Monday is vegetarian day at our home. All because of that woman in my home :p She was following this for a long time so even though I argue, I usually give in. So today we were out of options. There was no paneer, which we usually have on Mondays, and almost no vegetables barring few spinach bunches and little bits of this and that. I don’t know what got into Sumi but she decided that it’s high time she tried something new with spinach.

We had this awesome spinach soup at a restaurant before and ever since wanted to try it ourselves. The main problem Sumi faces is washing the spinach leaves properly. We do not get a good quality in our locality store here and it usually has loads of sand and dirt. So this is what she spent the maximum time on. Honestly I would never have the patience to wash each and every bunch (and leaves) and then cut them nicely. But that’s Sumi for you. Anyways after this strenuous preparation, she cooked the stew surprisingly faster. And the end result was very yummy. Oh the joys of wifey cooking for you, I tell you.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch of fresh spinach stems removed
• 1 medium capsicum sliced
• 2 medium tomatoes sliced
• 1 big onion sliced
• 2 green chillies chopped
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 small green cardamom
• 1 Tbsp chopped garlic
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 50 ml fresh cream
• 80 g butter
• Canola oil as required
• Water/Vegetable stock  100ml
• Salt as per taste

Method

In a wok add some vegetable oil; now add chopped garlic, green chillies, onion, capsicum, cinnamon and cardamom. Stir for 4-5 minutes till onions are translucent.

Add spinach, black pepper, tomatoes and cook for 5 min. Now add the stock and cook again for 15 min till gravy reduces. Add salt as per taste.

Mix well with butter, cream and parsley.

Serve hot.

If you like this post please post your comment by going to the original post here Palak Stew with Fresh Cream

© Copyright Enjoyable Recipes - Simple everyday recipes with bits of this and that and a touch of Bengali-ness

Prawns (Chingri in Bengali) are an all time favorite of a typical Bengali. I guess I am the only exception. For some strange reason, I never took any fancy with them since childhood. I say strange because I have started to like them a little now, even though there are only few types of preparation that I like now. I had a friend in my class who once commented that no self-respecting Bengali can not like prawns. Well I think that makes me a self-loathing Bengali :p But I am not. Sumi, on the other hand, simply adores them. She always found it hard to believe that I dont like them. Around the time we started living together after I moved to Chennai after our marriage, I consciously tried to force myself to try few ingredients which I didnt like before. There were 2 reasons for it: One I didnt want to deprive Sumi of food items she loves. Second I wanted Sumi to have more of few vegetables which I love So prawns, mushrooms, spinach, carrot etc. became regulars in our diet. With the frozen, packed, cleaned up versions of prawns that we get nowadays in the super market, I have actually discovered my love for prawns. They are tasty and I just love them now.

This recipe in very common in Bengal and it is a favorite in any special occasions. Sumi has made it few times in the past 2 years and to tell you the truth, she really cooks this in an awesome manner. I have not told her this though hehehe

Ingredients

• 1 medium bottleguard (lau) around 300 gm
• 4 medium potatoes, 1cm square cut
• 200 gm prawn de-veined and de-shelled
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 1 tsp nigella
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 Tbsp chopped green chilles
• 1 Tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• A pinch of asafoetida
• Salt as per taste
• Mustard oil as required

Method

Marinade the prawn with salt and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder for 15 min.

Smoke oil in a pressure cooker. Let it cool for sometime. Now increase flame and add nigella, fry for 30sec and add chopped green chillies and onion and fry a while, till onion turns translucent.

Add the asafoetida and marinated prawn saute and fry for 4-5 min. Take care not to fry more else prawn becomes chewy.

Now add the garama masala, remaining turmeric powder, potatoes and bottleguard and salt and saute for 5-8 min in medium flame.

Close the cooker and allow for 3 whistles keeping gas in high flame. Do not add water or lower the flame else bottleguard will become soggy.

