Easy Chicken and Baby Potatoes

In summer when the temperature and humidity make life quite difficult, the thought of cooking meals becomes quite unbearable. But we have to eat! And that's when I find myself making one-pot meals or easy dishes that can be had with bread so I don't have to cook rice. Since K loves bread anyway this is never a cause for complaint in our house. Among my many go to recipes in summer is this pan roasted chicken where I follow a few very basic principles and then vary some of the details so there is variety on the table without a whole lot of mental or physical effort. 

This easy chicken with baby potatoes is a dish that requires minimal effort and comes together in around 30 minutes if you have your chicken thawed and ready and a a couple of time saving ingredients like stock cubes in you pantry. 

Easy Chicken with Baby Potatoes

1 chicken, curry cut

20 baby potatoes, washed thoroughly and halved (don't peel)

a few cloves of peeled garlic

1 stock cube - vegetable/chicken/ham/beef

2-3 large onions, sliced thick

a stalk or two of celery (optional)

salt

pepper

olive oil

In a nonstick pan drizzle a little oil and sprinkle some salt and heat the pan. Place the baby potatoes cut side down in a neat layer, cover the pan, and let the potatoes cook on low heat. 

In a cooking pot heat some olive oil and chuck in the sliced onions and the peeled garlic along with some salt. Let it cook on medium heat for a few minutes till the onions change to translucent. Don't let the onions brown, so stir frequently. Add the chicken pieces - the legs and other bony bits first and after five minutes the meaty breast and other fleshy pieces. Legs take longer to cook so put the breast pieces into the pot a little later so they don't get overcooked and chewy. 

Crumble in the stock cube, add a generous amount of pepper powder (use freshly bashed for better flavour always!). Add salt to taste keeping in mind that you've added salt in the onions and that the stock cube will have a decent bit of salt. Add the baby potatoes from the other pan and mix everything nicely. Add celery stalks now if you have them. 

Cover the pot and let it cook for around 20 minutes on low-medium heat. Stir occasionally to cook everything evenly. The chicken and the onions will release enough water for the meat and the potatoes to get cooked. 

Serve hot with fresh pao or sliced bread, whatever you prefer.  

Stock Cubes

Stock cubes are very versatile and I have a few different kinds. You only need one though to make life in the kitchen easier. Keep veg cubes or the chicken ones and you're sorted. Though I'm no advocate of adding cubes to everything or using them daily, occasional use is perfectly fine. They can be a lifesaver when there's not much else by way of ingredients or when you want a quick fix meal without having to put too much thought or effort into it. 

Bhetki Paturi - Bengali Fish in Banana Leaves

Bhetki Paturi is a very common and well known Bengali preparation that you would find on restaurant menus and at homes too. Though paturi is not restricted to bhetki, or even to fish for that matter, this mustard laden parcel of boneless fish is a joy! And it's so easy to make -you don't need any special ingredients or equipment. 

A little planning goes a long way in making top notch paturi. And by planning I only mean a long marination time. Otherwise it's just a matter of slapping the parcels together and cooking them. 

Here's how I made Bhetki Paturi.

4 boneless Bhetki fillets 

4 pieces of banana leaf enough to wrap the individual fillets

3 tbsp posto or white poppy seeds

4-5 green chillies

3 tbsp mustard powder

6 tbsp freshly grated coconut

salt

turmeric (optional)

2 tsp lime juice

1/5 cup mustard oil

Soak the poppy seeds for around 30 minutes and then grind to a smooth paste with a couple (or more) green chillies. 

Soak the mustard powder for around 15 to 20 minutes in a little water to make a paste. 

In a clean bowl or tiffin box marinate the fish fillets with salt and lime juice for an hour or so.

In a separate bowl mix the mustard and poppy seed/posto pastes and add a little bit of salt and the grated coconut. Pour in a couple of tablespoons of mustard oil and around half a teaspoon of turmeric if you are using it. I didn't. 

Use approximately half of this mix and coat the fillets nicely. Close the box or cover the bowl and marinate the coated fish fillets for 6 to 8 hours or overnight. Reserve the remaining marinade in a separate box in the fridge for use later in the recipe. 

Remove both boxes from the fridge an hour or so before you're going to cook the fish and let them come to room temperature.

In the mean while prep the banana leaves. Wash and dry them and cut to a size that allows you to make neat parcels, each for a single fillet. Coat the inner side of the leaf (this will be darker) with a little mustard oil - take just a few drops on the tips of your fingers and smear to coat most of the middle of the leaf. Hold each leaf over a low flame and move it around quickly to 'roast' it very lightly. This softens the leaf and the central stem and makes it easier to bend and fold while making the parcels. 

To assemble the paturi parcels place a leaf on your work surface dark side up. Put a bit of the reserved marinade onto the leaf and spread it a little to cover as much as the fillet will sit on. Now place one marinated fillet and top with another small dollop of marinade. Add a drizzle of mustard oil and carefully close the parcel. You can use toothpicks or string to tie the parcels together. I didn't need to. Make up parcels using up all the fillets in the same fashion. 

In a flat pan large enough to place all four parcels heat some mustard oil - a tablespoon will be enough. Place the four parcels in a single flat layer, reduce the heat to the lowest and then cover the pan. Use two pans if your pan is too small or do them in batches. Let it cook for around 5 - 8 minutes depending on the thickness of the bhetki fillets and then flip the parcels and cook for another few minutes. Keep an eye on things and don't let the banana leaves char too much or the fish inside will taste charred instead of lightly smokey. 

Serve the bhetki paturis with plain hot rice. 

Among the general reading and YouTube videos I also referred to Debjani's recipe for Bhetki Paturi to understand how paturi is made. 

Capsicum Chicken

Moni went to the Dadar Catering College in Mumbai for a short term cooking course that they offered for housewives. My brother and I were obviously delighted as she would come home bearing goodies after every class! I think I was around 10 years old at the time and I thoroughly enjoyed the stuff she brought home as it was all so different from what she cooked regularly - the usual daal, bhaat, torkari, machh'er jhol. I think she learned this capsicum chicken at this course. I can't say for sure but I have very happy memories of tucking into it, something so different in appearance and taste from our everyday Bengali food.

Capsicum chicken, as you've surely guessed, is chicken cooked with green capsicum. I never actually asked Moni for the recipe - I wish I had! But over the last few years I was so busy learning about Bengali food and turning to her for help with that that these dishes just didn't figure. I have tried to approximate the recipe relying on my memories of the dish and the results of my attempt are pretty close to what she used to make. 

