নাৰিকলৰ লাৰু আৰু ভোগালী বিহু– Happy Bihu, everyone!!

If you hail from the beautiful state of Assam in the North East corner of India, your Facebook (or any other social media) feed must have been flooded with “Happy Bihu” wishes and “laru-pitha” photos from everyone. And just like me, if you live somewhere that is not Assam, you must be utterly nostalgic reminiscing good old days spent amidst family! You are also probably wondering when you can go back and participate in the hustle-bustle of the festivities.

নাৰিকলৰ লাৰু (Coconut balls)

“Magh Bihu” or “Bhogali Bihu” is one of the main cultural festivities in Assam. We celebrate 3 "Bihu"s that corresponds to the distinguished phases of harvesting season. “Bohag Bihu” is celebrated in the month of Bohag (mid-April) at the beginning of Assamese New Year to celebrate the start of the harvesting season. Kati Bihu is observed in the month of Kati (mid-October) when the harvest in the field is just in the growing stage, and the farmers’ granary is quite empty. Today, the first day of the Magh month, Magh Bihu is being celebrated to mark the end of the harvesting season. Bhogali comes from the word "bhog" which means to feast, and enjoy in luxury. The granaries are typically full around this time and the markets are abundant with seasonal vegetables and also with different type of poultry and meat. There is almost a month-long eating and feasting during this bihu. On the Sankranti between Puha and Magh month, Uruka is celebrated where communities, neighborhood or families get together to have a good hearty dinner with many mouthwatering delicacies. While typically the male members lead this meal preparation, the women stay back and prepare all kinds of sweet and savory traditional pancakes ("laru-pitha") and later join in for dinner. Meanwhile, young folks prepare makeshift huts known as “bhelaghar” or “meji” made from bamboo sticks and hay. Very early in the next morning, everybody will take bath and join each other to lit the meji and pray to the "God of Fire" for a happy healthy year ahead. "laru-pitha"s made the previous night are also served with a cup of tea which is savored while warming up to the heat of the bonfire.

I grew up in the city and while we did not have the most perfect and authentic version of Bihu celebration, my parents tried their VERY best to perform as much of the rituals as possible. Mine was a closely attached neighborhood and I remember there was a time when we had as many as 15-20 families joining in for “Uruka”. As we grew older, time changed and number of participant’s slowly started to decrease. But Bihu is still Bihu and no matter where you end up being, that longing to celebrate among your loved ones never goes away! The craving for the traditional laru-pitha becomes severe around this time as well.

My parents did a great job in helping us absorb all these cultural festivities and their signifance, and I now know enough to whip up one or two such “laru-pitha” during every bihu, whenever possible :-) Not to brag, but my kid sister has almost become an expert in making tilpitha; mom tells me she now single handedly takes care of the tilpitha section of our household! Proud sister over here :-) Today, I am going to share the recipe that my mom follows to make narikolor laru (narikol=coconut, laru= round ball)! I am hoping to particularly help anyone that craves for pitha-laru but finds the process intimidating and unattainable. I can assure you that it is not as tough as you may think. But like many other delectable delicacies, it needs a little bit of patience.

So, what ingredients will you need?

= Sugar, milk (or powdered milk), cardamom (smashed), coconut

Ingredients

Few notes before we start

• Traditionally ripe coconuts that has hardened flesh but still water has not dried out) are used. Back home, we use a traditionally designed tool to grate the flesh. I don’t have that grater here and I have not researched much about any substitute tool either. But I have found an easy way! If you have an accessible Indian store near, you will find frozen grated coconut packets. The coconut is not grated as finely as I like but it does the job. 
• You will need a wide pan with a rather thick bottom. This is to provide constant but minimal transfer of heat. Over the years, my mom has experimented with all kinds of cooking pans and pots before she settled with wide, thick aluminum pan. If you have a pressure cooker, that will work great too. That’s what I use.
• The whole process needs time and patience. So, be mentally prepared!

After being completely cooked!

