Phodni cha Bhaat / Stir fried left over rice

A few months back, February to be precise, my blog post "Savoury Poda Pithe" was selected as one of the top twelve food blog posts in India by Baggout.
I was happy. But was hesitant to go all out and shout from the roof tops. And promptly forgot all about it.
The days rolled on. I had guests.
I had the in laws visiting.
I had guests.
I went home on a short vacation.
I had guests.
And so on.
And suddenly remembered yesterday.
Went back to check if they still had my post with them or have given up and decided that somebody else cooks better.
Nah ... the post was right there.
Checked the mail and saw there was an offer and a choice of adding a badge to the blog too.
No forcing down the throat; unlike other sites.
So I decided I will put it up.
And so there is this badge proudly displayed.
While my readers and friends have always been happy to try out my recipes and given positive feedback, this little acknowledgement was welcome.
This is the first time, out side of the blogging world, that someone has taken note of Kitchen e Kichu Khonn.
And that made me happy.

 I have been posting way too many non vegetarian dishes of late. I wonder why. Since it is the vegetarian food that is cooked almost everyday in my house. Non vegetarian is rare.
No; wait. Not rare actually. Not any more.
But since it is mostly fish that I cook for my lunch, I guess I have been clicking to many photos in my enthusiasm to share them on Fb.
While the more varied vegetable dishes go unnoticed.
Another reason might be that B has his lunch earlier than me. So after I am done with the veggie stuff, I shift them to the dining table and get to work on the non vegetarian things.
By the time I am done, B has had his lunch and I am left with only the fish / poultry to click, if at all I have the energy left by then.

Hence decided to post a pure vegetarian recipe today.
Hunted around in my folders and came to this Phodni cha bhaat that I had cooked on a lazy day for lunch.
I was introduced to this as a Maharashtrian speciality but later came to know that Bengalis make it too. Only they call it Bhaja bhaat.
I don't know much since I never ate this back at home during my childhood.

Exactly three snaps, that too with the phone.
But I really want to share this wonderful, quick fix meal or snack with left over rice.
With the minimum of ingredients and the shortest of time, you have a beautifully flavoured, slightly spicy, tempered rice.

Need :

Cooked rice (left over rice kept in the fridge works best) - 2 cups
Rai / Mustard seeds - ½ tsp
Jeera / Cumin seeds - ½ tsp
Haldi / Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Red chilli powder - ½ tsp
Onion - 1, chopped
Fresh green chillies - 1, chopped
Curry leaves - 1 small sprig
Peanuts - 2 tbsp (optional)
Cooking oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Sugar - to taste

How to :

Bring the rice out of the refrigerator and keep it in room temperature while you make the preparations.

Fluff it well, separate it well and add haldi , red chilli powder , salt and sugar.
Keep aside.

Heat an open faced, heavy bottomed pan well.

Add the oil.

Add the rai, jeera and the curry leaves.

Add the onions and the green chillies and fry till the onions turn pink.

Add the peanuts and fry some more.

Now add the rice.

Gently and lightly stir it well for everything to mix together.

Cover for only around a minute, on low heat.

Remove cover, give a good toss.

Serve hot with curd or raita or pickles and roasted papad.

This is a great way to use up left over rice.
Makes for a very filling snack or even a meal.

Enjoy!!


Other recipes with Left over rice -here.

Mete Kosha / Masala fried Mutton Liver

Happy b'day Kichu Khonn!!

There, I said it. I wished Kichu Khonn; right on time.
Well, almost.
Given my history of forgetting my blog's birthday every year, consistently, only to remember it a good few weeks later, a couple of days is nothing at all; I'm sure.
Yes, my blog's birthday was exactly two days back and as usual, I forgot.
But as I woke up tand sat in my favourite chair by the window, this morning,  to watch the morning unfold, something went 'ding!' inside my head.
I sat up with a jolt.
"Just a minute! It is May going on, right?!"
"Bapi just had his b'day,right?!
"In that case, it has to be Kichu Khonn's b'day too!!"
 Maybe it was my conscience, finally woken up at the realisation that if I did not forget Bapi's b'day, how could I possibly forget Kichu Khonn's, just one day later?!!
Tch tch tch. 

But all is not lost.
I started this post right away ... I am going to make a post to celebrate my blog's b'day; yes sirree, I am.

Happy b'day Kichu Khonn!!
Thank you for surviving all the ups and downs all these years.
Thank you for staying by me in this roller coaster of a ride of seven whole years.
Thank you for not being morose and not holding a grudge against me when I abandoned you for long times at a stretch.
Thank you for being your own self and welcoming me back like an old friend waiting, whenever I returned.
Thank you for not judging me; and accepting all my posts with equal love.
Thank you for being my friend.

And the same goes for you, my friends, both old and new.
And my readers, both active and silent. 
A huge thanks to you!
Who have consistently stayed by me all the while.
Who have goaded me on, with much love.
Who have mailed me, messaged me, shared recipes with me.
Who have loved my recipes and trusted them enough to try them out.
And especially who have cared to stop for one more extra little moment and wrote to me in my comments section.
Thank you again!

Now, let me quickly share the recipe of this wonderfully spicy dish made from mutton liver.
This is also called as Mete chorchori in Bengali. It takes all of twenty to twenty five minutes to cook, not a minute more, I can say.
It has no gravy but the masala is enough soft to be mopped up with your favourite piece of bread ... be it the roti, the paratha or the luchi or poori.


