Mustard fish curry with eggplant is a signature dish in Bengali cuisine. The gravy is so delicious that it tastes great whatever fish you make it with. There are many versions of making mustard fish. This recipe is with Eggplant in mustard paste along with little bit of onion-garlic and tomato turns out super delicious with the pungent flavor of mustard oil.This recipe is very easy to prepare and it is served with plain rice often.
This year has been pretty challenging for everyone; but all our hope is not gone yet. We are thankful to be healthy and will get through these difficult times. Lets cheer to this holiday season!
Bangladeshi Chicken Polao or Morog Polao is incredibly finger-licking, satisfying, gently spiced, not too greasy, yet simple to prepare one-dish chicken-rice meal. Unlike Biriyani that is as tasty as this Polao but it doesn't take elaborate preparation to make. The color, flavor and texture of rice and chicken is so delectable that I will definitely make again n again.
Bread Pudding is a comfort dessert with a scoop of ice cream any time of the year. And Christmas time Bread Pudding with home baked Challah and warming spices, topped up with Eggnog Ice Cream and caramel sauce takes it to the next level. This sumptuous festive dessert is so easy to make with available pantry ingredients and this is what Christmas tastes like!
Christmas has a special place in my heart. Christmas music is being played all day long Our home feels so festive with Christmas decor. Christmas time cooking-baking makes everything so much brighter in our home and I try to make our favorite Christmas dishes as much as possible. Who doesn't love these distinctive festive smell of Christmas?
It's the time of the year when I love to bake lots of goodies. Challah is one them and I've been baking it for years during Christmas time mostly. It tastes as great as store bought. It's so exciting to see golden crusted braided Challah comes out from the oven that looks stunning but easy to do. The Challah is a traditional 4-12 strand braided bread. My 4, 5 and 6 strand braided Challah look fabulous and I just feel like a pro; but I am not, because I haven't mastered to braid more than 6 strand Challah yet.
Creamy, rich Eggnog sometimes spiked with rum is truly the essence of holiday cheer that I love to make during Christmas time every year. Eggnog is not just a beverage; it makes wonderful desserts as well. Even if do not enjoy Eggnog, you would love it in cheesecake, cake and ice cream. Today I introduce you home made Eggnog infused cake that will get you holiday spirit for sure!
After all the Thanksgiving feasting we needed something lighter and vegan for a refreshing change. Vegan foods sometimes get a bad rap. But this delicious Vegan Nicoise Salad takes it to the next level with plant goodness. It can be ready within an hour and it can be served as side or main dish. Healthy eating doesn't have to be boring or tasteless. So I love to get crafty in the kitchen. I often prepare variety of salads with different veggies, chicken and seafood as a meal that look fancy yet healthy and easy to make. This roasted veggies my teen boy loves to savor without any fuss.
Chicken Kosha is one of the simplest chicken dish with great flavor that requires just a few ingredients you have on hand. This chicken dish is supposed to be on the spicy side but it doesn't have to be awfully spicy. You can adjust spiciness to your liking and still relish the spicy flavors.
Goalondo or Goalundo Ghat on the southern bank of the Padma river was the last railway station during British era (erstwhile East Bengal, now Bangladesh) from Kolkata-Dhaka route established by the Eastern Bengal Railway where travelers would continue their over night journey by steamer service from Goalondo Ghat to reach Narayanganj railway station to catch the train for preferred destination. The boatman of the steamer would cook a simplest chicken curry for the travelers with country chicken and limited ingredients resulting in a wonderfully rustic, gorgeously fiery colored and very unique flavored curry served with plain steamed rice. And that is how famous chicken curry got its name Goalando Chicken Curry or Goalando Steamer Chicken Curry.
Sabur Khichuri is another comforting meal in Bengali households especially during Durga Pooja. People who observe fasting for any Hindu ritual, consume grain free pure vegetarian Satvik food afterwards. Bengali Sabur Khichuri is very different than Sabudana Khichdi from other states of India which is dry type. This one uses roasted mung bean along with veggies like cauliflower, potato, carrot, peas, green beans and peas etc.This no onion and no garlic recipe. The aroma of the roasted mung bean and the sauteed veggies with spices takes me down to memory lane. It tastes divine as is. You can always add fried eggplant, Papad and sweet chutney with it! Try this Sabur Khichuri. This is absolute one dish wonder whether fasting or not.
We love rice in any form, be it Pilaf, Fried Rice, Baked Rice, Biriyani, simple plain rice and Panta Bhat/fermented rice. I have shared some rice dishes and Panta Bhat was in my bucket list to post since last summer. Finally I made it after a long time some weeks ago. Honestly, I didn't grow up eating Panta Bhat that much. People who eat rice for dinner and leftover rice is kept outside soaking in water for fermentation that is served as breakfast or brunch along with some fritters, pickle, green chilies etc. We rarely had rice at night. When we had it once in a blue moon, Ma soaked leftover rice overnight outside for the next day's brunch with fritters and mashed lentil.
Macher Charchari is an absolute charred deliciousness to die for and it is made with seasonal vegetables along with generous amount of onion and garlic sometimes. Bengali cuisine has very unique names of cooking methods for vegtarian dish and non-vegetarian dish, such as jhal. jhol, kosha, ghonto, ghyat, bhaja, pora, labra and last but not least chorchori or charchari. Today's post is Charchari and it's a Bengali delicacy with dry type charred mixed vegetables dish or sometimes veggies mixed with small fish and fish head.
Sabudana khichdi is an easy and very popular Indian savory dish made with soaked sago/tapioca pearl, roasted peanuts and slightly spiced sauteed potato, served for breakfast, tea time snack and during Hindu rituals who observe fasting in the state of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and some other states. Sago or tapioca pearl is an acquired taste that is nicely balanced its chewy texture with crunchy peanuts and stir fried spiced potato mixture. This recipe makes 3-4 servings and it is satvik vegan, meaning no ghee, onion and garlic are used.
Have you ever cooked chicken curry with tomatillo? I make Green Chili Chicken Curry using this foreign fruit/vegetable in Bengali style and it turns out absolutely irresistible. It is a nice change from gorom mashala flavor and tomato based chicken curry. It's hearty and flavorful curry inspired by Mexican Chicken Chile Verde with roasted tomatillos, Indian spices, Thai chilies, onion, ginger, garlic and cilantro. I love its tangy flavor and beautiful green color with the addition of fresh blended cilantro/coriander leaves at the end.
This is a super tasty Bengali fish curry. "Jhal" in Bengali means fiery but it can be adjusted as per heat tolerance. The secret to the fiery color of this curry is from the mixture of crushed red tomatoes, paprika, turmeric and a little touch of fresh red hot chili pepper without making it hot. Frying the spices another important step to make this curry fragrant. The tang from tomato and sweetness from onion are wonderfully balanced. This is an easy recipe worth trying for fish lover. I made with fresh tilapia steaks but any bone-in white fish like carp, catfish, bass, halibut etc. will be great choice as well. Enjoy with plain rice.
Neem leaves and mix vegetable medley from Bengal is a humble beginning for lunch with plain rice. The right of mixture of neem leaves and other vegetables with minimal spices give an excellent palate cleansing dish to have it with plain rice or just a bowl of itself is so satisfying. This dish is very wholesome with subtle flavor. Neem leaves are much more bitter than bitter melon. So the concoction of neem leaves and mix vegetables must be balanced carefully. If the dish ends up too bitter it may not be pleasurable at all.
Pecan is a staple pantry ingredient in our household. We love pecans in so many things. I use pecan in porridge, trail mix, cheesecake crust or just simply munch on it. I thought of making Pecan Ice Cream a long time ago but I always ended up buying it. I had a big carton of heavy whipping cream in the refrigerator for a while that was used in cake frosting, cooking, and Persian Ice Cream. There was still some left, so I had to make Pecan Ice Cream.
Persian cuisine is all time family favorite, be it sweet or savory. When I first time made this unique cake 5 months back, I was quite skeptical about using ground almond and pistachio in the cake batter. But it turned out so delicious and moist, infused with a distinctive Persian flavor. It rose so beautifully and we loved its perfect balance of cardamom, rose water and saffron flavor.The cake was not too sweet but incredibly rich and delicious. My tween made it a few days back with a little bit of help from me and it turned out great. She made Bastani Sonnati also known as Persian Ice Cream as well and I paired it with Persian Love Cake. Trust me, it takes to a whole new level.
