Macher Jhol

Interested in some Bengali style fish curry? Try this…

Ingredients

• 4-5 pieces Fish (preferably Rohu)
• 2 Onions -Grated
• ½ inch Ginger- grated
• 1 Potato cut into 4-5 slices
• 1Tomato - chopped
• Fresh Coriander – chopped for garnishing (optional)
• Mustard oil for cooking

Method

• Heat mustard oil in a frying pan, lightly fry the fish and keep aside.
• Fry the sliced potato and keep aside.
• In a deep bottom frying pan heat oil and add the grated onion and fry till golden brown then add the grated ginger, chopped tomatoes and fry for 5 min.
• Add ½ tsp cumin powder, ½ tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp chilly powder ,salt and fry for 1 min.
• Add the fried potatoes and then add water .Bring it to a boil.
• Add the fish and simmer till the gravy reaches the desired consistency.
• Pour into a bowl and garnish with fresh coriander.

Note:

• This dish is best eaten with steamed rice.

Gulab Jamuns

Okay, why limit yourself to the "safe" recipes? Get a bit adventurous, and try this simple yet yummy recipe for gulab jamuns!

Ingredients

• Ready-made Gulab Jamun mix - 100 gm
• Sugar - 220 gm
• Water - 250 ml
• Ghee/Oil - for frying as required

Preparation

• Mix sugar and 220 ml of water in a wide-mouthed vessel and boil for five minutes. Turn off the gas. Let the sugar syrup remain on the gas stove.
• Knead the Gulab Jamun mix with 30 ml of water. 
• Roll the dough into small balls (gulab jamuns). 
• Heat oil in a deep frying pan, and fry the gulab jamuns till they turn golden brown.
• While frying the gulab jamuns, turn on the gas and simmer the sugar syrup.
• Remove the gulab jamuns from the oil, and drop them into the sugar syrup.
• When the sugar syrup comes to a boil again, turn off the gas.
• Fry the remaining gulab jamuns, if any, and drop them into the sugar syrup. 
• For best results, let the gulab jamuns cool completely before you serve them.

Tips

• Use a measuring cup to measure the exact amount of Gulab jamun mix, sugar, and water. When it comes to sweets, these measures are very important. Anything less or more can ruin your sweets.
• The gulab jamuns expand when you fry them, and they expand further when you soak them in the sugar syrup. So, use a wide-mouthed vessel for making the sugar syrup, and fry four to five gulab jamuns at a time in the frying pan. This gives the gulab jamuns enough space to expand and the gulab jamuns would cook evenly.
• Ready-made Gulab Jamun mix comes in a minimum of 200g packets. The instructions on the packets say that you should use at least 750gm to a kilo of sugar for the entire amount. Use this amount of sugar if you want a generous amount of sugar syrup. The gulab jamuns made using the measures that I have provided in this recipe would absorb all the sugar syrup, and you would have almost no sugar syrup left. I prefer these measures as I don't want to waste the sugar syrup, and so, I prepare only that much that is needed for the gulab jamuns to taste sweet.
• Use a combination of ghee and oil to fry your gulab jamuns. That is, less ghee and more oil. I find gulab jamuns fried only in ghee to be saccharine.

Tomato Pulp and Crunchy Capsicum

Ingredients

• Tomatoes (ripe) – 2
• Onions (big) – 1
• Capsicum – 1
• Green chilly – 1
• Mustard seeds and black gram – ½ tsp
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Red chilly powder – 1 ½ tsp
• Salt – according to taste
• Oil – 2 tbsp
• Cumin (jeera) seeds – ½ tsp

Preparation

• Chop the tomatoes, capsicum, green chilly and onion.
• Heat oil in a deep frying pan and add the mustard and black gram. After the mustard seeds have popped, add the chopped onion, capsicum and green chilly.
• Add a little salt and fry until the onions becomes tender.
• Add the tomatoes. Add salt, turmeric and red chilly powder.
• Keep frying till the tomatoes turn into a pulp.
• Mash the cumin seeds with both your palms and sprinkle the cumin seeds over the pulp.
• Taste for salt and serve hot.

Note:

• Capsicum becomes tender along with the onions. I prefer capsicum to be crunchy in this dish. So, I add the capsicums after the onions have become tender.
• The riper the tomatoes, the tastier the dish.

Boring Chapatti?

Tired of having to make a proper side dish for your chapattis? Try this.
Ingredients

• Chapatti – 2  
• Onion – 1
• (optional) Vegetables of your choice – 1 cup
• Oil – 2 ½ tbsp
• Red chilli powder – ½ to 1 tsp
• Salt – according to taste

Preparation

• Tear the chapattis into small pieces and keep aside. Chop the onions and the vegetables.
• In a deep frying pan, pour oil and add the onions. Add a pinch of salt. Let the onions caramelise.
• Add vegetables and stir well.
• Add the chapattis and a little more salt.
• Stir for a minute or two and serve.

Skip the vegetables and this dish makes for a great evening snack!

