Chicken and Chayote Squash in Black Bean Sauce

 

Chicken and Squash
in Black Bean Sauce

Any kind of meat, fish or seafood tastes wonderful cooked in black bean sauce. Lee Kum Kee sauces are available at any Asian market and are of excellent quality.

Chayote Squash is found in abundance at the supermarkets nowadays and grows wild in Darjeeling where I spent my adolescence. It's a hardy vegetable that does not spoil in the fridge and is a favourite vegetable in our household. They're peeled and thinly sliced so they cook quickly.

Chayote Squash

Skinless and boneless chicken breasts are cut in bite-sized pieces and velveted which tenderizes the meat and keeps it looking a pristine white. Velveting simply means soaking in baking powder for 30 minutes then washing thoroughly to remove all traces of baking powder. The chicken is then marinated in oil, salt and corn starch for 10 minutes before tossing in hot oil just until the colour changes. 

This is a very easy recipe that is packed with flavour and goes well with hot, steamed rice.

Phoolkop'r Bhortha - Cauliflower Mash

 

Phoolkopi'r Bhortha

This is the Bengali way of making Bhortha (Bharta in Hindi) or mashed vegetable. Phoolkopi is cauliflower, so this is Mashed Cauliflower. As you know, cauliflower has little flavour of its own and takes on the flavour and aroma of herbs and spices that are added to it. The overriding element in this dish is mustard oil that is added to the cauliflower while it's still hot from steaming. The pungency of mustard oil is what sets our bhorthas apart from bhartas from other parts of India. Another distinction is the addition of salt to taste along with raw, minced onions, green chilies, cilantro or coriander leaves and tomatoes that are mashed into the vegetable. It's a simple dish to assemble and takes center stage at any meal.

The leaves and stems from the base of the cauliflower are removed and the whole head of cauliflower is placed in a pressure cooker with 1/8 cup of vegetable broth or water and 2 tablespoons of oil. Salt is sprinkled over the cauliflower, the cover is put on, its brought to full pressure over high heat and then pressure cooked for 15 minutes over low heat after full pressure builds up. After removing from heat, always allow pressure to release naturally, for about ten minutes, before messing with the cover to prevent steam from burning your hands.

Use a masher like a 'daler kata' or lentils masher to mash the cauliflower and add all the aromatics before mixing it all together to make the bhortha. This bhortha  goes well with hot, steamed rice and is usually served as a first course or starter of a Bengali meal.

Won Ton Noodle Soup

 

Won Ton Noodle Soup

Sometimes, all it takes is a very simple soup to satisfy midnight or any-time-of-day cravings. For this reason, the freezer is always stocked with Korean mandu or  dumplings that are available all over town. Baby bok choy freezes well, so the leaves are separated, washed, dried and packaged in Ziploc bags for the freezer. Fresh Pad Thai noodles, available at Asian markets, are also a staple item stored in the fridge. 

This soup uses only 4 ingredients, not counting the seasonings, and takes no more than 10 minutes to assemble.

Khayan Thee Sipyan - Burmese Eggplant Curry

 

Khayan Thee Sipyan

Long cuts of eggplant combined with crab sauce, are simmered to a delectable softness nestled in a piquant gravy of sweet, sour and umami aromas and taste. If crab paste is not available, shrimp powder can be substituted.

Serve with hot, steamed rice, as a side dish. 

Stuffed Crepes

Stuffed Crepes

These stuffed crepes are also called Moghlai Parathas in India. 

Scrambled Eggs

To enrich this snack, ground meat could be cooked along with the scrambled eggs and crepes made larger to accommodate the bulkier filling.

Crepes

The inspiration video I followed had a simple recipe for making crepes, but do modify the amount of liquid to make a fairly runny batter so that the batter can spread to a desirable size.

Fish Pulao

 

Fish Pulao

This is a simple and satisfying one pot meal of buttery rice and fresh fish. I used a combination of basa steaks and filleted tilapia to cater to my preference for bone-in fish and Hubby's preference for hassle-free filleted fish. Large discs of russet potatoes provide texture and wholesomeness to the dish.

This main dish uses a few, simple ingredients and comes together with little effort to produce a flavourful dish that goes well with fresh salad or raita.

