Bhapa Puli

Bhapa Puli is a steamed dumpling type of very popular Bangladeshi pitha . Usually freshly prepared rice flour is used to make this pitha , but I used the ready made, store bought rice flour without any hesitation and the outcome is as same as the flour made at home . So those who are bit skeptical using the store bought flour in making pithas, don’t be . Give it a try !!!!!!!!

Ingredients:

For the dough:

Rice flour 1 cup
Water 3/4th cup
Salt to taste , around half tea spoon

For the filling:

Grated coconut
Date palm molasses ( khejur gur)

Procedure:

1. Make the filling by cooking the coconut and molasses together . Keep stirring until gets sticky .

2. Make the dough by boiling 3/4th cup of water with salt . When it’s on the boiling point, add the rice flour . Mix well . Let it cool .

3. Wet your hand and knead the dough for a minute or so . Roll a big medium thick roti on a rice flour dusted counter top . Use additional extra flour to roll it out . Cut the roti into small rotis with anything round shaped object .

4. Put filling in the center and seal the edge with your finger tip . The roti must not be too thin or too thick . It should be medium thick .

Before steaming

5. Steam for 3-4 minutes . Before steaming try to grease the pan , on which you will put the pithas to stem or else they can stick with the pan .

Serve hot !!!!!

Notes:

Alhamdulillah my pithas turned out good , but I agree , these pithas often cracks . I think few things must be taken into consideration .

1.Dont make your roti , too thin or too thick . Both tends to crack .

2.Knead well your dough . If you use too much extra rice flour leaving it totally dry , it might crack .

3.Steaming for a longer time might crack the pithas and before steaming don’t keep it outside for too long , the air can dry out the pithas and eventually they crack .. So steam them immediately after you shape them .

Samosa , made with boiled rice flour dough , a very crispy version

This special type of Samosa is a savory version of pithas , made with boiled rice flour dough . It’s a very popular regional speciality in Jamalpur and greater Dhaka division . In Manikgonj , this samosa is called “morog-shongshar” !!!! Believe me this samosa is so crispy and tasty , once you have them hot , you will always want to make samosa with this special dough . And they are pretty easier to make than the traditional samosa , as no special folding is needed . Just make a round small roti . Cut into halves and make a cone with each half-circle , put the filling , seal the edges with your finger tip and deep fry .

Ingredients:

For the dough:

Rice flour 1 cup
Water 3/4th cup
Salt to taste , around half tea spoon

For the filling :

You can use any filling of your choice , but traditionally cooked chicken in cut in small pieces is used .

Procedure:

1. Boil 3/4th cup of water with salt . When it’s on the boiling point, add the rice flour . Mix well . Let it cool .

2. Wet your hand and knead the dough for a minute or so . Make small balls brom the dough . Roll out the balls into small medium thick roti . Cut each roti in halves . Take each half-circle and make a cone . Press well the line of the cone , so that it must not comes off while frying. Now put filling inside the cone and seal the edges very well with your finger-tip .

3. Deep fry on medium low heat until light golden . Take your time and fry well .Should be served warm . If you have some leftover , fry them again before you eat them .

Nutella Brownies !!

Brownies are kind of rich chocolate flavored bars , a cross between cake and fudge , wonderfully moist texture , yet dry cracked crust . It is cakey from outside and fudgy inside. Though originated in USA but brownies have got so much popularity all around the world , specially among children that truly led too many experiments on brownie that gave birth of too many recipes too !!! Brownies are often served with a glass of milk . For the picky eater, chocolate lover little monsters , this is the perfect recipe !!

There are many versions of Nutella brownies . My version is really simple yet very attractive to look at and delightful of course !!

Ingredients:

2 small eggs
7 tbl spoon of Nutella
3 tbl spoon + 1 tea spoon of melted butter
2 tbl spoon of sugar
5 tbl spoon of all purpose flour
1 heaped tbl spoon of cocoa powder
Vanilla essence, half teaspoon
Baking soda 2 pinches
Chocolate chips , semi -sweetened , 1/4th cup
2 small Chocolate cookie bar ( optional)

Procedure:

1. In a bowl combine 2 eggs , nutella , sugar and butter . Mix very well with your electric hand beater with high speed .

2. Now add the flour and cocoa powder in it and mix with low speed . Add vanilla essence and baking soda .

3. add the chocolate chips . Break the chocolate cookie bar into chunks . And mix with the batter .

4. Grease the pan or small pans with butter . Spoon the batter and bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 FH for about 12-15 minutes.

5. Don’t over bake . Just until the edges are firm and you see the dry crust on the top , take them out . Because of the chocolate chips the inside will remain runny , but the edges will be firm .

Enjoy!!!!!

Fish Nuggets

This is a super simple recipe . You can make fish nugget , fish steak for burgers or even fish finger .

Ingredients:

Fillet of swai/ basa fillet , cut in nugget shape
1 egg
2 tbl spoon of flour
1 and half tea spoon of crushed black pepper
1 teaspoon of Mustard paste/ sauce
2 tbl spoon of Worcestershire sauce
Salt to taste

Other ingredients:

Breadcrumbs , enough for coating ( if possible try to use Japanese Panko breadcrumb)
Oil to fry

Procedure:

1. Cut one fillet of a fish and cut them into nugget shapes . You will get at least 7/ 8 nugget pieces from one fillet .

2. Marinate it with Worcestershire sauce, mustard paste, crushed black pepper and salt . Now add one beaten egg and 2 tbl spoon of flour . Marinate the fish in this mixture for a while .

3. Take each piece of nugget and coat them with breadcrumbs . Fry them in enough oil at medium low heat . It should not be deep fried but you have to take enough oil to fry them . So take a frying pan and put enough oil in the pan to cover the nuggets .

