Fish and Seafood

Clams in a Fiery Red Sambal

11:28 AM


I never thought I would ever make this post, but this is what happens when you have a whimsical omnivore as a Husband. Last week when he was going out to the fish shop I also tagged along to buy a new sunscreen with more SPF for my swimming sessions. The market is very close to our house so we decided to walk. Once reaching there I headed straight to the second floor to buy my things. When I came downstairs saw him smiling mischievously. After being married to him for 3 and half years I know him enough to guess that there was some surprise…but this time it wasn’t pleasant enough. He bought 1 kg of clams and wanted me to cook. Now come on I know I like to cook but that does not mean I can whip up anything and everything under the sun and specially things that I have, no not only me but my whole family have not seen before. So after a lot of grumbling and cursing I sat down to google as I needed to know how to clean them first. But another surprise was there for me in store. Once I cleaned and shelled, the whole 1 kg of clams turned into as little as a handful of meat. Seeing that I decided to add some vegetable and when it comes to veggies nothing is like the generous potato to soak up all the aroma and spices. It was a quick dish as I cooked it mainly with the left over sambal from previous day’s Mee Goreng. Hubby and his friends liked it a lot and now he is planning to bring it again this weekend. So that was my brief encounter with clams and here is how I made it.


Just got this information on Clams.They are very nutritious and has a right balance of high protein, low carbohydrate. Source: Blurtit.com 
Nutritional Value:  One pound of clams, after the shell has been removed is about 68g
Following are the nutrients clams have:
1. Which yields 50 calories,
2. 8.6 g protein,
3. 31 mg calcium,
4. 213 mg potassium
5. 9.5 g iron.
6. 10.8 mcg folate,
7. 33.6 mcg vitamin B-6,
8. 204 IU vitamin A

Clams in a Fiery Red Sambal

Ingredients:
Clams: 1 kg (when shelled it yields very little, check the picture that is what the whole quantity is that too with potato.)
Potato: 1 medium
Onion: 1 small
Tomato puree: 1 tbsp
Oil: 2 bsp
Sambal: 2 tbsp
Coconut milk: ¼ cup
Chilli powder: ½ tsp
Salt

Method:
First run the clams under running water while doing this check if any of it has open shells. Gently tap on the shells, if its live will instantly close the shells…otherwise discard.

Now bring one big pot of water to boil with a pinch of salt. Pour the clams in it. Boil for 5 minutes. Drain water. Again follow the same rule if any of the clam fail to open discard it immediately as that might have died long ago.

With a small knife take out the meat from the shells. Repeat with the rest and again wash under running water. Keep aside.

While the clams are boiling peel and cut the potato in small cubes. Wash and keep aside. Make paste of the onion and keep aside.

Heat a pan with the oil. Add the cubed potato pieces and fry for a couple of minute with salt.

Add the onion paste and fry on low till the raw smell is gone and oil separates at the sides.

Add the tomato puree and fry briefly for a minute or so immediately put the sambal paste and chilli powder. Fry on low till again oil comes out.

Now mix in the boiled clams and again fry for 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning.

Pour the coconut milk (keep the flame at very low or the milk will curdle). Stir in everything together. Cover and let it simmer on low.

Once the gravy is dry and the potato and clams is cooked, check the seasoning and serve hot with lime wedge.


My omnivore ate it with Chinese style fried rice for dinner and immensely enjoyed it. though I was a little scared in the beginning but now I am having new ideas to cook it.He suggests that it has a similar texture of mushrooms or soy nuggets. so next time will cook some with soy for myself too. 


Vegetarian Option: use button mushrooms or soaked soy nuggets. adjust the seasoning as per your liking.


Tags:
Clams, shellfish, Sambal, clam sambal, coconut milk, potato, spicy gravy, red chilli sauce, potato chilli, Malaysian, sambal shellfish, tomato chilli, spicy clams, shelled clams, clams potato.