Capsicum Chicken

1 chicken, curry cut

2 large green capsicums (green peppers)

2 large onions

2-3 green chillies

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

salt

oil

black pepper

sugar

2 - 3 potatoes

Marinate the chicken with salt and ginger garlic paste.

Make a smooth paste with the onions, capsicums, and green chillies. Remember to discard the seeds and membranes from the capsicums, use only the green fleshy part. 

Peel the potatoes and cut into long large wedges. 

In a cooking pot heat some oil and first fry the potatoes. Let them get a little red and then remove and keep aside. 

In the same oil braise the marinated chicken pieces for around 10 minutes letting the pieces turn colour nicely. 

Once the chicken is nicely braised add the onion-capsicum paste and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix it in well over a high flame, stirring well. Lower the flame and cover the pot and leave the chicken to cook for around five minutes. The chicken will release its own water. 

Add the potatoes, stir them in and cover and leave it all to cook.  Rinse out the mixer jar and the bowl in which you marinated the chicken with a quarter cup of water and add this water to the pot. Make sure the flame is lowered properly and leave it to cook till the potatoes are cooked through and the chicken is also done. 

While this is cooking coarsely bash some fresh pepper. Sprinkle this pepper on the chicken once it's all cooked. Taste and adjust salt if required. 

You can serve this with plain rice like Moni used to or you can have it with bread, pav, or parathas. 

Lonavala Marghi no Ras - Chicken Stew with Coconut Milk

Ras is a thin stew-like gravy that's a big part of the Parsi everyday repertoire. These are fairly simple and light with no heavy spice mixes or ground spice pastes. The main ingredient can be fish, mutton, chicken, or prawns, and the ras is usually paired with rice. This version that I call Lonavala Ras is something my mom in law Katy taught her housekeeper Asha bai. This version has hardly any spices and the broth contains coconut milk making it a little different from the usual ras recipes. It used to be a staple when we would visit the in laws at their home in Lonavala and Katy made sure Asha bai had learned the recipe properly. Now when we go to Lonavala we get Asha bai to make this without fail, and as we gather at the dining table with a big pot of this lovely ras we remember Katy and the good times we have shared with her at the very same table.

Lonavala Marghi no Ras 

500 gms boneless chicken
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 medium potatoes, diced into medium cubes
2 medium carrots, diced to match the potatoes
2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
1 large onion, cut into medium dice
10 pepper corns, lightly bashed
2 star anise
5 inch stick of cinnamon or cassia bark, whatever you prefer
4-5 cloves
2 Indian bay leaves
2-3 green chillies
1 tsp chilli powder
oil
salt
1 cup medium thick coconut milk (I made it with Maggi coconut powder)

Wash the chicken, drain, and marinate with salt and ginger garlic paste. Keep aside as you prep the veggies.

In a large pan heat oil and drop in the whole spices and let it sizzle for a minute. Then add the green chillies.

Chuck in the potatoes and carrots next and stir a little and let the veggies cook for a few minutes.

Now add the onions and let them cook till they turn pink. For this dish you don't want the onions browned at all, you want them to be translucent in the gravy so keep an eye on them.

Next you add the chicken and stir till all the pieces have changed coour. Add the tomatoes and the chilli powder and mix well. Lower the heat, cover the pan and let it all cook for a few minutes. Then add around 3/4 cup of water and let it simmer till the potatoes are cooked through. Add salt if required.

Now pour in the coconut milk and mix gently. Cook on low heat for another five minutes or so and it's done.

This tastes best with plain steamed rice and a simple kachuber of finely sliced onions, tomatoies, cucumber, finely chopped chillies, some fresh coriander, a dash of salt and lemon juice, all tossed together. This ras is also superb with fresh soft 'peti pao' or Bombay pao. 

Easy Pork Chops

It's no secret that I'm very fond of pork. My first real exposure to pork beyond cold cuts was at a sizzler restaurant in Pune called The Place when I moved to Pune to study archaeology. This is where I discovered pork chops and I was in love! Pune was my first taste of independence where I only had to think of myself as far as meals were concerned and later, my husband who I was dating at that time. This is where I got really interested in cooking and with a willing and really well informed partner to guide me, I cooked a lot.

We would shop at the Khadki market which had an excellent pork and beef shop, and we ate a lot of both. But we mainly made curries and stews, not chops. K would cook chops in the later years in our home in Mumbai. He was 'famous' in the family for pork chops and cooked chops for everyone on occasion. With mounds of creamy mashed potatoes!

I was lucky to get good chops from our local pork shop recently and this time I thought of giving them a go myself. I got the chance when we were at home in isolation thanks to the corona virus pandemic and K was at hand to guide me through the process. The recipe is entirely his.

Easy Pork Chops

To cook the chops

4 pork chops
1 stick cinnamon
2 star anise
1 tsp pepper corns
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
salt
water

For searing

Olive oil
Soy Sauce

In a pressure cooker add all the ingredients  to cook the chops with enough water - around a cup of water should be good. Set the chops to cook and once the cooker whistles lower the flame to the minimum possible and cook the chops under pressure for 10 minutes. If the cooker whistles in between that's fine. Switch off after 10 minutes and allow the cooker to cool on its own. The chops should be cooked through and perfect.

In a grill pan or regular frying pan heat a tablespoon or more of olive oil. Carefully lift out a cooked chop draining as much of the stock as possible and sear it in the pan. Pour soy sauce (a couple of teaspoons ) on the chop and then flip to sear the other side. Press down to sear properly.  Sear both sides nicely. The chops are already cooked, you're just adding colour and a nice bit of sear in this finishing step. Remove to a plate.  Do this with each chop individually and you're ready to serve.

To serve the chops you can make mashed potatoes or slow cooked potato wedges, and some boiled and buttered veggies. Make all this while the chops are cooking in the pressure cooker. Arrange nicely on a plate and serve with a flourish!

Gorom Moshla Pork - Pork with Bengali Garam Masala

It's no secret that I love pork and it's no secret that I like to wing it when I'm cooking. It's how I've cooked all my life. Over the last couple of years however, I have been studying Bengali cuisine in an attempt to learn the basics, cook some of the well known and not so well known dishes, and of course connect to my very Bengali roots. It is this study that taught me what goes into a Bengali garam masala (and it's not a lot).

I was in the mood to cook a pork curry but I didn't have much in the fridge to pair with it, nothing really appealed. As I stared at the various bottles and jars in the kitchen cupboard I pulled out the whole garam masalas and I saw my jar of home made Bengali garam masala. And I decided to make the garam masala the focus of my curry.

