The best thing I love about blogging on food for all these years is the people I meet via my blog and new recipes I learn from them. I could have probably learned them from other websites, some youtube video or even a cookbook. All of them excellent sources.
But when I hear it from a real person it is very different. It makes it more tangible, more real for me. I feel humbled that they share their precious recipe with me. Something probably handed down through generations or something they invented or something shared by their friends. That the recipe found a way to my kitchen from theirs, touched with all their love and turmeric makes it more precious.
I have been honored to have Rituporna's Chitol Maacher Muithya, Somnath's Raastar Ghugni, Indrani Bhattacharya's Kumro Begun Chingri, Ahona's Methi Maachh, Sunetra's Piyaajkoli Macch, Piya and Chandrani's Dhonepata Bata Sheem on my blog.
Today it is Hasina Ahmed di. I have never met her or known her and yet I would trust her recipes over any youtube recipe video.. Hasinadi had once introduced me to the different greens that we get at the Asian stores here in US. I was clueless about most of them and only after her gentle nudging did I start buying those strange-named greens and cooking them. A few weeks back, Hasinadi told me about a Maacch Shaak er bhorta that her friend Hena taught her. Over to her for more...
1. Tell us a little about yourself and your friend Hena
I grew up mostly in Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh. My family is originally from Noakhali. I moved to the USA twenty six years ago after I got married. Currently I live in a very small university town in western South Dakota and work full time (8-5). My husband and I love to try new food (especially ethnic food). Food is actually a very important part of your life. What you put in your mouth remains with you. Having a satisfactory (&healthy) meal is good for you both physically and mentally (my physician says so)
Hena and her husband owned a motel in a VERY small town called Hot Springs (2 hour drive from our town). She is a home maker and mother of two boys (11 and 6). They moved to SD from LA 8 years ago. They have sold their motels (to a Gujrati family) a couple of months ago and are getting ready to leave SD.
2. You are from Bangladesh. Do you still hold on to the food culture you had grown up with ? Assuming you are in the US, how do you do that?
Yes, I still hold on to the food culture I had grown up with and I have no plan to change it. Nowadays, you get all most all the ingredients (including khejurer gur) for your cooking in the South Asian Grocery Stores in the big cities. I usually buy my spices from Denver (400 miles from where I live). Actually it is easier to cling to your ethnic food culture if you live in a big city or close to a big city but it is a challenge for the remote and small town dweller like me. I try to be as much creative as possible
3.Bengalis have huge respect for the cuisine from East Bengal. What do you think makes such an impression?
I know our friends from Poshchim Bongo love our meat preparation (kabab, kosha mangsho, korma etc.) But do you think our fish preparation is better than yours? My observation is the Bengalis from Poshcim Bongo cook the best Niramish in the sub-continent. We, the bangals, eat meat regularly and that gives us a wider comfort zone as far as the meat preparation is concerned.
4. Give some examples of how you recreate the food of your childhood with American ingredients
Cooking meat here is not difficult at all. According to my mother, desi spices which are available here are much better (she probably meant less bhejaal) than their counterparts back home. Here is how I make my chicken tikka kabab (see the photo below).
I must confess that cooking vegetables in desi style in an area where I live needs a lot of creativity. During the ninety’s and last decade Broccoli was the magic vegetable. We tried to eat Broccoli at least once a week and I got tired of boiled broc (sometimes raw brocs).
I experimented for sometimes and now cook broccoli in the following ways. 1. Stir fry it with kalo jeerey and dry red chili phoron. 2. Peel the fat stems, cut them into match sticks and cook with shrimp and tomato. 3. Steam sliced broccoli florets on a pan and make bhorta.
I have a family recipe of ‘mishti kumro cooked with moong daal and narkel doodh’. Mishti Kumro is not available here. I replace it with acorn squash (I buy fresh and tender acorn from the farmer’s market in summer).
I use the bideshi vegetables but use desi spices and style to cook my vegetables. Here is another photo. Mushroom, zuchini, potato, snow peas and chayote squash cooked with shorshey and kancha lonka phoron. I also used home-made poriyal masala.
5. You introduced me to a lot of greens. Given that you have a love for gardening, do you also grow them ? Which ones are the easiest to grow ?