Serve with tartar sauce or any dip of your choice !!!

Fish Burger

Ingredients:

4 fillets of swai/ basa , cut in 4″ × 4 ” size
1 beaten egg
2 tbl spoon of flour
1 and half tea spoon of crushed black pepper
1 teaspoon of Mustard paste/ sauce
2 tbl spoon of Worcestershire sauce
Salt to taste

Other ingredients:

Breadcrumbs , enough for coating ( if possible try to use Japanese Panko breadcrumb)
Oil to fry
4 Burger buns
Lettuce/ salad leaves
Onion, tomato rings

Ingredients for Tartar sauce :

Mayonnaise Half cup
Lemon juice 2 teaspoon
Pickled onion, capers and cucumber , finely minced, 1 and half tbl spoon
Crushed White pepper 1/4 th teaspoon
Sugar half teaspoon
Salt 1/4th teaspoon
Egg white of boiled egg , finely chopped ( half of 1 small egg)
Chopped parsley or cilantro

Mix them all together very well . Your Tartar sauce is ready .

Procedure:

1.Marinate the fillets with Worcestershire sauce, mustard paste, crushed black pepper and salt . Now add one beaten egg and 2 tbl spoon of flour . Marinate the fish in this mixture for a while .

2. Take each piece of fillet and coat them with breadcrumbs . Fry them in enough oil at medium low heat . It should not be deep fried but you have to take enough oil to fry them . So take a frying pan and put enough oil in the pan to cover the nuggets .

3. Assemble the burgers by spreading some tartar sauce on the bun , followed by the lettuce , the fillet , some more tartar sauce , tomato and onion ring . Cover it with the other half of the bun .

Note:

1. Tartar sauce has a tangy flavor . So if you don’t like pickles and the tangy flavor like my daughter , then don’t add any pickles in the mayonnaise .

2. You may grill the buns before you assemble the burgers .

Red Velvet Cake

Red velvet cake , originated in North America , has got it’s popularity beyond the boundaries of it’s origin of birth because of it’s alluring dark , bright red or brown-red color and of course for the moist, soft texture of the cake . Though considered to be a Southern specialty , the cake and it’s original recipe are made well known by New York City’s famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel .

Traditionally, the cake is made as a layer cake with any white icing/ frosting , cream cheese frosting being the most popular. The bright red color is made either by the food coloring or by the boiled beet juice , if you consider yourself health conscious !!

All the recipes of red velvet cake are somehow same , though can differ in use of shortening, butter or vegetable oil and also as to the quantity used .

Ingredients:

2 eggs ( room temperature)
1/2 (Half a cup) a cup, vegetable oil + 3 tbl spoon of Butter ( softened)
1 and 1/2 cup sugar ( crushed in a grinder, which we call caster sugar)
2 and 1/2 cup + 2 tbl spoon all purpose flour
3 tbl spoon of cocoa
1/4 th teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk* ( see the note , plz)
Red food coloring
Vanilla essence , 1 tea spoon
1 tea spoon baking soda
1 tea spoon white vinegar

For Cream Cheese Frosting :

Cream cheese 4 oz ( room temperature) ( half of the packet)
Butter 2 oz ( room temperature, softened)
Icing sugar 6 tbl spoon / 1/3 rd cup
2 tbl spoon of chilled evaporated milk/ fresh cream ( start with 1 tbl spoon)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Cake Syrup:

1 tea spoon of vanilla essence
1/4 th cup of water
2 tbl spoon of sugar

Procedure:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two round pans. ( I made , a layered caked and few cup cakes , so took two 6”round pan)

2.In a large bowl, sift together the flour salt, and cocoa powder. Don’t use the baking soda now . We will use it later .

3. Mix the food color in the buttermilk . It took me a bottle ( around 2 tbl spoon of liquid red food color) . Those who are using other colors , use generously otherwise the color won’t come and you will end up with a pink colored velvet cake .

4.Beat vegetable oil , butter and 1 and 1/2 cups of caster sugar( powdered sugar) with the electric hand beater at high speed until very light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well.

5. Now alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour and mixing at low speed . That is , put some flour , mix , then add buttermilk , mix . Continue like this . Flour , then buttermilk . Don’t over mix or over beat . The speed of the electric beater should be at the lowest , just to incorporate well .

6. Now in a small cup combine baking soda and vinegar and quickly mix in the cake batter . Don’t beat or overmix now . Just fold in to the cake batter. This is the trick that would make your cake softer and very moist . But you have to work quickly , so divide the cake batter into the greased pans and put them immediately inside the pre-heated oven to bake . If you don’t bake them immediately , the cake will fall flat and the trick will fail . So if your oven is not big enough to put two cake pans at the same times, a little trick to share with you . When your cake batter is ready , before you put the vinegar-soda mixture , divide them equally in two bowls , and mix half of the vinegar and soda ( half teaspoon each ) to one mixture, pour into one greased pan and bake. After taking them out from the oven , take remaining batter and add vinegar-soda mixture , that is half teaspoon of vinegar and half teaspoon of soda ( since the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of soda and vinegar) and pour it into the greased pan and bake .

7. Bake the cake at 350 FH in a pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes clean . Don’t over bake .

8.Cool the cakes and then cut them into halves horizontally . Now you have four layers of cake . Moisten each layer with cake syrup. Don’t use too much , just enough to moisten . Frost one layer with cream cheese frosting and cover it with another layer . Repeat with other layers . Now cover the whole cake with remaining frosting . But frosting should be done when the cake completely cools .

Cream cheese frosting:

In a bowl take cream cheese , butter , icing sugar and vanilla essence . All the ingredients should be of room temperature . Don’t take chilled butter and cheese . Beat them together with electric hand beater until light and fluffy . If you find them too stiff , add 1 tbl spoon of evaporated milk or fresh cream . Beat again . If needed add 1 tbl spoon more .

