Papoder Jhal was one of the popular dish in our house, made by my mother on a vegetarian day. It was one of my father’s favourite dish. Another dish loved was Papoder Dalna. It’s a simple and a quick ghoroa ranna (simple home cooked dish). Urid dal Papad is used to make this dish. My Ma used mustard seed paste ground with green chillies instead of Kasundi. I have used home made Aam Kasundi, it can be made with store bought Kasundi. This dish is eaten with hot steaming rice during lunch.
Ingredients
6 Pieces of Urid dal Papad cut into halves
1 medium size Tomato cut into wedges
2 to 3 Green Chillies slit
1 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves for garnishing
1/2 tsp Nigella seeds / Kallonji
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Aam Kasundi or 2 tbsp Mustard paste
1/2 cup Mustard Oil for frying the Papad
Method
Take oil in a wok. Let it heat up. Reduce the flame and fry the papads and keep it aside. Leave 2 tbsp of oil in the wok and remove rest of the oil. Add the nigella seeds. Let it crackle. Add the tomato and the green chillies. Sauté for few seconds. Add the turmeric powder and salt. Continue to sauté for a minute more. Add the Aam Kasundi, stir and sauté for 1 minute or the tomato becomes little soft. Add 3/4 cup of water. Let the curry simmer for a minute. Add the fried papads, continue to simmer for another minute. Switch off the flame. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves. Serve the dish with hot steaming rice.
When we buy a whole big fish or a part of a big fish, generally people discard the inner parts of the fish, like liver, intestine and fats, but we Bengalis use these for cooking. We use these inner organs of the fish to make a mishmash dish by adding potatoes, brinjal and onions to it or we make Maacher Teler bora. This dish is not a known dish nor available in any Bengali restaurants.
Only a person who has eaten this dish can tell how delicious it is. This goes well with steaming hot rice.
Here I have used the fats, intestine and liver from a big Katla Fish. After cooking, eat the dish the next day, it taste even better.
Ingredients
150 grams of the Fish Fats, Liver and Intestine washed, cleaned and cut into pieces
2 medium size Potatoes cut into small cubes
2 medium size Onions sliced
1 Brinjal around 200 grams cut into cubes
2 to 3 Green Chillies slit
1 tsp Garlic paste
1 tsp Ginger paste
Salt to taste
1 tsp + 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli powder
4 tbsp Mustard Oil
Method
Add 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and salt into the fish fat, liver and intestine. Mix all the ingredients well. Take a wok, add the mustard oil, once the oil is hot, add the fish fat, liver and intestine into the oil. Fry it until brown in colour. Be very careful while frying these fish organs as the oil tends to splatter and you can get burn. Remove the fish fat, liver and intestine and keep it aside. In the same oil add the onions and the green chillies. Stir and fry the onions for a minute. Add in the potatoes and brinjal. Stir and continue to cook on a low flame for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger paste. Stir and continue to cook for another minute. Add the salt, turmeric, cumin powder and chilli powder. Stir and cover the wok. On a low flame let it cook, stirring the ingredients occasionally. Once the potatoes are cook, add the fried fish fat, liver and intestine. Stir and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Switch off the flame. It taste best when eaten the next day. Serve it with hot steaming rice.
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.
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.
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.
