Dinner on Kitchen3N

Samosa Cake

Tue, 13 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This is the story of how a typo turned into an entree. In Whatsapp group of fellow moms, coordinating the dishes of a potluck, someone offered up a Samoa cake. Misreading that for "Samosa Cake" many of the moms jumped at the prospect: "Samosa cake?! What's a Samosa Cake?! I want to try it!!". After clarifying the mix up, some ideas were thrown around as to what a samosa cake would look like. I immediately thought of layers of phyllo dough stacked with a samosa meat mixture, baked and cut in slices. When I looked up for recipes that would meet these requirements, I pulled together elements from a Borek recipe (Turkish layered meat pastry), an Egyptian meat pie, and the filling from a Yemeni Samboosa. There are cubanelle or italian frying peppers here for flavor, often seen in Turkish recipes. There's tomato paste from the samboosa recipe, an ingredient that is necessary for any red meat dish, in my humble opinion. And the whole layering and baking technique pulls from Egyptian meat pie recipe.

Turkey Korma

Mon, 28 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I woke up the morning after Thanksgiving like I imagine a runner feels the morning after a race: like I got hit by a truck. A whole week of groceries, prep, planning culminating in an evening with loved ones and good food. It was EXHAUSTING and I was happy to do it. But even after the last doggy bag was packed, we had quite a bit of turkey left over. It's been our breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then last night, I recalled my friend Biny of #binyskitchen saying how she'd use her leftovers for turkey pot pies. Now, pot pies don't fly here, but South Asian flavors do. I thought I'd cook some of the leftover turkey in a cream sauce with spices and frozen peas (to make it the slightest bit healthy) and the gang inhaled it! So here's how I created it. Don't be intimidated by the long list of ingredients. If you ever want to make South Asian food at home, you need these in stock. Fine to use a "garam masala" mix if you don't have the last 5 spices. I wouldn't use a curry powder to sub the first few spices, as that has turmeric and chili powder and would change the flavor of the korma. What is korma? Any meat/seafood/veggie dish cooked in a cream or yogurt or nut paste sauce. Simmered with warm spices (not the spicy spices) and slightly sweet. Chicken korma was my favorite dish growing up, but only reserved for special occasions, like Eid or birthdays. Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Ingredients

1/2 onion, diced
1 tbsp ghee or butter
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garlic/ginger paste*
1 cup turkey/chicken broth or water
2-3 cups cubed turkey breast
1 cup frozen peas
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp clove
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup half & half

Directions

In a large saute pan, heat ghee or butter over medium high heat and add onions. Cook until onions are translucent and lightly browned around the edges. Add the cumin, coriander and garlic/ginger paste. Stir, then slowly add the broth or water. Scrape all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan and allow mixture to simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Add the turkey, peas and remaining spices. Stir to combine then add the milk and half and half. Let simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and serve with rice or quinoa.

*You can sub garlic/ginger paste with 1 clove of garlic AND a small (maybe 1/2inch) piece of ginger minced or pressed through a zester.

Cinnamon Honey Skillet Cornbread

Wed, 02 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

What’s the best gift you’ve ever received? Was it jewelry? A nice bag? Maybe those shoes you’ve been eyeing? For me, it was my engagement ring, hands down. BUT apart from the that, the best gift I continue to receive is from my mother. Every few months she gives me a jar of homemade ginger/garlic paste that is quintessential in Bengali cuisine. Sure, you can buy the jarred stuff from the desi grocery, but it’s just not the same. It’s fresh, preservative free, and it’s made with LOVE. Such a life saver on busy weeknights to not have to peel/chop fresh ginger and garlic.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Quinoa Pilaf

Mon, 24 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

When was the last time you embarrassed yourself? Like reeally really embarrassed yourself? Well this recipe is from one such incident.

Let me take it back a few steps - have you ever been to a South Asian wedding? There are kids running around, loud aunties and uncles in technicolor outfits fighting over placement on the buffet line and general disorganization/mayhem.

