Strawberry Panna Cotta

Hello People, hope you guys had fun on Valentine’s Day. Last week was hectic for me so very less updates here. It’s season of love, season of red and also season of strawberries. It’s raining strawberries in almost all local grocery stores in the city. People even sell strawberries in traffic signals these days. I got some great deals at the supermarket so got some for myself. 

I literally enjoy strawberries with cream or condensed milk… so sinful. You can use these lovely strawberries in so many ways from breakfast to dessert. Over the weekend I was thinking of making a strawberry cheese-cake but then last moment I changed my mind to try out a strawberry panna cotta. And there I was driven by the desire making these little cups of pleasure.



What is Panna Cotta? (for those who are not familiar with it)

Panna cotta is an Italian dessert and it literally means cooked cream. You can use almost any flavor to build up on a basic panna cotta. And It is one of the simplest desert recipe that you can try out. You don’t need an oven or anything fancy. You can make your pana cottas in moulds, cups, ramekins, or even wine glasses. You can serve them either in your glasses or you can de mould them and serve. Believe me it just doesn’t matter. Finally you are going to enjoy them. 

For this recipe I have done both – I have made in my juice glasses and also in my silicon cup cake moulds. So you can choose which method you want to use. Now let’s see the recipe quickly.


All that you need:

  1. Fresh cream – 1 cup (you may also use low fat or double, I am using Low fat here)
  2. Whole milk – ½ cup
  3. Sugar – ¼ cup
  4. Strawberry crush – 2 table spoon (I am using strawberry preserves)
  5. Fresh strawberry – 6-7 chopped
  6. Gelatin – 2 tablespoon (you can use a gelatin sheet, or dust or granules, any gelatin is fine)
  7. Warm water to soak & dilute gelatin

 Let’s get Started:

– Add warm water to gelatin and let it soak and expand

– Add fresh cream in a sauce-pan and put it on medium heat

– Add milk and sugar and mix well.
[Don’t put on high heat or stir vigorously – you don’t want the cream splitting up]

– After 4-5 mins take it off the heat and mix gelatin to this mixture.

– Add strawberry crush/ strawberry preserve to this mixture. It will give a beautiful color and have an intense strawberry flavor

Now all that is left is to refrigerate and let it set!

Ways of Setting your Panna Cotta

If you want to set the panna cotta in moulds and you want to de-mould and serve then put chopped strawberries first in the moulds and pour in the panna cotta mixture. 

Like in the following images



If you are serving it in glasses or ramekins then pour the mixture first in the vessels.

Put the filled moulds/ramekins in the fridge for 2-3 hours and let it set.

Do not put it in the freezer to save time or else you’ll get an iced panna cotta… you really don’t want that.



Serve them chilled and garnish them with chopped strawberries. You can also add some strawberry syrup if you want for the garnish.

Wasn’t that really easy peasy? I can assure you it tastes yumm…

Some Tips:

You need to be careful when you are soaking the gelatin. Make sure it has diluted in the water well or else you might find them setting at the bottom of your panna cotta.


Try this easy recipe and let me know how it was. I really like your comments.


Product Review: Horlicks Oats in Classic Masala

Hello there, tell me frankly who likes oats? Well I am not that big a fan of oats I find them taste like baby food!! But yes they are healthy and full with fiber. My everyday breakfast usually consists of Cereals or toast and egg or if I am having breakfast at work I’ll have a sandwich or ‘poori subji’whatever the canteen fellows are cooking on that particular day. Now coming back to Oats my husband is another health freak who wants to have everything healthy so he sometimes have this Quaker Oats. I kind of have an aversion to the plain oats thing because I feel they are bland and tasteless. I can still have flavored oats.

There are many brands of Oats available in India and Horlicks by GSK has recently ventured into this space. I think lately Horlicks has been doing some consumer offers/promotions where they are giving a mini pack free. Now I don’t remember exactly with which product I got this sample but nonetheless I tried it out, and thought of reviewing it. Now this one is not a sponsored product review kind of thing so you can expect an honest review. Frankly, if this wasn’t the ‘masala oats’ I woudn’t even have bothered to try it. I have have some more samples lying around. At the end of the review I’ll tell you if I am going to consume them or toss them away or give them to someone.

