Beaulier Dal

Ingredients:

1 small cup beaulier dal/lentil

1 tomato

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 bay leaf

1 tsp ginger paste

1 tsp mouri/aniseed

1 dry red chilly

Salt to taste

Procedure:

Cut the tomato into small pieces. Heat the oil in a pan over medium flame. When its hot, put the bay leaf, aniseeds and dry red chilly. After few seconds add the ginger paste and stir. Add tomato and bring to simmer. Add preboiled dal and spices and cook for seconds. If necessary add water and boil it properly. Serve hot with rice.

Aaloo Phulkopir Dalna(Potato Cauliflower Curry)

Ingredients:

500 gms potatoes
1 kg cauliflower
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp garam masala whole
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp ghee
4 tbsp mustard oil
1 tbsp cumin powder
2 tbsp coriander powder
2 medium size onions
4 medium size tomatoes
Oil to deep fry

Procedure:

First cut the potatoes and tomatoes into quarters and cut the cauliflower into medium sized florets. Then cut the medium sized onions. Then take a pan, heat it and fry the potatoes and put them in a pot. Then fry the cauliflower and onions till the colour changes to brown.
Then take them away. Then heat up ghee and mix in the bay leaves and the whole garam masala and lightly fry for about 30 seconds. Then mix in the masala powders and lightly fry for a minute taking caution that the masala does not stick to the bottom of the pan, if necessary add some water to it. Then add fried potatoes, tomatoes, onions and cauliflower to it. Fry it lightly for some time. Then take off the pan and serve.

Samosa(Singara)

Ingredients:

For Cover:

1 cup all wheat flour (Maida)

Water to Knead dough

2 tbsp oil

½ tsp salt

1/4th tsp Ajwain (optional)

For Stuffing:

3-4 Potatoes (boiled, peeled & mashed)

½ cup Green Peas (boiled)

1-2 Green Chilies (finely chopped)

½ tsp Ginger (crushed)

1 tbsp coriander finely chopped

Few chopped Cashews (optional)

Few Raisins (optional)

½ tsp Garam masala

Salt to taste

Red chili powder to taste

½ tsp Dry Mango powder( Amchur) (optional)

Procedure:

For Cover:

Mix all the ingredients (salt, oil, ajwain) except water. Add a little water at a time. Pat and knead well for several times into a soft pliable dough. Cover it with moist Muslin cloth and keep aside for 15 minutes.

For Stuffing:

In a bowl add mashed potatoes and all dry masalas (salt, chili powder, mango powder, garam masala) and green chilles, ginger and Mix well. Add green peas, cashews and raisins and mix well. Add coriander and keep aside.

Make small rolls of dough and roll it into a 4"-5" diameter circle. Cut it into two parts like semi-circle. Now take one semi circle and fold it like a cone. Use water while doing so. Place a spoon of filling in the cone and seal the third side using a drop of water. Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry till golden brown (fry on a medium flame). Serve samosa hot with hari chutney, tamarind chutney.

Aaloor Chop(Potato Pakora)

Ingredients:

5 potatoes

2 medium size onions

1 clove garlic

1 small piece ginger

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala

Salt to taste

200-300 gm gram flour(or as needed for the coating)

Oil to fry

Procedure:

Boil the potatoes and keep aside to cool down. When cold, peel the potatoes and mash them. Make a paste of onion, garlic and ginger. Mix the spice paste with mashed potato thoroughly. Heat a little oil in the pan. Fry the mashed potato until it turns golden brown. Make a smooth batter of gram flour in water. Make small round-shaped pakoras out of the potato mash. Heat oil in a pan. Fry the pakoras until brown. Try to keep the heat low or medium to fry evenly. Drain excess oil on a kitchen towel. Serve hot with chutney or ketchup or muri(puffed rice).

Tangra Macher Jhal(Tangra Fish Curry)

Ingredients:
½ kg of Tangra Fish. (Try to get black tangra if possible).
1 big Onion,
1 whole garlic,
5-6 hot red chillies for grinding.
1 small bunch of Corriander leaves for garnishing.
Salt and Turmeric for taste and colour.
100 gms of Mustard Oil.

Procedure:

The fish should be cleaned and cut from the market and washed properly because this fish is very difficult to be cut by anybody except experts. Try to get the live one if its possible or fresh ones. Wash it properly and pat it dry ,rub with the salt ,turmeric and the grounded paste(onion, garlic, red chillies) for sometime with 1 tbsp of oil in it. Heat the oil in pan and put the marinated fishes saute it and keep it in slow flame. After the oil starts seperating put 1/2 cup of hot water and let it boil. Garnish it with corriander leaves and serve it with rice.

Aloor dom

Ingredients:
10-12 small potatoes
2 medium size onions
½” Ginger
3-4 cloves garlic
3 tbs cooking oil
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp red pepper powder
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp coriander powder
2-4 cloves Gota garam moshla/whole garam masala
1 cardamom
½” cinnamon stick
3 green chillies
1 medium size tomato
Salt and sugar to taste

Procedure:

Wash the potatoes well in water to get rid of dirt and mud. Now heat up a pan/kadai. Add cooking oil preferably mustard oil. Add gota garam moshla/whole garam masala like-clove, cardamom, cinnamon etc. Fry the potatoes very well. Take out in a separate bowl. Add ginger, garlic and onion, fry very well. If you wish you may use the onion/ginger/garlic paste. Add green chillies. Now add the dry seasoning-turmeric powder, red pepper powder, cumin and coriander powder, salt and sugar. Add a bit of water also. Fry very well with baby potatoes the above masala. Add chopped tomato. Now add about 1 cup of warm water. Cover it and let it cook slowly for about 10-15 minutes or till the potatoes are done. Serve with chopped coriander leaves.

Paneer Pakora

Ingredients

300 gm Paneer
1 ½ cup Besan (Gram Flour)
3-4 Green chilies
2 tbsp Chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp Chaat masala
½ Red chili powder
Salt or to taste
Oil to deep fry

Procedure:

Wash and finely chop the green chilies. Cut the paneer pieces into about 1 ½ inches square. Sprinkle ½ tsp chaat masala, ¼ tsp red chili powder and little bit of salt onto the paneer pieces. Marinate it for 15 minutes.
Take besan in a bowl and add chopped green chilies, chopped coriander leaves, salt, red chili powder and chaat masala. Mix well . Add very little water at a time to get the perfect batter. In a pan heat oil on medium heat. Dip the pieces of paneer in the beasan batter and fry them onto the hot oil. Deep fry the pakoras on medium to high heat until reddish brown.
Repeat the process with the remaining paneer pieces. Delicious, crispy paneer pakoras are ready to serve. Serve hot with chutney or tomato sauce.

Vegetable Chop

Ingredients:

1 Potato

1 large carrot

1 small beetroot

½ Cauliflower

½ cup peas

1 tbsp ginger paste

2 tbsp groundnuts

2 tbsp Roasted jeera (cumin seeds)

1 tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp sugar

Salt to taste

2 tbsp besan

½ cup Bread Crumbs

Refined Oil(for deep frying)

Procedure:
Cut each vegetable into 2-3 big chunks. Pressure cook on high heat for 2 steams. Drain water. Mash vegetables coarsely.
Make a besan mix by adding about a little less than 1/4th cp water. The mix should not be thick. Heat 2 tbsp oil in pan. Add ginger, groundnuts, the roughly mashed vegetables, salt, and sugar. Cook for 8-10 minutes on medium high heat. Add roasted jeera, red chilli powder and mix. Remove the vegetables from heat and let cool.
Make chop-size dumplings using your hands, dip in besan mix to form a thin layer, coat with bread crumbs and keep aside. Fry till golden brown. Remove from heat and keep on paper towel to drain excess oil. Serve with mustard chutney or tomato sauce.

