If you want a tangy, spicy chutney to go with your rice or flatbreads but you don't want to spend a lot of time in preparation and cooking what do you do? You can try out this easy peasy burnt tomato chutney which gets done under 15 minutes and has super amazing taste and flavors.

This burnt tomato chutney is very popular accompaniment in the north eastern states of India and is a common part of Assamese and Naga cuisine. Burnt, roasted or smoked spicy chutneys are regularly served along with a thali consisting of rice, daal, vegetable and meat or fish preparation. Sometimes mashed potato is also added in this chutney to give it body and a different taste.

The highlight of this chutney is the rustic smokey flavor from the charred tomato and chilies. This chutney is so good that you wont even need a separate vegetable dish if you have it with rice and daal. 

Ingredients :

• Tomato - 2
• Green Chili - 1  (Adjust as per heat tolerance)
• Coriander Leaves (chopped) - 1 tbsp
• Onion (medium) - 1/2 chopped
• Garlic - 3-4 cloves (optional)
• Mustard Oil - 1 tsp
• Salt - To Taste

Video :

Procedure:

1. Wash and dry the Tomatoes.

2.  Cut the tomatoes in large pieces

Tip - You can roast/char the whole tomato also, but cutting them into large pieces ensure the charred smokey aroma is more prominent in the chutney. Also it gets cooked quickly.

3. Place the tomato pieces and green chili on a mesh over open fire. Once black burnt spots start appearing turn over the pieces to get a uniform char on all sides. The amount of char on the tomatoes can be adjusted as per your liking.

Tip: At this stage you can also add garlic for charring. Garlic gives a little additional kick to the dish.

4. Take the charred tomatoes and chilies off the fire and place it in a plate. With a masher or your fingers mash the tomatoes and the chillies while they are still hot as its easy to mash them before they cool down.  

5. Now add chopped onion, chopped coriander leaves, mustard oil and salt and give everything a good mix.

Serve this chutney with your choice of rice or Indian flatbread with daal and enjoy!

18 January 2022

We have entered a brand new year and the year didn't start quite as anticipated. It was a rather muted beginning and enough to pull many of my plans upside down. If you don't want to hear a long monolog then just scroll down to the recipe.

Often in life we feel let down by people. It maybe your husband, your partner, your family, your friends or even your colleagues. If they are someone we deeply care about then the hurt is more acute. "Why did they do this to us when we really care for them", "I wouldn't have done this to them if I was in their place" , "they are so insensitive to our feelings", "they only care about themselves" - all these are the normal questions that crop up in our minds immediately. Even if we agree to an extent we might also have contributed to the situation, still we want to blame the other person a little more. Because we expect a lot from close people. And our expectation from others become the benchmark of our happiness or sadness. If we just pause for a moment and think, so they failed to meet our expectation but was I myself able to meet my expectation? Instead of what they didn't do for me, we need to ask what did I do for myself? I let myself feel sorry, I let myself become weak and I let myself wallow in sorrow because someone else did something. Maybe because we never set expectations from ourselves at all, which kind of feels like a lack of self love. Others are not obligated to value us, but we are. Unless we see value in ourselves how can someone else see it? Though I cannot call it like a new year resolution, because I never made those but its kind of a thing I need to work on this year - setting my expectations straight for myself. I need to become a stronger individual and become valuable to myself. I need to ask myself everyday how can I meet my expectations than waiting for someone else to fill in.  Would I be able to create a better version of myself? That's a wait and watch. 