In Variant Classic Masala – with Real Vegetables & Spices


Let’s get into the product now.

Product Name: Horlicks Oats

Variant: Classic Masala [They have four variants in Indian market – Plain oats, Classic Masala, Southern Spices & Mild Kurma]

MRP: Rs 10/- for 28g pouch

I’ll put up the ingredient list & Nutritional facts from the back of the pack. Doesn’t make sense for me to write them down again.

Ingredients & Nutrition Facts


Product Claim:
  1. Has real Vegetables & Spices
  2. Rich in dietary fibers & Protein


Method of Preparation

It is mentioned at the Back of the pack and looks quite easy
  1. You have to boil 1 glass of water in a pan
  2. Empty the entire content of the pack in the water and mix well
  3. You need to boil it on high flame for few seconds and then cook for 3-4 minutes on medium flame
  4.  Mix well and serve hot

How to make it as on pack

My Experience

Now that was easy said than done. It actually took me over 8 minutes precisely to get it into a good consistency. And when tasted it was edible. I like the fact that there are some veggie bits and spices otherwise it would have turned really bland and as I say baby food like.

Few things you should note while making this, you need to add a little seasoning. I added little salt and pepper to make it taste little better.  

It obviously didn’t look like how it is shown in the Front of pack. It neither had so many vegetables nor were the flakes so big and visible but I give that point to them because now-a days everyone does food styling and all. No product look as perfect as its on Front of pack that’s like a known fact, so I am okay with it.

This is how it looks when you make it

Something that could have been better:

I think there’s very little product for a full breakfast. It doesn’t yield a full cup of oats. It’s just a little more than half a cup. And to sustain your active part of the morning with only one bowl of this oats is difficult. I had it with a toast and some juice. So maybe they can think of increasing the grammage.

My Rating: I’ll give it a 3.5 out 5.

What will I do with the other samples of Horlicks Oats Classic Masala?

This is something I need to think I have 3 more packs of the same flavor and my husband doesn’t like flavoured/masala oats. So I am thinking of having one probably on some lazy day when I don’t feel like making any breakfast or I can give to some health conscious friends to try.



So guys that was the product review. Do leave a comment how you liked it.

Which are your favorite Oats Brands? Leave a comment and I’ll try them too.

———————————————————————————–
I got this product as a free sample with some other product. It’s not a sponsored review. All opinions are my own and I am honest while reviewing a product.
———————————————————————————–






Potato & Leek Soup

Hello peeps, I told you I’ll be back with some more fresh soup recipes and here I am with a creamy filling soup recipe – The Potato & Leek Soup. When it’s chilly outside and you want to keep yourself warm – there are few things you would want to do – keep sipping hot coffee, milk, chocolate or even hot water or just have hot soups. Now I am not at all a tea drinker (its really something being a Bengali) and have stopped taking coffee as well recently. These days I am on green teas, white teas and Chinese teas!! The nights here are quite cold and I feel hot soups are just the right thing for you to warm up and they are healthy as well.


This is how Leeks look
Image Source: www.veseys.com

Now leeks are not readily available in every market in India, but now you have so many supermarkets and hyper markets that sell exotic stuffs that you will not find it extremely difficult to source it. I picked these bunches of leeks from Auchan Hypermarket in Koramangala, Bangalore. In case you don’t know how it looks I’ll pin a photo here from Google. 


I also need to give you a little tip on working with leeks. You need to wash them really nice. It’s better to loosen the layers and wash, because normally it will contain loads of soil and you never know if there’s any fertilizer. And while using it for cooking chop off the dark green parts from the top. The white fleshy part from bottom is what you are going to need and that’s where all the taste is.

This is how Leeks are chopped – you need the white & light green portions
Image Source: www.spoolandspoonblog.com 
So let me keep this post short and let’s just start with it.



