Imitation of Buche de Noel

Think what! I baked a cake! You must be thinking so what to cheer!!!... But for me it’s definitely worth to cheer...I always have a secret desire to become a good and perfect baker, mainly in the field of cake. But I am feeling sorry to disclose the secret that every time I baked a cake I proved myself the most worthless baker of the world. This time I didn’t know how I baked this nice and really tasty cake for the first time in my life and feeling soooo proud to share with everybody. Of course the half of the credit goes to my lil daughter who nagged so much in the late evening for a cake that her desperate mom has taken one of the difficult actions of her life.

My husband was away from home for a week on his job tour. I was attending my daughter all alone far away from our native land. So on that day it was not possible for me to go out and buy her a cake. The only choice I had, was to satisfy her with a homemade cake.

Now a days my book shelf is getting loaded with a handful of cook books and the majority reigns are of cake baking books. Most of the time I satisfy my appetite only gazing at the attractive, mouth-watering cakes, but never dare to try those in my kitchen. Since surfing through the cake recipes, one recipe just won my heart and I started to prepare it in my dreams only. That day when my daughter’s nagging crossed my tolerance power, I suddenly got the determination to take a risk and hit the recipe. I convinced my mind that if again it would be a failure no one was there to witness. My daughter was still in her innocence and hubby was out for his tour. So I could easily trash the failed dish.

But to my wonder it was a grand success. Grand success in the sense that a poor baker like me was lastly able to prepare a tasty and nice looking cake..

Here following is the recipe. I am copying the ingredients of the real recipe which I followed and marking what I used and not used. I will be explaining the method how I prepared.

Ingredients:-

Cake:-

All purpose flour- ¾ Cup
Baking Powder- ½ tea spoon
Ground Cinnamon- ½ tea spoon ( I didn’t use)
Baking Soda- ¼ tea spoon
Salt- 1/8 tea spoon
Egg- 3 large
Sugar- ¾ cup
Vanilla extract- 1 ½ tea spoon
Fat Free Milk- ½ cup (room temperature)
Confectioners’ sugar- 3-4 table spoon
Non-dairy whipped topping -2 cups (I didn’t use it, instead I used the frosting)

My addition- Cocoa Powder- 1 table spoon

Frosting:-

Light tub Cream Cheese (Neufchatel) - 8 ounces
Confectioners’ sugar- 1 cup (I used granulated sugar)
Unsweetened cocoa powder- 1/3 cup
Vanilla extract- 1 tea spoon
Semi sweet chocolate (melted and cooled slightly) - 2 ounces

My addition- Crushed Nuts for the toppings.

Note: - To bake this cake you will need a jelly-roll pan. A jelly roll pan is similar to a plain baking trey or a cookie sheet, but it has sides. The sides on most jelly roll pans are 1 inch (2.54 cm) deep. Jelly roll pans are used for roasting vegetables, baking cookies, coffee cakes, jelly rolls etc. You can view the images of excat jelly roll pans HERE. I didn’t have a jelto prepare this cake.

Method:-

1. First prepare the pan to bake the cake. Grease the pan then put a wax paper or a cookie sheet. Pls note, cut the cookie sheet in this way, so that all the four sides of the cookie sheet should over lap the trey and the sides of the trey. Grease the cookie sheet too. Spray slight flour too on the top of the sheet.

2. Pre heat the oven to 375F.

3. Now in a bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix well. In another bowl combine the eggs, sugar, and vanilla and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, 4-5 mnts. Add the flour mixer and milk in 2 alternating additions each until just combined.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Just make  ½ inch layer. If you have excess batter you can reserve and store it in an airtight container for a next cake.

5. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, 8-10 mnt or more. Spread a kitchen towel or a big trey on a work surface and cover it with a piece of wax paper. Now cover the wax paper with edge of the pan to loosen the cake and invert the pan and warm cake onto the wax paper. Now you will have two wax papers on the both sides of the cake.

