A B PARATHA

'A B Paratha' means Aloo (potato) Stuffed Beetroot Paratha, very bright colour, an eye appealing, filling paratha. This recipe is specially for those, who don't like to have beetroot. It is so delicious that everyone will surely ready to grab those parathas. Very well goes with any spicy pickle, chutney or simply with curd. A healthy paratha, which is just incredible.

INGREDIENTS:

FOR MAKING DOUGH:

1 Cup Wheat Flour (Atta)
1 Beetroot
1/2 tsp Carom Seeds (Ajwain)
1/2 tsp Finely Chopped Green Chillies
1 tsp Vinegar
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Oil

STUFFING:

1 Large Boiled Potato (Peeled & Grated)
1/4 Cup Finely Chopped Onion
1/2 tsp Dried Mango Powder (Amchur)
2 tbsp Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves / Cilantro
1/2 tsp Finely Chopped Green Chillies
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder (Optional)
Salt to taste

3-4 tbsp Oil To Fry The Parathas

METHOD:

First of all, wash, peel and boil beetroot in water with little salt and vinegar till beet is tender. (Vinegar retains the colour of beetroot after boiling also)

Make puree from this tendered beetroot or grate beetroot nicely and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine wheat flour, beet puree, carom seeds, green chillies and 2 tsp Oil. Knead it very well to make a soft smooth dough. Keep it aside for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare stuffing for the parathas. In a large plate, combine grated potato, onion, mango powder, green chillies, coriander leaves / cilantro, red chilli powder and salt. Mix nicely, so that everything incorporated well. Keep it aside.

Divide the flour dough into 6 equal portions. Shape into flatten round balls. Divide the stuffing mixture into 6 equal portions.

Place a flatten ball on a plain surface, dust with 1/2 tsp wheat flour. Make a round shape roti approximately 4"-5" diameter. Pour one part of stuffing mixture on the centre of the roti, cover all the edges to make a small pattie. Coat with dry flour and roll again into a thick round paratha.

Heat a tawa (preferably non-stick) till very hot, lower the heat now and place a paratha over it.

When you notice, tiny bubbles rising on the surface, flip on the other side.

Add 1/2 tsp oil on each side of the paratha and fry till paratha becomes crisp and brown spots come on the both sides.

Transfer to a serving plate and serve hot parathas with any pickle, chutney or curd.

SAVOURY VEGETABLE CAKE

Now I am a part of Shhhh.....Cooking Secretly Challenge, brain-child of Priya Suresh akka from Priya's versatile recipes. My secret ingredients for this month were any orange colour vegetable (I choosen Carrot) and any green vegetable (I choosen French Beans) given by Yashodhas Kitchen. Both the ingredients were used in my dish and made this yummilicious and super tasty savoury cake. A great dish for breakfast or evening tea time snack, a delicious appetizer, very less oil is used here, so it is very healthy too. If you are very much calorie consious, may omit cheese, but definitely cheese added some extra flavour to it, if you tryout this simple yet filling dish, you and your family will surely enjoyed it whole heartedly.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour (maida)
4 Eggs
1/3 tsp Freshly Pounded Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/3 Cup Finely Chopped Carrot
1/3 Cup Finely Chopped French Beans
1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Onions
2 Green Chillies (chopped)
2 tbsp Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves / Cilantro
1/3 Cup Plain Yogurt / Curd
1/2 Green Bell Pepper (chopped)
2 Processed Cheese Cubes (grated)
1 tbsp + Few Drops of Olive Oil (may use any white oil too)
Salt to taste

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease the baking tray with few drops of olive oil and flour it nicely.
In a large bowl, break eggs, add salt and black pepper in it and whisk well.
Add flour, baking powder and blend well.
At this time add all vegetables, 1 tbsp olive oil and yogurt. Mix thoroughly.
Pour this mixture to baking tray. 
Sprinkle grated cheese on the top and bake it for 40 minutes.
Take out the tray from the oven and let it cool down completely on a cooling rack.
Garnish with grated cheese on the top.