So here's what I did -

Gorom Mosha Pork 

500 gms boneless pork with around 30% fat
2 large onions, finely sliced
2-3 potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 tbsp fresh ginger-garlic paste, preferably roughly bashed in your mortar and pestle
salt
turmeric
mild chilli powder (for colour)
whole garam masalas - Indian bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, cassia bark
1 tbsp Bengali garam masala powder*
2 tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
mustard oil
sugar

Wash the pork, drain, and marinate with salt and the ginger garlic paste.
Heat oil in a pressure cooker and fry the potatoes till they turn a little brown and mildly crisp. Remove and set aside.
In the same oil, add a little more if needed, chuck in the whole spices and fry for a minute.
Add the sliced onions and fry slowly till they start going a little brown. Add a teaspoon of sugar to help the onions along.
Add the marinated pork and the vinegar and saute slowly for 15-20 minutes. Do this with patience till the moisture is dried out.
Now add the turmeric and chilli powders and the Bengali garam masala powder. Stir well and cook for another 5 minutes or so till the spices lose their rawness.
Add the fried potatoes back to the pot, add enough water, and then shut the pressure cooker and let the curry cook. Once it whistles reduce the heat and cook on simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Switch off and let the cooker cool on its own.
Open, taste and adjust the salt if required and serve with plain hot rice.


* Bengali garam masala that I like  - broil green cardamom, cloves and cinnamon separately on a tava over gentle heat. Combine and grind to a powder either in a mortar and pestle or in an electric spice grinder. Store in an air-tight bottle.
The ratios for the three spices I use - 3 parts cardamom, 1 part cloves, 1 part cinnamon. Measure by weight.

Sorse Katla- Catla Fish in Mustard Sauce

The machh'er jhols and jhals of Bengali cuisine are a veritable wonderland with some elaborate and some ridiculously simple preparations. All with delicious results! From frugal recipes that require barely three to four ingredients apart from the fish itself to more elaborate ones involving an array of vegetables and spices, the sheer variety of fish preparations in a Bengali kitchen is mind boggling. And it is this variety that keeps me seeking and learning more and more.

But not all the recipes are new or alien to me. Many are what Moni cooked. Like this sorse machh, mostly made with the 'peti' or belly pieces of a fatty Katla or otherwise Rui which were always in stock in Moni's freezer, thanks to the weekly shopping at Khar market.

I'd got a lovely Katla for a Bengali cooking workshop I did recently and I had some of it in my freezer. Like Moni, I had separated the peti or belly pieces from the gada or back pieces, put into bags and frozen them. And like her I decided to do this easy sorse katla with the peti pieces. You can use the gada pieces too but I wanted to cook like she used to so it was just the peti pieces for me.

Sorse Katla

6-8 peti pieces of Katla (you can also use Rui or Rohu)
a few fresh green chillies
1 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp kalaunji or nigella seeds
turmeric
salt
mustard oil
fresh coriander

Wash the fish pieces and drain. Smear the fish pieces with salt and turmeric and keep aside for a few minutes.

Soak the mustard seeds in warm water for around 30 minutes. Drain and grind to a paste with a couple of green chillies if you like. Strain the paste to remove the harder husk of the black mustard seeds for a smoother paste. Moni often didn't bother and thus her gravy would be speckled with black. Soaking the seeds is essential as it removes the bitterness. If you are using powdered mustard you have to soak that too before using. This is essential as otherwise you will end up with a bitter inedible gravy/sauce and the dish will be ruined.

Heat mustard oil in a wok/karai and fry the fish lightly. Remove and keep aside.

Add a little more oil to the karai if required, heat it well and chuck in a teaspoon of kalaunji or kalo jeere as we call it.  Let it sizzle for 30 seconds and then chuck in a few fresh green chillies. I used bullet chillies that I had brought from Kolkata. You can use whatever green chilli you prefer.

Pour in the mustard paste and stir well. Add a little salt and turmeric, cook for a minute. Add half a cup of water, stir to mix. Then add the fried fish pieces gently into the mustard gravy. Once it boils reduce the heat, cover the karai and simmer for five minutes or so. Switch off the heat and drizzle some raw mustard oil into the karai. Cover and let it sit for a few minutes.

Garnish with some fresh coriander and serve with plain hot rice.

You can make this recipe using Ilish, Katla, Rui, Aarh, etc. but my favourite is with a good fatty Katla! This recipe, as you have seen, is simple and very frugal. That is why the ingredients are important. Use good quality mustard oil only. Make sure your green chillies are fresh and flavourful. These are the details that will make the dish shine.

Oven Roasted Mangalore Chicken Ghee Roast

Roast chicken is something I make really often. It's easy to do and the variations are unlimited so one never gets bored. So once again I had a full chicken waiting to be roasted and I was casting around for inspiration. And I chanced upon Shriya Shetty's Mangalore Chicken Ghee Roast done roast chicken style.

Shriya (@chiashetts on Instagram) runs a restaurant and a bakery in Mangalore and does pop ups wherever she gets a chance. She also makes Mangalore Ghee Roast Masala for sale, in small batches (which gets sold out super fast!). This is just the kind of inspiration I was looking for and much to my delight, I also had packets of her utterly delicious home made ghee roast masala in the fridge.

Oven Roasted Mangalore Chicken Ghee Roast

1 whole chicken, skin on
4 onions
1 packet Mangalore Ghee Roast Masala
Salt
Ghee


Wash the chicken inside and out and pat it dry.

Slice two onions and halve the other two

Make gashes in the fleshy parts of the chicken to allow salt and the masala to penetrate properly. First sprinkle salt all over the bird and inside the cavity too. Now apply the ghee roast masala all over the chicken not forgetting the cavity. Tuck in masala under the skin wherever possible. Work gently so you don't tear the skin.

Refrigerate the chicken covered and let it marinate for a few hours or even overnight.

When you're ready to roast, remove the chicken from the fridge and bring it up to room temperature.
Preheat the oven at 150C.

Place the sliced onions in a layer in a baking dish spread just enough for the chicken to sit on. Tuck in the halved onions into the cavity of the bird and then place the bird in the baking dish. Drizzle ghee all over the chicken. Cover the dish as tightly as possible with aluminium foil.

Put the baking dish on an oven tray and set it to roast for an hour at 150C. Let the bird cook long and slow for juicy and tender results. If the chicken is large, cook for longer.

