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

Rohu Roe fritters .... Rui Machher Dimer Bora

A dull grey rainy day culminates into an evening of continuous rains. As with the weather outside, the ambience within the four walls was also dull, damp and grey!

Boredom was further enhanced by the fact that the Friday evening was not only a rainy evening, but was about to be followed by AD's Maths Exams the following day i.e Saturday....what could be worse!

Well, had to spice up the tea time with something more than the biscuits and the 'Bhujiawallah' snacks!!

So the 4kg Rohu's Roe, sitting in the freezer, was brought out, thawed, spiced up and deep fried and savoured with mugs of hot steaming ginger tea! Aaaah Bliss.....

The recipe....

Ingredients

Roe of a 4kg Rohu roe yielded about 38-40 (1.5" dia) fritters or 'Boras'

Onion - 1...finely chopped

Ginger - 1 tsp grated 

garlic - 2-3 cloved chopped

Green chillies - as many as the heat factor allows

Besan or gram flour - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil to deepfry.

Procedure :

1. Mix the roe with all the above ingredients. 

2. Make coin sized balls and flatten

3. Deep /shallow fry on a non-stick pan

4. Serve hot with tea/coffee.

These 'Bodas' or fritters can be an accompaniment to Plain Rice-(Mushurir/Masoor) Dal. 

Another option would be to make a gravy with onion, tomato and potato and add these fritters and make what in bengali is known as 'Maachher Dim er Bora'r Dalna'

Gujju (Methi) Thepla in Bong kitchen

Taught by a Gujju friend, love these Theplas!

Love them with mirchi achaar (green chilli pickle), and sometimes plain, with my evening cuppa! Best part they taste yummy even when not so fresh..

Ingredients:

Ata (wheat flour) - 250 gm or 2 cups

Curd - 1 cup

Methi (fenugreek) leaves- 1/2 cup
White til (sesame seeds) - 1 tbsp

Ajwain (carom seeds) - 1 tsp

Green chilli paste

Dhania (Coriander) powder - 1 tbsp

Jeera (Cumin) powder - 1/2 tsp

Haldi (Turmeric powder) - 1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1-2 tsp

Oil - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Procedure :

1. Knead all the ingredients together till you get a soft dough

2. Divide the soft dough into about 12-14 balls as in chapatis.

3. Roll out similar to a chapati.

4. On a tawa, smear some oil and cook both sides of the thepla.

5. Serve hot.

But, I like theplas kept overnight too....

Shaboor Bada

(Saboodana Vada or Fried Dumplings of Saboo)

I love Saturday evenings...just the thought of a holiday the next day, makes my heart soar with joy! And hence, Saturday evening teatime demands a little more than the usual biscuits or muri-makhaa!

As I was sifting through the stuff that would add an extra zing to my leisurely evening tea, I found a packet of saboo dana, bought quite sometime back and forgotten!
Retrieving the poor little forgotten packet, I set out to make the simple yet tasty Shaboor Bada (Deep fried Dumplings/Vada made of Saboodana)

Ingredients :

Saboo dana - 250gms

Potatoes - 3 medium sized

Onions - 1 chopped

Tomato - 1 chopped (Optional..I didnt use)

Jeera/Whole Cumin seeds - 1 - 1.5 tsp

Green chillies-4-5 (or more) chopped

Ginger-freshly grated (I used ginger paste)

Salt/Rock salt - as per taste

Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup -chopped fine

Oil for deep frying

Procedure :

1. Soak the saboodana in water for about 15-20 minutes. I dont like them too soggy/mushy hence depending on the quality, the soaking time may be less. Keep checking while you arrange the other ingredients.

2. Boil 3 medium sized potatoes in a pressure cooker.

3.Mash the boiled potatoes. Add all ingredients in the 'Ingredients' list except saboodana.

4.By now the soaked saboo is ready. Drain off the water and mix thoroughly with the mashed potatoes.

5. Divide into around 20-24 balls and flatten between palms of your hands.

6.In a wok, heat oil for deep frying. Deep fry the Bodas/Vadas/Dumplings in batches till golden brown.

7. Serve hot with any chutney or Sauce. I served with Kashundi (A traditional Bengali mustard sauce) and munch along with a steaming hot cup of tea!

The above post, is my entry for "Sunday Snack: Festive Snack of Navratri and Diwali" hosted by Indrani of APPYAYAN.


This recipe is also 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

Pav Bhaji comes to the rescue!

Weekends, or for the less fortunate of the human species (like me!), ONLY SUNDAYs, are often, busier and more jam packed with things-to-do than the weekdays!

We (AD & I) usually practise a division of labour when it comes to weekend stocking up the larder...he goes shopping for meat, fish etc while I go vegetable shopping. No particular reason, except for the fact, that though I love fish to death, i abhor the squalor in a traditional fish market. From this (and only this) aspect, I prefer the sanitised environment of a supermarket.

