Bandhakopir Ghanto

RCI concept is good to know about various delicacies from India.I always tried sweets from bengal and I know great writers like late Ravindranath Tagore and Saratchandra Chatterjee.My grandmom had a collection of novels like nauka doobi(one of my favourite),Kabuliwala,Gitanjali written by Tagore and from Saratchandra Chatterjee written devdoss and Munshi Premchand though he is not a bengali writer but she had his lots of books like godaan(my grannys favourite),kaffan .She had her own collection hindi literature books in her bookshelf.Summer afternoons are the best time for story telling.But there is a lot to say about the books and my granny.
Coming back to Bengali cuisine,Once i tried using "panchphoron".I used brinjal,potato together as a dry subzi by using this spice mixture and it came out well.We enjoyed the dish with chapathi along with hot rice.(recipe got from internet and website name is out of my mind.)
Later my panchphoron box went into the shadow.Happend some changes in life but no idea where i dropped the little packet.Recently I got a delicious recipe on search.
Tried and decided to make again and again in future.Good to go with chapathis and rice.Yum Yum
Ghonto :
Ghonto is a dish of cultivated plants such as potatoes and eggplant mixed with uncultivated shak. It cannot be made up of cultivated or uncultivated plants alone as it is by definition the mixing of unrelated plants or unrelated parts of plants in the medium of water. The use of spices in Ghonto is minimal, focusing instead on using water to extract and make available nutritional and medicinal properties. The mixing of unrelated items is needed to manage tastes in the dish as many valuable plants or parts of plants are very bitter or tasteless when cooked alone. Ghonto is consequently a kind of cooking method used for plants that are otherwise not so edible but can add to the culinary repetoire.
coutesy:idrc

Ghonto: Different complementary vegtables (e.g., cabbage, green peas, potatoes or banana blossom, coconut, chickpeas) are chopped or finely grated and cooked with both a phoron and ground spices. Dried pellets of dal (boris) are often added to the ghanto. Ghee is commonly added at the end. Non-vegitarian ghantos are also made, with fish or fish heads added to vegetables. The famous murighanto is made with fish heads cooked in a fine variety of rice. Some ghantos are very dry while others a thick and juicy.
Courtesy:Experience festival.com

Cabbage is very good for salads .Usually i will always have in my fridge.Easy and quick side dish for rice or can be used as a stuffing for sandwiches too.My mom always reserve shredded cabbage especially for me atleast one tablespoon because no one likes fresh uncooked cabbage in our house.
Iam very much impressed about the recipe ghonto and quite easy to make this dishes too when you dont have much time to prepare food for lunch.
Never added cabbage with potato .I usually make cabby pea and potpea subzis seperately.But 3 items in one kadai with spicy panchphoron mix.Ohh got the real experience when we had this last week with hot chapathi.
Ingredients:
Cabbage - 3 cups,shredded /Bandhgobi in hindi
Potatoes - 2 medium size,cubed
Fresh Green Peas - 1 cup
Crushed ginger garlic paste - ½ tspn
Paanch phoron mix - 1 tspn,ground
Red chilli pwd - 1 tspn
Turmeric - a pinch
Cumin seeds - ½ tspn
Dhaniya pwd - 1 tspn
Green chillies - 2 no
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking.(Add ½ tspn of Ghee in oil to get the flavor if you are non weight watchers)
Though recipe calls for tomato i ommitted that .
Pressure cooked potatoes and fryed in littel bit of oil until golden brown.Remove from kadai and keep it aside.
Add crushed ginger garlic and fry until raw smell goes.Add green chillies and fry .Add shredded cabbage ,peas ,turmeric and sprinkle some water,close lid and cook in medium flame until cabbage becomes tender,stirring occasionally.Add red chilli pwd,dhaniya pwd,salt and stir well.Add fried Potatoes,Paanch phoron pwd and stir well.Cook for another 4 to 5 minutes and remove from fire.Serve hot with rice and chapathi.
Recipe courtesy:indobase.com
I tried mochar ghonto/banana blossom subzi too.Post the recipe on another day.
Must try recipe:
lau ghonto/Bottlegourd Ghonto.
Came to know what boris is from this blog Homemade Boris and Saar er ghanto .

This is my entry for event RCI - Bengal hosting by Sandeepa.

Garlic Chutney/వెల్లుల్లి పాయ పచ్చడి

Herbal remedies of Garlic
Ingredients:
Garlic pods /తెల్ల గడ్డ /వెల్లుల్లి పాయలు- 9 or 10
Red chillies - 15 no
Dhaniya/ధనియాలు - 2 tspn
Chanadal/పచ్చిశెనగ పప్పు - 2 tspn
Curry leaves/కరివేపాకు - 10 or 11 leaves - 1 sprig
Salt to taste
Oil for frying
Enough water to grind.

