And finally it all started....

I have always wanted to start writing about food and share my love for cooking. I have spend endless hours sitting in front of my laptop going through numerous blogs and recepies . To be honest I do not know much about the various methods of cooking, and am always at awe about the so many ways. But what I know for sure is that I love to cook and feed my people. I have culminated my love for cooking seeing my Amma (my paternal grandmother) cook  and tasting her food. Plus I have my two amazing Pishis and Kammi (aunties) who are I believe the best cooks in the world. I cook to experiment with new recepies whenever I have the time, & at times it is not edible (ask my sister). They cook everyday and every time it turns out to be mouth-watering and delicious.

So even with all the inspiration and ideas every time I sit to write something constructive nothing comes out. Finally I decided that I have to start from somewhere and what better way to start than giving you all a sneak peak at the Ganesh Chaturthi celebration at our home and all the yumm food cooked.

We Bengalis love to eat and for us festivals are another reason to eat tasty food and be happy.  At our house we all love our food and this is what we cooked on day1 for Bappa. We made steam modaks (recepie below) , Luchi (small fluffy fried breads or puries made with all purpose flour) , pointed gourd (potol or parwal in hindi) potato and pumpkin curry , ladoo and milk. In the evening my sister R made banana fritters (recepie below) for the phashad .

GANESH CHATURTHI AT OUR HOUSE IN MUMBAI  

The first batch of Modaks 

Banana Fritters made by my sister  R 

MODAK RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

1 cup rice flour

1 cup water

2 tablespoon ghee

150 grm grated coconut

A pinch of cardamom powder

50 grm jaggery 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon khuskhus

METHOD

Take water in a vessel and add 1 tablespoon ghee and the salt and bring to a boil. 

 Add the rice flour and stir for 30 sec and remove from heat.

Mix nicely with a thick spatula making sure that no lumps are left.

Knead the dough and keep aside.

For the Filling

In a frying pan add the rest of the ghee and add khuskhus and sauté for 30 seconds.

Add the jaggery and let it melt

Add the grated coconut and mix for 2-4 min.

Ensure that you don't overcook or the jaggery will harden and become stiff. This is what happened on my first attempt.

Add the cardamom powder and mix well.

Remove from heat and keep aside.

Now assembling the Modak

Apply water over your palm. Make small balls from the rice flour. Flatten the balls with your palms gently giving round shape. Ensure that the discs are neither too thick nor thin.

Put the coconut mixture in the middle and form pleats toward the edges or just get the edges together and close towards the top. 

The Modak should look conical from the top.

THE EASY WAY OUT  :: You can buy the modak moulds that you get in markets for 10/- for the small ones and shape your modaks. They look pretty and taste the same. It just saves a lot of time.

I have myself used the moulds for a non messy and faster way to make these tasty bites.

To steam the modaks , take  a steamer and if you don't have one like me , then simply take a big vessel and add water and bring to a boil. Place a slotted dish over the vessel. Arrange your modaks and steam them for 10-15 min depending on the size.

Serve them as offering to Lord Ganesh and then eat them because they taste best when warm and freshly made.

Banana fritters  RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

3 bananas

3 tablespoon sugar

3tablespoon grated coconut

Rice flour to bind it all in a mixture

Oil for frying

METHOD

In a bowl smash the bananas. Add sugar, grated coconut and rice flour and make a mixture.

Heat oil in a pan.

Now take small portions of the banana mixture and fry them till crisp from outside and well cooked inside.
This will take around 5 min on medium heat.

If you want to take an extra step, you can also dip these fried delights in sugar syrup like my sister R did. In that case don’t add sugar to the banana mixture.