Festive Bengali breakfast:
Light lunch, finger-food and in-betweeners:
Soups and salads:
Rice and noodles:
- Hinger kochuri -- puris stuffed with asafoetida-seasoned biuli daal.
- Daalpuri -- puris stuffed with flavoured chholar daal.
- Koraishutir kochuri -- kochuri/puri with a lightly-flavoured green pea filling.
- Aloo paratha -- parathas stuffed with seasoned potatoes.
- Sattu paratha and tikka -- parathas with a sattu/chhatu filling, seasoned with pickle-oil, chopped onions, green chilies, and lime juice.
Light lunch, finger-food and in-betweeners:
- Summer fruits I -- ripe golden papaya, sliced and frozen.
- Summer fruits II --watermelons: sliced, freshly-squeezed in a glass, and frozen in a bowl for dessert.
- Indian toast -- not like French toast!
- Dahi vada -- little steamed or fried buns made of ground daal, soaked in a tangy-sweet yogurt sauce.
- Goan fried potatoes -- potato roundels coated in a tangy-spicy marinade and semolina, and toasted.
- Grated cheese in extra-virgin olive oil -- an excellent dip for bread, especially cheese-on-toast.
- Cheese toast -- Just the cheese toast.
- Cheese pakora -- grated cheese in a seasoned flour and milk batter and fried in little dollops.
- French fries.
- Nimki -- flavoured flour, deep fried as little hexagons.
- Jhaalmuri II (made in Calcutta) -- muri, chopped vegetables, chanachur, lime juice.
- Jhaalmuri I (made in Boston) -- wheat puffs, chopped vegetables, lime juice, salt.
- Daal er bora -- crunchy puffs made with lentil-paste batter.
- Vegetable chop -- seasoned vegetables mashed, shaped, and deep-fried or baked.
- Leftover samosa -- leftover vegetables put into a pastry and fried/baked.
- Vegetable momos -- Tibetan dumplings with a vegetable filling, steamed (and fried, if you like).
- Vegetarian pizza -- tomatoes, fried sweet onions, cheese, and cilantro for kicks.
- Cheese-baked winter vegetables -- a variant of shepherd's pie, with a piquant cheese sauce.
Soups and salads:
- Easy salad recipes -- I disapprove of salads. But if you must have it...
- Tangy Green Sprout Salad -- sprouted gram/lentils in a yummy tangy dressing.
- Versatile bean soup -- a lightly-spiced red kidney-bean soup, that can be with or without meat, thick or thin, hot or mild, depending on what you're in the mood for.
- Daal makhni -- daal transformed into a thick, savoury, butter-flavoured soup. Red kidney-beans and chholar daal.
- Mushur daal I -- lightly-flavoured thin red-lentil soup.
- Mushur daal II -- mushur/masoor daal cooked with tomato and onions, bursting with flavour.
Rice and noodles:
- Pea polau -- pulau made with fresh, sweet peas and basmati rice.
- Khichuri (the original khedgree) -- a far cry from the terrible English kedgree, this is a one-pot dish of rice, toasted daal and vegetables, flavoured spices sautéed in ghee, and tomatoes for the tangy undercurrent.
- Thukpa (Tibetan noodle-soup) --
- Green noodles -- lots of green in a thick broth, with noodles in.
- Onion soup with noodle.
- Chowmein, Indian-Chinese style -- 'nuff said.
- Towards a healthier Ramen --I don't recommend this. But if you must eat instant noodles, eat it like this.
- Bengali comfort food.
- Kopir dNatar chochhori -- cauliflower stalks in a light stir-fry.
- Aloo matar paneer -- fresh cottage cheese, potatoes and green peas in a light red tomato gravy. Vegetables, colour, protein and warmth -- just what the doctor ordered for winter.
- Roasted cauliflower -- whole cauliflower or large florets roasted in a thick, spicy yougurt base.
- Aloor chochhori -- tomato-flavoured potato stir-fr.
- Shada torkari -- potato curry cooked completely without spices, in oil tempered with cumin.
- Aloo-matar (spicy peas and potato stew) -- diced potatoes, cottage cheeseand peas in a tomato-flavoured, lightly-spiced gravy. Perfect winter soup or curry.
- Aloo posto (potatoes in poppy-seed paste) -- potatoes cooked in poppy-seed paste.
- Begoon-powra (fire-roasted brinjals) -- fire-roasted brinjals (aubergines/egg plants), seasoned with onions, green chilies, salt, touch of sugar, and mustard oil.
- Palonger torkari (spinach with mixed vegetable) -- chopped spinach with mixed vegetables.
- Mochar ghonto (curried banana flower) -- Banan-flower with potatoes, optional flavouring of coconut.
Condiments and extras:
- Mint chutney -- chutney made with mint leaves, coriander leaves, tamarind and green chilies.
- Sweet tamarind pickle -- tamarind cooked in jaggery over slow heat, flavoured with ground spices for that extra kick.
- Tangy-sweet Yogurt -- flavoured thick yogurt in a cup. Or a tall glass, if you like.
- Hot chocolate -- the eternal winter favourite.