Now - have you ever been to an American wedding? A Northeastern, Catholic wedding? Civilized, subdued, tasteful. Bride is in white. The events more or less stick to schedule. Not so many kids running around.

Ramadan Round Up

Tue, 21 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

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Ramadan is halfway over, but there’s still time to make some of my favorite recipes for this time of year! Going clockwise from the top left:

Citrus Quinoa Salad with Dates, Almonds and Mint - we consume a lot of dates during Ramadan. This recipe uses up any extra dates you may have in a salad you can feel good about eating at the end of a long fast!

Citrus Quinoa Salad With Dates, Almonds, and Mint

Sat, 23 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Ramadan is coming up! I figured I should add a few more Ramadan friendly recipes to the blog, for those of us who are looking to depart a bit from the usual fried foods iftars. During these long summer days when we're denying ourselves food and liquid for 15 hours straight, we need to treat our bodies well! This is a dish you can feel good about eating, that's not going to make you crash before the long night of ibadah (prayers) you have lined up.

This recipe is based on one from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table. I know a quinoa salad is not the first thing you think of when you consider French cuisine, but she’s filled her cookbook with things she makes for her family, without strictly adhering to a particular cuisine. In our hyperconnected world, it’s kind of impossible to resist influences from other regions. She’s got a Moroccan Tagine and carrot salad, small plates from her American upbringing, French pastries and traditional stews from her current residence. And she’s kind of an authority when it comes to food so I trust her with my quinoa!

Mexican Chicken Noodle Soup

Wed, 13 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The first thing I do when someone sneezes in the house, is submerge a chicken in a pot of boiling water to make chicken stock for soup. That’s a normal, knee-jerk reaction, right?

Ok, perhaps I exaggerate. But there’s just something about the thought of clear, warming chicken noodle soup that makes me feel like it will banish all the ickiness of a cold away. And while the classic has a special place, this tomato paste and spice spiked version will carry you over from your sick days to your top o’ the mornin’, heel clickin’ days. Because for some reason, the weather is still dipping below freezing here in NYC in the middle of spring and the kids have caught strep throat while the hubby and I work our way through the common cold. Un-believable.

My Go-To Bolognese

Wed, 30 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

One of my first cookbooks ever was Giada De Laurentiis’s “Everyday Italian”. From it, I made my first pesto, marinara sauce, bolognese, vegetable bolognese, her fabulous balsamic roasted chicken, and many other Italian classics. For that reason, it will hold a special place in my bookshelf. One thing I noticed though, was that many of the tomato based sauces required celery, onion, and carrots as the base. While I always have onion on hand, the times I bought celery and carrot for those specific recipes, it was a pain to try to finish them off. I’m not a big celery-snacker. I might make a salad out of the celery and carrot (though I much prefer carrot and mushroom salad). So while I appreciate the flavors attributed to the classic mirepoix (sweet onion, sweet earthy carrots, licoricey celery), I needed one that suited my family’s needs and my grocery habits.

Potato Leek Soup with Rosemary Garlic Oil

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I had a hankering for warm, comforting American dishes the other day. Creamy tomato soup. Potato leek soup. Corn chowder. Pan seared scallops. Flat bread dotted with goat cheese and herbs. Just things I wouldn’t usually make since there isn’t a huge appetite for these things in our household. Take exhibit A: potato leek soup. Despite my daughter’s proclamation that she LOVED THIS SOUP and my husband’s accolade, “this soup’s good, Jaan!”, they each had just one serving. Just one. So guess who else had ALL the remaining servings?Yours, truly, of course. When I was a work study (undergraduate doing an on-campus job) at Columbia Business School, I would go down to the cafeteria and scope out what I could afford. Back then, a small soup with crackers cost about $4.75. With tax, it came out to almost $6. Which was a lot for me to fork over for lunch. But a girl’s gotta eat. Neither the $3.50 muffin nor the $12 sandwiches weren’t good alternatives.

