This one is a winner - Seekh Tawa Masala

Last night I was in a big dilemma about what to cook for dinner that would go well with rotis. My fridge was almost empty with few random stuffs lying in there. While rummaging through my freezer I chanced upon this packet of ready to fry chicken seekh kababs and a brilliant idea struck me. Why not make a tawa style gravy and dunk some of the kababs in - thats how this dish was made - Seekh Tawa Masala - for those weeknights when u don't want to cook elaborate meals but want to eat tasty food nonetheless. This is was surely a winner.

Ingredients:

Chicken seekh kababs - 4-5 nos ( cut into small pieces) - can use mutton too

Onions - 1 medium - finely sliced

Tomato - 1 large - finely chopped

Tomato puree - 1 tbsp

Ginger paste - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 1 -2 finely chopped( adjust acc to your taste)

Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Turmeric - 1 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tbsp

Kashmiri red chillli powder - 1 tbsp

Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

Sugar - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Fresh cream - 2 tbsp

Refined oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp

Method: 

In a pan heat oil  and fry the kababs and keep aside.

In the same pan add another tbsp of oil .Tip in the sliced onions, ginger - garlic paste.

Fry till light brown in colour. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry for another 2-3 mins.

Next tip in the tomato puree , turmeric powder, red chilli powder , coriander powder , salt and sugar and roast the masala paste very well. Adding a little water if reqd.

Once the oil seperates from the masala mixture add the fried kababs. Cover and cook for 2 mins.

Finish with some chopped green chillies and fresh cream.

Remove from heat and serve hot.

 

Know your Kolkata Food Blogger - Lazy Tart from Antypasti

This week it's Antara Ray of the blog Antypasti. I first got to know Antara through a very popular and huge foodie forum CAL. We would interact on and off through the posts there and that was about it.. then she got married and shifted base to our very own Kolkata. She helped with the formation of the Kolkata Chapter of the Bloggers Table of Chef@Large and  also became a part of Kolkata Food Bloggers. Now coming to her blog - I find it one hell of a fun blog. The way she writes along with her easy recipes is something that appeals to me. There is this spunk in her blog ( as well as her) that makes almost an immediate connection. I met her recently and found her to be exactly the way I thought she would be - vivacious , sensible and someone who is not afraid to stand up for something she believes in!

Her blog has some very easy fun recipes that you can try anytime. And that is what we want when we are hard pressed for time and cant do elaborate stuffs. Coming to the matter of time management, life has been too hectic for me of late. But I had made up my mind of recreating one of her recipes..so chose the Lazy Tarts. This one is so simple and easy to make but the end result just so amazing. I had to modify it a bit keeping in mind my 5 year old at home. Here's my version - Mini Lazy Tarts

Ingredients:


Bourbon biscuits - 6 nos

Dark Chocolate - 1 cup ( melted in a microwave or double boiler)

Fresh cream - half cup ( I used Amul)

Butter - 1 tbsp ( at room temperature)

Whipped cream - 2 tbsp ( for decoration)

Sprinkles - 1 tsp ( for decoration)

Method:

Grind the biscuits in a grinder and mix well with the butter. Press this mixture tightly into mini tart moulds. Refrigerate for half a hour.

In a separate bowl , take the melted chocolate and add the cream in it. Mix well. Pour into the biscuit coated moulds and chill for an hour.

Take them out and decorate with whipped cream and sprinkles. It surely cant get easier than this.

Enjoy this tasty tart and think of  Antara! Do visit her blog Antypasti for some fun recipes , you are sure to love it!

 

Know your Kolkata Food Blogger - Meet Jayati of Jayati's Food Journey and create one of her recipes!

