Prawns in spiced Indian sauce (a curry from Goa)

This is a speciality of Goa made with king prawns cooked in a variety of Indian spices.


INGREDIENTS:


Prawns 2 cups (Vegetarians could choose to use Mushroom to follow the same recipe.)
Turmeric powder 1 tblsp
Salt to taste
Coriander seeds 1 tblsn
Cumin seeds 1 tspn
Whole dry red chillies 5
Cinnamon 2 inch stick
Cloves 5-6
Black peppercorns 15
Garlic paste 2 tbspn
Ginger crushed/paste 3 tbspn
Onions chopped 4 medium
Tomatoes chopped 6 medium
Coriander leaves chopped 1/2 cup
Oil 5-6 tblsp

Preparation:
I've used frozen Prawns that were already de-veined and shelled.
Thaw if you choose to use frozen fish and wash them thoroughly under running water.
Pat dry them & apply turmeric powder and salt to the prawns and keep aside for 15 minutes.
Dry roast and then grind coriander seeds, cumin seeds, red chillies, cinnamon, cloves, black peppercorns, garlic and ginger to a fine paste.
Heat oil and saute the prawns lightly.
Keep aside on a kitchen tissue to absorb the excess oil.
Saute onions in the same oil till they become soft and brown.
Add the ground spices paste and fry until the mixture begins to give off a nice aroma.
Add tomatoes and cover the lid to fry for a few minutes till the tomates are cooked well.
Add salt and fried prawns.
Cover the pan and cook for five minutes.
Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice or Indian bread/Roti/Naan.

Rasgulla (homemade Cheese in Sugar Syrup - a sweet from West Bengal)

This preparation does not take more than 1 hr in all.

Dont go by the look of this photo, this was my first try at this exotic Bengali sweet dish.

The good ones dont wait for the photo to be clicked.

Ingredients:
Milk 2% or 2.5% 1 litreLemon Juice 1 lemon and 2 Tablespoon water
Sugar 2 1/2 cup
Water 5 cups
Cardamom powder 1 teaspoon (optional)Rose water (optional)
Flour 1 teaspoon (optional)
Semolina 1/2 teasoon (optional)
Sugar 1 teaspoon
Preparation:
For Cheese:1. Bring the milk to boil, stirring occasionally without letting the layer of cream form on top and burning it in the bottom.
2. Add the lemon juice gradually and stir the milk gently. 3. As the cheese starts separating from the water, turn off the heat.
4. Drain the waiter using a strainer cloth. (You could keep this water for later use)
5. Rinse the cheese under running cold water and squeeze well.
6. Hang the cheese in the cloth for soemtime for the wetness to disappear.7. To check if enough water is out of the cheese, take a little piece of cheese on your palm and rub with your fingers. After rubbing for about 15-20 seconds, you should be able to make a firm but smooth ball.
Making the balls:1. Place the cheese on a plate and knead it for 3-4 minutes along with 1 teaspoon flour, 1/2 teaspoon emolina, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder, until the cheese almost rolls into smooth soft dough.
2. Divide the dough into 10-12 equal parts and roll them into smooth balls.
3. Make the balls by applying pressure on the fist and then release when forming the balls.Syrup:1. Boil the water with sugar in a pan.
2. Add the balls and close the lid of the pan on medium heat for 30 minutes.
3. Check in between if it done.
4. Add rose water when the heat subsides.
5. Serve the Rasgullas after 2-3 hrs.
You could also make Rasgullas in pressure cooker(though my results in cooker was not too satisfactory)
1. Add the cheese balls in sugar syrup and close the pressure cooker. When the pressure starts coming out, turn the heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes.
2. Close the heat and wait till the pressure subsides. Then check if the Rasgullas are done.

Tips:1. While kneading the cheese make sure its not too dry. If the dough turns dry Rasgullas become hard.
2. Also, while kneading there should not be any broken lines and the dough should look smooth. The Rasgullas may break if there are broken lines.3. When you refrigerate the Rasgullas they might turn hard. Just microwave them / heat them and tada they are soft again.
4. If they are hard or get broken you can mix them in condensed or thickened milk or kheer and serve.
5. Note that the size of the Rasgullas almost doubles while cooking in syrup, so your pan or pressure cooker should have enough space to hold them.
6. After cooling while serving, the size will deminish a little.

Alu Dum (Baked/Grilled/Boiled Potatoes mixed with Indian spices - from West Bengal)

Ingredients:

Red Potato 750 gm.
Hing / Aasafoetida 1 Teaspoon
Bay Leaf 1-2
Red Dry chilli 1-2
Jeera / Cumin seeds 1 Teaspoon
Whole garam masala (cinnomon stick 1 inch, Cardamom 3-4, cloves 3-4)
Green Chilli 3-4 sliced / as per taste
Cumin powder/paste 2 tablespoon
Ginger paste 2 Tablespoon
Rice oil 3-4 Tablespoon Turmeric 1 Teaspoon
Tomato puree 1-2 cup (4-5 medium sized)

Peas 1 cup
Salt to taste Coriander leaves chopped 1/2 cup

Preparation:
1. Boil the potatoes in slightly salted water and drain.
2. Peel the skin if you wish to.
3. Cut all of them into halves or of equal size each.
4. Heat oil in a pan and fry these boiled poataoes till it turns golden.
5. Add the cumin seeds, bay leaf, dry red chilli, whole garam masala and let them crackle.
6. Add the hing and pour the tomato puree, ginger paste, and jeera powder, green chillies, tumeric, and salt to taste..
7. Let the curry fry till the raw smell of the spices disappear.
8. Now add the peas and potatoes and roast till the oil starts oozing out from the curry.
9. Remove the pan from heat and garnish with coriander leaves.
10. You can add water to this and bring it to boil if you want this as moist gravy.(I dont prefer it like a liquid.)

Note:
Hing / Aasafoetida is used as a digestive aid in cooking and has a very strong smell of its own. This dish intends to retain its smell and hence is usually added just after the potatoes. Ive used it earlier for people not used to this smell.
You could choose to serve it as a starter, it would be served like baked potatoes or as a part of main course.

The picture on the right is actually Baked potatoes with the same ingredients. Ive added carrot too in it.

The picture on your left is made of white small potatoes.

Orange Kheer (Fresh Oranges dipped in condensed Milk - known as Kheer Komla in West Bengal)

Ingredients:
1 ltr full-cream milk or 4% fat milk
7-8 Tablespoon sugar
2-3 sweet Oranges nicely peeled or you could use marmalade
1/2 cup chopped Almonds
3-4 Cardamom powder
1 bay leaf

Preparation:

1. Boil the milk in a non-stick pan.
2. Continue boiling in low heat and stir it so that it doesnt stick in the bottom and also no layer forms(malai).
3. Now add sugar into the milk and stir well.
4. Continue boiling the milk till the color changes.
5. Add the Cardamom powder and bay leaf.
6. Remove the milk from the heat and add blanched Almonds.
7. Cool it for atleast 2 hrs.
8. Peel the Oranges nicely and add only the flesh to this condensed milk.
9. Mix it well without mashing the flesh of orange.
10. Refrigerate before serving.

Note:
The taste of this dish depends on the consistency you would prefer.Could be like custard or even had as a drink. When you add oranges you should be able to see a layer of it standing on the kheer. The image below is like a drink and the sweet dish like kheer tastes better. Cooking this dish in earthen ware gives a better flavor.