Kachki Maach er Charchari

Kechki Maach er Charchari | Small fish like Minnow or white bait cooked with potatoes and eggplant 

Kechki, Kachki or Kaski is a tiny, shimmering like silver fish that is very commonly found in freshwater ponds, streams and rivers of rural Bengal. They are really tiny, even smaller than the mourala fish.  These small fishes have such soft bones that they are cooked and eaten whole. Full of vitamins and nutrients they are very popular both in Bangladesh and West Bengal.

I think these fishes are farmed now days given that their popularity has soared high and export contributes a big chunk to this fishery business.. However when we lived in this small town by the river Ganga where the river swelled and rode high during the rainy season, the river water brimming with small fishes would spill into narrow streams and canals. This is where a variety of tiny fishes and small shrimps were caught by young kids with pieces of a woven cloth cloth called gamcha. Our house help's young boy often joined that crowd and brought back a lot of shrimp and chyala maach.

Here in the US, far from that small town, I get Kechki or Kaski, in Bangladeshi stores. All cleaned, they come in these small packets or trays in the freezer aisle along with a lot of other small and not-so-small fishes. 

The only time I buy and make this Kechki Charchari is when my mom is here. Surprisingly my mother never made anything with Kechki. Mourala was her limit when limit tended to tiny fish. But she loves all kinds of fish and so likes this Charchari.

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The husband-man’s home is where all the tiny fish charcharis ruled. Though he is not fond of Rui Kaatla type of fish he likes the Kechki Charchari.

He thinks of his Dida and anxiously reminds me to pour mustard oil generously when I cook it. The last time you air fried the Kechki, the Charchari didn’t taste as good as Dida’s he says.

Of course it didn’t. Nothing tastes as good as nostalgia, glugs of mustard oil and what grandmothers made.

When I poste this photo on FB earlier this week, I got several great recipe ideas. Sharing some for future use

Soupayan Sarkar We first marinate them with chopped onion, julienned potato, kalo jira, salt and turmeric. Then we quick blanch some large laupata. Then make a small potli of fish wrapped with the laupata. Then those potlis are quickly shallow fried. Tastes heavenly with rice.

Cynthia Nelson Here in the Caribbean we call it Nettley 😀 it is seasoned with a fresh herb paste that includes lots of hot pepper and some turmeric and fried crisp. It is usually eaten with dhal, rice and some type of fiery achar. Finger-licking good! 😄

Jayati N

Oh I love this variety.... aam kashundi chorchori....shorshe posto baati chorchori .....dhonepata.kancha.lonka.makha makha ..... tomato.roshun.poda.chatni.type.... pineapple.diye.tok.......narkolbata.shorshe.diye.kumropatay.paturi.... aloo.bodi.diye.patla.jhol.....

Yummmmmmmmm

Shukla Biswas My girls love this fish, either kora Kore bhaja with daal or bati chochhori with sliced potatoes green chilies and onions,and of course a generous tablespoon of shorsher tel just before turning the stove off.

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I made this Kechki Charchari for a bhaiphota lunch few weeks back. Isn't eating a variety of good food is the reason why we have so many festivals right?

I made mostly fish dishes for lunch that day. We started off with Moghlai Parota but then Muri Ghonto, Kechki Charchari, Ilish Bhaape -- was on the lunch menu. Though both my girls are not fond of fish, their "bhaiphota brothers" are true connoisseurs of good food and will happily eat fish. I had added some shrimp, to give the charchari some bite and also to make the charchari more familiar for them. 

Now I don't know how much the brothers liked it, but us, the parents of all the brothers and sisters gorged on the charchari. 

Mughlai Parota | Moglai Parota | Spicy Potato Curry -- a hack on Kolkata's favorite street food

Mughlai Parota | Moglai Parota | Spicy Potato Curry

Mughlai Parota or Moglai Parota,  a very popular street food in Kolkata, is a  rectangular shaped flaky, crispy, fried bread with a filling of eggs, seasoned and cooked ground meat, onions and green chilies. It is served with a spicy potato curry (aloo r tarkari), slices of red onions and sometimes ketchup. The paratha dough is made with flour, water and oil but a good Moghlai paratha will have thin layers and a flaky texture due to rolling tricks unlike the regular parathas. Here, the husband-man has used a genius hack to make exactly those flaky, crispy layered paratha with minimum effort.  Read on.

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Having lived most of my life in small towns far away from the cultural and food mecca of Bengal. Moglai parota for us was a rare treat. My maternal grandparents lived in North Kolkata and it was our annual "mama r bari" sojourn that promised all of these delicacies. From Flury's pastries to Kheer er Shingara, from egg rolls to aloor chop - the list was endless.

During one of our Kolkata holidays my mamas aka uncles asked if I wanted Moglai Parota for dinner. It was around the time that I had just been introduced to the Mughal empire courtesy of Amar Chitra Katha. As a child I was an avid reader and quick to draw up imaginary visuals in my age. So naturally given its  Mughal name, I conjured up a setting of scintillating chandeliers, silken tassels, brocade couches and ornate utensils and could not contain my excitement.

Imagine my situation when instead I was ushered in to a small restaurant with rickety wooden tables and chairs and curtained cubicles called cabins. I was crestfallen and suspicious of those swinging wooden doors of the cabins. I do not remember if it was Anadi Cabin but I was definitely crestfallen by the restaurant and suspicious of those swinging wooden doors of the cabins. That young couples with guilty and flushed faces entering or coming out of them did not help either! I guess I had all the qualities of a judgmental "Bong Mashima" even at that young age.😝

However all of that vanished when the Moglai Parotas and aloo r torakri was served and sheer joy ensued when I took a bite of that Moglai. Later we would also get Moglai parota from a trusted street side stall near my Mama r Bari. They would come wrapped in newsprint packets and perfume our evenings with their delicious, fried fragrance and taste.

The cabin restaurants dated back to the British Raj and the cabins were designed to give privacy to women and also young couples in a society which abhorred any PDA between young lovers. These restaurants, primarily in North Kolkata, were very popular with middle-class Bengalis until the late 80s.One of those restaurants, Anadi Cabin, a 94 year old establishment is what has made Moglai Parota a dish to salivate over and crave for most Bengalis.

Though it is believed that the Mughlai paratha originated during Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s reign (1569-1627) and it was a creation of his cook Adil Hafiz Usman, the Moglai Parota gained popularity among the common man as a street food. Most Bengalis, including me, have no idea about Jahangir but we all know that the best Moglai Parota always comes from, a street side stall, the one on wheels with an aluminum counter top and a kerosene stove raging fire or from one of the old North Kolkata restaurants.

Now since we do not get Moghlai Parota here, we tried many methods to recreate it. Since my rolling skills are pretty bad, we could never get the flaky and layered parota taste which is the USP for Kolkata Moghlai for us. The husband-man therefore came up with this brilliant idea of using Phyllo Dough sheets to make the parota or bread and it was a huge hit. He has been making it for a few years now but the only problem is he doesn't make it frequently :-(

Now what is Phyllo Dough ? Filo or phyllo is a very thin unleavened dough used for making pastries such as baklava and börek in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. We get packaged phyllo dough sheets, which are flaky, layered sheets of tissue-thin pastry dough. The husband-man used sheets of that to make the Moghlai Parota. 

Video Link for How to Make Moglai Parota

Joynagar er Moa | a winter Bengali treat from Bulbul Majumder

Joynagar er Moa | a winter Bengali treat

Joynagar er Moa is a famous but rustic sweet of Bengal. Made from khoi , kheer and nolen gur, it is a rare winter treat made in the small town of Joynagar about 50 kms from Kolkata. What makes Joynagar er Moa so famous is the Kanakchur Khoi(Bengali: কনকচূড়) ,made from Kanakchur rice, an aromatic variety of rice from West Bengal, India. The popped rice or Khoi prepared from Kanakchur retains that aroma. This Khoi and locally harvested Nalen Gur(Khejur Gur) is used to prepare the Jaynagarer Moa. When one says local and seasonal, Khejur Gur and Joynangarer Moa are the first things that come to my mind! The Joynagar er Moa recipe I have shared here is with ingredients I get here in the US.

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A few years back, Baba had sent me these pictures from the local sweet shops in Kolkata which also sell this sweet during winter. This was not the case when I was growing up. You could not just go to a store and buy it. 

In our small, sleepy, town, quiet winter afternoons were frequently nudged out of slumber, by the soulful cries of "Moa chai... Joynagar er Moa" as hawkers from the village, went from home to home, selling this delicacy. The syllables rounded into soft o's and a's morphing into the sweet balls themselves with such potency that we often imitated the "Moa chai...Joynagar er Moa" cries during evening play. They would come on bicycles, loaded with plain white paper boxes tied with yellow or blue strings, the boxes labeled as "Joynagar er Moa" in Bengali scripts. 

There was a certain longing in those cries, a clarion call, it stirred an intense desire within you and even if my Mother was taking a nap I would nudge her that the Joynagar er Moa guy is here. Some of those sellers were authentic, some not. Mother had an uncanny instinct and she would know. After the usual bargaining over price and quality a box was bought. Those plump round balls of khoi and kheer, with raisin at the center and sweetened with  patali aka khejur gur were the treats we looked forward to every winter.

Here is the Joynagar er Moa or rather "Amar Nagar Moa" recipe. Now let me be clear, that the very unique taste of Joynagar er Moa, comes from ingredients(kanakchur khoi and poyra gur (liquid khejur gur))  specific to that area. Since you don't have access to those, yours will be close but never the same. Nothing can beat the taste of quality, local ingredients❤. But the unfortunate ones, living far away, can try to make a close second, or third.

I got this recipe from Bulbul Majumder last year and since then have made it a couple of time. Bulbul who is a Software Engineer by profession and a watercolor artist by passion. She believes that if we wish to achieve something from the heart we can always make it real. She lives on the side of the globe which is far apart from Bengali dishes but her strong wish and her Bengali taste buds inspires her to create the magic in her US kitchen.

Bulbul is an artist par excellence and her paintings are truly mesmerizing. 

When I asked her, when she is feeling low, what is the one thing that makes her happy; her answer as expected was painting. It is a rare gift to have a passion that can bring so much happiness.

#happinessproject

Nonta or Jhaal Koraishutir Patishapta - Bengali Crepes

The deluge of Pithe and Patishapta photos on my social media feeds finally got to me. I wasn't feeling exactly inclined to making anything as both my mother and in-laws have been not that well, and my mother, the trooper that she is did not have the energy to make anything for Sankranti.

But then the "hyangla" person in me got the better of me. If I did not make anything for Sankranti, how would I eat at least a patishapta ? It is not that we have a mishti'r dokan across the street selling perfectly rolled patishaptas or doodh puli or roshobora bobbing in syrup. Btw, all this patishapta and pithe being commercially sold is a very recent affair. There used to be pithe utsab etc but never were these found in neon lit glass shelves of mishtanno bhandars. It was always a made-in-the home affair.

So finally, I got my fat behind off the couch and made two kind of stuffing on Thursday night -- the traditional coconut-jaggery stuffing and a savory green peas stuffing. Now the problem with stuffing is, they are so good by themselves that it is hard to wait to make the actual thing that goes around the stuffing. It needs lot of mental strength to not keep eating them.

Now why the green pea savory stuffing? Because my girls are not fond of the sweet coconut jaggery stuffing. On the other hand, they both like the green pea stuffing that goes in a koraishutir kochuri. 

So the easiest workaround to do ek dheel e dui paakhi, is to make the nonta or jhaal patishapta with the same koraishuti filling and the regular sweet patishapta with the coconut-jaggery stuffing.

Chirer Pulao | Poha the Bengali way

Chirer Pulao | Poha the Bengali way

Bengali Chirer Pulao or Chirar Polao is largely similar to a Poha, with small differences like the former does not usually have kari patta, is sweeter and is overall Bong. Made with flattened rice, called chire or poha, the Bengali version is studded with vegetables like potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and sweet peas in winter. Garnished with fried peanuts or cashews, coriander leaves and a squeeze of lime it is a sweet and tart delight, prefect for breakfast.

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Food happiness is when your food takes you back to a happy place. It is like a short vacation to a place where you will probably never return to or at least not for now. The few minutes in your mind makes up for it and the warmth of the memories are enough to piggyback on for rest of the day. Like this Chirer Pulao today took me back to my home in the small town that holds a special place in my heart. I will never be able to go back to that home and the sepia toned memories, now colored in my mind, makes it all the more special.

Winter is a season of beauty and fresh vegetables in the plains of Bengal and nowhere else it makes as much as a show as it does in the smaller towns and villages.

 In the small town that we lived, every house or rather quarter/bungalow had a stretch of overgrown lawn in the front and a patio at the back called uthon. The uthon which was usually cemented had a few trees, a koltola (an area for washing clothes and utensils) and a water storage tank called choubachcha, as water supply through the pipes was only twice a day and water had to be collected in large quantity for later use. I loved our uthon with its huge mango tree and spent most of the winter sitting there under the sun with my books.

The front lawn however was a different story. Depending on the interest of the dwellers, the front lawn could be a fully maintained vegetable farm producing everything from potatoes to cauliflowers or a flower garden that could put a prize nursery to shame or even a rectangular badminton lawn.

 

Unfortunately our front lawn was none of these. It was just a large expanse of green grassy lawn from the gate to the front porch bordered by orange marigolds and shadowed by a huge banyan tree in a corner. The banyan tree took all the attention, praised for shade and breeze in summer and blame for blocking the sun in winter -- oi ashwatha gaach wala bari ta was how our house was identified.

Towards the back of the lawn were a couple of guava trees, and a patch of kitchen garden on the side by the kitchen, tended by my mom. Her kitchen garden in winter boasted mostly of juicy red tomatoes, some carrots and coriander. Not much compared to the huge haul of vegetables that our neighbors would produce. However we did get the occasional cauliflower and potatoes as gifts from the neighbors. 

Even otherwise, vegetables at the nearby haat were as fresh. All local. All organic. Smelling of earth, air, water and manure. I don't know if winter vegetables just tasted better in their texture and taste  but I was way more fond of cauliflower, carrots and sweet peas than the summer veggies of parwal and lauki!

So in winter, Chirer Pulao studded with tiny cauliflower florets, orange jewel like carrot pieces and emerald green sweet peas was a favorite for breakfast or school tiffin.

As far as I go Chirer Pulao is largely similar to a Poha, with small differences like the former does not have kari patta, is sweeter and is overall Bong. The experts may differ. My Mother made chirer pulao with a tadka of cumin seeds and finished it with lime juice and fresh coriander leaves. Sometimes she seasoned it with mustard seeds and curry leaves. It would be a little sweet and tart. That chirer pulao would be studded with crunchy brown fried chinebadam pale on the inside, alu bhaja -- finger length potatoes fried and soft, crunchy florets of cauliflower sautéed to a soft golden brown and luminescent green jewel like sweet pea motorshuti . It was a simple dish, I thought.

The first time I tried to make it on my own in the US, my self-esteem took a good beating. The chirer pulao turned into a chirer khichuri. And it all happened in the split second that I was searching for the mustard seeds while the poha was soaking. I did not know of a term called "mise en place" and I did not know I was using thin poha. It was the wrong kind. The thick poha stands a better chance of holding its own and is the poha of choice for Chirer Pulao.

Having survived that tragedy, I have been making the chirer pualo the way my Mother makes and it is still a favorite. I add more vegetables than the Poha and I also add cooked Oats at times to the same recipe,

Ilish Maacher Tauk -- heady memories

Ilish Tauk | Ilish Machher Tok/Ambol | Hilsa Fish Chutney

Chutney, Ambol and Tok are the three different varieties of sour dishes in Bengal, the difference being in the sourness and thickness of the gravy in the dish. While Chutneys are the sweetest with a thick, sticky base, the ambol and tauk/tok are more sour and have a thinner gravy. Of all this, the Tauk(or Tok) is supposed to be the most sour. Since fish is abundant in Bengal, fish often features in a Tok or Ambol. Usually it's the tiny Mourala  which goes in a Tok or the fish head and tail of Hilsa (Ilish Macher Tok).  This tangy stew kinda dish is had as a last course, mixed with rice and supposed to have cooling effects in the hot summer.

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Update: This post was originally done in2012. I am updating with new photos and more precise recipe in 2021.

Amidst the umpteen other things that my Dida(maternal grandmother) cooked, there was an Ilish Macchher Tauk. Heads of ambrosial Ilish suspended in a thick, brown, sweet and syrupy liquid that was sweetened with jaggery and soured by ripe tamarind. To call it a "Hilsa Head Chutney" would be plain blasphemy.

It was a backstage kinda dish. I mean while the choicest pieces of Ilish were fried and served as is in a bhaja, the beautiful steak pieces steamed as a bhapa in clinging mustard sauce with fluffed white rice, the fish roe were fried and served with the tel and fresh green chili, the head and the tail led a sad life in waiting.

"Too many bones. Can't eat it", said the young girls in the family with a toss of freshly washed step-cut hair.

"Not enough meat in these pieces", said the grown up men who thought it beneath themselves to be served a lyaja -- a fish tail.

"Rohu heads are better. This has a strong smell", said the younger men, their faces till gentle, their opinion yet not chauvinistic.

And so the matha and the lyaja -- the fish head and the fish tail -- waited in my Dida's kitchen till she was done with the bhaja, the jhaal, the jhol. By then the sun was high up, the crows sitting on the Neem tree outside the kitchen were tired of all the cawing, the neighborhood cat had a princely meal of Ilish fish scales and was patiently waiting by the kaltala for the remains from the men's lunch plates who could never chew on the fish bones. The kaajer mashi--the house help-- Minoti'r Ma was hovering around the back door waiting to see which piece she would be taking home.

Ilish Mach er Tok/Ambol

It was then that my Dida opened up a green lidded plastic jar where lay a block of tamarind, brown, ripe and sticky wrapped in a piece of Bartaman.
The matha and the lyaja heaved relief. They loved the tauk. They loved being in that tangy, sweet liquid where they were the stars of the dish.