Note:

1. If you don’t get buttermilk , take 1 cup of luke warm or room temperature milk . Add 1 tbl spoon of white vinegar and keep it aside for 15 minutes . After 15 minutes the thing you get is your buttermilk .

2. The measurement is very important . I used the US measuring cup , where 1 cup= 240 ml . Those who are using a measuring cup , where 1 cup= 250 ml , please don’t add the extra 2 tbl spoon of flour as mentioned in the ingredients . Just take 2 and 1/2 cup flour .

3. After adding the baking soda- vinegar mixture , don’t beat with beater or over mix . Just fold in to the cake batter gently .

For the recipe plz go through the link below ;

http://khadizaskitchen.com/2013/12/29/red-velvet-cake/

Bake the cupcakes for 20-22 minutes . They take little less time than the cakes . Frost them with your favorite frosting when completely cools .

Warqi Paratha

Warqi paratha is one of my favorite parathas . Soft inside but crisp outside . Though involves a bit hard work making it but trust me , it’s so worth making those melt in mouth parathas .

Ingredients:

For Dough:

2 cups all purpose flour/ maida
2 tbl spoon of semolina ( sooji)
2 tbl spoon of milk powder
2 tbl spoon of ghee
2 tea spoon of sugar
Salt to taste
Liquid milk 1/3 rd cup ( room temperature)
Little more water ( around 2 tbl spoon , you may need more)

Ghee mixture for the layering:

4 tbl spoon of ghee / vegetable shortening / butteroil
4 tbl spoon of cornstarch/ rice flour / maida

I make warqi paratha in 3 different ways . The first method being the best and most authentic though involves little hard work and it will take little time too.

Procedure # 1:

1. Make a medium soft dough with the ingredients mentioned above . Cover it with a wet cloth and let the dough rest for 30 minutes .

2. Make balls from the dough and roll the balls into small rotis or disks . Rub each rotis with the ghee-flour mixture.

3. Stack the rotis together . The last roti should be put inward way , so that the ghee covered part is on inside . Join them together . Roll them into a big roti.

4. Now apply the ghee-flour mixture on the roti . Roll it like a swiss roll . Cut the roll into 3″ pieces . Flatten the pieces by pressing them upright . Now stack three or four of these flatten pieces together . Roll out the paratha .

Here’s the step by step Pic :

5. Fry the parathas without ghee/oil first . Then heat some ghee ( you will need more than the quantity usually needed for frying parathas) and fry the parathas on medium low heat . Please be careful frying these , since they are kind of melt in mouth type , if not carefully handled , you may break the parathas .

Procedure # 2:

1. Make the balls from the dough and roll them out into small rotis . Apply ghee-flour mixtue over each roti and stack them together .

2. Roll out a paratha .

Here’s the step by step pic of this procedure:

3. Fry without ghee/oil first, then in good amount of ghee or oil .

Procedure # 3:

Enjoy Warqi paratha with korma , bhuna gosht and halwa !!!

Special Beef bhuna

I love beef!!! Nothing beats desi style beef preparation, no way !!! This special beef bhuna is so finger liking good , just can’t get enough of it !!!! The specialty of this preparation is slow cooking and the use of spices.

Ingredients:

1 kg beef , cut in medium or small pieces
1 medium onion , finely minced
1 cup fried onion/ bereshta
1 tbl spoon ginger paste
1 tbl spoon ginger , matchstick cut/ Julian cut
2 tea spoon garlic paste
5/6 whole garlic cloves
1/3 rd cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon red chili powder
5/6 dry red chilies ( split in half)
1/2 ( half) teaspoon turmeric
5/6 green cardamom
2 black cardamoms ( if small)
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 bayleaves
1 tea spoon black pepper ( whole)
5/6 cloves
salt to taste
Oil
2 tbl spoon of papaya paste ( optional, for meat tenderizing)
Special masala ( apply the whole quantity)

Special masala :

Dry roast 1 tea spoon cumin or jeera for 30 seconds . Now grind it with 1 tea spoon whole coriander ( dhonia) and 1 tea spoon fennel ( mouri) into a fine powder .

Procedure:

1. Marinate the meat with all the ingredients except special garam masala and oil .

2. Heat the oil and add the meat with marinade . Cook on medium heat for 2 minutes . Now reduce the heat and cook the meat on low heat with lid on . The pot should be covered with a lid .

3. The meat will release water and will be cooked in it . Don’t bother . Slow cook for at least 2 hours . If needed add little water but not until 45 minutes.

4. Just before you turn the stove off , add the garam masala powder and cook 5 minutes more .

Note:

1. Please make the fried onion at home . Don’t over fry them , as it may ruin the color . It should be nice golden brown color . Fried onion makes a great difference in this preparation and also the julian cut ginger and whole garlic cloves .

Stuffed Pull Apart Flower Bun

Many of us love pull apart buns . Who doesn’t ? That soft , tender inside with golden buttery crust !!! But here you go with my stuffed pull apart bun , the recipe being my own . Really loved the filling with spinach, potato and cheese complimenting the super soft buns , making it super exotic !!

Ingredients:

2 cups of all purpose flour
2 tbl spoon Milk powder
1 tea spoon Instant dry yeast
2 teaspoon sugar
Little less than 1 tea spoon salt
1 beaten egg
2 tbl spoon ghee or butteroil
3 tbl spoon of oil
1/3 rd cup of luke warm ,regular liquid milk ( to make the dough )
Little water , 2 tbl spoon or more ( if needed to make the dough after adding milk), luke warm

Other Ingredients:

1 beaten egg mixed with 1 tbl spoon milk for egg wash
Sesame and nigella ( black seed)
Butter to rub on the bun after taking it out from the oven

Filling :

Spinach
Boiled mashed potato
Cottage cheese and cream cheese
Chopped onion and garlic
Butter
Salt to taste

Heat butter and fry the chopped onin and garlic for a minute . Add the chopped spinach . Don’t add any extra water . The leaves will release water . Add little salt . When the water is almost dried out add the mashed potato . Stir and then add the cottage cheese .

