Masala Baingan- Spiced Brinjal stir/fried recipe

For any tennis lovers, Wimbledon is like a pilgrimage and according to N Djokovic, the winning player himself– since he was 5 years old he always dreamt of playing in Wimbledon. And for us who are passive sporty enthusiast - read that’s me , visiting this place at least once, or just getting an opportunity to watch live match there, seems like an unreachable and distant dream/ “diba swopna” to be  precise.

Yes, it is, while we visited Wimbledon this Saturday, we never realized someday this can be real.We didn’t know, what will be unfolding for us there. It was raining, and pouring when we got off from our train in Southfields station, so we waited and waited till the rain slowed up slightly, making us comfortable enough to walk up to the venue. Somewhere I happened to read” if you wish ardently for things to happen, the entire cosmos conspires to accomplish your wish”. And it looks like things were falling to happen accordingly that day.
As we queued up outside the main entrance gate, chattering with a noble steward/helper there, about our chances of getting in, we had a faint hope that we might get inside. But, still not sure if we would be lucky enough to watch live matches there as it’s was wet all over there, so leave alone catching up final of men’s doubles match in centre court there.And did I add that tickets are not that easily available for final matches either. Dear husband thought, we should give it a try to get re-sale tickets to the centre courts, and it looks like even God was on a generous mood that day to accomplish our wish. We did finally get our tickets to get inside the centre court and when we placed ourselves there comfortably, we were happy to be part of the ongoing men’s double final match. From then onwards it was an exciting men’s double final match.

Although I felt tired after watching the game just in to the third set, but I couldn’t tell that for dear husband for sure. While me and my daughter were feeling little tired and hungry, we thought to call it a day, a day to remember forever. Once we were home, we came to know about the winners and their 5 set final match game, which almost felt like a long saga to me stretched over 3 and half hours. But still there were people all over in the court, cheering them throughout that match.Someday, I will try to stick up to the end as well, as for time being just a feeling to be there, watching a match in Wimbledon and that too finals make me feel happy, somewhere in corner of my heart. Both these pictures are taken with my mobile, it’s not that cameras are not allowed, but I forgot to take our camera….

As for the recipe, I try to make brinjals in many ways, adding them in traditional Bengali shukto, chorchori,fish curry etc.But on a whole with the stalk intact, this “baigan” preparation- north Indian style dry stir/fry recipe has been our favourite.These brinjals, for strange reason don’t make us have any allergic reactions like itch etc, which I wont say for the big-fat eggplants. Small ones and particularly these slender-long ones, once they are cooked seemed to absorb more flavor as compared to the big chunky ones. The dry stir/fry goes well with any rotis or paratha; we made methi parathas and also a main dish of salmon-potato-tomato spicy-tangy semi-dry curry, even when having paratha or rotis,  we still crave for fish curry, now I can't take out my Bengali genes..........

We also made “aam doi” to bask in to the glory of mangoes this season that we are getting here, although very limited and not from India I guess. The pulp of mangoes are mixed in with the preparation for mishti doi , just another way of having and flavouring mishti doi.Mishti doi recipe is over here and more precise detailed aam doi recipe Here.I would suggest to use thick Greek-style doi for setting "aam doi"....

We have mangoes in this recipe as well, not ripened but the dried mango powder or aamchur powder which is famous for adding tanginess to any gravy or are a great souring agent. Dried mango powder or aamchur imparts a nice tangy touch to this stir/fry. I wished I had used purple onions in place of white ones as they seem to soak up the spices more, but white onion is what I had when I made this preparation.Here is how masala baigan north Indian style is made in our home.

Masala baingan/ Spiced Brinjal stir/fry recipe
Recipe requirements
8-10 long Brinjal/Eggplants
2 medium size onions
3-4 fat cloves of garlic
2 tsp of grated ginger
Seasonings
1 tsp of Shah Jeera powder/ or cumin powder
1 tsp of Lal mirch powder/red pepper powder
½ tsp of Deghi mirch powder
1 and ½ tsp of  Dhania powder/coriander powder
½ tsp of Amchur powder/dried mango powder
Namak swad anusar/ salt as per taste or ½ tsp of salt
3-4 tbs of mustard oil

Masala Baingan, Methi paratha, salmon -potato-tomato tangy semi dry curry..

