I am a person who cannot live without her daily dose of fish. For me fish is not an option but a necessity. As a person who was used to having fish during lunch and dinner during childhood, I barely manage through the office canteen food only to look forward towards the dinner when I would whip up a delicious fish curry to go with rice or roti.

I can have any fish in any form ( barring the dried ones, the smell just puts me off) - fried, curried, steamed, medley and the list goes on. I remember during our Engineering days when kids used to go back home during the vacations they would usually ask their moms to make all sort of chicken delicacies throughout the vacation. I would always give my mother a list of fish preparations that I would crave throughout my stay in the hostel. Not that the hostel didn't serve fish, it surely did and the fishes would be fresh too. But it would lack the variety and amount. We only got to have Rohu at the hostel and only one piece per person. I was crazy about Magur/Shingi (catfish) at that time and that is such a fish which is only cooked in individual homes as it does not have universal appeal. I would request my parents to get me Magur or Shingi almost every day of my stay at home. My father would insist on getting chicken but I would ask him to get lots of different fish instead. My mom is an amazing cook and she also has this experimental streak in her which proved most beneficial for me. She would look such varied fish dishes for me that I would feel at food heaven - Macher Paturi (fish wrapped and steamed in pumpkin leaves), fish croquette, fish crispy fry, macher ghonto (fish in vegetable medley), the quintessential Bengali fish curry, macher kalia (fish in rich onion sauce) and macher matha die daal (lentil cooked with fish head). There were some other recipes also which I am unable to recollect right now. Apart from Magur I also liked Katla, Koi, Hilsa, prawn and Tilapia. Among these Hilsa would be made rarely as it would cause an upset stomach if not eaten in moderation due to its rich oil content.


I still have vivid memories of every memorable fish encounter I had till date. Like the time we went to my aunt's home in Taki, a small town in Hashnabad near Kolkata. Its a border area of India and Bangladesh. The fish you would get over there was just amazing. I still remember having these huge juicy Jumbo prawns at her home, they would not fit in any serving bowl. Guys believe me I have never seen such huge prawns ever again in my life. Or the Koi macher Paturi that my grandma used to make when we visited her home during childhood. There was a time when Hilsa was fried in any home the entire neighbourhood would come to know about it due to the signature mesmerizing aroma of the fried fish. Gone are those days when you got such quality fishes. Original fishes are now exported to foreign countries and we are left with the option of Hybrid ones. Now even if you fry Hilsa in the kitchen the person in the other room wont know about it. The only hybrid fish that tastes better than the original ones are the catfish. And we get them in abundance in Pune. Magur are 'geol' fish or fishes with two respiratory organs hence they can live for longer time without water. That's why you would see me using catfish in most of my fish curries.

The love and craziness for fish continues till date. Even today when I visit home me and mom go to the market and purchase a cartload of fish to sustain us for the entire vacation. I hear my mom and granny say at times that the quality of fish has gone down over the years and you don't get good fish now but I still find the fishes from the local market in Kolkata amazingly tasty and delectable as compared to what we get in Pune. Though I love sweet water fish better than the salt water ones but on account of my job I am out of Bengal for more than a decade hence I try to get used to the salt water ones as well.
I choose my travel destinations where is is chance of having fish. Like for an example Kerala. And seriously it was an amazing experience eating fried fish paired with fine red wine in a rustic cottage 10 feet away from the sea, by the moonlight listening to the huge waves crash on the shore. Just us and the sea - simple and heavenly. The very mundane Goan fish curry we had at a small joint in the market of Munnar or the crispy fried fish from our very own Panshet Dam in Pune - each with a signature touch and comforting feel. Till date locations which would offer us seafood cuisine wins hands down over those which does not. The entire Konkan belt of Maharashtra offers a wide assortment of seafood. While in Goa last year we had one of the finest King crab preparations at Full Moon shack (Bogmallo Beach) at dirt cheap rate. Next in the list is having Trout fish in the emerald valleys of the Great Himalayas.