When cool , mix the cream cheese with it .

Procedure:

1. Mix all the ingredients for bun except oil . Be careful while adding luke warm milk and water . If you use too hot water the yeast might get killed , and if you use room temperature or cold water, the yeast won’t wake up !!!!!! In both case the dough will not rise and everything will go in vain . So always use luke warm water in any recipe where you have yeast as an ingredient. Make a soft dough . If you make the dough hard , the bun will be hard , so make it a soft dough .

2. Knead well . The dough will be very sticky . Now add the oil and form the dough into a round ball . Now it’s easier to work with the dough. Knead very well . The more you knead, the softer bun you get . Knead at least 8-10 minutes .Put the dough into a closed lid box and place it in a warm place . It may take an hour or more to get the dough double in volume . If it becomes fluffy and double in volume , the dough is ready to make the bun. Sometimes it may get longer time to rise . Sometimes it takes almost 2 and half hour to rise up and to be fluffy . So don’t do anything until it rise up in volume and becomes fluffy .

3. Punch down all the air form the dough . Now Make balls from the dough . Flatten the ball and put some filling into it. Reshape the ball . Make all the buns like this . All of them should be of same size .

4. Grease a springform or any other pan . and place the balls closely to each other . Cover with a wet cloth for 20 minutes and let it rise again a bit . In the mean time pre-heat your oven to 400 FH or 200 Centigrade.

5. Brush with egg and sprinkle some sesame and nigella seed . Bake for not more than 20 minutes at 400 FH in a pre heated oven . If you bake for longer , the buns will be hard .

6. After taking out from oven rub some butter on it for a smooth and glossy finishing .

Notes:

1. The softer is your dough , the softer is your bun .

2. Don’t over bake , as it may make your buns hard .

3. Use the ghee and oil both in making the dough .

Atayef- Asafeeri , the exotic Arabic pancake

Atayef is one of the most popular Arabic sweets , a hot favorite during Ramadan ( the fasting month for Muslim) , a folded Arabic pancake , served with Ater ( the syrup) . Asafeeri belongs to the same group , but unlike Atayef , it is not fully folded . One Side of asafeeri is open and filled with cream and the cream part is dipped in grounded pistachio or walnuts . It is not fried like Atayef too . Atayef has a crunchy surface , as it is fried and dipped in the sugar syrup before served . But Asafeeri is soft as it is not fried and usually little smaller than atayef in size .

The filling of atayef is traditionally very simple . There are many options for the filling . Like only nuts, coarsely chopped dried fruits , Nablusi or any other cheese . Sometimes cheese is mixed with fresh or clotted/ canned cream and grounded Mistka ( sugar crystal like things).

This is Atayef ; a half moon shaped:

This is asafeeri , one side open and filled with cream:

Ingredients:

For the batter: ( makes about 4 atayef and 7-8 asafeeri together)

1/2 ( half) cup All purpose flour
1/2 (half) cup semolina ( sooji)
1 tbl spoon of milk powder
2 tbl spoon sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tbl spoon oil
1/2 ( half) teaspoon instant dry yeast
1 cup+ 1/3 rd cup Luke warm liquid milk
1 tbl spoon of orange blossom water/ rose water
1 pinch of baking soda

Filling:

as I have mentioned earlier , there can be various options for the filling . The classic cheese filling is a filling with cheese and cream . There can be dried fruits filling or nut filling . Any filling of your choice . The filling I used is our home made, desi style cheese with cream filling and the interesting part is , I mixed some grounded Misri ( Taal-misri , sugar crystals) with it , instead of Mistka ( arabic sugar crystal).

Chaana/ cheese
Fresh cream/ canned cream
1 tbl spoon of condensed milk
Little sugar
Grounded Misri

Whip the cream for a while . Mixed with chana , condensed milk , sugar and grounded misri . The Filling must not be runny .So the amount of chaana/ cheese must be appropriate . The filling shoud be stiff. For the atayef mix some coarsely chopped nuts with it .

For chaana:

Boil 4 cups of milk . When it reaches the boiling point . Add 2/3 tbl spoon of lemon juice and stir until the whey separates . Drain out the whey and wash the chaana with running cold water . Squeeze out all the water from chaana .

For dipping:

Grounded pistachio and walnut

For the syrup:

Half cup sugar
Half cup water
Rose water
Half tea spoonof lemon juice ( to prevent crystallization)

Make a Medium thick ( two thread consistency ) sugar syrup with the ingredients.

Procedure:

1. Make a thin batter with all the ingredients mentioned above except the baking soda . Allow the batter rest for at least 2 hours or until frothy . It’s better to let the batter rest for longer time for better result.

2. Beat the batter again with a spoon before you make the pancakes . Add the baking soda and mix well . The batter should be thin . If needed , you can add 1 or 2 tbl spoon of more water .Heat the pan on medium-low heat and when heated, rub the pan with little oil and drop batter on it using a ladle just like pancakes . Soon you will see the bubbles on it . If the batter is of right consistency, that is thin , there will be small bubbles all over the atayef . But if the batter is thick , the bubbles will not be so .

Here’s the picture of the batter of right consistency:

3. Just cook one side like the pancakes . Don’t turn over . Cook till the bottoms brown and the bubbles on the top appear to have dried out.

4. Now finish making all the pancakes like this. Place the filling and fold the edges with your finger tips . But for asafeeri , don’t fold it fully ,leave one side open and fill the opening with the filling and dip into ground pistachio or walnut.

5. For the Atayef , just before you serve , heat the pan with 1 tbl spoon of butter or oil and fry them a while until bit crunchy . Remove from the oil and dip into sugar syrup . Serve hot !!! Don’t fry the asafeeris. Serve both with ater ( sugar syrup)

Notes:

1. Try to fold the atayef and asafeeri immediately , or else it will dry out and you will find difficulty to fold them up . So after frying cover them with a wet cloth so that it should not dry out until you are done with all the cakes .

Dampukhkt Fish

Dampukht is one of the characteristics of Awadhi ( Luknowi) cuisine , being it’s root in Persia . It is a technique or process of slow cooking in a sealed container or utensil . The food is cooked on very low flame , that we call to keep on “dam” . The lid should be airtight so that the steam is locked inside and the food is cooked in it’s own juice . Usually the lid is sealed with flour dough . But I didn’t seal the lid with the dough but used a very tight lid , so that the air should not enter into the utensil .

Ingredients:

1 lb / 1/2 (half) K.G ,any white fish fillet ( I used Swai/ Basa) , cut in big cubes
Yogurt 1/4 th cup
Fried onion/ bereshta , 1 medium or 1/2 cup
Ginger paste 2 teaspoon
Garlic paste 1/2 ( half) teaspoon
Chili Powder 1 teaspoon
Crushed whole coriander, 1/2 (half) tbl spoon ( just take whole coriander and crush it into powder, don’t use store bought coriander powder)
Raisin paste , 1 teaspoon
Cashew (kaju badam) paste or powder 1 tbl spoon
Saffron , mixed in 2 tbl spoon milk
Little Jafrani food color ( optional)
Salt to taste
sugar , a pinch
Ghee ( you can take ghee and oil , half n half)
Special masala ( take sesame, poppy seed and pumpkin seed/charmogoj , 1 teaspoon each, and make a fine powder of it and apply all . If you don’t find charmogoj , leave it )
Green chilis

Procedure:

1. Marinate the fish with all the ingredients , except green chilies for at least an hour .

2. Now transfer the fish with whole marinade in a heated utensil . You may add little water , like 1/4 th cup of water at this point . Cover the lid tightly . Cook on low flame for about 1 and half hour or until reaches the desired consistency checking it occasionally not before first 45 minutes .

3. Add the green chilies just few minutes before you turn off the stove !!

Serve hot with Polau , steamed rice or even Naan roti .

Notes:

1. Please make the bereshta or fried onion at home . Don’t use the store bought one . If you do so , you may not get the full flavor . Nothing beats the home made bereshta .

2. Be careful while doing bereshta . Don’t burn it up . That may ruin the taste . The better is the color of bereshta , the better is the look of fish .

Golap Pitha ( rose pitha)

Golap pitha , the beautiful , rose shaped pitha has two versions . One is dried one like goja or pakkan pitha , fried and coated with thick sugar syrup and the other is a soft , Gulabjamun style version , soaked in sugar syrup . The basic dough being the same . I’m sharing both the processes.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1 cup Milk
1 cup flour/ maida
few pinches of salt
1 beaten egg
2 tbl spoon of breadcrumbs
1 and half tbl spoon of ghee/ oil ( I prefer ghee)

Sugar Syrup:

For the Dried version:

1 cup sugar
1/2 (half cup) water
2 cardamom and little stick of cinnamon.
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice ( to prevent crystallization)

Make a two thread sugar syrup with the ingredients mentioned above . That is the syrup should be thick . Don’t forget to add lemon juice to prevent crystallization . If your sugar syrup is not thick , the pithas will get soggy .

For the Softer , soaked in syrup version:

1 cup sugar
1½ cup water
1 piece cinnamon, about 2”
3 green cardamoms

Make one thread sugar syrup with the ingredients . The syrup should be thin . If your syrup is thick , the pithas will not get soaked well and will remain hard .

Procedure:

1. Boil milk. Add few pinches of salt . When the milk is at boiling point add flour and mix well .Just like the dough made for roti or chapatti.

2.Transfer the dough to a bowl. Knead well.Add the ghee or oil.When the dough cools a bit add the beaten egg and breadcrumbs. Knead well. You may find it difficult to incorporate everything smoothly but keep kneading. You may need to add some extra breadcrumb to work comfortably with the dough.The kneading part is very important. The smoother and glossy dough you can make by kneading, the softer pitha you will get after soaking in the syrup for the soft version of the pitha .

3. Now make large balls from the dough . Roll out each ball into a big , medium thick roti . Cut them into small rotis with the help of biscuit cutter or any round object .

4. For one rose , take three or five rotis . I took three rotis . Plz follow this video to shape the rose pitha easy way ;

5. Heat enough oil in a pot so pithas can be deep-fried. Now, the frying part is very important. If not fried well, the pithas will remain hard, especially in the center, even in the sugar syrup. And for the dried version , if not fried well , the pithas will not be that crunchy .The oil must be heated on medium low flame and it must not be too hot. Too hot oil will make the pithas get the outer color fast but leaving the center raw. The oil must not be cold either. Carefully, heat oil on medium low heat and fry the pithas well until dark golden brown.

6. For the soaked in syrup , like gulabjamun versions ,transfer the hot pithas immediately into lukewarm sugar syrup and soak them for at least 7/8 hours. If soaked well, the pithas will be soft like gulabjamun or laalmohon. Remember , the pithas should be hot , well fried and the syrup should be luke warm , not hot . If you put the pithas into hot syrup , the texture of the pithas will be ruined . DON’T PUT THE PITHAS INTO HOT SYRUP.

