Desserts and Sweets

phirni

12:00 PM


Happy Diwali  everyone. May you all be blessed with a wonderful time with your family..May peace and wisdom Take over all evil through out the World.

Here is one of my favourite dessert, the rich, gritty, indulging Phirni , a must have for all Mughlai cuisine lovers. Being in Kolkata means you get to see a simpler form of Phirni everywhere. This does not have any nuts or other expensive ingredients but just plain unadulterated full fat milk, sugar and rice...thickened down over time, stirred with oodles of patience  and finally flavoured with some green cardamom. But love you must have, to prepare this dish... because it's only love has that immense power to transform some simple pantry staples to such a rich fit for the king dessert. 

Being the firm believer of 'Homemade is Best'...I though prefer to make them at home most times. That way you have complete control over the quality of the 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.

Desserts and Sweets

Pantua-Bengali Gulab Jamun

1:06 PM


I grew up in Santiniketan, an University town where most of the schools and colleges were residential. Every year when Monsoon will slowly make way to a clearer sky and white fluffy clouds will come floating,  my friends living in the hostels would yearn to go home. 

Nearing to Puja  Maa would make a trip to Kolkata to bring us new dresses and in class we would start rehearsing for Autumn Drama Festival 'Sharodotsav'. Our evening cycle trip to Kopai, a small river outside the main town with it's banks covered in white pillowy Kashful will make us believe...pujo asche (durga puja is NEaring).

Santiniketan during any vacation means a very sad place, an unusual quietness taking over the otherwise busy university life. With all the students gone home, lesser tourists the streets would be empty of the usual cycles and rikshaws. As if to escape the loneliness, evening would come early making the uncanny silence take over the vast grounds and surroundings. The yellow street lights would flicker glumly making the shadows of the age old trees grow deep, dark and mysterious. The shops will close much earlier than usual and by late evening the small university town of ours would feel like midnight. 

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.

Curry

Spicy potato roast (South Indian style)

11:54 AM


South Indian roast recipes are one of my favourite ones. These dry, stir fry dishes are spicy and hearty and can pep up any meal within minutes. For me they are the perfect pick me up meal options on a grey, gloomy day like today when the overcast sky somehow makes you lazy yet you crave something spicy and comforting. 

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