16 June

সবাইকে জামাইষষ্ঠীর শুভেচ্ছা ||

Today in Bengal, Jamai Shasti is being celebrated. Jamai means son-in-law and Shasti means the sixth day of shukla paksh according to the Hindu calendar. This festival is predominantly celebrated in West Bengal.

The legend behind this festival goes like this - there was once a very greedy woman who used to eat up everything cooked in the house. When asked, she blamed it on the cat. The cat being close to Goddess Shasti, complained to Her about this. In order to teach the woman a lesson, Goddess Shasti hid all the children of the woman. Being punished, the greedy woman performed rituals before the Goddess and prepared delicacies in order to please her. The Goddess was eventually satisfied and decided to return all her children. Since then all women started performing the Shasti puja for the welfare of their children.

Just like every other Bengali festival, food is the most important part of the festival. The mother-in-law cooks a lavish feast for the son-in-law. Non-Vegetarian dishes dominate the platter with fish taking the obvious centerstage. 

But on this occasion, I am going to talk about a very versatile recipe today. You can use practically anything to go with this recipe - eggs, fish, prawn, paneer or even vegetables. Among vegetables this works wonderfully well with Potol (Pointed Gourd). I have made this infinite number of times and even made it for my office colleagues who loved it like crazy, so I know this little family recipe is a winner.

Unlike other Bengali Egg curries which has potato, this particular recipe is made without any potatoes. Its a rich, flavorful, sweet and spicy curry which needs very little time to whip up and tastes out of the world. This recipe is curated by my mom and took me a lot of time to perfect. Though it has a super simple ingredient list and procedure, the key to making this curry is frying the onions in the optimum way. It transforms the taste of the dish totally, if you do not fry the onions correctly. The other important thing is addition of jeera powder. I had started cooking this curry when I went to US and didn't have much experience in cooking. My mom would explain and guide me with the recipes over skype and I used to try and create something edible in my kitchen. For the longest time I would not add that small pinch of Jeera powder and always ended up wondering why this curry didn't taste as tasty as my mom's version. Very recently, one day when I saw my mom making this curry I discovered that the magic ingredient was that small hint of Jeera powder. It made the flavors bolder in the curry. And when this is done with seafood it takes this to a very different level. So even if it is your mom, they rightly say, chef's don't always give away the whole trick to a dish! My mother used to say the same about my grandma, so I know it :D.

You can make this with poultry eggs as well, but hasher dim (duck eggs) really take the taste of this dish a notch up. Duck eggs are pretty much just like chicken eggs, except they are larger and richer. They're higher in fat and lower in water content. The taste is more richer and creamier. It is a family favorite for us. Unfortunately in Pune it is very difficult to get Duck Eggs where I stay. Now a days though BigBasket is having the option but it is like super super expensive. I remember last time I visited Kolkata, I had bought a dozen Duck eggs from a villager lady in the local market and it was Rs.12 per egg as compared to Rs 6 for a poultry egg. Here is it almost 3 times the price in BigBasket. But when you have a special occasion like Jamai Shasti, you feel all too generous and feel like going gourmet. 

So here it is a lovely rich Egg curry to make for all those dinner times when you want to relish a delicious egg curry without much hassel. The whole recipe gets done in half an hour's time and thats one more reason I love it so much.

Check out a few festive recipes for Jamai Shasti from my blog

• Kakrar Jhal || Crab Curry
• Bangladeshi Mutton Tehari
• Dhakai Morog Polao
• Dak Bungalow Chicken
• Morich Mutton
• Bread Malpua
• Fulkopir Malaikari with Paneer || Cauliflower with Cottage Cheese
• Macher Matha Diye Moong er Daal
• Narkel Diye Cholar Daal
• Gobindobhog Chaler Payesh

Ingredients :

• Wok
• Pressure cooker
• Knife

Procedure: 

1.  Boil the eggs. I used a pressure cooker for the same. Keep a bowl in the middle of the cooker. Fill some water in the cooker, till 1/4th bowl is immersed.  Wash the eggs and smear some mustard oil all over the eggs. Place these eggs in the bowl and pressure cook for 2 whistles. Let the pressure die out then open the lid and put the eggs into an ice bath. 

Tip: Applying mustard oil on the egg surface prevents it from cracking during boiling in a cooker.

2. Remove the shells and make a few cuts on the egg surface. Coat these eggs with a pinch of salt and turmeric. Shallow fry the eggs for a couple of minutes till it gets a little color on the surface. Keep aside.

3. Slice the onions and slit the green chilies.

4. Take a wok and heat refined oil. When hot temper it with whole jeera. When fragrant add the sliced onions. Cook on medium heat with cover on. Keep checking occasionally and add a dash of water if the onion starts sticking to the wok. Fry the onions till they are soft and oil separates.