7. For the dried version , after frying coat them with the thick luke warm sugar syrup . If the syrup is not thick , the pithas will be soggy soon .

Notes:

1.Kneading and frying is very important to soak perfectly in the sugar syrup. Knead very well until glossy.

2.While frying, the temperature of the oil must be perfect. It should neither be too hot or mild hot. If it is too hot the pithas will go dark brown without being cooked in the center. And if oil is little hot the pithas will absorb a lot of oil and will taste bad. Therefore, oil should be heated on the same temperature from beginning to end. It should be on low medium heat and bubble should occur when you add the pithas. Remember oil should not be so hot that smoke can be seen. Also, remember to fry them with patience, with more time, so that they are perfectly fried inside out.

3.Always put the pithas in luke warm syrup. If you put them on piping hot syrup, the texture of the pitha will be ruined. For the soft gulabjamun like pithas , the pitha should be very hot and the syrup must be thin and luke warm , neither hot, nor cold or room temperature. The pithas get soaked well in thin, luke warm syrup . The syrup should not be thick for softer version of this pitha . On the other hand, for the dried version of pitha the syrup should be thick . Otherwise they will get soggy soon.

Aloo-Palong Poori

Ingredients:

For the dough:

2 cups of maida/ all purpose flour
2 tbl spoon ghee
1 tbl spoon sooji/ semolina
Salt to taste
Half teaspoon baking powder ( optional)
Water , cold or room temperature, enough to make the dough ( it took me around 1/2(half) a cup of water)

For the Filling:

Boiled potato, mashed
Chopped spinach
Chopped onion
Chopped garlic
Chopped green chilies
Whole cumin seed
Salt to taste
Oil

Heat oil . Add the whole cumin/ jeera . As it starts sputtering , add the chopped onion, garlic and green chilies . Fry for a while . Now add the chopped spinach and salt . Cook until soft . Don’t add any water . When the spinach is dried out add the mashed potato . Mix well . Set it aside.

Other ingredients:

Oil to deep fry the pooris
Any dipping of your choice to serve the poori with.

Procedure:

1. Mix ghee , salt , semolina and baking powder with the flour . Now add cold or room temperature water to form a Medium soft dough. It must not be soft . Knead well . Cover it with a wet cloth for half an hour .

2. Make small balls from the dough. Try to flatten the ball using the fingers , pressing the edges of the ball . You will find it to be shaped like small bowl . Now put some filling into it and reshape the ball , sealing all the edges together .

3.Flatten the balls slightly , pressing it with your palm . Roll out them on a oiled surface . Don’t use flour to roll out the poori . Slightly oil the surface and the rolling pin . It would make your poori crispy outside.

4. Deep fry the pooris on medium low flame .

Notes:

1. The dough of the poori is little harder than the luchi . So don’t make soft dough or don’t use luke warm water in making poori dough .

2. While putting the filing , make sure , they are not hot , or else the may get out from the poori at the time of rolling the pooris out.

Nasi Goreng!!!

“Nasi Goreng” often considered as the national dish of Indonesia , is the spicy and tastier version of Asian fried rice . “Nasi” means rice and “goreng ” means stir fried . It is the stir fried rice , mainly with the leftover rice . The main difference between nasi goreng and other Asian fried rice is the generous use of the sweet soy sauce or kecap manis , sambal oelek and the shrimp paste in Nasi goreng . Don’t have all the ingredients in your pantry??? don’t worry , I’ll tell you the substitutes without compromising the real taste .

Ingredients:

6 cups left over long grain rice ( preferably aromatic like Basmati)
1 lb Shredded Chicken or thinly sliced raw chicken
10/12 de-veined shrimps
2 beaten eggs
1 small onion , chopped
2 teaspoon ginger paste ( preferably Thai ginger root)
2 tea spoon garlic paste
2 tea spoon sambal oelek or 5/6 red chili paste with little garlic ,lemon juice, salt and sugar .
2 tbl spoon of sweet soy sauce or kecap manis ( substitute is given in the note)
1 tbl spoon of Fish sauce
1 tea spoon of oyster sauce
2 teaspoon of dried shrimp paste ( substitute is given in the note)
Chopped leek/ spring onions
Salt to taste
Oil

Procedure:

1. Beat the egg with little salt and make two thin omelets . Cut them into strips .

2. Marinate the chicken with sweet soy sauce and oyster sauce .

3. Heat oil and add ginger-garlic paste . Fry for a while . Add the chicken with the marinade , that is the sweet soy sauce and oyster sauce . Fry well until the color of the chicken is changed . Add the sambal oelek and shrimp paste . Fry . Add shrimps and chopped onion . add the rice , preferably left over , kept in fridge . Fry well on medium high heat . Add the fish sauce and incorporate well . Add little salt ( as the sauces contain enough sauce , add little by little). Mix with egg omelette strips. Finally add the chopped spring onion or leek .

4. Garnish with rolled egg omelette, pring onion , cucumber and serve .

Notes:

1. If you don’t have sweet soy sauce , substitute it with 3 parts of light soy sauce with 1 tea spoon of brown sugar . More specifically , if you take three teaspoon of soy sauce , take 1 teaspoon of brown sugar . If you don’t have brown sugar either , substitute brown sugar with jaggery or akher gur .

2. Don’t have sambal oelek?? don’t panic . Take 5/6 red chilis ( not the dried one, fresh red chili) , make a paste of these chilies with salt , lemon juice and little garlic paste . Adjust with little sugar .

3. There are people , who are allergic to dried fish . So if you don’t like dried fish, omit it . And if you do not have dried shrimp paste at home , if you have dried shrimp , fry the dried shrimp with few red chilies, dried or fresh with little oil and then blend . Don’t have dried shrimp?? Use Belachan or balachao for the substitution .