Here is the phase-I of the process -

• Grate the coconut if you are using whole coconut. Be sure not to go all the way in to the hardened shell while grating, the brown residue from the shell will not be good if you want your larus to come out pristine white.  Or use the shredded coconut packet like me :-) 
• I don’t adhere to strict ratios and measurements while cooking. But per my mom’s instruction, it should be 1 cup of sugar for each 2 cups of grated coconut. If I am being health conscious I reduce the amount to ¾ of a cup. Sugar acts as the main binding agent so if you put less it will get difficult to bind the larus properly. 
• Mix coconut, sugar and smashed cardamom together in a big bowl and knead the mixture using your hands. At this point, you can check the sweetness level too and adjust accordingly. After mixing well, keep it refrigerated for 2 hrs. This is not absolutely necessary but my mom follows this step and her larus always are “oh-so-perfect”! Because I make these once or twice a year, I make time for extra two hrs. You can keep it overnight too!
• Heat up your pan or cooker. Slow and steady heat is what you need. Typically I keep it at a lower than “medium”. I also keep an eye on the temperature and adjust accordingly. Too much of fast heat is not good.
• When the cooker is heated up, add the mixture. No need to put anything else. The mixture is purely white in color at this point.
• Keep stirring; don’t let the content stick to the pan. You may need to readjust the heat if the mixture is sticking a lot.
• Keep stirring regularly. You will see that the sugar has started to melt and the coconut oil is slowly emerging.
• After a while (say 20-30 minutes) you will see that the mixture has slowly turn more viscous and sticky, much richer, slightly yellow or creamy in color and also a bit transparent in nature. It is almost cooked.
• Add milk (just a bit, I added about a ½ cup for 6 small cups of coconut) at this point. This will make sure that the final product remains white! We love our narikolor larus as white as possible!
• Stir for some more time.
• After 45 min to 1 hr., it should be properly cooked.

Before we go to the next phase, you will need,

A small bowl of water, a plate to take out scoops of the cooked mixture while making the larus, one bigger plate or tray to keep the larus that are formed.

Here is the phase-II of the process -

This final phase is where it needs some effort. You need to be a bit fast. The main complaint from anyone who has tried to make this is that the larus don’t bind and it becomes difficult to build and maintain that round cohesive shape getting crumbled. When you remove the mixture from heat, the next 10 minutes or so it retains the heat and the warmth from the melted sugar and oil from the coconut. So it is easier to make the larus within that time. That is why you need to be fast! If you have larger amount, the mixture may get cold; go ahead and reheat for some more time. This is also the reason why I will scoop a little bit out, make 4-5 larus out of that portion and then scoop the next portion. I remember my mom putting us to help her at this point; me, my sister and at times my aunt will work together to finish using up the entire cooked mixture. It was fun.

This little scoop will make 3-4 larus

Now that I have all the important points covered, let’s make the larus.

• Scoop out a small amount of the cooked mixture.
• I like small size larus! I can only manage to make smaller ones with my rather small hands :-)
• From that portion take just a little bit guessing what size of laru you want. Keep squeezing it in your palms as shown; it will be a bit hot, so be careful. It will start to bind. You have to adjust the pressure from your hand because you want the laru to nicely stick together and form the round shape but not break under too much pressure.
• Keep squishing and rolling for around 45 seconds to 1 mins. You will see that the original volume has shrunk into a somewhat rounder and tighter ball.
• After I am happy with the shape and make it rounder to the best of my ability, I give it a quick swirl in between both my palms to smooth out any uneven edge and make it even rounder.
• Follow the process. After every 3-4 larus, your hand may get a bit sticky from all the oil and sugary syrup; quickly dip your fingers in the water bowl and it will remove the stickiness.
• Pull out another scoop and complete the process in batches till you are done.
• The larus are ready; you can definitely try them at each point. Keep it on the tray for a few hrs. or overnight to make them firmer. Whenever I return here after vacation, my mom makes these and she always lets them dry overnight before packing them and they survive the overseas journey without breaking.

The entire process!!

