K's Dal-Gosht -- meat cooked with lentils

The last weekend we went visiting a friend whom we have known since donkey's years or whatever years that makes sure that you can sleep in late at their home while the kids are running amock.

Perfect place to sit with a book and a cup of chai

Now we visit them often, taking on a journey of 3hrs ever few months for their house is a haven where I can rest my weary soul and be jealous of other people. But somehow we have never made it during the summer months for one reason or the other. So this year before making any other plan we had set aside this weekend, right at the start of summer for a visit to K, M and M's home. They in turn had guaranteed a resort like retreat for relaxation.

Well, it was way above anything any resort could ever provide.

Other than the hours of adda and amazing good food that came one after another starting from luchi and ending in Thai taking a circuitous route through Ilish and Dal-Gosht in between, there was bird-watching right at their backyard.

Birds from glowing gold-finch to tiny hummingbirds, red cardinals to blue birds all flock their backyard. K and M have many bird feeders hung up and that is what attracts these tiny birds out of thin air. They clearly love all the bird watching and have different kinds of feeds depending on the birds' choice. The American Gold Finch apparently favor Thistle seeds. The hummingbirds prefer sugar water and love red colored feeders. The blue bird is omnivore and prefers insects in its diet. Pheww, picky they are.

I have never been with birds so close before unless we take into account my paternal grandparent's sprawling and old home where birds lived along with humans in a peaceful co-existence. Well by birds I mean mostly "House Sparrows".

They made their nests in the skylight---ghulghuli as we said, laid eggs and ate rice and fish curry off the dining table. It was not totally unnatural to find straws of hay in your charchari as the arduous male sparrow carried raw material to repair his nest. If it was not hay, it was twigs, or a piece of cane from the rocking chair. The male of the species were always flapping wings around the outer verandah appearing to be very busy in one home improvement project or the other.

The female sparrow lived a more relaxed life and I am sure took long naps because many a summer afternoon we would have to sweat out in the sticky heat unable to switch on the ceiling fan because a spoilt sparrow child had chosen that moment to fly across our bedroom in a game of tag. My Thama, who had otherwise accepted the birds as a legacy, would at times get exasperated with the mess they made and get one of those broomsticks with a long handle to shoo the birds away. She never threw away their nests or did anything that would permanently ban their return though. The birds therefore stayed in that house, being neither nurtured nor watched, but living a comfortable life and feasting on fish curry-rice.If I recall I harbored no special feeling towards them. Just like the cats who sat around our feet munching on fish head, or the crows on the banana tree who cawed so deep that it broke the silence of an otherwise sleepy afternoon, the sparrows belonged to that house as did we.

Now, after many years, I watched birds. By Choice. I took my tea and sat out there in the mornings watching those colorful birds, the sophisticated cousins of my once home's "house sparrow". But as is my norm, I did not take my camera along and was not able to capture good pics on the camera. Some of the bird pics are from K from another day.

The food T the K's home as I have said was gorgeous and the Dal-Gosht that K made on Sunday was something I have never had before. Goat meat cooked with chana dal to a softness that is downright sinful, it is a beautiful dish. K said he had followed the recipe from this youtube video. I watched the video and it was pretty simple to follow.

However we do not eat a lot of meat at our home and so I wasn't going to try out this recipe for a while. But it was so good that I thought some of you might be interested.

I therefore decided to post the recipe, roughly as K said which actually religiously follows the You Tube video except for the amount of Oil. Since K's goat meat had fatty pieces he let it cook in its own fat instead of adding too much oil. At least that is what he told me.

Wash and clean about 1.7-2lb(approx one and quarter kg) of goat meat.

Soak 1/2 Cup of Chana Dal in hot water for 2 hour

In a pressure cooker
add goat meat
1 cup warm water
2 tomatoes roughly chopped
1 cups of onion chopped in large chunks
6-8 fat cloves of garlic (half a head of garlic roughly)
1 tsp of Red Chili Powder
1 tsp of Cumin Powder
1/2 tsp of Cumin seeds
1/2 tsp of Turmeric Powder
Salt
Cook the meat for about 4-5 minutes at full pressure.

While the meat is cooking in a mortar ground
1 tsp whole black pepper
1"of whole peeled ginger

Also heat about 3 tbsp of oil and fry 1/2 cup of thinly sliced onion

Once the meat is done open the lid add
the chana dal
about 2 cups of warm water
the ground paste
Close lid and cook for 2 more minutes.
Don't cook too much else the dal will be mushed. Check to see the meat should be cooked by now.

