Mumbai Special Street Pizza..!!

     Mumbai Special Street Pizza...!!!

It's true that  in today's life we are very much health conscious. But Street Foods are something which always allure us in everyway. Mumbai Special Street foods are generally Pav Bhaji,Bada Pav ,Pani puri , etc . etc. But I was really surprised when for the first time I saw this special type of Street Pizza shop in a nearby market, and the tremendous crowd surrounding it . First few days we avoided , thinking of that, it must be a very unhealthy one. But one day , out of curiosity we tasted it .OMG..!!! it's so good I cant explain. That day I understood why always there is a crowd surrounding the little cart. The Old Man with his two little boys sometimes just becomes exhausted to execute the process of making and sell those pizzas.

So many times I thought of clicking a photo of that shop  but forgot. At this moment while writing about them I am really missing a photo .I just want to show you for once the crowd and the craziness of the people for such an unusual street food. Anyway ,sometime  I must share a photo with you. Now whenever we go to that place just for a outing or shopping we  buy a small pizza from them My daughter also likes it. I use to request the little boys to make it little less spicy so that she can eat it. They try their best to use fresh vegetables and good cheese to make those pizzas.

Day before yesterday, when I was buying something from the bakery section of a grocery store,suddenly looked at those pizza bases and an idea clicked on my mind. I bought the pizza dough and tried to make a street pizza like him for breakfast. But honestly it was not so good like him or I couldn't bring the exact taste ,but it's worth trying  at least  for once I think.


The whole process is very simple. They use store bought small size pizza base to make this and make a homemade chutney type sauce to spread over the dough first,then add different vegetables on it,specially thinly chopped cabbage,onions and carrots and then grate good amount of cheese on it .Next on very big tawa, place the pizza and on very high flame cook the both sides well wih butter.Finally grate some more cheese on it and with a chatpata chutney serve.

I have made it almost in a similar way.Here is the process:


Ingredients:

• Small Size Pizza Base: 2
• Organic Cabbage: 1 Cup chopped
• Onion:1 medium( Chopped)
• Red,Green,Yellow Bell Pepper: 1/2 cup(chopped)
• Cheese: Any type( I used Cheddar)
• Green Olives: 4-5(Chopped)
• Salt/Pepper/Chilli flakes/pizaa seasoning:As per Taste
• Pizza Spread/ Tomato Ketchup: 2 tbsp.
• Olive Oil: For Frying

Process:

• At First Chopped all the vegetables.
• Take the Pizza base and spread some tomato ketchup/pizza sauce on it.
• Place all your desired vegetables on the base and sprinkle very little salt and pepper.
• Now heat a pan with little olive oil on it.
• Place the base on the pan and carefully cook its both sides well.
• Or preheat your oven at 180-200 degree centigrade and bake  for 10-15 minutes until the cheese melts.
• Sprinkle the seasoning and serve with your favourite juice.

                                          

                                                     Enjoy Your Food..!!

 

Goalondo Chicken Curry...!!

              

                      

I don't know how many times I will give thank to the social networking sites for giving me the chance to connect with the people who share the same passion like me. Each and every time I  learn something new from them.This time a completely untested and untried recipe has become one of  my most  favourite ones.  Goalondo Chicken Curry( Steamer Curry)...!!!!  I never even heard the name before. First time I saw it when two of my friends  had posted it in a cooking community. It was looking very tempting. When I read the recipe I found there was nothing very difficult in it rather it is a very simple and easy chicken preparation. But they mentioned very confidently in their recipes that it was a real wonder.

 With loads of confusion I prepared this and it turned out extremely good. But till then, I couldn't understand the connection between the name and the process of making of this dish. So asked DD (my hubby) if he had any idea about this but alas.! In  today's life, when some question keep on bugging you in your mind and you could not get the answer, we always refer to our biggest and closest friend "GOOGLE"  to quench our thirst of knowledge..! After a quick net surfing  I  found that it is a special chicken curry (gravy dish) made of fresh chicken and basic spices. Muslim boatmen, plying boats along the riverine bengal-assam border of India (when the country was a British colony), used to make this dish. The boatment would take time off to cook a meal for themselves in the middle of the river journey and gradually it became popular with the passengers too.