I hope you enjoy them :-)

This year, Uruka was celebrated on Thursday night and by the time I am preparing this , the main rituals of Bihu are almost over, back home. But I have invited a few friends tonight who are also going to make another kind of pitha. We have a pretty hearty meal planned.

Hope you also have enjoyed this Bihu :-) and ate a lot :-) Here are some of the pictures that I collected from my sister, Ani and cousins Gyanashree, and Deepa.

Happy Bihu!!! 

Cake, Telpitha (Courtesy: Kakoli), Narikolor laru and Narikolr Bhoja Pitha

Laru Pitha from made and photographed by Ani, my little sister :-)

Laru Pitha from Aunts place, PC: Deepa!

Bhelaghar/Meji from my ancestral home. PC: Gyanashree

Love,

~Arrru

Ash Gourd and Chickpeas with Alkali ( কোমোৰাৰ আগ আৰু বুটৰ সৈতে খাৰ)

Life has been hectic past few months! I had a very busy trip to India; before and after that I lived in different cities for different projects. Among all that, I have not been able to find time as well as inspiration to cook much at the comfort of my own kitchen!

Anyway, you guys know that I love authentic Assamese cuisine. One of the major reasons for that is my mother’s awesome cooking! Her style of cooking is simple and very fast and her dishes are never boring no matter how many times she prepares them! When I went to India in 2013 for vacation, I did not really have much chance to gorge on mom-made awesome food, but for this trip I made sure that I don’t miss any lunch and dinners at home among my cozy little family :-) There have been pigeon meat, duck curries, pork fries, different type of freshwater fish and lot of pitha-laru (delicious sweet snacks loved by every Assamese)! I have every intention of sharing all these recipes but let's first start with something green and healthy :-) This sabji (curry) is one of the many tricks my mom uses to jazz up an otherwise boring vegetarian meal! It's definitely different than the vegetarian recipes that I can prepare here in USA.

Ingredients: Young/budding leaves and vines of Ash Gourd tree (not the best description so please refer to the picture below :-)), Chickpeas (white ones known as Kabuli Boot or Brown ones known as Desi Boot in Assam), Ginger Paste, Pasfuron, Dry Red Chilies, Khar (alkali solution. you can also substitute it for Baking Powder), Salt, fresh Green Chilies. Turmeric powder is NOT needed.

1. Soak the chickpeas in water for at least 2-3 hrs.

2. We need to clean up the leaves and the stems. First peel away the outer layer (which is also covered with short coarse hair) of the stems and chop them into medium or to your preferred size.

3. Heat oil in a pan (I use mustard oil). Add the pasfuron and dry chilies.

4. Add the vegetables and chickpeas. Keep stirring.

5. Add ginger paste, you may add a clove of garlic if you want.

6. Add the khar/baking powder and salt.

7. When you can start seeing the vegetables have started to melt add the green chilies. This gives a fresh aroma to the sabji. Keep stirring.

8. This sabji does not really need a lot of time to cook. Add a little bit of water and bring to heavy-thick gravy like consistency.

9. Serve with rice, roti, bread or with whatever you wish for.

10. The other side-dish you see in the plate (at the bottom) consists of the vegetables seen on the picture at the side :-) (Very easy to prepare; add the vegetables in a heated oil and keep frying untill it melts with little ginger-garlic paste, that's it.)

In a proper Assamese meal this khar sabji serves as a side dish. :-) I am yet to figure out a grocery store here in USA where I can find these type of green stems so I don't really know when next I am going to taste this sabji again :-) I can only hope :-( 

Love,

~Arrru

Sweet and simple "Payox" (Rice Pudding Dessert)

Now that I have started to blog regularly and have been feeling a little less "shy" about sharing my blog in front of my friends and family members, they have started to take notice on the changes that all these years has brought in me! For example, I never cooked much when I was at home in India. Also, I was completely unaware of the wonderful world of makeup and beauty!! The two main focus of my blog :-)

