Showing posts with label Traditional Bengali Recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Traditional Bengali Recipe. Show all posts

Sunday, 24 June 2018

Chingri or prawn is always favorite sea food for us. In Bengali cousin we have lot of famous dishes with prawns like Lou chingri, Chingri malaicurry, Vapa chingri, Dab chingri etc. Actually prawn has an awesome taste which can turn any dish a delicious one from a very average. And cooking time is also very short. In my blog you will get lots of recipe with prawn. This time I am sharing steamed prawn recipe which is one of our favorite prawn recipe.
I learned this dish from my mom and she learned from her friend. In this recipe I added coconut but my mom and aunt never added it. One of friend said they generally add poppy seed paste. But we don’t. Some people obviously will say no need to use chopped onion but I  used. If you want to skip coconut, onion you can. Even you can add poppy seed paste. But don’t replace mustard paste. Without mustard paste this dish will be incomplete. In most of the steamed recipe in Bengali cousin you will get use of mustard paste because of its pungent taste, which makes the dish more sumptuous. For more steamed fish recipe you can check vapa Ilish recipe in my blog.
The quantity of ingredients is for 2 persons.

prawn steamed with mustard paste - Bengali recipe
Steamed Prawn or Vapa Chingri

Ingredients:

Prawns – 15/20 medium size
Mustard paste – 1tbsp
Coconut paste – 1tbsp
Chopped onion – 1small size
Salt
Turmaric powder – 1 tsp
Mustard oil – 1and1/2 tbsp
Green chilli – 5/6pcs

Recipe:

Clean the prawns, deveined and deshell it. If you want to keep head portion you can keep.
Take a mixing bowl and put all ingredients except green chilli and oil.
Mix it and add ½ tbsp oil in it.
Now take a steel tiffin box and put the mixed prawn with spices.
Drizzle remaining oil on it and put green chillies.
Cover the box.
Now you have to steam it.
Take a large vessel and put some water.
Then keep a small stand in the vessel and keep the box on the stand.
Cover the vassal and steam it for 10 - 12 minutes.
Prawn cooks very fast.
When the water comes to normal temperature, remove the box and your steamed prawn is ready.
Serve with hot steamed rice and enjoy your meal.


Sunday, 15 April 2018


poila boishakh, nabonorsho, cake art, fondant
Poila Boishakh theme cake

Subho nabobarsho 1425…..poila boisakh means Bengali new year started today. This day obviously very special to all Bengali. Actually Bengalis are very fond of food and festival and we wait throughout the year for our famous Durgapuja. But we have lots of occasions to celebrate with some sumptuous food and rituals. Poila boisakh is just one of them. In Bengali we have a famous proverb “bangalir baro mas e tero parbon”(in 12 months Bengalis have 13 festivals) and Poila Boisakh is the first festival of the year. How we celebrate this day…..generally in Bengal in this day maximum shops start their new account with some puja, which is called khata puja and that khata (book of account) is very special, that comes with red cover and knot with a thread, called ‘kheror khata’. Now a days so many people stay out of Bengal for their jobs. So they always try to make a gathering with their Bong friends with some cultural programmes.
Nabo Borsho theme cake toppings created with fondant

Crafting Nabo Borsho theme cake



Nabo borsho themed cake art with fondant
Poila Boishakh/ Nabo borsho theme cake art

For the last 10 years I am also out of Bengal, even out of India. So we also celebrate our Poila Boisakh with some bong friends with some mouthwatering dishes. And this time I made a cake on Poila Boisakh theme, where I tried to present few stuffs related to the occasion. As the gathering was arranged with the famous pot-luck concept, along with my cake, there were many mouthwatering traditional Bengali dishes brought by my friends. The menu includes dimer devil, Bengali pulao, chicken curry, mutton curry, bhapa ilish, amer chatni. The food was well accompanied by famous Bong adda with card games (taser adda). Overall, it was a fantastic day spent with some adorable friends. We enjoyed it thoroughly.
nabo borsho special menu
Poila Boishakh menu; PC: KInjal Mandal

One of the pic in this post is taken by my friend Kinjal.

Subho Naboborsho!!

Sunday, 10 December 2017

Bengalis are fond of different type of chops - aloor choop (potato fritters), onion fritters, vegetable chop, dimer chop or egg devil, fish chop or macher chop etc. Hot chops and tea with a group of friends and relatives is the ideal way of spending evenings after a hard working day or even after a lazy afternoon siesta on holidays. Fish has a special place in Bengali cuisine. So it is obvious there will be fish chops when we are discussing various types of chops from Bengali food habits. Fish fry can again be of many types and is made of different types of fish. Today I would like to share my recipe of fish chop that I made on a chilly winter when a couple of my friends came to visit our place. This is prepared with a normal fish.

