Shutki maach er bhorta /Mashed Spicy Dry fish : Is dry fish still a symbol of social identity?

Jun23

Being Bengali and being proud of that is not enough for us .When we crave for more clear cut identities we call ourselves Ghoti or Bangal and hence identify(along with many other things) our food and food-habits likewise.It is said-the bangals are all for hot and spicy food.They love Hilsha .Where as the Ghoti loves to add an extra spoon of sugar to his food and prefer the food more mellow.They love prawn.We will happily discriminate among food ,add tags to our food preferences ,cooking methods and be proud of that.Of the many foods that discriminate a bangal from a ghoti and vice versa one that ranks in the top list is probably Shutki Maach (Dry Fish).

And just when I was going to tag shutki as a bangal food/fish,I thought of myself-a born Ghoti married to a Bangal. Yes, I love being an exception to the rule(I am sure there are many more to join me).The sight and smell of cooked shutki maach makes me as happy as the sight of long awaited ordered food in a restaurant.Pardon my analogy ,but don’t ignore the sentiments behind.The world from my perspective is clearly divided into-those who loves shutki and those who do not.There’s no middle path when it comes to shutki.If any let me know.

Shutki or dry fish when uncooked has a got a typical characteristic pungent smell,pungent enough to evoke nausea.It has got a stinky smell ,very similar to that of dry shrimp powder Belachan used in Malaysian and Indonesian cooking.Drying fresh fish is a method of preservation by removing water from the fish.Other than drying ,methods which act as catalyst to fish preservation are smoking and salting.The popular variety of dry fish consumed globally are bombay duck, shrimp,mackerel,anchovy,tuna,sardine,etc.Dry fish processing and selling in markets is common worldwide.

Fellow blogger Ushnish Ghosh tells me the difference between dry fish and fermented fish : ”dry fish is dried in sun or in oven to get rid off the moisture so that the bacteria cant survive , and salt also strilize it ..wet sutkis ( are not dried) ..like Shidol,puti mach is stuffed into bamboo, sealed from out side for air to get in,and the enzymes in the fish ferment the fish ..( just like in yogurt, bacteria ferment the milk) ..also nona Ilish …Ilish is put in lot of salt , sealed and kept out for months to get a typical aroma …but the famous Odisha Ilish sutki , is stuffed with salt and dried in sun” .Dry fish is much less smelly than the fermented fish ,because of the preservation method.

In Bangladesh about 7.3 million people live in coastal fishing villages and earn their livelihood by fishing.Most of them dry fish by following the method of sun drying.Interestingly,a large share of Bangladesh’s economy can be contributed from the dry fish markets in Dhaka,Chittagong,Tangail etc who export a major portion of their produce worldwide.

Bangladesh which has a great number of water bodies,produce dry fish in the coastal areas,near the rivers and harbors.The processing takes place mainly under the sun during the month of October to April.The winter months remain the preferred time for the fishing activities as the rivers,water channels and depressions remain relatively calm and quite.The necessity to cultivate dry fish is triggered more by the fact often the fresh water fishes remain unsold because of lack of customers or lack of sufficient transport facility to send the fresh fish to the town or metropolis.

Dry fish collection: Photo courtesy-www.demotix.com/Zakir Hossain Chowdhury

Dry fish processing :Photo courtesy - www.demotix.com/Zakir Hossain Chowdhury

Dry fish processing :Photo courtesy – http://www.demotix.com/Zakir Hossain Chowdhury

Hong Kong dry fish market
Photo courtesy :Purabi/www.zomppa.com

Where as in China, Hong Kong boasts of a Dried Seafood Street.Half a century back the area had salted fish stores,where workers would dry their fish on the rooftops,sell them in the ground floor and live somewhere in between the two floors.It is said ,for ages Chinese have believed that food should not be wasted,fish when in excess,were preserved thereby using salt , other minerals and sun dried.This was a common practice when there was no refrigerator to preserve fresh fish.The Chinese belief is dried oysters and mussels when consumed on the Chinese New Year brings luck and fortune.

Over time the Chinese practice of conservation of fresh fish by sun-drying has been adapted by many cultures .It is now staple of Maldivian ,Srilankan and Burmese cuisine.In India Kerala,Orissa,West Bengal,Tamil Nadu,Andhra Pradesh,Assam,Tripura etc boasts of their collection of dry fish recipes.Dry fish grew in popularity also from the fact that some version of dry fish are cheap and are regarded as source of high protein for a poor man.

Much social stigma has been attached to shutki(dry fish).It has generally been culturally perceived as the food of the lower income group,because the economically cheap version of dry fish is the main source of protein for many economically lower income group people,who cannot afford rather expensive fresh fish.Is it not time enough to de-stigmatize some food?We would consider sea food like mussels as highly coveted and exotic but still underplay the essence of fish preservation?Will it be ever elevated to the status of restaurant food in the socio- cultural city hubs ?

It is amazing to note how different culture and region eat dry fish in their unique manner and how versatile dry fish are to adapt to the local cuisines. Some region prefer to have steamed dry fish with rice,while some others make a curry out of their choice of dry fish,whereas some enjoy cooking dry fish along with vegetables.

The version that I enjoy eating and cooking most uses very few ingredients.It is a rather spicy mishmash of dry fish, rich in taste and is marked by profusion of onion, garlic and dry red chilies,all used to cut down the pungent odor of the dry fish.This is generally known as Shutki bhorta /bata /bhuna(mishmash) in Bangladeshi cuisine,and as Shutki Chutney(dry fish pickle) in Assamese cuisine.