I wish some enlightened enterpreneur comes up with a retail outlet which has the feel of an Indian Bazaar sans the squalor and the mess !!!! The fresh & bright greens, oranges, purples, the scented aroma of the herbs, the smell of earth, the buzz of life and livelihood, the banter and bargaining...I love it all! The supermarkets with their racks of frozen stuff, with the uniformity and the impersonalised & almost mechanised service, bore me to death (read my take on shopping here) !

I want the best of both worlds!

I know I sound greedy and demanding..but I am! I want everything!!!!!! I want the quality, the variety, the bargain and the personal touch...i am the customer and the customer is the KING (oops! QUEEN!!)

The GenNex Biyanis, Ambanis.....are you listening?????

Well, coming back to where I started.....this weekend we decided to give schedule & discipline a miss and be lazy! We skipped the weekly marketing....

Consequence ? weekend masti and midweek crisis!!
Barely wednesday and my refrigerator was frighteningly empty.....there was a bit of this and a bunch of that and the freezer was worse off...it was empty !!!!!

So yesterday on my way back from office, which is the time i plan what we would have for dinner, I stopped at the neighbourhood kiraana shop and picked up a few packets of Pav, having decided it had to be PAV BHAJI for dinner.

Ingredients :

1. Pav - 2 packets

2. Masalas :
a) Pav Bhaji Masala - approx 2 tsp

b) Haldi/Turmeric - approx 1 tsp
c) Kashmiri mirch - 1 tsp
d) Red chilli powder - as per taste

3. Butter - the more the better! I used around 2 tbsp for the bhaaji & 2-3 tbsp to saute the pav

4. Lemon wedges - I had only 2 ..

5. Onions - finely chopped -3

6. Coriander leaves - chopped. (Thank god for my little pot of Dhaniya in the backyard!)

7. Tomatoes - 3 small tomatoes chopped

8. Green chillies - finely chopped

9. Ginger paste - 1 tsp

10.Garlic - 1/2 tsp (optional)

11.Oil - 2 tablespoons

12.Vegetables - the more the merrier!

- I used :

a) Potatoes - 4 medium sized
b) Brinjal - 2 small

c) Cabbage - 1/2

d) Carrot - 3

e) Beans - a small bunch...around 5-6

f) Bottle gourd- 1 small 2 " piece

g) Peas - 1/2 bowl (I used frozen peas)

13. Salt

14. Sugar

Procedure
1. Boil in a pressure cooker vegetables given above in 12a-12f. Mash them with a masher and keep aside.

2. Thaw the frozen green peas in salted boiling water.

3. Heat Oil in a wok and add garlic paste and 1 chopped onion and a pinch of sugar for taste and colour (very typical Bengali!!). Fry till the onions turn light brown & translucent.

4. Add the ginger paste followed by tomatoes.

5. Mix all masalas given at 2a-2d and salt with some water into a paste and add this to the fried onion-tomato-ginger-garlic. Cook till you see the oil separate out.

6. Add the mashed vegetables (prepared as in Sl. 1). Cook well for 3-4 minutes

7. Add a blob of butter and garnish with coriander leaves and finely chopped green chillies.


8. When serving, sprinkle finely chopped raw onions and squeeze a wedge or two of lemon.

9. Slice the pavs horizontally and pan fry them in butter, on a tawa till they are crisp yet moist.

10. Serve the hot buttered pavs with the bhaaji garnished with coriander-chopped onion & a dash of lime!

Nameless Delight!

(Baked Bread stuffed with the goodness of vegetables, chicken and anything & everything healthy and tasty)
A dish without a name!

So dear friends, the onus lies on you to find one for this dish, once you read about it!

When visiting a cousin, she'd made this delicious preparation.

With hardly any time to note down or even hear the recipe, all she could say was "make it like a Cake sans the sugar but plus some salt and add anything as filling to it"...

She'd made it with chicken...when I decided to try out this Cake sans the sugar, I decided to make it more wholesome, and added chicken and some veggies too....

So without much ado, here goes the recipe...

