Hakka Noodles (Indo-Chinese Noodles with Vegetables)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 
Week 1: Bengali Cuisine
Day 8: H for Hakka Noodles
Can't believe we are the end of Week 1 in our Journey through Cuisines and final Bengali dish I present to you is in fact a fusion Indo-Chinese dish that has it's origins in Calcutta/ Kolkatta, the capital city of West Bengal. H for Hakka Noodles was my first and final choice for the letter. Soma @ Ecurry has a lovely post for Hakka noodles where she talks about the Chinese businesses in Calcutta and the amazing Indo-Chinese cuisine that was developed there years ago.

Calcutta (or more recently Kolkatta) is known to be the first place where Chinese migrated in the late 18th and 19th centuries. They brought along their Chinese seasoning and cooking techniques that were adapted to Indian tastes which developed into the popular Indo-Chinese cuisine that we all enjoy today.

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Ghugni (Bengali Street food with Dried Peas)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 
Week 1: Bengali Cuisine
Day 7: G for Ghugni
Today I have a very popular street food from Bengal, called Ghugni. It is also quite popular in Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa too. I've made the Jharkhand version for one of the earlier mega marathons. There it is served with dhuska or a lentil based flatbread.

Bengali version is almost similar to that of Jharkhand except it's made with white peas instead of black chickpeas. Read Sandeepa's post to learn more about Ghugni and how it is an integral part of Bengali food. It is like Chole to the North Indians.

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Fulkopi Posto (Bengali Cauliflower curry with poppy seeds)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 
Week 1: Bengali Cuisine
Day 6: F for Fulkopi Posto (Bengali Cauliflower curry with poppy seeds)
Here's another different way of cooking with veggies, the Bengali way. First up was a simple mixed vegetables flavored with just panch phoron, then it was okra in a spicy yogurt sauce and today it is cauliflower cooked in creamy poppy seed gravy.

Letter F was one of the tough letters to find a dish. Initially I wanted to make 'Fuchka', a Bengali variation of our beloved pani puri. But then after looking at couple of recipes, I wasn't sure if it was puchka, phuchka or fuchka. With so much ambiguity, I left it at that (but I still have a pack of store-bought puris waiting to be used). Then I thought of making Fuluri, a lentil based bajji but I wasn't in a mood to deep fry, so finally chose a simpler and easier to make dish.

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Bengali Mishti Pulao with Vegetables

I made this Bengali Mishti pulao to go with the Enchor Kofta curry. Typically this pulao is made using Gobindo bhog rice which is an aromatic short grain rice, very popular in Bengali households. I've never seen it in Indian stores here, so I used regular basmati rice. Soma says good quality jasmine rice can also be used instead.

Rice is rinsed, drained and dried for at least 30 minutes before making the dish. It is then sauteed with whole spices until aromatic and then cooked till tender. Care is taken to make sure each rice grain is separate and the dish doesn't end up becoming mushy.

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Enchor Kofta (Bengali Jackfruit Kofta Curry)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 
Week 1: Bengali Cuisine
Day 5: Enchor Kofta (Bengali Jackfruit Kofta Curry)
I should first say a big thanks to Sandeepa of Bongmom Cookbook for all her amazing Bengali recipes. It was a breeze picking my dishes for letters A~H because of her blog. I already made Aam Doi, Charchari and Doi Dharosh from her blog. Today's dish Enchor Kofta or jacfruit kofta curry recipe is also from her blog.

I've had a few mishaps making koftas in the past, so I'm usually wary about trying any new recipe. But Sandeepa's recipe looked doable, I took the plunge and made them following her recipe. The koftas were probably the best I've ever made.

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Doi Dharosh (Bengali Okra in Yogurt gravy)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 
Week 1: Bengali Cuisine 
Day 4: D for Doi Dharosh (Bengali Okra in Yogurt gravy)
D for Dharosh or Dhyarosh in Bengali has 2 meanings, one is our beloved okra/ bhindi/ ladies finger and the other not-so-nice meaning is someone who's lazy and clumsy. But I am only talking about D for Okra/ bhindi today.

