Last week there was a customer visiting one of our Pune offices from US. I was asked to anchor a few presentations for the customer for which I went to office - first time after November 14 last year. That was the fateful week when I got diagnosed with Sciatica followed by a very painful period of 3 months to recover. I think I will write about my Sciatica recovery journey in details so that it may help anyone looking for some light in the dark tunnel. But that's for a different blog. Let's come back to the present, when I was asked to visit office for the customer visit. The visit went really well as the customer was one of the most kindest and delightful personality, almost felt like he was just like Santa Claus by his personality and looks. So after wrapping up our presentation it was time for lunch. For all such corporate lunch events, usually our company has tie ups with various five star hotels who provide the food based on customer preference of cuisine. This time the food was from Sheraton grand, it was a complete Western platter - Chicken Steak in brown gravy, mashed potato, fish schnitzel and stir fried vegetable as salad. Looking at the brand name of Sheraton, my expectations rose and I was salivating at the thought of having a succulent piece of well seasoned chicken followed by some dreamy creamy mashed potato. In case if you did not know, I just love a good mashed potato, and this was the first time I was about to try one from a five star kitchen. It took just a bite of the mashed potato to abruptly crash my billowing expectations. The mashed potato was bland, grainy, dry and seemed like someone had just literally mashed a boiled potato and served. No where, I repeat not where it resembled a traditional mashed potato, which is supposed to be fluffy, creamy, melt in mouth gorgeous. The Chicken steak  lacked seasoning and the gravy was just a lumpy mass. The icing was the fish schnitzel which had a very thin layer of fish and had become cold by the time it reached the table. The customer in fact asked me what was he eating, might be because he did not identify any of the dishes which were supposed to be made as per his palate. No offence to Sheraton Grand, but I felt mortified in front of my customer. At the same time I also realized the mashed potato I make at home is hundred times more delicious and authentic than the one served by the five star hotel. 

So it was the obvious decision to share my version of mashed potato recipe with all of you. Mashed potato is like a Bengali Aloo seddho on a sedative! Hence I strongly feel all Bengalis would any day love a mean potato mash. This mashed potato can be enjoyed on its own or you may also make a traditional brown gravy to serve along. I would definitely recommend making the gravy as it just compliments the mashed potato and levels it up deliciously.

Ingredients :

For Mashed Potato

• Potato - 2 big (skin on)
• Water - for boiling
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Fresh Cream - 3 tbsp
• Butter - 2 tsp
• Fresh Garlic - 3 cloves 
• Fresh ground pepper powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - As per taste

For Gravy

• Chicken Stock - 3 cups
• Chicken bullion cube - 1
• All purpose flour - 2 tsp
• Milk - 1/4 cup
• Butter - 3 tsp
• Thyme - 1 sprig 
• Salt - To Taste

Mashed potato topped with brown gravy

Procedure - Mashed Potato:

1. Wash and rinse the potato, making sure there is no dirt on the potato skin.  Make deep gashes on the potato to ensure it is cooked through. Now take enough water in a pressure cooker and add salt. Boil the potatoes in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles with skin on. Adjust the whistles as per the quality of the potato.

Tip: Instead of boiling the potatoes with skin on, you can peel off teh skin, chop the potatoes in small pieces and boil in water as well. But boiling the potato with skin on ensures the potato does not get watery when mashed. 

2. Once the potato is cooked drain the water and peel off the skin. This needs to be done when the potato is still hot so be careful.

3. Using a masher mash the peeled potatoes into a uniform texture. Use your fingers to feel any lumps in the mashed potato. If you still feel lumps then best way is to sieve the mashed potato through a steel strainer, pressing hard to ensure all lumps are broken down and the final mashed texture is lump free. Mash till you get a smooth, fluffy and light consistency. Do not mash too much as this will break down the starches more and make for a gummy texture.

4. While the potatoes are still hot you need to add the butter. If either the mashed potato or the butter is cold then you can put the mashed potato in the microwave for 20 seconds and then add the butter. This will help the butter to melt evenly. Mix well.

5. Now finely grate the garlic cloves and make it into a paste. Add to the mashed potato and mix well.

6.  Now fold in the fresh cream and milk mixed together. 

Tip: warm the fresh cream and milk a bit before adding to the mashed potato for best results. You can always add more butter, warm milk , fresh cream to get your desired consistency.

7. When everything is well integrated and the texture is silky and smooth, add the seasoning and the pepper powder.

Tip: The salt balance is the game changer in this recipe. You need to add the right amount of salt as per your taste to avoid it being bland.

