Mutton Vindaloo

Cooked this last Sunday. Basically an easy one and tastes rather good. I cooked arond 750 grams of mutton. Other ingredients:
Haldi /  turmeric Powder: 1 tsp
Zeera /Cumin , Dhania /Coriander, Poppy seeds, Mustard Seeds : 2 tsp each these are to be slightly roasted and ground to powder. One may use powdered packets too.
 Cloves: 4,Green Cardamom  : 4( To be powdered). One may use powdered garam masala too.
Onions: 3-4 medium
Garlic: 5-6  flakes
Ginger: 2 inch
Oil: ( I used mustard) : 3 tbs
Salt: to taste
Vinegar: 1 tbs
All The powdered spices including the powdered Cloves and cardamom are mixed along with the vinegar . Marinade the mutton using a little of this spice mixture and keep aside for a couple of hours. Keep the remaining part aside.
Grind the onion ginger and garlic to paste. The ginger may be julienned if you so like.
Heat oil in a pan. Fry the onion garlic ginger paste for sometime. Use the remaining amount of spices and fry till oil separates. Now add the marinated mutton. Cook for sometime.Add a little warm water if you want. then transfer to a pressure cooker and let it cook till tender. This may be served with steamed rice or chapatis.

Frocks for toddlers

I grew up in a big joint family with lots of little brothers and sisters around me. I was the eldest and all my young  brothers and sisters wore dresses sown by me. How swiftly time flies! All my kid brothers and sisters now have kids of their own. And I am happy to stitch frocks and dresses for all their little ones too! Here are some of them:

Frocks for my grand daughter Gia

I have been sewing frocks for many years now. I have sewed frocks for all my sisters when they were kids and have made dresses for their babies too. Right now its my little grand daughter Gia for whom I keep 

sewing  several frocks and dresses. Here are some of them:

Crochet Bag ( Crocodile Stitch)

For a couple of days I had been thinking about how to use up all the extra yarn that has piled up . Thought about several stuff but the projects did not quite excite me. Then I came across this u tube video on crocodile stitch bag. So I felt like trying this out . I used one color for each row and thus could use up at least some of the extra yarn that I had. I hope you like the bag although I am not very sure about its color combination. Well I will make another one later this time with a couple of sober colors. For now here is the picture:

 

Till our next post, wishing all lots of happiness! Moushumi

Knitted Toys (Zebra , Parrot)

My friend Asima Di once taught me to knit a doll. I learnt how to follow the pattern charts from her and since then have found a great pleasure in knitting dolls and toys. Found the pattern of this zebra  and worked it out.

Hope you like this work as much as I enjoyed making it. Bye for now. Till our next post , wishing all lots of happiness, Moushumi.

18th June 2014: Now these summer holidays I Knitted a parrot. Here is the pic:

Dimer Chop ( Egg Chop)

I had egg chops at my sister in law Bubundidi's place. Myself and my husband loved it and so I made these the following weekend. I found them very easy but equally delicious. Here's how :
Eggs : 2 (for 4 chops), hard boiled
Potatoes: 4 medium, Boiled and mashed
Tomato Ketchup:2 tbs
Salt: to taste
Red chilly powder: 1/2 tsp
Roasted Cumin powder: 1/2 tsp
Bread Crumbs: 1 cup approx
Corn Flour: 2Tbs
Oil: 4 tbs
First cut the boiled eggs into halves. Next mix the mashed potatoes with tomato Ketchup , salt, cumin powder, red chilly powder and a little of the  bread crumbs. Cover the eggs with this and form chops.Now make a batter of cornflour and dip the chops first  into cornflour and next into bread crumbs.Repeat this step again.Now the chops are ready to be fried.
Heat oil in a wok and deep fry them. Serve with hot with tomato or mustard sauce.This makes a very good evening snack.
Hope you liked the chops. Till our next post, bye and have a nice time. Moushumi.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Chinese Food is very often improvised to suit the Indian taste in many parts of India. In Bengal too Chinese food is very popular and cooked up even in the roadside kiosks as it is very popular among the people. I too used one of my mom in laws recipes of sweet and sour chicken . For this the boneless chicken pieces were first fried in a batter and the sauce prepared separately before they were amalgamated .

Chicken: 500 grams boneless
Green Bell pepper: 2 medium, roughly chopped
Pineapple: 1 can
Onions: 2 medium roughly chopped
Spring Onions: A few strands
Vegetable oil

For the batter:
Flour: 3/4 cup
Cornstarch: 1/4 cup
Egg:1
Water:3/4 Th cup
 Salt
Pepper

For the Sauce:
Vinegar: 1/2 cup
Salt: to taste
Pepper: 1/2 tsp
Tomato ketchup: 4 tbs
Soy Sauce: 1tbs
Garlic Paste: 1 tsp
Sugar: 1 Tbs/ to taste
Cornflour: 1Tbs approx

 Cube the chicken pieces. Now make a batter of Flour, cornstarch, salt, egg , pepper and a little water. Coat the chicken pieces with them and deep fry till golden.
Now add a little oil in a wok and lightly toss the onion pieces. Add a little garlic paste and saute for a minute. Add onion pieces and saute till transparent. Add the  tomato and capsicum pieces,  and the diced carrots and fry for a couple of minutes.Now add water, Vinegar,Soy Sauce, Tomato Ketchup, Sugar, Salt, Pepper and bring the mixture to a boil.Add the fried pieces of chicken at this stage. Now mix the cornflour with water so that there are no lumps. Add this to the wok stirring continuously. The mixture will thicken . Now in a serving bowl place pieces of pineapple and cucumber and pour the hot mixture over it. Sprinkle spring onions. The sweet and sour chicken is now ready to be served.
Hope you liked the recipe. Happy cooking. I also have a post on Minced meat Manchurian. Do have a look.  Bye till we meet. Moushumi.