Recreation of Dynamite Shrimp

Time flies……...it’s been a year since we are back from US and living in India. In this one year I did lot of things starting from decorating our new home to learn absolutely new recipes. I always appreciate people exploring new things and implement the same in their and other's daily life. Its an awesome feeling.

When we were in the US we used to dine out very often and our favorite restaurant would be “Buffalo Wild Wings” which is a sports bar with 360 degree view of TV's being installed even in the restrooms. They are specialized in making Chicken Wings. Being there, I had a fear of not getting same Chicken Wings here in India but I was actually wrong. I found few shops like Spencer's and Republic of Chicken who sell just speciality wings and guess what I have re-created that dish at home (recipe here).

Apart from gobbling Chicken Wings one of the other restaurants we used to love is “P.F.Chang’s” which is a Chinese Restaurant adjusted to American Cuisine. It’s no secret that most American Chinese food restaurants serve dishes that have been adapted to please the Westernized American palate. My husband introduced me to this restaurant and one of the dishes we used to love there was “Dynamite Shrimp”. Though I’m allergic to Shrimp I couldn’t resist myself to this mouth watering dish. So we restricted ourselves to this restaurant and used to visit there very rarely.

Dynamite Shrimp is made from deshelled and deveined shrimps coated with corn flour-egg mixture and then deep fried. Finally, these fried shrimps are dipped in a sauce and served over bed of lettuce.

We used to love this appetizer. My only complain was about the portion served as it was too less compared to the price. Maybe we used to feel so because of our love for Shrimps.

I always say that being a foodie is a boon and a curse at the same time. You get to know about so many different  varieties of food from different cuisines but if you love those dishes you’ll be craving for that dish to death.

My love for Dynamite Shrimp did something like that to me. From last few weeks I was so much craving for that dish that I started looking for the recipe and tried them all but couldn’t match the flavors. Finally I got my hands on this recipe and trust me it is very much close to the restaurant style or “P.F.Chang’s” style “Dynamite Shrimp”. Do give it a try and let me know your honest opinion on my recreation of Dynamite Shrimp.

Date Palm Jaggery Fudge/ Gurer Sandesh

The name of Nolen Gur (Date Palm Jaggery) is enough to make any Bengali nostalgic. Date Palm Jaggery or Nolen Gur can only be found in some parts of India including West Bengal and few North Eastern states. However, the downside of this jaggery is that you can get this only during winters.

In order to enjoy flavors of Nolen Gur all year around, I usually stock up enough jaggery for the entire year in refrigerator and use it whenever I wish to. In that way you can enjoy the flavors all year long.

Few posts back I promised to post few recipes which I decided to post during the entire winter season here in India. I think I was able to keep that promise and posted each and every recipe except Gurer Rosogolla. 

In order to compensate that I thought of preparing Gurer Sandesh which is equally enjoyed in each and every Bengali household during the entire winter season. Though I prefer Gurer Rosogolla over Gurer Sandesh but both of them have their own delicacies.

Sandesh means Fudge. You can get numerous flavors in Sandesh throughout Kolkata but among all Nolen Gur is my favorite. Making Sandesh or Fudge at home is a child's play. You just need to have Cottage Cheese and the choice of flavor.....that's all!!!

So, let's begin with the recipe:

Peas Kachori/Koraishutir Kochuri

Hello my dear foodies, it's been a long time since I posted anything on my blog. Actually lot of things happened on my side; lot of friends and families visited our place, family functions and I suffered from cold and flu too. 

Since so many things happened so, I was not in the mood of blogging anything. Even this post was lying in my drafts folder from long time so I decided to complete and publish this post. In that way I can think what to blog next. Believe me I don't have any ideas what to 
blog next, can you provide me some ideas?

Anyway, this post is about one of the most popular winter delicacies in West Bengal and i.e. Peas Kachori or Koraishutir Kochuri (as we Bengalis call it). In Kolkata, January is the month of Picnics. People organize lot of picnics with their friends, families, office colleagues, schoolmates, college mates, commutation mates etc......Whomsoever you picnic with the breakfast (in Picnic) begins with Koraishutir Kochuri and Aalur Dom (Dum Aaloo). This delectable dish is also a common affair in Sunday Breakfast in most of the Bengali households.

This palatable dish is mostly enjoyed in winters as Peas are available in abundance during this time but thanks to the supermarkets where you can find frozen peas year long. 

Koraishutir Kochuri is generally enjoyed with Aalur Dom but you can also have it as it is. I enjoy it with stuffed green chilli pickle. So, without any further babbling let's begin with the recipe: