Eggplant/Brinjal and Capsicum goes hand in hand....I love both veggies and try to combine these two in many ways and it goes very well as a side dish with rice or roti for dinner. I tried adding some potato in this eggplant-capsicum curry. Without potato also, it tastes well. Everybody at home liked it, too. Even I make Baigan Bharta with bell pepper some time.

 


Eggplant/Baingan/Brinjal : 2 (medium)
Capsicum/simla mirch/bell pepper : 1 (chopped)
Potato : 1 or 2, (medium-cubed)
Onion : 1 (medium-chopped)
Ginger : 1 piece (1"), minced
Tomato : 1 (medium-chopped)
Green chilli : 1 or 2 chopped)
Cumin seeds(jeera) : 1/2 tsp.
Mustard seed : 1/2 tsp. 
Curry leaves : 5-6 nos.
Turmeric powder : 2 tsp.
Red Chilli Powder : 2 tsp.
Coriander powder : 2 tsp.
Salt to taste
Oil : 2 tblsp.
Fresh coriander leaves for garnishing

• Cut eggplant and bell peppers in medium size pieces. Fry eggplant in little oil until brown. Set aside.
• Heat oil in a pan, temper with cumin and mustard seeds, when the seeds begin to crackle, add curry leaves and green chillies, stir few times. Then add onions and saute until it is transparent. Add turmeric, chilli and coriander powder and add little water into the spices. Stir for few seconds.
• Then add chopped tomatoes, stir and allow to cook until tomatoes get soft and mushy. Add bell pepper, fried eggplant and potato. Add salt to taste and mix well. Add very little water(about 1/3 cup). Put a lid on the pan and allow the veggies to cook on a medium low heat.
• When veggies are cooked and water evaporates, mix well and remove from heat. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with roti/rice, anything of your choice.............
  

Teasle gourd or Kantola or spiny Gourd is available across most parts of India during monsoons. It has tiny spines all over its body and that is why it has got its name as “Spiny Gourd”. Some may know it as kekrol, kakrol, bhat korola, kartoli or some other names, but one cannot deny the health benefits of this vegetable. It belongs to the bitter gourd family but is not as bitter in taste even with the skin on. It keeps your stomach in good shape during the monsoons.



Kantola is a great health food as it is rich in proteins and iron and is low on calorie. It contains only 17cal/100g. It’s high in fiber and anti-oxidants and thus very useful for easy digestion. It keeps your stomach in good shape during the monsoons by reducing the infections caused and controlling constipation. The phytochemicals present in Kantola or teasle gourd help in promoting the health. The high phenolic content of Kantola makes it a very good antioxidant and promotes cleansing of the body. Carotenoids like Lutein present in this vegetable helps in prevention of various eye diseases, cardiovascular diseases and even cancers.



All plants of the Momordica or bitter gourd family are very effective in controlling diabetes. Hence, this vegetable helps in lowering blood sugar and controlling diabetes.  Since Kantola is mostly available during monsoons, it must be used regularly to keep seasonal cough, cold and other allergies away. It exhibits anti-allergen and analgesic properties that provide relief from cough and cold and also prevent it.   [Info. source : http://www.thehealthsite.com/fitness/health-benefits-of-kantola-bs815/]

In Bengal, Kakrol as we call it, is a beloved vegetable by all because it is very delicious in taste. There are many delicacies which are prepared with this vegetable. Today I'm sharing the simplest one. I'll share more in future. Today's recipe is called, " Kurkure Kalrol Bhaja" where kurkure means crispy and Bhaja means fried, so it is crispy fried teasel gourd with a tempering of poppy seed and dry red chilli, which gives it the awesome taste. Let's move on to the recipe....

You Need :
Kakrol/Kantola : 6-7 pcs.
Poppy seeds : 1 heaped tblsp.
Dry red Chilli(whole) : 1
Green Chilli : 2, slitted from middle
Besan/chickpea flour : 1 tblsp.
Turmeric powder : 1 tsp.Oil : 1-2 tblsp. (depends on the quantity of the vegetable)
Salt to taste



How To ::

• Wash the gourds, well. Do not scrape out the skin. First cut into thin slices in circular shape and then cut from the middle. Try to cut as thin as possible to make it crispy. 
• Heat 1 tblsp. oil in a pan, temper with dry red chilli. When red chilli turns dark, add the poppy seeds, wait for a few seconds. When they start to crackle and turns a shade darker, add the sliced teasel gourd slices. 
• Add a pinch of salt and turmeric powder. Lower the flame to medium and saute the vegetable. Cover with lid and let it cook, stir time to time. It doesn't take much time.
• When vegetables are cooked, take the lid off, add 1/2 tblsp. more oil and increase the flame. Keep stirring. The veges will start to turn brown and crunchy. Add chickpea flour, all your excess oil will be absorbed and veges will also turn crispy and crunchy. 
• Keep stirring them till you feel it is done. 
• It tastes yummy with rice and dal(lentil) combo. 

