April Fool meet

Well we met for cooking on April 1 as well. Coincidentally April 1 was a sunday exactly 2 weeks from our previous March 18 meet. This meet was special because it was the very first time we invited a guest chef. Pathikrit was the guest who now is a club member himself. Pat liked the idea of learning and cooking togther and hence opted to be a member himself.

This meet also saw a new member join the club - Roja. Also we met Fakhruddin's family, including his daughter Sara, this day.

Menu for this meet was:

• Soyabean kebabs with Mint Chutney
• Biulir Daal
• Posto Chingri Bhape
• Phulkopir Posto
• Sheer Khurma

We opted for 2 types of posto (Poppy seeds) dishes - one being vegetarian and the other non vegetarian. To go along with the posto dishes Urad Daal (Biulir) was also prepared.

Around 12 people were supposed to reach Ashwini's place. Pat being the guest chef and a quality person was the first to reach and had already started preparation like defrosting the chingri and cooking white rice.

Vandana had already prepared the soyabean kebabs from home as was very time consuming to demonstrate the same there. However some raw kebab mix was brought for demonstrating how the kebabs are made. All enjoyed the kebabs with mint chutney.

Once most of us were in, Pat started demonstrating the process of grinding the posto and breaking the phool gobi. The ingredients were discussed, salt check-check & dal tenderness was checked. The chingri posto was cooked in the microwave with minor research on Ashwini's microwave part of the process.

Finally we had the urad dal, veg and non-veg postos & white steamed rice to eb enjoyed. At this moment Pat gave us a pleasant surprise with his self made chilly pickle. It was exceptional. I even took some of it home which Pat gave reluctantly ;)

While the urad dal was getting ready, preparation for sheer khurma was started. The nuts were cut, milk boiled and sivaiyan mixed along with. The prcoess was demonstrated well. We then had the meal round 1 and round 2. Round 2 was only attempted by the non veg folks. As it is said, it needs to be had hot or else it is not the same, so we all enjoyed a bowl of hot & delicious sheer khurma.

Following the meal discussion happened on some more food. Specially the drink mastani from Pune that I jsut need to try whenever I am there.

Breakfast special

Feb 4 2007, we all met earlier than the regular time 12:00 noon. This time it was a breakfast meet where I and Vandana taught the group our acquired breakfast specialities. The dishes cooked for this meet were:

• Onion-Cheese toast
• Baguette with spice butter
• Mushroom Egg Omelette (Also cooked Sunny side-up fried egg)
• Zarda (replaced by Gulab Jamun)

Fakhruddin was supposed to teach Zarda or sweet rice but he could not make it for the meet. Fortunately I had been experimenting with gulab jamun since in the past week and had saved some for today.

The day started with the eggs waiting to be cooked. Then it was time for the onions to be diced. Vandana started by demonstrating the Onion-cheese toast as well as the baguette with spice butter, both of which were baked to a certain degree. All members were also introduced to 2 new drinks: Mango Dream from CoolBest and Super Pineapple from Fernandes. Both these drinks can be purchased from any superstore in Holland.

The wait of the eggs was finally over when I cracked the first one open. Mushroom omelette is a treat for mushroom lovers. After the initial demo almost everbody tried their hands making one. Most of us liked it. While making the omelette, I also demonstrated the sunny side up egg. The trick to make has been described along with the recipe. Only the demo version was made as not many were willing to eat it ( Not every body likes the runny yolk).

We finished our breakfast meet well into lunch time with the dessert being gulab jamun. I narrated my experience on how much time and money I wasted on trying to make them. They were still not perfect after 3 different attempts. I think I need to make friends with a Halwai.

So ... a meet with a twist came to and end with the remaining raw items distributed for members to try it themselves at their homes.

Kachcha Chicken Biryani meet

Yesterday was the biryani and kulfi day that we had all been waiting for. The complete menu for this meet was:

• Chhole Chat
• Kachcha Chicken Biryani
• Bharleli Vagni (Replaced by Mustard Onion fried rice)
• Kulfi (Rose & Badam)

Kulfi was attempted on a thought floated by Pathikrit in the last session. I gave it a try and was successful in unlocking the secrets of making kulfi. These can be found here. I tried making the following types of kulfi - Pista, Kewda, Rose & Badam. Variations were attempted before settling on the final recipe which you can now find published on the blog.

We began the meal with some snacks and rose kulfi, which every body enjoyed. Ritu made the chhole chat. It was a bit delayed because the imli chutney took a while. Specially me was dying of hunger and had already cleaned the crisps Fakhruddin had offered in sympathy ;)

The chat was delicious with its tangy and spicy taste. It left us all looking forward to the main meal (in a positive sense). Biryani preparation had started quite some time back with Fakhruddin and Yakuta explaining the process. Because of the big vessel as well as the large quantity in which it was being prepared, there was an issue with the amount of water that had to go in the biryani. It turned out that the rice could not absord all the water that was added and so the biryani had to be topped off in the oven.

Although not the best texture, the taste was authentic and delicious. Fakhruddin has promised (or did he?) to work on the texture.