And here I am..back again with a new post. This week it's Jayati who is getting featured in the Know your Kolkata Food Blogger Event. Jayati is one of the new members of KFB but she is a veteran in the food blogosphere. Her blog Jayati's Food Journey is a treasure trove of recipes. What i liked most about her blog is her focus on traditional bengali recipes. Recipes that are not regularly created in Bengali kitchens anymore -Kumro Fuler Bora(Pumpkin Blossom fritters) or Laupatay Puti Maach(Small fish wrap) are all heritage dishes.
I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting her personally but hope to do so in the near future. I had initially thought of trying out one of her traditional recipes but because of time crunch - am having to pick up one easy recipe from her blog. Now egg is an all time favourite with the family and she had blogged about the Spanish Omlette sometime back.
I almost instantly picked it up and recreated that into a Spanish Pancake . The spanish pancake originally is mostly sweet, but i thought that a savoury version would turn out just as good. It is loaded with the goodness of veggies - you can add just about anything you want and is very very tasty. 

Ingredients:

Egg - 3 nos

Flour - 3 tbsp

Milk - half a cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Potatoes - 1 small - thinly sliced

Onion - half an onion - thinly sliced

Green peas - a handful

Chicken sausages - 2 - roughly chopped

Coriander leaves/cilantro - a handful - finely chopped

Chilli flakes - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Crushed pepper - 1 tsp

Butter - 1 tsp

Olive oil - 1 tsp

Method:

In a bowl , whisk the egg with salt and pepper. Add the flour and the milk and mix well into the egg mixture. Keep this aside.

In a small non stick pan , heat the butter and the olive oil.
Tip in the onion ,potatoes , sausages and the peas.
Saute till it turns light brown in colour.

Add the chilli flakes and the salt to taste. Keep a check on salt as sausages can get too salty.

Next add the egg-flour mixture into the pan, sprinkle the chopped coriander on top and cover with a lid. Keep on low heat.

After 5-7 mins - turn it around with a flat spoon/spatula.

Cook for another 2-3 mins. 
Cut into wedges and serve hot.

Jayati,I hope you like my version of your recipe. And folks don't forget to visit Jayati's Food Journey for some great recipes. Till then enjoy this dish!

Chocolate Chip Muffins with Vanilla Sugar

 

pic from google

It was Teachers Day and I wanted the kiddo to take something homemade for his teachers. It has been a tradition of sorts. As kids we would always take a handmade card and some home made goodies for my teachers. Maa would make sure that she baked something and I have also started doing the same. I also remember taking flowers from our garden for my teachers but never anything fancy or expensive. That somehow never appealed to me...the joy of making a card at home is something else and I encourage the little one to follow the same. So here is the recipe for very easy Chocolate Chip Muffins with Vanilla Sugar. The recipe has been broadly adapted from here

Ingredients:

Flour - 1 and 1/2 cup

Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup

Baking powder - 2 tsp

Milk - 1 cup - room temperature

Butter - 1/2 cup melted

Egg - 1 medium

White /Dark chocolate chips - 1 cup

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Vanilla sugar - 2 tbsp - or you can use brown sugar instead

Method:

In a bowl combine the flour ,sugar ,baking powder and the chocolate chips. Mix well.

In another bowl , combine the milk ,melted butter, vanilla essence and the egg. Blend well into a smooth mixture.

Add the dry ingredients in two parts - mixing well after each addition. 

Grease and line a muffin /cupcake tin.

Fill the batter 3/4 th into each cup. Sprinkle some vanilla sugar /brown sugar on top.
Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 25- 30 mins or till a tooth pick comes out clean.

 Yes..my little boy was very happy to take these for his teachers and they loved it too!

Four Seasons Wine and Food Pairing at Tangerine Restaurant - A Review

Kolkata Food Bloggers got invited by Team Gingerclaps to go and check out the Four seasons Wine and Food Pairing event being hosted by many restaurants across the city.My fellow blogger Kamalika and I decided to visit a very well known restaurant of Kolkata - Tangerine one afternoon and we came back two happy souls!

The Restaurant and the view from where we were seated.

