Oreo Chocolate Truffle

Ingredients to make Oreo Chocolate Truffle

Oreo Biscuits – 1 packet (grind it in mixer grinder)
Cream Cheese - 2-3 tbsp
Dark Chocolate – 50 grams
White Chocolate- ½ bar

Process to make Oreo Chocolate Truffle

1. In a mixing bowl combine ground Oreo biscuits with cream cheese. Make a stiff dough & pinch out equal lemon size balls.
2. Arrange in a tray & refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Melt dark chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minute. Give a nice stir.
4. Dip the Oreo balls in this melted chocolate mixture & refrigerate the balls for 1-2 hours.
5. Melt white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Give a nice stir. 6. Drizzle each truffle with lines of white chocolate.

Serve chilled !!

Fish Kofta Curry - A Mughlai Touch

Along with the recipe of Fish kofta Curry, today I am sharing few facts of Mughlai cuisine.

1. Mughlai cuisine is the fusion of Persian and existing north Indian cuisine. 
2. Mughal were Moslems and didn't eat Pork. Hindus didn't eat Beef. So both beef and pork were avoided in Mughal cooking. Fowls, sheep and goat, and venison were the main meat dishes. 
3. For elegance, silver and gold edible foils were used to decorate foods. The gold and silver ones were used to make dinner-ware. 
4. Chinese porcelain was used for beverages. The Durbar became a complete community dinning affair. 
5. The Turkic and Afgan during Mughal Sultanate period introduced underground Tandoor (oven) to make Naan (flattened bread). Other items introduced later are Keema, Kebab, Yogurt, Paneer. 
6. During Akbar period, the royal kitchen had become a laboratory of Mughal Culinary. 
7. Tenure of Jahangir and Shahjahan were the golden period in the evolution of Mughlai Cuisine. 
8. Portable Tandoor was developed during Shahjahan's period. 
9. During Shahjahan's period Portugese introduce new agricultural products to India such as Maize, Potato, Tomato, Papaya, Pineapples, Cashew, Chili pepper etc. Finally these products got integrated to Mughlai Cuisine. 
10. After Aurangzeb's tenure, new centre of ruling power emerged. The centre included Hyderabad, Lucknow, Lahore. 

Ingredients to cook Fish Kofta Curry:

Katla Fish – 6 pieces (medium size)

Egg – 1

Onion Paste – 3/4 cup 
Onion - 1/4 cup (finly chopped)

Green Chili – 5-6

Ginger + Garlic paste - 1 tbsp.  

Mustard Oil – 3 tbsp.

Cumin Seed – 1 tsp

Garam Masala – 1 tsp.

Coriander Powder – 1 tsp.

Red Chili Powder – 1 tsp.

Bay leaf – 1 (big size)

Cloves – 4-5

Cardamom – 2-3

Tomato – 1 (medium size, I made paste from tomato in mixer grinder.)

Lemon Juice – 1 tbsp

Green Coriander for garnishing (Finely chopped)

Salt to taste
Water 

Process to  cook Fish Kofta Curry

1. Wash the fish pieces under running water.
2. Spread little turmeric and salt over the fish. Rub them very well. Keep it aside for 10-15 minutes.
3. Heat oil in a deep-bottom frying pan. Once the oil is hot, fry the fishes. But DON’T DEEP-FRY THEM.
4. Take out the fried fishes from the oil and set aside for cooling down.
5. After 10-15 minutes, you have to remove bones from the fish pieces. It takes much time. It is a low-effort but high pay-off task. Make sure that there is not a single tiny pin bones inside the fish pieces.
6. Now add finely chopped Onion, half portion of ingredients such as Ginger+Garlic Paste, Cumin Powder, Coriander powder, Lemon Juice and chopped green chili to the fish. Mix and mash it well.
7. Break the egg on top of mashed fish. Mix well again. Set aside for 10 minutes.
8. Now make small balls from the mixture. Keep the balls aside.
9. Heat the same oil which you used to fry the fishes. Fry these balls. You just need to fry them till golden brown as shown in the image. DEEP-FRYING IS NOT REQUIRED. Set these half-done Fish Kofta aside.

[If you don’t want to fry the fish balls in oil, you can put them in the micro-oven for 10 minutes.]

10. In the same pan, add little more mustard oil. Heat the oil. Add cumin seed, bay leaf, cardamom, cloves. It will crackle in few seconds.
11. Add onion paste. Stir gently and let it be cooked till slightly brown.
12. Add tomato Puree and stir well. Cook it till you feel the raw smell of tomato goes away.
13. Now add rest portion of the ingredients like Ginger+Garlic paste, Cumin Powder, Coriander Powder and Green Chili. Stir well.
14. Add Turmeric Powder, Red Chili Powder and Garam Masala and mix well with the boiling curry. 
15. Add little water as per your requirement for gravy. Let it be boiled.
16. Check the seasoning and adjust according to your taste. I added salt at this stage. Because after marination, I didn’t add salt.
17. Now reduce the heat. Place the fried Kofta in the curry one by one. Stir once. Turn off the heat after 5-7 minutes.
18. Sprinkle little Lemon juice over the Kofta Curry. Cover the pan with a lid. Let them inside the pan for 10 minutes, so the Kofta can absorb little gravy. 

