Light Mutton Stew .... spicy, soupy and protein rich galore

Sunday done right.

 With a mutton curry that is very light with a thin soupy gravy to sip on while the rain dances outside.
Don't go by the plain Jane look of it .... this innocent looking bowlful packs quite a punch.
Fragrant with whole garam masala , spiced with black pepper ,
garlic as well as red chilli powder. 

I love spicy food and this one did clear up my throat later .
It is protein rich  and perfect for immunity boosting.

The recipe is very very easy.

I marinated the mutton  with vinegar and turmeric powder for more than an hour .... I finished cooking the vegetarian meals then .... and then in a heated pressure cooker added ghee ,
whole garam masalas, sliced onions and dry red chilli. 

Fried well till the onions browned well. 

Then added the mutton and fried on high heat for 2 minutes.
Then added ginger garlic paste, a little curd, red chilli powder and fried well till the masalas were well cooked. 

Added hot water and salt and a little sugar.
Rounded off with a sprinkle of my homemade garam masala powder. 

Closed cooker and cooked for 5 whistles on low heat.
And oh .... added potatoes too .

And it is done! Soupy, spicy thin gravy with tender, succulent pieces of mutton that actually melted in the mouth.
Mmmm 😋

 Can you see the mutton actually falling off the bone ?!
It was that soft and tender 😊 

You can pair this with either rice or parathas or rotis. 

Enjoy !! 

Do you like recipes written this way or do you prefer the whole list of ingredients and the detailed process? 
Do let me know in the comments. 

Besan chila ki dahiwali sabzi ..... part of a vegetarian meal plate

I spent most part of the last week relaxing and catching up with my reading, knitting and some bingeing on some light series on Netflix. They are mostly light romances or just simple stories with a backdrop of a small town and the people there. I had loved Virgin River and am right now on Good Witch.
Somewhere in between, I binged on the K drama Heaven's Garden. And was totally smitten by it. I will start on Crash landing on you soon.

The other day I was reading an article about this current craze for kdramas / Korean tv serials .
If you ask me the reason, I will happily give mine.
For starters, they are extremely well made.
The actors are fine, the stories clean and realistic, beautiful locations and above all, you can watch them forever without having a cringe inducing scene jumping right at you or a burst of foul language that will push you to seek for the fast forward ⏩ button.

Honestly I am totally over our desi series.
They are unnecessarily gory, filled with foul language and over the top crime and extremely distasteful scenes of physical intimacy.
I actually check out the ratings first and then decide if they are 'safe' for me to watch 😄

However I am very much a desi when it comes to home cooked food .
This lunch plate has  -  

Besan cheela ki sabzi : 

Make a thin batter with besan /  gram flour, salt, cumin seeds, hing, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and water. 

Make cheela / crepes on a flat pan or tawa like so. 

Cut into thick strips. 

Beat curd with a little besan and water in a bowl. 
Add turmeric powder, salt. 
Heat a little ghee. 
Add cumin seeds and hing. 
 
Add the curd and cook on low heat till it starts to simmer. 

Let in the chila strips and cook till they soak up enough liquid. 

Serve hot. 

Kale chane ki sabzi : 

Soak and boil black chickpeas. 
Cut potatoes into cubes. 
Chop onions and green chillies. 
Heat ghee. 
Add jeera and the onion. 
Stri fry till pink and add the potatoes. 

Add turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt. 
Cover and cook till just done. 

Add the boiled chickpeas, red chilli powder and the green chillies. 

Cover and cook till everything comes together. 

Sprinkle a little garam masala powder and serve hot. 

My oil free Hing ka achar : 

Mooli ki bhuji 

Cut radish / Mooli into strips. 
Heat oil .... I use 1 tsp of ghee. 
Add jeera / cumin seeds and hing. 
Add in the radish strips and turmeric powder + salt. 

Stir and cover. Cook till done. 

Another look of the full plate. 

 You can see the post here too.  

And here too. 

Enjoy!! 

