Roti Vegetable Noodle

I knew that surfing Internet is going to help me learn a lot & the first time I heard about this recipe, I was so happy about my "cooking-blogging-netSurfing" habit. While going through different blogs, I found the name of this recipe & I found it interesting as I found a perfect solution for my leftover Rotis. Yesterday I tried this new thing with some modifications & addition of new ingredients & the result was - love in first bite. I am sure you will love it too. So here is the recipe.

Ingredients: 

6 no's chapatti / roti (Cut in to thin finger size strips)

1/ 2 Cup onion (Thin Slices)

2 Cups carrots, capsicum, cabbage (cut in to thin strips) or you can take vegetables of your choice

2 Tbsp chopped ginger

1 Tbsp chopped garlic

2 no's green chilies(Finely Chopped)

1 tbsp chilly powder

2 tbsp tomato sauce

2 tbsp chili sauce

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp soy sauce

4 tbsp olive oil / cooking oil 

Fry Moog Dal to garnish

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan, add sliced onions and green chilies, saute with a pinch of salt for a minute add chopped ginger & garlic, and saute till the raw smell leaves.
2. Then add carrots, capsicum, cabbage, required salt to it and mix well, and saute until vegetables are half cooked.
3. Now add chilly powder, tomato sauce, chili sauce, soy sauce, little salt and stir well, then add the chapati strips to it and toss well ( Keep the flame in high ) add lemon juice and spring onions to it, give a quick stir, and serve hot with the garnishing.
4. Tasty, healthy roti noodles is ready to eat. 

Rui mach-er Kalia - Spicy Rohu Curry

A Bengali meal is incomplete without fish and the most popular among them is Rui or Rohu.  Rohu is easily available in any Indian fish market and also it is one of the most affordable fish you can find. There are a number of preparations for rohu such as Jhal (extra spicy curry), Jhol (a simple gravy with vegetables like Potato, Cauliflower & granished with Coriander leaves), Kalia (a spicy recipe in tomato & onion gravy), Bhaja (plain fry) & Dom (Steamed recipe in a mustard-poppy-curd paste).

I prepared the Rui maach-er Kalia after knowing it's popularity in my non-Bengali friend's home. There, they ask me the simple question, "what is the meaning of Kalia?" & I could not answer it. I know the dish but did not know how to make them understand. So I googled & found the name meaning and the proper recipe as well. In every recipe I found "garlic paste" but at our home, Ma always said "fresh fish does not need garlic & onions". So I modified the recipes & created my own recipe without Garlic & I did not make paste of onions. 

One interesting thing, I helped R to find his another favorite dish "Rui maach-er kali". Now R loves the dish so much that if I want to prepare kalia with some other fishes, R has no problem in doing some household works; what a help!

• Rohu Fish – 500 grms cut into medium sized pieces 

• Potatoes – 3 large, cut into long thick slices (many prefer to dice it in round shapes even)

• Tomato – 2 medium sized finely chopped

• Onion – 1, thin sliced 

• Ginger paste – 1 tbsp

• Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

• Cumin powder – 1 tsp

• Turmeric powder – 3 tsp 

• Red Chili Powder – 1/2 tsp (optional)

• Mustard Oil – For frying the fish & cooking

• Green chilies – 3 to 4

• Coriander leaves – finely chopped

• Salt & sugar to taste

Method:

1. Wash the fish pieces thoroughly in water and pat dry. In a bowl put the fish, add salt and turmeric and rub the spices in the fish pieces. Keep aside for 30 mins.
2. Once the fish pieces have absorbed the turmeric and salt, heat mustard oil in a kadai. The oil should be adequate enough for frying. 
3. Once the smoke starts coming slowly slide the fish pieces one by one. Make sure you don’t crowd them in the kadai. Also make sure the oil is well heated otherwise the fish will stick to the bottom of the kadai. 
4. Fry both the sides of the fish in medium heat. Once done, take the fish pieces out, drain the excess oil and keep aside. Now in the same oil add the potato pieces and fry them till they are light golden brown in color. Fried potatoes add a special flavor. 
5. Pour out the excess oil from the kadai in a separate dish and keep 4 tbsps of oil in the kadai. Rohu Kalia is a spicy and oily dish. So if you have excess oil, it does not matter. I don’t use fresh oil because, the smell & taste of the fish remains in the oil and makes the dish tastier. 
6. Now re-heat oil in the same kadai. Add whole jeera and let it splutter. Now add ginger paste, fry for some time. Add onion and fry till the onions become soft & little brown. Add finely chopped tomatoes and fry again. Once the tomato starts to cook, add cumin powder, turmeric, salt, sugar, red chili powder and slit green chilies. 
7. Fry the entire mixture for few minutes and keep adding water from time to time. Once the entire mixture has cooked add the potatoes and fish pieces. Add adequate water. Usually Rohu curry will have a spicy thick gravy. The amount of gravy depends upon your requirement 
8. In a medium heat let the fish and potato cook. Cover the kadai with a lid. Check from time to time and stir occasionally. Once the potato is soft and fish is done sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and stir once. Turn off the heat. 
9. Pour the entire content in a big dish. Garnish with coriander leaves and slit green chilies. 
10. Serve hot with white rice. Your Spicy Rohu Curry or Rui Macher Kalia is ready to eat.

Paneer Khurchan - a Chef Special

This time I opted the recipe from my favorite Chef's book Kadai Cooking, a book must for any cooking-lover. This is a Cottage Cheese or Paneer recipe, went perfect with the plain nun. I & R found our another favorite dish, after having this delicious food in our dinner of two. 

For the record, here is the original recipe I found in Kadai Cooking by Sanjeev Kapoor, a Chef whom I admire a lot & sometime try to follow his cooking.

Ingredients

•Cottage cheese (paneer),cut into thick strips 250 grams

•Oil 2 tablespoons

•Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon

•Garlic paste 2 teaspoons

•Green capsicum, cut into thick strips 2 medium

•Tomato,seeded and thick strips 2 medium

•Onion  thick strips 2 medium

•Tomato puree 3 tablespoons

•Salt to taste

•Red chilli powder 1 teaspoon

•Lemon juice 1 teaspoon

•Dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi) 1 teaspoon

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a thick-bottomed kadai; add the cumin seeds.
2. When they begin to change colour, add the garlic paste, capsicums, tomatoes and onions and sauté for five or six minutes.
3. Add the paneer, tomato purée, salt and chilli powder. Sauté for a while till the paneer begins to stick to the pan. 
4. Scrape the paneer off the bottom of the pan and sauté for a while longer till the paneer is dark brown and mashed. 
5. Stir in the lemon juice and kasuri methi and serve immediately.