Mango Jam From Ripe Mangoes....!!!

In spite of every unsympathetic surroundings, I love Indian summer because of the wide availability of various juicy and delicious fruits. I already mentioned this in my former posts. Among all the fruits, mangoes are regarded as the King of fruits and we use this in various ways. Already the fruit markets are flooded with different types of ripe mangoes. The other day I bought a few seasoned ripen mangoes to eat as whole fruit. But I found them excessively sour in taste and hence decided to throw them away. Suddenly an idea came up in my mind and I was determined to give it a try. Needless to say that my thought had boomed and I was deliriously happy. Oops, I just forgot to mention what I had made with those mangoes. Mango Jam…yes, in a very speedy and effortless method, I prepared Mango jam and if the  truth be unfold,it was scrumptious.

Here comes the process:

Ingredients:

• Mango: 4 
• Sugar:   1 Cup
• Water: Few Drops Only (Optional)
• Lime Juice: 2 tbsp.



Process:

• At first wash the mangoes well and peel the skin off.
• Then chop them finely. Discard the seed in the middle.
• Take a big bowl & mix the chopped mango pieces, lime juice and the sugar and keep it aside for 20 - 30 minutes.
• It will release a lot of water and the sugar will be dissolved.
• Pour the mixture into the blender and mix thoroughly and make a smooth paste. During the time of blending you may sprinkle few drops of water (I didn’t use though).
• Now heat a wok or deep bottomed vessel and pour the mango mixture into it. Cook it on medium to low flame and continue stir it so that it can’t be burnt.
• After few minutes you will find that the mixture is getting a silken, smooth and glossy texture and gradually it is becoming thick.
• Once it becomes thick and glossy turn off the flame and let it cool for some time.
• Then pour the jam in a cleaned bottle or container and refrigerate.
• Uses - Completely up to you as my little one is eating it directly :) .

                                                                 Enjoy Your Food...!!

Doi Potol ..... Pointed Gourd In Yogurt Gravy...!!!

Trichosanthes diocia is known as the pointed gourd, parwal (parval) or potol .Informally ,it is also known as green potato in many places of India. It is a perennial ,vine plant,similar to cucumber and squash. It is a diocious plant ( male and female) which remains dormant during the winter season and thrives well under a hot to moderately warm and humid climate. Pointed gourd is a good source of carbohydrates, Vit A and Vit C. It also contains major nutrients and trace elements which are needed in small proportion for playing essential role in human physiology. (Source: A Text book of Botany)

This is used as the ingredients of soup, stew,curry sweet or eaten fried and as potoler dorma( dolma) with fish or meat or potato stuffing.

 Today I am going to share a simply curry recipe of potol which my mom prepares very frequently in the scorching summer.It is a good alternative of the rich non vegetarian dishes.It is a very simple recipe where fried potol is cooked in the thick gravy of yogurt.It tastes best when served with steaming hot rice.

Here is the recipe.


Ingredients:

• Pointed Gourd( potol):8/9 pieces.
• Yogurt:1/2 Cup
• Cinnamon:1 " stick
• Cardamom:3/4
• Cloves:3/4
• Bay Leaves:2
• Ginger:1 tsp paste
• Red Chili Powder:1 tsp (adjust according to your tolerance)
• Turmeric Powder:1 tsp.
• Salt:to taste
• Sugar:1/4 tsp.
• Cumin Powder:1 1/2 tsp.
• Coriander Powder:1 1/2 tsp.
• Oil:2 tbsp + 2 tbsp(for frying) ( Preferably mustard oil ,else white oil is ok too).

Process:

• Lightly skin the potol ( sparingly) ( see the picture ,don't peel off all the skin) . Cut both the ends. Marinate with little salt and turmeric powder and keep aside for few minutes.
• Heat the oil in a pan and fry them until golden brown in color. Keep them on a tissue paper to absorb the excess oil.Discard the fried blackish oil.
• Now take a small bowl and mix the turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder,red chili powder, ginger paste and salt. Now add little water and mix well to make a smooth paste .Keep it separately for 10-15 minutes.
• Now heat some fresh oil in the pan and add the bay leaves,cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamoms.
• Once you feel the aroma add the spices paste prepared earlier.On medium flame cook it until oil starts to release from sides. 
• Now beat the yogurt very well with a tbsp of water and slowly add to the pan so that the yogurt can not be curdled. Give a nice stir and now add the fried pointed gourds.
• Cook on medium flame stirring occasionally until you see that the curry tend to release from the pan. You don't need to add any extra water as the yogurt will release a lots of water and it will be cooked in this water.
• Sprinkle the sugar and cook for another few minutes.Adjust the gravy and taste the seasoning. Generally doi potol doesn't have much gravy so turn off the flame once all the potols are well coated by the spices mixture.Turn off the flame.
• Sprinkle the garam masala powder and cover the pan for a while so that the aroma could be captured by the curry.Uncover and serve with hot steaming rice.

                                                               Enjoy Your Food..!!

Chicken Cutlet With Chicken Fillet..!!

Making a healthy and delicious evening snacks on a regular basis makes me sometimes out of my mind. I simply cant decide what should I prepare which will be good in taste and provide some goodness to health. I prefer to drink a glass of juice or a whole fruit during this time but my daughter since her more young age prefers to eat something delicious. Today I am going to share an idea of making easy chicken cutlet which not only you can enjoy with your family but also you can serve it as evening snacks or appetizer to your guests. I am very sure of the fact that you are going to enjoy this to the fullest.
Process of making is extremely easy. Few months back I have shared an another recipe of chicken cutlet which I made with minced chicken(Chicken Cutlet with Keema) . You can go for that option too but this one is more easy to make.


Here Comes detail recipe:

Ingredients:

• Boneless Chicken Breasts: 1
• Onion: 1( medium, finely chopped or paste)
• Ginger:1''( paste)
• Garlic: 2 tsp ( crushed or paste)
• Vinegar:1 tsp.
• Salt:To taste
• Black Pepper Powder:2 tsp.
• Red Chili Powder: 1/2 tsp ( optional)
• Eggs: 2 (beaten with little salt)
• All Purpose Flour(plain maida): 1/2 cup or as per the requirement to coat the chicken pieces.
• Freshly Prepared Bread Crumbs: 1 Cup ( or as per the requirement to coat the chicken pieces well)
• Oil: Enough for deep frying.

Process:

• Take an extremely sharp and big knife( preferably chopper) and  make a few thin slices(fillets) of the chicken breast. Form each of the breast( of 150 gm weight) 3/4 pieces of  thin fillets can be removed. Wash and pat dry each of the fillets.
• Now take each of the fillets in between two tissue paper and with a wooden rolling pin ( you can use the wooden portion of your knife) bash/whack/roll/hit it until the fillets become little flattened. But try to do it very carefully so that the fillets can not be broke.
• Now take a large bowl and mix the chicken fillet with onion, garlic, ginger, vinegar, salt, black pepper powder and chili powder. Mix thoroughly and keep the bowl separately covered for 30 mins atleast.
• Now beat the eggs with little salt and keep aside. Take two flat plates and arrange the  all purpose flour and the bread crumbs.
• Now take each of the chicken fillets from the bowl ( marination bowl) and first coat them in a layer of flour.
• Then grab each of them and dip into the egg mixture and give a final coating of bread crumb very well.You may use a tong while doing this so that all the bread crumbs, eggs and flour cant be stick to your hands and you can easily finish all the processes well.
• Once the coating process is done, heat the oil in a deep bottom vessel and fry them until golden brown color appears.
• Absorb the excess oil using a tissue and serve the chicken cutlets with your favorite salads and sauce.

#Note: You may bake your chicken cutlets too. For this preheat your oven to the maximum settings ( 180-200 degree celcius) .Take a big baking tray and place a non stick baking parchment paper.Grease it generously with white oil or olive oil.Place the chicken pieces on the baking sheet and sprinkle little more oil on the top. Bake it into the preheated oven until the crust becomes golden brown in color. You may require to flip the chicken pieces in between.Take them out of the oven and serve.

                                                                    Enjoy Your Food.....!!

