The Meat and Potatoes

So I made this super healthy Mexican bowl yesterday (that I'll be putting up later) and although I was satisfied, my husband wasn't. So I turned to meat and potatoes to salvage me for one last healthy meal of the week before the weekend hits and we eat everything in our sight. Well, more like poultry and potatoes.

Skinny chicken salad with baked potato wedges.

THE CHICKEN

Shredded chopped chicken, chopped onions, tomatoes, coriander, cabbage or lettuce, celery, mustard, Greek yogurt, avocado, cumin powder, salt, pepper, paprika and very little mayonnaise. Mix and serve with toast.

THE POTATOES

Cut wedges, skin on, and parboil for 8 minutes. Remove and run under cold water. Coat in olive oil, cumin powder, salt, pepper and paprika. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Toss in a dry pan for 2 min to add a roasted feel. Sprinkle oregano and serve. 

The Kosha

Kosha mangsho is oh so good to know. It is not a quick recipe but who cares. So worth it.

Marinate a kg of mutton in yogurt, a little mustard oil, and salt and turmeric, overnight.

Roast whole garam masala (whole cumin, coriander, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and black pepper) on a dry pan for a bit, and grind into a powder. Keep aside for cooking. Fresh garam masala adds a whole new kick.

Get yourself a nice thick bottomed pan for which you have a lid ready. Heat some mustard oil, and fry two chopped onions and a spoon each of ginger paste and garlic paste. Add salt and a spoon of sugar, and some whole garam masala. Add the mutton. Add some more coriander and cumin powder if you want, and some red chilli powder. Add some more of that garam masala (leave a little to sprinkle in the end and add the rest, basically). Cover with the lid.

Now comes the painful part of standing there and constantly stirring the pot. You have to keep lifting the lid and stirring so the bottom doesn't burn, and then replacing the lid. (If it gets too dry add very little water just to keep it a little mushy, but that's it.) This process is called koshano in bengali. It would be so much easier to just pressure-cook the mutton but DON'T DO IT! Stir, cover, stir, cover, till the mutton is cooked. I took it out right after it was cooked because I was impatient, but typically you want it to almost start disintegrating before you turn off the heat. Sprinkle the leftover garam masala on top and you're set! Serve with luchi and be amazing.

PS: It's also common to put potatoes in this but I like to leave them out.

The Veggie Tempura

So Mondays have turned into vegetarian recipe days, somehow. :)

Vegatable Tempura with Pan-Fried Teriyaki Udon

THE TEMPURA

Slice up your favorite vegetables for the tempura. I used mushrooms, broccoli and sweet potatoes. Create the tempura batter by mixing 3 parts cornflour to one part flour with a little baking powder, salt and pepper. Now if you don't eat egg, just add water and use that as your batter. If you don't mind egg, that's actually what makes the tempura batter fluffy and awesome. so you want to add a lightly whisked egg white in the batter along with some water. I like to leave the batter a tiny bit lumpy, as in don't overmix the batter, and make sure it's cold. Dip each veggie into the batter and deep fry. Remove before it starts to really brown. 

THE UDON

Udon = rice noodles. Boil and drain. Heat up a pan and get scallion and cabbage (and anything else you want to throw in) cooking in some oil. Add teriyaki sauce. Finally toss the cooked noodles in. I'd top with sesame seeds but I didn't have any. SERVE!

The Rocky Forest

Chicken meatballs and a lychee cucumber salad makes for a healthy Friday in.
I went with a slight Thai theme.

THE CHICKEN

Mix minced chicken with the following: salt, ginger paste, garlic paste, blended or finely chopped onions, cumin and coriander powders, chopped coriander leaves, a dash of lime, basil, and Thai green curry paste if you can get your hands on that.

Heat up a pan of vegetable oil and take little bits of the mince mix, make balls and shallow fry for a few minutes. Take one out and cut open to make sure it's cooked. Top with dried basil seasoning.

THE SALAD

Peel the lychees and make a side incision to get the seeds out. Throw in spinach and cucumbers and season with a lime-basil vinaigrette (dressing of a tiny bit of olive oil with a dash of lime and some basil, maybe a little sugar and a drop or two of soy sauce).

Remember to undo all this by cheating this weekend.

The Cantonese

Chow mein... from somebody who doesn't know anything about Cantonese cuisine. But it came out pretty good! I made mine with prawns; you could make yours with just veggies, or chicken, or whatever. I love a good stir-fry.

Boil noodles according to instructions on the packet. Mine said submerge in hot water for 5 minutes, so I did that. Once cooked, run under hot water for a bit. Set aside.

In a wok, heat some peanut oil and add a little ginger and garlic. Throw in scallions. Add the prawn and a spoon of dark sesame oil, and stir for a bit. Add any veggies you'd like: I'd go with water chestnuts, mushrooms, bean sprouts.... I added a few cashews and some corn. Add a few spoons of oyster sauce, and a spoon of soy sauce, and toss. (At this point you can add broth to simmer, and then add cornstarch to thicken the sauce, but I avoided this step so I wouldn't have to put cornstarch in.) Finally add the noodles and give the whole thing a toss or two to coat and fry. Throw on a tiny bit of coriander garnish and remove from heat.

Serve (for a personal kick, I broke a dried red chilli onto the dish before serving).

The Veggie Platter

I'd call it a veggie Bengali thali, but we don't say thali in Bengali :D Also, the karela recipe isn't exactly Bengali. So basically you can call this whatever you like.

Stuffed karela (bitter gourd) with begun bhaja (pan-fried aubergine/eggplant) and of course, the rice and alu posto. The recipe for alu posto is up under "The Bengali" last December.

Begun Bhaja

Pretty simple. Get a fat eggplant and slice in half vertically. Cut slices almost an inch thick and coat in salt and turmeric. Pan fry in mustard oil till cooked.

Stuffed karela

Slice long pieces of karela. Take out the seed bit. Rub with salt to reduce the bitterness a little, and let it sit for 20 minutes before washing. Meanwhile saute chopped onions, ginger and garlic in a little oil with cumin seeds,and add salt, turmeric, coriander powder, cumin powder and a tiny bit of amchur (substitute with achar masala if you want). Take the entire cooked mixture and grind. Stuff each washed karela piece with this mixture and pan fry together for a bit before serving.

Serve with alu posto and rice :)

The Husband's Pomfret

About once a month I get lucky when the hubby suddenly declares that today he will cook. This time he came up with a delightfully light and tangy pomfret tomato curry that I wanted to share.

Coat pomfret in salt and turmeric and set aside. Grind mustard seeds and keep in warm water. Keep grated coconut handy (if it's frozen, keep in a little warm water). Meanwhile pan-fry the pomfret in shallow mustard oil until golden and cooked.

In a pan, sauté mustard seeds and green chilli. Add a little turmeric, chopped tomatoes and the ground mustard seeds with the water; then add salt to taste. Put in the coconut and let the curry thicken a little bit before sprinkling sugar. Finally add fish. Simmer on low covered for a few minutes and serve with coriander garnish. Dash of lime on top with rice seals the deal! Yum.