Keema Alu Mattar - Ground Lamb with Potatoes & Peas

Keema Alu Mattar

Our local supermarket now carries Australian lamb and it was a pleasant surprise to find no unpleasant aromas while cooking their ground lamb. There is some fat in the meat, so I'll be sure to use less oil the next time.

There was no cilantro (coriander leaves) in the house, so curry leaves were added to the usual recipe.
  

Maacher Muro Diye Bhaja Mooger Dal - Fish Head in Toasted Split Mung Bean Lentils

Maacher Muro Diye Bhaja Mooger Dal

Maacher muro or fish head adds an enormous amount of flavour, also known as umami, to anything to which it is added. Umami, in my opinion, is that robust taste that is tough to satisfy; it makes the epicure crave more of the same. There are a myriad ways to prepare fish head and since I have so many of them in my freezer, I plan to serve them up in all the known ways. 

I have blogged about a few of these ways - Fish Head Pilaf, Squash with Fish Head and Bottle Gourd with Fish Heads. Toasted mung bean lentils serves as a creamy base for fish heads. The whole head is pan-fried to a golden brown crisp before immersing in the lentils to finish cooking.

Served with a steaming bowl of Basmati rice, I need nothing more than some peace and quiet so I can focus on removing the bones before enjoying this dish.

Muttar Keema Gobi - Shredded Cabbage with Minced Meat & Peas

Shredded Cabbage with Minced Meat & Peas

This is another dish inspired by Mum. She would take a whole cabbage, remove the core and stuff it with spiced, seasoned and browned ground meat. The cabbage would then be bound with kitchen twine so it wouldn't fall apart and browned on top of the stove. From the frying pan, the bound cabbage would be transferred to the pressure cooker with a wee bit of water, brought up to full pressure and cooked over medium-low heat for about half an hour. The yummiest stuffed cabbage there ever was!

I deconstructed it and made a stir-fried, shredded cabbage with ground sausage meat. The longer the cabbage is cooked, the sweeter it tastes, so take the time to simmer and stir till the cabbage turns golden brown.

Scrambled Eggs, Cabbage & Peas

Scrambled Eggs, Cabbage & Peas

Here's another dish that places Mum's presence front & center in my consciousness. I remember having this with hot rice in Rangoon and more frequently in Darjeeling. It's really simple to make with just a few ingredients and is so delicious! It goes well with rice or tortillas.

Stir-Fried Cabbage with Shrimp & Peas

Bandha Kopi Chingri Maach

Shrimp adds a depth of flavour to any and all vegetables and pasta. Generally, I like to cook the cabbage to a deep, golden brown which takes a lot longer. Leaving the cabbage crisp and crunchy cuts back on the time and effort it takes to make this side dish. Cooking it on medium heat allows everything to cook in their own juices, so I don't add water unless it sticks to the bottom of the pan. Serve this with steaming, hot rice or tortillas.

Mung Bean Lentils with Peas

Koraishuti Diye Kacha Mooger Dal

Lentils are an essential part of any Bengali meal. They're kind of boring on their own, so adding a simple vegetable like green peas to mung bean lentils takes it out of the ordinary into the extraordinary, especially when accompanied by chopped tomatoes and ginger. On a cold winter's day when everything outside is blanketed in snow, there is no other comfort food like a bowl of steaming lentils over a mound of rice.

I generally cook red and mung bean lentils on the back burner over a low flame while the burners in front are being used to cook the rest of the meal. It's easier to cook lentils in a pressure cooker, but they tend to turn to mush whereas stovetop cooking produces a more al dente texture with more of a bite. 

These mung bean lentils have not been toasted which is my preferred way of cooking them with vegetables. When fish heads are added to mung beans, I like to toast them to give the lentils more body. Split mung bean lentils are cooked at a ratio of 1:4 cups of lentils to water. They're brought to a boil with turmeric and salt and the cooked vegetables are added after the lentils reach the desired consistency. While the lentils are cooking, the peas are stir-fried with tomatoes and ginger paste in a tempering of hot oil, cumin seeds, star anise and bay leaves and then added to the cooked lentils. Lentils are best served over hot rice or chapatis/tortillas.

