Fasting too can be a culinary adventure !!

Navratras - is the holy 9 day holy period for hindus which involves 7-8 days of fasting fasting and culminates with the worshipping of the goddess Durga and her 9 forms.
Generally I am not a very fasting type of person , bengalis are always passionate about food and its various artistic challenges, fasting which involves staying away from food is a real challenge for a bengali.

I also have a motto if I am thinking about food / or the abstention from it I am not actually fasting so this time around I felt very motivated to fast and wanted to churn out the best of dishes for the goddess during fasting.
Challenges with a vrat menu is that the restricts on the use of ingredients.
1. One cannot use red Chili powder
2. Dhania Leaves
3. Restriction on use of aromatic spices
4. Rice , pulses and wheat are not allowed
5. Only seasoning allowed is black salt

One of the days of fasting had the following menu for the Goddess :-
1. Kuttu Puris
2. Potato Curry
3. Shinghara Custard
4. Spiced Curd - Raita

Kuttu Puris
Buckwheat as its called in english, it is one of the main ingredients for food prepared during fasting season
Ingredients
Kuttu Atta (Buckwheat flour) - 100 gms. (1/2 cup)
Potato - 100 gms. (2 medium sized)
Salt (saindha) - 3/4 tea spoon.
Black Pepper  - 1/4 tea spoon - 1 table spoon.
Boil potato in a cooker and mash them. In a separate pan sieve the flour and add mashed potatoes, salt (saindha) , 1/2 tea spoon black pepper, 1 table spoon coriander leaves into it. Mix them well and knead it to make dough.
You do not require water to knead the flour. Potato is used to knead the flour, instead of water.

Leave the dough for 15-20 minutes to set.
Make small balls from the dough, an dust it with the dry flour. Keep the ball on a roller board and press it with your fingers to make 2 1/2 or 3 inch disc. Repeat the steps with other balls as well.

Now take a pan and heat oil in it. Put the puris into the pan and keep on turning the sides into the oil until brown. Place a napkin on a plate and put the puris on it.
Potato Curry
Ingredients
1/2 Inch Ginger
10-15 Baby Potatoes boiled peeled and halved
Black salt to taste
10 Pepper corns freshly ground
4 Green Chillies finely chopped
2 tea spoons of jeera
1 table spoon of refined oil
In a heavy bottom pan heat the oil. Add jeera (1/2 tea spoon) and heat till it gives off a wonderful aroma and splutters.
Now add the ginger grated finely. Stir it for a while ,now add the chopped chillies. Stir fry till all the spices leave a heavenly aroma of chili, ginger and jeera. Add the boiled and halved potatoes. Add the salt. Stir for 3-4 minutes. As the potatoes  start browning up a bit, add 3-4 cups of water and keep boiling on a slow heat for 10-15 minutes. Check the consistency of the gravy, it should be like that of a porridge. Remove from fire. Now add grated / ground chilli and ginger , cover it with a lid , and let it sit for 3-4 minutes before serving. Dry roast rest of jeera and black pepper, till they splutter and give out a nice aroma. Grind and sprinkle over the piping hot curry.

Shinghara Custard
Shinghara or the good old water-chestnut is a very good ingredient which can be used to make pudding or custard.
It can be used fresh - as grated or ground or can also be used in the preserved form as Kuttu atta.
I used the preserved dried form (just like custard powder)
Ingredients
Milk - 4-5 Cups (Preferably whole milk)
3-4 tea spoon of Shinghara floor
Freshly ground cardamon - 4-5
Cinnamon Sticks
Assortments of Chopped nuts
10-20 Cashew nuts
10-20 Almonds
10-20 Pistachios
Chirongi 20-30 roasted
20-30 Raisins
1 tbl spoon of ghree / refined oil
1-2 spoon of honey
3-4 tiny spoons of sugar-free

In a deep pan put the oil and lightly brown the nuts. Remove the oil. Put 3-4 cups of milk and bring it to boil. Add the cinnamon and 3 ground cardomon , boil for 3-4 minutes.
Now take a small bowl and mix some milk (1 cup) + chestnut floor (Shinghara atta) , honey and 1 cardamon powder. Mix well such that no lumps remain.
Now add this mixture to the boiling milk . Heat for 2-3 minutes .Add 3-4 spoons of sugar free or 4-5 spoons of normal sugar. Add the raisins and nuts boil for another 2-3 mins. Sprinkle the 1 cardamon powder on the top.
Switch off the flame. Cool / refrigerate before serving.

Spiced Curd- Raita
4 Cups of Curd
2-3 Tea Spoon Jeera
1-2 Tea Spoon Black Salt
5-10 Black Pepper Corns

Whip the curd till you get a smooth consistency. Add salt, roasted and ground jeera powder and freshly ground pepper corns.

All the constituents of vrat thali are ready. Assemble and serve it to the goddess ...

Instant Gulab Jamuns

Have a sweet tooth but are hounded by the apprehensions that your sweet may be laced with adulterated milk solids (khoya) and other spurious ingridients.

