Mayz' Taco Salad

Mayz spent the evening with us last week and on the way home I asked him, 'What is the most interesting thing you ate since we last saw you?' and he thought about it for a while and replied, 'Taco Salad!' With a vigorous nod of his head he said, 'It was very good!' He had it at home, his Mama made it and he gave me a list of everything in it. What he liked best about the Taco Salad were the Nachos that were crushed and mixed in with everything else.

This recipe is dedicated to Mayz, who is GrandBoy #2, age 6.

Burmese Nga Hpet Thoke - Fish Cake Salad

Fish Cake Salad

A quick & easy salad using fish cakes that are available in most Asian grocery stores. There is no mention of salt because the fish cakes are already seasoned and cooked and the fish sauce is salty. This salad is salty, tangy, crunchy and very tasty.

Fuji Apple Salad or Raita

A recipe for green apple raita on the Internet caught my attention because all of the ingredients are always available in our home. Flavorful Fuji apples, I decided, would work really well here and that turned out to be true. We try to avoid sugar in our household, so that was replaced with agave nectar. The garnish was another of my adaptations to the original recipe.

Raita is a common part of an Indian meal and is identifiable by its white yogurt dressing. This salad is usually made with cooked vegetables (e.g. boiled potatoes & fried okra) and uncooked vegetables (e.g. diced cucumber & grated carrots). Raita is served chilled and cools the palate during a spicy meal. Rather than serving it as a first course, it is eaten in between and after more spicy items and helps digest the meal.

I’ve used Greek yogurt which is much higher in protein than regular yogurt and is what I had in the fridge. Vanilla flavored yogurt (Danon Lite & Fit) also makes a good dressing for raita, in which case the sweetener should be omitted.

Magur Maacher Jhol

Catfish Curry

In West Bengal, India, catfish comes to the fish market live, just like koi (climbing perch) and tangra. All of these fish are believed to have recuperative qualities. They are prepared in very light gravies for invalids and when consumed in hot weather. This is a particularly easy preparation because all the ingredients are mixed together and simmered until the oil resurfaces.

Tangra Maacher Begun Jhol

Tangra is of the catfish family
Any small whole fish can be used

In West Bengal, India, tangra comes to the fish market live, just like koi (climbing perch) and magur maach (catfish). All of these fish are believed to have recuperative qualities. They are prepared in very light gravies when consumed in hot weather. This is a particularly easy preparation because all the ingredients are mixed together and simmered until the oil resurfaces.

Stir-Fried Bitter Melon, Eggplant & Daikon Radish

Karola Begun Mulo Bhaja

Bengalis generally begin their midday meal with bitter melon which can be prepared in many different ways. I usually combine 3, 5 or 7 vegetables. Today the bitter melon is stir-fried along with oriental eggplant and daikon radish. It's a simple dish, seasoned only with salt and a splash of mustard oil.

Bachu's Tuna Fish Fried Rice

Bachu is my youngest brother and the youngest sibling in our family.  I was speaking to him over the telephone recently and he was in the process of fixing dinner for his two teenagers. He sent me a picture of this fried rice and described each step while he was making it. Hope I got it right. It's always easier to cook fried rice with day-old rice, so any time we go to a Chinese restaurant, we bring home the rice and freeze it until I'm ready to make a fried rice. I prefer to mix all the sauce ingredients into the rice, breaking up the lumps at the same time. This ensures that each grain of rice is coated with the sauce and means less stirring later which could turn the rice into mush. Notice there is no mention of salt anywhere in this recipe. That's because the tuna fish, soya sauce and fish sauce are salty enough.

Rice & Lentil Stew with Flaked Fish

This is the beginning of March with no end of winter in sight! It’s the perfect weather for this rice & lentil stew.

Khichuri, a Bengali one-pot-meal once considered comfort food for the poor, is now a delicacy served during the monsoon or rainy season when the weather turns considerably cooler. Core ingredients are rice and lentils but vegetables, eggs, poultry or meat are added according to taste. I decided to experiment by adding fish to the mix. It tastes wonderful!

