Tilapia Fish-ball curry

This is a dish I learnt from my wife, who has a mastery on it. This is an absolute bliss for fish lovers. The recipe is simple but a bit lengthy. The fish-balls are savory themselves. You can even serve just the fish-balls as appetizer and skip the gravy. I couldn't stop myself from hogging few of them before proceeding with the remaining dish.Try it out at home and you will definitely add it to your special menu.

I have used Tilapia fillets but you can use any fish fillet.

Ingredients:

For fish-ball:

• Tilapia fillet                – 300 grams
• Onion                          - 1 medium, finely chopped
• Potato                         - 1 large, boiled
• Bread slice                   - 1
• Coriander leaves          - 1 Tbsp chopped
• Ginger                         - 1 tsp finely chopped
• Garlic                          - 3-4 cloves, finely chopped
• Green chili                   - 3-4, finely chopped
• Besan                           - 1 Tbsp
• Turmeric powder          - a fat pinch
• Salt                              - to taste
• Oil                                - 3 Tbsp

For gravy:

• Bay leaf                       - 1
• Cinnamon                    - 1" stick
• Cardamom                   - 2
• Cloves                          - 4-5
• Onion                          - 1 large, finely chopped
• Green chili                  - 3-4, finely chopped
• Ginger paste                - ½ tsp
• Garlic paste                 - ½ tsp
• Red chili powder          - ½ tsp
• Turmeric powder         - ½ tsp
• Cumin powder             - 1 tsp   
• Hung curd                    - 2 Tbsp
• Garam masala powder  - ½ tsp(this is a mix of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom)
• Salt                             - to taste

1. Cut the Tilapia fillets into small pieces. Put in a microwaveable bowl, add a little water and cook in mircowave (3-5 minutes) till the fish is cooked. Alternatively you can steam the fish and cook. Strain water and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add the onions, green chili. Cook for few minutes.
3. Add the chopped garlic, ginger, a fat pinch of turmeric powder and a little salt. Cook till the raw smell of garlic fades away.
4. Add chopped coriander and cook for another minute. Allow it to cool.

5. In a large bowl, take the peeled boiled potato and mash them well.
6. Add the cooked Tilapia pieces and the cooked onion masala that we just prepared.
7. Mix besan, a little salt. Crumble the bread slice into the mix.

8. Now mash and mix everything well to form a good dough. Check that the binding of the mix is proper, else they might fall apart while frying. Adjust the besan and bread to get a perfect binding.

9. Make small round balls of equal sizes.

10. Heat oil in a pan. When hot add the fish balls gently to the oil and keep frying in medium heat from all sides till they turn brown in color. 

11. Remove from pan and place in a kitchen towel. These fish-balls taste really yum. I could not stop myself from hogging few right at this point itself. :)

12. For the gravy heat oil in pan or use the remaining oil. When heated add the whole spices(bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves). When the aroma of spices come out add chopped onion and green chili and cook till the onions turns translucent.

13. Add ginger paste and garlic paste. Cook till the raw smell fades.
14. Add the powdered masalas(turmeric, red chili, cumin). Cook for a minute.
15. Add curd and mix very well and keep cooking till oil separates.

16. Add one cup water and cover the pan with a lid and let the gravy come to boil.
17. Add salt, garam masala powder and mix well.
18. Add the fish balls and mix well so that the fish balls are covered with gravy.
19. Cover and cook for another few minutes.

20. Remove from stove. Serve with hot rice or roti.

Chicken chaap - Kolkata Arsalan style

Chicken Chaap(or Chanp) is a Mughlai dish very popular in Kolkata. This dish is a perfect blend of juicy chicken, aromatic spices and rich-thick-creamy gravy. The gravy gets its sweet and rich taste from the curd, cashew and poppy seeds and it goes very well with naan or rumali roti or even biriyani. The aroma comes from all the aromatic spices used in the cooking and also the kewra water and (or) rose water and saffron. This is usually prepared with big portions of chicken, like a complete leg, one complete portion of rib. I just prepare it with big pieces of chicken because its hard to eat a complete portion by one individual at times.

Serve it to your guests and trust me they will worship you for the rest of your life.

Ingredients:

• Chicken                       – 2 lb(900 grams)
• Onion                          - 2 medium sized, chopped
• Hung curd                   - 3/4 cup
• Ginger paste                - 1 tsp
• Garlic paste                 - 1½ tsp
• Red chili powder          - 1½ tsp
• Turmeric powder         - ½ tsp
• Garam masala powder  - 1 tsp(this is a mix of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom)
• Salt                             - to taste
• Sugar                           - ½ tsp
• Oil                              - 2 Tbsp
• Ghee                           - 1 Tbsp
• Poppy seeds                 - 2 Tbsp
• Cashew nuts                - 10-12
• Saffron                        - 8-10 strands
• Warm milk                   - 2 Tbsp
• Kewra water                - 3-4 drops

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and fry the onion till they are translucent. Let it cool.

