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, 

Fish and Seafood

Clams in a Fiery Red Sambal

11:28 AM


I never thought I would ever make this post, but this is what happens when you have a whimsical omnivore as a Husband. Last week when he was going out to the fish shop I also tagged along to buy a new sunscreen with more SPF for my swimming sessions. The market is very close to our house so we decided to walk. Once reaching there I headed straight to the second floor to buy my things. When I came downstairs saw him smiling mischievously. After being married to him for 3 and half years I know him enough to guess that there was some surprise…but this time it wasn’t pleasant enough. He bought 1 kg of clams and wanted me to cook. Now come on I know I like to cook but that does not mean I can whip up anything and everything under the sun and specially things that I have, no not only me but my whole family have not seen before. So after a lot of grumbling and cursing I sat down to google as I needed to know how to clean them first. But another surprise was there for me in store. Once I cleaned and shelled, the whole 1 kg of clams turned into as little as a handful of meat. Seeing that I decided to add some vegetable and when it comes to veggies nothing is like the generous potato to soak up all the aroma and spices. It was a quick dish as I cooked it mainly with the left over sambal from previous day’s Mee Goreng. Hubby and his friends liked it a lot and now he is planning to bring it again this weekend. So that was my brief encounter with clams and here is how I made it.


Just got this information on Clams.They are very nutritious and has a right balance of high protein, low carbohydrate. Source: Blurtit.com 
Nutritional Value:  One pound of clams, after the shell has been removed is about 68g
Following are the nutrients clams have:
1. Which yields 50 calories,
2. 8.6 g protein,
3. 31 mg calcium,
4. 213 mg potassium
5. 9.5 g iron.
6. 10.8 mcg folate,
7. 33.6 mcg vitamin B-6,
8. 204 IU vitamin A

Clams in a Fiery Red Sambal

Ingredients:
Clams: 1 kg (when shelled it yields very little, check the picture that is what the whole quantity is that too with potato.)
Potato: 1 medium
Onion: 1 small
Tomato puree: 1 tbsp
Oil: 2 bsp
Sambal: 2 tbsp
Coconut milk: ¼ cup
Chilli powder: ½ tsp
Salt

Method:
First run the clams under running water while doing this check if any of it has open shells. Gently tap on the shells, if its live will instantly close the shells…otherwise discard.

Now bring one big pot of water to boil with a pinch of salt. Pour the clams in it. Boil for 5 minutes. Drain water. Again follow the same rule if any of the clam fail to open discard it immediately as that might have died long ago.

With a small knife take out the meat from the shells. Repeat with the rest and again wash under running water. Keep aside.

While the clams are boiling peel and cut the potato in small cubes. Wash and keep aside. Make paste of the onion and keep aside.

Heat a pan with the oil. Add the cubed potato pieces and fry for a couple of minute with salt.

Add the onion paste and fry on low till the raw smell is gone and oil separates at the sides.

Add the tomato puree and fry briefly for a minute or so immediately put the sambal paste and chilli powder. Fry on low till again oil comes out.

Now mix in the boiled clams and again fry for 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning.

Pour the coconut milk (keep the flame at very low or the milk will curdle). Stir in everything together. Cover and let it simmer on low.

Once the gravy is dry and the potato and clams is cooked, check the seasoning and serve hot with lime wedge.


My omnivore ate it with Chinese style fried rice for dinner and immensely enjoyed it. though I was a little scared in the beginning but now I am having new ideas to cook it.He suggests that it has a similar texture of mushrooms or soy nuggets. so next time will cook some with soy for myself too. 


Vegetarian Option: use button mushrooms or soaked soy nuggets. adjust the seasoning as per your liking.


Tags:
Clams, shellfish, Sambal, clam sambal, coconut milk, potato, spicy gravy, red chilli sauce, potato chilli, Malaysian, sambal shellfish, tomato chilli, spicy clams, shelled clams, clams potato.

Bengali

Spicy Zucchini n vegetable Dal/ Roasted Yellow Lentil with Spices, Zucchini and Other Vegetables

5:57 AM


Ever since I saw this dal at Sangeeta’s blog I knew I have to try it. Though its not new for me, as in winter it’s a staple in most Bengali homes to have dals with veggies like carrots, cauliflowers, beans, peas and tomatoes. My Maa also makes an awesome lauki dal (bottle gourd) with coconut and a little hint of ghee. But this bright summery yellow colour of sangeeta’s dal with those velvety pieces of zucchinis tempted me enough to go to the market and bring home another couple of my new friends. In Bengal Yellow lentil or Mung Dal is never cooked raw, it is first dry roasted till aromatic then washed and cooked in various ways. This dry roasting gives it a nice nutty aroma, which I always love. As a kid veggie dal was something my maa used to serve before we left for school. She used to make it in numerous ways. Sometimes with raw papaya or with bottle gourd or bitter gourd or with a medley of vegetables. Maa almost always added some freshly scraped coconut and bhaja masla to it. I still can remember the smell of those morsels with veggie dal, rice, omlette and tomato chutney that Maa or Baba used to feed us before leaving for school. So guided by that nostalgia, I wanted to make something that would be little spicy and would be laden with the goodness of vegetables. My plan was to wrap up my lunch with rice and this dal or mostly with some tomato pickle at the sides. So I searched again in the blogosphere and stumbled upon Souganya’s vegetable dal with roasted spices. That was exactly what I was looking for. So with these two healthy lentil dishes as my inspiration, I created my own and here is what I made.

Spicy zucchini and vegetable Dal

Ingredients:
Yellow lentil (Mung Dal): 1 cup
Zuchini and other vegetables: chopped 4 cups (I used carrots, beans, zucchini, cauliflower, peas bottle gourd,and potato)
Grated Ginger: 1” piece
Turmeric
Salt

For tempering:
Cumin seeds: ½ tsp
And dry red chillies: 1 piece

Spice mix:
Urad dal: 1tsp
Bengal gram lentil: 1 tsp
Cumin: 1 tsp
Coriander: 1 tsp
Red chillies: 3
Black pepper: ½ tsp
Grated Coconut : 4 tbsp

Oil: 2 tsp

Method:
Heat a pressure cooker and roast the tallow lentil till a fried aroma comes. This should be done by continuously stirring, as yellow lentil is very prone to burning. Wash the dal and pressure-cook with 3 cups of water on medium for one whistle. Switch off the heat and dissipate the steam either by holding a spatula under the pressure or by holding the cooker under cold running water. Remove the lid.

Now add the washed veggies, grated ginger, turmeric and salt. Cook for 7-8 mintes or till the veggies are cooked and soft. Keep aside.

While the veggies are being cooked heat 1 tsp oil and roast the spices under spice mix except coconut. Roast for 2-3 minutes or the spices change colour. Add the coconut and roast for another minte. Grind to a coarse powder.

Now heat the remaining oil and add the tempering spices. Once they start to splutter pour the lentil mixture. Give a quick stir.

Adjust seasoning and bring to a boil. Before taking off from heat mix in all the ground spices. Mix well and serve with rice or Luchi (puri).

Sending this to MLLA:24 a monthly legume recipe event started by Susan and this time hosted by Diana of Spain in Iowa.                                        Vegetable Marathon: carrots an event started by Silpa and this time hosted by PJ at Seduce your taste buds.












Tags:
Bengali dal. Lentil, Lentil with vegetables, carrot dal, zucchini lentil, veggies lentil, coconut, coconut with vegetables, coconut in lentil, coconut with roasted spices, roasted spices, bhaja masala, bengali spices, bottle gourd, pumpkin, yellow lentil, yrad dal, mung dal. moong daal, mug dal, dal chawal, lentil with rice, freshly ground spice mix, cumin, red chillies, Indian Dal, Indian Lentil.cauliflower.

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