6. Now the trick. Roll up loosely the warm cake very carefully in a jelly roll style. Don’t press much. Put one hand under the cake and with light touch and press, roll up along with the wax papers. Allow to cool completely, about 45mnts.

7. Meanwhile, to prepare the frosting, in a bowl, place the cream cheese, sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until just combined, increase speed to high and beat until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, add the melted chocolate (To melt the chocolate put them in to the microwave for a minute or so. Keep on checking that they should not get over melted or too hot); increase the speed to high and beat until smooth, 2-3mnts.

8. Now unroll the cooled cake carefully and remove the top wax paper. Spread the frosting topping over the cake and again roll up jelly-roll style (Instead you can spread whipped cream or any kind of icing made by you).When you will roll the cake, roll it with the help of the bottom wax paper and while rolling slowly remove the wax paper.  Place the cake seam side down on a serving platter. Put the remaining frosting all over the cake leaving the both ends. The garnish with the nuts. Put in the refrigerator for an hour (or more) to get the frosting set and to get an easy cut for nice shaped slices.

Note:-  Always roll the cake with the help of the wax papers. I tried with hands but the cake was getting cracks. Two wax papers on the both sides worked very good in rolling the cake.

About The Taste:-

The taste of the cake reminds me the taste Chocolate Crunch of Monginis. The sourly tinge of cream cheese blends marvellously with the chocolate and created a soft smoothness in each bite.

About Buche De Noel:-

Here I have imitated the recipe of Buche De Noel. It is a traditional A chocolate cream- cheese frosting dessert served during the Christmas holidays in France, Belgium, Quebec, Lebanon and several other Christian-populated francophone countries as well as in the UK. As the name indicates, the cake is generally prepared, presented, and garnished so as to look like a log ready for the fire. Here are few snaps of Buche De Noel which I downloaded from Googleimages.com.ly roll pan. I got some use and throw silver foil trey which came out very handy

 

Recipe reference :-

 New Complete Cook Book by Weght Watchers

Golden Popovers

Popovers are very easy to make as well as tasty to serve with any side dish. Takes very little time to prepare, is one of my favourite dishes which I love to prepare. I always prefer to spend less time in the kitchen. Therefore this is a perfect dish for people like me, who want to prepare a healthy full meal for their family spending less time and energy and specially if the house has a kid. This is a very healthy and tasty dish for kids as my daughter loves it very much. Popover is actually a light, hollow roll made from an egg batter similar to that used in making Yorkshire pudding (Yorkshire pudding is a dish that originated in Yorkshire, England. It is made from this kind of batter). The name "popover" comes from the fact that the batter swells or "pops" over the top of the baking cups while baking.

Ingredients:-

Egg - 3 (room temp)


Milk - 1 ¼ cup (room temp)


All purposes flour - 1 ¼ cup


Salt - ¼ tablespoon

Method:-

1. Heat oven to 450 F. Usually the popovers are baked in the popover cups or custard cups. I have taken the muffin pan for to prepare the popovers, because I didn’t have any of those. Generously grease the cups of the pan. In small bowl, beat egg with a beater or a wire whish until it turns in to lemon coloured and foamy. Add milk, blend well.

2. Add flour and salt; beat with the beater just until the batter is smooth and foamy on top. Pour the batter in each greased cup, filling about 2/3 full.

3. Bake at 450 F for 15 mins (DO NOT OPEN OVEN). Reduce over to 350F. Bake additional 25-30 mins or until the popovers become high, hollow deep, golden brown. Remove from oven, insert sharp knife into each popover to allow steam to escape. Remove from cups. Serve warm.

I served the Popovers with White Gravy Chicken, a very simple, easy and short time taking recipe too. Boil boneless chicken cube with a pinch of salt. Heat the pan and prepare the white sauce gravy with butter, flour, milk and chicken stock (the stock of the boil chicken). Season it with black pepper, salt and sugar. Add the chicken cubes. Fold nicely with the sauce. Additional veggies can be added. I added cucumber and red bell pepper. Serve hot with the Popovers. A perfect full and healthy combination for the main course meal...

Book Review on The Blood Of Flowers written by Anita Amirrezvani

"In 17th-century Persia, a 14-year-old woman believes she will be married within the year. But when her beloved father dies, she and her mother find themselves alone and without a dowry. With nowhere else to go, they are forced to sell the brilliant turquoise rug the young woman has woven to pay for their journey to Isfahan, where they will work as servants for her uncle, a rich rug designer in the court of the legendary Shah Abbas the Great. Despite her lowly station, the young woman blossoms as a brilliant designer of carpets, a rarity in a craft dominated by men. But while her talent flourishes, her prospects for a happy marriage grow dim. Forced into a secret marriage to a wealthy man, the young woman finds herself faced with a daunting decision: forsake her own dignity, or risk everything she has in an effort to create a new life."

The bright dainty cover of the novel-The Blood of Fire captivated me to read it and after reading the novel my stream of thoughts was literally hijacked to a distant land where the readers will encounter with the struggle of a woman in the patriarchal society. Every part of the novel will force to rendezvous with the strange orthodox Iranian culture, the struggle for existence, the struggle between the girlhood and the womanhood and the search for an identity of a young lass.

The novel simply build up on the three phases life of the unnamed narrator, her transition from country bumpkin to city dweller, from immature girl to married woman, and from traditional rug knotter to sophisticated carpet designer. The three phases story-First the innocent adolescence where the flower blooms with variegated hues and dreams which paves the path to womanhood. Then the sudden encounter with the unexpected conjugal life and a shattering dream coerced to strive for existence and lastly the establishment of her Identity. It has all the flavour of the folklore of Persian culture too, as throughout the novel the folklore run parallely with the story of the novel and it also perfectly blends the essence of the historical backdrop of 17th century Iran and the strokes of the fairytale and the feminist treatise in a delightful and captive manner. It is also a story of two soul friends, whose destiny intertwined in such a way that their one man fate led them to a dual rivalry. A novel, which can be considered as an example of the feminine mystique which is very much relevant to middle-class and upper-class women, as many poor and working-class women worked outside the home out of necessity. Though the elaborate description of the nuptial outskirts makes the cadence of the novel frowned. The American brought up and of Iranian origin writer has given a well narrated overview of the Iranian culture and at the same time made the carpet weaving the symbol of the journey of a woman. The very much feminist outlook of weaving reminds us of the Greek Mythology and Virginia Woolf’s weaving symbolism. Through all of her struggles, impassioned decisions and bold demonstrations of her independence, the young woman (The narrator) has one constant escape in her life: the art

Author's Profile Anita Amirrezvani Anita Amirrezvani was born on 13th November, 1961 in Tehran, Iran. She was only two when her parents got separated. She was raised by her mother in San Francisco. When she was thirteen, she began going to Iran on her own and spending time with her  father’s side of the family. Her father took her on a trip to Isfahan when she was fourteen, even though he was busy building his business and didn’t have much time for leisure. Because she loved art and architecture, he agreed to take her for two days-" I remember being mesmerized by the great square of Isfahan and by the painted plasterwork on the staircase of our hotel, a former caravansary." She attended for two and a half years at Vassar College and then transferred to the University of California at Berkeley, where she majored in English. She has been a writer and editor all her life. Before selling her novel, she worked for ten years as a dance critic and arts writer at two newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as an arts publicist. Her novel took her about five years to get to the end of the first draft, and she didn’t tell anyone that she was working on a novel until then. As part of her research, she spent a lot of time reading about Iranian history and literature in university library stacks. When the writer was fourteen years old, her father let her choose a carpet for herself, and the old and beautiful rug she selected, led her to imagine the lives of the people who created it. Out of that experience came The Blood of Flowers. It took nine years to complete the novel.

she is compelled to create. "It was as if I was living within the surface of the carpet myself, surrounded by its soothing colours and its images of eternal tranquillity. Lost in its beauties, I forgot the misery around me."