Method
Wash the brinjals and make cuts along the sides and then rotate it and have the cuts from other end, making it to open up a bit further down till the end of stalks, but still keeping the base of stalks untouched.Grate in garlic and ginger and chop finely onions and tomatoes.
Now marinate them with salt and turmeric powder. Leave it aside for sometimes.
Meanwhile heat up a fry pan, add in mustard oil, stir/fry ginger and garlic till they are charred well. Add in finely chopped onions. Keep on stir/fry till the onions shrink in size and add in salt also.
Now mix in all dry seasonings- red pepper powder+dried mango powder+cumin+coriander powder and Deghi mirch masala which I happen to use MDH brand.
Now add in finely chopped tomatoes, splash some water so that the spices don’t get stick up.
Add in marinated brinjals to it, mix in the spices well with the stir/fried onions, garlic and ginger. Put the flame to med-low and cover, cook the brinjals properly about 15-20 mints. Half way through open the cover and flip the sides to stir/fry other sides of brinjal.At this time if you see the masala has become way too much dry then splash some more water to it.

Once the brinjals have turned soft and it tends to release oil from the sides, switch off the flame and take it of. You can add some ghee at the end as well.

Happy Cooking Friends

Soya Chilli Masala

We sometimes leisurely go for day trips when ever time permits and when ever we want to escape from daily rushing-huffing. This time, we went to Hastings, east Sussex. We have been to Brighton earlier which itself is a nice place to have great sea-views, but Hastings is even more relaxing, meant for a family day-out.

And as we intend to do small train journeys, so a two hours of train ride sounded good for us. Views across Hastings Country Park and Hasting pier are relaxing. This place even has many fish and chips outlets, a typical sea- town and also a fabulous play area for kids which stretch along the promenade.

There are many areas for picnic as well and benches to sit. But our surprise was Hastings Country Park, views across the sandstones cliff –east hill is splendid. They have recently mended the park area, putting up great amount of greenery and also some wooden benches to sit and relax. It even has a separate place for barbecues, and one can have a long walk along the East hill till Fairlight village area if nothing comes to mind, although when we visited many walking paths were closed due to land-slides.

And we kind of liked the funicular –railway to the top as well, as taking steps to the top of cliff sounded exhausting for us.And of course one can spend some time near promenade or beach as well. Although I must say it’s a pebbled beach not a sandy –beach that one always expects to be in.

 If you don’t mind pebbled beaches, you still can have a picnic there, catching up with sea-views and listening to the crashing sea-waves sound. All in all, a nice way to spend a leisurely family day over there.

Coming to the recipe. We have been making soya chunks in many different ways. This stir/fry as we really like to eat is sort of a fusion between Chinese and Indian ingredients and that's why called it-  Chinese Soya Chilli Masala. Chinese Soya is spiced a little more with red pepper powder and cumin powder, not much but a slight hint of it. This turned up a semi-dry preparation for us and we liked it with rotis.We also made a side of a salad- Baby spinach, apple and rocket salad, dressing we used was honey-vinaigrette.