So how do I start this self expectation journey? The first thing I did was changing my skincare routine. Sounds vain? I would say otherwise. The first step all this expectation journey was making myself feel good from outside and inside. I gifted myself a bunch of paraben free, cruelty free, vegan and clean skincare products and chalked out a minimalist regimen for myself. 18 days into the year and touchwood I have kept up with the schedule so far. It is giving me results as well. And I am happy with the line of products I had chosen for myself. Let me know if anyone of you is interested to know them and I can give a list of the products I found beneficial for my sensitive skin.  Also let me tell you one nice tip that I am following, give a 5 minute massage to your face post washing it. You can use your fingertips or a massager. This helps depuffing your face, drains the lymph nodes and helps boost collagen. This thing really does wonders. The next thing was to feel good from inside as well. Now I start my day with a glass of warm water, honey and lime juice. I also have a raw garlic pod (this is still a very loathsome job for me so still not able to put into a regular habit) on an off in an empty tummy. Garlic is a very powerful little thing which boosts your immunity and helps the body in more than one ways. Just look it up on Google and you will know. I have also started eating optimal meals - doesn't mean I am not at times ordering in, but turning towards more leaner and balanced meals. Like you know instead of trying of diet fads I am sticking to food that we have eaten while growing up and never faced any health problems like obesity etc. On weekends I am trying out combinations of protein, carbs and minerals for a wholesome meal. I am not a dietician myself so just trying to eat in regulated portions while keeping the menu interesting. I am now incorporating a little more time into yoga in my morning exercise routine. Especially breathing exercises. I am also making sure the screen time is limited before sleep hours. I have pulled out all the old books from my bookshelf and reading is the last thing I do before sleeping. And the final thing I am doing for myself is letting me be more creative. I have started working on an unfinished novel, cutting down on all the hyper activities on Instagram (contests, collaborations etc.), watching travel videos and good movies to get more ideas on writing. Apart from personal there are some professional goals as well but I wouldn't bore you with them. So that's how my new year started on a nutshell. Fingers crossed to keep this going till the end of the year.

I had ended the last year on a nice note with finally being able to travel to Meghalaya with family. That blog is coming out in snail's pace but yeah it will come. So in the background of the photos you see a nice forest, thats the photobook I made and printed from Vistaprint. I had discovered this gem of a website 6-7 years ago and from then on it has become my one and only destination for getting high definition albums done for my travels. This time I was so smitten by the Meghalaya photos post edit that I went ahead an ordered an XL sized album form their website. I cant tell you how incredible the album looks. Its like a coffeebook print and all the memories just come alive the moment I turn those pages. The one in the background is from Shnongpdeng.

Now coming to the recipe for today - Motorshutir Pur or Green peas stuffing. Winters in Bengal are synonymous to nolen gur and koraishutir kochuri (Peas kachori). Fresh tender peas fill the market scene and it is hard to resist their temptation. We make a nice filling from the fresh peas, gently stuff it inside dough balls and roll it out to make stuffed flatbreads or pooris. Last year it was my mom who made amazing pea stuffed flatbreads for me, but this year the onus fell upon me if I wanted to enjoy the peas. There are several techniques for Motorshutir pur, the one that I made is a recipe followed in our family from generations.  Its an easy recipe and even beginners or bachelors can try it out. 

One might scoff at me saying who gives a separate recipe for Motorshutir pur? Where is the Kochuri part of it? But in my defense I must say that after tasting many kochuris and pea stuffings I have come to the conclusion that if you don't get the pur right, then the parathas or pooris that you make with the stuffing doesn't taste nice. So you can say technically the stuffing or the pur is the core of a good kochuri or stuffed paratha. And hence a separate post to give it its necessary respect. 

Also this pur is so versatile that you can make this into small pakoras, use it as a sandwich filling or just eat it as is ( I really do that), its simple and delicious. 

I used this filling to make peas paratha and that recipe will come in my next blog.

Meanwhile you can checkout some other Bengali snacks :

• Motorshuti diye chide bhaja
• Vegetable Chop
• Kachki macher bora
• Dim Toast | Dim Pauruti
• Macher dimer bora

Equipment:

• Pan
• Mixer grinder

Procedure: 

1.  Shell the peas. Wash and drain the water and let them air dry for sometime.

Note: This recipe is best made with winter peas when they are still tender and sweet. I got about 1 cup of shelled peas from 1/2 kg peas with shell.

2. Now take a mixer grinder jar and add the raw peas, green chili and ginger.  Blitz this to a fine paste, scraping sides and adding a little water, as needed. You might need to pulse a few times until you have a nice and smooth paste.

Tip: Many people suggest boiling the peas before making a paste, but in our home the paste is made from raw peas. The texture and taste is much better this way.

3. Add salt and blitz it one more time to mix it well.

Note: You can add the salt while cooking this mixture also, whatever you are comfortable with.

4. Now heat some refined oil in a pan. When the oil is hot temper it with whole Jeera and Hing.

5. When the spices are fragrant add the pea mixture. Add sugar and cook on medium flame stirring occasionally until the mixture dries out and gathers around the spatula in a lump. This will take about 5 minutes.

Let the mixture cool before you use this stuffing for pooris or parathas. 

Let me tell you the mixture is so delicious that at times I have it as is, as its hard to resist!

25 September

Maharashtra is a land of unique local flavours. And still it is mainly known for its Vada Pavs, poha, pav bhaji and modaks. I know because I also belong from a different state by birth. People only know food items that are shown in the Bollywood movies but the traditional flavors of this land unfortunately is very limited to the locals.  Thus even after spending more than 15 years in Maharashtra, I started understanding and exploring the signature regional cuisines of Maharashtra from only a couple of years ago. Mumbai being a melting pot of various cultures, I hardly came across a place claiming to serve authentic Maharashtrian Thali. I am talking about 12 years ago, it might also be that even if such a place exists in Mumbai I was unaware of. After spending a reasonable amount of time in Pune and due to some local friends and a few team lunch outs, I got exposed to the traditional fares which are uncommon to an outsider to the state. Now I really feel bad that I started exploring the beautiful cuisines of this place so late. Nonetheless, its better late than never!

Maharashtra is divided into 5 main regions : Konkan, Paschim Maharashtra also known as Desh - (Pune Division), Khandesh - (Nashik Division), Marathwada - (Aurangabad Division) and Vidarbha - (Nagpur and Amravati divisions).The coastline of Maharashtra is usually called the Konkan and boasts its own Konkani cuisine, which is a harmonized combination of Malvani, Gaud Saraswat Brahmin, and Goan cuisines. Besides the coastal Maharashtra cuisine, the interior of Maharashtra or the Vidarbha area has its own distinctive cuisine known as the Varadi cuisine.

The cuisine of each of these 5 regions are diverse and yet similar in many ways. From the coastal delicacies of the Kokan where fish curry and rice is a staple to the specialties of Deccan plateau and the fiery fare from heat of Vidharbha in the east, Maharashtrian food is truly unique. Quoting a food article, the North-Western region of Maharashtra which covers areas like Jalgaon, Malegaon and Nasik is known for its extremely spicy curries. This cuisine is called the Khandeshi cuisine which is the hottest cuisine of Maharashtra. Peanut oil, dry coconut and the Lavangi Mirch are the highlights of this cuisine. The curries are identifiable because of the red spicy oil that floats atop and is called 'Tawang or Tarri'.

There is a Maharashtrian Restaurant a little away from my place, where for the first time I got introduced to an amazing dish from Khadenshi cuisine - Kala Mutton. The burst of flavors and how succulent the mutton pieces were literally blew my mind! It was like nothing I had had before. Every inch of the mutton had a infusion of rich flavors from the whole spices, slowly cooked over the wood fire for hours. A bite of the piping hot bhakhris dipped in Kala mutton gravy with a slice of raw onions is something you need to try once in your life to know how heavenly it tastes.

From then on every time I visited the place, that was the dish for me by default. I am so much smitten with this particular dish that I had to try making this at home. I just had to! The main element of the dish of course is the Kala Masala. When you look at the ingredient list you might feel overwhelmed but that is the key behind all the beautiful flavors this curry has. It is definitely a labor of love! I can proudly say, that the mutton made with this kala masala tasted super amazing and everyone at home really loved it. Check out the recipe for the masala below. I will be posting the Kala Masala Mutton Curry recipe soon. Just as a side note, I did try making this with Chicken as well, it did taste amazing but no where near to the one that you get with Mutton. So if you want to try this out for the very first time, make a Mutton curry with it.

Checkout other accompaniment recipes on my blog:

• Bengali Tomato Chutney
• Pickled Onions - Sirke Wala Peyaz
• Lebanese Toum - Garlic Sauce
• Hirva Mirchi Thecha

Though I have been staying in Maharashtra for over a decade now, it was just a couple of years ago I started exploring the local or traditional delicacies of this state beyond vada pavs and misal pavs. And I was surprised to see that many of the dishes felt really interesting to my Bengali palate. Especially the non vegetarian preparations. They have such a unique flavored spice mixes which varies from region to region even within the borders of Maharashtra. The one dish which I have perfected is Kaleji Masala. We Bengalis usually don't like chicken liver that much because of the smell it has. But the Marathi preparation of Kaleji fry has such a rustic flavor profile due to the addition of roasted coconut and a bunch of other ground spices. I will talk about this recipe some day which is now my absolute favorite. 

On my birthday, I had ordered Maharashtrian delicacies and with them came the freshly made mirchi thecha. Mirchi Thecha is a classic Maharashtrian accompaniment which pairs up best with different Bhakhri (wheat , jowar, ragi etc.) or even with normal rotis.  It is a fiery delectable combo made up of pounded green chillies, toasted garlic, peanuts and fresh coriander leaves.  

When we were having office before the pandemic hit, I used to look forward to the various kinds of thecha my colleagues used to bring. But the pandemic put an end to invading other's lunchboxes. But the maharashtrian meal I ordered after all this time rekindled my memories of having thecha. I thought of trying to make it at home. My maid gave a few tips and my mom tried to make it, and I must say it was a hit even the first time it was made. My mom doesn't usually have fondness for other cuisines but she literally went ga-ga over this. We found it so good that the first batch of Thecha only lasted 2 days and it was about 150 gm! 

Personally I feel this goes best with different Maharashtrian non vegetarian recipes to accompany your flatbread. They are best consumed fresh so people make small batches of Thecha and store it in the fridge for no more than 2-3 days. After that, the color and the taste of the thecha starts to change.

Traditionally thecha is made by pounding everything in a mortal pestle. The final texture should be somewhat course and not like a paste.  You can make this in a mixer grinder but then you cannot control the texture of the thecha. And in addition thecha tastes best when you make it the traditional way. But the effort it taskes that way is a put off for many.

So there is an easy tip to get the best taste without putting in too much effort of pounding. If you have a vegetable chopper then you can use it to chop the ingredients till its 50-60% done. Then transfer it to the mortar pestle and pound it to give the finial finish. I have tried and tested this method multiple times and now its my go to method of making thecha at home.

Checkout other accompaniment recipes on my blog:

• Bengali Tomato Chutney
• Pickled Onions - Sirke Wala Peyaz
• Lebanese Toum - Garlic Sauce

Equipment:

• Non stick pan
• Vegetable chopper
• Mortal Pestle / Mixer grinder

Recipe Video:

Some tips before you start

Tip 1: If you like or for extending the shelf life of Thecha you can also fry it again in a tbsp of oil on low heat for around 5-6 minutes. Now you can store the Thecha in a clean- dry airtight container and keep it in the fridge for 2-3 weeks easily.

Tip 2: To easily de-skin peanuts, dry roast them on a skillet for about 3-4 minutes stirring continuously. Let it cool down and then transfer them to a bowl and give a good shake. The skin will come off. 

Tip 3: This one is a killer tip. It is recommended to always pound the thecha in a mortar pestle the traditional way for the best taste instead of a mixer. But it is a lot of work that way. So as a hack you can use a hand held chopper to chop the thecha into smaller pieces and then transfer it to a mortar and pestle and pound it to the desired consistency. This helps in drastically reducing the effort to pound the ingredients and the taste still remains in tact as chopping the ingredients don't generate much heat unlike the grinder method.

