Aromas of My Kitchen

18/07/2024

Kimchi Recipe:
Ingredients:
-Cabbage Preparation:
- 1 head of nappa cabbage or regular cabbage
- 2 tablespoons coarse salt or regular salt
-Paste:
- 2 onions
- 6-8 cloves garlic
- 1-inch piece of ginger
- 6 tablespoons gochujang (Korean chili paste)
- Red pepper powder (to taste, preferably Kashmiri)
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce (optional)
-Vegetables:
- Prewashed radish
- Carrot
- Green parts of spring onions (cut into matchstick strips)
Instructions:
1.Prepare the Cabbage:
- Quarter the cabbage and wash thoroughly. Place in a large bowl.
- Sprinkle the salt evenly over the cabbage, ensuring thorough coverage of all leaves.
- Cover the bowl with a lid and place a heavy weight on top to compress the cabbage. Allow it to rest for two hours.
2.Check the Cabbage:
- After two hours, test the cabbage by folding a leaf in half; it should bend without breaking. If it snaps, shuffle the leaves and allow them to sit, periodically checking until they are pliable.
3.Rinse and Drain: - Once the cabbage is ready, rinse the leaves thoroughly under cold running water to remove excess salt. Drain well and pat dry with a clean kitchen towel.
4.Prepare the Paste:
- Blend the onions, garlic, and ginger into a smooth paste.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the paste with gochujang, adjusting the red pepper powder to taste, and add fish sauce if desired.
5.Assemble the Kimchi:
- Generously rub the prepared paste onto each leaf of cabbage. Optionally, trim the base of each leaf for easier handling and coat each individually.
- Add the matchstick strips of radish, carrot, and spring onions, distributing evenly.
6.Fermentation:
- Transfer the kimchi into a sterilized airtight glass container. Heat the container in the microwave for 2 minutes to ensure sterilization.
- Leave the container at room temperature overnight to initiate fermentation.
7.Final Steps:
- The next morning, carefully open the jar to release trapped gases without disturbing the contents.
- Store the kimchi in the refrigerator, where it will develop its flavors. It is best after two days.

Notes:
- Bubbles may form during fermentation; this is a normal occurrence!

25/03/2024

https://aromasofmykitchen.wordpress.com/

25/03/2024

Mathri namkeen

25/03/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/zxzyxF11ifBJfWeT/?mibextid=oFDknk

22/12/2023

22/12/2023

Homemade Soymilk

I tried to make soymilk at home and came out with flying colours, I must say. It is pretty easy to make and easy on the pocket too.

Ingredients

250 gms of soyabeans
2 litres of water
2 tsps of vanilla essence or
4 tbsps of cocoa or
a pinch of cinnamon powder or few strands of saffron
4 tbsps of sugar or honey

Last five ingredients are completely optional. You can go for either of them.

Procedure:

Soak 250 gms of soyabeans in a litre of water overnight or for at least 8 hours. Blend in the wet grinder in three to four batches adding water everytime. Strain with a cheesecloth and collect it in a pan. Boil the soymilk stirring it continuously. Add vanilla essence or whatever you want to add. Boil it for a while and let it cool . Pour into sterilised bottles and use whenever you want to. I will make tofu in the coming days and will share the recipe too.

23/02/2023

Air fryer Crispy Okra
Air fryer is a boon for weight watchers and diet conscious people. Its been almost five years and I have tried cooking almost everything. My girls are mostly on low carb diets and that's what inspired me to try new vegetable side dishes to complete the otherwise protein rich platter.
To try today's dish my ingredients are:
250 gms of longitudinally slit okra into four
4 tbsps of rice flour
1/2 tsps each of turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, kashmiri red chilli powder, dried mango powder and salt to taste
1 tbsp of oil.
Procedure:
Cut each okra into four long pieces after cutting off the top. Coat the okra with the spices,salt and oil. Put it in the air fryer basket and set the air fryer at 200 for 10 mins. After 10 mins shuffle the okras and let it cook for 5 mins. Your dish is ready to serve.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CpAjAX5tXs4uOTXXGsQ3ArZGOFWkS6QfMr8--M0/?igshid=MWMzM2Q4ZmE=

18/08/2022

SAFFRON INFUSED RICE KHEER (KESARIYA CHAALER PAYESH)

Rice kheer holds a very important position in our festive celebrations mainly because of the fact that India is an agricultural country . This is served as a dessert and in Bengali households it is compulsory to serve rice kheer as a dessert after offering it to Gods as proshad on birthdays.
Each home has its own recipe and my recipe has been made easy for youngsters to keep this in their menu .This measurement serves 6 people .
Ingredients:
1. 1 litre milk reduced to 750 ml by boiling
2. 100 gms of rice previously soaked for almost an hour
3. A can of milkmaid or sweetened condensed milk
4. 2 bay leaves
5. 2 green cardamoms
6. 25 gms of chironjis
7. 25 gms of cashews broken into two halves
8. 25 gms of almond slivers
9. Few strands of saffron

