Indian Zuchini in coconut milk

Here's a traditional Indian zucchini (aka janhi in oriya, or ridge gourd in English) curry with, guess what - coconut milk. Simply mouth watering, isn't it!

This one is so simple and yet so tasty you won't believe it! Great coastal flavors, and goes great with rice, roti or dosas. I can't decide which combination I like better. With so much good taste all around, it's hard to decide sometimes! Having it with dosa certainly reminds one of the classic appam-stew from Kerala, and with rice it just brings back memories of childhood. It's actually not so well known outside of Odisha, but so many oriya dishes have coconut as their key ingredient. As they say in Oriya 'Padichi Nadia, lagiba badhia' - translated poorly as "Got coconut, tastes great" !!

 

 

So here's what you need:

 

(Serves 2)

 

1 long Indian zucchini (12 inch) peeled and cut into bite sized chunks

1 tbsp mustard seeds

1 green chili (slit)

1 tomato cut into chunks

1 inch ginger (grated)

2 cups coconut milk

Curry leaves

1/2 tbsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

Salt to taste

 

And here's what you do with these simple ingredients:

 

• Lightly peel the zucchini. Peeling all of the skin will make them gooey and loose their form and texture.
• Lightly fry the zucchini chunks in oil till golden and keep aside
• In a pan, heat up oil and add mustard seeds. Let them crackle.
• Add the slit green chili and curry leaves.
• Add the grated ginger and fry for 30 seconds
• Now add the chunked up tomato, turmeric and coriander powder and mix
• Cover and cook for 3-5 mins till the raw smell is gone.
• At low heat, add the coconut milk in while stirring
• Cover and cook for another 5 mins
• Now add the fried zucchini and let it simmer for 2 mins
• Add salt to taste and enjoy!

This one is the no-onion-no-garlic version, but you can also add in ginger and garlic in the masala if you like. It tastes heavenly either way. Leave me a comment if you like this one. There's so much comfort in coastal flavors, that when I savor this, I think fresh water ponds with coconut trees on the rims, breezy yet sultry afternoons, yeah and fish.. Yes! Fish, I need to have some fish!

 

Later!

Shrimps in Mustard Paste

This favorite of mine is a classic for prawn/shrimp lovers, especially so if you like the Oriya/Bengali way of cooking with a mustard paste. It's easy to make - take sless than 30 minutes, and makes you go absolutely slurp-slurp-slurp! The taste differs quite a bit depending on whether you use fresh mustard paste, english mustard or dijon or any of the ready made mustard pastes available in supermarkets. If you have a coffee/spice grinder, I definitely recommend using fresh mustard seeds. So here you go!

You need (Serves 2):

10-12 prawn/shrimps (up to your apetite really!)
Onion - 1 medium, sliced
Tomato - 1 medium chopped fine
Green chili - 2, slit
Ginger-garlic paste (2 tbsp) or if you want to make it fresh, 1 inch ginger grated and 4-5 cloves of garlic crushed fine
Panch phoran (1 tsp)
Mustard seeds (2 tbsp)
Mustard oil
Yogurt/Set Curd - 1 cup (beaten thoroughly)

For the mustard paste:
Soak the mustard seeds for 1 hour, and then grind into a paste with the spice grinder. Add a little water to ensure you get a creamy texture.

Heat 4 tbsp of mustard oil in a fry pan and fry the prawns in on medium to low heat for 5-8 mins
Take the fried prawns out, and to the same oil, add the panch phoran.
Once the panch phoran starts spluttering, add the split green chilis
Add the sliced onions and fry till translucent (I like to fry them a little more, since I like the dhaba effect of extra fried onions)
Add the ginger and garlic paste and fry till the raw smell is gone. Cover the pan with a lid from time to time to retain moisture.
Now add the tomatoes and cook for 3-5 minutes
Lower the heat, add the mustard paste and the fried prawns and mix slowly. Cover the pan and let it settle for a couple more minutes
Add the curd and mix slowly. Make sure you do this under very low heat, so the gravy does not curdle.
Serve with white rice.

Channar Payesh / Chenna Kheer (Cottage Cheese Pudding)

You know India is not just a big, but a diverse country too, when words like Chennar / Channar / Chenna, paneer, all essentially mean cottage cheese and Payesh, payes and payasam refer to pudding. OK now to the food! :)

Its delicate, its super delicate. Not only in the context of texture or the way it should be handled, but in taste too. Very refreshing almost like a palate cleanser kind of dessert. Everything is in such harmony - the texture, the look, the taste. You wonder if you could compare it to fine wine. 

It would be an amazing dessert for diabetics and the calorie conscious too! You can cut down on calories to bare minimum and still find this dessert delectable. But remember, its not a typical super sweet, syrup-y, sticky, deep fried Indian dessert,  it's 'paneer- ki-kheer'. Made from cheese and should be savored liked fine cheese.

In my personal opinion, its again one of those desserts that would also be enjoyed by people  who are not used to typical Indian sweets or even those who don't have a very sweet tooth.

One request! Please, please, please don't use store bought paneer/cottage cheese. Making fresh paneer is the only way to do it right. Spend extra 15 min making paneer, and you won't regret it! For those who have never made paneer at home, just follow the steps as is, and you won't go wrong!

You need: Serves 4

For paneer/ cottage cheese

Milk – 1 Ltr. (you can use whole milk or 2% , for diabetic use 2% milk)

Lemon juice of 1.5- 2 lemons. (yes, you do require that much, sometimes even more)

For the payesh/ kheer:

Milk – 500 ml

Evaporated milk – 200 ml (Can replace this with another 500 ml of milk but then you will have to reduce this till half in quantity over low flame. Adding evaporated milk makes my job easier and faster too)

Light brown sugar – 2 Tbsp (replace with regular sugar but the brown sugar gives a nice earthy, nutty taste and works as a substitute for date-jaggery which is traditionally used for this recipe, but don't panic, regular sugar works just fine! For diabetics or weight watchers, replace with sugar substitute)

Saffron – 6-7 strands

Chopped dry fruits like Almonds, Pistachios, Raisins and Cashews

Making the paneer:

1. In a deep heavy bottom sauce pan bring milk to a boil. 
2. Now add the lime juice and continue boiling till the whey completely separates from milk solids. You know all the milk has curdled, when milk solids are lumpy and the whey  becomes pale yellowish transparent liquid and has absolutely no milky texture at all.  In fact the whey will almost seem, as if screaming – I have no more left in me!! :). 
3. Pass this over a cheese cloth placed on a colander. 
4. Run cold water over it quickly. This helps in keeping the paneer soft and creamy.
5. Hold the end of the cheese cloth and squeeze out all the water. Just be careful when you do this as the heat of the paneer can sometimes be harsh. 
6. Transfer to another bowl and lightly crumble it with your fingers. Keep aside.

Making the payesh:

1. In a heavy bottom pan (preferably non-stick) bring milk to a boil. Reduce flame to simmer and let it reduce to almost half the quantity. Stir intermittently to avoid sticking to the base and burning. 
2. Optional step for calorie conscious folks or diabetics – Cut down both milk and evaporated milk to half.  Boil on low flame to reduce to 3/4th of the quantity. Add 1 slice of bread (with brown edges removed) that has been blended with a little milk to form a smooth paste. This will give the same texture of reduced milk and the flavor will come from the saffron anyways. This is a nice cheat sheet for most recipes that call for reduced milk !:)
3. Add saffron strands, sugar. Boil for another 7-10 min making sure the milk and sugar doe not stick to the base of the pan. 
4. Add paneer and dry fruits. Stir for 1 min. This payesh thickens a little when chilled. So adjust the consistency at this stage by adding a little milk or evaporated milk. 
5. Switch off, cool and transfer to the refrigerator. Chill for 2-3 hours. 