But today I have got a different genesis of this term Goalando Chicken Curry,from Swapan Bose,( Not only a facebook friend of mine he is like my elder brother as well as an extreme food lover and  a wonderful cook by passion).According to him,

"Goalanda is not in Bengal Assam border .... it is on the bank of river Padma ..... Calcutta - Dhaka train journey used to have a break at Goalanda ghaat ... Padma used to be crossed by steamer and then on the other side, at Narayangunj, catch the train again .... during the waiting time at Goalanda ghat, people used to have the fresh chicken curry .... :-)"

  Swapan dada, sent me an image also of 
 Goalondo Ghat . I just don't have enough words to show my gratitude to him.

Moreover ,today I came to know the person who actually first shared this amazing recipe. Purna Chowdhury,Purna didi who not only has an amazing personality, but also she is an extremely good cook .Besides she has a very vast knowledge about different cuisine.

Here is the Recipe:


Ingredients:

• Chicken: 600-750 gram
• Onions: 6-7 coarsely chopped
• Garlic: coarsely chopped: 3 tbs
• Ginger: coarsely chopped 2 tbs
• Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp
• Red chillies:2( as per your need) roughly chopped (no chilli powder)
• Salt to taste
• Mustard oil: 4-5 tbs

Process:

• Marinate the chicken with all of the above for about 30 minutes.
• Put it in a pan/pressure cooker.
• Sauté for about five minutes.
• Then cook on low heat, covered.
• No water, no souring agent is required.

                It is a true wonder!!!

                         Enjoy Your Food...!!

Gulabi Rasgulla ..!! Santanu Dada Special ..!!

Golapi Rasogolla Santanu dada Special..!

Before I write this recipe I should apologise to many of my dearest friends who asked me for this recipe, since a long period of time. My laziness is the reason to blame due to which it took so much time to keep my words. I Appreciate their patience :).

The idea of this special type of Rasgulla was given by Santanu dada. It's a very simple, easy and interesting process. You can say,it's a variant of Rasogolla where the basic recipe is similar to that of normal Rosogolla recipe but the flavour and the color are given.

Here is it:

Ingredients:

• Full Cream Milk(I used full cream milk but low fat milk will be perfect too):1 lt
• Vinegar:2 table spoon  
• Water:4 1/2 Cups
• Sugar:1 1/2
• Rose Essence: 1/2 tsp
• Pink/Red Food Color: Just 2-3 drops( I used pink)

Process:

• Boil the milk at low temperature.

• While boiling add the vinegar and stir it .

• Your milk will start to curdle and chena(chhana) will be formed after few minutes.

• When you will see a greenish diluted water which is easily separating  from chena,then it's done. 

• Now using a muslin cloth drain the water and wash the chena under the running tap water. If you are using lime juice to prepare chena,this wash will remove all the lemony taste or smell. 

• Now tied the two ends of the muslin cloth tightly and let it drain all the excess water for atleast 15-20 minutes.And at this time you may put a heavy weight on the muslin cloth for better draining.

• Take out the chena from the cloth ,add the rose essence and the  pink food color.Chena will turn into lovely pink color immediately.

• Now mash the chena using your palm on the kitchen slab or cutlery board till it’s very smooth and creamy and  has absolutely no lumps.

• Remember the mashing chena is the most important step of making rasogolla because the quality of this sweet depends on its smoothness ,sponginess.
• Now Divide the chena into equal parts. With your palm  give them nice and even ball shape .

• The balls should have no cracks otherwise it may break off during boiling .

• It makes about 10 pieces of rasogolla of equal sizes.

• Keep one thing in mind that these ball will be double in size after boiling in sugar syrup.So prepare the balls in that respect.

• Now make  sugar syrup using the sugar and water in the exact quantity mentioned. The syrup should not be thick and will be on the thinner side. This is very important.

• Then add the prepared balls in this syrup,cover it tightly with a lid and let it boil for 20 -25 mins.

• As the rasogollas  will be almost double in size after boiling ,choose a boiling pan of a big size so that after increased in size they can easily play around in the sugar syrup.

• Now remove the pan from heat.

• Your Rasgulla is ready.

• Serve it hot or chilled.

                                    Enjoy Your Food..!! 

Easter Exhibition Special Sweet .....!!!

                            

            Kesariya Chamcham..!!      

