Kids' favorite Chocolate Pancake

What is Pancake ?

A Pancake is a thin, flat, mostly round (can be made in any desired shapes & sizes) cake, prepared from a batter made of APF(all purpose flour), milk, egg and butter. The prepared batter is then cooked on a griddle or frying pan. Pancakes are named differently in different part of the World. Depending on the region, pancakes may be served at any time, with a variety of toppings or fillings including jam, fruit, syrup or meat. But basically, it's a wholesome breakfast item, loved by all ages, especially children are very fond of them. My daughter is a huge fan of Pancakes. Nowadays, readymade pancake batter are found in markets, because of its popularity. But if you want to make it at home, I'll give you the recipe today.........

Do you know What is a Pancake Day?

Pancake Day ( also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the last day before the period which Christians call Lent,
a Christian festival leading up to Easter Sunday (Easter Day). It is traditional on this day to eat pancakes. It is the one day of the year when almost everyone eats a pancake. Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs which were forbidden during Lent.  
In 2010 Pancake Day will be on 16 February.
So now to the Basic recipe of pancake....

Ingredients : (yields 7-8 pancakes)

All purpose flour(APF)  :  1 and 1/2 cup
Baking powder : 3 tsp.
Salt : 1 tsp.
Fine granulated sugar : 1-2 tblsp.
Milk : 1 and 1/4 cup(as needed)
Egg : 1
Butter(melted) : 3 tblsp.

Method :

• In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In another big bowl, whisk together egg and milk, add to flour mixture little by little, just enough to make a semi-thick creamy batter. Blend in melted butter.
  
• Heat a non-stick frying pan or a griddle, apply little butter/oil, lower the heat to medium, then pour about 1/4 cup of prepared batter. Cook until you see little dry around the edges and lightly browned on the bottom. Turn and brown the other side. Drop a little butter/oil if you see it's sticking to the pan. 
• Your pancake is ready.
  

Variations : You can add any crushed or finely chopped fruits(eg. mango, apple, banana etc.) in that batter and can enjoy different flavours of pancake.

For Chocolate pancake :

• To the basic batter, add 2 tblsp. of chocolate syrup( I used Hershey's chocolate syrup) or cocoa powder. Mix together.  

Tips : While making chocolate pancake, add less sugar in basic batter recipe, as chocolate syrup is going to add the sweetness.

• Make pancakes same way as mentioned above. Serve hot .............................

Sending my daughter's favorite breakfast dish to Arundhuti of Gourmet Affair, who is hosting an event, "Served With Love" .

And to Srivalli , who is hosting "Kids' Delight - Wholesome Breakfast"

Punjabi Kala Chana Masala - Chola/sookha chana/Black Chick Pea gravy

Chickpeas, also known as Garbanzo beans, Indian peas or Kabuli chana, are the brown coloured beans of a legume plant. These are green when raw and turn brown when dried. These are nutritious and rich in protein that makes the diet healthy. And the Black chickpeas or kala chana or Bengal gram or cholar dal(in bengali) are darker seeds and has smaller seeds and a rough coat. White chickpeas are lighter coloured, has larger seeds and a smoother coat.
Nutritional Value of Chickpeas (garbanzo beans, bengal gram) :
Chickpeas are high in protein and one of the earliest cultivated vegetables. Chickpeas are rich inPotassium, Phosphorus, magnesium and Calcium. It also has good amount of Iron, Sodium, selenium and small amount of Copper, Zinc and Manganese. Chickpeas are rich in choline with good amount of Vitamin A and C. It also has small amount of Vitamin E, K, B6, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate and pantothenic acid.
Black chickpeas have a higher fiber content than Kabuli chana/white chickpeas and hence a very low Glycemic Index(GI) which may make them suitable for people with blood sugar problems.

Health Benefits of Chickpeas: 

Chickpeas make nutritious and healthy diet. It reduces cholesterol, prevents constipation and helps prevent digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome. Daily consumption of Chickpeas reduces risk of coronary heart disease and iron deficiency; helps stabilize the blood sugar levels.
So, include these members of legume family in your diet as much as possible to have a healthy diet.

Punjabi Kala Chana masala/Black Chickpea gravy

This recipe of kala chana is from Punjabi cuisine, is very tasty and flavourful, try it out.......................

Ingredients :

Kala chana/ black chickpeas/Chola : 1 cup
Boiled Potatoes : 2 (medium)

Onion : 2 (medium-chopped)
Ginger-garlic paste : 2 tblsp.
Tomato : 1 (big-chopped)
Tomato paste/puree : 2 tblsp.
Green Chilli : 1 or 2(chopped)
Turmeric powder : 2 tsp.
Red chilli powder : 2-3 tsp.
Coriander powder : 2 tsp.
Punjabi Chole Masala : 2 tsp.(I used Sanjeev Kapoor's Chloe masala; it was great)
Garam masasla powder : 1 tsp.
Salt to taste 
Oil : 2-3 tblsp.
Whole garam masala  : 2-3 of each(cardamom, cinnamon stick and cloves) 
Chat masala/dry mango(amchur) powder : 1 tblsp.

Fresh coriander leaves for garnishing



Method :

• Soak chick peas over night if possible or for 3-4 hours in hot water. Black chick peas soaks faster than white chick peas/ kabuli chana. Then pressure cook the dal until done about 20 minutes. Drain and reserve the cooking liquid. Boil potatoes until tender and cut into small pieces.
• Heat oil in a pan, add whole garam masala, wait for a minute , then add finely chopped onions and green chillies. Fry for a while, when onions turn slightly brown, add ginger-garlic paste. Stir to mix together. Add finely chopped tomatoes in it. Stir until tomatoes get soft ad pulpy.
• When tomatoes are soft, add all powdered spices with 1/4 cup water to cook the spices well. Stir fry the masalas until oil seperates, then add tomato puree/ paste into it. Stir again until it mixes well with the masala paste. Now add boiled chickpeas and potatoes. 
• Stir for a while, then add reserved water from boiled chickpeas and if needed add little more water, total about 1 and 1/2 cup of water. Season with salt. In medium heat, let it cook for about 6-7 minutes or until you get desired consistency of gravy, not too thin, not too thick kind. I like some gravy to enjoy with roti, paratha. 
• When the gravy is right, remove from heat and garnish with coriander leaves. Sprinkle some chat masala or dry mango powder/amchur powder over it and enjoy...................
  

Goes well with puri, roti/chapati or paratha, naan, any kind of Indian bread..............

Sending this to MLLA 19, hosted by EC of SImple Indian Food, event is the brainchild of Susan of The Well-seasoned Cook...

Saraswati/Basanti Puja and Bhapa Ilish or Steamed Hilsa

SARASWATI MAHABHAGE BIDYE KOMOLOLOCHANE

BISHWARUPE BISHALAKHKHI MAHADEVI NAMAHASHTUTE!!

Saraswati puja, is another festival which is celerated in Bengal with huge enthusiasm in every nook and corner, in every households and in most of the schools and educational centers. Ma Saraswati is the Goddess of Knowledge, Arts and Music. The day is known as Vasant Panchami or Sri Panchami, on the fifth day after new moon in Spring(vasant kaal in bengali), which falls around end of January or beginning of February. Goddess Saraswati is represented as a woman with white skin, who wears a crescent moon (chandrakla) on her brow and rides a swan. She has sacred scriptures in one hand and a lotus – the symbol of true knowledge – in the second. With her other two hands she plays the music of love and life on a string instrument called the veena. She is also depicted as a deity seated on a white lotus flower.            

Goddess Saraswati is not worshipped in temple, but in every households who has school, college or university going children, will surely worship the Goddess daily at their home. And every year on this day, a big model of her is made and worshiped. The puja is performed in the morning. The Goddess is worshipped with bel leaves, fresh while/yellow spring flowers like, marigolds, chrysanthemums and Palash is the special flower used in this puja, without this flower puja won't be complete. And the fruit, plum or wild berries or Kool is must for this puja. Since goddess Saraswati is the goddess of learning, the students are the most ardent worshippers of this day. Children place their books, music instruments, arts materials, earthen inkpots and bamboo quills before her. The ink is made from unboiled milk water, colour powder and silver glitter called Abhro. On this day nobody writes or reads any book, or play any musical instrument. This signifies that the goddess is blessing the books placed in front of her that day. Children give 'Anjali' to the goddess in empty stomach and pray for their future. Wearing Yellow or Basanti coloures saree is the custom on that day.