*The milk in India curdles very fast, but in the US, I have no idea what gives milk so much strength to resist curdling :). It takes 2-3 big lemons to do the job. So don't worry, just add more lemon juice if you are not sure if it has curdled completely. You can always wash it off under water to remove too much lemony taste later.

**Make sure you don't use the same spatula used to make paneer while making payesh. You don't want to make more paneer!! :)

***Unlike most Indian sweets, there is no cardamom used. This is to retain the delicate taste of saffron and paneer. Though I am a cardamom addict in sweets, personally prefer this without cardamom. But then, you are free to use it if you like. 

****While there is a lot of debate over sugar substitute not being good for health,  I use Truvia as a sugar substitute whenever required. Not that I am endorsing this product but it does claim to be made from plant extract. I still need to read up more to know how genuine these claims are. Till then, Truvia it is! 

Poi Chinguri (Prawn in Malabar Spinach)

Poi or Basella Alba or Malabar Spinach (also Phooi, Climbing spinach, Creeping spinach etc) is a common saaga (leafy vegetable stir fry) prepared in Orissa and other eastern states. Prawns/Shrimps add greatly to the taste of this simple, unpretentious dish with extremely balanced flavors.


As a kid, when eating green leafy vegetables felt next only to capital punishment, this was one of those oddities that had captured my taste buds. I especially liked the smell of this combo with the mushy poi leaves, sweet pumpkin, small pieces of potatoes (which tops everything else but chicken when it comes to my "favorite edible  things" list) and prawn.


If you haven't cooked poi before, you may be a little concerned while chopping it. It feels mushy, sticky, gooey like okra while chopping. Since the leaves have so much moisture, ensure that you don't cover and cook the whole time. Give it a little bit of air while cooking - open the lid a little more than usual!
The recipe below serves two.


You need:


1 tbsp panch phoran

2 dry red chilis

1/2 inch ginger grated

4 cloves garlic crushed

4 cups poi leaves chopped

1 cup pumpkin chopped

1/2 cup eggplants

1/2 cup potato chopped into very small pieces

1 small onion chopped

1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp coriander powder , 1/2 tsp turmeric

salt to taste

Process

1. Fry the prawns and keep aside.
2. Fry the potatoes and keep aside.
3. Temper the oil with panch phoran and the red chilis, and add onions as they start crackling
4. As onions turn golden brown, add small pieces of potatoes and pumpkin. Cover and cook for a bit till they start getting tender.
5. Add eggplant and and cook for 5 more minutes.
6. Keep stirring constantly. After the eggplants are done, add the chopped poi leaves, cumin, coriander and turmeric powder and cook for around 8 minutes on low heat.
7. Mix the prawns and warm for 2 more minutes.
8. Serve with roti, rice or parathas. I like my poi saaga with roti and daal!

Coconut Kofta Curry

I like this one a lot, since it reminds me of childhood. My mom and various aunts who had a big role to play in the grooming and maturing of my taste buds, seemed to specialize on this dish. Sweetness of the coconut, tanginess of the yogurt and the spicy masala all go very well together here. Moreover, I like koftas of all kinds. For some strange reason, I like my food delivered to me in small spherical shapes (Meatballs, falafels, rosogollas, kala jamuns, Malai koftas - the list is endless). I think the shape does something to the taste for me! Well, here goes!