I am now pretty confident in inviting a few guests over and prepare a presentable and somewhat “enjoyable” dinner course. But one thing always scared me; it still does! That “thing” in question is dessert! To be honest, I am not really "crazy" about it either! I have not developed a huge interest in baking, yet! And I don't really know any Indian dessert from Sewai and Suji :-) I guess I thought I will butcher the savoriness in any dessert… :-) 

But a few months ago, I don't remember exactly how but I had to face a situation where I needed to make some dessert and I had some ethnic aromatic rice that I brought from India! So I finally gathered up some courage and decided to make some "Payox" :-) or Kheer as you all may more familiar with!  I picked up my phone and called my father (yes, my father! He is an awesome cook) and he gave me the basic steps for making Payox. Then my mother offered her help and shared some simple but important tips that she follows!

Payox (Rice Pudding/Kheer/Payasam) is a very sweet Indian dessert delicacy! It’s almost always a must have in any auspicious occasion. I remember my mom cooking it utmost sincerity whenever she will offer puja for any holy occasion! Almost every mother that I know back home still makes “payox” for her kid’s birthday; no matter how old she or he is!! It’s something that mothers in Assam do :-) I always perceived it to be a tricky item to cook but when I followed the recipe my parents shared, I realized I never had a reason to be scared of making dessert, at least for "Payox". There is not a lot to be done in the recipe; all you need the ingredients and stir occasionally. I have fallen in love with the simplicity of the recipe and have started to make it at least twice a month these days! I even intend to make it during my long-term hotel stays for my work! It's that simple :-)

Ingredients: Rice (Any aromatic rice is good, I use the scented variety known as Joha Saul in Assam), Bay Leaves, Almond, Raisin, Honey, Cardamom, Milk (I use 2% or whole milk; more fatty is definitely better), Ghee.

• Soak a handful of rice in a bowl of warm water for at least 1 hr.

• Crush the rice using your hands after it’s soaked. You will see them breaking into smaller pieces. Crushed rice pieces makes the dish look aesthetically pleasing, at least to my eyes! :-)

• Meanwhile, warm up the milk in "medium heat". I love my payox to be a little runny, so I use a lot of milk (Almost half a gallon for a handful of rice; around 2 litre). You will need to keep stirring occasionally; otherwise the milk may get adhered to the bottom of the pan!

• After 10-15 minutes when the milk is a bit warm, add the rice and keep stirring from time to time.

• After a while add the raisin, bay leave and almond. 
  

• Remove the seed from the cardamom and crash it as small as you can. Add it into the mixture. All these ingredients will start feeling up your kitchen with a lovely aroma.

• I use both honey and sugar in 3:1 proportion for bringing in the sweetness. I believe using more honey gives me a little bit of peace of mind. (You know, you gotta think about your calorie intake ;-)

• After around 30-45 minutes, you can see the rice getting boiled and soaking up/puffing up.

• Keep stirring, the milk will start getting condensed. Depending on the consistency or thickness of the Payox you want, you might need to add more milk!

• I believe one of the key points in making the perfect payox is to allow the milk to get condensed and cook slowly for a longer time. Boiled and condensed milk has a different kind of taste itself.

• I love to add a few more almond pieces just for garnishing. 

• Payox surprisingly tastes good when served hot as well as when keep refrigerated overnight. I prefer the later :-)

This is one very simple but very popular dessert in India. And I am happy that I finally learnt to make it. I hope you also enjoyed it! I would love to hear back.

Love,
~Arrru

:::বিলাহী-মাছৰ টেঙাঁ (Tangy-sour Fish Curry):::

Time for another easy-peasy recipe :-)

Tangy-sour Fish Curry is a very very staple dish in Assamese household. If you are from Assam (a very beautiful state in India), you know what I am talking about! Or if you ever had an Assamese roommate, I am pretty sure that you have seen and tasted this delectable curry! This is one of the recipe that truly symbolizes Assamese cuisine! We love our tenga (tangy flavor) and we love our maas (fish); this is just the perfect marriage between them. Another bonus point: it's extremely easy and quick, my kind of recipe ;-)

Let's discuss the recipe! If you happen to read my last blogpost on "জিকা-মাছৰ জোল (Fish Curry with Ridge Gourd)", this essentially involves the same steps. Same ingredients including the spices but because of the tangy nature of tomato this falls under the "tenga(sour) curry” section. We prepare same kind of fish curries with Outenga(Elephant Apple) and Nemu(Lime) as well. It’s a very regular preparation for us, but this kind of sour curries are all the more appreciated during the hot and humid summer months in Assam! You can definitely make it without the fish, but I can guarantee you, with fish it just tastes divine! :-) I have tried other signature Assamese dishes with saltwater fishes that are more readily at my disposal; I have to say there is something more that can be only achieved when freshwater fish (like Rohu etc.) is used. But I have tried this tomato curry with Tilapia, Catfish and Salmon and I see the same result no matter what type of fish I use! Also, like almost all Assamese cuisine, potato is important to this curry. Some of the other recipes I shared here can be made and relished without adding the potato, but I feel this curry NEEDS potato :-)

Also, like I have previously said, I am a trial and error kind of cook, which entails that I do not follow strict measurement for recipes! I do better when I estimate :-)

Ingredients: Tomato (More tomato means more tangy :-)), Fish, Red chili, Bay leaves, Pas furon (five spices mix), Oil, Salt, Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Cumin powder, Turmeric powder, Potato, Coriander (optional), Green chili (optional) 

• Marinate fish pieces with salt and turmeric for few minutes. Fry in your choice of oil or alternatively oven-bake.
• I like to chop up the tomatoes lengthwise. The reason being -is  I love the tomato skin left away from the melted flesh in the curry after being cooked. I think it makes the gravy very textured! :-) You will also need to chop up onions, make a paste of ginger and garlic as well.
• It's a good idea to pre-boil the potatoes. It saves the actual cooking time. Alternatively, I add the potato pieces a few minutes before the tomato as it needs more time to cook.
• Heat oil in a pan; any oil will do. Because I make it so often, I mostly use extra virgin olive oil. But it tastes best with mustard oil. 
• Once the oil is well heated, add dry red chilies, bay leaves, pas furon and chopped onions. 
• Add potatoes at this time if you haven't boiled it already.
• Add the chopped tomatoes, it will start melting within 10 minutes. Unlike some other recipes I have shared here, this does not need that much stirring.
• After few minutes add the ginger-garlic paste, green chili and salt. Stir for 2-3 minutes and add the turmeric as well as the cumin powder.
• Keep stirring and once everything seems all blended out and cooked, add water and bring it to boil. 
• Add the fish pieces; boil for some more minutes so that the flavor from fish blends in with the gravy.
• Add coriander at this point. That’s it :-) :-) And it best served with rice.

I like this curry to be tangy; hence at times if it is not sour enough I add juice from half a lemon to increase the sourness. This recipe has been my “foolproof curry” from a long time, I always prepare this when I have friends over; it needs slightest attention so you can devote your time to more complex recipes. I also have very fond memories of cooking and enjoying this curry with my roommates from Tamil Nadu during the crazy busy days of “grad school”. They seem to really enjoy it :-) For me, it will always remain the perfect item to cook for days when I don't have much time or don't want to spend a lot of time in kitchen but still crave for some comfort food!!!

If you are an ardent follower of Assamese cuisine like me I am very sure that this curry makes a regular appearance in your kitchen too! If you are not from Assam and you love experimenting recipe from different cuisine, I sincerely think this will be an ideal recipe to try. It's super easy (Oh, I already said that :-) many times) and ingredients are so easily available. I know you will surely enjoy this curry!! :-)

Love,

~Arrru

জিকা-মাছৰ জোল (Fish Curry with Ridge Gourd)

This was a staple in our household back home, and now it has firmly taken a place in my kitchen too. I religiously prepare this fish-curry at least twice a month. I know, I know it’s not a BIG number but you may already know, I am a lazy cook; for the most part :-), so I end up cooking only every other day. That and between my work tours, I think twice a month is frequent enough.

Let me talk about the main vegetable of this curry, Ridge Gourd. In my mother tongue (Assamese), we call it "Jikaa (জিকা)". I am not really sure if this is a familiar vegetable outside India, but it's definitely popular in India. It has thick dark green skin which you need to remove and spongy white flesh with seeds inside. Don't worry, the seeds are not much of a problem. You can see in the picture that there are some spikes on the outer skin :-) ; I remember my grandfather teaching my mom that if the total number of spikes is odd, the taste is going to be bitter. Bitter jikaa is not desirable :-) I am not sure how to describe the taste of this vegetable though! From childhood, I have enjoying jikaa prepared this way, so for me "jikaa" exclusively relates to this curry. I love exploring different recipes and flavors but I am not sure if I would ever want to try 'jikaa' in any other way :-), This recipe is typically made as a Fish curry but you can of course make it without the fish as well. And yeah, any kind of fish should work. Back home, we get very small freshwater fishes, with which this recipe is simply delicious!

Anyway, let's discuss the recipe. It's pretty simple, quick and easy. It also needs very less supervision; which means it's one of those recipes that is very hard to mess up :-) The great thing is that once you get the hang of this recipe, you can simply replace jikaa with vegetable like Pumpkin (Rongalao), Bottle Gourd (Panilao), tomato etc. Recipe remains exactly the same, but you get to taste very distinguished flavors with each of the different vegetables. This is one of the reasons I love authentic Assamese food. We use minimal oil and spices, and the taste of the vegetable stands out very distinctly rather than being masked by hundred different spices!

Ingredients: Red chili, Bay leaves, Pas furon (five spices mix), Oil, Salt, Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Cumin powder, Turmeric powder, Ridge Gourd (jikaa), Fish (optional), Potato (optional), Coriander (optional), Green chili (optional)

1. First you will need to clean the vegetables. It is easier if the spikes are peeled off first, you can then easily peel off the rest of the outer skin. 
2. Once you get all the hard dark skin out of your way, chop the inner spongy flesh into really small pieces. Smaller the pieces less time it needs for cooking.
3. Make a paste of ginger, chili and garlic. Chop some onions.
4. Marinate the fish pieces with salt and turmeric for few minutes. Fry in your choice of oil, make sure it is well fried or alternatively, you can oven-boil it too! (Confession: I used the remainder of the frying oil for the preparing the curry as well).
5. Heat up oil in a pan. I use olive oil when I am trying to eat extra healthy and for the days when I want a more authentic flavor I use my beloved mustard oil. 
6. Once the oil is well heated, add dry red chilies, bay leaves, pas furon (careful with the splattering!) and chopped onions. 
7. Add potatoes at this time, I don’t know why, but potatoes here take much longer time to cook. So it needs to go into the pan before the jikaa.
8. Add the jikaa when the onion turns golden in color. Keep stirring and after few minutes add the ginger-garlic paste with green chili and salt.
9. Continue stirring from time to time. You will see the pieces losing shape and melting to a gravy-like consistency. 
10. When the potato is cooked, add water and bring the gravy to boil. Although potato is optional, I like how it helps making the consistency better, every time.
11. Add the fish pieces; boil for some more minutes so that the flavor from fish blends in with the gravy. You can add coriander at this point. 
12. Your curry is ready.

This is one of my extremely favorite foods and I love it with rice. It's actually best served with rice. But have it with roti, with rice or simply the curry; however you may like it :-)

Hope you it was helpful! 

Love,

~Arrru

আমৰ টেঙাঁ (spicy-tangy smashed raw Mango) and some memories!!