Try it !!! Let me know !!! 

This is the 500th post on my blog and it has to be special something. wow, what a milestone., I am feeling really happy that I could share 500 recipes on this blog. And wish to continue and reach to another milestone sometime soon. Thanks for all the support and love from all of my visitors, readers and blogger friends who were always by my side showing their support someway or other.


       So, today's recipe is a baking recipe as I love to bake. I love tarts and I make quite often at home but this time I have baked with Plums, a not so common fruit in India but nowadays readily available in all the supermarkets.

      
Plums, also known as Stone fruits, are juicy and delicious fruits that belong to the genus Prunus of the Rosaceae family which also includes peaches, apricots, and nectarines. They exist in diverse colors and shapes with over 2000 different varieties. Plums contain an assortment of healthy components, vitamins and minerals. They have no saturated fats and an excellent source of vitamins such as vitamin A, C, folate and vitamin K.  They are also a good source of vitamin B1(thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B-6 and vitamin E. The minerals present in them include potassium, fluoride, phosphorous, magnesium, iron, calcium and zinc. They also supply dietary fiber and offer very low calories without any harmful fats. In Short, Plums are beneficial for

• Maintaining healthy skin
• Beneficial during pregnancy 
• Effective in treating digestive disorders
• Boosts immunity, heart health and bone health
• Improves sleeps, concentration and appetite
• Helps treat obesity and diabetes
• Prevents Cancer

This tart recipe I found in a baking book and was really easy-to-make and taste delicious with a up of coffee or tea.

You Need : {Makes 12-15 servings}
For Pastry :
All-purpose Flour(APF) : 1 and 1/4 cup
Sugar : 1/3 cup(powdered)
Baking Powder : 11/4 tsp.
Butter : 75 gms./1/2 cup
Egg : 1, slightly beaten

For Filling :
Butter/margarine : 3 tblsp.
Sugar :1/2 cup, powdered
Ricotta Cheese/Paneer : 1 cup
Cornstarch : 1 tblsp.
Egg : 1
Milk : 2 tblsp.
Lemon extract : 1 tsp.
Plum : halved and pitted(deseeded)
Almonds(whole) : 12-15

For Topping :
Butter : 2 tblsp.(melted)
Sugar(powdered) : 2 tblsp.
Cinnamon(ground) : 1/4 tsp.
Blanched almonds : 1/3 cup



How To :

• Preperation :: 1) Soak Almonds in hot water for about 1/2 an hour. Then you can easily peel out the skin of it. 2) Cut Plums into halves, take out the seeds and keep aside.

• To make pastry :: In a medium bowl, blend flour, baking powder and sugar. Add butter in it and mix with flour mixture till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat the egg slightly and add in the flour crumbs and toss until mixture binds together and form a dough. Pat or press dough into an ungreased tart pan(dough is enough for a 7" tart pan). Prick pastry with tines of a fork. Preheat your oven to 180 degree C and bake for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool. 
• To make filling :: In a medium bowl, beat butter or margarine and sugar until creamy. Beat in cornstarch and milk. add ricotta cheese/paneer, egg and lemon extract. Here I have used Paneer instead of ricotta cheese. Just crumble the paneer and add in the bowl. Beat until blended. When baked pastry is cool, Spread filling over it. Arrange plums, skin-side down, in a floral pattern over the filling. You can arrange any way you want. Then place a whole almond over each plums. Slice rest of the almonds in thin slices. in preheated oven (in 180 degree C, bake the tart for 30 minutes or till browned. 
• To make topping ::  Remove the tart from oven, drizzle butter over plums. In a small bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon and sliced almonds. Sprinkle over the plums.

  Serve with a cup of Coffee or tea and enjoy the deliciousness 

Sending this Plum tart  to Kolkata Food Bloggers' ongoing event, "Summer Fruit" 

    Summer being pick right now around me, I am always feeling thirsty and always looking for something cool. During summer, I don't feel like eating anything, but just to drink something cool. Litchi being my one of the favorite fruit in summer, I always bring a big bunch whenever I go for shopping, even my kids love them. After plucking and eating them from the branches, I decided to make some popsicle. To add some color to my popsicle, I decided to make them bi-color, by including papaya in my popsicle. Both the fruits are very healthy and tasty and a must have during summer. Now let's see how you can make this Litchi n papaya popsicle in no time.
       You can make popsicle from any fruit juice during summer season, specially which fruit your kid don't like, make it in popsicle form and they'll love it. 