You need

Chana Dal - 1 small cup

Sliced/Diced Coconut - 1+1/2 small cup

Dry red chilies - 2

Finely chopped coriander leaves

Bay leaves

1/2 tbsp Turmeric,

1 tbsp Cumin

1 tbsp Coriander powder

1 big Onion - sliced

1/2 big onion, 1 inch ginger, 3 cloves of garlic blended into a paste

Curd (Yogurt) - 1 small cup

1. Soak the chana dal for 4 hours. The chana dal you get in the US, is softer and somehow gets ready in 30-45 mins. But if you are in India, you have got to soak it well (We must like our dals real strong!)
2. Now, blend the the soaked chana dal, the diced coconut, 2 red chilies and salt well. You will get a thick wet, oily (courtesy the coconuts) paste .
3. Mix the chopped coriander in the dal-coconut paste and make the koftas (small spheres).
4. Fry the koftas in low heat, gently. The koftas taste great when they are softer, but that also means the extra care is needed while frying. Adding a little maida (all purpose flour) helps the binding.
5. In the same pan (I like using the same pan, since it retains the flavor of the coconuts), add some more oil, and the bay leafs.
6. Add the sliced onions and fry till golden brown
7. Add the OGG (Onion-Ginger-Garlic) paste and fry till oil separates
8. Now add the turmeric, cumin and coriander powders and cook well.
9. Once the raw smell is gone, add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil
10. In low heat, add the yogurt to make a thick paste while stirring well.
11. Drop the koftas and warm for 2 more mins

Serve with rice or parathas (I prefer rice and other mild pilafs)

Tomato Khajjur chutney (Tomato and Date Chutney)

One of the quick, easy and tasty treats from Orissa - this one is a great accompaniment for Dalma and Rice meal. It can also be had as an individual dish as well with rice or paratha. It's a sweet and sour chutney, but I like it a little bit sweeter than normal since I have a sweet tooth!


I have also tried it with an extra green chili, and I think the combination of sweet, sour and hot makes a thrilling trio!


You need


1 tbsp panch phoran
2 tbsp sugar
1 green chili - slit down the middle
2 big tomatoes chopped in small pieces
1/2 inch ginger ,chopped into very thin pieces
5 dates, soaked and deseeded
4/5 curry leaves
1 tbsp refined oil

1. Heat oil and add panch phoran
2. When it starts to splutter, add slit chilies, curry leaves, chopped ginger and fry for 1 min
3. Add chopped tomato, dates and sugar and cook till tomatoes get dry. (Retain water based on consistency needed - I like mine a little gooey)
4. You can garnish with coriander if you like

Mutton Kasha (Spicy Dry Mutton)

Bengalis and Oriyas swear by this dish. Traditionally, this is cooked in a handi or deep pan and is cooked for a good 1 hour with very little water and under low heat - and quite naturally needs patience! For those of us brilliant chefs who suffer from a short-attention-span problem, the pressure cooker approach certainly takes the pressure off standing and stirring the mutton pieces continuously.


Many variations exist, but the essentials pretty much remain the same. A ginger-garlic-green chili paste, thinly sliced onions (blended works too), little bit of curd, whole garam masala, mustard oil and a lot of frying is what will get you there! Steamed rice works well as does roti, but my personal favorite is with light wheat parathas or rumali roti.


You need

400 gm mutton cut into bite sized pieces

Ginger (1 inch) Garlic 95 cloves) and Green chili (2)  - blended to a paste

1 big onion sliced into thin long pieces (you can blend this one too)

1/2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp roasted cumin powder

1 tsp garam masala pwder

1 tsp red chili powder

2 tbsp curd

3-4 pieces of green cardamom

3-4 cloves

1 bay leaf

cinnamon sticks (2 nos of 2 in pieces)

salt to taste

1. Marinate the mutton pieces with the roasted cumin powder, turmeric, garam masala, red chili powder, curd and salt and set aside for 1 hour
2. In a pressure cooker, heat 4 tbsp of mustard oil and temper with bay leaf, cinnamon sticks, cloves and green cardamom
3. Add sliced onions and fry till golden brown
4. Add the ginger-garlic-green chili paste to the onion and fry for 2-3 minutes more (till the raw smell is gone)
5. Add salt to taste
6. Add the marinated mutton pieces and fry on low heat for 15-20 mins
7. Now add 1/2 cup of water and close the lid of the pressure cooker and put the whistle on
8. Switch off after 6 whistles, wait for the pressure to ease off and open
9. Now smell the amazing aroma of mutton kasha and eat to your heart's content!