All that you need

Yield: 6 servings

  1. 3 medium sized potatoes – diced (you may use any potato for this recipe)
  2. 3 leeks – finely chopped
  3. 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter (you may use table butter also)
  4. 3 cups of vegetable broth
  5. Salt to taste
  6. Pepper to taste (I have used black pepper & white pepper both)
  7. ½ a cup of milk (good substitute for cream if you don’t want the fat content from cream)




Let’s Get Started


Melt butter in a wok and add the diced potatoes. Add little salt and sauté the potatoes till they start becoming soft

Add the chopped leeks to the potatoes and sauté them till they turn translucent

Add the vegetable broth and simmer for 10 minutes with the lid on

When you see the potato and leek is cooked, transfer them in a blender/food processor and blend it smooth. If you have a hand blender you can directly blend in the wok.

Transfer it back to the wok and allow it to heat up. At this moment add milk and mix well and cook for 2 minutes in low heat.

Add salt & pepper to taste.

And you are done.

Hot and fresh creamy Potato & Leek soup is ready. You can enjoy it with croutons/toast or just by itself. I had a multigrain toast along with it.

Do let me know how you liked the soup. And also let me know which are your favorite soups.
P.S. If you like the recipes and want to add on your pinterest boards, just hover over the photos and add to your boards. 🙂

Spinach Soup

Hello there, I am writing in this blog after a lot of time. I have been travelling entire Nov-December and so wasn’t getting the time to prep photos and posting in here. But you can expect some activity in the next few weeks here. So stay tuned.

Now tell me, how have you all been? Have you been facing the chill lately? December and now Jan is quite chilly in here in Bangalore. Those who don’t know much about Bangalore, let me tell you we are in the southern half of India which is pretty hot, but Bangalore enjoys a wonderful cool weather all round the year. So when people are going crazy with heat in places like Hyderabad and Chennai we enjoy nice cool breeze and awesome weather. Okay now let me not deviate from what I wanted to write.

It has been quite chilly and what better than home-made hot soups to enjoy that chill! I made quite a lot of soups in last few weeks so I am going to share them soon over here. Now I have used fresh ingredients and healthy stuffs, so you check them out. I will also add a nutrition fact latter.

Today let me share you my recipe of Spinach Soup

Nahh… don’t go yukk… try this recipe its really yumm… no bitterness, no heavy cream and no corn flour.



All that you need
  1. Spinach – 4 bunches
  2. Garlic – 4-5 cloves crushed
  3. Onion – 1 finely chopped
  4. Cooking butter – 3 teaspoon (you may use table butter as well)
  5. Milk – 1/2 cup
  6. Vegetable Stock – 1 cup
  7. Salt – to taste
  8. Pepper – to taste
  9. All purpose flour – 1 teaspoon

See nice and easy ingredients

Let’s get started
– Soak the spinach leaves in water and wash them carefully. If you are using   fresh spinach take care to wash off the soil that comes along. Chop off the thick ends and keep the leaves.

– Take a non stick pan and place the spinach leaves in low flame. Add 1 table spoon of water and little salt. Cover and cook for 5-6 mins.

– In another wok heat 2 teaspoon butter and add onions and garlic and sauté for a minute or till the onion go translucent.

– Add the blanched spinach in this wok and sauté with onion and garlic.

– Add vegetable stalk and let it simmer for 3 minutes.

– Transfer this mixture in a blender and blend it till smooth. You could use a hand blender directly in the wok and blend till smooth

– In the same wok add 1 teaspoon butter and add the flour and fry. This is going to make our soup creamy.

– Add milk and mix. Add the blended spinach mixture to this and mix well.

– At this stage you can decide if you want in thick or little runny. If you want it runny add some more stock.

– Add salt and pepper to taste.


And you are done!!
Wasn’t that really easy peasy?? I love the fact that I am having something as healthy as spinach and still finding it yummy.

Suggested Serving:You can enjoy the soup just by itself, or throw some toasted croutons in or just have it with some bread.


Tiny Tips:
You do not need to boil the spinach in water in order to blanch them. I avoid blanching in that way because when we throw away that water we are throwing away all the nutrients of spinach. So add just a little water and cover it so that the spinach cooks in its own steam. You will retain almost all the nutrients and the lovely green color of spinach.

