Patishapta 'Paṭishapta' (with Kheer)

It is cold here now. Cold wind blows throughout the day time and night’s temperature has come down to 6 degrees. Every now and then I’m tempted to have black coffee. S is moving around with a jacket and a muffler (actually you do not need that). He tried the same with the little one but my daughter’s reply was ‘papa baal kharab ho jata hai’. I just laughed.

My memories of winter are related with food too. A season, when you can actually have some rich foods!!!

There were certain dishes that Ma used to make especially in the winter. Now winter was the time when one used to get those fresh green peas, date palm jaggery/ nolen gur, notun alu/potatoes etc. Thus, karaishuntir kochuri/green peas kachori or patishapta were made frequently at that time. For me, I make both the dishes anytime of the year depending on my time availability.

Last Saturday was Patishapta day. There was enough time, the weather was perfect. In Bangla we call it Patishapta Pithe/ Paṭi shapta, a fried pancake, made of rice flour or all purpose flour and semolina and stuffed with coconut or kheer.

I have used only all purpose flour and semolina to make the pan cakes and stuffed with kheer. In Bengali, kheer is the process of thickening milk in low flame, reducing its volume to less than half and sweetening it. 

Ingredients for the pancake

The ratio of semolina, all purpose flour and sugar is 1:1: ½. I took approximately 100gs of semolina and 100gs of flour. That made the dry ingredients of 250 gs of which I made 12 medium sized pancakes.

1 cup semolina

1 cup all purpose flour

½ cup sugar (50g approximately)

2 cups of milk (warm)

Pinch of salt

Oil to fry

Ingredients for the khowa/kheer

1 ½ litre full cream milk

1 cup sugar

2-3 cardamom pods (optional)

Preparation

Pan cake

In a big bowl mix all the dry ingredients one by one. Add milk slowly to make the batter. This batter should not be too dry or runny. The consistency is same as of a dosa batter or any other pancake. You can add some water if you want. While adding the milk continuously mix semolina and the flour with your hand to avoid any lump formation. Keep it aside for 30 minutes.

Kheer

Boil the full cream milk. Once it is boiled put it into simmer and let the volume reduce to half. You will have to stir now continuously. Add sugar and the cardamom pods and stir. After the sugar melts, remove it from heat.

Method  

Brush a non stick pan with oil.

Pour a ladleful of batter into the pan and spread it with the help of the ladle to evenly distribute the batter in a circle. This should be done very quickly before the batter sets.

Flip over after one side is cooked.

When the other side is done remove it on a plate and stuff khoya lengthwise and fold it.

Garnish with cherry or condensed milk or both. You can also thicken and sweeten milk and spread over patishapta. I do not do that. I have just garnished with cherry. You can also go without garnishing.

Patishapta, traditionally is made of fresh coconut. For making the coconut stuffing take fresh grated coconut and mix it with sugar. Put it on heat and mix. The flame should be on low during the whole process. After the sugar melts add some condensed milk or thicken milk. Stir continuously still the mix is sticky. Now remove it from heat. The mix should not be very dry as when it will cool down it will become hard.

Mocha ghanto/Banana Blossom Dish

Few days back, while doing my weekly sabji bazaar I noticed these Banana Blossoms. There were only two left.  Banana Blossom is not that uncommon here, but those available, are the unsweetened variety, which has a bitter taste. These blossoms are comparatively small in size and look similar to the one we find in Kolkata. To be sure, I asked the mausi who was selling and there was a positive reply. Without thinking twice, I grabbed the two.

The mausi who was selling is from Ranaghat, a place in 24 Parganas, in West Bengal. There are few the vendors in this market who belong to this place and because of them sometimes I can give a change to my taste buds with some of the typical vegetables of Bengal, like, Kalmi Shak/ water spinach, Dhenki shak/ edible fern, kankrol/teasel gourd etc. Along with the native vegetables, the other incentive that I get is to speak and listen to a different variety of Bangla. These are the reasons why I come to buy vegetables from this market. This place is not very far from where I stay and the market is not a sophisticated one. I love to buy from such markets- may be developed this liking while accompanying Baba to bazaar in school days.