Rasgulla/ Khirmohan (cheese based, syrupy sweet dish)

Who knew making Rasgullas was so easy!!! I am genuinely thrilled. Because I could have never imagined how simple this recipe is, until I tried it myself. 

OK, back to Rasgulla. It is a very popular cheese based, syrupy sweet dish originally from Orissa. Surprised? So was I, but yeah, the rasgulla made its debut in Orissa and has been a traditional Oriya dish for centuries. 

You need: 

Whole milk – 1/2 gallon (approx 2 litres, makes around 12 big rasgullas)

Lemon – 1-2 nos.

Sugar – 1.5 Cups

Water

Green cardamom pods – 3-4 nos.

1) Making cottage cheese/paneer  – Boil milk in a deep pan and add lemon juice. Once it is completely curdled, you will see granular cottage cheese/paneer and pale yellowish whey completely separated. Place a muslin/ cheese cloth over a colander and pour all the cheese-whey mixture from the pan. Squeeze out as much whey as possible from the paneer by hanging the tightly bundled muslin cloth. It really needs to be granular and dried for the rasgullas to not break while cooking. 

2) In a pressure cooker, boil 4 cups of water. Add sugar and cardamom pods. Let it boil on medium high flame while you shape the paneer into rasgulla. 

3) Knead the paneer well with your palms, just like you make a dough. Try to make paneer really smooth. To test if the paneer is dry enough, take a little paneer and roll it into a ball with a smooth surface. Now put this in the boiling sugar syrup. If it breaks, try removing more whey from the paneer mixture and mash well. If it doesn't break in 2 min, roll all the mixture into small balls. 

4) Add the paneer balls to the pressure cooker. Put the lid with whistle on. Cook this for 7-8 min. Switch off and run under cold water to release pressure. Immediately transfer to a bowl and chill. 

Suji Manda Pitha/ Semolina based sweet

Manda pitha is a delicately flavored, Oriya sweet. First time I ever tasted Manda pitha, was at Iti and Arun's place, couple of weeks back. Iti is an amazing cook, and everything coming out of her kitchen is bound to be perfect in every aspect, taste, flavor, texture, presentation etc. So I decided to take her recipe, as is, and not give any new twist to that (took a lot of self effort control though!!). And yes, it was indeed just the way it was meant to be. Well, that's what the food critiques at home had to say! ;) Super quick recipe.

You need:

Suji/ Semolina – 1 Cup (Fine variety)

Sugar – 2.5 Tbsp

Salt – ¾ tsp

Grated coconut – 1 Cup

Jaggery – ¾ cup (use sugar as substitute)

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Oil to deep fry

1. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add salt and sugar to this.
2. Add semolina slowly, as you stir. This will avoid forming any lump.
3. Keep stirring till the semolina cooks and soaks all the water. This should look like a chapati dough and be very sticky. Once cool, using very little cold water knead this mixture really well, to form a smooth dough.
4. Preparing the stuffing - In a pan, add jaggery. Add a teaspoon of water and heat till the jaggery melts. Immediately add the shredded coconut and cardamom powder. Cook till the mixture dries up. Let it cool.
5. How to stuff - Now apply some water to your palm (to avoid dough sticking to your palm), roll approx. 3 tbsp of semolina mixture into a ball, flatten it to form a disc. Put a teaspoonful of the coconut jaggery filling in the centre, fold and roll in the edges to seal it completely. At this stage you will have a semolina ball with stuffing in the centre. Make sure surface is smooth all over and there is no chance of the filling coming out while deep frying. Press the ball gently to form a disc/ patti.
6. Deep fry the patties on medium high flame till golden brown.  

Dalma memory lane

I have loved and craved for Dalma since , let me remember... yes.. probably since I was old enough to metabolize semi-solid food. Oriyas probably have this before they start having milk powder!

