Kacha Aamer ar Kacha Laal Lonkar Chutney

Due to the intense heat in Mumbai, going into the kitchen and cooking is a big noooo.... The only food I cook is very basic  simple  dal and rice or just some curry to have it with rice and that’s it. Only dish I prefer the most is dal and rice with with some Pickle or Chutney. Here is a superb recipe of Green Mango and Red Chilli Chutney that can be kept for 5 to 6 months in the fridge and it goes well the dal - rice or any fried starter or paratha. In Bengal, Kacha Aamer Chutney is made with panch phoron seasoning and flavoured with roasted panch phoron powder. Taking inspiration from the authentic traditional recipe here is my innovative version of the Chutney.. 

Ingredients 

3 cups of grated Green Mangoes ( Washed, Peeled and then grated )

1/2 cup Red Chilli Pepper paste ( Red Chilli Pepper is a variety of red fresh chilli which is less spicy, cut them into pieces and remove excess seeds, add them into the grinder and make paste)

1 and 1/4 tbsp Ginger grated 

1/2 cup White Vinegar 

1/3 cup chopped Seedless Dates 

1/4 cup Raisins 

2 tsp Roasted Panch Phoron powder 

2 cups Sugar 

1 tsp Salt 

1 tsp Nigella seeds

2 Bay Leaves 

2 Dry Red Chilli cut into small pieces 

2 tbsp Mustard Oil 

2 cups of Water

Method 

Take oil in a pot, add oil, let it heat up. Add the nigella seeds, bay leaves and dry red chilli pieces. Stir and cook until the nigella seeds crackles. Add the green grated mangoes, stir and cook for few seconds. Add ginger, dates, raisins and salt. Stir for 2 minutes. Add the red chilli pepper paste, sugar, vinegar and water. Let it cook and simmer on low flame till the sugar syrup thickens up and looks glossy. Add the roasted panch phoron powder. Stir and let cook for few minutes. Switch off the flame. Let it cool, store the mango and red chilli chutney in a dry glass bottle. Serve the Chutney with dal - rice or it can be eaten as an accomplishment  with any fried starters or paratha. 

Panch Phoron is equal portions of Nigella Seeds, Fenugreek seeds, Celery Seeds, Cumin Seeds and Fennel seeds. As Celery seeds are not always available every where, use Mustard seeds instead of Celery seeds. 

Makli Sukha Masala

Last week I was holidaying at Alibaug - home stay, where you can buy the ingredients of your choice and get the dishes cooked. The men folk were going to the market, I was very excited to join them. We visited the fish market where there were varieties of sea fishes. We got squids and pomfrets from the market. We fried the pomfrets and here is the recipe for Squid Sukha Masala.. 

This is simple squid dish from the costal belt of Maharashtra. It’s a dry gravy dish. Here I have not ground any coconut and masalas, but made it in the simplest way. It can be eaten with rice or chapatis. 

Ingredients 

500 grams of cleaned and cut squids

3 medium size Onions cut into half and sliced 

1 Tomato cut into cubes 

2 tbsp Ginger and Garlic paste 

2 Green Chillies cut into half lengthwise 

Few curry leaves 

Few Coriander leaves chopped 

2 tbsp grated fresh Coconut 

1 tsp Mustard seeds 

1 tsp Turmeric powder 

2 tsp Konkani garam masala or any fish masala 

4 tbsp Tamarind juice 

4 tbsp Oil 

Method 

Take oil in a wok, let it heat. Add the mustard seeds, let it crackle. Add the green chillies and curry leaves. Then add ginger garlic paste. Stir and cook for few seconds. Add the onions and fry  till the colour of the onion changes. Once the colour of the onions changes to pink, then add the tomato, turmeric powder, Konkani garam masala powder and salt. Stir and cook till the onions becomes soft and tender. Add the squids, stir and cook for 2 minutes. Cover the wok with a lid and let it cook for 5 minutes. Remove the lid, on medium high flame let it cook till the water from the squid has dried up. Now add the tamarind juice. Let it cook for a minute. Add the grated coconut, stir it and let it cook for another minute. Switch off the flame.  Remove the squids into a serving bowl. Garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve it hot with hot steaming rice or chapatis. 

Raus (Rawas) Macher Tok Jhol

Summers are in and last few days was quite happening for me. Today since back to normal life, wanted to make a simple Bengali style fish dish with raw mango for lunch. This dish goes well with hot steaming rice. 

I have used baby rawas. It’s a tangy medium curry dish. 

