Diwali Special Starters- Banno Kabab, Subz Tikka & Khameeri Roti

Khameer loosely means yeast. These soft flat breads are made with a yeasted dough, and then cooked over the flame or in the oven. This is perfect for anyone who has never made a bread loaf before.

2. Whole wheat flour - 2 cups

3. White flour - 1 cup

4. Baking powder – ½ TSP

5. Salt - 1.5 tsp

6. 1 cup of lukewarm water, add a tbsp of sugar and mix well.

7. Sprinkle on 2 TSP of active dry yeast, mix well and keep it aside to bloom for 10 minutes.

8. Mix all the dry ingredients together.

9. Add 2 tbsp curd (homemade or store-bought)

10. After 10 minutes of resting, your yeast should become frothy like so. If not, discard the yeast and start the blooming process with another fresh packet of yeast.

 11. Add the activated yeast to the dry ingredients, and put together a soft dough.

 12. Once the bowl gets cleaned, and the dough sticks together, add a tbsp of olive oil and start kneading the dough.

13. Knead the dough as shown here. Fold the dough on itself, turn and then again fold the dough and continue like so.. Do 80 such folds..

 14. Check the dough by pinching it. If it springs back half way, then it's done.

15. Keep it in an oiled bowl, covered with a damp cloth for 1 to 2 hours, till it doubles in size.

16. After it doubles up, punch the dough to release the air and divide into smaller portions.

17. Roll each pc into a smooth ball of dough.

18. Then with a rolling pin roll out each ball to an oblong oval shape. This way we will be able to fit 2 breads in a pan while making it over the flame.

19. Let the flattened dough rest for 15 minutes, before roasting. Apply some olive oil on top to prevent it from forming a tough skin.

20. Ease it gently on a hot tawa, an cook on one side till you see the bubbles forming.

21. Flip and cook it on the other side till it puffs up and become a balloon.

22. Serve hot along with these kababs..

Veg tikka-

You can use any vegetable as you have..

I am using Mushrooms, halved.

Green capsicum, cut into bite sized pcs.

Red bell pepper, to add a dramatic colour.

Onion quarters that has been leafed out.

For the masala mix, you will need –

Homemade curd, 3 to 4 tbsp. I never strain out the water as the juices make a lovely dipping sauce at the end.

Fresh Ginger, garlic and green chilly paste 3 Tbsp.

And a secret ingredient – 3 tsp kosha mangsho masala. The link to make the spice mix will be in the description box below.

1 TSP red chilly powder.

½ TSP sugar

Salt to taste

Mix well to eliminate any lumps.

Then masssage and marinate the cut veggies in the spice mix for at least 1 hour.

Banno kabab –

It’s a recipe that I developed for my restaurants in 2017. We use besan as the main flavouring agent.

Cut 500 GM’s of boneless, skinless chicken thighs in 3 equal pcs.

Dry roast 3 heaped tbsp of mota besan. (Chickpea flour that’s milled coarsely)

Once the aroma wafts out, add enough cold pressed mustard oil to form it in a paste.

2 TSP kosha mangsho masala, mix well over low  heat.

½ tsp haldi powder and salt to taste. Mix well and let it cool down a bit.

Chicken + salt + roasted masala mix + 3 tbsp of home made curd + 2 tbsp freshly ground ginger garlic and green chilly paste.

Mix well and massage every pc. Let it marinate for an hour.

Assembling time –

Skewer  the vegetables on a bamboo stick.

Heat a compartmental pan. Oil it generously. Add the veg skewers and chicken separately so that everything cooks through.

Optionally, you can flame grill it for a charry- smokey flavour.

Serve along with freshly made pita bread and onion pickle.

Cheers!!

Kosha Mangsho

Kosha Mangsho

A classic dish from Bengal, that everyone in the world knows is – Kosha Mangsho. It’s a dish that defines our food culture, and every Bengali family has its ow recipe for it. What I share today is a recipe that my little family enjoys a lot. It’s a labour of love and in my house its best enjoyed with Ajwaini Parathas.

Ingredients –

Freshly ground Kosha Mangsho masala for which you will need-

Green cardamom – 15 PCs

Red chilli – 2pcs

Nutmeg – ½ pc

Mace – 2 pods

Cinnamon –  1 pc

Star Anise – 1pc

White pepper whole – 1tsp

Black pepper whole- 1 tsp

Big cardamom -  3 PC’s

Bay leaves – 2 PCs

Cloves – ½ TSP

Cumin seeds – 1 Tbsp

Coriander seeds – 1 tbsp

Dry roast each spice in a pan. Add the cumin and coriander at the end. Cool it on a plate, then grind it to a fine powder in your mixer jar. This much of masala is required for 1.5 kgs of mutton.

700 gms of fresh, cleaned mutton (Goat meat)

3-4 medium sized peeled potatoes

2-inch-long ginger root

½ a pod of garlic

2 hot green chillies

3-4 medium onions sliced finely

Salt, sugar and turmeric to taste

200 gms curd

For tempering 5 tbsp of mustard oil-

1 red chilly

1.5 bay leaves

3 pods of cardamom

5 cloves

1 pod of mace

2/3 pc of star anise

½ a cinnamon stick

½ tsp jeera

1 heaped tsp coriander seeds

Making this dish is a very satisfying process, which is well documented in my video. Do check and like the video. Share it with your friends and family so that more and more people make this recipe! Cheers!!

Kumro Phool er Bora - How to cut and prep Pumpkin Blossom

Kumro Phooler Bora

Growing pumpkin plants is easy. I do it every year to reap the flowers with which I make kumro phooler Bora.

All you need is-

The flowers, cleaned as shown in the video.

¾ cups chickpea flour

¼ cups rice flour

1 tsp khaskhas or posto or poppy seeds.

1 tsp nigella seeds

Salt, sugar and turmeric to taste

Mustard oil, for the batter as well as for frying

Water to make the perfectly set batter.

This much of batter would make 20 flower fritters.

Prawns and Garlic in Extra Virgin Olive Oil!!

One of the best things in life is to travel and enjoy various different culinary experiments. This dish is one such memory of mine, that I picked up in Mallorca, Spain. Now, its such a simple dish, that its extremely important to take care of the quality of all three of the main ingredients. 

For this recipe you would need-

250 gms good quality, fresh prawns or shrimps. In fact any other shell fish too would work. But the seafood needs to be fresh and cleaned properly. I have made this recipe many times with squids, or baby octopuses too. 

7 to 8 big size garlic pods.

1/2 cup or more of good quality extra virgin olive oil. Of course a Spanish olive oil would be preferred.

Red Dried chilies to taste. You can entirely forgo and not use this ingredient at all. But I like the heat. I have used dried Spanish chilies and these little guys pack a bomb in it. 

Salt, pepper and lemon drops to taste. 

It is very simple to put together-

Just roughly chop the garlic and add it in a wok with the chilies of your choice and 1/2 cup or more of olive oil. I never measure the Extra Virgin Olive oil in this recipe. And yes, you need to use the good, expensive stuff for this recipe. 

Put your flame on, and let the heat gently bring the oil and the garlic to a bubbling temperature. 

Once there, carefully drop in the prawns, one by one. Be careful, the oil might splatter. 

When the prawns are lovely and pink, add salt to taste. 

Switch off the flame and squeeze on a bit of lemon juice. The citrus just brightens up the flavor. Sprinkle on some pepper before serving. 

Cheers!!