Chinese Soya Chilli  Masala
Recipe requirements
About 3 cups of soaked soya nuggets
2 medium size potatoes
1 medium size onions
 2 tsp of ginger paste
2 tsp of garlic paste
Half of a medium size tomato
For the chili masala sauce
4-5 tsp of Soya sauce
3 tsp of Tomato ketchup
 2 tsp of Tamarind sauce
 1 tsp of Honey
 2 tsp of Chili sauce
 1 tsp of red pepper powder
½ tsp of cumin powder
 1 tsp of Salt or as per taste
Coriander leaves
½ tsp of corn flour
3-4 tbs of cooking oil

Method
Soak soya nuggets in ample water for about 4-5 hrs.Once, they soak up entire water and have become soft, squeeze out the soaked water. Now wash them in running water and again squeeze out the excess water.
It would be nice if you can cook the soya nuggets/chunks in advance. Put the entire amount in pressure cooker, add in 1 cup of water and cook for two whistles. Open when the pressure subsides.
Now chop potatoes in to cubes.
Heat up a fry pan, add in cooking oil. Add in finely chopped onions, sauté them for about a minute. Now add in garlic and ginger paste. If not using paste, then you may use freshly grated ginger and garlic.
Keep on stir/fry for about 3-4 mints. Now add in cubed potatoes. Sprinkle salt, red pepper powder and cumin powder, all over them and keep on stir/fry fry 7-10 mints. Add in finely chopped tomatoes.
Now add in all the sauce- soya, chili, tamarind and honey to it. Or better mix all the sauce in a bowl and then add it to the above. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning if required. Sprinkle about 6-7 tbs of water all over it so that the gravy doesn’t become dry or potatoes gets stuck in the pan.
Now add in cooked soya nuggets. Let it cook for about 10-15 mints at medium flame or till potatoes are thoroughly cooked and all the sauces have mixed thoroughly with soya nuggets and potatoes.
Dissolve corn flour in half cup of water. Once the potatoes and soya nuggets are cooked, add in corn flour mixture .Stop cooking and take it off from the hob.

Serve hot and garnished with coriander leaves. This goes well with Chinese fried rice or noodles. But then we even had it with rotis and baby spinach, apple and rocket salad.

Happy cooking friends

Leek Rotis and some pictures

Couple of weeks ago a casual stroll into the main city of London got us into a major train station. And what better way to spend the afternoon than to take a leisurely walk past the famous Waterloo station and the area around it. We were about to board our train from there also, so another excuse for being there... I know you all will be thinking why the train station.

There is nothing that a poetic mind can capture or conjure up a rattling story out of it. But even if there is no story, there is still this commotion that is happening around this whole sphere that still grabs our little attention. People buying train tickets and hurriedly, running up, to get into the designated platforms, many of them glued to the display/information board for latest updates of their respective trains, impatient kids jumping around, luggage being carried away making that rolling sounds.

The smell of coffee and various other types of food, and well not to forget getting into the rest rooms, queuing up and then looking for the last ten pence coin in one corner of the purse or many times again come back to the vending machine to get a pound change done. Such little activities sometimes go unnoticed.
Then there is these somber looks given by relatives when they bid farewell to their loving ones, but then farewell is always heart-wrenching. God knows how many farewells and re-unions this Waterloo station must have witnessed.

As we picked our picnic from a famous eating joint here, my eyes kind of wandered around these corners of the station and then on spur of the moment I clicked these pictures... I have been many times to Waterloo train station, but never realized that these views can be as much fun, as catching the trains from its platform. I never knew, even a train station amidst those entire chaotic happenings, can still become a sight of interest.

Next time if you are in central part of the city, do visit Waterloo station, well that is how one reaches city though.One of the most busiest train station in Europe- Waterloo is still fascinating , and spend some time there sipping a cup of coffee or having a quick lunch, soaking up these views. After all it’s where all the farewells and re-unions happen; otherwise the whole story of a famous Bollywood movie DDLJ would not have been formulated. Right?


Coming to the recipe for this post. Leek rotis, well what more to add, there is absolutely no recipe for this. If you know how to knead the dough for making the bread or rotis, you don’t need anything else, except that you should chop leek leaves very finely and clean them properly to get rid of mud. Rest is all a child’s play. That is how we like to incorporate green leafy vegetables into our meal plans. You can similarly make onion and spring onion rotis or paratha as well. Actually these are more like parathas with less oil.

