Prawn curry with potato and cauliflower..

It's been two weeks since we welcomed the new year, surprisingly this is my first post of the year. It was not that I was out of town or not cooking or sick, I did make some finger-licking Indian curries as well as some simple salads and baked a few things during this "no show" phase. The truth is I was just lazy to pick up my camera to click the food I cooked. Hope to make that up in the coming days.

Today it's all about my favorite seafood, prawns, and that too paired with another favorite of mine, cauliflower. Earlier I posted a recipe on this combo, though that was with shrimps (Shrimp and cauliflower curry). Usually I cook prawn curry without garlic, for a change, this time I added a little onion and garlic to enhance the taste a bit more.

While working with prawn or shrimp, keep in mind not to overcook them. Or else they will turn hard and chewy.

I used fresh large prawns for the curry and kept the heads for more flavor. You can use frozen prawns too. Being a Bengali it's very difficult to ignore potatoes in a curry, so added that too. But seriously potatoes give a nice thickness and texture to the gravy.

And about cauliflower all I have to say is, I love this vegetable. For this particular curry fry the cauliflower florets till brown spots appear on them, cook over high heat and make sure the cauliflower retains its crunchiness.

Things needed to make Prawn Curry: 

• Prawns: 6-8
• Potato: 1 (medium)
• Cauliflower: 1 (small)
• Onion (grated): 3 tbsp
• Garlic (paste): 1/2 tsp
• Ginger (paste): 2 tsp
• Tomato: 1 (large)
• Cumin powder: 2 tsp
• Red chili powder: 2-3 tsp
• Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
• Garam masala powder: 1 tsp
• Ghee/clarified butter: 2 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Sugar to taste
• Oil to cook (preferably mustard oil)

Steps of making Prawn Curry:

1. Clean and wash the prawn, smear with little turmeric and salt. Keep aside.

2. In a pan heat oil (3 tablespoon), when the oil is hot fry the prawn for 1 min, turning the sides, take out and keep aside.

3. Peel, wash and cube the potatoes. Fry the cubed potatoes till nicely brown, keep aside. Use the same pan used for frying the prawns.

4. Cut the cauliflower into medium size florets to match the cubed potatoes. Fry the cauliflower florets till brown spots appear on them, keep aside.

5. If needed add more oil to the pan, when the oil is hot add the grated onion and cook till turns brown. Add garlic paste, cook for a minute. Add ginger paste and cook for 2 min. Add chopped tomato, sprinkle little salt, cover and cook till the tomato is done.

6. Add cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder, few teaspoons of water, cook till oil separates from the spices. Add a cup of warm water, salt and sugar. As the water boils add fried potatoes, cover and cook till potatoes are done. Add fried cauliflower florets and fried prawns, cook for 2-3 min. Add ghee (clarified butter) and garam masala powder. Switch off heat, keep the pan covered for 5-6 min, serve hot with steamed rice.

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Misti pulao...Bengali style sweet pulao

Misti Pulao is a traditional Bengali rice dish. The word 'Misti' in Bengali means sweet, so it is essentially a rice preparation that tastes sweet. This is also referred as Holud Pulao or Basanti Pulao, as both holud and basanti stands for the color yellow. So if I need to translate Misti Pulao I would prefer to say yellow-colored, fragrant, mildly sweet signature Bengali rice dish. Huh that's I call 'lost in translation'!!!!

I remember my mother used to make this for any special occasion at home. Before the invasion of Chinese food, Dhaba food and Pizza etc, this pulao used to be a must for any parties. I make it often at home, specially for our Sunday lunch, to go with the mutton curry. Mutton curry and Misti Pulao must have been bestowed by the Food God, a pair made in heaven. If you haven't tasted it yet, you are surely missing something.

Like other traditional Bengali dishes I learnt this too from my mother. For me, she makes the best Misti pulao on Earth. This pulao needs some special ingredients, first the rice, it has to be Gobindobhog (a fragrant rice cultivated in West Bengal (India), Bangladesh), and saffron for the unique flavor. But it is difficult to get Gobindobhog rice outside West Bengal, either you can try Kalazira rice from Bangladeshi store or just go with Basmati rice. I have seen my mother using as little saffron as possible to the dish, as saffron is the most costly spice in the world. Sometimes I have seen her not using any saffron, she used to smear the rice with turmeric powder to get that beautiful yellow color. Mothers know how to make a meal cost-effective. The another must thing for this dish is ghee or clarified butter. The rice needs to be cooked in ghee, or else you won't get that flavor and taste. According to my mother, you can skip the saffron but not the ghee.

The misti pulao goes best with spicy mutton curry. For mutton curry recipes check these links,

Mutton curry 1

Mutton curry 2

And here is how to make Misti Pulao...

Things needed to make Misti Pulao:

• Rice: 1 cup
• Water: 2 cups
• Cashew nuts: 1/4 cup
• Raisins: 1/4 cup
• Ginger (grated): 1 tsp
• Bay leaves: 1-2
• Shahjeera / black cumin: 1 tsp
• Cinnamon: 1 stick
• Green cardamom: 3
• Cloves: 6-7
• Nutmeg powder: 1/8 tsp
• Saffron: a pinch
• Milk: 2 tbsp
• Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
• Sugar: 2-3 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Ghee /clarified ghee: 4 tbsp
• Turmeric powder

Steps of making Misti Pulao:

1. Soak rice in water for 30 min. Wash and drain. To get a nice yellow color without using any food color smear the rice with turmeric powder. This is one little trick I have learnt from my mother.

2. Soak saffron in lukewarm milk, cover and keep aside.

3. In a deep pan, heat 1 tablespoon ghee (clarified ghee), fry cashew nuts ans raisins till they turn brown, keep aside. You can use oil along with ghee. But it is preferable to cook this rice with ghee only.

4. In the same pan add more ghee, as the ghee melts, add bay leaves, shahjeera, cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves, cook for 1 min. Add soaked rice, grated ginger and gently give a stir. Cook for 3-4 min. the rice needs to fried in ghee. Add milk-soaked saffron and cook over medium heat for 1-2 min. Add hot water to the rice. The water and rice ratio is 2:1. Add salt and sugar, mix gently, cover the pan. As the water starts to boil, keep the lid ajar and cook for 8-9 min. Switch off heat, sprinkle nutmeg powder and little more ghee, cover and let stand for 10-12 min. Serve hot with mutton curry.

Print Recipe

Bengali Misti Pulao
(Serves 3-4)
Ingredients:
Gobindobhog Rice: 1 cup
Water: 2 cups
Cashew nuts: 1/4 cup
Raisins: 1/4 cup
Ginger (grated): 1 tsp
Bay leaves: 1-2
Shahjeera / black cumin: 1 tsp
Cinnamon: 1 stick
Green cardamom: 3
Cloves: 6-7
Nutmeg powder: 1/8 tsp
Saffron: a pinch
Milk: 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Sugar: 2-3 tbsp
Salt to taste
Ghee /clarified ghee: 4 tbsp
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp

Procedure:
1. Soak rice for 30min, wash and drain.
2. In a pan heat ghee, fry cashew nuts and raisins, keep aside.
3. In the same pan, add more ghee, add bay leaves, whole garam masala, shajeera, grated ginger and rice, cook for 3-4min.
4. Add saffron (soaked in milk), salt and sugar, mix well. Add hot water, let it boil. Partially cover the pan cook for 8-9 min. Switch off heat
5. Sprinkle nutmeg powder, and ghee, cover and let stand for 10-12 min. Serve hot.

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Garam masala.....the Bengali version

What goes in the Garam masala? a common question I face from my readers. The word 'Garam' means hot and Masala means spices, though the hot does not imply the heat of chili but the powerful exquisite flavor of the spices. Garam Masala is a blend of different spices. It is extensively used in Indian cuisine, but the composition of Garam Masala differs from one region to the other. So I thought I would rather explain these various different combinations of Garam Masala for the interested readers. I will start with the Eastern part, specifically Bengal. Today I would like to focus on the simplest form of the garam masala, the Bengali version.

This above image is my contribution to edition #92 of Black and White Wednesday -  A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, now managed by Cinzia of Cindystar, and hosted this week by Simona of Briciole. This is an image of the three basic ingredients of Garam Masala, cinnamon, green cardamom and cloves. The original Image I took was a color image I converted it to a black and white image using Photoshop.
On this page you can find who is hosting the current and future editions of this event.

A regular Bengali Garam Masala contains the basic three ingredients, Cinnamon, Cardamom (green) and Cloves. And that's the reason I also call them the 3'C' garam masala. Mix them in equal quantities and ground to powder and you are ready with your Bengali version of garam masala. I have seen my grand mother, aunts and mom to use not a powder but a paste. They use a flat stone to crush the hard spices then grind it with little water. They do this fresh everytime while cooking. Sometimes coarsely ground or lightly pounded garam masala are also used to hot oil as tempering (phoron) to the dish.