Recipe

Dry version of – Bombay duck/loitya/bombil ( or your choice of dry fish) : 300 gm

Onion :100 gm,finely chopped

Garlic: 2-3 whole pod ,finely chopped

Dry red chili powder: 4-5 heaped tbsp(adjust according to taste)

Turmeric: 1 tsp

Mustard oil for cooking

Salt to taste

Method

Since the fish will be extremely dry ,cutting and chopping the fish will be bit difficult.Hence boil some water in a pot , take it off the stove, dunk the fish into the warm water and cover with a lid.
Let the fish seat in the warm water for 20 minutes to half an hour.While soaking,you can change the warm water few times,this will reduce the pungent smell of the fish and help in getting rid of the sand particles gathered while drying the fish on the sea shore.
After the fish has softened enough to cut and chop ,take it off the water and discard the water.
Pat dry the fish.
Remove the head , tail and central bone of the fish and cut it in 1” piece.The remaining small bones ,will disintegrate into tiny pieces while cooking.
Put the fish pieces in the mixer grinder or pestle and mortar and mash it nicely, retaining the coarse texture.Do not add any water during this process.
Heat the mustard oil (2 tbsp to start with) in the wok.
Once the oil is hot enough,add the chopped garlic and let them splutter,and turn light brown.Avoid burning them.
Add the chopped onions ,once the garlic turns light golden brown.Reduce heat and keep frying the onions till translucent.
Add the dry spices (turmeric and red chili powder) at this stage and stir for a minute or two.
Add the mashed dry fish,coat the spice mix well with the fish.
Reduce the flame and stir continuously to avoid burning.
Add little more oil at this stage,if the mix tends to dry up.Dry fish soaks a lot of oil because of it’s texture and preservation method.
Keep mixing thoroughly the fish and the spices .
Add little salt,be careful while adding salt( 1 tsp or depending on the taste). Dry fish are preserved with salt ,so they are already high in salt content.
While cooking,do not add water,as the fish will release some water, and get cooked it’s own moisture.
Keep stirring,till the fish mixture takes the form of a coarse paste,and releases oil or when most of the water dries out.
Once done ,serve it with hot steaming rice and let the compliments flow in .

Wordless Wednesdays : After Sunset

Jun18

Bori diye maach er jhol/fish curry with lentil dumplings and paradoxes of blogger life

Jun12

Looking back it was just another cold wintry morning in December when I decided to start blogging..but why blogging?I have been following a few blogs since last few years and always thought it’s a great platform to share once’s thought,ideas and creativity.Indeed it is !

But managing a blog and keeping it updated,with a continuous flow of content is not that easy.Or does it appear so because I am still in the bottom of the learning curve?

Lessons learnt in the last few months :It is never enough to just think and conceive an idea and to jot it down,or just click some random pictures of the food you made.However,sumptuous and palatable the food is ,it has to look equally good and convey the message through pictures.It has to tell a story.What story?

May be the food is a part of your heirloom kitchen or maybe it is a creation pressed out of you rattling in the everyday kitchen.Whatever it may be ,it has to be conveyed through photographs..but how?

Through props(properties) may be.But what are props?

These are the non food items required for the photo shoot.Anything starting from plates,cutlery,fabrics,kitchen utensils,books,background,fabrics and what not can count as prop.You can never have enough of these .You have to work your mind through scavenging your props and decide which ones will look good and in harmony with each other in respect to a particular dish .

They call this food styling and I thought I loved this until I realized you might have the tastiest dish in front of you,use one of the best cameras available,use great lighting;but all that won’t make any sense if you go wrong while choosing your props.If you consider these challenges ,as a tiny fraction of my otherwise happy blogger-life,then probably I have to enlighten you further on my blogger life technical challenges.Fixing a widget,link or managing tools are far from cakewalk for me.I am learning my way through it ,and enjoying the rewards my effort is bringing with it.It’s a package deal as they say.

There are perks of food blogging too..more stories to tell on that..but some other day!

Alright,so now that the rant part is over, lets move on to the real food -talking,shall we? If you ever peep into a Bengali kitchen leave apart the pan-Indian scenario,you will find apart from the traditional and well known recipes of fish ,every household and almost every family has got a special fish recipe to share and a story evolving round it to tell.So,for me the store bought ready to make curry paste sucks big time.A curry made out of it will never(or hardly) tell a story.I really can’t relate to it.Can you ever imagine doing a Bhog er Khichuri or for that matter of fact your favorite Murighonto with a curry paste?For me food is an emotion as well.

We don’t buy Bengali fish varieties (specially sweet water ones with bone)very often since we get the frozen ones here,but whenever we do,I make sure to do at least one simple curry , that we used to eat at home.You can call this my immigrant syndrome.I will happily agree…after all we always try to find our root in our attempt at replication of the past.