In  Bengal, every students of all ages have special happy memories of this day. Most of the schools and educational centers of Bengal celebrate Saraswati Puja. Older students of schools are mostly engaged decorating the schools the day before, making preperations for puja, helping priests, send invites to the other schools and going to school with freinds wearing yellow saris are the special unforgottable moments of this puja. From cutting of fruits to assisting the priest, everything is taken care of by the students. No matter whether a student is religious or irreligious, everyone participates in this in the hope of doing well in their examinations. Saraswati Puja is also the day of eating plums. Plums/wild berries, called 'kool' in Bengali is the most sought after fruit on the day of Saraswati Puja. 'Kooler Chatni' is a must for that day. 'Kool' or plum is a fruit of spring time. Hence, it must be eaten on the day of saraswati Puja. There is a saying in Bengal, "if you eat kool before that day, you will fail in the exam". We used to control ourselves at our best not to eat them and on that day, after puja, the first thing we used to it, is kool. It's a fruit of sour taste and it's yummy. the significance on that saying, I think, around that time, the fruit starts to ripe and is the right time to eat them, but children are told like that way not to eat them, as no children will like to fail in the exam.

Another special ceremony of taht day is "Hatey-Khari", where small children begin their writing/studies on that day with the blessing from the goddess. The priest help them writing thier first A, B C, D with a chalk on a slate. In this way, Saraswati puja has a tremendous importance among bengalis.
The another custom of that day, is to buy "Jora Ilish" or 2 Hilsa fish on that day. It is considered auspicious in bengali custom. So, Hilsa or Ilish is the must on that day's menu. Hilsa fish is the most beloved and popular fish among bengalis. So I made Bhapa Ilish or steamed Hilsa on Saraswati Puja, which was Yesterday. Hilsa marinated and steeped in a mustard-poppy seed paste and steamed.
Hilsa is rich in Omega-3 fatty acid and is full of very fine little bones. One has to be extra careful while eating it. Even though Bengalis love this fish, it has a distinct flavour and very soft flesh fish. This dish especially taste well with fresh fish, not with the frozen ones. Because, in this recipe raw fish is marinated in mustard paste and steamed in low heat. If not, lightly fried fish is also OK. I normally fry my fishes very lightly on both sides. This dish can be made in three ways. One, in pressure cooker, another in a steamer and in an oven. I make it in Pressure cooker, to make in oven, check here.

Ingredients :

Hilsa fish : 5-6 pieces
Mustard seeds : 2 tblsp.
Poppy seed : 2 tsp.
Green chilli : 2-3
Turmeric powder : 2-3 tsp.
Mustard oil : 3 tsp.
Yoghurt : 1 tsp.
Fresh dessicated coconut : 2 tblsp.
Oil : 2 tblsp.
Salt to taste

Method :

• Marinate fish pieces with very little salt and turmeric powder and keep aside for 1/2 an hour. 
• To make the mustard paste, soak mustard seeds and poppy seeds in little water for 1/2 and hour. Then in a grinder, grind into a paste adding 2 green chillies, dessicated coconut, a pinch of salt. Add water as little as possible while grinding. It should be a moderately thick paste. 
• In the prepared paste, add yoghurt, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Now the mustard paste is ready to smear on the fish. Tips : in any mustard paste preperation, while grinding mustard seeds, always add a pinch of salt, otherwise it tasted bitter.
  
• In a pressure cooker safe bowl, smear a little mustard oil, then place the fish pieces in single layer. Add the prepared mustard paste and coat over the fish pieces nicely. Add 2-3 slitted green chillies over it and drizzle 2 tblsp. of mustard oil over it. Keep it for 10-15 minutes.
• Then place in a pressure cooker, which is filled with water until half of the bowl or little lower. Cook for 2-3 whistles or about 10 minutes in medium flame.

Serve hot with rice and enjoy the distinct flavour of this dish............

One Lauki/Lau/Bottle Gourd, Two recipes --- Lau Ghonto & Lau-er khosa Charchari

Lau, as we call it in Bengali, in other parts of India, it is known as Lauki or Dudhi, is very low caloric vegetable and very low in fat. Because of its high water content, it's very cooling, calming, diuretic and easy to digest. Therefore, it's a great summer food. It is rich in iron and also has vitamins C and B complex. It is high in fiber, thus very effective for light, low calorie diet, people with digestive disorders and constipation. If you are planning to loose weight, add it to your diet daily.

Bottle gourd has many healing powers, even though it is not so popular in Western World, but it is widely used in India. Bottle gourd is valuable treating Urinary disorder, balancing Liver Function, treating High blood pressure and heart disease, treating Insomnia and other nervous disorders and many more. Ayurveda, the traditional Indian Herbal medicinal system, suggests bottle gourd juice once daily early in the morning helps treating graying hair, stomach acidity, digestive disorders and ulcers.
Today, I'll share a very simple lauki/lau recipe from bengali cuisine, which is called "Lau Ghonto". 
Another, from the same bottle gourd peel, "Lau er Khosa Charchari". One bottle gourd, two recipe.

