Doi Maach

The first proper dish I had ever cooked in my life. This was way back in 2002 when I met my husband's (then boyfriend's) maternal family and with everybody around sans my boyfriend, I was the little trembling adolescent girl just out of her teens and doing her first year of Engineering, when I was informed by my boyfriend that his maternal family was in town and I should go to visit them. I was in the hostel then and super terrified to meet them all, although I had known them since childhood (we were childhood friends, btw). However, I was meeting them for the first time after our relationship was made public and so the anxiousness and hesitation. They are the sweetest people ever and as dinner time was approaching, no one was in the mood to cook. I got a little carried away in my bid to impress them as a Daughter-in-Law and suddenly spurted out, I can cook! God knows what I was thinking!! I did not know the ABC of cooking then, leave aside making a proper dish. They readily agreed and I rushed to make a hurried phone call to my Mom for the quickest, easiest, and foolproof recipe. That was a day and today is one. The dish was fabulous and I was officially declared Grihalakshmi (Goddess of Prosperity)!!  Reliving those memories today with this dish made with love from an Assamese Wife for her Bengali Sweetheart!!

Ingredients

4 pieces of Rohu fillet (you can increase this quantity to a maximum of 6 pieces for this gravy. For more than 6 pieces, you will need to increase the ingredients for the gravy accordingly)

2 medium onions roughly chopped

2 each of cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaves

1 tbsp fresh ginger paste

Scant 1/2 cup yogurt whipped

A pinch of turmeric

1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder

1 1/2 tsp of sugar

Salt to taste

Mustard oil as required

Handful of raisins (optional)

1 tsp ghee (optional)

1 tsp good quality garam masala

Direction

Wash and clean the fishes and marinate it with some salt and turmeric and keep aside for 30 minutes. In a pan dry roast the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and bay leaves and keep aside. Once cool, pulse for just 1 sec to coarsely crush the spices. Alternatively, you can also grind them coarsely in a mortar and pestle. Now heat a little oil in the pan and fry the onions till pink. Remove from pan and let it cool. Finely grind the onions to a paste, preferably in the same grinder where you ground the spices (after transferring the spices, of course). This will impart maximum flavor to the gravy. In the same pan where you fried the onions, fry the fishes till they are golden browned on both the sides. Take care not to over brown or to fry them till crispy hard. Lastly, in a bowl take the whipped yogurt and add a pinch of turmeric, 1 tsp sugar, salt, half of the onion paste, and ginger paste and mix well and keep aside. 

Now time to assemble the gravy. Heat oil in the same pan where you fried the fish (in case, the oil has blackened and has charred bits of fish or others, change the pan). Add the coarsely ground spices and fry for a sec till a lovely aroma arises. Follow up with the remaining onion paste and 1/2 tsp sugar and fry till oil separates from the edges. Now, add the chilli powder and fry for another minute. Lower the flame and remove the pan from fire and add the yogurt mixture. Mix well and put it back on low flame. Once mixed well, increase the flame to medium and continue stirring continuously till oil starts coming out from the edges and the mixture thickens. This will take about 5-7 minutes. Now add about 1/2 cup water (add more if you have more than 4 pieces of fish) and bring it to a boil. Add the fried fish and raisins and cover the pan and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes for the fish to absorb the gravy. Remove the cover and stir. The gravy should thicken a bit by now and have a silky smooth texture. Add a tsp of ghee and garam masala and give a gentle stir. Remove from heat and serve hot with steamed rice.

Dahi Kabab

Some dishes are meant to be delayed until the perfect time and today was one such day. I had this lingering thought of preparing dahi kababs some day but somehow I never happened to look up its recipe or really took interest in making them. All I knew was that they are made of hung curd with a few other ingredients, besan being one of it. I am not a big fan of besan and so the recipe never got onto my priority list, though I did think of making it sometime in the future. After my last weekend's party, I had about half a bowl of yogurt dip lying in the fridge and I just knew I had to make them. I quickly looked up some recipes, mostly with besan, until I found this recipe by Tarla Dalal where she used Paneer. I was super pleased and immediately jumped onto the wagon. The kababs were the most amazing melt-in-the-mouth types bursting with flavors. You have to try it to believe that an ingredient as simple as the yogurt can give you such illustrious result.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup paneer grated