Creamy Less Cheesy Mac and Cheese

Fri, 13 Nov 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Anyone else find themselves questioning their life choices? First world problems, right? I’ve got a roof over my head, food to eat, a wonderful family - so much to be grateful for. But I’m feeling sorry for myself because I haven’t “made it” yet or didn’t pursue one of the more conventional paths of engineering, medicine, or law (not that I have a litigating bone in my body). Of course this comes at a time when most of my high school and college classmates are receiving their secondary degrees and the grass is looking greener on the other side. But I’ve been trying to embody the saying I’ve read recently, “The grass is greener where you water it”. I love my family and would be so empty without them. But I need to reach my professional goals as well. Would love to grow this blog or my little side hustle (custom cakes) but I feel like I’m lacking some guidance. Is it my content? My outreach? Help me out, guys!! Granted I have two little ones, one who is isn’t in school yet, so my resources are limited. Speaking of little ones, for years I lamented that despite my efforts to make mac and cheese from scratch, my kids preferred the stuff from the blue box. Relieved, since dinner could be ready in a snap if I had the blue box on hand. Affronted, as well. So I sought a solution. The problem was the traditional mac and cheese recipes I followed were quite cheesy. Resulting in a strongly flavored and thick sauce.So, I thought I’d make a bechamel sauce, add in a little bit of cheese at a time until it had just enough thickness and was mildly flavored enough for my kiddos, and voila! I made something that my 3 1/2 year old would lick clean off the plate. This comes together so quickly, you’ll be like, blue box, who? Granted you have pre-shredded cheese. I use the Trader Joe’s blend of mozzarella, cheddar and jack cheese. It’s wonderful in omelettes, grilled cheese, etc. Throw in some frozen peas with the pasta during the last minute of cooking to make it a complete meal. Or shredded beef/chicken. The sky’s the limit. I just keep the chicken broth on hand in case it gets too thick. Make this once and you’ll never go back to Panera’s mac and cheese! Feel free to double the recipe if you have more mouths to feed!

Spice Rubbed Chicken Cutlets

Thu, 08 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

My first born starting school has opened up a world of culinary challenges: what can I make and pack for her that a) she’ll eat b) is nutritious (most of the time) and c) not too messy? The top two contenders so far as been a chicken “salad” sandwich made from leftover chicken curry, mayo and provolone cheese. First choice though, banana nutella sandwich. That’s my cop out sandwich. Something I’m sure Park Slope moms would be aghast at finding out was given to a child. You’ve heard about that, right? The parents who wanted to ban the ice cream truck coming ‘round the block so they wouldn’t have to deal with their kids ice cream wanting tantrums. While I empathize with the tantrum dealing - I wonder how many parents in my generation reflect on the food they grew up versus the food they feed their kids. Sometimes I get so hung up on, “Are my kids eating enough greens?” “Are they getting enough fiber?” “Is it too late in the evening for chocolate?”. While it’s definitely good to be thinking of these things, some of us go off the deep end when it comes to this stuff. A certain parent comes to mind who flipped out when her daughter was given a rice biscuit or whatever too close to her dinner time. Do you know what my after-school snacks consisted of? Double chocolate chip muffins laden with all kinds of artificial flavorings and preservatives with a can of pepsi. Or entenmann’s chocolate cake. Or chips ahoy cookies with milk. My gourmet touch was microwaving the chips ahoy cookies to give ’em that just baked quality. Right.So, over the years, I’ve given myself a break. Not all their fruits and veggies are organic anymore. Sometimes they have nutella toast for dinner. And lollipops or ice cream in the evening? One heck of a reward for cleaning up their toys! Not to say I’ve thrown all caution to the wind. I snuck some baby kale leaves into my daughter’s wrap this morning. Usually I make her sandwiches with soft whole wheat bread. Pictured below is Malaysian style paratha which, if you were with me during my semester in Rome, you know it is crazy good. It’s a flaky flatbread that makes anything taste good (not that this chicken needs any help!!). My favorite part of this chicken is the wonderful caramelization from cooking it in the butter. Why didn’t we eat more butter growing up? It is so glorious when treated well. Buttered toast in our household usually meant Country Crock vegetable spread on lightly toasted Wonder Bread.So enjoy these chicken cutlets all throughout the week:

Pistachio and Spice Roasted Rack of Lamb

Sun, 12 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Ramadan, the Islamic month during which Muslims around the world fast from sun up to sun down, is winding down. The last ten days is a time of great spiritual importance. Extra prayers, remembrance and mindfulness of acts of worship are highly stressed. My interpretation is that it’s a way to encourage keeping up the momentum, since Ramadan is 30 days long, and many start off the month with a lot of vigor, but find themselves struggling to keep up with the extra prayers and fasts as the days go by. Another important part of Ramadan for me is the communal iftar (evening, break-fast meal). One of the things that drew me to Islam as a child and again as a college student, is the community. When I attended my first ICNA convention as an almost 10 year old, I wore the headscarf for the weekend, per etiquette. And I recall descending on the escalator to the main convention hall and being amazed at seeing so many Muslims in the same room. For the first time I felt like I was part of something larger. Growing up in Queens, my childhood was characterized by my otherness. I was always one of two Bengali Muslim kids (no black, white, arab, SE asian or any other muslim kids in my neighborhood). We were all a rag tag team of immigrant kids - the only cohesive element being our physical classroom or schoolyard. So when I first felt that sense of community, it was exhilarating. I kept the headscarf on (with its ups and downs) since then. This was reinforced as a student at Barnard. The iftars hosted by Columbia Muslim Students Association was another reinforcement. A group to whom I didn’t have to explain my evening ritual of breaking the fast. A group that actually shared the values I was brought up with. I know we live in a society that in name celebrates individuality and uniqueness. But growing up in a society that is so different from your native one, is exhausting. How many times have I had to answer the question

Ridiculously Good Fried Chicken

Fri, 24 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

If you follow me on instagram (kitchen3n), you’ll notice I went on a little trip recently! I had the opportunity to help organize a company retreat at the magnificent Qasr Al Sarab in UAE (about 2 hours south of Abu Dhabi). It was my first time abroad since having my kids so you can be sure leading up to the trip I juggled feelings of anxiety and excitement…but mostly anxiety.

Lessons in Spatchcocking

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Don’t double check your calendar. It is in fact, March. I cooked a whole turkey in March.

What else are you going to do when your buddies over at Honest Chops send you a 17 pound bird? Since we didn’t do the whole turkey day shebang last year, I got to try out the spatchcocking technique I read about over at Serious Eats. So you see, it isn’t a word I made up for my kids. It’s a cooking technique that requires removal of the backbone (seriously, this turkey has seen better days), then pushing the bird down flat to encourage even cooking. People go all kinds of crazy to ensure breast meat doesn’t dry out. In past years I’ve tried brining in a brining bag (thanksgifiasco 2011 - brining bag broke and peppercorns were still being found in corners of my apt six months later). I’ve flipped the bird half way through the cooking process - starting breast down, the finishing breast up.

Valentine's Surf and Turf: Rib Eye Steak & Jumbo Shrimp

Tue, 10 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This Ribeye from Honest Chops was absurd…

Ly delicious. I’ve only had a handful of steaks in my life. Namely because halal steaks are so hard to come by. Most halal butchers don’t differentiate between all the wonderful cuts (I think we’ve discussed this before). Nowadays, you can find some halal steaks at select NYC restaurants by way of Creekstone Farms. However, the last steak I had at Marc Forgione, just wasn’t that great. Not so much a reflection of the meat, rather the preparation.