In the first phase of her life the sudden death of her father made her to step and work in the patriarchal society where it was quite dubious that a woman can work in a shop.-“The men looked surprised to see a woman in the shop...”(P: 60)She started her work, the work to weave carpets. The carpet is actually the little world for her...As all the designs she weaves or she sees reminds her the picturesque scenario of the corners of the world she visits..In her world everything is only related to the art of weaving .When she started learning writing from Naheed ,only one friend she had, she said-“Writing is just like making rugs “and gave a wonderful metaphoric explanation of this statement-“Words are made letter by letter, in the same way that rugs are formed knot to knot, If you combine different letters, they make different words, and the same is true when you combine colours to make different patterns…”(P:68)…Being a girl from small village experience and her imaginative power made her more literate than the other educated people. Naheed’s character is quite interesting bold, curious and she is the medium who encountered the narrator to the world of intrigue.

Throughout the novel Marriage had played the key role or rather we could say that the foundation of the story had been based on marriage. In the 17th century Iranian culture, law agrees to multiple marriages -

1. Legal Marriage-To get legally married lump sum money should be accumulated by the bride’s family for Dowry.

2. Sigah-Secret Marriage or a Contract Marriage, where the husband will pay money to the bride’s family in each contract.

Multiple marriages are legal for the male members till they don’t get the womb to carry their heir.

In the first phase of the story Marriage played a different role. It charmed two hearts with an illusive dream. For the narrator to get married was rather to get a home of her own (P: 103).Naheed’s dream and the definition of marriage was –“Marry a handsome young man and have plenty of sons.”(P: 89).

The second phase of the story turned radically to a pathetic condition when the narrator suddenly forced to a secret marriage what was called in Iran the Sigah. Behind this marriage, was hidden a scoffing incident. The protagonist was bound to accept this marriage because she had spoiled an expensive rug of her uncle and to repay the expense of the rug she had to commit the sigah. Throughout this contract marriage, the narrator kept on struggling to ensconce her marriage and get the honour of the legal wife. The innocent country yokel turned herself into a siren only with a hope to get a home of her own and a proper identity and it is only possible if she bore his child(P:174).

But destiny wrote a different story for her. In the third phase of the story, all her dreams and love for her husband had been shattered down when Naheed, her best friend got legally married with her husband. But this sudden upheaval encountered her with her inner self, with the woman who had the power to fight against the society, who wanted her own identity. She broke the sigah which is absolutely astounding in that society(P:279).Her bolted stride made her homeless, starving but she kept on fighting with her destiny and the cruel society .But at the end she was able to write her own fate and her carpet designing talent was flourished in to a pile of fortune. She was able to become economically independent, mentally independent. Has enough money to pay the dowry for a legal marriage.

Though the end has the fairy tale endings-Everybody lives happily ever after, it is at the same time very touchy stories which will involve you till end and make you feel as the part of the story. Modernity doesn’t descry time. It dwells inside our mind, inside us.

Published in the Deja Vu magazine.

Rolled Sugar Cookies:-

I am happy to announce that my second attempt to bake cookies is a grand success. First time it became an unsuccessful outcome. But this time all the three of us (My husband, my daughter and me) enjoyed the soft, sweet and toasty cookies till the last bite. The taste of the cookies had just taken me 14-15 years back to my home town in Bengal, where the Bakery man used to sell these kinds of cookies, on his mobile cart, door to door. We used to call it “Sandesh Biscuit”. The taste of the cookies made me totally nostalgic with all those childhood memories. I realised that unlike other memories, few tastes are there which never fades and the association between the taste and memory gives birth of a sweet trance from which we never want to return and we just want to inhale the full charm of it.

Before elucidating the baking process of the Rolled Sugar Cookies, let us know little bit information about Cookies.

By definition, a cookie can be any of a variety of hand-held, flour-based sweet cakes, either crisp or soft. Originally called "little cakes," cookies are made with sweet dough or batter, baked in single-sized servings and eaten out-of-hand. The name cookie is derived from the Dutch word koekje, meaning "small or little cake." The first cookies were created by accident. Cooks used a small amount of cake batter to test their oven temperature before baking a large cake. “Each country has its own word for ‘Cookie.’ What we know as cookies are called Biscuits in England and Australia, in Spain they're Galletas, Germans call them Keks or Plätzchen for Christmas cookies, and in Italy there are several names to identify various forms of cookies including Amaretti and Biscotti, and so on. Biscuit comes from the Latin word Bis coctum, which means, ‘twice baked’.”In America, a cookie is described as a thin, sweet, usually small cake. The first American cookie was originally brought to this country by the English, Scots, and Dutch immigrants. The simple "butter cookies" strongly resemble the English tea cakes and the Scotch shortbread.

Here I am attaching the detail of the six basic cookie styles:-

“The earliest cookie-style cakes are thought to date back to seventh-century Persia, one of the first countries to cultivate sugar. There are six basic cookie styles, any of which can range from tender-crisp to soft. A drop cookie is made by dropping spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet. Bar cookies are created when a batter or soft dough is spooned into a shallow pan, then baked, cooled and cut into bars.

Hand-formed (or moulded) cookies are made by shaping dough by hand into small balls, logs, crescents and other shapes.

Pressed cookies are formed by pressing dough through a COOKIE PRESS (or PASTRY BAG) to form fancy shapes and designs.

Refrigerator (or icebox) cookies are made by shaping the dough into a log, which is refrigerated until firm, then sliced and baked. Rolled cookies begin by using a rolling pin to roll the dough out flat; then it is cut into decorative shapes with COOKIE CUTTERS or a pointed knife.

Other cookies, such as the German SPRINGERLE, are formed by imprinting designs on the dough, either by rolling a special decoratively carved rolling pin over it or by pressing the dough into a carved COOKIE MOLD.”

Ref: Oxford Encyclopaedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press: New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 317-8)

Ingredients:-

Sugar- 1 Cup

Butter or Margarine- 1 Cup softened

Milk- 3 Table spoon

Vanilla- 1 tea spoon

Egg- 1

All purpose flour- 3 Cups

Baking Powder- 1½ tea spoon

Salt- ½ tea spoon
For decoration I used- Choco Chips, Chocolate rice and Mixed nuts.

Method:-

In large bowl, combine sugar, butter, milk and egg; blend well. Add flour, baking powder and salt; mix well. Cover the plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 hour for easier handling.

Heat oven to 400F.On lightly floured surface, roll out 1/3 of the dough at a time to 1/8 thickness. Keep remaining dough refrigerated. Cut with flower cookie cutter. Place each 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

 If desired, sprinkle with sugar.

Note: The decorated cookies as shown in the picture are decorared before baking.

Bake at 400F for 5-9mnts or until edges are light brown. Immediately remove from the cookie sheets. Decorate as desired.You can decorate it with the coloured icing.

Imp Note: 1. The shaped cookies which I baked first, (you can see in the above  and below Pictures) I baked on the silver foil and greased it before baking. Therefore the laying side of the Cookie caught the burn colour very fast. Therefore ALWAYS BAKE THEM ON THE UNGREASED COOKIE SHEET (PERCHMENT OR WAX PAPER) 2. Don’t bake the cookies more than 6-8mnts. If you think that the cookies need more time to cook, turn off the oven, keep the cookies inside the oven for few mnts more.

