Doi Kopi (Cauliflower in Curd Gravy)

Thursday, in my house is a veggie day...no spiritual purpose but just making a healthy eating habit...according to me at once a week we should be a vegetarian...not that on that day we eat whole weeks vegetable and rest of the week we binge on fast and unhealthy food...! And in this way I get  to cook some of my fav desi meals, be it Bengali or non-bengali, as I usually don't cook them, as the Indian veg we get over here in Leuven, Belgium,according to me is not that fresh. So rest of the week me and my family binge on non Indian food, such as, Italian, Chinese or Anglo and rest of the world, to be precise we go international or Indian non-veg foods..

I hope I am able to explain properly my Vegetarian Day, if not don't bother and come let's carry on with the dish.. So one of those veggie Thursday's I was thinking what to feed my family and I was really in the mood for cauliflower as it was available to me on that precise day!! And as usual I wanted to cook something different rather than those mundane curries we have usually...then suddenly after some brain storming I remembered this which I ate once in my aunt's house and it was actually a meat dish, cooked with chicken!!


It's a very easy and fuss free recipe..totally my kind. the main ingredient is curd other than the cauliflower...dah!!  and the rest are readily available in our kitchen pantry and cupboard!! So let's get cooking...

Ingredients:
A small head of cauliflower, broken and the florets separated 
( use half of it if the cauliflower is big)

Yogurt/Curd: 2 cups

Ginger paste: 1 tsp

Garlic paste: 1tbsp

Coriander powder: 1/2 tsp

Crushed Black Pepper: 1 1/2 tsp

Garam Masala Powder: 1/2 tsp

Whole Mustard: a pinch

Asafoetida/Hing: a pinch

Curry Leaves: a fistful

Chopped Coriander Leaves: a fistful

Dried Whole Chili: 3

Ghee/ Clarified Butter: 1 tbsp 

Salt and Sugar: to taste

Cornflour: 2 tsp


Method: First of all, wash the florets thoroughly. In a bowl mix yogurt,salt and sugar, 1tsp of black pepper, coriander powder, garam masala powder and cornflour, add the florets and leave it to marinate for 30 minutes, minimum. Heat a non-stick pan and brush a little bit of oil. Then add the marinated cauliflower, when it starts to sizzle cover and let it cook on a low heat. Don't add water, it will release on it's own.let it get stewed on its on juice.Cook until the cauliflower is cooked to your choice, I like it ' al dante'. Heat up another pan, add ghee and let it melt then add hing, mustard, whole chili and rest of the black pepper. Let it sizzle and impart aroma, pour ti on the curry and add the fresh coriander leaves and give it a good stir. Remove from the heat and let it stand at least for 15 minutes. Serve with roti or naan or pulao..your choice!!
 

Orange Up-side Down Amaretto Cheese Cake

For a long time I was longing for Cheese Cake, those dense and sweet smoothness and a crunchy base with lots of calorie,which obviously I don't need, but what can one do...can't long for a cheese cake shunning the calorie...you have to compromise sometime!! But alas here in Belgium  can't get those...not in the local bakery,which they seem to have aplenty, not that I am complaining. Belgian dessert concept  is very different from American  or English dessert. Can't find cakes in any bakery shop, no not even in supermarket.Here dessert means tart and only tart, with a base like bread, a lot different from which I had in UK, those biscuit like shell. And no, if you are thinking ..."oh! how lucky she is..she obviously get's to eat lots of chocolate tarts" then sorry to say can't get those either! Being a chocolate country you will think otherwise, but sadly speaking 'No haven't seen one yet!' Here you can get cakes if you order for birthday or wedding. So bye bye to easy solution,buying of the self and curl up on the sofa with the telly on, after dinner.No I have to make one. So  I chose an upside down one, as I was wanting to do an upside down cake also...so voila Orange Up-Side Down Amaretto Cheese Cake!! the story behind amaretto is that I had some available in my pantry...so that's that, all cleared.

You will find two kinds of cheese cake one is the set kind, with gelatine and the other one is baked, like mine one. For the baked cakes crust, you should blind bake for few minutes as it can get soggy,which happened with me! So next time am baking it first. You can also coat with chocolate or brush egg white or mix the butter in room temperature instead of melting it. These are few tips which I looked up, after mine got melted away. But melted or not it was damn tastey.But next time I sure will follow those tips and tricks. So enough of chit chat and lets straight get to the point, which obviously is sharing the recipie with you.



Take 2 oranges and skin them, remove any white stuff that sticks to its body. Keep them whole and cut in round shape. Pre-heat the oven to 350F/150C. Take a 9" round pan,mix 2tbsp brown sugar and 2 tbsp melted butter and spread evenly at the bottom of the pan. Then arrange neatly those orange roundels on top of that butter mix,cutting necessarily to make an even layer. Place cherries in the center of the oranges. ix 2 cups of crushed amaretto biscuits, 2tbsp granulated sugar and 3tbsp melted butter in a bowl and spread evenly and press gently with a bowl, at top of  the oranges. Let it sit in the fridge while we make the cheese mixture. In a bowl mix 2x 200gm tub fresh cheese,3/4 cup granulated sugar,3/4 cup sour cream vanilla essence/orange liquor and mix well. Beat in 2 eggs, one at a time. Don't get tempted to over mix. Now pour this mixture over the biscuit base and bake it for 55-60 min. or until just set in the middle. Let it cool down to the room temperature, the run a knife around the pan and invert it on a plate and fridge it for min. of 3hr or if possible over night...!!

Oven Baked Stuffed Semolina Kochuri

For some days my mind was going..khasta kochuri...khasta kochuri... that crispy outer shell, hot with a hint of sweet,Dal stuffing...the smell of hing...oh! I miss my para!! As I do not have the luxury of going to the para sweet shop and buying some,I have to bite the dust and make some for myself and sadly share a few with my daughter and hubby dear,too. As I am making at home there was lots of option open to me for the stuffing so I went for fish...Then thought why not experiment with shell too..so in went some semolina...after testing my fruit of labour, I thought I almost passed the taste of authenticity..mind the word 'authenticity'..as it was a bit too crispy..I mixed 1cup of semolina to 1 cup of flour...I think 1/2 would be right...other than no complaint..As I remained part satisfied with the journey, the fish kachori pointed out to me that I was not just craving for the kachori but the whole package...the Dal stuffing...the hum of the sweet shop...the flies..waiting in the line for your turn and being impatient..everything...!! So, keeping it in mind, that I cannot cook up these little extras(which I was really missing), I promised to myself that, I will be making these babies again,for sure, but not with fish or anything else..only with Dal,which tastes hot with a hint of sweetness and smell of hing!! And then I will take a bite into it, I will close my eyes and ....


 Ingredients: 

For Kachori Shell

Plain White Flour : 1 cup
Semolina : 1/2 cup
Oil : 1/2 cup
Sugar : 1 tbsp
Baking Soda : 1 tsp
Baking Powder : 1 tsp
Salt : to taste   

Filling

Fish Fillets : 1 1/2 cups, boiled and forked
Onion : 1/2 cup, finely chopped
Ginger Paste : 1 tsp
Garlic Paste : 2 tsp
Tomato Ketchup : 2 tbsp
Chilli Powder : 2 tsp
Cumin Powder : 1 tsp
Coriander Powder : 2 tsp
Garam Masala Powder : 1 tsp 
Green Chilli : 1tbsp,chopped (optional)
Sugar : 1 tsp
Salt : to taste 
Oil : as required

Method :
Shift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Put the dry ingredients and oil in a bowl and mix it until it resembles bread crumb. Take 2 tsp of vinegar and mix it with 1/2 cup of water ,then add some water from the cup and mix to a firm dough. Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface. Cover it with a damp cloth and keep aside for 30 min. In the mean time prepare the filling. Heat oil in a pan, add chopped onion and fry until it is lightly golden. Add garlic and ginger paste and rest of the dry masala, except the garam masala and tomato puree. Fry for some time until it releases  oil. Add the fish at this time and stir fry for some time until every thing incorporated. Then add salt and sugar and the chopped fresh chillies, in using.Sprinkle the garam masala and mix everything. Remove from the heat and leave it to be cooled.