Minoti'r Ma stopped fretting and came to sit by the stove. I kept telling Ma that I would have lunch later with Dida and the older women. Dida put the kadahi back on the unoon and poured some more Mustard Oil in it. Minoti'r Ma rubbed the tamarind in a bowl full of water to take out the seeds and make the "kaath". The water slowly turned a deep burnt sienna and the kadhai hissed with scarlet red chili and mustard seeds. The matha and lyaja nudged each other and smiled. Their moment had come. As they bubbled in the tamarind gravy of the tauk sweetened by jaggery I waited patiently for the last course of my meal. The Ilish maacher Matha'r tauk.

My Mother made this tauk way back in March when she was visiting. I merely hovered around in anticipation. She and I are the only ones in the family who will eat this dish nowadays. So I wait for her--to visit us---and amidst many other things to cook me a Ilish Maacher tauk.

Ma'r Peper Shukto -- Green Papaya Shukto

Peper Shukto | Raw Green Papaya Shukto

Shukto, in Bengali cuisine holds a very important place as a palate cleansing starter to a gourmet meal. Dating back in origin to the medieval period (as mentioned in Mangal-Kavya, shukto recipes might vary over time and region but a bitter vegetable is always the mainstay. The more common Bengali shukto is cooked with a mélange of vegetables. This very different Pepe Shukto made by my mother, has grated raw green papaya and bitter gourd, both vegetables having immense medicinal qualities and is the perfect start to a meal on a summer day.

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Some people cook a lot in times of stress. I am not one of them. I think my Mother is.

Last year, when India went into lockdown during Covid, I had suggested that my parents get food delivered from a caterer. A friend suggested a home caterer recommended by her elderly parents in the same area as my parents. There was some initial resistance from my parents,

My Mother had always cooked all our meals as far back as I can remember. She never liked the idea of a cook and on the few occasions that she had one, she couldn't wait to get rid of the "cook" person.  Naturally she was not very eager about this home delivery. However I was getting worried about them going out for daily grocery, vegetables, fish etc. during Covid and so the home delivery seemed like a wise decision at that point. Simple Bengali dishes, cooked at home by the gentleman's wife, enough for two meals for my parents. 

Surprisingly, they soon took to the home delivery, in particular the person who ran the business, and on occasions my Baba would even praise the cooking. "Enchorer torkari ta besh bhalo korechilo, laal rong hoyechilo jhol tar," my not-interested-in-food Baba would say over the phone.

Many of you know that I was in India in the later part of last year. The home delivery was still continuing. The food was good but for someone like me, who cooks mostly in Olive oil and always chooses low-oil options, the aloo-potol er dalna with a slick layer of oil floating on top or the jackfruit curry with a shimmer of oil like a placid lake, was too much for everyday meals. The oil was not in excess for those used to full course Bengali/Indian meals but I realized it was me, whose food habit had changed with time and environment,

So to complement the food delivered with healthier options, I started popping across to the small store across our housing complex, every other day to get some vegetables that could be steamed or boiled. I bought the same vegetables every time -- a raw papaya (pepe), a couple of bittergourd, carrots, green chilli and lime. I would then add all these vegetables to a pot of lentils and boil them together, to make a dal with vegetables. I was in no mood to do anything more.

One day for lunch, I saw a beige colored vegetable dish with a bay leaf peeping out for lunch. It was not from the home-delivery tiffin carrier. My mother sheepishly admitted, that she had made Pepe'r Shukto. I had never heard of it. Neither did I understand the point of making hundred different types of shukto.

Maybe my mother got tired of the raw green papaya and bittergourd that I would always steam with the lentils, maybe she just wanted to do something that would keep her mind busy, maybe she wanted to be engaged again in her kitchen, to go back to a routine...I don't know. What I admired was that with so many things going on, she gathered strength to grate a raw green papaya, chop bittergourd and make a dish which was far more complex than the boiled fare I had been doing all along!

I have never been fond of any kind of shukto ever but I have started making this Pepe'r shukto often. My friends and the husband-man seem to love it. In my mother's version it is more sweet than bitter and with a generous amount of ghee, it could pass off as an almost dessert!! Naturally, my version has less sugar and ghee but if you want be generous with those.

Ma-in-law's Macher Dim er Bora Jhol | Fish Roe Fritters

Maachher Dim er Bora | Bengali Fish Roe Fritters

For fish loving Bengalis, the fish roe or macher dim is a delicacy that they hanker for. Nope we are not talking of caviar! While Ilish maach er dim(Hilsa Fish roe) is the star, the Rui Maach er dim comes a strong second when it is made into fritters or bora. Mostly available during the monsoon season, the fish roe of sweet water fish like Rui or Carp makes a mundane lunch fantastic for the Bengali middle class.

Jump To Recipe

Last Friday Big Sis had her second dose of Covid-19 vaccine and with that all of us eligible for vaccine have been vaccinated. Waiting for Pfizer to give the green light for 12-15 year olds now.

Now the reason I brought up the vaccine is that the pharmacy where BS's vaccine was scheduled was close to a South Asian fish and meat store. So how could I not stop by and get some fish? You tell me! That would be so impolite right?

Now that my mom is here, we have been going more often to the fish store than ever before. This time I stopped by thinking to get the tiny fish called Kaachki or Mola fish. Along with a pack of that tiny fish, I also saw a tray of Rui Maacher Dim -- Fish Roe and picked it up. 

In my home, my Dad was not very adventurous when it came to food and so Ilish Maacher Dim aka Hilsa fish roe was the only fish roe that he enjoyed. Since Hilsa Fish Roe is a star by itself, it is best enjoyed fried as it is and nothing else was ever made out of it. A few times my Mother would get Rui Macher Dim and make the fritters as a snack for me and her to enjoy, but those were few and far in between.

On the other hand, in my in-law's house Maacher Bora and Maacher Tel are very popular. My ma-in-law makes a delicious curry with the fish roe fritters too. 

So when I go the fish roe, I texted her for the recipe. Guess what my 70+ year old Ma-in-law tells me. She said "Search in UTube, oikhane shob ecipe thake". I mean really!! So then I called her and clarified that I wanted her recipe and not "YouTube's". She gave me the recipe of the fritters and then said that I could add it to a peyaaj-roshun deoa jhol like a rich version of fish curry. She also added that her son, who is not very fond of  Rui/Kaatla type of fish actually loves maacher dim!!! 

