Thursday, June 14, 2007

Panipuri -- a Web 2.0 Product

Here is a wonderful slide by Thakkar which won the Peoples Choice award at the World Best Presentation Contest on SlideShare.

I saw it at Tinkerbell's Big Bang Bong and couldn't resist the temptations. How could I pass on a plate of Panipuri ? And how could I just enjoy it by myself ? Panipuri is not fun unless you stand in a circle around the Panipuri-wala with all your friends pestering him for more mirchi or less salt and then coaximg him to throw in an extra dry one with no water at the end.

So heres for all my virtual friends.

*This is not a video. So click on the arrows to go through all the slides. Check out all the slides, its funny



Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Dim er Dhoka aka Egg Dhoka


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“How old are you?”, asked my 3 year old

I wanted to be the scrubbed face, squeaky clean hair, dream in the eyes, hope in my heart of early 20’s and so I said, “I am 20”

“No, you’re not, you are 100," she said, looking into my eyes

I panicked, it can’t be that bad I thought. She is only a child and hasn’t seen my Driver License yet, I can still try, I decided.

So I bargained, to get back to those days of fun and freedom and said “Ok then, I am 25”

She looked into the fine lines around my eyes and insisted “But you can be 100, it is better”

It might be…
The higher the number, the better it is does not hold true in all cases, but she is too young to know.




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“Dhoka” in Bengali or Hindi actually means a sham, an act of duping someone. When it comes to food however the word “Dhoka” in Bengali came from I guess “Dhokla” in Gujarati. “Dhokar Dalna” is one of my favorite Bengali food though I haven’t cooked it ever, more about it later. “Dim er Dhoka” or “Egg Dhoka” or “Steamed Egg Cakes in a Curry” gets the name from the similarity in the process and the look I guess. My Ma used to make this on rare occasions maybe twice or thrice in my lifetime, yeah that rare. So when I found it in my cookbook I was pleasantly surprised because I had always thought my Ma made up that name.

I love eggs actually both D and me absolutely love eggs. Before the days of physical check ups, egg curry was a staple food at our home. When I got married, the only thing we could cook every day was Dal and Egg Curry. It was that bad or actually that good. But life has taken its toll and so we watch not only our chickens but also eggs these days.

The “Dim er Dhoka” or the “Steamed Egg Cakes in a Curry” (??) is a pleasant variation to the much loved egg curry. The best part is you can make the steamed egg cubes and eat them for breakfast and then use the rest for the gravy which you can have for lunch or dinner. Ok you can do that with Boiled Eggs too, but that’s beside the point. It is also a very tasty variation which you can serve when you have guests for dinner. It’s pretty convenient to make the egg cakes beforehand. So heres to a very tasty "Egg Dhoka" or "Dim er Dhoka" as we say in Bengali.


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Dim er Dhoka/Steamed Egg Cakes in a Gravy



What You Need

For the Steamed Egg Cakes

This yielded about 25/30 egg cubes of the size shown in pic below

Eggs ~ 6
Onion Paste ~ 3 tbsp of paste or 1 small chopped fine
Corriander leaves ~ finely chopped about 1/4 cup
Green Chillies ~ 3 chopped fine (optional)
Tomato ~ ¼ of a medium chopped fine (optional)
Ginger paste ~ 1 tsp
Milk ~ 3 tbsp
Salt ~ as per taste
Baking Powder ~ a pinch

For Gravy (gravy made with about 15-18 of the steamed egg cakes)

Onion Paste ~ 4 tbsp
Tomato ~ 1 medium finely chopped or blanched. I used a medium sized tomato from a can of whole peeled tomatoes
Panch Phoron – 1/2 tsp
Ginger Paste ~ 1 tsp
Garlic Paste ~ 1 tsp
Yogurt ~ ½ cup
Jeera Powder/Cumin Powder ~ 1 tsp
Dhania Powder/Corriander Powder – 1 tsp
Water ~ 1 and 1/2 cups
Sugar – 2 tsp
Red Chilli Powder ~ ½ tsp
Green Chilli ~ 3 very finely chopped

Salt ~ as per taste
Oil


How I Did It

For Dhoka or the Steamed Egg Cake

Beat the eggs in a bowl.
To it add the chopped onions, chopped green chillies, chopped tomato, chopped corriander, ginger paste, pinch of baking powder, milk and salt. Beat well
Steam this in a steamer if you have one
If you don’t have one like me, put it in a greased pressure cooker bowl and put in your pressure cooker. Remember to add water to the bottom of the cooker .Tip:Instead of the aluminium pressure cooker separator use a steel one which has been greased well.
The idea is to steam it, in a pressure cooker it will take as much time as it takes for rice to be cooked. In my Futura, rice takes 3 minutes while for this I allowed 4 mins (after the steam is built up and my cooker goes hisss). Tip: After you have switched off the heat, release the pressure of the cooker after waiting for 3-4 minutes. If you can't do this at least take it off the heat and let it cool. Take out the container as soon as the pressure of the cooker has been let off. If you let it sit too long the egg cake might stick to the bottom.





After you have steamed it, it will look like a round cake as shown above.





Cut in cubes, they look like dhokla and you have to really restrain yourself from eating them. The measure I used, made about 30 cubes of the size shown here. I used 15-18 of them for the gravy, while the rest we had for next days breakfast.

