Its time for my yearly pilgrimage to Darjeeling. And I have quite a "To Eat" list that I have to eat up to. Though its just about two days that I'll be spending at the queen of hills (too short a time to satisfy my gastronomical urges) but there are a few MUST EATs on my list that I'll simply have to take care of.
1. Ham sandwich at Keventer's
2. Sausage and bacon at Keventer's
3. Cocktail sizzler and Turkey (its Christmas guys) at Glenary's
4. Roadside momo near the mall
5. Fried pork and thukpa at Dafey Munal Bar
6. Hot chocolate at Keventer's
Actually you know, given a choice and a suitably sized tummy, I could eat up everything on Keventer's menu. When I come back, I promise you a whole lot of Darjeeling food on this blog, till then, au revoir.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
BFC (Bhatpara Fried Chicken)
Well, Bhatpara happens to be the name of the place where I hail from and hence the name of this recipe :).
Ingredients:
Chicken 500 grams (boneless)
Egg - 2
Salt to taste
Black pepper powder - 2 teaspoon full
Ajina moto - a pinch
Vegetable oil - 4 tablespoon full
How to cook:
Wash the chicken and cut into very small pieces. Don't leave it to the seller as he is most likely to make a mess of it. Break the eggs in a bowl, mix salt and pepper powder and beat well. Add a pinch of ajina moto into the batter. Pour the chicken into the batter. Heat oil in a deep bottom pan or Kadhai. Take a handful of the chicken dipped in batter and put it into the oil. Fry till the chicken is cooked but make sure you don't over fry since that will make the chicken hard. Repeat process the rest of the chicken. Do not pour all of it all together into the pan as that might cause some of it to remain under cooked.
Drain the oil very well. You can even dry it off with tissue paper.
Your BFC is ready to be gorged on. This amazingly crisp fried chicken is best if had with gossip and coffee / vodka (as per your choice). Enjoy :P
Ingredients:
Chicken 500 grams (boneless)
Egg - 2
Salt to taste
Black pepper powder - 2 teaspoon full
Ajina moto - a pinch
Vegetable oil - 4 tablespoon full
How to cook:
Wash the chicken and cut into very small pieces. Don't leave it to the seller as he is most likely to make a mess of it. Break the eggs in a bowl, mix salt and pepper powder and beat well. Add a pinch of ajina moto into the batter. Pour the chicken into the batter. Heat oil in a deep bottom pan or Kadhai. Take a handful of the chicken dipped in batter and put it into the oil. Fry till the chicken is cooked but make sure you don't over fry since that will make the chicken hard. Repeat process the rest of the chicken. Do not pour all of it all together into the pan as that might cause some of it to remain under cooked.
Drain the oil very well. You can even dry it off with tissue paper.
Your BFC is ready to be gorged on. This amazingly crisp fried chicken is best if had with gossip and coffee / vodka (as per your choice). Enjoy :P
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Chicken Tettrazini
This recipe has been contributed by Arpita Dasgupta. Read it in her own words.
This is one of my favorite continental dish & trust me pallavi, I was dying to have this recipe from a long time. I tried all the Google search options & prepared the same BUT FAILED BADLY L L.
However my mashi act as my savior one day. She just came back from her Italy trip & guided me as it was a regular dish there. Try it out, am sure you’ll love this.
Main Ingredient
Chicken- medium size (1.5 kg to 1.8kg) boneless, 4 cups diced(medium size)
450-500 gms of button mushroom (sliced) (only chicken can also serve your purpose of having the dish, who don’t like mushrooms)
For the sauce
Butter: ½ cup (you can take slightly more than half cup even say 1/3rd cup)
½ cup Flour or Maida.
Chicken stock- 3 cups( remember to remove the fat after you cool the stock)
2/3rd cup fresh light cream (Easily available at all leading grocery shops)
½ cup celery (nicely chopped)
1/4th cup Onion ( preferably small onions for better taste- nicely chopped)
Black pepper as per your taste bud.
For Tetrazini
½ packet spaghetti sliced.
450-500 gms of button mushroom (sliced) [mentioned earlier]
4 tablespoon Butter
1/4th cup Sherry
1 cup parmesan, parmigiano-reggiano cheese (nicely grated)
Preparation
Boil the diced chicken till its tender with half teaspoon salt , 3 part of celery & ½ part of onion. Keep the stock in a separate bowl . Remove the fat from stock after it is cold.
Sauce preparation
Melt butter in low heat, fry with the rest celery, onions till transparent. Add the flour, salt, black pepper & stir until it is well blended. Add 3 cups of chicken stock slowly to the mixture stirring constantly to avoid any formation of lump. Bring to boiling point & boil it till the same is thick enough while stirring constantly. ( for around 2-3 mins) Add cream slowly to the mixture .
Tetrazzini
Break the spaghetti in one to two inch pieces & simmer till tender. Drain the excess water & make it dry completely. Sauté the mushrooms in butter. Season the sauce with sherry.
Take a big shallow baking dish & butter it mercilessly.
Put the spaghetti, pour half sauce over the same. Put in a layer of chicken then mushroom & pour the balance sauce over the same. Top with cheese & bake at 400 degrees until golden brown for about 35-40mins.
