Patoler Malaikari (Parwal in coconut milk)

I am grateful to the viewers of my blog. My friends are liking my blog more and more. They are getting tempted by my recipes and attempting those too. As I have told earlier, I am not at all a professional cook. Cooking is my passion and I love to treat everybody with food directly from my own kitchen. Thus, when I see that somebody else is getting motivated by my cooking… I feel myself on the cloud 9 !!! And what is most encouraging is that they are making their special requests to me !!!! Like one of my old buddies, Moumita has requested me for vegetarian recipes.

I apologize my friends… the recipes which I posted here are mostly non-vegetarian. But I am a fan of veg dishes also. After marriage, it was like a challenge to me to serve my husband some vegetables. But now, even my mother-in-law can’t believe her own eyes how he relishes all the vegetables in his plate !!

So here is a veg. recipe…. Patoler Malaikari (Parwal cooked in coconut milk gravy). It is with very simple ingredients…. but it tastes really great. Moreover, it is not a very common recipe so you can surprise your guests with this. And it is a veg substitute for a very famous Bengali Recipe, viz. Prawn Malai Curry (Chingri machher malaikari). So, let’s have a look at this unique and tasty recipe J

 

Preparation Time – 10 mins, Cooking Time – 20 mins, Serving – 4

Ingredients:

1. Pointed gourd (Parwal or pôţol in Bengali) –  8-10 pcs
2. Ginger paste – 1 ½  Tsp
3. Garlic paste-  1Tsp
4. Onion Paste – 1 ½ Tbsp
5. Whole Garam Masala (green cardamom, clove, cinnamon) – 2-3 each
6. Turmeric powder – ½ Tsp
7. Red Chilli Powder – 1 Tsp
8. Green chilli - 2 (slit lengthwise)
9. Tomato puree – 2 Tbsp
10. Coconut Milk – ½ cup (Thick milk)
11. Salt – to taste
12. Sugar – 1 ½ Tsp
13. Oil – as required

Method:

First, peel the parwal (not completely, keep some of it’s skin onto it. Normally we do it like this - peel off the skin lengthwise for a 5 mm width. Then leave the skin for a 3 mm width. And continue).

Cut each parwal into half lengthwise.

Heat some oil in a pan. Add the halved parwals and sauté until golden both side. Don’t overfry them.

Remove from the pan and keep aside.

In the remaining oil in the pan, add the whole garam masala. When aroma comes, add garlic and onion paste. Fry till golden brown.

Add ginger paste, tomato puree, turmeric, red chilli powder, salt and sugar. Add a little amount of water if required. Cook the spices well till the raw smell is gone.

After that, add the coconut milk. Add the fried parwals. At this stage, you can add water a little as per your required thickness of the gravy. (But remember, it tastes better in thick gravy. So don’t add too much of water, considering parwals get cooked very quickly, so not much water will evaporate during the cooking.)

Cover the pan and bring it to boil. When the parwals are cooked properly, remove them from heat.

Serve it with hot steamed rice. 

Will anybody say now he hates parwal ????? 

Note:

If you want to make it completely veg, i.e, without onion and garlic, don’t worry. In that case, after frying the parwals, add a little amount of ghee with the remaining oil. And your tadka (foron) in this case will be whole cumin seed and whole garam masala (believe me, this combination gives you a terrific aroma, goes very well in veg recipes). The rest of the process is same. You can add a pinch of garam masala powder at the end.

Peshwari Murg Mushallam

Peshwari Murg Mushallam – a Pakistani cuisine. I tried this dish on the day of Raksha Bandhan this year.

I believe, Raksha Bandhan is not a festival to be celebrated amongst brothers and sisters only. It signifies the eternal relationship of brotherhood. After moving into Delhi, it’s been 4 years I could not get the opportunity to tie rakhi on my cousins wrists. And the same is happening to my husband. The situation is even worse for him as he has his own sister. But now, we learned to celebrate the festival with our extended families here in Delhi…. Our colleagues have become none less than our family. This year also, we celebrated the festival with Hiranmoy and Sayantani.

Being Bengali, food is the indispensable part of any celebration of our life  J Peshwari Murg Mushallam is a preparation with whole chicken which is stuffed with Aromatic Rice and Boiled Egg, then cooked in a thick gravy alongwith whole potatoes. 

Let’s have a look at the recipe…..

  

Preparation Time – 20 mins + overnight marinating, Cooking Time – 1 ½ hrs, Serving – 4-6

Ingredients:

1. Whole Chicken – 1, skin and giblets removed

For marinade:

1. Hung Curd – 4 heaped Tbsp
2. Ginger paste – 2 Tbsp
3. Garlic paste- 1 ½ Tsp (about 7-8 cloves)
4. Lemon Juice – 2 Tbsp (about half a lemon)
5. Turmeric powder – 1 Tsp
6. Red Chilli Powder – 1 Tsp
7. Garam Masalla Powder – 1 Tsp

For Stuffing:

1. Basmati Rice – ¼ Cup
2. Bay leaf- 1 large
3. Salt – to taste
4. Garam Massala Powder – 1 pinch
5. Hard Boiled egg - 1

For Gravy:

1. Butter – 2 Tbsp (+ refined oil if required)
2. Potato – 4 small
3. Onion paste – of 2 large onions
4. Garlic paste – of 5-6 cloves
5. Ginger paste – 1 tbsp
6. Salt – to taste
7. Sugar – 1 tsp
8. Turmeric- ½ tsp
9. Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
10. Garam masala powder- ½ tsp
11. Cashew – Poppy seed paste – 2 Tbsp
12. Curd – 2 Tbsp

Method:

Clean the chicken properly. Make sure the cavity is cleaned very well. Make some slits on the chicken flesh on the breast and leg part.

Mix all ingredients listed for marinade. Rub the spice mixture all over the chicken body, outside and inside the cavity as well. Keep it overnight in the refrigerator (Or at least 5-6 Hrs.)

Next day, take the marinated chicken out of the refrigerator at least 1 hour before cooking.

During this time, half cook the basmati rice alongwith the bay leaf. Remember not to cook it more than 50-60%. Mix the rice with salt and garam masala powder.

Now, take the marinated chicken. Fill the rice and the hardboiled egg inside the chicken cavity. Stitch the cavity properly so that filling does not come out while cooking.

Heat some butter (or you can mix butter and refined oil upto the required quantity) in a pan.

Fry the chicken until golden brown all over. Be careful that the stuffing does not come out during the process. Keep it aside.

In the same pan, add the garlic and onion paste in the remaining butter (Chicken does not absorb much oil during frying. I made the rest of the cooking in the remaining oil itself. If you are not left with much oil, add some more).

When the onion turns golden brown, add ginger paste and sauté for a few minutes.

Then add curd and the remaining spices listed for gravy. Cook it for a few more mins.

Add the potatoes and the chicken in the pan. Add water as required. Cover and cook in a low flame for about 30-40 mins, or until the chicken and the potatoes are properly cooked.

Remove from heat when done. Unstitch the chicken before serving. Serve it with pulao or paratha. 

Be prepared for repeated visit of your guests for this dish !!!!