Indian Food Top Chef Challenge Winners -2012

Indian Food Top Chef Challenge Winners -2012

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.

Mushroom Paneer Pulao (my Quick recipe)

To the 8-years Old Friendship! To Yambem & Bunny! Love you Both.

In my last post I have told you about the Chicken Recipe of 31st night. The recipe for the Pulao, which was as good as the Chicken recipe, is here.

Ingredients:

2 cups basmati rice

1 cup button mushrooms

1 cup paneer cubes

1 tbsp. garam masala powder

1 tbsp. ginger-garlic paste

5 tbsps. ghee

1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh mint

2 tbsps. cashewnuts paste

salt to taste

Recipe:

1. Clean and wash the rice. Soak in water for 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Heat 2 tbsps. of ghee in a kadai and fry the spices lightly. Add the mushrooms and the paneer cubes along with the garam masala powder.

3. Add cashewnut paste and about a cup of water and salt to taste.

4. Add the drained rice. Fry for sometime. Then pour 4 cups of water and add salt to taste.

Honey-Orange Chicken with Sesame Sauce

To the 8-years Old Friendship! To Yambem & Bunny! Love you Both.

This one was our in our 31st Night Girls-In Party Dinner. I and my old friend Nandita (we share the same Name!) Yambem spent a great 31st night with her 2 years old son Boon. Boon was busy in his cute-naughty things & I was busy with trying some new recipes. My friend Yambem was taking care of us :) But that night, we missed our old friend & my best friend Nabamita, the third member of our "N-Team" (our name starts with 'N').

This recipe went very well with the Pulao. I was not able to post the recipes regularly because of a major incident of my life. Now I have done my work for that "Major Thing", now waiting for the result. Wish me Luck! After the result, I'll be very much regular in posting. I have so much recipes to share with you all. In the mean time, you can visit my Facebook page "Foods from my Kitchen".

I am sorry I could not take the photo, as my friend R, who always reminds me about taking photographs after I finish cooking something, was not present on that day. But I would love if any of my readers share their photo.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup(s) fresh orange juice

1/3 cup(s) orange blossom or clover honey

1 teaspoon(s) grated ginger

1 teaspoon(s) garlic

1 teaspoon(s) orange zest

1 teaspoon(s) salt

1/8 teaspoon(s) ground black pepper

500gm Chicken

1 teaspoon(s) vegetable oil

1 teaspoon(s) toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon(s) toasted sesame seeds

Recipe:

1. Combine juice, honey, ginger, garlic, zest, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Add chicken; stir to coat. Cover; refrigerate 30 minutes.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat until hot; add vegetable oil and swirl to coat. Lift chicken from marinade and let excess drip back into bowl. When oil is hot, add chicken and cook over medium heat 3 minutes per side, or until golden brown.

3. Add reserved marinade to skillet and boil over medium-high heat, turning chicken once or twice, 3 to 5 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and sauce is reduced by half. Transfer chicken to a cutting board, cut into diagonal slices, and arrange on a platter. Stir sesame oil into thickened sauce and spoon it over chicken. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Tangy Zucchini-Mushroom

This is a recipe tried long back. As I am busy with something so I am not able to post regularly. Hope to meet my readers (if there's any!) soon.

Beetroot 1
Zucchini 1
Chilly 1
Mushroom 2
Salt
Milk 3tbsp
Onion seeds 1/2tsp
Sambar onion 3
garlic 3 cloves
tangy chilly paste 1/4 tsp (see Tips)

Recipe:
1. Heat oil in a pan. Add onion seeds, followed by chopped garlic & onion.

2. After frying for 2mins on medium heat, when onion becomes soft, add the beetroot, zucchini & fry for 2mins. Add the mushrooms. Sauté.

3. Add salt & chilly. Mix properly. Cover & cook for 4mins.

4. Add 2cups water in the tangy chilly paste (see Tips). Add this in the pan. Now cover & cook on low heat untill the beetroot is soft.

5. Now uncover, add milk & cook on medium heat.

6. When the liquid completely dries off, turn off the heat. Serve hot.

Tips:

To make tangy chilly paste:
4 Indian Gooseberry
10-12 Green Chilly
1 tbsp Garlic paste
2 tbsp Ginger paste

Boil the Indian Gooseberry, deseeded. Blend together berry, chilly, ginger & garlic. Add 1 tbsp oil, salt, turmeric powder & mix.