Ingredient :
A. For the filling
1. Boneless Chicken pieces - 150-200gms
2.Onion finely chopped - 1
3. Cardamom-2
4.cinnamon stick - 1 (1" piece)
5. Bay leaf
6. Ginger + Garlic paste - 1 tsp
7.Carrot - blanched
8 Beans - blanched
9. Baby corn - 4-5 sliced
10. Butter - 2tbsp
11. Crushed pepper - 1 tsp
12. Chilli powder - 1 tsp (optional)

B. For the batter :
1. Flour - 2 cups (about 200gm)
2. Eggs - 3
3. Oil - 1 cup
4. Baking powder - 1tbsp
5. Salt - to taste
6. Crushed pepper corn - 6-8
7. Roasted Garlic sliced - (5-6 cloves of garlic) ** (I roasted the garlic as given here)
8. Butter - 1 tsp
9. Milk - 1 cup

C.For the final tempering
1. Butter - 1-2 tbsp
2. Red Chilli - Roasted and ground into flakes - 1 tsp
3. Roasted Garlic sliced

Procedure :
A.Filling
1. Take ingredients Sl. No. 1-6 in 'B' of Ingredients and pressure cook.
2. Chop the blanched carrot and beans into small cubes
3. In a wok, take some butter and when hot, add the sliced babycorn.
4. Fry till golden.
5. Add the cubed carrot-beans and stir fry. Add some salt and pepper.
6. Lastly add the boiled boneless chicken pieces and again saute for 2-3 minutes.
Keep aside

B. Batter
1. Whip 3 eggs and keep aside
2. As in making a cake, mix the flour and the baking powder well.
3. In a bowl, mix the whipped eggs, oil
4. Now in a big mixing bowl, mix together the flour+baking powder, egg+oil, salt, crushed pepper. Beat the mixture well
5. Now add the stirfired chicken-carrot-bean-babycorn into the batter .
6. Add some sliced roasted garlic
7. Mix well.

Preheat the oven for 5 minutes.

After spraying oil in a baking container, pour the chicken-vegetable containing batter

Bake at 180 deg Celsius for 25 minutes.

Insert a knife and if it comes out clean, it's done....else bake for another 5-10 minutes

Now in a skillet heat 2 tbsp of butter, add some roasted and flaked red chillies, slices of roasted garlic.
Now pour this butter-chilli flakes-garlic combo on the baked dish (as in chhaunk) The baked goody is ready to be sliced and eaten with some sauce.

*It makes a great breakfast dish ...
I had it with a cup of tea and finished off the breakbast with some fruits (a bowl of Papaya & Banana).

And so this is my entry to "EFM Theme - Breakfast Series" hosted by SriLekha of ME and MY KITCHEN . The logo for the event is ...

* Being a breakfast dish, this is my entry to 'SHOW ME YOUR BREAKFAST' hosted by Divya Vikram of DIL SE. The logo for the event is..

* It makes a great item to be packed in lunch box for kids along with some fruits ...
The chicken in the recipe can be removed or replaced with any or many of the following :
paneer/mushroom/cauliflower florets/carrot/bean/baby corn/corn kernel etc.

I gave some fruits (mango cubed) and hey presto! A wholesome nutrituous snack/light lunch box was ready!
This is my entry to CFK:HEALTHY LUNCH BOXES hosted by NEHA of TASTY RECIPES. The event was started by Sharmi of Naivedyam

The logo of the event is .....

Fish Croquette aka Fish Chop

A common snack / starter in almost all Bengali households. The most recent occasion when I made these delicious & easy-to-make hors d'oeuvres was during the Poila Boishakh celebrations last Sunday...again photographs arent what I wanted them to be.....taking pictures just got pushed to the backburner of priorities!

The typical Fish Croquette or Maachher Chop is a mashed and spiced fish fillet in an envelope of mashed potato, rolled into a sphere/oval shaped, coated with bread crumbs and deepfried.

Due to lack of time to make this elaborate enveloped preparation, I cut a step short. The shortcut methodology didnt deter the taste one bit.....if I needed proof of its success, I got it, when I before I knew, the plates of the fishchops were being emptied!! :)

So here goes my recipe :

Ingredients :

#Katla / Rohu fish : 1.5 kg

#Ginger paste : 1 tsp
#Garlic paste : 1tsp

#Onion (finely chopped) : 1 medium

#Bay Leaf : 1

#Whole Garam Masala : 2 elaichi; 2-3 cloves; 1 medium cinnamon stick

#Salt : to taste

#Sugar : a pinch

#Turmeric : a pinch

#Cumin Powder : 1 tsp

#Red chilli powder : 1/2tsp

#Roasted and powdered Cumin : 3/4 tsp

#Green Chillies (finely chopped) - 1 or 2 (depending on spice/heat tolerance factor)

#Oil : 2 tbsp & 250ml for deep frying

#Potatoes : 5-6 medium to large potatoes - boiled and mashed

#Arrowroot powder / Cornflour - 3-4 tbsp

#Bread crumbs : 2 cups OR Bread Slices (stale ones preferred) - 5-6 nos. (see below to check out how to prepare breadcrumbs @ home)

Procedure :

1. Wash the fish pieces. Marinate the fish pieces with ginger-garlic paste, a pinch of salt and turmeric for 5 minutes. Steam the marinated fish for 8-10 minutes. Let it cool.

2. Mash the steamed fish and carefully remove the bones. Mash it to a smooth paste

3. Mix the mashed fish with mashed potatoes, add the desired salt and knead well to ensure no lumps are present.

4. In a wok, heat some oil. Throw in the bay leaf and whole garam masala.

5. As it splutters, add the finely chopped onions and a dash of sugar for taste & caramelisation

6. Fry the onions till brown, but not burnt. Add the turmeric, cumin powder, red chilli paste and cook the masala well to eliminate the raw smell.

7. Add the mix of mashed potatoes + mashed fish. Stir well and mix it uniformly with the onion-masala paste. The mixing should be uniform and the raw taste of potato & fish should be totally eliminated. It takes around 12-15 minutes. Keep stirring to ensure the mashed mix does not burn!

8. Sprinkle some roasted and ground garam masala just before taking the mashed mix off the flame. And again mix well.

9. The fish chop filling is ready for the shaping, moulding and coating to begin.

10. Let it cool. Pinch off 2-2.5" sized lumps and roll them into spheres or circular tablets or any shape you desire! The outer surface should be smooth.

11. In a flat bottomed bowl, mix the arrowroot/cornflour with water to make a paste of thin consistency.

12. In a flat plate, take the bread crumb and make an even layer.

13. Take each shaped fish chop, dip it into the arrowroot/cornflour thin batter, immediately followed by rolling in the bread crumb to form an uniform coating. Repeat for all the chops.

14. In a deep flat bottomed frying pan, take the oil, heat it and fry the chops. Take out the fried chops and place them on a kitchen tissue to soak off the excess oil.

15. Serve with Salads and/or Mustard sauce (Kashundi) or any other sauce of your liking!

Preparing Bread Crumbs @ Home :

-Take the stale breads (Fresh bread contains lots of moisture and hence is not too suitable for making crumbs)

-Place them in a flat tray in the microwave oven. Heat it in microwave for 2 minutes on medium heat. After completion of 2 minutes, keep it in the microwave for another 2-3 minutes for the bread slices to harden.

-Take out the hardened bread slices, break them into small pieces and put them in a mixie/dry grinder.

-Just run it for 5-10 seconds, to get fresh bread crumbs instantly!

The above post, which I had posted just after our Bengali New Years or POILA BOISHAKH, is my entry for "Sunday Snack: Festive Snack of Navratri and Diwali" hosted by Indrani of APPYAYAN.

For us Bongs, Fish Croquette aka Maachher Chop is an all time favourite and not restricted to any particular festival or ritual. And foodies that we are, these Autumn festivities which are so intrinsic to our being is the perfect time to enjoy and savour all the delicious savouries!

The logo for the event is ...

Alu Chaat with a Healthy Touch

The name Chaat makes me drool...literally!

Chats from roadside eateries are what we've grown up with. The sweaty, dirty fingers kneading the 'Alu', the water from suspicious sources, the unwashed shaalpata containers never dettered us from savouring the delights of Phuchkawalas / Chaatwalas dishing out mouthwatering phuchkas, churmurs and many more yummy treats to die for.

Time changes, so do we and so does our priorities. Today after a tired day's work, Chaat, though still tempting, does not make us jump and run out to the roadside vendor. And the squalor and lack of hygiene does make us squirm once in a while...though there are times, when we turn a blind eye and just let the taste take over ...

Today being a Sunday, lunch was late, as is usual. A warm Sunday afternoon rolled into evening while we watched a movie, chatted and were just being lazy. Wasnt in the mood to get dressed and go out anywhere....Moreover, AD was busy playing with her friends ...so no whining or demands for an outing came our way. That's when the mood for some Chaat time set in and Alu Chaat being the easiest and fastest, I dragged my lazy self into the kitchen and set to work.

A peep into the fridge and veggie basket brought out a bit of this and that and I smiled to myself... so healthy chat it will be and thus shall I redeem myself from commiting the sin of Gluttony!

So here goes my recipe for Alu Chaat with a touch of Health

Ingredients :
1. Boiled Potato - 4 medium sized
2. Moong Sprouts - 1/2 cup
3. Bengal gram sprouts - 1/2 cup
4. Tamarind pulp - 6 tbsp or add some more till the taste is right
5. Black salt - 3 tsp (or to taste)
6. Green chillies - finely chopped (depending on your tolerance for chillies)
7. Dry Red Chillies - roasted & powdered - 1/2 tsp
8. Roasted & ground Cumin powder
9. Chopped Coriander leaves
10.Cornflakes - 1/2 bowl
11.Sev/Alu Bhujia - 1/2 bowl

Procedure :
1. Mash the boiled potatoes or slice them finely. (I mashed them)
2. Add all ingredients from 1 - 8 (of Ingredients)
3. Mix well.
4. Garnish with Cornflakes, Alu/Sev Bhujia and Chopped Coriander Leaves....
5. Serve & Eat
6. ...Mmmmmm......Bliss....