Green green green , green baby Green

So this was one of the few gastronomical challenges that I have taken up. You see a very sweet virtual friend shared how she was on an extreme diet which only allowed green vegetables. Now, I have the greatest sympathy and support for people who try to go healthy no matter how crazy it seems as long as they do not skip meals. You see most people are mean. I have had first hand experience with the whole weight gain saga. While when you are actually slim trim no one really notices, put on a few kilos and the number of people who are concerned will amaze you. Given that many among them will be your true well wishers and being an adult you would very likely know who they are but the other percentage of sympathizers are just like crabs trying to pull each other down. Now I do love salads but colourful ones, going green all the way was quite challenging

So there I was trying to figure out about going green all the way. I mean sure there is the usual broccoli, cabbage , leafy vegetables but I wanted something different and eureka, I was suddenly hit with an idea for all green salad. Now I am personally not on such a strict diet and did use a little bit of Cheddar cheese (the fresh ones from Kalimpong are delicious) but that can be left out.

What you need

2 to 3 cucumbers
One big bunch of spinach leaves
2 tablespoonful of chives
1 whole jalapeno pepper
A few peppercorns
1 tablespoonful of celery
4 to 5  fat garlic cloves
Salt as per taste
2 tsp olive oil.
Cheddar cheese
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Juice from half a lemon

Start by slicing the cucumbers diagonally to form large thin slices. taste one and if you find it bitter take some salt and mix it well with the cucumbers and leave aside. After 20 minutes wash them thoroughly and use it. The salt draws out all bitterness and leaves the cucumbers with a little bit of salt. Wash your spinach well. The easiest way to do so is by immersing them in a pot full of water and then washing them thoroughly under running water. Keep a bowl of ice water ready. Blanch your spinach by bringing a pot of water to boil and immersing the spinach for only 1 minute. Immediately immerse the leaves in ice water to stop extra cookign so that the leaves retain that superb green colour.

Since I was using the salad for 1 person's consumption I used half of the blanched spinach leaves, in case you use the entire lot feel free to increase the amount of peppercorn, chives , garlic etc as per taste. Now put everything except the cucumbers in a blender sand blend away.

Arrange the cucumbers in a neat row . Put a thin slice of cheddar on top and scoop a little bit of the spinach on top and there you have the healthiest possible salad ever. I would not recommend leaving out the cheddar. You might also use the blend spinach a a dip.

Roast bell peppers aubergine salad

Roast bell peppers and aubergine with a kiss of cheese 

Just another evening

R: "Go ahead it will be fun to watch you roll around "
E: "What is the problem though, I want to stay healthy"
R: "Oh So, you think you can stay healthy by just leaving everything out and exercising. Just wait till you get hunger pangs at midnight and then realize you lost your chance to make dinner and head straight for the 100gm cheese or worse make chocolates and finish off everything"
E: "So what do I do"
R: "Here is something useful. You have walked your 4.6km. You are exercising. Have those colourful bell peppers say 1.5 of them, half an eggplant and you cover 3 servings of the 5 serving recommendation of vegetables. Add 50gm of mozzarella. stop making that silly face. You yourself copied the list of recommended servings per day. 40gm cheese is allowed when you are not having meat. Besides you know how a little  fat makes your skin glow. "
E: "How do I have raw eggplants please"
R: "Why silly billy why do you have to always think in one line. Raw is not the only way to health. Grill them of course, add a dash of that gorgeous extra virgin olive oil you just bought and add a splash of lemon juice, a dash of parsley and see what it does to you , you silly thing"

With this conversation between my rational side and emotive side of the brain I call them R and E and a scribbled recipe I went ahead and grilled the 1 whole red pepper and half a yellow bell pepper and eggplant. Word of caution, I would not recommend the eggplant to be grilled. Takes up way too much brushing of oil.

What you need

1 whole red bell pepper
Half a large eggplant
Half a yellow bell pepper
Dash of parsely
Dash of chili flakes
Extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoonful for drizzling
Olive oil for brushing the veggies with
Juice from half a big lemon (increase or decrease the amount as per your taste buds)

Cut the bell peppers in half and the aubergine in circular patterns and use salt to marinate them with,  for 15 minutes. brush them with olive oil. First grill them outer side up . You might want to turn them over and keep grilling till the upper side of the bell peppers and one side of the aubergine is fully done. Now add very thin small slices of cheese which adds up to a total of 40gm to 50gm on each bell pepper. Grill this side and the other non-cooked side of the eggplants. After the fourth brushing of oil on eggplants I was a bit annoyed and did use a shortcut method. By then it was half cooked. So took them off the rack. sprinkled water and cooked them on the gas stove covered.
Stack them , drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice add the dash of parsley and chili flakes and you have a whole lot of healthy going on. If serving with meat I suggest using half of this for each diner. If eating ti all by oneself simply dig in.

Potato Cauliflower Curry

Aloo phoolkopir dalna with a special twist 

Here is why I love making cottage cheese(Bengali "chana" / Hindi "paneer) at home. Not only does it result in the softest and tastiest cottage cheese you have the leftover whey which adds such a magical touch to other dishes or even the cottage cheese gravy it makes things just extra delicious.

This time I made "Palak Paneer" (a creamy spinach based dish in which you have clarified butter sauteed homemade paneer) and the dish does not require any extra water and so there I was left with over 750ml of whey and was I unhappy . Oh No. I knew it would have a very very special special place.