Doi in bengali means yogurt and in this dish okra is cooked in a spicy yogurt sauce. I was planning to make it when my husband was traveling, so I don't have to make him eat a yogurt based dish. But alas I had to make it when he was around and I made sure that he had something else to eat. I didn't tell him that this dish had yogurt in it and was surprised that he served himself a second serving. I kept quiet and didn't tell him about the secret ingredient :-)

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Charchari (Bengali Mixed Vegetable Curry)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines
Week 1: Bengali Cuisine
Day 3: C for Charchari (Bengali Mixed Vegetable Curry)

I'm going to continue on with my journey through Bengali cuisine for our 'Journey through the cuisines' month long mega blogging marathon. It's Day 3 and we are cooking with the letter C. I chose to make a very simple, everyday Bengali dish called Charchari aka Chorchori aka Chochchori.

It is an easy to make mixed vegetable dish and from the different recipes I found online, each family has it's own way of making this humble dish. Each version had a slightly different veggie used and some used mustard paste while some didn't. I followed Sandeepa's recipe to make my Charchari, except for the addition of mustard paste which I omitted.

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Begun-er-Tok (Bengali Sweet & Sour Eggplant)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines
Week 1: Bengali Cuisine
Day 2: B for Begun-er-Tok (Bengali Sweet & Sour Eggplant)
Letter B in Bengali cuisine gave me a ton of recipes to try. B is for Begun or eggplant in Bengali and there were way too many recipes to choose from like begun bhaja, begun posto, doodh begun, doi begun, begun basanti and so on. In the end I decided to make this lesser known eggplant dish, Begun-er Tok from Soma's blog.

This is a traditional Bengali dish which is sweet, spicy and tangy, all at the same time. This way of cooking eggplant is very new to me which is why I decided to make it instead of the other more popular Bengali begun recipes.

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Aam Doi (Bengali Mango-Yogurt Dessert)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines
Week 1: Bengali Cuisine
Day 1: A for Aam Doi - Bengali Mango-Yogurt Dessert
It's April 1st and it's time to start another edition of Mega marathon which means that the blogging marathon group is going to blog everyday (well almost, except for Sundays) in April. Our theme this time around is 'Journey through the Cuisines'. We will be posting recipes in alphabetical order from the cuisine/s we picked.

I am going to post recipes from 4 states (1 state/ week) and the first state is 'West Bengal'. Bengali cuisine is so vast and elaborate. I think of Bengalis as true foodies because food is part of their culture and their identity. Here's a lovely post by Ishitaunplugged about Bengali's passion for food.

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Malai Sandesh and a blog Anniversary

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 3/ Day 3
Theme: Unused BM# 39 posts
Dish: Malai Sandesh

For the final day of this week's marathon, I made a simple, yet decadent dessert from West Bengal. When I jotting down dishes for Bengal, I was only thinking about sweets/ desserts since it was going to be the last day of the mega marathon and also Bengali dessert are to die for. I had about 4~5 desserts that I really wanted to try. After making Lobong Lathika and this Malai Sandesh, I still have couple more that I really really want to make some time soon.

Another reason for posting a sweet today is Cook's Hideout completed 8 years of blogging this month. After becoming a stay-at-home-mom, blogging and my blog buddies have become my real friends. Blogging gives me something to think about other than household chores and my virtual friends are always there to listen to anything. Big thanks to them for inspiring, motivating and encouraging me to keep blogging. Also thanks to my family for their complete support without which Cook's hideout would not even be possible.

