BM # 27   Day 14
Traditional : Bengali
I have never cooked Bengali Cuisine, though I have a Bengali friend and have eaten at her place a couple of times. I have enjoyed this cuisine, the only hitch is the addition of little sweetness in it. I surfed hard and finally worked from a mix of two three recipes, all had a little sugar, but I decided to omit it.

 

 

 

The Aaloor Dum are very different from the Kashmiri or Awadhi  Dum Aaloos. These are much lighter and have a pleasant taste. I actually cannot compare the taste of all three, they all taste equally good. The truth is I am an Aaloo fan.

 

 

 

The combination of Luchi with Aaloo is mind-blowing, the Luchi is really soft and melts in the mouth, you surely crave to eat more. Since ours is a family of health freaks, I just made luchis for the blog, and I was the one to eat one of the luchis….I would have easily had many more but……maida and then fried it’ an absolute no-no.

 

The tomato and date chutney is something that you will go on licking. The recipe did not have any chilly powder, but I added it and the addition of tamarind pulp, which is optional, made it absolutely yum. The sweetness of dates, tanginess of tamarind and the spiciness of red chillies, to top it all the sprinkling of coarsely ground panch poran made it really flavorful, a flavour to die for. I am glad I made it in a larger quantity as this surely can be stored for a week. ( wonder if it will last that long).

 

 

 

I had never tried Mishti Doi. I have a lot of phobias with food and want them in my style. Curd has to be served with salt and pepper, can’t dare to eat it sweet, but I actually took the dare and tried and trust me tasted it too. I guess one needs to develop a taste, and that’s about it. It actually was not bad, I read a lot of recipes for this Doi, some were with condensed milk, some with date Jaggery, but evolved a new one.I did not have the date Jaggery so decided to use dates only. Hubby dear loved it and has asked me to make it regularly.
So let’s get to the recipes.

 

Aaloor Dum
15 round potatoes, a little larger than baby potatoes, boiled and peeled 
½ cup onion paste 
½ tsp ginger, grated 
½ tsp garlic paste 
½ cup tomato puree 
¼ cup yoghurt 
½ tsp turmeric powder 
1 tsp red chilly powder 
3 green cardamons 
2-3 bay leaves 
2-3 cloves 
1’’ cinnamon stick 
Pinch asafoetida 
Salt to taste 
Heat 1 tbsp oil. 
Add the peeled potatoes. 
Saute’ with salt and turmeric powder, till golden. 
Keep aside. 
Heat oil. 
Add onion paste, ginger and garlic. 
Cook till pink. 
Add the bay leaves, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. 
Add tomato puree’ 
Cook till dry. 
Add the dry spices and cook for a few minutes. 
Add little water and let the spices cook. 
Add beaten curd and the potatoes and simmer, the gravy should coat the potatoes well.

 

Luchi

 

1 cup all-purpose flour 

 

1 tbsp oil 

 

Salt to taste 

 

Combine all the ingredients. 
Bind the dough with lukewarm water. 
Let rest for 30 minutes. 
Divide the dough into 8-10 balls. 
Roll into discs and deep fry. 
These will puff up. 
Do not make them golden. 

 

 

 

Tomato Khejur Chaatni

 

6 tomatoes, roughly chopped 
20 -30 seedless dates, chopped 
2 tsp mustard oil 
Pinch turmeric 
1 tsp red chilly powder 
1 tsp ginger juice 
½ cup water 
½ cup sugar 
2 tbsp tamarind pulp 
1 tsp panch poran mix, lightly crushed 
Heat oil. 
Add the mustard seeds, let splutter. 
Add tomatoes, salt and a pinch of turmeric. 
Cover and cook on slow fire. 
Add dates and ginger juice, once the tomatoes are done. 
Add sugar, red chilly powder and water and let cook on slow fire. 
Cook till all the moisture dries up. 
Add tamarind pulp. And cook for another minute. 
Sprinkle the ground panch poran powder. 

 

Mishti Doi 
 1 lt milk 
1/2 cup seedless date
½ tsp curd 
Boil milk and reduce it to half. 
Blend the dates. Bring the milk to room temperature. 
Stir in yoghurt till well mixed. 
Leave it to set. 
It is summer here and it took me exactly 3 hours to set the Mishti Doi. 
The setting varies with the weather, in winters you might need to leave it to set overnight. 
 

 

 

I served some of this meal to a Bengali guy, who was staying at the hotel for a conference… he loved this meal, he smiled and said…It seems I have to send my wife to you to learn Bengali Cooking!! Could I have asked for more? Bengali Cuisine approved by a Bengali himself!!

Aaloor Dum with Luchi ...Bengali Cuisine

16 thoughts on “Aaloor Dum with Luchi …Bengali Cuisine”

  1. That was the best compliment you could get in person, I guess. 🙂
    I too tried luchis only one time for blog, similar to bhatures. The whole platter looks lovely.

  2. That's a wonderful thali vaishali. I love bengali food, exactly the same dishes that you made. Have tried the chutney sounds so good. Its always nice getting compliments from the natives, nothing like that! Loving your presentation!

  3. what a delightful platter, liked th combination of red , white and green plates, blue wud have made the italian flag:), i am yet to try luchis, i am lttle hesitant on bengali cusines for the same reason as urs, but ofcourse go berserk with the sweets. I loved ur selection of recipes to try and am hooked on for the recipe of this lovely looking chutney, i will take ur word and try it out soon.

  4. Love the entire spread Vaishali! I too didnt find misti doi too much to my taste, I guess I expected a condensed milk kind of taste :D. But still, its a good one.

    Luchi looks great and absolutely love everything you have served 🙂

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