2. Put the fried onions in blender and make a paste of it.

3. Marinate the chicken pieces with curd, onion paste, ginger paste, garlic paste, salt, red chili powder, turmeric powder and a little bit of oil. Refrigerate it for 4-6 hours.

4. Soak the saffron strands in milk and keep aside.

5. Soak the poppy seeds in a cup of warm water for 30 mins.

6. Take poppy seeds in a blender, add cashew nuts. Add little water and make a smooth paste and keep it for later use.

7. Take the chicken out of refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.

8. Heat oil and ghee in a pan. Once heated, shake off the marinade and add the chicken pieces into the pan. Fry the chicken pieces in medium heat on both sides.

9. Add sugar and mix well.

10. Add the remaining marinade and keep cooking.

11. Add the poppy seed and cashew paste. Add the saffron mix. Mix well and continue cooking on medium flame.

12. When oil separates and chicken is cooked, add garam masala and kewra water. Mix well and cook for another few minutes. The gravy should be thick and creamy.

13. Remove from stove and serve with rumali roti or biriyani.

Metey'r chochchori - Goat liver/Kaleja masala

Goat liver or metey(as it called in Bengali) is a favorite dish of many. I never felt very great about it, I can eat few pieces but it never really amused me much. One day in an Indian store in their meat section I saw they also sell this. This reminded me of my bachelor days when a friend of mine once prepared this dish, although that was chicken liver. I liked that dish and we had a good time with few beers(Kingfishers, which used to be heavenly, nothing really beats Indian beers till date). So to live the same moments one more time for old times sake, I bought some goat liver and tried this at home. The masala turned out very good but the taste of liver was not that great. But few friends of ours loved it too much. They even noted down the recipe to try it at home.

Ingredients:

• Goat liver/Metey         – 1 lb(450 grams)
• Onion                          - 1 large, chopped
• Tomato                       - 1 medium sized, chopped
• Potato                        - 1 medium sized, cut into 4
• Ginger                         - ½ inch, grated or paste
• Garlic                          - 6-7, grated or paste
• Green chili                  - 5 finely chopped
• Red chili powder         - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder         - ½ tsp
• Cumin/jeera powder    - 1 tsp
• Garam masala powder  - ½ tsp(this is a mix of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom)
• Bay leaves/Tej Pata    - 2
• Cardamom/Elaichi       - 2
• Cinnamon/Dalchini      - 1 inch stick
• Black pepper corns      - 8-10
• Cloves/Laung              - 6

Method:
1. Mix the metey pieces with little salt, turmeric powder and oil and keep aside for an hour.
2. Heat oil in a pan/wok, fry the potatoes with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder.
3. When the pieces turns brown remove from pan.
4. In the same oil add khada garam masala or whole spices. (Cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and black pepper corns).

5. When the aroma of garam masala comes, add the chopped onions and green chili.

6. Fry till onions become translucent.

7. Add chopped tomatoes and keep cooking until tomatoes are done and all mushy.
8. Add turmeric powder, red chili powder and cumin powder. Cook for a minute or till oil separates.

9. Add the metey pieces and fried potatoes.
10. Add half cup water, salt and mix well.
11. Now cover the pan with a lid and cook on low flame until the metey pieces are cooked. You do not want to over cook them because they becomes hard on over cooking.
12. When metey is cooked sprinkle with garam masala powder and mix well.
13. Remove form stove. Serve hot with roti. 

Accompany with chilled beers, Kingfisher preferred. :)



Chingri malai curry/Shrimp malai curry - A must have Bengali delicacy

Chingri is shrimp in Bengali. This dish of shrimp is prepared in coconut milk and one of the best delicacies of Bengalis and is one of the must-have dishes in my list. It goes well with plain rice. The sweetness of the coconut milk blended with hotness of the spice and the aroma of shrimps makes it a perfect dish to treat your taste buds.





