Chitol Maachher Muitha

Chitol Fish Koftas 

Chitol Maachher Muitha is an essentially "Bangaal" (the erstwhile Eastern region of undivided Bengal which is now present day Bangladesh) delicacy made out of the 'Gaada' (Bonier or dorsal part ) of the fish.

Seeing Chitol Maachh in the supermarket last sunday, I couldnt control my temptation and purchased a huge 2.5 kg fish.

Instructions were immediately taken over phone regarding the cutting of the Gaada-Peti and communicated to my bewildered fish seller!

Rushed back home and called up my cooking encyclopedia, ready with pen and paper, and jotted down the elaborate process of the Muitha making....

Ingredients :

For the Koftas :

The 'Gaada' or bonier part of the fish (the fish I'd bought was 2.5 kgs!!) which was approx 1 kg 

2 medium sized potatoes for every kg of gaada

2 eggs

Ginger paste - 1 tsp

Garlic paste - 1 tsp

1 small onion - finely chopped

1 small onion - made into paste

Jeera powder - 1 tsp

Chili powder - 1 tsp

Salt

Sugar - a pinch

For the gravy :

1 onion - chopped

2 onions - paste

Garam masala - whole, made into a paste/powder 

Tej pata

ginger paste - 1 tsp

garlic paste - 1tsp

1 tomato - chopped (optional)
Chili powder

Kashmiri Chili powder

Jeera powder/paste - 1tsp

Salt 

Sugar

Potato 2-3 cubed

Ghee

Oil (preferably mustard)

Procedure :

Muittha / Kofta - 

I) De-boning of the fish:

1. Wash the fish. Placing it on a flat surface, with the skin on top, hammer it lightly with the Nora of the Sheel-Nora (traditional grinding stone used in Bengali kitchens) or anything heavy

2.The fish will loosen. Now turn it around, so that the fleshy surface faces up and scoop out the flesh with a spoon.


Save the skin for kataa chochchori (we Bongs are quite the scavengers ;)) . The pic below is the starting material for Kataa Chochchori

3. Using the Sheel-Nora, grind the fish ...most of the bigger bones will come apart. Now using fingers, mash the fish further and also remove the remaining bones.

If minced, de-boned Chital is available, the rest of the Muitha making is actually a cake-walk.....

II) The rest of the Muitha making -

1. For 1 kg Gaada, use 2 medium sized boiled potatoes and mash them well and mix with the boneless, minced fish. While mixing and mashing, you may be able to remove more fine bones....

2. Add to the minced fish+mashed potato mix : 2 raw eggs, ginger, garlic paste, onion chopped, onion paste, jeera powder, chili powder, salt, sugar. Knead well as in kneading dough.

3. Put a large vessel/kadai full of water to boil. Divide the fish dough into fist sized (mutho/muitha) spheres. And slide into the boiling water. Cook for about 15 minutes. Turn the spheres from time to time. To check if done, insert a fork/needle as we do in baking. If it comes out clean, it's done.

4. Take the 'spheres' out of the water. Keep aside to cool. When cooled, cut them into approx 1.5" cubes.

5. Shallow fry them lightly.


These can make delicious finger food/snacks/starter and in case that's what you intend to make them into, fry them till they are crispy and golden brown.

The Gravy :

1. Heat oil in a kadai. Add the chopped onion, paste of garam masala, tej pata, a pinch of sugar. 

2. Along with the above 'phoron', the cubed potatoes may be added to avoid sauteing them separately.

3. When the onions are light brown in colour, add onion paste, ginger-garlic paste, chili powder, kashmiri chili, jeera powder, salt and tomato. Fry them in medium to high heat....'Koshano' or 'Bhunoing'

4. After the oil separates from the cooked masala, gently slide in the fried Muitthas / Koftas. Turn them around gently to cover them in the masala/spice mix and fry for a minute or so....add about 2 cups of water to make a gravy of medium thickness. Cover and bring to a boil.

5. Just before taking it off the flame, add a tbspn of ghee and 1/2 tsp of powder garam masala (without roasting) (garam masala at the end is optional, though)

The Chitol Maachher Muittha is ready to be savoured with plain steamed rice.

