Ghee Bhaat

Ghee rice is a very easy to make dish that requires just a handful of ingredients. It goes well with
Chicken curry, Mutton curry or any other curry recipes.

 Place of Origin – West Bengal

 Taste, Flavour – Sweetish, ghee
 Colour – Saffron
 Texture – Dry, grainy

 half Tbsp Ghee  3 Cloves

 4 Cashew Nuts  half Onion
 half tsp Raisins  1 Chili
 1 Bay Leaf  100 gm Basmati rice (soaked)
 1 inch cinnamon  Water
 1 pod of cardamom  1 tbsp Lemon juice
1. In a large kadai heat ghee and roast cashews and raisins.
2. Roast the cashew to golden brown and keep aside.
3. Now in the same kadai, sauté bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and pepper.
4. Add onion, chili and sauté until the onions turn golden brown.
5. Now add basmati rice (soaked 20 minutes), drained and roasted for 1 minute without breaking
rice grains.
6. Add 2 cup water, lemon juice and salt.
7. Stir well and get the water to a boil.
8. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or pressure cook for 2 whistles.
9. After 20 minutes, fluff the rice gently without breaking rice grains. Add fried nuts and mix
well.
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Macher Kalia

 Place of Origin – West Bengal

 Taste, Flavour – Medium Spicy, fishy
 Colour – Brownish yellow
 Texture – Coarse

 Freshwater fish (preferably rohu/catla)-  Kashmiri red chilli powder- 1 tspn

200 gm
 Whole red chilli- 1 (broken into two
 Raisins- 7-8 (soaked in water) pieces)

 Curd – 80 gm  Green chilli- 3-4 (sliced)

 Grated ginger- 2 tbspn  Mustard oil- 3 tbspn

 Jeera powder- 2 tspn  Salt as per taste

 Turmeric powder- 1 tspn  Ghee- 2 tspns

 Garam masala powder- 1 tspn

 Clean the pieces of fish and marinate with half tspn turmeric and salt. Set it aside till you get
done with rest of the Mise En.

 Take half cup of lukewarm water and add 2 tspns of jeera powder, 1 tspn Kashmiri red chilli
powder, half tspn turmeric, some salt and mix it to a paste.

 Take the mixing bowl, pour the curd and some water and mix well till it turns smooth; the
consistency of the mix should be medium (not thick, not even runny).

 When all these preparations are in place, heat mustard oil in a pan with a deep base.

 Fry the fish pieces well, till they get a nice brown colour on the outer layer. Make sure you fry
the fishes in small batches (2 at a time). Take them out and keep aside.

 Now pour the rest of the oil to the pan and add grated ginger and a whole red chilli to it. Fry
them well on a medium flame.

 Pour the masala paste in the pan and fry them together till the masala releases oil.

 At this point, pour the curd mix in the pan and give a stir. Lower the flame, close the lid and let
it cook for a while.

 When the gravy starts releasing oil and gets a rich and dark colour, add the fried fish, soaked
raisins, and ghee and garam masala powder to it and switch off the flame.

 Again close the lid and keep it as is till you serve the meal.

 Macher kalia tastes the best with basanti pulao or steamed rice.
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Aloo Posto
Aloo posto is a traditional Bengali recipe of potatoes in a lightly spiced poppy seeds paste.
Aloo mean potatoes and posto means poppy seeds in Bengali language. This recipe is easy to
prepare, flavorful, makes for a great side dish with a dal-bhaat (rice) combination, and is also
naturally vegan and gluten free.

 Place of Origin – West Bengal

 Taste, Flavour – Non- spicy, nutty
 Colour – Yellow ochure
 Texture – Dry, grainy

Potatoes cut into cubes 150 Gms

Poppy seeds 10 Gms
Mustard oil 2 Tbsp
Green chilies 2 Nos.
Turmeric powder As required
Cumin seed 1/2 Tsp
Salt To taste

a. Heat mustard oil in a flat pan or wok. Bring it to a smoke at medium heat. Reduce
the heat to low. Add cumin seed and slit green chili to the hot oil.

b. When the seeds start to splutter, add diced potatoes. Mix well till all the

potatoes are coated withoil and spices. Cover and cook on low heat for 5 minutes.

Add the poppy seed paste, turmeric, and slit green chilies. Add ½ cup water and

mix.

c. Cover and cook for another 8-10 mins on low heat. Occasionally stir in between to
check if the water’s sufficient and the potatoes are not sticking to the bottom of the
pan. Cook until the potato through.

d. Aloo posto gravy is very thick with the potatoes coated with the posto paste.

e. If you want a thinner consistency add more water in the previous step. Check for
seasoning

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Kheer Kadam

It is a two layered sweet with the core of dry rasagolla, rolled over a bed of shredded
"kheer". The name of this sweet comes from the "kadamba" flower. This traditional Bengali dish is
made with the enticing combination of "khoya", milk, green cardamom powder and sugar.
 Place of Origin – West Bengal
 Taste, Flavour – Sweet, Coconut
 Colour – white
 Texture – Dry, grainy

 50 gm khoya  350 ml milk

 4 strand saffron  powdered green cardamom

 1 cup sugar  1 tspn powdered sugar

 grated coconut as required  water as required

 1 drop edible food colour  1 tspn lemon juice

 To begin with, take a deep bottomed pan and put it on medium flame. Pour milk in the
pan and bring it to a boil, then add lemon juice in the pan and prepare the chenna. Then
using a strainer, extract the chenna in a bowl and knead it to make a soft dough.
 Now, part the dough into small portions and roll it into small balls resembling a
rasgulla. Keep them aside until needed again.
 Meanwhile, take another deep-bottomed pan and put it on medium flame. Add water in
it followed by sugar and bring the mixture to a boil and cook it until you get one string
like consistency. Add in the saffron and red edible colour to this mixture. Stir to prepare
nice red sugar syrup and turn off the flame.
 Soak the prepared rasgulla in the sugar syrup and allow it to cook in the sugar syrup.
 Meanwhile, to prepare the outer coating, take a non-stick pan and put in on medium
flame. Add khoya in the pan and cook the khoya until it changes its colour to brownish.
Add in grated coconut (finely grated) followed by adding cardamom powder in the pan.
Once done, prepare flat circles resembling a puri from the khoya mixture and keep them
aside.
 After that, remove the soaked rasgulla from the saffron-sugar mixture using a strainer.
Add in the prepared rasgulla in the khoya puri (outer coating) and secure it. Repeat the
same process with the remaining rasgullas.
 Once done, mix together the grated coconut and powdered sugar in a plate and roll the
prepared rasgullas in the mixture. Refrigerate these rasgullas for about an hour
(Optional)
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