Beef Tagine

Fri, 06 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I have been bitten by the travel bug. Not recently. The bite’s been smoldering more or less my whole life with my actual escapades limited only by finances and well, youth. And now, in the absolute DEAD of winter. With over a foot of snow in NYC in the past two weeks and with even more snow on the way this weekend!!! This is usually about the time New Yorkers duck out for more tropical climates. My husband and I ran away from a devastating snow storm in March 2010 that brought down power lines and trees in upstate NY. So, we were jerks and literally left our friends in the dark while we frolicked around Montego Bay.

Sloppy Joes

Fri, 30 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I recall an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations when he was schooling his viewers on some things every home cook should know. Among them:

How to slice and onion. Key take away: don't leave your fingers sprawled all over the onion. You are asking for it. Tuck your finger tips under like you're tossing a knuckleball. Life-saver.
Beef bourguignon. It's just a pot of unattractive, purple-hued beef cubes simmering in an even less attractive liquid base UNTIL the magic time is up. For the first two, two and a half hours, that's all it is. But when the time is right, it all comes together to become the legendary French stew. That's a lesson I've carried with me for all my stews and curries. The key factor is time. Time for the meat to flavor the broth and for the broth to cook/tenderize the meat. You have to learn what that time is for each dish to have truly delicious stews and curries.
There were a few other lessons. Since I've forgotten them, they clearly weren't as life changing.

I’ve made sloppy joes the traditional American way before, loaded with ketchup, brown sugar, sometimes Worcestshire sauce and/or vinegar. It’s just too sweet for me. In my version, I add some warming spices, paprika to complement the bell pepper, a tiny bit of sugar to bring out the sweetness in the crushed tomatoes, and peas (hey food groups!). Both version wayyy surpass the school lunch version I had as a NYC public school student.

Boneless Short Ribs with Asian BBQ Sauce

Thu, 11 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

How can I explain to you how good these are? Do the pictures do justice to them? Are you drooling on your keyboard? If so, then I’ve done my job. Though I have a confession to make: I’ve never made short ribs before. I’ve never even had them before, you know, as a separate entity. Sure, I’ve eaten them as part of a larger curry, but not like this. But hooray for internet, right? I checked my cookbooks and could not find anything for boneless ribs. They all had recipes for bone-in ribs, the type that you braise in a casserole. Balsamic braised. Beer braised. Red wine braised. But then, I found this recipe for easy bbq boneless ribs! And though I was grateful for Sunny Anderson’s (easy) cooking technique, I knew I wanted an Asian BBQ type thing, something rich in soy sauce and garlic with a hint of sesame flavor, but not one that was so authentic I needed to make an extra trip to my local Asian grocery. Na’m sayin? In keeping with halal guidelines, I’ve never had korean or japanese bbq (I doubt any halal establishments exist in NY). But I knew I really wanted to try Korean BBQ short ribs, or Kalbi. The problem is, you need a special cut of short ribs to prepare in that way - called the flanken cut. And if I had thought a little bit in advance, I could have convinced my friends at Honest Chops to hook it up. But I didn’t. And here we are. For this post, I took a page out of my research days, when, clueless about coding, I’d have to piece together bits from existing code, tweak it according to my data, and try to make some science! So I took a little from a recipe here, a recipe there, and badda bing badda boom. Definitely feel free to swap out the regular soy sauce for low-sodium. I served it here with rice, but I actually liked it better when it was shredded and wrapped in lettuce leaves. The cool, crisp texture and flavor of the lettuce worked perfectly with the slow cooked, soy sauce spiked flavor of the ribs. I used Sunny’s cooking technique with an adapted version of the Kalbi recipe below (I didn’t have an asian pear, and I wasn’t about to venture out into this torrential rainfall to get some). And I had to add chili flakes. Had to. I found by the end of the recommended 3 hours, the meat dried out a bit (that didn’t stop me from inhaling them). I did taste it at 2 hours, and it was tender enough. I would recommend for this amount of meat, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. And there is more than enough sauce. I actually used some of the leftover sauce to season some salmon. You can easily do 4 lbs of ribs in it.