Soupy noodles with vegetables and Chilli oil

The last few days have been very cloudy.
Not the huge, 'raring to go' kind of cumulus; but the quiet , grey ones. Slowly spreading across the sky, overcasting the city with quiet deliberation. The air has turned colder ... well it was cool all these days, but now it is positively colder.
The ghee in the kitchen has solidified.
And we have taken out the light Jaipuri covers to snuggle under.
So that is a sign.

I decided to make noodles  for lunch a few days back but B wanted something hot and soupy to sip on.
So I made this noodles soup that my youngest maasi used to make and I have grown up eating.

How to : 

Boil the noodles till they are half done.
Drain them and keep aside. 

Stir fry chopped garlic, ginger, carrots, green chilli and add some water.
You may use vegetable or chicken stock too. 

Bring to a boil.

Add salt and a little vinegar.
I added lots of crushed black pepper too .... you can add according to your liking. 

Add in the boiled noodles and a little of the water the noodles were boiled in. 

Serve topped with chilli garlic oil. 

For the Garlic chilli oil, I fried lots of chopped garlic in hot oil. 
Added chilli flakes at the end and removed from heat. 
Done! 

It makes for a great topping on any plain dish. 

 You can add pieces of chicken too , while stir frying the vegetables. 
Or drop in beaten eggs when it is boiling and make it an egg drop soup. 

Whatever way, it makes for a great hot meal. 
Perfect for any cold weather ..... damp oor otherwise. 

Enjoy!! 

Dal Baati Churma Thali or Rajasthani Thali ...... a full meal of delectable vegetarian food

I have been getting a lot of requests to post full meal plans on the blog. 
While I do post my daily meals regularly on Instagram as well as on my FaceBook page, I have not been regular in posting here because of the lack of time. 
To post here, I will need to be armed with complete details of the food. 
How, when, why, and then the full recipe. 
Which makes it easier for me to ignore. 

But the guilt overwhelms. 

I started off with the blog first, after all. 
So no matter how difficult it might be, I will try to post my full meal plates henceforth. 

Starting off with the much loved, glamorous Dal, Baati Churma thali that I cooked for B on his birthday last month. 
I make dal baati meals regularly at home ..... it is a huge relief getting a break from rolling out and cooking rotis. 
I just make the dough and set them in the oven to cook. 
Saves loads of time. 

On my plate here is - 

Gatte ki shukhi sabzi 

Cook the Gatte by following the recipe here. 

Cut them up into medium pieces. 
Temper ghee with jeera, hing and add the gatta pieces. 
Toss with turmeric powder, red chilli powder, amchur powder and salt, till all the spices coat the gattas well and everything comes together. 

Chatpata Kaddu / Spicy Pumpkin sabzi : 

This is a family favourite.
Fresh sweet pumpkin pieces cooked with dry spices to make it spicy and tangy.
You will find the recipe here. 

Aloo bhindi ki sabzi : 

Temper oil ( I use ghee ) with jeera + hing + ajwain and add sliced potatoes. 

Stir fry on high, add turmeric powder and red chilli powder and salt. 

Add cut okra pieces and cover and  cook till everything is done. 

Add some dhania powder, mix well. 

Gulab Jamun : 

You will find the recipe here. 

Jeera Rice : 

Heat ghee in a heavy kadahi. 
Add a big dose of jeera ... more than you would add to a sabzi .... and black cardamom. 
Add sliced onions and fry them on low heat till almost brown. 
Add washed and soaked rice, salt and fry for around 5 minutes. 
Add water, cover and cook till the rice is just done. 

Churma : 

You will find the recipe here. 

Makke ka Dhokla :  

You will find the recipe here.  

Another look. 

 How to serve Dal baat : 

Pour the dal into a serving bowl. 
Break a couple of baatis on it. 
Top with a dollop of ghee. 

Enjoy!! 

 

Bara Ghugni / Vada ghugni .... Odisha's much loved street food snack

Growing up, I have never had the chance to eat this beautiful streetfood of Odisha ... the much loved combination of the  Biri bara and Ghughni.  At least not from the streets .... sold on carts with people flocking around it . Passing by, one cannot ignore that aroma of these badas sizzling in the hot oil, the steaming hot ghuguni / ghugni with its typical smell and of course the other aromas of tamarind, lemon and rock salt.

At times it would be made at home but not too often. And anyway it never smelt like the street side ones, so we wouldn't ask for it.

