Yummy Pancake

After getting up every morning, the first thing that hits and confuses my mind is making a unique and healthy breakfast, especially for the young ones before they start for school. This probably the very usual and common problem between all homemakers. This problem becomes bigger during weekends when my family's subtle demand is that breakfast should be something special. The one breakfast item which I usually make for my family and they pretty much like it is the pancake. It doesn't require much of preparation, is pretty fast and comes out very tasty.

Ingredients:

2 Cups All purpose Flour (Maida)

2 Eggs

1 Large onion (Finely chopped)

1 carrot (grated)

1 small capsicum (finely chopped)

2 green chilli (chopped)

1 tsp. turmeric powder

1 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp. garam masala powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. sugar

Oil

Coriander leaves (chopped)

Method:

1. Mix Flour and beaten eggs in a bowl to get a smooth paste. Add 1 cup of water, Turmeric powder, Red chili powder, Garam masala powder, Salt and sugar to it and mix thoroughly so as to get a smooth batter. Now add chopped onion, chillis, carrot, capsicum and coriander leaves and mix it well.The batter must be thick enough to spread well on non-stick pan. Keep the batter for about 30 minutes.

2. Heat a small amount of oil in a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Now scoop pancake batter into the in about 1/4Th cup portions and spread it uniformly. Try to keep the pancake as thin as possible. Let it cook for sometime until edges are dry and bubbles are popping up and bottoms are nicely browned(about 2 to 3 minutes). Now turn it and cook the other side until browned and crisp.

Serve it with any chutney or tomato sauce.

Sweet Mango chutney

Mangoes are my all time favourite fruit and is considered as 'King of Fruits' in Bengal. I am particularly fond of fresh ripe mangoes as well as sweet, tangy and spicy mango chutney. Chutney is a very common dish served before dessert in most Bengali occasions, mostly made out of mangoes during mango seasons. I love to eat it any time especially after having meals. Chutney is prepared from ripe mangoes either sweet or sour but I always prefer sour one which gives a tangy taste to the chutney. It can also be prepared from raw mangoes which is available most of the time.

Ingredients:
2 nos. Raw or ripe mangoes
3 tblsp. sugar (depending on the sweetness of mango you can change the amount of sugar added.)
1 tsp. Salt (or as per taste)
6 to 8 Red chilli s
2 tsp. Fennel seed (sauf)
1/2 tsp. methi seed
1 tsp. mustard seed
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp. red chilli powder
2 slitted green chili
1 tsp. oil

Method:
1 Wash mangoes and peel off the skin and cut them into long slices. If you want you can discard the seed.

2. Heat a pan and add 3 red chilis, 1 tsp. methi seed and 1 tsp. fennel seed (sauf). Roast them for a couple of minutes and then grind them in a grinder to make powder.

3. Heat oil in a pan and add 3 to 4 red chillis, fennel seeds and mustard seeds. When mustard starts spluttering add mango slices. Stirr for a minute and add turmeric powder and salt. Stirr again for a couple of minutes and add 2 cups of water. Cover it with a lid and let it cook for about 10to 15 minutes with occasional stirring.

4. When the mango slices gets softer, reduce the flame and add sugar. stirr again and try to mash some of slices to get a chutney of thick consistency. Cook for another 5 to 6 minutes until the chutney becomes thick.

5. Remove from fire and set aside to cool. When it become cool serve it in a bowl or pour it into a jar and refrigerate it. It can be stored for long time in refrigerator.

Prawn Cabbage (Bandhakopi Chingrir ghonto)

Hello friends!! I have re-entered in my blogging world again. First of all I want to apologize for absconding so suddenly. I was really missing all my reader friends. Actually I went for a long pending and much needed vacation and spent some memorable time in my native. Now Iam back with lots of memories and most importantly loads of various new recipes from my super cook mother and mother in law which I would definitely like to share with all of you in due course of time. Here you go with the first one....

'Lau chingri' means Prawn and bottle gourd is considered to be one great combination among bengalis but this time I came to know from my mother that prawn and Cabbage is an excellent combination. The dish was so delicious that I immediately thought of putting it as my 'come back' post. This dish again is very healthy as it doesn't require any spice.
Ingredients:

250 gms Prawn (Each peeled and cut in two halves)
500 gms Cabbage (Finely chopped)
1 potato (Diced into small cubes)
1 Onion (Chopped)
1 tsp ginger paste
2 Bay leaves
1 tsp Black Cumin (Kala jeera or Kalaunji)
2 tsp. turmeric powder
3 to 4 slitted green chillis
Salt
Sugar
Coriander (finely chopped)

Method:

1. Pressure cook chopped Cabbage with little salt until it becomes tender.
2. Mix turmeric powder and salt with the prawn pieces.
3. Heat oil in a pan and fry the potatoes till golden brown , keep aside. Now fry the prawn pieces and keep aside.
4. Heat the remaining oil and fry Bay leaves and Kalaunji. Now add Chopped onion and grated ginger and fry for 4 to 5 minutes.
5. Add Cabbage, Green chillies turmeric powder and Salt. Stir continuously for 4 to 5 minutes so that it gets mixed throughly.
6. Add fried prawn pieces and potato pieces and mix throughly. Cover the pan and let it cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Stir occasionally.Now add half tsp.of sugar and stir.
7. Add Chopped Coriander leaves and remove from fire.

Garnish with coriander leaves and Serve Hot with steamed rice.