Ingredients 

4 pieces of Baby Rawas whole cleaned and marinate with 1/2 tsp of Turmeric and Salt

1 medium size Onion sliced 

2 medium size Potatoes cut into wedges 

6 to 8 wedges of peeled Raw Mango 

2 Green Chillies slit

1 tsp chopped Coriander 

1/2 tsp chopped Garlic 

1/2 tsp Nigella seeds

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Chilli powder 

1 1/2 tsp Sugar 

Salt to taste

6 tbsp + 1/2 tsp Mustard Oil

Method 

Take a pan, add 6 tbsp oil. Once the oil heats up then add the fish. Fry the fish until golden brown from both the sides. Remove the fish. In the same pan add nigella seeds, chopped garlic, green chillies and sliced onion. Stir and sauté it till the onions becomes light brown in colour. Add the potatoes, stir and cook for 5 minutes. Add the mango wedges and stir once more. Add 2 cups of water,  turmeric powder, chilli power, sugar and salt. Stir and cover the pan. Open the lid and check if the potatoes are tender.  Add the fish, add 1/4 cup of water. Cover and let it cook for another 2 minutes. Open the lid and drizzle 1/2 tsp Mustard oil  and garnish with chopped Coriander leaves. Enjoy it with hot steaming rice. 

Red Chilli Pepper - Garlic Jam

It’s sweet, spicy and tangy. You can enjoy this as spread, marinate or dip. It can be kept in the air tight container for 5 to 6 months.

Ingredients

250 grams Red Chilli Pepper

30 Garlic cloves peeled 

250 grams  Sugar

1/4 tsp Salt

300 ml Vinegar

Method

Cut the red chilli peppers and deseed the chillies but keep some of the seeds. Add the chillies in the chopper or food processor and pulse a few times. Remove the chillies in a bowl. Now add the garlic and mince it. 

Take a pot, add the vinegar and sugar into the pot. Cook until the sugar dissolves and starts to bubble. Add the salt, chillies and garlic. Let it simmer on low medium heat for another 30 minutes or until it thickens up. To check, take a small chilled steel plate kept in the fridge.  Pour a tsp of jam on the cold plate. If it crinkles and holds it is done. If not continue cooking and repeat the test. Once done cool it. Store the Chilli - Garlic Jam into a dry bottle and keep it in the fridge. 

Porabari Chom Chom

I am totally in love with this chom chom from Bangladesh. I had it when my husband had been to Bangladesh and had got this sweet dish for me from there. Greedy me, wanted to have more so tried making it at home. Some net search and the result was yum. 

This chom chom is very famous and were made at Porabari Tangail Bangladesh in earlier days. Now it’s know world wide. The taste is divine. It’s different from the normal chom chom we get in India. The actual process takes a very long time up to 3 to 4 hours and it naturally gets a golden colour. But to reduce the time, I have tried it differently and have caramelised the sugar first and then added it to the sugar syrup later to speed up the cooking process to almost an hour. It takes a long time to cook but it is worth the effort.

For the Caramel Syrup

Ingredients

1/4 cup Sugar

1 cup of Water

Method

Take a pot, add sugar and continuously stir on a low flame to make the caramel syrup. Keep a eye on the syrup as it can get burn very fast. As the colour of the sugar syrup changes and becomes caramel, add a cup of water and let it continue to simmer on low flame for a minute.  Remove it and keep it aside.

For the Sugar Syrup

Ingredients

2 cups Sugar

5 cups of Water

Method

In a wok, add the water and sugar, let the sugar dissolve and let the sugar syrup continue to cook till we make the chenna balls.

For the Chom chom 

Ingredients

250 grams Homemade Chenna / Cottage Cheese mashed

1 tbsp Fine Semolina

2 tbsp Flour

1/2 tsp Baking powder

3 tbsp Milk powder + 2 tbsp dry Mawa mix together for garnishing

Sugar syrup

Caramel syrup

Method

Till the sugar syrup is being made. Take the mashed chenna, add the semolina, flour and baking powder. Mix and knead it very well till all the ingredients combines and binds well. With the help of the palm rub the mixture against the flat surface. Knead it well for 5 minutes. Take lime size portion and give it a longish oval shape. Repeat the process till all the chenna dough is used up. Add the chenna balls into the sugar syrup. Cover and let it cook for 10 minutes. Heat up the caramel syrup. Open the lid of the wok, now gradually add the caramel syrup into the sugar syrup and stir it. Let it continue to cook for at least an hour or till the sugar syrup becomes clear and the chom chom gets its colour. In between the cooking time once in a while stir the sugar syrup and remove the impurities that has formed on the sides of the wok. Once done, switch  off the flame and add 1/2 cup cold water. Let the chom chom  sit in  the sugar syrup till the sugar syrup completely cools down. Remove the chom chom from the sugar syrup and roll it in the milk powder and mawa crumb. Enjoy the  chom chom.