MALPUA (BENGALI DESERT ,FESTIVAL SWEET)

 

Malpua , a typical Bengali desert , soft , floating in juicy sugar syrup , a traditional Bengali sweet dish .

Bengalees  prepare it in their festivals like Holi, Bijoya Dashami (last day of Durga puja). Not only Bengali, the people of our neighboring states like Assam, Odessa, Bihar also have it in their respective festivals .

I learned this recipe from my mother. I made this with cheena (cottage cheese) which adds a different flavor in malpua. As I am a bit health conscious, I usually make this with jaggery powder instead of sugar. jaggery powder is helpful to our health and for growing children as well. I will discuss about benefits of jaggery powder in another blog later.

Now I am sharing the recipe here

INGREDIENTS:

1)      Moida (white flour): 2 cups.

2)      Cheena (cottage cheese): 1 cup. (Smash cheena properly with the help of hand.)

3)      Milk: as per requirement.

4)      Jaggery powder: 1 ½ cup.

5)      Semolina: 4 tablespoons.

6)      Fennel seeds: 1 tablespoon.

7)      Cardamom (elaichi) and black cardamom seeds: 1 teaspoon.

8)       White oil to fry.

PROCESS: Mix all ingredients. Pour milk in it. Be careful about the consistency of the mixture, it is neither so thick nor so thin. A semi running consistency is perfect .Keep aside for 1 hour.

Make jaggery syrup. Boil 2 cups of water with 1 and ½ cups of jaggery powder. Keep it aside to cool down the syrup.

Fry malpua in hot white oil and put it in jaggery syrup. After 5 minutes, take out malpua from syrup.

Our juicy malpua is ready to serve .You can take it hot or cool as you like. It is so soft, juicy and flavored when you have it your eyes will definitely close to have the heavenly taste.  It is a perfect desert for post lunch or dinner.

Thank you.

ILISH BIRIYANI (A SPECIAL ILISH RECIPE) HILSHA DISH

 

My family and me are truly food lover.  We are always busy with exploring different dishes and 

experimenting new items. Everybody knows that Bengalis can’t imagine without fish .If it is Hilsha fish 

in their lunch plate then there add a special color in their dish. We are not out of this. Few days before I 

made Hilsha biriyani (we call “ilish biriyani).I truly said that it was so much liked by my guests .A delicious dish indeed .

I am eager to share you the recipe. This is a very easy recipe but so tasty .It should be absolutely finger licking.

HERE IS THE RECIPE:

INGREDIENTS: 1) Basmati rice: 1 kg

2) Mustered oil: 250 grams.

3) Hilsha fish: 4 pieces.

4) Black cumin seed: 2 teaspoons.

5) Green chili: 5 to 6

6) Turmeric powder: 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste.

PROCEDURE: 1) Sprinkle turmeric powder and salt in hilsha pieces and mix it well.

2) Take a pan, pour mustered oil in it on oven .Heat the oil to fry hilsa fish .Don’t deep fry fishes , just tender the fishes .Keep aside.

3) Now add sliced green chilies , black cumin seeds  in hot oil. A beautiful aroma will come out.

4) Ready basmati rice in an another pot. Rice should be free in texture.

5) Now the time for mixing fishes and ready masalas with basmati rice. Mix very well.

Ilish biriyani is now ready .It is a delicious bengali dish.

A plate full of hot basmati rice and fried ilish pieces in it with perfect ilish aroma is a real dream of a Bengali.☺

I think you enjoy the blog.

Thank you.

BENGALI MONSOON DISH (TRADITIONAL MONSOON THALI)

 

We, Bengalis are fond of different foods from all over India. But we have lots of traditional recipes,

 various sweet dishes and so many others in our food basket. We have normal thali which means full 

meal in different seasons .Today I am telling about Bengali Special Monsoon Thali . It is undoubtedly a

 mouth watering full meal with full of nutritions, majority of Bengalis used to have it in this season.

 This thali consists of Khichdi  , fried papad , fried brinjal (we call it ‘Begun Bhaja’) and for extra touch

in meal an omelette or a piece of fried Hilsha . This is altogether a sumptuous meal.

Khichdi is a mixed boiled recipe of moong dal and rice.

