I am a believer that appliances and accessories don't make the perfect kitchen. Colors do! Especially the colors from Mother Nature. I try and make my kitchen homey, fresh, colorful, and yes organized.
Be it freshly washed spring salad in a colander, a little squash kept at the counter top, some Christmasy keepsakes, my bottles of spices, or the food I cook.
There, my kitchen looks injected with color. And you get a lot of look for a little money.
I first had Bihari Kebabs at a Bangladeshi restaurant. Not a very high-end restaurant, but a hole-in-the-wall place in Danforth. My ignorant guess was that it was probably made by a Bihari cook, and hence the name. I was finally beginning to feel proud of a "Bihari" footprint in the world of kebabs!
But I was not too surprised to know that Bihari Kebabs are one of the most popular kebabs in Pakistani cuisine. Though I have seen some variations in its recipe, what I have recreated today is the closest my palate can recollect from the finger-licking tender kebabs I had at Makkah.
You will need about 500 gms of boneless beef, cut into strips or cubes. Add to that a small cup of plain yogurt and the juice of two freshly squeezed limes. The wet marination which you need to prepare in a blender is ginger, garlic, green chilies, cumin seeds, poppy seeds, raw papaya, and chana daal. Add to the meat red chili powder, fresh cracked black pepper, coriander powder, cinnamon powder, cardamom powder and salt.
Mix everything in a glass dish - your hands work wonders while mixing the marinade! A lot of people do add the paste of fried onions, but my recipe does not have that. Another day, maybe.
The meat should be marinated for about 6-7 hours. On a hot day, it will be a good idea to refrigerate it while its waiting.
Skewer the meat pieces and brush them with vegetable oil. Barbeque on a charcoal grill or oven at high. I know of people using mustard oil for basting, but I was not too thrilled by the idea of that and hence chose veg oil. Barbeque for about 10-12 minutes turning the skewers frequently.
These kebabs are great appetizers. Serve with some fresh salad, green chutney and onion rings and you will not stop licking your own fingers! I did a little fusion and served them with tortilla wraps. I spread some green coriander-garlic chutney and topped the tortillas with crumbled feta, chopped cucumber, onion and tomato.
Living in a cold city, I have come to love the sun- especially during the winter months. All the rooms of our apartment get a full glow of the sun (on a sunny day), and I use that opportunity to photograph my home, use the sunlight for pickling and actually anything under the "sun"!
This also makes an excellent green-house for my plants, including my husband's tangerine plant which is now loaded with fruits.
You take a look at these pictures, while I bask in the glory!
4 pieces of Hilsa fish, cut into fillets (Ilish Maach)
3 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tbsp poppy seeds
8-10 green chilies
3 tbsp mustard oil
2 tsp turmeric powder
Salt
Grind to a smooth paste the mustard seeds, poppy seeds, 3-4 green chilies adding just a hint of water. Marinade the fish with this paste, slit green chilies, turmeric, and salt. Drizzle the mustard oil, mix everything well and keep aside for five minutes. Cook the fish in a microwave oven for 10 minutes with a cling wrap on. Or you could even steam it for about 10 minutes. The Ilish Paturi can be only enjoyed with hot steamed, Basmati rice. Its a delicacy and does not usually need any other accompaniments. However the relentless Ilish lovers will always start the meal with the fried version of the fish with its oil, eggs, served with some green chilies! 
My little space to let creativity control me. Some original, some inspired. 
Bangalore has quite an impressive mix of the Bengali Diaspora- some straight from Calcutta, others Probashis like me.Start walking on Brigade Road on a busy Saturday evening and you will invariably see quite a few of them- Khukudis holding dear bor’s arms, walking with absolute laziness, shankha and pola jingling away.Like almost all Indian communities, Bengalis have a special way of making their presence felt- from Calcutta to California, and sooner rather than later someone will definitely mention Rabindra Sangeet, notun gurer shondesh, mishti doi, and bhapa eelish- the soul of Bengal.As a Probashi (a term which I do not like personally), I made sure that I too belonged to this Bhodrolok culture!!However, the efforts sometimes did not miss the Calcutta true-blue Bengalis’ jibes. More recently, being termed as “Biharini” by one such snooty but hopefully true cognoscenti. Totally dismissing the fact that I being a Bihari-Bengali was just a matter of belonging to a particular state!!Still not letting it dampen my efforts to be a part of the soul of Bengal- I invited some of my Bangalore-based Bengali friends over for a Sunday afternoon lunch.A whole bunch of Rabindra sangeet CDs were stacked for the day. Cued in Aami chini go chini to sink in the passionate credo of the culture that am so proud of.Lunch was a simple begun/alu bhaja, cholaar daal with grated narkol, steamy white rice, and the mother of all Bengali meals- eelish maach. Tenderly steamed in shorshe baata (and my Mum’s tip of adding a little of the aphrodisiac poppy seeds), with peppery green chilies, mustard oil, and salt.The supreme culmination almost ready, I was waiting for what I had outsourced to a cook from 24 Paraganas- Shankor- who got a tray full of notun gurer shondesh and a maalsha of mishti doi.The scene set - the house smelt beautifully different with the strong eelish and the Rajnigandha sticks delicately stemmed in vases all over.How about some Rabindra Sangeet? Some one said so Arnabda was urged to regale the eight of us. And sure enough he said demurely- Gola boshe gaiche. Literal meaning- My throat has sat down. Real meaning – you want me to sing, baebyyy you gotta work at it.So after much cajoling Arnabda cocked his head artistically to one side- presumable to enable the “sitting down” vocal chords to a more elevated status. Arnabda gave tune to the words and everyone fell into a trance.We all looked like custodians of Gurudeb’s legacy. All of us- the pub –hopping tequila drinking babes clad in halter necks, and dudes smoking Marlboros. Particularly me – The Biharini!!We talked about phootball, the stunning taste of eelish, Momotadi, CPI, michhil and the new emerging Calcutta. While at the background Ei monihar, kusume kusume charana chinha and other high church songs written by Tagore played on. With Ei jibone purno koro playing melodiously on my SONY music system, I frisked away to get the begun bhaja in the mustard oil.Then the Karnataka electricity board purno karoed the epiphany through a power cut. SONY fell silent. The aroma of frying mustard oil receded. And from somewhere distant we heard a baaje Hindi phillum song filtering in…