Memoni Akhni

Memoni Akhni … I believe this is the only biriyani , where we can see the use of turmeric in generous amount .Very spicy and the Memons can’t think of their biriyani without lots of potatoes of course . It is called “akhni” or “yakhni” , because the biriyani is cooked in stock . “Yakhni” means stock or broth . This special type of biriyani is very simple to make , where you put the meat and rice at the same time , in the same pot and cook in the broth or stock .

Ingredients:

750 gram beef with bone , cut in big size
750 gram aromatic rice , like kalijeera, basmati
1 tbl spoon ginger , cut in julian or matchstick
2 teaspoon ginger paste
3/ 4 garlic cloves , pounded
2 tea spoon garlic paste
2 small onion , pounded
1/2 ( half) a cup of fried onion or bereshta
1 tbl spoon of red chili powder
1 tbl spoon of turmeric
1 tea spoon of coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg-mace powder
Whole garam masala and spices ( 2 bay leaves ,2 stick of cinnamon . 12 green cardamom pods , 7/8 cloves , 1 tea spoon black pepper , 1 tea spoon cumin/ jeera , 1 tea spoon black cumin / sha jeera , 1 tbl spoon of whole corriander , 1 tea spoon of fennel , 3 black cardamom , 2 star anise)
Salt to taste
Oil + ghee
3 potatoes , cut in big cubes
5/ 6 Curry leaves ( optional)
9/ 10 whole green chilies
2 red jalapenos ( optional)

Procedure:

1. Make a bundle with 1 bayleaf, 1 stick of cinnamon , 7-8 green cardamoms , 2 small black cardamom , 7/ 8 cloves , 1 tea spoon cumin , 1 tea spoon black cumin , 1 tbl spoon of whole coriander , 1 tea spoon fennel , 1 star anise , 1 tea spoon of black pepper . Now Boil the beef in a large pot with this bundle in with enough water and 1 tbl spoon of Julian cut ginger , 2 small pounded onions and 3/4 pounded cloves and salt. We are making the stock . Don’t boil the beef fully . It should be just 70 % done .

2. Now Strain the stock from the beef and save for the latter part of cooking .

3. Heat oil and ghee in a pot , add 1 bay leaf , 4/5 green cardamoms , 1 small stick of cinnamon , 1 small black cardamom , 1 small star anise . Now add the ginger-garlic paste and the fried onion or bereshta . Add little water or you can use the stock you made and fry well , what we call in Bangla “koshano”. Add the chili, turmeric and coriander powder . Fry well adding water little by little . Add the 70% done meat and potatoes . Cook the meat adding water little by little , i.e keep doing ” koshano” . Add the curry patta ( if you like the flavor) . Now add 1 and half cup of stock and cover the pot with lid until the potatoes are almost done .The potatoes should not be fully done , or else they will break apart after the biriyani is completely done .

4. When the water dried out , add nutmeg-mace powder. Add the rice and mix well , add the stock and salt ( careful, the stock has salt too) . Cover the lid . For every cup of rice, you should take 1 and 1/2 ( half) cup of stock .

5. When the water dried out add the green chilies and jalapenos , stir for once without breaking the rice . The more you stir , the more gooey it will be , so don’t stir too much .Keep the biriyani on “Dom” . I use the double boiler technique , where you take a same sized pot like the biriyani pot . Fill the other pot with water and place your biriyani pot over it with lid on . The steam will do the work . The flame should be medium .

Notes:

1. Try to make the bereshta at home . It definitely makes the difference in taste.

2. Those who are not fond of curry patta , omit it . I , myself , don’t like any curry patta flavored biriyani , so I always omit .

Orange Tea Cake

Ingredients:

3 eggs , room temperature
3/4 th cup of oil+ butter ( I took 1/2 cup of oil+ 1/4 th cup butter)
3/4th cup of sugar ( grounded or powdered , that called caster sugar too)
1 and 1/2 cup of All purpose flour
1/4 th cup of milk, room temperature or slightly warm
1/4 th cup of fresh orange juice
2 tea spoon of orange zest
1/2 a teaspoon baking powder
1/4 th teaspoon baking soda

Procedure:

1. Grease a loaf pan and pre-heat the oven to 350 FH .

2. Pour the 1/4 th cup of fresh orange juice to room temperature or slightly warm 1/4 th cup of milk and keep aside . Here you get your orange flavored buttermilk .

3. Beat the oil+butter and sugar together until light and fluffy . The lighter and fluffier it is , the softer is your cake . So beat very well . Use an electric hand beater to beat . Add in egg , one at a time . Beat very well. Please always use room temperature butter, that is softened and egg.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder together . Add the orange zest. Don’t put baking soda now . We will put it later. Now alternately add the flour and orange-milk mixture to the butter mixture . Starting with dough and finishing with dough . Like add half of the flour to the cream mixture , fold in with a spatula or a whisk , then add the orange-milk mixture and gently fold in . Finish with the remaining flour and gently fold in . Don’t beat with the electric beater or don’t beat vigorously as that might make the cake tight and rubbery . Add the baking soda now and gently mix with the batter.

5. Pour the batter into the pan and tap the cake pan to the counter top few times to eliminate any air bubbles. That is , just drop the cake pan on the counter top from few inches higher to knock down those air bubbles.

6. Immediately put it in the pre-heated oven and bake for 40 minutes . Depending on the power system , time may vary . Don’t over bake .

Enjoy !!!