I can write an epic regarding my love for fish. But coming back to the main topic of discussion today - Macher maths diye Muger Daal.Daal quintessentially fits into the very staple diet of any Indian and 99% of the time its vegetarian preparation. But Bengalis are known for their love of non-vegetarian and fish of course. So its not very surprising to note that a Daal preparation with fish head would find its way into the elite list of Bengali delicacies. In fact the only other non-veg daal that I know of is Daal Ghost (Lamb in lentil soup) of the Mughlai Origin. Maybe there are other non-veg daals also present in the country but I am totally ignorant about those. Maybe any of you reader can tell me all about it.

Yellow daal or Mung daal is a very favorite daal in Bengal. Its reserved for all special occasions. Else where in the country you would get the normal Mung daal but in Bengal you would get a special variety of Mung daal known as the "Shona Muger Daal" which is a smaller grained more aromatic version of the normal one. You have to experience Shona Muger daal to know about its awesome taste. Macher matha diye muger daal is a very traditional dish only reserved for special occasions like wedding or birthday meals. Its an elaborate preparation which takes time and patience. The common way of preparing this dish is dry roasting the Muger daal lightly to make Bhaja Muger Daal. Dry roasting the daal gives off beautiful earthy flavors and imparts the dish body and richness. But I prefer to use Kacha muger daal or the non roasted version. The roasted version definately tastes better but is also difficult to digest. So if you want to relish your favorite non veg daal without the fear of an upset stomach use the un-roasted version.

Apart from Asian people I doubt whether anyone would know what its to have a fish head. Most of you would say it sounds so gross. A colleague of mine one said how can you eat a fish head with the eye staring back at you? Ah! the joys of a fish head can only be experienced and not explained. As kids we were always told to have fish heads as they would make us intelligent. We never tried to find out the truth behind the statement but since we loved fish head anyway logic or no logic we relished them wholeheartedly.

On Friday while coming home I saw this nice and big Katla fish with an equally huge head. Couldn't resist buying it and hence the menu for the weekend was going to feature the non veg daal recipe for sure. I replicated my mom's tried and tested recipe with a slight modification. I added a couple of veggies to the daal as well. Actually this particular preparation has two variants the veg one and the non veg one. Just minus the fish head and replace it with a lot of veggies to make the veg version. Mine was a medley of both worlds and it came out super delicious.

Don't get intimidated  by the long list of ingredients, have patience and follow the steps carefully and you would have that super rich and creamy daal at your fingertips.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes  

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

• Mung Daal (Yellow Lentil) -300 gm
• Big Fish Head - 1
• Onion - 2 big 
• Tomato - 1 big

 For Tempering

Chicken Sandwich

Chicken is a staple thing we have on the weekends, hence I had chicken in the freezer. I had recently found out a very nice chicken store in our neighborhood. Even after one week in the freezer when I defrost the chicken its still soft and fresh. So I decided I would make something with chicken. Chicken sandwich looked like a good option.

I checked on the net, and began searching for a nice chicken sandwich recipe. I specially wanted to avoid the recipes which were all heavy on mayonnaise. But unfortunately most of the chicken recipes I found on the net were either mayonnaise or cheese filled. Some of the indianised versions didn't sound good enough for me. After an hour of futile search I closed the laptop and decided to come up with my own version of chicken sandwich. I speculated between going for an all Chinese recipe or something more Indian. When the confusion between the two didn't appear to go, I thought why not a fusion of both? Thus the following recipe was born.

Preparation & Cooking Time: 25 mins

Chicken Mix

Procedure:
1. Clean the chicken pieces. Preferably select some fibrous pieces if possible devoid of bones.

2. Slice the onion longitudinally and chop the green chilli very finely. (If you are ok with having bigger chilli pieces then you can chop it that way)

3. Heat oil in a skillet and toss in the onion and chilli, fry till golden brown. Keep them aside to cool

4. In a deep bottomed wok take 3 cups of water. Put the cleaned chicken pieces in the water. Add 1 tsp of pepper powder, 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp of butter to the water. Cover the wok and turn on the heat. As the chicken gets cooked, the flavours of pepper and butter will get uniformly infused into the chicken pieces.

