Chelo Kabab

Today we will learn a very famous Iranian Recipe 'CHELO KABAB'. It is national food of Iran as well. Chelo Kabab is generally served with steamed rice,kababs,egg and fried tomato. I never had a chance to go to Iran and have it there so I don't really know how they prepare it there,  but in Kolkata there is a very famous restaurant named Peter Cat and we used to visit that place quite frequently only for Chelo Kabab.Rather you can say Peter Cat is actually famous for it's Chelo Kabab. As I do not have the option to go to that restaurant now , I started preparing it at home and believe me it comes out really great. Though the ingredient list is a bit longer and it looks like a very long process but actually it is very simple to make. So let's get started. 

Ingredients:

     1.For making Chicken Kabab :

• Chicken Thigh Pieces 250gms(cut it in cubes)
• Ginger-garlic paste 1 teaspoon
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese 1/2 cup
• Whipping cream 1/2 cup
• Red chili powder 1/2 teaspoon.
• Garam Masala powder 1/2 teaspoon.
• Salt as per taste.
• Oil 2 teaspoon
• Bamboo skewers

     2. For making the Mutton Kabab:

• Mutton Keema /Beef Keema 250gms
• Finely Chopped onion 1/2 cup
• Finely Chopped Coriander(cilantro) 1/2 cup
• Ginger-garlic paste 1 teaspoon.
• Green chili paste 1/2 teaspoon.(optional)
• Turmeric Powder 1/3rd teaspoon.
• Salt as per taste.
• 2-3 teaspoon oil.
• Breadcrumb 2-3 teaspoon(optional)
• Bamboo skewers

     3.For making Rice

• 1 Cup Basmati rice
• Button 2-3 tablespoon
• Chopped parsley or coriander(cilantro)
• Salt as per taste

    4.Additional Item:

• 1/2 Tomato
• 1 Egg

Process:

1.For making Chicken Kabab :

• Take a plate and pour the shredded Mozzarella into it. Rub it with your palm till it become a smooth paste.
• Pour the whipping cream on top of it and mix it well. Then add ginger-garlic paste,red chili powder,salt and the Chicken cubes and mix it well. Marinate it for at least 30mins.

• Preheat your oven at 350 degree Fahrenheit which is 180 degree Celsius.
• Soak your Bamboo skewers in cold water so that it don't get burned while baking.
• Skew all the chicken pieces on the skewer. It completely depends on you how many chicken pieces you want to put on a skewer. I roughly put 10-12 pieces.
• Now place all the skewer on a baking tray.Spray some oil from top and let it cook for 10-15mins.Then turn it on the other side and let it cook for another 10-15mins.

  2. For making the Mutton Kabab:

• Take a bowl and pour all the Keema into it.You can take any meat but red meat is preferable for this.
• Add chopped onion,coriander,ginger-garlic paste,green chili paste,salt and turmeric and mix it well.If you are not comfortable with green chili then do not add it.

• Make a big dumpling with the mixture and put it on the skewer. Spread it evenly on the skewer in give it shape like a sausage.Again the size of it depends on you. I generally prefer to make it smaller.

• If your kababs do not stick on the skewer then you need to add bread crumbs as a binding agent.
• Take a griddle or any non stick pan. Place it on high heat and pour some oil.
• Add all the kabab into it and let it fry until it become light brown all over its body.You need to keep turning them around through out the process.

  3.For making Rice:

• Make nice long rice using rice cooker or whichever way you prefer.
• Then take a non stick pan and place it on medium heat.
• Add all the butter, rice and chopped parsley and give them a gentle mix.
• Add some salt and mix it well.

 4.Additional Item: 

• Take a round shape small oven proof bowl. Spray some oil into it.Break one egg directly into the bowl.
• Sprinkle some salt on top.
• Put it in the micro oven for 30 secs. Do not cook it for more than 30 sec other wise it might burst.
• For the tomato I generally cut it into half and place them in the chicken baking kabab tray and bake them along with chicken. After baking for 10-15mins I fry them with butter. Or the next option fry them in butter directly for 5-10 mins till it become little soft and change its texture.

Now its time to serve our dish. Though the process looks long ,it generally do not take for than 30mins to prepare the whole things if ingredients are ready and  marination was done because all the things runs together.But if you need to spend a little longer time as well for preparing this lovely dish that's also fine.One more important part of the dish is you need to serve it hot. So if you have already prepared your kababs a way before because of time constrains what you can do is take a nonstick pan or a griddle put all the kababs,tomato into it ,spray some oil and let it fry for 2-3 mins. But do not warm it in microwave.You can warm up the rice in microwave but not the kababs.
Now take a serving plate,place the kababs and fried tomato on the sides.Place the egg on top.You can add one cube of butter as well if you want. And serve it hot.