Baked Rasogolla (Baked Puffed Cheese Balls) ... Bhapa Rasogolla...!! A Low Calorie Version of the Famous Bengali Dessert...!!!

The other day , I was hopping to few of my favorite blogs which I follow on a regular basis. On "My Saffron's Kitchen's blog", a recipe attracted me very much and I immediately wanted to give that a try.But I hold myself for sometime and thought of preparing that for my weekend guests. Then after a week or so I opened her blog again and made Baked Rasogolla for my evening guests. It's nevertheless to write that I got so much appreciation from my guests,for this dessert that I had started feel like I was lifted up to Cloud Nine... Lol...
Though I made few changes of her recipe while making these ,still I am really really thankful to Arundhuti ( Owner of My Saffron Kitchen) for helping me to learn such wonderful low calorie version of the famous Bengali sweet.


Here is the process for you all....



Ingredients:

• Rasogolla: 10 pc.
• Paneer( Cottage Cheese) :  200 gm Crumbled
• Condensed Milk : 2 tbsp.
• Sugar/ Jaggery / or any Sugar Substitute:1/4 th to 1/2 Cup but be very careful if you are using sugar substitute as the intensity of sweetness is very high in those. In that case only few drops of zero calorie liquid  sweetener or just few pinches are enough I think.
• Whole Milk: 1 Cup
• Saffron : A Few strands only. 
• Cardamom Powder:1/4 th tsp.

Process:

• At first squeeze the rasogolla very carefully to remove or drain out the sweet syrup from it and soak them in a large bowl with full of water for atleast 15 minutes. Make sure that all the rasogollas are just covered with the water.
• Now repeat the same process again. I mean after 15 minutes squeeze the water again and soak them in some fresh water for 15 minutes to 30 minutes.It will help to remove the last amount of sugar syrup remained inside the rasogolla.
• Now preheat your oven at 180 -200 degree centigrade.
• Put the crumble paneer, whole milk, saffron, cardamom powder,sugar( jaggery or sweetener) and the condensed milk in a blender and mix thoroughly until it becomes very smooth.
• Now take a oven proof bowl and make a nice layer of the paneer and milk mixture and arrange your rasogolla on it carefully and nicely.Spread the remaining paneer mixture on top very smoothly and cover it with an aluminium foil.
• Bake it for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven or until a nice red brown color comes .
• Serve hot or chilled . You may garnish it with chopped dry fruits like cashews or pistachios.
• Trust me, it tastes heavenly.

                                                Enjoy Your Food..!!

My Version Of Saffron Polao...!!!

Saffron Pulao or Kesariya Pulao is a very exotic,aromatic  long grain basmati rice ( A long grain rice which is famous for its delicate flavour and fragrance, the word Basmati means, "queen of fragrance" in Hindi) preparation. It is also known as Zafrani Pulao. In North India during every special occasion saffron pulao is prepared.In this preparation, long grain basmati rice is usually cooked with nuts and saffron.I love this pulao because of its heavenly flavour and very delectable taste. Moreover it is very easy to prepare too. 


I get huge appreciation from my guests whenever I make this rice during any dinner or lunch party at my home . But to be very honest it is one of the very easy rice preparation which can be made very  quickly without much effort.

Here is the recipe for you all.


Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice: 2 Cups
• Almonds: 10/12( blanched, peeled and thin sliced)
• Cashewnuts: 12/14
• Raisins: 20/25
• Saffron:2/3 generous pinch
• Saffron/Kesar Essence: 1/2 drops
• Milk:1/4 th Cup
• Water:4 Cups.
• Ghee( Clarified Butter): 4 tbsp.
• Cinnamon Stick:1
• Cloves: 2/3
• Cardamoms:4/5
• Green Cardamom Powder:1/2 tsp.
• Nutmeg Powder:1/4 th tsp.
• Garam Masala Powder(1-2 tsp of ground green cardamom, cloves and cinnamon) : 1/2 tsp.
• Salt : to taste.
• Sugar (Preferably powder sugar) :1/4 to 1/2 Cup ( adjust according to your choice)
• Kewra water: few drops.

