The Great Indian Cookie Challenge

Image Courtesy: www.courtneyhouse.com

Yippeeeeeeeee....Its Christmas and new year time. I love this time of the year. Not only because of the weather but also the celebrations that we have. I have many fond memories from childhood for christmas. As a kid I used to save all my pocket money for this time of the year so that I could buy a gift for my younger brother. When he would be fast asleep on christmas eve I used to put his gift below the christmas tree in the living room. Till many years I could make him believe that it was Santa who was putting the gifts. He is among those kids who had once written a letter to Santa. :) As for my gift for christmas, having a sibling like my brother is the best gift anyone can ever get. This is my baby A's first winter and christmas as well. I have still not decided as to what Santa should be giving her. :P

During this time of the year most of us are in baking mode. We are either baking cookies or cakes. So I thought of  starting a new challenge that we can have during this time of every year. The details of the challenge are:

- Add your entries with the below linky tool.
- Recipes should be of cookies. Any kind of cookies.
- Follow my blog.
- Last date for submission of entry is 31st December.
- Non Bloggers can also be a part of it by sending me the recipes and pics on anisham56@gmail.com
- Recipes posted on your blog before 12th December 2013 are also welcome.
- The most innovative and unique recipe will get a the title of "Cookie Baker of the Year 2013"

 For any queries or doubts leave a comment.
This is my first challenge/contest on the blog. Lets make it a huge success. Have fun.

Pomfret Fry

Fish-Fish-Fish. Being a Bengali I sometimes feel my blog is filled with fish recipes. But then, you know, there are so many fish recipes that we Bengalis know that one lifetime is not enough to share them all in my blog. Today's fish is Pomfret. The best part is it is very easy to debone this fish. This fish is pretty tasty and medium in size. It is a sea fish.

Ingredients:
- Pomfret Fish (2 in number)
- Oil (2 tbsp)
- Salt (1 tsp)
- Turmeric powder (1/2 tsp)
- Fresh Coriander leaves chopped (1 tsp)
- garlic pods crushed (3)
- lemon juice (2 tbsp)


Method:
- Wash the fish properly and put slits on both the sides.
- Marinate the fish with salt, turmeric, garlic, coriander for 2 hours.
- Heat Oil in a pan.
- When the oil is hot add the fish and cook for 2-3 mins on both the sides. Fish should be crispy from outside and soft on the inside.
- Sprinkle lemon juice from top.
- Serve with onions and lemon or any other salad.

"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.....
.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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 and Cook Click and Devour

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