Dimer Devil

Ingredients:

6-8 hard boiled eggs

1 boiled potato

2-3 tbsp onions, finely chopped

2 green chillies minced

2-3 tbsp chopped cilantro

1 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp curry powder

1 tsp red chili powder

1 lime

1 cup rice flour

Water as needed

1 tsp salt

Oil for frying

Procedure:
Cut the eggs in halves and remove the yolks into the bowl.
Mix the potato, onions, green chillies, cilantro, salt, curry powder, red chili powder together till smoothly mixed. Squeeze the lime juice on the mixture. Fill the eggs with the mixture and shape into a rounded shape to cover the entire egg white.
Make a batter with rice flour and water to make a thick paste.
Heat the oil, and carefully dip each egg into the batter to coat uniformly. Lower the eggs into the oil and cook on medium heat on each side for about 7-8 minutes till the eggs are well browned on each side. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels. Serve hot with tomato sauce.

Beguni(Eggplant Pakore)

Ingredients:
Fresh eggplant / brinjal, cut into round ( if it is too big, you can halve the rounds)
5 tbsp besan / gram flour
2 tbsp rice flour
½ tsp chilli powder
1 tsp chaat masala
Salt to taste
Water
Refined oil for frying

Procedure:

Make a thick batter with the besan, salt, chilli powder and water. Heat enough oil in a pan.
Dip a brinjals in the batter and coat it well on both sides. When the oil is hot enough, gently slide them in one by one. Leaving enough space between them so that they don't stick to each other. Fry on slow heat till they are brown on both sides. Serve hot with some chilli powder and chaat masala sprinkled on them.

Mocha’r(Banana Flower) Chop

Ingredients:

500 gm Mocha/ Banana Flower

2 or 3 Potato

Green Chilly

50 gm Peanuts

20 gm Raisin

1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste

1 tsp Garam Masala

Salt to taste

2 Cups Besan

A pinch of Baking soda

Procedure:

Cut the banana flower into thin strips and boil in water. Strain it, and keep the mocha aside. Mash the potatoes after boiling. Heat oil in a pan then add green chilly, peanuts and raisins. Add mocha with all the spices. Fry it . Cook till you get a dry mixture. Make small balls of the mashed potatoes and mocha which is spiced with masalas separately. Flatten the mashed potato between your palm then add mocha and cover it. Make a batter with besan, baking soda, salt and water. The batter should be tight. Heat oil in pan and dip the chop in the batter. Deep fry it. Fry till both sides are golden brown. Now Mochar Chop is ready to serve.

Amsatta-Khejurer Chatni

Ingredients:

400 gm Aamsatta
400 gm Khejur/Dates
1 tsp Panch Phoran
4 Whole Red Chillies
300 gm Sugar
50 gm Tamarind
50 ml Oil
1 tsp jeera powder
Salt to taste

Procedure:
Deseed dates, cut amsatta in cube size and keep aside.
Heat oil, put panch phoran, whole red chillies, then add water and boil it. When it boils add jeera powder, sugar, tamarind water, salt, amsatta and dates. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes till it becomes thick, mix little chilli powder, cool it and serve.

Topa Kuler(Plum) Chatni

Ingredients:

250 gm Indian Plum (topa kool)
1 tsp Mustard Oil
2-3 Whole red chillies
A pinch of mustard seed,
2-3 tbsp Sugar
3 cups Water
Salt to taste

Procedure:
Wash and remove stems from the plum. Heat oil in the pan. Add whole red chillies and mustard seeds. When spluttering stops, add plum and a cup of water. Stir and cook about 5 minutes adding salt to taste. Add water and sugar. Simmer for about 15 minutes, then remove from fire. Cool and serve.

Tetuler Chatni(Tamarind Chatni)

Ingredients:
250 gm Tamarind
2 tsbp coarsely chopped Fresh ginger
2 tbsp Mustard oil
3 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Paanch phoron
2 tsp Ground cumin
½ tsp Black mustard seeds
A dash of black salt
Salt to taste

Procedure:
Coarsely chop the tamarind and soak in 1 cup warm water in a non-metallic bowl for 30 minutes. Remove the tamarind seeds and any hard membranes from the pulp.
Blend the tamarind with ginger and water to thick paste. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-low heat, add the black mustard seeds and allow to pop up. Add the paanch phoron and cumin, saute until seeds splutter. Add the tamarind, salt, black salt and sugar, stir for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Topsey Macher Fry(Topsey Fish Fry)