Those were not the supermarket days. The vendors used to sit with their stock in the ground. There was an effective communication between the buyer and the seller- from bargaining to personal info. Then there was an option of choosing your pick from several vendors to several varieties- the best option for a finicky buyer like my Baba. The truth is this that even I’m choosy and so I love to move through the whole market before picking up anything. This takes more time than usual but I enjoy. S helps me in this work by doing the babysitting throughout.

To make a Banana Blossom dish you should have enough time in your hand. A lot of time and effort are needed for the preparation of the dish. As it was a Saturday, so my job was easy. I took one of the blossoms, cut it and soaked overnight in turmeric water. The next day I prepared this dish Mocha ghanto.

Ingredients

1 blossom of 800 grams

2 potatoes Medium

1 Tomato small

2 green chilly

1 inch fresh ginger

2 tbsp Turmeric

1 tbsp jeera powder

1 tbsp dhaniya powder

1 tbsp red chily powder

Salt as per taste

Sugar as per taste

2 tbsp Mustard oil

Jeera/Whole Cumin seeds and Bayleaves/ tejpatta for seasoning

½ tsp garam masala

Few drops of ghee

Cleaning the Blossom:

Cleaning the blossom is time consuming. Moreover, you need to know which parts you need to discard. Coat your hands with oil. Open the petals one by one. Each petals have a group of long yellow coloured flowers attached with it. Remove those flowers from the petals and keep on a plate. Discard the used petal. The size of the petal decreases gradually. Repeat this process until you finish with all the dark coloured petals and reach the pale yellow coloured moist inner petals. Chop these petals.

Now, for the small bunch of flowers: there is a long thin stalk (the stamina) with a black dot below and a feathery papery layer. Remove those from each flower. Chop the remaining flower.

Method

Mix 1 tbsp of turmeric in normal water. Soak the chopped blossom in the water for atleast 8 to 10 hrs. This is to get rid of the bitter taste.

After 8 to 10 hrs remove chopped blossom from the turmeric water. Discard the water. In a pressure cooker add the soaked blossom with 1 and ½ cup of fresh water and ½ tbsp turmeric and salt. After 5-6 whistles remove from heat.

Make paste of the ginger.

Next cut the potatoes into medium cubes.

Chop tomatoes. Slit the green chilies

Heat oil in a deep-bottomed pan. When the oil is hot enough fry the potatoes with ½ tsp of salt and turmeric. When the potatoes turn golden remove them from the oil.

Open the pressure cooker, add all the spices- ginger paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chily powder, turmeric powder, salt and sugar one by one and mash the steamed blossom finely.

Now in the same oil put ½ tsp of Whole Cumin seeds and Bay leaves. Add the tomatoes and fry till it is soft. Add the mashed blossom and cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the potatoes and continue to cook again.

After 10 minutes the water should dry. Check whether the potatoes are cooked or not.

Add ½ tsp of garam masala and Ghee and switch off the flame.

Serve with steamed rice.

Simple Cabbage recipe/ Bandhakopi-r Chenchki

While in hostel, I promised of not having certain things for at least 5 years. Cabbage topped the list. Cabbage was a regular candidate in atleast one of our meal menu. Anyway, though I try to avoid cabbage now, still I cannot totally escape from it.

In my childhood days, cabbage was not available throughout the year. This was true for other vegetables also. So, there was a clear cut distinction between summer vegetables like parwal/stripe gourd, raw Jackfruit and winter vegetables like cabbage and cauliflower. The taste of cabbage and cauliflower of those days makes me nostalgic now. Throughout my life I’ll really remember the taste of cabbage with the green peas- a  dish with very simple ingredients, little hot and little sweet- ahhh will never taste that heavenly dish made by dida again!

Dida, my father’s mother, and the best cook I had ever seen. She knew simple yet innovative and tasty recipes, different variations of cooking of the same vegetable.

Few days back, there was a post in FB, wherein somebody wanted to know about some different recipes of cabbage other than the usual ones. Within an hour, the post was flooded with answers- from Cabbage Manchurian to South Indian style cabbage- but there was one mention about Bandhakopir Chenchki. Thanks to that post. It reminded me the taste of chenchki that dida used to prepare and after a long time, actually for the first time, I prepared it.

Chenchki, as called in Bangla, is usually a dish where you cut any vegetable either raddish or cabbage or potato into small pieces, season with paanchporon, or kalo jeera and cooked without any ground spices, only with salt and turmeric.

Here’s the full preparation.

Ingredients

500 grams cabbage

2 potatoes Medium

2 Tbsp Mustard oil

2 green chilly

Salt as per taste

Turmeric

Sugar as per taste

Red chili powder (optional)

Kalojeera for seasoning

Preparation 

Wash the cabbage and the potatoes.

Cut the cabbage into very small pieces. I then wash it again and put into hot boiled water with a pinch of salt. This is for the smell and also a precaution against the insecticides.

Next cut the potatoes into medium cubes.

Cooking  

Heat oil in a deep-bottomed pan. When the oil is hot enough fry the potatoes with ½ tsp of salt and turmeric. When the potatoes turn golden remove them from the oil.

Now in the same oil put ½ tsp of kalojeera and slit green chillies. You’ll sense the sweet aroma of this combination. Do not let the chilies burn. Now add the cabbage. Add salt and turmeric as per taste and cover and cook in medium flame.

After 10 minutes, add the potatoes. At this point add red chili powder and sugar as per taste. Cover and cook.

Check if the dish needs water or not. Usually you do not need to add extra water for cabbage; but if you see that the cabbage or the potatoes are not cooked yet, and there’s a little water left, then you can sprinkle water from the top. Continue to cook again.

Remove it from heat when both cabbage and potatoes are cooked and water had dried up.

Serve with steamed rice.

Spinach with minced chicken/Chicken Keema Palak

There is a saying in Bangla ‘je randhe she chool o bandhe’ lit meaning the one who cooks braids her hair as well. Yes, you can do more than one thing if you want to; but for an extreme lazy like me? I’m lazy, I’m moody. Most of my plans are inside my head for long time, I can imagine them, I can even view them virtually but to bring them in reality? I take a lot of time- really.

But, why am I saying all these things? To give you more information about me!!! No! Whoever has seen my recipes till date has noticed that they are all very simple in nature, with few ingredients and very less time to spend in the kitchen. 

This keema recipe is one such where you really do not have to do much but get a simple yet different and tasty dish within 15-20 minutes. This was what I made for Friday dinner. Chicken keema palak with wheat pan cake.

blanched spinach and minced chicken

Ingredients

Spinach/Palak 1 bunch
Minced chicken/ Chicken Keema 200gms
1 big onion finely chopped
1 small tomato finely chopped
Green chilies (as per your tolerance)
Ginger paste 1 table spoon
Garlic Paste 1 table spoon
Salt as per taste
Turmeric powder ½ table spoon
Cumin Powder 1 table spoon
Coriander Powder 1 table spoon
Red chili Powder ½ table spoon (optional)
Oil 2 table spoon
Cumin seeds
Blackpepper
Cardamom pods
 Bayleaves
Sugar a pinch
Garam masala
Ghee (optional)

Preparation

Wash the keema/minced chicken
Blanch the Spinach
In a bowl take the Ginger paste, Cumin Powder, Coriander Powder, Red chili Powder, salt and turmeric powder and mix with water to make a smooth paste

Method

                                                          