Lets see the starting line-up: The usual suspect "panch phutan" (This is what makes Oriya cuisine 5-star!) this time comes flavored with roasted jeera (cumin) and the oh-so-wonderful smell of ghee (clarified butter). It's the way I like my food - full of flavor, aroma to die for, yet balanced with nutrition and light on the stomach. (There are, of course, those times of sheer abandon when nothing can beat a deep fried pakoda - but hey, kids may be watching this blog!)

The trio of ghee, roasted cumin and panch phutan gets an added dimension with fresh ginger used in the tempering (tadka in hindi) process. All this flavors a prdemoniantly tuberous/fibrous mixture of vegetables (potato, sweet potato, raw banana, raw papaya, pumpkin, eggplant and tomato) and daal (toor / arhar). Not all types of vegetables go well here - the mantra is to stay close to the tuberous and fibrous formula. I have seen variations that include radish, exclude tomato, include slices onions! - So go on - try your own improvisation.

Just a warning - Common veggies that just dont go with dalma are okra, beans, cabbage and cauliflower. I have never tried carrots either.

You need:
1 cup toor/arhar daal

Bite-size chunks of:
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup raw papaya
1 mid-sized potato
1 cup eggplat
1 large tomato
..and
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 bay leaf
Few peppercorns

For tempering
1 tsp ghee
1 tbsp ginger
pinch of asafoetida
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Couple of dried red chilis
1 tsp panch phutan

For garnish
1 tsp roasted and ground cumin

and Salt to taste!

Start by soaking the daal for 40-45 mins. I usually soak it well, since I like my dalma gooey! In the meantime, chop all your veggies, ginger and roast the cumin and grind it (if you have a spice grinder, this can be real quick! I usually roast my cumin once in a while and store them away in the spice box).

Put the lentils, veggies, ginger with bay leaf in the pressure cooker, add 2 cups of water and cook on medium heat for around 15-20 mins (or 2-3 whistles)

For tempering, heat the ghee in a pan and add the asafoetida, panch phutan, red chilis, ginger. Once they start crackling, add them into your pressure cooker to the veggie mix

Garnish with roasted ground cumin.

Eat with steamed rice, or plain rotis! I like to squeeze lime and add ghee into my rice when I have dalma. If you do the same, that makes two of us!! Remember - the only thing better than getting to eat dalma, is to be able to make it yourself, so you can have the flavors of your childhood - in your home, anywhere you are!

Go on, get nostalgic!

Sijha Tarkari

 This one is a very popular Oriya dish - sometimes also called "Santula" or "Pani Santula". A classic vegetable stew, flavored with the quintessential panch phutan (or panch phoran), which is so characteristic of Oriya cuisine. It's healthy, hot and quick - completely hassle free and unpretentious.

From a "deliciousness" quotient, this one is like fine wine. Tastes better with age (your age, of course). I remember as kids we used to go after all the sweet pithas, or the tasty chicken/mutton mom used to make, and sort of ignored this gem of a dish, but as we grew we got more and more interested in it.

These days, Anu and I have it whenever we feel the need to cleanse, if we have had too much masala, or outside food. We have it like a soup with bread, whereas some folks take it like a side dish with rice, and some with soft rotis. Enough said, let's get on with it!

You need:

For the soup
1 egg plant
1 potato
1 piece of drumstick
1 carrot
1 raw banana
1 tomato
1 onion
1 indian zuchini (or any kind of squash)
6-8 beans

For the tadka
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp panch phutan
2 chopped green chillis
1 tsp oil

Salt as per taste
1 tsp Turmeric powder

The method is very simple. You got to boil all the veggies with salt and turmeric and add the panch phutan tadka into it. So if you are a pro, you know what to do! I will still write down the detailed steps, assuming you are a rookie ( By the way, I just thought of this one: What would you call a rookie cook - A "cookie" ?! ;) ).