But I did get to taste the real thing whenever we went to my maternal dadu's place in Cuttack. With so many elder cousins , mashis, mamis etc .... every one of them all geared up to nosh through their favourite street foods, it wasn't difficult to mix into the crowd and get a bite of this and a slurp of that, once in a while. 

Now I make such things regularly .... the man has taken to Odia food  like a fish to water. Says that he married into one culture and got another as a bonus 😄

Seeing so many bora ghugni on my feed for the last few days, I decided to indulge in some. And the fact that it has started to rain since morning only made today the perfect day for enjoying this.

I tried to make it like the professionals .... with that hole in the centre ... but gave up after a while and made the plain round ones.

They may look imperfect but tasted yum 😋 

And then, like my Thamma used to say "Pete gele shob somaan " / every food is the same once it is inside the tummy 😄😄

Many started asking for the recipe and when the number of dms became a little too many to type out the whole thing, I decided to make a post here pronto. 
And direct everyone here for the details ..... since it is difficult to write the finer details due to instagram's word limits. 

For the Vadas / Baras / Medu Vadas : 

Soak Urad dal / Biri dali / Biulir dal overnight 
Grind into a paste the next day and keep aside for at least an hour. 

Add salt and beat well with your hands till light and slightly fluffy . 
Add chopped onions, ginger, coconut pieces, green chillies, cumin seeds / jeera and curry leaves to the dal paste. 

Heat enough oil in a deep pan or kadahi. 
Wet hands in a little water, scoop out small balls of the dal paste and let in carefully into the oil. 
Fry them till they are golden brown on all sides. 

Keep on a kitchen towel to drain out excess oil. 

For the Ghugni : 

Soak white matar  overnight. 
Cook it with turmeric powder and salt in a pressure cooker. 

Heat oil in a kadahi ( I use ghee as I am on an oil free diet right now ) . 
Add jeera and broken dry red chillies. 
Add chopped onions and fry a little. 
Now add ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and green chilli paste. 
Cook well till masala changes colour and leaves oil on the sides. 
Add the boiled matar and mix well. 
Add enough water and bring to a boil. 
Adjust seasonings and simmer on low heat for at least 15 to 20 minutes. 
Finally, sprinkle roasted jeera powder and remove from heat. 
Let it stand covered for some time before serving. 

You can refer to this post of mine for a simpler, no onion garlic version of the ghugni too. 

To arrange everything : 

Place the vadas on the ghugni in an open bowl. 
Sprinkle roasted jeera powder, roasted chilli powder, chaat masala powder, lemon juice, chopped onions, green chillies, coriander leaves and chopped coconut pieces on them. 

 

 The Boras / Vadas can be eaten just as they are ..... fresh out of the kadahi and crisp and hot with puffed rice or plain with a cup of spicy ginger tea. 

The ghugni too can be enjoyed by itself with Luchi, Muri / Mudhi / puffed rice. 
Or can be paired with parathas too. 

Enjoy whichever way you want to. 

Here are a few other recipes of Ghugni / Ghuguni / Ghoogni from my blog. 


Stay safe all!! 

Completing 13 years of Food blogging with Kosha Mangsho and Porota

13 years back, I started a blog.
Named its Kichukhonn.
Wrote poetry in it.
And then, one day,  discovered the word of food blogging.
Was hooked right away ..... complete with line and sinker.
Renamed the blog as Kitchene Kichukhonn.
And started my affair with food.

Rather, journaling my affair with food. 

Just a few years  into marriage, never having cooked or watched anyone cook earlier, staying in a different culture away from home, marrying into yet another different culture and finding nothing in common when it came to food ..... I was desperate to make all efforts to cook a decent meal. 

With the two of us having completely different food habits, I tried to cook to please both our palates and soul.
Was not easy.

B wouldn't eat anything with paanch phoron and I gagged every time I smelled hing.
Rotis for B and rice for me. And so on.
Most importantly, vegetarian food for B and non-vegetarian for me.

I was at my wits end.

Calls to both sides of the family ended in more confusion.
And inputs from both cousins just drove me to tears. 

Until I took things into my hands and started to cook from my heart. 