Now let's make some kochuries. Take the dough and make round balls from it. Take one dough ball and give a shape of bowl and stuff it with the fish stuffing. Then pull the dough together and and seal it,it will take a shape of ball,press it and flatten the ball to seal the tightly. Do this with rest of the dough balls.Pre-heat your oven at 180C and line the baking tray with baking sheet.Arrange the balls on the tray and give them an egg wash or if they are non-veg brush them with milk. Bake them in the oven for 20 mins and increase the temperature to 200C for another 10 mins or golden brown in colour. Cool it ,and serve it with your choice of chutney when it's still hot.

 

 

Beer Battered Fish with Chips and Roasted Vegetables

Fish and Chips in mainly hot fired food of England. The British are so crazy about fish and chips that it remained one of few foods not to be regulated at the time of WW2!!Every British road  must contain at least one fish and chip shop...it is like our own 'sweet shops'. But fired fish was introduced to Britain by the Jewish refugee from Spain and Portugal.It is a commoner food, working class food.

O.K. enough of history lesson!! oh! the aroma of fried fish..It can't be written in one word or it's easy to say it cannot be written on the wall!! A big chunk of fish fried in oil and fat chips..not those fiddly one as we know as french fries,which we became overly familiarised by the mighty MacDonald's.When we were in England we ate fish n chips,not regularly,but often.A big...or rather huge fillet of  fish,trust me it was biiiiiiig!,we were never able to finish it one sitting,dipped in the batter  packed in a Styrofoam box with an equally big portion of chips sprinkled with salt and cheap vinegar,it was heavenly....just heavenly. When I first saw a fish and chips shop I had know idea that,how could only a fish fry, yes I was thinking on the line of our own one of the classics,though our's will be always the best!!, and some fired potato can be a good night's meal!! But after opening the paper package...I knew how wrong was...!!

But as I stated before,Friday kitchen is always a special kitchen in our house.We don't go out to eat very often, as here in Belgium good Indian food is very hard to come by and the rest are equally tasteless,so we celebrate my man's working hard by partying hard-, by cooking simple working man's food but only with a twist for the celebrations.So when my fridge was stuffed with some fillets,though not with more authentic cod or haddock, of fish,what is better than making fish and chips and being nostalgic..as we had some good memories of that period. But as  said it was Friday,a celebratory one,so why not  Beer Battered  fish and roasted veggies and some store bought chips on the side, for the nostalgia.

The fish came out surprisingly well...moist and juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. The only thing  didn't like about English fish and chips that the fish itself is tasteless,no salt or pepper,nothing ..that is the only extra thing I did for my fish I mixed some pepper and salt with the flour for the first coating and as I didn't have sparkling water with me , I used only beer, which was a mistake, as it tasted a bit bitter for the beer.other than I followed the recipe as given in Good-Food.So here comes the recipe...


Ingredients: 

Fish Fillets : 2, making about 350gm in total

Flour : 50gm + 3 tbsp

Cornflour: 50gm

Baking Powder : 1 tsp

Beer : 75 ml

Sparkling Water : 75ml

Salt : to taste

Black Pepper : 1 tsp,freshly ground

Oil , for frying


Method:
Clean the fillet and pat dry and rub some salt,let it sit for 10 min. In a bowl mix 3 tbsp flour with ground pepper,set aside. Now the batter, in a separate mixing bowl, mix flour and cornflour and baking powder,salt and pepper, to your taste. In a cup mix both the liquid and them slowly in the dry mixture while stirring at the same time. Use up all the liquid to make lump free, smooth batter. Let the batter rest for 30 min. Now coat the fillet in the other dry mixture, the 3tbsp one. Shake off the excess and dip them in the batter and fry them in the pre-heated oil until golden brown and the fish is cooked inside. I think for about 6-8 min. Drain on kitchen paper and serve it with chips as per tradition or you can have some roasted veg on the side, like us. British usually have it with peas.









 

Quick Fruit Salsa

 

 Feeding healthy, is very hard ,to your kids..specially if it is fruit...you have to go to a strange length,spin weird stories.. even after that, may be, they will fancy one or two. At present mine has taken shine to kiwi, orange and grapes and if...if her mood is OK she pick through some strawberries!! But I am no good at stories so I have to try extra hard...So when I was searching for something to go with my aloo paratha, other than raita and achar, I came to see this healthy but,thank God,tasty and quiet frankly easy and snacking way to feed fruits to my kids,in the BBC Good Food web page. And it mentioned including  kiwi in it!!May be after reading the recipe section you will think "that's it..nothing more..!!why share this recipe!!" But trust me after making it..it was so tasty, we all were on our third ,fourth helping in no time...Come to think of that ,the salad/salsa was more hit than the paratha!! The same thing happened on the BBQ day also...it was so hit that  got a request for making it on another occasion from a guest of ours!! May be you will think..."what an odd girl, bragging over a mere fruit salad!!" But I say to you it is not bragging,,,it is that tasty,go and make it and see or rather taste it for yourself...So here goes the recipe....