 I was thinking hard since one of my food blogger friend has asked me for a special entry for her Easter Special Exhibition, going to be held at her Facebook Page. Moreover I was not feeling well physically. Realizing my confusion, my 4 year old encouraged me saying that " Mamma, don't worry, I will help you..." !! I was deliriously happy not only hearing her sweet words but also realizing her care for me. But still the question was there what should I prepare without creating much fuss in the kitchen.  After a long thought I  decided to prepare something in my own way. I felt that A Sweet Dish would be Best for my first entry.

And here it is...I have made Kesariya Chamcham with a little twist which turned out extremely good.


Before I write down the whole recipe I should give an introduction about chamcham (Bengali: চম চম) for those who don't have any idea about this. It is  one of very common and famous sweets in Bengal and available widely in each and every sweet shop out there.


Here is the recipe:


Ingredients:

• Full Cream/Low Fat Milk: 1 lt.
• Vinegar:2 tbsp.
• Sugar: 1 1/2 cup
• Water: 4 1/2 cup
• Kesar/Saffron: 2 pinch
• Milk: 2-3 tbsp.
• Khoya /Mawa: 1/2 cup
• Cardamom Powder :A pinch
• Pistachios: For Garnishing, 5/6(blanched and peeled
• Silver Warq:1(For garnishing)

Process:

 

                                                       Saffron Milk And Chena...!!

                                                         Mashing Together..!!

 

 

                                            She is doing it with little hand...love to see it...:)

 

 

                                                       Flattened Chamcham Before boiling..

                                                             And this was made by her.....

 

 

                                                 Boiling into the sugar syrup..

 

 

 

 

 

                                                           Thickening the sugar syrup...

                                             Soaking in thick syrup for 4-5 hrs.

Chamcham is Ready... 

 

 

                       Garnished with mawa ,pistachios and silver warq finally...




How to make Chena:

• Boil the milk at low temperature.
• While boiling add the vinegar and stir it .
• Your milk will start to curdle and chena (chhana) will be formed after few minutes.
• When you will see a greenish diluted water which is easily separating from chena, then it's done.
• Now using a muslin cloth drain the water and wash the chena under the running tap water .If you are using lime juice to prepare chena, this wash will remove all the lemony taste or smell.
• Now tied the two ends of the muslin cloth tightly and let it drain all the excess water for at least 15-20 minutes. And at this time you may put a heavy weight on the muslin cloth for better draining.

How to Make Khoya/Mawa:

• Now make the mawa/khoya. I used to prepare it at home.
• Take 2-3 cups of powdered milk.
• Add 3-4 table spoon of milk into it.
• Make a dough and heat it at full power in the microwave oven only for 1-2 mins or even more to get the desired tightness. But give an extra care while microwaving to make sure that it don't get burnt.
• This time I kept my mawa little soft.

How To Make Sugar Syrup:

• Now make sugar syrup using the sugar and water in the exact quantity mentioned.
• The syrup should not be thick and will be on the thinner side.
• Keep it in mind that this is  a very important step.

  How to Make Kesariya Chamcham:

• Now take 2 table spoon of warm milk and soak the saffron in it for 15-20 minutes until the milk turns into nice yellow color.
• Mix the saffron milk to the chena and immediately it will turn into wonderful saffron color.
• Now mash the chena using your hands very well until there is no lump
• Divide the chena into equal parts. Using your palms make small ball from each part. Now press a little on your palm to give a flattened shape..Keep in mind that these shouldn't have any crakes in it otherwise it may break off while boiling into the sugar syrup.
• From 1 lt. milk you will get approximately 10 pieces of  chamcham of equal size.
• Now leave the flattened chena balls  in the previously made sugar syrup with the lid tightly covered and boil it  for 20 -25 mins.
• The chamcham will be almost double of its size. So use a vessel in which the chamcham will be able to play around.
• Once done, take out the chamcham from the pan and keep them separately
• Now thicken the remaining syrup to half the consistency and transfer the chamchams into the thick syrup to soak 4-5 hrs.
• After 4-5 hrs. when the chamchams cool down completely,take them out from the syrup and place them on the serving plate. At this time the chamcham will be hard and sweet.
• Mash the mawa very finely with a spoon and mix it with little cardamom powder.
• Make small balls of mawa and place them over each chamcham and press them little.
• Garnish with peeled and blanched pistachios and silver warq to give them a more beautiful look.
• Mouth drooling chamcham is now ready to serve.
  

                                Enjoy Your Food..!!