Ingredients : (Yields 7-8 popsicles)
Litchi : 10-12, peeled and de-seeded
Papaya : 1, small, peeled, de-seeded and cubed
Sugar : 2-3 tblsp.
Lemon juice : 2 tsp.
also Need a popsicle mold

How To :

• First, take cubed papaya, 1 and 1/2 tblsp. sugar and 1 tsp. lemon juice in a blender and blend till smooth without adding any water. when done, remove in a bowl and mix a little water (~1/2 cup) into it just to thin up the papaya pulp.
• Next, wash the same blender and add litchi pieces in there. Add 1/2 to 1 tblsp. sugar and 1 tsp. lemon juice in it and adding a little amount of water, blend till smooth. For Litchi, you have to strain the juice. Collect the juice and keep aside. You can liquidise the juice a bit, if you want.
• How to prepare the popsicle mould :: Take your popsicle mould, first add the Litchi juice upto 1/2 of the mould and put the mould into freezer for 1/2 an hour to 1 hour till the litchi juice sets a bit. Then pour the papaya juice over the litchi juice and put the popsicle stick over it and put in the freezer to set it completely.It may take 6 to 8 hours to set completely.

Sending this summer treat to Kolkata Food Bloggers' ongoing event," Summer Fruit" .

         The nutritional  value of Bottle Gourd is known to us all. The fruit is a store-house of Vitamin C, Thiamin, Niacin (vitamin B-3), vitamin B-5, vitamin B-6 and many other nutrients. It also contains minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, potassium, sodium, manganese and magnesium. Bottle gourd is one of the lowest calorie vegetables and contains 95% water. Therefore, it  keeps your body cool in summer. Bottle gourd tender leaves and stems are also edible and contain higher concentrations of vitamins and minerals than its fruit.

           Because of the richness in terms of vitamins and minerals, in Bengali Cuisine, we have recipes for every part of the plant - fruit, the green part of the plant - leaves and tender stems and with skin of the fruit, too. I have shared many recipes with the fruit or bottle gourd and even two recipes with the skin of the bottle gourd(check below). But never shared any recipe with the bottle gourd greens.
          So today is the day when I will share a delicacy with bottle gourd greens, i.e., leaves and tender stems. This dish is called " Lau Shaker Chorhori". The word ‘ Chorchori’ in Bengali means almost fried or dry vegetable dish made with just a tempering and minimal spice added. We, Bengalis  make Chorchoris from all all the vegetables like ‘Kumro chorchori’(Pumpkin fry) , Aloo chochori (Potato fry) or ‘Dharos chorchori’(Lady’s finger fry) and many more but sometimes prawn or tiny fish is added to enhance the taste.

            In Lau Shaker Chorchori, few selective vegetables goes into this with bottle gourd leaves and tender stems and a little mustard and poppy seed paste added at the end of the dish, to make this dish taste finger-licking good with hot rice. If you are non-vegetarian, try adding medium or small sized prawns into this dish. You can make this dish without prawns too.

You Need :
Bottle gourd leaves and stems : 2 stems with leaves, chopped
Prawns(medium) : 9-10
Potato : 2, medium, cubed
Pumpkin : few, medium sized cubes
Pointed gourd/patol : 1/2 cup, cut into circles
PanchPhoton(Bengali five-spice mix) : 1 tsp. [mix fennel seed, mustard seed, cumin seed, black cumin seed and fenugreek seed-mix into equal quantity and USE]
Dry red Chilli : 1, whole
Turmeric powder : 1-2 tsp.
Green chilli : 2-3, slitted
Mustard  seed : 1 tsp.
Poppy seed : 2 tsp.
Sugar : 1 tsp.
Salt to taste
Oil(preferably mustard oil) : 1 tblsp.(oil for frying prawns ) + 1 tsp. (for cooking)

How To :