So enjoy the soup and leave a comment on how it was. You can also leave a comment if you want me to share any other kind of soups. Your comments keep me motivated. So cya till the next time.


Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hello people hope you guys are having an amazing weekend. So tell me who don’t like something sweet to sooth that sweet tooth of yours? Well I know some people who don’t like sweets at all and I fail to understand how! Not my kinda people J

Anyways, yesterday I was craving for something nice warm and chocolaty and I didn’t want to go out to the pastry shop. So I decided how about some chocolate chip muffins? And yes when you get a craving and you decide you want then why not whip up some! I was planning to go shopping in the afternoon but the muffin craving made me bake some muffins before I went out. Yeah it’s really easy and quick – hope you’ll enjoy this.
All that you need
This measurement is for a batch of 6 muffins.
Dry Ingredients
  1. All purpose flour – 2 cups
  2. Baking powder – ¼ cup
  3. Table Salt – 1 teaspoon
  4. Granulated sugar – 1 cup
  5. Chocolate chips – 1 cup (I have chopped down my Morde Dark chocolate bar in small chunks, you can take whole choco-chips which are readily available)

Wet Ingredients
  1. Un-salted butter – ½ cup
  2. Eggs – 2
  3. Milk – 1 cup
  4. Vanilla essence – 2 tspn


Let’s get started

As I told you earlier the procedure is very easy. You need to mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and wet ingredients in another bowl and then mix the two. So you don’t need to cream the butter & sugar and don’t require any hand mixer or anything. So let’s see what you need to do.
– Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and chocolate chips in a mixing bowl just to ensure everything is mixed
– In a separate mixing bowl whisk 2 whole eggs and milk (all should be in room temperature)
– Add the vanilla essence
– Now pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix well
– Add ½ a cup of melted butter with the batter and mix.
[I am using unsalted butter here, if you are using salted regular butter then skip adding salt in the batter]
– Line a muffin tray with paper cups and fill them with the muffin batter.
[If you are using paper cups then you don’t need to grease your muffin tray. In case you don’t have a muffin tray you could use the thick standing muffin cups. You can also bake them in a ramekin but for that you need to grease them well with butter or vegetable oil]
– Now bake the muffins in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 mins.
– Before taking out the muffins insert a tooth pick and check if it’s coming out clean. If it comes out with batter on it bake for 10 more mins.
So that’s it your choco-chip muffins are ready.
Oven fresh little cups of joy 
Little Suggestions

Muffins taste great when it’s warm and fresh. You can see the chocolate chips melt and it becomes heavenly. In case you want little more indulgence you can drizzle some chocolate sauce on it. I tried with some maple syrup and it was yummy.

So do try and let me know how it was.
And here is a little Nutrition Fact for you guys. Something new that I am going to add to all my recipes henceforth.

Doi Potol or Dahi Parwal

Doi potol is a hit vegetarian delicacy of every Bengali Kitchen. Pointed gourd or potol cooked in spices and yogurt. Learn how to make Bengali doi potol
 
As a kid I was a fussy eater and almost never liked any vegetables – green or otherwise. My mom used to have a tough time with me I am sure. Not that I really like vegetables now but still eat much more vegetables than as a kid.
 
There are these vegetables which are really popular among the Bengalis like ‘Begun’ (brinjal), ‘Bandhakopi’(cabbage), ‘Kochu’ – I have no idea what it’s called in English or Hindi or in any other language. And I hate almost all of these. But now since I have Mr. Husband who likes traditional Bengali food at times I have to venture into the kitchen to re-invent some of these.
 
This is potol/ pointed gourd. Image from Shutterstock
‘Potol ‘or ‘parwal’ as called in Hindi (its Pointed Gourd in English – that’s what Google told me) is also as popular in a Bengali household. You will definitely find a ‘potol-bhaja’ in the beginning of your menu if you are up for a hearty Bengali meal. Now that’s little main stream how much ‘potol–baja’ can one have? The next two famous things a Bong cooks up with this ‘potol’are ‘potoler dorma’ & ‘doi potol’.
 