The restaurant has designed a set menu , mostly Italian and Continental food to go with Four Seasons wine. It was a 4 course meal where we had the option to choose between a veg /non veg - entree , mains and dessert and two glasses of wine.

All the yummy food we ate

Let me begin with the wine.We were served a glass each of red wine - Shiraz - a full bodied rich dark wine which was smooth and smoky at the same time. It went really well with the menu designed by Tangerine. I am fond of red wine and quite liked this one.

Shiraz

K and I decided to try one each of the veg and the non veg options so we get a fair taste of everything. First up we were served Cheese Barrel - an inspired Italian dish - crispy rolls filled with nicely seasoned cheese as the filling- served with a side of crispy -tangy nachos salad.It had a nice bite to it and the cheese oozing out of the barrels was so yummy.

Cheese Barrel with a crispy Nachos Salad

Next up was the classic Ceaser salad - lettuce ,roasted slices of chicken and croutons made for a perfect match. Many a times it happens that the dressing in a ceaser salad is not enough - but this one was perfect - crunchy green leaves with the right amount of tang in the dressing and generous shaving of Parmesan made it very appealing to the palate. A nice addition to the dish were the cherry tomatoes.

Ceaser Salad

We were enjoying ourselves, sipping some wine in between, when came in our main course for the afternoon. First up was Italian - Mexican inspired Torhino - it was a actually a deviation from the original tortino and instead made into a tart filled with a rich concoction of vegetables in a creamy tomato sauce and cheese on top.The tart was crisp to the bite and went very well with the wine.

Torhino - their take on the Tortino

The non veg main course - Poulet Apulia - was surely the star dish of the afternoon for me. Juicy and succulent steak of chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms and bell peppers, topped with a rich brown sauce- served on a bed of creamy potato mash. Well, what more do u want! I have to admit that its one of the best chicken steak I have had in a while -cooked to perfection.

Poulet Apulia

Honestly , by now I was stuffed but the dessert was yet to be devoured. On chef's recommendation we decided to try the Apple Aspen Tart - a deconstructed Apple tart/pie.Thin slices of stewed apples sandwiched between shortbread cookies ,topped with a big dollop of Vanilla ice cream and some caramel sauce on the side - it was truly a sinful treat!

Apple Aspen Tart

We were not done yet though - another dessert was waiting to be tasted.Nougat Chocolate Mousse - a tangy chocolate mousse served with fresh fruits and some wafers. The mousse felt a bit dense to me and I didn't quite enjoy the tanginess of the mousse. I could also taste some chunks of fruit( not sure what) in it. 

Noughat Chocolate Mousse

Our afternoon ended with a candid chat with Mr. Subhash Basu - executive chef of the Tangerine group of restaurants. A very humble person with loads of varied experience having worked with the Taj Group of Hotels for many years , he shared his inputs on how he creates these dishes in his kitchen. Special mention of Mr. Kuntal Dey  - the manager who made sure that we were comfortable and looked after well.


Overall an afternoon well spent with some great food and conversations. K and I also had an impromptu photography workshop with tips being shared in between clicking pictures. 

Tangerine should be on everyone's must try list - and this wine -food pairing set menu (priced at 1099+taxes per person) is something you should try. This is a very good initiative taken by the Four Seasons to educate foodies in enjoying a glass of wine with their food.

Tangerine 
2/1,Outram street,
Theatre Road Area
Landmark - Behind St.Xavier's College

Find out what Kamalika has to say about her experience here

This was an invited review and no monetary compensation was involved.

 

Something New - Dahi ke Kababs

Ever tried making something with curd/yogurt/dahi apart from lassi , raita ..the usual stuffs...i hadn't and I wonder why I never made the super delicious Dahi ke kababs before this!!!! On my recent dinner outing to one of the most amazing Indian restaurant in town Durbari at the Swissotel I had ordered a portion...out of my sheer curiosity to understand the taste and texture.To be honest I didn't quite like it there - it had a crunchy coating on the outside and inside was a dollop of cold curd and some sweet chutney. Something was off about the whole thing. I looked up on the net and  found a very nice recipe - here  - it had used a mix of hung curd and chana dal but i replaced that with paneer and gave it a try. The result has been gorgeous. I served it with some sweet chilli sauce and the husband said it was awesome. Well...what more do I need. 