While I deal with the everyday challenges of blogging, I am glad not everything about blogging is that complex.Cooking the everyday fish curry is perhaps one of them.Simple,unpretentious and promising.It tastes as good as it looks.This is a mundane fish curry which is light and not extraordinarily spicy.It gets it’s unique punch from the Bengali version of dry lentil dumplings.They add texture and bite to the otherwise mellow but flavorful light fish broth.You can add your choice of vegetables (eggplant,green beans,carrot,courgette,pointed gourd/potol,ridge gourd/jhinge,cauliflower etc)to it if you fancy.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Rohu/telapia steaks/or any other sweet water fish of your choice : 8-10 pieces
Whole cumin seeds(dry roasted): 3 tsp(1 tsp for tempering and 2 tsp for cumin paste)
Whole coriander seeds(dry roasted): 2 tbsp
Turmeric: 1-1/2 tsp
Whole dried red chili : 2-3(adjust according to your choice)
Green chili : 2( slit)
Potato : 3-4 (small to medium size)
Ginger paste : 1-2 inch
Salt to taste
Mustard oil to cook
Lentil dumplings/Bori : a handful
Coriander leaves /cilantro(optional)

Method :

Remove the scales(if any) of the fish and clean it properly.Dry marinate the fish pieces with salt and turmeric and keep aside for 15-20 minutes.
Make a spice paste of ginger,red chilies,coriander and cumin seeds by adding very little water to the mix.
Fry the lentil dumplings/bori carefully till golden brown,avoiding to break them,as they are generally tender and brittle.Remove the lentil dumplings from the frying pan.
Cut the potatoes in wedge like shape and fry them,by sprinkling little turmeric and salt till almost half done.Take the potato wedges out of the pan and keep them aside.
In the same wok add some more mustard oil and shallow fry the fish pieces.
Again in the same wok heat the remaining mustard oil , add 1 tsp whole cumin seeds and let them splutter for a while and add the spice paste and add 1/2 tsp turmeric .
Cook the spice paste at low to medium flame until oil leaves the side of the pan.
Add boiling water and adjust salt once the gravy settles down little bit.Bring to a gentle boil.
Add the fried potato wedges at this stage ,allowing it to cook in the gravy.
When the potatoes are almost done,add the fried fish pieces,cover the pan and let it simmer gently.
Uncover ,add the cilantro (if using)and put off the flame.Give it a standing time of 2-3 minutes and then transfer to the serving bowl.
Add the fried bori/lentil dumplings to the curry at this stage.The lentil dumplings will eventually soak in some of the gravy.
Garnish with 2 halved green chilies and serve the fish curry with steamed white rice and lime wedges.

Egg-less Gondhoraj Lebu Mousse

Jun9

Gondhoraj lebu,the literal translation of this bengali name for a particular variety of lime means ”king of aroma”.Indeed this lime stands true to it’s name.It is one of the best variety of lime in terms of smell, that I have ever come across.The mere mention of this lime when bengalis are in conversation can send paroxysmal of joy that only someone who have smelled this lime will know.Hot and humid West Bengal summers would provide the perfect setting to indulge in the pure joy of having rice,patla mushoor dal (watery lentil soup)with a bout of gondhoraj lebu squeezed in.Some time my dimma (grandmother) would make daal with the leaf of gondhoraj lebu immersed in it ,to make it aromatic and refreshing.This lime is generally bright dark green,with a tough and hard outer surface and much larger in size than the ordinary key limes.The pale inner segment of the lime yields scanty juice but is always marked by overpowering smell that will compellingly bring one to the dinner table once it’s served with the food. But this fragrant lemon kind of disappeared(until recently) from my life once I stepped out of Bengal.Gondhoraj lebu is pretty much region specific and find it’s firm footing in Bangladesh and West Bengal in India.

The scientific name of this lime is said to be Citrus Limonia .This Rangpur lime variety got it’s name from a place called Rangpur in Bangladesh,where it is grown profusely.It is a cross between mandarin and lime,not very juicy in nature,but orgasmic in fragrance for sure.

The distant cousins of our very own Gondhoraj lebu can be found in South China as Canton Lemon , in Japan as Hime Lemon,as Limao Cravo in Brazil or Mandarin Lime in the United States.These are all different variety of the same family of Rangpur limes.

My search for the ever elusive Gondhoraj lebu ,however,finally ended when I came across it in a Bangladeshi grocery shop in Birmingham,England.My joy knew no bound the moment I saw them.I grabbed a few and headed straight to the counter.We had our Gondhoraj happiness with lime wedges cut,squeezed and smell inhaled with the regular mushoor daal and bhaat(rice) .That pacified our gondhoraj craving souls to a great extent.But some of them were still sitting pretty in the fridge side-cabinet.I decided to do some fusion dessert with my favorite lime variety. Inspirations were in plenty.The other popular aromatic limes like the Kaffir lime or the thai lime often used to make desserts like ice cream,white cake or the Carribean Key lime known to make refreshing cheesecakes were my point of reference.I decided to make some egg-less mousse with the signature fragrance of Gondhoraj lebu.Mousse is a French food that incorporates air bubbles to give it a smooth and light texture.Contrary to popular belief it can be consumed as dessert as well as in its savory form depending on the choice of ingredients.From the colder spring we are gradually progressing to warmer summer here in UK ,while the whole of Bengal is all ready under the spell of summer sun.Just the perfect time to make and lap up this yummy cool dessert.

Ingredients :

Double cream : 600 ml
Condensed milk : 395 gm
Paneer or home made chhena : 250 -275 gm
Gondhoraj Lebu juice : 1-2 tablespoon
Gondhoraj lebu zest : 1 teaspoon

Recipe :

Pour the double cream and condensed milk in a clear and chilled container. Whip the double cream and condensed milk together with a hand blender or an electric beater till it forms firm peaks .Keep aside.Mash the paneer or chhena well to paste consistency ideally with the mixer grinder.Make sure the paste is smooth enough without any hint of lump(mine was not smooth enough to my expectation ,hence the warning!),otherwise the mousse will be little grainy in texture.Fold in the whipped double cream and condensed milk into the paneer or chhena paste.

