Chicken Shawarma

1. Cut boneless chicken breasts in to bite-sized pieces and marinate in vinegar overnight.(Can add step 3 in the marinade too)
2. Prepare the tahini: toast sesame seeds on pan (do not brown). Put in coffee grinder and grind to powder. Add olive oil in a bowl and mix. Set aside
3. Heat crushed garlic,salt, pepper and spices (like cardamom pods, allspice) or shawarma mix to the chicken and cook until soft in a wok. (Assuming you don't have a vertical spit to grill it for a day)
4. Add bell pepper , onions and tomatoes.(I like them lightly fried) 
5. (You can shred the chicken if you want)
6. Place a tortilla or pita(heat both sides if you want), fill with the chicken and tahini sauce. You can add sliced  cucumbers and/or pickles.
7. Serve with hummus and salad greens.

I used this seasoning

Sukto

SG loves sukto. And I,  being an North-Eastern Bengali (from the Bangal clan), consider it a typical West Bengali (Ghoti) dish, somewhat foreign. Hence, I had some trepidation about making my first sukto, but love makes you do crazy things. So, it was no brainer that I'd eventually try making it. My MIL is a Bangal too, but she makes awesome sukto. That gave me hope.

Traditionally, you need the following vegetables
Potatoes
Radish
Eggplant
Ridged Gourd
Drumsticks
Green Banana
Bitter gourd

I added Carrot and Peas too.

1. Cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces and heat mustard oil in wok/dutch oven.
2. Most people use Panch  phoron for tempering, I was whimsical and picked nigella seeds instead. 
3. Add the vegetables that take longer time to cook eg potatoes, radish etc first. Save the bitter gourd for the last. Adding it in the beginning will make the sukto too bitter.
4. Add freshly grated ginger.
5. Add enough milk and water, cover and cook in medium-low flame. Pay attention, milk burns easily.
6. I dry ground mustard and poppy seeds and added them in the end. Don't boil mustard powder too long- heat turns it bitter. You can add sugar too.

Green Mango chutney

 Pulpy chutney with mustard seeds

1. Peel the mango (some recipes keep the skin on), and dice it into bite-sized pieces. 
2. Wash the pieces and rub salt and turmeric. 
3. Heat cooking oil  in a pan. Add the mustard seeds (or saunf/fennel seeds) and dry red chilies broken into halves. Saute it for a few minutes till the mustard seeds pop.
4. Add the mango pieces , fry at medium-low heat (you don't want to burn them on high heat, otherwise chutney will turn bitter)
5. Add a cup of warm water and let it boil till the mango turns soft. Add sugar to taste , stirring occasionally. 

You can add raisins, dates and cashews too if you want. Some people like julienne ginger in their mango chutney. You can make it pulpy or chunky depending on your preference. I like both.

Version 2: I added dates and Turkish apricot for a rich chutney. Also, semi-ripe mangoes are more suitable for this sweet chutney.

You can also make Pineapple chutney similarly.

Or cherry-mango chutney with  fennel seeds, dry red chilis, ground panch phoron and aamsotto

Sasha-aloo-chingri (cucumber with potatoes and shrimp)

I made a really spicy chicken curry,and was wondering what to balance the heat in the meal with. Cucumber seemed a good candidate. Now, I could make a simple salad, but I had some de-veined shrimps in my freezer too. They are my little minions and of great use when I want to transform a vegetarian dish into a non-vegetarian one. Sans hassles.

1. Clean (and thaw completely if frozen, in microwave for a few minutes) shrimps. Rub turmeric and salt and shallow fry in cooking oil. Set aside.
2. In the same oil, add kalonji seeds or panch phoran, diced onions, dice potatoes. And then the cucumber (takes very little time to cook) Add dry roasted , ground cumin-coriander, home-made garam masala and 1/2 tsp home-made ghee for aroma.
3. Add ginger, slit green chilies and the shallow- fried shrimps. Serve with generous amount of cilantro.

Other converted vegetarian dishes in my kitchen include:

1. Mocha chingri (Banana flower with shrimp)
2. Chingri diye mulo ghonto(radish with shrimp)
3. Chorra chingri (Taro root with shrimp)
4. Lau chingri
5. Pui Chingri
6. Fulkopi diye chingri (Cauliflower with shrimp)
7. Aloo pepe Chingri (Potatoes and green papaya curry)

Bonus recipe: Green pumpkin with shrimp  (Chingri diye Kacha kumro/ চিংড়ি দিয়ে কাঁচা কুমড়ো )

You can make similar curry with kaacha kumro, kalonji seeds (kaalo jeere), green chilies and ginger paste.

Fish in Tomato Onion sauce

1. Like any other Bengali fish preparation, we'll begin by cleaning the fish, patting it dry and then rubbing salt and turmeric while we heat cooking oil in wok. (I prefer Olive oil for mild-tasting fish, though some may consider it a sacrilege to use that in a Bengali recipe. Go with what your heart says) Shallow fry the fish, set aside. (Use paper towels to drain excess oil if you want)
2. Thinly slice onions about 1 and a half medium sized ones should be good for 2 to 4 people(about 4-6 steaks of fish).
3. Quarter tomatoes, dice ginger, mince garlic(if you feel the fish has a smell you wouldn't like. Traditional Bengali seldom use garlic), slit about 2-3 green chilies  If you like to use dry roasted cumin-coriander powder, it is a good time to check/replenish your stock. I like to add Radhuni brand Fish Masala to this recipe too. (Sometimes, I vary by using a combination of ground cumin-fennel seeds-fenugreek seeds)
4. Fry the ingredients, until oil separates. Add a little salt. Add back the shallow fried fish steaks. 
5. Cook covered on low heat. Sprinkle with freshly chopped cilantro/coriander leaves. Enjoy with steamed rice.

Egg Biryani

1. Boil eggs in water. (on low heat, I discovered that hard boiled doesn't necessarily mean on high heat). I used 4 eggs for my required number of servings. Pour cold water, remove shells. Cut in half.
2. Finely slice onions. Fry in 1 -2 tsp ghee, with whole cardamom(4 green, 2 black), 1 cinnamon stick, 2 bay leaves torn in halves, about 4-5 cloves and peppercorns. Add your preferred ready-made biryani powder to the mix and a little salt.  You can add two slit green chilies here.
3. When the onions are about done, place the eggs, albumin side down and continue frying in  low heat. Turn once and remove the eggs. (Or else the eggs might break. Doesn't look good)
4. I use parboiled or pre-cooked rice . Add in installments while you stir well. 
5. When the rice is about cooked, add the eggs again. Sprinkle garam masala (preferably made at home) and cilantro leaves. 
6. Pair it with raita. I enjoyed it with mixed vegetables. You may also  prepare a meat dish to go with it.

Chhora diye Chingri

Chhora (also called Arbi in Hindi and Taro in English) was something I never fancied much as a child, except when made into a spicy dish with dry shrimp. You can get dry shrimp in most Asian stores; if it is too strong for you, you can try using fresh shrimp instead.

1. Microwave the taro bulbs in water. My mom pressure cooks them. You can now peel the hairy skin quite easily.
2. Dice them into edible pieces. You may add potatoes here, dice and microwave similarly to reduce cooking time, and to ensure uniform cooking. I skipped the potatoes this time.
3. Wash the dry shrimp in warm water. Drain well. If you are using fresh shrimp remove shells and devein them.
4. In a wok, add cooking oil, add sliced onions, crushed garlic, minced green chilis.
5. Add the shrimp first,cook for a while, then add the taro, salt and turmeric. (Red chili powder too if you prefer it really hot)
6. Cook covered till done. Add warm water if necessary. Tastes better if it's a bit gooey. 

You might also like simply stir-fried taro roots (Manjula's Kitchen)

Here's another way to cook dry shrimp with a vegetable:

Chalkumro diye Chingri shutki (Ash gourd/Moqua with dry shimp)

1. Peel the moqua and cut into half first. Then slice it along the length. Dice into thin slices now. Wash in water, then drain in a colander and microwave for 3-5 mins.
2. In a wok, add oil, sliced onions, crushed garlic, minced green chilis , red chili powder, turmeric.
3. Wash the dry shrimp in water. Microwave them for about 3 mins and drain them. Add to the wok.
4. Add the moqua at last, and then sprinkle salt to taste. Allow time to cook. Dry shrimp is best simmered to bring out the flavor. Needs no additional water .

You can use Ilish shutki too. I make it at home by salting the fish for 1-3 months in an airtight container. You may also use chayote instead of moqua.