Daily Archives: June 5, 2015

Rice pearl balls

Share Button

image1 (2)

image2 (2)

Preparation Time    : soaking of rice for three hours + 25 minutes

Cooking Time         : 25- 30 minutes

Serving                  : 8 members

Description

Mesmerised me…. After Watching chef vikas Khanna in master chef India season -2, I could not wait to see his first cooking show twist of taste in the telly. I made sure to be free at the time of its first telecast… All ready with a pen and paper to take note of the deeply seductive   twists in his recipes. The first recipe to be shared was  tuna flowers with apricot jam. My, my I was flattered with each twist in the dish. He sure is a genius as there are too many ethos of innovative ideas and creativity he implements to dishes that have made me feel so dum about myself. Well no wonder he is a Michelin starred chef. Here I have borrowed the idea of coating soaked rice and made a few changes to my liking and to suit the food habits at home. I made sure to substitute fish with chicken first , then a few bits and pieces of alterations here and there as always. My first try in round one  was a big flop show as the rice was really grainy and the filling I used smelled eggy. Second round trial…. Again a few errors to be corrected and went ahead. This time I soaked the rice for 3 hours instead of 1/2 an hour as in the original recipe. And made another filling as well. Waited nervously not wanting to go in for another round of trial and error. Tasted the first batch out and it tasted delicious when eaten hot immediately. The rice coating does get a bit dry when served after a while. I recommend this dish to be served immediately once cooked. This ingenious steamed dish is sure to satisfy even the heartiest appetite, very impressive too and apt to be included to any menu during parties at home. By doing so you get to be spoke dining at the cheek list of a button.. Wooing your guests for sure.

Ingredients

Ingredients
Quantity
Basmati rice1 cup
Ground boneless chicken2 cups
Egg white 1
Light Soya sauce3 tablespoons
Sugar1 teaspoon
Vinegar 1 tablespoon
Green chillies 3 or more to taste , blitzed coarsely
Garlic 2 cloves crushed
Spring onion greens chopped3 tablespoons
Salt to taste

Method

  1. Wash and Soak rice in water for 3 hours . Drain and dry the rice.
  2. Mix ground chicken with egg white, soya sauce, sugar, vinegar, salt, garlic, green chillies and spring onion greens together.
  3. Divide into equal portions . With the help of greased hands roll to balls .
  4. Spread the rice in a flat plate . Roll the chicken balls over the rice making sure it has coated well all over by pressing lightly.
  5. Arrange over a wax paper or greased foil paper lined steamer little apart from one another.
  6. Cover and cook over boiling water in medium heat for 30 minutes.
  7. Serve hot immediately with dip of your choice or else the rice tends to get hard.

Bengali style fish cooked in plantain leaves

Share Button

image1 (1)

image2 (1)

image3 (1)

image4 (1)

image5 (1)

image6 (1)

image7

image8

image9

image10

image11

Preparation Time  : 40 minutes

Cooking Time       : 16 – 20 minutes for each fish .

Serving                 : 2-3 members

Description

Other than having a few bengali seniors, class mates and juniors… I have no idea about their food habits to their culture, language ….. I can go on and on. But I know all Bengali ladies are very beautiful with their cotton Saree’s and big round bindhi on their forehead  and are very artistic people. Have heard hubby dear talk a lot about the fish and shell fish in Calcutta and not to forget the mighty resagullas for sure. I have seen a few cookery shows featuring Bengali food and got to know they love their fish and use a lot of mustard oil, mustard paste, panch pooran ( five spice ) powder and add a little sugar to most of their dishes. Hope what I have assumed is right ??  Me, not to be blamed as no country on earth has more diverse culture’s, appetite’s, language’s   and more ways to satisfy them like we Indians do.  With our hundreds of ethnicities , natural bounty and inventive cooks our country is definitely a food lovers paradise. I believe, one way to understand and experience what it means to be Indian is through our country’s varied, constantly evolving cuisines. I ended up making this dish as when it comes to fish , I always end up with a Tamil or Kerala recipe. So for a change with hearing hubby dear  rave about Bengali style fish ,it was about time for a do over.  Gave a try with the help of searching for a recipe that interests me in the world wide net. I didn’t want the regular onion – tomato base so stuck to this combination of mustard seeds and coconut paste base. I sure did add a few ingredients and followed the recipe to the core . My version is made more flavorsome with an additional dash of vinegar. The final product looked pale but when tasted it was out of the world therapeutic comfort food. This dish can never fail to make you feel indulged. Happy me as I found a wealthy way to play with ingredients in true blue Bengali style. So here starts my inspiration to begin an affair with bong food…

Ingredients

Ingredients
Quantity
Fish2 whole white pomfret fish cleaned and make close slits on both sides
Lime juiceof one lime + more to drizzle over the fish
Mustard seeds2 1/2 tablespoons
Grated coconut1 cup
Green chillies8 or more to taste
Salt to taste
Sugar1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder1 1/2 teaspoon
Vinegar 1 teaspoon
Oil 3 tablespoons + to drizzle + 2 tablespoons to fry
Banana leaves2 big
String / treadto tie

Method

  1. Smear fish in salt , lime juice and turmeric powder .
  2. Apply little oil over banana leaves. Place the greased leaves over a gas burner and smear the leaves so that they loose their firmness. Set aside cutting them longitudinally into two equal parts .
  3. Grind mustard seeds, coconut, green chillies with little water and vinegar to a smooth paste. Add sugar, salt, turmeric powder and 3 tablespoons of oil to the ground paste and blitz again to mix well .
  4. Divide the paste into equal two portions and set aside. Heat oil to shallow fry. Slightly fry the fish in hot oil and keep aside to cool completely. Coat the cooled fish with coconut paste.
  5. Place a coated fish in the centre of a banana leaf. Drizzle with a squeeze of lime juice and little oil  Neatly fold the banana leaf and tie with a thick string.
  6. Heat oil in non stick wide pan. Cook banana leaf wrapped fish on either sides for 7-8 minutes in medium low heat. Remove and serve hot.