 Ingredients: 

Hung curd - 1 cup

Paneer /cottage cheese - 1 cup - grated

Gram flour /besan - 1 tbsp

Coriander leaves - a handful - finely chopped

Green chilli - 2 nos - finely chopped

Roasted cumin powder /bhuna jeera powder - 1 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Sugar - 1 tsp

Breadcrumbs - for coating the kababs

Oil - for frying

Method:

In a bowl combine all the ingredients except the breadcrumbs and the oil. 

Mix well in to a smooth mixture. Check seasoning. Cover and let it rest in the fridge for half an hour.

In a plate spread out the breadcrumbs. Make little balls of the curd -paneer mixture and flatten them on your palms into tikkis. Make sure your palms are greased with a little oil.

Roll the tikkis/pate into the breadcrumbs. Roll all the tikkis and refrigerate again for 15 mins.

Heat oil in a non stick frying pan - about two tbsp.
Gently tip in the kababs in the hot oil and shallow fry till golden brown on each side.

Serve with sauce of your choice - they are delicious - melt in your mouth types.

Note : I realised later that these kababs can be baked very easily in the oven.If you do not like the fried option , try baking them in the oven at 200 deg C for 20 mins - should turn out just fine.

Know Your Kolkata Food Blogger - This week it's Amrita of Sweet 'n' Savoury and one of her recipes.

So I am back with the 'Know your Kolkata Food Blogger Event' and this week it is the very talented baker Amrita (of the Amrita - Vishal blogger duo) of the lovely blog Sweet 'n' Savoury. Amrita and Vishal are a husband and wife team who share the passion for good food and cooking good food. Infact this event is a result of her idea! While Amrita is the one who contributes to the Sweet part of the blog with her amazing bakes..its Vishal who balances the Savoury part with his lip smacking creations. Just saying that Amrita is a baker par excellence would be an understatement. She amazes me every time with her creations. I for one is someone who treads very carefully when it comes to baking...so she is truly an inspiration. A very unique quality of her blog is the proportion of ingredients that she uses ..they are not humongous , so you are not left with huge portions of your creations worrying how to finish them. 
Her blog is filled with some very nice recipes that can surely be tried by everyone. I have chosen a relatively easy recipe and given it a small twist of mine. Few days back she had posted a recipe of Masala Biscuits and I found it very interesting. Considering the two boys in my house are not too fond of spices like curry leaves and green chillies I just made a few changes keeping the basic recipe intact. Here's my recipe of Cheesy Masala Biscuits 

Ingredients:

Flour - 4 tbsp

Atta/whole wheat flour - 3 tbsp

Rice flour - 2 tbsp

Baking powder - 1/4th tsp

Baking soda - a pinch

Sugar - 1 tsp

Curd/yogurt - 1 tbsp cold

Butter - 2 tbsp - cold

Roasted cumin powder - 1 tsp

Cheddar cheese - 1 cube grated

Ginger - 1 tsp minced

Method: 


In a bowl mix together - flour . atta, rice flour , baking powder ,baking soda and sugar.

Add the butter and rub into the flour mixture till it resembles bread crumbs like texture.

Add the roasted cumin powder , minced ginger and the grated cheese.

Add the cold yogurt/curd and bind the mixture into a dough. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.

After one hour , roll out the dough into a thin sheet on a floured surface. Using your cookie cutter cut out desired shapes and place them on a baking tray that has been lined with a baking/parchment paper. 

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius and bake the biscuits for around 20 mins - till they turn light brown in colour.

Let the biscuits cool so that they get crispy and then store in an airtight jar for few days.
Enjoy these delicious biscuits with your dose of tea/coffee.

