a few good things

i honestly feel this is the most hopeless of vegetables

the bengali language agrees with me by using its name as an insult
sloppy inefficient people are labelled Dhyanrosh,
'lady's finger ofcourse sounds sophisticated, but i wonder if they have tried eatingt it. ever seen a continental dish with lady's finger?)

i find the slobberyness irritating

but there are a few good things that can be done with this Dhyarosh, and here's one

cut it in you favourite shape (they make really cute stars, but my friend here chose the stick shape)

mix it with salt and turmeric and let it drain over a strainer for a hour

and then mix it with besan (gramflour), deep fry it and jazz up with a compatible seasoning (i can think of chat masala)

and here it is ...
ready to accomany a wide variety of stuffs such as dal or muri or your evening tea or wine!

Tele Bhaja

when
<---this happens for 5 days in a row










the only thing that can bring some comfort to your life is this --->

pomphret exotica

this is ofcourse an innovative recipe(aparent from the name, isn't it?). will work well with most sea fishes (a huge pomphret in this case) as long as you have this very pretty looking spice. it is called 'anaras-ke phul' in mysore. sure it has some other names, here's what it looks like in case you know it by some other name.

(the name is star anise of course, acknowledgement to my far more knowledgable friend)

the basic procedure is the same as most grilling/ baking recipes... slitting the fish... rubbing with salt and lime... and setting it aside for a while. then comes this magic ingredient. it is gounded and fried in about 1 teaspoon of butter. and now the fish is drenched in this exotic smelling butter..placed in a baking tray... covered with onions and tomatoes that are cut in to rings and put in a microwave in combo (grill+bake) mode for about 15 mins. (the fish needs to be tunrned over once in between).

juices from the tomatoes and onion tricles into the fish mixes with the spice and lime and the result is this really exotic smelling and tasting dish.

Paramount

that famous sarbet shop, which can easily fool you with its inconspicuous appearance

stuck in a corner near the of college square pool, it can hardly accommodate about 15 customers. no glitzy ritzy interior, no designer glasses, the waiters are neither swanky nor do they wear fancy cloths...

in short nothing extravagant, a complete rejection of the concept of posh packaging which is so prevalent in our globalised world,......

and that (apart from the sarbets) makes it special.

nothing flashy, just all class

.... it has been like this for ninety years, and we 'college-streeters' wouldn't have it otherwise.

I personally prefer it to the more famous intellectual hangout 'coffee house', mainly because of the handwritten 'no-smoking' sign on the wall.

to left in the picture is 'coco-malai' which they claim, and i totally agree, to be their best creation.

to the right is the drink made of coconut water and in the back is the plain old lassi with no spoons to scoop out treasures.

....gives us some idyllic moments in the midst of summer.

Shephard's Pie

Its easy to make, you can use ground beef, lamb or mutton. And loads of veggies goes well with it, like corns/broccoli/beans/carrot/tomato/cauliflower almost anything. Easy to make and with a slice of bread and some salad its a heavy meal.
Ingredient:
250gms of mutton keema.
1 onion chopped.
1 tomato chopped
6-7 cloves of garlic. chopped
Mix of vegetable like corns, peas, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, beans. Take any number of them, more the merrier, chop them into small parts. Total amount of vegetable should be about same or slightly more than the keema.
3-4 boiled potato.
2 tbs of milk
2 tbs of butter/oil
1 tbs of soy sauce
1 tbs of tomato sauce
salt and ground black pepper to taste
Put 1 Tbs of oil/butter in pan and melt it (don't put too much oil and mutton is very oil meat so it will increase the fat content of the food anyway). Fry the garlics first, just till it starts giving out its aroma, now put in the onion. You can add tsp of sugar on it, gives the onion a nice red hue. When the onion starts getting transparent, add the tomato. Fry of a little while and then add the mutton. Now simmer down the heat and fry in low heat for 5 minutes. Add all the veggies next, and the sauces, salt and pepper. Again cover and fry in low heat for another 5-8 minutes.
Take out the cover and increase the heat till the mix becomes dry.
Meanwhile peel the boiled potatoes, put them in grinder with the milk and 1/2 tbs of butter, pinch of salt and make a smooth paste.
User the rest of the butter to grease a microwave proof baking dish. Pour in the mutton mix and cover the mix with mashed potato. Pre-heat your oven/microwave to 250 C and put in the dish for 15-20 mins or till the cover turns golden brown. And voila your own pie is ready :)

that flower....

