"With Every Baby a Mother is Born"

People in blogosphere would have been wondering why I have been away from blog world for almost a year. Well I do have a very good reason for that. There was something very very important happening in my life.So what was so important that I had to stay away from my blog for so long? Not only blog, I have been away from almost all kinds of social networking sites.

Drum rolls please.....
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Well, now that was my best attempt at drum rolls!! :p

We welcomed a new member into our family on the 12th of March this year, my daughter. The entire experience of pregnancy has been overwhelming and we have been overjoyed to be blessed with a daughter. Daughters are always special. They always hold a very special place in parent's hearts (I say this from personal experience you see!!!! :) )

I used to roll my eyes whenever someone told me "You will know what it feels like to become a mother when you actually become one". I never used to understand the meaning of these lines until the day she was born. Before that day I really did not know how it feels to be a mother. I felt the sudden responsibility of a whole new life on me. There was this little baby trying to move around on my body and tears of joy rolled down my eyes.

I had thought I understood the meaning of love when I met my hubby Amitava. But I was wrong. Love for your kid is entirely different from any other relation in the world. Somewhere I had read with the birth of a baby a mother is born.The saying is right to the true sense of the term. Love for your baby starts with the conception of a dot in your womb. You feel overexcited for each ultrasonography session where you would be able to see your baby inside you. You get the immense strength to fight all the odds in the world for your baby. You smile when you look at her. You wait for the day when she shall smile back at you. All your tensions, worries go away when you look at her. You get tensed, worried and all worked up when you simply hear her sneeze or cry. This is a lovely feeling. A feeling that cannot be described in words.A feeling called "Motherhood".

Veg Biriyani in Minutes

This is a dish that I prepare pretty often for lunch. I generally take this to office on weekdays. It is very easy to prepare and the best part is it takes pretty less time. So let me not waste too much time and directly come to the recipe. You can add as many vegetables as you want and need not stick to the veggies mentioned here.

Ingredients:
- Rice (1 cup preferably Basmati)
- Potato (1 diced into cubes)
- Beet (1 diced into cubes)
- Carrot (1 diced into cubes)
- Onion (1 diced into cubes)
- Capsicum(1 diced into cubes)
- Cauliflower(1 diced into cubes)
- Cinnamon (2 sticks)
- Cloves (3-4)
- Cardamom (2-3)
- Cashews (5-6)
- Oil (5 tsp)
- Coriander ( a small bunch finely chopped)
- Turmeric powder (1/2 tsp)
- Coriander powder (1/2 tsp)
- Cumin powder (1/2 tsp)
- Biriyani Masala (1and 1/2 tsp)
- Salt (acc to taste)
- Green chillies (2 slit)


Preparation:
- Heat oil in a pressure cooker.
- Fry the cashews till golden brown and keep aside.
- Add the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom to the same oil. When they start to splutter add the green chilli.
- Add all other veggies and fry for 2-3 mins.
- Add the coriander and fry for 2 more mins.
- Add 2 cups of water and the rice.
- Add all the masala, salt and mix well.
- Close the lid of the pressure cooker and let it cook for 1 whistle.
- After a whistle remove it from the stove.
- Open the lid and add the cashews.

I served it with Fish Curry. It also goes very well with Raita.

Happy Eating :)

This is my entry for Cook's joy Only Vegan Event

Ilish Macher Shorshe Diye Jhal / Hilsa Fish in Mustard Gravy

What better than Ilish Mach for Sunday's lunch. Ilish or Hilsa is the national fish of Bangladesh and is popular in almost all parts of India specially West Bengal and Orissa. This fish is full of tiny bones and requires trained hands for eating. It is a sea fish which comes to the river to lay eggs and thats when the fishermen catch them in their nets. Padda'r Ilish from Bangladesh is known to be the best and most expensive of its kind. In bengali culture it is a custom to buy two Ilish fishes (Jora Ilish) on some auspicious occasions. The recipe I am sharing today is of  Shorshe Ilish.

