Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Lentil with lime leaves...


Yesterday I prepared a simple dal for lunch, a typical Bengali lentil soup, but something that turned it special. The dal was flavored with the leaves of Gondhoraaj lebu. Gondhoraaj literally means king of aroma and it is native to Bengal. These are somewhat similar to kaffir lime. From a welcome drink to main course to desserts, these elongated thick skinned large limes work wonder. Usually these limes are cut lengthwise into wedges and served along with Bengali meals, either a simple dal or a spicy bowl of mutton curry, it uplifts every single dish.

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Sandesh...


I'm not an expert when it comes to cook in microwave, I mean solely using the micro feature. Grilling and the convection mode are frequently used but the microwave mode is only used for re-heating food in my house. It works wonder when I need to dehydrate herbs or to blanch almonds.

So when Indrani a co-blogger and a member of Kolkata food blogger announced an event to cook something using microwave and solely microwave not the grilling or convection option, my first thought was  that I need to pass this. But before saying 'quit' I gave it a little thought and came up with this very simple easy idea of making sandesh in microwave. I make sandesh very often to lure my kid to eat homemade cottage cheese or chana, which is  usually  falls in her "reject" category.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Thai red curry noodle soup..


What to cook? is a more difficult question for me than who landed  a rover on Mars, specially for weekday dinner. Someday you do not feel like picking up the knife, pots and pans and to cook. Eating out may be a solution, but I avoid that on weekdays as much as possible and try my best to prepare something fresh and healthy for my kid.

To do this, I usually plan ahead. During weekend, I plan for the weekdays meal, and it really helps. I buy things accordingly on  the weekend and stick to my plan. Yes, at times I  do slip,  may be due to health issues or just lack of energy. But mostly I  try to follow my laid out plan.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Lauki kofta...


Koftas generally refer to meatballs made of minced meat of beef, lamb or chicken are mixed with spices shaped to round balls and are fried. Unlike middle eastern and central asian cuisine,  you can find many vegetarian varieties of kofta too in Indian cuisine. Potato, paneer, banana, bottle gourd etc are mashed or grated to make koftas. These koftas are then dunked in a  flavourful and spicy gravy to prepare a delicious curry. Kofta curries are very popular in India, be it veg or non-veg.