Brisket Burgers

Fri, 05 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

For our third installment of HCxK3N (what? you don’t think it’s catchy?), we’re serving up some brisket burgers. Notorious for being overcooked, I’m sharing my experience in cooking these delicious burgers up. Don’t judge the placement of the cheese slice. It’s adjusted below.Just look at that caramelization!

And to give you some background, burgers are to Naureen as hunny is to ____. Pooh. The answer is Winnie the Pooh. Don’t judge my TV selections as of late. I LOVE burgers. But sometimes I wonder if I’m more about the burger fixins than the actual burger. For me the patty is more of a vehicle for the most wonderful combination of sauce, cheese, veggies and bread. I’m probably not supposed to be saying that but regardless I’m going to share with you the secret to keeping your burgers nice and juicy. The secret’s in the sauce. No it isn’t. I’ll be sharing my not-so-secret sauce recipe below.

Braised Lamb Shoulder

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Happy Turkey Day everyone! In honor of this national holiday, I’m posting about…lamb. I know, I know - ill timed. But, come this weekend, when you won’t be able to stomach another ounce of turkey or leftover cranberry sauce, you’re going to looking for a hearty, warming meal like this one. Now, most days are not braise days. Most days are mac and cheese from a box, or spaghetti aglio olio, or chicken curry days. I usually leave the braising of big cuts of meat (lamb shanks, shoulder, or short ribs) to the pros at my favorite Persian or Turkish or Afghan restaurants. But sometimes, you have to pull out the big guns. Visiting relatives. Someone got a raise, or maybe just got a year older. Or, perhaps you’re snowed in. Look at it just getting all cozy in its bed of tomatoes, onions and spices. When the occasion calls for a braise, the long, slow cooking of a piece of meat in order to render all of the fat and break down the muscle fibers to make for a tender, delicious meat, tomatoes and onions are my best friends. Many French or European recipes rely on the acidity of wine to get the job done. My mother and many on the Subcontinent might rely on green papaya as a meat tenderizer (strange, I know, but it works!). So, when deciding how to prepare this awesome lamb shoulder, I noticed most of the recipes in my cookbooks called for about 2 lbs cubed, boneless lamb shoulder (oops). Since this piece came bone-in, I decided to make the most of it! I love bones (it’s the Bengali in me). Since I don’t cook with wine or chicken stock for the most part, I rely on the bones in the meat I prepare to flavor the broth that it cooks in. I reviewed many different recipes before I went ahead with this one. It’s a conglomerate of all of them (cooking technique based loosely on Andrew Zimmern’s stovetop method, spice mix based on Gourmet’s Ras el Hanout recipe). I used my dutch oven for this - it retains heat really well and the inside of the top cover is lined with bumps that allow the moisture to drip down and baste the meat. Any large pot will do, though. You want to cook until the meat is tender and falling off the bone, but not so long that the meat will dry out (not to worry, there is a fairly large window of time between the two). After a cooking time of 1 1/2 hours, I took the meat out and shred it with a fork. During this time, I took the pot off the heat, and blended all the chunks in the cooking liquid with my immersion belnder to make a satiny smooth sauce. You can do this in your blender, in batches, or leave as is for a more “rustic” look. I left the meat immediately around the bone in tact, for presentation purposes, or for the Fred Flinstone in your family. I served this with couscous cooked in a saffron broth, and vegetables lightly sauteed with garlic and rosemary.

