Banana Flower Chop

Ingredients:

500 gm  Banana Flower

2 or 3 Potato

Green Chilly

50 gm Peanuts

20 gm Raisin

1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste

1 tsp Garam Masala

Salt to taste

2 Cups gram flour

A pinch of Baking soda

Method:

Cut the banana flower into thin strips and boil in water. Strain it, and keep the  aside. Mash the potatoes after boiling. Heat oil in a pan then add green chilly, peanuts and raisins. Add banana flower with all the spices. Fry it . Cook till you get a dry mixture. Make small balls of the mashed potatoes and banana flower which is spiced with masalas separately. Flatten the mashed potato between your palm then add mocha and cover it. Make a batter with gram flour, baking soda, salt and water. The batter should be tight. Heat oil in pan and dip the chop in the batter. Deep fry it. Fry till both sides are golden brown. Now banana flower Chop is ready to serve.

Mustard Salmon

Ingredients:

Salmon steaks – 4 big pieces, longitudinally cut into halves 
Mustard Paste – 2 tbsp
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
Black Cumin Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder – 1 tsp 

Mustard Oil – 3 tbsp
Grated Coconut – 1/2 cup (optional)
Green Chillies – 4 pieces (slit them if you want them more spicy)
Salt – as per taste

Method:

- Marinate the Salmon Steaks with Turmeric and the Mustard Paste for half an hour
- Pour 1 tsp of Mustard Oil in a wok, add the Black Cumin Seeds and let them splutter. Put them aside
- In a large pan, put the marinated Salmon Steaks. Add the Salt, Red Chilli Powder and 1/2 cup of water. Pour over the rest of the Mustard Oil. Cover the pan and let the fish cook in low seam (Make sure that the fish doesn’t stick to the pan when the gravy thickens and the fish gets cooked. You may have to add a bit of water depending upon how you like your gravy to be)
- Salmon has a lot of oil of it’s own and you’ll notice that a lot of Oil releases eventually as the fish is slow cooked
- Add the sliced Green Chillies, grated Coconut and the Black cumin seeds
- Let it cook for a while. Serve hot with White Rice.

Vegetable With Oyster Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon salt-reduced soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 small red chillies, seeded and thinly sliced
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced

• 1 medium red capsicum, seeded and cut into small pieces
• 125g snow peas
• 1 Japanese eggplant, cut into small cubes
• 125g mushrooms, stems removed and caps cut into wedges
• 1 tablespoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger
• 3 small heads baby bok choy, thinly sliced
• ½ cup loosely packed torn basil leaves

Method:

1. Combine soy sauce, oyster sauce, lime juice and sugar in a small bowl.
2. Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic and chilli and stir-fry 30 seconds. Increase the heat and add the spring onion, capsicum, snow peas, eggplant, mushroom and ginger and stir-fry 2 minutes. Add bok choy and stir-fry until wilted, about 1 minute. Add soy mixture and stir-fry until all the vegetables are tender-crisp, about 1 minute. Stir in basil and serve at once.

Sliced Baked Potatoes(Christmas special)

Ingredients:

4 medium baking potatoes (evenly-sized)
1 1/2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons grated cheddar cheese
2-3 tablespoons melted butter
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (parsley, chives, thyme, sage) or 2 teaspoon dried herbs
1 teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Peel the potatoes if the skin is too tough, otherwise just scrub and rinse them.
3. Cut the potatoes into thin slices (but not all the way through – place the handle of a spoon or table knife alongside the potato to prevent the knife from slicing all the way).
4. Put the potatoes in a baking dish; slightly fan out the slices.
5. Drizzle the potatoes with melted butter and sprinkle with herbs and salt (to taste).
6. Bake the potatoes for about 50 minutes.
7. Remove the potatoes from the oven, sprinkle with parmesan and cheddar cheese.
8. Bake the potatoes for another 10-15 minutes (until they’re lightly browned and soft inside, and the cheeses are melted).

Bori diye Macher Jhol ( Light fish curry with lentil dumplings)

Ingredients:

Rohu fish - 6 pieces

Potato - 1 medium (cut lengthwise)

Tomato - 1 medium (cut lengthwise)

Bori ( dried lentil dumpling) - a handful ( i used the urad dal bori here) 

Mustard oil - 2 tbsp for frying + 1 tsp for the curry

Nigella seeds (kalojeera/kalonji) - a pinch

Cumin paste (Jeera) - 1 big tbsp (soak whole jeera seeds in warm water and then grind into a fine paste)

Ginger paste - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp + 1 tsp

Kashmiri red chilli powder - 1 tsp ( i use it mainly for the colour)

Salt - to taste

Warm water - 2 cups

Green chillies - 8-10 nos 

Method:

Wash and clean the fish pieces . Smear with turmeric and salt and keep aside.

In a pan heat 2 tbsp mustard oil. Once the oil heats up, add the boris (lentil dumplings) and fry till light brown in colour. Keep aside.

In the same oil , fry the fish and keep aside.

In the same pan add the remaining mustard oil. Once the oil reaches smoking point , reduce the heat and add the nigella(kalojeera) seeds.Once it splutters add the cut potatoes and tomato. 

Fry till the potatoes turn light brown in colour. Next add the ginger paste , cumin paste , turmeric , red chilli powder and salt.

Mix well and roast the masala mixture well adding some warm water in between.

Once the masalas are fried add 2 cups warm water, cover the pan and let it simmer for 10 mins till the potatoes are cooked through.

Next add the fried boris, fish pieces and the green chillies and mix well into the gravy.

Give it a quick simmer and remove from heat.

Serve with hot rice and some lemon wedges.