Grand summer meals

FISH POLAO

Ingredients

2 cups basmati rice

4 pieces rui or katla fish

2 tbsp chopped onions

1 tsp onion paste

1 tsp ginger paste

½ tsp garlic paste

½ tsp chilli powder

½ tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp garam masala powder

Pinch of saffron

10-12 raisins

10-12 nuts

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp curd

1 tbsp sugar

Salt to taste

5 tbsp white oil

4 cups water

Method

Wash rice, strain, and get it dried. Soak saffron in 1 tablespoon of warm milk or water. Mix ½ a teaspoon of ginger paste, curd, turmeric, salt, and chilli powder with rice. Marinate fish with turmeric, onion, garlic, and remaining ginger paste for 20 minutes.

Fry fish pieces and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan. Add bay leaf, fried onion, and garlic. Add rice, nuts, and raisins. Mix nicely.

Add water, cover, and cook over low heat. When water gets almost dried, arrange one layer of rice in a separate pan, put fried fish, top with another layer of rice, sprinkle saffron.

Cover and cook for 5 minutes over low heat. Remove from heat and serve hot.

CHICKEN KASUNDI

Ingredients

1 kg chicken

1 tbsp onion paste

2 tbsp chopped onions

1 tsp garlic paste

6-7 green chillies, or to taste 

½ tsp turmeric powder

2 heaped tbsp kasundi

4 tbsp mustard oil

Salt to taste

Method

Cut chicken into medium pieces. Wash and marinate it with onion and garlic paste, turmeric powder, 1 tablespoon of oil, and salt for half an hour.

Heat oil in a pan. Fry chopped onion and 2-3 green chillies. Add marinated chicken, stir, put kasundi, and the remaining green chillies and cover.

Cook over medium heat till the meat becomes tender and gravy becomes a little dried. Pour raw mustard oil on top and serve hot with polao or paratha.

SHRIMP WITH POPPY SEED (CHINGRI POSTO CHOCHCHORI)

Ingredients

500g shrimp

2 potatoes, cubed (optional)

1 tbsp chopped onion

½ tsp turmeric powder

3 tbsp poppy seed paste

2 tbsp scraped coconut

Sugar and salt, to taste

1 tsp green chilli paste

Mustard oil, as required

Method

Mix turmeric powder and salt with the fish. Heat oil in a pan. Put onion, fry for a while, add potatoes (if desired). Stir, add fish and cook over medium heat.

Mix poppy seed paste and chilli paste with water and pour over fish. Cook, add salt, sugar, and coconut. Mix all the ingredients together, add little water, cover and cook for some time. Remove from heat and serve with rice.

CHHANAR JILAPI

Ingredients

500g chhana

150g semolina

150g flour

½ tsp baking soda

1 cup milk

5 cup sugar

4 cups water

2 cardamom

White oil, for frying

Method

Heat water, sugar, and make a thin syrup. Mix semolina with water. Mix flour and baking soda together. Mix flour, chhana, semolina and cardamom and make a dough. Take a little portion from the dough and roll it, and shape it like jilapi. Make all the jilapis, fry and put in sugar syrup for some time. Remove from syrup and keep in a separate bowl.

Food and Photo: Sharmila BasuThakur