Lau with Dhonepaata - Lauki in Coriander-Poppy Seed paste

Some days you wake up in the morning on a weekend and your life is so mundane that you sit down with a cup of chai and a foot long bottlegourd. No, you do not do anything new with the bottlegourd, you just chop it! You might also be watching something on your iPad while all the mundane chopping. Something like Bridgerton, which I had been resisting for a while and then finally gave in. Your life seems just more mundane.

You then wonder who were the first people who discovered turmeric and cumin and coriander, and then decided to make a paste of these spices, and add it to flavor their food. Long before wars were fought and new lands discovered, who was the one who said --"Let me add a dash of cumin and a pinch of turmeric to today's dish".

Who were these interesting people? Did they go to debutante balls and ride horses? Did they work in chemistry labs with pipets and glass flasks?

This was not just slapping a piece of meat on a fire and cooking it. This was far more nuanced. Like, who decided to grind certain lentils into a paste, whip them up all airy, then put dollops of that batter to dry in the sun and make Vadis/Boris? They never went to a culinary school or any school and yet they knew all the techniques. In that situation, I would never know to experiment to that rigorous level. At the most, I would pound green chilies and salt and add it to the meat which I would then throw onto the fire. Isn't that sad ?

Frustrated by your lackluster life, with no Duke of Hastings in the horizon, you are hell bent on unleashing your innovative, genius inner soul to unsuspecting family members. So you do best with what you have in hand. A little different combination of spices for the familiar.  So instead of making my usual Lau Chingri or Bori diye Lau, I made a Lau in Coriander-Green Chili -Poppy seed paste. Yeah, big deal. Not. 

But Dhonepaata baata diye Lau tasted very good and different. Not radically different but different enough to jazz up my morning. You must try it.

The tender lau, lauki or bottle gourd with its soothing green skin soothes the eyes in harsh summer and because of its high water content has a cooling effect and so is one of the preferred veggies in the summer months. According to ayurveda, the cooked bottlegourd is cooling, diuretic, sedative and anti­bilious(corrects secretion of bile). It gives a feeling of relaxation after eating it. It is rich in essential minerals and fiber.

Bengalis make a variety of dishes with lau over the summer from Moog Dal Chhora Diye Lau, Doodh Lau with milk and a little sweet in taste, Lau er Malaikari where the bottlegourd is cooked in a rich coconut gravy to the all time favorite Lau Chingri where bottle gourd is cooked with shrimp. The Dhonepaata Lau now got added to that lau repertoire .

Lau with Dhonepaata - Lauki in Coriander Poppy Seed paste

Ingredients

Lau/Lauki/Bottlegourd ~ 3 cups. Peeled and chopped in small cubes

For Paste
Green Chilli ~ 3-4 Green chili
Coriander leaves - 1/2 Cup(loosely packed) fresh coriander leaves

Posto/Poppy seeds - 1 Tbsp

Make a paste with little water.

For Tempering

Kalojeera/Kalonji/Nigella Seeds -- 1/2 tsp

Ginger - 2 tsp grated

Green Chilli - 2 slit

Other 

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Sugar - 1 tsp

Mustard Oil - 1 Tbsp

Start Cooking

Heat Mustard oil in a Kadhai/Frying pan

Temper the oil with

1/2 tsp of Kalonji

1 tsp grated Ginger

2 Green Chili

Add the chopped bottlegourd and stir it for a few minutes. Sprinkle salt to taste and a pinch of turmeric powder. Cover and cook until bottle gourd softens. Bottlegourd releases water and the vegetable will cook in its own juice.

Once the lauki/bottlegourd is almost 3/4th cooked, add the coriander-green chili-poppy seed paste. Add 1 more tsp of grated ginger.

Add about 1 tsp of sugar and adjust salt to taste. Sprinkle a little water if necessary.

Mix the spices and the vegetables and cook until the bottlegourd is fully cooked. 

Garnish with some chopped coriander leaves and this light dish is perfect for the summer heat.

Alternate option: For a richer dish, add some grated coconut along with the coriander-poppy seeds

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Chana Bhaapa | Bhapa Paneer -- Steamed Paneer in Mustard sauce

Chhana Bhapa | Bhapa Paneer | Steamed Paneer in Mustard sauce

Chana Bhaape or Steamed Paneer is a very popular Bengali Dish where fresh home-made chhana (ricotta cheese) is steamed in a a sauce of mustard and coconut. It is a very quick and simple recipe. Traditionally steamed in a pot or pressure cooker but I do it in the microwave. This recipe for Chhana Bhapa tells you both methods.

Jump To Recipe

This past weekend, close friends across 2 states came visiting. They wanted to meet my mom but were waiting to get vaccinated before coming. 

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One of them has converted in her food habits and is now a complete vegetarian. She really loved fish and meat and then one fine day, she just stopped eating any of those. And not for health reasons or because someone told her to. For the past year, I kept thinking she would quit, would start eating at least eggs, but nope she is still a vegetarian.

I think it takes a lot of discipline to do that. To give up something, not for the purpose of achieving a goal or anything but to just let go.❤

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So anyway, we being Bengali and she being Bengali, I am always worried as to what vegetarian food to cook for her. I mean she is a good cook and cooks a variety of vegetarian food anyway at home. Also she is more fond of Bengali vegetarian than say a plate of pasta.

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Bengali vegetarian recipes are in plenty and with little nuances each one is very unique.

This time, I made two dishes, that she had not tasted before. She really loved them. We chatted so much and she talked to my Mom about her spiritual journey and in the middle of all that, I forgot to take photos of the other food items, or the table, or people!! I forgot to even look at my phone almost all weekend!!!

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🌱This was our **vegetarian spread** -- Motor Dal, Motor Dal er Bora (lentil fritters), Kolmi saag with Begun, Peper Shukto, Paneer Bhaape, Phulkopi korma(again my Mom's recipe), Pineapple Chutney and Malpua.