So as I said, next steps are for rookies - all about how to chop the vegetables into proportionate pieces, so they boil uniformly, how muchc water to add - blah blah

1. Chop the eggplant, potato, zuchini and raw banan into bite sized chunks.
2. Chop the carrots a into comparatively smaller pieces, so they boil uniformly alongwith the other veggies.
3. Cut the drumstick into 4 pieces (1 inch is a good size !)
4. Cut the beans into small 1/2 inch size pieces
5. Peel the onion and chop into cubes
6. Make 4 pieces of the tomato

Put all the chopped veggies into a pressure cooker, add turmeric and salt. Add water based on your style of eating. If you want it as a side dish, add minimum water. For a watery soup, be a little more generous with water. Simple, isn't it. Now, put it on pressure. Wait for 3-4 whistles (or 15 mins on medium heat) and switch off the burner.

Once the pressure eases off, prepare the tadka with crushed garlic, panch phutan, slit green chillis, and add to the veggies in the pressure cooker.

Serve hot and slurrp slurrp this real quick!!

Adios for now!

Arisa Pitha

An Oriya sweet, which has been Deb's favorite since childhood. In Orissa it is mostly bought from sweet shops these days because of all the handwork that goes into making it. I have tried making it at home as we don't have any shop that sells this sweet. And It has taken me QUITE a few attempts to get decent tasting Arisa Pitha :)

You need:

Rice - 2 cups

Jaggery - 1 cups

Cardamom - 4-5 (fine powder)

Pepper - 1/4 teaspoon

Sesame Seeds - 1/2 cup approx

Ghee - 2 Tbsp

Oil - 1 cup for dough and oil to deep fry pitha

1) Wash the rice thoroughly and soak overnight. Drain water completely, and let it dry a little so that all the water is removed.

2) Now make fine powder of the rice. Sieve the rice powder and if desire grind once again and make a very fine powder.

3) Now in a separate pan add 1/4 cup of water and bring the jaggery to a boil and keep stirring till you get a thick syrup. To check the consistency of the syrup, take 1/2 cup of cold water and pour 3-4 drops of syrup. If it doesn't dissolve and forms a gooey lump or ball, its ready.

4) Remove from the heat and add the ghee. Once dissolved add the rice flour to the syrup slowly and mix well. Make sure that there no lumps. If the dough is too gooey, put it on heat again and stir. You need a dough thats a little softer than chapati dough but not too soft to break/stick when you want to fry the pitha.

5) Remove from the heat and add oil mix well to male a soft dough like a soft chapathi dough.

6) Cover and soak the dough with oil. Leave aside for 30 min.

7) When ready to fry, take all the excess oil out of the dough and knead a little.

8) Make small balls out of this dough and out it on a plastic sheet. Sprinkle sesame seeds and roll the ball on it so that it sticks on the dough. Then press the dough ball so that it look like a disc. Press the edges to make it thinner than the center. You will get crispier sides and softer sweeter center.

9) Now heat oil in a deep frying pan and fry the pitha on low flame till golden/caramel brown. Place them in a tissue to remove the excess oil.

10) After they cool store in an air tight container. Arisa pitha will stay good upto a month but in most cases exhaust much before that! :)

*I have used ready made rice flour from the store, but didn't get great result :(

Dahi Baigan (Dahi Baigana)

An Oriya side dish that is quick to make, yet healthy and tasty. it has a perfect balance of sweet and sour that makes it a nice palate cleanser too.

While traditionally the eggplant/ baigan is deep fried which gives it a crispy texture on one side and keeps it sweet and soft on the other side. However on most occasions, I tend to pan fry them using with cooking spray.