Process:

• At first soak the rice in water for 15- 30 minutes.
• Now cook the rice till 60% done. While boiling your rice add 1 tsp of lime juice, 1/2 tsp of garam masala powder and 1 tsp of white oil .The white oil will help to keep the rice grains separated from each other, lime juice will make the rice more whitish and the garam masala powder will bring a nice flavour to the rice.
• Once the rice is cooked drain the excess water and keep it in a flat surface.
• Now heat  1 tsp of ghee in a deep bottomed vessel and gently fry the almonds, cashewnuts and raisins. After frying at very low flame for few minutes take them out of the vessel and keep separately.
• Now heat the rest of the ghee and add the cumin seeds and the cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamoms and fry till the aroma comes out. Once you feel the fragrance add the rice into the vessel and very gently stir it at medium flame for few minutes. Now add the cardamom powder and the nutmeg powder, salt, sugar and mix very gently.
• Meanwhile boil the milk and soak the saffron strands into it.Pour 1 -2 driops of kesar /saffron essence in to it.Add the milk into the rice. Then add the fried  raisins , cashews and almonds. Stir once and cover the vessel for few minutes. 
• Just after 4/5 minutes uncover it,give a gentle stir and sprinkle the garam masala powder(optional).Pour 2/3 drops of kewra water into the rice. But be careful while adding this as this water has a very strong flavour.
• Now your saffron pulao/zafrani Pulao is ready to serve. Serve it garnishing with chopped nuts and raisins along with Chicken or mutton preparations.

Note: I would like to prepare my pulao with the precooked rice . But you may prepare it in the following way too. Just soak the rice for 15 minutes in water and instead of cook it before add it to the vessel after tempering with cumin seeds and whole garam masala. Then along with the saffron milk, sugar and salt add 3 1/2 cups of water and cover the vessel and cook until the rice is done. the rest of the process is similar.

                                                 Enjoy Your Food...!!!!!

My Version Of Cheese Chili Toast...!!!

Cheese Chili Toast is one of my most favorite snack recipes which I prepare very frequently at home. For the first time I tasted it in Pizza Hut few years back. That time I was not at all interested in cooking . Gradually  my cooking fascination has developed and I started making almost all my favorite preparations which I love to eat outside. Cheese Chili Toast is one of them. Whenever you cant decide what to make for a quick evening snacks try it and I bet you will love your own preparation.

Here is the process:




Ingredients:

• Bread Slices: 2 (white /brown or you may use garlic bread too)
• Cheddar Cheese :3/4 tbsp . (In absence of cheddar cheese you may use any processed cheese,even pizza cheese is ok too)
• Green Chili:2/3 ( Chopped)
• Bell Pepper: 1/2 (chopped) ,Green/yellow/red whatever you want (optional though)
• Tomato:1/2 (finely chop,preferably deseeded tomato)
• Onion:1/2 (finely chop)
• Black Pepper Powder:1/2 tsp.
• Salt: as per taste
• Butter: 1 tsp.
• Garlic :1/2 tsp (chopped)

Process: 

Before I start to write the process I want to mention that you may use any type of bread for  making cheese chili toast. But as I like the garlic bread most I use it most of the time . But when I don't have garlic bread in my kitchen pantry  to bring little garlic flavour I do the following step. If you don't want you may absolutely skip the step too.

• At first heat the butter in a flat pan. Add the chopped garlic. When the garlic becomes little brown at low to medium flame toast  the bread slices very little . Dont over fry or over cook them. It will give the bread slices a nice garlic flavour.Keep the bread separately in a plate.
• Now take a big bowl. Add the chili,chopped onion, bell peppers, tomato, little salt and black pepper powder.Mix well.
• Grate the cheese in the same bowl and mix well.
• Spread the cheese mixture evenly onto the bread slices.
• Then just microwave your bread at full power only for 1-2 minutes or until the cheese melts.

Tip: You may bake the bread slices too. If you want to bake it you don't need to toast the bread before. Just put the garlic into the cheese mixture and then spread the mix on to the bread slices. Then preheat your oven at 160 degree C and then bake the bread slices until the cheese melts.

                                                              Enjoy Your Food...!!!