Procedure:
1. In a heavy bottom pan take 1 litre of milk, add bay leaves and cardamoms and keep boiling it on low heat till it reduces to 750 ml.
2. Strain the rice and add it to the boiling milk on low heat. Keep stirring at intervals of five minutes till the rice looks cooked. Take out the bay leaves and cardamoms.
3. Then, add the dry fruits and saffron and cook it further. At this stage, add a full can of condensed milk and stir well till everything comes together.
4. Stir well and pour into your serving bowl or individual bowls. Keep it in the fridge and serve cold.

05/08/2022

FOOT LONG SANDWICH

This rustic sandwich can easily serve as a lunch for two or an evening snack for three.The ingredients I added are the ones that I had in my fridge so leave it to your imagination and palate .

Ingredients

1. 1 Garlic bread from my local bakery
2. Iceberg lettuce torn roughly
3. 5 Cherry tomatoes roughly chopped
4. 10 Green or black olive slices
5. Few roughly chopped barks of cheddar cheese
6. Sweet onion dressing
6. One ripe avocado roughly mashed with one tsp of lemon juice ,olive oil and salt
7. 2 sliced jalapenos for heat
8. 2 eggs scrambled on the fire with a dash of milk, pinch of pepper and salt and few chopped spring onion greens.

Procedure

1.Cut the garlic bread into two horizontal halves keeping one end of the bread attached.
2. Spread sweet onion dressing on both the halves on top of which make a bed of lettuce leaves.
3.Spread scrambled eggs, mashed avocado,cheddar barks, olives, jalapenos,cherry tomatoes layer by layer.
4.Generously drizzle sweet onion dressing.
5.Take a sandwich paper or cling wrap and wrap the whole sandwich tightly.
6.The idea is to not let the ingredients spill out of the sandwich while eating.
7. Cut the sandwich into number of pieces you want to.
8.Wrap it in a sandwich paper before serving.
9. Yummy and absolutely visually delightful presentation.

30/07/2022

COMFORTING SOUP
SERVES 2

Ingredients
1. 500 ml of Stock (vegetable/ chicken/ seafood)
2. 2 tbsps of garlic, carrots, spring onions, pakchoy or cabbage, sweet corn kernels, green or red chillies.
3. 10 medium sized fresh prawns deveined and cleaned
4.One egg white
5. 1 tsp of butter or oil
6. 2 tbsps light soy sauce
7.1 soup cube
8. Salt to taste.
Procedure

Finely chop all the vegetables .Take oil in a wok and on high heat add garlic and chillies. Saute and before it burns add prawns and saute. Then add all the veggies one by one. Stir fry for a minute and add the stock, soy sauce and the soup cube as well. Reduce the flame and do not cover it. If you cover, the veggies will lose their colour and crunch. Cook for two minutes and add egg white by sitirring the soup with a fork as you add the egg white. Add salt only if required because the stock, soup cube and soy sauce would already have added enough salinity. Serve hot.

29/01/2020

https://aromasofmykitchen.wordpress.com/2020/01/29/sauteed-vegetables-with-garlic-and-sesame-seeds/

This colourful vegetarian dish is my personal favourite. It is simple, yummy, healthy and filling and also can be a complete meal if fish, chicken or any protein is included in the platter. You can…

07/01/2020

This is a damn good, spicy and easy vegetarian recipe with our very own okra. Usually children, adults and old everyone love okra in some form or the other. It is said that the stickiness of the okra helps us get rid of the mucous in our system. This recipe happened to me when I really got bored of the usual method of cooking okra.

Serves 4

500 gms of okra

2 tbsps schezwan chutney

A pinch of salt and turmeric, each

2 tbsps of oil.

REPORT THIS AD

Procedure

Wash and pat dry the okras.

Cut them into small diagonal shapes.

Heat oil in a shallow pan. Once hot, add okras and after the okras get coated with oil, add salt and turmeric and cover and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.

After which remove the lid and now add schezwan chutney. Add more, if you want it saltier and spicier.

Cook uncovered on medium heat till everything comes together.

Fry well till cooked.

Serve hot.

Advertisements

17/12/2019

https://aromasofmykitchen.wordpress.com/2019/12/17/easy-fish-curry/

This tasty recipe is fuss free and fast and goes very well with plain rice. It is a delight for everyone begining from kids to old and is a very good quality protein. It cooks in a jiffy and can be…

05/11/2019

EGG FRIED RICE

This recipe is my way of having a very tasty, hassle-free and filling meal without much preparation. In fact it is an excellent recipe for beginners in cookery world. I wouldn’t claim that this is a very healthy recipe because I have used soup cubes and some people do not like to use soup cubes but, once in a while it is okay to cheat. Moreover seeing the youngsters relying so much on outside food, I believe this is a healthier option. This recipe doesn’t require any accompaniments if you are in a hurry. But I add a few things like soy sauce, rice vinegar with fresh green chillies or schezwan sauce as accompaniments. To give it a healthy angle, at times I serve this with fresh green salad or thick creamy yogurt.

Serves 2

125 gms or 1 cup of basmati rice or Chinese rice
2 eggs
4 to 5 stalks of spring onions (green and bulbs included)
3 – 4 garlic cloves
2 crushed maggi soup cubes either vegetarian or chicken
2 and 1/2 tbsps of oil
Salt to taste.
Procedure

Cook rice with a tsp of salt in an open vessel.
Once cooked, drain and keep aside. Make sure it is neither undercooked nor overcooked.
Seperate the green part and white part of the spring onions. Chop them fine. Finely chop the garlic cloves.
Take 1/2 tbsp oil in an omlette pan.
Beat the eggs and make a large omlette and take it out on a kitchen board.
Once it is easy to handle, cut it into tiny squares. Do not add salt to the beaten eggs.
Take a wok and add the remaining oil. Heat it and now add chopped white part of the onions and the garlic.
Saute till transparent and now add the green part.
Immediately add the drained rice, crushed maggi soup cubes and fry the rice till all the grains become oil slicked.
Now add the chopped omlette pieces and mix.
Remove from heat and let it rest for a few minutes.
Serve hot. If you want to pack it for your lunch box, let it cool and pack. Make it piping hot before having. It tastes good even when it is cold.

12/10/2019

This recipe is a result of many experiments over months. I needed a nutritious roti to manage my hunger pangs and this recipe helped me quite a lot.

I happened to find a packet of multi – millet aata and picked it up. The recipe started taking shape and I gradually incorporated new ingredients . It worked and I found this to be a feelgood recipe. The crunch comes ftom the seeds and softness from curd.

Makes 15 rotis

2 cups of Whole wheat flour ( aata)
1/4 cup of multi millet flour
1/4 cup of buckwheat flour
1 tsp each of black sesame seeds, flax seeds, carrom seeds
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of black pepper powder, 1/4 tsp of fenugreek powder
2 tsps of oil, ghee or butter
1/2 cup curd
Few Chopped coriander leaves or spinach leaves
Water to knead the dough.
Procedure

Take everything together in a kneader and knead the dough. Make 15 balls and roll them into rotis. Keep rolling and cooking on a tawa on a low flame. Serve hot with ghee and chilli powder. You can have it with jaggery for a very healthy and filling breakfast.

17/09/2019

https://aromasofmykitchen.wordpress.com/2019/09/17/wellness-potion-durga-puja-and-navratri-special/

It has been long since I posted my last recipe. This one is very close to my heart and has had enough trials and tribulations in the past. The name has been coined by me and this has been my tried …

11/04/2019

Chicken Biryani

This is my easy biryani recipe and has always been a favourite with my guests. I marinate the chicken with all the required ingredients and leave it overnight in the fridge but it works well even if it is marinated for an hour.
https://aromasofmykitchen.wordpress.com/2019/04/11/chicken-biryani/

This is my easy biryani recipe and has always been a favourite with my guests. I marinate the chicken with all the required ingredients and leave it overnight in the fridge but it works well even i…

26/03/2019

Potato and Cauliflower fry

https://aromasofmykitchen.wordpress.com/2019/03/25/potato-and-cauliflower-fry/

https://aromasofmykitchen.wordpress.com/2019/03/25/potato-and-cauliflower-fry/

The whiff-whaff of home cooked meals

05/03/2019

https://aromasofmykitchen.wordpress.com/2019/03/05/wholesome-soupone-pot-meal/

This recipe is my favourite because within no time, I can feed an army of people and without much preparation. When people look for a comforting recipe to cook on a cold winter night I would defini…

18/02/2019

https://aromasofmykitchen.wordpress.com/2019/02/18/my-macher-jhol-bengali-fish-curry/

The word curry or jhol implies slow cooking with spices wherein each spice has a role to play. Few of them impart their flavour, some render their sweetness and some give the required consistency t…

13/01/2019

Happy Makar Sankranti! Have been away for a while. Will be back with new posts shortly.