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West Bengal -- Lobong Lathika

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 30
State: West Bengal
Dish: Lobong Lathika

The last Indian state we are going to visit today is West Bengal. It is located in eastern India and is the fourth most populated state in India. It is a major agricultural producer in India. West Bengal is noted for its political activism and for its cultural activities and presence of cultutal and educational institutions. The state capital Kolkata is known as the 'Cultural Capital of India'. The state's cultural heritage, besides varied folk traditiona, ranges from stalwarts in literature including Nobel-laureate Rabindranath Tagore to scores of musicians, film makers and artists. West Bengal is also distinct from most other Indian states in its appreciation and practice of playing football besides the national favorite sport Cricket.
Like the other states I mentioned, my dad was in West Bengal on work for extended period of time. He would send us rasgullas in big containers, which is why I wrongfully thought rasgullas were from Bengal (they are actually from Orissa). He brought back a a variety of beautiful clay dolls from Ghurni. Showcases in my parents house are filled with these lovely dolls.
Cuisine: Rice and fish are traditional favorite foods in Bengal. Bengalis LOVE their fish and have a vast repertoire of fish based dishes. Sweets/ desserts occupy a very important place in Bengali's diet and at their social ceremonies. They make distinctive sweets from milk products, like roshogolla, chomchom, kalojam, sandesh, pitha and the list is endless.

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Dimer Dalna (Bengali Egg & Potato Curry)

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Revisiting Recipes
Dish: Dimer Dalna (Bengali Egg & Potato Curry)

It was a little difficult to choose just 3 dishes to revisit for this week's BM. With 900+ recipes on the blog and over half of them taken with no sense of style or knowledge of lighting, it became an impossible task to pick the ones that needed the most TLC.
In the end I decided to make dishes with the ingredients that I had on hand. So for the last day of this month's marathon, I made this Bengali egg & potato curry, Dimer Dalna, because I had some boiled eggs (which happen to be my kids favorite) and boiled potatoes in the fridge and this seemed to a tasty way to combine both the ingredients.

I am going to keep the post short because I'm getting really nervous about the upcoming month long  mega marathon like a student preparing for final exams. Even though almost all the dishes are cooked and clicked, I still have to start working on the posts. Hopefully I'll be done drafting my posts soon.

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Dhokar Dalna for Indian Cooking Challenge

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge Valli chose a delicious Bengali savory dish. I have tried quite a few Bengali dishes already, but luckily I didn't make this dish earlier. This is a spicy curry with lentil cakes in it. 

This dish is a little similar to the besan chikki that my MIL makes. But the difference is that my MIL uses chickpea flour or besan instead of ground chana dal that is used in this Bengali dish. Both the dishes have cooked lentil cakes cooked in spicy gravy.

I followed Sandeepa's recipe to the T. From what I have read, the gravy is quite customizable and there are quite a few variations on the web. I stuck to Sandeepa's recipe that had no-onion and no-garlic, it still tasted amazing.

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Dimer Dalna (Bengali Egg & Potato Curry)

My theme for the fourth and final week of Blogging marathon# 22 is "Bookmarked Recipes" for this month's themes. Today's recipe is a Bengali dish that is a quick and easy egg curry for those days when there is little time to cook and the fridge is practically empty.

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Bengali Malpua

When I think of Bengali cuisine, the first thing that comes to my mind is Bengali sweets, rasogullas, sandesh and all the other delectable concoctions using milk and sugar. So when cooking Bengali dishes for BM# 22, it only makes sense to end this week with a delicious Bengali dessert.

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Bengali Lentil Fritters Curry (Bora'r Jhol)

I love dishes that include lentils and one of my favorite ways of enjoying them is in fritter form. So when I saw this recipe for lentil fritter curry or Bora'r Jhol on Sandeepa's blog, I wanted to make it for BM# 22.

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Bengali Butternut Squash & Chickpea Curry (Kumror Chakka)

My theme for 3rd week of Blogging Marathon# 22 is "Bengali Dishes". I fell in love with Bengali cuisine after cooking for BM# 5. I love the use of various whole spices and the combination of flavors that make Bengali dishes, so unique and delicious.

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ICC June - Pati Shapta

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC), Valli chose a Bengali dessert usually made during the Sankranthi season. I have missed quite a few ICC challenges but when I saw this scrumptious dessert, I knew I had to make them.

I thought Pati Shapta were Indian version of French crepes that are filled with delicious coconut-khoya filling and drizzled with sweet syrup. They were easier to make than the French crepes and the filling was to die for. We thoroughly enjoyed these and the reheated leftovers taste just as good.

