes of swimming session and another 2 hour visit to the Mother Earth showroom we were damn tired. Thought of ordering home delivery but then these days we really are not much into restaurant style food and both of us wanted a simple home cooked meal. So I thought of the couscous, which according to all bloggers and Nigella Lawson is the quickest possible filling and delicious meal. I already have this and this book marked from PJ and Pree’s lovely blogs. So thought of making something in the same line but a little bit spicier. Almost like Turkish Kisir or spicy form of tabbouleh cooked with bulgur.
Broken wheat salad on our anniversary this year

So armed with some vegetables, canned olives, fresh mint from the garden I was all set to explore my favourite Mediterranean cuisine with a complete new ingredient. I wanted to make it super quick to hit the bed at the earliest. So just chopped the veggies, micro waved to make it little tender, soaked the couscous and churned the sauce and then just threw everything together. I did not realize what it taste like but when I tried to check the seasoning I was totally bowled over by the taste. It was by far one of the most amazing tasting one-dish meals I have ever tasted. So fresh, comforting, incredibly easy and the dinner was done in flat 15 minutes from start to finish.  What else does a girl after a super hectic day could possible has asked for. The rain outside and the extra time in hand made me a little romantic and I took out my finest china plates to serve the dinner. Hubby was blissfully amazed to sit around some flickering tea lights with the raindrops at the background to have his delicious meal and I almost felt like a domestic Diva…or should I say Nigella Lawson, to have successfully recreated such a scrumptious meal in minutes just by throwing this and that while flattering with the ingredients and gracefully roaming around the kitchen. Seems the dish looks good too as when I posted it on a social networking site friends scrapped and called to share the recipe. So, here it goes.

Super Quick Moroccan Couscous salad
(Serves 2)

Ingredients:
Couscous: 11/3 cups
Water 11/2 cups
Vegetable stock cube: 1 packet; I used magi cubes
Cumin powder: ½ tsp
Coriander powder: ½ tsp
Chopped vegetables: 2/3 cup; I used cauliflower, beans, carrots, peas
Cucumber: 1 medium
Onion: 1 small
Pitted Black olives: fistful

For the dressing:
Tomato: 1 small
Mint leaves: fistful
Coriander leaves: fistful
Garlic: 1 fat clove
Dry red chilies: 6
Salt

To garnish:
Mint leaves
Roasted almond: fistful

Method:
Place the couscous in a big bowl. Heat 11/2 cups of water with the stock cubes, vegetables and cumin-coriander powder. once the veggies are tender (without loosing the crunch) Switch of the gas. Pour the boiling water on the couscous. Cover and set aside for 3-4 minutes or as per the package instruction. Once they are soft and no water is left, fluff them with a fork. Your couscous is ready to be tossed.

In the mean time prepare the dressing. Rub little oil on the tomato and roast it on the gas flame for a couple of minutes. Then blend all the ingredients under the dressing till smooth. Keep aside.

Chop the cucumber in thin pieces. Cut the onion in half moon shape. Sprinkle salt and mash them lightly with your hand.

Roughly chop the mints, olives and almonds.

Now just add everything together. Check the seasoning.

Serve with a final sprinkling of chopped mint leaves and lemon wedges.

A Home Maker’s Note:
I again made it yesterday for a quick home alone lunch with some left over sauce, cucumber, peas, onion and olives. This time I topped it with a poached egg. Loved it to the last grain.

Hubby cherished his share with some quickly fried chicken sausage.

In morocco a simple version of this salad is eaten with Tazine, a meat dish prepared in a cone shaped earthen pot with dry fruits. Guess our good old chicken curry with a thin gravy would taste great too.

I added the stock cube for extra taste, similarly vegetable broth or chicken stock could be used.

you can also add some olive oil but I did not as the stock cube was little oily.

Next time am going to follow PJ's recipe with preserved lemon, chickpeas and sun dried tomatoes. 

Tags:
Couscous, Moroccan Couscous, Mediterranean couscous, mediterranean salad,bulgur, broken wheat, middle eastern cuisine, mediterranean cuisine, moroccan delicacy, quick meal, one pot meal, one dish meal, couscous with vegetables, olives, mint, fresh mint, kisir, tabbouleh, roasted tomato sauce, olives and mint, couscous in vegetable stock, healthy salad, Moroccan salad.

