Malai Chum - chum

This recipe took a long time to get published as I just didn’t get time over the holidays. A lot of friends has been asking me for it and finally it’s here. Sorry for the delay. I made this over Diwali for my Husband’s office Diwali get-together. Indian folks in his office were supposed to bring in a dish each, I decided to go with traditional Bengali sweets which is famous across India. I chose Malai chumchum as it is popular for its mild sweetness and silky soft texture.

Ingredients For Chaana

1. 8 cups whole milk
2. 1tsp. saffron
3. 1/2 cup vinegar diluted in 1/2 cup water

Ingredients For Sugar syrup

1. 4cups of sugar
2. 10 cups of water

Procedure Of Making Chaana

In a heavy bottom pan take the milk and bring it to a boil. Optionally you can use saffron in the milk to give the chum chum a rich color, or omit it for clear white chum chums. If you choose to use saffron you will see within few minutes it will start releasing its color. Once it starts boiling reduce the heat and slowly pour diluted vinegar to it while stirring the milk.

Soon the milk will start curdling. It means the milk solids will be separated from the watery whey.Now strain the milk mixture on a colander lined by a cheese cloth.

Rinse the milk solids with fresh running water to remove any residual acidity.

Wrap the cheesecloth around itself to squeeze out moisture from the chaana (paneer).

Now tie the muslin cloth from the faucet of your kitchen sink for 3-4hrs to drain out the last drop of whey.

Take chaana out of the cheese cloth and knead it with gentle pressure to make a soft dough.

Now take small balls out of it and roll them in elongated shape. Flatten each of them by putting them in between your palms. Keep them on a clean plate.

Take a wide sauce pan and dissolve sugar into the water. Bring it to a boil on high heat.

When it starts boiling reduce the heat to medium and allow the syrup to simmer for another 5 – 6 minutes.

Remove the lid and gently release chum chums in batches; into it. Chum chum will expand when it is cooked, so keep enough room for their expansion.

Cook them covered on medium heat for 15 minutes and then turn them over. Cook for another 5 minutes and then remove them with a slotted spoon.

Arrange them on a plate and allow them to cool in a refrigerator for 30 minutes.

By this time prepare malai for chum chums.

Ingredients for malai

1. 1 cup whole milk
2. 1 cup heavy cream
3. 2tsp. sugar
4. Crushed pistachio for garnishing
5. Optional saffron

Procedure of making Malai

In a heavy bottom pan mix together milk, heavy cream and sugar. Optionally add saffron. Now let it boil on medium heat. Stir continuously to avoid scalding.

Soon you will see it starts getting thick. Cook for some more time till it gets a spread like consistency.

Take out the chum chums from refrigerator and either using a flat knife or using pastry bag with malai filling spread the warm malai on the top surface of chum chums. Let it soak for a minute, then apply the 2nd layer. Sprinkle crushed pistachio and saffron over them to garnish.

Kumro Saag diye Motor Dal

We are regular visitors to the local Farmer’s market. We love the fresh organic produce as well as the artisan food. In one of those visits I was flabbergasted to find Kumro saag (Pumpkin twigs) and pumpkin flower being sold in a corner. I bought a bagful (literally!!) and made some delectable Saag with Yellow split peas using my grandmoms recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 cup motor dal (Yellow split peas)
• 2 cups chopped pumpkin twigs along with their leaves (Cut into 1” pieces)
• 1 tsp. kalojeera (Kalonji)
• 2 dry red chilies
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp. oil
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Wash dal thoroughly and cook in a pressure cooker with 2 cups water, turmeric powder and salt till one whistle comes.

In a pan heat 2tbsp. oil and temper it with kalojeera and dry red chili. When the spices stop sputtering add pumpkin twigs to it. Sprinkle one pinch salt and sauté for a minute. Cook it covered for about 3-4 minutes. By this time the leaves will start wilting.

Remove the lid and add boiled dal to it. Add sugar and mix. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly. Let it simmer for about another 5 minutes on medium heat. This dal will have a medium consistency.

Serve with plain rice. 