Bengali

Spicy Zucchini n vegetable Dal/ Roasted Yellow Lentil with Spices, Zucchini and Other Vegetables

5:57 AM


Ever since I saw this dal at Sangeeta’s blog I knew I have to try it. Though its not new for me, as in winter it’s a staple in most Bengali homes to have dals with veggies like carrots, cauliflowers, beans, peas and tomatoes. My Maa also makes an awesome lauki dal (bottle gourd) with coconut and a little hint of ghee. But this bright summery yellow colour of sangeeta’s dal with those velvety pieces of zucchinis tempted me enough to go to the market and bring home another couple of my new friends. In Bengal Yellow lentil or Mung Dal is never cooked raw, it is first dry roasted till aromatic then washed and cooked in various ways. This dry roasting gives it a nice nutty aroma, which I always love. As a kid veggie dal was something my maa used to serve before we left for school. She used to make it in numerous ways. Sometimes with raw papaya or with bottle gourd or bitter gourd or with a medley of vegetables. Maa almost always added some freshly scraped coconut and bhaja masla to it. I still can remember the smell of those morsels with veggie dal, rice, omlette and tomato chutney that Maa or Baba used to feed us before leaving for school. So guided by that nostalgia, I wanted to make something that would be little spicy and would be laden with the goodness of vegetables. My plan was to wrap up my lunch with rice and this dal or mostly with some tomato pickle at the sides. So I searched again in the blogosphere and stumbled upon Souganya’s vegetable dal with roasted spices. That was exactly what I was looking for. So with these two healthy lentil dishes as my inspiration, I created my own and here is what I made.

Spicy zucchini and vegetable Dal

Ingredients:
Yellow lentil (Mung Dal): 1 cup
Zuchini and other vegetables: chopped 4 cups (I used carrots, beans, zucchini, cauliflower, peas bottle gourd,and potato)
Grated Ginger: 1” piece
Turmeric
Salt

For tempering:
Cumin seeds: ½ tsp
And dry red chillies: 1 piece

Spice mix:
Urad dal: 1tsp
Bengal gram lentil: 1 tsp
Cumin: 1 tsp
Coriander: 1 tsp
Red chillies: 3
Black pepper: ½ tsp
Grated Coconut : 4 tbsp

Oil: 2 tsp

Method:
Heat a pressure cooker and roast the tallow lentil till a fried aroma comes. This should be done by continuously stirring, as yellow lentil is very prone to burning. Wash the dal and pressure-cook with 3 cups of water on medium for one whistle. Switch off the heat and dissipate the steam either by holding a spatula under the pressure or by holding the cooker under cold running water. Remove the lid.

Now add the washed veggies, grated ginger, turmeric and salt. Cook for 7-8 mintes or till the veggies are cooked and soft. Keep aside.

While the veggies are being cooked heat 1 tsp oil and roast the spices under spice mix except coconut. Roast for 2-3 minutes or the spices change colour. Add the coconut and roast for another minte. Grind to a coarse powder.

Now heat the remaining oil and add the tempering spices. Once they start to splutter pour the lentil mixture. Give a quick stir.

Adjust seasoning and bring to a boil. Before taking off from heat mix in all the ground spices. Mix well and serve with rice or Luchi (puri).

Sending this to MLLA:24 a monthly legume recipe event started by Susan and this time hosted by Diana of Spain in Iowa.                                        Vegetable Marathon: carrots an event started by Silpa and this time hosted by PJ at Seduce your taste buds.












Tags:
Bengali dal. Lentil, Lentil with vegetables, carrot dal, zucchini lentil, veggies lentil, coconut, coconut with vegetables, coconut in lentil, coconut with roasted spices, roasted spices, bhaja masala, bengali spices, bottle gourd, pumpkin, yellow lentil, yrad dal, mung dal. moong daal, mug dal, dal chawal, lentil with rice, freshly ground spice mix, cumin, red chillies, Indian Dal, Indian Lentil.cauliflower.