Leek rotis
Recipe requirements
2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 large leek cleaned and chopped finely
1 tsp of cumin powder
½ tsp of red pepper powder
Pinch of hing
Salt as per taste
 2 tsp of oil
Some more oil or butter to smear at the end

Method
Clean leek leaves well to get rid of mud. Then chop them finely.
Now mix in whole wheat flour, cumin powder, red pepper powder oil, salt and hing.Add in chopped leek leaves.
Knead well with little water. Keep aside for half an hour.
Now divide the dough into equal portions.
Roll into spheres and then cook over flat tava/iron skillet.

Smear some oil over it or butter what ever you prefer. Serve with a dollop of thick cream or sour cream.

Happy cooking friends

Leek and Potato soup

I know you all will be wondering what happened to this lady. Sshh! lots of happening but then I will leave it to that only, lots of happenings! Well, it just that I don’t blog about much or update the blog, that doesn't mean I am off on cooking or off with my other daily responsibilities. Cooking is an integral part of me now, cooking and feeding three hungry souls and tummies.
We also had a nice break from our mundane daily life and a holiday; a long awaited one, to one of the most beautiful places on earth, Switzerland. Now that we are back many moons ago, we wish someday we will get another opportunity by God’s grace to re-visit the place all over again. Now, who doesn't like to have a quiet holiday away from the maddening rush of the city, some where near in the laps of mountains and valleys, lost and hidden…

Anyhow, as of now a glimpse of Switzerland that I had to share with you, there you see mountain peak Matterhorn, playing hide-n-seek with clouds. Now start dreaming and gushing……

Summer has started and within this period, last week UK saw some of the hottest summer days, something that it is so unruly of British summer here. This week as it seems weather will be moderate, and let’s hope in India; summer turns out bearable soon, as what ever I am hearing from my family back there, the heat is unbearable. Stay safe, avoid day time extreme sun-rays exposure, drink lots of fluids to re-hydrate and replenish yourself. Protect little kids and senior citizens from extreme heat. Now, waiting for monsoon to arrive soon.

I am also including in this post, a simple leek potato soup recipe. We have been utilizing leeks in many ways, like in leek Chorchori, leek/potato/mushroom stir/fry, leek rotis/paratha and leek- carrot –pasta bake etc, but then if we talk about leek, then how can I forget to add leek and potato soup here.
Sometimes a simple bowl of hot piping soup is all, which is needed to feel warmth and cozy inside us, and if you are like us, believing in simplicity and nutritious meals, then go ahead and make it immediately.

A very easy and simple soup with leeks
Leek and Potato soup
Recipe requirements
2-3 large leeks
2 medium size potatoes
½ cup of whole milk
1 tbs of butter
1 tsp of crushed black pepper
Salt as per taste

Method
Clean leek stalks in running water to get rid of mud if any and cut them roughly. If still there is traces of mud, then soak the cut leek stalks pieces and leaves in ample water for about 10-15 mints, and then drain it later on. Cut potatoes into cubes.
Put a saucepan over medium heat, and add in butter.
Now add in chopped leeks and potatoes.
Stir/fry them for about 4-5 mints or until the leeks shrink in size and starts releasing water.
Add salt and black pepper to the above. It would be nice if you can use freshly crushed black pepper corn.
Add in milk and about 2 cups of water now. Let it slowly simmer and cooked into a mushy textured soup. Now you can pulse through half of the soup mixture or can puree it entirely depending on your preference. We like to puree half the soup mixture and then retaining some chunks of cooked potatoes and leek leaves.
Serve warm with cream or butter and garnish with dried herbs of your choice.
Refreshing leek soup is ready.


Let’s cheer our favorite teams in football world cup currently being hosted in Brazil...May the best team win…

Happy Cooking friends

Spicy Shrimp Curry Recipe with home-made spice powder and Shubho Poila Boishak

Now that Easter holidays have started here, I do have some relaxed mornings to start off our days. Spring feels so refreshing all around us, with beautiful spring blossoms enticing our eye sight everywhere. Many times we have also touched and felt those soft cherry blossoms or the Hawthorn blossoms that are scattered along on our many walking trails here. Public parks are getting busier with picnic outings, although it still is nippy during the evenings or with other sorts of activities as well. This indeed gives us some push to be little more active, well when I say active I mean activating this dormant blog, not in other way precisely.

