I Am Back With A Sweet Dish

First of all I wish all my dear foodies Happy Ganesh Chaturthi .Now before you guys ask me why I disappeared from this blog let me clear it first. Last couple of weeks I was too buzy with my office , so I could not get any time to post any new recipes . I didnot visit to other blogs either . But now I am here again with some new recipes .
Last week during janmastami I made some authentic bengali sweet dish called "Mungsamali" & I thought to share it with you guys .



Ingredients :-

1. 2C coconut grated .
2. 3C sugar
3. 1C milk
4. 1C flour.
5. 1C yellow moong dal .
6. 1 tsp cardamom powder .
7. 1C water .
8. Oil for Frying .



Method :-

1. Wash the dal properly & cook in a pressure cooker till done . It should be cooked properly but don't make it smashy .
2. Once it cool, drain the water completely & keep aside .
3. In a kadai add the grated coconut & keep stairing till it becomes light brown in colour .
4. Now add the sugar in it & let it cook for another 10min .
5. now add the milk & let it cook till all the milk evaporate .
6. Cook for another 10 more min . Take it out of the heat & let it cool .
7. In a bowl add the cooked dal & the flour . knead it properly to make a chapati like dough .
8. Make small balls from the dough, spread each ball with hand and stuff the coconut sugar mixture into it. Fold it and seal the edges so that filling doesnt come out to get the shape of 'Puli' as in the picture .
9. In another pan heat water & add sugar . Boil it for some time to make sugar syrup . Now add cardamom powder. cook for a couple of minutes.
10. Now heat oil in a kadai & fry the pulies till golden brown on low heat . Remove from oil & add the pulies to the syrup slowly. Let till cool & serve .

Hearty Dinner - Bengali Pulao with Lauki Kofta

The days are very long nowadays, the sky being bright till almost 7o’clock. This is the summer time & outside is really very hot. This time I always try to make the meal very mild , as well as tasty . My husband was asking for some kofta for quite a while now . They are not something that I make very often .
Last time when I visited India , my mom given me some Gobindobhog Rice ( one kind of basmati rice ) , which I normally use for Payesh or for Pulao . Its quite a long time now , that I brought them ,So I thought to make some Lauki Kofta ( Lau-er kofta ) & Bengali Pulao last week .

So here is the recipe :





Ingredients for lauki kofta :-

1. 1 medium size lauki .
2. 4 tbsp besan .
3. 1 small onion chopped finely .
4. 2 small tomato .
5. 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste .
6. salt to taste .
7. 2 tsp red chilli powder .
8. 4 tsp coriender powder .
9. 1 tsp garam masala powder .
10. whole garam masala ( 1 bay leaf ,2 green cardamom ,1" piece cinnamon , 2 laung ) .
11 2 tsp of dahi / yoghut .
12 green chillies chopped finely .
13 Handful of chopped coriender .
14 Oil .
15. 2 tsp fresh cream ( optional ) .



Method for kofta :-

1. Grate the lauki in a foo processor & mix some salt . Keep it for 5 min .
2. Now squeeze the extra water from it & add besan in the grated lauki, mix it well with hands preferably .
3. Take 1 tbsp oil in a kadai and add the besan lauki paste to it .Mix the paste well in the kadai till it becomes dry .
4. Now remove it from heat & mix chopped onion , chopped green chilli , chopped coriender leave , salt ,red chilli powder & dhaniya powder .
5. Make small kofta balls from the mix . Keep these balls aside .
6. Now heat oil in a kadai & fry these balls till golden brown . Now remove from the heat & keep in a kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil .
7. In a food processor grind the onion , tomato, ginger-gerlic paste , dahi into a paste & keep aside .
8. Take 2 tbsp of oil and add whole garam masala in it , once the masala start crackle add the onion paste to it 7 fry till raw smell disappear .
9. Once it turns golden brown , add red chilli powder , dhaniya, garam masala and salt to it.
10. Fry the masala till the paste leaves oil , now add the cream .
11. Fry for another 2-3 min & add 1/2 cup water . Once the gravy start boiling add the koftas & garam masala powder .
12. Boil for another 2 min & remove from the heat . Sprinkle some chopped
green coriender .



Ingredients for Pulao :-

1. 1 cup basmati rice ( I used gobindobhog rice ).
2. 2 green chilli finely chopped .
3. 1" piece of fresh ginger cut into juilions .
4. 1 carrot chopped into small pieces .
5. 1/2 cup green peas .
6. 1 tsp turmeric powder .
7. Whole garam masala ( 1 bay leaf ,2 green cardamom ,1" piece cinnamon , 2 laung , 2 black cardamom , 4 black peppercorn ) .
8. Salt
9. 5-6 tsp sugar ( you can adjust as per your taste ) .
10. 4 tsp ghee & 4 tsp of oil .
11. 1/2 cup cashew nuts & raisins .
12. 3-4 stands of saffron , soaked in milk ( optional ).

Method :-

1. Wash the rice & soak it in water for 30 min .
2. Now in a pressue cooker add the oil+ghee .
3. Now add all the ingredients & mix properly . Add 2 1/2cups of water & close the lid .
4. put the pressure cooker in the gas & cook it on slow heat till 3 whistle .
5. Remove from the heat & let it cool till the pressure release completely . Now bengali pulao is ready to serve .

We had ours with lauki kofta . It taste great .

Note :- We bengalis like sweetness . But if you want you can use the suger less .