Now do the tadka by adding to above the fried onion and the oil. Mix and let it cook for a couple more minutes. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves

Alu Potol diye Maacher Jhol -- a fish curry with veggies

As a kid growing up in India we ate seasonally. There was no other way. Cauliflower, Carrots, Green Peas and Beets only in Winter. For a short period, maybe November to late February. By March, the carrots in the haat were shriveled old things, the cauliflowers absent and nary a green pea could be found spilling the bean. 

The most that we missed once winter wrapped itself up in a Pashmina and traveled further North were the Tomatoes and green, leafy coriander. Ma, made bottles and bottles of Tomato ketchup which we hung on to until April or even May and after that dearly missed the maacher jhol with tomatoes and generous garnish of coriander which was a winter staple. Not a speck of green coriander leaf or a squishy red tomato could be found once summer set in. Later, even in the early nineties, the bunches of coriander that were sold post-Winter were sad, raggedy bunches that clearly wanted to join their sibling in a colder climate.

Summer always meant green vegetables with more water content and fruits brimming with juice. Jhinge or ridgegourd with raised thick skin, Pointed Gourd or Potol with its deep green stripes, and pale green Lau or BottleGourd were the standard. The tender potol in the early days of summer had a glamorous life. They were pounced upon to be made into stuffed dormas, fried to grace a cholar dal or steamed with coconut and mustard in a paturi. But as they say a life of  fame does not last forever.

As summer progressed it was the mango which stole the show while  potol and jhinge were forced to lead a sad backstage life featuring in every B-grade home cooked movie and being berated by home cooks. Just as the populace in the gangetic plains waited for the monsoon, for the summer to be over, they also craved for more color in their menu. For that though they had to wait. For Winter.

Thus there was a clear demarcation of Summer and Winter Menu with some overlap and rarities thrown in Spring when Drumsticks and copper colored baby neem leaves made a brief appearance.

Now as we all know it is not so. Six pack tomatoes, shiny and un-squishable lead a comfortable life all through out the year. Green, striped Potols stay put and no one's heart misses a beat on their first day, first show appearance. Here in the US though, the Indian grocer gets his Potol only in Summer. Good for me. I feel privileged to eat overpriced potol, a couple of times a year. The mundane is uplifted to the precious and I blog of alu potol diye maacher jhol which makes me go all mushy and tearful just like the tomato-dhone pata diye maacher jhol did with the first batch of deep red tomato.

Did you eat seasonally while growing up ? How did your menu change from summer solstice to winter ?

This alu -potol diye maacher jhol is a soupy, runny gravy of fish and vegetables. Suited best for hot summer afternoons it is a delight when mixed with rice and a squeeze of lime.
It is also my Ma-in-law's recipe as proffered by the husband. Unlike me, I think he hung around in the kitchen while his Mother cooked. He rattles off recipes without picking up a single phone to anywhere. And said that his Ma puts a little bit of onion in this jhol. Now,in my home a jhol will not have onion while a dalna might but this one does and it is from a Bengali home so you see when it comes to a dish there is nothing written in stone.


If you do not like Potol or do not get it you can make this same jhol with cauliflower and it will taste as good.

Alu Potol diye Maccher Jhol

Wash and clean fish pieces. The favored fish is Rui/Rohu. I have used fresh Tilapia. Rub with turmeric and salt. Keep aside for 20-30 minutes.

Chop 2-3 small potatoes in quarters and about 10 potol in halves. Before chopping the potol you need to scrape off its skin lightly and then peel of alternate strips. Heat some Oil and saute the potatoes and potol with turmeric powder and little salt, till golden. Remove and keep aside

Heat 2 -3 tbsp of Mustard Oil and shallow fry the fish till it is golden brown on both sides. Remove and keep aside.The health freaks can broil in the oven. It works.

Add a tbsp more oil to the pan. Once Oil is hot temper with
2 Green Cardamom
a 1" thin stick of cinnamon
roughly 1 tsp of PaanchPhoron(this time my PaanchPhoron had Radhuni instead of Mustard seeds)

Let the spices infuse the oil. To avoid the spices getting burnt I often switch off heat at this point and let the spices mingle in the oil.

Switch back the heat and to the oil now add 1 tbsp of minced onion and fry with half a tsp of sugar.

Once the onion has browned add 1 tomato finely chopped and 1 tbsp of fresh grated ginger. 

When the tomatoes are totally mushed up add a wet paste of
1 tbsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Kashmiri Mirch
Optional: 1/4 tsp of Kashmiri Mirch


Fry the masala with sprinkle of water for next 3-4 minutes till you see oil seeping from the edges. 
Add the potatoes and potol that you had fried and kept aside. Mix well with masala.
Next add water for the gravy. Since this dish has a lighter gravy I usually add about 3 cups of warm water. Add salt to taste.


