Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori chicken, a food that needs no introduction. It originated in India, loved world wide. If you go to any part of the world, you can find tandoori chicken in every single Indian restaurants menu. The name 'Tandoori' comes from a 'tandoor', means clay oven, where it is cooked.
Last night I made this for dinner. I do not have a tandoor so cooked in my oven. One can also use a grill to cook tandoori chicken. The procees is simple, marinate the chicken pieces and cook them in an oven. Here is the process how I did it.

Ingredients:

A whole Chicken (750gm):Skinned and Cut into 4 pc

For the first marinade:

• Salt: 1tsp
• Lime juice: 1/2tbsp
• Kashmiri red chili powder: 1tsp

For the second marinade:

• Hung curd: 4tbsp
• Garlic paste: 1/2tbsp
• Ginger paste: 1/2tbsp
• Cumin powder:1/2tbsp
• Corriander powder: 1/2tbsp
• Red chili powder: 1tsp
• Black pepper powder: 1tsp
• Garam masala powder: 1tsp
• Nutmeg powder: a pinch
• Kasuri methi powder: 1/4tsp
• Mustard oil: 1/2tbsp
• Lime juice: 1/2tbsp
• Salt: 1/2tsp
• Turmeric powder: 1/4tsp
• Red food color: 2-3drops(optional)
• Butter(melted): for basting

How to proceed:

1. Wash the chicken pieces and pat dry with paper towel. Make slits on the meaty flesh part of the chicken.

2. Mix all the ingredients of first marinade and rub the chicken with that. Put marinades on the slits also. Let it rest for 15min.

3. In a bowl mix all the ingredients for the second marinade. For the hung curd, take the curd in a muslin cloth and place it on a strainer and keep it inside the refrigerator for 20-30min.

4. Let the chicken marinate for at least 6-8 hrs inside refrigerator in a closed container.

5. Pre-heat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas mark 6.

6.Put the chicken pieces in skewers. If using wooden skewers, soak them in water for at least 1hr.

7. Place the chicken on a deep baking tray. I always use a non-stick baking rack to support the chicken.

8. Cook for 10min. Turn the chicken baste with some butter, cook for another 10min. By this time the chicken will be nicely cooked. To know if the chicken is cooked or not, just cut a fleshy part and check the color. If it is white in color and opaque, and the juice runs clear then it is done. But if it is pink and transluscent and the juice seems to bloody, then you need to cook it little longer. 

Baste the chicken on both sides again and broil it for 5min. Broiling is an option you can find in your oven. If you do not see such option just turn the oven temperature to the highest. Broiling is defined as grilling where the heat comes from above.

9. Let the chicken rest for 5 min. I know you are in big hurry to taste it, but no wait...:)

10. Serve hot with some onion rings and a piece of lime. some like to sprinkle chat masala on the chicken, but I am happy with my onion rings and lime.

I had this tandoori chicken last night, along with some pea-pulao and mixed dal..:)

My MIL's Fish Curry

Maache Bhate Bangali...Fish Curry and Rice: Soul Food for Bengali

Fish curry and rice is something Bengalis can not do without. The list of fishes we eat is endless. Be it fresh water sweet fishes like Rohu, Katla, Mrigel, Pabda, Tyngra, PuNti, or  salt water fish like Hilsha, Pomfret etc. Different kinds of prawns are also very popular in Bengal.

Fishes are cooked in various ways, from simple maach bhaja(fish fry) to maacher jhol(light gravy) or maacher jhal (thick dry gravy).Bengalis also make  sweet and sour chutneys(mostly with small fishes like PuNti, Mourola or the fish heads) with fishes, called maacher tok with tamarind or green mango.

Today I made a simple fish curry, Maacher Jhol, the way my mother-in-law cooks, with tomato-cumin-corriander. My MIL uses either Rohu or Pabda to make this kind of curry, but I used fresh live Tilapia today.