Gardening is my passion. I essentially grow flowers (roses outdoor and orchids indoor). But I also have a vegetable patch where I grow our desi vegetables (lau, pui shaak, lonka, long and small round begun, etc.) I grow korola and sometimes methi shaak in pots. Desi veges don’t grow very well here as it is very dry but I still try. If you are in the East Coast, or in Florida or in California, you can grow any desi vegetable that you want to. I use the methi shaak (that I grow in the pot) for cooking my daal. Lau in my vege patch (photo below).
6. So how do you make this Maacher Bhorta ?
My friend H gave me this recipe. Hena is originally from Sylhet. They call this dish Lye Bhorta and originally it is done with shorshe shaak or mustard greens
1. Telapia fillet - 2 (depends on the # of people).
2. Smear the fish fillet with pinch of turmeric , dry red chili flakes, salt and garlic powder (optional), and lemon juice, Leave it aside for 20/30 minutes.
3. 2 cups of very finely chop spring salad mix (original recipe says special 'shorshey shaak' available in Sylhet area). Note:I tried it with arugula and I also stir fried it with garlic, instead of keeping it raw.
4. In a bowl put
very finely chopped red onion (I used quarter of a large red onion),
green chili(4 hot Indian green chili)
one tablespoon of finely chopped dhoney pata/coriander leaves.
Mix well with hand, lightly pressing the coriander leaves and green chillies
5. Fry fish with very little oil. It should be on the crunchier side,
6. When done with frying, break the fish with your hand. Mix all ingredients and add salt to taste.. Sprinkle mustard oil and mix well. Try to mix with your hand. The Sylhetis call it 'lye pata bhorta'. You may skip onion if you don't like it raw. Hasina Di substitutes the mustard greens with organic salad mix. She says, " It became very popular in our home and we are having it almost every week. Though it is called bhorta it is more like salad."
We too loved this Maachh Shaak er Bhorta. I want to try it with different greens next. Thank you Hasina Di and Hena.
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Sunday, March 06, 2016
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Shaak Bata -- Sweet pea green Paste or Pate
Saraswati Pujo is a few days away and this is the time of the year when my Dida's Gota Seddho drifts up in my memory, which is otherwise inundated with a lot of fluff. At all other time, the Gota seddho is pushed beneath deadlines, middle school tests, elementary school valentine's day, snow forecasts, and seasons of Parenthood yet to be watched on Netflix. I don't think of Gota seddo at any other time of the year but come Ma Saraswati and this post hovers in my sub-conscious.
I don't usually make it. I am not sure if I will make a Gota seddho this year either. The whole essence of eating gota seddho during the season is not lost on me though. I appreciate the immunity boost that these vegetables gives at the turn of the season. And to do my part, today I have all greens in my blog.
The Asian Market in my town is a veritable feast of leafy greens all year round. When I say Asian Market, it actually means Chinese/Korean market, teeming with fish, noodles, variety of sauces and unfamiliar vegetables. They have greens there like no bodies business and with names that no one would have thunk. I have learned not to be flabbergasted by the names though and with help from some of my blog readers, I confidently buy watercress and Yu Choy from there. Baby Bok Choy is now my favorite green.
Now my side of the family was never big on different variety of greens but the husband-man's is. His mother usually makes a lot of different kinds and cooks them in innumerable ways. The last time that we visited them, my mother-in-law made a mean "mulo-shaak baata", radish greens sauteed and made into a paste. I think the "baata" or turning every thing into a paste is more of a East Bengal thing and I must say it is brilliant idea. The "mulo shaak baata" tasted really amazing.
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Sweet Pea Tips |
I don't usually make it. I am not sure if I will make a Gota seddho this year either. The whole essence of eating gota seddho during the season is not lost on me though. I appreciate the immunity boost that these vegetables gives at the turn of the season. And to do my part, today I have all greens in my blog.
The Asian Market in my town is a veritable feast of leafy greens all year round. When I say Asian Market, it actually means Chinese/Korean market, teeming with fish, noodles, variety of sauces and unfamiliar vegetables. They have greens there like no bodies business and with names that no one would have thunk. I have learned not to be flabbergasted by the names though and with help from some of my blog readers, I confidently buy watercress and Yu Choy from there. Baby Bok Choy is now my favorite green.