Mughlai Paratha

Fri, 21 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Mughlai paratha is a traditional flatbread they serve in Bangladesh. It’s a rich dough, stuffed with eggs, cilantro, onions, chili peppers and sometimes ground chicken. It’s pretty hard to track down a recipe. This post is a culmination of verbal consultation with my mother, taste testing at Bengali fast food joints, and YouTube research. It’s a little bit ridiculous, I know, because it’s not exactly a 30 minute meal. There are several steps, practice and patience required. But I figured with the upcoming holiday weekend, we all might have some extra time to get in the kitchen (it’s cold outside!), roll up our sleeves, and maybe even involve the kiddies (my little ones LOVE getting their hands on the rolling pin and dough whenever they can). Also, there will no doubt be lots of leftovers that would work perfectly as a filling for these guys. This baby has been in the pipeline for a looooooong time. I’ve been meaning to make it for ages. I’ve been experimenting recently, since I’ve been getting to know my rolling pin a bit better (hello, pie season). I’ve tried making it with pizza dough (which was delicious but resembled more of a calzone than a traditional mughlai paratha) and all kinds of ghee to flour ratios and cooking techniques (shallow fry, deep fry). And this is the glorious, delicious result! Yes, that is my Fresh Tinted Lip Balm on my kitchen counter. Where else would it be? I would love to add more filling. It would make the paratha even more delicious. But I err on the side of less filling just to avoid leakage and it running all over the pan. You, though, are at liberty to experiment with as much filling as you’d like!For those of you who aren’t familiar with ghee, it’s delicious. It’s butter that’s been melted, milk solids removed. You do that by melting a stick (or two) of butter in a small saucepan, allowing the solids to drop to the bottom, then utilizing the melted fat on top. It’s slightly nutty and has a higher burning temperature than regular butter, which is what makes it so great for this recipe (among others: pancakes, mashed potatoes, and so on). So I hope you guys give this recipe a try! And don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t come out super thin the first time. Practice makes perfect!

Easy Fried Rice

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Ever since I started cooking for myself, my taste for takeout has rapidly declined (pizza and sushi exempt). Take chinese takeout for example: when I was a kid, it was the ultimate treat. My Friday lunch if I used my allowance wisely. I’m not sure what you know about Bengali moms, but they are pretty militant in their meal regiment. Rice, vegetable saute/bhorta, some kind of protein curried, and daal. That is what you have for dinner, every night. Without fail. Every bengali kid who grew up here knows the struggle to have something different on the table (first world problems, I know). And the retorts that follow: “Eh? Pizza? How is that any kind of food? What with all that cheese…and they wonder why American kids are so fat!”. This is usually said as one or more uncles are stuffing their faces with beef or goat curry and are working away at a Mt Everest sized mound of rice on their plate.

Pastitsio

Wed, 16 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve already written about Pastitsio. But since it didn’t exactly get its close up last time, I figured it was time for a redo. Pastitsio, btw, is a baked pasta dish, layered with meat sauce, bechamel and parmesan (or kasseri). Even though there are a few steps (and several pots and pans) required to make this dish, the flavor is out of this world. It all started when I bought some ground lamb on impulse. Tired of chicken or beef or beef or chicken, I reached for the lamb. Then days passed as I’d open the freezer door, stare at it to figure out what I could do with it (meatballs, kebabs), then close the door again. Then I decided, it was time to remake this lovely casserole. I had to buy some ground beef anyway, as the combination of the two types of meat helps mellow the strong flavor of the lamb. The cinnamon and lamb is such an unlikely combination, but it just works. Along with the thyme, garlic and oregano, the aromatics perfume the whole house. This time though