 
 
This is Kundru. Image from Google
It’s difficult to get good fresh ‘Potol’ in this city. They also have this thing called ‘Kundru’ which almost looks like ‘potol’ but is much smaller in size and is hard when you are going to cut. So don’t get that ‘kundru’ if you want to make any Bengali ‘Potol’ preparation.  
 
Over the weekend I had some time with me to cook up something little special and here I am with a traditional ‘doi-potol’recipe. Will do the ‘potoler dorma’ some other time.
 
So lets get to our ‘Doi Potol‘ recipe
 
 
 
All that you Need
 
 
  1. Potol/pointed Gourd – 6-8 pieces
  2. Fresh Yogurt – 1 cup
  3. Paanch Foron – 1 tspn – If you don’t know what this is please refer to Tip #3 in Tiny Tips)
  4. Mustard oil – 1 table spn
  5. Turmeric powder – ¼ tspn + ¼ tspn
  6. Red chili powder – ¼ tspn
  7. Cumin powder – ¼ tspn
  8. Coriander powder – ¼ tspn
  9. Ginger paste – 1 tspn
  10. Salt – to taste
  11. Green Chili – 1
Let’s get Started
 
– Scrape the ‘potol’ lightly so that the skin comes out and clean them under water. Don’t peel but scrape it with the edge of a knife.

– Dust ¼ tspn of turmeric powder and salt over the ‘potol’/pointed gourd and  keep aside

– Heat mustard oil in a frying pan

– Once oil is hot add the ‘potol’/pointed gourd and fry them lightly so that water (within the vegetable) dries up.

– Once the ‘potol’/pointed gourd is fried add the ‘paanch phoron’

– Add ginger paste and mix well with the fried the ‘potol’/pointed gourd

– Take yogurt in a separate bowl and mix all the dry spices – turmeric, red chili powder, cumin powder and coriander powder. Mix well to form a smooth paste.

– Add this spice and yogurt mixture to the ‘potol’/pointed gourd in the frying pan and mix them well

– Add salt to taste and add the green chili. I refer to break the chili in two halves so that you get the flavor in your food with less heat

– Cook in low flame for 10 mins or till you see oil on the sides of the pan.

– Add little water in your yogurt bowl and use up all the spice mix that might be left over in the bowl. Since this preparation is a semi dry one don’t add much of water. Cook for 5 mins.
 
 
And there you go your Bengali traditional Doi Potol is done.
 
It tastes best with hot rice.
 
Try and let me know how you liked it.
 
 
 
 
 

Rustic Tomato Soup

It has been raining in Bangalore for like ever and its super awesome weather here. It gets quite chilly sometimes surprisingly at this time of the year God knows what’s in store for December. And I am again down with a running nose and cough – It has become a monthly affair almost.

So what’s better than some hot piping soup in this weather to keep my throat happy? Okay the Knorrs, and Chings and Maggi soups are little mainstream – nothing beats the old fashioned freshly made soups minus the corn flour. I am a big fan of fresh soups whenever I have time.

So here goes a simple recipe of a rustic tomato soup for all the soup lovers. And yeah it’s thick and no the watery kinds.



All that you’ll need

1. Canola oil – 1 table spoon –  you can use Olive/Vegetable oil
2. Tomato – 4 large – diced
3. Garlic – 4 cloves
4. Red onion – 1 large chopped – you can use white onion also
5. Salt & pepper – to taste
6. Sugar – ¼ tspn
7. Basil – I have used dried basil about 1 tspn. If you have fresh basil then nothing like it.
8. All purpose flour – 2 teaspoon
9. Butter – 1 teaspoon
10. Fresh Cream – 1 tspn (totally optional)

Let’s get started

  • Take a large pot, heat oil and fry the onions and crushed garlic
  • Add the diced tomatoes in the pot and mix them well till they are juicy and gooey.
  • Once the tomato is cooked take a hand blender and blend it well. Transfer the mixture in a bowl and set aside.
  • Add some butter and let it melt. Add the flour and fry it in the butter to make the rue. This will give a very nice flavor and will add a good texture to the soup. It will also make it thick. 
  • Add your soup to this rue and mix well so that there are no lumps.
  • Add seasoning and herbs and mix well.
  • Add a little fresh cream on top and serve hot with croutons/ toast or just enjoy it as it is.
And hey you are done before you can think anything else.
Wasn’t that easy? I am sure you’ll enjoy. 