5. Boil the chicken pieces for 6-7 mins and then turn of the heat. Let it cool and then take out the boiled chicken on a plate. Note that the chicken should not be all mushy, it should remain a bit hard when you remove it from the heat.

6. Shred the chicken pieces using two forks and keep it in a mixing bowl

7. Add the fried onion and chilli, red chilli powder, remaining pepper powder, 2 tsp butter, curd, soya sauce, ginger garlic paste, oregano, cheesy spread, magic masala and a pinch of salt if required to the mixing bowl.  Mix everything together so that the chicken is well coated with all the ingredients.

8. Heat 2 tsp oil in a skillet. Add the remaining butter to the oil. You can add more according to taste. Toss in the chicken mixture into the skillet and fry it for 4 minutes, occasionally stirring it so that the mix doesn't stick to the bottom of the skillet.

9. Keep the fried mix aside. Take the bread slices, chop off the hard edges of the bread. Butter on side of the bread slices.

10. Now heat the skillet and keep the bread slices one by one, the buttered side facing the bottom of the skillet. Let the bread surface become slightly browned. Do the same for all the breads.

11. Lay the bread on a serving plate, the fried side facing down. Butter the other side of the breads lightly. Spoon some of the chicken mix on one bread and cover it with another bread. A total of 4 sandwiches are made. Cut the sandwiches diagonally and serve with some ketchup and potato chips as sides.

I am very self critical of my cooking. If I am not satisfied with the end result, no matter how much praise I get for it, I am not at peace. Today I was really happy with the end result, just the way I wanted it to be. More Indian and yet having all the right mix of Chinese flavor . Try this one and I bet you are absolutely going to love it.

I love cooking - the aroma of the spices,  the chopping, cutting, dicing, the delicious colors and lip smacking flavors - I pretty much love everything about it, minus doing the dishes of course.


My mom is an amazing cook, even my dad can cook fairly well, so it was au natural that I would also inherit the culinary genes from my parents. But till the time I was in school (i.e. 18 years) dad never let me go near the stove; so by then I didn't even know how to cook Maggi by myself. I used to think if someone could cook a dish in two minutes that would automatically qualify them to be excellent chefs.


Then during the engineering years I was put up in a hostel hence it was never required for me to cook anything. When other girls of my age were much capable of cooking up a storm in the kitchen and brag about it as well, I provided the necessary patient audience to their narration.


Work made me relocate to Mumbai and once again due to the blessings of the 'Dabba System' of Amchi Mumbai, I was spared the chance of venturing into the space of my apartment which was supposed to be the kitchen. The empty kitchen space, heavily neglected unless we had to fill water from the aquaguard, at times did make me feel sad for it. But I couldn't do much for it, rather the aunty in the 10th floor of my building didn't let me do anything. She was a fairly good cook and never did I feel the urge to test whether my cooking capability were better than hers.


You don't know whether you are good or bad at a certain thing unless you explore the in and out of it. And by the look of it, I had assumed that might be I will never be required to step into the unknown dungeons of cooking. And I was pretty happy at that.


But finally I had to.


On a fateful night when we moved in to our new apartment in Koperkhairne, I was greeted with the fact that there was no Dabba system available in that part of the town. I saw my room mate set up the kitchen enthusiastically. The first time I stood in front of the stove I was quite amused. The array of ingredients awaited my attention, the pots and pans lay ready to be picked up and the burner waited to be warmed up to the desired temperature to mark the beginning of my cooking journey. 


Minutes passed and the maximum I could do was to recognize some of the spices in front of me and stare blankly at the vegetable basket. Some more minutes passed and I concluded that food could not be cooked by mental vibrations alone, it required a recipe. I did exactly what I do when I need any kind of help - I rang up my mom.


An hour an a half later, I had in front of me a bright yellow mushy lump of food - my first try at making "Khichuri" (Khichdi or rice porridge).  With lot of anticipation I had a spoon of it and was rather surprised to know that it had turned out to be far more palatable than I had expected out of my first dish ever! Might be I was too hungry at that point, or might be it was just that you cannot self criticize your first attempt at anything new much - I was pretty happy at the outcome.