Palaeng Xaakor Khar

A traditional meal in Assam begins with a khar, a class of dishes named after the main ingredient, and ends with a tenga, a sour dish. These two dishes characterize a traditional meal in Assam.

The khar is a signature class of preparations made with a key ingredient, also called khar. The traditional ingredient is made by filtering water through the ashes of a banana tree, which is then called kola khar (The name derived from the locale term of Banana, "Kol" or "Kola"). A traditional meal invariably begins with a khar dish, made of raw papaya, pulses or any other main ingredient. Xôkôta: It is a severely bitter type of preparation. It is prepared with dry jute leaf, urad bean and khar. 

However, the combination of Khar (alkaline) and Tenga (acidic) is not recommended.

This time I prepared the "khar" for the first time. It went very well. I found the recipe from my friends mother. Here is the recipe which I followed. Hope you try & like it :)

Ingredients:

3 cups spinach washed ,chopped and drained

3 tbsp kola khar

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 tbsp mustard oil

3tbsp of red lentils

1/2 cup water approx

salt to taste

Recipe:

1. Wash ,soak lentil for 1/2 hour.

2. Heat oil and add garlic.

3. Stir-fry and add lentils

4. Add the spinach and stir well.

5. Add the kola khar and salt.

6. Add a little water and simmer it till the gravy is thick.

7. Garnish with some mustard oil and chili

8. Serve with hot boiled rice.

Cabbage with Hilsa

Chhyanchra is a very popular delicacy from the Bengali cuisine made with mixed vegetable and fish head.  Chhyanchra is also popularly known as Chancharika is various other places. It is a authentic Bengali recipe that can be very lucidly described as a curry made of one or different types of herbs put together along with vegetables (mainly potatoes and pumpkin) and fish head. For more info click here.

Ingredients

half of bandhakopi \ cabbage

2 potatoes

1 tsp of turmeric powder

2 tsp of red pepper powder

2 tsp of coriander powder

1 bay leaf

½ tsp of panch phoron

1/2 tsp sugar

Salt as per taste

1 Head of Ilish (you can use other Big fishes)

For Ilish fish head:

1 tsp of Turmeric powder +some salt

Method:

1. Finely chop cabbage, cut potatoes in medium cube shapes and clean in water.

2. In a separate saucepan ,heat some oil, and fry marinated the fish head uniformly. Take out the fried ilish fish head, and take some of the cooking oil to add later in preparing chhyanchra.

3. Now in the cooking oil which comes out after frying ilish head , add some more oil 2-3 tbs , add panch phoron and bay leaf , let it splutter.

5. Now add potato pieces, fry them well , add all the masala ingredients, sugar and salt.

6. Add cabbage. Fry for 4-5mins.

7. At this moment add the ilish fish head and water/fish stalk if any (if you don’t feel like adding the  gravy, don’t add it , the chhyachra will be a bit dry).

8. Cover the pan & let it cook for 8-9mins. Do not forget to toss after every 2-3mins.

9. Turn off the flame and let it cool and serve with steamed rice or roti.

Daal with Eggplant

These days are really going fast & I hardly find time to post my recipes. There are so may things I want to share. Now just waiting for February, hope to get some free time then.

Here is one of my favorite dish - Begun diye Muger Daal (Sona moong daal with Eggplant). I first had this in my Boromami's house. My Boromami, Geeta Sengupta, a housemaker, a very good cook, always tries to prepare the same daily food in a different tasty way. I miss her food, here is one for her.

Ingredients:
1 Eggplant
1/2 cup sona moong daal
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
1 tbspn oil
1/2 tspn cumin seeds
1/2 tspn grated ginger
1 bay leaf
1/2 tspn ghee

2 cups of water
Salt to taste

sugar

Recipe:
1. Cut eggplant into medium pieces. Heat oil in a kadai & shallow fry the eggplant pieces.

2. Pressure cook the daal with 2 cups of water, salt and turmeric powder until done. Wait for 10 minutes for the pressure to release.

3. Heat the oil in the pan, add cumin seeds and allow to pop-up.

4. Add the ginger and bay leaf, stir for a minute.

5. Add the ghee and pour the daal over it & cook on high heat. If required you can add more water. When bubble starts to appear, add the fried eggplants. Add sugar & salt (if salt is required). Cook on low heat for 5-7 mins.