Fish and Seafood

Spicy Fried Noodles/Mee Goreng (well almost)

12:45 PM







Nupur’s Blogbite:4; whats lurking in the kitchen could not have been timed better. Ever since I came back from home last month, I did not do much grocery shopping. We had so much stocked items starting from daily staples like flour, spices, oils etc to fancy cooking ingredients like dry oregano, stock cubes, coconut milk, cheese etc. I make it a point to buy certain items that Hubby could cook easily before leaving, this time also before leaving I stocked on some packets of pasta, Maggie, cheese etc. but luckily he has a lot of well wishers and friends here who invited him almost all weekends, so apart from cooking chickens on weeknights he did not have to enter the kitchen much. As a result when I came back a pantry full of bachelor savior items greeted me. That way all what we eat these days could have entered BB4 but rather than following bookmarked recipes am preparing regular items that I cook often. I almost have finished the stored items some of which almost neared the expiry date except these 2 bags of ching’s secret egg noodles. I brought them home mainly because I love noodles and also as they were being sold at half the prices. Hubby doesn’t like it but they are great for a home alone girl’s meals. Boil the whole packet, toss with whatever veggies and seasoning you have, freeze and eat them for consecutive three days…that’s how they survive me on weekdays. But this time I had other plans. Though Hubby does not like Indian Chinese food or Indo Chinese cuisine as they are known but he is all praise for authentic Chinese dishes. A couple of months back he was there on his third trip and again came back explaining me how good Chinese food could be. This time he even clicked pictures of all the dishes he relished. So, I exactly knew what to prepare to make him eat noodles for dinner.

I have been following My Kitchen Snippets for quite some time and have relished many a dishes with my eyes. She is a master in Oriental Cuisine. Many a times I had eaten my bowlful of diet cornflakes watching her spicy noodles and rice dishes. This time I decided on making something for there…an authentic spicy noodle dish from a distant place, Malaysia. So all set on the recipe I brought home some more new ingredients to prepare Mee Goreng for our special Saturday Night dinner. Mee Goreng or fried noodles is a famous dish in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. It is believed that this is of Chinese origin and the immigrants from there introduced this fiery spicy dish to the Malays. Mostly this is prepared with thin yellow noodles and various veggies and sea foods are fried together in spicy sambal to make it lip smacking good. Apart from making the sambal the fried part was done within 10 minutes…so if you have the sambal in store it could be a great weeknight meal too. In spite of swapping certain items using my brilliant ideas, the outcome was unbelievably good. The seriously hot taste of the red chillies complemented the sweetness of the coconut milk, veggies and prawns very well, and together created a fulfilling tongue tickling experience. loved the addition of the lemon grass which made it so aromatic. While eating the man of the house kept mum and after finishing his bowl and licking off the sauce from the bottom, Finally managed to ask “when are we eating this next?”…I knew exactly what it meant. Thanks Kitchen Snippets for this delicious recipe which I am going to make again and again and again and….

For the authentic recipe go HERE.

For my version read on

Spicy fried Noodles

Ingredients:
Noodles: 1 packet (I used Ching;s Secret)
Shrimps: 12 medium pieces
Tofu: 1 packet (1/2 cup cubed)
Bok Choy: 1 small bunch
Spring onion: ½ bunch
Carrot: 1 medium
Eggs: 2
Onion: 1 medium
Garlic: 5 fat cloves

For the Sambal:
Dry Red chilies: 15 pieces (soak in hot water)
 Large onion: 1
 garlic: 5 fat cloves
 fried Shrimp: 4 pieces
 lemongrass: 1stalk
 ginger: 1”
thick coconut milk: ¼ cup
Tomato paste: 1 tbsp
Lemon rind: 1 tsp
  tamarind juice: 2tbsp
 sugar and salt to taste

Seasoning:
Soy sauce: 2 tbsp
Vinegar: 1tbsp

Olive Oil: ¼ cup

Method:
First make the sambal: chop onion, ginger and lemon grass and blend the first 8 ingredients under sambal. Heat 2 tbsp oil and fry the spice blend and fry on low flame stirring occasionally. Once oil starts to separate add the other ingredients and fry till it gets a nice red colour and oil separates at the sides.

At the same time put the noodles to boil in a big pan of water, salt and 1/2 tsp oil. Cook till its cooked but not soft or mushy. Drain, wash under cold running water and keep aside.

While the sambal is frying prepare the veggies
Cut onion in thin slices.
Chop garlic.
Peel and Cut carrots in matchsticks.
Wash and tear bok choy in medium pieces.
Cut spring onions in small pieces.

Beat the eggs with salt. Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a pan and fry the eggs in 2 batches. Tear them in small pieces and keep aside.