Cut into desired shapes, serve and enjoy this yummy savoury cake.

CREAM CHEESE CHICKEN

So many favourite ingredients and flavours - chicken, cream cheese, garlic and parshley; all things are easy to make a fingerlicking good chicken dish. I explore it in my kitchen, a real delicious and quick recipe, your family will absolutely love it.

INGREDIENTS:

1 kg Chicken, Cut into medium sized pieces
1 Whole Lemon (juice)
2 tbsp Garlic Paste
3 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tbsp + 1 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp (hipped) Minced Garlic
3 Medium Onion (chopped)
1 Cup Chopped Tomato
2 tsp Crushed Black Pepper
1 Cup Cream Cheese (I used Mascarpone Cream Cheese)
2 tbsp Dried Parshley
1 tsp Sugar
2-3 tbsp Finely Chopped Cilantro / Coriander Leaves
1 tbsp Chilli Flakes
Salt to taste

METHOD:

Clean and wash chicken pieces. Drain water completely.

Marinate Chicken with garlic paste, lemon juice and salt. Keep it in refrigerator for atleast 1 hour.

Heat 3tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp butter in a pan / wok. When butter melts completely, add minced garlic and chopped onions in it, fry lightly for 2 minutes.

Add marinated chicken pieces in it and fry well for 12-15 minutes.

Mix tomato and black pepper. Saute chicken and mix everything lightly for 3-4 minutes on medium heat.

Add cream cheese and fold well. Mix parshley, salt and sugar with it. (While adding salt, just keep it in mind that cream cheese also contains salt. Stir lightly.

Sprinkle remaining 1 tbsp butter and cilantro on the top and switch off the heat now.

A real toothsome, fingerlicking good cheesy chicken is ready to serve now. Serve warm with toasted bread, or as a side with pasta, rice or any Indian flat bread........it is always yummilicious!!!

CONDENSED MILK ORANGE CAKE

Coming to the Shhhhh... Cooking Secretly Challenge which started by Priya Suresh akka from Priya's versatile recipes. The mission of this event is to know the fellow bloggers more mutually and share the cooking ingredients and cooking experience with her. As this the first challenge of this event and my co-blogger partner is noone rather than Nirmala Gurunathan, a wonderful co-blogger friend and a foodie writer of Nirmala's Kitchen. My secret ingredients were condensed milk and flour, I used both of the ingredients here to make this mouthwatering cake. It was really very dense. It had a good flavour, but you really do need to serve with whipped cream and fruit or simply sprinkle icing sugar on the top. 

INGREDIENTS:

14 oz / 400 gm Condensed Milk
1 Cup Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
15 gm or 1/4 Cup Melted Butter
4 Eggs
1 tbsp Orange zest
1 Orange, cut into round slices and de-seeded
2 tbsp Roughly Chopped Walnuts
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 tbsp Sugar

FOR GARNISHING:

1 tbsp Icing Sugar
Few Walnuts
Few Fresh Cherries

METHOD:

Grease and floured a 9" cake pan.

Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F. In a large bowl, well combine condensed milk, flour, baking powder, melted butter, eggs, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence and orange zest. Add walnuts in it, fold again.

Pour the batter on the cake pan.

In the mean time, heat a non stick pan. Arrange round slices of orange on it. Sprinkle sugar and remaining vanilla essence on it. Heat both sides of the orange pieces, so that orange glazes well.

Place the glazed orange pieces on the top of the cake batter now.

Put the cake pan on the oven and bake for exactly 40 minutes (time may little varry from oven to oven). Let it cool down on wire rack. 

Sprinkle icing sugar on the top, garnish with with walnuts and cherries. Serve and enjoy this toothsome delicacy!!!