Tip 4:  In a mixer grinder coarsely pulse the roasted peanuts and store it. You can use this coarsely ground peanut in your thecha or sabudana khichadi. This saves you a little effort in hand pounding the peanuts.

Method:

1. Dry roast the peanuts in a non stick pan for 3 to 4 minutes till black spots appear and the peanuts are fragrant. Keep stirring them continuously on medium flame. Keep aside and let it cool. Once cool rub the peanuts between your fingers and the skin will come off.

2. Heat oil in a non stick pan. Once hot temper the oil with whole jeera. Now add the whole garlic to the pan and sauté it for another 1 minute

3. Add the chopped green chilies and on medium flame sauté the green chilies for about 2 minutes. Keep stirring in between.

Note: If you are not a fan of spicy things, then go for the light green chilies which are less spicy by equally tasty. And if you want a really spicy thecha you can go for the dark green small ones. 

4. Add the deskinned whole peanuts, sauté for about 1 minute. Add salt as per taste.

5. Transfer the mixture to a mortar pestle or a chopper. Add chopped fresh coriander. If you are using a chopper, chop them till 3/4th chopped and then transfer to the mortar pestle for the final finish. Or from scratch, you can pound it to the desired texture in a mortar and pestle.

Note: You can also pulse them in a mixer grinder but the taste wont be as good.

Serve it with roti or bhakhri and your favorite vegetarian or non vegetarian dish.

January 12

Apart from Christmas, I love the winter months for its berries. Winters would not be the same without these tiny little gems of warm colors - scarlet Strawberries, dark blueish Blueberries, warm amber Gooseberries or the pretty purple Mulberries. They lure you to taste them and get lost in the juicy realm of ecstasy. I am not a fruit lover in general but I love all of these berries.

There was a time when winters would essentially mean a quintessential trip to the famous hill station of Maharashtra - Mahabaleshwar. I have lost count of the times I have visited the twin hill station of Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani in the last decade and never did I love a trip less. If not twice, at least once in the December-January span was a must. And one of the main reason was Strawberry - the signature berry of Mahabaleshwar, which is harvested in these winter months. The Strawberry in this region is so popular that its named as the Strawberry land of India. 

If you happen to visit Mahabaleshwar in winter months which is famous for its Gulabi Thandi (the cold air makes your cheeks rosy , hence the name), my recommendation would be to stay in a place which has a Strawberry farm like the Bhilare Farms on the Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar road. Its a pretty property with Strawberry farms around. The owners and the staff in this hill station are quite friendly and would walk you through the beautiful plantation of strawberry, blueberry, raspberry and mulberry. You can pluck and eat the fruits right off the ground, and also buy them in small quantities.

The Strawberry saplings are brought in from some of the best places in the world Italy, Spain, Poland and California, among others and cultivated here. Almost all year round this place had a nice and cold weather hence the Strawberries thrive beautifully. I mean if you travel even in the Summers, the morning might be a little warm but by the time the evening comes, everything will be pretty pleasant and you may even experience some chills later in the evening.

Also if you are interested, there is a Strawberry Carnival that happens in these hill stations every year around the Easter Weekend in March-April. It is to promote tourism and awareness about the fruit. It is a 4-Day celebration where you can pick fresh berries from the farms like Interdown, Camarosa, Sweet Charlie, Winter Dawn, Rania, etc. and not to forget the globally well-known Mahabaleshwar strawberry, gorge on a variety of strawberry delicacies, and learn about how strawberries are cultivated and take back with you a bagful of berrilicious memories. This event is organized by strawberry giant Mapro and they come up with a plethora of innovative lip-smacking dishes like strawberry chocolate pizza having rich dark chocolate sauce and topped with strawberries or Chocoberrywitch made from whole wheat bread coated with chocolate sauce and freshly picked strawberries. They even have Strawberry bhel! How interesting is that now? Apart from that you can always choose from their classic menu options like Strawberry with fresh cream or milkshakes. I can go on and on about Mahabaleshwar and Strawberries but let us come back to today's recipe - Fresh Strawberry Butter.

