Mexican Egg dish

This is one of Rukmadakshi's recipe that I learnt from a popular program on Zee bangla, Ranna Ghar. I modified it slightly for the sake of calories, using only 4 eggs, instead of 6. This is an awesome snack and a complete in itself, when served with toasted bread and soup.

 
1. Egg - 4
2. Boiled chicken pieces - 1 cup
3. Stir-fried prawns - 1 small cup
4. Grated cheese cubes - 2
5. Chopped Onion - 1 cup
6. Chopped Tomato - blanched - 1 cup
7. Finely chopped ginger - 1 teaspoon
8. Finely chopped garlic - 2 teaspoons
9. Finely chopped parsley or oregano
10. Paprika powder and red chilli flakes
11. Refined oil and salt


Heat oil in a non-stick pan. fry the onion  and tomatoes. then add garlic and ginger and oregano. Add the chicken pieces along with prawn. Saute for two minutes. Cover the mixture with 4 eggs (beaten). Sprinkle grated cheese, paprika powder and red chilli flakes. Close the lid and simmer for 5 minutes, till the egg settles and cheese melts. Remove from heat. Cut into wedge-shaped slices, like a pizza and serve hot.

"আনন্দ নাড়ু" (Ananda Naru)

আনন্দ নাড়ু

"Ananda naru" (আনন্দ নাড়ু) is a unique Bengali sweet that is rarerly available in any shop. It is made at home on specific joyous ocassions like wedding, first RICE ceremony of a newborn or Annoprashon, the THREAD ceremony or Upanayan that initiates a Bramhin boy into the formal world of scriptures. Hence the name "ANANDA" or joy. Unfortunately there is a traditional injunction that forbids the making of this sweet at any other time.Enterprising ladies circumvent this most unfortunate restriction by making the same sweet but refering to it as "ICHCHHA NARU" (ইচ্ছা নাড়ু ) to celebrate the fulfilling of any wish irrespective of the occasion.

The recent political upheaval in West Bengal prompted my mother to celebrate the change with a pot full of crispy Ichchhanaru (ইচ্ছা নাড়ু )  as per the following recipe.


"আনন্দ নাড়ু" or"ইচ্ছা নাড়ু"  is a crispy sweet but can also be taken as a snacks like cakes or biscuits and can be eaten with tea also!

Rice Flour : 600 gms 

Jaggery : 500 gms

One Fresh, large Coconut (grated) : 2 cups

Sesame seeds (White) : 200 gms

Mustard oil for frying

(for making 30 such narus)


Kead all the ingredients thoroughly together except the mustard oil  and make balls (naru) from the dough. Deep Fry the narus in hot mustard oil till dark brown. Cool and store in an airtight container. It can be kept for a month if made in the exact ratio.

Sherbets

The word "sherbet" is from Turkish "şerbet", which is from Persian "شربت" "sharbat", which in turn comes from Arabic شربة "sharba" a drink, from شرب "shariba" to drink. Also called "sorbet", which comes from French "sorbet", from Italian "sorbetto" and in turn from Turkish "şerbet". The word is cognate to syrup. (British and American English) historically was a cool effervescent or iced fruit soft drink.

In a tropical country like India, sherbets are just one way we can get some respite from the otherwise lethal heat that scorches us all. In this post I shall discuss some of these wonderful sherbet recipes which I hope, shall beat the heat out of the you!

1. Aam Panna

Peel off raw mangoes, boil them adding a pinch of salt without adding water, in a pressure cooker. Cool. Remove the seeds and using a hand blender, mash the kernel. Add sugar (pulp : sugar = 1:1), and heat it again. Let it cool, and add, permitted class 2 preservatives, color and flavor. Refrigerate. Take two spoons of this concentrate, and dilute with water and ice cubes and serve.

     2. Strawberry lassi

Ingredients - strawberry ice cream. fresh curd. salt. sugar. rose petals.

Take 2 tbsp fresh curd, 2 scoops of strawberry ice cream, a pinch of salt, and a little sugar.

Churn all this together, in a glass and sprinkle rose petals on the froth. Serve chilled.

    3. Fresh lime with Watermelon

Scoop the inside of the water melon and using a hand blender, churn after adding a pinch of rock salt, sugar, and 1/2 cup of fresh lime juice (kagji lebu). Place in the empty shell of the water melon and serve chilled. Sprinkle some lemon rinds on top.

     4. Vanilla float with Green Mango

Churn a scoop of vanilla ice-cream with 2 tbsp of fresh curd with a pinch of salt and a little sugar. Add a little cold water, and another scoop of ice cream on top. Now add, 2 tbsp of the green mango syrup previously made (in the first recipe). Serve chilled.
  
     5. Mango Mazaa

Here's a funky way of serving peeled ripe mango ... you can also prepare similar mango shakes as before.

6. Bel-Panna

For Making Bel-Sharbet aka Bel-Panna you have to scoop out the ripe bel fruit and after removing the seeds soak it into water  and crush with your hand smoothly. Then add a pinch of salt, sugar, tamarind juice. Starin the mixture through a stainer and serve cold by adding a "gandhoraj lime" ( available in the summer). This is a very refreshing as well as healthy drink for summer!