Ingredients:

• Chingri/Shrimp/Prawn – 15-20 big ones, peeled and deveined(I kept the tails)
• Coconut milk               - 1 can
• Onion                          - 1 large, paste
• Ginger paste               - 1 tsp
• Garlic paste                - 1 tsp
• Green chili                  - 5 finely chopped
• Red chili powder         - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder         - ½ tsp
• Bay leaves/Tej Pata    - 2
• Cardamom/Elaichi       - 3
• Cinnamon/Dalchini     - 1 inch stick
• Cloves/Laung             - 6-7
• Garam masala powder - ½ tsp(this is a mix of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom)
• Salt                            - per taste
• Oil                             - 2 Tbsp
• Ghee                         - 1 Tbsp

Method:

1. Marinate the shrimps with salt and turmeric and keep aside for 30 mins.

2. Heat oil in a pan. Add the shrimps and fry them lightly on both sides till they are little cooked. Over frying makes them rubbery in texture, so be careful about that. Not more than 3 minutes.

3. Take the shrimps out of the pan and put them in a paper towel.

4. In the same oil add ghee. When hot add garam masala(cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaves).
5. When the garam masala crackles add the onion paste. Add sugar. Keep cooking till the paste becomes brownish and oil separates.
6. Add ginger paste, garlic paste, chili powder, turmeric powder. Cook for another minute till the raw smell of masalas fade.
7. Add coconut milk and half cup of water. Add salt. Mix well.
8. Add the green chilies.
9. Cover the pan and cook on medium flame for 10 minutes.
10. Add the shrimps and cook for another 5 minutes or so till the gravy thickens. You can adjust the water based on how thick gravy you want.
11. Sprinkle with garam masala powder and take the pan out of stove.

12. Serve the delicious Chingri malai curry with hot plain rice.

Aloo puri

A friend called for breakfast once. His wife made nice palak puris, bread roll and chai. The palak puri was so good I asked her the recipe. And then I thought I can replace the palak and add potato to make aloo puri. So one day I tried this at home and it really turned out awesome. I thought to get a patent on my name for aloo puri since this was something I discovered. But unfortunately google knew about it already! 

Ingredients:

• Potato                       – 2 large, boiled and peeled
• Garlic                        - 3-4 big pods, finely chopped
• Green chili                - 4 finely chopped
• Coriander                  - 2 Tbsp finely chopped
• Wheat flour(aata)      - 2 cups
• Chili powder              - 1 tsp(adjust as per your level)
• Turmeric powder       - ½ tsp
• Asafoetida(Hing)        - A pinch
• Salt                           - per taste
• Oil                            - to deep fry

Method:
1. Grate the potatoes in a vessel and mash well.
2. Add all the ingredients (except oil) in the vessel. Add half cup water(or a little more if needed, can be added later).

3. Mix and knead it well to prepare dough. Wrap it with a damp cloth or a wet kitchen towel and keep aside for 15-20 mins.

4. Knead the dough again and then divide the whole portion into small multiple balls of equal size.

5. Roll the balls into flat puris using rolling pin. Use oil while rolling.

6. Heat oil in a deep kadai or wok. The oil should be sufficiently hot to fry the puris. To test that leave a tiny portion of puri in oil. If the oil bubbles, it is just perfect to fry the puris.
7. Put puri gently in oil and press it with ladle to keep it immersed in oil. when it puffs up, flip the side and fry till brown in color.
8. Remove from oil and place in kitchen towel to get rid of the extra oil.

9. Serve hot with pickle of your choice and green coriander chutney.

Aloo Tikki - Where there is a tikki will there is a tikki way

A friend from Singapore sent a pic of the chhole tikki she made that day. It looked so tempting. Its been a while I had tikki, be it chhole or aloo. I was at work looking at my laptop monitor and thinking how tasty those tikkis would have been. That day I spent most of my time at work thinking about those tikkis. 

In the evening my wife asked, "what do you want to have for dinner tonight"?

And before I could answer, she replied, "Lets have cabbage salad, what say?"

This time I answered, "ummm...okay."

The tikki dream just shattered in a jiffy. 

I opened the fridge to munch on something before the cabbage salad kills my hunger. 

I found some boiled potatoes. And that's when I realized why they say, where there is a will, there is a way.

The tikki "will" just found its "way". 

"Hurray, let's have some tikki, aloo tikki", I screamed with joy. No there were no tears.

And this is the outcome we had, a scrumptious, taste-bud-tickling, aloo tikki.

