Knits and crochets for Gia

I have a little grand daughter and all my projects now revolve round her. I keep knitting frocks, jumpers and sweaters for this little one. Recently I knitted a top for her in raspberry stitch. I personally collected the yarn and the buttons of my choice:

I also crocheted a little baby beanie cap for her:

Right now I am knitting her a hairband and she is loving it already!

Meat Ball ( Keema Ball) Manchurian

Well its holiday time and I am cooking up every other day. Made these Chinese Manchurian with minced meat ( keema). For this at first keema balls are to be made. Here are the ingredients for meat ball:

Minced chicken meat ( Chicken Keema) : 250 gms

Vinegar: 1 tbs

Finely chopped onions: 3 medium

Ginger paste: 1tsp 

Garlic Paste:1 tsp

Salt : to taste

pepper : 1 tsp

Breads: 3 slices for binding

Mix all the above ingredients. Make small balls. I made 22 balls out of 250 grams keema. Now dip the balls in the batter of:

Cornflour: 3 -4 tbs

Water: 4 tbs. One may use eggs too to form the batter.Now deep fry the balls in white oil.

Keep aside on a paper napkin for absorbing the excess oil.

Now for the gravy we need:

Onion : 2 medium , roughly chopped

Ginger: 1' shredded finely

Garlic: 6-8 chopped finely

Ginger garlic paste: 1 tsp

Spring onions: 6-8 chopped finely

Capsicum : 2 medium, roughly sliced.

Salt : to taste

Sugar: 2tsp

Black pepper powder: 1 tsp

Chicken Stock :around  2 cups 

Vinegar: 1Tbs

Soy sauce: 2 Tbs

Tomato Sauce: 2 Tbs

Chilly sauce: 2 tsp

cornflour: 1 Tbs

White oil

Heat oil and fry the onion pieces till translucent. Add the Ginger garlic paste and cook for a couple of minutes. Now add the sauces and vinegar and saute a little more..Add salt, pepper ,sugar and cook again for 1min. Now add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add the capsicum and gently drop the fried meatballs.Now make a paste of 2 tbs of cornflour and stir constantly till you get the desired consistency of gravy. Sprinkle shredded spring onions. Serve with Chinese fried rice or noodles.Well here's a picture of my fried rice:

Hope you like the recipe. Till our next post, bye and take care.

Mutton Curry

Mutton Curry or Pathar Mangsho as the Bengalis call it is a very favourite of all the bengali household. We love to have this for any special occasion. Not only so even on sundays and holidays we love to have mutton curry! Well this is a very basic bengali mutton curry that I am talking about today. It is cooked with little improvisations in every household and there is no hard and fast rule as mutton cooked in any way tastes good.This is how I do it:
Mutton Curry cut: 500 grams
Tomatoes: 3-4 medium sized  ( one may use curd), pureed
Onions, chopped: 3-4 medium sized
Ginger paste:1 tbs
Garlic paste: 1 tbs
Red chilly powder: 1/2 tsp
Haldi/ Turmeric powder : 1/2 tsp
Jeera/Cumin powder : 1 tsp
Dhania/ Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Bay Leaves/ Tej patta: 1
Garam Masala powder : 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil : 4-5 Tbs
Heat oil.Add the bay leaf.Then Fry the chopped onions till brown and add the ginger - garlic paste. Now add the mutton pieces and cook for around 10 mins . After this add the pureed tomatoes and cook for around 12 to 15 minutes. Add turmeric, cumin, coriander red chilly and the garam masala  powder and cook for a couple of minutes. Add salt to taste.Now add a cup of hot water to this depending on the amount of gravy you want. Now, in a pressure cooker cook this till done. ( I usually go for 2 whistles and then reduce the flame till the next whistle is ready. Extinguish the flame at this stage and let the steam normalise on its own. ) . The curry is now ready to be served with steamed rice, Rotis/ Chappatis or parathas.