Shrimp ball curry/ চিংড়ি মাছের কোফতা

Method:

         For the shrimp balls

1. Boil shell, de-vein, and clean the shrimp. Boil them. Drain on a strainer. Or use precooked shrimp.
2. Make a paste in a processor. Add salt, chopped chillies, cilantro and spices like bhaja masala (dry roasted and ground cumin, coriander and dry red chilies). 
3. Beat and egg and mix with the shrimp paste. Roll into balls when the mix is ready. Keep in the fridge if you need to dry the water more.
4. Fry in oil. keep aside.
   
   For the gravy
5. Heat cooking oil (and 1/2 tsp ghee), add bay leaves, clove and cinnamon stick. Then fry ginger paste. 
6. Add coconut cream and cook well. Add the shrimp balls and shimmer in low flame (about 10 mins) 
7. Add chopped cilantro for garnish if you want. Serve with steamed white Basmati rice.

Bok choy with potatoes and eggplant

You can make this recipe with Yu choy sum, spinach (palak) or Vietnamese/Malabar spinach (Pui) too.

Method:

1. Heat Mustard oil in a wok. Temper with nigella seeds (kalonji/kalo jeere/কালো জিরা )
2. Add cubed potatoes and diced bok choy, Add eggplant. If you are using other greens like spinach or Vietnamese spinach, you can add the stalks first and leaves later. Add salt to taste and turmeric.
3. Stir-fry until almost done. Add slit green chilies and nigella seed paste (optional).  Boil water in a saucepan. Add for gravy.
4. You can add deep-fried lentil dumplings (ডালের বড়া) and mustard paste (সর্ষে বাটা ) for extra punch.

I added the core of banana blossom, steamed and chopped into thin slices for variety. Good source of fiber and vitamins. Good recipe to eat in Summer.

A variation of the fish chop

Fish chop with lemon juice, ginger, lemon rind, and chipotle spices

Meatballs and broccoli in Asian sauces

Meatballs simmering with broccoli in organic chicken broth and Asian sauces

1. Cut broccoli crown into florets. immerse in salt water.
2. In a pan, add cooking oil and saute thinly sliced garlic till fragnant. Add the meatballs, cook on both sides. Now add the broccoli, pepper, sliced ginger. Saute further.
3. Add organic chicken broth, 1 tsp hoisin sauce, and low-sodium soy sauce to taste. Bring to boil then lower to simmer.
4. You may add shaved carrots, snap peas, Thai chilies to the broth. Serve with warm rice.
   
   Alternately, you may add lemongrass for a different flavor. Or use coconut milk to thicken the broth along with some fish sauce for stronger flavor. You may also use boneless chicken instead of meatballs.

Meatball gravy with achari spices

You may use fresh homemade meatballs or frozen ones for this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 packet frozen meatballs
1 onion - diced
5 big garlic cloves, minced
Thai chilis -halved 5-7
Achari spice
Nutmeg powder
1 tbsp Sour cream
Chicken broth


Method:

1. Heat frozen meatballs in a pan until thawed. Add diced onions, green chilies and minced garlic. Add chicken broth, achari spice and a pinch of nutmeg (my secret ingredient).
2. Bring it to boil.Add  1 tbsp sour cream. Mix well with the gravy. Add more chicken broth if needed. Serve hot.

Patra/colocasia leaves with dry shrimp (চিংড়ি শুটকি দিয়ে কচু পাতা বাটা )

চিংড়ি শুটকি দিয়ে কচু পাতা বাটা

1. Wash the colocasia leaves and parboil them in water with salt and vinegar (vinegar lessens the itching by reacting with the calcium oxalate in the leaves). Blend to a puree.
2.  Wash dry shrimp in hot water, strain.
3. In a wok, heat mustard oil, add minced garlic and dry shrimp. Stir. Add the colocasia leaves puree and cook with frequent stirring. Add salt, turmeric, and red chili powder. Cook thoroughly till oil seperates

This is the first time I tried colocasia leaves and quite liked it. /nobody in my family eats the leaves. They just make' kochur saag' using the stalks. Gujratis steam and fry it into pinwheels called patra

Bonus recipe: Kochu baata (YouTube link from the BEngali Cooking show, Pancha Byenjon)

Chicken with soy sauce and coconut milk

Cooking, like most other things in life, is a quest. It can be more than a means to satisfy hunger. It can be an adventure, a spiritual journey and a way to show love. I am thinking about the mother who cooks for the daughter she hasn't seen for years, the kid who makes chicken soup with inept hands, the husband who makes French toast for breakfast. It need not be elaborate. The expressions vary. We might forget the details of a particularly flavorful dish, but we will always  remember how it made us feel. Comforted. Warm. Happy.

