Cholar Dal (Bengali Chana Pulse)

Cholar Dal (Bengali Chana Pulse)

There is little to be said about this Classic Bengali Pulse. Bengalis  cook this  for all special occasions be it the Pujas, weddings, rice eating ceremony, gathering of friends and family or just for a special Bengali meal. You can team it up with all purpose flour pooris which Bengalis call 'luchi' or hot steaming rice and julienne potato which is deep fried .

The bottom line is that, this is a classic dish. Now its mostly the same recipe followed everywhere with a few variations. Here is one that I know of passed down by my Mimi (aunt) whose mother had passed it down a long time ago.

Serves 4 to 5

1 cup Chana pulse 'cholar dal'
1 tbsp clarified butter 'ghee'
2 green cardamom
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
2 to 3 dried red chili
Half a cup diced fresh coconut
A handful of raisins
Salt as per taste
Pinch of turmeric
Sugar as per taste (Now, traditionally  this pulse is supposed to be a bit on the sweeter side so I would personally use 1 tbsp to 1.5 tbsp sugar but you can adjust as per your taste)
4 cups of water
1 large bay leaf

Soak the pulse for 1 hour and then pressure cook it on low flame till 1 whistle to 2 whistles and let the steam go out on its own. It should have cooked by that time.

Now heat the ghee and add the ginger and saute and then add the cardamom , bay leaf and red chilies and keep sauteing and then add the coconut and raisins and finally the pulse. If it seems too thick add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil and add salt, turmeric and sugar and simmer for 10 minutes. It should be of a medium thickness and the pulse must retain their shape. Its traditionally supposed to be a thick pulse but not as thick as the North Indian Mah ki Dal aka Dal makhani

Potato Cutlets

Potato Cutlets 

To be fair these Potato cutlets which I made on a particularly lazy Sunday without the internet in-between back to back episodes of Til' Death was mainly for the husband. My husband loves eating in which should be a boon for a cooking enthusiast such as myself but then at times his want to eat at home bites me hard. It was one of those days when I knew was going to be those overly lazy ones so I decided instead of going out for Dosas I would be prepared with ingredients for a quick snack.

In Bengal the easiest snack that I was served as a child was puffed up rice with the beautifully aromatic green mango and chili flavoured mustard oil and lots of fried potatoes. Now as much as I love fried food I am trying to avoid it these days and so I decided for the husband who suddenly becomes a fry obsessed maniac on holidays I would boil potatoes and make something.

I was about to make the Indian potato cutlets 'Aloo Tikki's which is one of my favourite Indian snacks but then I simply cannot imagine Tikkis without the fiery Green chutney hara bhara chutney and sonth ki chutney (a sweet and tangy sauce) and because I was feeling lazy I ditched the idea of Indian potato cutlets and simply made potato cutlets

Serves 2 (In our case my husband gobbled up 1.5 serving :) )

Here is what you need :-

2 big potatoes
Half a large onion finely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic finely chopped
Salt as per taste
1.5 tsp Fresh Thyme leaves
1 tsp Freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp cornflour

Olive oil for shallow frying

Simply mash everything except the oil together and make 4 cutlets and let them rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. This helps them harden up a bit and hold shape when frying.

Heat oil and shallow fry on low heat till its golden brown on both sides. Enjoy by itself or team it up with some mustard.

Braised Tofu Mushroom

Braised Tofu Mushroom 

Turns out this is my first vegan post. I decided to make something nice for the other half  and when he told me he has tried his hands at Chinese food while I was away in Calcutta I decided I would make a Chinese spread for him. Now my husband is vegetarian which proved to me a challenge since most of the Chinese dishes that I know of are strictly non vegetarian and even the ones with lots of vegetables contain some form of meat.

Well all I did was chuck out the meat and make a braised tofu mushroom for the hubby.

Serves 2 to 3

200gm tofu cut into rectangular cubes
150gm button mushrooms
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
3/4th cup water
2 tsp cornflour
2 large cloves of garlic
1 scallion
1 tsp chopped ginger
1 tbsp oil
2 ripe red chili
Salt as per taste

For the marinate :-

2 tsp rice wine vinegar (or any white vinegar)
2 tsp soy sauce

Oil for frying

Marinate the tofu with the rice wine vinegar and soy sauce for 1 hour. In the meantime mince the garlic and ginger, slice the scallion bulb and finely chop the scallion green and red chili and halve the mushrooms. Whisk the cornflour with 2 tbsp water and make a smooth paste

Now shallow fry  the tofu till its golden brown on both sides. Don't forget to turn them over and take care not to burn them.

Keep aside the  tofu and heat 1 tbsp oil and add the minced ginger and garlic along with the scallion bulb and saute and add the mushrooms. Let it get cooked and sprinkle salt and then add the soy sauce , chopped chili and half the finely chopped scallion green. Saute for 1 minute and add the tofu and after half a minute of tossing them about add the rest of the water and bring to a boil and simmer for 6 minutes or so and add the cornflour mixed with water and keep stirring to make a thick sauce. Garnish with the remaining finely chopped scallion green and serve with some fried rice.