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Potoler Dorma/Stuffed Pointed Guard

'Potoler Dorma' is a traditional Bengali recipe which is actually a fusion of Armenian 'Dolma' and Jewish 'Mahashas'(stuffed vegetable). During the eighteenth century the Armenian,Jewish,Greek and Arab traders used to carry out their business to Kolkata. Specially the Armenian get integrated with Bengali's and they started celebrating their Christmas with them.Gradually they started sharing recipes as well. One of the famous Armenian recipe was 'Dolma' which is nothing but meat and rice wrap in grape leaves.The food loving Bengali's added their own flavor and changes into it and transformed it to the famous 'Potoler Dorma'

Ingredients:

• Pointed guard (Potol/Parval) 10-12 pieces.
• Mutton Kima/Smashed Paneer/Chicken Kima/Smashed fish or shrimp 300gms
• Chopped Onion 1/2 cup
• Onion paste 1/2 cup
• Ginger & Garlic paste 1 teaspoon
• Coconut paste 1/2 cup
• Tomato paste 1/2 cup
• Green chili paste 1 teaspoon
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• Red chili powder 1/2 teaspoon
• 1/3rd teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/3 rd teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/3 rd teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/4 rd  teaspoon garam masala powder(optional)
• 3-4 tablespoon oil.
• salt as per taste

Procedure:

First of all you can make the stuffing as per your choice that's why I have mentioned mutton,chicken,fish paneer all of then in the ingredients list. That means you can pick any one of them as your stuffing.Rest of the process will be same. Today I will make the Dorma with mutton kima.

• First we will make the stuffing. Take a frying pan and place it on medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of  oil and let it warm a little bit. Then add mutton kima,chopped onion,1/2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste,1 teaspoon of green chili paste,a pinch of turmeric powder and salt as per taste. Mix it really well and let it fry in high heat till it get cooked completely. If you don't want to make it hot you can always decrease the quantity of green chili paste or simply skip it. Now pour the kima in a separate bowl.
• Peel the skin of the pointed guard or parval in alternate fashion and then cut a small portion from the top.
• Now scoop out all the seeds from it. Now do the same for all of them.

• Stuff it with the Kima.

• Take a non stick pan and place it into medium flame. Pour 1 tablespoon of oil and let it warm up. Then add the stuffed Parval one by one. Sprinkle some salt from top and let it fry for 10-15 mins or till it become little soft. Remember we don't want the Parval to become completely soft rather we need a little crunch in it. So do not overcook it.
• Now take out the fried parval in a separate plate and soak the excess oil with a kitchen tissue.
• Again warm up 1 table spoon of oil in a non stick pan and add onion paste in it. Let it fry till the onion will become light pink.
• Then add coconut paste,ginger garlic paste,tomato paste,turmeric powder,coriander powder,cumin powder, red chili powder and sugar one by one. Mix it really well and let it fry in the high heat till it oozes out some oil. Add little bit of water and salt and decrease the flame. Add the fried Parval and let it cook for 5mins in medium heat with the lid on.
• Take off the lid after 5mins and pour Potoler Dorma on a serving bowl.Sprinkle some garam masala powder from top and serve it with steam rice.

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Gajorer Sondesh/Carrot Cake

Subho Bijoya and Eid Mubarak to all my friends. Its almost been a month that I have posted my recipe as I was really busy for moving to my new home in Vernon Hills.Now I am all settled here so I hope that now onwards I will be able to continue my old flow. As we are all in a festive mood , today I will share a sweet recipe "Gajorer Sondesh".

Ingredients:

• Grated carrot 2cups
• 1 cup ricotta cheese or smashed paneer.
• Sugar 1cup.
• Green cardamom powder 1 teaspoon
• Ghee or butter 1 teaspoon.
• Pinch of salt
• 10 resin

Procedure:

• Take a non-stick pan and place it in medium heat. Add grated carrot and let it cook till it releases some water from it. 
• Now add a cup of sugar and a pinch of salt and keep on mixing it till the sugar completely incorporated with the carrot.
• Add the cheese or paneer and keep on stirring the mixture till it releases some oil from and and don't stick on that pan any more. Please check the sweetness at this time and if you want to make it sweeter then just add some more sugar and cook it till the sugar completely dissolve in this mixture.
• Then add cardamom powder and ghee and mix it well.Then pour it in a square nonstick tray and let it cool down.
• Cut it in small square shape and garnish it with resin on top.
• Place this on a serving plate and enjoy it with your friends and family.

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