And soon it will be poila boishak on Tuesday.Well, cook delicious food and celebrate what ever way you prefer with your family and friends. So, here wishing all of you readers Shubho poila boishak.May the New Year fulfills all your dreams and wishes.

Here is shrimp curry with home-made spice powder.Chingrir jhaal with home-made spice powder. I guess I have already blogged about a new combination of spice powder that I have made couple of months back. I have even blogged a recipe of chicken with that spice powder.Here.
That spice powder remains the base spice for this curry with chingri or shrimp. I have found them even tastier. We do make shrimp less as my husband is allergic to shrimp, but when ever we mother-daughter due cook shrimp, we relish a lot. This spice powder was made with dry anar dana/pomegranate seeds and desiccated coconut as told earlier. We didn’t have any left-overs.Make and have it with rice or what ever way you prefer; this will really be a crowd puller.Next time I am going to make it with jumbo prawns for sure.

Since, I was cooking this for my kid, I almost halved the spice content, but if you do really like spice and hotness, please go ahead and add 4-5 slit green chilies or even more red pepper powder as well. Shrimp again I don’t have to tell you that they need just a stir /fry for 4- 5 mints or till they turn pale and changes color, otherwise be prepared to have a rubbery shrimp. In any case, if you really ask me I do like both, as for me shrimp is a shrimp and Chingri is something one can always enjoy, cooked to perfection or even if it’s over-cooked.

Spicy Shrimp curry with home-made spice powder
Recipe requirements
250 Gms of small shrimp
2 tbs of home-made spice powder recipe is here
½ tsp of garlic powder or two garlic cloves crushed
½ tsp of red pepper powder
½ tsp of turmeric powder
¾ tsp of salt or as per taste
1 cup of finely chopped coriander leaves
2-3 tbs of mustard oil
Method
Wash and clean shrimp, discard shell if any. It’s better to cut the head and tail out if it’s already not done by your fishmonger.
Now marinate cleaned shrimp with salt and turmeric powder. Keep aside for half an hour.
Now heat up a fry pan/saucepan/kadai, add mustard oil.Add in galic if using fresh.
Now add in marinated shrimp. Add in home-made spice powder and red pepper powder and garlic powder.
Writing the recipe of home-made spice powder again, so that you all can have some ideas.
From previous post-here

Dry roast cumin 4 tbs of cumin seeds+ 2 tbs of panch phoron+5-6 cardamom+5-6 cloves+5-6 dry red chilies for about 1-2 mints, just to heat them up. Now dry grind these spices with 1/2 cup of desiccated coconut+ coconut powder and 1/2 cup of dried anar dana/pomegranate seeds. You can use fresh coconut instead of dry and desiccated coconut but the shelf life is reduced then and also it is advisable to store them in fridge. Otherwsie, use grated “gari” or desiccated coconut what ever is available. The small dry red chilies which are somewhat more hot is used in this spice which makes it very hot, so be careful while adjusting red pepper powder.

"Gari" – dried coconut/khopra  which is readily available in India and abroad and this not to be confused with dried cassava powder that are available here abroad.

Adjust salt if necessary. Add in finely chopped coriander leaves. Cover and let it cook for about 6-7 mints or the shrimp changes color.
Serve and enjoy. I have served it over cooked couscous, with butternut squash+potato stir/fry and a portion of Chicken Tandoori. As a healthy practice some salad leaves were also included. A whole some meal itself.

Wish all you readers a very Shubho Poila Boishak, Baisakhi,Puthandu,Puram Vishu and Rongali Bihu  .

Cook good food, enjoy and have a Shubho Nabo Barsha everyone.

Happy Cooking Friends