The measurements I have given you will get approximately 3 to 4 dozen cookies. The count will be depending on the size and shapes of the cookies. If you don’t want to bake all the cookies at a time then you can store the cookies dough in the refrigerator for a couple of days more. But whenever you store it wrap it tightly and nicely with a plastic sheet. Before baking take out the dough and give it time to catch the room temperature.

The baked cookies should be stored in an air tight container. The cookies stay fresh for 1-2 weeks, may be more. But we never get a chance to watch, as the tasty bites disappear in no time.

Baked Spinach Chicken with Baked Potato

Ingredients:-

Note: I awalys keep on experimenting with the various kinds of sauces. It is not mandatory to use these sauces only. You can use whatever sauces you want to use for the marination.

Spinach- 1 bunch

Chicken Breast- 4 Fillets

Honey Mustard sauce- 1 tea spoon

Soy Sauce- 1 table spoon

Pasta sauce-2 table spoon

Peanut butter- 1table spoon

Salt- to taste

Sugar- 1 tea spoon

Method:-

Pre heat the oven to 350 F.

Wash the Spinach thoroughly. Chop roughly into small pieces. Cook in the Microwave for 10 mnts adding a pinch of salt. Drain the excess water and reserve the blanched spinach.

Note:- Before baking any spinach dish always blanch it. The Spinach leaves lots of water during cooking. Therefore if the extra water is not drained ,that may differ the taste of a dish.

Take all the sauces, salt and sugar in a bowl. Mix gently.

Take an oven proof deep dense greased tray. Place the chicken breasts. Add the sauce and spinach. Fold all well. Then place the breast side by side. Bake for 35 to 40 mnts. In between turn the breasts to the opposite side. Serve hot with baked potato and salad.

This is a very full and healthy dish

 for the adults and a very healthy and tasty dish for the kids too.

Baked Potato:-

 

Ingredients:-

Potato- 4 medium size
Salt-to taste
Italian Seasoning-1/4 tea spoon
Oil- Few drops

Method:-

Pre heat the oven to 400F.

Wash and then wipe dry the skinned Potatoes. Cut the Potatoes in desired shapes but be carefully the pieces should not be too thin or too thick.
Grease an oven proof tray. Put the potato slices on the tray add all other ingredients along with the oil and mix well. Bake for 10-15 mnts. Turn the slices then again bake for another 10-15mnts more. Keep on checking so that the potatoes should not turn too brown. Serve hot.

This recipe is off to 'Healing Foods Event-Spinach' , hosting by Divya and started by Siri.

Plain Catfish curry (Bengali Style)

Ingredients:-

Catfish- 4 pieces

Potato- 1 medium size

Tomato- 1 small

Ginger paste- 1 tea spoon

Turmeric Powder- ¼ tea spoon

Cumin Powder- ¼ tea spoon 

Coriander Powder- ¼ tea spoon

Fenugreek seeds- ¼ tea spoon.

Salt- As per taste

Green Chilly- 1 or 2 (it can be less or more)

Oil- 3 - 4 table spoons

Method:- 

Wash the Catfish; drain the extra water, and then rub the fish blocks with a little bit of salt and a pinch of turmeric.       

Grate the whole tomato to pulp. Take a bowl. Add the tomato pulp, ginger paste, turmeric, cumin, and coriander powder and little bit water. Make smooth gravy out of all.

Cut the potato, in to medium cubes.

Heat the oil in a deep dense pan. Let the oil get fully hot. Put the fish blocks slowly in to the pan one by one. Fry till the blocks turn lightly brown. Be careful- the oil splutters a lot during the frying process. Take out the fish pieces draining out the extra oil and reserve.

Tips:- Never let the Fenugreek Seeds burn or turn black, otherwise it will leave a bitter taste that bitterness will also be added to the other ingredients.

Check how much oil is left in the pan. For the next step very little oil is needed. If you feel extra oil is needed, add. Put the fenugreek seeds and then put the potato cubes and fry till  it turns light brown. 

