C for Chhena Poda from Orissa

C for Chhena Poda from Orissa

As with the other two letter, there are many cuisines from different parts of India starting with C as well. The first to come to mind is the Chhole Bhature from North India.Its one of the most common breakfast in the northern states and Delhi. 

Another common Dish is the Chilla. Though it traces its origin from central India, it is made across the country. Its basically a pancake made from different flour mixed with finely chopped vegetables as per taste. The variety ranges from as simple as rice floor chilla , Besan chilla, rava mixed chilla to stuffed chillas. 

Chana Madra & Chookh are also special dishes and belong to the hill state HP. Tripura has its own special Chakhwi. Churma Ladoo from Rajasthan is also mouth watering and commonly made. And there are the enormous sweet dishes made from Chhena (fresh cottage cheese) like the Chhena Paise, Chhena Murki, Variety of Chhena Sweets, Ras malai and what nots. 

Continuing with this, here I would like to talk about Chhena Poda a special delicacy made in Orissa and is believed to be one of the most favoured delicacy of Lord Jagannath at Puri. Chhena Poda is caramalised cake made of mixture of Chhena with sugar , cashew nuts , raisins & rava.

Ingredients : 

Fresh Chhena (Cottage Cheese) 0 250gm, Powder Sugar - 4 tbsp, Rava - 2 tbsp, Ghee -2 tbsp, Cardmom powder - 1/2 tsp, Milk -4 tbsp, Few Broken Cashews, Few Raisins 

Recipe :

1. Take fresh Chhena / Cottage Cheese /Fresh Paneer and mash it well with your hands. Add powdered sugar and cardamom powder and mix. Add sooji/rava, ghee and milk and mix till everything incorporates well.

2. Add roasted broken pieces of cashews and few raisins to it and mix well. Keep it aside.

3. Now grease a baking pan with1 tbsp ghee and add 4 tbsp sugar spread evenly on the base. Heat the pan on the gas till the sugar caramelizes. 

4. Pour the mixture over the caramelized sugar and spread evenly.

5. Preheat the oven, put the baking tray with mix and bake at 180 deg C for 40-50 min or till the toothpick inserted comes out clean when you check.

6. Cool, take out from tray , cut and serve as dessert or snacks.

Aditya Sinha
03.04.2020

B for Bhutte Ka Kees - From MP

So the second with B. There are lots of  finger licking Regional Dishes with B. 

Bati Chokha as termed in UP ,  is originally called Litti Bharta and has its origin from Bihar. This is perhaps most famous and I would discuss more under L. 

Bise Bele Bhaat  is  a spicy, rice-based, lentil mixed meal from Karnataka is another worth a mention.

Biryani is another world famous delicacy and has different flavours from different parts of India. Moradabadi Biryani would be different from Hyderabadi and so on. 

Bajre ki Khichri is yet another light luncheon which is healthy and is from Haryana. 

But here I will talk about Bhutte ka Kees - A  tea time snack from MP. 

It is easy to cook and a famous street food in Indore. 

The dish is basically a coarse paste of corn (Bhutta) , cooked with ginger, green chillies and common spices as per taste. Many videos & recipe are available on the net that would make the cooking easy. Just for recap , here goes the recipe:

Ingedients:

Corn : 1 cup / Full corn -3

Milk - 1 cup

Garnish / Herbs : Coriander leaves, Green Chilli , Grated fresh Coconut & Lemon Juice

Spices : Turmeric Powder, Asafoetida, cumin and mustard seeds 

Oil for frying, Salt & Sugar

Recipe :

Grate the corn from the full corn and add some milk and make paste. ( Alternatively sweet corn can be used by pressure cooking and making a coarse paste in mixer with some milk).  

Heat ghee in a wok, add asafoetida, cumin seeds and mustard seeds and let them crackle.  Add grated or finely chopped ginger & green chillies. Add turmeric powder, and salt and stir for a minute on medium flame, Add the paste of corn. and Cook for  a few minutes stirring continuously . Add red chilli powder towards the end saute. Add a cup of milk and a tsp of sugar. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes .

Remove from flame and add lemon juice and garnish with coriander leaves and grated fresh coconut. Serve hot.

Enjoy with Tea.

Aditya Sinha
02.04.2020

A - Appam from Kerala

Regional Cuisine ….

Let's start with A.

There are lots of regional dishes starting with A with. From different places across India and mouth licking tastes.

In my posts earlier I have written about Aligarh Kachauri. You would love to enjoy this as the morning breakfast anywhere in Aligarh from the state of UP famous for its AMU.

Another mouth watering street food was from a small tehsil in UP Atrauli Alu Chhat. Enjoy These.

Desserts from Apple are also interesting and tasty dishes like Apple Pie, Apple Anchar, Jam , Juice etc.

But for my A to Z post I would talk about the famous dish from Kerala - Appam. 
Appam is a pancake enjoyed with Chatney & sauce. Appam, though originally is from Kerala, it  is enjoyed across south India in breakfast or dinner. It also forms a part of  regular dish in Sri Lanka.

You would find many videos & recipe on the internet for this dish. But just to refresh enjoy it here as well.

Ingredients :

Rice - 1 cup
Cooked Rice 1/2 cup
Fresh Coconut 1/2 cup / Coconut Milk 1/2 Cup
Yeast 1/2 tea spoon
Salt - as per taste
Sugar - 1 tsp
baking Soda - 1 pinch
Oil for oiling of Pan - 4- 5 Tb spoon


Preparation - 
A. - Preparing Batter :
1. Soak Rice in water for three to four hours
2. Drain Water.
3. Add  1/2 cup cooked rice to strained soaked rice
4. Add 1/2 Cup Coconut Milk
5. Make a paste of above mixture in a mixie.

B. - Preparing Yeast for Fermentation : 

1. Take 1/2 tea spoon dry yeast in a bowl

2. Add 1/2 teas spoon Sugar

3. Add 1 cup Luke warm water and mix well.

4. Add a pinch of floor , mix.

5. Cover with a plate and leave for 10 mins for froth to develop.

C. - Fermentation : 

1. Take the froth developed yeast solution after 10 mins and mix with the batter. 

2. Add salt as per taste and leave for 3 -4 hrs to ferment.

D. - Making Appam : 

1. Take the fermented batter and check for consistency it should be loose as to flow on its own.

2. If thick add water and make it free flow as in dosa/ chila batter.

3. Add a pinch of Baking Powder and mix

4. Low heat a Non Stick Kadhai. grease with Oil

5. Pour two servers (with kalchhun) ofAppam batter in the center . Rotate Kadhai so as to spread the batter so that it would take a bowl shape . The edges would be thinner and the center thick. Cover the Pan and let it cook on slow flame .

The edges would start turning crisp and leave the kadhai. Put some oil on the edges with the help of brush to ease crisping. Once crisp ( in 2-3 mins) take out the Appam . Appam is ready - Crispat edges, soft at center. Serve along with Hara Dhania & Cocunut Chatney and sauce.

Relish.

Aditya Sinha

01.04.2020