 

Omelette Curry

Ingredients

Eggs – 2
Tomato (ripe) – 1

Onion(big) – 1

Small onions (sambhar onions) – 4

Ginger-garlic paste – 1 tsp
Coconut (chopped) – 3 to 4 tbsp
Coriander powder – 2 tsp
Red chilli powder – 2 tsp
Cumin (jeera) powder – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – 2 to 3
Mustard seeds and black gram (urad dal) – ½ tsp

Oil – 3 tbsp

Salt – according to taste
Water – 2 cups
Coriander leaves – for garnishing

 

Preparation

• Grind the coconut with coriander, red chilli, and cumin powder into a fine paste.
• Transfer the paste to a bowl and mix with water; this is the masala for our curry.
• Peel and cut the small onions into two.
• Peel and chop the onion for making an omelette.
• In a deep frying pan, pour oil and add mustard and black gram and curry leaves.
• Add the small onions and fry till they turn tender.
• Add ginger-garlic paste. Fry for a minute.
• Add the tomatoes and fry till they turn into a pulp.
• Pour the masala and add salt. Adjust the gas flame to medium.
• In a bowl, beat the eggs with the chopped onion.
• Make a thick omelette (with a little salt) and cut it into pieces.
• Add the pieces to the boiling curry.
• Let the curry simmer until the desired consistency – gravy, semi-gravy- is attained.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

 Serves two, and tastes best with everything!

 Note: 

• You can use readymade tomato puree and coconut milk available in the market instead of tomato and coconut pieces. Dilute readymade coconut milk with water before using.
• Instead of ginger-garlic paste, you can use finely chopped ginger (about a tsp) and garlic (6-7 cloves).
• It is better to make the curry a little watery as the omelette pieces absorb the curry once removed from fire.

Kitchen Essentials for Singletons

(This post has been written keeping the typical Indian singleton in mind.)

 A list of things that you would need to set up your kitchen.

•  An electric rice cooker.
• A single burner gas stove, preferably Klix (if your cylinder runs out of gas, you have the electric rice cooker as a backup).
• Six small air-tight containers with spoons (one each for mustard seeds and urad dal, turmeric powder, red-chilly powder, garam masala powder, sugar, and dairy whitener).
• Three large air-tight containers (one each for rice, dal, and atta).
• One large chopping board (can be used to roll out chapattis, too).
• One rolling pin.
• A cooking-oil dispenser.
• A three-rack stand for onions, potatoes, and other vegetables.
• One flat frying pan (for making omelettes chapatis, dosas, etc).
• One deep frying pan with lid (for making mouth-watering curries).
• One long flat spoon for flipping omelettes.
• One long spoon for frying the ingredients in the deep frying pan.
• Two medium-sized vessels that can be used directly over fire and can double up as serving dishes.
• Glasses, spoons (both large and small), and forks (you are going to invite friends over for a brunch or two, aren’t you?)
• Two stainless steel knives with firm handles, one for chopping vegetables, and the other for meat (do not be tempted to buy a seven-knife set; you hardly use the other five).
• A salt and pepper shaker.
• Two or three cloth napkins.
• A pair of tongs.
• Two small bowls (the size of a soup bowl).
• A large vessel for storing drinking water (make sure that you boil the water before drinking it or using for cooking purposes).
• A stainless steel basket that would hold all the vessels. You will need the basket to dry out the vessels after washing them.

For cleaning purposes

• A good pair of washing gloves.
• Liquid soap.

Optional items

• A two-litre rice cooker (needed if your meal is incomplete without rice and you aren’t planning on buying an electric rice cooker).
• A mixer (needed if you love freshly ground spices).
• A small refrigerator (needed if you are going to cook regularly and can’t find the time to shop for vegetables and meat).
• A water purifier (needed if you find boiling water tedious; alternatively, you could buy canned water. My personal opinion is investing in a water purifier; you could strike “remember to get refill for water” on the “things-to-do list.”)

Check http://personalden.blogspot.com/2009/11/compact-containers-for-kitchen.html to get an idea about the containers used in kitchens.

Quick Recipes using Cooked Rice – Recipe 2

Lime Rice

Ingredients

• Cooked rice – 1 cup

• Lime (ripe) – 1

• Mustard seeds and Black gram (white and split) – ½ tsp

• Groundnuts – 1 tbsp (or more)

• Curry leaves – 2 to 3

• Ginger (optional, chopped) – ½ tsp

• Turmeric powder – a pinch

• Oil – 1 ½ tbsp

• Salt – according to taste

Preparation

1. In a deep frying pan, pour oil and when the oil heats up, add the mustard seeds and black gram. When the mustard seeds have burst, add the curry leaves.

2. Add the groundnuts and fry for a minute or two. Keep the flame in medium and fry for one more minute.

3. Add the turmeric powder and mix well.

4. Remove the pan from the fire.

5. Take the rice in a bowl and add the contents of the pan into it.

6. Cut the lime into half and squeeze its juice into the bowl. (Use a ripe lime so that the rice doesn’t taste sour.)

7. Add salt and mix well.

8. Taste the rice. If it is sour, add some more salt.

Have lime rice with crunchy potato chips!