Category Archives: Glossary / Notes

I’ve told you before , I have got such a “fertile brain” , full of so many ideas !! 😛 Today’s recipes are nothing but production of that fertile brain .. 😀

I have one box of colorful vermicelli , left unused , bought for making falooda . All on a sudden an idea pop into my mind , why not making our regular “Dudh Shemai” ( Milk vermecilli) a colorful one ??
No sooner I made that , another idea from my very “fertile brain” jumped out !! Why not making a steamed vermicelli / shemai pudding ???
So here you go with the recipes .

Colorful Dudh shemai:

2 and 1/4 th cup of milk
1/4 th cup powder milk
1/3 rd cup colorful vermicelli
1/3 rd cup regular shemai
1/3 rd cup – 1/2 cup sugar or according to your taste
2 green cardamoms
1 small stick of cinnamon
Rosewater
Dried nuts and raisin for garnishing

Procedure:

1. Mix 1/4 th cup powder milk into the regular liquid milk and boil with 2 cardamoms and a small stick of cinnamon . Add sugar .

2. Boil the colorful shemai and wash and drain out the water . If you wish you can boil them in the milk , but in that case increase the quantity of milk as it needs more time to get done .

3. Dry roast or roast the regular vermicelli with little oil . Don’t burn it out .

4. Now mix both the shemai with milk and cook for 2/3 minutes or so or until the regular shemai is cooked. Sprinkle some rose water.

5. Take out the garam masala from the shemai . Pour in a serving dish and when little cooled down garnish with dried nuts and raisins .

Steamed Vermicelli/ Shemai Pudding:

Follow the same procedure mentioned for colorful dudh shemai , but either increase the milk or reduce the shemai as in order to get creamy pudding we need more milk than the shemai . I just made the shemai as mentioned above , then add some extra milk . But for your convenience , giving you the measurement for it .So here you go with the ingredients :

2 and 1/4 th cup of milk
1/3 rd cup powder milk
1/4 rd cup colorful vermicelli
1/4 rd cup regular shemai
1/3 rd cup – 1/2 cup sugar or according to your taste
2 green cardamoms
1 small stick of cinnamon
2 eggs
Rosewater
Dried nuts and raisin
Tabak or edible silver foil

Procedure :

1. Make colorful dudh shemai . With less shemai , the shemai would look little runny . Yes we need that consistency . Let it cool completely .

2. Beat 2 eggs with a fork . Don’t use blender and don’t beat vigorously. Now mix it with the cooled shemai .

3. Pour it on a mold . Cover the mold and steam like caramel custard /pudding/ flan . Don’t steam too much . I steamed a bit longer due to my son’s devastating activites !! 😛 just forgot controlling him .
Overturn on a serving plate when cooled down .

For the creamy pudding follow the tips I mentioned in another post . Here is the link;
https://khadizaskitchen.com/2013/07/24/pudding-cream-caramel-flan/

This preparation is a combination of “Kata moshlar mangsho” and my “white beef curry” . So different in flavor yet so delicious . This a slow cooked process . The meat need to be cooked on low heat .

Ingredients :

1 kg beef ( if you wish you can use mutton , lamb or goat meat)
1 and 1/2 cup thinly sliced onion ( not chopped)
1/4 th cup onion paste
3 tbl spoon sliced ginger
2 tea spoon ginger paste
1 tbl spoon garlic paste
5/ 6 whole garlic cloves
1/3 rd cup yogurt
10/ 12 dried red chili in halves ( or according to taste )
Salt to taste
Oil

Masala packet:

2 tea spoon fenugreek seed ( methi seed)
1 tbl spoon whole coriander seed ( dhonia seed)
1/2 tbl spoon whole cumin seed ( jeera )
1 tea spoon fennel seed ( mouri)
1 stick of cinnamon
6 or 7 green cardamom
1/2 tbl spoon black pepper
8-10 cloves
2 bayleaves

Procedure :

1. Marinate the meat with all the ingredients mention above , except dried red chilies .

2. Now take a maslin or cheese or cotton cloth and put all the whole spices mentioned for masala packet . Tie up the cloth into a packet .

3. Heat oil and add the meat . add little water . Add the masala packet into the meat and close the lid . Cook on low flame . The meat will release water and will cook in it’s own water . So you need to keep the flame on low and the lid must be on .

4 . Check every 30 minutes . If you need , if the water is dried out add hot water little by little and cook . When the meat is almost done add the dried red chilies and cook another 15-20 minutes on low flame .

5. Just when you turn off the stove , take out the masala packet from the meat and keep the meat pot on the turned off stove with lid on .

Enjoy !!!

Notes:

If you wish , you can add 1 tea spoon kasori methi at the end . But I found the whole methi brings out the real flavor .

In Bangladesh , we have a cooking legend . There is probably no home without the cookbook she wrote . She is Late Siddika Kabir . She is the inspiration for many including me . I grew up with her book . Tried it or not , almost memorized many of her recipes . I love making kababs . So her recipe on dam kabab always attracted me a lot . But , for unknown reason never tried to give it a go !! Just recently I had this beautiful kabab in one Indian restaurant and they are so damn good . The recipe once again struck my mind and made me to try that immediately .
Well , though inspired by Siddika Kabir , I wanted to give it my version and I tried my best to achieve restaurant like flavor and maintain the original Hyderabadi recipe . Alhamdulillah , the result is awesome !!

Ingredients :

1 lb ( pound) beef mince
3/4 th heaped tea spoon heaped ginger paste
3/4 th tea spoon garlic paste
1/2 tbl spoon raw papaya paste with skin or finely grated raw papaya with skin
3 tbl spoon fried onion or bereshta
1/2 tea spoon chili powder
1 tea spoon paprika ( for color)
1/2 tea spoon dry roasted cumin ( jeera) powder
1/2 tea spoon cinnamon ( darchini) powder
1/2 tea spoon nutmeg powder
1/2 tea spoon garam masala/ kabab masala powder
2 tbl spoon chopped mint/pudina
1 beaten egg
1 tbl spoon cream ( optional)
1/2 tbl spoon yogurt
1 tbl spoon ghee
3 tbl spoon dry roasted chickpea powder or dry roasted besan or 1/3 rd cup breadcrumb
Salt to taste ( around 3/4th tea spoon)

Procedure:

1. Blend the mince again in a food processor with egg .

2. Now mix all the ingredients together and marinate for at least 1 hour . If you wish , you can give it charcoal smoke . For giving charcoal smoke , lit one piece of charcoal very well on stove top . Now place it on a small aluminium or foil cup and place it on the bowl of meat . Now add some ghee over the charcoal , that would create smoke . Immediately cover the bowl with a lid ,so that the smoke remains inside and the meat is smoked well . This smoking process gives you a restaurant like flavor .

3. Take a baking proof bowl or pan , lay the mince on the pan evenly . Now bake it in a preheated oven for 25 minutes @ 400 FH . Broil for another 5 minutes .

Cool a little and slice the kabab before you serve . You may shape it in a shape of loaf and name it “Kabab Loaf”. It is indeed our desi version of meatloaf !! 😀

Notes :

1. Those who doesn’t have oven at home , they can do it on stovetop too . For that, take a large aluminium or other metal pot ( other than nonstick) on the stove top . Heat that pot , then place the kabab bowl into the pot and cover the lid of the pot . Try to use closed lid box to lay the kabab mince . The tiffin carier bowl can be a good option . The whole process would help creating the oven effect . Cook it like 30 minutes or until done .

No matter how hard we try , it is not easy to make the “biye bari style” ( wedding style rezala in Bangladesh) rezala at home . But just did little research and found that use of cracked( half broken but intact) handful of green chilies and polau er ator or biriyani scent along with keora makes it taste almost the same as biye bari style . But after adding keora , polau ator and green chilies , just cover the lid until you serve to retain it’s fragrance . 🙂

Ingredients :

1 kg mutton
1 and half tbl spoon of ginger paste
1 tbl spoon of julian cut ginger
1 tbl spoon of garlic paste
3/4 th cup of bereshta ( golden brown , but don’t make it too dark)
1 tea spoon of green papaya , grated with green skin
1/2 cup of yogurt
1/4 th cup of sweet yogurt
1/2 ( half) teaspoon of turmeric
2 tea spoon of chili powder
2 black cardamom
4/5 green cardamom
1 star anise ( optional)
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tea spoon of mace
1/4 th tea spoon of nutmeg powder
2 bay leaves
4/5 kashew and 1 tea spoon posto , grinded together
2 tbl spoon cream ( Dano canned cream or clotted cream will work better)
Special garam masala powder ( apply all )
Mawa 1/4 th cup
12-15 whole green chili
Ghee
Salt
Biriyani scent ( good quality )/ polau er Ator
Keora water

For the special garam masala :
1 tea spoon whole corriander
1 tea spoon of jeera
1 tea spoon of fennel ( mouri)
2 cardamoms
4/5 cloves
5/6 black pepper
Don’t dry roast . Just grind them into a fine powder and apply all .

Procedure:
1. Marinate the mutton with all the ingredients , except ghee and green chili , over night . The more the better .

2. Heat ghee and add the mutton with the marinade . Add little water, like 1/4 th cup .Cook on low flame with lid on for 1 hour . The mutton will release water if needed add little more water . Cook on low flame another 30 minutes . Add little water and crack 12-15 green chilies , add into it . Add the mawa and cream . Cover the lid and cook for another 30 minutes . You can always check the water .

3. Apply few drops of good quality biriyani scent or keora water . Keep on dum until you serve .

Eid-ul-Adha was never complete without Kaliji bhuna and parathas in the next morning of Eid !! Ahhhhh !!! After coming to USA , I started my culinary journey alone . Mom is not there , Aunts are not there , none , whom I can ask for “Garma garam ” / just fried parathas and liver bhuna . Everytime I tried making them , they became so hard , hard as a rubber , tasteless and tough . I didn’t know , what could be the problem . I tried every single tips my Mom gave ; don’t cook too much , don’t add salt before . But still then !!! I gave up thinking may be only few can cook kaliji perfect , unfortunately I’m not one of them !! Well , until I came across some of my Pakistani neighbors and I realized the mistake . Yes I do wash kaliji in boiling water which is a complete no no. The moment I found out the mistakes I made ,till then , I love cooking kaliji/ liver . Instead of being upset , now everytime I cook them ,I always feel like , I am really one of those luckiest people who can cook kaliji properly !! 😀 Yahoooooo !!!

Before I share the recipe , I would like to share some tips . Many , just like the old me , “the unhappy , total failure kaliji cook” ,complain that their lever bhuna gets tight, smelly and rubbery !!! here you go with some tips , if you follow , you will never go wrong !!

1. Don’t try to wash the lever with hot water . We don’t need hot water to let the blood and impurities inside the lever come out . Just use regular water . Soak the lever in regular , normal temperature water with salt and little vinegar for minimum half n hour . Change the water . Repeat the process 3 times . No need to use vinegar these times . Soak the lever in water only . You will see the color of the lever changed and there is no more red , bloody water .
Soak the lever in milk for another half n hour . Wash with water. This process would help the lever not to smell bad and to be cleaned properly .

2. Don’t over cook the lever , that would make it tight and rubbery . Maximum 15 -20 minutes . The time may vary depending on the stove and the power . The easiest way to know the kaliji is done , is to poke a toothpick , if it comes clean and without hassle , it is done . So don’t use lots of water to cook the lever.