Dhania Maachie (Fish in Cilantro Sauce)

My experiment using local fresh fish for traditional Indian recipes continues with this recipe. Commonly Dhania Maachie is made with fresh water small fishes like Khoira, Puti in India. However, my supply of those are restricted to the frozen section in the local Bangladeshi store and I suspect they were caught and packaged sometime in the last century. In this version I used striped bass and it turned out pretty well.

Ingredients

• 4 medium sized fish steaks (I used wild striped Bass)
• 1 large tomato roughly chopped
• 1 medium bunch of cilantro
• 4 medium cloves of garlic
• 2 green chilies
• 1 tbsp. + 1 pinch nigella seeds (Kalojeera)
• 1 tsp. black pepper corn
• 1 green chili ( quantity can be changed depending on your heat tolerance level)
• 2 tbsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 4 tbsp. mustard oil
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Smear fish steaks with 1 tbsp. turmeric powder and salt. Keep it aside for about fifteen minutes.

Heat 2tbsp. oil in a frying pan till it smokes. Reduce the heat and fry fish steaks till both sides turn golden. Remove from oil and drain them on a paper towel.

Dry roast pepper corn and nigella seeds for about a minute. Now dry grind them in a grinder. Add cilantro, garlic and green chilies to it. Make a fine paste of them by using minimum water.

Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a pan and temper it with a pinch of nigella seeds. When the seeds stop spluttering add chopped tomato to it and sauté them on medium hear till they become mushy.

Once you see a fine line of oil separating out from the tomato add the cilantro paste along with a tsp. of turmeric powder to it. Keep sautéing till you find a nice aroma and the raw smell goes away.

Now add half cup of water along with sugar and  salt. Give a nice mix and let it come to a boil. Now gently release the fish steaks into the gravy and let it simmer for few minutes. When you see that the steaks are coated with the spices and the oil has been released you know you are done. Serve with plain hot rice.

Bhendi Posto (Okra in Poppy Seed Paste)

My daughters favorite veggy is Bhendi or Ladies finger. If she were to choose she chooses Bhendi over mutton, which is pretty weird

So as you can guess we buy tons of Bhendi and make it in different ways. The most common being Bhendi fry with Daal, the next being Bhendi Posto (Okra with Poppy seeds).

Ingredients

• 1lb. okra small sized
• 2 tbsp. poppy seed
• 1 dry red chili
• 1 tsp. kalonji (Kalojeera)
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste
• Oil

Procedure

In a grinder make a smooth paste of poppy seed and dry red chili with little water.

Wash okra and pat them dry. Now snip off both ends.

Heat  4-5 tbsp. oil in a pan and temper it with kalonji seeds. When it stops sputtering add okra and sauté them on high heat for a minute. Sprinkle salt and sugar and cook it covered for 2-3 minutes. Remove the lid and do rest of the cooking uncovered. When it is almost done add poppy seed paste and mix with okra gently so that they don’t break.At the end each okra should be coated by poppy seed paste. Add 1 tsp. mustard oil at the end to get an extra zing.

Aam Dal (Lentil with Raw Green Mango)

We are just back from Mexico. The weather there constantly reminded me of sultry Kolkata. The temperature hovered around 35 Celsius and the humidity at 99%. Even though I was having my fill of Taco’s and Tequila’s what I craved was Mango Daal and Alubhaja, the staple summer lunch of Bong’s.

Ingredients

• 1 cup red lentil
• 1 small raw mango peeled and cut into big chunks
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. black mustard seeds
• 2-3 dry red chilies
• 1 tbsp. mustard oil
• salt to taste

Procedure

Wash lentils till water runs clear and transparent. Add chunks of mango, turmeric powder and a pinch of salt to it. Boil lentil with 2 cups of water in a pressure cooker till 1whistle comes. Turn off the heat and wait till the pressure settles down.

Open the lid and gently stir the mixture once.

Heat mustard oil in a small pan till it starts smoking. Now reduce the heat and temper it with mustard seeds and whole dry red chilies. Once they stop spluttering add the tempered oil into the lentil mixture. Season it with salt and sugar and once again turn on the heat. Let it simmer for a minute or two and then turn the heat off.

Serve with hot rice and alubhaja.