Julia Child's Ratatouille

Wed, 09 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

So, I’ve renamed my blog! Kitchen3n.com is now your source for traditional Bangladeshi as well as updated American and Mediterranean recipes. Please spread the word!Also, we have a winner for our giveaway! Congratulations to @DistractedDebra on winning the $50 gift card to Sur La Table! Happy shopping!It wasn’t going to be long before I posted something from my copy of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking (thanks to the hubby for the perfect birthday present!). My first attempts were some of the omelettes, the techniques for which she describes in painstaking detail. I had always heard that eggs were to be cooked low and slow…but she cooks them over very high heat for just a few seconds. And with all kinds of jerking, shaking and flipping action. All of which I failed at, miserably. So, I tried my hand at the ratatouille. Mainly because I had most of the ingredients on hand (a little short on the green pepper so I subbed red pepper). Also, I’d never had ratatouille before and seeing as how I LOVE eggplant, didn’t mind trying it a new way. And yes, that is a ruler you see in the previous picture. She is very specific about cutting the eggplant and zucchini into 3/8 inch slices (if my zucchini looks funny, it’s because TJ’s ran out of regular zucchini and only had baby zucchini left). The total cooking time was 1.5 hrs (active). I’ve never spent that amount of time on a vegetable casserole. But I wanted to do something by the book, and I wanted to make sure I did it just right. I didn’t by the way. In the final cooking, after the vegetables are layered and are set over a low heat to mellow out for ~20 minutes, she says to take care not to scorch the vegetables on the bottom. I scorched the vegetables on the bottom. Like many others, I will probably be making my ratatouille in the oven from here on out. The main flavorings come from the slow stewing with the tomatoes, a little bit of parsley and garlic. I would probably remake in the summer, when the tomatoes are at their ripest and have a lot to offer to the dish.

Spinach and Tuna Sauté

Fri, 30 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Try to do a better job than I did with the onions.

This recipe is based off of one that my mom learned from our first hosts in American, way back in 1989 (listen up kiddos, fireside chat time). Of course, that one included all the usual spices found in Bengali curries (cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili powder). It was the perfect hybrid between American pantry basics and desi cooking. Props to Majumder Aunty for coming up with it! It’s great for so many reasons. Surprisingly flavorful for a straight-out-of-the-pantry dish. Really low budget. And quick. Frozen spinach is just such an all around winner. Always keep some in your freezer. So much easier to prepare than to rinse, cut, and cook fresh spinach, only for it to wilt down to nothing. And as per the tuna, I like the italian tuna packed in olive oil. So much more flavorful than the watered down chicken of the sea we used to have growing up. It’s amazing how much flavor tuna can impart on a dish when it’s not drowning in mayo and hiding in between slices of bread. I like to swap out the medley of spices for some freshly squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest. “Brightens up the flavor” as Giada would say. And because I made it kid friendly, I dialed back on the amount of chili flakes. My mom tosses in whole green chilis, but I rarely have those on hand. I did keep the coriander in there because I think it complements the lemon. But if you’re truly making something from the pantry, this dish would still taste great with just the garlic, salt and pepper. You can serve this with rice and daal. It would also be great on some crusty bread with a little bit of grated cheese (gruyere, fontina), pressed and served as a panini. It’s super versatile. Hope you try it out soon!

Olio, Aglio & Peperoncino

Tue, 25 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

For most people, the holy trinity means the Catholic theological doctrine of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. For those in the culinary world, it usually means carrots, celery and onion. But for me, it really is olio, aglio & peperoncino (oil, garlic and pepper). On busy weeknights, it is your best friend. Heat up some garlic and crushed red pepper flakes in a pool of extra virgin olive oil and you have the base for a flavorful, fast meal in minutes. Throw in cooked spaghetti, spinach, green beans, or broccolini. Or use it to dress up fish or chicken breasts before grilling. Remember to filter out the pieces of garlic and pepper, of course, otherwise it burns. Once you do that, the whole thing becomes a super versatile garlic and pepper infused oil.

Spaghettini with Cherry Tomatoes

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

By now you all know that consistency is NOT my middle name. I offer, not as an excuse, but as a simple explanation for my long absence the fact that I am just about to pop this baby out (of course that means posts will become even more intermittent once I am a fully sleep deprived zombie/mother of two). I have been relying on a combo take-out, mom’s cooking and trader joe’s prepared meals to get by.