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🌱This here is **Chhana Bhaape** with shorshe posto (Steamed paneer with mustard and coconut). Many of you know this and it's an easy dish with great taste.

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🌱The other dish that she loved was **Pepe r Shukto**. Shukto with grated green Papaya. That's my Mother's recipe and has a delicate taste.

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The Chhana Bhaapa or Steamed Paneer in mustard sauce is exactly like our Shorshe Chingri Bhaape.  It has all the key Bengali elements of mustard paste, coconut and loads of mustard oil. The "bhaape" here means a cooking process where the food is cooked by steaming. Traditionally these "bhaape" dishes were done in two ways.

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a steel tiffin box, close the lid and put it in a pressure cooker to steam.

2. Mix all the ingredients together, wrap in a banana leaf, tuck the leaf parcel in the pot of rice which is almost cooked and still hot and steaming. Here the leaf parcel is cooked by latent heat. Often such dishes steamed in a leaf are also called paaturi.

Here I have made this in microwave and it is super simple. Don't get intimidated by the steps. I have deliberately broken down the steps to making the mustard paste, posto paste etc.

Gondhoraj Bhetki| Gondhhoraj Fish-- Fish flavored with Lime leaves

Gondhoraj Fish

The first time I had Gondhoraj Bhetki was about seven or eight years back at Oh! Calcutta. Even at that time, Bengali restaurants serving Bengali food in a great ambience was rare and Oh!Calcutta was kind of a trail blazer. I had found the food good enough but the restaurant too expensive. Two things had caught my fancy. One was their Nolen Gur er Ice Cream, I had never had that one before. Second was their Gondhoraj Bhetki. 

Recently, my friend Nandini shared with me her version of Gondhoraj Fish, made with Basa and Kaffir Lime leaves. It was delicious. I took  her recipe from the eastern part of the world and married it with part of my friend Kaushik's recipe of  Fish with Garlic and Lime from the west. The result was so delicious that this has now become one of our favorite fish to cook.

But my question is can I still call this dish Gondhoraj Bhetki if I used neither Gondhoraj nor Bhetki ? The recipe is same and I am sure the flavors hit all the right lime-y notes. The thing is if I wait for the right ingredients I will never cook half of the dishes I have grown up eating!

Gondhoraj Lebu is a special variety of lime which Bengalis are very possessive about. Oblong in shape and a pretty, vibrant lime green in color, it is larger than your regular Indian lime but not very juicy. A wedge of Gondhoraj Lime will yield only a few drops of juice but it is their heady scent that they are most known for. The citrus fragrance of this lime is so potent that it lingers on for hours after you have had your meal.

Originating in Sylhet and the hilly tracts of Chittagong, the gondhoraj is actually a Rangpur lime — a cross between a lime and a mandarin orange. 

Now there is no way that I can get Gondhoraj Lebu here, and even if I do in the freezer of some Bangladeshi store, I do not know if they will still carry their fragrance from the soil of their homeland million miles away. So I settled for the leaves of its distant cousin, Kaffir Lime, which I get in abundance in the Asian stores here.

I could have searched for Baramundi fish(Bhetki Fish) but I didn't and instead settled for what I had in my freezer.

Gondhoraj Fish-- Fish flavored with Kaffir Lime leaves

Fish fillet - Basa or Bhetki or Tilapia

I have used 4 Tilapia Loins each cut in three 2" x 2" pieces (approx. 400 gm of fish)

Marinade 1

Ginger paste - 1&1/2 heaped tsp

Garlic paste - 1 heaped tsp

Lime Juice - 1 Tbsp

Salt - to taste

Marinade 2

Yogurt - 1/2 Cup

Milk - 1/2 Cup

Heavy Cream - 2 Tbsp (for more creamy gravy use 1/3 Cup))

Lime zest - zest from 1 medium lime or half of a big one

Green Chilies - 2 chopped fine or made into paste

For the Gravy

Garlic - 6-8 fat cloves minced

Green Chilies - 4 chopped fine

Kaffir Lime Leaves - 2-3

Sugar - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil - 3 Tbsp Mustard oil or Olive Oil

Wash the fish filet, cut in 2" x 2" pieces, pat dry.

Toss the fish pieces with Marinade 1 as follows

1.5 heaped tsp Ginger paste

1 heaped tsp Garlic paste

1 Tbsp Lime Juice

Salt 

Let it rest for 15-20 mins

In another bowl add the ingredients in Marinade 2

1/2 Cup Yogurt 

1/4 Cup Milk 

2 Tbsp Heavy Cream

Lime zest from 1 small lime or half of a big one

2 Green Chilies chopped fine or made into paste

Take the fish pieces out of Marinade 1 and put in Marinade 2.  Toss it well and let it rest for next 20 minutes.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Warm 2 tablespoon of oil(I used Olive oil. You can use Mustard oil) .

Stir in the minced garlic and the green chilies. Sauté them until you get a beautiful aroma

Remove the fish pieces from the marinade and gently add to the skillet. Cook one side for 3 minutes and then gently flip the fish pieces.

Now pour the marinade into the pan. Cook at medium heat for about 10 minutes.

Add salt and a little sugar to taste and mix it in. Add few Kafir Lime leaves or Gondhoraj Lime leaves. Add couple more green chilies slit at the center. Taste and if you want more citrus flavor add 1 more tsp of Lime juice.

Switch off heat and keep covered for the next 10 minutes. Serve with steaming white rice.

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Kamala Salmon | Salmon cooked with Orange in an Indian Curry

Komola Salmon|Salmon cooked with Oranges and spices

Kamola Katla is a fish dish cooked with fragrant oranges made very popular by the Bengali movie Maacher Jhol. My Kamala Salmon has no relation to our Madame VP and is Salmon cooked with 🍊 oranges in a tangy, spicy Indian Curry

It's been a while since I wrote here. A lot has happened since my last post but I won't go there right now. I just  wanted to write down this recipe so I don't forget. Have you seen the movie? 

If you are a Bengali, you must have seen @pratimdgupta 's famous movie #MaacherJhol. If you haven't, umm...don't know what to say, just watch it. It's either on Netflix or Prime. Even if you are not a Bengali, go ahead and watch it, turn on subtitles. Kamola Katla is a fish dish with oranges made very popular by the Bengali movie Maacher Jhol. 

