"STIR-FRYING"

Make sure you have everything you’ll need chopped and ready to go before you start your stir-fry. Stir-frying is quick, so you won’t have time to do much other than stir once you start.
Preheat your wok or a large frying pan slightly before adding oil. Add oil, making sure the surface of the pan is well covered. If using garlic, ginger, onions  add them and saute for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Determine which of your stir-fry ingredients need the most cooking time, and add these first. For example,  carrots, french beans need more time to cook than some vegetables like mushrooms and bell peppers, broccoli, cabbage. Don’t forget to stir!
 Add marinated chicken, shrimp according to your choice. Then add serial (optional, like boiled rice, toasted bread cubes, boiled noodles, instant noodles or precooked pasta). Reduce heat, allowing noodles to steam cook for 5-7 minutes. If adding rice, pre-cooked noodles or other grains, stir-fry just long enough to mix the flavors, about three minutes. Add a little oil to avoid sticking.

Add sauce or spices and stir until finished cooking. For a basic stir-fry, you'll want about 3 tablespoons of sauce. ( CHING's "STIR FRY" SAUCE  is the best!!) Most of the liquid will cook off, leaving you with just the flavors. If you'll be serving your stir-fry over rice or other grains, you'll want about 1/3 cup of sauce, and may want to thicken it up with a bit of corn-starch or flour.( I avoid corn starch)

Enjoy your finished stir-fry!  Serve hot.

Kadai Paneer

Paneer (Cut into cubes and soaked in hot salted water for 30 minutes) 250 gms.
Carrot (sliced) 1 cup
French Beans (chopped) 1 cup
Green peas (shelled) 1 cup
Cauliflower (small florets only) 1 cup
Capsicum (chopped) 1 large
Onion (chopped) 1 large
Tomato (chopped) 1 large
Ginger-Red Chilly ( paste)  2tsp
Kasuri Methi (dry) 2tbsp
Curd 2tsp
Refined oil  4tbsp
Ghee  2tsp
Salt and Sugar to taste
Garam Masala Powder 1tsp



Boil Carrot, French Beans, Cauliflower and Green Peas in a little water by adding a pinch of salt for 2 mins only without closing the lid of the pan (to avoid over cooking) so that no extra water is left ( that will retain the food value of the vegetables). Heat Refined oil and 1 tbsp ghee and fry the Paneer cubes lightly and keep aside. Fry the Capsicum and the  boiled vegetables together in the same oil for 5 mins. Then keep them in the same platter along with Paneer. Fry Onion and Tomato together till brown and keep them aside with the Panner-Veggie mixture.
Add the Ginger-Red Chilly Paste into the oil and then add the beaten curd. Saute for 2 mins Add Garam Masala Powder and Kasuri Methi . Add Salt and a little Sugar. Now add the Paneer-Vegetable Mixture. Keep for 2 mins. Add the residual Ghee from top. 
Serve hot with roti/chapati/paratha/puri
SPECIALITY TIPS : NO EXTRA WATER IS ADDED DURING COOKING OF "KADAI PANEER"!!!AND THIS IS A "COOK N SERVE " RECIPE.

FulKopir Singara ( Cauliflower Samosa)

Ingredients :

Cauliflower florets : 1cup
Potato (diced) : 1and 1/2 cup
Greenpeas : 1/4th cup
Fried Peanuts : 2tbsp
Coconut (finely chopped and fried) : 2tbsp
Fresh Corriander leaves
Grated Ginger and green Chilly paste : 2tbsp
Garam Masala Powder : 1tsp
Salt and Sugar to taste
Ghee : 1tsp
Baking Powder : 1tsp
Flour (Maida)
Refined Oil

 Procedure :

Sieve the flour with baking powder, salt, refined oil and water to make a hard dough. Cover the dough with a bowl and refrigerate, so as to make them crispy. Meanwhile Boil the diced potato and green peas. Ensure that no extra water is reatined after boiling. Stir-fry the cauliflower florets in refined oil and add them to the potato-green peas mixture. Sprinkle peanuts, coconut and rest of the ingredients into the mixture. Stir fry them all loosely and let it be cooled. This makes your samosa (singara) filler. 