You can check for doneness in between - just be careful while handling the hot and heavy baking dish. To check, pierce a fleshy portion near the bone like the thigh with a sharp knife. If the juices run clear you chicken is cooked. Baste with melted ghee when you open to check.

Remove the foil and roast the chicken for another 15 to 20 minutes to finish the cooking (sometimes the meat around the cavity stays a little under done) and to crisp the outside. Remove the onions from the cavity at this point and place them in the baking dish to caramelise a little while the chicken cooks.

I served this oven roasted ghee roast with neer dosas I ordered from a local restaurant.

There is a certain joy in sitting at the table with a dish of  roast chicken redolent of ghee and masala and a pile of neer dosas picking out bits of succulent roast and crisp skin while mopping up that incredible ghee, onions, and masala 'gravy' with soft neer dosas. Aaah!

Chingri Narkol diye Chichinge Chenchki - Snake Gourd with Coconut and Prawns

Chichinge or snake gourd is one of my favourite veggies and, in fact, the hubby is quite fond of it too. But I only knew one recipe for this veggie - Chichinge Peyanj Bhaja - and was quite delighted to find more recipes on Sayantani's blog A Homemaker's Diary. This blog is one of my go to blogs when I'm looking for help with Bengali recipes or for something new to try out. She has easy to follow instructions interspersed with little tips that make life in the kitchen easier. 

Bengal is an abundant region, be it for vegetables and fruit or the bounty from its innumerable ponds, streams, rivers, and coastline. It is no surprise, therefore, to find numerous recipes for every ingredient. You will find preparations to fit a vegan, vegetarian or non vegetarian diet, and in fact, even sweet meats made from a myriad vegetables too. Our daily meals are traditionally elaborate in that they have multiple courses including daal, vegetables, fish, or meat, followed by something sweet to round off the meal. The abundant Gangetic delta provides rich seasonal produce giving the Bengali plenty of variety through the year - and thus we have a wide range of dishes , enough to cook something different every single day of the year! 

I am very grateful to bloggers like Sayantani who share not only the festive and the unusual recipes from their Bengali kitchens but also the simple yet delicious everyday fare that is common in Bengali households. Like this easy Chingri Narkol diye Chichinge Chenchki. 

Chingri Narkol diye Chichinge Chenchki

3-4 feet  snake gourd, skin scraped, pith removed, and then sliced
Half cup prawns, deveined and chopped
3 tbsp Mustard paste
Half cup scraped fresh coconut
A couple of green chillies
1/2 tsp Nigella seeds
Salt
Turmeric
Mustard oil

Chuck in the nigella seeds and green chillies into hot mustard oil. 

Add the prawns with salt and turmeric and mix well.
After a minute chuck in the sliced gourd. Mix well and cook covered for 5-7 minutes.
Now add the mustard paste and mix. Cook further for a couple of minutes.
Add the grated coconut at the very last minute, give it a quick stir, and then take it off the heat.

Remove to a serving bowl and garnish with more grated coconut and drizzle with a little mustard oil for extra punch. 

Serve it with plain hot rice along with daal and a bhaja, and you will have a delightful Bengali meal! 

Kheema Rajma - Kidney Beans with Mince

Cooking rajma well depends largely on the rajma beans themselves, on how good they are. I have struggled to cook rajma to that magical buttery consistency all my life and had in fact, stopped trying for several years.  A friend recently gave me a big bag of pahadi rajma and I decided to give it another try. Many friends shared their tips and tricks and using that advice I tried again.

The rajma cooked so well, to that perfect creamy consistency, that I decided to make the final dish a little more special. And so I made Kheema Rajma and we had a superb lunch :)  I didn't need to cook the rajma for several whistles of the cooker (I never cook that way!) nor for hours on a slow flame. These rajmas were so good they cooked quickly in the pressure cooker, simmered for around half an hour once the cooker whistled. The secret to cooking rajma is using really good rajma.

Kheema Rajma 

1 cup pahadi rajma
2-3 green chillies
1 inch ginger
4-5 cloves garlic
1 tsp ghee

250 gms mutton kheema
2 onions, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2-3 green chillies
1 star anise
2 inch cinnamon
2-3 Indian bay leaves
salt
sugar
turmeric
jeera powder
kashmiri chili powder
1 tsp Bengali garam masala or your preferred blend
Tomato ketchup
fresh coriander, chopped
mustard oil

Wash the rajma and soak it for around 12 hours. Drain out the water a couple of times in the course of the soaking and soak in fresh water.

Marinate the mince with salt and ginger garlic paste.

Once the rajma has soaked for enough time drain and pressure cook with enough water along with the ginger, garlic cloves, green chillies and ghee. Once the cooker whistles lower the heat and simmer for half an hour. Let the pressure come down on its own after you switch off the heat. If the rajma isn't cooked to the correct softness cook it further till it's done.

In a wok heat mustard oil and drop in the whole spices and green chilles. Let them sizzle for around 30 seconds and then add the chopped onions and a generous pinch of sugar. Saute till the onions turn translucent and then add the tomatoes and the ginger garlic paste. Stir well and fry till the tomatoes blend in. Add the dry spices and a splash of water, and cook till the oil is released. Stir frequently so nothing burns.

Add the marinated mince to this onion tomato mix. Break up any lumps that form and cook the mince for a good 10 minutes till the spices have mixed in well.

Now add the boiled rajma including the water it was boiled in. Add salt and bring the whole to a boil. Smash some of the rajma with the back of a ladle; this will thicken the gravy. Simmer and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Add a good splash of tomato ketchup while simmering. Taste and adjust salt as required. Add chopped fresh coriander just before taking the kheema rajma off the heat.

Serve with hot rice.

Murgi'r Jhol - Bengali Everyday Chicken Curry

Jhols are thin stews that a big part of the repertoire of any decent Bengali cook. From the rojgere or sadharon (everyday or ordinary) to the Robibar'er (Sunday) jhols there are many versions of this spiced stew. Usually non vegetarian, the jhol will feature seasonal fish, chicken, or goat meat, and often features seasonal vegetables in addition to the meat or fish that is the star of the dish. Jhols are easy to put together and cook quickly too. Given their inherent simplicity they are a part of mundane everyday menus though their variety is wide.

Murgi'r jhol, a thin chicken curry, would appear regularly on Sundays and occasionally in the middle of the week to perk up our bored palates, tired of the monotonous daily machch'er jhols that appeared with stubborn regularity at very lunch. Goat meat was the ultimate treat for us while chicken was compromise, a relief from the relentless bowls of fish curry. A typical meal during the week would comprise rice, daal, a seasonal vegetable, an occasional bhaja or fry to go with the daal, and some form or the other of fish curry or machch'er jhol.  In spite of there being a variety of fish in the jhols, they were all perceived as a boring continuum and the occasional blip in the menu with chicken was warmly welcomed!

