After the culinary delights of Sashthi, on Saptami, the second day of the puja, strike a balance between the traditional and the exotic with some chingri, chicken, chutney and more. Here are recipes for five delightful dishes to make on this day. Let the cookathon begin!
Peas and prawn pulao
Representative image Shutterstock
This easy recipe can be made niramish (non-vegetarian) or amish (vegetarian), and the twist is, it looks like fried rice, but tastes like a pulao!
Ingredients:
- Long grain basmati rice: 1 cup
- Prawns: 300 gm
- Packaged green peas: ½ cup
- Bay leaf: 1
- Cardamom: 1
- Cloves: 2
- Cinnamon: 1
- FInely chopped onion: 1 large
- Ginger and garlic paste: 2 tablespoon
- Green chilli paste: 1 teaspoon (Optional)
- Full fat milk: 1 cup
- Water: 1 cup
- Vegetable oil: 5-6 tablespoons
- Ghee
- Salt
- Sugar
Special spice mix:
- 2 cloves, 2 cardamoms, ½ teaspoon whole blackpepper, 1 dry red chilli, ½ teaspoon fennel seeds, ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, ½ teaspoon coriander seeds, ½ cinnamon stick, ½ nutmeg - dry-roasted and powdered: 3 tablespoons
Recipe:
- Wash rice, coat in ghee and leave aside
- Marinate the prawns with salt
- Heat oil in a kadhai and saute the prawns
- Remove the prawns and add adequate ghee to the same utensil and heat well
- Now add the bay leaf, cardamom, clove and cinnamon. Saute well
- Add the chopped onion and cook till golden brown. Sprinkle some sugar for caramelisation
- Add the ginger-garlic paste and green chilli paste. Mix well and cook for 3-4 minutes on low to medium heat. Sprinkle some water if required to prevent the spices from burning
- Add the special spice mix and cook for another 2-3 minutes
- Add the ghee coated rice, salt and sugar. Cook for 4-5 minutes before adding milk
- Add some more ghee and cook on low flame for about 7-8 minutes before adding water
- Once the rice is ready and there is no excess water, add the prawns and peas and mix well. Cook for 3-4 minutes, add some more ghee and turn off the flame. Don’t forget to the seasonings of course
Tip:
- You can add raisins and cashews if you like
- The ideal water-to-milk ratio for 300gm rice is 1:1
- You can also use shrimps in the place of prawns
Stuffed tomato
Wikimedia Commons
These tangy tomato pockets with fillings ranging from soya and mutton to chicken keema to fish makes it too irresistible to not add to the Puja menu.
Ingredients:
- Tomato, cut into halves and scooped: 8-10
- Chicken keema: 300gm
- Onion paste: 3 tablespoons for filling; 2 tablespoons for gravy
- Ginger and garlic paste: 2 tablespoons for filling, 2 tablespoons for gravy
- Tomato and dry whole red chilli paste: 2 tablespoons for gravy
- Green chilli and lemon juice paste: ½ tablespoon for filling, ½ tablespoon for gravy
- Roasted cumin and coriander powder: 1 tablespoon for gravy
- Turmeric powder: 1 teaspoon for gravy
- Kashmiri red chilli powder: 1 teaspoon for gravy
- Bay leaf: 1
- Dry whole red chilli: 1 for gravy
- Whole garam masala: 1 teaspoon for gravy
- Black pepper: 1 tablespoon for the filling
- Lemon juice: 2 tablespoons
- Ghee
- Mustard oil
- Salt
- Sugar
Recipe:
For filling —
- Add mustard oil in a nonstick pan and heat
- Add onion paste and saute for 3-4 minutes before adding the ginger and garlic paste and the green chilli and lemon juice paste. Mix well and cook for another 3-4 minutes, occasionally splashing some water to save the spice base from getting burnt
- Add the chicken keema, salt and pepper, little salt and lemon juice
- Mix well and cover. Cook on low to medium flame until the chicken is ready. You can add a few splashes of water, but remember that the filling has to dry
For stuffed tomatoes —
- Add mustard oil and ghee (80:20 ratio) in a kadhai, bay leaf, dry red whole chilli and garam masala. Temper the spices well
- Next in line are the onion paste, ginger and garlic paste, tomato and red chilli paste, green chilli paste. Cook for 3-4 minutes on low flame
- Add roasted cumin and coriander powder, turmeric and kashmiri red chilli powder, garam masala and cook for 5-6 minutes or until oil leaves the surface on low flame
- Add the required amount of water, salt and sugar to make the gravy. Once the gravy is ready, place the tomatoes and cover cook for 5-6 minutes on low to medium flame. Don’t forget to pour some gravy on the surface of the tomatoes with a spoon
- Turn off the flame and serve
Tip:
- You can use soya keema, grated fish, mutton, beef or pork keema as filling too
Lebu-lanka-aam ada murgi
cookpad.com
This tok-jhal chicken curry, with a hint of aam-ada and some kasuri methi, offers an aroma and aftertaste you can’t forget (or make just once).
