Kosha Mangsho

This is a very popular traditional Bengali dish cooked on special festivals and occasions... 

The mutton has to be well marinated, it’s ideally marinated overnight in the refrigerator, but minimum 4 to 5 hours of marination is a must.

The mutton is sautéed and slow cooked for an hour or two. It’s is called Koshano in Bengali and hence it’s called Khosha Mangsho / Bhuna hua Mutton. The gravy is rich and dark brown in colour. 

Normally no water is added for cooking this dish, but incase the gravy dries up while cooking then add little water as required.  This dish is served with roti, luchi or porotha.

For Marinating the Mutton 

Ingredients 

1 kg Mutton pieces 

2 Onion and 4 Green Chillies ground into paste

1 tbsp Ginger and Garlic paste

Salt to taste

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Coriander powder 

1 tsp Cumin powder 

2 tsp Red Chilli powder 

1 tsp Bengali Garam Masala powder

1 cup Curd

1/4 cup Mustard oil

Method 

Mix all the above ingredients well and let it marinate overnight in the refrigerator or at least marinate the mutton for 4 to 5 hours minimum.

For the Kosha Mangsho 

Ingredients 

Marinated Mutton 

2 to 3 Medium size Onion sliced 

1 tsp Ginger and Garlic paste

Salt to taste

1 tbsp Sugar 

1 tsp Bengali Garam Masala 

4 Green Cardomom 

4 Cloves 

2 small stick Cinnamon 

6 to 8 Pepper corn

2 to 3 Bay leaves 

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp Mustard Oil 

2 tbsp Ghee

Method

Take a pot, add 1/2 cup mustard oil and let it heat. Reduce the flame, add cardomom, cloves, cinnamon, peppercorn and bay leaves. Let the whole garam masala crackle. Add the sliced onions. Sauté and let the onions cook until light golden brown in colour. Add the salt to taste and sugar. Stir for a minute. Add ginger - garlic paste, sauté it for a minute.  Add the marinated mutton pieces. Stir and cook on low flame for 15 minutes. Cover the pot, continue to cook on low heat for an hour, stirring the mutton occasionally. Open the lid, stir the mutton. Once the mutton is tender, add 2 tbsp mustard oil, ghee and 1/4 cup of water. Stir and continue to cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle the powdered garam masala on top of the mutton. Cover and let the mutton stand for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Serve the kosha Mangsho hot with roti, porotha or luchi. 

Soya Ball Spaghetti

According to the net source, Spaghetti and meat ball was innovative in the 20th century by the Italian immigrants of New York. It’s an Italian-American dish. 

I have replaced the meat and used Soya Chunks. 

Boiled Spaghetti 

Ingredients 

Half Packet of Spaghetti 

Salt to taste

Method 

Cook the spaghetti in a pot of boiling salt water as per the instructions given on the packet. Drain the spaghetti and keep it aside. 

To make the Soya Balls 

Ingredients 

20 - 25 Soya Chunks boiled and water squeezed out

2 Bread pieces 

2 Garlic Cloves 

Salt to taste 

1 tsp Pepper powder 

1 tsp Dried Parsley

Oil to fry the Soya balls

Method

Add all the above ingredients into a grinder and grinder all the ingredients together into a fine paste. Roll out small lemon size balls.  Keep the soya balls for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.  Fry the soya balls until golden brown in colour. Remove the soya balls and keep the soya balls on a paper towel. 

To make the Sauce 

Ingredients 

2 big size Tomatoes blanched, peel the skin and chopped . 

2 Tomato puréed 

2 medium size Onion chopped 

2 tbsp chopped Garlic Cloves 

Salt to taste 

1 tbsp Sugar

1 tsp Black Pepper powder 

1 tsp Dried Basil 

1 Bay Leaf 

Fried Soya Balls

Boiled Spaghetti 

Grated Parmesan Cheese for garnish 

2 tbsp Olive Oil

Method 

Take a sauce pan, add the oil, let the oil heat up. Add the garlic, onion and bay leaf. Sauté the onion and garlic till translucent. Add the tomato purée, chopped tomatoes, sugar and salt. Stir for few seconds, add 1/2 cup water and cover the pan. Let it simmer for 20 minutes on a low flame. Remove the lid, stir,  add the pepper powder and dried basil. Stir it once more and let it simmer for another 10 minutes on a low flame. Switch off the flame and add the soya balls, stir the sauce once.

To serve the Soya Ball Spaghetti

Take a plate, add the boiled Spaghetti. Pour in the Sauce on the Spaghetti. Sprinkle the Parmesan Cheese and serve hot. 

    

Review - Ishaara

Ishaara is a newly launched modern Indian family restaurant at Palladium Mall Lower Parel started by Prashant Issar and Anuj Shah. As you enter the restaurant, the cheerful staff welcomes you with a beautiful smile on their faces and leads you to your table. The name of the restaurant says it all ‘Ishaara’. It’s a restaurant with a difference. Most of the service staff here communicates in sign languages with the customers. The restaurant hires differently able people and trains them in restaurant hospitality and provides them jobs at this restaurant. Though they have speech and impairment problems, they are people with great performance, wonderful gesture, always passionate and happy. Over all it’s was fun and a new level of experience interacting with the staff.
The teak furnitures and the lovely interiors makes the place looks very pleasant and lively. It’s an environmentally friendly place as you see lots of plants around. This place uplifts your mood.

