Egg Potato Bruschetta with 2 cheese

Bruschetta is originally an Italian recipe usually cooked with tomatoes, basil and garlic. It is pronounced as “brusketta”. You can do Bruschetta with various ingredients whichever is available in your fridge or pantry. It is a summer dish but can be cooked throughout the year.

As per Wiki, it origin dates to 15th century which consists of grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with olive oil, salt and pepper with variations in toppings. Bruschetta is usually served as a snack or appetizer

"In Italy, bruschetta is often prepared using a brustolina grill. In the Abruzzo region of Italy a variation of bruschetta made with a salami called ventricina is served. Raw pork products and spices encased in pig bladder are aged and the paste spread on open slices of bread which are sometimes grilled. This was a way of salvaging bread that was going stale. In Tuscany it is called fettunta and it is usually served without toppings, especially in November, to taste the very first oil of the season"

Links:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruschetta

Egg Potato Bruschetta with cheese

You can absolutely use anything as topping with tomatoes and cheese.
The dish here is a simple one with potatoes, tomatoes, 2 different kind of cheese.

Ingerdients:

1 Baguette  or ciabatta.
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 potates, cut into small cubes
1 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp of couscous
1 tsp of cumin powder
Sugar, salt n pepper
handful of mint leaves, you can use baby spinach or any other greens
1 egg beaten
mozarella & mexican cheese
1 tbsp of veg or olive oil

Preparing the topping.

In a small pan, heat the veg or olive oil. Put the chopped potatoes in it, some salt, Fry the potatoes for a minute or till it gets tender. Add half of chopped tomatoes and fry. Add the greens and mix well. Sprinkle the cumin powder, pepper, couscous and sugar to the mixture. Move the mixture to the end of the pan. Pour in the beaten egg and let it settle for a minute. Break the mould and mix with the potatoes and tomatoes. Th egg omelette broken in tiny pieces and mixed well with the potatoes, tomatoes and the green. Adjust the seasoning.

Method
Preheat the oven.
Slice the baguette into about a inch thick. Brush one side with olive oil and put in the oil side up in the grill for a 4-5 minute. Remove and let it cool.

Once cool, lay the grilled side up on a lined baking tray. Scoop the prepared topping generously on each slide. Add tomatoes on top of it. Put the broken mozzarella slices on top and two or three pieces of Mexican cheese.
Put it back in oven for 8-10 minutes till the cheese becomes crispy.

Bruschetta in Oven

Bruschetta

Serve with Soup or can be nibbled just like that.

Happy Cooking!

Kingfish Curry...Surmai

Surmai Jhol

Ingredients:

4-5 Kingfish pieces, nicely cleaned, scaled and cut into flat pieces. You can request the Fish seller to cut it into big Indian pieces. Believe me they know the difference between Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani pieces.
2 small onions, finely chopped
1 big tomato chopped
2 green chillies, split across
handful of chopped coriander leaves
1 big heapful tbsp of Ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp mustard paste. I use dijon mustard, it works wonder.
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tsp of Paanchphoron (mix of five spices- cumin, fenugreek, brown mustard seeds, fennel and nigella seeds)
Generous pinch of Jeera (Cumin) seeds, Mustard seeds, a bay leaf, 2 dried red chillies
1 tsp each of Cumin Powder, Coriander powder, Amchoor(Dried Mango) powder & sugar
1 tbsp of Garam masala
2 tbsp of veg oil
2 tbsp of mustard oil for frying
2 tbsp of turmeric powder
salt & water

Method

In a flat big pan, put the mustard oil to heat up. Nice hot.
Rub some turmeric and salt to the fish pieces and fry the fish for more than a minute on each side and keep aside.
Put the wok on gas and dry roast the mustard and cumin seeds and red chillies for a minute till you get the aroma. Remove from the wok.
In the same wok, pour in the veg oil(you can used mustard oil too), add the bay leaf and roasted cumin and mustard seeds with red chillies and paanchphoron. When they split, add the onions and fry it till it is soft. You can sprinkle some salt to fasten the process.
Add the tomatoes and keep frying, stirring regularly.
While our onion and tomatoes are frying in the pan, you can start with the mustard paste mixture.
In a bowl, add the mustard paste, remaining turmeric powder and tamarind paste. Pour in hot water and give it a whisk. this will also reduce the bitterness of the mustard paste.
Back to the wok, add the green chillies, ginger garlic paste and fry for another minute or two.
Add the cumin, coriander powder, salt, sugar and amchoor powder and mix well with the onion and tomato mixture. Add the garam masala and fry the mixture till it leaves oil.
Add the mustard, tamarind paste we earlier made to the mixture and stir. Pour in water as required for the gravy. Check the seasoning and adjust.



Now slowly add the fried fish to the wok and let it simmer for good 10 minutes for the fish to absorb all the flavour. once done, transfer it to the serving dish and sprinkle some coriander leaves. You can serve steam rice, pulao or plain chappati/roti.

Happy Cooking!




Tips:
1.  For frying fish, heat up the oil to a very hot temp to avoid the fish from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
2. Don't overcrowd the pan while frying fish pieces.
3. While frying the onions for curry, to fasten the process, sprinkle some salt.
4, While using mustard for any fish recipe, if the mustard paste is dissolved in water, it reduces the bitterness of the mustard.

