Once in a while, I get the opportunity to cook for a bunch of friends, and when I do, I try not to hold anything back. So today, when a bunch of friends from school, college and work dropped by for work, they were in for a bit of a surprise. Thanks to my Aunt Roopa - a born cook and true master of the culinary world - I'd worked through some old family recipes and put together a spread of dishes from Bengal and Orissa.
Here's what the menu included:
Lebu Bhaat
A wonderful spin on plain ol rice, developed by the cooks of yore. In this preparation, freshly cooked rice is flavored with generous doses of warm ghee (clarified butter), lemon juice, salt and pepper. Each mouthful is tinged with a little acidity from the lemon and the wholesome flavor of ghee. Just for fun, I also dropped in a chopped leaf of fresh lemon grass.
Lau Chingri
Even if you grew up hating lauki (bottle gourd), this dish will make you reconsider your legacy of reluctance. Tiny cubes of bottle gourd are sautéed in an amazingly fragrant sauce of roasted jeera (cumin) and ginger before they are treated with a little turmeric and paprika. And just when you think they've been given all the pampering they could possibly get, in goes a load of fried shrimp that suddenly changes the dish from "I'll think about it..." to "Why haven't I been eating this my whole life?"
Puri Daali
In this recipe, which is similar to an item of the prasad served in the Jagganath temple of Puri, tuar daal is boiled with tomatoes, ginger, peppercorns and turmeric before it is given a tadkaa of ghee and methi (fenugreek) seeds. I've yet to come across someone who hasn't enjoyed the thick, hearty preparation, which goes wonderfully with rice or with piping hot lunchis.
Kosha Murghi (slow cooked chicken)
My Aunt Roopa's recipe begins with caramelizing some sugar in piping hot mustard oil, into which goes a fresh blend of garam masala and then a generous load of sliced onions, which are browned to perfection on a slow flame. The onions are followed by fresh pastes of ginger, garlic and some other basic spices to create a sizzling base on which you add succulent cubes of chicken, followed by some heavy duty turning and stirring to make sure that the cubes are sealed from all sides. The chicken then cooks in the wonderful aromatic masala and it's own juices. This dish is most certainly not for the impatient cook...
Begun (eggplant) and Potol (pointed gourd) Bhaajaa
Essential accompaniments to a Bengali lunch include Bhaajaa (pan fried or deep fried veggies) and today I went with the usual favourites of pan fried eggplant and pointed gourd. A quick marination with salt and turmeric, followed by pan frying in mustard oil - and these lovely veggies are ready to serve. You cook them just enough to soften and char them a little, but with enough care that they don't burn or lose their individual flavours and textures. You've got to keep them coming in small batches because once they arrive at the table, piping hot and fragrant, you can count the seconds before they vanish from the serving dish!
Feeding friends and family is always an experience that leaves me energised and happy - today was no different. I'll keep you posted on the next lunch party too. Watch this space!
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