HOW TO COOK MUTTON IN WHITE SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:-
(SERVING THREE)

• Mutton:400 gms.(washed and half boiled)
• Mustard Oil: 2 table Spoon,
• Hung curd : 2 table Spoon,
• Cashew nut paste :2 table Spoon,
• Poppy seed paste:2 table Spoon,
• Onion: 2 (sliced )
• Garlic: 10 cloves (crushed )
• Red Chili powder:1 tea spoon
• Roasted masala powder :3 tea spoon.
• Mutton stock:2 cups
• Milk :half cup
• Cashew nut :(crushed for garnish)
• Salt to taste.

Note:- Roasted masala is a mixture of 2 bay leaves,2 green cardamom pods ,1 brown cardamom pod,1 tea spoon of shajira(white cumin) ,1 table spoon of shamarich (white pepper),1 dried javitri flower (mace),1 star anise,10-12 black pepper 1 inch length cinnamon stick,3 cloves.

DIRECTIONS:-

Put a frying pan on the oven and heat mustard oil .
Add sliced onion , crushed garlic saute for 2 minutes .
Add Hung curd , Cashew nut paste and Poppy seed paste , Red chili powder and saute for 4-5 minutes .
Add half boiled mutton and mix well with the spice.
Add salt to taste .
Add the stock and mix well and put a lid and cook in low flame for five minutes .
Add the roasted masala and mix well .
Add milk and cook in low flame till the mutton is soft.
Garnish with Cashew nuts .
Serve hot with rice or nun .
Enjoy ..........


Note :- One may add fresh cream in place milk and add one tea spoon of ghee at the end.
            The same recipe may be tried with chicken too.

HOW TO PREPARE SALTED PATISAPTA

Patisapta is a very common Bengali pithe .Actually a sweet pancake roll with sweet tasted stuffing inside Patisata is normally sweet in taste but if anyone want to make a salted one ,it can be made salted too .Here is the recipe of the salted patisapta . 

INGREDIENTS:- 

• Flour - 3 tablespoons
• Rice Powdered :- 2 tablespoons.
• Suji (semolina) :- 2 tablespoons
• Red chilli powder quarter teaspoon
• White oil :- 2 tablespoons
• Potato :- 1 (cut in very small cubes )
• Cauliflower :- half (cut in very small pieces 
• Sweet pea -half cup
• Green chili - 1 (cut in small pieces)
• Coriander leaves - half cup
• salt to taste 
• Water according to need

DIRECTIONS :-

Preparation of stuffing :-

Heat one tablespoon of white oil in a frying pan .

Add potato , cauliflower and saute for 2- 3 minutes 

Add sweet peas and chili and saute for 1 minute

Add salt to taste .

Sprinkle a few drops of water and cover with a lid.

Cook till the mixture softens and let it cool.

Preparation of batter :-

Mix rice powder , flour and suji (semolina) in a big bowl .(The ratio of the three items as mentioned above should be followed )

Add water to it to make a batter of medium thickness .

Add salt to taste .

Preparation of Patisapta :-

Take a frying pan and grease it well with white oil.

Sprinkle a few drops of water in the pan and clean the frying pan.

Pour a full table spoon of batter in the pan and give it a round shape with the back of your spoon .

Place stuffing in a line in the middle of the round shape pancake .

Fold it from both side and press a little bit on the top.

Place it in another plate. Patisapta is ready.

Repeat the process again to make another patisapta.

Note :-

Before making each Patisapta the frying pan must be cleaned and greased and sprinkled with water otherwise the batter might stick to the pan and there might be problem to make patisapta.

HOW TO PREARE CHOLAR DALER BORFI

INGREDIENTS :-
(SERVING FIVE)

• Cholar dal(BENGAL GRAM LENTIL) - 250 gms.
• khoa (mawa) - 50 gms
• Green Cardamom - 5
• White oil - 250 gms.
• Sugar - 250 gms. or to taste.
• Flour -2 table spoons

DIRECTIONS :-

Preparation of borfi 

Make very small balls of khoa and put them aside .

Wash the cholar dal (Bengal gram lentil) and put it in pressure cooker 

Add two cups of water and close the lid.

Give just one whistle and wait for two minutes .

Release the pressure of the cooker and open the lid.

Drain the water and make a paste of the gram .

Add flour to it .

Make little balls out of the mixture .

Take a gram ball and put a small khoa ball inside it and give the shape of a borfi ot square .

When all the gram balls are given square shape then heat oil in a frying pan and deep fry them .

After deep frying them put them straight to the warm sugar syrup.

Wait till the sugar syrup pours inside the gram borfis .

Preparation of sugar syrup

To make syrup put another pan on oven and take water in it 

Next add sugar to water in the second pan and let it boil .

Stir the syrup from time to time .

When the sugar melts add green cardamoms to the syrup.

Make a light sugar syrup.

Let the syrup cool down .

Enjoy .....

KALAIDALER BHAPA NONTA PITHE

INGREDIENTS:-
(SERVING TWO)

• Kalaidal powder :- 3 table spoons
• Rice :- 3 table spoons
• Salt to taste
• Red chili powder - quarter teaspoon
• Water :- 1 cup
• White oil :- 1 table spoon
• Asafoetida :- 1 pinch
• Red Chili :- 2
• Mustard seeds :- half teaspoon
• Curry leaves(Botanical name -Murraya koenigii Spreng) :-  8-10 fresh leaves 
• Black salt - 1-2 pinches

DIRECTIONS :-

Mix kalai (biuli) dal and rice powder in a bowl.