Bengali

Ilish Macher Tak (Hilsa in Sweet and Sour Tamarind Gravy)

12:23 PM

The reason Bengalis are hooked to Monsoon, as this is the only time when they get to see plenty of their favourite shiny silvery fish in the market. Yes am talking about Ilish or Hilsa, Benagal’s most favourite fish, which has a unique place in its culinary history and almost enjoys an iconic status. We Bengalis are famous for our love for fish and the various ways in which we cook them. But no fish is prepared in more ways than ilish…it is said that there are 50 ways of cooking Hilsa. It could be fried in the most easiest manner in mustard oil to whip up a quick meal to have with steamed rice drizzled with the Ilish scented oil, or a little time taking preparation of Ilish Paturi where Hilsa is cooked with spices and coconut, wrapped in plantain leaf. Then there is this ubiquitous Sorshe Ilish (Ilish cooked in green chili scented mustard gravy) to a little time taking preparation of Ilish Paturi (Hilsa cooked with various spices and coconut wrapped in Plantain leaf) or a very light aromatic Hilsa dish with eggplant and potatoes. This could be cooked in so many ways by frying, steaming, charring in banana leaves or by boiling in sweet and sour tamarind gravy. If that is not enough then the macher muro or the fish head is fried and cooked with Malabar spinach to get a finger licking good Pui shaker ghanto or Charchari and the delicate hilsa roes are either fried to relish with hot rice or cooked with amchur or raw mangoes to make a lip smacking chutney.

Apart from its prominence in the Bengali culinary world it also holds a very esteemed position in Bengali culture. It’s the National fish of Bangladesh, a jamai sashti meal is never complete without atleast one dish of Ilish and a jora Ilish or Ilish pair is considered very auspicious on certain occasions. Even Bangals (the Bengalis from Eastern part of Bengal, now Bangladesh) celebrate win of their favourite football team with this fish.
When it comes to Ilish I am pretty conservative not only because I don’t want to experiment with its taste but mainly because this fish is seasonal and in season they are quite heavy on the pocket. This year even after a good availability, a kg of medium sized Hilsa will lighten your pocket by Rs. 500-700. So when its hilsa I prefer to stick to old home style cooking. Those roasted Ilish in white sauce recipes shared on the cookery shows never enter my kitchen I love my share of Ilish cooked with the recipes shared by Maa and Dida.  There are certain rules that are followed while cooking this fish. First, it should always be cooked in mustard oil; this said to bring out the best flavour and taste of the fresh catch. Trust me on this guys. Even we don’t eat mustard oil on regular basis. So tried cooking it with saffola and ended up having been subject to several scolding from elders. It gave it a very different smell, which in no way was appetizing. Also this fish itself is very oily so if you are concerned about the amount of oil issue then be assured that it needs very less oil for cooking. Secondly, Hilsa is mostly cooked in a simple manner with only few spices and the most popular spice combination is nigella seeds, green chilli and mustard paste. I never came across any dish of Ilish with onion and garlic. Thirdly, Hilsa pieces are never washed; it is said that way the very Ilishy smell of the fish is sacrificed. So the whole fish is washed several times along with the knives before cleaning and cutting the fish.

In our house Baba buys a lot of Hilsa during season, as everyone in the house loves hilsa. Mostly it is cooked on holidays when time could be devoted to pick the bones and to relish it course by course without any hurry. Apart from her special Ilish Macher Matha die pui shaker ghanto (Malabar Spincah with Hilsa head), Maa would always make two main dishes one with mustard sauce and another… Baba’s most favourite Ilish Macher tak (Pronounced as TALK) or hilsa cooked in sweet and sour tamarind gravy, which a dear friend of mine fondly calls Khattiwali Machhli or sour tasting fish. When cooked with old stored tamarind this dish is said to cure a certain type of Diarrhea.  Hubby also loves this dish so after cooking the khichuri and machh bhaja the next day I made this with our first Hilsa of this season.