Firm peaks of the whipped cream and folding in the condensed milk-cream mix with the paneer

Add the gondhoraj lebu juice at this stage.Give a gentle mix.Spoon the mousse mixture into the chilled serving dishes and top it with gondhoraj lebu zest.Scrap the lemon zest with a grater or a zester.Make sure you remove only the bright green zest and not the white pith ,which is bitter in taste.Seal the serving dishes with cling fling and refrigerate for at least 4-5 hours or overnight.Serve the Gondhoraj Lebu Mousse chilled.

Note : For this recipe you can use the store bought paneer or make your own chhena at home,what ever suits you.Only make sure to drain as much moisture as possible of which ever option you are opting.

A simple fish curry with mustard greens : maach-er jhol shorshey shaak diye

Jun9

Machh -er jhol (fish curry),patha’r mangsho(goat’s meat curry)mishti doi (sweet yogurt),shondesh/sandesh(bengali dessert delicacy),luchi (puffed flour bread) are few thing among many others that hits the top of the list when we are thinking of a bong’s culinary diary.And how can I be an exception! My tryst with mach-er jhol started since the time I can’t even recollect .Mach er jhol can be very hot,fiery, rich gravy of fish with profusion of spices like garam masala or can be a mild yet flavoursome curry with or without vegetables.That is how I have known my mach-er jhol since childhood.There is no one recipe for a machh -er jhol.Each Bong household has it’s own way through maach,jhol and it’s accompaniments.But this cant deny the fact that there are traditional recipes like maacher kalia,doi maach or shorshey maach which have their position of prime in the heart of Bengalis no matter what.Interesting thing to note is, that a bong can use the same spice or tempering to make different sorts of fish preparations depending on the recipe.With the rich mustard paste they make paturi,while the same mustard paste can be used with additional greens or any vegetable of your choice to culminate into a mach er jhol,which is more like a runny fish curry.

Mustard greens (Shoshey Shaak)

I was back home after a year or so,was missing my Maa er haath er ranna (mom’s cooking) immensely- I did make a mention of that to her once over phone and mom was ready with home cooked buffet of food on almost all the days of my stay.Saying ‘no’ to her was not an option, so I happily gave in to mom’s culinary expression of love.This one dish that stayed with me – simple,unpretentious and easy to make ,this is a fish curry to be served with steaming hot rice.

How Maa made Shorshey shaak diye maach er jhol

Ingredients

4-6 pieces of Rohu( Salmon/Tilapia can also be very good alternative)

A bunch of Mustard greens(Shorshe Shaak)

1 teasoon-Nigella seeds/Kalo jeera/black onion seeds

1 teaspoon-Turmeric powder

1 teaspoon – Red chilli powder

5-6 tablespoon-Yellow mustard seed paste

Salt to taste

Few green chillies

Mustard oil

Recipe

Wash and clean the scales of the fish pieces.

Wash and pat dry the mustard green leaves,separating them from the stem.

Prepare a yellow mustard paste with water(just enough to make a thick to runny mix), 2-3 green chillies and 1 teaspoon of salt thrown in.

Dry marinate the fish pieces with turmeric and salt,shallow fry them in mustard oil till they change their colour to golden brown.

Temper the mustard oil left in the wok (after frying the fish) with kalo jeera(nigella seeds/black onion seeds) and a few longitudinally slitted green chillies,sauté them slightly.Then add the yellow mustard paste mix and the mustard green leaves.Add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder and a cup or two of boiling water , give a good stir and let it simmer till the greens get well cooked.Check the seasoning.Add the fried fish pieces.Cook for another 2-3 minutes in low to medium heat.Put off the flame,cover the wok with a lid to give it a standing time of 2 more minutes. You can drizzle a table spoon of raw mustard oil on top of this fish curry, if you like the smell of mustard oil.

Serve hot with steamed rice.

Chocolate Shondesh

Jun9

Chocolate Shondesh

Quite true to my Bengali genes I have got a sweet tooth.Give me any thing sweet be it Bengal’s own roshogolla,ledikini, kheer kodombo , mishti doi or anything sweet which is not so Bengali like a fudge cake,cookie dough ice cream,chocolate brownie or a caramel flan – I am ready to dig in .Since the past 4 years of my stay in England I have had enough chance to try different forms of western dessert while the frequent trips back to India (Kolkata to be specific) were just not sufficient enough to sooth my Bengali mishti craving.True to the saying ”necessity is the mother of invention” one day I finally gave in to my Bengali sweet craving and decided to try my hand at making a Bengali sweet at home.While surfing through videos on YouTube I came across this video and the idea of making a fusion chocolate shondesh dawned upon me!

This fusion sweet is very dear to my heart, perfectly unites the best possible combination of chocolate from the west and mishti from the east,quite like us those who live miles away from the home land, soaking in the foreign culture yet cant give away their traditional root.

Recipe for Chocolate Shondesh

Ingredients

For the making of Shondesh

Full fat milk : 3 litre

Khoya/Milk Solids : 1/2 cup (optional)

Sugar : 1 to 1 and 1/2 cup

Lemon juice : 4 lemon

Cocoa Powder : 4 heaped tablespoon

For garnishing the Shondesh

Chocolate bar- 150 gm

Double Cream- 100 ml

Sugar : 1/4 cup

Choice of nuts : Pistachio/Cashew

Method of making Shondesh

1)Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed pan at medium heat stirring occasionally .When the milk starts boiling add the lemon juice and increase the flame little bit to enhance coagulation.As soon as the milk starts to curdle and whey is separated from the curd turn of the heat,otherwise the chenna(paneer)will become stiff.Drain the whey from the milk fat by using a strainer lined with a cheesecloth or muslin cloth for about 10 minutes.

