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Be deliriously happy when you are in love. Now love here is a reference to anything and everything in life from places, people, stories, things and most importantly food. The love of food which exists in every country, community, race and religion . The art of food runs deep within all of us all the way down to our stomach and in to our souls. Hence, the term soul food ? Here is a concoction I came up with on my own. I am sure there is a thorough recipe for this somewhere. But this is my version of “ Tok Begun”

INGREDIENTS :

  • Eggplants – 2 cups Diced
  • Tomato – 1 cup finely chopped
  • Tamarind – 1 tbs
  • Paanch Phoron – 1/8 tsp
  • Onion – 1 finely chopped
  • Garlic – 1 tbs
  • Dry Chillies – 2 tbs crushed
  • Turmeric –  1 tsp
  • Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
  • Cumin Powder –  1 tsp
  • Coriander Powder –  1 tsp
  • Sugar to taste
  • Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Grab a saucepan and warm up some oil. Sauté the onions and garlic till it softens and becomes slightly browned. Put in paanch phoron and fry it for 30 seconds.
  2. Add the spices- turmeric, red chilli powder, cumin and coriander powder. Stirring it for 30 seconds. Add the tomato and cover the lid till the tomatoes breaks down.
  3. Include the eggplants and the crushed chillies in to the saucepan covering the lid to let it soften up to better soak in all the spices.
  4. Put in the tamarind and cook the mix for a few minutes. Add salt and sugar to your taste.

 

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Kalo Jaam

 

So here we are back to making desserts again .. its always so comforting to make something sweet. I feel that it somehow sweetens my soul as I make it. I made “kaalo jaam” after such a long time. My inspiration for making this dessert is the sweetest person in the world – Kakon api. I first had this at her house.. and she was nice enough to send me the recipe as well. It also reminds me of the time when I went to Nipa apus house and made these on a whim. We had a real girls day in. All very good memories attached to this dessert. I miss you all and this is to reminisce our time together.

 

 INGREDIENTS:

  • Milk Powder – 4 cups
  • Self Raising Flour – 1 cup
  • Quart of whipping cream ( Thickened cream)
  • Oil for deep frying

INGREDIENTS FOR SUGAR SYRUP:

  • Sugar – 4 cups
  • Water – 5.5 cups

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. In a mixing bowl combine milk powder and flour .. make a well in the middle and add the thickened cream slowly while mixing everything together .. forming a dough.
  2. Shape the dough in to round balls first and then roll it sideways in your hands to form an oval sphere.
  3. To get your sugar syrup ready .. use a Rondeau pan. The more bigger the pan the better so that when you soak the fried dough in it .. there will be plenty of space for them to increase in size. Combine the water and the sugar and boil it till the sugar is completely dissolved.
  4. Fry the dough on a medium flame. Take your time to do this step as you want the dough to cook thoroughly.
  5. Once all of it is fried, lay all the fried dough in to the sugar syrup and boil for 5-10 minutes with the lid covered. Turnoff the stove and let it soak in to the sugar syrup until you are ready to serve it in to your serving dish.

 

 

 

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Finally I get to celebrate thanksgiving on American land. This year I chose to go with chicken rather than turkey .. Lot’s of chicken .. I got the recipes from my mom ( Chicken fry and Chicken roast ). Cham cham and lobongo lotika was an entire new venture for me. Inspired by Kakon Api .. I will be posting individual recipes later on. For now enjoy the gallery of my thanksgiving spread. Thanks to Maisun aunty for helping me so much in the kitchen .. without you I wouldn’t be able to pull this off all by myself. Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂

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Haven’t been able to post things at all from all the hustle and bustle going on for the last few weeks of my life. I have made mogoj shingara a few weeks ago. I started to think one day that this should be a recipe if it isn’t already because I have never had a mogoj (lamb brains) shingara before. To my surprise after making it … I asked my mom and Oni apu and they have had it before. What you know ? I didn’t follow any recipes for this. Just made it as I would make a normal shingara with potatoes and panch phoron. Sorry if anybody wants to taste these, you can order recipes from my album for me to make when and if I come back. 

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Mycookbook

Kacha Golla to celebrate Valentine’s day .. His favorite I never tasted it myself before which is why it was hard to determine the consistency I am looking for while making it. But after much struggles it turned out pretty ok… The process is simple but it is time consuming nevertheless. .. Ingredients : Mawa, Cream, Chana and Chini. Thanks to Oni apu for inspiring me …

For Recipe Visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2kyUoJdbg8&list=PLnazb0W7k49nLLZdKreS3v58-TpCYKrM2&index=29