I would decide how I felt like eating a particular vegetable as or what tempering I would prefer for a particular dal. 
Or how to make Maggi in different ways. 😀

Slowly, the baby steps turned into confident ones. And both of us started to like what we cooked. Then friends validated. And then family. I decided to keep a tab on my recipes, that were often made right there in the kitchen, while cooking.

And that is how my food blog came into being.

Slowly, along the way, came bloggers who encouraged, shared and egged on each other. 

And what a beautiful world and friends I discovered!
Beautiful, warm people with hearts as big as the world.
And some of them are still with me.

Life happened along the way and every moment, good or bad, every turn, got reflected on my blog.

It was my second home and my blogger friends and readers, my family.

Thank you everyone for all your love and for staying with me and Kitchene Kichukhonn for all these years. 

I made a Kosha mangsho, grabbing whatever little chance life gives these days to celebrate or be happy. Slow cooked it on the stove ..... stirring it from time to time, checking for moisture, salt and spice level. Took me a good 2 hours and above. 
But was worth every effort. 
I was especially overjoyed to see that dark colour that every authentic Bengali kosha mangsho has.

B made his special Aloo dopyaza. 
I don't know the recipe. 

And we enjoyed them with parathas made with maida and ghee, since I am off oils now. 

Rounded off with mangoes (later).

Let me know if you want the recipe of the Kosha mangsho ... I will update the post. 
Feeling too lazy right now. 

Take care all. And stay safe. 

Another closer look. 
See how flaky the parathas are?! 😇😇

 

Homemade Pao buns or Ladi Pao

I started baking bread last year, during the lockdown. 

Regulars on my blog will know that I used bake a lot once upon a time. But that was limited to only cakes and an occasional savoury dish. 
But never bread. Except for the No knead bread. Which is actually so easy that I hardly think of it as baking bread. More of a cake, actually. 

Anyway, during lockdown, instagram was full of posts on homemade breads. 
So I turned to my old blogger friend Finla of My Kitchen Treasures, an avid and expert baker and she guided me with her recipes and tips. 
And I set off on this bread baking spree. 

I was so happily caught up in it that I baked quite a few kinds of breads including the Foccacia and also stuffed buns, but never actually set up a proper place and click proper photos. 
But bread baking is that addictive ..... once the warm buns or bread or rolls come out of the oven, you just cannot resist them. 
So inspite having all the good intentions of making posts, I never actually got 'round to .... just for the lack of proper photos. 

But now I am on a gluten free as well as oilfree diet and don't know when I will bake bread again. 
So making these posts .... with whatever photos I have. 
Hope they help you. 

Need : 

Maida / apf - 250 gm  

Milk - 3 tbsp 

Sugar - 1 tbsp 

Dry yeast - 1 tbsp 

 Salt - a little 

Baking powder - 1 tsp 

Cooking oil - 1 tsp 

Enough butter to brush the buns 

Warm milk, just enough to be able to keep your finger in it. 

Add the sugar and the yeast. 

Keep covered for 10 mins, till it starts to froth. 

If it does not froth, discard and make a fresh batch. 

In a bowl, mix the maida, salt and baking powder. 
Add the milk with the yeast. 

Bring everything together into a soft dough. 

If needed, add a little more milk. 

Apply oil to the dough and keep in a oiled, large bowl. 

Cover tightly. 

Keep in a warm place, for 1and a half hour to double up. 

After the dough has doubled up, lightly punch it back and let out the air. 

Divide into small balls and rest for another 15 to 20 minutes, covered with a damp towel. 

After 20 mins, they will rise again. 
Shape them into rounds, brush them with a little milk and place them in an oven tray closely. 
Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes. 

Do check in between and brush with milk once. 

Baking time will depend on the type of your oven. 

After they are done, give a brush of butter generously and cover immediately with a damp cloth. 

Let them sit and cool down completely. 
This will be difficult ..... we ate them warm .... just out of the oven. 
Heavenly yumm  😇😇

Do give that brush of butter after it is done. 
Do keep covered with a damp cloth till it cools down completely .... it keeps the bread soft. 

Another close look. 

We enjoyed the buns / pav from this batch with some bhaji . 