2)Once the chenna is drained place it in a clean and dry surface. With the heel of the palm knead it well till it rolls into a smooth soft dough.

Kneading the ‘chenna’ into a smooth and soft dough

3)Put the chenna dough in a heavy bottomed flat plan along with sugar, khoya/milk solids(if using) and cocoa powder.Keep stirring it continuously to remove the raw taste of chenna for about 5-6 minutes at a very low flame(some time putting of the flame in between if required) to avoid burning of the mixture.If you want to make a ‘norom pak'(softer version) shondesh then don’t keep it on flame for a very long time.

4)Take the mix, of the pan and mould them or give desired shaped when still little warm.

5) For making the garnishing, in a double boiler take the cream , chocolate bar by breaking it into small chunks and sugar,simmering slowly while stirring continuously .Once the chocolate has melted,spoon the hot chocolate ganache in the centre of the shondesh by making a small well with the tip of your finger.Dust it with your choice of crushed nuts.

You can refrigerate this in an airtight box,however, preferably serve this at room temperature. Shondesh tastes best when it is served fresh or after being refrigerated for just a few hours.

Note :

Double boiler– A double boiler can be made by placing a bowl on top of a pot containing simmering water. In this case double boiler is used to avoid burning of the chocolate in direct contact with heat.
Garnishing can be done simply by drizzling the chocolate ganache on top of the shondesh or by sprinkling chocolate sprinklers or cocoa powder or drinking chocolate.
Adding Khoya or milk solids to this shondesh only adds to the taste,however, it is not a compulsory ingredient.
This recipe will make about 24 shondesh
Bong Appetite’s tips : The best way to enjoy this shondesh is to serve it at room temperature or slightly chilled with the chocolate ganache bit lukewarm and done just before serving

Doi Begun /Eggplant in yogurt gravy …. to beat the summer heat

Jun9

Memories in May ..

A squirrel quenching it’s thirst
(Photo courtesy : Bhashkar Dasgupta)

Summer reminds me of this song by Rabindranath Tagore.It perfectly describes the ruthlessness of summer heat and the agony of sun fatigued days,while eagerly waiting for the thundershowers to sooth tired souls.

Darun agni-ban e re hriday trishay han-e re .

Rajani nidrahin,dirgho dogdho din..

Aram nahi je jaan-e re.

Shushko kanon shakhey klanto kapot daake..

Karun kator gaan-e re..

Bhoy nahi,bhoy nahi,gagone rohechey chahi.

Jani jhanjhar beshe dibe dekha tumi eshe..

Ekoda tapito praan-e re.

In this scorching heat of summer

My heart is so thirsty

The nights are sleepless..the days are burnt too long

Doesn’t get little respite

The tired pigeon moans sadly on a dry brunch of a tree

But,fear not..worry not

Our eyes are roving in the sky

We know,you would show up in the guise of tempest

And bless our restless souls with the downpour of your kindness..

(Translation courtesy: Abhijit Mazumdar)

While I write this post summer has clearly touched base,and temperature is rising to a soaring high in most parts of India and many parts of the world ,with mercury touching 40 degree Celsius with a humidity of 45% in Kolkata,my home city.There you will not consider it to be a very cool idea to stay outdoor during the summer day unless your work forces you to be,or you decide to get drenched in your own sweat. With no rain to bail you out of the discomforting temperature,the only respite could be sort after in the ice creams,kulfis,daab-er jol(coconut water)shorbot ( Bengali cold drink concoction) etc.A few summers back, on my way to my work place,a college where I used to teach in Baghbazar(in North Kolkata) a common sight in the summer days that I vividly remember : the hand drawn rickshaws plying hurriedly through the city lanes and by-lanes.While the melting pitch of the streets took better of the poor rickshawallas,the passengers remain seated somewhat comfortably under the narrow perch of the rickshaw,and when that’s not comforting enough they would open up their umbrellas to shield the raging sun.

Rickshaw ride in the summer afternoon
(Source:The Namesake)

Another visual that would make me secretly jealous,thinking how fortunate some people are, was on the days when I would have my classes in the second half of the day. I would notice the shutters of some of the small shops in the locality half down or a makeshift curtain arranged to cut down the entry of heat to the shop,while the shopkeeper doze off to afternoon siesta after his daily quota of maach-bhaat morsel.Not a good business proposition to do in the middle of the day,but I don’t blame them,specially when you have minimum customer traffic during the times of sweltering heat.Summer afternoon,however,did not always spell bad business for all .The ones who sold ice lollies called pepsi(the name that was given by the sellers themselves..remember the pipe shaped flavored and colored ice lollies?that probably you as a kid would buy with a 50

Colourful Ice-lollies
(Photo courtesy: Jishnu Nandy)

paisa ,tear the edge of the plastic pack with your canines and gulp at a go)dunked in their ice thermocol boxes,as they hop on and off the mini bus and private buses stopped in the middle of a traffic jam being caught up at a traffic signal.While watching the street children kind of jumping,dancing and racing against each other under the public tap,which probably they would consider their private fountain showers, I would be immediately transmitted to my childhood days.Summer in spite of all it’s ghastliness would bring the unadulterated joy of summer vacations.The summer vacations were largely spent in my grandparent’s house in central Kolkata, with all my cousins united to spend the holidays together.

Bird’s eye view of a busy road in Central Kolkata

A boy having ice candy to beat the heat
(Source:Reuters)

The joy of watching the para cricket(oh!if you have not known we have a Sourav Ganguly in every locality,if not a Sachin Tendulkar)round the corner of the street and wait impatiently towards the end of the afternoon for the ice cream-wallah(ice cream seller)to come in the locality with their ice-cream carts.Our (me and my cousins’s)balcony would be the parapet of the roof terrace,We would cautiously stand on the tip of our toes with the upper half of the body leaning little dangerously towards the roof parapet,as we were not tall enough to see the lane below just by standing on our feet.While the ice cream vendors would make sounds of sort to signal their grand arrival , I along with my cousins would rush hurriedly to our grandparents to ask for khuchro(small currency change) to buy ourselves our favorite vanilla,choco-bar,orange flavored ice cream cups and sticks.Every season comes with a reason-true! whoever said so .

Summer have it’s fair share of contribution to the Bengali appetite.Few vegetables which are only available during summer like mocha(banana blossom),potol(pointed gourd),enchor(jackfruit) etc are catapulted to a position of great respect and delicacies would be made out of them.While in summer there are few vegetarian option available as such,the humble brinjal aka aubergine aka eggplant would come to the rescue of the households as it is one of the most precious summer vegetables( though it ‘s widely grown even in warm tropical winter as well)we get.The patla maach er jhol shobji diye(light fish curry with vegetables)will inevitably have large chunks of brinjals or eggplants immersed in the flavorful broth to sooth the summer heat fatigued souls and if you give it a thought you can carve out a star dish out of the eggplant in the form of Doi Begun or eggplant in yogurt based gravy.Doi begun is one of the easiest mouth watering ‘make ahead dish’ that you can make with the fried eggplants tipped in a lightly spiced yogurt based gravy,generally served mildly chilled or at room temperature with steaming hot rice to have a cooling effect.

Doi begun to me does not look like something very authentic to Bengali tradition.I believe,this dish mostly grew in popularity in Bengal by being influenced by various Muslim invasion and influences from milk and cream based cuisine of Afghanistan.The dish which has huge similarity to our own doi begun is quite popular in Afganistan and is known as Baigan ki Boorani.Similar dishes can be traced to Tripoli in Lebabnon with a meat topping of choice(optional) as Batenjane be-laban or Fattet-al-Makdoos as eggplant in yogurt based sauce in Beirut.Brinjal or eggplant with yogurt is also a delicacy representative of the Turkish meze.Thick yogurt is a common ingredient in the Turkish cuisine ,and is often served flavored with herbs and spices with grilled vegetables like eggplant.

How I make Doi Begun..

Ingredients

Aubergine/Eggplant/Brinjal : 1 cut into thick round slices
Hung curd /Greek yogurt/thick yogurt : 500 gm
Red chilli powder :1 tsp
Turmeric: 1tsp
Dry roasted cumin powder: 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
Ginger: 1 tbsp(finely chopped)
Curry leaves: a handful
Dry red chilli :1-2
Asfoetida/Hing : a pinch
Mustard seeds : 1 tsp
White oil to fry

Recipe

Cut the eggplant into thick slices,and dry marinate them with salt,turmeric ,red chilli powder and cumin powder.
Let the eggplant sit in the dry marination for half and hour
Fry the eggplant slices in batches,making sure they are not over fried . Place them in the serving bowl.
Beat the chilled yogurt with sugar and salt.The yogurt mix should ideally have a sweet-salty-tangy taste to it.
Spread the yogurt mix on top of the eggplant making sure the eggplant slices soak well into the yogurt sauce.
In the wok heat 2 tablespoon white oil.When the oil is smoking hot ,lower the gas and add the dry red chillies (broken into halves) and the mustard seeds.Let them splutter.At this point add the chopped ginger pieces and fry them till they change their color to golden brown but not burnt.Add the curry leaves and give the mix a good stir.As soon as the curry leaves change their color add a pinch of asfoetida and take the wok off the flame.
Pour the oil-spice mix on the yogurt dressing .
Serve it chilled or at room temperature,but do not reheat the dish as the yogurt might curdle.
You can prepare the dish 4-5 hours before serving,but don’t keep it overnight in the fridge.

Note: Cut the eggplant slices little thick to avoid them getting soggy in the yogurt mixture.

P.S. Can you think of any other Bengali vegetarian dish which is influenced by Muslim invasions in India?

Khoya /Mawa making made easy

Jun9

If you are an Indian and fortunate enough to be spared by the curse of dairy or lactose allergy it’s most likely that you have grown up tasting mawa/khoya in one form or the other.Be it your favourite hot gulab jamun or gajar ka halwa from Delhi or Shaktigar-er lyangcha and kheer -er shondesh from West Bengal or Benaras ka pedha they all contain khoya or mawa.This dairy product which is an essential part of many Indian sweet and savory dishes is actually the residue milk solid made from dry whole milk or whole milk thickened in a deep open vessel over slow heat.

Facts about Khoya/Mawa…did you know?

Khoya are of 3 types : Hard Khoya or Batti Khoya is the toughest variety of milk solids used in making pedha or ladoo.Smooth Khoya or Chikna Khoya is soft,smooth and sticky variety used in shondesh and rabri making.There is also a granulated variety known as Danedaar Khoya and is used to make kalakand,milkcake etc.In this the milk is curdled before evaporation leading to a grainy texture of khoya.
Khoya is used in making many Indian dessert,but the sweetened variety is a dessert in itself and is known as Pal Khoya .