1/2 cup hung curd (in my case, I used the yogurt dip made with hung curd)

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tbsp coriander leaves chopped

1 tbsp bread crumbs for binding

1/3 cup fried onions (preferably crispy fried)

1-2 chillies chopped (optional)

Salt as per taste

2 tbsp chopped cashews

2 tbsp raisins

Bread crumbs for rolling the kababs

Oil for shallow frying

Direction

In a bowl, take the grated paneer, hung curd, spices, nuts, 1 tbsp bread crumbs, and salt and mix well. If you feel the mixture is not binding well, add some more bread crumbs just enough to bind it all together. Adding a lot of bread crumbs will make it taste like more of bread pakora. Add the fried onions and mix well. Check for seasoning. Now take small ball sized portions from the mixture and gently press between your palms to give the shape of a kabab. Roll the kababs on a plate of bread crumbs and arrange on a plate. Repeat for the rest of the mixture. Now keep the plate of the ready to fry kababs in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or until ready to fry. 

Heat a little oil in a frying pan and shallow fry the kababs till golden on both sides. Remove from heat and serve hot with coriander chutney. You can keep these kababs ready in the fridge for frying just before serving. Ensure that you keep them covered when keeping for longer duration.

                                        

                                        

Dahi Baingan (Brinjal/Aubergine in Yogurt Sauce)

Brinjal is not quite one of the vegetables that I look forward to eating. However, this recipe by one of my blogger friends, Farrukh Shadab, definitely inspired me to make this dish and, I must admit, I am quite happy with the result. If you love brinjal, then this recipe is a must try for you. If you don't, even then you should give it a try, like I did, and completely fell in love with it.

Ingredients

3 brinjals, the long variety

3 tbsp yogurt, whipped

1 tsp grated ginger or ginger powder

1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp fennel powder

5 cardamoms

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp asafoetida/hing

Salt to taste

Oil

Directions

Slit the brinjals length wise and keep aside. In a medium skillet, heat the oil and shallow fry the brinjals. Remove from oil and keep aside. In the same oil, add the hing and the cardamoms. Fry for few seconds. Add the dry spices, chilli powder, turmeric powder, fennel powder and very little water and fry till the paste starts leaving oil. Tip in the fried brinjals and give a light stir. Ensure that the brinjals do not get mushy. Now add the beaten yogurt and mix well. Add salt and sugar and cover cook on low heat for some time till the gravy gets dry. Remove from heat and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with plain rice or roti.

                                        

Doi Mangsho (Yogurt Chicken)

When families with kids come visiting you, it's always a challenge to cook something which satisfies both the generations. After a little thought process and research, I squared in on this recipe for yogurt chicken which is not just easy to make but makes the taste buds happy as well!

Ingredients

500-600 gms chicken (I used boneless)

1/2 cup yogurt

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1 onion roughly chopped

1/2 inch ginger chopped

6-7 pods garlic chopped

6-7 pieces cashew

2 each whole garam masala (cloves, cinnamon, cardamom) 

2+1 tbsp mustard oil

Salt as per taste

Directions

Clean and cut the chicken into small pieces. In a bowl, add the yogurt, red chilli powder, and salt and prepare the marinade. Add the chicken pieces to this marinade and keep it aside for 20-30 minutes. In a kadhai (wok), add 2 tbsp oil and splutter the whole garam masala. To this, add the marinated chicken and give a stir on high for 2-3 minutes. Simmer the gas and cook the chicken covered while stirring occasionally. In a separate kadhai, heat the remaining oil and add the onion, ginger, and garlic and fry till golden brown in color. Add the cashew and fry for few more minutes. Remove from heat and let it cool. In a blender, add the onion fry and make a coarse paste. Add this onion cashew paste to the chicken and mix everything well. Taste for salt and add if required. You can also add a little sugar, if you like. Let it remain on low heat for 5-6 minutes till the gravy thickens. Remove from heat and serve hot with plain rice/roti.