Ingredients:

4 Topse fish

½ tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp lemon juice

4 green chillies

2 tbsp garlic and ginger paste

Besan(gram flour)

½ tsp red chilly powder

1 tsp kalojeera/ cumin seeds

1 tsp posto(poppy seeds)

Mustard oil for frying


Procedure:

Marinate the fish with the chilly-garlic-ginger paste, lemon juice and turmeric powder for at least 1 hour. For preparing the batter, take besan in a bowl. Add red chilly powder, cumin seeds and posto in it. Make it little thick by miximg it with water. Now heat oil in a pan and coat each fish in the batter and deep fry till golden brown. Serve hot with mustard sauce as a snacks or can also be served with rice.

Gokul Pithe

Ingredients:

200 gms of grated coconut

2 cup kheer

50 gms sugar or gur(jaggery) to add to coconut milk cakes for filling

150 gms flour

200 ml water

40 gms ghee

Pinch of sodium bicarbonate

250 gms sugar for syrup,

500 ml water for syrup

Ghee for deep frying

Procedure:
Heat the sugar and water in a pan. Simmer until syrup is of a medium thick consistency. Remove from fire and cool.
In a pan, fry the coconut, kheer and sugar/gur together until well blended to make filling. Continue stirring to avoid the filling getting stuck at the bottom of the pan. Remove from fire.
For 25 cakes divide the coconut-kheer mixture into 25 portions.
First roll into balls and flatten between the palms to form the cakes. Powder your palms with flour for ease in forming the cakes.
Now make the batter by mixing flour, remaining water, sodium bicarbonate and a little ghee together.
Heat ghee in a pan for deep frying. Coat a few coconut-milk cakes at a time in the prepared batter. Deep fry until a rich golden brown colour. Remove from pan with slotted spoon. Drain on paper for a couple of minutes and while still quite hot, dip in the syrup and then serve.

Doodh Puli Pithe

Ingredients:

1 coconut
1 cup sugar.
2 cup Rice flour
2 tbsp wheat flour(Maida)
1 litre milk.
10 gms raisins
10 gms cashewnut
1 tsp cardamom powder

Procedure:

Grate coconut and mix with sugar and cardamom powder. Mix well and keep it aside.
Heat a pan and add Rice flour. Stirr for about 5 minutes. Take it out in a bowl and add wheat flour to that. Now add hot water and knead well to make a dough. Make small balls from the dough, spread each ball with hand and stuff the coconut sugar mixture into it. Fold it and seal the edges so that filling doesn’t come out to get the shape of 'Puli'.
Heat a pan and add milk. Boil the milk for some time so that it get reduced to half. Add sugar and cardamom powder. Cook for a couple of minutes. Now add the pulies to the milk slowly. Cover it and let it cook for about 15 minutes with stirring in between. Add raisins and cashew nuts. Take it out in a serving tray. Serve cold.

Rasmallai

Ingredients:

Paneer made from 1 liter of milk
1 liter full cream/ whole milk
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp cardamom powder
4 cups water
1 cup sugar
½ cup thinly sliced almonds or pistachios

Procedure:

Mix the water and 1 cup of sugar in a pan and boil till all the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the fire and keep syrup aside.
Knead the Paneer in a platter till very smooth. Make into balls slightly smaller than the size of a walnut and flatten slightly in the center. When the Paneer balls are made, reheat the syrup to boiling, then simmer and gently drop in the Paneer balls. Cook for 10 minutes. Turn off fire.
In another pan boil the of full cream milk with the sugar, till reduced/thickened to 75 per cent of its original volume. Turn off the fire, add the cardamom powder and mix well.
Add the syrup soaked Paneer balls (after draining) to the milk mixture and chill for a few hours. Before serving, garnish with slivers of dried fruit.

