Speechless!

Diwali breaks and I am back home. With all the festivities around, this time I have to cook up something really special. So here you go ladies and gentlemen - Nargisi Kofta ..only for you.

For this you will need:

Minced Chicken
Boiled eggs
Chopped onions
Chopped tomato
Salt
Turmeric powder
Almonds
Curd
Coriander leaves
Coriander powder
Cumin powder
Chopped green chillies
Whole garam masala
Red chilli powder
Cumin seeds
Ginger garlic paste

Recipe:
To the minced meat add little chilly powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and salt. Use your hands to mix it thoroughly. This mixture has to form a layer around the boiled eggs. This paste can get real sticky and you may find it difficult to handle, hence smear your hands with some water and spread a plastic sheet on the kitchen counter. Take the meat mixture equal to the size of a boiled egg and spread it evenly on the plastic sheet like a usual Papad mixture. Now take an egg and place it in the center of the meat spread and wrap the plastic around the egg.
If you find this cumbersome, you can use your own method to coat the egg with this meat mixture. Once all the aggs are covered, heat oil in a pan and deep fry these eggs. Fry them for about 3 minutes.

Make a paste in your Grinder:
Chopped tomatoes and fried almonds(fried almonds do not stick to the bottom of the pan)

For the gravy:
Heat some oil, add whole garam masala, cumin seeds, chopped onions, salt, turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder. Once this is well cooked, pour into this the tomato and almond paste. Cook it in a low flame but keep stirring. Add green chillies and curd once the oil starts to come out. Then add water.

Once the gravy comes to a boil and you are happy with its consistency, add in the koftas.

Garnish it with chopped coariander leaves and you are done.

Note: The snap above has been taken from sangamny.com

Ingredients :

Mustard Oil
Onions - grated or chopped
Ginger-Garlic paste
1 Cup curd mixed well along with Turmeric powder, red chilly powder, dhania powder, salt and sugar.
Lemon juice

Whole spices:

Cloves (Lobongo),
Green cardamoms (Elach),
Black cumin (Kalo jeera),
Methi (Fenugreek seeds)
Mustard seeds (Shorshe)
A pinch of Hing (Asafoetida)
Dry whole red chillies

Procedure:

Heat mustard oil in a pan, add to it all the whole spices and fry till Methi turns golden brown.
Add to this the onions and fry till it starts changing colour, then add in the ginger-garlic paste. Fry for about 5 minutes.

The chicken goes into the pan next. Once the chicken starts giving out the juices and changes colour wait till the juices dry up. Now add the curd, well beaten along with the turmeric, red chilly, dhania powders and salt and sugar.

Cook for another 15 minutes and add water if you want (this dish would be better off without any gravy. The above picture shows a lot of it though, but that was because I was forced to stop cooking. The people around had suddenly gotten very hungry).

The secret to the taste lies in the addition of lemon juice saved for the end.
Garnish with fresh coriander.
Serve hot.

Try it, it is really yummy.

A Discovery :-

I was asked to make tea one evening.
I poured the water from a bottle that was kept in a line of many other bottles on the rack, the bottle did not have enough water to make tea for five people, so I took some more water from another bottle that stood right next to it...

I prepared it in the usual way...boiling the water, adding sugar, adding the tea leaves (by the way...no milk was added to this)...
It was now time to drink...The first to go was my Baba..after the first sip..he simply looked up at me- His expressions were different...Then my Ma...she started smiling and stood up to investigate..I did not understand what was going on...by now the others were also making faces..(well, happy faces mind you)... Without hesitating, I took My First sip...and to my utter disbelief, the Tea tasted different, unique and above all...really good...
I followed my Ma to the kitchen and we both started to probe...
The first bottle from which I had poured in water, actually contained "Sprite"!!!!!!

Try it out...It gives you real tasty tea...but use water and 7Up or Sprite in 1:1 ratio ( or safer still, keep the quantity of water, more).... and do not forget to give me your feedback...The first sip would surely bring a smile to your face...

My school-time friend, Priyanka Pal has recently turned into Priyanka Saha. Her metamorphosis has enabled her to get involved in various activities which was not undertaken by her previously. Well, in this case, I am only talking about her culinary creativity.
I started cooking since high-school, took it as a passion and simply love it.
Here is, the recipe which involves a fish that every bengali is a fan of.They literally wait round the year for this time of the season, the only time when Hilsa is available in the markets.
The following recipe belongs to Priyanka, after she shared it with me, I took her permission of posting it here and off she went, "Haan Haan..."

Ingredients :

Narkol bata (Coconut paste)
Shorshe bata (Mustard Paste)
Kaancha lonka bata (Green Chillies paste)
Salt
Holud guro (Turmeric Powder)
Laau pata (Gourd leaves)
Threads
Ilish (Hilsa)



Method :

All the above ingredients (except the Laau pata and the threads) are to be made into a paste together and applied over the pieces of ilish. The fish, coated with this marinade, needs to be kept aside for a couple of hours (the longer, the better).

Take each of the pieces of fish and apply a fresh coating of the marinade, then wrap it around with the Laau pata and tie it up with the thread.

After all the pieces are tied up, heat some mustard oil in a pan and fry the Laau pata-covered ilish on medium flame so that the fish inside the leaves gets cooked thoroughly.

Serve along with the Laau pata and Steaming rice.



Recipe courtesy : Priyanka Pal (Saha)

Ingredients :

Chicken - cut into small pieces
Cinamon, Cardomom and Cloves - finely ground to a powder (Garam Masala powder)
Ginger and Garlic paste (Garlic paste more in quantity)
Limejuice
Tomato - cut into small pieces
Onion - finely chopped
Black Pepper

For the Marinade :
To the chicken - add black pepper powder, ginger-garlic(more in qnty) paste, salt, garam masala powder, lemon juice, mix well and keep aside for a couple of hours.

Method :

Fry the chicken pieces in vegetable oil and keep separately.
Heat some oil in another pan, add into it, tomato, finely chopped onions, very little sugar, salt and cook till onions turn golden brown. Then add in the fried chicken, toss well till the chicken mixes with the other ingredients and 'Chicken Overseas' is done.