Ghonto, is a cooking style in Bengali cuisine, where vegetables (cabbage, gourd, radish etc.) are chopped or grated very finely and cooked with a tempering(like, jeera/ panch phoron) and very few ground spices. Non-vegetarian ghontos are also made, where fish or fish head are added with vegetables. The famous Murighonto is made with fish head and cooked rice. 

Ingredients : 

Lau/lauki : 1 ( medium/big)
Dry red chilli : 1
Cumin seeds/jeera : 2 tsp.
Turmeric powder : 2 tsp.
Green chilli : 1 or 2(chopped)
Fresh coriander leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste 
Oil : 2 tblsp.

Method : 

• Peel the whole gourd. Don't throw away the peels. In Bengali cuisine, we have many delectable dishes made from it, like crispy fries(lau-er khosa bhaja) or charchari from it. I'll shared the fry recipe before and the charchari recipe follows after this.
• For cutting the vegetable very fine, first cut the gourds in round rings. Take 3 or 4 rings at a time and  chop them as finely as you can. Continue with the other rings. 
• Heat oil in a pan, temper with broken dry red chilli and cumin seeds. When chilli turns dark and seeds crackle, throw chopped up gourds. Stir for a while, water will come out. Wait for water to dry up. When water evaporates, add salt, turmeric and green chillies. Mix well , stirring for few minutes.
• Add very little water and in medium flame let it cook. Gourds cook very fast. Check the seasoning. When all the water evaporates and gourds are quite soft and mushy, remove from heat. Throw chopped fresh coriander leaves, mix well and serve hot with hot rice. 

Lau-er khosa Charchari 

It's a great dish, made from peels of bottle gourds and pumpkin. This dish, I've tried from Sharmistha's blog Cook-a-doodle-doo. I had no idea this dish exists, until She shared her mother's recipe. Instead of throwing all the highly nutritive peels of gourd, we can dish out a great simple relish. To make any dish with peels, do not peel but cut with little flesh on with a sharp knife. Thanks to aunty(sharmistha's mom) and Sharmistha for sharing such great recipe and obviously thanks to blogging, because of it, we get to know such secret recipes. I recommend all to try this dish who loves bottle gourd. You will get the recipe here. I followed her recipe and it was just great with hot rice. 

Bengali Winter Vegetable Medley

Chilly winter is in season now almost allover the world (not in my place, though..we're enjoying cool poolbath). So my today's post is on winter vegetables. Beets, carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, Spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, fresh green peas are some of the vegetables available during Winter in India. Like, Roots and tubers, often considered as mere carbohydrate filters, are also vitamin-rich. One medium-sized potato can supply up to a third or more of the body's daily requirement of vitamin C, as well as some of the B vitamins. Sweet potatoes are similarly nourishing, and provide the body with vitamin A. Carrots are another source of vitamin A. Green leaves - whether from cabbage or such leaf vegetables as spinach - are rich sources of vitamins A and C. Vitamin A is essential for eyes and skin, while vitamin C is necessary to maintain a healthy connective tissue, Calcium, very important for the bone structure of growing children, and iron, necessary for healthy blood, are also provided by these plants. Other green vegetables, such as broccoli, peas and kale, also include some of the B vitamins, a large group needed by the body to extract energy from carbohydrates. The nutrients that vegetables contain are invaluable, so have your 5 a day.
I'm posting a Bengali Winter Vegetables Medley today....very easy and simpliest recipe without much spices, but absolutely delicious..in this recipe you'll see the simplicity of Bengali Cuisine.

Ingredients:

Beet root : 1
Carrots : 1 or 2
Cauliflower : few florets
Potato : 1 or 2
Green Peas : 1/3 cup
Dry red chilli : 1 (break into 2)
black cumin seeds/kala jeera/kalonji : 1 tsp.
Turmeric powder : 2 tsp.
Red chilli powder : 2 tsp.
Salt to taste
Sugar : 1 tsp.
Oil : 2-3 tblsp.
Fresh coriander leaves for garnishing(only available during winter in India)

Method :

• Cut carrot, beet and potato in medium cube like pieces. Cut each cauliflower florets into 2 or 4 pieces. 
• In a pressure cooker, cook beet, carrot and potato until tender for 1 or 2 whistle.
• In a pan, heat 2 tblsp. oil, fry cauliflower florets a little until light brown and keep aside. In the same oil (add oil if needed), temper with dry red chillies and black cumin seeds. Wait for a while, when chillies change colour and seeds crackle, add boiled vegetables, fried cauliflower and green peas. Add salt, turmeric and chilli powder. Add a little water and mix spices well with the vegetables. Add sugar and stir fry together for 2-3 minutes in medium flame. 
• Remove from heat and garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

This medley is going to take part in  
Monthly Mingle: Winter Fruits and Vegetables , hosted by Sudeshna of Cook Like A Bong and event is masterminded by Meeta of What's for lunch, Honey?