Heat ½ tsp oil and fry the tofu cubes with salt till light brown and keep aside.

Take a wok and heat the rest of the oil, add the garlic and onion and fry till fragrant.

Add the prawns and salt and cook for a minute till the prawns turn colour.

Tip in the fried tofu and carrots. Fry for another minute and then add the bok choy, sambal and the seasonings. Give it a good stir and mix everything together. If dry pour some water and mix.

Now lower the heat and put the boiled noodles. Mix well and then fry on very high heat for 2 minutes.

Mix in the fried eggs, check seasoning and serve piping hot.

once the cooking was done it was difficult to wait for the photography part. Still for the sake of my blog We gathered the patience and did that in a jiffy, then all we did was attacking the gorgeous dish. 


Note: Next time am going to use mushrooms.


Sending this to Nupur's blogbite: 4; whats lurking in the kitchen.


Tags:
Malaysian Noodles, spicy noodles, fried noodles, hakka noodles, chow mein, prawn noodles, bok choy, sambal, soy sauce, sea food noodles, chinese, 

Bengali

Aam Sandesh/ Mango Sandesh (Mango flavoured cottage cheese based Bengali sweet)

12:43 PM


It is said that we Bengalis celebrate thirteen festivals in twelve months but in reality its way more than thirteen. We just need a reason to celebrate anything with good company, adda (chat) and great food. One such celebration is Jamai sashti or a very special day for Bengal’s son in laws. Jamai in Bengali means son in laws and Sashti is the sixth day in a fortnight of a Hindu calendar. Jamai Sasthi is observed on the 6th day of Shukla Paksha which means the waxing phase of moon. On this day all mother in laws worship Goddess Sashti who is the Goddess of fertility and the protector of children with full devotion for the well beings of their son in laws and treat them with kingly honor. All the jamais or son in laws take a day off (state holiday) from work and are invited to their in laws place where after the completion of a traditional puja, mother in laws tie yellow threads around their wrist and Prasad is distributed among all. Later they are showered with loads of expensive gifts and a majestic traditional lunch spread. The preparation for this day starts the day before when the father goes to the market to order for special sweets, fish and mutton. As Hilsa the most adored Bengali fish becomes available during this time, it’s a common sight in the fish market to see fathers flocking in to get the best fish for their jamais. The feast starts in the morning with lavish breakfast of ghee e bhaja luchi (Puris fried in clarified butter), curry and varieties of sweets. The lunch is served on a traditional Kansa thala (brass plate) with numerous items served with rice. The main focus remains on non vegetarian like mutton and numerous fish dishes.

This year Jamai sashthi was on 17th June. Because of the distance the Jamai here is deprived of any jamai ador , but more than the jamai it’s the in laws who are sad. The numerous enquiries started pouring in from the day before. Several times Maa, Baba, Mama (maternal uncle), Mami (Mama’s wife) and Dada(elder brother) called to know what I am preparing for him. I planned on a quick dinner with pulao and Chicken do Pyaja but that was nowhere closure to their satisfaction. They atleast wanted some dessert to end the meal. Now preparing dessert for my hubby is a difficult job. He doesnot like anything that’s has a sweet taste and there are very few sweet dishes that he likes. So I wanted to play safe and targeted his favorite fruit Mango to whip up something quick.
The Mango sandesh (mango flavoured cottage cheese based sweets) I made for this occasion came out much more than I expected. It has a nice sweet aroma and a lovely bright summery colour of the begumpally mangoes. The taste simply could be summed up in one word ‘heavenly’; unlike regular sandesh it has a creamy, melt in the mouth textures. I used my most prized possession, My Dida’s terracotta sandesh moulds to give shapes and designs to the sweets for the very first time. It was a very nostalgic moment for me as many sweet memories came pouring in and I felt very close to her. Finally, when served on a traditional kansa plate Hubby was in awe, his first reaction was like where did you buy them? And more to my surprise my not at all sweet loving Hubby ended up eating 8 pieces of these gorgeous yellow bites (not at all exaggerating). The other man of the house, our little cub even loves this and ate two small pieces. I am going to make different versions of this again and again as this is a great way to eat some good milk product but more because our most trusted sweet shop here has recently closed their shutter. So further about Bengal’s most favourite sweet Sandesh later in my coming posts. Till then enjoy these sweet treats.
Aam Sandesh