Make small balls from the dough you had made, roll and cut into two halves. Fold each of the half in a triangular manner and enclose the filler. Seal the samosas properly and deep fry in refined oil.

Serve hot with tea/coffee as an evening snack.

Cheezy Mutton Pie ..a HEALTHY recipe

• 
  
•  Brown Bread (ten pieces) :  sides are cut and soaked in milk
• Mutton Keema (250 gms) : Boiled and cooked in usual procedure 
• Boiled  potato (200gms) : Grated and mixed with salt and peeper
• Carrot (one ) : Grated
• Beet Root (one) : Grated
• Green Peas (shelled, 100 gms)
• Egg (one, well beaten)
• Cheese (Grated, 2cubes)
• Butter for greasing the pot
• 
  

•  
• Take an Oven proof square pan .[ I use Borosil ]
• Grease the pan uniformly with butter and then arrange as follows :
  
• First put the mashed brown bread  previously soaked in milk
• Then the cooked Mutton keema (usually cooked by frying finely chopped onion, grated garlic, grated ginger and a few chopped grrn chillies)
• Now the grtaed boiled  potato 
• Add the beaten egg uniformly on top
• Then the veggies
• Finally the grated cheese
• Bake in an OTG for 1/2 an hour at 180deg Celsius or put it in microwave for 10-15 mins and then grill for 6mins. 

Cheezy mutton pie is a complete dinner meal and this recipe should suffice for 2-3 persons.
I learnt this recipe from my friend MAUSUMI GUPTA who not only cooks very but is a gourmet as well.

CABBAGE PAKORA

Ingredients :

Fresh Cabbage : Cut into thin strips
Gram Flour (besan)
Rice Flour : 2tbsp
Salt to taste
Green Chillies : Finely Chopped
Poppy Seeds : 2tsp
Refined oil for frying

Procedure :

Mash the cabbage slices with salt, green chillies and poppy seeds just before your refined oil is ready for frying. Sprinkle 2tsp rice flour and gram flour (BESAN) to bind the mixture.( too much besan is not needed as it makes the pakora less crispy)
Deep fry the pakoras made from the above mixture.

Serve hot as an evening snacks.

HA(n)RIR KHABAR BHOJBAJI

new video added




The annual food festival "Ha(n)rir Khabar Bhojbaji" was organised by the popular Bengali channel TARA MUZIK at the Swabhumi Rangomancho Kolkata on 15th November 2009.
As a TARA club member I was invited by them to a cookery show and participated in the non-vegetarian section. Though I did not win a prize I was kind of surprised because the two judges between them polished off the entire portion that I had cooked for the show. Perhaps they did not realise that the really interesting part of my "BECTI TEFLORA" was that you could eat up the wrapping leaf and not have to worry about what to do with the soiled banana leaf that is generally used in such dishes.

NEW YEAR SPECIAL CHOCOLATE CAKE

• Flour 2cups (sieved)
• Baking powder ( 2tsp)
  
• Cocoa powder 1cup
  
• 2 cups sugar (finely ground)
  
• 4 duck-eggs (well beaten)
  
• essence of vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk
• Margarine (2 tbsp, melted)
• Refined oil (2tsp)
  
• Dry friuts (cashews, raisins, cherries ... almonds , soaked in orange juice for overnight)
  

Place sugar and the egg and beat it with the help of a fork (approx 100 times). Add the sieved flour ,along with cocoa powder, baking powder, butter and milk into the mixture and again beat at least 200 times. Grease the cake pot with butter uniformly, and pour the mixture into it, and refreigerate for 1/2 an hour, after covering it.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 180 deg Celsius, take the cake-pot out of the refrigerator and place it immediately in the pre-heated OTG, on the middle rack (keep both, the top and the bottom heaters on) for 30 minutes.

Ensure that the full cake is baked, by using a dip-stick ... see that nothing liquidy sticks to it.

This new year I have made this Chocolate cake for my friends and family.

Wishing you all a very HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.