You can serve it with Steamed Rice. 

Khow Suey in Burmese Cuisine --- Literally Coconut Milk Noodles

Ingredients to cook Khow Suey (For 2 persons)

A. For Curry:

Boneless Chicken pieces (shredded) - 3/4 cup
Garlic+Ginger Paste - 1 tsp
Thai Yellow Curry Paste - 2 tbsp (store bought)
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red Cilli - 2 pcs
Turmeric Powder - A pinch 
Curry Leaves Powder - 1/2 tsp
Coconut Powder (Store bought) - 2 tbsp
Kaffir Lime - 1 leaf
Salt as per your taste (I didn't used)

B. For Toppings:

Eggs - 2 (Boiled and peeled)
Spaghetti / Egg Noodles (boiled as per the instruction mentioned in the packet) - 1 cup
White Oil for deep frying - 1 1/2 tbsp
Thinly chopped onion - 1/2 cup (You have to deep-fry it)
Grated garlic pieces - 1 tbsp (You have to deep-fry it)
Chopped Green Onion - 1 tbsp
Chopped Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
Chopped Green Chilis - 1 tbsp
Dry-roasted peanut - 2 tbsp (You need to grind it coarsely)

Process to cook Khow Suey:

A. Preparing toppings:

1. Cut the egg into two halves.  
2. Spaghetti, Peanuts, Green Onion, Coriander leaves, green chili  is ready.
3. Heat oil in a deep-bottom frying pan.
4. Deep-fry the Onion until it gets crispy and dark brown colour. Set aside in a bowl.
5. Deep-fry grated Garlic. You need fry till dark brown colour. Set aside in another bowl.

[Do not deep-fry Onion and Garlic together, because one can get stick to other. And after frying don't mix the. Set the separately.]

B. Preparing Chicken 


1. Is your chicken shredded? You can cut the boneless chunk in small and thin pieces. Wash them well. 
2. Add Ginger+Garlic paste to it. 
3. Add Turmeric Powder and Salt. Mix well and set inside the refrigerator for 30 minutes. 
4. Now prepare the Coconut milk. Heat 2 cups of water in a sauce pan. Set it aside. Now add coconut powder and mix well by stirring. Your Coconut Milk is ready. Make sure there is no lump in the milk.  
4. After 30 minutes, heat oil in a frying pan. Add Red Chili and Cumin seeds. Wait till they crackle. Now add Curry Leaves Powder. Stir well. 
5. Now add marinated Chicken. Stir well frequently until the Chicken gets ALMOST done. 
6. Now reduce the heat. Add Coconut Milk. Keep stirring well for 2-3 minutes.
7. Add Kaffir Lime. 1 leaf is enough. Stir well occasionally for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the flame. 
8. Place the curried Sauce with Chicken pieces in a serving bowl. 

C. Garnishing 

1. Place the Spaghetti inside the bowl, just above the chicken pieces. 
2. Place the egg halves on top of Spaghetti. 
2. Spread the fried onion beside the egg. Then spread fried Garlic.
3. Now spread chopped Coriander, Green Onion, Green Chili. 
4. Now sprinkle over dry-roasted Peanut on top. 
5. Serve it with steamed rice.

Tempting Ras Bara - You can't take off your eyes!

Ingredients to make Ras Bara: 

A. For Bara

Urad Dal - 1 cup (for 15 pieces)
Fennel Seeds - 1 tsp
Salt
Oil to fry

B. For Syrup

Water - 3 cups
Sugar - 2 cup
Juggary - 1 cup or less as per your taste (I used date palm juggary)

Process to make Ras Bara:

1. Soak the Urad Daal in water overnight (or 7-8 hours).
2. After 7-8 hours wash the soaked daal under running water. You need to wash it until you find water runs clear.
3. Pour it in a mixer grinder bowl and add little water. Make the paste with it.
4. Pour the paste in a bowl. Add little salt and fennel seeds.
5. Now beat the paste very well. If you don’t beat well, the dumpling would be hard. And It would not be able to soak the sugar syrup.

[To know if beating is fine or not, place a drop of paste to a glass of normal water. If the drop floats, you don't need to beat any more. But if it sinks down, it indicates that further beating is required.]

6. Heat enough oil in a deep bottom frying pan. If oil gets hot, reduce the flame. Place one drop of paste to the hot oil to check whether the oil is ready for frying or not.
7. Now place a spoonful of paste to the oil. It would look life dumpling in hot oil. You can place 7-8 dumplings at a time. Fry them till light brown colour.
8. Take out the dumplings from the oil and keep them aside in a bowl. Ideally you should keep those dumplings on a napkin lined plate, so it can absorb the extra oil.

Making Sugar Syrup for Ras Bara

1. Heat water in a pan.
2. Once it starts boiling add sugar. keep stirring. It would help sugar dissolve fast.
3. Add juggary and mix well. Stirring is required again. Once the juggary mix well with water, turn off the flame.
5. Place the fried dumpling to the syrup one by one. Let it be there for 1-2 hours. Dumpling would float in the syrup.
6. Serve  hot or cold as per your choice.