..... by any other name tastes as good

saw a kumro phul ( pumpkin flower) dish in the anthony bourdain show
a south american(didnt get which country it was) street food...
the flower with some spices and cheese is put into a tortilla, folded in a half circle shape and fried/roasted in a tawa
looked as sumptuous as our very own kumro phul bora
that flower dipped in a batter of besan (gramflower)+molasses+a bit of rice power
and deep fried in oil

melting shrimp pakoras

can be done with those really small shrimps (called kada cingri or muddy shrimps)
has to be completely deveined and descaled first
then ground them into a paste
mix with shredded onions, ginger paste, garlic paste and then with required amount of besan(gramflour) these should be made into pakoras and fried in oil
yammm

lau ghanto (steamed gourd)

this is one of the unsung heroines of bengali cuisine
it is simple and makes bland-and-tasty a non paradox
the gourd needs to be grated or shredded first
and then steamed
then in a little oil (very little and preferrably mustard oil)
fry boris (dried pulse cakes. another bengali innovations)
keep aside
add cumin seeds and bayleaf to the oil, and then add the steamed gourd.
after a while add ginger paste cumin paste and corriander paste
mixing the ingredients well cook for a while
add salt as needed a pinch of turmeric
and water if need
the trick is not to over-cook as it may turn the dish sour
lastly decorate with the crushed boris that was fried in the begining

boris can be replaced with fried shrimps

{boris are sunbaked cakes made of dal or lentils

first the the grind the dals ( and this can be made of various kinds of dals)

and made into a semi-liquid paste. these are placed into the a fine masline in the shape of small cakes and the cloth is hung out in the sun to dry. these days boris-- nicelyl packed can be bought from shops}

Alu chokha (Veg)

Ingredients: Potatoe, Onion,Tomato,Ginger, Green chilli,Aamchud powder,Red chilli powder and Toast biscuits(optional)
(For five people) -- Boil 5 medium sized potatoes, smash the potatoes to make a smooth paste.
Chopp 3 onions, small pc of ginger, 3 green chillies, 2 tomatoes. Now smash the toast biscuits into fine powder and fry the powder in oil/ghee till this turn brownish and keep aside. Fry onion, chilli,ginger and tomatoes together. Now add smshed potatoes to that.Add salt, termaric powder,red chilli powder and sprinkle little water ,cover the frying pan and cook for twenty mins . In between stir the preparation so that every ingredients get mixed well. Now add little amchud powder and the biscuit mixture to make the chokha tasty. For dressing you might add corriender leaves. Hey ! Ckokha is ready to serve. Have this either with chappati or rice as you like.

that thing with baby corn and cherry tomato

the other day we had some baby corns and cherry tomatoes
and we decieded to...
cut the baby corns in small pieces (matching the size of cherry tomatoes) and cut some onions (about the same size)
add some tej pata (bayleaf) in very little oil and after putting the onions add the babycorns
and cook it till it softens then add the tomatoes
add some corriander leaves and lastly a bit of roasted corriander powder
topping it up with some tomatoe sauce

and found that it works well with daliah as well as roti and looks fab too
[note to self: from now on post pic of dishes with recipes]

panta bhat n posto

put cold water in rice and leave aside for about half a day
(alternatively pour chilled water in freshly cooked rice, if you want to go easy on the risk and fun factors)
mix posto paste with salt to taste
(may also try to make a posto bora/pakora with onion)
take an onion one green chilli
works best in a lazy summer afternoon
before the siesta

rui bake

marinate the rui fishes overnight in onion paste and garlic paste
add tomato sauce, cumin powder and coriander powder and mustard oil (about two teaspns for 500grms of fish), put two/three green chillies, salt
bake for 20/30 mins

begun posto

take small bringals, cut them in four ,rub in turmeric salt
deep fry, drain the oil and keep them aside
heat oil, add tomatoes ( cut in squares) fry for a while
add posto (poppu seeds) paste, ginger paste and cumin seed paste
after frying these for a bit add turmeric and little sugar, fry for a while
add chilli and water after all these are almost cooked add the fried bringals
(optionally) add grated coconut and take the dish off heat

dim begun

boil the bringal, peel it and mix the pulp with finely cut onions, garlic paste,tomatos, little turmeric salt and spice of your choice ( mine is cumin) add one egg and make a mixture of the all these ingredients
heat oil add the mixture and keep stirring in low heat till cook.

(courtesy : mom)

doi mach

clean the rui fishes and rub turmeric and salt on them fry them lightly and set aside
add a little besan (gramflower) to about one cup of curd and beat it long enough to make it smooth
heat oil add tej pata (bay leaves) and sukna lanka (dry red chilli)
add onions (finely cut) in oil, add a little suger to see the brown colour come through
add the curd and fry in medium heat till oil separates
add the fishes and after mixing well in the gravy keep coverd in low heat till done