Achari Baingan (Eggplant curry with pickle spices)

aingan or eggplant, might not be the favorite of all, but is definitely a favorite of few and in that category comes my dearest hubby... both are thick pals :) He just loves them (I call him eggplantaholic - lol..:)) and can't get enough. He can eat it every single day and in all its forms. Before we got married I didn't detest this vegetable but it was definitely not my favorite. Now, I always try different ways to make eggplant and this was one of the few dishes I made for him after we got married. He was mighty impressed and was hooked big time. Now he ALWAYS makes me buy the baby eggplants from the store and to make this :)
It is basically a tangy and spicy dry curry flavored with traditional indian pickle masalas.  The panch phoran is the secret behind  the unique flavor in this dish as it imparts the awesome achari flavor to the oil when heated and infuses a very distinct aroma and taste to the dish. Panch Phoran is a spice mix used in Eastern Indian cuisine (Bengali cuisine) and is a mix of the five whole spices – nigella seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and cumin seeds all in equal quantities. Panch is Five in hindi and Phoran is Spice seasoning, so it literally means five spice seasoning. This spice mix can be used with any kind of vegetable stir fry/roasted vegetables. Just put them in hot oil till the mustard seeds splutter, so as to release the aroma of the spices. Add any vegetables you want, stir fry, serve. It really is as simple as that. I have already posted Achari Aloo and Achari Paneer so here is the eggplant version.

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Chhena Payesh - USMasala hits 200 !

ES!!! I am writing my 200th post!!! At the risk of sounding cheesy I can not help but say - I cannot believe it. It almost feels like I started only a couple of days ago and only yesterday I was congratulating myself for my 50th. What amazes me even more is that I have been blogging only for just about ten short months. Do your math, with about 20 posts a month, I believe I can safely conclude about myself 'I love to cook'.
Over and above all, I am totally and completely amazed at the response USMasala gets from my readers. You make me feel all warm and fuzzy with all your encouragement, so a big Thank You to you all. My stats tell me how immensely loved my site is. It is very humbling and makes me more passionate about what I love doing. It has been out and out an joy-ride. It is such a great feeling to touch someone's life in anyway - help in a certain way - someone somewhere in some part of the world, an unknown stranger who suddenly becomes a very familiar name and face.
I'm not kidding when I say that food blogging has changed my life in ways I never imagined. The most important thing is it has taught me is that you follow your passion and the everything else will follows. Another big thing is to admire the simplest things in life- a food-photo that comes out well, an experiment that succeeds, a thoughtful comment left on a post. The creativity, thinking, writing, history, everything.

Hubby deserves a special mention. Between tasting my dishes, taking awesome pictures and being my 24 x 7 technical support, he is the one who keeps the show going :) Thanking him would actually diminish the value that he adds to my efforts.

To all my readers - Thank you for being a part of my life and letting me and USMasala be a tiny part of your lives. Love you all!

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Beetroot cutlets

utlets is a famous street food that is found almost all over India, with minor differences in ingredients here and there. It is often overshadowed by its close and notoriously famous cousin, the Samosa. I personally have always preferred these over the samosas. Whenever I think of them, I go back to my college days and to my college canteen, they served the meanest cutlets.. they were to die for.. yum! Hubby also remembers it as his favorite street food from his home town. An absolute favorite with everyone, they are very versatile too; serve them with some ketchup or chutney as an appetizer or for a change, stuff them inside a bun and it morphs into an amazing veg burger and a quick fix meal. You can also serve them as chaat with some chhole and chutney and enjoy the compliments. They can be made using different vegetables or whatever you have in your refrigerator (except I think the beets are a must, its a beet cutlet after all ;) Perfect for a rainy day they are addictive.

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Aloo Bhaji/bhunjiya and Ajwain Paratha

After a dash of the exotic, its time to have something that is closer to home and to the heart... and when you talk about close to home you often think of simple things that mom made that you enjoyed growing up.

You may find this a little unusual but the thought of this dish puts me on a train with my family... the train speeding through the country and I find myself sitting on the lower berth (after of course having fought with my brother for the window seat) with my gaze fixed outside staring at the lush green crop fields that race past us and the warm yet cool breeze rushing in as we wait for the train to take us to our destination... then you are suddenly pulled out of the trance by the loud sound of your name... thats mom demanding we get together as it was lunch time... and there it is... she opens her tote bag and pulls out a couple of boxes. Wrapped in tinfoil in those boxes are these wonderful flat breads and the awesome dry potato curry. The already beautiful breeze is now filled with the wonderful aroma of the roasted fennel and carom seeds from the bread and the potatoes.

Mom almost always made these as lunch and as dinner when we traveled. She claimed they stayed nice and fresh even after being packed for several hours... and fresh they were... gone in minutes. Of course I didn't think much of it those days... after all that was mom and this is what she always made, right? ... aah... the things we take for granted...

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Rasgulla

The holi month of 'saawan' usually falls during the month of August. This month is considered auspicious and many people offer prayers and observe fasts to worship Lord Shiva. As do I. I observe fasts on the Mondays of the month and visit the local temple. During my fasts I avoid certain ingredients like salt, onions, garlic, grains. The diet typically consists of sweets and fruits. I have done this since my early school days but after getting married, my husband offered to join me so now we both observe fast together (that is so sweet of him *blush*)... the only problem... while I don't have a sweet tooth and pretty much eat fruit during my fasts, he loves sweets... and sweet stuff usually contains flour (which is grain) Had made gajar halwa, singhade ka halwa and sabudana kheer several times .
Saawan this year started a couple of weeks back, so in my search to make him a sweet which can be consumed during fasts, I found this great recipe in my bookmarks to make the evergreen and popular indian sweet 'rasgulla'. I had bookmarked it some time back from Manjula's site. She has a great recipe which is well explained, easy to follow and the result was fabulous. The only change I made was adding a little cardamom powder in the syrup as I think it makes sweets taste a little better.
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Jhal muri

Growing up, my summers out of school were mostly spent at my grandparents'. Among many other things that I used to look forward to, the train ride was definitely one of them and the amazing jhal-muri the vendors used to sell on that route. Even today, whenever I think of jhal-muri, I get nostalgic about those train journeys...

Jhal is spicy in bengali and muri is puffed rice, a very famous street food in kolkata and around the area. Spicy and addictive. I personally think it as one of the healthier among all street foods as it is not something fried and also consists of sprouts which we all know is very healthy. Also very easy to make when you have all the ingredients at hand.

This is one of my most favorite snacks. I can just have jhal-muri for lunch! (have done it several times :D)

Here goes my recipe for Jhal-muri.

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Vegetable chop

Vegetable chop or roll is a famous street food that is found almost all over India, with minor differences in ingredients here and there. Whenever I think of them, I go back to my college days and to my college canteen, they served the meanest veg chops.. they were to die for.. yum! Hubby also remembers it as his favorite street food from his home town. An absolute favorite with everyone, they are very versatile too, serve them with some ketchup or chutney as an appetizer or for a change stuff them inside a bun and it converts into a amazing veg burger and a quick fix meal. You can also serve them as chaat with some chhole and chutney and enjoy the compliments. Can be made using different veg.. or whatever you have in your refrigerator (except the beets which I think is a must). Perfect for a rainy day they are addictive. They are best deep fried (and its okay once in a while :-).
I once made this for my hubby's office potluck (over 70 of these) and he tells me they were the first ones to go, he was very proud :-)
Here's how I make it.

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