Serving Tips: Mashed potatoes are served warm. So you can make mashed potatoes in advance and while serving warm it in the oven and add a few teaspoon of milk while you are reheating, then give it a nice stir and serve. You can top it off with some fresh herbs, pepper powder or some butter. 

Procedure - Mashed Potato 

1. Take a microwave safe mixing bowl and break the chicken bullion cube. Add milk and the chicken stock to this and give it a nice stir. Pop it into the microwave for about 30 seconds making sure the chicken bullion cube is dissolved well. 

Check the seasoning in this mixture, sometimes the chicken bullion cube contains a lot of salt, so make sure you check the seasoning and adjust accordingly.

2. Now melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, thyme and whisk together till it turns golden brown.

3. Now add the stock mixture into teh saucepan and give it a good stir. Add pepper powder and stir constantly till the mixture comes to a boil.

4. Reduce heat and continue to stir until thickened. You will see they are slowly turning a shade of light brown. That's your cue to take it off the heat. Do a final taste test and you are good to go.

Serve it over your warm mashed potatoes, steamed chicken or rice and enjoy!

Additional Tip : If you have some leftover gravy then just fry some chicken cubes with salt and pepper and then pour over this gravy, cook for 5 minutes and you have a quick chicken gravy good to go with rice!

30 December

I know I am super late for this post but then a good savory pastry recipe never gets outdated isn't it? This is just like the usual chicken pastry which is glammed up for a party.  And its the perfect party pleaser for a cozy house party on the new year eve. Pune folks are anyway going to be following the curfew hours from 9 PM due to new restrictions imposed and ring in the new year from the comfort of our home. 

This beautiful puff pastry is filled with the goodness of fresh spinach, chicken, cheese and Italian flavors. It looks super cute and is super fun to assemble. It may look complicated but pulling the pastry to make those starry shape is where all the fun is. You can just put on your imagination hat and stuff it with any filling of your choice and you are good to go. Add a glass of wine and a Netflix playlist of Korean romcoms to the scene and nothing can sound more appealing to me when I think of a cozy night at home.

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Ingredients :

• Skillet
• Brush
• Paring Knife
• Rolling base and pin
• Baking tray

Procedure: 

1.  Preheat oven to 180 Degree. 

Note: I made this in the convection mode of microwave at 200 degree.

2. If you have frozen pastry sheet then you need to thaw it as per the packet instructions. It can be thawed in the refrigerator overnight or in room temperature for minimum 40-50 minutes.

Tip: When you thaw it at room temperature, keep checking the pastry sheets every 15-20 minutes whether its ready or not. Gently press the ball of your finger in the middle of one of the sheets. f your finger leaves an indentation, the pastry is ready to be used. 

Note: To thaw in the microwave, remove 1 pastry sheet from the box and outer wrapping and wrap in a paper towel. Microwave on HIGH for 15 seconds.

3. Slice the mushrooms and onion.  Wash the spinach and drain the water. Chop the spinach into medium size. 

4. In a skillet, heat oil and butter. When hot, add chopped garlic and a pinch of salt . Sauté for a couple of minutes.

5. Add chopped onion and spinach. Sauté them till the spinach starts to sweat, for a about a couple of minutes. Squeeze the water from the spinach and keep aside. 

6. In the same pan add a knob of butter. Sauté the mushrooms till they sweat and caramelize a little. Take it off the flame and keep aside.

7. Slide the butter cube into the same pan. Once hot add the chicken pieces. Add salt and pepper powder. Fry on medium flame, till the chicken is done. Keep aside.

8.  Now in a mixing bowl crack open an egg and whisk it to make egg wash. 

Prepare the Puff pastry base:

1. Transfer the puff pastry to a sheet of parchment paper. Roll out the puff pastry. Use a 10.5 inch dinner plate as a template to cut a large circle out of the puff pastry. 

2. Now take a 4 inch bowl as a template for the inner circle and gently press into the center of the pastry sheet to outline a smaller circle. Make sure to not cut all the way through the pastry sheet.

3. Use a sharp knife to make a perpendicular cut across the small circle. Make two more cuts across the small circle to create four equal triangles. Refer to the image.

Note: If the pastry becomes too soft to work with, just transfer it to the fridge for 5 minutes to firm up the pastry.

Assembling the Wreath

1. Now we start to make the layers of the wreath. We start by adding a few pieces of cheese all around.  

Note: It is recommended to use mozzarella to get the gooey texture, but if you do not have mozzarella use any cheese of your liking. You can also vary the amount of cheese.

2. Spoon in the sautéed spinach next in a ring around the puff pastry leaving an inch boarder around the outer edge.

3. Now add the sautéed chicken, mushrooms and some more cheese pieces on top. Add some Italian seasoning on top and sprinkle some salt. 

