| Curries |
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VEG CURRIES
Potato curry
Ingredients:
Potatoes - 1/2 kg, onions - 100g, green peas - 100g, mustard seeds - 1
tsp, urud dal - 1 tsp, green chillies - 3 small, curry leaves - 1 twig.
Boil the potatoes fully, peel and mash them. Heat some oil and add mustard seeds and urud dal.Add finely cut onions, fresh green peas and fry until the onions turn transparent. Add some fine pieces of green chillies and add the mashed potatoes and fry.Add some
curry leaves.
Cauliflower Curry (serves 6)
Ingredients:
Cauliflower - 3 cups (in flowerets)
Peeled and cubed potatoes - 2 cups
Oil - 4 tablespoons
Coriander leaves - 1 tablespoon
Rasam powder - 2 teaspoon
Cummin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Hing powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Onion - 2
Green chillies - 2
Capsicum - 1
Ginger - 1 cm p73
Method:
Chop all vegetables. Heat three tablespoons oil in a kadai, add the cummin seeds and hing powder. When the cummin seeds splutter
add the onions, capsicum, green chillies and ginger into the hot oil and fry till the onion turns golden. Add tomatoes and fry
till it becomes mushy. Add cauliflower, potatoes and turmeric powder, fry a bit, add salt, sugar and quarter cup of water.
Cover and cook till the vegetables are cooked and the curry is dry. Add the rasam powder, coriander leaves and the remaining one
tablespoon of oil-fry till you get a lovely aroma. Remove and serve piping hot with rotis or rice. (Plain potato curry can also
be made the same way).
Tomato gojoo (serves 6 curry)
Ingredients
Ripe tomatoes - 6
Onion - 1
Capsicum - 1
Green chilli - 1
Oil or ghee - 4 tablespoons
Coriander leaves - 2 tablespoons
Curry leaves - 1 tablespoons
Ginger - 1 cm
Rasam powder - 2 teaspoons
Sugar - 1-1/2 teaspoons - 2 tsp
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Cummin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Hing powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Method:
Chop tomatoes and all the other vegetables. Heat oil or ghee in a pan, add the cummin seeds and the hing powder. When the cummin
seeds start spluttering, add the chopped onion, green chilli, ginger, capsicum and curry leaves. Fry till onion turns light gold in
colour. Add tomatoes, salt, sugar and quarter cup of water-Cover and cook till the tomatoes are mashed and well
cooked, and all water dries off. Add rasam powder and fry well for a couple of minutes. Serve hot, garnished with coriander
leaves. This is a good side dish for rice.
Mirch Ka Salan
Ingredients: (Serves 4)
250 gms big long green salad chillies/hot peppers
50 ml cooking oil
30 gms tamarind pulp
100 gms beaten yoghurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
For Salan Paste
250 gms roasted onions
35 gms roasted peanuts
35 gms dessicated coconut
20 gms ginger-garlic paste
5 gms sesame seeds
A sprig of coriander leaves
Method:
Deep fry green chillies in hot oil. Remove and keep aside. Grind together dessicated
coconut, garlic,
ginger, sesame seeds and roasted onions and peanuts to make a fine paste. Reheat oil
already used for frying chillies. Ensure that the paste does not stick to the pan. Fry the salan paste for
20 minutes, keep stirring it. Pour 15 ml of water at regular intervals.
Add yoghurt and salt and stir for 3-4 minutes. Now add the tamarind pulp and 15 ml of
water. Stir for 5 minutes until the gravy is of sauce consistency and ensure that it does not stick to the
pan.
Add the fried chillies to the hot gravy. Let the gravy come to a boil. Remove and garnish
with finely chopped coriander leaves.
Serve hot with biryani/pulao/pilaf.
Lentil Salad
Ingredients :
Split green gram - (without skin) 1/4 cup Gram dhal - 1/4 cup Coconut - 1/2 cup
Cucumber - 1 cup Green chillies - 2 Ginger - 1 cm Lime - 1/2 Oil -1 tabs Salt
-1/2 tsp Mustard -1/4 tsp Urrad dhal -1/4 tsp Red chillies -1 Hing powder -pinch
Method
Clean and soak both the dhals overnight in water. Next morning wash well, and
drain off all the liquid. Chop green chillies and ginger. Grate the cucumber and
squeeze out the juice.
Just before serving, mix the dhals, green chillies, ginger, cucumber, salt and
coconut. Heat oil, add mustard, urrad dhal, red chillies and hing. When mustard
splutters pour into the salad, squueze lime juice into it and if liked, add
chopped coriander leaves to it. This is a traditional salad and is very
nutritious.
