Thursday, April 16, 2009

Naboborsho Celebration and a Birthday!

New Year Greetings to all of you! wow! Celebration is in the air! Along with Poila Boishak celebration it was birthday time at my place! Yup ….your’s truly celebrated a quite b’day with S at home. We did a simple pooja, went to the temple and then S was off to work, promising to come home early. Mean while I made a simple menu comprising of milk kheer, baby brinjal curry, Raita, olkopir (knolkol) dalna, rice .While I was cooking I got loads of phone calls n messages to convey both B'day and New Year wishes...wow! it was such a happy day!

We had a great lunch in the afternoon and chatted about a lot of things from the past. S told me about the Bengali cuisine and new year celebration back at his native, the dishes made for this day and the get togethers they had on this day and we chatted for about half an hour and he had to rush back to work. S told me that he’d cook fish for dinner specially for the B’day girl ! that was really sweet of him!

S kept his promise came home early and I assisted him in cooking. He made my favourite Doi Maach (fish in yogurt gravy) it was sssssssssssssuperb! B’day cake was store brought (yes we had cake cutting and all ….) S suddenly sprang up with the idea of having a candle light dinner, I was game with him…so we both arranged a cute candle light spread …hmmmm something was missing! S ran to the store for coke…lol it was like rush hour! At last all was set and it was dinner time. Both of us were so so hungry after all the work…that we could wait no more. It was a great feeling to have candle light dinner at home…with home cooked food. We ate till we could eat no more….here I just echo Varsha,it's so true after having heavy food…u feel so sedated, lazy and just want to crash down and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…tha’s what we did watched news for a while and had a good night sleep! It will be a celebration to remember. Here are the recipes of the dishes prepared for the celebration….Read on

Baby Brinjal Curry

Ingredients:



5-6 Baby Brinjals
2-3 tbsp oil
1 tsp panch phoron (a proportionate mixture of whole spices like fennel, cumin, fenugreek, onion seeds, and black mustard)
¾ cup chopped onion
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp coriander powder (dhania)
1 tbsp cumin powder (jeera)
1 tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
2-3 tbsp tamarind paste/pulp
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste
1 1/2 cups water
Method

Cut the baby brinjals lengthwise up to the stem (keep the stem intact)

Sprinkle some salt and set it aside.

Heat oil in a Kadhai, add panch phoron and when the seeds begin to crackle, add onions, ginger garlic paste, fry till the oil separates.

Meanwhile, mix coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, chilli powder, tamarind paste, sugar, salt in 1 ½ cups of water and mix well.

Add this to the Kadhai and cook for about 2 minutes till a good flavour emits from the masala.

Add the baby brinjals and cook till they are done.


Recipe for Doi Mach Ingredients:

500 gms Carp or similar fish, cleaned
100 gms mustard oil or any other cooking oil
4 cloves
4 green cardamoms
2” piece of cinnamon
2 bay leaves
1” piece ginger
1 small bulb of garlic
2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
1 tsp red chilli powder
100 gms yogurt/sour curds
2 green chillies slit
Salt and sugar to taste


Method:

Smear 1 tsp turmeric powder and salt to the fish pieces and set it aside.

Grind ginger, garlic, onion into a fine paste, set it aside.

Beat yogurt with half a cup of water till smooth and set it aside.

Heat oil in a Kadhai/wok and lightly fry the fish pieces and set it aside.

In the same heated oil add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and the ground onion paste.
Fry lightly till slightly brown.

Mix the remaining turmeric powder, red chilli powder in 2-3 tbsp of water and add this to the Kadhai/wok. Sauté, see to that the paste doesn’t stick to the pan.

Now add the yogurt and stir, add one more cup of water.

Add salt and sugar to taste and adjust according to ur taste.
Add the green chillies and cook till excess water evaporates and the gravy begins to boil.

Finally add the fish pieces one by one gently into the gravy and cook on high flame till the oil begins to float on top.

Take it off the flame and serve it hot.

Olkopir Dalna from Sandeepa's blog here's the link for the recipe
http://www.bongcookbook.com/2007/02/olkopir-dalna.html
I had made it once earlier S liked it very much so I made it again on the Bong New year :)
Thanks Sandeepa for the wonderful recipe.

The Milk kheer I made was the same I had posted in one of my earlier posts here's the link for the recipe.http://therecipehunter.blogspot.com/search/label/Milk%20Kheer

36 comments:

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Happy bday and new yr wishes belated though... Wow look at the candle lit in the room with all those amazing food served... Truly it should have been an awesome day..Oh my my fish curry wow, you are such a dam lucky gal... Understand you had a nice day with he coming home for lunch and cooking your fav dinner ;)

Savi-Ruchi said...

belated birthday & new year wishes.
Seems like you had a gala time :)
you are tempting me to cook baby brinjals soon ;)

Namrata Kini said...