Gur’er(Jaggery) Sandesh

Ingredients:

1 liter milk

200 gm gur(jaggery)

5 chopped pistachios

2 cardamom seeds (crushed)

1 Lemon

Procedure:

Dissolve lemon juice (or 1/2 teaspoon citric acid) in half cup of warm water. Bring milk to boil, reduce heat and pour the acidic water all over it. Milk will curdle, stir till milk is fully curdled.
Pour the curdled milk(chenna) over a muslin cloth. Drain out water completely. Squeeze to remove any excess water and hang it for about 40 minutes. Take it out and knead evenly for about 7-10 minutes. During the last 3 minutes, add the gur. Knead the chenna/cheese along with the sugar. By this time the chenna/cheese should be very smooth & not grainy at all. To test if it is done & ready for the next step, take a portion of the chenna/cheese & roll it in a sphere between your palms. The sphere should be very smooth on the outside with no cracks.
Take a non stick pan, & put the entire chenna/cheese in the pan. Switch on the gas at a low heat. Spread out the chenna/cheese, & cook it on low heat. Stir it constantly with a spatula so it does not stick at the bottom of pan. This should be done for about 12-15 minutes. You will see it slowly change into a slightly darker shade. The texture will change too. When it is towards done, the chenna/cheese will no longer stick to the pan; it will form lumps & kind of gather together. Once this stage is reached, quickly take it off the heat & transfer it to a bowl. If the chenna/cheese is heated beyond this, it will form crumbs & you will not be able to mould it into shapes. The Chenna/Cheese is now ready to be given shapes. You have to mould it right away while it is still warm to touch. If left alone for long, it cannot be moulded anymore. Give desired shape. Sprinkle crushed pistachios and cardamom over each sondesh, cool it and serve.

Khirer Malpua

Ingredients:

500 ml milk

3 tbsp refined flour

1 tbsp semolina(suji)

½ tsp baking powder

250 gm sugar

2 ½ cup water

¼ tsp cardamom(elaichi) powder

Refined oil for frying.

Procedure:

Take 500 ml of milk in a non-stick pan. Put on heat. Keep stirring and reduce milk into thick gravy form. Remove from heat. When it cools down add refined flour, semolina and baking powder. Fold in and mix it well. Keep aside.
Now to prepare the sugar syrup take 2 and ½ cup water in a pan and heat. Add the sugar. Stir and let the sugar melt. Add cardamom powder. Let the syrup boil (in medium heat) for 15-20 mins. Stir in between for 2-3 times. Remove from heat when you get a stringy consistency. Give the batter a good mix and pour a little less than 1/4 cup of batter in the hot oil to form in a circular shape. When the edges turn golden brown, flip and fry till both sides are golden. When it is done remove them from oil and pour them directly into the sugar syrup. Leave them for at least 5 mins to soak the syrup. Now its ready to serve. You can serve them cool or hot as you like.

Chhanar Payesh

Ingredients:

½ litre milk
2 tbsp nuts
1 tin condensed milk
250 gm channa or cottage cheese
1 cup water
2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp sugar

Procedure:
Mix the sugar with the water to prepare thin syrup and heat. Take the chhana or cottage cheese in a bowl. Combine the hot syrup with the chhana. Mix them completely. Take a deep bottomed pan and boil the milk in it. Mix the condensed milk with the boiled milk and simmer for about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the chhana mixture to milk slowly in steps and keep stirring. Stir them together until a homogenous mixture is formed. Remove from heat and empty it into a bowl. Generously sprinkle the raisins and the nuts. Refrigerate it. Serve chilled.

Kalakand

Ingredients:

1 tsp ghee
150 gm sweet condensed milk
1 cup milk
2-3 cardamom powder
250 gm cheese
2 heaped tbsp full cream milk powder
2 tbsp ground pistachio

Procedure:
Mash cheese coarsely and add milk powder to it. Add sweet condensed milk and whole milk and mix thoroughly. Heat the mixture in a thick bottomed pan. Add cardamom powder & pistachio and mix well. Cook on medium heat with constant stirring(about 8-10 minutes) till the mixture becomes thick. Remove it from heat and spread onto a plate greased with ghee.
Cut into squares and garnish with some pistachio. After it cools and then serve.