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So I did not know about *Komola Kaatla* or Kaatla fish cooked with fragrant oranges before this movie. Yes, I probably live under a rock or a world where all our oranges were consumed.

a. As is.

b. In Juice form.

c. In a dessert like Komola Kheer.

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In fact I had never even thought of pairing oranges with fish in an Indian curry until then!

The idea of oranges and fish seemed like a beautiful fragrant pair to try out. Since Salmon is our fish of choice and orange glazed salmon is pretty delicious I decided to make a Komola Salmon almost similar to the Kamola Kaatla. I have cooked this fish curry a few times now with Salmon. The tangy, spicy fish curry with soft morsels of oranges is really delicious and a favorite with my girls ❤

I cook it several different ways. In one option, I bake the salmon and then add to gravy. In another I directly add the fish to gravy and cook in there. Sometimes I add Green Pepper aka Capsicum, on other days Cauliflower. On good days I sprinkle a few sesame seeds and add more orange juice. On others make do with less

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Possibilities are endless with this one. Any which way it's a delicious fish curry and is pretty simple to make.

 

I prep the fish in one of the two ways:

a. Marinate the salmon as instructed in the recipe, bake it with a drizzle of mustard oil at 250F for 25 mins, then add to the gravy and finish cooking there.

b. Marinate the salmon as instructed in the recipe, then add it directly to the pan and cook in the gravy

Kamala Salmon | Salmon cooked with Orange in an Indian Curry

Prep

Make juice of 2 Navel oranges. From each orange, we get about 5 Tbsp or 1/4th cup of Juice

Salmon -- 6 pieces of salmon 3" x 4"

Marinate the salmon with

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Red chili Powder

salt

2 Tbsp Orange Juice

Keep aside for 15-20 minutes

While salmon is marinating we will get the onion-ginger-garlic masala ready.

Heat up some oil and sauté the following

Onion - 1 medium chopped in large chunks

Ginger - 2" Chopped

Garlic - 6 cloves

Cool and make a paste. This is our onion-ginger-garlic paste

Start Cooking

In the same pan add some more oil. Not much. We like to keep oil low. I have used Avocado or Mustard Oil in this dish, you can use Olive oil or Vegetable Oil.

Temper the oil with

Green Cardamom - 2

Cloves - 2

Cinnamon stick - 1"

Tej Patta/Bay Leaf - 1

Green Chilies - 2 slit

Add the onion-ginger-garlic paste. Sauté for a couple of minutes.

Add 1 Green Capsicum chopped into small pieces.

Add the spices

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Red Chili powder or Kashmiri Mirch - 1/2 tsp

Sprinkle a little water and sauté until the peppers are softened.

If you are cooking the salmon in the gravy, then now add the marinated salmon to the pan, making sure they are all in a single layer. Cook for about 3 minutes. Gently flip the fish pieces.

Now add about 3 Tbsp of Orange Juice + 1/2 Cup of warm water. Gently mix and let the gravy come to a simmer.

Note: If you have baked the salmon then once the gravy starts simmering, you will add the fish to the gravy

Once the gravy starts simmering add

Sugar - 1-2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Orange segments -- about 8 segments from a clementine

At this point taste the  gravy and add about 1/4 Cup more of orange juice for more flavor.

Cook for 3-4 more minutes until the orange segments are softened.

Switch off the gas.

Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of Bhaja Masala or Garam Masala.

Add some chopped Coriander.

Add couple of green chilies.

Cover and let the dish sit for about 5 minutes. This helps the flavors to come together beautifully

Serve warm with steamed white rice or pulao.

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Lal Shak Bhaja - Red Amaranth Stir fry

Laal Shaak or Shaag Bhaja | Red Amaranth Leaves Stir Fry

Lal Shaak Bhaja is usually a stir fry made with the red amaranth leaves and some garlic and Chilli. A sprinkle of dry posto seeds or bori adds the crunch to this dish. Sometimes the red leaves are also stir fried with shrimp and finished off with a sprinkle of roasted poppy seeds. These red amaranth leaves are a good source of Vit A and C. In some parts of India these red leafy veggies are called laal math,

Jump To Recipe

I don't know why I am posting this recipe.I mean it is a simple dish.
"Shaak niye adikhyeta korche," as any nosy Bong aunty would proclaim while rolling their eyes. "Eto boyesh holo, ekhono laal shaak bhaja jaane na, ajkalkar meyeder shob dhong" as another Bong pishima would whisper to her neighbor across the street.

It could well be because it is a very easy recipe to post, so perfect for someone lazy like me.

It could also be because I am at that age when I should get excited with red mustangs but in absence of that I am excited seeing Laal Shaak (Red Amaranth leaves).

So the thing is, every year I grow some perfunctory vegetables, just to make sure that my kids know vegetables come from plants and not aisles of grocery stores. That a tomato actually grows on a tree and not in a box at Costco. yes, these are important parenting tips.

And then this year, one of my neighbors gave me a bunch of amaranth seeds and some saplings and said that Amaranth grows very quickly and easily. Now if anywhere in the Universe I hear the word "easy", I just latch on to it. So I quickly put the seeds in soil without even knowing what exactly Red Amaranth was. Turns out Red Amaranth leaves is what we call "laal shaak" in Bengali. Though as a child, I wasn't fond of green leafy vegetables, I liked "laal shaak" because of their magical power to turn boring white rice to a pretty pink!!

They are also packed with nutrition and several sources say "Amaranth leaves are nutritionally similar to beets, Swiss chard and spinach, but are genetically closer to their wild ancestors and offer a far superior source of carotene, iron, calcium, protein, vitamin C and trace elements."

Even after the chipmunks ate half of the amaranth seeds I planted, we got decent number of plants growing. So with the red amaranth leaves growing in my backyard, I made this simple stir fry. Usually this is how I cook spinach too.

Laal Shaak Bhaja or Laal saag bhaja is usually a stir fry made with the red amaranth leaves and some garlic and Chilli. A sprinkle of dry posto seeds or bori adds the crunch to this dish. Sometimes the red leaves are also stir fried with shrimp and finished off with a sprinkle of roasted poppy seeds.