Mutton liver takes hardly any time to cook; all the time that is needed is for the masala to fry well.
Do take care not to over cook the liver .... it will easily turn tough and grainy to eat.
The perfectly cooked liver is soft and moist and just done.

Need :

Mutton liver - 250 gms
Ginger - 1" piece
Garlic - 8 cloves
Whole red chillies - 2
Onion - 1 medium sized, sliced
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Vinegar - 2 tbsp
Mustard or any cooking oil - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Garam masala - 1 black cardamom, 3 cloves, 1 small stick of cinnamon, 3 pieces of whole black pepper, - slightly roast on a tawa / pan and coarsely grind in a mortar and pestle or anything heavy
Salt - to taste

How to : 

Grind the ginger + garlic + the whole red chillies to a paste.

Marinate the liver with vinegar + the above paste + salt for around fifteen minutes.

Heat oil in a heavy wok or kadahi.

Add the sliced onions + sugar and fry till they turn pink.

Add the liver + turmeric powder and fry well.

Cover and cook till the liver is done and the oil from the masala starts to leave the sides of the wok.

Remove cover and sprinkle the freshly made garam masala.

Dry up gravy to desired consistency.

Cover and let it stand for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Other than any kind of breads, this goes great with rice or pulao too.

Enjoy!!

And oh! ... for all of you who have been waiting for my post on the short, weekend trip to Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar, the post is up on my travelogue.

Do hop over. :-)


Another beautiful recipe of the mutton liver on Kitchen - e - Kichu Khonn -

Mutton Liver stir fry in Garlic Chilli sauce

Masala Pomfret - two different recipes, one post

It has been a whole month now since I made a post last.
 One fact is I was away, visiting home. One week was spent on preparation for the travel, read shopping, planning and packing ... yes, I am an organiser and need to be packed and ready at least two days before the actual journey date. Else I get all flustered and the heebie  jeebies.
The other fact is, ever since I have returned, I cannot muster up enough energy or the enthusiasm to actually sit down and type something ... anything ... that can be passed off as a decent post.
I have been cooking ... yes.
My camera is full of pictures, waiting to be uploaded and edited.
But I am stuck. With a god knows what block.
All I do now is keep calling up home ... Bapi was not well when I left ... and hang on to the sounds of familiar voices and noises from home. 

Or spend unending time on FB ... which of course results in wonderful culinary experiences.
Every time I give a shout out, expert friends jump in with helpful tips and recipes. Like this particular time, when I had brought home two good sized pomfrets.

I had seen them beautifully scored in one of Kalyan's posts and wanted to try my hand at that. While Kalyan's fish was expertly scored att he fish market, I think I did a pretty good job of doing so by myself.
I did end up with a cut finger but the way the fish looked, especially after cooking ,was worth all.

I asked for a suggestion as to what masala should I use to cook it with. I had already marinated it with some ginger paste, garlic paste and lots of lemon juice.
Kalyan suggested plain jeera and red chilli powder . This sounded perfect as I did not want too much of masalas or a gravy.
I have had tandoori pomfret earlier and have always loved the pomfret dryish and crispy fried.

Then Rhea of Euphorhea suggested that a malvani or a koli masala would be great too.
Now I was really tempted to try that too ... but unfortunately did not have any malvani masala. But I did have the Goda masala in my kitchen.
So it was decided .... one fish will have the jeera+chilli coating and the other will have the Goda masala and a dash of agal.
The discussion is here.


The fish is pan fried in minimum oil in both recipes. And I have the rice flour to give the coating an extra crispiness.  Both turned out to be the most wonderful pomfret recipes I have ever tried!
And I have already made them twice after this.

And these are phone photographs .... remember you guys had encouraged me saying it is the recipe that matters ... so there. :-) 

Need :

Pomfret fish - 2, cleaned and scored as shown
Ginger paste - 2 tbsp
Garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Lemon juice - 6 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Red chilli powder - 1 tbsp
Goda masala - 2 tbsp
Roasted jeera powder - 1 tbsp
Agal / Kokum juice - 2 tbsp
( If you don;t have Agal, then you can use a teaspoonful of tamarind pulp too )
Oil - 2 tbsp, for two fishes
Rice flour - 4 tbsp 

How to :

Marinate both fishes with a spoonful of ginger + garlic paste, 3 tbsp of lemon juice, the rice flour  and a sprinkle of salt, each.


Add the roasted jeera powder + red chilli powder + r2 tbsp of rice flour to one fish.
Add the Goda masala + the Agal + 2 tbsp rice flour to the other fish.

Keep aside for at least 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a flat pan.

Add one fish and cover. Cook till one side is brownish and crisp.
Flip and cook the other side too.

The pomfret is a very delicate fish and cooks very fast. Make sure you do not over cook it.

Remove and serve hot.

I had some marinade left, so tossed some onion rings in it and stir fried them in the same pan with the minimum residual oil.
Loved the sizzle and the slightly charred rings.
Were perfect with the fish.

The photograph on top is the one with the Goda masala marinade.

The one below is the one with the jeera powder.

Both tasted awesome! Super awesome!
I have made these for guests too.
You can use the tandoori masala and make Tandoori Pomfret in exactly this same way. Just add a little sour curd and a pinch of besan to the marinade.

Make sure to serve hot.
Enjoy!!

I have a few other recipes that have resulted from discussing food with my friends on FB.
One is a wonderfully simple yet flavourful dish made from prawns / shrimps.
Coming up soon.

Stay tuned.