3. Now pick up the tip of one of the center triangles and carefully wrap it over the filling and outer edge of pastry to seal. Use a little water and pinch the edges of the pastry as shown below. Continue with each triangle, wrapping over the filling to create a wreath.

4. Now brush the pastry surface with egg wash generously. 

5. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on the surface where egg wash was brushed. 

6.  Now bake in the pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes until the pastry becomes golden brown.

Serve warm with your choice of drink.

Wish you all a very Happy New Year in advance!

15 July

I recently discovered my love for Roti Rolls. It was a weekend and I had a laundry list of things to do, including cooking, shooting, editing, updating blog, updating Instagram and all that. I usually don't keep all of that on the same day, but it was just another day when I didn't have much of a choice. I wanted to cook something really easy and simple so that I could spend most of the time shooting. I had discovered the beauty of backlights and wanted to do a little experimental shoot. On any other weekend day I would have just cooked a bowl of ramen topped it off with loads of spring onion, a sunny side egg and be at peace. But this time I had to shoot as well. Looking at my pantry an idea occurred to me. There was some leftover Roti from the night before. And I also had some bite sized chicken pieces in the refrigerator. A quick wrap was the answer to question. 

I am from that part of the country where Rolls have almost got an iconic status - the city of joy, Kolkata. We practically ate rolls for any random excuse at least once a week back in the days. Especially when we went to coaching class, to endure the next couple of hours of derivatives and  thermodynamics we needed a happy tummy. There was a Roll and Chop er dokan aka a shop which sold Rolls and cutlets near to our coaching class. No matter how resolute we were of not having street side food, the aroma of the spices and the fried egg on a hot griddle drove us back to the shop every day. We were like giddy teenagers in love, the only difference was this love was not for any human but for those yummy rolls and chops which the shop owner would keep making with extreme dexterity. 

Rolls would always be made with parathas topped with a generous layer of omelette and then came all the wonderful filling ingredients which you wanted. Something like a roadside version of the modern Subway, you could pick and choose what you wanted the filling to be. Though it tasted just heavenly, it was not the most healthy of things. Parathas were oily and so were the chicken fillings. But that is when you shut your guilty feeling and just give in to temptations of good food.

But when you make the same roll at home, you get utterly cautious of how much oil goes into it. Though homemade rolls are healthy but still its something fried. So the calorie conscious folks would still be wary of it. That's when this random discovery made me very happy. It was easy to make (no frying parathas), it was resourceful (you could utilize leftover rotis) and it was healthy (no oil in rotis). I ended up making a marinade with the Mandi masala I had and it gave a lovely Lebanese flavor notes to the wrap. The masala is super easy to make and preserve. 

You can purchase frozen or refrigerated Rotis at Indian grocery stores, or you can make them yourselves at home. Alternatively you can serve this with naan, pita breads or a Western style flatbread or even store bought tortillas. 

Checkout some interesting recipes on my blog:

• Chicken Quiche
• Lebanese Toum - Garlic Sauce

Equipment:

• Skillet/ Tawa
• Skewers

Method:

1. Start by preparing the spice mix. Dry roast coriander, black peppercorn, cumin, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon sticks for about 1 to 2 mins flipping occasionally. Add all the roasted spices in a mixer grinder and add salt, ginger powder, red chilli, turmeric, and nutmeg ( coarsely ground) to it. Pulse it till you get a fine powdered spice mix. It will smell divine at this point! 

Note: This is actually known as Mandi spice mix. Check out my Mandi Chicken Rice Recipe

2. Now to prepare the marination mix, take about 1 tsp of the spice mix prepared above and to it add half a lemon juice and cooking oil. Mix well to prepare a paste.

3. Apply the paste on the cleaned chicken pieces and let it sit for about 1 to 2 hours. The longer the better.

4. Now slice the onions and chop the green chilies and fresh coriander leaves. In a bowl add all the three and add the juice of half a lemon. Add salt for taste and give it a good mix. Let it rest.

5. Now put the marinated pieces of the chicken in skewers. Add some slices of onions as well in between the chicken. Heat a tawa and add 2 tsp oil, let it get heated. Then place the chicken skewers on the tawa in one single layer. Let it cook on medium heat. Flip over every 2-3 minutes for the chicken to cook evenly. 

6. Now for the charred effect, hold each chicken skewer over direct flame of gas, it will sizzle. Keep turning the skewers to get the desired charred edges on your chicken. 