Heat a pan with 2 table spoon of oil.
Temper with Cumin seeds, Blackpepper, cardamom pods and Bayleaves
Add the chopped onion and tomato.
Fry for 2 minutes in low flame
Add garlic paste to the mix and again fry
To it add the mixed spice
Add a pinch of sugar
Add 1 bowl of water and let the spices to cook
When you see oil coming out from the spices add the minced chicken

minced chicken cooked in the spices

Cover and cook it in a low flame
After 5-7 minutes open the lid and check and add the blanched spinach
Again cover and cook for 5 minutes
Open the lid and check whether the chicken is cooked or not.
If it is cooked then increase the flame and let the water dry
Now check for the salt. If needed add as per taste
Add ½ table spoon of garam masala and a few drops of ghee.
The dish is ready. Garnish as you wish with onion rings, tomatoes or whatever. I used boiled eggs to garnish.
Serve with roti/paratha/wheat pancake.

Nutrition Facts

Spinach with minced chicken

Servings Per Recipe 4

Amount Per Serving

Calories 192 Calories from Fat 91

% Daily Value

Total Fat 10.3 g                 16%

Saturated Fat 1.8 g           9%

Trans Fat 0 g

Cholesterol 131 mg         44%

Sodium 114.9 mg              5%

Total Carbs 14.4 g             5%

Dietary Fiber 4.3 g            17%

Sugars: 3.8 g

Protein: 13.3

NUTRITION FACTS INFORMATION

Amounts per 1 serving (232.3 g)

Calorie Information Amounts Per Selected Serving %CR* %DV** Calories 192 (803 kJ) 10%    From Carbohydrate 52 (216 kJ) 27%    From Fat 91 (379 kJ) 47%    From Protein 49 (207 kJ) 26%    From Alcohol 0 (0 kJ) 0% Carbohydrates Amounts Per Selected Serving %DV** Total Carbohydrate 14.4 g 5%    Dietary Fiber 4.3 g 17%    Starch 0 g    Sugars 3.8 g Fats & Fatty Acids Amounts Per Selected Serving %DV** Total Fat 10.3 g 16%    Saturated Fat 1.8 g 9%    Monounsaturated Fat 6 g    Polyunsaturated Fat 1.6 g    Total trans fatty acids 0 g    Total trans-monoenoic fatty acids 0 g    Total trans-polyenoic fatty acids 0 g    Total Omega-3 fatty acids 213.4 mg    Total Omega-6 fatty acids 1351.9 mg    Total Omega-9 fatty acids 5796.9 mg Sterols Amounts Per Selected Serving %DV** Cholesterol 131 mg 44% Phytosterols 33.8 mg

Protein & Amino Acids Amounts Per Selected Serving %DV** Protein 13.3 g 27% Vitamins Amounts Per Selected Serving %DV** Vitamin A 12877 IU 258% Vitamin C 93.8 mg 156% Vitamin D 0 IU 0% Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol) 3.1 mg 15% Vitamin K 420.4 mcg 526% Thiamin 0.2 mg 12% Riboflavin 0.7 mg 42% Niacin 4.6 mg 23% Vitamin B6 0.6 mg 28% Folate 353.9 mcg 88% Vitamin B12 5.7 mcg 95% Pantothenic Acid 1.8 mg 18% Choline 24.7 mg Betaine 87.4 mg Minerals Amounts Per Selected Serving %DV** Calcium 139.8 mg 14% Iron 7.9 mg 44% Magnesium 104.9 mg 26% Phosphorus 190.1 mg 19% Potassium 876.2 mg 19% Sodium 114.9 mg 5% Zinc 2.5 mg 17% Copper 0.4 mg 18% Manganese 1.6 mg 81% Selenium 30.3 mg 43% Fluoride 1 mg Other Amounts Per Selected Serving %DV** Alcohol 0 g Water 191.6 g Ash 2.7 g Caffeine 0 mg Theobromine 0 mg