Ingredients:

Choice of your kids fav fruits diced in small pieces, I used kiwi, strawberry, peaches,a mixture of green and red apple, cherry tomato..frankly your choice, 1 big bowl

Finely Chopped Onion: 1/2 cup

Sweet Chilli Sauce : 2 tsp

Extra Virgin Olive Oil: 2tbsp

Chilli :1 chopped, if you want more heat.

Salt and Black Pepper: to taste, I didn't use it  as the the sauce was quite salty

Lemon Juice: 1tbsp, optional


Method:
In a bowls mix oil, sauce , chilli and lemon juice, if using. Add the fruits to the mixture add salt and pepper, if using and give it a toss...done...nothing to it...

 

Home Made Buttermilk

Some times when you get fixed on a recipe nothing can stop you...not even absence of a certain important ingredients. Numerous times happened this to me. Sometimes you innovate, sometimes you alter and sometimes you just cut the corners. But if..what if you can't ..there are certain ingredients which are must for that recipe!! So you DIY...Do It Yourself!!
The same thing happened to me when  I was making cupcake for my daughter's school!! What to do?? A gal can't just always drop everything and run for the store!! So I DIY-ed...Thanks to Google!! What will we without her?? Can you imagine a world without her?? So enough of the talk here is the recipe..

Just pour 1 Tbsp of white vinegar and fill the cup with full fat milk. Stir and let it sit for 5-7 min. And voila!! Your buttermilk is ready, use as directed!! Yes it is that easy!!

Cherry Lemon Cupcake

On the last day of June my daughter's class went out and  summer holiday started.On 31st of August the school will reconvene and she will start an entirely new class. So on that day every body was bringing lots of gift for their class teacher..Tanta(acknowledgement for class teacher in Dutch) Nicky's hand were also full,naturally..So when I asked Gudia's(daughter) opinion she thought of the obvious...flower...as imaginative as 5years old!! But as a sensible mother and an imaginative one,thought better of  it and opted for more personal one..a cake..but time was short because last day was school was a half one too!!So I have to fix some thing on time line of 1/2 hr!! So when I saw lots of fresh cherry's on my fridge...and no..this is not free...!! I just tweaked a strawberry cupcake recipe into a Lemon Cherry one!! Oh,,,and the taste of it...you have to make it..as word cannot always convey the taste!! But when Gudia presented the still warm cake in her hand...she just did two things...one said the word warm in dutch!! and gave Mamma a big bear hug...and student got her share in return...a sweet kiss of her class teacher....isn't it nice?? So if you want the same drama in your life ...or not...you got to make this quick but tasty cake at your home!!

P.S. I made 12 and kept 4 for myself... as, I just couldn't resist myself  after getting the look of it and obviously the SMELL..as looks can sometimes be deceptive!! So here is the recipe

Ingredients:
 
All-purpose flour : 2 cups

Sugar : 1cup

Eggs  : 1

Butter/Margarine: 1 cup

Buttermilk : 200 ml

Fresh Cherries : 1 cup, pitted and halved ,retain the juice

Baking Powder : 1 tsp

Baking Soda : 1 tsp

Vanilla Essence : 2 tsp

Zest and Juice of Lemon : 1


Method:
Pre-heat the oven at 375F/190C and prepare a 12 cup baking tin with lining the tin with cupcake mould. In a large mixing bowl mix butter, buttermilk, lemon juice, vanilla essence and egg together. In a separate bowl shift flour, baking powder, baking soda. Mix in the sugar. Now slowly fold the dry ingredients in the wet mixture.Fold in the zest and the cherries and the juices and mix until just combined. Over mixing will result in dense muffins. Now fill the cups with a ice-cream scoop.Leave  a little bit of space in the top as it will rise. Bake it in the oven for about 20-25 Min's or until the a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffins, comes out clean.