Sandesh - half traditionally with readymade Paneer and with the help of kitchen gadgets

This is my first post of 2010. Let's start with a sweet note....Being a bengali, I have quite a sweet tooth, which Bengalis are famous for. But I love more the dry sweets(i.e., bengali sandesh, North Indian peda or besan laddoo etc.) than the sugar syrup immersed sweets(like, Gulab jamuns). For the new year celebration, I made this famous bengali sweet, Sandesh at home, which was on my wish list for long time. After seeing Soma's awesomely beautiful post on Sandesh, I was really tempted to make it at home, as we don't get here at market/sweet shop and I totally miss all the Bengal sweets here outside India.

Sandesh is one of the most favorite sweets in Bengal. It is milk based sweets with very few ingredients and surprisingly very easy to make (I realized it after making). It is made from curdled milk or Channa as we call it, another name is Panner/cottage cheese. Freshly made channa/ paneer is sweetened by adding sugar in it, and some flavours like, rose assence, cardamom powder and Saffron are also added for special touch.

Here is how I made it :

In the title, I wrote half traditionally, because it is made from fresh channa/cottage cheese and the chaana is then knead to make lump-free by hand to make Sandesh soft. I had very less time when I made them, so to make it faster, I used readymade paneer cubes, available in market and I kneaded them in Mixer to save time.

Ingredients : (Will make 20-24 medium size sandesh)

Paneer cubes : 500 gms.

Sugar : 3/4 cup or as needed
Black Cardamom powder : 2 tsp.
Rose essence : 1 and 1/2 tsp.
Saffron : 1 tsp.(crushed between fingers)
Cardamom seeds : few (for decoration)
Saffron : few strands (for decoration)

Method :

• As I had frozen paneer cubes, I defrosted them first and then knead them a little by hand.
  
• To make the process little faster, I put them in a mixer and added little milk. It softens quite fast that way, but this way channa/paneer liquidises a bit because of added milk.
  
• After it softens and becomes lump-free, add sugar little by little. Mix it in the mixer, taste it and if needed add some more. When sugar just dissolves in channa, take out from mixer. 
• Now, this step is the most critical and important part of making sandesh. So be cautious. Heat a non-stick flat pan, spread the channa-sugar mixture on the pan evenly. Change the heat to medium. Stir constantly with a spatula so that it does not stick to the pan, scraping off the sides of the pan. Cook on medium heat for the first 5-6 minutes. You will see slowly the texture is changing to thicker consistency, then lower the heat.  Cook on low flame, stirring continuously, you will see the colour is also changing to darker shade. Add cardamom powder, rose essence and crushed saffrons into it. Mix well.
  
• When you see the channa is no longer sticking to the pan and you can gather the whole thing and make  a ball, then it's time to turn off the heat (for test, take a little channa in your palm, make a small ball rolling between your palms. If you can make it, then it's done). If you heat longer than this, the channa will be hard and lumpy and the sandesh will turn hard. This process should take 15-20 minutes and is called "paak". (I heated a little more, my channa became little crumbly as you can see in the pic. I could give it a shape and it was soft, but the channa was little crumbly..so be cautious about it)

• Spread on a plate for 5 minutes to cool down a bit. DO NOT let it cool much, then you won't be able to give it a shape. Take little portion and make it into round or oblong, any shape you want.
• For decoration : Take 1-2 tsp. milk on a bowl, drop the saffron strands into it. take one or two saffron strands on hand and press on top of each sandesh. Seperate cardmom seeds, take one or two cardamom and press on top of each Sandesh. You can decorate any way you want, can decorate with fruit pieces, too like, with small cherry or pineapple pieces. Can decorate with pistachio or almonds pieces.

Sandesh can be kept fresh for at least 7-10 days in refrigerator. It tastes also good when slightly cool. But keep in an airtight container, otherwise it can become hard.

Sending my first post of the year to Arundhuti for her
first event, "Served with Love", as this Sandesh is my Husband's and my Daughter's favorite Sweet.