3. Don’t add salt before you finish cooking . Add salt at the end of the cooking . If you add salt before , the lever will get tight and at the same time no spice is going to get inside it as salt tends to lock the flavor . Just add salt at the end and enjoy flavorful kaliji bhuna .

4. Another important point , many says that the kaliji looks so dark . The reason behind is kaliji gets darker with time . The fresh liver or kaliji will look less dark than the days old liver . So try to cook the liver immediately .

5. If you can manage do the cleaning process without cutting the liver in pieces . Just but the whole , intact liver than wash as mentioned above . Then cut in pieces . It helps to prevent the liver to get darker ,at the same time removes bad smell from it .

Now Let’s come to the recipe ;

Ingredients :

1 lb beef/ mutton liver
1 large onion , thinly sliced , ( around 3/4 th cup)
1 tbl spoon ginger paste
2 tea spoon garlic paste
3 or 4 garlic cloves , pounded
1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder
2 tea spoon chili powder
4 green cardamoms
1 stick of cinnamon , (2″ stick )
2 bay leaves
Salt to taste
oil
Whole green chilies
Kaliji masala , apply all

Kaliji Masala :

3/4 th tea spoon dry roasted cumin powder ( bhaja jeera gura)
1/2 tea spoon dry roasted coriander powder
1/2 tea spoon fennel / sauf/ mouri powder
1/4 th tea spoon nutmeg powder,

1/4 th teaspoon mace powder
3 green cardamoms,1 black cardamom

2 dry roasted red chilies ( don’t blacken )

1/4 tea spoon nigella/ kalojeera

1/4 tea spoon fenugreek or methi

1 tea spoon black pepper
4/5 cloves

Grind them together in fine powder .

Procedure :

1. Take little kaliji masala and rub on the kaliji , that would help to remove the bad smell too .

2.Heat oil and add the whole garam masalas- cardamoms , cinnamon and bay leaf . Add the sliced onion and fry until golden brown . Now add ginger paste , garlic paste . Add little water . Now Add chili powder , turmeric powder , pounded garlic and cook . Cook the masalas well until the raw flavor is gone . Careful , don’t burn the masala , or don’t burn the onions or make it too dark , resulting in dark kaliji bhuna .

3. When the masalas are cooked well , add the kalijis/ liver and cook them on medium flame . Add water little by little and cook until the kalijis are almost done and the water inside it dries out . Now add little water and cook until the desired consistency comes . Just little before of turning off the stove , 5 minutes earlier, add salt and whole green chilies . Don’t add salt at the very begining of cooking , that would make the kaliji hard too . Add the kaliji masala at the end of the cooking , turn off the stove and keep the kaliji pot on the warm stove with lid on until the oil separates .

Notes :

1. many loves cubed potatoes with kaliji bhuna . You can add the potatoes just before adding the kalijis .

2. Sometimes we cook the kidneys , lungs along with liver . Remember , kidney( gurda) , Lungs (phepsa) takes more time to cook than the kaliji . So When cooking together . Add the gurda and phepsa before kaliji and when those are half done , add the kaliji .

কলিজি ভুনা:

উপকরণ :
১ পাউন্ড গরু/খাসীর কলিজি
১ কাপ মিহি স্লাইস করা পিয়াজ
১ টেবিল চামচ পিয়াজ বাটা
১ টেবিল চামচ আদা বাটা
২ চা চামচ রশুন বাটা
৪ বা ৫ কোয়া ছ্যাচা রসুন
১/২ চা চামচ হলুদ গুড়া
২ চা চামচ বা স্বাদ অনুযায়ী মরিচ গুড়া
২ টা তেজপাতা
৪/৫ টা এলাচ
১ টুকরো দারুচিনি স্টিক
লবন,স্বাদ অনুযায়ি
তেল
৫-৬টা আস্ত কাচা মরিচ
১/২ টেবিল চামচ স্পেশাল কলিজার মশলা