• Preperation : Cut bottle gourd stems into 2 inch long pieces, and chop the leaves into big pieces. Separate the stems and leaves as we are going to add them in different times in the dish. Also because stem needs more time to cook than leaves. Wash carefully in a big bowl of water.
• Cube all the other vegetables. Make a smooth paste of mustard and poppy seed, adding a pinch of salt in there. Keep aside. Smear little salt and turmeric powder over prawns and keep them marinated for at least 15-30 minutes.
• Cooking : Heat 1 tblsp. oil in a pan, fry the prawns in medium heat on both sides till they turn slightly brown. Remove and keep aside. If you're not using prawns, skip this step.
• In the same oil, all 1 tsp. oil and heat again(if you are using mustard oil, you have to wait till smoke comes out from the oil). Temper with dry red chilli and 1 tsp. panchPhoron, when seeds crackle, add potato, patol(pointed gourd), pumpkin cubes and bottle gourd stems. Saute adding little salt for about 2-3 minutes. Then add turmeric powder and slitted green chillies at least 2 or more if you want. Add fried prawns also at this moment.
• Saute everything together in medium flame for another 2 minutes. Now add another 1 cup of water to cook the vegetables. Cover with a lid and let them cook. After 4-5 minutes, when there is little water left, add leaves and mustard-poppy seed paste. Mix the paste well with everything. Add sugar and salt to taste. 
• When all the water eveporates and veggies are cooked, remove from heat. Serve with warm freshly made rice and enjoy the deliciousness.................
• Try it to believe me. :)

    Chicken Tikka or kebab is one of the famous starter or appetizer in any Indian restaurant or parties. There are quite a few varieties which are equally popular, like Malai tikka, Hariyali tikka, Reshmi kebab etc. My whole family are very fond of these kebabs , so I often make these kebabs at home on special occasions or on demand by kids. I posted Chicken Malai Tikka already but never posted Hariyali Chicken Tikka, so thought to post the recipe today.
       In Hindi, Hariyali means green and in this recipe small chicken breast pieces are coated with fresh mint and coriander leaves paste along with some other spices and grilled on fire for that smoky flavour. The mint and coriander paste gives a beautiful green color and nice flavour to the grilled chicken. Just love them with green chutney and some salad by the side.


  There are many ways you can make soft and moist Chicken tikkas at home. You can cook the chicken  in oven and then keep under grill for 5-10 minutes to get the grilling effect. Chicken gets cooked well and stay moist that way. Second option, you can grill the marinated chicken tikkas on a grill pan directly. Third option, You can also make tikkas in Air Fryer too. Chicken cooks faster and needs less oil but I found that Chicken doesn't stay much moist when cooked in Air Fryer. Therefore, I love to prepare my chicken tikkas in Oven first and then I keep them under grill option for 5 minutes on both sides.

You Need :
Chicken breast or boneless chicken pieces : 500 gms.

For marination :
Ginger-garlic paste : 2 tblsp.
Lemon juice : 1 tsp.
Thick yogurt/curd : 2 tblsp.
Full-fat Cream : 1 tblsp.(optional)
Salt to taste
Oil : 2 tsp.(for marination)+2 tblsp.(for cooking)
Turmeric powder : 1 tsp.
Cumin powder : 2 tsp.
Coriander powder : 3 tsp.
Kasuri Methi(dried fenugreek leaves) : 1 tblsp.
Mint leaves : 1 big cup(chopped)
Coriander leaves : 1 big cup(chopped)
Green chillies : 2-3, chopped(accord. to taste)

How To :

• Wash the chicken pieces, drain on colander to remove the excess water. Then take a big bowl, marinate the chicken pieces with oil, salt to taste, turmeric powder, cumin and coriander powder and ginger-garlic paste for for 15-20 minutes. Keep aside. Meantime, prepare the green paste. 
• In a mixer, take all mint and coriander leaves and green chillies, make a smooth paste using less water as possible. Keep aside. In the marinated chicken, add green paste, kasuri methi, curd and cream. mix everything well. Keep it marinated longest time possible, 6 hours to midnight if possible. Keep the marinated bowl of chicken in refrigerator if marinating for more than 1 hour. 
• After marination, on an oven-proof tray arrange the chicken pieces nicely coated with marination. Pre-heat oven on 190 degreeC. Drop little oil on every piece of chicken and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, flip the chicken pieces, drop little more oil and bake for another 30 minutes. By this time, chicken will be cooked but won't get that burnt look. To get the burnt look, turn the grill mode on in your microwave oven or grill. Grill for 5 minutes on each side of the chicken. 

Serve with freshly made green chutney and some thinly sliced cucumber, beet, carrot and onion slices. 

Green Chutney (Mint and Coriander Chutney)

You Need :

Coriander leaves : 1 cup
Mint leaves : 1/2 cup
Green Chillies : 2
Ginger : 1/2-1 inch piece
Salt to taste
Lemon juice : 1/2 tsp.
Vegetable or any white Oil : 1 tblsp.

How To :

• Wash and clean the coriander leaves and mint leaves and set aside. Take a blender/mixer and add in all the ingredients except the oil to the blender.
• Grind everything together without adding water. Blend till smooth. Add in the sunflower oil or vegetable oil. Taste for seasoning. Give it a mix.
• Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can use this chutney for sandwiches, pakoras or kebabs etc.