Mishti Doi (Bengali sweet curd)

My sister Shukti and I are hard core mishti lovers and foodies.  The joy of partaking a delicious dish has to be shared with each other and that is what a major of our mail exchange  cover. The small joys of life? Though making us larger in size! The picture is of Shukti and me when we were in college.

The following recipe is from Shukti.

(a) 32 oz of plain curd (which I understand would be around 900 gms) 

(b) One tin of condensed milk

(c) One tin of evaporated milk

Mix the above three in a glass bowl. Cover the bowl.  Bake the mixture in the oven at 300 to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven. Do not touch the bowl and let it remain overnight inside the oven.  In the morning , move the mishti doi  to the refrigerator. Serve chilled.

Kadahi Chicken

I used to be a  mutton curry cook , back in Baroda . My few attempts to cook chicken there, the way I cooked mutton,  were sore failures. When we moved to Singapore, my first attempt to cook mutton was a trying incident. I picked up some mutton from the local store NTUC , picked up some leaves which I  thought looked similar to Indian spinach (palak) . The menu for dinner was palak mutton and pulao . Twenty minutes on the pressure cooker and the mutton had not softened - the more I cooked it , the harder it got. To add to my consternation, the palak smelled oddly like radish leaves!!! It was time for Joy to return home and I did not relish the idea of  cooking all over again. Drained the curry and turned it into mutton soup . The dinner menu quickly shifted to soup, sandwiches, fruit custard. Joy was delighted, Abhit was amused. I soon realized, it was lamb I had been cooking and not mutton. Mutton entailed trips to Little India. So I shifted to chicken. Kadahi chicken was the first recipe I tried and was floored. I have since  become a huge fan of Nita Mehta for her doable recipes (which turn out tasty too). I use this same recipe to prepare rajma too  which turns out to be an equal  winner . I feel it is the red chilli- dhania powder which gives a special taste to this dish. While I add  the  cream  only when we have guests at home, adding it does change the entire flavour of the dish... here goes....

(a) 800 gms of chicken
(b) 1 chopped onion
(c) 1 whole pod of garlic chopped and crushed
(d) Finely  shredded 3" piece ginger
(e) Half cup green coriander - chopped ; 2 green chillies.
(f) 4-6 whole dry red chillies
(g) 2 tbsp saboot dhania
(h) 6-7 large tomatoes
(i) 1 tbsp kasoori methi
(j) salt to taste
(k) 4-5 tbsp of oil
(l) Half tspn garam masala; 4-5 tbsp cream

Roast the red chillies  and saboot dhania on tawa  till you smell a nice aroma . Pound it coarsely to a powder.
Heat oil in a kadahi and fry onions till they are light brown.
Add crushed garlic and saute over medium heat till light brown.
Add the powdered chilli and dhania powder and stir for 30 seconds.
Add chopped tomatoes and saute for half a minute.
Add half of the ginger and half of the coriander leaves . Reduce the heat and let the tomatoes simmer until  soft. Add salt.
Add the chicken, cook on low flame with the lid covered, stirring occasionally till the chicken is tender.
Add kasoori methi and garam masala. Uncover and stir fry till oil separates.
Add cream and cook till the masala coats the chicken. Remove from fire.
Garnish with remaining ginger, green chillies and coriander leaves.

Bon Appetit!

Recipe from Nita Mehta

Chicken Mayonnaise Salad

This post is specially for my niece Raisa... Easily prepared, it is a sure winner with kids....

(a) A large bowl of boiled and shredded chicken
(b) Half cup mayonnaise
(c) One small bowl chopped pineapple (canned)
(d) Two  hardboiled eggs, cut lengthwise into four.

Mix (a), (b) and (c). Taste and add pepper and salt as required. You may add mustard paste (English mustard) .  Garnish with the Egg slices. Serve chilled.

Recipe from Nita Mehta

40th Birthday poem written by yours truly

I just can't believe my ears,

I have whizzed thru forty years,

Why it just seems the other day

Mummy taught me badminton to play.

Helping dada make a paper kite (Madras)

Waking up in Mumbai to rainy nites

Dada telling "Shukti, grab Shilpi's ankles

While I pull her by the arms",

If you haven't guessed it by now,

They were trying to get me taller, thats how,

Saturday nights at Nagpur with Shukti,

Watching Amitabh/Hitchcock movies with much glee,

Pouring out my heart to her,

I feel so very much  loved by her.

Boy! were the get togethers in Kolkatta fun,

Am I glad that we cousins bonded like a glue gun,

The next fifteen years have been equally special,

Bonding with additions in the Mukherjee family has been swell.

God blessing me by giving me Abhit as a best friend

How did I get so lucky when he added another best friend

Around Abhit and Joy revolves  my life

Joy is my son and I am Abhit’s wife

I guess it is the laughter  and the special memories of the days past,

That has made these forty years go so very fast,

If that indeed has been the case

I don't know why have I been scared of the forties phase????

I knelt to pray but not for long -- Anonymous

I knelt to pray but not for long,
I had too much to do.
I had to hurry and get to work
For bills would soon be due.
So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,
And jumped up off my knees.

My Christian duty was now done

My soul could rest at ease.....
All day long I had no time
To spread a word of cheer
No time to speak of Christ to friends,
They'd laugh at me I'd fear.
No time, no time, too much to do,
That was my constant cry,
No time to give to souls in need

But at last the time, the time to die
I went before the Lord,
I came, I stood with downcast eyes.
For in his hands God held a book;
It was the book of life.
God looked into his book and said
'Your name I cannot find
I once was going! to write it down...
But never found the time'