Pomfret In Mustard Sauce...Shorshe Pomfret

,
 Fish is cooked on a regularly basis in all bengali households in India. It is
fast to cook, good for health, absolutely delicious, available in variety and
can be cooked in about 1000 different ways. And it needs very minimal
effort and very less ingredients. I am using Pomfret here with mustard
sauce. This dish is loved by one and all in bengali households and can be
done with almost all kinds of fish.

Ingredients:

2 Big white pomfret cleaned and make incisions on it.
Salt as per taste and some for marinate
1/2 tsp Sugar
 1-2 tsp Turmeric powder
Chilly Powder as per taste
 A pinch of Nigella seeds
2-3 Green Chillies slightly split in the middle
2 medium size tomatoes cut in 4 pieces each
Chopped Coriander leaves for garnishing
3-4 tsp of Dijon Mustard paste, smooth or grains
2-3 tbsp of Oil.
Water

Marinate the fish by applying salt and turmeric and rub them well.
Mix the mustard paste in water and add the chilly powder and turmeric to
it and make a watery solution. This will help in removing the bitterness
and will also develop the flavour. Keep it aside for about 10 minutes.
Fry the pomfret slightly till light brown in a frying pan for less than 2
minutes on each side.
In a frying pan, heat the oil and add the Nigella seeds in it. Add the whole
green chillies to it till it starts to fry. Put the fried fish in the pan and pour
into the mustard watery solution and bring it to simmer. Flip the fishes to
the other sides, Add the sugar and the tomatoes and add some water to it
depending on the consistency of the gravy. You can add less water if you
want the gravy to be very thick. Cover and let it cooked for about 10
minutes. Check and adjust the seasoning. Garnish with the  coriander
leaves and serve with rice. Just perfect.

Happy Cooking!!!

Chicken Pot Pies

Chicken Pot Pie is a classic American food.I have chosen this dish as my first dish from WORLD'S KITCHEN for Christmas dinner but with little changes and equally delicious. The alteration I made here is as per our taste and palette. So here it goes....

Ingredients:
1 Large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 large potato, boiled & mashed
50 Gms plain flour
2 chicken breast, diced into chunks
salt n black pepper
ready made good quality puff pastry
honey, 2 tbsp
milk- 1 cup
50g butter
Some water
beaten egg for egg wash

In a deep pan, put the butter and melt. Add the chicken to it. Let the chicken coat with the butter, drizzle the honey over it and grind some fresh pepper to it. Sauté gently the chicken till slightly done. Add the onion and carrot to it and gently stir fry for about 10 minutes or till the veggies are cooked. Put some salt to it and stir well.
Add the flour to it and coat everything, now add the mashed potatoes,put the milk in it and give a good mix. Add the water and bring it to simmer and cook, stirring for about 5 minutes or until thickened.(The original recipe from the book uses cream and chicken stock, but I am using mashed potatoes, milk and water here). Check the seasoning, adjust it and let it cool slightly.

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Spoon the filling into individual pot pies. Roll out the pastry, cut out a round shape and cover the pots as a lid. With slight touch of water, carefully press the edges to cover the pots properly. From the cut outs, you can re roll and take out designs to decorate it as wish. Brush the pastry with egg wash.
Bake the pie in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the pastry is golden and done. Let it stand for few minutes and serve.

Serves 4, lot of variations in the filling and decoration can be done.

Happy Cooking!!!

Mughlai Paratha -Egg stuffed flat bread

In India , we eat different kinds of flat bread. Can be eaten at any time of the day be it break fast, lunch or dinner...Normally it is a must dish in the break fast time. Like we eat toasted bread, still today Flat bread are served in the morning time in many parts of India. Sometime it is just plain flat bread lightly toasted with Clarified butter or a stuffed one fried in butter.
Here is the recipe of the simple Mughal dish, Omelette stuffed flat bread which can be served as dinner with any kind of curry or can be eaten with simple tomato ketch up.

For Porota (Flat Bread) Dough:
200 gms of Maida (Plain Flour) and 300 gms of wheat flour sift together. Add 2 tpsp of oil, salt(as per taste) and water. Make the dough pliable enough and at the end with a little oil again knead it and keep aside for 10-15 minutes.

For Egg filling:
1 Onion- sliced thinly
2 Green chillies- chopped
5 Eggs beaten
salt & freshly grinded pepper added in the egg mixture
optional- Milk can be added to the beaten egg
Fresh corainder leaves for garnishing
Oil for frying


Process:
Take a ball of the kneaded dough and roll over on your platform. Don't forget to sprinkle some flour on the platform.
Pour in 2-3 tbs of the egg mixture in the middle and spread it all around.
Sprinkle some onions on top of it and start folding the edges. This has to be done very quickly to avoid any spillage. Carefully hold the flat bread from both the sides and place it on the hot flat pan or tawa with some oil in it. Hold the tawa and adjust so that egg mixture is evenly distributed. Sprinkle some pepper if desired. Turn the bread upside down carefully and fry well. Remove from flat pan and garnish the flat bread with the corainder leaves and serve it hot with any kind of curry with some additional salad.

P.s: Dont worry if it spills....seen my mom doing it with perfection all the time and now after so many years I too feel proud each time I do it sucessfully.

Happy Cooking!!!