Sheem Chochchori

Fried Broad Beans ....the Bengali way

 The Sheem or Broad Beans looked so fresh and green, I of all persons, who's not in the least bit a vegetable lover,  seemed to have fallen in love with them....Cautiously, as I had never cooked it earlier, bought just a packet of it....didnt have the heart to refrigerate this fresh a vegetable and hence cooked a 'Sheem Chochchori' (Broad Beans fried in typical Bengali spices) with it.

A quick and easy recipe .... though of course the presence of mustard paste (shorshe baata) and grated coconut in the fridge helped...

Ingredients :
Broad Beans - 250gms. ..each cut it 3 parts
Dry red chili whole - 1
Kalojeera / Nigella seeds - 1/4 tsp
Haldi / Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
grated coconut - a small bowl
mustard paste - 2 tsp
coriander leaves
green chili
salt to taste
sugar - a pinch
Mustard oil

Procedure :
1. In a kadai, heat the mustard oil and season with whole dry red chili & kalojeera
2. Add the Sheem pieces  (cut in 3 parts as shown in the pic) and add Haldi, salt and sugar. Turn the vegetable and spices around in the kadhai and let it cook till partially soft yet the crunchiness should still be there.
3. Add the grated coconut followed by mustard paste. Let it cook for a couple of minutes more
4. Garnish with Coriander leaves and slit whole green chili.

To be savoured with steamed white rice

Kasundi / Kashundi Maachh

Fish cooked in Kashundi (A Mustard based sauce unique to Bengal)

Quick, Easy & Delicious. Thats what Kashundi/Kasundi Maachh (Bhetki/Basa or for that matter any soft fish) is.

Ingredients 

Bhetki / Basa fillets - 500-750gm

Ginger-Garlic paste (I use homemade) - 1.5 tbspn

Chili flakes / chili powder - depends on heat tolerance

Salt

Crushed Black pepper

Procedure :

1. Bhetki/Basa fillets marinated in ginger, garlic paste, salt, pepper, chilli flakes/chilli powder and generous helping of Kashundi/Kasundi for 1/2 - 1 hr.

2. Drizzle 2-3 tbsp of Mustard Oil to the marinated fish. (This may be eliminated or just a minimum quantity of oil may be used). Mix well and place them evenly in a flat bottomed microwaveable glass container

Slit some green chilies and place them on the 'bed' of fish. 

Microwave on Power 80 for 8-10minutes.

Keep it within the oven for 2-3 minutes. 

Garnish with freshly chopped Coriander leaves.  

Tastes delicious with steamed rice.

Cooking couldnt be faster or easier!!

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

Ilish Maachh Bhaja..Tel Kaancha Lonka diye

(Fried Hilsa fish eaten with Mustard Oil & Green Chilli)

Even as I write, I'm salivating thinking of this simplest of simple, yet heavenly fish preparation.

To say it is easy to prepare, is an understatement.

Hilsa or Ilish tastes best when the size is big, minimum of 1 kg. But staying away from the fish lovers' hub that my home town is, I dont always have a choice. And have to be satisfied with whatever size the vendor has. Hence when last Sunday, a tiny Hilsa, Khoka Ilish (literally translated, it would mean Khoka=young boy ;)), weighing around 300gms was all that was available, I bought, two such Hilsas. But the bones of Ilish are such, that it would scare even the most loyal of fish lovers! And the smaller the size, the finer the bones.

Hence decided to prepare this particular preparation, which is a crispy, deep fried dish, where the crunchy bones can be chewed and eaten up!

Ingredients :

Illish Maachh (Hilsa) - cut into pieces and washed and cleaned (I used 2 Hilsas, 300gms each)

Salt - to taste

Turmeric/Halid - 1 tsp

Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (Optional)

Mustard Oil - 200-250 ml

Procedure :

1. Smear the washed fish pieces with Salt, turmeric and red chilli powder and keep aside for about 15 minutes

2. In a wok, pour around 250 ml of mustard Oil for deep frying. Heat the oil.

3. Deep fry the marinated fish on high flame till they are browned and crispy.

To eat this fried fish :

The mustard Oil in which the fish is fried, is mixed with hot plain rice, smeared with Kaancha Lonka (Green Chilli) and a bite of the crunchy, crispy Ilish Maachh bhaaja.

Pabda Maachher Patla Jhol

(A Light Pabda Fish Curry)

Pabda or Butter Fish is as soft as butter :)

A favourite will all at home, I dont miss a chance to cook this light gravy, whenever I get fresh , pink Pabda.

Ingredients :-

-Pabda Fish - 500gms. (Nine medium sized Pabda), marinated (with turmeric+Mustard Oil+salt) for 10 minutes and shallow fried in a non-stick pan.
-Kalo Jeera/Nigella seeds-1 teaspoon
-Green Chillies : 3-4
-Chopped Tomato - 1
-Masala paste with
*Turmeric - 2 - 3 tsp
*Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tsp
*Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp (Optional....today I didnt add this)
*Mustard  paste 2-3 teaspoon
*Salt to taste
- Mustard Oil - 4-5 tbsp
-Bori -8-10 (Optional) (Fried or dry roasted..today I dry roasted in a wok.)
-Coriander leaves - chopped
Some snapshots of the Bori and shallow-fried pabda...


Procedure :
1.Take mustard oil in a wok and put it on the stove and wait till it's crackling hot
2.Season with Kalo Jeera & 2 Green Chillies (Today I didnt use the green chilli for seasoning).
3.Add the chopped tomatoes. Stir.
4.Add the masala paste. Stir and cook the paste (moshla koshano)
5.Keep sprinkling water from time to time
6.Add the fried fish. Turn them around in the wok to coat the fish with masala but taking care so as not to break them.
7.Add one glass of water. Cover with a lid. Simmer the flame and let it cook for 5 minutes.
8.Add the fried /roasted Bori
9.Check the salt.
10.The gravy should be of thin consistency. If required, add water. Bring to a boil.
11.Add 2-3 slit green chillies and garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.
12.Ready to serve/eat with steamed rice