Amitabha's Kitchen Chronicles

Ingredients: 1. Bhetki rectangular cubes. In case you dont get Bhetki, you can use Basa or Salmon also. The typical size of the cubes should be 3"x1.5"x0.5" (LBH). You can alter based on what you get. 2. Banana Leaf 3. The marinade: a. Coconut b. Poppy Seeds c. Mustard Seeds d. Green Chillies e. Curd (preferably hung) f. Turmeric g. Mustard Oil h. Salt to taste Process: 1. Soak the mustard & poppy seeds in a bowl along with 1 or 2 green chillies broken into half. After soaking for about 40 mins, blend it along with the chilly, into a coarse paste. Add the coconut pieces midway into the blender. Add a bit of water to facilitate the blending. 2. Meanwhile, clean the fish. Smear the fishes with the juice of a lemon and salt. Keep it for about 20-25 mins. 3. In a bowl, take the mustard-Poppy-Coconut paste, add salt, a pinch of turmeric, a tbsp of mustard oil, and 2 tbsp hung curd. Whisk it with a spoon into a nice thick mix. 4. Take the banana leaf pi...

During my various meals at some of the exotic Bengali eateries as well as during conversations revolving around food, I used to often come across the mention of Chicken Dak Bungalow. Dak Bungalow, dak-house or dâk-bungalow was a government building in British India under Company Rule and the Raj. This dish has its origin in the way the chicken used to be cooked for the Sahibs with the limited resources and ingredients. The recipe I use is definitely not as simple as made in those bungalows :). I have made some changes and adaptations in the method and also added some processes learnt elsewhere. Readers may try this and let me know any feedback that you may have. Credit also goes to Poulami's food  blog Ingredients (serves 4-5 adults): Chicken : 800 gms - 1 kg (cut into medium size pieces) Potatoes: 4 / 5  medium size (a bit smaller size. I prefer using them whole) Egg: 4-5 (one for each) Onion: 2 large, sliced. Ginger: 2...

Ingredients: 500 gm Lau (bottle gourd) 1 cup shrimps 4 large green chillis, slit 1 tbsp Cumin seed 1 Bay leaf 1 red chilly 1 tsp Turmeric powder 1 tsp Chili powder Salt and Sugar as per taste Garnish with chopped Coriander Method: - Peel and cut the pumpkin in very thin strips (Bengali style). Shell, Devein, Clean the shrimps. Sprinkle salt and turmeric and mix. Saute the prawns and keep it aside. In a pan add oil and heat it for sometime, then add the cumin seed, red chilly & bayleaf, when they turn brown, add the gourd, green chili, turmeric powder, salt and sugar. After frying for about 5 min till the gourd soften, add the shrimps. Cover the pan and let it cook under a low flame turning it once in a while. Once the gourd is well done, sprinkle a little maida and garnish with coriander and let it be on the flame for about 2 mins, stirring it all the while. Serve.

Ingredients: 3 cups large prawns, Shelled, Deveined, Cleaned 6 dry red chilies 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 3 tsp cumin seeds 1large pod garlic 1tbsp mustard seeds 3 large onions 1tsp Chili powder Oil accordingly Salt as per taste Garnish with chopped Coriander Method: - Grind together the chilis, cumin seeds, garlic, mustard seeds and onions. To this ground paste add turmeric powder and mix. Smear the ground paste on prawns. Heat oil in a pan and add the prawn mix, then add water and bring to boil. Serve with rice.

Ingredient: 250 gm fish head 1 cup rice 2 onions, sliced lengthwise 2 green chili, slit into 2 5 cloves of garlic, sliced lengthwise 1/2 inch ginger, sliced lengthwise 1 tsp turmeric powder 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp chili powder whole garam masala: cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf 2 tomatoes, chopped finely oil accordingly 2 1/2 cups of water salt & sugar as per taste. Method: Heat oil in a deep pan, fry the fish and keep aside. In the same oil add whole garam masalas, onion, ginger, garlic and bay leaf. Then add the tomatoes and fry for 3 min. Add the rice, mix properly, then add turmeric powder, chili powder, cumin powder, salt & sugar and let it fry for some time. Then add the water to cook the rice at the same time add the fish pieces and garam masala and cover the pan till the rice is cooked.

Ingredient: 4 pieces of hilsa fish 1/2 cup mustard seed 1 tsp turmeric powder 8 green chili (slit into 4) 1 tsp onion seeds (kalo jeere) 1 onion (chopped finely) 1"ginger 4 garlic cloves 21/2 tsp curd (optional) (well-beaten) mustard oil 1 cup water salt Method: Wash & clean the fish, apply salt and turmeric powder, marinate for 30 mins. Soak the mustard seeds in water and Grind the mustard seeds, 4 green chilies and ginger-garlic into paste. I prefer using a little coconut alongwith the mustard as a paste. Mix the paste with curd and turmeric and salt. Heat oil in a deep pan, fry the fish, when it turns golden brown, keep aside. Add some more oil, add the onion seeds then the chopped onions and 2 slit green chilies, fry till the onions turn pink. Add the paste and fry for two minutes. Add water and let it boil for sometime, when you see the water boiling add in the fish and the rest slit green chilies. Let it the water dry under low heat and partially covered pan. Serve with ...

This is an old post and I recently realised that this was not the actual method that we follow. Thanks to The Knife , I refined the recipe and here it is. Ingredients: 6 pieces of rui or river carp, smeared in 1/2 a teaspoon turmeric powder, 1/2 teaspoon chilly powder + salt  Curd marinade - 100 g of curd + 1 teaspoon chilly powder + 1/2 teaspoon jeera (cumin) powder + 1/2 tea spoon sugar + 1/2 tea spoon salt + 1 tbsp besan (bengal gram flour) - whipped together in a mixer grinder or beaten (stirred) hard with a spoon Gravy base - 1 onion - grated, 1 tea spoon of ginger paste + 1 teaspoon whole cumin (sada jeera), dry red chillies + 2, bay leaves (tej pata) 4 cloves, 4 cinnamon,1 cardamom Garnish - a spoon of finely chopped coriander and 2 split green chillies, a tea spoon of whole garam masala (crushed / pounded) Method: Fish: Medium fry the fish Put the fish in a microwave cooking bowl and pour the curd marinade on it. Keep it for at least half an hour so that,...

1. Take baby potatoes. If you do not get baby potatoes, use medium / small potatoes. In case you are using the later, slit them partially, else for baby potatoes take the whole ones (with skin), and pressure cook them in salt water. It should not be boiled to perfection and keep it a little hard. Peel off the skin and take them in a bowl. Add a little turmeric powder and salt and mix. 2. Take onions and thinly slice them and keep aside. 3. Take one large tomato and chop them and keep aside. 4. Take a inch of ginger and 5-6 cloves of garlic and crush them with a pestle. 5. Chop fresh coriander leaves and keep aside for garnishing. 6. Take a fistful of green peas and blanch them (boil water and salt and once boiling, remove from fire and add the peas) 7. In a bowl, take the following spices - red chilli powder, garam masala powder (little cinnamon, cardamom, clove, nutmeg, mace: roasted and ground), turmeric powder, a little sugar, salt. Take 2 tbsp curd (plain yogurt) and mix all the in...