I got live tilapia from Chinese Supermarket. The guys there clean and cut the fish, so no hastle for me. Here is what I did:

Things needed:

• Fish
• Potato
• Tomato
• Whole cumin
• Green chilies
• Ginger paste
• Turmeric powder
• Red chili powder
• Cumin powder
• Coriander powder
• Fresh coriander
• Salt to taste

I washed the fish and marinated the pieces with salt and turmeric powder. I let it marinate for 30-40 min.

Fried the fish till nice golden brown. I know some people like their fishes lightly fried but I like them nicely done.

Using the same oil, I fried the potatoes. The potatoes were cut lengthwise. I do not know if there is a guideline for how potatoes should be cut for a particular type of curry. But I have seen my Ma and Mom-in-law cut the potatoes lengthwise for such light curries (Jhol) and in cubes for rich gravies (Kaliya). So I follow the tradition.

In went the stilted green chilies and whole cumin seeds. Be careful not to burn the cumin seeds, if needed remove the pan from heat.

Next I added ginger paste and chopped tomatoes. Sprinkled some salt, covered and cooked in a medium heat till the tomatoes are done.

When the tomatoes are cooked I added turmeric powder, red chili powder, cumin powder and coriander powder. Mixed all the masalas well, cover and cook in a low medium heat for 6-7 min. Gave a stir in between. Here I must tell you, I always make the masalas at home. Other than turmeric and red chili powder all the dry masalas are home made. That makes a lot of difference in the taste.

As the oil separates from the masalas I added hot water(depending the amount of gravy you need) and let it boil. As the gravy boils I simmered the flame and added fried potatoes and fishes. Then covered and cook for another 12-15 min. At the end added a handful of chopped green coriander leaves and 2 more stilted green chilies. 

Note: You can make this simple curry for your little one also, just do not put any green chili and red chili powder, it will taste the same. I do that for my daughter, and she loves this fish curry with a dash of lime.

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Til-kumro

Pumpkin with sesame seeds

Kumro (pumpkin) is a very common vegetable in Bengali kitchen. No we don’t carve them to a jack-o-lantern, but eat them. Even the flowers of pumpkin (kumro phool) and the soft young leaves (kumro saag) are also eaten with great pleasure. Pumpkin can be cooked in various ways; be it simple batter fried (bason diye bhaja), or some mixed vegetable mish-mash (chochhori), or a non-veg dish (with hilsha fish head). Here in  the US,  we get pumpkin regularly in the market, but unfortunately miss the kumro-phool bhaja (pumpkin flower) and kumro saag (leafy part of pumpkin). In Kolkata, my home town the ripe pumpkins are sweet and red-orange in color, here I need to add sugar to my pumpkin preparations.

Today I have made some simple fried pumpkin with sesame seeds, flavored with curry leaves and hing (asafoetida). It is a very easy, quick and tasty side dish to go with rice and dal (lentils).

Ingredients

• Pumpkin: (Cut in cubes): 2 cups
• Curry leaves: 10-12
• Mustard seeds (Rai Sorse): ½ tsp
• White sesame seeds (Sada til): 1tsp
• Grated ginger:1/2tsp
• Red chili: 3-4
• Asafoetida (hing): a pinch
• Salt
• Turmeric powder
• Sugar
• Oil

Procedure:

1.Wash and peel the pumpkin and cut into cubes.

2.Add oil in a pan. I used canola oil. You can use any other oil, like mustard or oilve or any vegetable oil.

3.As the oil is hot reduce the heat and add curry leaves, black mustard seeds, red chili and a pinch of hing.

4.As the mustard seeds spatter add the pumpkins. Add salt and turmeric powder. Add grated ginger. Mix well.

5.Cook till the pumpkins are cooked, but take care the pumpkins should not become mushy. Add sugar. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly.

6. Add the sesame seeds. Cook for 1-2 min in high flame.

Serve it with some steaming hot rice and a bowl of musur/masoor dal(red lentils).

Pasta with broccoli n cheese...

If your little monster is hungry and you want to a big smile on his or her face just take out the Italian magic wand and do a spell. Be it pasta or pizza, kids love it.  I made some mini shell pasta for my daughter. I used some Mushroom to flavor the bechamel sauce. Bechamel sauce is nothing but white sauce. And to add the vegetable quotient, added some broccoli too. This time I made a veg-version, but you can make it non-veg anytime adding chicken or shrimps to it.