Tilapia is commonly available in supermarkets around here and even though I prefer them cut into steaks, filleted tilapia generally makes it to the table because hubby prefers to eat fish without having to be bothered with the bones. Fillets are fine, except that the stomach half of a fillet is a useless waste of space in a gravy or curry. That end of the fish generally disintegrates completely because it's not firm enough to withstand simmering or stewing. So this part of the fish fillet can be blanched, flaked and used the same way packaged tuna is used. In this case, I have added it to this rice and lentil stew, which is just perfect for a winter's day.

Tilapia & Spinach in Ginger Sauce

Bengali Fish Florentine

This should be called Bengali Fish Florentine and is adapted from a recipe on Facebook. Mustard oil has become a staple in my kitchen only recently and now I cannot cook meat or fish without it. It is the preferred cooking medium in the state of Bengal in India. The flavour of mustard is further enhanced with the use of Coleman’s mustard powder, added at the end of the cooking process.

Burmese Stir-Fried Chayote Squash with Anchovies

BU THEE NGA CHAUK CHET

This uses the same recipe as KHAYUN THEE NGA CHAUK CHET but replaced eggplant with bottle gourd or gurkha thee (chayote squash). 

Chicken Cooked in Coconut Milk and Flavoured with Curry Leaves

Chicken Keema in Coconut Milk

I’m trying to encourage my curry leaf tree to grow, so I was determined this week to use a couple of stems. Ground chicken was on the menu and it occurred to me that it would taste sensational cooked in coconut milk with a generous helping of curry leaves. I added the curry leaves in 3 stages – first of all, while tempering the mustard seeds, then while frying the onions, garlic and ginger and finally at the end as a garnish. And I followed my friend’s advice to shred the curry leaves added while cooking to extract as much flavour from them as possible. It’s amazing how good the combination of coconut milk and curry leaves tastes! This chicken curry is cooked until dry but still moist, which makes it perfect to eat with chapatis or tortillas, but also tastes good with rice.

Burmese Stir-Fried Spinach with Shrimp

Hin Nu Ywet 

This is another Burmese dish that reminds me of my mother and our childhood. Mum would garnish it with roasted sesame seeds which I didn't have, so I used sesame oil. The shrimp can be omitted altogether because the shrimp paste gives this dish a lot of flavour. Any kind of greens can be used, of which water spinach is my favourite.

Mung Dal with Zucchini

Mung Dal with Zucchini

Mung dal is most often roasted before cooking, but it cooks and tastes very good without roasting. I try to add vegetables to any lentils I cook to increase my family's intake of vegetables.

Cauliflower & Potatoes in White Poppy Seed Sauce

Phool Kopi Alu Posto

White poppy seed sauce (known in Bengali as 'posto') is very versatile and can be used to dress practically any vegetable. Adding a little green chili to the poppy seed paste gives this dish quite a zing!

Burmese Eggplant & Fried Achovies

Khayun Thee Nga Chauk Chet in Burmese
or
Begun Shutki in Bengali

Eggplant is an all-time favorite vegetable in our family and adding anchovies to the mix takes it up several notches.

Burmese stir-fried dishes begin with a base of onions, garlic and dried chili paste. I used oriental eggplant in this dish and to reduce the amount of oil that is absorbed in the frying process, I decided to toss the pieces of eggplant with oil & salt and bake it in the oven. This also freed me up to prepare the base while the eggplant was baking. 

These fried anchovies are available in the Asian stores, preserved in soya bean oil. They're tossed into the pan when the eggplant is fully cooked and simmered for a few minutes more. They add a ton of flavor.

Eggs in Red Pepper Rings for Two

In the Pan

Close-up

Plated

A unique and delicious way of preparing eggs for breakfast or any time of day.
The red pepper slices can be replaced with or served along with green, orange or yellow peppers. 

Cucumber and Shrimp Bites

Cucumber & Shrimp Morsels

These crunchy morsels are very quick and easy to assemble and make the perfect side dish at any meal. I used ready-cooked salad or baby shrimp, English (seedless) cucumbers and jalapeno flavored cream cheese. The drop of Sriracha sauce gives the perfect touch to these yummy appetizers.

Slow-Cooked Apple Raisin Oatmeal

Left: Apple Raisin Oatmeal in Crock Pot
Right: Plated Apple Raisin Oatmeal

This is the easiest ever crock pot recipe for downright delicious oatmeal! The only problem is that I have to manually turn on and off my crock pot, so had to stay awake until midnight the night before to turn it on. It cooked for 8.5 hours overnight and it's so hard to describe the incredible aroma that permeated throughout the house this morning.