There  are people who love baking their own bread , I love making my own sweets and goodies. Gulab Jamuns - the fried milk solids / khoya  dumplings soaked in cardamon and saffron flavoured sugar syrup is easy to make / replicate at home. The chief ingridient in it "Khoya" is mostly adulterated when brought off the shelf. So either you make your own - a very tedious and time consuming exercise or try a small trick. I tried my hand with "Milk powder" and results I got were almost as good as the as ones with "actual khoya".

Here's the recipe for you to try :- 

Ingredients

All purpose flour- 1 cup

Milk powder-1 1/2 cups

Baking soda-1/4 tsp

Yogurt or regular heavy cream

Oil

For the syrup

Sugar- 2 1/2 to 3  cups

Water- 3 cups

Cardamon pods- 4 nos

Saffron -a few strands(optional)

Method

Sift all purpose flour,milk powder and baking soda together.

Add sufficient quantity of heavy cream or yogurt  and knead well to form a soft dough.(like chappathi dough)

Keep aside for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile combine sugar and water in a pan and cook for 5 minutes or  until it thickens slightly.Add cardamom pods and saffron and keep aside. 

Make small balls out of the dough( almost 25 to 28 nos) and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan and deep fry these balls over medium low heat until it turns dark golden brown in color.

Drain these cooked balls into the sugar syrup and keep aside until the jamuns are completely soaked in the sugar syrup.

Mughlai Paneer Kofta Curry

Mughlai Paneer Kofta Curry


 

Prep Time: 25 mins
Cooking Time: 40-50 mins


Ingredients:
For the Gravy:
For Onion Paste:
3 large Onions, peeled and quartered
2-3 Green Chillies (adjust acc to taste)
1½ inch Cinnamon
4-5 Green Cardamoms
4 Cloves
½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
1 heaped tbsp Dhania/Coriander Seeds
Other Ingredients:
¼ cup each of Almonds and Cashew Nuts, soaked in ½ cup of warm water for 15 mins

1 - 1¼ cup Fresh Cream (I used Double Cream)
1½ tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
¼ tsp Haldi/Turmeric Powder
½ tsp Kitchen King Masala/Garam Masala (Optional but recommended)
½ tbsp Kasuri Methi/Dried Fenugreek Powder, crushed (Optional but recommended)
1 tsp Sugar
2 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

For Paneer Kofta/Dumplings (makes around 20-24 medium lime sized dumplings)
3 cups grated/crumbled Paneer (Around 275-300 grams)
1 cup boiled and mashed Potato (Optional)
¼ cup Corn Flour
½ cup Mixed Dried Nuts and Fruits (I have used chopped cashews, almonds, pistachio and sultana)
2-3 Green Chillies, finely chopped (Adjust acc to taste)
1 inch Ginger, peeled and finely chopped/grated
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying
Spices Used:
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder (Adjust acc to taste)
¼ tsp Haldi/Turmeric Powder
¾ tsp Garam Masala (Adjust acc to taste)
¼ tsp Kitchen King Masala (Optional)
1 tsp Dhania/Coriander Powder (Optional)


Method:
Prepare the gravy:
Grind onions, green chillies, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, cumin seeds and coriander seeds to smooth paste without adding any water. Keep it aside till needed.
Similarly grind the soaked almonds and cashew nuts to smooth paste by using the water in which they were soaked. Keep it aside till needed.
Heat oil in a pan and add ground onion paste, sugar and ginger garlic paste. Sauté it on medium flame for 5-7 minutes or till the oil starts to separate on the edge and the paste turns golden brown. It is important that the paste is well fried or the gravy will taste bitter, the sugar helps in caramelising the onions.
Mix in turmeric powder, kitchen king masala/garam masala and kasuri methi and cook them for a minute.
Add ground almond and cashew nut paste and mix them well. Add about 1 ½ - 2 cups of water, depending on how thick you want the gravy, and salt to taste. Reduce the flame to low and let it cook for 7-10 minutes.
Once the gravy starts to thicken and comes to a gentle boil, add fresh cream and mix them well. Cook for another 2 minutes and then turn off the gas flame. The delicious and creamy almond and cashew nut gravy is ready for the Mughlai Paneer Kofta.
Prepare the Koftas:
In a large bowl take crumbled/grated paneer and using hands start to knead it. Keep kneading it till all the crumbled paneer starts to form soft dough.
Mix in boiled potato, finely chopped green chillies, corn flour, grated ginger, turmeric powder, garam masala, kitchen king masala and salt to taste. Here you can also add finely chopped dried nuts or you can use them as a stuffing. I just added them with the paneer mix and as I didn’t see any point in spending few extra time by stuffing them.
The consistency of this kofta mix is almost that of roti dough and you should be able to make small balls. Once all the ingredients and mixed thoroughly, make small lime sized balls .
Heat oil in a deep frying pan for deep prying the koftas and reduce the heat to medium to low. Deep fry koftas in batches of 3-4 balls at time. If the koftas start to break, add 1-2 tbsp of corn flour to the mix, combine them well and make small balls of koftas once again.
Fry the koftas, turning them once in a while, till they turn crisp and golden brown in colour.

To Assemble and Serve:
Heat the gravy for few minutes and serve piping hot.
Place the koftas in gravy and garnish it finely chopped coriander leaves.