Traditional Sponge Cake

Just went with the tradition and baked a humble Sponge Cake for the ‘jingle bell’ season. My kiddo has decorated a Christmas tree. Duo made a joyful impression.

Ingredients:

2 cups white flour (maida)

4 eggs

1 cup cooking oil

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoon baking powder

1&1/2 cup sugar

1 pinch salt

6-8 drops of vannila essence

Process :Grind the sugar into powder. Whip the milk, eggs and vanilla in a mixer. Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and oil in a bowl.
Add the eggs mixture. Swirl the mixture well to reach a smooth batter with no lump.  Pre heat the Microwave at 180 degC. Pour mixture into an oven proof bowl greased with a little butter. Then Bake at 150-190 degrees for 20 minutes. Then put the oven in Microwave mode and cook for 3 minutes. Your Cake is ready. Then to make the upper crust a little more brown I again put it in convection mode and bake for 5 more minutes.

I usually keep the plain cakes plain as my family is not fond of dry fruits.

Actually this basic vanilla cake is the perfect beginning different kind of other Cakes. One can add Choco Chips, coffee powder or dry fruits with this cake batter. Or one may decorate the cake with fancy icing.

Spinach & coriander chicken

Winter in West Bengal brings a lot of vegetables with it. With peas to carrot, cauliflower to spring onion, Vegetable seller’s baskets are not less colorful than toy-seller’s. Just strolling in the bazaar has become a soothing experience for eyes and soul. You can almost heard yelling of every vegetable or fruits to be picked up. We began by picking up garden-fresh green bunches of Spinach and Coriander leaves and  welcomed this winter with Spinach & coriander chicken.


Spinach & coriander chicken

 

 

Ingredients to serve two to three persons :  

1 bunch of Spinach (Palang saag)

1 bunch of Coriander leaves (Dhania saag)

600 gm. Chicken

4 Onions (chopped)

2 Garlics (crushed)

2” long Ginger (in paste form)

Salt to taste

200 gm. Sour white Curd

10 Green chillies

2 table spoons Mustard oil

 

Process:

Marinate the chicken with white curd for at least an hour. Boil the Spinach with little water. Then blend it along with 5 whole green chillies. Keep aside. Separately make another paste from Coriander leaves. Heat the mustard oil in a heavy bottom Pot (Kadai). Add onions and fry till they become golden brown. Add 5 slit green chillies, garlic and ginger pastes. Stir for 3-4 minutes. Then add the chicken with the marinade. Cover and cook till the chicken is almost cooked. Now add the spinach paste. Stir and add salt per your taste. Finally add the  Coriander paste. Cover and simmer till the chicken becomes soft. Serve hot with Roti, Paratha or Polao.

 

Trick of this recipe lies in creating the right combination of hot flavours of Mustard oil and chillies and the tangy taste of curd. Paste of Spinach and Coriander leaves will help you to keep balance between these two.  

Note that, above measurements are only approximate. You can freely play with them, adding some more of one, less of other depending on the mood you are in. One may just want to play safe and go per written words.

Other may want to experiment and dare to play some mischief. One may want to trigger the festive spirit. Some may be looking for warmth of a chilly night in chillies and mustard oil. So point is finally it all depends on YOU-n-ME.

Steamed chicken Momo

Not very long ago this steamed chicken Momo has turned out to be my saviour when my Kid was not eating her tiffin in school. Her alibi was “I told you I do not like bread and I do not like noodles. Don’t give paratha Mom, it sucks.” Every day the Domestic help was complaining “Didi did not eat her tiffin today”. Kid’s Grandparents were casting doubt on my motherly skill “You are not paying enough attention. Can’t you see ? She is becoming thinner every day.” So the sole target, this paranoid mom part did a desperate net surfing and started a session of trial and error. Finally one fine day, an empty tiffin box came home. Yippee!!

Yes, yes I know nothing is permanent and specially a kid’s palate. But there is nothing wrong in enjoying the sweet present.  

Steamed chicken Momo

Ingredients:

Minced Chicken 250 gm.

2 big Onions: finely chopped

1 whole Garlic (12-20 garlic cloves) : finely chopped

Coriander leaves: finely chopped (optional)

Salt

White oil (refined vegetable oils like Rice bran oil or Soybean oil or Sunflower oil) 

1 medium bowl of white flour (Maida)

Process: 

Mix a pinch of salt with the flour. Knead the flour into a soft dough with warm water. Keep aside.