 Notes : 

•  I skipped adding salt seperately considering cheddar is pretty salty and it turned out just fine.
• The addition of cheese tends to make the dough very soft while rolling ..so use enough flour while rolling out the dough.
• I used mini cookie cutters here. 

 Amrita hope you have liked my version of your recipe. Folks do check out their blog for some yummy desserts,bakes and much more -Sweet 'n' Savoury

Easy Dessert - Chocolate Mousse Shots

Who doesn't like chocolates! And when served up in style, even more. This recipe I am sharing today is the result of an experiment. I had baked a chocolate cake the other day and wanted to ice it with a chocolate ganache. But somehow it was not my day and the cake turned out quite pathetic. By then I had already prepared the ganache and didn't want it to go waste. Looked up the net and found a really easy recipe for Chocolate Mousse. So here's presenting my version of Eggless Chocolate Mousse Shots. Its light , airy and absolutely delicious.

 Ingredients:

Dark Chocolate - 100 gms ( grated)

Butter - 1 tbsp

Fresh cream - 100 gms

Whipping cream - 1 cup

Chocolate strands  - for garnish

Shot glasses - for serving

Method:

In a microwave safe bowl add the grated chocolate and the butter and micro for half a minute to melt the chocolate.

 Add the fresh cream and mix it well into a smooth sauce and keep it aside.

Beat the whipping cream till soft peaks form. Add the chocolate ganache mix into the whipped cream. Gently mix it together.

Fill a piping bag with this mixture and keep it in the fridge for 15 mins.
Take it out and fill your shot glasses with the mix. Garnish with chocolate strands or use grated chocolate on top. Or even some whipped cream.
Chiill again for 1 hour  and serve.

Note : If you like the mousse to be sweeter , you could add some powdered sugar to the whipped cream. But this version turned out just perfect.

CAL Bloggers Table - BONGOAN - A Taste of Goa in Kolkata

So a bunch of us from the Kolkata Food Bloggers team landed up at the not-so-old restaurant Bongoan for a review , as a part of the Chef At Large Bloggers Table. Initial research showed that the restaurant specialises in Bengali as well as Goan dishes - with Chinese thrown in too as a bonus - hence the justification of the name BONGOAN! This was one place we had seen enroute South City Mall many times but never really ventured in for a meal. The bloggers table seemed like the perfect reason to check out the place and taste some authentic Goan cuisine. Well how authentic ? we'll just find out! 

We all reached the venue at the scheduled time around 6.30 and on entering the restaurant found that we were the only ones which is perfectly ok given the time. The 7 of us settled in and the waiter was helpful enough to join the tables so that we could be seated together.Took a quick glance at the menu and unanimously decided to mostly stick to Goan food. The items listed on the menu seemed quite decent. For starters we ordered a portion each of Sesame Fried Prawn in Continental Style(Rs.300)  , Lottya Fry(Rs.120) and Spicy Chilli Baby Corn(Rs.90).

The Spicy Chilli corn was crunchy on the outside but it was so spicy that almost all of ours throat started burning.So after a few bites we had to give up.The Lottya ( Bombay Duck ) Fry - served with a side of French fries - I didn't try as i am not too fond of sea food but the others who ate it found it a bit too smelly and the coating on top was just too thick. The Sesame Prawns was perhaps the best among the lot - soft prawns coated with a very crunchy cover and fried to perfection. The spice levels was a bit on the hotter side but we did not mind that. However I felt that they should have served some sauce - maybe a sweet chilli sauce or even a tartar maybe by the side to enhance the quality of the dish.