Served with fresh
Tomatoes and Onions

Sandwich Bread

 

Sandwich Bread

Bread Slices

Half a Loaf of Bread

Everyone seems to be making bread these days and there are countless You Tube videos demonstrating breadmaking techniques. GrandBoy#2 was spending the day with us and both he and Hubby love bread, so I spent the afternoon watching a video (link at the end of this page) and baking bread. For dinner we had Mexican pizza and also demolished half a loaf, straight out of the oven and slathered with butter. It was delicious and the house smelled heavenly! The slices shown above were cut from this half of the loaf.

When we were growing up in Burma, bread was breakfast food that we ate on the way to school. We would beg Mum to go easy on the butter and go crazy with the sugar or jam. Buttered toast with a sprinkling of sugar was comforting and diverted my attention from the stress of having to go to school. On the weekends or if we were recovering from a cold, we would dip our toast into sweetened milk. My memories of Mum's remedy for combating the 'flu was a triangle of toast that we dipped into chicken soup. It leaves me with a warm and fuzzy feeling towards Mum that is stamped into my memory. 

The nostalgia associated with these memories kept me company while I made bread today. These days, plain buttered toast is my favorite part of any breakfast.

I halved the recipe in the video to make one loaf of bread.

2020 Turkey Dinner

2020 Turkey Dinner

Even though turkey is the least favorite protein in our home, I was craving it since we didn't have it for Thanksgiving last year (we went to Kyoto Japanese Steak House instead). So we decided yesterday should be Turkey Day. It was a hurried decision, but I'm lucky to be blessed with an extremely cooperative Hubby who did all the shopping and cleaning up afterwards.

This being the year of Covid-19 restrictions, we couldn't have anyone over for dinner so I prepared everything, Hubby and I had one serving each of it all and I packed the rest for Son#3 who lives half an hour's drive away. My cravings were satisfied and we didn't have to suffer through a week of leftovers. Thank goodness for that!

The green beans casserole got an update with the addition of grated cheddar cheese and bacon and one new item, Corny Bread, was added. Whole baby potatoes and carrots were cooked along with the turkey in the last 45 minutes of baking. 

Our dinner also included dinner rolls, was washed down with hot apple cider and for dessert we had Apple Cobbler.

Suji Toast - Cream of Wheat Toast

 

Suji Toast

There are a myriad recipes for this popular breakfast dish on the internet. The video that inspired me is displayed at the end of this post. I found toasted suji at the Indian market which is what I used to make this. Our neighbourhood supermarket bakes their own Italian bread which was perfect because the crusty slices hold their shape and acted as a sponge for the topping. And according to my nephew, 'Iz bedder wid budder', so I used butter instead of oil to fry the toasts. The leftover batter can be made into little dosas. With less than 10 ingredients, breakfast is ready in under 30 minutes. 

Chicken Haleem - Chicken and Lentil - Wheat Berries Stew

 

Chicken Haleem

A colleague at work first mentioned Haleem and how delicious it is. A one-pot meal that is hearty and wholesome, I've been wanting to try it out in my kitchen for a long time. The main ingredient in the haleem mix is the wheat berry or little grains of wheat which are tinier than the wheat that is ground into flour.

As is my practice, I scoured the internet for haleem recipes, watched a few videos and came up with a recipe that is far from authentic, but delicious anyway. I mixed wheat berries with panch mishali dal or 5 different varieties of lentils. This consisted of red/masoor dal, split chickpeas/channa dal, white/urad dal, yellow/moong dal and yellow split peas/toor dal.

I used minced or ground chicken, 1 cup of wheat berries and a quarter cup each of the 5 types of lentils. The chicken was made into a keema curry and the lentils were first toasted in a dry skillet, cooled and blended to a fine powder. The chicken keema and haleem mix were then combined with 3 cups of water and simmered over medium-low heat until thickened.

Haleem reminds me of a rich version of khichuri in which rice is replaced with wheat berries. Delicious and nutritious, we had it for dinner with steamed rice and for lunch over a bed of rice noodles with several garnishes.

Serve with Garnishes

Apple Cobbler or Dump Cake

 

Apple Cobbler

A very easy dump cake using just a few ingredients, this dump cake was our dessert at Thanksgiving Dinner this year. It can be made with fruit pie filling of any variety. Since I watch my sugar intake, I used a can of Duncan Hines No Sugar Added Apple Pie Filling. To make your own pie filling, stew 2 cups chopped apples with a cup of sugar and a dash of salt. We liked this dump cake so much that the following week, I made a peach dump cake using no sugar added canned peach slices.