A very Happy Birthday to you Suparna. Lovely spread. Looks like you guys had an awesome dinner. Didn't know about your Bengali connection.

lubnakarim06 said...

Oh wow yummy for tummy recipes....Candle light dinner idea is simply superb.....

lubnakarim06 said...

Sorry forgot to wish you dear....Happy b'day and new year wishes....

FH said...

WOW!! Two in one celebration. Enjoy new year and happy birthday to you. Food looks yummy! :)

Soma said...

Happy Birthday!! you are truely in to bengali cooking Huh?:-) olkopir dalna.. doi maach, hehehe... awesome spread of food.... & indeed looks very romantic.
Soma(www.ecurry.com)

chef and her kitchen said...

Belated B'day n New year wishes to you..Lovely spread dear!!

Mangala Bhat said...

Happy birthday and happy new year to u :) nice pics and mouthwatering dishes ..Very nice

Suparna said...

Thanks Ramya :) Ya I do feel blessed.
TC

Sushma- Thanks- try the brinjal curry u'll love it :)

Namaratha- good to c u after a long time :)Thanks for the wishes.lol...the Bengali connection was a secret ;)

Thanks Lubna :)
Thanks so much Asha :)
Soma- Thanks...Hmmm...tha's the magic of Bong connection:)
Pratibha thanks so much dear :)
TC

Ashwini said...

Wow..Very romantic dinner..Glad you had a great time. Belated Happy New year and Happy Birthday.. All the dishes looks mouthwatering..

Anonymous said...

Belated B'Day wishes and new year to you Suparna..so,you had a blast there ? looks simply superb..

Sharmila said...

Happy bealted b'day girl! What a feast!
That dinner looks so cozy. :-)

Vanamala Hebbar said...

Happy Bday and new year .... Dishes looks so nice

ARUNA said...

Hey belated happy b'day and new year wishes from me Suparna. Hope u had a gr8 time.Looks like a romantic candle light dinner.Nice spread dear.

Deepa Hari said...

Belated Birthday and New year Wishes....Glad u had a great time....candle light dinner sounds romantic....Loved all the dishes.

Indrani said...

shubho nabarsha and happy birthday to u, Suparna !!!!!!!!!and thanks for following my blog

Pavani said...

Belated Happy B'day and Happy New year to you Suparna. Thats one romantic spread you have there. Yummy looking eggplant curry.

saffronapron.blogspot.com said...

Birthday and new year wishes, Belated though, the wishes come from my heart:)
Such a cute read. I sensed a lot of excitement in your write up. It sure looks like u had a great time.
Have a great year ahead too.

sathya said...

Happy B'day & new year !
Hope you had a wonderful day....
The dishes are wonderful :)

Pria@HC said...

Belated wishes and a great new year!

Ammu said...

Happy b'day & new year wishes. All the dishes looks awesome.

Varsha Vipins said...

Ohh..am late...Belated happy b'day dear Suparna...!!:)..God bless..:)
That was a sweet post..Nice of you to let us know about n share you joyous day..:).That was so sweeet of ur hubby..I loved the Brinjal dish n fish one very much..:)

indhu said...

Belated B'day wishes to you and a Happy new year :)
yummy dishes :)

- Indhu (www.thayirsaadham.com)

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

Happy Birthday and Happy New Year! Lovely spread. My all time favorite is doi fish... Looks great!

sharada said...

Belated happy b'day & new year wishes.
Wow ! looks like u had a romantic b'day celebration with that candle night dinner & the special Doi Maach cooked by that special person
of yours...

suvi said...

happy birthday dear! lovely sread, i esp love the eggplant!

Sia said...

belated new yr greetings to u too and that baby brinjal curry looks fantastic!

Saritha said...

Happy belated b'day and the new year.
Oh what a romatic dinner.
Fish looks great,ur hubby is also a great chef like u:)

phanitha said...

Belated happy birthday and happy new year...

Brinjal curry looks yummy...

Vikis Kitchen said...

Belated Birthday wishes. Wish u all a happy New year. Loved the write up very much. Baby brinjal makes me drooling. Nice dinner set up. Lovely pics.

Cham said...

My belated Birthday and New year wishes! Very romantic settings and love the fish curry!

Srivalli said...

Happy bday..food looks great!

Bong Mom said...

Happy B'Day Suparna, though belated :) Are you a Bengali ?

You can use chicken instead of mutton in that recipe, but don't at all use pressure cooker for chicken. Chicken cooks quick so do it in regular pan. Also for chicken I always add corriander leaves at the end

Suparna said...

Thanks all of you for ur visit and wonderful warm wishes :)

Sandeepa,
Thanks for the B'day wishes dear...Yup am Bengali but partially :)
Thanks for answering my query so promptly...keep coming
TC

Anonymous said...

Belated Birthday and New year wishes. Looks like you cooked up a feast :) Loved the doi mach dish! By the way what other fishes can we put in that gravy. Can we put catfish or tilapia or cod?