Ingredients:
- Ilish Mach ( washed and cleaned 2 pieces)
- Mustard Paste ( 1 tbsp)
- Tomatoes (optinal 1/2 cut into small pieces)
- Green chilli (2)
- Salt (1 tsp)
- Turmeric Powder (1/2 tsp)
- Kala Jeera / Onion Seeds (a pinch)
- Mustard Oil ( 2 tbsp)
- Water (1/2 cup)

Preparation :
- Marinate the fish pieces with salt and turmeric for about 30 mins.
- Heat oil in a skillet.
- When the oil is smoking hot add the fish pieces.
- When the fish is fried keep it aside and add slit green chillies and kala jeera to the hot oil.
- When the jeera splutters add mustard paste and tomatoes.
- When the mustard paste starts leaving oil it means it is cooked. Add water to the paste.
- When the water boils add the fish and let it cook for sometime.
- Serve hot with rice.



This is my entry for:
Spotlight Curries/Gravies at Cuisine Delights.

Chicken Tangri Kabab

Don't these kababs look lovely... They taste as good as they look or even better.. :) The secret of making tasty kababs lies in the marination part. The more you marinate it the more tasty and soft your kabab is. So let me not waste too much time here and come directly to the recipe:

Ingredients:
- Chicken Leg pieces (4-5)
- Curd (1 cup)
- Ginger ( 1 tbsp)
- Garlic (1 tbsp)
- Tandoori Masala (2 tbsp)
- Lemon juice (2 tbsp)
- Salt (1 tbsp)

Preparation:
- Marinate the chicken with lemon and salt for about 30 mins.
- Drain out the excess lemon juice from the marination bowl.
- Now marinate the chicken with all the other ingredients.
- Keep it in the refrigerator and let it marinate for a day or you can even keep it for two days.
- Preheat oven at 200 degrees Celsius.
- Grill the chicken for 10 mins at 200 degrees in the oven.
- Grill the other side for another 10 mins.
- Try to insert a fork into one of the pieces to check if it is fully cooked.
- Serve with salad and sauce.


This is my entry for :

Bon Vivant Series: Apetizers/Starters

Divya's Culinary Journey: Showcase Fun in the Sun

Srav's Culinary Concepts: Splash into Summer

Tea Time Cake

I have lots of childhood memories attached with this cake. This is the cake my Ma always used to make. I used to take it to school for my tiffin break and all my friends would be so eager to have at least a bite of it. She also made this cake once on my birthday and she had decorated it with cream. That was the best cake I've tasted in life till now. Those days bakeries were not as many as there are today and since I have spent my childhood in a small town there were none. So on my birthdays most of the times this was the cake that I used to cut. When I asked Ma about the recipe she was also recollecting all the memories that she had of my childhood related to this cake. I had tried this cake for the first time when I was in college and I forgot to put baking powder. Then when I saw that the cake was not rising I increased the time and temperature. My brother still tells me about that disaster as you can see in the previous post. It looked as if there has been an earthquake on the cake. Thankfully I don't do all such kind of stuff now. I had made this cake last week. It was awesome. I called up Ma and told her that it was exactly like what she used to prepare. So now to the recipe:

Ingredients:
-All purpose Flour / Maida (1 cup)
- Sugar (1 cup)
- Eggs (2)
- Vanilla essence (1/2 tsp)
- Cashews (10-12)
- Raisins (a handful)
- White oil (1/2 cup)
- Butter (1 tsp for spreading on cake tin)
- Milk (1/2 cup)
- Baking Powder (1 tsp)


Preparation:
- Beat the eggs, vanilla essence, oil, milk and sugar well.I generally give it a quick whirl in the mixer. You can also use a hand mixer or do beat it well with a spatula.
- Sift the flour and baking powder together.
- Fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredientsa and beat well.
- The flour should be nicely folded into the wet mixture (You are looking into for a consistency which lets you form ribbons when you drop it from the spoon).
- On your cake tin apply butter so that the cake does not stick to the tin.
- Pour your batter into the cake tin.
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius and put the cake into oven in baking mode for 20-25 mins.
- To check if the cake is ready insert a toothpick into the cake and it should come out clean.