So I decided on a cauliflower potato curry the day after making palak paneer and straightaway reached for the stored whey. Now one might wonder what is so special about "aloo gobi" or "aloo phulkopir dalna" . Here is why, the whey will add so much taste that going back to ordinary water based dalna would be impossible after this. so make this dish when you make cottage cheese from 1 litre full cream milk. It wouldn't taste the same with toned or skimmed milk.

What goes in :

1 big cauliflower head
1 potato (Now despite the great love affair that Bengalis have with potatoes I am not a fan and while i never leave out the great potato I use very little so that the thunder still belongs to the cauliflower)
750ml of whey which is gotten post making homemade cottage cheese
1 big bay leaf
Salt as per taste
turmeric
1 medium sized tomato skinned and blend well
2 tsp ginger garlic chili paste made with 2 green chilies and 1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
Pinch of asafoetida
1 to 1.5 inch cinnamon
2 green cardamom
1 to 2  tsp ghee (clarified butter, its just not the real curry without the delicious aroma of clarified butter)
Mustard oil to saute the cauliflower and potato
2 slit green chilies
Sugar as per taste

Start by first chopping the potatoes in bite sized pieces and the cauliflower in little florets and then slit the back of the cauliflower florets as shown in the picture.

Make a paste of the ginger chili cumin and then the  tomato separately . Now I know most people out there do not still use the slab of stone and the stone pestle "sil nora" for grinding but its just not the same with those electric appliances. So using a mortar and pestle has its own benefits of resulting in the smoothest of pastes with small amount of ingredients. make the tomato paste as well.

Start by first sauteing the cauliflower and potatoes and leave aside. Take 1 tsp clarified butter and add the asafoetida and cumin seeds, bay leaf , green cardamom and cinnamon . Once the seeds splutter immediately add the ginger chili cumin paste. This quick as a cat business is required so that the cumin does not burn. Add the tomato paste. Keep stirring to make the spice on medium heat till the raw tomato is completely cooked and blends well with the other spices. Add the potatoes and mix well. See potatoes take a longer time to cook and so in order to prevent the cauliflowers from over cooking the potato is first added and cooked halfway before adding the cauliflower. Add the whey before adding cauliflower and bring to a roaring boil and salt, turmeric and sugar and then simmer covered for sometime till the potatoes are half cooked and add the cauliflower and bring to a boil again and then simmer covered till the potatoes and cauliflower is cooked thoroughly, cook for a little extra time without the cover to dry up the gravy and then simply transfer everything in a bowl. In the same wok add to slit green chilies and 1 tsp to 2 tsp water and on medium flame quickly stir to get any stuck up spices and when it all but bubbles pour it over the vegetable curry. This makes sure the chilies preserve their green colour.

Being from the western part of erstwhile undivided Bengal I am naturally drawn to using a bit of extra sugar but adjust it as per taste.

This goes very well with hot steaming rice and even chapatis but I shall post another recipe which is thicker for those lovely puris called "luchis" made of all purpose flour with the reputation of being paper thin.

If you have children do please reduce the total number of chilies from 4 to 2 or even 1

Kaju Barfi

Calcutta is truly a food lover's delight. So what if we Bengali's are the constant butt of "sweet" jokes . You see we have quite a reputation for our intense love affair with sweets. In fact so much so that to my great annoyance my husband calls me a "rosogolla" . Anyways but what one must never forget is that Calcutta can also boast of a wide range of cuisines thanks to its old settlers from other communities as well. So, one might ask what is so new in that in today's Global world. Well Calcutta was probably one of the pioneers which opened its gates to every community. be it the Chinese settlers who contributed to Calcutta's heritage Chinese cuisine and no that kind of family run food is not available anywhere else in the country or the lovely robust people of the North who brought with them a robust flavour and colour to the city. Now this was one of the first Non-Bengali sweets I had tasted some 25 year ago when I was hardly able to even utter a proper word. It was delicious marvelous and thanks to Calcutta's beautiful culture Diwali without Kaju Barfi soon became unimaginable.

At 24 years thanks to the vast library that the internet is I laid my eyes upon a very authentic recipe for Kaju Barfi by Geetha Seth and so it was Kaju Barfi from home this year. Basically it is not very difficult.

You need

1 cup of raw broken cashew nuts
1/2 cup of granulated sugar or a bit extra if you like your sweets very sweet
5 tablespoonful of water plus extra if dough gets too dry
2 to 3  tablespoonful of clarified butter plus a bit extra say a total of 5 tablespoonful all which you wouldn't be required to use.
4 to 5 green cardamoms
Extra split cashews for decoration optional)

Rolled out dough 

Start by grinding the cashew nuts but remember not to over grind because then it becomes oily. Dry roast it but make sure it is not browned one bit so stir constantly till 5 minutes on low-medium heat. Transfer to a bowl and wipe the pan clean and add the sugar and 5 tablespoonful of water and make a syrup. You might need to add 1 or 2 tablespoonful of water . The syrup should be of 1 thread consistency. Add the cardamom and then slowly add the ground cashew nut and mix well and cook on low flame making sure to stir it constantly so that it does not stick to the bottom. If the mixture becomes too dry sprinkle some water and then add the clarified butter and mix well again. Once the surface becomes oily and the paste feels tight yet moist , turn off the stove. Let it cool and when cool enough to handle make a fine dough. Here you might need the extra clarified butter. Roll it out. this part can be tricky since it would keep sticking so use a cling film. Take a knife and make desired shapes and press it one split cashew each on the diamond shapes and let it rest overnight. If using the cashews for decoration it should be done now else in the morning the barfis would be too hard to allow the pressing in of the cashew nuts. In the morning the  barfis would have hardened like the ones available in sweetmeat shops. Enjoy your homemade barfis.