Duck kosha / Hasher Mangsho kosha

Winters are the best time to make duck meat.. though the meat is not commonly eaten now a days as the meat is expensive. Earlier days I remember we use to get duck eggs or swan eggs when we travelled to Kolkata, but nowadays it’s not available. It’s a delicacy preparing duck meat. The duck meat is paired with chitoi / sara pitha or chaul er ruti/ rice chapatis. 

Ingredients 

To marinate the Duck 

500 grams Duck 

Salt to taste 

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder 

Method 

Apply salt and turmeric powder on the meat. Keep the meat aside for 1 or more hours to marinate. 

Ingredients 

For Spice paste 

Salt

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder 

1/2 tsp Chilli powder 

1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder 

1 tsp Cumin powder 

1/2 tsp roasted Cumin and Coriander powder 

1 tsp Meat masala powder 

2 to 4 tbsp Water 

Method 

Mix all the above ingredients together and make a paste. Keep the paste aside. 

Wet paste 

Ingredients 

1 small Onion 

1 medium size Tomato 

1 Green Chilli

1 small piece of Ginger 

5 to 6 Garlic Cloves 

2 Coriander stems 

Method 

Grind all the above ingredients together into a fine paste. 

To make Duck kosha

Ingredients 

Marinated Duck 

3 medium size Potatoes with skin cut into big cubes 

1 medium size Onion sliced 

2 Green Chillies slit

Wet paste 

Spice powder paste 

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds 

2 Green Cardamom crushed 

3 Cloves crushed 

1 small piece of Cinnamon crushed 

1 Red dry Chilli cut into pieces 

2 Bay leaves 

6 tbsp Mustard oil 

Method 

Take a pressure cooker, add the marinated duck meat, add a big cup of water. Pressure cook the meat for 2 whistles. Let the press release. Remove the boiled meat and the stock into a bowl. In the same pan, add the oil. Let the oil heat up. Add the potato cubes, fry them until light brown in colour. Remove and keep the potatoes aside. In the same oil add the cumin seeds, crushed cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, red dry chilli and bay leaves. Let it crackle, add the boiled meat, sauté for 2 minutes, add the sliced onions, sauté until golden brown in colour. Add the spice paste and wet paste. Cook the meat until the oil releases. Add the potatoes and continue to cook. Add little stock at a time and continue to cook until the potatoes are tender. Add the green chillies and add the last remaining stock. Cook for 2 minutes and switch off the flame. Serve the duck kosha with Chitoi pitha or rice chapatis. 

Kulfa / Purslane Bhaji

 Kulfa/ Luni Bhaji/ Nunia Saag / Purslane grows wild in India and it’s generally mistaken as weed…unlike spinach, fenugreek, mustard greens etc, this vegetable isn’t cultivated, few days back I saw this plant growing in my kitchen pots.. wild.. I was about to pluck, my house helper said let it grow… we can use in cooking.. this plant has immense health benefits. Staying in urban, most of us don’t know many of the greens that grows around wild… it’s off later that I have been noticing that sometimes some of the villagers come to the city from the nearby villages to sell these treasures. 

This is an annual plant, the leaves and stems are succulent and the flowers can be of any colour like pink, white or yellow. The common one is yellow… The stem and the leaves are both edible, used in soups, salad or cooking. In India it’s cooked with dal, or with as sabji / bhaji. The taste of the leaves are bit tangy. Purslane has vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that can be extremely beneficial to our health. 

We can stir fry the greens with garlic and green chillies, or cook them with dal or make a gravy dish… one of the recipe that I make with this leafy vegetable is -

Ingredients 

1 bunch of Kulfa leaves chopped 

1 Potato cut into cubes 

1 small Tomato chopped 

1 tbsp chopped Garlic 

2 Green Chillies cut into half 

1 Dried Red Chilli 

Salt to taste 

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder 

2 tbsp Oil 

Method 

Take a wok, add oil, once the oil heats up, reduce the flame, add the garlic and red dried chilli. Sauté the garlic, once the garlic turns light brown in colour, add the tomato, potato, salt and turmeric, stir and cook until the potato is half cooked. Add the chopped greens and green chillies. Stir and cover the wok. Let it cook until the water has evaporated and the vegetable and the potato has cooked completely. Serve this vegetable with rice or chapatis.