7. In the same tawa add 1 tsp more oil and lightly fry the sliced bell peppers.

8. Now to assemble, spread some base sauce on the roti. Here I have used Honey mustard because I love the flavor it adds to the wrap. Then I added a little amount of tomato ketchup over the honey mustard. Add a layer of chopped lettuce in the middle in a straight line. Add a layer of the onion slices marinated in lemon juice. Now place the fried bell peppers and finally place the grilled chicken pieces and onions. Add some more honey mustard sauce on top if you want. Serve immediately while still hot. Enjoy!

Note: If you are using a day old chapati then thaw it and warm it before assembling the wrap. You can also fry the roti in a tsp of oil and then use for the wrap.

April 25

Calcutta or Kolkata. A city known for its food and culture, where hospitality and love are synonymous with lip-smacking grub. Chowmin, fuchka, egg roll, vegetable chop, Moghlai, biryani - the list is endless. Bengalis staying out of the state, when visit their hometown, one of the primary agenda is to scarf down street food. The calorie counts can come later, but the street food cant wait. I don't think we have this many variety of street food anywhere else in the country, which Kolkata has.

The ubiquitous Egg Toast is known by several names in Kolkata. Call it Dim Pauruti, Dim toast, French toast the charm of this simple dish remains unaltered. I think for 25 years of my existence or even more, the only French toast I knew was the egg dipped breads grilled to perfection. And like me most Bengalis of the same era, had the same understanding, before social media told us, French toast was something sweet and cinnamony and was an elite dish!

Growing up in Kharagpur, the only snacks served at our home was the ones made by mom. When we went to Grandpas home during the holidays, then we would get a taste of some of the Kolkata street food like chop and egg rolls bought for the evening snacks. But back at home, it was all home made by my mom. She had become a pro at making different innovative snacks because both me and dad loved to eat. The egg toast or dim pauruti was one of my favorite snacks. And at times I would also ask ma to make the same for breakfast. She cut the bread into 4 pieces and then fried the egg dipped breads. Those squares were delicious with a generous dip into the blood red Maggi Tomato Ketchup and few slices of onion. 

When I went to college, I stayed in a girls PG in Salt Lake Kolkata. We had a set menu throughout the week for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Since my college was pretty far from the PG, I could never have 3 meals in a day as it was not possible to come back for lunch. Therefore on weekdays I used to eat the lunch for breakfast and then have dinner at night. Thus my weekday breakfast would usually consist of Mach bhat (fish rice) and a serving of veggies and daal. Some of you might think how can we eat so much for breakfast, but when you don't have an option, you get used to it. I still wonder why I didn't think of carrying the breakfast in a tiffin box and could have same for lunch, that way I didn't have to go hungry till dinner. It never occurred to me back then that I could flip the meals and stay full. 

So usually I would end up hungry by the time it was lunch. All my classmates apart from a few boys who stayed in a nearby PG, were staying in their own homes. So they would bring delicious homecooked meals which would fill the classroom during recess. I think that's one time I used to miss home a lot. Most of the days I would go hungry at lunch time as I didn't have a tiffin. and some days if my friends asked me to share their meal I would do that happily. But it felt like an obligation at times, so I turned down most times. My college was considerably new back then, hence the food they served in canteen was very limited. Mostly pre-packed snacks, biscuits and chips. So in the initial college years I never went to canteen.

After 2nd year of engineering, the canteen actually started serving some real food which was made to order. Most of my friends would hang out in the canteen at any given opportunity. But somehow I felt I was bad in a big group and introvert so I avoided going to canteen too. Plus, I had a notion that college canteens were meant for discussing politics and other affairs - which I was totally not interested in. It sounds so funny in my head right now that, I didn't even like to gossip much back then. I just kept to my studies and was a teachers pet you can say. I think I was a little weirdo back then :D

Then one day out of sheer hunger stepped into that place and ordered something which sounded familiar to me - the Dim pauruti. In fact I remember I was so elated to find it on the menu. It instantly reminded me of mom's egg toast. The dim pauruti that the canteen made was no where near to what mom would make, but when you are hungry, any food seems like a gourmet affair. The thick slices of bread dipped in minimal egg and vegetables tasted like an elixir. For the next two years, I was still not a regular in the canteen, but whenever I happened to be there, I would order the Dim pauruti for sure. 

Later on outside of our campus many food stalls came up. It happened when Sector 5 in salt lake saw the rush of development. But by that time we were almost in the fag end of our engineering years and visited college very less. But I remember one of the stalls which served Maggi, had become my personal favorite. But I will reserve that story for another day :)

I tried to recreate those memory filled days through this preparation. During this pandemic situation when you are stuck at home, all those old memories come flooding back unconsciously and make you remember all the bitter-sweet days spent decades ago with people some of whom have faded away with time and some who are still there to remind about the journey you had.

Preparation Time : 5 minutes