For Gravy

Heat Oil in Kadhai/Frying pan
Add ½ tsp of Panch Phoron
As soon as it sputters add the Onion Paste. Add about 2 tsp of sugar
Sauté till the paste turns a light brown and you see the oil separate from the paste.
Add the tomato. I used a medium sized tomato from a can of peeled whole tomatoes. If you are using fresh ones either chop fine, or blanch or just puree them in the processor
Add the garlic paste at this point along with the green chillies.
Sauté till the tomato is nicely mushed up.
Meanwhile in a bowl beat the yogurt with ginger paste, Cumin Powder, Corriander Powder and Red Chilli Powder.
Take the Kadhai off the heat and add the yogurt. Adding the yogurt at high heat might make it curdle so I always do this.
Mix well and then put it back on medium heat.
Saute till you see…What ? The oil separating from the masala paste.
At this point add 1 and ½ cup of water or less depending on the amount of gravy you want
Add salt and let the gravy come to a nice boil. You will see the merry bubbles
Add the cubed egg cakes, kep the flame at medium and let the gravy thicken.
The gravy should not be runny, it should be a thick gravy. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves if you wish
Enjoy with Rice or Chapati.

Note: You can get creative with the gravy and improvise. I sometimes make a gravy with potatoes and instead of panch phoron I temper with Cumin Seeds and Bay Leaves. That lends a different taste.








Trivia: Eggs contain the highest quality of food protein second only to mothers milk for human nutrition. So "Sunday ho Ya Monday,Roz Khao Aaandey"

Thursday, June 07, 2007

MySpice -- Panch Phoron


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Panch phoran --- the Sorceress of Spices. Panch Phoran also known as panch phoron, panch puran, panchpuran, punch puram, punchpuram is a classic Bengali spice blend typically consisting of five spices in equal measure. It is more Bengali and maybe also Oriya than any other region of India.

The five spices that make up Panch Phoran are:

Fenugreek (methi) – the golden coloured bitter one
Nigella seed (kalonji) -- the jet black tiny one
Mustard seed or (rai or shorshe) – the black or brown flavored one
Fennel seed (saunf or mouri) – the greenish sweet one
Cumin seed (jira) – the buff colored strong one

In Bengal, the place of origin of this spice,sometimes a spice called radhuni is used in place of mustard seed. A better replacement for radhuni, hardly available outside of Bengal, would be celery seed. However my Panch Phoran always has mustard seeds and I like it that way

“Paanch” is bengali for Five and “Phoron” means spice. Panch Phoran is used mainly for tempering, to flavor the hot oil before adding rest of the ingredients. The essence being tempering with Five Spices. It is usually never ground or used as a powder unlike other spices which are used both in whole and ground form. However dry roasted panch phoron is ground to make a powder that is sprinkled on chutneys. But it is NEVER used in powder or paste form in any other preparation.

Panch phoron is added to the hot cooking oil before adding any other ingredients thus flavouring the oil and releasing the aroma of the seeds and causing them to pop in the pan. At this point the other ingredients are added. Here I have a recipe for quick stir fry of beans and potatoes with Panch Phoron, made in a almost typical Bengali way. The same recipe is used for other veggies too like Potatoes and Cauliflower or Potatoes and Okra and even with mixed Vegetables.

Though Panch phoron is usually not used to season any meats other than fish, I have used it for an awesome chicken dish that I will post soon

A beautiful almost lyrical post on Panch Phoron by Barbara of Tigers and Strawberries is here. Read it, she has done more justice to the spice than anybody ever could.

Some of my recipes in this blog that use Panch Phoron

Kumro-Chingri Botti (Pumpkin and Shrimp Sabzi) -- paanch phoron for tempering
Red Masoor Dal -- paanch phoron for tempering
Bangali Charchari -- panch phoron for tempering

Aamer Ambal ar Chaatni(Mango Chaatni) -- panch phoran dry roasted and ground to a powder. Sprinkle a little of this powder on the finished chaatni

Tomato Khejur Cranberry Chutney -- panch phoran dry roasted and ground to a powder. Sprinkle a little of this powder on the finished chaatni

If you do not have Panch Phoran but have all the five spices that are needed for this just add equal measures of each to get your own Panch Phoran. You may use the methi in less proportion to the others.


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Aloo Beans er Tarkari




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What You Need

Green Beans ~ fresh green beans chopped about 2 cups. can be substituted by veggies like cauliflower, okra, peas.
Potatoes ~ 1 large sized cut in cubes
Green Chillies ~ 2-3 slit

For tempering
Panch Phoron ~ almost 1 tsp loosely packed

Turmeric ~ 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli Powder ~ optional and as per taste
Amchur Powder or Roopak Kala Chat Masala ~ absolutely optional and as per taste. Avoid this masala if you are using veggies other than green beans
Salt
Oil

How I Did It

Heat Oil in a Kadhai/Frying pan
Add Panch Phoron. Wait for the seeds to pop.
Add the green chilies and the potato.
Sprinkle a little turmeric powder and saute
Add the chopped green beans and saute
Add Salt. If you want to spice it up add Red Chili Powder
Cover and cook by stirring off and on. Do not add water, you may sprinkle a little only. Be careful that it doesn't burn, so remember to stir and mix frequently
Now is a step no hard core Bong would ever do. Shhhhhh... don't tell your Bong friends but I add a little amchur powder or Roopak Kala Chat Masala at this point
Cook till done
Enjoy this dry dish with Roti or Rice.

References used for Panch Phoran: Wiki


Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Check out the other spices in this series in the left side column.