Bengali

Kumro Danta Charchari (Pumpkin Shoots curry)

3:14 AM


What is Fall without a few pumpkin recipes? Right?

Wrong. For us Bengalis pumpkin is a vegetable that is enjoyed year around. especially during the summer days when the most of the veggies cannot stand the scorching heat or the waterlogged months of monsoons, when most plants wilt due to root rot...pumpkin and it's close cousin bottle gourd grow bravely.

There were numerous times in my past when in our drought prone town of Santiniketan, most plants could not withstand the heat and withered yet we could still harvest pumpkins and bottle gourds almost every week. For us Bengalis it's a big source of leafy greens.  

Cakes cookies n savory goodies

Chocochip Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

6:16 AM


My kids are at a very impressionable age. Especially my three and half years old daughter. She loves watching cartoons and picks up things that catches her fancy, which means only two things. First,  every now and then she comes running to us, points to a certain things and asks, 'will you please get me one of these?'. That's not hard as with time we have realised we can just smile and say Yes to make her happy. But the second part is little hard. Her demand to celebrate Western festivals the way her favourite cartoon characters do.

So for Christmas, she asks for cookies, milk for Santa and a big blingy tree. Which again was easy as following her big brother's demand we already had that at home. But I find myself totally clueless when she asks to celebrate Thanksgiving or Halloween. No one around me has ever done that and am just not sure what to do. 

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.

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.

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