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.

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.

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.

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.

Harissa grilled prawns...

I love seafood, specially prawns and crabs. So when I saw fresh tiger prawns in the market, happily bought a bagful of those beauties. I usually prepare prawns in traditional Bengali way or try to do something very simple. This time, I marinated the prawns in some freshly made harissa paste and grilled them.

Chicken pulao...

Last week was a difficult one for me. The minor surgery I had to undergo resulted in restrictions in movement and thus my daily routine. Never mind the associated pain, missing a planned dine out with my friends due to this was more agonizing. But as the saying goes - everything has it's silver lining, I managed to get an uninterrupted break with the support of pain killers and other meds. The man was in charge of the kitchen and other household works. I enjoyed the egg curry for lunch and some not so round paratha for dinner. Yes, being sick now and then is not so bad after all. So this Sunday it was my turn to treat him and of course my little one who relentlessly tried her best to help me and comfort me in her small little ways.

Fish in mustard sauce...

Fishes are an integral part of the daily diet of people of Bengal. The geographical attributes of Bengal is the reason behind fish being the part of the cuisine. Being a state with many rivers running through it, multiple fresh water ponds and lakes along with a  long coastal region, fishes are available in abundance. So from ages we Bengalis' are eating various kind of fishes and now it's a  part of tradition and most of us can't think about a meal without fish. Today I'm sharing a quintessential Bengali dish and an all time favorite in my family, Sorse bata diye pabda mach, which translates to Pabda fish in mustard sauce.