I remember Ma had said that if while cooking the color of the turmeric stays on your palms, it is said that the person can make a great cook. When I looked at my palms I indeed had some turmeric on it. I don't know whether she had told me that just to encourage me, but it did work for me.


While in Mumbai, I pretty much kept my cooking to the basics, never experimented or did any non-veg cooking. The first time I came to onsite,  I truly began exploring the unknown vistas that cooking could offer. I even bettered this on my second onsite trip. From the past one year I have been in Atlanta and the number of new dishes I have cooked far more exceeds the number of dishes I had ever cooked in the four years spent in Mumbai.


I can feel I am evolving as a cook and I wish to continue this journey forever. Creative Cooking can be as much gratifying as taking an amazing landscape picture  with a cokin f/8 filter or writing a novel of 400 odd pages - the fact is when you put your heart into something it can never come out wrong.


By now its very evident that I love to gab and I do tend to deflect from the core topic once I start to do so. So let's come back to the topic. This post was supposed to be about the Saturday brunch I had prepared for us. Good food and a good comics always helps me unwind.


The Food:
You must have heard people saying that one thing you can't go wrong with is Fish. I would like to add to that by saying, one thing you can't go wrong with if you are a amateur cook, is chicken.  Get yourself a packet of cut and cleaned chicken from any Supermarket and you are good to go! Whole chicken are much better taste wise, but if you don't have a good enough meat cutting knife don't got for it, you may land up in more soup than you intend to. You may also go for the organic chicken if you are a health conscious person, but be ready to loosen your pockets a bit, they are expensive than the normal ones. I usually prefer freshly skinned and cut chicken from the local store as they guarantee the 'freshness' of the cut meat.


I love to add curd in my non-veg dishes. The richness of flavor and ample creaminess it provides to the gravy can really make your food delectable. A Malyali friend of mine had once mentioned it to me that the combination of curd and meat is not good for health, but I failed to find any suitable evidences in favor of it.  Even if I would have, I definitely couldn't have left curd out of my cooking - that's how much I'm in love with it. 


The Recipe:
This particular preparation is pretty simple, easy on the tummy and yet quite yummy. You can try it out with both chicken or mutton. 


Ingredients:

• 1 kg chicken thigh
• 225 gm/ 1 cup of curd
• 4 tsp Coriander( Dhaniya) powder
• 3 tsp Cumin (Jeera) powder
• 1.5 tsp Black pepper powder
• 1 tsp Fennel Seed Powder(Mauri/ Sauf) powder/Everest meat Masala (The meat masala has fennel seed powder which serves the same purpose)
• 150 gm/ 3/4 cup oil
• 4 Cardamom pieces (Elaichi)
• 4  Clove pieces (Laung)
• 1" stick of cinnamon (Dalchini)
• 250 gm Onion
• 2 tbsp Ginger paste/ grated ginger
• 4-5 Indian Green Chilli
• 1 tsp Red chilli powder/ paprika (Optional)
• Salt as required
• Sugar as per taste (Optional - Bengali's do tend to add a pinch of sugar to their gravy to maintain the tangy balance in the food)

Preparation:
Take out the curd in a bowl and add salt, coriander powder, cumin powder and pepper powder to it. Beat the curd into a fine uniform paste. Add a little water if the paste feels too thick.


Wash and clean the cut chicken thighs properly. Marinate the chicken with the curd paste for about half an hour. 


Slice the onion longitudinally and keep it aside. Grate the ginger finely and keep it aside as well. Always prefer fresh ginger to the bottled ginger paste. Bottled ginger paste contains preservative and the strong smell of vinegar which may result in killing the actual flavor of a dish. Slit the green chilies longitudinally. 