The restaurant serves experimental, traditional Indian comforting and delicious food from across the regions with a contemporary look.

Chef’s Tasting Menu - Non Vegetarian 

This Tasting review was arranged by the The Nomad Foodie... 

To being with, we were served some Vegetarian and Non Vegetarian starters.

Sweet Potato Brûlée - The Sweet Potato were roasted and served with yogurt - the Chaat style which enhanced the flavours of the dish.

Chole Keema Samosa - This combination dish was to die for. It’s was amazing. The chole was well cooked with flavours of the Khada masala.

Tandoori Broccoli - The broccoli was well cooked and it was well accompanied with Creme Fraiche.

Dungar Chicken Tikka - The chicken was soft and it went well with the garlic yogurt and the sesame and curry patta powder chutney.

Sago Tikki - The sago tikki was stuffed with red cabbage. It was delicious, but the previous dishes over powered this dish.

The starters were followed by the main course.

Calicut King Fish Curry - The fish curry was delicious and a bowl of steamed rice is the perfect combination with the fish. 

Goan Green Chicken Curry - The chicken was well cooked and delicious.

Dal Havile - Out of the world. It was well cooked and the texture was creamy. The flavours of the masala was well blended in the dal. You can see the ghee on the dal that enhanced the taste more. 

Kashmiri Tehari - The dish was flavourful and delicious.

The main dishes were accompanied with Naan and Rogani Roti.

After all the good food, it has to be dessert..

Lemon and Pistachio Tart - The dessert was absolutely refreshing and delicious.

Gajar Halwa Crumbs was served complimentary. It was delicious and less sweet.

The best part is that you can parcel the leftovers. So zero wastage on food.
To enjoy some good things in life, you must visit this restaurant to experience the pleasant ambience and delicious food.

The Nomad Foodie Group

The Nomad foodie group left the venue satisfied and happy.

Enjoy the video of Ishaara

Gandhoraj Lemon Cake

We had one Gandhoraj Lemon growing at our place. So used it to make this rustic simple delicious cake for my sweet little doggie, to celebrate her 6th birthday. It’s a simple recipe without using an oven. Made this cake in a wok / Kadai. 

Ingredients

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour 

1/2 tsp Baking powder

3/4 tsp Soda Bicarbonate 

1/4 tsp Salt

1 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

1/4 cup Butter

1 cup + 1/2 Milk 

Juice of 1 Gondharaj Lebu

1/4 tsp Zest of Gondharaj Lemon

1/2 tsp Vanilla essence

Method 

Take a cup of milk and add butter into it and microwave it for 30 seconds. Remove the milk from the microwave. Add the lime juice and vanilla essence. Stir and mix the liquid. Take a medium size mixer jar. Add the sugar and grind the sugar into a powder. Now gradually add the milk and churn the mixer until all the liquid and sugar have incorporated well. 

Take a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lime zest and mix the ingredients together. Grease the cake tin and keep it aside. Take a wok, add a stand to the base. Cover the wok with a lid and on a low flame let it pre heat. Now pour the churned milk gradually in the flour mix and mix the ingredients together. Add the oil and mix the batter. Now gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup milk and form a thick batter. Pour the batter into the greased pan and tap the cake tin 3 times. Place the baking tin into the wok, cover the lid and bake for 1 hour or until the cake is brown from top. To check insert a toothpick in the center of the cake, the toothpick should come out clean. 

Remove the cake tin from the wok and place it on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the cake tin and cool the cake completely. This cake can be kept for 2 days outside.

Bread Upma

This dish is ideal for breakfast or evening snacks. Upma is a common dish made in South India and Maharashtra. There are many ingredients that can be used to make Upma like Semolina, Vermicelli, Broken Wheat etc. Bread is another ingredient that can also be used to make Upma. If you have leftover bread pieces, you can use them. 

Ingredients 

5 to 6 pieces of Bread cut into small square pieces 

1 small Onion chopped 

1/4 of the Green Capsicum chopped 

1/4 of the Carrot chopped 

1/2 Tomato chopped 

Handful of Green Peas - I didn’t have 

1 Green Chilli chopped 

1 small piece of Ginger grated (optional) - I didn’t use

Few Coriander Leaves chopped 

Few Curry Leaves 

Juice of 1/2 Lime 

Handful of Peanuts or broken Cashews - I didn’t use 

Salt to taste 

1/2 tsp Sugar 

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder 

1/2 tsp Red Chilli powder 

Pinch of Asafoetida 

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1 tbsp Fresh Coconut grated or Desiccated Coconut 

1 tbsp Oil

Method 

Take oil in a Kadai. Let it heat. Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, green chilli and asafoetida. Sauté it for few seconds. If you are adding peanuts or broken cashews, then add it now and sauté it for another few seconds. Add the chopped vegetables and ginger. Continue to sauté the vegetables for a minute. Add the Salt, Sugar, Turmeric powder and Chilli powder. Stir and add 1/4 cup of water. Let it simmer for few seconds. Add the bread pieces and gently stir all the ingredients together. Switch off the flame. Drizzle the lime juice and stir it once. Garnish the dish with coriander leaves and coconut. Serve the dish immediately.