 Add the tomato paste and salt. Sauté till the aroma of the spices arise from the pan and the oil separates at the side. Add a cup of water stir well, cover with a lid and wait for the water to boil. 

 Add the reserved fish; stir carefully to mix them well in the curry.
Cover the lid, let all cook till the potato gets soft. Add the green chilli and serve with rice.

I am sending this recipe to the event Cooking With Seeds - Fenugreek Seeds , hosted by DenuFood and announced by Priya.

Beans Sprouts Curry (Indian Style)

 Before posting the recipe I would like to share a funny story behind it. I just got married and relocated to USA. New place, new friends, new kind of foods, everything was then new for me. I got introduced with few more Indian Bengali friends of my husband and with their wives. All kind of information sharing started in a full swing as I got little bit close to them and gradually we all became very good friends. One of those friends, one day invited my husband and me for dinner. Dinner was served. With lots of other delicious dishes she served this beans sprouts dish. It tasted so nice I was not able to resist myself asking what it was cooked of. She said very confidently that this was banana bud curry (Mocha r tarkary in Bengali). Banana bud recipes are very famous in Bengal. So being a Bengali, I know well what a banana bud was. Usually after cooking a banana bud dish the colour of the dish turned dark. But here the colour didn’t look similar to that from any perspective. I asked her to clarify my doubt. She told that she also knew the same, but she was sure that this was the banana bud, might be some of different genre. She supplied me more information that this banana bud could be found in the Chinese market and they sold it cleaned and peeled. I was newly married and new to the world of culinary. Feeding my husband with different kind of tasty food was the only passion of mine at that time. I got very excited with the information and learned from her how to cook the dish. On the very next day we rushed to the Chinese market. We searched the nook and corner of the market, we got the whole banana bud (the actual mocha), but didn’t get the cleaned and peeled one. I didn’t dare to buy the whole one because at that time I didn’t have the guts to clean, then peel and cook the Banana bud. I called her and she told me the exact aisle from where she found it. We went there and found nothing else but the packets of beans sprouts. She told that those were the banana bud which she always bought. She was also got newly married a few months back and new to the world of kitchen. The sprouts seemed her peeled banana bud. And she was not so wrong, because both the vegetables look very close. To verify, even we asked the attendant of the shop whether they sold cleaned and peeled banana bud or not. They answered in negative. Then I clarified her that those were nothing but beans sprouts. We laughed a lot and still now that is one of the funny memories of us which we loved to share and giggle. But the good part of it was that we got a new delicious recipe.

 

Ingredients-

Beans Sprout – 2 cups
Potato – 1 medium size
Bay leave – 1 or 2
Cardamom – 1 or 2
Clove – 2 or 3
Cinnamon – 1 or 2 small size
Cumin Seeds – ¼ tea spoon
Ginger paste – 1 tea spoon
Turmeric Powder– ½ tea spoon
Cumin Powder – ¼ tea spoon
Coriander Powder- ¼ tea spoon
Green Chilly – According to taste
Salt and Sugar- According to taste
Oil—2 table spoons (can be used less or more)
Ghee – ¼ tea spoon

Method-

1. Wash the sprouts and then roughly chop them into small pieces. Boil the sprouts with a pinch of turmeric and salt for 10- 15 mnts. Drain the extra water and keep the boiled sprouts aside.
2. Cut the potato into small cubes and keep aside.
3. Heat the oil and temper the bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and the cumin seeds till it starts to splutter. Add the potato cubes.
4. Fry the potato till it starts to change colour, then add the ginger paste and sauté for a couple of minutes more.
5. Add the sprouts, turmeric, cumin and coriander powder and mix all ingredients nicely. Add salt and sugar sauté for a minute then cover it up and cook in low flame till the potatoes get cooked. If water is needed just keep on sprinkling to avoid the dryness and the burning.

6. The water should be fully dried up and the dish should look not juicy. Add green chilli and ghee and serve hot with rice.

