Gurner Narkel Naru (Jaggary Coconut Ladu)

Gurner Narkel Naru (Jaggary Coconut Ladu)
These Coconut Laddus are made in a Bengali Traditional way.....In my Gandma's house in Kolkatta, they would make these laddoos for Puja or on a daily basis, stock it up in a glass jar during my growing up years as a kid. I remember my Ma making it too. I remember my cousin and me quietly vanishing the laddoos from the jar kept in my Grandma’s room while she was fast asleep in the late afternoons and sneaked under her cot to eat it and giggled away to glory. Another very distinct memory of my childhood is the visit to Mumbai Ramkrishna Mission in Mumbai with my Parents... Those day my father use to regularly take us to the Mission, specially on a Sunday and we knew many Swamijis there. As we visited the visiting room in the mission and met the Swamijis, one of the Swamiji use to take out 2 Narus out of the jar for me to gobble it up.

Ingredients
4 cups fresh grated Coconut
2 1/2 cups Jaggary Or Date Jaggary grated
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Cardomom powder
A small pinch of Camphor for flavouring

Method
Take a non stick pan, add the coconut. Stir it for 2 minutes, add the Jaggary. Cook it on low flame, stirring it continuously. Sprinkle the salt... It helps to balance the sweetness and Cardomom powder. Keep on cooking it on low flame till all the jaggery melts and is well incorporated into the coconut. When it starts to form a dough, Switch off the gas.to check, take a small portion and roll it with the help of the fingers. It will form into a ball. Sprinkle the Camphor and mix it. Make the desire size balls while it it still warm. Serve and store it in a jar when it cools down completely ....

P.S. The colour of the laddoos depends on the Jaggary... You can melt and boil the Jaggary first to get a dark colour laddoos..

Kesar Pista Kaju Chakli

How about celebrating Diwali with
Kesar Pista Kaju Chakli ✨✨
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Cashew flour /powder
1 1/2 cups Pistacho flour / powder
1 1/2 cup Sugar
1 cup Water
2 pinch Saffron 
Ghee for greasing
Pistacho flakes
1 tsp Saffron syrup

Method
Place a thick bottomed pan on a medium flame;  add sugar and water. Let the sugar dissolve in the wate. The syrup should  be in between 1 and 2 string consistency. Divided the sugar syrup into 2 parts. Take 1 part of the sugar syrup; add saffron and  powdered cashews to the sugar syrup. Lower the flame and keep on stirring the cashew paste till it  thickens and  becomes a soft dough. Switch of the gas. To check if it is ready to be rolled, just roll a small pinch of the dough in between your fore finger and thumb. Similarly repeat the same process with the powdered Pistacho at the same time.  If it does not stick to your fingers then that means it is ready to be rolled. Apply little ghee on the the palms.  Roll the two doughs into cylindrical long rope of the same size together. Cut the dough into equal portions. Take a portion. Apply ghee on the platform. Place the dough on the platform. With the help of the palm; roll the dough gently into a long thick rope shape around 4 inch. Give the rope a spiral shape. Repeat it with other portions. Garnish with pistachio flakes and a touch of saffron syrup in the center...

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.