Put Minced Chicken, finely chopped Onions, Garlic and Coriander leaves and little salt per taste in a Pressure cooker. Add just enough water to cook the meat. Drain excess water if any. Now make small round balls from the dough and roll thinly on a plate like a roti. Dip the balls slightly in the oil before rolling to avoid sticking. Cut circular pieces from it using a small bowl with sharp edge. Then put a teaspoon of filling in the centre. Finally bring the edges together and pinch. Make pleats and twist them with fingers to ensure a tight seal.   Then you steam the Momos in a steamer for about 10 minutes. With the above measurement I make about 30 to 35 Momos. Serve with sauce of your choice.

Alternatively one can also deep fry the Momos before serving them.

Paneer Akuri

Ever since this Parsi dish set foot in our home it became our favorite. I love its attractive colorful appearance. Since the only time consuming part in  this recipe is cutting the vegetables and grating the Paneer. So I normally do this part in advance and store it in refrigerator. Once the preparation is done, final part is pretty zippy.  

Dear reader, are you a Persian? Or do you know a Parsi?  If yes, please help. I genuinely want a Parsi’s feedback on this recipe.

Paneer akuri

Ingredients:

300 g Paneer (cottage cheese) , finely grated

1 table spoon Butter

2 medium sized Onions

2 medium sized Garlic

2 medium sized Tomato

5 Green Chillies

1 tea spoon Turmeric Powder

Sugar and Salt to taste

Chopped Coriander leaves (optional)

1 tea spoon Garam masala powder (blend of powdered  cinnamon, cloves, green cardamom) (optional)

Process:

Chop all the vegetables in small pieces. Add butter in heated pan. Start with galics. Fry till they become slight brown. Then add onions and continue frying. Next add chillies and tomatoes and fry some more. Then add the grated Paneer. Sprinkle the Turmeric Powder to give some colour. Add Sugar and Salt per your taste. In case the mixture tends to stick to the pan add little water. A small tip: Be cautious and stir gently after adding the paneer or you might land up on a mashed paneer paste!

Cover and simmer for around 2 minutes and switch off the oven. Place it in a serving bowl. You may season it with Garam masala powder and/or garnish with chopped Coriander leaves.

This dish goes well with Roti or Chapati.

Bon appetit!  Nusheh jân!

Phirni or Rice pudding

In our family, Payesh (Bengali: পায়েস) is essential for Birthdays. If you are present, no matter you like it or not we will oblige you to eat at least a spoon. This year on my husband’s B’day instead of our long-established "chaler payesh" I prepared Phirni for the first time (clearly a courtesy of my ever rebellion inside). Then obviously I was very apprehensive about its acceptance. Fortunately everything went just well and everyone enjoyed this dessert. And I ? I am still savoring its victory.

Ingredients :

Whole Milk

Sugar 

Rice (I used Gobindo Bhog)

Crushed Cashew nuts

Raisins

Cardamom powder

Process :

Boil whole milk till it become thick. Add sugar per your taste. Break Gobinda bhog rice partially by mixer or by hand grinder (better but tiresome).  Then boil the rice in water till cooked. Mix the cooked rice (along with water) in the milk and boil together. Then add crushed Cashew nuts & raisins. After the milk become really thick switch off the oven. Pour it into small serving bowl and put into refrigerator. Sprinkle Cardamom powder on top before serving.

Variations:

•  I’ve had some Nolen gur (liquid Jaggery) left in my refrigerator for quite some time. So I pour a teaspoon of Nolen gur onto each serving bowl before putting it in the refrigerator
• You may decorate with rose petals
• Add as many dry fruits as you want
• Use Jaggery (or Patali gur in Bengali) instead of sugar

Bengali Bodhu in Quilling

Kono ek gayer bodhur kotha tomay shonai shono …. Hemanta Mukhapadhyay er konthe ei gaan shune amader boro hoye otha ….

In there

Every time I create something

Seems to ring a bell within

Though I don’t know what is there

But something I'm is worth to dare

So I keep on knocking the door

In a hope to knowing the core

So my friends who are near

If you don’t laugh I’ll share

May be you too have a look ‘in there’

May be you too find something rare

Which you cannot find anywhere

So let’s keep on digging within

Let’s not to stop dreaming here

However bright neon lights may appear

All the vogues are empty I swear

It’s nothing in contrast what lies ‘in there’

So don’t be blind by any outer glare

So just stop worrying my dear

Just keep on travelling ‘in there’

Let’s keep on travelling ‘in there’

By

Urmimala