It is tempered with whole garam masala , bay leaf , whole cumin seeds in hot oil. For a good aroma we 

use Deshi ghee and powdered garam masala also.

We fry brinjal in mustard oil .I cut brinjal in length wise but many among us cut these in round shapes.

First we add salt and turmeric powder in brinjal pieces then fry in mustard oil. It turns into a soft 

tender fried  brinjal  or our “begun bhaja”.

Fried Hilsa adds an extra touch in our monsoon meal. Before frying Hilsa pieces we mix little bit salt 

and turmeric powder.We call these illish mach bhaja . It is so delicious.and turmeric powder.We call 

these illish mach bhaja . It is so delicious.

Mango chutney is must with khichdi

So khichdi , papar bhaja , begun bhaja , omlette and illish mach bhaja make our monsoon meal a 

palatable one .And also with mango chutney aka "ammer chutney". In any rainy day we can’t resist 

ourselves from this monsoon meal . Majority of our Bengali family have their feast with this monsoon

 meal in rainy day.

I will discuss about the recipe of khichdi and mango chutney in another blog.

I think you enjoy my blog.

THANK YOU

.

CHICKPEA FLOUR WITH WATER SPINACH (KOLMI SHAK BESON,KOLMI DAL)(IMMUNITY BOOSTER)

Water spinach is a (kolmi shak in Bengali) is a healthy vegetable full of vitamins and minerals which 

is really very important for our health ,not only for us it is good one for our kids also.It is full of 

antioxidants , helps to boost our immunity power i. e very necessary for us in  today's situation . 

.Water spinach is certainly full of energies.

Nutritional value per 100 grams water spinach: Energy : 79 k cal

Vitamins: A ,B (1,2,3,5,6,9),C

Trace metals: Calcium ,Iron ,Magnesium ,Manganese ,Phosphorus ,Potassium ,Sodium and Zinc.

Chickpea flour is also rich in vitamins and minerals .

1 cup of chickpea flour contains 356 calories, protein 20 grams and fat 6 grams .

I always thought to prepare a recipe full of nutrients and so I had done.

Today I am sharing with you a different type of recipe i.e water spinach in chick pea flour.

INGREDIENTS: 1) Water spinach: 100 grams (cut small pieces of full 2 cups)

2) Chick pea flour: 100 grams (2 cups)

3) White oil: ½ cup

4 )Cumin seed : 1 table spoon

5) Red chili: 2 , red chili powder : 1 teaspoon

6) Turmeric powder: 1 table spoon

7) Curd: 1 to 2 cups.

8) Onion: 4 to 5 tablespoons (sliced in small square pieces)

9) Ginger: 1 table spoon (sliced in thin long sizes)

10) Asafetida: 2 to 3 pinches

Salt to taste.

PROCEDURE: Cut water spinach in small 1 inch sizes and wash properly.

Take a bowl, mix curd and besan ( chickpea flour) for a smooth paste ,add turmeric powder , red chilli powder , salt and little amount of water if needed .

Put a kadai on gas  with 2 to 3 teaspoons white oil on it  and heat the oil, add cumin seeds ,red chilli ,asafetida  , a good aroma will come out when splits .

Now the time for adding kalmi shak ( water spinach). Keep a lid on karai.

After the water spinach becomes tender (half- cooked), add ready smooth paste of besan and curd.  Stir

 continuously because the gravy will always catch the bottom of karai .So be conscious about that .If you prefer

 sweet taste you can add 1 teaspoon sugar. 

 

 

. Take 10 to 15 minutes for complete cooking, the whole consistency of gravy will be smooth when it is ready .

Now the last part of the recipe : In an another container take 2 tablespoons white oil  ,add sliced onion 

and sliced  ginger( long and thin) in it . Heat the oil, fry lightly (just to sauté) and after that pour it in 

ready smooth gravy ,put a lid on it right now.

Our healthy “water spinach in chickpea flour” recipe is ready to serve .You must take it hot so that you 

will get real flavor of the dish and as well as nutrients .You can take it with roti or rice. Use lemon juice

 and green chilli for better taste.  But I preferably take it plain.It also can have as a full meal in dinner.

Enjoy the dish.

THANK YOU.