 

I will try to post all the recipes for all the kinds of bread I hace baked so far ..... especially the stuffed ones. 
Till then ..... take care, wear a mask and stay home.

Pav Bhaji or Pao bhaji ....... both made at home , from scratch

When I made these beautiful pao breads some time back, B wanted to have Pav  bhaji .
So I made some. .

But with so many chores and other things to deal with, including ‘I don’t feel like doing anything today’ too, I spread out the preparation into a couple of days.
After I made the bread, I had to wait for sometime for the already cooked food in the fridge to get used up.

Meanwhile, I boiled the vegetables ( I used potatoes, cauliflower, green peas, tomatoes, carrots and some frencjh beans .... you can use whatever you have at hand ) and stored them.
I peeled garlic and stored them ( I do that anyway ) .
And then one fine day, brought out everything.

Heated the bread with a smear of butter .... B wanted the inside as is .... soft ... and not fry with butter.
Mashed the vegetables and tempered them with chopped garlic, chopped green chillies, turmeric and red chilli powder and store bought pav bhaji masala 
Added salt and sugar. 
Simmered till the extra moisture dried up and the mash turned thickish. .
.
Served with chopped onions, lemon and coriander leaves sprinkled.
And of course, a big blob of butter. .
Yummm 😋 .
.

Contrary to how rich it looks, homemade pao bhaji is actually very healthy as well as nutritious.
A great way of eating a lot of vegetables together, this bhaji was made with just one teaspoon of cooking oil.
I have eaten pao bhaji outside only once in my life.
One taste and I have never touched it again.
Not when eating out.
For me, the homecooked version is way better, much more tastier. 

Here is a look of the Ladi Pav that I had baked earlier. 

It is super yummyhot,  just out of the oven , with a good smear of butter.

A closer look! 😊
Tempting, eh? 

 

Phulkopi diye Rui macher jhol / Rohu fish curry with cauliflower ....... a healthy winter staple

After a long while, I am back with a post. 
While I am active on instagram as well as facebook, I have been lagging behind when it came to posting here.

For the  simple reason that I have nothing to write at all right now. 
But there are recipes that I make and fall in love with .... and want to make a post here just for my own reference .... if not for anybody else. 

Like this fish curry that I made the other day. I had to make this light Rui maacher jhol, with cauliflower one last time before winter is officially gone. Both, to savour the winter flavours one last time and also because a follower had asked me for the recipe of my version of this jhol, sometime back.

Since I was off fish for a longish while, couldn't post immediately.

But I had not forgotten. So here it is today.

For the fish curry - 

Need : 

Rohu fish - fried in mustard oil 
Cauliflower florets 
Grated ginger 
Dry red chillies 
Potatoes - sliced 
Turmeric powder 
Red chilli powder 
Coriander powder 
Roasted cumin powder 
Tomatoes - chopped 
Coriander leaves - chopped 
Coriander stalks - chopped 
Water
Salt 
Oil to temper 

How to : 

Heat  mustard oil and temper with jeera and dry red chillies.
Add grated ginger and then the sliced potatoes and cauliflower florets.

Add turmeric powder and a little salt and then water.
Cover and bring it to a boil.

Then add coriander powder,  jeera powder, coriander stalks and tomatoes.

When it starts to boil, add the fried fish pieces, adjust salt and cover and cook for some more time.
Round off with a generous sprinkle of chopped coriander leaves.

Done 

I removed some for the vegetarian man before adding the fish. He enjoyed it with parathas for dinner. 

I  also made some Ucche bhaja  / stir fried bitter gourd ,

Notey shaak bhaja / amaranth greens, sojne daata aloo bhaja / drumsticks and potatoes stir fried,

on the side.

The dal was leftover from yesterday's meal.

I will try to post more meals henceforth. 
My followers have requested more quickcooking and easy meals. Hence I have started two hashtags , namely, #mealsunderthirtymins and #cookingunder1hour, and will be making posts on them more than single dishes. 
I will try my best to post here. 
But I will posting regularly on my instagram account. 
So do follow me there as well as on Facebook too. 

Take care all. 
Stay safe and stay home. 
Praying everyone gets the vaccine soon.