Making:
Heat the oil and fry garlic pods to slightly golden brown and keep it aside.
Fry Dhaniya until the aroma comes out make sure to fry in low flame.
Fry Chanadal to light golden brown color and at the end add red chillies and curry leaves.While frying,Curry leaves spread a delightful aroma in kitchen.Remove from fire and allow to cool.
Transfer all the ingredients to a blender and grind to a fine /coarse paste .
Serve with idly,dosa,upma, acts like a pickle for white rice and curd rice and with vadas or with Mysore Bonda(my all time favourite bonda and my mom makes as instant evening snack).
I served with garlic chutney along with a cup of coffee.
This recipe goes as my entry to "Jihva" - Garlic hosting by Mathy Kandasamy of Virundu .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ వెల్లుల్లి పాయ పచ్చడి ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enoki mushrooms Banana blossom Fried Rice

Ingredients:
Enoki mushrooms - 1 packet {pronounced as "eh-NO-kee".}
How to use enoki mushrooms
Banana bud /blossom (అరటి పువ్వు)- 1 cup ,chopped
How to seperate flowers from banana blossom
Capsicum - 1 no,medium size ,juliened
Green chilies - 3 no,chopped
Onion - ½, chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tspn
Cloves - 3 no,crushed
Steamed rice - 3 cups
Salt to taste
crushed pepper - ½ tspn
Parsley chopped - 2tspn
Oil for cooking

Preperation:
Heat Oil in pan and add garlic ginger paste,thinly sliced onions,green chillies and saute for a while.Add chopped banana bud and fry for golden brown color.Add capsicum pieces and cook for 5 minutes.Once capsicum pieces become soft add Enoki mushrooms and stir for 5 minutes.Add salt and crushed pepper to adjust according to the taste.Add steamed rice and combine well.Sprinkle chopped Parsley leaves.Ready to serve with carrot raita and with lotus chips.
Carrot Raita: Grated Carrot+Crushed ginger+chopped green chillies+Beaten curd+Salt+chopped coriander leaves
Deep Fried lotus root chips
Baked lotus root chips
Never tried lotus root before but chips tasted delicious.
Thanks for the recipe Alan and BEE.
Beauty That Hides Beneath the Lotus Blossom

Miso Soup.
Korean enoki Pancakes

Pavakkai Kozhambu /Bittergourd in Tamarind Sauce

~~~~~~~~~~ కాకర కాయ ~~~~~~~~~~
The day since my mom started giving bittergourd fry for us i developed a sweet and bittery love on this greenish vegetable.Bittergourd tastes great with hot rice and curd rice.Eventhough this gourd is bitter but not from heart and it is very good for health indeed.I always love the bittergourd fry,stuffed bittergourd ,pickle,chips which tastes heavenly when my mom makes.Once i tasted Bittergourd Kozhambu in SaravanaBhavan,Chennai.Later i came to know that even my nannamma (dads mom )used to make this with kakarakaya/bittergourd (home grown) and with another veggies like plantain,okra,brinjal,ustikayalu in thick tamarind sauce (chintapandu pulusu in telugu)aka kozhambu (in Tamil).My husband says no to bittergourd but I started adding it to making kozhambu which is his favourite side dish for rice.He liked the taste the way i make.I have satisfaction that in someway iam giving the healthy veggie in our food instead of ommiting it.

Ingredients:
Bittergourd - 2 no
Onion - 1 no medium size ,chopped
Ginger - ½ " size,crushed
Garlic pods - 3 no,crushed
Tamarind puree - ½ cup
Red chilli powder - ½ tspn
Pepper - ¼ tspn
Sugar - ½ tspn (Jaggery tastes good)
Red chillies - 2 no
Mustard seeds,Menthi seeds,curry leaves for seasoning
Sambar powder - 2 tspn
Sesame oil - ½ tspn
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking
Preperation:
Make puree with tamarind by soaking in hot water.Keep it aside.Add oil to the pan and once it is hot add seasoning ingredients musatrd,methi/fenugreek seeds,red chillies,curry leaves one by one.Let them splutterand add chopped onions and saute well.Add crushed ginger,garlic and fry for a while until raw smell goes.Add cut bittergourd pieces and fry until light golden brown color.Add tamarind puree,turmeric,sambar pwd,water,pepper pwd ,salt and cook until gravy becomes slightly thick.Add sugar,sesame oil /Ghee (optional)and adjust if salt and red chilli pwd according to taste.Serve with hot rice with a dollop of ghee . We had spicy,tangy,bittery bittergourd kozhambu rice with homemade parsnip chips.
sundakkai vatral kozhambu .
Info about Bittergourd .
This recipe goes to Vegetable Of the Week -Bittergourd hosted by lovely Pooja.

Pattypan Sqush Curry with Rye Coriander Roti

Ingredients:
Pattypan Squash (Sun burst) - 2 no,chopped
Red chori /Adzuki beans sprouts - 1 cup,pressure cooked
Onion - 1,medium size,chopped
Green chillies - 3 no ,chopped
Dhaniya powder - 1 tspn
Garlic pods - 2 no,crushed
Turmeric - a pinch
Red chilli pwd - ½ tspn
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking
Cilantro for garnishing
How I Made
Heat oil in pan and add mustard seeds to that and allow to splutter.Add crushed garlic,green chillies,chopped onions saute for a while.Add chopped squash ,dhaniya pwd,turmeric pwd,red chilli pwd ,salt and cook until tender.Add boiled red chori and stir well into the curry.Adjust for salt and chilli powder and cook for 5 minutes.
Remove from fire and garnish with chopped cilantro.
Goes well with roti/chapathi/steamed rice.


Rye coriander roti:Mix Rye flour with chopped coriander leaves,crushed green chilli pieces(½ tspn),water(less amount),salt and knead to a chapathi dough.Grease the palm and make the dough balls into a round thin disk on a greased ziploc bag or any thick plastic cover.Heat the tawa and fry for golden brown color on both sides.We had Rye roti with pattypan squash curry and the combo worked well.

Info about Red chori
Rye flour
About Pattypan Squash www.theworldwidegourmet.com
Recipes
Stuffed pattypan squash
Pattypan Pizza

Burrito with Green gram and Horsegram potato gravy

Ingredients:
Green gram -½ cup,soaked overnight
Horse gram - ½ cup,soaked overnight
Potato - 1 cup, boiled and cubed
Ginger ,garlic paste - ½ tspn
Black cardamom - 1 no,crushed
Red chilli powder - 1 tspn
Dhaniya pwd - 1 tspn
Curd - ½ cup
green chillies - 2 no
Tomato - 1 no,chopped
fresh coriander,mint,lemon wedges,Salt to taste
Oil for cooking