This post is being linked to "Spotlight: Show Your Best Creation" @ Cuisine Delights

The little chef and her Cookies

Last year during her summer camp, 'cooking up a storm' was one of the activities where she'd been a part of a group of 6+ somethings who'd baked some lush, gooey, chocolatey , melt-in-the-mouth cookies! Not happy with just the two cookies which each of them were allowed to bring back home and also share with a choco-obsessed loving Mom, then and there she'd declared that she'll bake more of these.....the two paged photocopy of the recipe was carefully preserved and the intermittent reminders in the form of mild whinings were meted out to the not-too-enthusiatic-about-baking Mom...who turned a deaf ear and hardened her heart, determined not to be emotionally blackmailed!

Now that she was a year older, and hence more persistent and her arguments were logical, and to top it all, the final exams were over and hence free time was in abundance, the Mom couldnt continue feigning selective deafness and had to succumb to the pressure giving free reign of her kitchen to the little lady!

Out came the precious list and recipe....and off they (the reluctant Mom & the oozing-with-enthusiasm mini-chef) went and brought back a bag full of stuff.....sugars of different kinds, unsalted butter etc etc...

Unfortunately after reaching home, the Mom realised that her kitchen scale was broken and hence the measurements were approximate...but the cookies turned out yum...and could give any professionally baked cookies a run for their money! ;)
May be beginners' luck ...... but the mini chef and Mommy assistant were immensely satisfied with the outcome!!!!


Ingredients (as given in the printed recipe..lot of substitutions were made)


125 gm of unsaltede butter
90gm of soft light brown sugar
90 gm castor sugar
125 gm chocolate spread (used nutella + Hershey's chocolate syrup)
200gm plain flour
30 gm cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 drops vanilla extract (used 1.5 caps of vanilla essence)
150 gm of white chocolate chips (used 1/2 bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk, broken into unequal bits)
1 egg
A pinch of salt


Procedure (as given in the recipe ...followed more or less accurately except for the weight measures which were approximate)
1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Cream the butter and both types of sugar in a large bowl until the mixture turns creamy.
2. Still using the electric whisk, beat the egg, chocolate spread (2-3 tsp of nutella+1/2 cup of Hershey's chocolate sauce in our case....that's all there was at home), vanilla essence/extract into the creamed butter and sugar mixture, until fully mixed in.
3. Sieve the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt and mix in a bowl.
4. Add the sieved flour mixture with the chocolate mixture and mix them together. Stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Spray /brush some oil on the baking tray (not mentioned in the recipe).
6. Place 6-7 heated dessert spoonfuls of the cookie dough on the baking tray leaving space between each mound so that they can spread as they cook.


7. Bake for 14 minutes.

8. Take the trays out of the oven and leave the cookies to set for 2-3 minutes. When set transfer onto a cooling rack.

Enjoy the cookies...fresh off the oven....or later ....when they're cold and crispier ...with tea / milk .....

Sharing this recipe with Guest Host Mireille's event "What's with my Cuppa", originally started by Nupur.

Dalia & Green Moong Daal Mixed Paratha

Parathas made of Broken wheat & Green Gram 

A simple, hassle free, super nutritious I'd downloaded from the net and make very often...but never blogge about. To ensure the recipe is safe and sound in my e-recipe book, in case my memory fails me or my laptop crashes, thought of noting it down....

The ratio of ingredients in the original recipe was Dalia : Sabut moong :Ata = 3/4:1/4:1 cups. And there was no onion in the recipe. 
The following are my measurements. 

Ingredients :
Broken wheat (dalia/lapsi) 1 cup
Green gram (sabut moong) 1/2 cup
Whole wheat flour (atta) 1 & 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Ginger 2 inch piece
Finely chopped onion - 1
Fresh coriander leaves, chopped finely chopped - 1/2 cup
Green chilli, chopped finely chopped- depending on the heat tolerance
Oil 2-3 teaspoon

Procedure :
1. Clean dalia well.
2. Soak sabut moong for about an hour. Drain and set aside.
3. Pressure-cookd dalia and whole moong in 2 -2.5 cups of water until soft. I require 5-6 whistles if the moong is not soaked for long.  Cool and mash the mixture.

4. Combine wheat flour, salt and oil.
5. Mix wheat flour with cooked and mashed whole dalia and moong.
6. Add grated ginger, chopped onions, chopped coriander leaves and green chillies.

7. Add water, if required, a little at a time and knead into a soft and pliable dough.
8. Keep the dough covered with a moist cloth for 15 minutes.

9. Divide the dough into 12-13 equal portions. Form them into balls. Roll out each portion into thin five to six inch sized discs.
10. Brush a little oil on a hot non-stick griddle (tawa) and place the parantha on it and cook on medium heat for half a minute on each side. Reduce heat and cook further till both the sides are slightly browned.