Masur Masala Bhindi - Red Lentils with Fried Okra

 

Masur Masala Bhindi

Masur dal or red lentils are the easiest lentils to make. They cook quickly and go well with any and all vegetables. Cooking the lentils with a bit of salt and turmeric separately then adding the stir-fried vegetables, gets this side dish on the table in less than half an hour.

There are a couple of ingredients in this recipe that are only available in an Indian market. Amchur is dried green mango that is ground to a fine powder. It's purpose is to reduce the mucus that is released while the okra cooks. If amchur is not available, leave it out, but make sure not to add anything to the okra until it's cooked. It will initially be slimy so fry it over medium heat and don't stir it too much. Wait until the okra browns before stirring. Add salt only when all signs of mucus disappear. Don't cover the okra while it's frying because the resulting condensation will make it more slimy. Notice that onions, tomatoes and green chilies are added after the okra cooks and all mucus disappears.

Panch phoron is the other ingredient that is available only in an Indian market. If it's not available, use whole fennel seeds and fennel seed powder which is made by dry-roasting a tablespoon of whole fennel seeds and grinding them to a fine powder.

Serve these lentils as a side dish for lunch or dinner. They go well with hot, steamed rice or any Indian bread.

Chaler Payesh - Rice Pudding

 

Chal'er Payesh

A comforting and deeply satisfying end to a meal, rice pudding is a favourite with young and old alike.

Achari Begun - Pickled Eggplant

 

Achari Begun

Here's another tasty way to prepare eggplant. The internet is a prolific source for recipes, and this was featured in a video by Banglar Rannaghor. One modification I made was to use imli chutney in place of tamarind paste. A technique that impressed me was to toss and marinate the eggplant pieces with spices and 2-3 tablespoons of water before frying. This made a big difference in the time it took for the eggplant pieces to brown without absorbing a vast quantity of oil.

I used a big globe eggplant that was cut in half and sliced. Any variety of eggplant would work for this recipe, so use whatever is at hand. Serve as a side dish, accompanied by any Indian bread or hot, steamed rice.

Bhapa Maach - Steamed Fish in Mustard Gravy

 

Bhapa Maach

Translated from Bengali to English:

Bhapa - Steamed

Maach - Fish

Most of my cooking is influenced by three sources. First of all, Mum and my siblings, the internet and cookbooks. Check the end of this blog for a link to the original source on the internet or from a cookbook. Modifications and adjustments are necessary, depending upon the quantities of ingredients available and how much spice is tolerated by those being catered to.

The inspiration video used 2 different kinds of fish and shrimp in this dish. I used 2 fillets of tilapia and steamed the fish in a rice cooker. The addition of raw mustard oil gives this fish the pungent flavour of mustard without all the hard work of soaking and blending mustard seeds.

This dish is best served with freshly steamed Basmati rice.

Creamy Yogurt Cake

 

Yogurt Cheese Cake

A creamy, practically guilt-free cheese cake that substitutes cream cheese with yogurt. I followed a Burmese video to make the cake. I was impressed with how delicious the cake turned out considering the minimal number of ingredients used.

Korean Japchae - Stir-Fried Glass Noodles with Meat and Vegetables

 

Japchae

Japchae is a Korean sweet and savoury dish, traditionally made with sweet potato noodles, lots of vegetables and meat. Vegetables must include onions, re-hydrated mushrooms, carrots and spinach or other greens.

Here's what you need

Misti Alu'r Bhortha - Mashed Sweet Potatoes

 

Misti Alu'r Bhortha

Sweet potatoes are so comforting and tasty when they're baked. It's a lot easier to wash them, pierce with a fork or sharp-tipped knife all over, wrap in wax paper and microwave for 10 minutes, turning over at half time. Once they soften and the skin peels away easily, the sweet potato can be mashed with a fork and combined with mustard oil, minced onions, minced green chilies and salt. Several vegetables are steamed and mashed in this way into a bhortha. 

We'd run out of green chilies, but there's always a bottle of Priya green chili pickle in the fridge. It's the closest thing to kasundi because the sliced chilies are pickled in mustard sauce. This is what I used in this bhortha, so the flavour of mustard was accentuated.

Served as a first course to an Indian meal, bhortha goes well alongside lentils or dal with hot, steamed rice.