Let the gravy simmer and come to a boil. Once the potatoes and potol are cooked add the fish pieces. Lower the heat and simmer for 4-5 more minutes.


Serve with rice and a slice of lime on the side.

Green Beans Bhorta -- paste or pâte

A few years back I did not know about a "Bhorta" with an "O".
The only kind I knew was "Bharta" with an "A" and that began and ended with "Baingan Bharta".

And then came LS's babysitter from Bangladesh and we kept hearing a lot of "Bhorta". However we didn't get to eat many except "Aloo Bhorta" which is almost like "Alu-Sheddho" and a "Alu-Sheem Bhorta" which again is almost like a sheem bhaate. LS's babysitter is not too interested in cooking and so that is that.

But at least now we were more aware and didn't say "Baingan" when someone said "Bhorta". Bhorta is a dish where veggies, fish or even meat are mashed and spiced. It is the signature of Bangladeshi Cuisine holding a place above any other food in their culinary culture. Amazingly, it has not trickled into mainstream Bengali food in neighboring India and most Bengalis from India are unaware of the myriad of bhortas that Bangladesh boasts of.

Then last year came the husband's sis, the sis-in-law, a very enterprising and good cook. And guess what, she befriended a neighbor who was from Bangladesh and a storehouse of all kind of "Bhorta". My sis-in-law did not waste time and honed her skills on numerous "Bhortas" and when she visited us last year, she brought along a tupperware full of greenish hued "Bean Bhorta".

not "Spring" Bean silly -- it is "String"

Now I am not too fond of "String Beans" or "French Beans" and usually avert my eyes and look the other way towards the mint and the coriander when I am confronted by them. But this was different. This was "Whoa" good. Very good in total un-beanly way. I mean if you are a green bean fan you might not like the idea of pulverizing the whole thing into bean debris but believe me even then you are going to like it.

My sis-in-law adds chingri bata or roughly ground shrimp to this. I wanted a veggie version and she suggested grated coconut. So I used the frozen grated coconut of course.

This is a rough recipe with the measures eyeballed. Go with your instinct. LS's babysitter said "Bhorta" should be green chili hot and so we added a good quantity of green chili. Frankly it was too hot for me. But the way you eat it , mixing a small portion of bhorta with white rice attenuates the heat and makes it pleasantly bearable.

In that sense, a little bhorta goes a long way.

Wash and chop French Beans in 2" length.

Heat Mustard Oil in a kadhai and fry 1 small onion thinly sliced.

Follow with 5-6 clove of garlic chopped and 4-5 hot Indian green chili.

Next add the beans, around 4 cups of the chopped ones. Add salt to taste.

Saute the beans for 4-5 minutes.Add little water, cover and cook it is soft and done.

Once it has cooled down put the contents of the kadhai(beans+everything else) in a blender jar and add about 1/4th cup of grated coconut. With a splash of water make a thick paste.

You need to dry up this paste now. 

So heat a teeny bit of Mustard Oil. Temper the oil with 1/2 tsp of Kalonji and 4 green chilies. Now add the west paste. Saute until you have dried up the excess water and the result is a moist paste.

Add some finely chopped fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with fluffed up white rice. To eat with your fingers, mix little dollops of paste with rice and enjoy.

The Non-Veg version

For the non--veg version, you have to get some small to medium sized shrimp. The frozen ones work best as you will be making a paste out of them shrimps.

Wash and clean shrimp(or just defrost). Then toss with little salt and pinch of turmeric powder.

Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the shrimp until it is soft and golden. When it has cooled down, put the shrimp in the blender along with the beans and make a paste.

To dry out the paste again follow the same step as earlier

Now there are two things I wanted to share with you.A couple of months back I had the privilege to chat with Scott Haas -- an author of several published books, a James Beard award winner and former NPR producer. The whole thing was courtesy a dear blog reader. It was a cozy chat--almost like an adda and it got morphed into an interview at TOI. You can read it here if you wish.

The second is , BS's summer vacation starts today and it goes on for 2 and half months. As a summer project for BS we decided to blog about the books she is going to read over the next two months. Every week she gets to pick 3-4 books of her choice while I pick 1 or 2 for her. Of these the ones that she really likes will be blogged about. Some books that LS likes might find its way there too. It is going to be a simple blog with no heavy review but just a way to list books she will read and hopefully love over summer. Also there will be some kid-friendly snacks that BS can make by herself. For this we have had great suggestions on Facebook and hopefully many of them will be done.

It will be nice to have you over there at Bong Mom's CookBook for Kids, with your suggestions and if your kid is starting summer vacation why don't you start a similar blog for them too ?