Shondesh (Almost !)

I am an NRB (non-resident Bengali). As in every Bengali family, one of my distinct childhood memories is dad coming home with two plastic packets in hand. One with "shingara" (samosa for the North Indians) and the other some mishti ( like roshogollah , jilipi and so on). Needless to say, I had an overdose of sweets and did not like them much in my adolescent years. Then college happened and then further studies. Gradually as presence of sweets in my life decreased remarkably, my desire for them increased proportionately. And now I make them!! I would have never imagined doing so 10 years ago!  So here is a recipe, I had seen somewhere for shondesh or its close "bhai" (brother).
Its baked, so its almost as healthy as bengali sweets can get :)
Ingredients:

• Ricotta cheese (15 oz)
• Sugar (1.5 cups)
• Amonds (1/4 pound)
• Raisins (2 tablespoons)

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Whisk the sugar, ricotta cheese and half the almonds briskly.
3. Pour it into a baking pan. Sprinkle rest of the almonds and raisins onto it.
4. Bake for around 30-45 minutes. When our shondesh is done, a toothpick put into it comes out smoothly.

My shondesh, here I come!

Chicken (Almost) Bengali Style

I love experimenting with cooking. As the consequence, I often do not remember what made a particular dish mouth watering or the amount of ingredients I put into it. My parents-in-law are visiting the United States and I did not want to experiment! And so I rang up up my mom for her time tested recipe.  The blog is more of a cheat sheet for me. And if you like it, do drop in a note :)
Ingredients:

• Chicken (1.5 pounds)
• Onions (2)
• Potato(1)
• Tomatoes(2)
• Thai chillies (6)
• Grated garlic (7 tablespoons)
• Grated ginger (5 tablespoons)
• Sugar (1 tablespoon)
• garam masala (1/2 tablespoon)
• Cinammon Stick (2)
• Bay Leaves (4)
• Oil 
• Turmeric
• Salt
• Raw Cashews (1 tablespoon)

 Procedure:

1. Marinade: Make a puree of 1 tomato and 2 chillies. Add 3 tablespoons each of garlic and ginger in it and make a paste. Add some turmeric and some salt to this mixture. Next, add the chicken pieces into this marinade and soak it for four hours ( I soaked the chicken for the night).
2. Grate 1 onion. In a pan, heat some oil and fry this grated onion with 2 tablespoons of garlic. Let it simmer for a while and then add the potatoes. When the onion is golden brown, remove it from the heat and set it aside.
3. In a separate wok, heat some oil and temper it with cinnamon sticks and bay leaves in it. Next add the remaining onion ( grated), garlic, ginger  and chilles (sliced) into it. Add one tablespoon of sugar. Again when the onion turns golden brown, put the marinated chicken ( along with the marinade into it). Next remove the fried potatoes from the mixture ( in step 2) and add it into the chicken. Let the chicken cook for sometime. 
4. When the chicken is almost cooked (when it is no longer reddish), put the rest of the mixture from step 2 into it. Next add the garam masala and grated cashew nut. Cook for around 5 minutes.
5. Before removing the wok from the heat, take the remaining onion (sliced into 4 parts) into the chicken curry. 

My mom's kitchen chicken is ready.