For the main course we ordered a portion each of Mutton Vindaloo (Rs.250) , Chicken Xacutti(Rs.200) and Pork Bhuni(Rs.150) along with some steamed rice.Let me start with the Chicken Xacutti -one of the most popular goan dishes - it had a nice thick coconutty gravy with four pieces of chicken on the bone and had the correct amount of spicing and quite close to an authentic Xacuti.We all loved it. However the Mutton Vindaloo was kind of a let down. It was spicy ok but the tang of the vinegar in the gravy was a bit too much and it killed the taste. The Pork Bhuni - little chunks of pork mostly fat stir fried with diced potatoes,onions and tomatoes was average with the pork being a tad tough in texture.

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Pic Courtesy - Silence Sings

Finally we ordered some Bebinca(Rs.120)  - the most famous Goan dessert but unfortunately it was a total letdown. Three very thin slices of bebinca topped with something that tasted like a caramel sauce was served per portion and they were not even closer to the real ones. Also there were not too many options in the dessert menu which I am sure they can work on.
The evening ended with us celebrating our fellow blogger Kamalika's birthday(which was the next day) with an awesome cake that Sayantani baked for her. Take a look at the sinful cake below. We all simply devoured it. Awesomeness.

The star of the evening - cake baked by Sayantani for K's Bday

 

Summary - The meal at BONGOAN was a mix of hits and misses. More misses than hits as far as Goan cuisine goes. They also need to work on the service bit because considering it was a weeknight and there were hardly other guests, they were taking a long time to serve up. Overall an ok experience and I suggest you visit them for a meal only if you must.A meal for two would cost anything between Rs.600 -Rs.800 and they do not serve alcohol.



BONGOAN
Kalikapur Road
Kolkata




Find out what my fellow bloggers have to say about the place :

Kamlika @ Silence Sings

Sayantani @ A Homemaker's Diary

Sarani @ Cocoawind

Amrita @ Sweet n Savoury

Antara @ Antypasti

Disclaimer - I have reviewed this place absolutely independently and was not compensated for the review monetarily or otherwise. 

Recipe Revisited - Chicken Stew

When I started blogging about a year back I had shared a recipe of healthy chicken made with boneless meat. Today I made that dish again with chicken on the bone and it tasted very good. So I am sharing the same recipe albeit with better pics.

Ingredients :

Boneless chicken – 300 gms

Carrots – half cup diced

French beans – half cup diced

Potato – half cup diced

Tomato – 1 diced

Onions – 1 medium chopped

Garlic – 2 pods crushed

Ginger – 1 tbsp chopped

Pepper corns – 8-10 nos

Bay leaves -  2 nos

Kashmiri red chilli powder – 1tsp

Coriander powder – 1tsp

Chicken stock  - 2 cups or just use warm water

Salt – to taste

Butter -  1 tbsp

Method:

In a pressure cooker , add the butter, next add the bay leaves and peppercorns. Put in the chopped onion, crushed garlic and chopped ginger. Saute till the onions get a light brown colour.

Next add the chicken pieces and the chopped vegetables. Saute the veg and chicken for 5-10 mins till they turn a light brown in colour. Add in the dry spices – coriander powder and kashmiri chilli powder and salt.

Cook the masala for 2 mins and add the chicken stock or warm water. Once the gravy starts simmering put on the lid of the cooker and cook till 2 whistles.

Serve this with buns or just plain white rice – tastes yummy with anything.  If you like ur curry very spicy can add a few green chillies too!

Note: There are other recipes of stew that use coconut milk or plain milk. This is my version and my family prefers it without coconut milk. You could use it if you want ...gives a little sweetness and body to the stew.
This is a great way to make your child eat veggies!

Know your Blogger friend - Presenting Kamalika of Silence Sings and one of her recipes !