After Baba passed away Moni had to go to work daily and there was no time for elaborate meals with multiple courses. Very often she'd just cook a large pot of chicken curry and that would stretch over a couple of meals with plain steamed rice. My brother and I were quite happy to eat just curry and rice without vegetables, etc., cluttering up our plates. Slowly Moni started instructing me to prep for meals and keep things ready for her to cook once she get home from work. Apart from chopping veggies and washing rice, I also started marinating chicken for the jhol.

This is how, like thousands of other girls, I started to learn cooking. Murgi'r jhol is one of the first things I learned and now I too cook it quite often as it is easy and convenient, and makes for a deliciously simple meal.

Murgi'r Jhol

1 chicken, curry cut
2 onions, sliced finely
4 potatoes
3 carrots
fresh corainder

for marinade-
1/2 cup curd
salt
turmeric
kashmiri chilli powder
jeera/cumin powder
garam masala powder
ginger garlic paste
mustard oil

3 inch piece cinnamon
4 cardamom
6 cloves
2 star anise
3 Indian bay leaves
mustard oil
1/2 tsp sugar
water as required

In a large bowl mix the washed chicken pieces with all the ingredients listed under 'for marinade'. Mix well and evenly coat all the pieces of chicken. Leave aside for a couple of hours at least.

Peel and cut potatoes into thick wedges. Peel and cut carrots into thick batons. Slice onions as finely as you can. Pick the fresh coriander leaves and separate leaves and stems.

In a large kadai or wok heat a generous amount of mustard oil. Fry the potato wedges till they start to lightly brown. Remove and keep aside, draining as much oil as possible. You should have a decent amount of oil left behind in the kadai. Heat it again.

Once the oil is nice and hot drop in the whole spices and cook on medium heat for a minute. Add the sliced onions and the sugar and fry till the onions begin to brown. Keep the heat at medium. Add the marinated chicken and braise for 10 to 15 minutes till all the pieces have turned opaque. Keep stirring so all the pieces cook evenly and cook covered for another 10 minutes. 

Add the fried potatoes, carrots and coriander stems and mix well. Cook for a few minutes and then add enough water to make plenty of a watery gravy. Cook this further till the potatoes are done. Once the potatoes are cooked through the jhol is ready. Taste the jhol and adjust salt if required.

Scatter fresh coriander leaves and let it sit covered for five minutes and then serve with plain hot rice.

Chingri Bhaape - Bengali Style Prawns Steamed in Mustard, Poppy Seed, and Coconut

As my journey of exploration into Bengali cuisine continues I'm impressed again and again at the sheer simplicity of most of the recipes be they simple everyday dishes or quite often, dishes one would serve as a treat on a special day. The list of ingredients is frugal and the method quite simple. In fact it's often made me wonder if the recipe would actually work. But of course my doubts have evaporated every time I'm put my faith in the recipe and simply given it a try.

Yesterday I was meeting friends for a potluck lunch. I volunteered to make some Bengali dishes among which was Chingri Bhaape, which, translated literally, means steamed prawns. As I read through the recipe in the numerous Bengali recipe books I'm cooking my way through I was hooked. All you had to do was mix all the ingredients with the prawns and steam the whole thing. That's it. I'm a great fan of quick, no fuss recipes and I couldn't wait to try it out. The results, I must say, were excellent and Chingri Bhaape is going to feature on my menus quite often, that's for sure!

Chingri Bhaape 

500 gms large prawns, shelled and deveined
salt
turmeric

4 tbsp poppy seed paste
3 tbsp mustard paste
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup mustard oil
6-8 fresh green chillies
1 tsp sugar


Soak poppy seeds for around 30 minutes, drain and then grind to a smooth paste. I added a couple of green chillies (not the very pungent ones) just for added flavour while making this paste.

Soak mustard seeds for 30 minutes, drain and make a paste. You can grind the mustard along with the poppy seeds. I like to keep it separate in case the mustard paste turns bitter. In a pinch I use Sunrise mustard powder which I get easily (touch wood!) from my local fish shop. This powder also needs to be soaked before use.

You can keep the tails on the prawns if you like. I remove everything as the husband has a shell allergy. Marinate the prawns in salt and turmeric while the poppy seeds and mustard is soaking.

Once the prep is done you're ready to go. Take a steel box or dabba with a close fitting lid that's large enough to hold all the prawns leaving enough room. In the box put in the prawns and all the ingredients barring the green chillies and mustard oil. Give it all a good mix.

Pour the mustard oil over the prawns and place the green chillies on top. Shut the box.

In a cooker or large vessel (one in which the box will fit) with a lid put water to heat. Place the box in this water. The box should sit in the water but shouldn't get submerged and water shouldn't get into the box. If you're using a pressure cooker put the lid on without the whistle. If you're using a regular vessel put on the lid. Once the water starts boiling lower the heat and let the box of prawns steam for a good 15- 20 minutes undisturbed. Put a weight on the lid to keep the steam in.

Alternatively, you can also cook the prawns directly on a VERY LOW flame directly in a kadai or wok. Just remember to leave it alone so that the steam generated stays in and the prawns and the pastes cook properly. Keep an eye on the gas flame - since it's kept very low it might go off and you don't want any accidents thanks to leaking gas.

Serve the Chingri Bhaape with plain hot rice.

Kerala Spiced Prawn Fry

A couple of weeks ago I made a spicy, coconut-y Kerala Pork Fry for a pop up. It was delicious and I was lucky to have found a good recipe and friends to approve and confirm that it would give me good results and authentic flavours. For that pork fry I'd made a batch of fresh Kerala Garam Masala and there was plenty left over.

I also had some of the toasted coconut that I'd made for the same fry.

Since I didn't have any pork in the freezer but wanted to enjoy those flavours again I thought of trying the same recipe adapted for prawns.

Oh my, did that work out well or what?!