A PREVIEW ON EASTER CELEBRATION AT ITC SONAR, KOLKATA

Easter is the time for holidays, festivals and a time for giving chocolates Easter eggs. But Easter means much more..........Easter is the oldest and the most traditional Christian Festival, the celebration of the death and coming to life again of Jesus Christ. For Christians, the dawn of Easter Sunday with its message of new life. ITC Sonar celebrating Easter in traditional and gorgeous way. A great going event from 16th to 20th April, the Gourmet shop at ITC Sonar is going to have Easter Special starters, main course, desserts and breads, and on the 20th April Sunday, there will be a Grand Brunch. 

ITC Sonar’s elegant 24-hour fine dining restaurant is Eden Pavillion, that offers a delectable spread of Indian and inventive international cuisine. The Eden Pavilion is the ideal place for round-the-clock dining inKolkata.

Easter Goodies: Arround INR 500
Pocket Pinch for Brunch:  INR 2250 plus taxes per person
For reservations and further information please call -033-23454545

Name of the festival: Easter Celebrations at Gourmet Shop, ITC Sonar
Dates of the festival: 16-20th April
Timings of the festival: 11 am- 9 pm
Name of the restaurant where the Easter offer is being held: Gourmet Shop

Chef Harpawar Singh Kapoor (Executive Sous Chef & Pastry Chef) and Chef Gaurav Lavania (Sr. Sous Chef) were reponsible for creating the traditional delicacies, breads, sweets and cakes at the Gourmet Shop and Eden Pavillion. Chef Harpawar stated that the recipe of each and every delicacy is strickly followed by the old one, no twist or mix & match in the dishes and they served in a very traditional way too. Peanut & Chocolate Eggs, Lemon & Poppy seed cake with Berry toping, sour cherry turnover, coconut & lemon tart, walnut & honey torte and carrot cake to name a few.

This Easter you can look forward to a grand Sunday Brunch that will lay out Easter goodies like Easter Roasts, Anglo Indian food, Egg & Prawn cocktail, asparagus & balsamic trio, Egg Benedictine, Herb Roasted Turkey with berry glazed jus , Pork Saltimbocca with rosemary jus , Four cheese scalloped potatoes. As per me, asparagus were less seasoned, rather than that all of the dishes are very traditional and really very delicious and super tasty sides. For Easter, exotic eggs items are on main course menu. All though, all the items are basically European and choosen for this special festive event.

(Top Left: Asparagus & Balsamic trio, Top Right: Egg & Prawn Cocktail, Bottom Left: Herb Roasted Turkey with Berry glazed jus, Bottom Right: Pork Saltimbocca with rosemary jus)

(Egg Benedictine)

We were greeted with a huge trolley with full of incredible goodies, hot cross buns, braided bread not yeasted, topped with eggs, fudges, tarts, cakes etc. 

(Top row from left to right: Carrot Cake, Sour Cherry Turnover, Lemon & Poppy Seeds Cake with Berry Topping. Middle row left to right: Coconut & Lemon Tart, Peanut and chocolate eggs, walnut & honey torte. Bottom row: Hot Cross buns, Braided Bread with eggs topping, Nougatine)

Other than that Yummilicious fudges are there dark chocolate almond fudge and Milk Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Fudge. As per me, both fudges are super tempting!

Don't miss to celebrate the festival of life and living with ITC Sonar where they promise to offer you a heavenly experience. 

A WONDERFUL LUNCH BUFFET AT KABAB-E-QUE, THE ASTOR HOTEL, KOLKATA

The Bengali New Year celebration is popularly known as 'Poila Baisakh' (the first day of Bengali calender), which was on 15th April this year. Bengalis usually celebrate this auspecious occassion with new clothes, lots of  sweets, prayers for the well-being and properity of the families and 'haal khata' (an auspicious day to open the ledger for Bengali traders, Ganesh & Lakhsmi puja occurs in every business oriented house hold). The New Year cuisine for lunch, of course, contains various preparations of fish, meat, traditional vegetarian dishes, rice and specially with mistanna or traditional sweets such as Rasogolla, sandesh, kalakand, payesh and ras malai. Those who prefer to go out to eateries get to have some pure pleasantries for the palate, and other mouthwatering culinary dalliances.