Serve hot with dahi (or raita) and / chutney Achaar.

This recipe is off to 'My Legume Love Affair # 56' being hosted by Lisa. The event was started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook.

E(n)chorer Dalna...Raw Jackfruit curry-Bengali style

Raw Jackfruit or Ee(n)chor is eaten as a vegetable and not just eaten but is a delicacy in Bengali Vegetarian cuisine! And in Bengali it's also jokingly called 'Gaachh Paa(n)tha'.... literally translated, that would mean 'Tree + Goat meat'..and meant to say that Raw Jackfruit curry tastes as good as Goat Meat, but is of course vegetarian !! ;))

As a kid I would neither touch or taste either the ripe or raw version of the fruit/vegetable. As I grew up, I developed a taste for the vegetable version but the strong aroma of the fruit version (Kathaal) could never lure me into tasting it!

Seeing the rare sight of raw Jackfruits on the shelves of the supermarket and knowing my homehelp would take care of the tough part of cutting it, I bought a medium sized one.

Ingredients :

Tender raw jackfruit, cut into small cubes and blanched/steamed in salt water

One small onion chopped

One small onion paste

Ginger paste - 1 tsp

Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Tomato chopped (optional)

Two potatoes cubed

Bay leaf / Tej Pata - 1

Garam Masala whole - 3-4 elaichi (Cardamom) + 1 " cinnamon stick + 2-3 clove pieces

Haldi (Turmeric) powder - 1 tbsp

Jeera (Cumin) Powder - 1 tsp

Chili powder - 1 tsp

Kashmiri Mirch - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Mustard Oil preferably

Procedure :

1. Smear the potato cubes with salt and turmeric and fry and Keep aside

2. Lightly fry the cubed and blanched jackfruit pieces. Keep aside

3. In oil, throw the Bay leaf and whole Garam  Masala.

4. Add a tsp of Garlic paste

5. Add a pinch of sugar and the finely chopped onions.

6. Fry till light brown, then add the ginger paste followed by onion paste. Fry well till nicely browned.

7. Make a mix of the masala paste - Turmeric + Jeera powder + Kashmiri mirch + Chili Powder + salt with little water

8. Add to the fried onions. Cook well on medium to high heat (Koshano as we say in Bengali) till the oil separates out.

9. Add the blanched and fried Jackfruit / Ee(n)chor pieces into the masala and mix well on medium heat. Sprinkle some water if too dry. Add the potatoes.

Continue cooking till the vegetables are soft and cooked.

Finish off with a dash of ghee (clarified butter)...

This post is off to Weekend Herb Blogging #363 started Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen and organised by HAALO and  hosted for the week by ELENA of ZIBALDONE CULINARIO

Baked Fish (Bhetki) on a bed of grated Cabbage

 Bhetki Fillets, juicy & succulent. The first thought which comes to mind is Fish Fry (the Bong way). But the past few days have been an overdose of Fish Fries and hence decided against it.

As necessity is the mother of ALL inventions or discoveries and in this case recipes, decided to put to use the only vegetable available at home and 'create' something new. Well..... was definitely skeptical as to how fish and cabbage would taste....So with apprehensions mounting regarding the outcome of the dish and how it would be received by my in-house trio (father & daughters) of food tasters/critics/consumers etc etc, I went ahead.

Ingredients :

Bhetki fillet - around 1.5 kgs which yielded about 12-15 boneless pieces

Vinegar / Lemon juice-1/2 cup

Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tbsp

Onion juice (optional)
Green chilli paste (optional)

Salt

Pepper - freshly ground

chilli flakes

coriander leaves - finely chopped

grated cheese- 1 cup

butter

finely chopped cabbage - 1

2 onions - diced

Procedure :
1. Marinate the bhetki fillet / steak in a mix of vinegar/lemon juice + ginger-garlic paste + onion juice (optional) + green chilli paste (Optional) + very finely chopped coriander leaves + salt/rock salt + freshly ground pepper

2. Finely chop / grate the cabbage. I chopped mine. You may blanch the chopped cabbage...I didnt as i wanted it to retain its crunchiness.

3. Preheat the OTG in bake mode at 250 deg C.

4. Spray / smear butter/oil on the baking tray. Make a bed of the grated / chopped cabbage. Squeeze juice of 2 (or more lemon depending on how tangy you like) lemon. Sprinkle salt (in moderation) & pepper . Mix well and make an uniform bed of cabbage.