To make it clear to all, fish chop is different from fish fry. See the different type of fish fry recipes from my blog.

Ingredients:

Ruhu or katla fish – 10 pcs
Chopped onion – 2 medium
Ginger-garlic paste – 2 tsp
Chopped green chilli – 1tsp
Chopped coriander leaves – ½ cup
Salt
Turmeric powder – 1 pinch
Bread crumbs – 200 gms
Egg – 1
Red chilli powder – 10 pcs
Cumin seeds – 2 tbsp
Cloves – 10 pcs
 Green cardamoms – 10 pcs
Cinnamon – 2 inches
Bread without side – 4-5 pcs
Regular flour – ¾ tbsp
Oil – 2 tbsp
Oil for deep-frying

Recipe:

  1. Marinate the fish pieces and boil it till cook.
  2. In a pan dry roast the whole spices like cumin seeds, dry red chilli, green cardamoms, cloves and grind it. Grind it till it becomes like powder and keep aside with a lid for aroma.
  3. Now take the boiled fish and smash it. At this time remove the skin and bones.
  4. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and put the chopped onion and sauté it.
  5. Remove from heat and add the fish. Then add ginger-garlic paste, chopped green chilli, coriander leaves and salt and mix it.
  6. Now add bread slices and mix it very gently. These bread slices help to bind the dough.
  7. Then add the powdered spices and mix very well to make a dough.
  8. Make some balls from this dough and give shape as per your choice, I made here oval shape.
  9. Take a bowl and beat an egg with a pinch of salt.
  10. Take some regular flour in a plate and roll each chop to coat with flour.
  11. Now dip the flour coated balls into beaten egg.
  12. Take bread crumbs in a flat plate and role all the balls nicely, make sure all balls coated nicely with crumbs.
  13. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying and fry them till golden brown.
  14. Serve hot with salad and tomato sauce or kasundi (Bengali mustard sauce). I always prefer kasundi.

**If you want you can make the chops early and keep in refrigerator. Whenever you need just take it out of the refrigerator and fry them.
       **If you use regular flour, chops will consume less oil. Whenever you make any deep fried starter which will be coated with bread crumbs or anything else, try to coat them with flour first.

Sunday, 24 September 2017

Mango Baked Yogurt, this in a dessert with mango flavor and made of curd. Everybody knows that “Mishti Doi” is a very famous Bengali dessert. But this baked yogurt and mishit doi is fully different. I am saying this because I heard many people saying that both are same, but making process and taste both are fully different. I hope all will enjoy this easy recipe. And the actual cooking time is only 40 seconds, so I guess one of the quickest dessert recipe you can think of. I believe my recipes are always very easy but tasty and this time I am sharing one of my very easy and yummy dessert recipe. Hope you all will love it.
According to ingredients the below recipe will be for 4 persons.
Preparation time 5 minutes and cooking time only 40 seconds.

Ingredients:

Hung curd – 1 cup
Condense milk – 1 cup
Cornflour – 1tbsp
Mango pulp – 2-3tbsp
Mint leaves – for garnish
mishti doi or baked yogurt with mango
Mango Baked Yogurt

Recipe:

1. Take a mixing bowl and add condense milk and hung curd.
2.  Mix it very well with a whisker.
3.  Add corn flour and mix, don’t allow to make a lump.
4.  Add mango pulp, here I had used canned mango pulp.
5.  Mix well and you should get a smooth texture.
6.  Now take an individual dessert bowl and for this quantity you should need 4 bowls.
     Pour the mixture and keep it in microwave. Switch on the oven in micro mode full power for 40 seconds.
8.  Open the microwave door and if you can see the bubbles in edges of the bowls that means your baked yogurt is ready and immediately take out from the oven.
9. Garnish with mint leaves.


Let me know how did it turn out at your end. If you like the recipe, please let me know through comment or share in social media.

Checkout my other dessert recipes by clicking here. You can find more Bengali dessert recipes here.

Sunday, 7 August 2016

Bengalis wait thrgoughout the year fir the rainy season for Hilsa or Ilish to arrive at the market. Hilsa is the most popular fish in Bengal for its aroma and flavor. Traditionally Bengalis stick to their Sorse Ilish (Hilsa in Mustard Gravy) or Bhapa Ilish (Steamed Hilsa) which really has no comparison with any other recipe when savored with hot steamed rice. But Hilsa in Curd Gravy is also becoming popular in Bengali kitchens. Earlier I have also tried Butter Hilsa. This time I was thinking of trying something completely different and came with the idea of preparing hilsa in continental style with herbs, olive oil, mayonnaise and cheese. This turned out to be really good and is an instant hit at my home. Find below the recipe and let me know how you feel about it.

