Tomato Dal

Tur & Masur Tomato Dal

Bhapa Sandesh - Steamed Ricotta Cheese Dessert

Bhapa Sandesh

Sandesh is a beloved sweet or misti in West Bengal, India, and Bangladesh. Bhapa (steamed) Sandesh can be made in a pressure cooker or microwave oven. I find it simpler to use the microwave method because it's faster and can be made in the same Pyrex dish in which it can be served so there are no dishes to wash.

Whole milk ricotta cheese works well in this recipe, the alternative being to make cottage cheese or chana at home. The latter involves an elaborate and complex process which is not my cuppa tea.

Sandesh was my son's favourite misti and had to be included in his tiffin or bento box every day. The soft and satiny texture of sandesh varies with the ratio of cheese to sugar. The more cheese in the sandesh, the softer and more velvety it is.

Bijoya Potluck 2019

Bijoya Potluck 2019

L-R from Top Left

Asha's Corn Salad

Sudha's Begun Alu Posto
http://chumkieskitchen.blogspot.com/2018/04/begun-alu-posto-eggplant-potatoes-in.html

Masur-Channa-Chola Dal

Dak Bungalow Mutton Curry

Tomato Chutney
http://chumkieskitchen.blogspot.com/2017/09/tomato-chutney.html

2 Kinds or Pulao and Basmati Rice (not shown)

Desserts:

Bhapa Sandesh
http://chumkieskitchen.blogspot.com/2019/10/bhapa-sandesh-steamed-ricotta-cheese.html

Narkoler Naru
https://chumkieskitchen.blogspot.com/2018/07/coconut-macaroons.html

Lal Bhapa Doi
http://chumkieskitchen.blogspot.com/2017/09/tomato-chutney.html

Rasogolla'r Payesh
https://chumkieskitchen.blogspot.com/2014/10/rosogollar-payesh-cheese-dumplings.html

Kankra'r Jhal - Crab in Mustard Sauce

Kankra'r Jhal

Those live crabs in the Asian supermarkets have been piquing my interest for a while. Yesterday, my defenses finally crumbled and I bravely selected six of the most active and had them cleaned in the store. Dinner last night was the most enjoyable meal for me but it would have been better if I could have shared it with someone else. The last time I had crab cooked the Bengali way was before I left India in 1977. 

Fish & Seafood Duo

Hubby cringes at the sight of crab, so I prepared Tilapia fillets for him in the same way as the crab. 

Sweet & Sour Eggplant

Tok-Misti Begun

One of our favourite dishes to order in an Indo-Chinese restaurant is this sweet and sour eggplant. The recipe was inspired by one that was posted on Facebook. It's quick to make, light and delicious!

Minced Meat & Cabbage in Coconut Sauce

This dish combines a few of my favorite ingredients. It turned out to be more delicious than expected. The minced meat was first cooked with all the seasonings and coconut milk in a pressure cooker, combined with shredded cabbage and then cooked until dry. It's perfect served on a bed of rice, but would go well with chapatis, as well.

Kanda Poha - Flattened Rice Pilaf

Flattened Rice Pilaf

Cheera (Bengali) or Poha (Hindi) or Flattened Rice (English) is parboiled rice that has been flattened and dried. It's available in packages at Indian markets all over India and North America and is considered a 'good' food for diabetics.

I was under the misconception that Kanda Poha refers to the potatoes in this poha dish, but during a phone conversation, my sister said it refers to the onions in the dish. Onions are considered to be non-vegetarian in certain parts of India so it's important to name it appropriately.

It's a hearty and filling meal which, if had for lunch, curbs hunger pangs that usually occur in the late afternoon.

Roasted Cauliflower

The stove top was being used to capacity, so this cauliflower dish was baked in the oven. It tasted great and was so easy to assemble. It goes well with rice or chapatis.

Egg Curry & Eggplant-Zucchini Posto

Clockwise from top:

Egg Curry/Dimer Dalna

Simple Salad

Diced cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, green chilies, salt and lime juice.

Eggplant-Zucchini Posto/Begun Zucchini'r Posto

Steamed Basmati Rice

Begun-Zucchini Posto

Eggplant-Zucchini Posto

Our neighbour across the street shared his bumper crop of Japanese eggplants and zucchini with us. The eggplants were young, seedless, tender and tasted so much better than what's available in the stores around here. 