~~~~ ulavalupesalu bagaladumpa koora ~~~~
How I made:
Cook green gram and horse gram in pressure cooker.Heat oil in kadai and add ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell leaves.Add green chillies,onion to that and saute for a while.Add chopped tomato,red chilli powder,dhaniya powder and saute well.Add cubed potatoes ,curd ,crushed black cardamom and adjust salt and red chilli pwd to the taste.Add ½ cup of water and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes in low flame till the gravy thickens.Garnish with coriander and fresh mint leaves.Squezze lemon juice and serve hot.

Heat the tortillas by placing in a paper towel in microwave for 1 minute.Fill the tortillas with green gram and potato horse gram gravy ,chopped tomato,chopped onions and with fresh coriander.Wrap and serve the delicious Burritos with any fresh fruit.
Information:
Burrito
Cantaloupe Parchment Bowl
Cantaloupe
This recipe goes to the event on "Balanced Breakfast Meals" as this month's theme for WBB#20 by manasi desai of funfood.

RedCurrant Lassi

Ingredients:
Red Currant - 12 no raceme ,puree and deseed
Demerara Sugar - 3 tspn
Green cardamom - 1 no,crushed
Home made Curd - 2 cups,refrigerated
Cold Water - ½ cup

Lassi :
Puree Red Currant with little amonut of water and strain out the seeds.
Add yoghurt/Curd ,sugar,crushed cardamom to the blender and blend till foamy.
Pour into the glasses and serve.

Information about Red Currant.
Colorful RedCurrant tea cakes by lovely Béa of latartinegourmade.

Rye Rice flour Pappuchekkala Sandwich

Last weekend While shopping for veggies my attention went on one specific flour which i never used and saw in india .It is labled as
Rye flour.For a while i was thinking whether it contains raagi flour but rye is quite different from raagi flour.Came back and opened the pack eagerly to see the flour.Decided to make pappu chekkalu by adding rice flour from my moms advice.Mom used to make jonna roti and muruku with sorghum flour /JONNA PINDI.So,moms best idea worked well with rye flour too.My next recipe with rye flour is rye bread.Rye flour is bit sticky but adding rice flour gave the enough crispiness to pappu chekkalu.
Ingredients:
Rye flour - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1 cup
thai Green chillies - 5no
Ajwain seeds /Vamu ginjalu - 2 tspn
Groundnuts/Peanuts - ½ cup
Dalda/vegetable shortening/vanaspathi - 1tspn
Soaked chanadal - 2tspn
Salt to taste
Enough water to make dough
Oil for frying


Preperation:
Grind green chillies - ajwain ,peanuts by adding 2tspn of water by using mortar pestle.Combine both flours with dalda,salt,ground mixture,soaked chana dal,water and knead into a chapathi dough.Divide dough into small balls.Heat oil in a deepfrying pan.Press the balls on a greased parchment paper into disc by greasing palm either with water or oil into ¼ th "thickness.Drop slowly into the oil and fry both sides for a goldenbrown colour.Remove and Strain on a papertowel.Allow
Pappuchekkalu to cool and Store in an airtight container.
Had fresh veggies in hand so the taco idea came in my mind and my evening snack is ready on table with the hot cup of masala chai.
Sandwich:
shredded Cabbage - ¼ cup
shredded Carrot - ½ cup
diced tomato - ½ cup
chopped onion - 2 tbspn
Chopped cilantro - &frac 12 cup
diced cucumber - ¼ cup
lemon juice - ½ tspn
Fresh Red chilli flakes - 4 or 5
Salt to taste

Toss well and place on pappu chekka and cover with another pappu chekka.Get ready for a delicious crunchy bite along with a sip of hot masala chai.