eCurry - The Recipe Blog

I still haven’t got used to this crazy Texas weather. It was 65 degrees yesterday, and today its freezing 25 degrees. The kids have started the winter holidays. During these chilly winter evenings all I want to do is curl up at the corner of the couch with my cozy slipper socks, a throw and a good book.  The dinner can wait, but can it really? Well this is what happened…. Some parathas, some really hot stuffed jalapenos on the side & a bowl of yogurt. Quick & Simple.

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Sweet Chutney served after a full course meal is an integral part of Bengali cuisine. Every single day while I was growing up, we would end end our meal with some kind of sweet chutney which would be polished of the plate with fingers & later the fingers licked off clean. I guess that served as a kind of dessert… the Bongs as everyone knows are famous for their “sweet teeth”.. not just a “tooth”. The chutney would be made of any seasonal ingredient. In summer it would be raw mangoes or pineapples, in fall & winter - the irrestible red tomatoes.

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Dal(Lentil) paratha/flat bread  is something which I learned from my grandmother. My grandparents lived only a few minutes away from our home. And it would be often that my grandpa would walk by with a bag of hot, freshly made parathas and a bunch of flowers for me.

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Remember all the groans & whines we came up with when we were forced to eat Karela/Bitter Melons when we were little? I have heard only of a handful of kids who eat this bitter vegetable without pulling a long sad face. I have found some ways (like this one), where the karela actually tastes not like karela. My kids (& my husband) do not whine when I make this stirfry. They Potatoes & the Karela are crispy, & has a nutty flavor.

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Talking of  Dum Aloo…There are some hundreds of ways to make Dum Aloo. In West Bengal it used to be a must dish served for weddings with “Radhaballavi” (lentil stuffed puri), and I loved the slight & subtle sweet taste of that kind of dum aloo.

Also during fall/winter time, when there would be small new baby potatoes, & the peas in the shell, my mom would make peas kachori and dum aloo with the bite size potatoes. It used to be an all evening activity when we would all sit and shell the peas and rub the potatoes to skin the already peeling skins.

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Goan cuisine has very strong Portuguese & Iberian connections. The  art of baking bread was brought to Goa by the European Missionaries. The bread came to be such an essential part of a Goan breakfast that there came a time, “towards the end of the Portuguese rule, when every village had its own local bakery.” Goan bakers adapted the European influence and added local ingredients to their bread giving it a very distinct Goan flavour. They used to use toddy instead of yeast for leavening.

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Fall is here and so is Halloween, so we made our trip to the farm with the kids. It is a yearly ritual for us, picking the pumpkins, taking a hay ride through the mazes and petting and feeding the farm animals. This time the animals would not eat at all. I guess they were too tired & bored with all the zillion kids feeding them. They just sat in the shade and chewed on with a drowsy look. 

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Gujias are fried pastries filled with coconut or khoya (Thickened Milk) and dry fruits. It is a festival sweet and mostly prepared during Holi, but what the heck?! Why not during Diwali or any other festival too? During these days of Durga Puja, and all the upcoming festivals I was actually craving for Gujias which I had years ago when we visited india during Holi. My hubby’s Aunt had prepared these delicous Gujias, & till date I have not forgotten them. Unfortunately, I did not get an opportunity to ask her the recipe. This is what I came up with and it might not taste like the unforgetable ones back in India, but these did taste delicous too.

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Homemade Harissa

Harissa is a traditional side with Moroccan and North African food. It is a potently spicy sauce, with the main ingredient being a lot of Hot Peppers. I make this very often for quite a few reasons. It is very easy to make, & the Harissa added to about anything charges up the taste. Add it to rice, salads, dips, couscous or any other sauce or sides and you have a tongue tickling sensational taste.

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Labra: A Festive Combination of Vegetables & Spices

These 2 months of September & October make me extremely homesick. The cool air, clear skies and the while floating clouds spill out all the memories of the biggest religious festival of West Bengal: Durga Puja, the community celebration, and along with that-  very special food.

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