Add salt to taste .

Add red chili powder .

Add water to the mixture.

Pour the mixture in a flat tray .

Put the tray to a steamer and steam till it sets . 

Let the tray cool down .

Cut the solid set mixture into squares.

Heat a frying pan and pour white oil in it .

Add asafoetida ,whole red chili ,mustard seeds and curry leaves 

Add the the squares of the steamed mixture and saute for 2-3 minutes .

Sprinkle black salt. 

Salted kalaidaler bhapa pithe is ready to serve. 

BEETROOT HALWA

INGREDIENTS :-
(SERVING FOUR)

• Beetroot - 4 (grated)
• Sugar - half cup or according to taste
• Milk 2 cups
• Condensed milk - half cup
• Ghee - one table spoon
• Cashew nut / Almonds / Pistachio - 5 gms.(chopped)
• Roasted Magaz (melon seeds) - one tra spoon
• Salt- quarter tea spoon
• Cardamom(green) - 2
• Bay leaf - 1
• Cardamom powder - half tea spoon 
• Rose water - one tea spoon

DIRECTIONS:-

Heat ghee in a frying pan.

Fry cashew nuts (or any other nut) and put them aside.

Add bay leaf and cardamom to the ghee .

Add grated beet roots and saute for five minutes .

Add milk and mix well with the beet root .

Add condensed milk to it and fold well .

Add sugar to taste.

Add a pinch of salt and mix everything well.

Add half of the fried nuts and roasted magaz and mix well.

Add cardamom powder and rose water .

Pour in a bowl and let it cool down .

Garnish beetroot halwa with the rest of cashew nuts and magaz .

Enjoy .

TOMATO CHICKEN

Ingrediants :- 

(serving two )

• Chicken - 500 gms ( washed and cleaned )
• Mustard oil -2 table spoon
• Tomato – 5 (4 made paste and 1 for garnishing )
• Capsicum – 1 (made paste )
• Bay leaf – 2
• Cumin seed – half tea spoon
• Garlic – 5/6 cloves
• Onion – 2
• Ginger – half inch
• Green chili - 4
• Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon
• Salt to taste
• Water – 1 cup

DIRECTION:-

Heat a frying pan and pour 2 tablespoons of mustard oil in it.

Add bay leaf and cumin seed to it .

Add crushed garlic cloves , chopped onions and chopped ginger and saute for two minutes .

Add tomato and capsicum paste and saute for two minutes.

Add turmeric powder and green chili and mix them well with the mixture .
Add chicken pieces and cook for five minutes in low flame.

Add salt to taste .

Add one cup of warm water and let it come to boil .

Put on a lid and cook on low flame till the chicken is soft .

Garnish with tomato and serve hot with rice .

Enjoy.

PITHE

In Bengali cuisine `PITHE’ plays an important role specially on the day of POUSH SANKRANTI(THE LAST DAY OF THE MONTH OF POUSH ,the ninth month of the Bengali calendar).This is such a time when there is food even in the house of the poor farmers .The store house is full with new rice .To mark this plentiful condition of the mother earth Bengal as a whole observe POUSH PARVAN ,a festival in which `Pithe ‘ ,sweet dishes are prepared with this new rice in almost every house in BENGAL. Among the special dishes famous preparations are-`payas’,`patisapta’,`pulipithe’,`gokulpithe’,`ranga alur(sweet potato) pithe’,`poa pithe’etc. All these dishes are mostly sweet in taste. The sweetness not simply comes from sugar .During this time `patali gur’ (jaggery made from the juice of date tree) adds special flavour to the pithes .All these mouth -watering dishes are made following very traditional methods so that the taste is always good. The process of making is passed from generation to generation .It may differ in taste from family to family but they are always good in taste simply varying in taste a little sometimes.

EGG VEGETABLE PANCAKE

INGREDIENTS: 
(SERVING TWO)

• Egg - 2
• Tomato - 1 chopped
• Beens - half cup chopped
• Green pea - half cup 
• Carrot - 1 chopped
• Green Chili - 1 chopped
• Flour - 2 table spoons
• Gram Flour - 2 table spoon
• Onion - 1 chopped
• Ginger - 1 tea spoon julienne 
• White Oil - 2 table spoon.
• Salt to taste.

DIRECTIONS:

• Take 1 tea spoon of flour and 1 tea spoon of gram flour in a bowl and mix .
• Mix half of chopped onion , half tea spoon ginger julienne and half chopped green chili.
• Mix an egg .
• Mix half of chopped Tomato ,1/4 cup of chopped Beens , 1/4 cup of Green pea and half chopped Carrot .
• Add salt to taste.
• Heat a frying pan and take one tea spoon of white oil.
• Pour the mixture in the pan and spread it evenly in round shape.
• Wait for 1-2 minutes till the pancake is cooked brown.
• Turn the pancake ans wait till it is brown.
• Make another one with the rest of the material in the same manner .
• Serve hot with pickle or sauce or salad.
• Enjoy.