Cheese Cake

I wanted to make a cheese cake for a long time and I finally did it during SH's B'day week. So without a delay here is the recipe. SH is been taking a bite of it and wants to share it with no one. So I think lets call it a hit with the hope that I can repeat the act and this does not become a One Hit wonder cheesy cake!!

I decorated it with fresh strawberries, SH's favorite fruit.
Ingredients:
Cream cheese- 1lb
eggs- 2
Sugar- 1/2cup
Vanilla- 1tsp
1 graham pie crust 9 inch
Garnish
Strawberry as many as you like!!

Procedure
take the cream cheese out of the refrigerator and let it soften in room temperature.
take a mixing bowl. beat the eggs, add vanilla and sugar. Good to use a electric mixer or a stand mixer for this. Add the the cream cheese and blend this to a smooth consistency.
Pre heat the oven at 350to 375 degree depending on the strength of your oven.
let this bake for 40 min.
In the mean time cut the strawberries chill.
When the cheesecake is done let it cool and then let this chill in the refrigerator for 2-3 hrs.
Decorate with the strawberries and serve it to your loved one!!!

A B'day menu for you!!

Today is S 's birthday. So the indulgence of today is of big value.
I am a bake person. I love to bake. But, I resisted from baking a cake since the last party in my house. S loves the cakes and I wanted him to enjoy his birthday cake. Remember abstinence, anybody?? I mean cake is a true pleasure.

So hear is the recipe for my cake special for S
Ingredients:
Maida- 1 cup
sugar- 1 cup
Butter/ICBINB- 1 cup
baking soda- 1tsp
Vanilla- 1tsp
eggs extra large- 2 otherwise 3
roasted almonds- a few
chocolate chips- some

Procedure-
Prepare the oven first. Preheat the oven to a toasty 350 degree. My oven is a professional one and has special heating features for cakes, veggies, meat etc. So I hope you understand the working of your oven. Grease the bake utensil with butter and put it in the oven
sieve the maida and mix the baking soda in it. melt the butter.
Take the raw eggs and beat them. once its frothy pour the sugar in it. beat the batter. pour the butter in this and mix it properly. Now pour the maida mix into this batter and beat it to a smooth consistency. Add vanilla and mix. The cake mix is ready.
Add the almonds and chocolate chips in the batter and pour the mix into the bake dish and set it in the oven.
It generally take 50 min to bake. But keep checking and do not let it get too brown.
The B'day cake turned beautifully so it was a tasty and happy midnight celebration for two before we went to bed. There was a whole day of celebrations and culinary surprises.
I made the traditional payash which is the auspicious dish for Bengalis. My MiL expectations of me cant be over looked and it is a favorite. Still I wanted to do something more. I planned to make Cheesecake first but finally I ended up making pathisapta.
Here is the way I made it.

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Patisapta
Ingredients :
Maida- 1 cup
Semolina (sooji)- 2 table spoons
baking soda- a pinch
Khoa- 1 cup
raw milk- half cup
Sugar- half cup
jaggery- half cup
canola oil
Procedure:
wrap:
sieve the maida in a mixing bowl. Add baking soda and semolina. pour a few drops of cooking oil and milk. keep mixing add milk or water and make a smooth fine batter. the consistency is important (if you know how to make pancakes then you know this one). keep this batter aside.
Filling(Poorr)
In a deep pan take a cup of milk bring it to a boil, add the khoa, sugar and jaggery. bring this mix to a boil and keep stirring and let this mixture thicken. Keep aside and let it cool. it will thicken more as it cools.
Heat oil in a flat fry pan. Take the wrap mix and pour it on the heating oil. spread it and make a round wrap like roti/tortilla. toss it to the other side when you think its done on one side. pour a little of the filling in the centre and fold th e wrap from both side. Your first Pathisapta is ready.
ps: I half used half sugar and jaggery which enriches the taste and color.
The surprise does not end here. I made prawn Malai curry for dinner.
will put the recipe for that soon.
Also when I make the cheesecake , I will post the recipe.

Pasta (My Style)

I wanted to prepare pasta last week.
I have this wonderful cookbook aptly called Pasta. And wanted to try some pasta recipes. I enjoy the history of pasta. (The origin of pasta comes from noodles.) But the Italians have given the noodles a total facelift and also renamed it "PASTA". Oregano, parsely and thyme are the kinds of herbs in pasta and wide variety of cheese and wines are used in the recipes.
So there, I sat looking at all the recipes and chose two pasta preparations.
One required dry white wine and bacon while the other needed thyme.
So I did something that most self proclaimed "I can win the top chef contest" would do. combine some of this and some of that and there.... you have an original!! or is it??
At present their is an assortment of vodkas and sparkling wines at home and I did not want to buy anymore before the old ones are absolutely consumed. So no white wine, and the other recipe need some exotic cheeses. The only ones that I have at home are parmesean and medium cheddar. (And our own cottage cheese.)
So I turned innovative and need to add, that the result was very much edible and "you must make this again, please" kinds!!
Here is the recipe to my Pasta original: (serves 2 )
Ingredients
Pasta-
onion- half (medium)
chicken salami- 150 gms
tomato- one (you can use puree too!)
mixed veggies(peas, beans, carrots)- sliced in cubes
parsley- quater tsp
rosemary- quater tsp
pepper- quater tsp
dry chili pweder
dhania powder
medium cheddar- 50gms
parmesean- as much as you want
cilantro
salt to taste

Procedure:
boil water in a deep pan. put the pasta and tsp of salt in the pan for 10 min.
Cut the chicken salami into thin rectangles like matchsticks. cut the onions thin.
Heat oil in a wok and add the onion and salami. let the onion turn golden and when the salami starts turning brown add the tomatoes and stirring for 2 min add the mix vegetables. once the water evaporates and the saute veggies, add the rest of the spices. If need be keep sprinkle some water. Add the cheddar cubes and let it melt as you saute it along with the rest.
The dish to envelope the pasta is read!
Add the cooked pasta and fresh finely cut cilantro.
Parmesan can be sprinked over the pasta along with sprigs of cilantro/parsley.
Awesome pasta for a lazy afternoon is ready!!

Fish Egg Pakodas

Yesterday night I made Ilish again. This ilish had eggs and every bengali knows what a delicacy fish eggs are. A lot of fuss is made over fish eggs since its not always that one finds bonus fish eggs. When I was in India and living with my parents in Lucknow, I remember my mother bargaining over fish eggs which were sold separatley according to its weight. Ilish maach is a medium size fish and an expensive one so to find eggs within is a big time bonus. The last Ilish did not have eggs so to find this one with eggs made me happy. While washing and scaling the fish I also took out the eggs and thought of making some fried pakodas of them. Since the fish would be bhapa (steamed), frying the eggs sounded better to me.
After cleaning and separating I realized there was not much of eggs left. I remembered what my mom would do at home so that everyone could relish the special dish instead of a few ones. For me in present times it means to prolong delicacy session.
So this is how I made ilish egg pakodas.
Ingredients:
Besan- Half tsp
onion- little bit according to the amount of eggs
green chilli- 1
ginger-slight touch
pinch of salt, turmeric, red chilli
Procedure
Heat the oil in a tiny wok. mix all the above properly make tiny patties and place it lightly in the heated wok. let them turn them golden. Ready, yum, yum !!

Kolaiyer Dal

Kolaiyer Dal!! which dal is it?
It took me almost two years to find the answer to this kitchen question. I had heard S repatedly say that kolaiyer dal and allo posto is pure bliss. I already knew how to cook allo posto but what was this Kolaiyer dal? I had barely heard this term. He didn't know the term for "kolaiyer" dal in English or in Hindi. So I was quite stranded there. I asked many of my friends and also my Ma but non of them could help me with their glossary. And then when I decided to make dahi bada and bought Urad dal that my dear S who is so much better with culinary stuff, tells me that, thats what is Kolaiyer dal... Eureka so now I know, therefore declare the Secret to the world. Urad dal is Kolaiyer dal in Bengali.
For quite some time I wanted to make allo posto and kolaiyer dal.
This is S favorite vegeratian meal. There is no explanation required to state that his all time favorite is any dish with fish, chicken, mutton or eggs, as one of the prime ingredient.
So its been long that we had a simple dinner that is a planned one. The unplanned oned are when I boil potatoes with the rice, mash the boiled potatoes, cut onions, green chillis and half tea spoon ghee or mustard oil. A scoop of butter or ICBIB worked wonders too. And fresh hot masoor dal is my instant comfort food.
Well, so this is a much planned one. I have some leftover egg curry too, so the dinner sounds very very good to S. He was very happy with this touch of non-veg.
I am quite modest even though some people may not agree to it, but the dinner was just so much fun ;))

My measures are approx. and serves 2 people and some left for the next day lone lunchtime.
Ingredients:
Split Urad dal : half cup
Grated ginger : half tsp
Green Chillies : 2
Coriander powder : 1/2 tsp
Tumeric powder : 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds : half tsp
Vegetable Oil : 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Method:
Soak urad dal for about 2 hours.
You can microwave the dal or pressure cook it. But I boil the dal in a covered pan. Keep checking if its getting soft and then mash it with a spatula.
Heat oil in a pan and splutter cumin seeds in it. Add the ginger and the boiled and mashed dal. Add coriander and turmeric powder. Stir for about 1 minute
Add chillies. Stir for 5 minutes and your dal is done.
Add fresh coriander if you want.

Aloo Posto another time!! ;-))

Paneer with Aloo Matar

Today was a tough day of cooking. It is generally so after a few days of eating out and to gos.
S is falling into a comfortable routine of working from home on Fridays. So quite often we go out for lunch. There are specific reasons for S and me for such practice. I like the perks of eating out on weekdays which have small portions that are meant for one human being and not a wrestler, and 4- course meal at reasonable rates. Its like eating at happy hours and we need not worry about making a to go of leftovers which is more often than not three shrimps and 2 calamari strips.
Then on Saturday we felt like having some tandooris. Generally, we drive all the way to Kabab and curry which is a good 30 min drive from my home. But, since we were tried after a long day of completing some long stalled errands we went to Shalimar after some long ages. Too tired to eat at the resturant we asked for to go, picked a bengali movie and came home. Needless to repeat have some pleasant memories of food.
So when it came to Sunday which is today, I was much stumped. I wanted to have some vegetarian and S wanted to have fried rice. Too much work for a lazy me.
After much contemplation I decided on Paneer with aloo matar and cinnamon peas rice.
Paneer with aloo matar
250 gms paneer
2 medium size potatoes
half cup peas
some onion,
one flake of garlic,
1 in ginger slice
cumin seeds, mustard seeds
2 green and 2 dry chilli
one medium tomato, a piece of bell pepper/capsicum and a couple of mushrooms.
1 ilaichi, i in cinnamon
Cilantro, turmeric, salt, garam masala to taste

Heat oil in the wok. Add cumin seeds, dry chilli and mustard seeds and let them splutter then add onion, garlic. when the onion starts turning golden add the tomatoes as this gets fried add turmeric, chilli powder, dhania powder. do not allow the food to stick to the bottom. Now add the peas and potatoes. let the water dry and the potaoes stightly golden. Add salt, cinnamon and some water. let it come to a boil add the paneer and mushrooms. bring to a boil. add the garam masala and cilantro.
The rice:
wash the rice. Keep aside. heat a teaspoon oil. add some peas and cinnamon (actually you can add just about any veggie you want) add this to your rice and make it whatever way you do( rice cooker, pressure, microwave).
Today S was not sad about an all vegetarian set table at dinner :-))

Shorshe Ilish

I am not crazy about fish. But ilish is not just any fish. Uncountable "kaanta" cannot stop a bengali from indulging in this delicacy. With my mood being not very happening today I totally needed to indulge my senses into something that would sooth me. Payesh and ilish are top on the list to raise ones spirits. Thankfully last week I bought two ilish at once with my foresight which insisted that I buy more since this is already a frozen edible and can be refrigerated for a long time.
I thought of taking just 4 pieces and make shorshe ilish : dinner for two.
Ingredients
canola oil
pinch of mustard seeds
tsp poppy seed
green chillies
Few drops of vinegar
1/4 onion
red chilli powder
turmeric powder
green chillis and Dhania for garnish
Salt to taste
Procedure
Take the fish out of the freezer and let it thaw for 1 or 2 hrs.
Wash and Marinate the fish with mustard oil and turmeric.
Soak the mustard and poppy seeds in warm water for an hr or so. Put the soaked seeds, vinegar, green chillis, and grind into a paste. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard- poppy paste and saute. Now add turmeric and red chilli powder.
Add the marinated fish and salt. Mix well and cook on a slow flame.
In the end add a pinch of grinded black pepper and garam masala powder.
Let the dish simmer for 15 min.
Voila!!The dish is done.

Chaler Payesh

This is a bengali sweet dish and mostly associated with aupicious occasions and in remembrance of good and prosperous times. But for me it mostly means a comfort food that helps me cope with my occasional bouts of homesickness and depression sessions.
So today being one of those days I thought of preparing this sweet dish along with another regular fav of any fish eating bengali : Ilish maach (Hilsa).
My ingredient amounts are by my intutions and I will keep it like that.
Sorry for the inconvience to the readers.
My mom is the one to blame for this for she never would tell me the measures while I watched her prepare my favorites and bestowed on me the most exasperated expressions each time I had a question. So my measures are obscure but once done, the dish mostly turns up good to look and taste at my end and I pray the very same for you.
Here's the PaYaSh :
Ingredients
3/4 cup of Gobindo Bhog Rice
5 cups of milk
1/2 cup sugar and a tiny piece of gud (jaggery)
2 crushed cardomon
Tej pata (Bay leaf)
some almonds and Raisins
coconut shredded is optional
Method
wash and Soak the rice in water and keep aside.
Heat the milk on medium flame and keep stirring or else it will boil over.
When the milk starts to boil, add the rice slowly to it. Remember to keep stirring the milk continously. when the rice softens add the bay leaf, sugar and jaggery.
Keep stirring and let the milk reduce and thicken. the time may differ depending on the heat and the vessels. When the milk has thickened and the rice grains has become soft, add cardomon to it and stir gently.
Remove the container from flame and add almonds sliced into half and raisins on top.
Cool the payesh. serve it warm or chilled for a couple of hours.
Enjoy the sweet taste of bengal.