Tomato Chutney or Tomato Tok

This recipe is supereasy. All you need is some basic ingredients and 10 minutes of patience which I am sure, you all have.

The Ingredients:

Two Ripe Red Tomatoes
One Onion, Chopped
One BIG piece of Ginger, Grated or Crushed
4 pods of Garlic, chopped
Few Whole Cumin Seeds
2 teaspoon of sugar
Half teaspoon of salt [ or less ]
A bit of Pepper powder / 1/4 teaspoon would be enough
Oil [ preferably mustard oil but any other oil will do ]

Method:

Cut two tomatoes into half and run them in a mixie or a food processor until these become a liquid paste.  No need to add water in the processor.
Now, heat oil in a pan and when hot, add few whole cumin seeds. Immediately add the chopped onion and garlic. Fry till golden brown. Add the tomato paste. Now, add the ginger paste/ crushed ginger.
Now, add two teaspoon full of sugar, less than a half teaspoon of salt and 1/4th teaspoon of pepper powder. Keep stirring. Check the taste and add more sugar/salt or pepper to balance the sweet and sour taste. Add half cup of water after sometime. Cover the pan for a minute .
Your dish is done.
Garnish with Coriander leaves { Dhania Patta } before serving.
Note: Put the gas in MEDIUM flame throughout.

How To Make the Perfect Cup of Tea: Ginger Tea / Masala Tea / Masala Chai

The Perfect Cup of Ginger Tea:

  {Ingredients for Two Cups }:
 

A big Piece of Fresh Ginger, peel removed and grated. /Or you can crush the ginger in a small iron mortar.

4 teaspoon of sugar [ according to your requirement ].

One and a half cup Water.

One cup Warm Milk {fresh Milk }. /Or three teaspoon of Milk powder mixed in a cup of hot water.

3 teaspoon of tea granules.


Method:

In a sauce pan, pour one and a half cup of water. Put the gas on SIM Mode [ SIM i.e. boil slowly at low temperature/fire ]. Immediately put the crushed ginger and 3 [or 4 ] teaspoon of sugar in the water.Wait for at least 5 minutes. Let it remain in the SIM Mode until the water turns pale yellow and starts to boil. Now, put 3 teaspoon full of tea granules in it . Wait for another 5 minutes. Let the gas remain in SIM Mode. After 5 minutes or so, when the tea starts to boil, add one cup of warm milk over it. Now put the gas on HIGH and wait for the mixture to build a foam and rise to the rim of the the sauce pan. Immediately put off the gas carefully so that the tea does not get spilled all over.

Your perfect teas is done.

The only thing you should remember is that it takes more time to prepare/boil than the usual tea. Also put the gas to a SIM mode throughout until you mix the milk.

Cooking Banana Trunk

The banana plant is very useful. We can cook and eat the banana flower, the banana fruit and the banana peel . But do you know that we can cook the banana trunk as well ? The tender part of the banana trunk { see image } is edible.



*The Raw Banana Trunk



*After cooking the Banana Trunk

Ingredients:

1. The tender part of the banana trunk. It is the last or the innermost tender circle. If in doubt, ask the vegetable vendor and he will show you which part to eat.

2. A Paste made from 6-7 pods of garlic + 2 inch ginger + 1 or 2 fresh green chili

3. Whole Dry Cumin Seeds
4. Salt
5. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
6. 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
7. Lots of Mustard Oil


Method:

Chop the Banana trunk [ the inside part] into pieces. Boil in a pan until done or in a pressure cooker up to 1 whistle. While boiling the pieces, add half teaspoon salt and a pinch of turmeric powder.Discard the boiling water.

Now, heat the Mustard oil in a pan. Add the whole cumin seeds. Add the boiled pieces of banana trunk. Keep frying. Add the ginger+garlic+green chili paste. Add the chili powder and turmeric powder. Keep frying. Add salt if necessary. Your dish is done.

If you want to make it spicy keep the dish as it is.
If you want to make it watery, add two tablespoon of water to the dish before removing from fire.

Cooking Arum Roots { Kochu }

Today, I am going to cook white arum roots. There are different types of arum plants and different types of arum roots. The one I am going to cook is small and it has a pale yellow skin. If you remove the skin, the color of the arum would be milky white. {as shown in the photo }.



Arum roots,peeled.



The Final Product.

Ingredients:

1. Arum roots 8-10, peeled
2. One onion- One Half chopped and the other half made into a fine paste,
3. 1 potato, chopped into very small cubes,
4.Ginger,1 inch + Garlic, 3-4 pods + One green chilli-All -made into a paste,
5. A handful of Bengal Gram,boiled, { optional}
6. One teaspoon of ready made and loose Chicken Masala
7. A quarter teaspoon of Kashmiri mirch powder, {optional}
8. Whole dry cumin seeds
9. A pinch of turmeric powder,
10.Salt to taste.

Method:

In a saucepan, boil the peeled arum roots with a handful of Bengal gram and a teaspoon of salt.
When done, remove from water. Discard the water.
Heat refined oil in a pan. Add some dry whole cumin seeds.Fry the small potato cubes. Add chopped onion. Add onion+ginger+garlic++green chili paste. Add the boiled arum roots and Bengal grams. Add garam masala powder and a bit of red chili /kashmiri mirch powder{optional but try to add if possible}. Add some salt and turmeric powder. Mix well.Keep frying. Add chicken masala. Mix thoroughly.Keep frying. Add half cup of water and cover the pan for five minutes.
Your dish is done.