![]() |
Watercress |
Now my side of the family was never big on different variety of greens but the husband-man's is. His mother usually makes a lot of different kinds and cooks them in innumerable ways. The last time that we visited them, my mother-in-law made a mean "mulo-shaak baata", radish greens sauteed and made into a paste. I think the "baata" or turning every thing into a paste is more of a East Bengal thing and I must say it is brilliant idea. The "mulo shaak baata" tasted really amazing.
Thursday, February 04, 2016
Pretzels with Hershey Kiss and Five Snack Ideas For a Party
Last weekend some of Big Sis's friends came home for a late birthday celebration. And by late I mean months late. I wasn't sure if I was equipped to handle a bunch of tweens in my home and so was putting this thing off and trying to scout outside locations, which isn't as easy as it sounds when fifteen twelve year old girls are the focus group.
I knew quiet a few of the friends who were supposed to come and they are all excellent girls but I didn't have confidence in myself. I mean, you see I am vertically challenged and most of these seventh graders are taller than me, and I think that if a situation turns to chaos no one might listen to me! Yeah, I am weird like that.
However BS assured me that it would be fine at home and so finally a Saturday evening was blocked off for them. I asked around for suggestions in a Mom's group and came up with some neat craft ideas. Seriously pretty neat.
One of which both Big Sis and I loved was chalkboard decorations. So off we went to the craft stores and got chalkboard for each girl. We also got colored chalk, decorating tapes, jewels and stickers to decorate the chalkboards.
Given that Big Sis loves nail paint, a bunch of nail polish and nail art pens were also bought for a session of nail art. Not to be left behind, Little Sis shared party games from her class parties and created a Hot Potato kind of game for her sister's friends.
We also decided on a brownie decorating competition with two teams and in preparation baked two exactly same chocolate brownies on Friday night.
By Saturday morning, I was all pumped up. More than Big Sis in fact. The husband-man didn't want to play any part in this whole thing except ordering and picking up pizza. The only other person as excited as me was LS! She and Big Sis set up the activity area and the games while I concentrated on the food.
Big Sis had suggested that we serve more of appetizers and keep the main as Pizza and pasta which everyone likes. Since some of her friends don't eat meat, the appetizers were to be vegetarian only. We whittled down the appetizer list to
Mozzarella Sticks -- store bought,
Nachos -- with black beans, corn, cheese, salsa and sour cream,
Papri chaat,
Mini Cupcakes,
Pretzels with Hershey kisses
Popcorn(if needed)
The girls had a great time from the look of it. The chalkboards were super amazing and the brownie decoration literally took the cake. One team did the YouTube logo while the other the Instagram logo. The teams put their heart into it and with the limited supplies I had offered, pulled off really cool stuff. I would love to host them again soon as I found it is easy to make these kids happy. It involves minimal work on my part and I can even spend time watching television in my own room while they do their own thing. Yeah, that is a big motivation indeed!
The pretzels with Hershey kisses are literally two-minute affair made by Big Sis and were a big party hit. All you do is this:
Buy a bag of mini pretzels, the twisted kind or the square ones
Buy a bag of Hershey Milk chocolate kisses
Buy a bag of colorful M&M
Place the pretzels on a cookie sheet. Unwrap a Hershey kiss and place at the center of each pretzel.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Put the pretzel tray in the oven. within 1-2 minutes the kisses will soften. If you keep it any longer the chocolate hardens. Yep, I have learned it the hard way.
Take out within 2 minutes. Gently place a M&M on the tip of the Hershey kiss and press down softly.
Chill in refrigerator. Serve when it hardens,
While prepping for the party and asking around for appetizers, I had a brainwave. Zap! Okay nothing great but just that I searched up my own blog and dug up five snacks that are easy to make and make great appetizers for any party. With Super Bowl on Sunday, pick any of these and have a blast watching the ads.
1. Stuffed Mushroom
2. Vegetable Tikkis
3. Tartlets
These are great to make for parties. You can try various different fillings for these Tartlets.
4. Keema Balls
You can do these balls with less spices as in this recipe or for a meatballs with more kick try this one.
5. Nachos
Now I do not have a picture of this but we make it often and it is a huge favorite. No wonder I don't have a picture of it. I cook the ground chicken like this recipe from my blog and then I follow Pioneer Woman's Loaded Nachos recipe very closely for the rest of the steps. And we use Trader Joe's Taco seasoning. This one is a ROCKSTAR.
6. Cajun Spiced Shrimp
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