Ilish Macher Tak
Ingredients:
Hilsa fishes: 4 pieces
Pumpkin: ½ cup (peeled and cut in medium sized cubes)
Tamarind: this totally depends on the quality and tartness of the tamarinds and also on how much sour taste you like. Generally this dish has a balanced taste of sweet and sour so please adjust the quantity as per your taste. Always start with lesser amount, say 1-cup light tamarind extract, later if needed add on thick juice spoon by spoon.
I used an year old stored tamarind. Soaked a ping-pong ball sized tamarind, which yield 1/3 cup of thick tamarind juice.
Mustard oil: 2 tbsp
Dry red chillies: 3 pieces
Mustard seeds: ½ tsp
Sugar: as per taste
Salt
Turmeric


Method:
Smear the hilsa pieces with salt and turmeric and keep aside for 5 minutes.


Heat the oil to smoking point in a heavy bottom pan. Lower the heat and carefully fry the fish pieces for a minute or so on both sides. Take out and keep aside.


In the same pan add the mustard seeds and red chillies. Once they sizzle add the pumpkin pieces and fry with salt and turmeric on medium heat.


Once they are soft add the tamarind juice mixed in a cup of water. Cook on medium and bring it to boil. 

Add in the fish pieces. Add sugar and salt to balance the sourness of the tamarind. Add sugar little by little to achieve the taste you like most.


Cook till the gravy thickens and you get the taste you like.
Serve hot or at room temperature with steamed white rice.


Note: this dish could also be cooked with small sized prawns, but in that case use more tamarind extract as prawns will soak most of the sourness.


We also make another Macher Tak with Rohu or any big fish with dried mangoes(amchur) and mustard paste. will try to post that soon.


Was just searching Wikipedia and it says that Shad and Herring are popularly used in place of Hilsa.  The taste and flavour is quite close.


This bowl of sweet and sour Ilish macher tak is off to Jay’s I love my Dad event.




Tags:
Ilish, Hilsa, Macher Tak, Ilish tok, Ilish Ambol, kumro Ilish, Hilsa Bengali, Bengali food, Bengali fish, Bengali Cuisine, Bengali Hilsa, sour Hilsa, Tamarind Ilish, Mustard seeds, Bangal Tak, Dry chillies, red chilies, sweet n sour fish, tak mishti mach. Ilish Machh, Padma Ilish.Fish curry.shad in gravy, Herring in sour gravy, Bengali fish curry, Bengali side Dish, Indian Fish in gravy.

Bengali

Spicy Khichuri ar Ilish Mach Bhaja

1:19 AM


How does it feel when you get something you never expected you will or to be more precise to get an out of schedule day off for yourself…exactly something  like this happened to all of us this Monday. It was a day when the political parties declared an All India strike and whole India stopped to work for a day. I belong to a state, which sees maximum number of Political strikes every year but still have not come into terms with this mean of supporting any cause. But this time it was different.  Hardly Bangalore and its IT sector give in to strikes, however this time the whole city almost took a halt and enjoyed a break to see life in a different light. I simply loved the way the roads went noiseless. And to add to my joy it was pouring heavily from the morning. 

Being a die-hard romantic, I love rain. Can’t even remember how many times caught cold for walking in the rain for hours. I always dreamt of spending a lazy romantic day with Husband at home with heavy rain dancing in busy steps all around. Then we moved to Bangalore and this dream remains unfulfilled. Here rain is also IT friendly. Hardly it rains heavily in the daytime. You will mostly wake up to a sunny bright morning inspiring you to drive to work and then once you reach office it will start to pour heavily in the evening to strand you in there. Following this my romantic side never saw the day light. So this time when the rain God blessed me on this unscheduled holiday I was happy beyond imagination. but then again reality struck hard. With an irritated baby fussing around for not being able to go out in the garden to play, with a lazy happy husband for getting another day to be a couth potato and watch the recorded game and with a lost maid who forgets everything she is asked for once she crosses the distance between the living room and dining hall…It seemed like I was the only sane, unprovoked and energetic person to run the household, which started with Cooking with a bold C. First I have to cook the Baby’s fish curry and rice and then a full lunch and dinner for the adults and then some snacks for the friends who wanted to drop in over tea.  So without wasting much time and leaving my romantic plans behind I entered the kitchen. The weather was ideal for our favourite khichuri and Ilish Mach Bhaja (fried hilsa pieces) and I decided to cook the same in a big quantity to serve for dinner as well.

