Reposted recipe : Chinese Kidney Beans & Potato Fry

Reposting my older post Chinese Kidney Beans & Potato Fry for  JFI : Rajma, hosted by Divya of Dil Se and event started by Indira of Mahanandi

Mutton Vindaloo (spicy mutton stew) in Parsian Style

Vindaloo is a meat dish of Portuguese origin, which derived from Portuguese word Vinho(vinegar) and Al'ho(garlic), which are two key ingredients for this dish. Due to its ability to preserve well, vindaloo was carried by Portuguese sailors on their sailing trips and found its way into Goa by this route. Now Vindaloo has become a popular and integral part of West Indian cuisine. It also a very popular among Parsis too, who imigrated from Persia, recent day Iran to Gujarat, the Western most State of India about 1000 years ago. As Parsian cuisine is very much influenced by Portuguese cuisine, So Vindaloo has become a very popular meat dish of parsian community. It differs a little from the Goan Vindaloo recipe. Today, I'll share the Parsian style Mutton Vindaloo recipe...It is basically a fiery-hot curry sauce and a real delight who loves hot and spicy curries. Traditionally the Parsis make vindaloo with duck, but mutton can be substituted, even with chicken or pork. 

The image was taken in a hurry, couldn't take a good one, as hungry people were already on the dinner table, so had to hurry...really sorry for that

Ingredients :

500 gms mutton cut into small cubes
6 tblsp oil
3 small tomatoes, chopped
3 small potatoes peeled and cut into round pieces
2 onion chopped in slices
250 gms boiled peas (I omitted)
Bay Leaves : 1 or 2
Curry leaves : 6-8 pieces(crumbled)
salt as per taste

Vindaloo masala :

6 dry red chillies (adjust as per your tolerance level)
3 cloves
5 cardamoms
6 black peppercorns
1/2" cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Coriander seeds
6 garlic cloves
1" piece ginger
1 tsp. turmeric powder
2 tblsp.Vinegar

Method: 

• Dry roast until lightly browned all the spices from dry chilles to coriander seeds(vindaloo masala section). Then ground with rest of the ingredients. it should be a smooth paste.
  
• Cut mutton pieces in small cube like pieces. Clean and pat dry. Marinate them with vindaloo masala paste, crumble up curry leaves and add to it, salt and 2 tblsp. of oil. Keep aside for at least 2-3 hours. More is better.
  
• Heat rest of the oil in a wide pan, fry potatoes with salt and keep aside. In the same oil, add bay leaves for flavour, when they change colour, add onions and fry until lightly browned. Then add chopped tomatoes, stir till tomatoes are pulpy. Then add marinated mutton pieces in there. 

• Stir-fry for at least 15 minutes or spices are well blended with mutton pieces. Add about 5 cups of water and let it cook in medium flame until mutton are tender and the curry is thick. Give it an occassional stir. Add salt as necessary. When mutton are almost tender, add potato pieces in it.
  
• If using green peas, add when mutton and potatoes both are done.
• Garnish with fresh coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice or any Indian flatbread like chapati, naan or paratha.  

I'm sending this parsian Mutton Vindaloo to Meera of Enjoy Indian Food

who is celebrating Parsi Cuisine for this edition of  
RCI(Regional Cuisine of India), this event is started by  
Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine

Beguni or Brinjal Fritters

Hi Friends, I'm back after a quite long break. Even after coming from vacation, last 10 days, the man of the family was terribly sick with fever. So couldn't even think of blogging a bit...Now he is fine, so tried to post something...I don't know why it feels little weird to write down something after such a long break, it feels like I havn't ever did this before...but I've to say that, I terribly missed blogging,...
Any way,  Beguni or Brinjal Fritters is my recipe today...........

Beguni is a famous bengali snack made from brinjals. We call brinjals "begun", so the fritters or pakoras made out of it is "beguni". This fritter is so beloved in bengali community, it is served as an evening snack with tea (mainly in demand when it rains outside) or is a famous accompaniment with Khichdi(a lentil-rice combination), a popular appetizer in any special occassion menu like birthdays, Puja, even in marriage functions. You can serve this as a side dish with any dal and rice. During Durga Puja, it is served with Khichdi in puja pandals and even it is made at bengali households,too. I also made this during puja time at home.
The most important aspect of this fritter is the shape in which the brinjals are cut. First, cut in 1/8 inch thick round slices and then cut each round one from the middle (resembling the shape of half-moon). Another way to cut the brinjals is to make thin slices of the brinjals vertically. For best results, always use the dark purple brinjals. Now to the ingredients, you need very less ingredients for this fritter...

Ingredients : 

Thick Purple Brinjal : 1
Besan(chick pea flour) : about 1 cup
Chilli powder : 2 tsp. (according to your taste)
Turmeric powder : a pinch
Kalonji or black cumin or onion seed : 1 tsp.
Poppy seed(posto) : 2 tblsp.(for extra flavour & crunch)

Baking powder : 1 tsp.
Salt to taste
Water
Oil for deep frying

Method :

• Sprinkle a pinch of both salt and turmeric powder over the brinjals and keep aside for 10-15 minutes.
  
• To prepare the batter, take besan in a bowl, mix all the ingredients in it except water and oil and mix them together.Then add enough water to make a semi-thick consistency of batter. It shouldn't be runny or not too much thick.Whip the batter for 2-3 minutes to make a smooth and lump-free batter.
  
• Heat enough oil in a wide vessel to deep fry. Dip each eggplant piece in the batter, check if it is coated from all sides. then deep fry in medium heat until lightly browned. 
• Serve hot immediately after frying.............................

This is going to take part in my ongoing event ,       
"Sunday Snacks : Festive snack of Navratri & Diwali"....Friends, send in your entries soon to me, I want to know Which snack you've served to your family & friends during this festive season.  

Wishing Happy Diwali To All

 Wish all my readers, followers and visitors a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous Deepavali

Quality Scrap Greetings from SetOrkut.com

Hi friends, I'm back from vacation in my hometown, Kolkata as promised just before diwali...spent a great time with family and relatives and had loads of fun during Durga Puja in Kolkata..had no time to miss the blogging world but still missed it a bit. Now I've to catch up with all of your wonderful posts and hope soon I'll be back too with my posts.

Don't forget to send in your entries for my ongoing event "Sunday Snacks - Festive snacks for Navratri & Diwali"