Chef @ Home ~ Moturshuti’r Kochuri aar Alu’r Dom

This is a combination made mostly during winters in a Bengali home. My Mum would make this on Sundays or holidays and we would look forward to it for days!


For the Kochuri you will need:
500 gms fresh green peas (shelled and ground)
2 inch ginger (paste)
2 tsp red chili powder
2 tsp turmeric powder
Pinch of asafetida
Salt and sugar to taste
Mustard oil
1 cup Maida – Atta combination
Vegetable oil

Heat mustard oil in a wok, add a pinch of asafetida. Add the green peas paste, ginger paste, dry spices and salt and sugar.

 

Keep stirring and frying the ingredients till the peas mixture soaks all the oil, moisture and is good enough to make small balls. Cool this filling for the Kochuri (Kachori).

Knead maida-atta with some water, 1 tbsp veg oil and a pinch of salt. Heat 1 cup of veg oil in a thick bottom wok.

Make small balls of the dough and roll them out into “puris”, fill in the peas mixture and round the dough between the palms of your hand. Roll them again as you would make puris.

Let the oil heat up before you let the Kochuris in. The Kochuris are ready!

 

Now for the Alu’r Dom":
4 medium size boiled potatoes
1 large tomato cut into quarters
½ cup green peas
2 green chilies
2 tsp ginger paste
Few sprigs of coriander leaves finely chopped
Pinch of asafetida
2 tsp red chili powder
2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp whole garam masala powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
Salt and sugar to taste
Mustard oil

Heat mustard oil in a wok and add the asafetida and cumin seeds, let the cumin splatter. Add the boiled (peeled) potatoes and fry till they get some color from the oil.

All the spices, ginger paste, peas, tomato, green chilies, salt and sugar and fry till you get a nice rich color. Add a little water and cover. Since the potatoes are already boiled, the Alu’r Dom should not take long. Once the gravy is sizzling add the chopped coriander leaves and serve with the Motorshuti’r Kochuri.

Chef @ Home ~ Palak Gosht

1 kg lamb, cleaned and cut into pieces
400 gms spinach, cleaned and roughly chopped
7-8 green chillies, chopped
2 tbsp ghee
2 bay leaves
4 green cardamoms
1 inch cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1 tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin seeds

1 large onion thinly sliced
1 large tomato chopped
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
Salt to taste
Blanch the spinach in boiling water for a few minutes and drain. Grind it to a smooth consistency.

Heat the ghee in a thick-bottomed pan. Add bay leaves, whole garam masala and cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds begin to splutter (not turning brown), add the sliced onions.

Cook till the onions turn pinkish-brown.

Add the lamb pieces and chopped green chilies and cook on high heat stirring constantly for three to four minutes. Add the ginger-garlic paste and keep frying covering the pan all the time. Now add the dry spices and salt.

Cover and cook for five minutes.

Now add the chopped tomatoes.

 

 

 

 

Add the spinach paste and cook till lamb is tender and blends with the spinach and tomato.

 

 

Garnish with julienned ginger.

 

 

 

 

Serve hot with naan and garden salad.

Chef @ Home ~ Galouti Kebab

The Galouti Kebabs are known to melt-in-the-mouth. They were specially made for Nawabs of Awadh who were getting doddering and toothless, and could not enjoy the meaty dishes. The raw papaya is the meat tenderizer and makes the kebabs mushy and they literally melt in the mouth.

You need not be toothless to relish these kebabs though! The Galouti Kebabs are also popularly known as Tund-e Kebab.

500 gms mince lamb
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp green chili paste
2 tbsp raw papaya paste
1 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp mace powder
3 tbsp bengal gram flour (besan), lightly roasted
1 small onion (red) very finely chopped
Salt to taste
3 tbsp oil/ghee to fry the kebabs

Add all the ingredients (except the ghee and salt) to the lamb mince and mix well. Marinate this mixture for a couple of hours in the fridge.

 

Just when you are about to make the kebabs, add salt and make round patties of the meat mixture.

 

Heat the ghee (I used a ratio of 1 tbsp ghee and 2 tbsp veg oil) on a heavy-bottomed skillet (on a medium flame) and fry the kebabs till golden brown on both sides.

 

Drain the excess oil on paper towels and serve. 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I made them for dinner, they were accompanied with Dal Makhni, Naan, and Kachumbhar Salad. You can serve them as starters with some garden salad and mint chutney too!

 And here is the real deal from the streets of Lucknow.

Chef @ Home ~ Lal Maas

800 gms lamb cut into cubes (with bones)
10 whole dry red chilies
2 tbsps coriander seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp Kashmiri red chili powder
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 cup yogurt
4 tbsps vegetable oil
4 medium sized onions sliced thinly
1 pinch of garam masala powder
Few sprigs of fresh coriander
Salt to taste

Soak the red chilies and coriander seeds in a bowl of water for about 10 minutes. Strain and grind into a smooth paste. Add the garlic paste and turmeric and red chili powder.

Mix this marinade to the yogurt and then add the meat to it. Mix well. Keep aside to marinate for an hour.

 

 

Heat the cooking oil in a pressure cooker or Dutch oven. 

Add the onions and fry till golden brown. Remove the onions from the oil with a slotted spoon and cool. Grind the onions to a smooth paste.

 

Heat the oil that was left over from frying the onions again. Add the onion paste to it and fry for a couple of minutes. Now add the meat and its marinade. Fry till the oil begins to separate from the masala. Stir often and sprinkle a little water whenever the masala begins to stick to the pan. Add salt.

Cook the meat covered all the time for about 40 minutes, stirring frequently.

When the meat is cooked and tender, remove the pan from the heat and sprinkle the garam masala over it. Cover immediately and keep aside for 2-3 minutes.

Open the cover and garnish with previously fried onions and chopped coriander leaves.

Though I added some extra heat to the meat, I found it rather sweet in spite of all the chilies I added. I think it was because of the sweetness of the onions. You can adjust the chilies based on how much you can handle!

Chef @ Home ~ Mutton Goli Kebab

500 mince lamb/ beef
1 medium onion (red) very finely chopped
4-5 garlic cloves very finely chopped
2 inch ginger very finely chopped
4-5 green chilies very finely chopped

Handful of fresh coriander very finely chopped
Juice of half lemon
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp chaat masala
2 tbsp Sattu/ Roasted Black Gram
1 egg beaten
Salt to taste
½ cup bread crumbs
½ cup oil for deep frying

Add all the chopped ingredients, spices, Sattu, salt and egg to the mince meat and pound your hands. This should be done just when you are about to fry the goli kebabs.

Heat oil in a wok. I used mustard oil since I like the taste better on the goli kebabs. You could use veg or sunflower oil, but not olive oil.



Make ping-pong ball-size balls of the meat mixture. Roll them between your palms to get the perfect round shape. Roll them gently on bread crumbs and deep fry them up to 8-10 at a time. The kebabs should be fried till they get a nice, crispy rich brown tinge on them. Drain the excess oil on paper towels. Serve hot with green chutney and salad.

I like to chop my ingredients than use them as paste or grated. It gives the kebabs a very nice texture and crunch.

 

 

The Mutton Goli Kebabs go extremely well with cocktails or just as bite-size appetizers.

Chef @ Home ~ Roasted Chicken and Butter-drizzled Veggies

This is the easiest French cuisine can get apart from the fringe benefits that its delish, takes very little effort and you need only very few ingredients which are mostly available at home at all times. This is my first attempt at roasting a whole chicken and I think I will do it more often now. Though I am nowhere close to be being “good” when it comes to carving the chicken! I was messy and very “Middle Ages”!

You will need:

1 whole skinned chicken, already cleaned and trussed (all supermarkets have it, get the unfrozen ones)
1 tsp Rosemary leaves (dried)
1 tbsp black pepper powder
1 tbsp salt
½ cup unsalted butter, if you are using salted butter, go easy on the amount of salt for the dry rub!

Make a dry rub for the chicken with the rosemary leaves, salt and pepper. Place the chicken on a baking tray/ dish and rub the mix all over with your hands.

 

Place pieces of butter on the whole chicken. Keep the chicken breasts-down. Pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees Celsius/ Low if on Broil mode. Roast the chicken for 15 minutes each side. You should get a nice, golden-brown crust on all sides.

In between turning the chicken on its sides, baste the chicken with the melted butter. Butter creates steam in the oven and should be used instead of oil. This keeps the chicken moist and tender. This roast should take you about an hour to make. The chicken should come out of the oven with the breast-side up! Follow the order of roasting the back of the chicken first, its two sides next and the chest side the last.

Now for the veggies which go really well with this chicken roast...

You will need:

Bunch of whole carrots
Red onions, sliced rough
Red potatoes cut into quarters
Corn-on-the-cobs
Cherry tomatoes – I did not have them and they are not used in my recipe
1 tbsp olive oil
Pepper powder
Salt

Mix all the vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper on a baking tray. You can cook the veggies on the lower rack of the oven at the same temperature the chicken is cooking. They should also take about an hour to be ready. In between the cooking process, drizzle some melted butter you will get from the roasted chicken. Again to keep them moist and in shape!

Once the chicken is done, let it rest for a few minutes before you get to show off your carving skills!

Serve the chicken and vegetables with some bread and salad if you want.

Chef @ Home ~ Chili Prawn

One of my
personal favorites when it comes
to Indian Chinese- Chili Prawns.





You will need:
500 gms prawn, deveined, shells removed and cleaned

1 medium size onion finely chopped
5-6 cloves of garlic finely chopped
8-10 green chilies finely chopped
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 egg
1/2 cup cornflour
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 tsp Ajino moto
Vegetable oil
Fresh cracked pepper
Sugar
Salt

I bought frozen prawns which were already deveined. All I had to do was put them in lukewarm water for a few minutes and remove the shells and clean them for any last traces of dirt. Seafood or fish should not be handled and washed for too long, just a couple of minutes of cleaning is good for them.

Make a smooth batter with the corn flour, 1 egg, salt and pepper. While you are doing this, heat oil in a wok to deep fry the prawns.

 

Dip each prawn in the batter, to let it coat evenly and fry them in the hot oil. Drain them on paper towels.

Keep away all the excess oil from the wok keeping about less than 1 tbsp still for tossing the onions, etc.

Add the garlic and chilies and sauté them for a few minutes. Add the grated ginger and chopped onions and let them change into a glassy color.

 

Make a sauce with sweet chili sauce, soy, cracked pepper, pinch of sugar, since soy sauce already has salt in it, check on the sauce once before you add any salt.

Add this sauce to the sautéing onions and let it cook for about 4-5 minutes till you see the sauce thickening. Add the prawns and stir for a couple of minutes.

Your Chili Prawn with a twist is ready- a hint of sweet, a dash of heat and loads of flavor. I served this with some stir fried noodles with oodles of greens!