And of course there is a difference in the way the two taste, but you can decide for yourself which one appeals to you more! :)

You need:

- Aubergine/ Eggplant/ Baigan

- Yogurt

- Salt

- Sugar

- Whole dry red chili

- Panch phoran (Five spice mix). If you don't have the ready-mix, you can mix the following in equal quantity (i put lesser fenugreek since its quite bitter) to make your own

- Saunf/Fennel seeds

- Methi/ Fenugreek seeds

- Rayi/Mustard seeds

- Kalaunji/ Nigella seeds

- Jeera/ Cumin seeds

1) Slice eggplant into bitesize chunks and coat them with salt and turmeric powder. Leave them for 10-15 min and then fry them in a little oil (I usually grill them on a pan with oil spray)

2) Add salt and sugar to yogurt as per your liking (should be sweet and tangy)

3) Add fried eggplant to yogurt

4)Temper the yogurt with panch phoran and whole dry red chili.

*Yogurt should be slightly sour.

Chenna Poda

Chhena poda is the quintessential cheese dessert from the state of Orissa in eastern India.

Chenna means cottage cheese or paneer. I prefer to make home made cheese/ panner. I use 1 Gallon of full cream milk to get cottage cheese/ Paneer. Just heat the milk and add lime juice till it curdles. Then use muslin cloth to drain out the whey and extract the cheese. A little moist cheese is perfect for this dish.

You need:

- Cottage cheese/ Paneer - 500 grams

- 5 tbsp of sugar

- 3Tbs suji/ semolina

- Half cup raisins
- Half cup cashew nuts (preferably raw)

- 2-3 Cardamoms

- Sugar syrup/ Chashni (around 1. 5 cups)

1. Put the cottage cheese/ paneer and suji in a container and mix thoroughly using a hand blender.

2. Fry the cashew nuts in a little oil so that they brown. Be careful not to overcook.

3. Add the cashews, raisins and all other ingredients other than the sugar syrup into the cheese mixture and mix thoroughly

4. Transfer the batter into a loaf tin about a 1 inch from top empty.

5. Pre-heat the oven to 325 F and bake it for 60-90 minutes until the top turns light brown.

6. While it is still a little warm, add the sugar syrup with cardamom powder in it.

7. Let it cool Cool it after taking out from the oven.

*Add milk in step 3 if the batter is too stiff/ dry. The mixture should be thicker than a pancake

batter but softer than a chapati dough. Coat the baking tin with butter/ oil

Fish in mustard based gravy

Traditionally this preparation is made with Rohu/ Hilsa, but a lot of people find tilapia to be a good substitute, in the absence of the said fishes. However I prefer Salmon over Tilapia in this curry. Am not sure how authentic can you call this recipe (compared to the Bengali and Oriya style) as I have tried to check almost every blog/ site, but found each one slightly different from the other in some way. So learning from my earlier numerous attempts and instinct, I tried this today with some more variations, and I think, this was the closest to the mustard fish I have tasted in some restaurants. It has a balanced flavor of pungent mustard, tang from tomates and sweetness from onions.

You need:

Salmon steaks (cut into 3 inch x 3 inch)

Mustard seeds – 3 Tbsp

Poppy seeds – 1 Tbsp

Green Chili – 3 nos

Coriander leaves – 3 tbsp

Oil

Nigella seeds

Potato – 1 No (Cut into wedges, dont peel it)

Tomatoes – 1 No (Cut into wedges)

Garlic Paste – 1.5 tsp

Onion – 1 no. (Thin sliced)

Coriander powder

Turmeric powder

Garam Masala

Salt

Mustard oil

1) Coat the fish with salt, turmeric powder and little mustard oil. Leave it for 15-20 min.

2) Take oil in a non stick pan. Fry the potatoes wedges till light brown (almost cooked)

3) In the same oil, fry the fish till 3/4^th done. Remove the fish.

4) In this oil, add nigella seeds. Once it gives an aroma, add the garlic paste and fry till light brown.

5) Now add the onion, salt and turmeric and fry till light brown.

6) Add coriander powder, garam masala and fry.

7) Add water depending on the consistency you like and bring to a boil.

8) To this, add the potatoes and fish, cover and cook for 2-3 min.

Serve hot with steamed rice.