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Lau Bori (Bengali Bottlegord Curry with Vadi)

This is such a simple dish and can be whipped up in less than 30 minutes. After trying all these Bengali recipes here is my high level summary: most of the vegetarian curries (that I tried) do not have onion or garlic and are tempered with spices like cinnamon stick and/ or bay leaf and seasoned with grated ginger Bengalis absolutely love their poppy seeds. Well this curry doesn’t include poppy seed action, but the other 2 points from my summary hold true. This is another recipe that I got from Sandeepa’s Bong cookbook and I followed the recipe to the T.

Ingredients:

Bottle gourd – 1 medium, peeled and chopped into ¼” pieces
Tomato – 2 medium, finely chopped
Ginger – 1 tsp, grated
Green chilies – 2-3
Ground Cumin – ½ tsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Moong dal vadi – ½ cup, fried until golden brown
Salt – to taste

For tempering:
Bay leaves – 2
Cinnamon stick – 1” piece
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

Method:

• Heat 1tbsp oil in a sauté pan; add the tempering ingredients and once the seeds start to splutter, add the tomatoes and cook covered until they turn mushy.
• Add chopped bottle gourd and turmeric and sauté for 2 minutes.
• Next add ground cumin, red chili powder and salt.
• Cover and cook, stirring once in a while, until the veggie is completely cooked and the curry is dry, takes about 15 minutes.
• Crumble the fried vadi on top and serve with steamed rice.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up today.
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Aloo (& Begun) Posto

I’m joining the 3rd group for Blogging Marathon# 5 with “Curry in a Hurry” theme. Thanks to Valli for letting me join the group again or in other words letting me continue the marathon for another week. So for the next 7 days I’ll be posting different curries that can be made within 30 minutes.

30 Minutes is the most I have on a week night to cook before all of us get cranky with hunger. I try to keep things simple and try to make dishes that don’t need too much baby sitting or lot of prep work. Here’s one such dish that I made from Sandeepa’s Bong Cookbook for last week’s Bengali marathon but couldn't post since I already had my 7 Bengali recipes.

Eggplant/ Brinjal is my absolute favorite veggie and potato-eggplant is one of my favorite combos. My mom makes simple vankaya-bangaladumpa kura (potato-eggplant curry) that is simply out of this world and it doesn’t even have any masalas or anything else to jazz it up; it’s just the veggies cooked with salt and curry powder. It’s just yumm.. After using poppy seeds in these dishes, poppy seeds have become my new favorite ingredient. These seeds are tiny but the creamy consistency they give to the dish is simply fabulous.

I had some eggplants that needed to be used up, so I added them too to make this Alu beguni posto. I hope alu posto purists are not going to pelt me with potatoes. This is my way of combining my favorite ingredients and I’ve to say the end result was “Moja” (delicious in Bengali???).

Thank you Sandeepa for correcting the name of the dish.

Sandeepa's original recipe here:
Ingredients:
Potatoes – 3 medium, peeled and diced
Eggplant – 4 medium, chopped
Green chilies – 3-4
Dry Red chilies – 2
Poppy seeds – ¼ cup
Salt – to taste
Cumin seeds – 1tsp
Turmeric – ¼ tsp

Method:

• Grind poppy seeds into a smooth powder or if your blender needs some help, sprinkle some water to let the blade moving and make a smooth paste.
• Heat 2tbsp oil in a sauté pan, add cumin seeds and once they start to splutter add red chilies and sauté for 30 seconds.
• Next add potatoes and eggplant; sauté on medium-high flame until potatoes turn lightly brown around the edges, about 5-6 minutes.
• Add poppy paste and turmeric, mix well to coat all the veggies.
• Add ½ cup of water, salt and green chilies; lower the heat to medium; cover and cook until the veggies are cooked through, about 10-12 minutes.

Serve with rice and dal for a complete meal.

Lets check and see what my fellow marathoners have been cooking today:
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Jayasree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Cool Lassi(e), Harini, Vaishali, Suma
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Kamalika, Srivalli