We at KFB are back with a new event "Know your blogger friend" and it is going to be a hit I know. Also so much fun as we will be picking up one blogger from Kolkata each week and try and recreate one of their recipes and talk about them. This week the featured blogger is Kamalika Chakraborty of the beautiful blog Silence Sings with Kamalika C


To talk about her I think I will have to talk a lot. Let me begin by telling you all that she is the founder member of the group Kolkata Food Bloggers - a group that brings all the bloggers residing in Kolkata together. I got to know Kamalika thorough a well known foodies group on FB...didn't know her personally then but would gape at her food pictures whenever she would post something there. Then by chance one day I started chatting with another blogger and she told me about KFB and added me to it. I am so thankful to her for doing that. Ok now coming back to the star today - Kamalika is a wonderful woman - super creative, organised,independent, emotional and above all very helpful. Her blog Silence Sings with Kamalika C is an example of sheer brilliance. Her photographs are extremely stylish and totally does justice to the super easy and yummy recipes that she shares. Photography is her another passion and she can always capture the essence of the moment. She is also an entrepreneur and has a home bakery from where she retails her goodies! I have found a great friend in her and she helps me with her valuable suggestions to improve my blog as well.  I think I can go on and on...but I will now jump to one of her recipes that I have recreated today. 

Few days back she shared a very easy recipe of Chicken Quiche - today being veg day for us just replaced minced chicken with sweet corn - Corn Cheese Quiche.

You can find the original recipe here

 

 Ingredients:

For the quiche :

Flour - 1 cup

Butter - 1 tbsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Egg - 1 small - slightly beaten

Water - to make the dough

Method: 

In a bowl combine the flour , salt and the butter. Add the egg and enough water to make it into a smooth soft dough.Keep this aside.

For the filling:

Egg - 1 no - lightly beaten

Cheddar cheese - 1 cup grated

Corn kernels - half cup

Onion - 1 small finely chopped

Mayonnaise - 1 tbsp

Sweet chilli sauce - 1 tsp

Crushed pepper - 1 tsp

Salt - a pinch

Butter - 1 tsp

Method: 

In a pan add the butter  and lightly saute the onions and the corn kernels. Add crushed pepper and salt and keep aside.

In a bowl take the beaten egg and add half of the grated cheese. Add the onion corn mixture , mayonnaise and sweet chilli sauce and mix well. 

Now we have to assemble the quiche. Grease a muffin pan nicely.

Make little balls of the dough and roll it out into round puris . Not too thin , with medium thickness.

Take each base and cover the muffin pan according to the size.

 h

Now add a tbsp of the filling to each cup.

Bake the quiches in a pre heated oven for 20 mins at 200 deg C. Once they start to get golden brown on the sides - take them out ...sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and bake for another 3 mins. Serve hot with ketchup.

 I would like to thank Kamalika for sharing such a fabulous recipe with her readers. This one is going to feature in all my tea - parties from now on. It is so easy to make and tastes just divine. Do visit her blog for some amazing recipes and some superlative pictures @ Silence Sings with Kamalika C

Visit Silence Sings

Joys from the kitchen garden - Jhinge Posto (Ridge gourd with poppy seeds)

I have a little kitchen garden in my backyard and I take a lot of pride in growing seasonal vegetables in it. The sheer joy of little plants blossoming and producing fruits and vegetables bring in a lot of joy. Over the last year I have successfully grown tomatoes,cauliflower,coriander,chillies..pics of which I have shared with you all from time to time. This season I sowed some seeds of Jhinga (ridge gourd) unsure whether it would blossom or not. It did ...despite the terrible weather conditions in Kolkata this summer. 

 Jhinga or ridge gourd also happens to be one of my favorite vegetables. There are many traditional Bengali delicacies being churned out with jhinga, the most popular being the Jhinge Posto - ridge gourd cooked with poppy seeds paste. It is also widely used in fish curries and goes extremely well with Iilish. Today I am sharing the recipe of Jhinga posto - all you need for this is diced jhinga , poppy paste and green chillies.

 Ingredients:

Jhinga /Ridge gourd - 4-5 nos - diced

Poppy seeds - 3 tbsp ( soak it in warm water for 10 mins and then grind into a smooth paste)

Paanch foron/bengali 5 spice mix - 1 tsp

Mustard oil - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Sugar - a pinch

Green chillies - 4-5 slit

Method:

Wash and clean the jhinga and dice them into small cubes.Keep aside. In a pan heat the mustard oil . Once the oil heats up add the panchforon and let it splutter. Add the diced jhingas.

