Nalen Gurer Payesh

When winter comes, Bengalis are in the lookout for Nalen Gur. Nalen Gur aka Patali Gur alias Khejur Gur. With so many names you can well imagine its importance...where?...in the world of Sweets.

A little about Nalen Gur. You can go on and on talking about it, the Kheju gacher rosh (date palm liquid) collected in small earthen pots that are hung to the slits made near the top portion of the palm trees, which is collected for use. This Khejurer rosh (liquid) can be consumed in its liquid form, which many like to drink. When this liquid is cooked it turns to khejur gur...in liquid and solid form.

I got my quota of Patali Gur when the fresh stocks reached the market. Eat it with rotis and parathas, tastes great. Best used in my home in Payesh. Sweet shops sell nalen gurer rosogolla, and the gurer sandesh which come in two forms - kancha gola and kara paag - tastes heavenly.

I like my nalen gurer payesh very simple as I love to relish the smell and taste of it.

For my Nalen Gurer Payesh:

Milk (full cream) 1 ½ ltrs.

Gobindo Bhog Rice ½ cup

Sugar ½ cup

Nalen Gur about 1 cup after breaking the hard gur into small granules

You can adjust the sweetness to you taste.

Put the milk to boil. By then wash the rice and keep it. Let the milk boil for about 3-4 minutes. Then add the rice to the boiling milk. Keep stirring the boiling milk from time to time. After 5 minutes simmer the flame and let the rice cook in the milk. Another 15 minutes the rice is cooked and the milk reduced to less than half. Now add the sugar and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Time to add the gur and make sure all the solids chunks get dissolved.

The payesh is now ready to be served. Eat it hot or cold and get the taste and smell of the gur. A simple payesh, easy for learners too.

Onion and Capsicum Pakoras

Looking in the kitchen cupboard, I found the half-used besan (chick pea flour) packet lying there. The thought of having pakoras for evening snacks struck my mind.

At times I wonder why foods from different kitchens vary in their taste. Why my macher jhol tastes different from that of my mother’s jhol? My sister cooks such a yummy aloo matar paneer...much better than me. Why everyone likes the taste of the Payesh from my kitchen?

So every kitchen has its own smell and taste. That’s how I feel. But don’t forget the person who brings out the taste from his/her cooking to let you find the dividing line of the different kitchens.

I was in my kitchen getting all the ingredients to make the pakora batter which I’m sharing with you.

2 onions thinly sliced.

1 capsicum cut into small pieces.

3 green chillies finely chopped

2 cups of besan

Pour the besan into a bowl. Add the onion, capsicum and green chillies.

Add 1 ½ tsp of baking powder, salt to taste, ½ tsp haldi powder (for colour), ½ tsp red chilli powder into the bowl with the other ingredients. Give it a thorough mix and then slowly add water to make a batter. The consistency of the batter is very important for the pakoras... not a very thin or a very thick batter.

When the batter is ready, time to heat oil in a wok for deep frying.

Drop the batter into the hot oil...the hand does the work to give the uneven shape and size to the pakoras which are deep fried and later placed on the kitchen tissue to drain the excess oil. Fry in batches.

Serve with sweet tamarind chutney or green chutney or tomato sauce and chilli sauce if someone wants it more hot and spicy.

Don’t forget to serve hot tea with the pakoras.

Bata Mach Sorse Diye – Fish in mustard gravy

Not that we can visit the fish market on a daily basis. Gone are the days when Baba went to get fresh fish early morning. With the macher jhola (the home stitched cotton bag) in hand he would walk down a short distance to buy fish.

He met his friends there, got time to exchange words and keep contact with them. Now people hardly have time for one’s own self. Everyone is so busy. Fresh hauls came to the daily fish market from the early morning fishing in the rivers and local lakes and ponds. Different varieties of fishes came in the bags and we enjoyed the taste when our Thakur (not God but our cook who we called Thakur) with Ma’s instruction cooked tasty dishes.

The bata mach (fish) is the kind we find in lakes and ponds. It is tasty small fish variety, no this is not very small like the Punti or Maurala, but bigger. Look at some fried ones here.

In mustard sauce this fish tastes very good. Let me tell you how I cooked it.

Bata Mach: 6 whole cleaned, washed and fried lightly after a rub with salt and haldi powder.

Mustard seeds: 2 tbsps

Green chillies: 3 I used 3 as these chillies were quite hot and spicy

Tomatoes: 4 finely chopped

Haldi powder: ½ tsp

Salt: to taste

Sugar: the quantity that suits your taste buds.

Mustard oil for frying the fish and cooking the gravy.


In my kitchen:

I washed the fish that had come dressed from the market.

Heated mustard oil in a wok (kadhai) and fried the fish and kept them aside.

Put the mustard seeds, green chillies and a pinch of salt in the grinding jar and made a paste.

With very little oil, about 2tsp in the same kadhai threw in the tomatoes. Cooked over low heat till the juices came out breaking down the flesh completely.

Once done added the mustard paste and added more water enough to boil and reduce to semi-thick gravy.