Ingredients:
- Chicken: 1 kg
- Hung curd: 50gm
- Boiled onion paste: 4 tablespoons
- Ginger and garlic paste: 3 tablespoons
- Mango ginger paste: 2 tablespoons
- Lemon juice: 4 tablespoons
- Lemon zest: 1 teaspoon
- Green chilli paste: 2 tablespoons
- Whole blackpepper: 1 teaspoon
- Slit green chillies: 4-5
- Roasted cumin and coriander powder: 2 tablespoons
- Dry roasted garam masala powder: 1 teaspoon
- Kasuri methi: 1 tablespoon
- Potatoes cut into halves: 6
- Bay leaf: 1 (Recommending unripe lay leaf if you have a plant)
- Whole dry red chilli: 2
- Mustard oil
- Salt
- Sugar
- Ghee
Recipe:
- Marinate the chicken with onion, ginger and garlic, mango ginger, green chilli pastes. Add hung curd, salt, mustard oil, cumin and coriander powder and lemon juice to the marination too. Keep for at least 30 minutes, though it is recommended marinating it overnight for best results
- Marinate the potatoes with salt and deep fry till golden brown. Keep them aside
- In a kadhai, add fresh mustard oil, bay leaf, whole blackpepper and dry red chilli. Saute well
- Now, add the chicken and start cooking it on low flame. Remember, this chicken kosha will cook in the water residual of hung curd and chicken. Cover the chicken after 15 minutes and keep stirring occasionally
- After slow-cooking for about 30 minutes, add sugar and the potatoes. Cook until the potatoes and done
- Now, add the slit green chillies and lemon zest. Add hand crushed kasuri methi, give one good stir and turn off the flame
- Drizzle some ghee if you like and serve piping hot
Doi maachh
Shutterstock
Durga Puja celebration without some maachh? Impossible! Make this Doi Maachh that tastes like you get in a biye bari, but is actually quite low on tel-jhal-masala.
Ingredients:
- Paka pona/katla: 8 pieces
- Boiled onion paste: 3 tablespoons
- Hung curd: 4-5 tablespoons
- Ginger and green chilli paste: 2 tablespoons
- Bay leaf: 1
- Whole garam masala: 1 teaspoon
- Garam masala powder: 1 teaspoon
- Turmeric powder: 1 teaspoon
- Kashmiri red chilli powder: 1 teaspoon
- Whole cumin: 1 teaspoon
- Whole dry red chilli: 1
- Turmeric powder: 2 teaspoon
- Mustard oil
- Sugar
- Salt
- Ghee
Recipe:
- Lightly marinate the fish pieces with salt, turmeric powder and some curd for minimum 15 minutes
- In a kadhai, add mustard oil and ghee (70:30 ratio) and heat
- Add bay leaf, whole garam masala and dry red chilli and saute well
- Add whole cumin and allow it to change colour and leave aroma
- Now, add the onion paste and saute for 3-4 minutes. Then, add the ginger and green chilli paste, turmeric powder and Kashmiri red chilli powder cook for another 6-7 minutes
- Beat the remaining hung curd well with a pinch of salt and sugar and add to the spice mix. Let it cook for 7-10 minutes
- Check the seasoning of the gravy, add a little water if needed, and place the fish pieces. Cover and cook on low flame for another 20-30 minutes
- Sprinkle some garam masala powder and ghee and turn off the heat
Pineapple chutney
Wiki Commons
Will there be something sweet to end the meal? Of course, there will be, and that too in under 30-minutes!
Ingredients:
- Grated pineapple: 500gm
- Powdered sugar: 1 cup
- Saffron strands: ½ teaspoon
- Grated ginger: 1 tablespoon
- Cardamom powder: ½ teaspoon
- Cloves: 2
- Chilli flakes: ½ teaspoon
- Dry whole red chilli: 1
- Bay leaf: 1 small
- Chaat masala: 1 teaspoon
- Salt
- Vegetable oil: 2 tablespoons
- Finely chopped cashew: 8-10
- Raisins: 8-10
- Finely chopped pistachios: 8-10
- Finely chopped almonds: 8-10
Recipe:
- Add vegetable oil in a nonstick pan and heat. Add bay leaf, dry whole red chilli and cloves. Next in line is grated ginger. Saute all the masalas well
- Next, add the grated pineapple and sugar. Mix well, add cardamom powder and keep cooking on low flame for 10-15 minutes. Point to remember, pineapple will release oil and the ideal consistency for this chutney is thick
- Once water stops releasing and chutney has begun to thicken, add a pinch of salt, chilli flakes and the dry fruits. Mix well
- When the chutney is ready, check seasoning and turn off the flame
- Add some chaat masala and the saffron strands. Serve hot or refrigerated
