Daal Makhani

Few days back we went to a restaurant for a casual dinner and ordered pure vegetarian food. I have been raving about few dishes in my posts: Paneer Butter Masala and Malai Kofta. These are the two dishes we love to eat if we go for the vegetarian side. One more thing which we both love to order is Daal Makhani. As soon as the order arrived I thought why I haven't given a place to this very popular dish.

Daal Makhani can be best described as "Lentils in a Buttery Sauce". It is pure North Indian Dish which is very popular in Dhabas in Northern India. We both love to eat in Dhabas. We have tried few of the popular Dhabas in Kolkata. Undoubtably we loved the food but missed the ambience of Dhabas which can only be found at roadside Dhabas. 

In India we get the mixture of these lentils in every superstore. We usually buy them to make Daal Makhani. It's a mixture of many lentils including Chickpeas (Kabuli Chana) and Kidney beans (Rajma).

So, let's start with the recipe:

Macher Chop (Fish Croquettes)..............From the streets of Kolkata

Bengalis and Fish are inseparable. There's a very renowned saying in Bengali "Mache Baate Bangali" which means Fish and Rice make a Bengali. Being in India this year we can enjoy so many different varieties of fishes. Although we used to get some of the popular varieties in Portland(USA) too but they would be frozen :(

Monsoons are in full swing in India now. So, our tea time demands for some snacks specially some "Tele Bhaja" (deep fried snacks). If you are in Kolkata then you're in the hub of street foods. Every evening you can find various stalls at every nooks and corners of the streets. You can easily devour them standing at the stalls but making them at home gives you an immense pleasure and what more they come out hygenic too.

"Chop" is nothing else but a Cutlet or Croquette. It  is a small, cylindrical or round shaped, stuffed with minced meat and mashed potatoes or mixed vegetables. It is then dipped into corn flour batter, rolled in breadcrumbs and then deep fried. "Macher Chop" or "Fish Croquette" is a very common snack in our home. We both love them with finely sliced onions, cucumbers, tomatoes and ketchup. These croquettes can be prepared using many kind of fishes but I prefer Katla than anything else.

It doesn't matter whether its a vegetarian or non-vegetarian chop, it will have its own unique taste and equally tempting too. These serve as a great appetizer and a complete party pleaser. So, let's start with the recipe:

Malai Kofta

Malai Kofta....whenever I hear this name soft, tender cheese dumplings dunked in rich, creamy Makhani gravy comes to my mind which is enough to make anyone drool. After Paneer Butter Masala this is the recipe which is I usually prefer to order if I want to eat anything Vegetarian in a restaurant and believe me these two recipes can never go wrong.

Malai means cream and Kofta means fried dumplings. If I talk about only Kofta then there are many variations of making them either veg or non-veg. I have already posted a recipe of Nargisi Kofta Curry. You can have a look here (Click Here).

This particular recipe of Kofta demands for Paneer (Cottage Cheese) and Potatoes. Some people like to add chopped veggies too but I prefer them this way. There are many ways in which you can prepare the Malai Kofta Curry: 

• cashew nut + onion + tomato based gravy 
• onion+tomato based gravy
• tomato based gravy

Here, I'm showing you the first version as this is the one which gives the gravy rich, perfect and creamy texture. This kind of gravy is also known as Makhni gravy. You can prepare number of dishes with this gravy some of them are: Paneer Butter Masala, Murg Makhani etc. Here I have used very less butter but if you want you can make the gravy completely in butter.

So let's start with the recipe:

Vanilla Cupcakes/Muffins

Sometimes it's okay to behave childish and demand for some childish things. For me last week was like that. I had been bugging my husband to get me Vanilla Cupcakes. There are many cake/bakery shops near our home but to be very frank I don't like the amount of frosting they put on their cakes/cupcakes/pastries. 

I'm a total cupcake girl. Since, we don't like chocolate flavor, I always prefer to bake vanilla cupcakes. I wonder why didn't I give these pretty looking cakes a place on my blog. 

As I say "Being a Foodie is a boon and a curse too" because the urge of eating random things at the odd hours is not good at all. What do you say? So, to satisfy my craving for cupcakes I have to do something. As a die hard foodie and a food blogger I jumped into my apron and looked for my baking tools.

I think making cupcakes is the easiest thing to bake. Just mix all the ingredients, pour the batter into cupcake moulds and bake it for 15-20 mins.  Ta-Da!!!! your cupcakes are ready :)

I know cupcakes do have frosting on them otherwise it's better to call them Muffins. But as they came out so perfect and I have made a very big batch this time (you know my craving) so I gave up my idea of frosting and took the pics without frosting/icing on them. But, if you want you can do the frosting too. For the recipe of Vanilla Buttercream frosting please Click Here

So, try your hands on these fluffy, moist and perfectly baked Vanilla Cupcakes/ Muffins. 

Mango Lassi

Sometimes you just need very simple things to make yourself happy. Well, I follow this basic principle always. For me that can be a cup of coffee, getting drenched in the rain showers, playing with kids, browsing my childhood pics and the list goes on. 

Having a glassful of Lassi during summer gives me exactly same feeling but when it's Mango Lassi then my excitement gets no limits.

It was a season of Mangoes this year and we really enjoyed some of the popular varieties like Alphonso, Himsagar, Langda, Amrapali, Dussehri etc. I had posted many mango based recipes in my blog which are very easy to make yet delicious to taste. 

• Mango Kulfi
• Mango Ice-cream
• Mango Mousse
• Skinny Mango Cheesecake  

There are many more in my bucket list, will soon try to give them a place in my blog.

Summer is very much over and monsoon has already arrived in India. So, before saying adios to the king of fruits I thought of making a very popular yet very simple recipe; yes it's nothing other than Mango Lassi. Lassi is a cooling and refreshing drink made from yogurt and when it's blended with the flavors of Mango, it takes this traditional drink to the next level. 

So, let's give our Mango love a pause and get into the recipe of Mango Lassi: