My cooking diary - Lockdown made me chef!!

[debu_champ]

Hello all...

Hope you all are doing well! This thread is all about cooking, reviewing the end product and enjoying the food. In simple words, what a lifestyle blog could be. If it is cooked, it's by me or any other family member. And I shall only post if I think it should be tried and tasted by all, whether it's cooked at home or purchased from outside. But before I start, please bear with few of my words....

I was never a cook so far, even never prepared any dish except tea, omelette, bread toast, boiled egg and green salad. But theoretically I was fond to any recipe (no one believed though ). And it is my entire believe that if you are a true foodie and enjoy having everything from sweet to sour from mutton to shrimp from sea food to paneer from rasgolla to samosa, it's not so hard to understand the recipe, apply the same and experiment with other ingredients. Because you have the ability to understand what goes well with what.

All the friends here, who knows me, may be surprised! What about traveling, bird / wild life photography then? No worry, those are still my passion and love, and continuing as much possible, but you know, in the lockdown, was struggling to find something to refrain myself to going out and the sparkle came into mind! Why not imply the theoretical knowledge into some practical process?? And thus the era started...... discovered the chef inside........ and believe me...... I did well till now....

I might not post any photographs here for the recipe, but at the end I shall post the Youtube link of the video I had already made of that recipe. If you like, you are free to Like, Comment, Share, Subscribe the channel. If you dislike, please let me know why you dislike? Any positive criticism is welcome! (Y)

Another point - the videos are made and to be made in Bengali. Though recently I started adding quoted text and ingredient list into the video itself and will follow it as much possible, but few videos are already made without any text. For those I shall put the ingredient list here. If any person like the end product but cannot understand how to make it due to language barrier, please do not hesitate to ask either here or at the channel itself! I shall be more than happy to demonstrate by writing...

And the last but not the least. The recipes I shall post are all either traditionally Bengali delicacy or from any other province but made using Bengali spices or twist. So people from other provinces may not like it seeing it's ingredient or cooking style, but believe me, I shall post only those recipes which shook our mind and made us feel heavenly after tasting the end product. But please bear with me on the decoration. So poor on that since long...

 

[Big Daddy]

Strangely, I was like you, and I did not know that I could cook either but I ended up learning new things to cook as well. For the most part, I learnt that there are all sorts of masalas out there for all sorts of things and those packages have the recipes and I followed those to get by. It was fun.

 

[debu_champ]

Strangely, I was like you, and I did not know that I could cook either but I ended up learning new things to cook as well. For the most part, I learnt that there are all sorts of masalas out there for all sorts of things and those packages have the recipes and I followed those to get by. It was fun.

Hi mate....

It's glad to know there are people who are like me and I'm sure there are many who read or yet to, but keep the expression in mind. And I bet, you are also a foodie like me!! But just to mention, I yet to use any ready made masala into my cooking. That's true, I also learnt the recipe, but the sources are different. May be someday I also use any pre-mixed ready made masala, who knows!!...

 

[Big Daddy]

Hi mate....

It's glad to know there are people who are like me and I'm sure there are many who read or yet to, but keep the expression in mind. And I bet, you are also a foodie like me!! But just to mention, I yet to use any ready made masala into my cooking. That's true, I also learnt the recipe, but the sources are different. May be someday I also use any pre-mixed ready made masala, who knows!!...

I think you are far advanced than me. I only followed instructions but I was surprised that with instructions the taste improves so much. Also, I started using pressure cooker, which I had never used before and that makes a lot of difference in taste as well. Something starters should know, which I came to know way too late.

 

[debu_champ]

When it's time to start something, it's always better to start with any festival. And here it comes our Holi celebration. No no, it's not only celebration the festival of color, but also a decent and tasty and traditional Bengali recipe to complete the celebration...

Breakfast: Luchi (Yes, pure bengali Luchi, not puri. Can give 5 goals on any day to the puris. Puri lover please don't beat me. You should prove otherwise by inviting me to your place after pandemic situation is over ) & Potato Curry

Lunch: Steamed Rice & Mutton Curry (Purely Bengali style "Kochi Panthar Jhol")

Here is the recipe of the mutton curry made by Shampa (better half). Lunchi on another day.

Ingredients:
Mutton: 1.2 Kgs (The whole goat weighs maximum 10-12 Kgs, not the bigger one. Mind it, otherwise the spices and timing will be little different)
Sour Curd: 150 Gms
Onion: 3 big
Ginger: 50 Gms
Garlic: 50 Gms
Tomato: 2 medium
Turmeric Powder: 1 Tsp
Coriander Powder: 1 Tsp
Cumin Powder: 1 Tps
Kashmiri Red Chili Powder: 1 Tsp
Red Chili Powder: 1 Tsp
Black Pepper Whole: 10/12 pcs
Garam Masala Powder: 1.5 Tsp (Mix of Cardamom, Cinnamon & Cloves)
Cumin Seeds: A pinch
Bay Leaves: 2 pcs
Green Chili: 6/8 pcs
Mustard Oil: 1 cup
Potato: 4 medium, cut into half. You can skip this one, but to me, it's the main attraction of mutton gravy

That's all of the ingredients. Don't be surprised, Shampa cannot tolerate strong hit of chili, so she do not use them much. Now come to the process -

Step 1: Wash the curry cut of the mutton well and drain the water. You may need to keep it in a basket like thing for several minutes for that. Now make e fine paste of 1 big onion, ginger, garlic, tomato, green chilies and black pepper. You can paste those separately as well. Add them to the mutton with curd and turmeric, coriander, cumin, Kashmiri and normal red chili powder, 1 big onion finely chopped and half cup of mustard oil. Mix them well and left aside for minimum 1 hour. The longer the better.

Add salt and turmeric powder to the potatoes and fry them well and keep aside.

Now hit rest of the mustard oil in a pan / kadai. After it properly hit, add bay leaves and cumin seed to the oil. It's better to tear the leaves. Stir for 2 minutes and add the rest of the onion which is finely chopped. After the onion is golden brown now it's time to add the marinated mutton into the pan. Stir, stir, stir.... until the mutton losses water. Add the fried potatoes at that time and mix well. And finally add water based on the thickens of the gravy you want.

Remember the mutton need the time and space to be boiled. So if the water vaporize before that, you need to pour more water. One trick is to use hot water. We used near about 1L of water for a thinner gravy. But it also depends on the quality of the mutton that how long it will take to become soft. Everyone normally purchase from any specific meat shop and they normally sale same quality mutton. So everybody have an idea how much it takes to be soft. Like ours take around 40-45 minutes without using pressure cooker.

Anyways, mix all well and cover the pan, lower the flame and leave it for a period of 15 minutes. In low flame the chance to stick and burn is minimal. In every 15 minutes open the cover, stir everything and cover again. Continue until the potatoes and mutton are properly soft.

When complete, add the garam masala powder into the gravy, mix well, give it a couple of minutes to be boiled again and put off the gas. Your mutton gravy is ready to serve!! Enjoy!!!

The whole recipe and the story of the day including how it taste!

The whole recipe and the story of the day including how it taste!!

You are requested to see till the end. It was my first video so please bear with the quality of editing!!

 

[debu_champ]

I think you are far advanced than me. I only followed instructions but I was surprised that with instructions the taste improves so much. Also, I started using pressure cooker, which I had never used before and that makes a lot of difference in taste as well. Something starters should know, which I came to know way too late.

It's absolutely not about advance or late or better or lower. It's about taste and only taste and how much one think about the food. We, all foodies almost know about the masalas and their taste and flavor. Yes, you need to learn the basic. But after that your fooding experience will tell you which flavor or taste will go well with what you are preparing.

Also, again, I personally do not like pressure cooker, though not denying it's utility in fooding world. Rather I like to slow boil my food to a proper shape and softness!

Already posted a recipe, though not cooked by me, still I hope you all will enjoy!

 

[Big Daddy]

That is pretty advanced stuff you are doing. I am at the level of Rajma where I cook beans in a pressure cooker. I use off-the-shelf masala (Aachi) and I must say that coriander power does make a difference in taste for me.

 

[debu_champ]

That is pretty advanced stuff you are doing. I am at the level of Rajma where I cook beans in a pressure cooker. I use off-the-shelf masala (Aachi) and I must say that coriander power does make a difference in taste for me.

That is absolutely due to difference between our food habit. We Bengali can finish our full course rice meal with a chicken / mutton / fish curry but cannot with only a single rajma dish or dal fry or dum aloo. So basics are different for both of us. And both of us doing our basics only, but in a different way. But yes, I learn from some source and apply few of my own ideas about taste and flavor of different spices and apply them where I think it will be applicable. And till now, I am successful.

Here I like to mention one point. If you want to experiment, you must have the courage to gobble whatever it produces. For example, if you like to experiment sugar in your omelet, you must have the courage and determination to grab it without complaining. If this is the case, it will definitely succeed. And for my case, till now, others never threw it away, and I had to gobble all the end result of my own. Rather the opposite!!

 

[Big Daddy]

Actually, I once tried to make bread pakoda and failed so I stayed away from complicated things. Some simple things like upma, poha, etc. is good enough for me. BTW, I also realized that cooking generates a lot of waste. For example, what do you do when you try fried things like bread pakoda? You are left with oil. Throwing it in drain is not a good idea because dirt can stick to oil and block drains.

 

[debu_champ]

For example, what do you do when you try fried things like bread pakoda? You are left with oil. Throwing it in drain is not a good idea because dirt can stick to oil and block drains.

Basically we keep aside and strain it for any unwanted particles. Like frying anything with batter left with many unwanted burnt particles into the oil. Then after straining, it is used for other curries of strong flavor like fish curry etc. I know it's not very healthy, then.... you know....