Khoya ”cakes” wrapped in sarees and dupatta(s) in old Delhi’s Khoya Market
(Photo Courtesy : eatanddust)

Around Diwali about 2000 people flock in old Delhi’s whole sale khoya market at Mori gate bus terminal and huge quantity of khoya and mawa comes from U.P,Punjab,Haryana and Rajasthan.
You can find numerous shops in old Delhi selling mawa or khoya for a living.Om Shiv Mawa Bhandar,Jamnadas Khoyawale,Vishal Mawa Bhandar,Pawan Dairy Products are few Khoya dealers from Patel nagar,ChandniChowk,Khari Baoli markets of Delhi.

Khoya trader in old Delhi’s wholesale khoya market (Photo courtesy : eatanddust)

Old Delhi’s khoya market handles 50 tonnes of Khoya on any given day.Apparently tons of milk solids are auctioned everyday at Khoya Mandir at Mori Gate on a wholesale basis.
Khoya or Mawa are widely used in Indian,Pakistani,Bangladeshi and Nepalese cuisine in making dessert and exotic savory dishes.
It is similar to Ricotta Cheese but the moisture content is much less in Khoya than in Ricotta Cheese.
Khoya/Mawa are great source of Vitamin D and calcium.
The usage of khoya or mawa largely increased and spread over the whole of North India with the Mughal rule and the previous muslim invasions.The Arab traders brought with them exotic spices, Khoya or mawa and the royal rasoi(kitchen) hugely patronized the usage of such food ingredients leading to spread of this culinary culture along with the Mughal rule.

Being brought up in Kolkata,the epicentre of the art of ‘mishti’ or ‘shondesh’ making along with the Kolkata style mughlai food I got introduced to khoya or mawa quite early in childhood.Mom’s Shahi Paneer or home made ledikini would contain proportion of milk solids.We got our supply of milk solids or khoya readily available in the para’r mishti’r dokan (local sweet shops).The khoya could have been bought from the shop and used at one’s disposal,and even sometime stored in air tight containers in the fridge for over 1-2 days atleast.

The grainy textured Khoya/Mawa

After coming to UK I realized the blessings of the local sweet shops ,because the khoya making process is indeed time and energy consuming.Being the foodie that I am I was ,however,unperturbed by the unavailability of khoya from the local shops.I decided to make it on my own without being bogged down by the strenuous and time consuming procedure. I came up with a shortcut.Yes ‘short cut to success’ do exist..at least in case of khoya or mawa making 🙂

The Khoya ”Cake”

Ingredients

Dry whole/full fat milk powder : 1 cup

Ghee or clarified butter : 3 teaspoon

Milk : 1/4 th cup

Procedure of Khoya or Mawa making

In a microwave safe bowl take 3 teaspoon ghee and to it add 1/4th cup milk(room temperature).Mix it well and put in the microwave for 1 and 1/2 minute or till the milk is warm .After taking out the bowl, put 2 cups of dry milk powder over the hot ghee-milk mixture. Stir and mix it well with a spoon.The mawa/khoya is ready.

Checking the texture of the Khoya

Note :

To have more grainy textured khoya you can add half to one cup of more milk powder.
This khoya can be brought to room temperature,knead into a tight dough(by adding a teaspoon of milk if it’s too dry) and wrapped in a muslin cloth to be stored in the fridge for around 3-4 days and can be frozen for about a month in an air tight container.
Bong Appetite’s suggestion : You can use this khoya in making Shondesh and Enchor -er Biriyani.

Kitchen Conversation

Jun9

”Hey what’s up? Good to meet you all.I am just trying to adjust myself in this not so quite corner”, quipped Deep fryer Gordon.

”Well you have to adjust with that little available space dear! you are a new entry to the kitchen after all”-remarked Kadhai.

”Hahaha.. you sound so angry Mrs Kadhai Dalal !” said Pressure cooker Stein.

”I know ,I know, what you mean to say.. but I am sure Handi Kapoor would agree with me” ,answered Dalal.”These Blond babes (referring to Pressure Cooker and Deep Fryer)keep coming every now and then at the whims and fancy of the lady of the house and tries to steal our position of prime.”

”Handi, hello ..!!! are you sleeping? how can you sleep in between conversation….” grumpily said Kadhai.

Handi with a big yawn..”no no not sleeping ,just trying to take a power nap.Had a tiring day yesterday you know.That exotic Biriyani was cooked after a long time.So had to undergo lots of gruel..and these maid servants..hardly take into consideration my old age!”

”These maids ..I tell you ……….grrrrr..” grumbled old Handi Kapoor.

”Look at me, I am old and vintage too but then she(the maid) cant do much to my look”- said Shil Nora Singh Sokhi from bottom of the spice rack.

”Well well.. look who’s talking. You hardly have a body to flaunt ,how does it matter!! Look at my size zero figure” said the Electric beater Oliver.This is why (referring to the lady of the house)cleans me herself and that too with lots of love.”

”Size zero figure and you!!” smirked Spatula Lawson..”I am the only one with size zero figure”.

”Hey stop fighting, the lady of the house is coming to the kitchen”-Shil Nora tried to stop the quarrelling brigade.The lady came in with a packet full of fresh home delivered pizza. She took the dinner plates,a couple of forks and knives and went off.

”These home delivered junk foods will make us lazy one day”..murmured Mrs.Kadhai Dalal.All nodded head in unison and agreed.

For once there was agreement and peace in the kitchen!

Chocolate Fudge Cake with Strawberry and Twix : The making of a birthday cake

Jun3

Whether it’s the 1st birthday or a surprise 30th birthday or a 100 year celebration, birthday cakes are as special as the birthdays themselves. Ain’t they? Birthdays for me are sheer nostalgia of home made fruit cakes specially baked by Maa with lots of love.I would wait year round for this special day to smell and taste the richness and goodness of home baked cakes.There were not many bakery shops back then in Kolkata and not many catering custom made cakes ,so Maa was the only one who I would look up-to on my birthdays for cakes.I would be her little assistant helping her making the cake batter or keeping an eye on the cake from outside the glass door of the cake oven.Helping her doing the cake was so much fun.Little did I know one day this cake apprenticeship with mom will inspire me to bake birthday cakes myself.

It was my husband’s birthday,been 4 year into the marriage I have been doing the baking ritual every year on his birthdays or shall I say growing with my baking abilities on the occasion of his birthdays?!! I have planned an impromptu surprise party; there was so much to do like inviting guests,arranging things, doing the groceries ,baking a cake -all that secretly! Quite a tough task at hand with only 5 days to his birthday.So I decided to ease out on the cake.The plan was to make a simple chocolate cake with a fudge ganache and easy but interesting decoration to go with.I chalked out the idea and look of the cake that I would like to make, and made a quick list of ingredients to buy.Once the ingredients were at my disposal making the birthday cake was a cakewalk,literally !

And here comes the confession : I am no pro at this,just learning my way through lots of trial and error- the art of baking.But honestly I feel baking can be therapeutic.It’s like a magic to see a batter of cocoa powder,sugar,plain flour to transform slowly into a moist fluffy chocolate cake.It’s like the caterpillar to butterfly transformation story for me.

Recipe for Chocolate Fudge Cake with Strawberry and Twix

Ingredients

For the Cake

225 g plain flour/self raising flour

350 g caster sugar

85 g cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 free range eggs

250 ml milk

125 ml vegetable oil/sunflower oil

2 tsp vanilla extract/ vanilla essence

250 ml boiling water

For the chocolate fudge icing

400 g blocks of milk chocolate,chopped

2/3 cup thickened cream/double cream

1/2 cup caster sugar or to taste

3-4 tbsp milk (if required)

For decoration of the cake

200 g strawberries, halved

A few packet of Twix or KitKat

A ribbon of your choice

Preparation of the Chocolate Cake

1.Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F

2.Grease a cake tin of 20 cm/8 inch

3.Sift the cake flour, cocoa powder ,sugar in a large bowl ensuring that there is no lump in the batter.

4.Add the baking powder and salt to the mix.Give a dry whisk with the hand blender to mix all the dry ingredients.

5.Start adding all the wet ingredients (except boiling water) one by one: eggs,milk,oil and vanilla essence or extract.

6.Using an electric beater or a hand blender mix the batter well so that the ingredients are well combined.

7.Add the boiling water a little at a time,blending well so that the batter is smooth and liquidly.

8.Pour the mixture in the greased cake tin.

9.Bake at 180C for about 40 mins or until the top is firm to touch or skewer inserted to the centre of the cake comes out clean.

10.Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for 10 mins.

11.Use a spatula or a blunt knife to loosen the cake from the side and base.

12.Cool the cake in the wire wrack completely at least for 2-3 hour before applying the fudge icing.

Preparation of the fudge icing

1.Add 1″ of water in a medium saucepan or pot and bring to gentle simmer(you can speed up the process by adding 1 tsp of salt to the water)

2.Place heat proof bowl with an handle attached on top the pot when the water has reached the boiling point.Make sure that the bottom of the pot is not touching the boiling water.The steam of the water will gradually heat up the pot.

3.Add the chopped chocolate pieces to the pot and stir occassionaly until smooth and melted.Add the cream at this point mixing throughly.Finally add the sugar to the mix and let it melt.

4.Keep little milk handy,in case if the fudge icing becomes very thick,adding milk will make it smoother and easier to apply on the cake.

Decorating the Chocolate Cake

1.You can keep the fudge icing in the fridge for half an hour or so to thicken it a bit.It should be thick enough to hold the Twix or Kit-kat sticks when placed against the cake wall.

2.Spread the fudge icing or ganache with the back of a flat spatula generously on top and all around the cake so that it forms a thick coating.

3.Then stick the Twix or Kit-Kat sticks,one by one against the fudge coating.

4. Top the cake with halved strawberries.

5.Drizzle some of the leftover fudge icing on the strawberries if you wish to.

6.Don’t forget to tie a ribbon round the cake to make it look like the perfect gift ever 🙂

Serving suggestion

When serving individual portions warm the cake pieces with a Twix or KitKat stick for about 30 seconds in the microwave and serve with a scoop of your favourite vanilla icecream.

	Debomita Bose on Shutki maach er bhorta /Mashed…
	bongappetite2013 on Shutki maach er bhorta /Mashed…
	bongappetite2013 on Shutki maach er bhorta /Mashed…
	Mrityunjoy Seal on Shutki maach er bhorta /Mashed…
	Arahaman on Shutki maach er bhorta /Mashed…

Bong Appetite..

A Bong's appetite for good food

Monthly Archives: June 2014

Wordless Wednesdays : After Sunset

Bori diye maach er jhol/fish curry with lentil dumplings and paradoxes of blogger life

Egg-less Gondhoraj Lebu Mousse

A simple fish curry with mustard greens : maach-er jhol shorshey shaak diye

Chocolate Shondesh

Doi Begun /Eggplant in yogurt gravy …. to beat the summer heat

How I make Doi Begun..

Ingredients

Recipe

P.S. Can you think of any other Bengali vegetarian dish which is influenced by Muslim invasions in India?

Khoya /Mawa making made easy

Kitchen Conversation

Chocolate Fudge Cake with Strawberry and Twix : The making of a birthday cake