Tip: Frying the onions is the key in this recipe. It should be fried till fully cooked and oil comes out.

Note: If you are using this recipe for vegetables like Potol (pointed gourd) or Paneer, then temper with 2 cardamom and 1/2 inch cinnamon bark. Replace refined oil with mustard oil.

5. Add the dry masalas now - red chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric, jeera powder. Add the sugar and salt. Add the slit green chilis. Cook for 5 more minutes till the masalas are incorporated.

6. Add 2 cups of warm water and give it a good stir. Add the fried eggs. Cover and cook till done.

Serve warm with steamed white rice or Indian Flatbreads.

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

23 October

Subho Saptami to all my readers!

Finally it is a beautiful sunny autumn morning today! I started my day watching the Saptami pooja at Ramakrishna math in Belur (west Bengal) which was streaming live in YouTube. This year it is a bit different kind of pooja but nonetheless it felt very divine to wake up to the chants for Durga Ma. 

I am going to talk about a 15 minute breakfast which is both healthy and hearty. It can brighten up your morning with all the necessary goodness. It is called breakfast hash with eggs. 

Quoting Wikipedia - "Hash is a culinary dish consisting of chopped meat, potatoes, and fried onions. The name is derived from French: hacher, meaning "to chop". It originated as a way to use up leftovers." 

I used to eat and love hash brown potatoes while I was travelling in the States. It was pretty much a morning staple across all the hotels I had stayed. And that is where I had developed a love for this dish. Though the hash brown is a very different recipe and much more calorie loaded. The one I am talking about today is a very simple version and mostly made in the homes. It is just a no fuss, flavorful breakfast recipe which you can try when you are not in mood of anything elaborate. Mostly it is my idea of a lazy weekend breakfast. 

I had read it somewhere it is not really a hash until something gets charred. So I have incorporated a lot of easy charring without any oven on a gas top. it adds a very nice smoky aroma to the overall hash and I just love it. 

The interesting and non conventional addition I have made is the charred garlic. in most traditional recipes of breakfast hash this is not how it is made. But trust me charred whole garlic with potatoes and eggs are the best thing in the whole world. The beautiful burst of flavors in your mouth will testify my claim any day. So without any further ado lets jump straight in to the recipe.

Preparation Time : 7 minutes

Ingredients for Yoghurt:

• Egg - 1
• Baby potato - 2
• Cherry Tomato - handful
• Mushroom - 4 , sliced
• Garlic Cloves - 10 to 12
• Onion (Medium)- 1/2 , sliced
• Spring Onion - 1/4th cup, finely chopped
• Cracked Pepper - 1/2 tsp
• Salt as per taste
• Olive Oil

Method:

1. Start by washing the baby potatoes. The skin should be kept on. Then par boil them in a pot or pressure cooker. I did it in the pressure cooker for two whistles. Take them out from the water and keep aside to cool.

Tip: I jabbed the fork edge into the potato sides so that they are cooked to the core when boiled.

2.  Halve the baby tomatoes. Now take a slotted spoon or a wire mesh and arrange the cherry tomatoes, cut side down in a single layer and over the gas let it char. It will take around 2 minutes on medium flame. Then flip them and let the back side also get a little charred. Keep doing this in batches, don't over crowd the space else it will all become mushy. Keep them aside to cool.

3. Now dice the baby potatoes ( still with skin on) and again on the wire mesh char the sides of the potato over the medium flame. Char it as per your preference. It adds a nice smokey flavour to the hash.

Tip: Keeping the skin on gives a nice crunchy texture to the potatoes.

4. Now heat a griddle or tawa and place the garlic cloves in one single layer. Let each side get charred. Keep aside. Similarly add the sliced onions in single layer ( separate each leaf), let it char for a few minutes and keep flipping so that all sides are nicely done. 

5. Once the onions are almost done, add a little oil to the tawa and toss around the onions. Add the charred garlic and potatoes too. Let it sizzle for less than a minute. take them all off the tawa. Now in the same oil give a 30 seconds toss to the charred tomatoes. Then take them out and keep aside.

6. Clean the mushrooms and halve them. In the same tawa toss in the mushrooms and add a pinch of salt. Toss for about 30 seconds and take them off heat.

7. Wipe the tawa clean with a tissue and now cut roundles from the baguette bread and let it toast. Once the sides are a little brown take them off heat.

8. Finally its time for the egg. Add a little oil in the tawa and crack open an egg. Add salt and cracked pepper. It it cook on low flame for a nice white outer  ring for about 3-4 minutes. 

9. Now take a bowl and toss all the charred and fried veggies into it. Add a little salt and pepper and give it a toss. Your hash is ready.

10. Take a serving plate. Layer the hash and on top of it slide the sunny side up egg. Add the toasted baguette on the side. garnish with chopped spring onions and some more cracked pepper.

Bon Appetit!