This is my entry to:
Lets Cook Kid's Special at Tickling Palattes and Favourite Cake Recipes at Zesty South Indian Kitchen

My First try at Baking

Baking is something that always fascinated me but I could not bake as I did not have an oven in my kitchen. Few days back on our marriage anniversary my husband gifted me an oven (he does good things some times). Frankly speaking it was really sweet of him. This is something that I had always wanted and since our new oven got a place in my kitchen I have been doing a hell lot of baking, grilling etc etc... These days most of our dinners are baked :). I have been making full use of my oven and I am really really happy about it.

Cooking is an art but baking is definitely a science. In baking you have to add exact amounts of ingredients and at the right temperature. That is when all the ingredients start the chemical reactions like in a chemistry lab (i know i exaggerated it!!!) and you get a perfectly baked dish. If anything goes wrong between your quantity of ingredients, temperature of the oven and the ingredients as well and the time for which you are baking it your dish is surely going to find its way to the dustbin.

This particular chocolate cake is the first thing that I tried in my oven. It was more for testing purpose. I wanted to check whether my oven is working fine and what are the features that it has. So I bought cake mix and baked one delicious cake. The cake was very soft and moist.

Ingredients:
- Cake Mix (1 packet - I used Pillsbury chocolate cake mix)
- Oil (1/2 cup)
- Eggs (2)
- Cashews (6-7)




Method:
- Mix oil and eggs together.
- Fold in the cake mix.
- Put batter in cake tin and add cashews on top.
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celcius for 10 mins.
- Bake the cake for 20 mins at 170 degrees celcius.

Your cake is ready.

This is my entry for :
Kid's Special at Tickling Palates and Zesty South Indian Kitchen's My favourite Cake recipe event

Chicken Cigar

It seems like it has been ages since I last wrote my blog. My parents had come over to my place so I was doing nothing but giving them time and eating lots and lots of Ma ke haath ka khana (mother's hand cooked food). So this time since I am writing after so many days I decided to write something very very special.

Chicken Cigar is a starter which is pretty easy to prepare and gets me appreciations whenever I prepare it. This is very tasty. The crunchy bread on the outside and juicy chicken stuffing inside add to the flavour of the dish.

Ingredients:
- Chicken Keema (200 gms)
- White Bread slices ( 7-8 )
- Salt (acc to taste)
- Coriander ( 1 bunch chopped finely)
- Onions ( 1 chopped finely and 1/2 julienned for serving)
- Coriander powder (3 tsp)
- Cumin powder ( 3 tsp)
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Tomato Sauce (for serving)
- Cucumber (for serving)
- Sunflower oil (2 tbsp for stuffing and 1 cup for deep frying)
- Green chillies (according to taste)
- Cumin seeds (1/2 tsp)
- Egg (1 beaten)
- Cornflour (1 tbsp)
- Water (1 cup)

How to prepare the stuffing?
- Wash the chicken keema properly.
- Marinate chicken keema with lemon juice and salt for 1 hour.
-  Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok.
- Add Cumin seeds, chopped onions and green chillies.
- When cumin seeds splutter add marinated keema into it.
- Fry for some time.
- Add coriander powder, cumin powder, salt, turmeric powder, chopped coriander and mix well.
- Let it cook fully and keep aside to cool.
- Once it has cooled down separate the stuffing as shown below:

How to prepare the Cigar?
- Cut the sides of the bread.
- Put the stuffing in the middle of the bread along the length.
- Fold the bread like a cigar.
- Add a little water to your hands before folding it. This will help it bind together.
- Make a batter of the egg and cornflour. Add a little salt to it.
- Heat oil for deep frying in a deep wok.
- Dip the bread cigars into the batter.
- Deep fry them until brown.
- Serve hot with sauce, kasundi, salads etc.

Note: Vegetarians can use paneer and boiled potatoes in place of chicken.
          The keema stuffing can be had along with roti as a side dish.