Recipes from InterContinental Dhaka for the Bengali New Year festivities
Ilish Bhaja
Ingredients
Ilish/Hilsa – 200 gms (round pieces)
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste
Mustard Oil – 200 ml (for deep frying)
Green Chillies – 2 (optional)
Preparation
Clean the Hilsa fish, add the salt and turmeric to the fish in a bowl, use your hand to evenly apply the salt and turmeric all over the fish pieces. Marinate for 30 minutes.
Heat the mustard oil for deep frying, put the fish pieces and fry till they are golden brown. Strain off excess oil and serve hot with rice or khichudi.
Traditional Duck Bhuna (Masala)
Ingredients
1 whole duck
2 teaspoon turmeric
2 Tbsp salt
3 Tbsp mustard oil
1/3 cup garlic paste
1/3 cup ginger paste
1 cup Fresh Coriander
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 Tbsp gharam masala
2/4 Pieces of Green Chilies
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 bay leaves
3 cardamom crushed
2-3 cups Water
1 tomato, cut into wedges
Preparation
Prepare the duck by washing it and cutting into 2-inch pieces. Cooked it with bone in and skin on.
Marinate the duck with turmeric and approx 2 teaspoons of salt. Coat it with approx. 1 Tbsp of mustard oil and set aside to marinade for at least 30 minutes (if mustard oil is not available, replace with 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil.
Heat up to 2 Tbsp of mustard oil in a pot on medium heat. Add onion and cook for about a minute before adding the garlic and ginger paste. Then stir in ½ cup of chopped Fresh Coriander. Cook until onions become translucent.
Add gharam masala, cardamom, Indian bay leaves, chili powder, and ground cumin. Stir well.
Add the duck and stir, increase heat to high.
Once the duck is nicely browned on all sides, decrease the heat to low and cook for 30 minutes.
Add tomato wedges and 2 cups of water. Scrape the sides and bottom to loosen up anything stuck there. Place the lid and simmer on low for 30-40 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Mix in the remaining ½ cup of the cilantro. Serve hot.
Gurer Payesh
Ingredients
Milk 500ml
Rice (gobindo bhog) 6 tbsp or almost ¼ cup
Date jaggery / molasses (crushed) : ½ cup
Sugar / sugar candies (misri) : 3-4 tbsp sugar / 2 tbsp misri
Bay leaf: 1 or 2
Raisins and fried cashews : a handful
Cardamom pods: 2-3
Preparation
Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes. Drain and let it dry for a few more minutes.
Take 500ml of milk in a vessel and bring it to the first boil. Add the bay leaf and the cardamom pods.
Continue with the boiling of milk till it reduces slightly or thickened a bit.
Now slowly add the soaked rice and stir continuously. Cook it on a low flame till the rice become soft (till the rice cooked up to 60 – 70 %).
Sugar only version
Add the sugar now and cook for few more minutes till the sugar dissolves completely.
At this stage, rice will be sweetened enough and payesh / kheer should have homogeneous consistency.
That is rice and milk should not look separated when pouring from a spoon.
Jaggery / nolen gur / date palm jaggery
Take off from the heat and add the date jaggery, mix it well with the milk. Now on a very low heat keep on stirring till the jaggery melts completely and is incorporated well.
Serve hot or cold as a dessert or with puris.
Patishapta pitha
Ingredients
75 g maida (flour
30 g sooji (semolina)
10 g rice grains
280 g milk
¼ tsp salt
30 g sugar
5 g ghee (for greasing)
For The Kheer(Filling)
1.5 kg milk
65 g sugar
1 tsp maida (flour)
Preparation
Step I—Making The Crêpe Batter
Add the rice grains to an electric grinder and blitz them to a fine powder. You now have rice flour.
In a mixing bowl, add the maida (75 g), sooji (30 g), rice flour (10 g), sugar (30 g), salt (¼ tsp), and milk (280 g).
Mix the ingredients together till they are more or less combined. Do not over-mix or your crêpes may turn out chewy.
Cover the batter and set it aside to rest, for 2 hours. This will allow time for the sooji to swell up and the sugar to melt.
While your batter is resting, prepare the kheer, which will form the filling for our patishapta.
Step II—Making The Kheer
Take 1.5 kg milk in a heavy-bottom saucepan and set it to boil.
Once bubbling, stir in 65 g sugar.
Keep boiling the milk, while stirring it continuously, for about 90 minutes.
During this entire time, the pot should be on medium to low heat.
At regular intervals of 3–4 minutes, be sure to scrape the solids from the bottom and sides of the pot, and incorporate them into the boiling milk. This step, as well as the previous one, is crucial. We don’t want our kheer to burn at any point.
Once the milk has thickened such that when you lift some of it on your spoon and drop it, it falls in clumps, make a paste of 1 tsp flour and 1 tbsp milk.
Add this paste to the pot. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes.
Allow the kheer to cool before proceeding to the next stage.
Step III— Making The Patishapta
Divide the kheer in equal portions of 22 g each.
Give your batter a quick stir till it is uniform.
Now, set a non-stick pan on medium-low flame and allow it to heat up completely.
Once the pan is hot, smear it with a very, very light coating of ghee(remember, we are already using a non-stick pan).
Using a ladle, take about 25 g of the batter and drop it in the centre of the pan.
Swirl it around gradually to form a thin crêpe, about 12 cm in diameter.
Roll a portion of the kheer between your palms to form a log (about 8 cm long), and flatten it with your fingers.
Place it at one end of the crêpe and start folding the crêpe into a roll, with the help of a spatula. [Note that we are cooking only one side of the crêpe.]
Transfer the patishapta from the pan to a plate and proceed making the rest. These can be eaten hot, or they can be cooled and stored in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
Carrot Laddu
Ingredients
1 lb carrot; peeled;washed and pat dried
3/4 cup sugar;adjust to taste
2-3 tablespoon ghee +more for greasing if required (clarified butter)
1 tablespoon cashewnuts; broken into small pieces
1 tablespoon raisins
1 teaspoon cardamom powder (ground cardamom)
Garnish
Dried desiccated coconut (unsweetened)
coarsely crushed pistachios
Instructions
Preparation
Peel, wash and pat dry carrots. Trim the ends.
Using the large holes of a box grater, grate the carrots.
Cooking
Heat ghee in the Instant pot in the saute mode.
Roast the cashew nut pieces and raisins separately for a couple of minutes. Drain on a paper towel till ready to use.
To the same ghee, add the grated carrot and saute for 5-8 minutes till the raw smell goes and the carrot starts to soften.
Add the sugar, stir to mix. The carrots will start releasing liquid. Close the lid. Turn the Instant pot mode to Manual mode and vent in “Seal” position. Pressure cook for 10 minutes. Wait for the pressure to release naturally.
Switch mode to saute and saute till all the liquid evaporates and mixture starts to thicken. Take some mixture (it will be hot) in your hand and see if you can roll into a ball. (If not, continue sauteing for some more time.) When the mixture rolls into a ball and holds shape, add the cardamom powder, cashew nuts, and raisins and mix well.
Transfer to a tray and let it cool for some time.
Using a tablespoon measure scoop out the mixture and roll into small balls (grease your palm with ghee if required). Repeat with the rest of the mixture.
Garnish these laddus by gently rolling in desiccated coconut or crushed pistachios.
Refrigerate them for at least 30 minutes before you serve.