Serve with buttered dinner rolls n boiled vegetables( carrot, beans, peas, potato & broccoli, sprinkle some butter n salt for taste)
P.S – Please check your weight before & after having the dish J J J ENJOYYYYYYYY……….. J J Happy Cooking J
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Tangy tomato and egg curry (serves two)
Statutory warning:
This recipe is mine. My parents and aunt liked it is no guarantee against the eatability of it. So don't come looking for me in case it disappoints you. You might want to test it with your nagging neighbor. If she likes it, it sure is bad, and if she doesn't, know for sure that you have been successful.
Ingredients:
Tomatoes - four
Onions - four
Eggs - two (hard boiled)
Garlic - two cloves skinned and finely chopped
Tomato ketchup
Salt to taste
Sugar - half teaspoon full
Green chillies - two (finely chopped)
Vegetable oil - two tablespoon full
How to cook:
Chop the onions, tomatoes and green chillies. Heat oil in a kadhai and start frying the onions. Fry till golden brown. Add chopped garlic, cook for about a minute and add chopped chilies. Cook for a minute and add sugar and then salt. Add the copped tomatoes. Let the tomatoes simmer on a medium flame and cut the boiled eggs into four slices each. Add the egg slices and let it cook for two minutes. Don't feel heartbroken if the egg slices break - let them, it'll ad to the taste. Add two spoon fulls of tomato ketchup (preferably a hot and sweet flavored ketchup). Sprinkle some water into pan (I meant SPRINKLE not POUR), stir and check if tomatoes are tender; if they are, your tangy tomato and egg curry is ready to serve.
Eat it with chapatis or plain paratha. Enjoy
This recipe is mine. My parents and aunt liked it is no guarantee against the eatability of it. So don't come looking for me in case it disappoints you. You might want to test it with your nagging neighbor. If she likes it, it sure is bad, and if she doesn't, know for sure that you have been successful.
Ingredients:
Tomatoes - four
Onions - four
Eggs - two (hard boiled)
Garlic - two cloves skinned and finely chopped
Tomato ketchup
Salt to taste
Sugar - half teaspoon full
Green chillies - two (finely chopped)
Vegetable oil - two tablespoon full
How to cook:
Chop the onions, tomatoes and green chillies. Heat oil in a kadhai and start frying the onions. Fry till golden brown. Add chopped garlic, cook for about a minute and add chopped chilies. Cook for a minute and add sugar and then salt. Add the copped tomatoes. Let the tomatoes simmer on a medium flame and cut the boiled eggs into four slices each. Add the egg slices and let it cook for two minutes. Don't feel heartbroken if the egg slices break - let them, it'll ad to the taste. Add two spoon fulls of tomato ketchup (preferably a hot and sweet flavored ketchup). Sprinkle some water into pan (I meant SPRINKLE not POUR), stir and check if tomatoes are tender; if they are, your tangy tomato and egg curry is ready to serve.
Eat it with chapatis or plain paratha. Enjoy
The first step
Food has always had a special and rather sensitive place in my family. The men of the family who ate first because they went out for work in the morning never complained if the dal had no salt or the fish was over fried. If that makes you think they were epitomes of adaptability, let me correct you. They never complained because they wanted the women (the cooks) to taste the same bad food and never forgot to inquire after how great their lunch was on returning home.
Those were days when families were large and mutton was a Sunday delicacy. Refrigerators were as rare as white tigers and chicken was banned entry in kitchens. The first LPG oven was bought when I was about three, which means I still have a memory of the huge double burner clay oven on which the family's daily meals were cooked.
Being born to a mother who has a special talent for cooking, I had never had the misfortune of tasting bad food...well, almost. Disasters did happen at rare occasions when she accidentally broke the sunshine yolk of my poached egg. Now that was a real DISASTER by my standards and also by my mother's since those were the only times I made any fuss over food. And from that time onwards poached egg remains my comfort food, my staple. Which justifies its presence in the header of my blog :)
And so here I am, with my brand new food blog that promises you a heady mix of domestic recipes, restaurant details and soulful memories for munching. Here we go.
P.S: Due to some technical glitch "Priya" is shining bright as the talented author of this post...but that i am modest, i unveil the truth... its "Byango Me" and not Simply "Me". :)
Those were days when families were large and mutton was a Sunday delicacy. Refrigerators were as rare as white tigers and chicken was banned entry in kitchens. The first LPG oven was bought when I was about three, which means I still have a memory of the huge double burner clay oven on which the family's daily meals were cooked.
Being born to a mother who has a special talent for cooking, I had never had the misfortune of tasting bad food...well, almost. Disasters did happen at rare occasions when she accidentally broke the sunshine yolk of my poached egg. Now that was a real DISASTER by my standards and also by my mother's since those were the only times I made any fuss over food. And from that time onwards poached egg remains my comfort food, my staple. Which justifies its presence in the header of my blog :)
And so here I am, with my brand new food blog that promises you a heady mix of domestic recipes, restaurant details and soulful memories for munching. Here we go.
P.S: Due to some technical glitch "Priya" is shining bright as the talented author of this post...but that i am modest, i unveil the truth... its "Byango Me" and not Simply "Me". :)
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