Dried Fruit and Nut Sprinkles

Dried Fruit & Nut Sprinkles

Called Choori in Hindi, this muesli-like mixture is made with left-over chapatis or tortillas. I found the recipe on the internet. 

Instead of using excess tortillas for bird food, they can be toasted and pulsed in a blender with nuts, desiccated coconut, dried fruits such as dates and raisins and sugar, unrefined sugar, coconut sugar or jaggery. Choori can be served as a breakfast cereal, sprinkled over ice cream or eaten as a snack. Cooled and stored in an air-tight container, Choori can last for several weeks.

I used a couple of excess flour tortillas and a mixture of ingredients that I had at home, including almonds, unsweetened and dried desiccated coconut, dates, raisins and coconut sugar. The ingredients were blended together to a grainy texture and seasoned with cardamom powder (you can also use cinnamon powder) to give it that unique Indian flavour. 

Thai Pork Salad - Nam Sod

Nam-Sod

Nam Sod with Vermicelli Noodles

This is a popular salad item found on Thai menus that is generally made with minced pork, but also tastes great with minced chicken. It's light and delicious as a salad, but I always make extra so that I can add vermicelli noodles and carrots for lunch the next day.

Burmese Minced Meat with Pickled Bamboo Shoots

Burmese Minced Meat with
Pickled Bamboo Shoots

Bamboo shoots taste lovely when they are cooked with shrimp, as in Burmese Bamboo Shoots with Tomatoes and Shrimp and Burmese Bamboo Shoots with Green Onions and Shrimp. For those of us who are allergic to shrimp, cooking bamboo shoots with minced meat tastes just as good.

Bamboo shoots are found in Asian grocery markets either soaking in water or sliced and pickled in packages. I prefer the latter because they are always tender and the pickling juices help to season the meat perfectly.

Anise Flavoured Almond Biscotti

3 batches of Almond Biscotti

Coffee and biscotti go together like bagels and cream cheese. I've been buying Nonni's Biscotti for decades. They come in a package of 8 biscotti at .50 cents for each biscotti. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Nonni's Biscotti along with so many other food items were scarce, so I had to resort to baking them myself because after all this time, they've become a habit and an addiction.

I bought a biscotti pan which included a basic biscotti recipe. Since the recipe is printed on a slip of paper and because there is no URL to link to, the recipe has been re-written below in my own words. I've also taken the liberty to add anise seeds and almond extract to the list of ingredients.

Pui Shaak'er Ghonto - Malabar Spinach and Vegetable Stew

Pui Shaak'er Ghonto

I love the bright colours of the vegetables and spinach in this dish. It looks and is healthy and delicious! 

Dinner generally consists of a vegetable dish, followed by lentils and a main course of fish, meat or eggs. This vegetable stew would, therefore, be served as the first course or a side dish with rice or chapatis.

Simplified Sorshe Bata Koi and Alaskan Rockfish - Fish in Mustard Sauce

Sorshe Bata Koi

Alaskan Rock Fish in Mustard Sauce

Both kinds of fish, bone-in and filleted, were prepared in mustard sauce or sorshe bata, the former for my enjoyment and the latter for Hubby who does not like to mess with the bones. The recipe was simplified by combining all the ingredients, except for the mustard sauce, in a bowl and left on the counter top to marinate for 1/2 hour. A cold skillet is placed over medium-high heat, the marinated fish poured into it and brought to a boil. The heat is lowered to medium-low, the fish covered and simmered for 10 minutes before the mustard sauce is added. Everything is stirred together and simmered for 10 minutes more and garnished with green chilies.

Best served with steamed long-grain rice, this is a delightful part of any Bengali meal. The koi maach/climbing perch is not for the inexperienced consumer of fish because great care and skill is required to successfully remove every sharp bone in the fish.

Burmese Stir-Fried Rice Noodles with Minced Meat

Burmese Stir-Fried Rice Noodles
 with Minced Meat

A Burmese video posted on Facebook provided the inspiration for this recipe. It was super simple to follow and needed just a few often-used ingredients that I regularly stock in my pantry. 

To make things easy on myself, I purchase substantial quantities of ground chicken, brown the lot in some oil, crumble and freeze it for future use. It's quick and easy to assemble the ingredients, when needed, if the minced meat is already cooked.

Ideal for lunch or if unexpected guests drop by, this is one dish that I'll be making often.

Stir-Fried Glass Noodles
 with Minced Meat