This time I am writing about a food that makes me immensely nostalgic. It reminds me of lazy summer afternoons many many years ago and thirsty ourselves (i.e. me and my sister) returning home from busy tiring days at school. On a few lucky days, while approaching home, we will see few aunts, our pals and some favourite elder sisters from the neighbourhood gathered in our balcony! Our little hearts will jump in joy because this casual get-together indicates that mom will spare us from the mandatory "afternoon nap" for those days!! Those afternoons were full of laughter, insignificant discussions on a varied range of topics and of course, a little bit of gossip!! I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I loved to hang out with seniors and listen to their tittle-tattle. It made me feel all grown up :) Anyway, the binding agent of those gatherings was one very typical Assamese spicy and tangy treat. Because, it is sour in taste, we generally call it tenga (in Assamese language, tenga means sour). Sometimes, we call it pitika also! Honestly speaking, I am having a hard time finding the perfect synonym in English to describe this mouth-watering delicacy. These tenga treats may be the Assamese way of fighting the summer heat, although we do love it during winter too :) These pitikas and tengas are made with one main tangy and raw fruit such as Aam (Mango), Rabab Tenga (Pummelo), Jolfai (Indian Olive), Kordoi (Star Fruit), Bogori (Winter Fruit), Kathal (Jack Fruit, baby ones), Amlokhi (Indian Gooseberry), Teteli (Tamarind) mixed with some hot green chillies and salt. Some times we even mix two or more above mentioned fruits. The zesty succulent flavour that comes out of squashing the fruit with other ingredients induces a juicy-tangy kick to your palate! Heavenly!! :) :) 

And you hardly require 15 minutes to prepare this. That's the best part. All you need is to mix and squeeze everything together. When I saw raw mangoes in my local grocery store last week, I could not resist the temptation. One fine day thereafter, when there was plenty of sun outside, I made it and gorged on it with utter happiness and sheer joy. It was, not in any way, same as those fun-filled hang outs in our varandah back home! If only, I could bring back those days! Nonetheless, I enjoyed my aam-pitika. It reminded me of the beautiful days of childhood when life was way more simple and carefree!!

Ingredients: Raw mango, Salt, Mustard Oil, Cilantro (Coriander) Leaves, green Chillies.

Traditionally, we add everything with the mango, cut into smaller pieces in a traditional khundana (grinder) and grind everything together. I believe you can use a mixer too! But in the absence of a traditional grinder, this is how I made it.

• Remove the seed of the mango. 
• Cut into small pieces and grate them.
• Smash a few green chillies into the grated mango to get the spiciness.
• Add salt according to taste and a few drops of mustard oil. Mustard oil is important, I believe its very complimentary to the fiery sour taste of the mango.
• Add chopped cilantro and mix everything together. Using your hands in place of a spoon will give a better result.
• Savour it :) :) :)

So yeah, raw sour-sweetness of mango, hotness of fresh green chillies brought together by the salt, mustard oil and appetizing/refreshing smell of cilantro! Can you tell how much I love this :) :) Oh, just a little heads up, because it so sour, it tends to be little acidic in nature! I always make sure that I have proper meal before indulging on this delicacy. Better be careful than popping on pills for acid indigestion, right? ;)

This kind of sour-tasting mid-afternoon food is very common in Assam. My mom is a very firm believer in traditional healthy Assamese way of cooking. So am I! Assamese cuisine is filled with so many exotic and flavourful fruits and vegetables, we use very little oil and spice and most of the recipes are extremely easy to cook. We have an amazing range of basic flavours that range from familiar sweet, salty, sour tastes to some peculiar taste like khar (alkali) and keha (sour astringent sweet flavour)! This range of basic taste might be a reason why we, Assamese people, like food from different parts of the globe. I love trying out new cuisine from all around the world; I devour fried chicken with equal delight as Sushi but Assamese cuisine is and will always remain my number one favourite. I absolutely L.O.V.E it and will continue to work on promoting it in whichever small way I can!!

If you were brought up in an Assamese household, you definitely have experienced some version of this 'tenga' sometime in your life. But yeah, this particular item is definitely a different kind of food, specially for my non-Assamese readers. If you are completely new to the idea, try it...its a nice little way of including some vit-c in your diet :) :)

Love,
~Aru

Curry-inspired Chicken Stew : for those sick days!!!!