Oatmeal has always been a favorite breakfast item going all the way back to our childhood in Darjeeling, India. The weather in Darjeeling was often cold and damp and the luxury of having a hot bowl of oatmeal was an infrequent affair because it was reserved for uneventful weekends which were few and far between. 

Mum always salted her oatmeal as it was cooking that adds a special touch to this dish. I left the peel on the Fuji apples which cooked down to a super soft consistency and yet managed to retain some texture and shape. The raisins absorbed as much liquid as they could and came out plump and juicy. And there's no describing the texture of the oatmeal which was soft and totally delicious! 

It's so easy to do that there's no excuse not to cook oatmeal this way from here on out and you can look forward to a most aromatic oatmeal breakfast the next morning.

2014 Valentine's Day Brunch

Brunch for Two
Clockwise from top left

Slow-Cooked Apple & Raisin Oatmeal
Plated Eggs & Shrimp
Cucumber & Shrimp Bites
Valentine's Day Vignette
Eggs in Red Pepper Rings 

Chocolate & Dried Fruit Truffles

Chocolate & Dried Fruit Truffles

Sweet Treats for my Valentine

It was my turn to take goodies for our quilt guild meeting this month which I’d forgotten until my hubby reminded me right around dinner time the day before. I was panic-stricken and was tempted to pick up something from a bakery , but that wasn’t a good idea first thing in the morning. Looking around the kitchen, I realized that making these dried fruit truffles would be quick and easy to do. 

The original recipe called for almond butter but we meet in a nut-free facility, so that was out of the question. It also used only dates, but we have quite a crowd at these meetings, so I added all the dried fruits in the house (except prunes). 

These truffles are simply delicious, are dense and very filling. One is all I could have. This type of dessert is ideal for the winter time or for women who are pregnant to provide strength and energy.

Toor Dal with Vegetables - Simple Sambar

Simple Sambar

Sambar is a South-Indian dish of lentils & vegetables that is usually fiery & spicy and I love it. Hubby, however, can't tolerate spicy food so when I cook this at home it is much milder with the spices toned down several notches, which is why I refer to it as Bengali or simple sambar. This dish is generally made with toor dal or yellow split pigeon peas, and any vegetables you have on hand.

Stir-Fried Okra with Onions - Bhindi Bhaja

Bhindi Bhaja

I love how easy life is in North America if you have an interest in cooking at home rather than eating out. Okra, also known as bhindi in Hindi or dharosh in Bengali, is delicious any which way it's cooked. It is, however, a pain to prep in its fresh form. It needs to be washed first, then each of them needs to be dried with a paper towel before cutting. In North America, okra can be found in the frozen foods section of most supermarkets, already cut into bite-size pieces. I take them straight from the freezer to the frying pan without thawing.

Bengali Egg Curry - Dimer Dalna

Dimer Dalna

The eggs in this Egg Curry are sometimes halved before simmering in the tomato gravy. It is, however, more conventional to leave them whole when cooking them in the Bengali way. After hard-boiling and peeling, the eggs are slit vertically five to six times around the circumference, so that the gravy penetrates through to the core.

Garlic Shrimp Puffs

Garlic Shrimp Puffs

Just Baked Garlic Shrimp Puffs

I made these for lunch today and was very pleased with the way they turned out. Using just 4 ingredients and half an hour to prepare, these puffs were perfect because I was pressed for time. It’s worth experimenting with the flavored cream cheese varieties, such as chive & onion flavor, which will allow you to omit garlic powder to make it a 3-ingredient recipe! There was no need to add salt because the cream cheese and shrimp naturally contain salt.

Very Easy Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken Tikka Masala

The Chicken Tikka Masala I've had in Indian restaurants look wonderful but seems unattainable in one's own kitchen. The inspiration for this dish came from the Internet and it was so easy to make. The chicken can marinate in the freezer in a Ziploc bag until it's ready to be cooked. I used Campbell's tomato soup because it's well-seasoned and less tangy than pureed tomatoes and the coconut milk gave it a creaminess that was delectable!