Happy New Year

Wish all of my readers, my blogger friends and all of you out there a Very Happy New Year. May the New Year bring in all your life all the sweetness, the spiciness, the tanginess, the richness, the colour that you have in your food and cuisine.

You guys are the reason I am here. Your comments , your enthusiasm, your events, your very presence is very important so a BIG THANKS TO ALL OF YOU and please be around in the New Year. I do hope to contribute and learn more from this commnunity in the coming year. I also hope to make many more friends in this blogging world and sustain the friendship of the ones I already have.

Heres to 2007 and to all of you dear friends...

Moong Dal Narkel Burfi for JFI

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The New Year was here, the JFI for January was close and I was so hard pressed for time that I hadn’t come up with anything yet. Coconut is not something I use in my daily cooking as opposed to something my blogger friends from the Southern part of India do. I use Coconut & Coconut milk in some of my dishes but they are few and I was frazzled as I wanted to make something quick and simple and with coconut and knew not. I would have loved to post Prawn Malaikari as an entry as it is my favorite but that would have defied the true essence of JFI, a recipe that has not been blogged yet.

So I dialed Coconut 911 and my Ma came to the rescue as Mothers always due. This sweet is her baby and she was actually half way through her prep last night for this, when it suddenly struck my dull brain that THIS HAS COCONUT. Hey so this does have coconut, why didn’t I think of this when she said she is going to make it. The year 2006 has taken it’s toll on me it seems, my mind goes blink…blink…boink….
So from my Ma…

Moong Dal Coconut Burfi

What You Need

Split Yellow Moong Dal ~ 1 cup
Shredded Coconut ~ 2 cup . I used a frozen pack but a freshly shredded one is definitely better
Condensed Milk ~ ¾ of a can
Sugar ~ ¼ of a cup of fine sugar
Ghee ~ 2/3 tbsp
Elaichi or Cardamom ~ 5/6 pods. Take the seeds out of the pods and then ground them. Alternatively use cardamom powder

Raisins ~ one for each
Cashew ~ broken cashew one for each

How My Ma Did It

Boil the Moong Dal in a pressure cooker with almost 2 cup of water (enough water to cook the dal but not make it watery)
Take the boiled dal out and drain any excess water if any
Whisk the dal to a fine paste. The paste should not be watery.
Heat 3tbsp of Oil and 1tbsp of ghee in a Kadai/Frying Pan. You can forego the Canola Oil and use Ghee also, we try to reduce our ghee intake and so substitute in many cases.
Add the ground cardamom
Add the moong dal paste and stir.

Keep on stirring at medium heat till the moisture evaporates and the moong dal paste takes on a light brown colour.

Add 2 cups of shredded coconut and continue stirring.
Add 1 tbsp of ghee and fold in the coconut into the moong dal paste

Add ¾ can of condensed milk slowly, stirring the mixture
Add ¼ cup of fine sugar. Depending on your sweet level you may need to add more sugar. If your sugar is a little coarse then you may need to powder it.
Keep on stirring the mixture at low/medium heat. Take care that it does not burn. Add a little ghee if needed

Continue doing this till the mixture looses it’s stickiness. To check take a little of this paste and make a small round, if it sticks to your palm the mixture is not yet done.

Grease a plate and pour the mixture on it.
With a knife make incisions to create diamond shapes. Cool and then take each piece out and decorate with raisins and cashews.

Alternately you can also make round laddoos. You can decorate with icing as I did for the ones in the first pic

Thanks to Ashwini of Food For Thought for hosting Jihva for January and Thanks to Indira of Mahanadi for starting this event

Trivia: Antiseptic fatty acids in coconut oil help to prevent fungal and bacterial infections in the skin when it is consumed and to some extent, when it is applied directly to the skin.

Fishy Fishy Bong Bong or Doi Maach

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The title might sound ludicrous but I couldn’t just get it out of my head. Since the last couple of days this is the line that hums in my mind. You know how it happens, when a particular phrase gets into your system and you just can’t flush it out. The same thing happened when I read Seemas post on “Tindora in Coconut Gravy” aka "Huli Menasina Kodilu". I loved that name. It kept on reminding me of movies like “Hassena Maan Jayegi” or “Hum apke Hain Kaun” and though I don’t know ABC of Kannada I kept on humming that name to myself.

On another note, I went and watched “Casino Royale” at the theatres with D last night. Yeah went and watched it with D my legally wedded husband so what is so surprising that I have to write it in my blog. That’s because this is the first movie we watched in the theatres all by our self (barring the numerous other people in the same theatre watching the same movie) sans my little daughter. A big step for parent kind, so I better chronicle it.