Posto are white poppy seeds (sometimes combine with mustard seeds), green chilies and salt to make a creamy sauce that goes with most vegetables, fish or chicken. It serves to thicken gravy and has a soporific effect, ideal for lunch, eaten before taking a nap.

Leaving the skin on the zucchinis prevents them from dissolving into mush while cooking and gives this dish a better colour.

Shahi Tukda - Royal Bread Pudding

Shahi Tukda

Shahi Tukda or Bread Pudding fit for a king, is a popular and festive dessert in Mughlai cuisine. Toast points, fried in butter or ghee until golden brown, are soaked in simple syrup, dipped in thickened milk (rabri) that is flavoured with cardamom and saffron and garnished with sliced almonds.

To simplify life and to cut down on sugar consumption, the step to soak the pieces of bread in simple syrup is eliminated. Also, making rabri is a very tedious process and to simplify that step, evaporated milk is mixed with Gits Kulfi mix which is already flavoured with cardamom and saffron.

Made with just five ingredients in less than 15 minutes, this dessert is delicious!

Begun diye Maach'er Jhol - Eggplant & Fish Curry

Begun diye Maach'er Jhol

True fish lovers insist that bone-in fish taste much better than filleted fish. I prefer bone-in fish, but hubby prefers filleted fish, so both are cooked any time curry or jhol is on the menu. In this case, Shol Maach and Tilapia Maach were made in the same way, so everyone's happy.

Shol Maach'er Jhol

Shol maach is a species of catfish that is now available in SE Asian markets in the U.S. It looked interesting, but was tough to identify on the internet. It tasted sweet, was meaty and very good prepared in this way.

Tilapia Maach'er Jhol

Tilapia fillets are commonly found in the North American supermarkets and are hubby's favourite fish. 

Eggplant & Fish Curry

Mum's Green Beans

Mum's Green Beans

Mum made this for us when we were growing up. Blanch the green beans, if necessary, but when they're in season, the beans are very fresh and tender and cook easily without blanching. No water is added during cooking because the onions and tomatoes release sufficient moisture when cooked over medium heat. Adding black pepper right at the end, pumps up the flavour, so make sure to have ground black pepper on hand.

Stir-Fried Peas, Potatoes and Spinach

Karaishuti, Alu r Shaak Bhaja

I’ve noticed that if spinach is cooked uncovered, it retains its bright green color.

As a shortcut, I used deep-fried onions and garlic today instead of fresh. Vegans may omit ghee from the list of ingredients.

Catfish in Coconut Gravy

Magur Maach'er Malai Curry

Malai (cream) Curry usually refers to chicken, fish or shrimp cooked in coconut milk.  This fish curry is perfect for a hot and humid day or if someone in the family is feeling unwell.  It's light and delicious and goes well with steamed rice.

No-Cook Frozen Srawberry 'Cheesecake'

Frozen Strawberry 'Cheesecake'

This dessert was inspired by a recipe I found on the Taste of Home website. I used sweetened strawberries and omitted the sugar from the original recipe. Also, instead of making a blueberry sauce, I served it with the juices from frozen strawberries. It's one way to satisfy a craving for cheesecake without having to heat up the whole house by baking in the oven for 2 hours. Transfer the frozen dessert from freezer to fridge a couple of hours before serving and slice with a serrated knife.

Peach Jello Blancmange

Peach Jello Blancmange

This recipe was inspired by one on the Taste of Home website. Blancmange (blah-manjh) is a French dessert that is made with milk and gelatin, akin to Italian panna cotta. This is made with Cool Whip instead and orange jello. It's very quick and easy to assemble, tastes divine, transports well and is a cool, velvety dessert for these dog days of summer.

Chicken Feet and Fish Ball Laksa

Chicken Feet and Fish Ball Laksa

For a speedy lunch yesterday, a package of instant laksa noodle soup was simmered with laksa sauce and coconut powder (both included in the package of noodle soup), 2 chicken's feet, 2 bulbs of baby bok choy and 6 fried-frozen fish balls. A heartwarming and delicious lunch was ready in 5 minutes!

All the ingredients were picked up at our local 168 Asian Mart, a top quality supermarket in which to spend an afternoon. The chicken's feet were cleaned and pre-cooked with green chili peppers and red chili sauce. There are lots of other exotic cooked goodies in that section!