In Sarang's abscence we had to replace his recipe with another vegetarian one. Fortunately Sarang had hinted that he may not be able to make it so I was ready with an alternative. Mustard Onion Fried rice was demonstrated instead. This is a very quick and easy rice and turned out as I had expected.

We then enjoyed the fried rice and the kachcha biryani. Yesterday was unusually warm and to close the lunch, there was shahi badam kulfi which provided some rahat from the heat.

Before you guys speculate, the kachcha in the biryani is the chicken as it starts its journey. Did not get it? I'll explain as explained by Fakhruddin. Most biryanis (including the one we had in the very first home food club meeting) have the chicken and rice cooked separately and then they are layered and finally cooked under dum. Yesterday's biryani had rice and raw (kachcha) chicken mixed and cooked togther. Hence the name kachcha biryani.

End of another meet with new things to eat and learn. With yesterday's meet I earn for myself the honorary title (self claimed) of the kulfi wala.

Rose Kulfi

The original Kulfi recipe can be found here. This recipe is similar however with a different flavoring. Please do read the original recipe before trying this out.

Ingredients

1 litre evaporated milk (full cream)
500ml cream (30gm fat/100ml variety or equivalent)
75 gms sugar
200 gms Gulkand
75 ml gulab jal (rose water)
20 gm (2 tsp) corn flour
pinch of red food color


Method

[1] Follow same procedure as the original kulfi recipe.

[2] Instead of Badam, add gulkand.



[3] Instead of elaichi, add rose water


[4] Mix in the red food color so that the mixture takes on a very light pink color

[5] Rose Kulfi is ready. Garnish with rose petals before serving.

Shahi Badam Kulfi

Kulfi, the Indian ice-cream, is loved by all. Expats vouch for its taste and dismiss the whipped vanilla ice creams in its favor. Although Kulfi can be purchased like regular ice cream outside India, its not very hard to make it yourself. The one demonstrated here is extremely simple and turns out to be better than ones locally available in Indian restaurants. Give this a try.

Preparation time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 litre evaporated milk (full cream)
500ml cream (30gm fat/100ml variety or equivalent)
175 gms sugar
100 gms badam
Seeds of 30 medium green cardamom pods
20 gm (2 tsp) corn flour


Preparation

Soak the badam in water for 2 hrs and then dry grind (coarse) them as shown below:



Method

[1] Take a thick bottom pan and put the evaporated milk (This milk is the regular milk which has been reduced to half) and the cream.


[2] Keep boiling on slow flame stirring most of the time till the milk-cream mixture is reduced to 4/5th. This should take between 30-40 minutes.

[3] Add the ground badam to the milk.

[4] Add all the sugar (Recommended that you adjust the sugar quantity as per your liking)

[5] Add the crushed elaichi seeds. (The image below is of seeds that need to be crushed)



[6] Now keep boiling for around 15 minutes

[7] Mix the corn flour in minimum water and add it to the milk. This would thicken the mixture.


[8] Boil for 2-3 minutes and remove from flame



[9] Once cooled, transfer to disposable cups as shown below. Fill the cups to 1/3rd capacity


[10] Freeze for atleast 8 hrs.


Serving

30 minutes before serving, remove the Kulfi from the freezer and keep it in the fridge. This makes the Kulfi a bit soft. To remove the Kulfi , immerse the cup into a bowl containing warm water. This will loosen the Kulfi. Invert it on a plate and give it a light tap. Garnish with more badam.



Variations

Kulfi can be made in similar fashion with the following Indian flavors:

• Rose
• Kesar
• Kewda
• Pista

Gotchas

The below are very important:

• Only thick bottomed or heavy guage vessels should be used for making Kulfi
• All prepartion on low flame only to avoid burning of milk
• Keep stirring most of the time

Biulir Daal (Urad Daal)

It is a favourite daal (Lentil) of Bengal, specially during the hot summer times. This daal is eaten generally with a dish made with poppy seed (see Phulkopir Posto), or with simple home fried potatoes (Alu Bhaja).

Ingredients

• Biuli (Urad) Daal ½ KG
• Ginger 5 cm
• Hing (Asafoetida) 1 tablespoon
• Salt to taste
• Oil
• Whole green chillies 3 - 5

Preparation

Urad Daal

Boil the daal until it reaches a softness so that you can press it with your fingers and smash it. While boiling skim off the white crud that gathers on top of the daal also start with double enough water so that you have about two digits of water above the daal surface. At the end you do not want too much water or too dry a daal so if you feel add some water midway.

Ginger

Either grate or crush the ginger in a mixer

Hing

Mix the hing powder with little warm water

Cooking

• Heat oil
• Pour the hing in oil
• Pour the ginger paste in
• Stir for few minutes (make sure it does not burn, but you get the sweet ginger smell)
• Pour in the boiled daal
• Add the whole green chillies
• Add salt
• Stir and boil for another five minutes

Your Biullir Daal is ready.