I love my greens with soft, flesh eggplants and so have made this stir fry with eggplants and laal shaak.
You can use potatoes instead of eggplants in this recipe.

Lau Ghonto with Bori and Lau Chingri

BottleGourd with Bori and BottleGourd with Shrimp...

Lau Ghonto Bori diye | Bottlegourd Sabzi with Vadi

Lau Ghonto is a popular Bengali vegetarian dish for the summer months made with Bottlegourd that has been chopped fine and garnished with fried Bori. There is also a non-veg version of this dish, Lau Chingri, where fried shrimp is mixed with the dish.

This post was first done in 2008 when I was pregnant with LilSis. Given that my pregnancies were never an easy affair, I don't know how I made a Lau Ghonto and posted a recipe then. The Recipe and photos updated on June 22, 2020.
I have been eating real simple these days, simple food not laced with too many rich spices or garlic and onion seems to have become my favorite. It is still spring here but my food cravings are like those served in my home during the hot summer months.
Summer veggies like Lau(Bengali)/Lauki(Hindi)/Bottle gourd, Parwal, Green mangoes have caught my fancy. These veggies prepared with simple spices and no onion or garlic and a light fish curry is what is staple food, in most Bengali homes in the Gangetic Plains where summer is hot and humid.

Green View from my Kitchen

Is it the green all around that makes me long for these veggies ? Before the days of air conditioned grocery stores and easy availability of exotic veggies, vegetables in the local markets were seasonal in India. So while winter was colored with deep red beet-root, orange carrots and rich red tomatoes, summer was green with deep green striped parwal, mellowed green bottle gourd, vivid rich green of cucumber and smooth green of raw mangoes.

Chopped Lau/Bottlegourd

The tender lau or bottle gourd with its soothing green skin soothes the eyes in harsh summer and because of its high water content has a cooling effect and so is one of the preferred veggies in the summer months.
According to ayurveda, the cooked bottlegourd is cooling, diuretic, sedative and anti­bilious(corrects secretion of bile). It gives a feeling of relaxation after eating it. It is rich in essential minerals and fibre.

Lau Ghonto

I am sharing this veggie and the dish with Laurie from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska who is hosting WHB, originated by Kalyn, this week

The bottle gourd was used in several different kinds of dishes in my home ranging from the dal, the lau-ghonto which I think was made with milk and usually white in color, another lau-ghonto with fish head, the lau ghonto with bori where the dish was garnished with fried moong dal vadis, the lau-chingri where the shrimp was mixed with the dish to dress up the simple homely dish.

The recipe of Lau Bori and Lau Chingri here is as my Ma made it.

Recipe and photos updated on June 22, 2020.

Lau Ghonto with Bori

Ingredients


Lauki/Bottlegourd ~ 3 cups. Peeled and chopped in small pieces. You need to cut the bottlegourd in really small & thin pieces, large chunks are a NO NO.
Tomato ~1 medium finely chopped in small pieces
Green Chilli ~ 3-4 slit through the middle. I use hot Indian Geen Chillies
Ginger - 1" piece

For Tempering

Bay Leaves ~ 2 small
Cinnamon Stick ~ 1” stick
Whole Jeera/Cumin seeds ~ ½ tsp

Wet Masala Paste

Cumin seeds - 1.5 tsp Cumin seeds
Ginger - 1" ginger chopped ~ 1 Tbsp

With a sprinkle of water make a paste of cumin and ginger in a mortar-pestle.

Note: If you cannot make a fresh paste like as I said, then grate the ginger and mix with 1 tsp of Cumin powder to make a paste

Dry Spice powders

Red Chilli Powder ~ 1/2 tsp or according to your spice level. I go with the green hot chillies and do not use any chilli powder.
Turmeric Powder ~ about 1 tsp

Sugar ~ 1/2 tsp or none if you don’t like it sweet
Salt ~ to taste
Oil

For garnish

Bori ~ 1/4th Cup of Moong Dal Bori fried and crumbled. If you do not have any Bori, you might skip it. The Bengali Vadis are known as Boris and are small sun dried cones of lentil paste, the shapes are like Hershey's Kisses. Here is a recipe of boris made of Urad Dal. These boris are fried and then added to the dish.
Coriander Leaves ~ a fistful finely chopped


How I Did It

Heat Oil in a Kadhai/Frying Pan.

Fry the Bori/Vadi till it is a nice warm rich brown. Remove and keep aside

Temper the oil with Bay leaf, Cinnamon Stick and Whole Cumin seeds
When the cumin starts sputtering add the finely chopped tomato and green chillies.
Sauté till the tomatoes are soft and mushy with no raw smell.

Add the wet masala paste of ginger-cumin. Saute the masala for 2 minutes. Sprinkle some water if necessary

Add the chopped bottle gourd and mix with the spices. Sauté for 3-4 minutes.
Add Turmeric powder, salt and mix well

Once you have mixed it nicely, cover and cook. Intermittently remove the cover and give it a good stir. You don’t need to add water as bottle gourd releases water on cooking. If the bottlegourd is dried up or not that fresh you may need to add little water while cooking.

When the bottlegourd/lau is fully cooked, add sugar and cook for a minute. The water should have dried up by now and the result would be a dish with no gravy but moist.

Now crumble the fried bori on top
Garnish with fresh coriander leaves

Lau Chingri aka Bottle Gourd with Shrimp

Everything is same as the Lau-Bori recipe. Except for the Bori you need about ½ cup of shrimp. Wash the shrimp and mix with a little turmeric and salt and let it marinade for 30 minutes. Fry them to a light yellow and remove and keep aside. Cook Bottlegourd exactly as above. Instead of the bori, mix the shrimp with the bottlegourd at the second last step. Sauté for a minute and you are done.


Other recipes of similar Bengali Lau er Tarkari:

Tetor Dal with BitterGourd and BottleGourd



Trivia: Ektara the most ancient form of string instrument found in the Eastern parts of India, is constructed out of a half of a dried gourd shell serving as the sound-box, with a metal string running right through the middle of the shell. The Ektara was used by the Bauls of Bengal for their folk singing