Then added salt and sugar and let the gravy cook over high flame.

Once it started to thicken, dropped in the fried fishes and cooked for a minute before switching off the flame.

Served it with rice and dal (which is a must with bhaat in our home).

My Ma’s tip for sores bata. While grinding sores on the seel nora (grinding stone) or in the mixie, add a pinch of salt which keeps away the bitterness of the sosrse (mustard seeds). She also adds green chillies as red chillies can cause stomach problems. I’ve been sticking to her advice.

Kankrar Jhol Ektu Jhal – Spicy Crab Curry

Been a long time I posted on this blog. This time it is a Food Tale of Crabs.


When the crabs came home, nah not on their own. They came from the market after buying them from the fish market of C R Park. The pair of the big legs with their claws tied with plastic thread (by the seller) so that they cannot harm its killer who is ready to take away its life for the sake of taste.

Carrying the plastic bag in hand it was placed on the floor of the car and the 6 crabs all holed up in the bag travelled for their last journey...to my home and straight into the kitchen. Preparation started after a little while. A big bowl of water was placed on the burning flame and once it was hot with the steam rising, I took the opportunity to put the crabs in it and within minutes they died, making efforts to crawl out but couldn’t.

In relating my story I forgot to tell you a secret about the trick of buying crabs. Simple and one liner – make sure the crabs are not dead and that is clearly visible from the movement of the legs (big and small ones). While most of the crabs live their lives in the salt water of the seas and oceans, there are who are fond of fresh water and many more live on land in holes.

The next step was to drain the water, dress the crabs. First the big legs and even the smaller ones were separated from the body and washed properly, next the hard shell was separated and the fleshy part washed and kept to be cooked.

With the dressing complete time to talk about the cooking.

Ingredients:

Dressed crabs medium size 6 with the legs

Potatoes: 3 medium size peeled and diced

Tomatoes: 2 chopped finely

Onion: 3 (medium size)

Ginger: ½ inch

Garlic: 6-8 cloves

Bay leaf: 4-5

Cinnamon: 2 sticks

Cardamom: 5-6 pods

Cloves: 3-4

Red chilli powder: ¾ tsp or as per the heat you can bear. I used Deghi Mirch.

Haldi powder: 1 ½ tsp

Sugar: ½ tsp

Salt: to taste

Mustard oil for cooking: 3 ½ tbsp (you can use less oil)

Preparation:

Make a paste of the onion, ginger and garlic.

Heat oil in a kadhai. Fry the cubed potatoes lightly and keep them aside.

In the same oil hot throw in the bay leaves followed by the cinnamon sticks (break them to smaller pieces with your hands), the cardamom pods partially crushed and the cloves.

Once the aroma of the spices rise, add the paste you have made and cook for sometime.

After 3-4 minutes of cooking this masala on medium flame add the tomatoes and cook again for about 2 minutes. Now add salt and sugar and the potatoes and cook till the oil leaves the side of the kadhai.

Add water enough for flowing (neither very thick nor thin) gravy. Cover the vessel and cook till the potatoes are half cooked.

Time to add the dressed crabs and cook till the potatoes are soft and the gravy not too watery but thick enough to be served with hot rice.

Time taking to eat this dish but leaves a lingering taste.

Vegetable Stew

A bowl of hot vegetable stew was a welcome for the cold late evening. As we sat and enjoyed the stew watching a movie, I had other thoughts in mind. I knew I had to finish my packing. I’ll be away for more than a week and thought it better to post this recipe before I leave.

It is a simple dish, will hardly take fifteen to twenty minutes.

Vegetables:
Cauliflower: Florets 2 cups
Radish: 2 cut into small pieces
Cabbage: 5-6 leaves (each leaf cut into quarter size)
Carrot: 2 Cut into long pieces
Green banana: 2 peeled and cut into small pieces
Green peas: ½ cup
Tomatoes: 2
Some mulo and phulkopir dhanta (radish and cauliflower stalk after removing the greens and cutting them)
You can add vegetables of your choice.

For seasoning:

Panch phoron: 1 tbsp
Dry red chili: 2
Oil: 1 tbsp
Salt
Sugar

Haldi powder: 1 tsp to add to the vegetables.

Wash and cut the different vegetables into their sizes so that no single one is over cooked.

Place all the vegetables in the pressure cooker. Add water and haldi powder. Quantity of water should be enough for the vegetables to swim in the liquid, as the dish is moreover soup-y, the only difference-you can bite into your vegetables.

Place the pressure cooker on the oven, close the lid and after it comes up with 4 whistles, switch off the gas. Let it cool before you open the lid.

Heat oil in a kadhai or pan. Once the oil is hot, break the red chillies into half and throw them in. Now add the panch phoron. Then add the contents of the pressure cooker into it. As it starts boiling add salt and sugar to taste. Let the stew remain watery.
Serve hot and enjoy the crunch and munch of the vegetables with their juicy flavour in a bowl. I like this as a substitute of soup.

Friends, will be away from Friday, will catch up with all that I’ve missed once I’m back.