Alu Gobi Mattar - Potatoes, Cauliflower and Peas Curry

Alu Gobi

There are so many ways to prepare this all-time favourite Indian dish. It's vegetarian, vegan if ghee is omitted and is the perfect side dish to accompany lentils and a non-vegetarian main dish. Alu gobi is versatile enough to be served with either steamed rice or any Indian bread.

In this preparation, I've saved time by dicing onions instead of making a paste and used a whole can of pureed tomatoes to create the gravy. By parboiling the vegetables beforehand, the gravy permeates throughout the dish to tie in all the flavours. A handful of shredded cilantro gives a fresh and aromatic finish to this vegetable side.

Phool Kopi Karaishuti Posto - Cauliflower & Peas in White Poppy Seed Sauce

Phool Kopi Karaishuti Posto

White  poppy seed (posto in Bengali) is very versatile and can be added to any combination of vegetables. It is especially tasty with cauliflower and peas. 

This dish was introduced to me by my sister, Rene, who lives in Toronto in Canada. I specifically remember the evening she made this on one of my visits to Toronto. She had also made Chicken Razala whose leftovers she told me she'd packed for my husband to have when I got back home to Michigan. 

At the U.S. border, a female customs official questioned me about what food I was carrying in the car and I told her about the chicken. She asked me to pop the trunk and examined the ice chest, came back to me in a fit of anger and informed me that she could impound my car. Really startled, I asked her what the problem was and she said she found some cauliflower along with the chicken. I told her to take the entire contents of the ice chest and throw everything in the trash, for all I cared. Honestly! Give a woman a little bit of power and she's likely to go bonkers!

Kalai Dal Chingri Korai Shuti Diye - White Mung Beans with Shrimp & Peas

Kalai Dal Chingri Korai Shuti Diye
White Mung Beans with Shrimp & Peas

My husband's cousin was visiting us a couple of years ago and was eager to cook for us. I prepped all the ingredients for him and he happily went to work on this amazing lentil dish. Amazing because we love shrimp but had never tasted it in lentils. It's best to pre-cook the lentils and fry the shrimp, set them aside and add them back at the end of the process to avoid overcooking the shrimp.

Doi Keema Matar - Minced Meat & Peas in a Yogurt Sauce

Doi Keema Matar

A really easy minced meat curry made with ground lamb, beef or chicken and green peas that tastes great as a stuffing for pita pocket sandwiches or served over steamed Basmati rice or with tortillas/chapatis.

I use my pressure cooker whenever I can to cook meat because it takes less time and seals in all the flavors. If cooking this in a saucepan is more convenient, make sure to simmer over medium heat for at least 45 minutes in Step 10.

Ingredients:

1 lb. minced lamb, beef or chicken

1 cup frozen peas

½ tsp. shah jeera or cumin seeds

1 cinnamon stick

2 large black cardamoms

2 large onions, diced

2 large tomatoes, diced

1 (6 oz.) tub of Greek yogurt

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1/2 tsp. turmeric powder

1/2 tsp. Kashmiri mirch or chili powder to taste

1 Tbsp. ginger paste

1 Tbsp. garlic paste

1/4 tsp. Bengali garam masala powder

1 green chili, finely diced

2 cups hot beef or chicken broth

salt to taste

1 bunch mint, minced

1/2 bunch cilantro, minced

1 tsp. ghee or butter

1/2 tsp. sugar

Directions:

1. Brown minced meat with salt to taste and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker over high heat and sputter shah jeera, cinnamon stick and cardamoms.
3. Add chopped onion, green chili and fry until onions turn translucent.  Do not brown the onions.
4. Add ginger & garlic pastes, turmeric and Kashmiri mirch, stir well and cook for a few minutes.
5. Add tomatoes, stir again and cook until tomatoes break down.
6. Add browned chicken, along with mint and stir well.
7. Turn heat off, add yogurt a tablespoon at a time and stir into chicken.
8. Return cooker to medium heat and simmer until oil resurfaces.
9. Add half the hot chicken broth, bring to a boil, cover and bring to full pressure.  
10. Simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes, remove from heat and allow all the pressure to release.
11. Adjust salt to taste, stir in sugar and remaining hot broth and stir well.
12. Garnish with garam masala, ghee and cilantro and serve with hot basmati rice, naan or tortilla.

Burmese Shrimp Fried Rice - Htamin Kyaw

Htamin Kyaw

What makes this fried rice Burmese? The addition of dried shrimp and fish sauce. Day-old white rice from the Chinese restaurant is perfect for making fried rice. A small portion of the sauces, along with dried chili flakes, mixed into the rice helps distribute taste and color throughout the fried rice. Dried shrimp imparts a lovely umami flavor to this dish.

To make a white fried rice increase the fish sauce to 4+1 tablespoons of fish sauce and omit the soy sauce. There's no need to add salt because both fish and soy sauce are loaded with salt.

Mung Bean Lentils Tempered with Wild Celery Seeds

Ingredients:
1 cup mung dal, toasted
3 carrots, diced
½ pkg. frozen peas
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
½ tsp. radhuni (wild celery) seeds
2 tsp. ginger paste
Salt to taste
¼ tsp. sugar
1 tsp. ghee or melted butter
2–3 green chilies, left whole

Directions:
1. Wash toasted lentils until water runs clear.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add radhuni seeds
3. When seeds start to sizzle fry carrots & peas for a few minutes.
4. Add lentils and ginger paste and cook until lentils are tender.
5. Adjust salt & sugar to taste and bring back to a boil.
6. Garnish with ghee and green chilies.
7. Transfer to a serving dish and serve with steamed rice or tortillas.

Chicken Keema Mattar - Ground Chicken with Peas and Potatoes

There are so many ways to prepare keema curry, but this one is really delicious because of the addition of Shan Pulao/Biryani mix, which is available in Indian grocery stores throughout the United States & Canada.

Sweet Potatoes and Peas with Shrimp

The sweet potatoes can be replaced with pumpkin.

Cauliflower Peas & Potato Curry

Dry Cauliflower Curry

A stir-fried vegan dish, this is hearty enough to serve as a main dish. The cauliflower florets & potatoes are browned prior to combining with the spices and sauce. Browning the cauliflower brings out the true flavour of the vegetable. Without browning, the cauliflower is quite bland. Usually served as a side dish, it goes well with steamed Basmati rice or any type of Indian bread.

Ingredients:
1 cauliflower, cut in florets
1 russet potato, cubed
1 cup frozen peas
4 Tbsp. extra light olive oil
½ tsp. shah jeera or cumin seeds
2 medium onions, cubed
2 tsp. ginger paste
1 tsp. garlic paste
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 – 3 green chilies
½ tsp. garam masala powder
Salt to taste
1 tsp. ghee

Directions: 
1. Boil water and blanch onions for 2 minutes, strain and set both aside.
2. Puree onions, chilies, onion, ginger, garlic and tomato pastes in a blender.
3. Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat and fry cauliflower until golden.
4. Remove cauliflower and set aside, then do the same with potato cubes.
5. Heat oil in the same pan and add cumin seeds.
6. When cumin starts to sizzle, add onion puree and simmer until oil resurfaces.
7. Add reserved hot water, bring to a boil and add cauliflower & potatoes.
8. Cover and simmer until potatoes are cooked.
9. Add frozen peas, adjust salt to taste, cover and simmer for five minutes.
10. Sprinkle garam masala powder over the cauliflower, stir and remove from heat.
11. Garnish with ghee and serve.

Cauliflower Curry in Tomato Gravy

The same recipe with gravy. Added 1 cup of hot vegetable broth at the end and simmered with 1/4 cup tomato puree for the gravy.

