Friday, 6 November 2015

Healthy Crispy Baked MultiGrain Chakli

Healthy Crispy Baked MultiGrain Chakli
Ingredients
1/4 cup of each
Jowari Flour
Sattu Flour
Ragi Flour
Water chestnut Flour
Bajri Flour
1 cup Sago Flour
1 tsp Chilli powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
1 tbsp Roasted Sesame seeds
Salt to taste
4 tbsp Oil
Oil Spray
Method
Take a mixing bowl. Sieve all the flours together. Add salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and roasted sesame seeds.  Mix all the ingredients together. Add oil. Mix the flour and the oil well. Pour  hot water little at a time and mix it. Knead to make a soft dough. Take the Chakli maker and add dough into it. Press the handle and give the Chakli round shape. Make rest of the Chaklies. Grease a baking tray. Arrange the Chaklies on a baking tray. Spray oil on the Chaklies. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celcius for 45 minutes, turning the Chaklies in between after 15 minutes till golden brown in colour. Crispy Baked Chaklies are ready to eat. Once cool completely then store it in an air tight container.

Sukhi Aloo Bhaji

Sukhi Aloo Bhaji
Ingredients
2 big Potatoes dice
2 Green chillies slit
Few Curry leaves
Pinch of Asafoetida
1/4 tsp split Bengal gram (Chana Dal)
1/4 tsp split Black lentil  (Urid Dal)
1/4 tsp Mustard seeds
1/4 tsp Cumin seeds
Salt to taste
1 tbsp Ghee
Few Coriander leaves chopped

Method
Boil the potatoes.  Take a wok. Add ghee. Heat it. Add the Urid dal and chana dal. Sauté it for 30 seconds. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Let the mustard seeds crackle. Add the chilli and curry leaves. Add the boiled potatoes and salt. Stir it and let it cook for 2 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Hannah Glasse’s Butter Chicken (1774)

Hannah Glasse’s Butter Chicken (1774)

This  recipe is from Hannah Glasse’s Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, was first published in 1747. Her book was very famous for its time and was a major reference for home cooks in England and its colonies for more than 50 years after the publication. It was revised several times during her lifetime, but to avoid bankruptcy she had to sell the copyright.  This recipe for the chicken curry was added in a later edition of the book published in 1774.

The recipe from the book is...

To make a curry the Indian way.
TAKE two small chickens, skin them and cut them as for a fricassee, wash them
clean, and stew them in about a quart of water for about five minutes, then strain
off the liquor and put the chickens in a clean dish; take three large onions, chop
them small, and fry them in about two ounces of butter, then put in the chickens and
fry them in about two ounces of butter, then put in the chickens and fry them together
till they are brown, take a quarter of an ounce of turmerick, and a large spoonful of
ginger and beaten pepper together, and a little salt to your palate and strew all these
ingredients over the chickens whilst it is frying, then pour in the liquor, and let it
stew about half an hour, then put in a quarter of a pint of cream and the juice of two
lemons, and serve it up. The ginger, pepper, and turmerick must be beat very fine.

Information source Net...

My recreated recipe is as follows....

Hannah Glasse’s Butter Chicken (1774)

Ingredients
1 kg Chicken , cut into pieces
2 Onions chopped
1 tbsp of grated Ginger
1 tbsp Fresh pound Pepper powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt to taste
4 tbsp of Butter
1 cup Fresh  Cream
Juice of 1/2 fresh Lemon

Method
Add 3 cups of water and cleaned, washed chicken in a pot and boil it for 5 minutes. Strain the stock and keep it aside. In the same pot, melt 2 tbsp of butter, add the chicken and sauté it for 5 minutes. Take the chicken out and keep it aside. Add the remaining butter and fry the onions till translucent. Add the chicken back and fry both together till golden brown. Take ginger, pepper powder, salt and turmeric powder in a bowl, add 1/4 cup of the stock. Mix it. Add the paste to the chicken. Stir the chicken and sauté it for 2 minutes. Pour the remaining stock and cook till the chicken is tender. Add the cream. Mix it and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame. Add lemon juice. Serve hot with Rice.

Thursday, 5 November 2015

Mochar Ghonto

Mochar Ghonto   
"Mochar Ghonto" is a Bengali dish made from the banana flowers.

Ingredients
1 Banana Flower                                             
1 Potato cut into medium size cubes
1 Green Chilli slit
1/2 tsp Ginger paste
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/4 tsp Garam Masala powder
1/4 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste
2 tbsp  Grated coconut         
1 tbsp Ghee
1/4 cup Fried Moong dal Boris or fresh Moong dal bora ( soak the moong dal for 30 minutes, drain the water out, grind the moong dal with salt, nigella seeds and green chillies. Take 1/2 tsp of the paste and drop it in hot oil and the boras are ready)

Method
To clean the banana flower; Rub little cooking oil in the finger and palm to avoid the dark stains. After peeling  of the purple leaf, there are yellow coloured blossoms underneath. Separate the blossoms from the purple leaf and collect the blodsoms and discard the purple leaves. After removing the layers of purple leaves, there will be a stage where the leaves  are light yellow in colour and it can’t be peeled.
Finely chop that Conical portion and keep it in bowl of water. To clean the Blossoms, you need to clean each of them one by one.Remove the transparent casing and the stick like stigma from each flower. Boil the chopped conical portion and the flowers in salt water till tender. Discard the water and mash it. Heat ghee in a pan, add the cumin seeds and bay leaves and green chilli. Once the seeds start to splutter, add the ginger paste. Saute it for few seconds and add the potatoes; stir fry the potatoes for 2 minutes and add the  mashed banana flower. Add turmeric powder, salt, sugar and cumin powder.  Stir it and cover the pan with a lid, and  cook on a slow flame stirring it occasionally.  Cook it till all the  have incorporated well. Add the boras or boris. Cook for few minutes more. Add the grated coconut. Finally, add the garam masala mix and add 1/4 tsp ghee from top. Serve with hot rice.

Mix Sprouts Curry

Mix Sprouts Curry

For the Masala paste
1/4 cup Roasted grated Coconut
6 Garlic cloves
1 Red Dry Chillies
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Coriander seeds
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tbsp Sambar powder Or Curry powder
Salt to taste
1 tbsp Jaggery
1 tbsp Tamarind pulp

Method
Grind all the above ingredients into a smooth paste and keep it aside.

For the Mix Sprout Curry
Ingredients
2 cups of Mix sprouts
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
Few Curry leaves
1 Red Dry Chilli
Pinch of Asafoetida
Masala paste
1 tbsp Coconut oil
Few Coriander leaves chopped

Method
Add the mix sprouts and 3 to 4 cups of water and pressure cook it. Give 4 whistles. After the pressure releases add the masala paste to the boiled sprouts. Add more water if required. Mix it and let it simmer on medium low flame. Let ot simmer for 15 minutes. Take another pan, add oil. Let the oil heat. Add the mustard seeds and red chilli. Let the mustard seeds crackle. Add the curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida. Add the seasoning to the curry. Let it simmer for 5 minutes more. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice.