A Bong's Kitchen

Some time back, after coming home from office, my husband started raving about a particular Chinese restaurant where he and some of his office colleagues had gone for lunch. He couldn't stop gushing about the Chilli Chicken that he had there. He didn't believe me when I told him that the taste could be very well replicated at home as well, that I could prepare Chilli Chicken just the same way. So I had to prove him. It isn't actually very difficult to make Chilli Chicken at home, the chicken pieces are marinated in sauces, corn flour and crushed pepper. They are then deep fried and seasoned again with thesauces, onion and capsicum. It tastes a little sweet, somewhat hot and a bit sour too and goes very well with fried rice or noodles. They may even be served with rotis. Unlike the restaurants, I didn't use any food colour or ajinomoto. Instead I used kashmiri red chilli powder and also used egg white solution for marinating the chicken pieces. My husband absolutely loved its taste and simply couldn't believe that it could be cooked at home.

Ingredients :

Chicken cubes - about 200 gms
Corn Flour - 2 tbsp
Egg white - about 3-4 tbsp
Soya sauce - 2 tbsp
Chili sauce - 2 tbsp
Tomato Sauce - 2 tbsp
Sugar - a pinch
Vinegar - 1 tbsp
Crushed Black peppercorns - about 1 tsp
Red Capsicum - 1/2 a piece, cut into small pieces
Onion - 1 medium sized, cut into small pieces
chopped garlic - 1 tsp
Spring Onions celery - 2 nos, cut into 1 inch long pieces
Salt
Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Method :

In a bowl, take the chicken pieces, and add soya sauce, chili sauce, vinegar and crushed black pepper, mix nicely and leave them to marinate for about an hour.
After they have got marinated, add corn flour, red chilli powder and salt to the chicken pieces and also add egg white to it and mix nicely so that the chicken pieces get coated nicely.
Now heat enough oil in a deep bottomed pan and fry the chicken pieces and drain off on a paper towel to soak all the excess oil. Then in another pan, heat about 2 tbsp of refined oil, add chopped garlic, chopped onions, chopped green chilies, chopped spring onions, chopped capsicum and celery and saute them all for a few minutes but don't fry them for too long. They should remain crunchy
Then add soya sauce, chilli sauce, tomato sauce, a pinch of sugar, kashmiri red chilli powder and the crushed peppercorns and mix nicely. Add the chicken pieces and keep tossing and turning the spices and the chicken pieces over high flame for another 3-4 minutes so that the flavour of the sauces get into the chicken pieces. Now garnish with chopped celery and serve hot with fried rice or haka noodles.

Among other things that I love about the Punjabis, I love their food a lot. Though their food is often very rich and has too much of oil or butter in them, but they taste very good. My neighbour Sharma aunty is a Punjabi too and it is from her that I have got to learn quite a few Punjabi dishes. I had instantly become her fan when I had tasted her Shahi Paneer. She is no doubt an expert cook and she is very affectionate as well. It is she who taught me how to make these super soft yet extremely delicious in taste, alur porotha or alu paratha as they call it.

Ingredients :

Wheat Flour - 2 cups
Boiled Potatoes - 3 medium sized
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Finely chopped Green Chillies - 2 tbsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Salt
Coriander leaves, finely chopped
Refined Oil

Method :

To prepare a soft dough, mix the wheat flour with salt and gradually adding little amounts of water, keep kneading the dough till it doesn't stick to your hands. Now cover it with a wet thin cloth and let it to sit for half an hour. Now for preparing the stuffing mixture, take the boiled potatoes in bowl, peel off their skin and mash them smoothly. Add chopped onions, green chillies, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt and the chopped coriander leaves and mix nicely. Divide the dough into small balls of equal size and flattening them a bit, make a cup shape out of that and stuff it with the prepared potato stuffing mixture and close the ball. Keep these balls to rest for a few minutes otherwise it would be difficult to roll them out. Then roll out these balls carefully into porothas, but be careful that the mixture doesn't come out. Now heat some refined oil on the tawa over medium heat and place the porotha on it. Soon it will change its colour and will also start to puff at different places. After a few minutes, now flip it to the other side and spread some oil on this side as well. Every now and then, press the porotha slightly with a spatula so that the porotha is golden brown on both sides. Now take it out onto a plate, it's ready to be served. Similarly fry the other porothas too. These alur porotha can be eaten with a simple mango pickle or they even taste good with plain yogurt.

It was not until I came over to Delhi fours years ago after my marriage that I got introduced to this mouth-watering snack. Prior to that, I had never seen or tasted a bread pakoda. Back in Bengal and precisely in Siliguri, our street food mostly comprised of bora, piaji, alur chop, vegetable chop, beguni and dal but among others. Here in Delhi, along with the samosas, bread pakodas are probably the most popular fried snack and are ubiquitous at almost all the street food vendors. They may contain different types of stuffings but normally they have fillings of spicy mashed potatoes, green peas, and paneer slices, before they get deep-fried. They are then served with mint-coriander chutney which makes the combination a superhit! Since I have a weakness for fried stuffs since my childhood, so I instantly took a liking for these Bread Pakodas ever since the first time I ate them. Every now and then, I make these at home too, especially during the monsoons or during the winter season as a tea-time snack.

Ingredients :

Bread - 5-6 pieces, cut diagonally into 2 halves
Paneer slices

For the Filling -
Potatoes - boiled, peeled and mashed - 1 cup
Green peas - boiled and roughly mashed - 3 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 5-6
Chopped Onion - 1 tbsp
Ginger-garlic-green chilli paste - 1 tbsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Amchur powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt
Finely chopped coriander leaves
Refined Oil

For the Batter -
Gram flour or besan - 1 cup
red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
salt
Water - 1/2 cup

Method :

Heat some oil in a frying pan and temper it with mustard seeds, chopped green chillies, curry leaves and grated ginger. When they begin to crackle, add the chopped onions and saute them till they are golden brown. Then add the boiled and mashed potatoes and the green peas, turmeric powder, ginger-garlic-green chilli paste, the chopped coriander leaves and salt, mix nicely. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes and then remove from the fire.
Prepare a smooth besan batter mixing the ingredients - besan, red chilli powder, salt and water. Now taking a diagonally cut bread piece, whose borders have been cut off, spread a portion of the prepared alu stuffing mixture on the bread piece, place a thin slice of paneer on it too and then place the other half of the bread over it. Likewise we can prepare a few more bread slices filled with stuffing. They will then be dipped into the gram flour batter and then will be deep fried in refined oil till they become crisp and their colour changes to golden brown on both sides. Take them out onto paper towels so that the excess oil is soaked up. These bread pakodas can then be savoured with tea and mint-coriander chutney or khatti-meethi chutney (prepared with imli and jaggery).

It is often said (and with good reason) that the way to a man's heart goes through his tummy. That is so true. Because I remember though initially my husband's family weren't too keen to take me as their daughter-in-law (mine was a love marriage and being somewhat old-fashioned, my in-laws didn't like it that his son hadn't gone with their choice and instead got married to me, whom they didn't know) but I succeeded to create a good impression on my father-in-law because of my cooking. The magic recipe was actually something very simple - luchi er alur dum - a combination that is so commonly made in almost every Bengali household. But what impressed him the most that my luchis were soft and as per him, perfect. Since that day, luchi- alur dum happens to be a regular breakfast item in my home. Both my father-in-law and my husband love the combination very much. Even my MIL loves and appreciates my prepared luchis.

Luchis are both very easy to make but need to be paid attention whether we are kneading the dough nicely or not.

Ingredients :

Maida - 2 cups
Ajwain - 1tsp
Refined Oil - For deep frying
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Water - 2 cups

Method :

In a big bowl, take the maida, ajwain, salt and adding 2 tbsp of cooking oil to the mixture, mix all these ingredients nicely. Now pour in half the water and knead the dough to almost dry. Once again add the rest of water and knead nicely, until the dough doesn't stick to your palms. We will then know that it's ready. Now covering the dough with a wet, thin cloth, leave it aside for about 45 minutes or an hour.
After that make out small balls out of the maida dough, brushing a few drops of cooking oil on their surface, flatten them and then roll them out to small puris (of about 4-5 inch diameter).
Heat oil for frying in a deep wok till it is smoking hot. Then reduce the flame and slowly add the rolled puris into the hot oil. Using the back of the frying spatula, slightly press the puris into the hot oil, this helps in making the luchis fluffy. When they are done frying, take the luchis out from the oil onto paper napkins so that all the excess oil gets soaked up by the napkins. The luchis are ready to be eaten. You can serve these luchis with any thick gravy curry (veg or non-veg) but it is mostly eaten with alur dum.

Starting my blog was one of my new year resolutions and I am glad that I didn't let it to die as a mere wish on my to-do list. Of course, beginning a new thing is always exciting. Though this is my second attempt at blogging (I had first started to blog when I was doing my graduation but couldn't keep with it and the blog died), but eight years is a long time and so much has changed over the years. Now that I have decided to document my culinary exploits on this blog, I have to be sincere and regular with my postings. As my first post, let me share one of my favourite poems of Tagore (Sri Rabindranath Tagore).

Let only that little be left of me
whereby I may name thee my all.

Let only that little be left of my will
whereby I may feel thee on every side,
and come to thee in everything,
and offer to thee my love every moment.

Let only that little be left of me
whereby I may never hide thee.

Let only that little of my fetters be left
whereby I am bound with thy will,
and thy purpose is carried out in my life
and that is the fetter of thy love.

written by Rabindranath Tagore