As part of the first Instagram Collaboration of 2021 we were asked to prepare something with Strawberry. I ran through many ideas, but I was sure that I wanted to make something which was not the usual like a milkshake or a jam. Then I remembered a preparation I had when I was in California at one of my friend's homes. A very simple and flavorful fruit butter which she generously slathered on the top of a croissant and with the first bite I was in heaven. The taste and the texture of that butter stuck in my conscience all through these years and I felt this was the perfect opportunity to recreate this beautiful recipe.

Fruit butters are very popular in America and perfect for your lunch table. Its is a sweet spread made of fruit cooked with sugar and whipped with butter. You can make delicious fruit butters with soft fruits like blackberries, raspberry, mulberry, blueberries, peaches or even apples. You can serve the whipped Strawberry butter with a selected choice of bread basket for brunch and transform it into a fancy affair! 

This is one of the most easiest recipes I have ever made and one of the most delicious. Did I mention super fun too? Got some fresh strawberry and a little butter? How about some sugar? And a little salt? Okay we are good to go for an amazing seasonal preparation right away! 

Store this fresh strawberry butter in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for several week. They store very well that way. But still it is recommended you make them in small batches so that you can enjoy them fresh. This fresh strawberry butter pairs up really well with a batch of piping hot and fluffy buttermilk biscuits. I will be putting up the recipe of the Buttermilk Biscuits in my next blog.

They are even great as personalized gifts. So the next time you want to gift someone who loves food , make this butter and gift it. They will love and bless you till the end :).

Be sure to try it out till the Strawberry season lasts, otherwise you will be missing out on something super delicious for sure!

Tips for Making Perfect Strawberry Butter

1. Avoid using a food processor as it can cause the butter and strawberry to separate from each other. 
2. Make sure all the ingredients are fresh
3. I recommend to make small batches as they are best eaten fresh.

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

• Unsalted Butter - 100 gm ( 1 stick) at room temperature
• Fresh Strawberries - 10 -15 medium (sweet and fragrant)
• Powdered Sugar - 1 tbsp + as required per taste
• Salt - 1/4th tsp

Equipment:

• Big Mixing Bowl (chilled for 10 minutes before use)
• Electric Blender or Hand Blender
• Spatula
• Sterilized Glass Bottle

Procedure 

1.  Wash the strawberries and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Then cut them into small pieces and add 1/2 tsp of powdered sugar. Mix well and set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl cream the unsalted butter (room temperature), rest of the powdered sugar , salt with a electric mixer or hand mixer till the color of the butter becomes whitish, and the texture fluffy.

Tip 1: Make sure the butter is at room temperature. Keeping the butter out of the fridge for about 30 minutes to 1 hour helps in softening the butter and can be easily whipped. I used a hand blender for this recipe.

Tip 2: You can also use honey instead of the powdered sugar for a variation in flavor.

3. Now add the strawberries into the butter. If there is any juice below don't add it to the butter. Mash some of the fruit pieces with a spatula into the butter. Mix everything again until the butter takes a rosy pink hue. Taste the butter at this stage and adjust the sugar level or strawberry as per your liking. (I kept adding strawberries till I was satisfied!)

Tip: I prefer a chunky fruity butter - a butter which ample fruit pieces for that added texture and look totally works for me! Hence after whipping the butter with the strawberry I added some more strawberry pieces and just folded them in so that they retain their texture and bite in the butter and make them look prettier too.

4. Sterilize a glass jar and spoon in boiling water (jar should be heat proof). If you are not sure just have some warm water and dip in the open jar for a while. Take out the jar let the steam go off and it cools down a bit. Once the jar has cooled down, spoon in the Strawberry butter and store it.

How to Refrigerate the Butter

Store it in an airtight jar in the refrigerator for about a week or in the freezer for several weeks. I usually try to bring it to room temperature before serving but it spreads well even when a little cooler, thanks to all that whipping!