Posto Chingri Bhape (Steamed Prawns with Poppy Seeds)

Posto - Poppy seed (khas khas) and Prawns are two great favourites of West Bengal. A combination of the two is just heavenly for people of West Bengal (and also for some from the East). For this you do not have to have the big prawns, medium sized ones will do just fine, even the small ones are not too bad.

Ingredients

• Prawns ½ kg
• Poppy seeds ~200 - 400 gms
• Mustard seeds 30 - 50 gms
• Grated coconut ½ cup
• Mustered Oil 3 - 6 tablespoon (You may substitute mustard oil with any other vegetable oil but it will not be the same thing)
• Green chillies 3 - 5
• Salt to taste

Preparation

Prawns

Clean the prawns. Clean the back. Leave the tail on if you like. This is generally not cooked with the head but if like keep them on. Wash them and let the excess water go away.

Poppy seeds

We need to make a paste of poppy seeds. This can be done various ways.

1. Old fashioned stone grinder

Soak the poppy seeds in water and then grind the standard way

2. Use the small container of a regular mixer

Fill the container as per specification, add some water and then use the high setting

3. Use a coffee grinder

Put dry seeds in the grinder then grind until the paste feels oily, then put the ground seeds in a bowl and mix water to make a paste

The paste should not be "too" smooth; when you squeeze it you should feel some seeds at your finger tips. Also make sure it is not very watery.

Remember to mix the mustard seeds with the last batch of the poppy seeds.

Cooking

Mix all the ingredients with the prawns. Put the green chillies in to the mixture, if you like it hot break them.

There are various ways of cooking it

Traditional

Put the mixture in a metal container that can be closed properly and has a flat top. In a big vessel pour some water. Place the container with the mixture in the water. Let the water boil. Put something heavy (another pot with water will do) on top of the container so that it does not bounce around.
If you do not have a flat top container with lid then cover it nicely with aluminium foil. and put a plate that is little bigger on top and put something heavy on top.

Please make sure that water does not enter the container.

Ready in 45-50 minutes

Conventional Oven

Put the mixture in a oven safe container. cover in aluminium foil. Put in a preheated oven at 180 - 190 °C for 30 minutes.

Microwave Oven

Put the mixture in a microwave safe container cover with plastic wrap. Microwave at high for 20 minutes or at medium for 30-35 minutes.

Cooking time may vary. if the prawns are red and soft you are done.

Variations

The same dish is made with Rohu (Bengali Rui) and Hilsa (Bengali Ilish). The one with Hilsa is also a top favourite especially among the people from East Bengal (now Bangladesh).

However, for Hilsa the poppy seed is totally replaced by mustard seeds. Also some people do not use the coconut

Phulkopir Posto (Cauliflower with Poppy Seeds)

Posto - Poppy seed (khas khas) is not just used as a spice but is also used in considerable amount to create main dishes in Bengal. It is particularly popular in the districts of Burdwan, Bankura, and Birbhum. The most common preparation is with potato (Alu Posto). It is generally accompanied with Biuli or Kalai (both are Bengali names for Urad daal) daal. It is traditionally eaten with rice.


Ingredients

• Cauliflower (~ 1 kg)
• Poppy seeds (~200 - 400 gms)
• Onion seed/Black cumin (Kalonji, kala jira) 1/2 - 1 tablespoon
• Oil 3 - 6 tablespoon (To be hundred percent Bengali we need mustard oil. However, any other oil will do except may be ground nut oil)
• Salt to taste

Preparation

Cauliflower

Cut the cauliflower in small pieces (about 1 - 1.5 inches; it is best if you break the stem in order to keep the flower part intact instead of cutting through them and creating flat edges)

Poppy seeds

We need to make a paste of poppy seeds. This can be done various ways.

1. Old fashioned stone grinder
Soak the poppy seeds in water and then grind the standard way

2. Use the small container of a regular mixer
Fill the container as per specification, add some water and then use the high setting

3. Use a coffee grinder
Put dry seeds in the grinder then grind until the paste feels oily, then put the ground seeds in a bowl and mix water to make a paste

The paste should not be "too" smooth; when you squeeze it you should feel some seeds at your finger tips. Also make sure it is not very watery.

Cooking

• Pour the oil in the cooking pot.
• Heat the oil (if it is mustard oil then you have to heat it until the foamy bubbles go away
• Put the Kalonji in (you may want to cover at this point as the kalonji tends to jump around)
• Once the kalonji is fried put the cauliflowers in
• Sprinkle salt on the cauliflower
• Saute the cauliflowers until they are half cooked
• Pour in the poppy seed paste
• Mix thoroughly
• Saute for 10 minutes
• Pour water so that the cauliflowers are submerged
• Cook until cauliflower is soft to your liking and/or the water has evaporated (If you move the cauliflower to the side creating an empty space in the middle of the cooking pot then there should be no water in the middle)

Variations

This can be cooked various other vegetables notably with Zucchini and Eggplant. You may try your favourite vegetable, however, it does not workout well with sweet vegetables such as pumpkin, sweet potato etc., but you are free to try it yourself