Fry for 5 mins and add the turmeric powder , salt and sugar. Cover and let it cook for 6-7 mins. By now the water released from the jhinga would evaporate. Add the poppy seeds paste now and mix well.

 Cover and let it cook for another 5 mins. Add the green chillies and remove from heat.
Serve with plain rice.

Quick Review - Spaghetti Kitchen - For some cool Italian Food

It was my day out with a dear friend today and we did what girls love doing the most - we went shopping (what did u think..wink)!! We hit one of our favourite malls..infact the only mall in Kolkata that houses most of my favourite brands and stores. We simply shopped our hearts out and beautifully complemented each others shopping by encouraging to pick up whatever we felt like. However we also decided that its best that such sprees are restricted to once in 3 months or else our bank accounts would have to take a massive hit. We did not have much time at hand as she is leaving town tomorrow for a holiday and had to rush for some appointment. At this stage I was joined by the husband and the kiddo and I was famished for some food by now. So we headed to one of our favourite joints in the mall that serves some great Italian fare. Spaghetti Kitchen is one of those few places that has never disappointed us. Everytime we went there we have ordered a mix of tried and tested dishes and some new ones and always enjoyed the meal. Today also it was no different.
When eating out with the kiddo we always have to stick by with some dishes that he likes to eat and then order a mix and match of dishes that hubby and me enjoy. As soon as we entered we were ushered in by the maitre d ... and taken to our table. Almost immediately we were served water and a basket of assorted fresh bread with some butter.

The basket had an assortment of some pesto pinwheels ,multi grain buns and some crispies. Both me and the 5 year old attacked  and devoured the different breads with vengeance. They were extremely soft and fresh. There were a whole lot of condiments already at the table - sea salt and pepper - two kinds of tabasco and the usual suspects oregano, chilli flakes and Evoo.

The kiddo wanted to have a pizza so we stuck by with the original Margherita - thin crust.

It is originally served with some cherry tomatoes ,fresh basil leaves on a bed of a tangy tomato sauce topped with a lot of yummy mozzarella. However we requested to avoid the tomatoes to which they happily customised it. If you like thin crust pizza..this is the place to go to.On other occasions we have tried out other variants and those were very good too.This was served first keeping a hungry kid in mind. Very thoughtful I say.

Since we had to help finish that pizza, the husband and I decided to keep it light and order a salad and one main course.On being asked the Captain suggested that we opt for the Caprese Salad as it was one of the best. For the main course we decided to share a portion of Chicken Lasagne.

The Caprese, I must admit is one of the best I have eaten in a long time. Fresh tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella served with a drizzle of good quality Olive oil seasoned with some salt and pepper with a side of crunchy salad leaves - mainly rocket and some lettuce. The husband said it was very nice ...considering he is a hard core meat person, it felt good !

Next came the Chicken Lasagne which we decided to share. To be honest I really liked the taste of the sauce - a bit spicy and tangy but the lasagne was not really upto the mark. It was a bit dry and would have tasted better with a little more sauce. Minced chicken as it is tends to get a bit dry when assembled with the lasagne sheets so some extra sauce would have helped that.
We were totally full by now so skipped dessert though I know that they make some great desserts as well  like the tiramisu and the creme brulee !

I am not mentioning individual prices of the dishes, however a meal like this for two adults would cost approx Rs. 2000 without alchohol.

Over all a great Saturday lunch and we came back happy souls. If you are at Forum anytime soon  and get hungry after your shopping sprees - do try out this place.

Spaghetti Kitchen
4th Floor , Forum Mall
Elgin Road
Kolkata

Disclaimer - I have reviwed this place absolutely independently and was not compensated for the review monetarily or otherwise.