Pumpkin Prawn

Checking my veggies a few days back, I found that the leftover piece of Pumpkin had to be cooked today. The other day I cooked pumpkin with potato. That day I wanted to cook something different. I checked my veggie department and found a few florets of cauliflower were left behind. There were lots more vegetables storing around but nothing else helped me look happy except the cauliflower. Suddenly it just struck my mind about the event going on cooking dishes with the Fenugreek seeds. In every Bengali kitchen storing Fenugreek or Methi Seeds are a must. Whether in cooking or in beauty care or healing an illness, these seeds are  well known and helpful source of all. So I took the pumpkin, the cauliflower and grab few frozen ready to cook Prawns, and took an attempt to prepare this different kind of dish from my own. I no need to say that the dish was a great success as my two dearest one finished it in no time. Here is the recipe as follows:-

Ingredients:-

Pumpkin (cut in to medium sized cubes) - 3 cups

Cauliflower (cut in to medium sized florets) – 2 cups

Potato (cut in to medium sized cubes) - 1 medium size

Prawn (medium size) - As per your wish

Fenugreek Seeds- ½ tea spoon

Ginger paste- 1 tea spoon

Turmeric Powder- ¼ tea spoon

Cumin Powder- ¼ tea spoon

Coriander Powder- ¼ tea spoon

Green Chilly- As per your taste
Coriander Leaves-  ½ cup chopped

Salt and Sugar - As per your taste

Oil- 3 table spoon (you can make it less or more)

Water- ½ cup (approx)

Note:-

• Raw pumpkin takes much time than the ripe one. So before cooking pls took a look which pumpkin you have bought.

• If you are using the raw Prawns then add little bit turmeric and salt. Then fry it first and keep aside. Add them when the water starts to boil along with the veggies. (See the Method)

Method:-

• 
  
  Heat the oil till it gets fully hot. Temper with the Fenugreek seeds and add the potato. (Don’t let the seeds burn or turn black, otherwise it will leave a bitter taste that bitterness will also be added to the other ingredients. So just after adding the seeds to the pan add the potato).
• 
  
  Fry the Potato for 2/3mnts then add the Cauliflower and the Pumpkin (if the pumpkin is raw. If you have the ripe one then put when the other veggies are fully fried). Let them fry till they turn light brown.
• 
  
  Then add the ginger paste. Cook for a minute then add the other spices (turmeric, cumin, coriander powder). Add one or two table spoon water. Sauté until the spices and the veggies mixes up well. Add salt and sugar, mix all well then add the remaining water. Cover with a lid and simmer it low flame till the water get dry and the veggies get soft and tender. Keep on checking whether more water is needed or not. (If you are using raw Prawns add it here when the water starts to boil).
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  Add the ready to cook Prawns and the Green chilly. Sauté for a couple of minutes more so that prawns start to leave its own taste. Add the coriender leaves and serve hot with rice or roti.
  

Variations:-

• Curry leaves can be added while tempering, then the aromatic smell of leaves will add more taste to the dish. I was running off at that time of cooking, otherwise I will surely use it.

Tips:-

• Apart from other benefits (you can get the information from the Denufood blog), Fenugreek seeds are very good for Hair Care. Grind the seeds and put in the Coconut oil. Let them soak overnight and then it can be used as long as one wishes. It supplies nutrition to the hair, which helps the hair to grow fast and fall less.

I was not able to resist myself without thanking the Food Event Hosts. Participating in the events are really enjoyable and interesting. It helps to get in touch with so many talented cooks and to be introduced with the world of delectable recipes. But apart from all these it is actually helping and inspiring us to cook different kind of dishes very creatively. It is bringing out the potentiality of a cook and also of a creative personality which are sometimes buried under so many worldly works that we forget about our hidden talents. Thank You all Event Hosts and let the spirit of cooking touch the summit.


I am sending this recipe to the event Cooking With Seeds - Fenugreek Seeds ,hosted by DenuFood and announced by Priya