Ingredients:
Full Fat milk: 1 liter
Khowa/ Milk solids: ½ cup
Mango pulp: 1 cup 
(I used one big begumpally mango; you can use canned pulps as well)
Powdered sugar: 1/3 cup
Condensed milk: 4 tbsp
Lemon juice: 1 tsp
Method:
First prepare the chena/ chana or cottage cheese: Heat milk on medium flame and bring to boil. Increase the heat and mix in the lemon juice and gently stir. Gradually it will start to curdle. Keep stirring with a gentle hand till you see light green water separating from the cheese. Switch of the heat and strain the water in a muslin cloth.
Hold the cheese in the cloth under running water and wash thoroughly to get rid of any lemony taste and smell. Bring the sides together and hang it to drain any excess liquid at least for 30 minutes.
Kneading the chana: After that take the cheese out on a plate and start kneading with the heel of your palm. Continue doing this till you get smooth dough and your palms feel the softness (approx. 5 minutes). Now mix in the sugar and again knead for another 3-4 minutes. At the end of this process you will get a little oily and very smooth dough without any lump.
Now peel and deseed the mango and puree the pulp.
Preparing the makha: Pulse the khowa (make sure it is at room temperature) in a food processor to get a smooth consistency. If needed add little milk. Take a non stick pan and mix in the mango pulp, Khowa, chana and condensed milk, the consistency would be thick batter like. On a medium low heat start cooking the mixture. You need to keep stirring it continuously to avoid from burning at the bottom, while doing so scrape the sides occasionally.
Keep on cooking this way till the chana becomes thick and finally take a dough shape leaving the sides of the pan (approx. 15 minutes). Switch off the heat and take it out on a plate or bowl. Cover and let it cool a little bit.
Moulding or shaping the sandesh: In the mean time wash the moulds and lightly grease the inside with a little ghee (clarifies butter). Pinch the dough and take small portion of the makha. Spread this on the mould in whatever form it is. Press with your palm and gently take them out of the mould. Repeat the process with the rest of the makha.

Serve warm or at room temperature. You can also freeze them for 3-4 days in a covered container.
Note: this could be prepared with any other aromatic fruit like strawberries, raspberries etc.
the classic sandesh is only prepared with pista and cardamom. will try to post that later.

the kneaded sweetened chana is the raw form of rasgullas. to make that make small balls of the kneaded chana and boil them in sugar syrup for 5 minutes.


Sizzling Summer ContestSending this to Srivalli's Kid's Delight ~ Colouring your Kid's Delight! 
and also to Sizzling Summer Contest at SpicyTasty.com.






Tags: 
cottage cheese, sandesh, bengali sweet, milk sweet, chana, chhana, chena, Mango dessert, milk dessert, Indian sweet, Mishti.

Bengali

Chal Patol (Parwal/Pointed Gourd in Aromatic Rice Gravy)

12:36 PM

Trichosanthes dioica is also known as the pointed gourd, parwal (from Hindi), or potol (fromAssamese, Oriya or Bengali (পটল) pôţol). It is a good source of carbohydrates, vitamin A, and vitamin C. It also contains major nutrients and trace elements (magnesium, potassium, copper, sulfur, and chlorine) which are needed in small quantities, for playing essential roles in human physiology.It is a vine plant, similar to cucumber and squash, though unlike those it is perennial. The fruits are green with white or no stripes. Size can vary from small and round to thick and long — 2 to 6 inches (5 to 15 cm). 