Kerala Spiced Prawn Fry

500 gms prawns, cleaned
salt
turmeric
chilli powder
pepper powder

2 large onions, chopped
5-6 sprigs curry leaves
2-3 green chillies, more if you're okay with a lot of heat
1 pod garlic, peeled and chopped
3 inch piece ginger, peeled and pounded roughly
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tbsp Kerala Garam masala*
1 cup toasted grated fresh coconut
oil

Wash the prawns and marinate in salt, turmeric, chilli powder and some freshly ground, slightly coarse black pepper. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a wok, be generous, and once the oil is hot chuck in the curry leaves along with the green chillies. You can roughly break up the chillies, or chop them into small pieces. Add the garlic and fry for a minute and then throw in the pounded fresh ginger. Mix and fry for another minute or two. Now add the onions.

Fry the mix till the onions start to brown. Now add the dry spices and a little salt and mix well so it all cooks evenly. Add oil if required or the spices will burn and stick to the bottom of your cooking pot. Stir in the toasted coconut and mix properly. Cook on a low flame till the whole mix is fragrant and cooked. Adjust salt keeping in mind that the prawns have salt in the marinade.

In a separate pan heat some oil and fry the prawns in batches for around 30 seconds, just till they turn opaque. Add them to the cooked masala, stir well and cook covered for just a few minutes till the prawns are done. Remove the lid, ramp up the heat and dry off any moisture in the pot. You can add some more fried curry leaves for added flavour at the end.

Serve hot as an accompaniment with evening drinks, or make a meal of it paired with pav, rice, or rotis.


* Kerala Garam Masala

2 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tsp pepper corns
2 star anise
4 inches cassia bark (desi cinnamon)
10 green cardamom pods
1 tsp cloves

Broil all the spices till fragrant, cool a bit and then whizz in a spice grinder.
There are variations of this with the fennel, pepper, cardamom, cloves being common and mace, nutmeg, star anise  or cinnamon adding to the flavours. You can add the combination that you like.
Store in an air-tight bottle. 

Prawn Coconut Curry with Green Garlic and Lemon Zest

It was one of those days when breakfast outside has been a sore disappointment and I was feeling irritable and in dire need of comfort. The hubby had a rare day off from work and wanted a nice lunch to wipe away the memories of a truly bad breakfast experience. As much as I wanted the comfort of a home cooked meal, confident that whatever I cooked would be a balm on our abraded minds, I wasn't up to cooking a complicated time consuming dish. Yet I didn't want the 'same old thing'.

My first thought was prawns - delicious, easy to cook, and most importantly - done with minimum hassle. The fact that my local fish shop stocks excellent produce and a kilo of cleaned, shelled, and deveined prawns was just a phone call away only made the prospect of prawns more attractive. I decided to make a simple prawn curry to be paired with plain white rice.

I follow a basic easy recipe and make this light curry quite often but as I mentioned earlier, I wasn't in the mood for the same old thing. A trip to the veggie shop earlier that day meant that I'd come home with a bunch of fresh green garlic and a couple of green limes among the other vegetables I'd bought. We've been enjoying the green garlic in plenty of breakfast omelettes and scrambles and I thought it's high time I used them in something else. And that's how they landed up in the curry.

I replaced the coconut cream with coconut milk and ended up with a thin broth like curry which I liked so much I had a bowlful as soup while the rice cooked.

Coincidentally the theme for the week for a food photography challenge I'm doing with a small bunch of friends was soup, and since I suddenly had a lovely soup at hand I proceeded to dig out some pretty props and put together a photograph for the week. Instead of going the predictable soup bowl and spoon route I pulled out fancy tea ware and made an effort to style the photo instead of simply plonking a bowl of soup on my windowsill and taking a quick pic. I'm quite pleased with the result of my efforts :)

Well anyway, here's the recipe for the soup/curry-

Prawn Coconut Curry with Green Garlic and Lemon Zest

I cup prawns, shelled and deveined
salt
turmeric
oil
2 inch stick, cassia bark
a sprig or two, curry leaves
a small bundle of green garlic, washed and chopped fine
1 tbsp, chopped fresh coriander
1 small onion, chopped fine
1-2 green chillies
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 cup coconut milk
1 green lime

Marinate the prawns in salt and turmeric and set aside while you prep the curry ingredients.

Heat oil in a wok and lightly fry the prawns till they turn just opaque. This should take a couple of minutes at the most. Do it in batches so all the prawns are cooked evenly. Remove from the wok and set aside.

In the same wok add a little more oil and heat it well. Chuck in the green chillies, roughly snapped into two or three pieces along with the curry leaves and the cassia bark. Fry for 30 seconds and then add the chopped onion. Fry till translucent (don't allow the onions to brown) and then add the chopped green garlic (shoots, garlic bulbs, and roots) and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the chilli powder, a little turmeric, and salt, stir well and fry for another few minutes.

Now pour in the coconut milk and bring the curry to a boil. Add a little water so you have a proportionate amount of curry for the amount of prawns going in. Once the curry comes to a boil chuck in the prawns and cook for just a few minutes till they are nearly cooked, just a minute or so shy of being completely cooked. Put off the flame and grate in the zest from the green lime. Give it a stir, add the fresh coriander leaves, cover the wok and let it infuse for a minute.

Serve hot with plain rice and wedges of lime. Or enjoy it as a soup before main course.

Jaffna Mutton Curry

After two trips to Sri Lanka it goes without saying that my pantry is well stocked with Sri Lankan spices! A few days ago as I looked through my collection of spice blends I found the stash from Sri Lanka and decided it was high time I started using them. The easiest and most appealing (to me) would be a curry, redolent of spices and coconut milk and so I went looking for a recipe and settled on Peter Kuruvita's recipe for Jaffna Goat Curry which you can see here. Needless to say, I adjusted the recipe according to the ingredients I had at hand.

Here's what I did -

Jaffna Mutton Curry

500 gms Mutton, on the bone, cut into regular curry pieces
1 stick Sri Lankan cinnamon (As you can see in the photo this is a thin papery cinnamon, quite different from Indian cassia. If you're using Indian cassia a 2 inch piece should do)
7-10 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tbsp Jaffna curry powder
1 tbsp Sri Lankan roasted curry powder
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric
2 large ripe tomatoes, chopped fine or blitzed
200 ml coconut milk
2 onions, finely chopped
1 sprig fresh curry leaves
2-3 garlic cloves, bashed
1 inch ginger, bashed
3-4 green chillies
1 tsp dried pandan leaves or one long 4 inch fresh leaf
Juice from half a lime
10 cm lemongrass stalk (I didn't have it so I went without it)
oil for cooking
salt as required

Wash the mutton pieces lightly and set aside.

In a clean bowl make the marinade by putting the dry spice powders, tomato and coconut milk together and mixing well to combine. Pour this over the meat pieces, mix well to coat properly and set aside for an hour or so.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and fry the onions with curry leaves, ginger, garlic, green chillies, pandan leaf, and lemon grass stalks. Stir and fry till the onions turn translucent.

