Stir-Fried Eggs and Potatoes

Alu Pyaj Deem Bhaja

The internet, and Facebook in particular, are an endless source of inspiration. This recipe, taken from a food group in Facebook, is one of a myriad of egg curry recipes and is also the easiest. The eggs and potatoes are boiled for 20 minutes, cooled, peeled and cut, then stir-fried with onions. By boiling the potatoes first, they taste wonderfully soft after cooking.

We had this with steamed rice, but it can be served with any Indian bread and tastes really good rolled up in a tortilla. 

Beet and Sweet Potato Chops

Garnished Chops

Sweet Potato Cakes sounded so tempting! The small number of ingredients made it look easy, so I went about collecting my supplies. In addition to the two sweet potatoes in the vegetable, there were 3 small beets. This was my first deviation from the original recipe.

I've recently replaced plain breadcrumbs with Japanese Panko Breadcrumbs but, for the life of me, could not find the box. Since it was being used as a binding agent, I reached for the jar of tapioca-rice starch instead, which turned out to be a 'happy accident' or serendipitous. The texture it produced was soft, yet 'bouncy', similar to turnip cakes. And this was the second deviation from the original recipe, although I eventually did find and add Panko breadcrumbs.

Serve with your choice of dip such as ketchup. I served it with kasundi, the Bengali substitute for French's mustard.

Green Peppers in Peanut Sauce

Green Peppers in Peanut Sauce

Any and all varieties of bell peppers taste good cooked in this tangy peanut sauce. Add as much chili powder and dried red peppers as you can handle. I kept them to a minimum to suit my family.

Saffron Cauliflower

Saffron Cauliflower

Saffron is one of those spices that should be discarded after a year because it loses its aroma and flavour. I often use saffron as a substitute for turmeric powder. In this case, cauliflower and potatoes were cooked with white poppy seed paste and saffron, which imparts a beautiful golden hue. Serve as a side dish with steamed rice, chapatis or tortillas.

Choto Mach'er Chorchori - Stir-Fried Smelt

Smelt Chorchori

When I first left India, it took me a long time to get over the disappointment of seeing only filleted fish in the supermarkets. Then I came across packages of lake smelt, already cleaned and left whole. Beli Mashi, my aunt, was visiting us in Los Angeles at the time, and she showed me how to choose the larger sizes of smelt to prepare with shorshe bata or mustard paste.

Stir-frying the smaller variety of smelt in mustard oil with potatoes, tomatoes and green onions makes a lovely bati chorchori. Similar to canned sardines, they can be enjoyed without the fuss of removing the bones.

Best served with hot, steamed rice, this main dish can be accompanied by lentils and a vegetable side dish for a complete Bengali meal.

Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding

In the Bowl

Inspired by a Banglar Rannaghar video, (my favourite videos to watch), this bread pudding reminds me of my caramel custard or flan recipe with bread added to it. I used coconut sugar in place of granulated sugar and evaporated milk instead of cream.