The Astor Hotel has organised a fabulous lunch buffet at Kabab-e-que with mouthwatering Bengali traditional dishes and the great going event named, "Suru hok Bangaliyana" (Bengali New Year Food Festival) from 15th April to 19th April, 2014. I was the part of this auspicious celebration with gorgeous and glorious Ms. Supreeta Singh (Marketing & Communication Manager of The Astor Hotel) and the team of a very renowned & popular Food Magazine 'Hangla Henshel'.

The starters with welcoming drink are Aam Panna, Cold Soup, Mochar Chop, Chingrir Bora, Red Cabbage and Apple Salad, Pasta Chicken / Green Salad / Boondi Raita / Dahi. 

Main Coarse serves with yummilicious traditional and very popular Bengali veg and non-veg dishes, e.g. Basanti Pulao. Macher Matha diye Moong dal. Sukto. Dhokar Dalna. Mocha Chingri. Narkeli cholar dal/ Kadai sutir kachuri. Sorse Macche. Murghi Posto. Mutton Kasha. Aamsatto khejurer Chutney. 

Usually Bengalis are very much fond of sweets, so desserts are choosen on this idea only...such as Kamala Bhog. Aamsatto Sandesh. Cheese sandesh duet cake. Vanilla Ice cream. Chocolate ice cream. Complimentary drinks. Return gifts.

Chef Sanjay elaborately discussed, why they choosen the popular traditional Bengali dishes in their menus to give more importance to this celebration mood of common people and which really touch every heart very easilly. Don't miss to tweak of this luscious taditional Bengali dishes with Bengali values. This event will be great going till 19th April, 2014. 

RATE:

Lunch Buffet: INR 599 + Tax

Dinner Buffet: INR 699 + Tax

Kebab-E-Que
The Astor Hotel
15, Shakespeare Sarani (Theater Road)
Kolkata.

Call: 9830230033.

Disclaimer: This was an invited review and no monetary transaction was involved.

AJWAINI FALIYA

It is a dry curry of green beans or french beans. Actually green beans are rich in protein as well as fiber and abundantly available in Asian market. So that it is widely using by Asians. Here, green beans are cooked with gram flour and few spices which give a rich taste. Tryout, it is really easy to make and great going with warm phulkas. 

INGREDIENTS:

250 gm French Beans
2-3 tbsp Gram Flour
1&1/2 tsp White Sesame Seeds (safed til)
1 tsp Carom Seeds (ajwain)
1 tsp Cumin Seeds (jeera)
2-3 Dried Red Chillies (according to taste)
1/2 tsp Dried Mango Powder (amchur)
1 tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Asafoetida (hing)
1/2 tsp Sugar (optional)
2-3 tbsp Mustard Oil
Salt to taste

METHOD:

Wash and cut french beans into 1&1/2" long pieces. Sprinkle gram flour in it and toss nicely. Set it aside.

Dry roast sesame seeds till those change colour little bit. Turn off the heat and keep aside.

In a small bowl, combine kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric powder, dried mango powder and salt. Mix nicely and set it aside.

Heat mustard oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds, carom seeds, dried red chillies and asafoetida in it. Saute for a minute or two.

Add gram flour coated french beans in it. Fry and toss green beans for 4 minutes on medium heat. As gram flour fries, it will give a nice crispy coating on french beans.

Sprinkle spice mixture little by little on it. Sprinkle little water on it. Lightly toss beans, so that spices can coat beans very well. If it gets more dry, sprinkle more water on it. Add sugar, like the same way, fry beans for another 5 minutes on low heat.

Remove it on a serving plate. Sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds and serve warm with puffed phulkas.