Ingredients:

Hilsa fish – 2 pcs
Mayonnaise – 1 tbsp
Mozzarella cheese – 1 tbsp
Tomato sauce – 2 tsp
Mustard sauce – 2 tsp
Chopped parsley or any herbs as you like
Salt
Sugar
Olive oil – 2/3 tbsp

hilsa recipe in continental style
Hilsa with Herbs - a fusion of Bengali and continental flavors

Recipe:

Marinate the fish with salt and lightly fry it in olive oil, shift from the pan and keep aside.
Now take a bowl and mix mayonnaise, grated cheese, tomato sauce, pinch of sugar, mustard sauce and beat it very well.
In the same oil (in which you fried the fish), put this cheese – mayonnaise mixture and stir it occasionally for around 1 minute and add salt.
Now add that fried fish and add ¼ cup of water.
Wait for 2 minutes and sprinkle some chopped parsley or any other herbs and serve hot.
In this recipe I used dried parsley because at that moment fresh parsley was not available in my kitchen.
Serve with plain rice or any Indian bread.

Please let me know how you feel. Happy cooking J

Wednesday, 12 August 2015

Hilsa or Ilish is the most popular fish for Bengalis. This is the national fish of Bangladesh. Bengalis wait throughout the year and look forward to the rainy season for Ilish. I think Hilsa is most popular for its aroma and taste and also very easy to cook. Nowadays Hilsa is not so pocket friendly but the positive thing is that this fish is very light weight. Bhapa Ilish or steamed hilsa is one of the most popular hilsa dish in Bengal.
Bhapa Ilish or Steamed Hilsa is a popular Bengali hilsa recipe
Bhapa Ilish (Steamed Hilsa)

Ingredients:

Hilsa belly piece – 2pcs
Mastered paste – 3tbsp
Salt
Turmeric powder – 1 pinch
Mastered oil – 3-4 tbsp
Green chilli – 2-3 pcs

Recipe:

Marinate the fish with turmeric powder and salt.
Now take a bowl and mix mastered paste, 2-3 tbsp mastered oil and salt.
Now take a stainless steel tiffin box and arrange the fish. Pour mastered mix over the fish. Put green chilli. Cover the box.
Then take a vessel and fill half of it with water and keep the tiffin box in the vessel.
Now cook it for 10 minutes.

Your vapa ilish is now ready. Serve with hot steam rice.

Try my other Hilsa recipes


Please let me know your feelings of relishing bhapa ilish or any other hilsa recipe with hot steamed rice with your near and dear ones. Happy cooking ... J

Tuesday, 14 April 2015


Channar payesh is very popular dessert of Bengali cuisine. Tomorrow is Bengali New Year – poila boisakh, so I decided to make an authentic Bengali dessert for my family. Channar payesh is not so well known outside Bengal like rosogolla or misti doi. Even, not always available in all the sweet shops in West Bengal. Yet popular enough so that once the pilot of the plane I was boarded, reminded the passengers to enjoy this dessert before leaving Kolkata. Bengali sweets means, channa is the hero. In EasySteps2Cook I have already given some Bengali sweets, where channa is the main ingredient, like sandesh, rosogolla/kamla bhog. Chennar payesh is not always available in sweet shops. This is mostly prepared at home. So now I decided to give channar payesh recipe on the eve of Poila Baisakh as my tribute to this delicious Bengali dessert.

The basic difference between chenna (ছানা) and paneer is that chenna is the first step of preparing paneer. This is the lumps created while breaking milk with lemon juice. When chenna is kept into pressure to and solid chunks are created, this is called paneer. Chenna is mostly used in ewdgastern part of India including West Bengali, Assam, Bihar, Orissa. Paneer is more popular in northern and western parts of India.

Ingredients for making channar payesh:                                                                                                                                                                                                       
Milk – 1 ltr
Lemon juice
Sugar– 1/3 cup
Chopped pista
Chopped almond
Soaked saffron ½ tsp in 1tbsp milk
Cardamom powder -1 pinch

bengali dessert channar payesh
Channar Payesh

Method of making channar payesh:
 In a vessel heat ½ ltr milk and then add a few drops of lemon juice. As a result the milk will break and turn into chenna (paneer) and will look like spongy lumps. Then strain water and keep chenna in a bowl.    
                                