Wipe out the wok with a paper towel before putting it on the oven. Heat oil in the wok. Crush the cardamom, clove and cinnamon coarsely with a pestle beforehand. Crushing the whole spices enhances the flavor. When the oil is heated enough, add the crushed cardamom, clove and cinnamon to it. Once the flavor of the spices starts emanating, add the cut onions to it. Fry the onions until they are soft and assume the nice shade of golden brown.



While frying onions if you sprinkle some salt over it, the onion gets cooked faster  which saves gas and time. You can also add half a spoon of sugar to it. Sugar helps to bring color to the fried onion quickly as it caramelizes in the heat.


Once the onions are done, add the grated ginger and fry it for a few seconds.


Add the chicken marinade and sauté them till they turn a shade of light yellow. Keep the flame on medium-high, it will let the chicken to get cooked slowly infused with all the fragrances of the masala and curd. No need to add extra water while the chicken cooks, the curd will let off enough water for that.  Add red pepper powder for color, don't overdo it as it may render the gravy unnecessarily spicy.


Cover and cook till chicken is done. If you feel the gravy is becoming thicker, you may add water according to required consistency. 


Let the oil float over the gravy, it's an indication that both the meat and the gravy are well cooked. Now add the fennel seed powder/ meat masala to the curry. Let it mix  well before adding the green chilies.  Let the green chilies simmer in the curry for a few minutes. You can also cover the curry after putting the green chillies, so that the sharp flavor of the green chilies gets a chance to infuse evenly into the gravy and add the required jazz.


That's it, your Murg Kacchi Mirch is ready to be savored!


Note: This recipe doesn't contain any turmeric. The fried spices and onion give the necessary color to the gravy.


Side dish:
You may serve rice or roti (indian flatbread / wheat tortillas) with the chicken gravy. My personal favourite is steaming hot Basmati rice to go with it.


Serving:
Arrange the cut salad in the plate. Serve the steaming basmati rice on one side and lay the chicken gravy on the other side.  Garnish with freshly chopped corriender leaf. 

PS: Pardon the bad resolution of the pictures, they were taken under bad light conditions. Will try to take the next recipe pics in better light.




Hope you enjoy your Saturday Brunch. 


Next time I will be back with more recipes and stories to tell. 


Ciao!

Hi I am Barnali and this is my very first entry for the Food Blog that I have started.

There are many reasons for me to start this blog but the three most important being - I love food, I love cooking and I love to write. My love for food had begun the moment I could differentiate between a potato and an onion - means at a very young age. My mom is a super cook and I love whatever she creates within the four walls of the kitchen. Till the time I leant cooking, I savoured the dishes prepared by ma. Once when I started my affair with the pots and pans, I leant what it takes to make a dish taste as good as it did when ma prepared them. From that moment onwards I was totally in awe with her cooking abilities and really really wanted to be able to cook like her one day. After ma's infinite tutorials over the phone I had really begun to love cooking and improvise on them as well.

My love for writing had also begun at a very tender age. As the years passed I discovered that nothing was a better stress buster for me than writing. I tried my hands both at prose and poetry. But prose won hands down. Human relations and day-to-day stories intrigued me a lot. Those were the things I liked to write about. The apparently simple things made great stories. There was a time when i had just joined my job and I was living alone in a new city I used to write in all the free times i got during the day - in-between training, post lunch, tea break, while making dinner, after dinner till i could barely keep my eyes open. I was literally addicted to writing and totally in love with the characters i created. They were the ones who gave me company and I never felt alone living in a big city like Mumbai.

With time the priorities changed. I moved to greener pastures for my work and writing took a back seat when career took a front seat. Somehow my old love for writing diminished as the workload increased. Months flew by and then I got married and came back my good old country. The new found status had its own share of responsibilities and adjustment priorities.

Finally after 6 months into the marriage when things were finally sailing smoothly I decided to take up the pen once again. But it wasn't that easy any more. After such a long sabbatical, I discovered that the thoughts were swarming around in my brain still but i couldn't manage to pen them down at all. I couldn't manage to string them together or I felt that the quality of writing was missing. I started to feel tad disappointed when this food blog idea started to make its presence felt. I couldn't write fiction but I could surely write something which was facts.