Khichuri ar mach bhaja is a unique combionation, which will make any Bengali drool on rainy days, and the best part is this is the easiest Ilish recipe (if you call it a recipe J). All you have to do is fry it in hot mustard oil (that is must for cooking Hilsa) with salt and turmeric and serve it piping hot with rice or khichuri. The recipe I followed here belongs to my Baba who is known as the khichuri king in our house. He makes the best khichuri in the world. This one is a bit spicy but when you eat a one-dish meal that is permitted. Here is how I made

Spicy Khichuri (serves 4)

Ingredients:
Uncooked atop or long grain rice: 11/2 cups
Yellow lentil (mung dal): 1 cup
Vegetables like cauliflower, beans, carrots, peas: 2 cups; cut in big chunks
Onion: 2 big
Ginger paste: 11/2 tbsp (thanks Pree for mentioning it)
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Tomato: 1 large
grated coconut: 1/4 cup
Green chillies: 3
Clove, cinnamon, cardamom: 2-3 pieces each
Bay leaf: 1
Salt
Turmeric
Oil: 3 tbsp
Garam masala powder: 1/3 tsp

Method:
First wash the rice, drain the excess water and spread on a newspaper.

Thinly slice the onions. Chop the tomato and keep aside.

Dry roast the lentil, wash and keep aside.

At the same time heat 1 tbsp of oil and fry the veggies with salt and turmeric. Once they are golden in colour, take out and keep aside.

Heat the rest of the oil and put the whole spices, bayleaf and slit green chili. Once they start to sizzle and the aroma heats you add the sliced onion.

Fry on medium till the onion is light brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry again.

Once the raw smell of the spices is gone add the coriander and turmeric powder mixed with 2 tbsp water. Fry for a minute and mix in the chopped tomato.

Continue frying this spice mixture on low flame till oil starts to separate at the sides.

Now put the rice (by this time they should dry). Lightly fry for a minute till the fried smell of rice comes off (1-2 minutes).

Add the lentils and give everything a good mix. Add 5 cups of warm water. Tighten the pressure cooker lid and on medium flame cook for one whistle. Switch off the gas and let the steam dissipate in itself.

Open the lid and put the fried veggies and salt. If required add another cup of warm water.

Cook on low flame till the water gets absorbed and the veggies are cooked. the dish would be dry.

Check the seasoning and mix in the coconut. After a final sprinkling of garam masala powder serve hot with Ilish or any fried fish.

Ilish Mach Bhaja

We Bengalis generally never wash the fish pieces as we believe that way the the Ilish smell is lost. So the fish is always washed thoroughly before cutting.

Rub salt and turmeric on the cleaned fish pieces and keep aside.

Now heat some mustard oil to the smoking point (or you will get raw pungent smell of mustard), carefully put the fish pieces one by one and fry them till light brown on both the sides.

Serve piping hot with khichuri. Don’t discard the fried oil, save it. When mixed with warm rice this tastes heavenly. Any Bengali will swear by this taste.

Note:
salt lengthen the process of boiling lentil. always add them after the lentils are soft.

similarly never add cold water during cooking of lentils. The trick to get a thick creamy lentil dish is to always use warm water.


am sending this Khichuri recipe to Siri's healing food: Carrot event this month hosted at Veggie Platter. 


Tag:
rice, yellow lentil, bengali khichuri, khichri, rice lentil medley, vegetable rice, vegetable lentil, mung dal, basmati, atop chal, hilsa, fish fry, fried fish, Indian medley, one dish meal, one pot lunch, khichudi, spicy khichri, rainy day delicacy, ghee, coconut rice, onion, birista, ginger, coriander powder, carrot, beans, Cauliflower, Lentil Rice, 

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