Now heat the rest of milk in low flame and stir continuously. After sometime you will notice the milk has become thick and add sugar. Now add a pinch of cardamom powder and continuously stir it. Add saffron and turn off the oven.

Keep it aside and allow cooling down to room temperature.

After that, add the channa which you have already made …and mix gently. It is better to add chenna in the milk when it cools down to room temperature otherwise there will be risk of breaking down the milk due to its acidic property.

Garnish with some chopped dry fruits like almonds, pistachio.

For more Bengali sweet recipes click on the following links:
Rosogolla

Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Khejur Gurer Chaler Payesh|Rice Kheer Recipe

Khejur gur is one of the most important and favorite ingredient to make Bengali dessert. Bengalis wait throughout the year – when the winter season will come. Winter is very graceful in Bengal and comes with its bounty of seasonal flowers and vegetables, along with some important festivals like Poush Sankranti. Bengalis love winter as some of their most favourite foods and desserts are prepared with ingredients mostly available in this season including koraishutir kochuri and khjur gurer payesh.

Khejur gur or dates palm jiggery is prepared from the juice of dates palm tree. A whole is made on the body of the dates palm tree. Then a clay pot is hanged on the tree just below the whole. This is generally done after the sunset and the pot is brought down before the sun rise.  This juice is then boiled to get jiggery. Dates palm jiggery is prepared shortly after bringing down the pot from the tree when the juice is still fresh, else it will be fermented which is used as local alcohol called tadi.

In Bengal, we get two types of khejur gur in winter – one is in liquid form, known as Nolen gur or notun gur; and the other one is in solid form, called Patali gur. The liquid or semi liquid form, ie. nolen gur cannot be stored for long. But patali gur can be stored for many months.

Khejur gur is a specialty of Bengal. West Bengal and its neighboring country Bangladesh are the only places where khejur gur is available. Though seasonal, khejur gur is an essential part of Bengali desserts – payes, kheer, rosogolla, sandesh etc. Due to its heavy demand, some famous sweet shops in Bengal store patali gur and prepare sweets from this throughout the year. Some shops store semi liquid nolen gur in a controlled temperature to use later. This stored khejur gur may not give exact flavor that we get when fresh gur is used in winter, but most Bengalis ignore this slight difference in flavor and enjoy desserts from khejur gur whenever they get a chance.

All of us, who are far from our native place in Bengal, wait when our parents, relatives or friends will come with this famous patali gur.

Chaler Payesh|Rice Kheer Recipe

Chaler payesh is one of the most famous desserts in Bengal as well as India. This dish is also known as rice kheer or rice pudding. In Bengal, this is one of the most famous dessert for any auspicious occasion. The payesh or rice kheer is prepared in many temples, festivals and special occasions like birthdays etc. Payesh is known in many alternative names in India, like payasam (Tamil), payasa (Kannada), khir (Punjabi), khiri (Odisha) etc.

Recipe of Rice kheer prepared with dates palm jaggery
Khejur gurer payesh| Rice kheer with dates palm jaggery


What we need to prepare rice kheer:

Milk – ½ ltr
Flavored basmati rice – 1 tbsp
Milk powder – 2 tsp
Patali gur (solidified dates jiggery) – 2 tbsp
Bay leaf – 1 pc
Raisin – 10-12 pc
Chopped cashew nuts – 1 tbsp

How to make rice kheer :

At first clean rice in running water and then soak it with little bit of water for 30 minutes. If you do not have much time, don’t soak.  This is not an essential step.

Now take milk in a large vessel and start boiling it. Then put the soaked rice and a bay leaf and stir with a ladle continuously. After 10-12 minutes, the rice will be cooked and milk will be thickened also. Now add milk powder and dates jiggery and mix well. At this moment you will get a nice aroma of patali gur. After 4-5 minutes when the patali gur is fully dissolved, add dry fruits and mix. And then, when you notice some cooked rice on the top of and the milk is thick enough, remove the vessel from heat. Keep aside and allow it to cool down. When it comes down to room temperature, serve it.

If you do not have patali gur, you can use normal sugar. But obviously taste will be different. In that case you can sprinkle ½ tsp green cardamom powder which will give you a nice flavour.

NB: An important point to note while making payesh is that you need to stir it continuously while on heat so that it does not burn. If you do not stir, it might get burnt at the bottom. Even if this is burnt very slightly, it will leave an annoying smell which will destroy your entire effort.