Add the marinated meat to this onion mix, stir well and braise for a couple of minutes. Though the original recipe doesn't require you to braise the meat, I am so used to braising meat a little before I add any liquid, I did it anyway. I also added salt at this stage.

Now add water to just cover the meat, bring it to a boil and then simmer it for 25 minutes or as long as necessary till the meat is cooked and tender and your gravy is not very watery. Squeeze in the lemon juice and serve with hot steamed rice.

This is one of the easiest curries I've ever made. There's hardly any prep to be done, the marinade is simple, and it's cooked in an hour if you follow the original which does't call for any long marination. I love easy, no fuss recipes like this and I'm going to make this pretty often.

Like most curries this one too tastes better eaten the next day so if you can wait that long, good for you! Otherwise just dive in right away.

Masala Day and Sunday Malvani Chicken

Sunday Malvani Chicken

Among the myriad blends of masalas that I got for the Masala Day Spice Swap was a Malvani Sunday Masala sent by Shakti Salgaonkar. This fiery vermillion coloured mix smelled heavenly and I was eager to cook with it. The weekend was on us and I decided to make a Sunday Malvani Chicken using the masala she'd sent. I followed the recipe Shakti shared and the only thing I tweaked was the quantity of onions (I used more). The recipe below is completely Shakti Salgaongar's and like I mentioned, just the quantity of onions is greater.

I had heard of charred onions being used in recipes but had never done so myself. This was my first time and I was quite excited to learn a new technique. I have to say the results were worth all the effort.

Sunday Malvani Chicken

3 full chicken legs cut into thighs and drumsticks

Marinade
3 tbsp curd
1 1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
salt
turmeric

2-3 tbsp Malvani Sunday masala
3 medium onions sliced
2 onions charred over the gas flame
Ghee
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
A few sprigs fresh coriander

Vaatan
Half a dried coconut (vati)
2 tbsp fried onion

Method

Marinate the chicken in the marinade ingredients for an hour or longer. Make slashes in the fleshy parts of the meat so the marinade goes in nicely.

Grind the charred onions to a paste.

Heat ghee in your cooking vessel and fry the sliced onions till they turn brown. Don't burn the onions. I like to add half a teaspoon of sugar for a richer brown and deeper flavour. Set aside a couple of tablespoons of fried onions for the Vaatan.

To make the vaatan grate the dried coconut and toast on a tava till you get a nice aroma. Cool slightly and then grind to a paste with the reserved fried onions.

In the wok with the fried onions add the Malvani masala powder and the charred onion paste. Fry slowly till the masala is cooked and has no raw smell.

Add the marinated chicken legs and cook further till the masala is nicely coated on the chicken and the meat has turned opaque. Add water and cook till the chicken is half done.

Now add the vaatan and mix it all well. Adjust salt and then cook covered till the chicken is cooked through.

Remove to a serving dish, garnish with fresh coriander and serve with rotis or parathas or even with rice if you like. A simple kachumbar of sliced onions, minced coriander and lemon juice also goes really well with the Sunday Malvani Chicken and parathas.

Chicken Cutlets Parsi Style

Chicken cutlets figure at the top of my brother's list of favourite foods - and not just any cutlets, but those made by us at Katy's Kitchen. These are fairly easy to make and as long as you're generous with the chicken and season the mix well you will get pretty good results.

I often pack these in the hubby's lunch box and I like having a few of these in my fridge for days when I don't feel like eating a full meal. A warm cutlet sandwiched between two slices of bread makes for a lovely light lunch!

Chicken Cutlets 

1 cup shredded chicken
4 slices white bread
1 egg
1 small onion
1 small potato, boiled
green chillies
fresh coriander
turmeric
chilli powder
garam masala
salt
bread crumbs
eggs
oil for frying

Soak the bread in water and squeeze out as hard as you can. Break up the resulting lump into small pieces, as small as you can.

Mince the onion, green chillies and fresh coriander as fine as possible. Mash the potato.

In a large clean bowl mix the shredded chicken with the onions, chillies and coriander. Add the crumbled soaked bread, the egg and the dry spice powders.

Mix everything properly. Add as much mashed potato as required to get a mix that will bind properly when you shape the cutlets. You can make this mix in advance and fry the cutlets when you want to serve. Store in a closed box in the fridge and use when required on the same day.

Take bread crumbs in a flat dinner plate. Beat two eggs in a bowl. Start with two and only add more if you require them as you make the cutlets.

Heat enough oil in a wok/kadhai to deep fry the cutlets.

Make medium sized balls of the chicken mix and flatten to form a cutlet between your palms. Give the cutlet a neat oval shape and then place it on the bread crumbs. Pat gently into the crumbs to make them stick - do this on both sides of the cutlet. Make a few cutlets in this fashion and keep ready in a clean plate.

When the oil is hot pick up a cutlet and dip it into the beaten egg. Turn to coat the cutlet all over with egg and then put it in the hot oil to fry. Fry on a medium flame till the cutlet is a beautiful golden colour. Do these one at a time just to be safe, especially if it's your first time making cutlets.

Keep a bowl of water and a napkin handy to wash your hand and wipe before you pick up the next prepped cutlet for frying. This final process is a little fiddly and can get messy so make sure you have enough space to work in and have everything you need before you start frying.

Serve the cutlets hot with a dollop of plain tomato ketchup.

Choriz Upma for President!

I love choriz. The Goan variety - full of spices and flavour and nuggets of fat. Among porky ingredients it's my favourite and I fool around with it a lot, adding it to this and that seeing if the combination works. This Choriz Upma is one my great successes.

I often eat meals on my own and it goes without saying that I tend to make simple one-pot dishes whenever I can. Nonta Suji as we Bengalis call our version of upma, is loaded with vegetables and has a mild tempering of nigella seeds. I used to cook this very often for mom in the later stages of her illness as she found the soft texture of the dish easy to eat. Nonta Suju features on my meals on my own quite often and in pursuit of a variation I decided to try it with a good handful of choriz thrown in. It was one of my best ideas, even if I say so myself!

Choriz Upma

20 links of Goan choriz, peeled
1 small potato, cut into matchsticks
1 small carrot, cut into small pieces or matchsticks
1 small green capsicum, chopped into thick juliennes
1 onion, sliced
a handful of green peas
1 green chilli, chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree or ketchup
1/2 cup roasted rava/semolina
salt
oil
chilli powder

In your wok or kadhai heat a little oil and fry the choriz till it breaks down and has rendered off all the fat. Remove the choriz leaving behind as much of the oil/fat as you can.