Doi Maach (ch as in chair)or Fish in Yogurt Sauce is a typical Bengali dish which is light, easy to prepare and yet is a favorite as a dish you would serve your guests on those special occasions. I made this with Rohu (a fresh water fish from the carp family) or Rui Mach , which I procured from my Bangladeshi Fish seller. You can also try with other fish like carp, buffalo carp, fresh water bass. Salmon should also be a good bet.If the fish is very fresh and firm as in back home, my Ma or Ma-in law does this without frying the fish. I however always lightly fry the fish and I am presenting here that version

Get this recipe in my Book coming out soon. Check this blog for further updates. 

Doi Maach

What You Need
Fish(Rohu or Rui) – 8 pieces large
Onion ~ grind to paste about 2 medium ~ about 5-7 tbsp heaped
Ginger ~ 2 - 3 tsp paste
Yogurt ~ 1/2 cup
Turmeric Powder ~ ½ tsp
Red Chilli Powder ~ ½ tsp
Green Chillies ~ 8 cut in slits

Whole Garam Masala
Elaichi or Cardamom~ 5/6
Laung or Cloves~ 5/6
TejPata or BayLeaves~ 3
Dalchini or Cinnamon Sticks ~ 1” stick

Salt
Oil
Sugar ~ 1tsp

How I Do It

Clean the fish pieces and lightly rub with salt and turmeric. Keep aside for half an hour
Grind the onion to a fine paste.
Heat Oil in Kadai/Frying Pan.
When the oil is sufficiently hot, add the fish and lightly fry till light golden. Take out the fish and keep aside. If you are a fastidious cook you would put them on a kitchen towel to drain the oil.
In a bowl add 1/2 cup of yogurt/curd and add about 1/3 cup of water and beat till its smooth in consistency. Add to this 1-2 tsp of ginger paste, 2 tbsp of onion paste, ½ tsp of red chilli powder, a little of turmeric powder for the color and beat.
Heat Oil now for cooking the gravy
Add the coarsely pounded whole garam masala
When they start sputtering add the remaining onion paste
Add about 1 tsp of sugar and fry the onion paste till the oil separates and the onion turns a light brown
Add about 1 tsp of ginger paste and the green chillies and sauté well
Now take the Kadai/Frying Pan off the heat and give it a couple of minutes to cool
Add the beaten yogurt/curd and mix with the masala. If you add the yogurt directly when the utensil is on heat the curd may curdle so you need to do this
Put back the Kadai/Frying Pan on heat.
Add salt as required .Add about 1/2 - 2/3 cup of water at this point. depending on how much gravy you need you might need more or less water.
Simmer on low heat till the gravy comes to a boil
Add the fried fish pieces, they should partially submerge in the gravy. Let it simmer till the excess water dries off and the gravy is thick, smooth and coats all the fish pieces. The texture of the gravy should be silky smooth because of all that yogurt. Note: the gravy will not dry off totally but will be thick and not watery
Garnish with raisins if you want
Add a tsp of Ghee if you are lean or your guests are and you don’t have to worry about mundane things like your blood lipid level or you just don’t care and want your doi maach to taste just right.

Update on 02/22/09: I have seen two comments which say they found the ginger to be more. Now when I make this fish, the fish pieces I used are pretty large so I add some water (about 2/3 cup) to the gravy and let the gravy simmer on low heat till I get a silky consistency. Also we always have this with rice. Maybe for these reasons we don't find the ginger to be too much and it suits our taste. You are always welcome to make changes to suit your palate and you can reduce the ginger if you want

Enjoy this dish with white rice or pulao. You can serve it for either lunch or dinner.

I am sending this recipe which is a traditional Bengali fish dish as an entry for the FAHC campaign. The very well known food blog My Dhaba by VKN has embarked on a group book project 'You Can Cook for FAHC Campaign', as a mission to fight against global poverty. I am pleased to support this effort and urge all food lovers to contribute. Many of you must have already contributed, if not please do, GO HERE and check the details

I do sincerely hope this project is succesful and is able to help in it's own way towards feeding a hungry child.
Trivia:In Bengali wedding there is a ceremony which precedes the main wedding. This ceremony is called "Gaye Holud" meaning applying a paste of turmeric & oil to the bride & the groom in their respective homes. The groom's side sends the turmeric paste for the bride to her house and along with that sends a hoard of other things like sweets, spices, clothes, utensils etc. The fish being an important part of a Bengali life a huge whole Rohu fish decorated and sometimes with a small nose ring is sent over to the brides place.