Let me know. 


Product Review – Chingri Malai Curry with Hudson Canola Oil

Let me update on some more Bong food. ‘Chingri’, as we call the prawns, is very popular among Bengalis. We love batter fried prawns, prawn curries, prawn with vegetables and so many ways that we cook prawns. However, ‘Prawn Malai Curry’or ‘Chingri Macher Malai Curry’ takes the cake off when it comes to authentic Bengali Prawn preparation. Prawn is cooked in tomato & coconut milk without much of spices and has a very nice subtle earthy taste.

Sometime back I had got this Hudson Canola Oil for review. It came along with a quick recipe book which is quite handy. There must be lot of people who are unaware about this Canola oil. So I have some information about Canola oil. (This is from their website though).

What is Canola?
Hudson Canola Oil that I am reviewing here
Hudson Canola is a standard edible vegetable grade oil, a light oil with neutral taste and flavour. Hudson Canola can be used for all types, methods and varieties of Indian cooking: frying, roasting or grilling. Canola is neutral in flavour and aroma with no distinctive taste or smell.
Canola Oil is extruded from the seeds of the yellow Canola flower.
Canola Oil has the lowest saturated fat amongst all oils, very high monounsaturated fat, very high Omega-3 and rich Vitamin-E content.

Any ways, I have used it now and I am quite happy with the results. It’s light and doesn’t have any strong flavour. You can cook almost anything that you would otherwise do with vegetable oil or Sunflower oil. I have used it both for curries and frying and gives quite good result. It’s very popular in SE Asia. You can even bake with it. It’s a little costly than other ones but you can definitely give it a try.

Anyways let’s get started with our recipe

All that you need

  1. Prawns – 1 Kg (you can use white prawns, tiger prawns or any prawn which you like. Don’t take lobsters though. I have used white prawn here for this recipe. De-vein and clean them)
  2. Lemon – 1
  3. Tomato – make a puree of 4 large tomato – you can use canned pure as well
  4. Coconut milk – 1 cup
  5. Oil – 2 table spoon (I have used Hudson Canola Oil here)
  6. Salt – to taste
  7. Sugar – 1 teaspoon
  8. Cumin seeds – ¼ tspn
  9. Chili powder – ¼ tspn
  10. Cumin Powder – ¼ tspn
  11. Green cardamom – 1
  12. Ginger Paste – ¼ tspn
  13. Sugar – 1 tspn
  14. Greem Chili – 1
  15. Grated coconut – 2 table spoon
  16. Soaked Raisins & Cashew nuts – ½ cup


Let’s Get Started
  • Place the de-veined prawns in a bowl and marinate the prawn with salt and juice of 1 lemon. Mix well and keep aside for 15 mins.
  • Heat a table spoon of oil in a wok and fry the marinated prawns lightly till they turn opaque & orange.
  • Take out in a bowl and keep aside. This will ideally take you about 2 mins. Don’t overcook the prawn at this stage else it will taste like rubber.
  • Add another table spoon of oil in the same wok and add the cumin seeds, green cardamom and a slit green chili.
  • Add ginger paste, cumin powder and red chili powder and fry for a minute.
  • Add the pureed tomato and cook till oil oozes out on the sides of the wok. Add little sugar and salt to taste.
  • Add the seared prawns and mix them well with the tomato gravy.
  • Add the coconut milk and cook it in low heat for few minutes.
  • Add the soaked dry fruits and grated coconut and cook in low heat for a minute.

And that’s it you are done. Isn’t it just simple?
An authentic Bengali Malai curry doesn’t have turmeric, onions or mustard oil (which are otherwise quite common).
It tastes best with rice.
So cook and enjoy and let me know how you liked it.