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

Saru chakli|Soru Chakli Pithe Recipe

Soru chakli pithe is another Sankranti special dish from Bengal. Poush parbon being a three day affair of Bengalis, a variety of pitha is prepared – puli pithe, soru chakli, patisapta, gokul pithe, dudh puli, chirer puli. Saru chakli serves the purpose of main course for a Sankranti dinner and is normally served with Aloor dum recipe.

Saruchakli is a kind of pancake, basically Indian version of pancake.  It is like famous south Indian dish dosa between ratios of ingredients. The preparation of dosa is a long process as it requires fermentation. But it requires much less time to make Bengali Saru chakli.

Soru chakli | saru chakuli is a sankranati special dish which looks like a pan cake
Soru Chakli

Soru chakli recipe

Ingredients:

Rice – 2 cup
Biulir dal/Urad dal – 1 cup
Salt
White oil
Water

How to make soru chakli:

Soak rice and urad dal for 5-6 hrs. Then grind the soaked rice and dal to make a paste. Don’t pour water in the grinder initially. If required, pour little bit of water in after a while. If too much of water is poured in the grinder initially, the paste will not be smooth.

Now take a large mixing bowl and add salt and water in the paste to make a smooth batter. The batter should not be too runny. Some people use rice powder to make the batter but I don’t like to use this for soru chakli. Personally I feel, instead of using rice flour, if the paste is prepared from rice, it enhances the taste and also helps to remove it from the pan easily, which is a bit tricky process. Though I am not sure, but the reason might be the small granules that still remain when you grind it at home using grinder.

Put a non-stick pan on heat and grease with white oil. I used the silicon brush available in the market to grease the pan. But traditionally this is done by the stem of a cut eggplant. Pour batter on the tawa with one medium size ladle and swirl it to spread just like pan cake. When one side is cooked, turn it over to cook the other side.

Serve soru chakli with aloor dum.

View my other Sakranti special recipes at
-          Vapa pithe or puli pithe recipe
-          Dudh puli recipe
-          Patisapta recipe
-          Gokul pithe recipe
-          Chirer puli recipe

Happy Sankranti J

Monday, 12 January 2015

How to make Bengali chirer pithe or chirer ros puli:

Chirer puli pithe or chirer ros puli is another variety of puli pitha that Bengalis prepare at home during Sankranti. The process of making chirer pithe is very similar to the process of making puli pithe from rice flour.

Chire is the Bengali name of flattened rice or bitten rice which is also known as Poha or chiwda in India. This flattened rice is very popular in India as breakfasts and snacks. Flaked rice or pounded rice rich in carbohydrates retaining all the qualities of rice.

Poha is a very versatile ingredient and soaks water and milk very easily. Like other parts of India, Bengalis also prepare different dishes with poha. Chirer pulao is one my favorite. Chirer puli pithe or chirer ros puli is a dessert prepared during Pous parbon. Learn how to make chirer pithe from the easy steps mentioned below.

chirer pithe fried and dipped in sugar syrup to make chirer ros puli
Chirer Ros Pithe Puli

Ingredients:

Chire – 1 cup
Milk – 1 cup
Chenna (paneer) 100gms
Flour – 2-3 tbsp
Sugar – 1 cup
Grated coconut – 1 ½ cup
Dates jiggery – ½ cup
Water – 2 cup
White oil or ghee

Chirer Puli Pithe Before Frying and dipping in sugar syrup
Chirer Puli Pithe Before Frying

How to make chirer pithe puli:

At first, take 1 cup of chire and clean with running water. Now soak chire into 1 cup milk and keep aside for 1 hr.

Mix grated coconut and ¼ cup dates jaggery in a pan and put it in low flame. Stir well for five minutes and take out from flame. The stuffing is now ready.

After 1 hr take a mixing bowl and gently smash the soaked chire and add chenna. Mix it very gently and add 2-3 tbsp flour. Actually flour helps to bind chire and chenna. Now you will get smooth dough.

Now, make small balls from the dough and spread each ball in your plum so that it looks like a small bowl. Stuff the coconut mixture and fold it in a way so that it looks like a half circle. Seal the edges properly. Your pulis are now ready (see the picture above). To know more details on how to make puli pithe, visit my puli pithe recipe.

Now take a large vessel and pour sugar and water in oven to make syrup.

When the syrup is ready, heat oil or ghee in a pan and deep fry the puli till golden.

Then immerse all pulis into the syrup for 30 – 45 minutes. Chirer pithe is now ready to serve.

Enjoy this Sankranti with your near and dear ones with all kinds of traditional Sankranti desserts and snacks and meals. To know more about Bengali Sankranti special recipes please visit the following posts:

Happy sankranti and happy cooking J