I have been eating plain boring food for the last few days as my stomach is not at its normal 'happy' mode. In the process of eating clean, I feel like my palate almost lost its taste buds. But enough is enough; I decided to prepare my mood elevating curry-inspired chicken stew. Whenever I am sick, mostly from fever, this dish has always helped me regain my lost appetite, big time!

And for the longest time, I thought I invented this recipe! Ha ha! Almost a decade ago, my father was recovering from a major accident and was advised by the doctors to include soups with meat and vegetables in his diet to help him recover his strength. I am going to be frank here, cooking was NOT something that I enjoyed back then. Around that time, my mom was trying to educate me on relatively tough recipes like chicken curry! One day, she bought home some chicken meat and asked me to prepare lunch while she took care of some chores. I, being the lazy one, did not want to prepare two separate chicken recipes, soup for my father and chicken curry for the rest of us. So, I just started to chop up some vegetables, heated up a little oil and began frying the chicken pieces. I was doing this in a wok (karahi), but the pressure cooker idly sitting nearby gave me an idea. I transferred the content to the pressure cooker, added the veggies, a bit of spices and fried for a little bit before putting the lid on. After 5-6 whistles in the cooker, my magic (;)) chicken was done. My sister LOVEd it and so did my parents. For the teenager in me it was a really big achievement; I was elated.

All these years, I have been thinking that I am the ONLY person who knows and prepares this recipe. I even used to boast about it in front of my friends who don't like to cook on a regular basis. How naive of me :) :) But in recent years, I have had the chance to try different versions of the same recipe by my many friends. All of the them are equally appetizing!

Note:

• The recipe works best with meat from a spring chicken. I don't know the science behind it, but I believe the tender meat from a younger chicken blends much perfectly with the vegetables. Unfortunately, I have not been able to access such type of chicken here yet :(
• The more the vegetable, the better. I put almost all vegetable I can find in my refrigerator. 
• Pressure cooker is also necessary for this recipe, at least for me :) You can obviously use a wok, but in my mind, using pressure cooker I can save a lot of time.
• The dish does not need a lot of spices. No need of Garam Masala as well.
• Personally I love using a lot of black pepper and green chilies, but you can manage the level of spiciness you want. 

Ingredients: Chicken cut into small pieces, Bay Leaves, Whole Cumin, Red Dry Chilli, Onion (very less), Ginger-Garlic paste (same as in regular chicken curry), cumin powder (just a tiny bit), Green Chilies, Black Pepper, Carrot, Capsicum, Habanero Pepper, Tomato, Beans, Cilantro, Cauliflower, Cabbage. Vegetables are up to you; put anything of your choice :)

Let's discuss the recipe

• Marinate chicken with a bit of turmeric and salt as needed. Spray little spritz of oil while marinating; it helps in preventing the chicken pieces from sticking to the cooker/pan during cooking.
• Chop up the vegetables into small pieces.
• Heat up the cooker; add oil (of your choice). Add bay leaves, red dry chilies and whole cumin to heated oil. 
• Add cut onions, fry for some time before adding the chicken pieces.

• Keep stirring, after 10-15 minutes add ginger garlic paste and fry for some more time.
• Add the veggies and keep stirring :) just for few more minutes!
• Add water, I like the consistency to be a bit runny. Put the lid on. I keep the heat on medium at this time and wait for 5-6 whistles.
• You need to stay put for some more time before you can open the lid. Then, add the chopped cilantro as garnish.
• I like to have it as soup before my meal and then as curry with it :)
• The last step is to wash the pressure cooker, its going to look dirty with all the colorful spices ;) ;)

I cook this mostly when I am weak and not in "cooking" mood; the best thing is I don't have to be ultra-cautious about the chicken to get done properly, you just need to stir for some time and after 5-6 whistles in the cooker, everything is going get perfectly cooked! It can definitely be made in any pan or wok, but it will need a bit more time and care I guess! So long as I have my cooker, I am going to use it for this recipe and I don't mind the cleaning (my dishwasher takes care of that ;))

Hope it is easy enough for you as much as it was for me :)

Love,

~Aru