Open immediately and heat for another 4-5 min till all dries up.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or chapatti.

Yumm!!

If you like this post please post your comment by going to the original post here Lau Chingri

© Copyright Enjoyable Recipes - Simple everyday recipes with bits of this and that and a touch of Bengali-ness

Lately Sumi and I have noticed that our vegetable intake has reduced a great deal. Due to us following the low carb diet the easiest way has been blindly consuming chicken. The veggies which are best for our diet are mostly the premium ones in terms of price. Moreover Sumi hates almost all vegetables except potato. Especially when most of the time we can have just boiled veggies. As you guys might know, the wife is the “king” of the house so I just have never been able to force her to have more veggies.

But there has been a sudden change in her the past week or 2. She has told me that she is a bit fed up of having just chicken. She wants some other taste and have more vegetables. Yay!! So the past few days we have had quite a lot of veg preparations even though they are not purely Bengali styled recipes. The reason being less oil to be used and obviously reduced spices.

Coccinia or Ivy Gourd or Kenduri (Bengali Name) helps in maintaining the blood pressure and reduces the sugar levels. To be honest, when just eaten boiled it tastes yuck LOL. But its been a while we consumed it so Sumi decided to make a light fried Kenduri preparation with Capsicum to bring variety to it. It really refreshed our taste buds. The recipe details only the plain vegetable preparation. You can also add Paneer to it to bring more flavor which is what we did (see the picture)

Ingredients

• 200 gm Kenduri (Coccinia), sliced thin and circular
• 1 big capsicum, sliced thin
• 1 medium onion, sliced thin
• 1 tsp chilli powser
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 Tbsp chopped green chilli
• Salt as per taste
• Mustard Oil as required
• Optional Paneer (Cottage Cheese) thinly sliced

Method

Heat oil in a wok, add chopped green chillies, onion and fry till onion becomes soft.

Add capsicum and fry for 3-4 min, add kenduri, garam masala and turmeric powder, chilli powder and fry in medium to high flame for 5 min.

Add salt and saute till kenduri is medium crisp.

Serve hot with roti/chapatti.

PS – You can also add thinly sliced Paneer (cottage cheese) during the final sauting to bring more flavor and bulkiness to the dish.

If you like this post please post your comment by going to the original post here Kenduri Capsicum Bhaja

© Copyright Enjoyable Recipes - Simple everyday recipes with bits of this and that and a touch of Bengali-ness

Well its been a long time and we have not added any recipe. One of the reason being Sumi and me being on a low-carb diet. Since its really a challenge to do it in Indian cuisine leave alone Bengali, we had to invent lots of dishes. I mean not invent but rather bend them to our tastes. One of the major problems of a low carb diet is what everyone calls a carb crash. Its just a good way of saying I cant take it anymore Well we had it too. And when we had it one such day we thought of having our all time favorite snack. There are various ways of making Poha. But we prefer having it with Bread, the reason being its easy to make. Oh and did I say its tasty

Ingredients

• Bread (approx 8 slices) – crumbled into medium sized pieces and sprinkled with water to soften.
• 1 big onion chopped into medium squared pieces
• 4 green chillies (or as per your taste) cut into diagonally thin slices
• 2 Tbsp groundnut
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 4 twigs curry leaves (approx 12 leaves)
• 1tsp Kitchen King powder or 1/2tsp chat masala powder (these already contain salt so be careful)
• Groundnut oil (1-2Tbsp enough for everything to cook and not stick)
• Salt to taste

Method

Heat oil in a wok and fry the groundnuts till golden brown. Remove the groundnuts and keep aside.

In the same oil, put the mustard seeds and wait for all of them to splatter.

Add curry leaves, fry for few seconds then add the green chillies and onions.

Add the chat masala or kitchen king masala (you can find these at any Indian store).

Add the bread pieces (after crumbling and softening with water as mentioned above), mix them with the remaining ingredients and then add salt and the fried groundnuts. Dont heat for long else the breads will stick to the wok.