Aamer Chutney or Mango Chutney

So I am back again in this space after some centuries. Before you people forget me completely let me quickly start blogging once again and get some great recipes for you all.

That’s my new Kitchen
Hey, let me first update you on everything that has been happening from last November – that’s last when I had updated this blog – such a shame. Anyways, I have bought my own apartment (rather we have bought and not I alone) and moved in the suburbs of the city. I designed my own kitchen and love it. I still don’t have a cook so I am doing most of the daily cooking and yes Indro chips in too whenever I return late.

All this travel between work and home is leaving little time for the me-time and that’s why you see my absence from this space – of course apart from my laziness. Haha..

So what am I going to share today? Let me share a good Bengali after meal recipe. We call it “Aamer Chutney” or you may say Mango Chutney. Now green mango or raw mango is very famous all across India, people use it for chutneys and pickle. We Bengalis love our sweet and need something sweety tangy at the end of our meal. This recipe is little different from any other chutney or pickle so do read carefully. It’s really easy by the way.

All that you need:

      1.       Raw green Mango – 1 big mango diced keep (the skin on)
      2.       Lemon juice – 1 tspn
      3.       Salt –  to taste
      4.       Paanch phoron*(5 whole spices)- 1 tspn  
      5.       Oil – 2 tspn
      6.       Green Chili – 1
      7.       Turmeric powder – ¼ tspn
      8.       Red chili – ¼ tspn
      9.       Sugar – ½ cup
      10.   Water – ¼ cup
 
*Paanch phoron – This is a special spice mix which every Bong household will have. It is used extensively in Bengali and Oriya Cuisine. It’s really easy to create one if you don’t have. It requires 5 different spices – Cumin, Kalaunji, Fenugreek/Methi, Fennel seeds/Mouri and Black Mustard Seeds.





Let’s get started:
  •           Heat oil in a pan and add ‘paanch phoron’
  •           Add the diced mangoes once the spices start sputtering
  •           Add salt and mix it well with the mango
  •           Cover and cook it for 2 mins
  •           Once the mangoes soften up add a green chili, turmeric powder,              red chili powder and mix well
  •           Add water, cover and cook for 10 mins
  •           Once it turns mushy add sugar and mix well
  •           Finish it off with a little squeeze of lime

Suggestions

This mango chutney is made mostly in the summers. We have it after lunch and it helps in digestion after a hearty meal.

So go ahead and enjoy and let me know how you liked it.

Payesh – Rice Kheer



If you are a Bengali you can never escape the evergreen ‘payesh’. You have any traditional function, any festival or even a birthday payesh is omnipresent. 

Payesh or rice kheer is a dessert item traditionally made with milk, rice and sugar. However, there are many variations of payesh and can be made with various things like semolina, thatched rice, flour and even with Rasgulla!! Surprised… that’s what I like about cooking you can get so creative.

But this one here is a traditional payesh with rice but with some little twist. Little additions to make it even yummier.

All that you need 

Milk – 2 litres 
Rice – 1/2 table spoon (if you can manage ‘gobindobhog’ rice then even better) 
Granulated Sugar – 2 table spoon 
Green cardamom – 2 pods crushed 
Condensed milk – 1 table spoon (for the added taste) 
Batasha – 8-9 (sweet sugar drops) 
Dry fruits – chopped almonds, cashew, raisins 



Method

Bring milk to boil in a pot. 

Take care to stir the milk as it reduces. Add the rice and let it cook in the milk. 

Keep the gas low and stir at regular levels. If you don’t stir the milk will start sticking at the base and might get burnt. 

Add crushed cardamom Add the sugar only when the rice is cooked.

It’s important to note when to add the sugar – if you add sugar before it will not let the rice cook properly. So add sugar or the sweeteners only when the rice is cooked. 

Add the batasha. Batasha is made of flour and sugar. These sugar drops not only adds flavour in this dessert but also gives an amazing consistency. It helps in thickening the payesh. 

Add the dry fruits and condensed milk and stir for another 2-3 mins.

Let it sit for some time and then you can serve. 

It always tastes best if you let it rest for a good 3-4 hours.