Ingredients:

• Potato                       – 2 large, boiled and peeled
• Onion                        - 2 medium sized, chopped
• Garlic                        - 2 big pods, chopped
• Green chili                - 4 finely chopped
• Coriander                  - 2 Tbsp finely chopped
• Corn flour                 - 3 Tbsp
• Chili powder             - ½ tsp(adjust as per your level)
• Jeera powder            - ½ tsp
• Chat Masala              -1 tsp
• Asafoetida(Hing)       - A pinch
• Lime juice                - ½ tsp
• Oil                            - 2 Tbsp
• Salt                          - per taste

Method:
1. Grate the potatoes in a vessel and mash well.
2. Add 2 Tbsp corn flour and all other ingredients (except oil) in the vessel.
3. Mix well till its kneaded. 
4. Divide the mix into small portions. Make a ball and then flatten into pattie. 

5. Dust both the sides with corn flour(or powdered bread crumbs).
6. Heat oil in pan.
7. Shallow fry the tikkis on both sides till brown and crispy.
8. When done remove from pan and put in kitchen towel to get rid of extra oil.

9. Serve hot Aloo tikkis with green coriander chutney and onions.

Eggcellent Egg curry - Dimer jhol - Either my way or Highway

Egg is called "Dim" in Bengali. And jhol is curry. Well no, I am not taking Bengali speaking crash course here, the translation is for all my friends who do not understand Bengali. This is NOT a traditional Bengali recipe. This is my recipe of egg curry. Not that I always make it this way, but this might turn out that you always do it this way, provided you try it once.

The expression of the egg in the pic is a testimony of the fact that this is an awesome recipe. He looks sad for not being a part of the dish. :)

Ingredients:

• Eggs                          - 5 boiled, peeled
• Potato                       – 2 medium sized, diced in big cubes
• Onions                       - 2 medium sized, chopped
• Tomato                     - 1 large, chopped
• Ginger                      - ½ inch, grated/chopped
• Garlic                        - 4/5 pods, grated/chopped
• Green chili                - 4 chopped
• Bay leaf/Tej pata      - 1
• Green Cardamom      - 2
• Cinnamon stick         - 1 inch
• Cloves                      - 4-6
• Black pepper corn     - 6-8
• Jeera powder            - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder      - ½ tsp
• Chili powder             - ½ tsp(adjust as per your level)
• Corainder powder     - 1 tsp
• Garam Masala           - ½ tsp
• Oil                            - 2 Tbsp
• Salt                          - per taste

Method:

1. Put straight slit lines on the eggs just touching the yolk. Rub them with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder.

2. Heat oil in a pan. When hot fry the eggs till they become reddish in color. Take them out of oil and keep aside.

3. In the same oil fry the potato with a pinch of salt and turmeric. Drain them from oil and keep aside.

4. In the same oil(or add some more if needed) put the onion and green chili and saute till onions are done.

5. Add tomatoes. Saute till onions are cooked.



6. Once onions are cooked allow the mixture to cool. Put the mixture in blender. Add ginger, garlic and make a paste of it.

7. Heat oil in pan. Add bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and black pepper and allow the aroma to come.

8. Add the paste and saute for few minutes.

9. Add jeera powder, coriander powder, chili powder, turmeric powder and fry the masalas till oil releases from mixture.
10. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water. Add salt. Cover the pan with a lid and cook till the gravy comes to a boil.
11. Add eggs and potatoes and cook till the gravy thickens. Another 7-8 minutes.

12. Sprinkle garam masala and remove from stove.


And the egg curry is ready to serve with rice or roti. 

Bandhakopir ghonto - Cabbage preparation

Bandhakopi is cabbage in Bengali. This dish tastes very good with roti or fulka. 

Ingredients:

• Cabbage                          - 1 medium, chopped
• Potato                             – 2 medium sized, diced in big cubes
• Ginger                             - 1 inch grated
• Green chili                      - 4, slit in halves
• Bay leaf                          - 1
• Jeera                              - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder             - ½ tsp
• Chili powder                    - ½ tsp(adjust as per your level)
• Jeera powder                  - 1 tsp
• Garam Masala                  - ½ tsp
• Oil                                   - 1 Tbsp
• Salt                                 - per taste

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Fry the potatoes with a pinch of turmeric powder and salt till golden brown. Remove from pan and keep aside.

2. In the remaining oil, add bay leaf and jeera and stir for a while.

3. Add green chili and ginger. Saute for a while.

4. Add cabbage.

5. Add turmeric powder and salt. Cook at low flame by covering with a lid till cabbage is cooked. If it releases a lot of water you can cook at medium flame without lid.

6. Add the fried potatoes.

7. Add chili powder, jeera powder and cook for another few minutes.

8. Add garam masala and mix well.

9. You can garnish with chopped cilantro.

Note: You can also add tomatoes and green peas which I forgot to add in it. Add tomatoes and cook them before adding cabbage. And the peas goes later when cabbage is almost cooked.