Cinnamon has it own delicate, slightly sweet fragrance. This spice is native to Srilanka and the oldest known spices. In European countries the use of cinnamon is mostly limited to sweets. In the Middle-East and Sub-continent cinnamon is extensively used in meat curries as well as in vegetarian curries and rice preparations. I like the flavor of cinnamon in my meat and fish curries. Personally I like to increase the amount of cinnamon while making a meat dish.

Cardamom is a spice of great antiquity, used for ages by the Egyptian, Greeks and Romans. It is extensively used in India and Middle-East. It is the third most expensive spice after saffron and vanilla. The plant grows profusely on the Malabar coast of India. The small green capsule contains several minute black seeds. Green cardamom is both used along with the green cover and without the cover, depending on the requirements. Black cardamom is also a related variety, but not used in the regular Bengali Garam Masala mix.

Cloves are dried unopened flower buds, named after the Latin word clavus, meaning nail. Clove has its own strong, sometimes bitter flavor. It is must while making pulao in Bengali household. I remember my grandmother used to make a rice flavored with cloves, named lobongo-bhat, an aromatic rice I love. But make sure you discard the small round part at the top of the clove before adding it to any dish.

So this is the easy simple Bengali style garam masala. Take equal quantity of cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves and ground them to powder. The powder can be stored in an air-tight container for 2-3 weeks. You can use this powder in dishes like Malaikari, bengali chicken or mutton curries, fish kaliya etc and etc.

Soon I will write about other different variations of Garam Masala used in different regions in India, till then keep rocking in your kitchen.

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Chicken kosha for a typical bong sunday

It is Sunday, so meat, either chicken or mutton is a must in the lunch menu for a Bong, . I made some spicy chicken kosha for the lunch. See how deeply rooted I’m, the 'Bangaliyana' flag bearer..LOL..

Kosha is a semi-dry curry, where the chicken pieces are slow-cooked with other spices. It goes well with pulao, roti or paratha. I made some pulao to go with the chicken kosha; oh what do you say…you don’t eat rice!!! Then you might not be a pure Bong. Bhat (bolied rice) is must for a bong..:)  

It is a pure bliss, having pulao and chicken kosha on a Sunday lunch then taking a nap. Ok ok not nap, let me refine it to siesta…still not convinced…still thinking about treadmills and counting calories…ok I should continue with my recipe then. Hopefully that will tempt you.

Ingredients needed for chicken kosha:

• Chicken (cut into 12-14pcs):800gm
• Potato(cut into quarters):1 large or 2 medium or 4 small
• Onion(thinly sliced):2cups
• Ginger(grated):2tbsp
• Garlic(grated):2tbsp
• Green chilies:5-6
• Dry red chilies:3-4
• Tomato(chopped):2
• Cinnamon:2-3 (1inch) sticks
• Cardamom:4-5
• Cloves:6-7
• Sugar:1tsp
• Turmeric powder:1/4tsp
• Degi mirch** powder:1ybsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil: 2-3tbsp

** Degi mirch is combination of kashmiri red chili powder and red capsicum, it is mildly hot and imparts a nice red color to the curry. Easily available in Indian stores.

Process of making chicken kosha:

1. Make a fine paste of grated ginger, garlic, dry red chilies, green chilies, keep aside.

2. Dry roast cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and grind to a coarse powder, keep aside in a closed container. This is our freshly made garam masala.

3. Add 1tbsp of oil in a pan, fry the peeled and quartered potatos till nicely brown.

4. Add oil in a kadai or pan, when the oil is hot add sugar and let it caramelise. This brings a nice color to the curry.

5. Add sliced onion to the oil. Cook till the onions turn nice brown in color. No I'm not talking about burning them, it is browning them. Be careful not to burn the onions, it will make the curry bitter.

6. Add the chicken pieces and cook with the onion. Add the freshly made paste and tomatoes and salt. cook in high heat and keep stirring continuously. The meat will release a lot of water. Reduce heat and add turmeric powder, degi mirch powder.

7. Keep cooking uncover in medium-high heat till the chicken is almost done or for 15-20min. Add the fried potato, sprinkle the freshly garam masala. Cover and reduce the heat to low and cook for another 15min. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly.

Garnish with some slitted green chilies and serve hot. And don't forget the plate of pulao or roti along with the bowl of salad(sliced onion, cucumber, tomato).