Discard some of this oil/fat if there's too much and then fry the potatoes and carrots along with the green chilli in the remaining oil/fat in your kadhai. Keep the heat low and cover the veggies while they cook. When the potatoes are half cooked add the sliced onion and stir. Cook till the onions become translucent.

Add the julienned capsicum and the green peas and cook for another couple of minutes. If you're using fresh peas boil them before adding them in. Add salt and chilli powder and stir to mix. Then add the roasted semolina and stir over a low flame. Roast the semolina with the veggie mix for a couple of minutes without scorching or burning the semolina.

Put the fried choriz back into the kadhai. Reserve a little to sprinkle on top of the finished dish if you like.  Add enough water to just cover and the tomato puree/ketchup and give it all a good stir. The semolina will start absorbing the water so keep stirring.

Once the upma has reached the consistency you like switch off the heat and serve it hot.

Freezer Clear Out Pie - A Pork Pie with Possibilities

After the recent Hokus Porkus Piggy Bag event we did I had random leftover ingredients that weren't enough to be used on their own but could be combined with other things to make a good dinner. Thus was born another edition of my Freezer Clean Out Pies. I often throw together random ingredients from the fridge or the veggie box to use up bits of ingredients and it goes without saying that I do the same with stuff from my freezer.

This time I had leftover cooked ham, puff pastry, and a leek, from the Ham, Potato and Leek Pies I'd made for the Piggy Bag orders. I also found a couple of sausages from the Sri Lanka stash, and another opened packet of cocktail sausages that I could use. The hubby wanted a pie for dinner and so that's what I made with some added ingredients to the leftovers and scraps.

You will need

Cooked ham cut into cubes
Cocktail sausages, cut into small pieces
Breakfast sausages

1 large potato, cubed
1 carrot, cubed
1 leek, sliced as fine as possible
1 onion, sliced fine
oil

1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
1 cup milk (more if required)
50gms cheese grated

salt
pepper

Puff pastry to cover the baking tin
cookie cutter to cut pastry scraps to decorate (optional)

To start with prep the vegetables and the sausages.

Heat oil in a pan, I used olive oil, and saute the potatoes and carrots till nearly cooked. Remove to your baking tin, and then saute the sliced leek and onion. Take your time with this and keep the flame on medium or low ensuring you don't burn or brown the leeks. Stir often and add a little oil if required. Once the leeks are soft and cooked and the onions pink pile them onto the potatoes and carrots in the baking tin.

Now fry the sausages. Just heat them through and brown them a little. I left the breakfast sausages whole and cut them after frying because they tend to disintegrate if you cut them before frying. Once the sausages are done add them to the baking tin remembering to cut the breakfast sausages.

Add salt and pepper and give the whole thing a good mix. Add the ham cubes too. Flatten everything so it's uniformly spread in the baking tin and then sprinkle grated cheese over the top.

Make a white sauce - heat butter in a clean pan and sprinkle flour into it. Once again keep the heat at medium so you don't burn the roux. Once the flour has lost its raw smell (it takes just a minute or so) pour in the milk slowly whisking as you go and ensuring that there are no lumps of flour. Once the sauce is smooth let it come to a boil, simmer and let it thicken a little. Season with salt and pepper. You can add dried herbs if you like, I didn't.

Pour the sauce over the pie filling and nudge the sauce into the filing so it's not just sitting on the top.

On a clean work surface roll out the puff pastry to fit the top of your baking tin. Cut the pastry to fit the top of the filling properly. Cut out shapes with a convenient cookie cutter from the pastry scraps and decorate the top of the pastry. Use a dab of water to stick the cut outs to the pastry.

Bake the pie in a preheated oven at 200C for 20 to 30 minutes till the pastry is puffed up and a pleasing golden brown.

Serve the pie hot!



Pies like this one are easy to throw together and of course you can vary the ingredients as much as you like - play with cooked chicken, fish, prawns, mixed meats, go veg, whatever you like! 

Pork with Lai Xaak

There's a special place in my heart for food from Assam and the rest of the North East. With all sorts of vegetables and lots of variety in meats the cuisines of the North Eastern states have so much to offer it will take more than a life time to savour it all. My friend Gitika has been working hard educating us Mumbaikars about the food of that region and she regularly has fresh produce and ingredients flown in for her very popular pop ups showcasing the wonderful food from the NE. A couple of days ago she called me to inform me that she had a little surprise for me - lai xaak! She was sending some over so I cook with it in my own kitchen. I am indeed blessed to have friends who share not just food but ingredients too. There is a different joy in cooking with things that are new to us and for me, a chance to cook with lai xaak was special indeed!

Lai Xaak Image

There was no discussion or even any question about what I'd make with the lai xaak - pork of course! I looked up a few recipes and made something that suited the tastes of the family. The brother, who' visiting, likes it hot, the hubby will sulk if there are no potatoes, I was in the mood for something comforting to be enjoyed with rice. The recipes I saw were very frugal in flavours letting the greens dominate. I have saved half for a more authentic rendition, today I just sort of winged it. It's not too far off from what you might be served in an Assamese household but I don't claim this to be an authentic Assamese recipe.

1 kg Pork 

1 bunch Lai xaak 

2 Onions 

2 Potatoes 

4-5 Green chillies 

2 tsps Ginger paste 

1 tsp Garlic paste 

1 tsp Turmeric 

2 tsps Chilli powder 

Salt 

Oil

Wash and clean the pork pieces and marinate with salt. 

Chop the potatoes into large chunks and chop the onions fine. 

Heat oil in a pressure cooker and chuck in the chopped onions along with the green chillies. Fry on low heat till the onions turn pink. 

Add the pork to the pot and braise well for around 10 minutes. 

Put in the ginger and garlic pastes. I used freshly made pastes for better flavour. 

Add turmeric and chilli powder, mix them in and cook the whole thing covered for 5 minutes. 

Wash the lai xaak well in running water separating out the leaves and washing inside the stalks properly. Break into rough pieces and add to the pork. Stir well to mix and let it cook for another 5 minutes. 

Now add the potatoes and enough water to give you plenty of gravy. I used around a cup and a half. 

Shut the cooker and cook the pork under pressure. Once the cooker whistles reduce the flame and cook for 10 minutes. Shut off the heat and let the cooker cool on its own. 

Serve the hot pork curry with plain hot rice.