Delicious Bel-Sharbet & Bel-Morobba

Bel (in Bengali), Bilwa (in Sanskrit), (scientific: Aegle marmelos, belonging to the family Rutaceae) is a fruit, that can be eaten when green, as well as when ripe. Apart from being tasty, it has immense therapeutic values. It is a store-house of several alkaloids, coumarins, sterols and turpenoids, which are very beneficial for the human body. The leaf of this tree, 'bel-pata' in used in pujas, and in Charakasanhita, the green fruit is compared to Amrita, the Hindu 'version' of the elixir of life. Throughout the country 'bel-panna' the sherbet made out of this crushed, ripe fruit is a refreshing drink during season changes ... especially the period around March-April.  The cooked green fruit is also used in making 'morrobbas' , a traditional candy. In some provinces 'bel' is also called 'sadaphal'.

Therapeutic values include its usage as a laxative and digestive in all forms.

Procedure:
For Making Bel-Sharbet aka Bel-Panna you have to scoop out the ripe bel fruit and after removing the seeds soak it into water  and crush with your hand smoothly. Then add a pinch of salt, sugar, tamarind juice. Starin the mixture through a stainer and serve cold by adding a "gandhoraj lime" ( available in the summer). This is a very refreshing as well as healthy drink for summer!

Scoop out the green bel fruit. Remove as many seeds as you can. If you can not remove the seeds ...no problem...you can throw it while eating. Take a large pan and soak the scooped kernel in water along with edible CHUNA (Milk Of Lime) for at least 2 hours. Drain off the water and keep aside. Boil this fruit-kernel in plenty of sugar till the pieces becomes transluscent. This special fruit candy is known as MOROBBA It is extremely hygenic and delicious too!

PANCAKE PIZZA (Valentine Day -Special)

(For the Pancake batter)

Flour: 1 Cup
Milk: 1 Cup
One beaten Egg
Baking Powder : 1/2 tsp
(For the Pizza filling)
Grated Cheese : 2 tbsp
Flour 1 tbsp
Milk 2 tbsp
Corn kernels (boiled)
Onion ( chopped, 2 tbsp)
Capsicum (chopped, 2 tbsp)
Carrot (chopped, 2 tbsp)
Black Pepeer Powder
Chilly Flakes
Grated Cheese and Tomato, Onion and Capsicum ( Cut into rings for topping)
Tomato Ketchup (2 tsp)
Salt & Sugar
Butter 2tsp


First take the flour, egg, milk and baking powder in a bowl and sift them together to have a smooth and pouring consistency. Refrigerate for 1/2 an hour.
 Now for the filling dry fry the flour in a nonstick pan and keep aside. Fry the onion , carrot and capsicum in butter for 2-3 minutes.  Add the boiled corn kernels. Mix the dry fried flour with milk and grated cheese and add the mixture into the corn and stir-fried vegetable mixture. add a little salt, sugar , black pepeer and red chilly flakes. Mix thoroughly and keep aside.

Now heat a small nonstick pan . Grease with a little refined oil or butter and pour 1/3 cup pancake batter . Spread it and turn it when one side is completelt cooked.Make 4 such pancakes.

Finally place a pancake and spread some filling. Then place another pancake followed by some filling and finally end up with the 4th one.
Garnish with tomato ketchup, capsicum, onoin and tomato rings and also with some grated cheese. Cut the wedges with a sharp pizza cutter, keeping the pieces joined in place.

 [This recipe has been dapted and simplified from a similar recipe found in Nita Mehta's Vegetarian Dishes.]
Heat in a microwave or in a pre heated  OTG for a few seconds till the cheese melts and serve hot.
If you can cut the capsicum and red tomatoes in the shape of a HEART then I am sure that your VALENTINE would be suitably impressed!!!

Broccoli Soup

• Broccoli Forets : 1 cup (cut into small pcs)
• Milk : 1 cup
• Butter : 1tsp
• Onion :  One medium size ( grated )
• Garlic : crushed ( 2 tsp0
• Red Chilly Flakes ( 1 tsp)
• Black Peeper Powder
• Corn flour : (2 tsp)
• Salt & Sugar
• Fresh Cream (optional)

• Cook the broccoli florets in  2 cups of water by adding a little salt
• Heat butter and fry onion and garlic together 
• Add this to the broccoli broth 
• Stir the whole mixture with the help of a bar blendar
• Add a little sugar 
• Finally add milk and cornflour and stir thoroughly to make it smooth
• Boil for another five minutes
• Sprinkle red chilly flakes and black pepeer powder
• Add a little fresh cream 
• Place a blanched broccoli on top of the soup
• Serve hot with garlic bread

Broccoli, Sweet corn & Green peas Salad

• Broccoli : cut into florets with its stem (2 cups)
• Sweet corn : boiled (1/2 cup)
• Green peas : boiled (1/2 cup)
• Grated Cheese : 2 tbsp
• { Lemon juice (2tsp), Crushed Garlic (2 tsp), Red Chilly Flakes (1tsp), White Vinegar (1tsp) } for Salad Dressing 
• Sesame seed 2 tsp (roasted )

• Blanch the Broccoli Forets by keeping into boiling water for just 2-3 minutes by adding a pinch of salt to retain the brilliant green colour.
• Strain the water and keep the florets in cold water for another 2 minutes.
• Take a salad bowl arrange broccoli, boiled green peas and sweet corn together
• Now make the salad dressing  in a separate bowl by adding lemon juice, crushed garlic, white vinegar and red chilly flakes together and mixing them  thoroughly with a spoon . Add a little salt and sugar.
• Pour the salad dressing into the salad bowl and mix them thoroughly
• Sprinkle grated cheese and roasted sesame seeds from top
• You can refrigerate the salad  and serve when necessary.