You do not need to fry the dish too much as the arum roots and Bengal grams have been boiled already.

Curry Patta Sandwich

Ingredients :

One Big Potato -Boiled, mashed and half teaspoon of salt and half teaspoon of cumin/ jeera powder added to it.

One chopped Onion [small]

Make a rough paste of Ginger + Garlic + One Green Chili [optional]

Method:

Heat Oil in a pan. Fry the chopped onions. Add the ginger + garlic + chili Paste. Add Curry Patta or Curry Leaves [as shown in the picture]. Fry for a few seconds till you get the aroma of curry patta !!!. Add the boiled Potato mixture. Mix the chopped onions and garlic thoroughly with the potato mash. Keep frying for a minute or two. Add salt if necessary. Layer toasted bread with this fried mixture.

Yummy !!!

Homemade Chanachur

When I was young, and also till the last days in the University, I used to eat "Chanachur" occasionally. Somehow, this habit of eating Chanachur has vanished over the time. Therefore, I have also forgotten how Chanachur used to taste.
Chanachur is sold by street side vendors . In my home-state [no, it is not West Bengal] , the Chanachur vendors used to stand in front of schools, colleges, Universities, Cinema halls and market places . There are different type of Chanas or Chanachurs . Some are plain dry like ground nuts or pea nuts, some are roasted, some are fried, some are soaked overnight in water , some are simply boiled and some are first boiled and then fried. These chanas or grams or nuts are usually mixed with different ingredients, such as -ground spices, salt, oil, lemon juice and chopped onions or radish, or coriander leaves.
Oh ! Chanachurs are so mouthwatering !!!
The dry variety of Chanachurs are also marketed by big companies in India. But the fresh variety of boiled chanachurs can only be found in the street, sold by the vendors. There is also the piping hot variety of roasted Chana known as Garam Chana. And there is the normal Chana -soaked, boiled or fried.

Today, I thought of making some homemade Chana after 6 or 7 years [believe me or not !!] since I left University ! I bet it will taste as good as the streetside stalls.

Basic Ingredients :

1. A handfull of Bengal Gram /Boot/Chickpeas/

2. Dried Green Peas [not the frozen or fresh variety, PLEASE!!!]

3. Chopped red Onions

4. Chopped Cilantro or Coriander Leaves

5. Lemon Juice

7. Mustard Oil [1 teaspoon]

8. chopped green chilies [ for chilli lovers !]

9. Salt

Method :

Soak Bengal gram and dry Green peas overnight. Boil these in a saucepan of water with a teaspoon of salt for 2 to 5 minutes. Do not overboil these. Do not boil for more than 5 minutes, these should not be too soft.
Drain the boiling water immediately. Now, in a frying pan heat a little oil. Fry the boiled grams and peas for not more than 5 minutes. Do not fry for too long. Fry just a little.
Now, in a bowl, mix these fried grams and peas with mustard oil, chopped onions, chopped coriander/cilantro leaves, chopped green chilies [optional] and lemon juice. Add salt if necessary. Mix well and serve.

[Add fried ground nuts, fried cheera/poha, crushed papads, bhujia, etc. if you want to enhance the taste]

It makes a lovely evening snack !!! I assure you !

Marinated Spicy Chicken

I make marinated dishes a lot. While relocating to our new home, I lost my chopper [food processor] and could not make fine home made onion paste or any other paste. So I bought a new mixer-grinder-chutney maker at a damn cheap price -It cost me only Rupees 1,500. The new machine is Indian and it is called Maharaja Whiteline Nano and the size of the machine is so compact- more compact than our imported Philips food processor which cost us Rupees 4,000. This is also easier to clean than Philips.

Anyway, let me go directly to the recipe.

Basic Ingredients:

Store bought boneless chicken pieces [ half k.g.]
3 Chopped Onions
1 inch Chopped Garlic
Chopped Ginger
One bunch of Chopped coriander and mint leaves  [ optional ]
2 Chopped green chilies
1 teaspoon full of Cumin powder [ or any spicy powder like chat masala or black pepper powder ]
2 tablespoon of Soya sauce

Preparation :

Chop Two Onions and 5-6 pods of garlic. Keep aside.

Now, in a food processor, put One Onion + Ginger+ Garlic+ + Fresh Pudina Leaves [Mint leaf]+ Dhania Leaves  [Coriander or Cilantro leaf]+Two Green Chilies- Make a paste of these fresh ingredients.

Mix the chicken in the above marinated paste. Add cumin powder [one teaspoon], oil, salt and about2 tablespoon of soya sauce. Keep this marinated chicken in the fridge for 5-6 hours or overnight.

Method:


Add oil in a frying pan. Take out the chicken pieces from the marinated paste and keep the paste separately from the chicken. Fry the chicken pieces in the oil till done. Add chopped onions and garlic [ that was set aside earlier ] . When the chicken is almost done, add the marinated paste. Fry for some time. No need to add water as water will ooze out from the marinated paste.
When your dish is ready to serve, serve with some spicy tomato sauce.