5. Place the diced  onions on the cabbage bed. and also scatter some tiny butter cubes on the bed.

6. Now place the marinated fish fillet / steak on the cabbage bed. With a pastry brush, liberally brush the top of fish pieces with melted butter or oil. I had used butter. Now garnish liberally with grated cheese. And finally sprinkle roasted red chilli flakes..


7. Set the OTG at aroun 180 deg C in bake mode for around 12-15 minutes or till the cheese turns golden brown. Prick the fish with a fork to ensure it's cooked. Do not over bake/cook the fish....it'll turn fibrous an chewy.

8. Serve with some crispy fried potato wedges or roasted baby potatoes (as in Sl.13 of this procedure).

And the unanimous verdict was 'YUMMILICIOUS'!!!!


And since this incidental &experimental dish is healthy indeed, it is off to Indrani's Blog Event SPOTLIGHT:HEALTHY BAKING which was originally announced here


And as this baked dish would make a great main course in a Christmas Lunch, it's off to Sudeshna's Blog (COOK LIKE A BONG) ' s CHRISTMAS EVENT

A Quick Banana Cake

When your fruit basket is weighed down by a bunch of over ripe bananas that nobody in the family (including you) will touch, you know something HAS to be done to avoid the fruits from going straight to the bin. Well, that's exactly how this cake happened to happen in my kitchen. Otherwise I am not much of a baker and would never ever volunteer to bake a banana cake, of all things..... ;)

Ingredients :

Ripe Bananas - 3
Eggs -
Flour / Maida - 2 cups
Sugar - 3/4 cup
White Oil - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Vanilla Essence - 1 tbsp
Fresh Cream / malai - 3 tbsp
Cinnamon sticks - 2-3"
Broken Cashew - a handful
Salt - a pinch

Procdeure :
1. In a mixie jar, put the following and mix:
     a) peeled and chopped bananas
     b) eggs
     c) sugar
     d) fresh cream / malai
     e) oil
  Pour into a wok like vessel or mixing bowl.

2. In a container, pour the flour, baking powder, powdered cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Mix well.

3.Pour the dry mix into the wet one. Gently fold in to combine.

4. Add vanilla essence & cashew pieces. Fold in .

5. Pour the batter into a preheated and greased cake mould. The oven is to be preheated to 250 deg C for 8-   10 min.

6. Set the OTG in 'baking' mode, at temp 175-180 deg C for 45 minutes.

 

Insert a fork / toothpick into the cake and if it comes out clean, the banana cake is done.

Let it cool in the oven and then cut a thick slice ...the taste is mildly sweet with a hint of banana flavour.
Eat it just as it is . I had mine with chocolate sauce, garnished with roasted almonds! And despite being quite a banana hater, I loved the cake!!

This post is off to 
1) Sudeshna's Blog (COOK LIKE A BONG) ' s CHRISTMAS EVENT;  

2) Indrani's Blog Event SPOTLIGHT:HEALTHY BAKING which was originally announced here;

3) 'Fast & Quick Healthy Dishes - Guest hosted by Kalpana Sareesh of Life with Spices, on behalf of Priya of Priya's Versatile Recipes

Mixed Halwa

with Ata (Wheat Flour), Roasted Almond powder & Roasted Lotus Seed powder

Catering to the taste and health needs of a five and half year old and a one year old with a common dish is not only tough but quite an uphill task. But makes life a trifle easier for me! ;)

On the few occasions I do manage and satisfy both the elder's tastebuds and the younger's nutrition needs, I cant help but pat myself on the back.

This halwa is one such a dish.

Setting out to make suji halwa, realised that the dampness due to incessant rains had gotten the better of me, and the suji looked far from edible.

I had just 15 minutes to leave for office before which I had to make the-after-school-evening-tiffin for AD (my elder daughter).

So this was the substitute....

Ingredients :

Wheat flour (Ata) - 1/2 cup
Roasted and powdered Almond - 1/2 cup
Roasted and powdered puffed Lotus Seeds (Phool Makhana)  - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 3-4 tbsp
Milk - 1/2 litre
Green Cardamon - 3-4
Sugar - 1/2 cup or to taste

Procedure :
1. Heat ghee in a kadai and throw in the green cardamoms
2. Add the Ata and roast on medium heat vigorously. Take care that the ata does not burn
3. After the raw smell of Ata is eliminated, add the roasted-powdered almond & lotus seeds. Keep on stirring  on medium to high heat.
4. Add sugar and continue stirring till nicely browned but NOT burnt
5. Add the milk slowly and keep stirring to ensure lumps are not formed.
6. Cook till the consistency is semi solid & gooey i.e upma/halwa like!!

serve warm...

Note : I have also made this by substituting the Ata with Ragi flour & suji.

This recipe is being sent to 'Fast & Quick Healthy Dishes - Guest hosted by Kalpana Sareesh of Life with Spices, on behalf of Priya of Priya's Versatile Recipes

Reposting Protein Rich Food

The following two main courses are being reposted for the event "COOK IT HEALTHY" - "Proteinicious"

1. Baked Fish

Baked Bhetki Fillet (wrapped in spinach and topped with cheese) served with steamed & sauted vegetables and fried baby potatoes

 ***

2. Fried Jumbo Prawns in roasted tomato-cheese-garlic sauce with Cinnamon Rice

Jumbo Prawns fried in butter in cheese-roast tomato-garlic sauce and served with Cinnamon Rice

Thor Ghonto

A dry vegetarian dish made of BANANA PITH or STEM

The abundance of Banana Plant in Bengal is probably responsible for Bengalis using up each and every part of the plant, as I've already mentioned in several of my previous posts (here & here).

But a sad reality of today's fast paced nuclear families, is a gradual obsolescence of these regional delicacies. The main reason behind it is the difficulty in cutting and chopping these plant parts. I found a blogpost detailing the cutting procedure of Banana stem or pith, or as we Bengalis call it THOR.An additional tip is the last dicing or chopping....it should be as fine as possible. Almost minced.

Well, coming to the recipe of Thor Ghonto....this recipe is suitable when the stem/pith i.e Thor, is tender. Else the better option would be to go for Thor Chhechki.

Ingredients :

-Thor of length abt 1.5 ft - 2 nos.

-Gobindobhog rice preferably or any other similarly fragranced rice - 1/2 bowl

-Potatoes diced small - 1 medium or 2 small

-Grated coconut - 1/2 Gram/

-Bengal Gram - 1/2 bowl soaked in water (overnight preferably)

-Bay leaf/Tej Pata - 1 or 2

-Whole Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

-Whole garam masala - 2-3 green elaichi/cardamom, 1 1"stick of cinnamon, 2-3 cloves

-Masala Paste -
     Jeera powder - 2 tbsp;
     Halid/Turmeric-1 tsp;
     Red Chili powder- 1 tsp;
     Kashmiri Chili powder - 1tsp (optional)

-Salt

-Sugar
-Ghee - 1-1 1/2 tsp
-Roasted Garam masala powder

-Mustard Oil - 1 cup (This recipe is high on oil...for that matter all thor, mocha recipes are....)

-Wheat flour/Ata - 2 tbsp (optional, as a binder)

Procedure :

1. Cut the thor as given here. It's a very well illustrated explanation.Chop as fine as possible.

2. In a pressure cooker, take the minced thor, add a cup of water, add salt and haldi/turmeric and pressure cook upto 2 whistles. Drain the water and squeeze out as much water as possible.

3. Fry the diced potatoes after sprinkling a pinch of salt and turmeric.Keep aside after frying.

4. Now fry the washed gobindobhog rice in oil till crispy. Keep aside.

5. In the wok, pour the cup full of oil, heat it and season with whole garam masala, tej pata/bay leaf and cumin seeds/whole jeera.
6. Throw in the soaked Bengal Gram and immediately cover the wok with a lid until the bengal grams stop spluttering.
7. Now add the masala paste (haldi, jeera powder, red chili powder & kashmiri chili powder) and salt and sugar.
8. Also add the grated coconut now. Cook the masala well, 'koshano' as we call it in Bengali.
9. After the masala is well cooked, add the pressure cooked, water drained & squeezed minced thor. Mix well with the masala.
10. Add the fried rice followed by diced potatoes.

11. Cover and cook on low/medium flame for around 10 minutes. Keep stirring on and off. No water is to be added. If required drizzle a spoon of oil.
12. If the thor ghonto appears a bit too moist, sprinkle a tsp of Flour/Ata and turn the vegetable around to mix it. This is an optional step and is required ONLY to reduce the moistness of the dish.

13. Before taking off the 'ghonto' off the flame, heat ghee and season with roasted garam masala powder and pour over the 'Thor ghonto'.

The Thor Ghonto is ready to be served with steamed rice.

This post is off to Weekend Herb Blogging #291 started by HAALO and  hosted for the week by PAULCHEN'S FOODBLOG