Years ago, my father made a spicy chicken dish in soy sauce and yogurt on my brother's birthday.  It was so long ago that he has forgotten the recipe. We can seldom recreate our own creations, but this is as close as I could get. I used coconut milk instead of yogurt and added curry leaves. Tweak to suit your taste. Search for your own perfection.

Method using wok or frying pan :

1. Clean, pat dry with paper towels and dice 2 lbs (1 kg) boneless chicken thigh into serving size. Marinate in salt, turmeric, ground cumin-coriander, red chili powder, ground black pepper, lemon juice overnight.
2. In a wok or nonstick frying pan, fry 1 big onion (finely chopped), minced ginger, crushed garlic, minced green chilies, 1 medium sized tomato, and 10 curry leaves.
3. Crush whole garam masala like 1 stick of cinnamon, 4-5 green cardamom, 5 -7 cloves, 1/2 tsp coriander seeds and 1/2 tsp peppercorn in mortar and pestle. Add to the wok.
4. When the onions have been fried well, add the chicken. Keep stirring. Do not cover yet.
5. Add 1 tsp dark soy sauce, 2 tsp (or drizzle) low-sodium soy sauce. Stir and cover.
6. When the soy sauce is almost dry, add coconut milk. Cook till the oil separates.

Use whole green chilies instead of minced if you want it less hot.

Alternate method:
You may also use the ingredients to make a spicy roasted chicken. Use a cornish hen with skin on and rub the marinade inside the sking and over it. Cook 30 mins at pre-heated oven at 375 F (190 C) for 30 mins and turn to cook another  20-25 mins (or until the skin is crisp). Broil the last 10 mins. If you are using coals, place the chicken sufficiently distant from the heat so the chicken cooks through before the skin gets too brown.

Noodles in low-sodium chicken broth

1. Boil water with salt, add chowmein, (put green beans first, then fish them out if you are using them). Drain the boiled chowmein in a strainer, pour cold water if necessary. 
2.  Add peanut oil in a wok, add diced onions, serrano chilies, parboiled beans, celery and leeks. Put a handful of cashews or peanuts if you want an added crunch.
3. Now add low-sodium chicken broth, a squirt of lime (or 1 tsp white vinegar) and drizzle some low-sodium soy sauce. Now add the noodles and mix well.
4. Add a soft boiled or hard-boiled egg. You might scramble the egg too. Top with crushed pepper and serve warm

Enoki mushrooms with salted fish

To prepare salted fish: Cure fresh  fish of your choice (I used hilsa) in an dry, air-tight container- fill with salt, and keep it sealed in a dark place. Before cooking, desalt by washing away excess salt. 
Dice Enoki mushrooms into bite size pieces, thinly slice onions, crush garlic, mince green/thai chilis.
In a wok, add cooking oil and fry the onions, garlic and diced fish. Add the mushroom, salt , turmeric, red chili powder, minced chilies. Cook in medium low. Serve with steamed rice.

You may also use Seafood mushroom . I have heard from my parents that button mushrooms taste good with dry shrimp paste. Going to try that next.

Salmon with okra

 I love both Salmon and okra, and make them with onion- tomatoes- greenchilies. I thought, why not combine the two? The matrimony was quite delightful.

1.  I used store-bought Salmon fillet, cut them into cubes and added spices(dry roasted cumin-coriander-red dry chilies ground to powder) and lime juice. 
2. In a frying pan, heat olive oil and saute onions, add the fish. For tempering I used fenugreek seeds as a variation to my usual method.
3.  Add coarsely diced okra ,  tomatoes, green chilies. Add grated ginger, turmeric, salt to taste. 
4. Cover and cook in low flame till done.

Jibe goja (Baked)

I abhor most store-bought sweets and pastries, they are too sugary for my palate. SG loves to gorge on them though. When I made the blueberry pie, he bit into the short crust and said,'It's like jibe goja.' So, I decided to try an experiment : Baked jibe goja using pie crust. (It comes pre-rolled too!) The only caveat is- you have to pay attention the first time to see how well the dough cooks. I found it is optimum at 300 F for 20 mins.

Method:

1. Traditional: Roll all purpose flour with water and ghee/butter into a soft dough. Using a rolling pin, make sheets of dough of even thickness and slash the dough with a knife. Leave about 1 cm in the top and botton and twist it into Elo-jhelo. Alternatively, you may use a pre-made pie crust dough and cut into equal sizes. This will look like concentric circles.
   
2. Bake them at 300 F for 20 mins.
3. For syrup: Boil a little water , add saffron strands and sugar.
4. Pour the syrup on the dough in a flat dish and allow the syrup to set in.
5. You may add crushed pistachios for decoration. You may also fill the dough with nut paste for a richer sweet.

Cilantro fish

Link 1