Mum's Peppery Cabbage

Morich'er Bandha Kopi

All of Mum's recipes that I have posted on this food blog reflect her nurturing. In spite of her busy schedule during the week, she devoted her weekends to bonding with the lot of us through the meals she prepared. Neighbours would drop by, tempted by the aromas emanating from her kitchen, and were always welcome to share our meals.

Cabbage is such a bland vegetable, but no one could work miracles with it like Mum did. I've made this from memory with some adaptations. For example, Mum would have used black pepper powder in place of white and would have garnished this dish with ghee, rather than coconut oil. I wanted to keep the coconut theme going and wanted the colour to remain white, which is why I used white pepper powder. The cabbage is cooked just until done, but still crisp, with loads of garlic and white pepper powder. Served as a side dish, it goes well with rice or chapatis.

Oven-Baked Begun Bhaja

Oven-Baked Eggplant

Frying eggplant on the stove top consumes a lot of oil. The eggplant acts like a sponge and soaks up the oil almost on contact. I prefer to bake the eggplant until it turns golden brown. I learned the scoring method from a 'foodie' on Facebook which ensures thick slices of eggplant bake evenly all the way through. I've cut Indian eggplants in half which work well in this recipe.

Chicken in Cashew, Mustard and White Poppy Seed Sauce

Kaju Shorshe Posto Murgi

This dish was inspired by a Facebook post for Shrimp cooked in cashew and white poppy seed sauce. After a number of adaptations, this is what I arrived at. It was made with chicken instead of shrimp with the addition of lime juice and mustard paste which completely changed the flavour and aroma of the original recipe.

Mohinga - Burmese Fish and Rice Noodle Soup

Mohinga

http://chumkieskitchen.blogspot.com/2012/11/mohinga-burmese-fish-noodle-soup.html

A couple of friends joined us for lunch the other day, to enjoy a Burmese meal. 

Of course, the question was 'What is the difference between Mohinga and Ohno Khaukswe?' Mohinga is made with de-boned fish in a light broth served over rice noodles and Ohno Khawkswe is made with chicken in a coconut broth served over egg noodles. Both are generally served at breakfast in Burma, but we have them for lunch or dinner.

Setting the Table

Both noodle soups are served in soup bowls and eaten with the boat shaped soup spoons that are visible at the center of the table. Make sure to have lots of napkins to sop up the dribbles!

The Noodles and Soup

An essential ingredient in Mohinga is sliced heart of banana trees, which is not easily available in North America unless you grow your own, so I substituted with water chestnuts for their crunch. Whole pearl onions make the soup more flavorful.

Noodle Soup and Eggs

I love the texture of hard-boiled eggs in my Mohinga. It's one of the many garnishes used to dress up this fish soup.

Noodle Soup and Garnishes

A fully dressed bowl of Mohinga. 

Laphet Thoke

http://chumkieskitchen.blogspot.com/2014/06/burmese-laphet-thoht-recipe.html

The Mohinga was served with a side of Laphet Thoke or Pickled Green Tea Leaves Salad.

Kyauk Kyaw

http://chumkieskitchen.blogspot.com/2016/07/burmese-kyauk-kyaw-perfected-technique.html

And Kyauk Kyaw for dessert.

Bhel - Chickpeas and Potatoes Salad

Bhel

Chickpeas and diced, boiled potatoes tossed with tomatoes, onions, green chillies, cilantro and bhel puri masala made a refreshing salad for lunch. The bhel puri masala kit, which I keep on hand,  is available in Indian markets. I've served this as an appetizer with mini pita pockets for friends at dinner.  

Chicken Curry

Chicken Curry

A simple no-frills chicken curry that requires minimal supervision is what we had for dinner last night.

Alu Phulkopi'r Ghonto - Potato and Cauliflower with Rice

Alu Phulkopi'r Ghonto

The difference between Phool Kopir Ghonto & Phool Kopir Pulao, in my humble opinion, lies in the ratio of cauliflower to rice. In a Ghonto, the ratio of cauliflower to rice is 2:1, and in a Pulao the ratio is 1:2. By adjusting the amount of gravy, it can be served wet or dry. This is a vegan and vegetarian dish that can be served on auspicious occasions.

I first had Phool Kopir Ghonto at my sister's place. She follows a vegetarian diet one day a week and has a amazing repertoire of vegetarian dishes. This dish has stuck in my memory and even though I haven't followed her recipe exactly, it tasted wonderful!