Remove from heat. Mix everything well.

You can make it more interesting by adding boiled potatoes and peas too. Server hot.

If you like this post please post your comment by going to the original post here Bread Poha

© Copyright Enjoyable Recipes - Simple everyday recipes with bits of this and that and a touch of Bengali-ness

Bhindi is one of the most lovable vegetables in India. I dont know why because its not exactly my favourite but I dont hate it too. There is a saying that people who love Bhindi are very intelligent. I figure thats why I was never the top student of my class. It was really a hot day and Sumi was in her bad mood hehehehe. So we went vegetable shopping and there was this set of Okra almost smiling at her (I think so) and Sumi got impressed by their smile (I think this too) because that instant she bought full 500 grams of it. Yes my bad luck. This would be tonight’s dinner But to Sumi’s credit it actually ended up quite tasty Hope you enjoy it too.

Ingredients

• 500gm Okra/Bhindi/Lady Finger
• 2 big sized potatoes sliced into thin pieces
• 1 Onion slit
• 2 tbsp Tomato Paste/Puree
• 4tbps coriander powder
• 1tsp Kitchen King Powder
• 1tsp Red Chilli Powder
• 1tsp Garam Masala Powder
• 1/2tsp Turmeric Powder
• A pinch of Asafoetida
• 2tbsp Oil
• Salt to Taste

Method

Wash the Okras and cut the head parts off. Make a slit around the middle part of the Okras and keep it aside.

In a big flat plate, mix all the spices together. Now add the okras and make sure each and every Okra has a proper coating of the spices. Set aside for few minutes to let it marinate well.

In a non-stick wok, take around 2 tbsp of oil, add the slit onions, potatoes and tomato paste and mix well and stir in low flame for 2-3 minutes. Now cover the wok and let the potatoes cook in sim. Keep stirring in regular intervals. This allows very less oil to be used in this recipe.

When the potatoes are half cooked add the marinated okras and stir in low flame.

Cover the wok again and let it cook for around 10 minutes. Keep stirring at regular intervals till the Okras get soft.

Once the okras are soft, stop cooking and jump on the vegetable and eat it full before anyone else

If you like this post please post your comment by going to the original post here Bhindi Aloo Dry

© Copyright Enjoyable Recipes - Simple everyday recipes with bits of this and that and a touch of Bengali-ness

An all-time favorite with almost all North-Indian households is Aloo Gobi which simply means a Potato Cauliflower preparation There are various methods of preparation for this and the below is a sample. Sumi always tries so many varieties for this. We felt this was tasty enough to be a starter recipe for our site LOL.

Ingredients

• 1 Medium Sized Cauliflower cut into small florets
• 3 medium sized potatoes peeled and cut into cubes
• 10 curry leaves
• 1 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
• 1 tsp Cumin-Coriander seeds paste
• 1 tbsp Onion Paste
• 1/4 tsp Asafoetida
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 green chillies cut diagonally
• 1 red chilli
• 1 medium sized tomato cut into small pieces
• 1 tsp tomato chilli sauce
• 1 tbs tomato ketchup
• Salt to taste
• 4tbs oil
• 1/2 cup water

Method

Heat oil in a wok, add the whole red chilli, cumin seeds and the asafoetida, green chillies, curry leaves and saute till 10 seconds.

Add the ginger-garlic paste, onion paste, cumin-coriander paste, garam masala, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and cut tomato. Saute for 1minute

Now add cauliflower, cut potatoes, tomato-chilli sauce, tomato ketchup and fry on high flame by continuously stirring. Add salt and Fry for 3-4 minutes.

Add the water and cook on low flame covered

Serve hot

If you like this post please post your comment by going to the original post here Aloo Gobi

© Copyright Enjoyable Recipes - Simple everyday recipes with bits of this and that and a touch of Bengali-ness