Non-veg curries
Chicken Curry
Ingredients
Chicken drumsticks or legs 10
Cumin Powder 3 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp or to taste
Tumeric powder - 3/4 tsp
Cardamom - 3-4 whole pieces
Cinnamon - 2-3 small pieces
Onions - 2 cooking onions
Garlic - 3-4 cloves
Ginger - 50g whole ginger (a fingers length)
Tomato - 1
Salt to taste
Preparing the Chicken
Remove skin from chicken. Wash it thoroughly four to five times. Peel
the skin off the onions and finely chop them. Shred garlic into very fine pieces
and mash or cut the ginger. Grind the whole cinnamon and cadamom (with shells)
together to a coarse powder.
Cooking
Heat enough oil to just cover the base of a dry, medium to large saucepan. Add garlic and
onions. Fry until they are brown. Remove the saucepan from heat and leave to stand.
Place all spices (tumeric, cumin powder and chilli powder) into a small bowl. Add about
half a cup of water and mix. Pour the spice mixture onto the onions. Fry on a medium heat
until most of the water evaporates but ensure that the spice mixture does not burn. Add
the chicken and stir until all the chicken is coated.
Reduce to low heat. Add salt, tomato and ginger and cook for 10 - 15 minutes.
Add enough water to just cover chicken. Place a lid on the saucepan and
bring to boil.
Reduce to medium heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until the chicken
is tender. Add the cadamom / cinnamon powder 10 minutes before the chicken is
served. Mrs Pal's chicken curry is ready to be served straight away but tastes even
better the next day!
Fast Track Curry (for people in a hurry!)
Follow the recipe as above but add chicken first to the onions, then the spices
directly onto the chicken, followed by tomato, ginger and salt . Stir vigorously for 5
minutes on a high heat and add enough water to cover the chicken. The curry is
ready in 30 minutes.
Tips
It is easier to remove the skin from chicken thighs than drumsticks. You could try
using a clean tea towel or cloth to help hold the skin when pulling.
Prawn with onions
Fish is very important to Bengali cooking; not surprising with the Bay of Bengal on
the East of the state. This is a beautifully simple dish which brings out the flavour of
the prawns more than any other you will have tried before. It relies on having
prawns bought whole, with the shells still on, rather than the pink, frozen variety
which tastes of very little.
The Kalwanji, or onion seeds, add a distinctive Bengali flavour; if you have problems
finding these, this dish still tastes great without them. Prawns with onion can be served
just with Basmati rice and daal, though, for a treat, you could try it with our Pilaurice
and chana daal.
Ingredients
Whole prawns (shell on)
Onions - 2 1/2 lb large cooking onions
Kalwanji (onion seeds) 1 pinch
Tumeric 1/2 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp (or to taste)
Green chilli 1
Oil - 3 tbsp
Method
Remove shells from prawns. Coat them lightly with tumeric and salt. Chop onions. Slit open
chilli.
Heat oil into a large frying pan. Add kalwanji which should fry instantly. Take the pan
off the heat and add the prawns.
Fry the prawns until lightly browned. Add onions and green chilli. Cook on low heat with
lid on pan until onions become soft and brown. The art is to be patient and let it all
cook very slowly.
Chicken Korma
Ingredients: (Serves 8)
2 kg of chicken pieces
500 gms sour yoghurt
100 gms dessicated coconut
1 kg onion
2 tsp garam masala powder (clove, cinnamon, cardamom and shajeera)
1/2 tsp pepper powder
100 gms ginger-garlic paste
50 gms green chillies
1tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp coriander powder
300 gms cooking oil
1 cup water
A sprig each of coriander and spear mint
Salt to taste
Method :
Chop the onions into fine slices and fry them till golden brown. Marinate the chicken
pieces for 10 minutes in 2 tsp of salt (salt to taste) turmeric powder, garam
masala, coriander powder and
ginger-garlic paste. Put the marinated chicken pieces when the onion is fried. After 10 minutes add the whipped
yoghurt and a cup of water and stir well. Cook for 5 minutes. Then add dessicated coconut, pepper
powder, chopped coriander and mint leaves. Cover and allow it to cook for 15 minutes. Serve hot with rice.
Sheer Korma
Ingredients: (Serves 4-6)
100 gms thin Vermicelli
1500 ml milk
250 gms sugar
50 gms cashewnuts chopped
50 gms almonds (soaked and chopped)
50 gms dates chopped
6 cardamom powdered
4 tsp ghee/clarified butter
250 ml water
Method :
Fry the nuts in 2 tsp of clarified butter. Make a sugar syrup (one string consistency).
Fry the vermicelli in the remaining clarified butter until golden brown.
Boil the milk until it is thickened to half the quantity. Add the fried vermicelli to the
milk and cook. Do not allow lumps to form. Add sugar syrup and cook for a while until it comes to a homogeneous
consistency. Sprinkle cardamom powder. Garnish with fried nuts. Serve hot or refrigerated.
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