I am actually copying almost the whole Wikipedia article on Parwal just because from my own experience I know there are a lot of people who never have seen or eaten this vegetable. I dont know why but there is a big bunch who actually hate this so much that they even refuse to try this even once. Well I don’t belong to them rather on a contrary this is my most favorite summer vegetable. I love it so much that during pregnancy when I detested almost everything even then I ate full meals only with a light parwal stew. I belong to a Parwal loving family where summer meant many delicacies with parwal. My Maa makes a whole parwal curry which is finger lickingly delicious. Apart from this we Bengalis cook a variety of savory and sweet dishes with green parwal, ripe parwal and even with parwal peels. Though the most famous Bengali Parwal dish is patoler Dolma or Parwal stuffed with spiced veg or non-veg stuffing and cooked in a creamy gravy. Once after my marriage we invited some of his friends for dinner and I painstakingly labored in the kitchen to prepare prawn and coconut stuffed parwal. I sang its praises before dinner until 70% of them declared that they hate Parwal. So the statutory warning here is before cooking this veggie for your guests make sure that they like it. Luckily Hubby is fond of this and for that matter he pretty much loves all the veggies.

Apart from being a popular veggie Bengalis have a fascination with the word Patol and its shape. A girl with a doe shaped eyes are often referred as Patol chera chokh. 

Before I get into the recipe here are some benefits of Patol (source: www.findmeacure.com )
The plant is cardiac tonic and antifebrile. Its decoction with chirata and honey is given in bilious fevers as a febrifuge.
A decoction or infusion of the plant is an efficacious remedy for boils and worms.
The leaf juice is rubbed over the scalp for the cure of alopecia.
Powder of the dried root is very effective in curing ascites.
A decoction of its leaves with chebulic myrobalan taken in the morning on empty stomach is an age-old remedy for acidity and bilious disorders.
Leaf juice is an age-old remedy for liquor poisoning.
Leaf juice is a household remedy for controlling high blood pressure.

Here in Bangalore this is quite an expensive vegetable and we hardly get to see the fresh produce. This week Hubby got some real fresh and perfectly shaped patol from our local veggie market. A Look at the bag and my heart sang to me Chal Patol. Chal in Bengali means rice which gives this dish the distinctive aroma. This is an authentic Bengali vegetarian dish cooked with aromatic Gobindobhog Rice (kalijeera rice) and coconut. This is actually cooked without onion and garlic but some people also add prawns to it.

Chal Patol

Ingredients:
Parwal: 6 pieces
Potato: 1 large
Gobindobhog rice/ basmati rice: 2 tsp
Scraped coconut: 3 tbsp
Green chillies: 2
Ginger paste: 1 tbsp
Cumin powder: ½ tbsp
Coriander powder: 2 tsp
Cumin seeds: ½ tsp
Turmeric powder
Chilli powder: ½ tsp
Garam masala powder: ½ tsp
Whole clove and cinnamon: 2-3 pieces
Bay leaf: 1
Oil: 3 tbsp
Ghee/ clarifies butter: 1 tsp
Sugar: ½ tsp
Salt


Method:
Wash the parwal, trim the edges then peel skin at 2 or 3 places lengthwise. Cut them each in 3 or 4 pieces depending on the size.

Peel potatoes and cut in cubes. Now smear a little bit of turmeric and salt on the potato and parwal and keep aside.

Mix all the spice paste and powder with 2 tbsp water and keep aside.
Heat 2 tbsp oil and put the parwal first. Fry for 5 minutes and then add the potatoes. Fry till light brown.

Heat the rest of the oil and temper with slitted green chillies, bay leaf, cumin seeds, cinnamon and cloves.

Once the aroma hits you add the rice. Fry on low heat till the rice turns white.
Mix in the spice paste and keep on frying on low heat. When the oil starts to separate at the sides add in the coconut paste. Stir and cook for another 

minute before adding the fried veggies.Add salt and cook on low for a couple of minute.

Pour 1 cup water and cover. Let it cook on medium heat till the veggies are soft and the gravy coats the veggies. Adjust the water accordingly.

Once done stir in the ghee and the garam masala and serve this divinely aromatic dish with rice.



This recipe is off to
Side Dish Showdown Blogger EventSide Dish showdown: June at Cinnamon and Spice and everything nice.


And also to


Think Spice: Think Garam Masala, a great event started by Sunita and this time hosted at Sara’s Corner.


Tags:
Parwal, Patal, Patol, Pointed Gourd, Alu Patal, Potato with parwal, Gobindobhog chal, Klijeera rice, Aromatic Rice, Parwal Gravy, Garam Masala, Bengali vegetable, Tarkari, Vegetables in gravy, Bangali, Niramish, Pure Vegetarian, Side Dish with rice.

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