Zafrani Chicken Korma

I love Korma !!! Love to cook them pretty often as the whole family are too fond of this delicacy . Korma has it’s origin in central Asia . With Mughals , some special Central Asian recipes too, took over the South Asia region , Korma is one of them . As time went by , it got too many variations and improvisation , having it’s root in Mughlai quisine. Basically the word “Korma” derived from the Urdu word korma or kormah , meaning braised meat . Urdu “Kormah” derived from the Turkish “kavurma” literally meaning “cooked meat” . The process of braising involves searing of foods at a high temperature and then finished in a covered pot with a variable amount of liquid, resulting in a particular flavor.

Ingredients:

1 chicken , cut in 8 pieces
1/3 rd cup of onion Paste
4 tbl spoon of fried onion or bereshta
1 and 1/2(half) tbl spoon of ginger paste
2 tea spoon of garlic paste
1 tea spoon of poppy seed powder ( optional)
2 tea spoon of nut paste ( I grinded cashew and almond together into a powder , then added little water)
Whole spices , like 4/5 green cardamoms , 1 cinnamon stick , 5/6 cloves
1/2 ( half ) teaspoon of white pepper powder
1/2 (half) teaspoon of mace powder
1/4 th tea spoon of nutmeg powder
1 cup of heavy cream + regular liquid milk ( half a cup of heavy cream + half a cup of regular milk)
Ghee ( or you can use both ghee and oil together)
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
Handful of whole green chilies
Saffron soaked in 2 tbl spoon of milk ( if you wish , you can use little saffron food color)
Keora water

Procedure:

1. Heat ghee . Add the whole spices , fry for a while then add the chicken pieces and fry for few minutes .

2. In a small bowl combine onion paste , fried onion , ginger paste , garlic paste, nut paste , poppy seed powder, salt together . Now Add the mixture to the chicken and cook . Cook very well adding small quantity of water little by little , what we call in Bangla “koshano” . When the spices are well cooked add water , enough to make the chicken tender but not too well done .

3. When the water dried out add the cream and milk . Don’t cover with lid . When almost to the desired consistency add hand full of whole green chilies . Add white pepper , nutmeg and mace powder and little sugar. Add the saffron soaked milk. Sprinkle some keora water and turn off the heat . Keep the pot on the stove with lid on , until you serve.

Serve with polau or naan or paratha .

Enjoy!!!!!

Notes:

1. To get the best flavor from the mace , please dry roast them for a while befor you grind them.

2. Try to use home made bereshta or fried onion , as it gives you the best result . But remember , don’t over fry the bereshta , they may ruin the color of the korma .

Sunflower Bread

Ingredients :

2 and 1/4 th cup of All purpose flour
1 tea spoon yeast
2 teaspon of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tbl spoon of milk powder
1 beaten egg
4 tbl spoon of oil+ 1 tbl spoon of ghee/butter ( ghee is better)
Luke warm liquid milk , enough to make a dough ( it took me almost 1/2 a cup +2 tbl spoon of milk)

Other Ingredients:

Cream cheese
1 beaten egg mixed with 1 tbl spoon milk for egg wash
Sesame and nigella ( black seed)
Butter to rub on the bun after taking it out from the oven

Stuffing/ filling:

Any stuffing of your choice . I used prepared beef mince , spinach- sauted in little oil with onion and garlic , and cheese ( cheddar, mozarella ).
For prepared beef mince , I boiled the mince with soy sauce , little salt and ginger-garlic paste until dried out. Then , in oil , added the mince , and added little oyster sauce , carrot , onion and chopped capsicum and chilies .

Procedure :

1. Combine all the ingredients ( that is flour , yeast , sugar , salt , milk powder , egg, 1 tbl spoon of ghee )except 4 tbl spoon oil . Now make a soft dough . Don’t make a hard , tight dough . The softer is your dough the , softer is the bread . So , you may need a little more milk too . First , the dough may seem very sticky . Now add the oil and knead . Now it will be easier to knead . Knead very well, so that the dough becomes glossy and smooth . The dough will come together and won’t stick any more . Knead for at least 10 minutes . The more you knead , the softer bread you get . If you find little sticky at the end , you may add little oil . Form the dough into a ball and rub some oil over it .

2. Now put the dough in a greased , closed lid box and place it in a warm place .. It may take an hour or more to get the dough double in volume . If it becomes fluffy and double in volume , the dough is ready to make the bun. Sometimes it may get longer time to rise . Sometimes it takes almost 2 and half hour to rise up and to be fluffy . So don’t do anything until it rise up in volume and becomes fluffy .

3.Punch down all the air form the dough . Now roll two same sized round disk or roti . Don’t use too much extra flour to roll out . It may make your bread hard . Just roll them on a slightly flour dusted counter top .

4. Place one roti/ disk onthe greased baking tray and start the procedure . Spread cream cheese over the roti/ disk . Now place beef mince , then the spinach and then the cheese just like the way shown in the pic . Follow the method given below:

5. Preheat oven to 400 FH for 20 minutes and let the bread rise these 20 minutes . Just before you place it in the oven brush with egg wash and sprinkle some sesame and black seed in the middle . Bake for 20-25 minutes . It took me 25 minutes . Don’t over bake . That may cause the bread to dry out .

Pizza Pinwheel

For Pizza Pin wheel , plese follow the following link for making the dough .

http://khadizaskitchen.com/2013/12/04/chicken-bun-oven-baked-version/

Now follow the method shown in the pic;

Notes:

1. I used litle wasabi sauce too with the pizza sauce . Add same finely grated garlic to enhance the flavor . Believe me Wasabi sauce and garlic together with pizza sauce make it yummier .

2. While cutting the roll , don’t press too hard . Just cut gently .

3. After cutting them , cover them with a cling film or plastic to rise a bit . For about 20 minutes . Bake the pizza pin wheels in a pre heated oven for 15 minutes at 400FH . Don’t over bake . That may make it hard .

4. If you want to preserve them , after the second rising , cover them with cling film and preserve them in the refrigerator .