Green Beans in White Poppy Seed Sauce

Green Beans & Shrimp Posto

Green beans, peas & shrimp cooked in a white poppy seed sauce

Serves: 6
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp. white Poppy seeds (Posto)
1 cup Water

3 Tbsp. extra light Olive Oil
½ tsp. Nigella seeds (Kalo Jeera/Kalonji)

1 lb. green Beans, sliced width-wise into small circles 
2 tsp. Ginger paste
Salt to taste
1 cup frozen Peas, thawed
10 – 15 medium shrimp, shelled and deveined

1 tsp. Ghee or melted Butter
2 – 3 Thai red chillies, left whole

Directions:
1. Boil a cup of water in microwave, pour over poppy seeds in a bowl. Set aside to cool and soften.
2. Puree the poppy seeds and water in a blender until it reaches the consistency of a thick sauce. 
3. Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat and add nigella seeds.
4. When the seeds begin to sputter and sizzle, add vegetables, ginger paste and salt.
5. Lower heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes until vegetables are tender.
6. Add peas & shrimp, adjust salt to taste and cook for 5 minutes.
7. Add pureed poppy seeds and stir until well combined.
8. Cook for 5 minutes until the sauce reduces and just coats the beans.
9. Garnish with ghee & whole chillies and transfer to a serving dish.

Notes:
The green beans and peas can be replaced with several other vegetables, such as eggplant, cauliflower, potatoes, zucchini, ridge gourd (jhinge), sweet potatoes, pumpkin, etc.

Spinach, Sweet Potatoes & Peas with Coconut

Palang Shaag, Misti Alu, Karaishuti Ar Narkol 

Ingredients : 

2 lbs. frozen chopped spinach

1 sweet potato or 1/4 pumpkin, peeled & cubed
½ lb. frozen peas
1 large onion, sliced finely

1 jalapeno pepper, halved lengthwise & sliced widthwise

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 tsp. Shah jeera or cumin seeds

¼ cup grated unsweetened coconut
1 tsp. roasted cumin powder
salt to taste

1 jalapeno pepper, deseeded & sliced

1 tsp. ghee

Directions:

1. Heat a skillet on medium-high heat, toast grated coconut, remove and reserve for later use.
2. Heat oil in same skillet and sputter jeera.
3. Add and stir-fry sliced jalapenos, onions & cumin powder until onions turn opaque.
4. Stir in sweet potatoes & salt to taste, cover and simmer until sweet potatoes are half done.
5. Add frozen spinach & peas, add more salt, cover and steam until spinach & peas thaw.
6. Stir well and cook over medium heat until spinach is cooked and liquid evaporates.
7. Adjust salt, sprinkle with toasted coconut & garnish with sliced peppers and ghee.

Serve with rice or chapatis.

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Quick & Easy Fried Rice With Bacon And Peas

Fried Rice with Bacon & Peas

Left over white/steamed rice, unless cooked at home, usually turns hard and inedible the next day.  I usually freeze the left over rice in Ziploc bags until I'm ready to turn it into fried rice.

Ingredients:

2 cups cold cooked white rice (preferably short-grain sticky rice)
1 Tbsp. dark roasted sesame oil
2 tsp. dark soy sauce
3 Tbsp. light soy sauce
4-5 slices bacon
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp. butter
1 large egg, beaten with salt & pepper
1 cup peas
2-3 stalks green onion, chopped

Method:

1. Remove all lumps from the rice with your fingers.
2. Pour sesame oil and soy sauces on rice and mix until rice is coated well.  Set aside. 
3. Fry bacon until crispy.  Remove bacon, crumble and set aside.
4. In the same pan, heat vegetable oil and saute onion and garlic until translucent.
5. Add rice and crumbled bacon to pan and toss.
6. Make a well in the center of the rice and melt butter in well.
7. Add beaten egg.  When it begins to set, combine it with the rice.
8. Stir frozen peas into rice and garnish with green onions.
9. Serve immediately.