Ingredients:

• Mini shell pasta (cooked): 2 cups
• Button Mushrooms (finely chopped): 1 cup
• Broccoli (cut into small florets): 1/2 cup
• Red onion(finely chopped):1 tbsp
• Red onion (thinly sliced): a few
• Garlic(crushed):1 tsp
• Olive oil: 1-2 tbsp
• Mozzarella cheese (grated): 3-4 tbsp
• Dried Basil:1/4 tsp
• Dried Parsley:1/2 tsp

[Note: You can always use fresh herbs, but the quantity would be the double of the dried one, dreid herbs are much more concentrated than the fresh one. It is a good idea to keep  bottles of different dried herbs in your pantry, they come really very handy.]

Procedure:

Cut the broccoli florets and blanch them and keep aside.

Wash the button mushrooms well and chop them.

Cook the pasta following the directions on the pack. I used mini shell-shaped pasta.

Drain the water, keep it in a colander and drizzle some olive oil on it.

Make the bechamel/white sauce. Take a non stick pan, add butter. As the butter melts add the flour. Cook the flour in very low flame till the raw smell of flour has gone. You can see a nice color change, the flour will take a nice light yellow color. Add milk and whisk continuously. As the sauce thickens add salt and black pepper powder. Keep it aside.

Take another pan add some olive oil. When the oil is hot add crushed garlic. I always use my garlic crusher, rather than chopping the garlic, saves a lot of time. Add the finely chopped red onion and mushrooms. Cook for 5-6 min in medium high flame. Add salt, herbs, pasta and mix well. Add the sauce, broccoli and grated cheese. Remove from heat. Check the seasoning.

Transfer it into an oven proof bowl, sprinkle cheese and sliced onion on top. Put it in a pre-heated oven for 10min (or till the cheese takes a nice brown color) at 400F/200C/Gas mark 

Serve hot.

Potol Posto with a coconut twist

Potol or pointed gourd is a summer vegetable in common in eastern and northern India. It is called 'Parwal' in Hindi. Potol can be cooked in various ways, from fried, grilled, curried or even one can make the famous sweet 'Parwal ke Mithai' or 'Misti Potol', where the vegetable is stuffed with condensed milk and nuts. Today I'm making a simple potol curry with coconut, poppy seed and mustard seed paste. I have seen my mother cooking potol either with poppy seed paste (potol-posto) or mustard seed paste (sorse-potol), even sometimes with yogurt (doi-potol). For the first time I tried incorporating all the ingredients together and the end result was finger licking good.

Mutton chaap

For Bengali's 'mutton' is synonymous to goat meat. Goat meat is meat of the domestic goat. Goat is the most widely-consumed meat in the world. Goat can be prepared in a variety of ways, such as being stewed, curried, baked, grilled, minced, fried.  Other than Mutton curry there are several other delicious preparations, one of them is Mutton chaap (or chaNp). The Bengali cuisine has a significant Mughlai influence. Use of wide range of spices like mace (Javitri), nutmeg (Jaiphal), saffron (Jafran) and marinating meat and slow cooking procedures are mere influence of Mughlai cuisine.

Sundori komola...

Komolabhog

The popularity of Bengali sweets are world wide. Rosogolla (rasgulla), Sandesh, Misti doi are synonymous to Bengal. Bengalis have a sweet tooth, any party, any occassion is never considered complete without "Misti Mukh"( eating  sweets).

Rosogollas can be of different varieties. e.g.  Rajbhog, Komolabhog etc. To start off this blog, I prefer something sweet,  so here comes the "Komolabhog".

Rosogolla is nothing but home-made cheese dumplings cooked in sugar syrup. Komolabhag, a simple variant of Rosogolla, is very similar to Rosogolla. Komolabhog is  orange flavoured rosogolla. So you need to flavour the home made  cottage chesse with orange extract and then cook it in boiling sugar syrup.