Bwrma Bedor Wngkhree

Some Bodo terminologies :
1. Bwrma Bedor : Mutton
2. Wngkhree : Curry
3. Jabrang : A spice popularly known as Sichuan Pepper

Ingredients :

Mutton 500 g, cubed, washed and pat dry

2 potatoes halved or cubed 

Paste of : 2 onions+8 pods garlic+little ginger

Paste of : 1 tbsp cardamom+cinnamon+clove

1 tsp turmeric

Salt to taste

1 tsp chilly powder(green chilly can be a substitute)

3 tbs mustard oil

2 bay leaves 

powder of 4 or 5 jabrang 

A bunch of fresh coriander, chopped

Method : 

Heat oil fry all ingredients till light brown, leaving aside mutton and potato.

Add mutton and potato, fry for some more time.

Pour 2 cups warm water and cook covered. Can be pressure cooked. 

Check salt. Gravy should be thick. 

Garnish with fresh chopped coriander and serve. 

Mughlai Paratha

Ingredients :
1. 250 g flour
2. 1 egg
3. 1/2 tsp baking powder
4. 1/2 kg ghee
5. 1 tsp sugar
6. 1/4 tsp salt
7. Warm water to requirement

 Method : 

Mix flour, 2 tbsp ghee, sugar, salt and baking powder well. 

Add egg and warm water(little at a time) and knead. Knead to get an extra soft dough. Keep the dough covered with a moist soft cloth for around 3 hours.

Take little ghee on your hand and go on kneading making 4 portions. 

Make balls and roll out quite thin like a roti. 

Smear ghee on the surface and sprinkle flour on it. 

Make a slit starting from the centre to the edge with the pointed knife. 

Go on rolling the roti, shaping like a cone and press between your palms to form a ball again. 

Roll out, but quite thick this time. 

Fry on tawa/pan with ghee. 

Mughlai Paratha is best to serve/eat with Mughlai Chicken. 

Nathoor Jwng Aloo Jwng

Nathoor Jwng Aloo Jwng (Shrimp with Potato)

A few Bodo terminologies :
1. Nathoor : Shrimp
2. Aloo : Potato
3. Jwng : With
4. Phoorannai : Smoked (Clean, wash and sun dry Shrimp for about an hour. Smoke over a fire spreading the Shrimp on a bamboo sieve which is suspended at a height with sticks. Keep stirring and turning so that the Shrimp is evenly smoked and do not get burnt.

Ingredients :

1 cup smoked Shrimp.  

Paste of : 1 onion+6 pods garlic+little ginger

Salt to taste

Turmeric to taste 

2 or 3 chillies (to taste), chopped 

3 tbsp mustard oil

2 medium potatoes, cubed 

2 medium tomatoes, chopped lengthwise 

Fresh coriander for garnishing

Method : 

Stir fry Nathoor in little oil with salt and turmeric, remove. 

Heat rest of the oil, fry paste and chilly. When pale brown, put in the tomato, salt and turmeric. Fry till done and add potato. Fry for a while, pour 2 cups of water. Cook covered, stirring occasionally. 

When potato is half cooked, add Shrimp. 

If required add some more water, cook covered. Check salt and gravy. 

Garnish with fresh coriander and serve.

This above picture is of a dish made of Thadoon (Root of Taro) with Smoked Shrimp (Nathoor gwran or Nathur gwran). Check Recipe  for the method of cooking.

Prawn Curry

During May-June, these river (Brahmaputra) prawns are available in the markets of Guwahati. They taste great cooked any way. Here is one way of preparing which my family loves.

Ingredients : 
                           6 prawns, shelled
                           paste of 1 onion+5 pods garlic+1 tsp mustard seed
                           1fresh green chilly, chopped (can be substituted by red chilly powder)
                           1 tomato, skinned and chopped
                           salt and turmeric to taste
                           a few fresh coriander leaves
                           few tbsp refine oil
Method : Smear prawn with salt and turmeric. Light fry and keep aside.
                       Heat oil, fry paste and green chilly. Add salt, turmeric. Add tomato when the paste turns brown. Fry till it turns deep brown and leaves sides of the pan. Pour water, stir well and drop the prawn. Cook covered till the gravy thickens.
Prawn turns hard if over cooked. Therefore, care should be taken while cooking or frying. While cooking this particular recipe, prawn can be dropped in the curry without frying before.
Serve garnished with fresh coriander leaves.

                       

Kathali Chapa / Kordoi

This is a delicious Assamese sweetmeat. Some call it Kathali Chapa(Champa) yet, others call it Kordoi. 

Kathali Chapa
Pic courtesy: internet

                                                                                         Kanak Chapa 

                                                                                  pic courtesy : Sudhin Dutt

                                                                                            Kathali Chapa 
                                                                                    pic courtesy : Sudhin Dutt

No wonder it is called so as the sweetmeat is made exactly like the flower 'Kathali Chapa'. 

Kordoi

Pic courtesy: internet

It is also called Kordoi as it looks like the Starfruit, known as Kordoi in Assamese.
It is popularly known as Elo-Jhelo too. 

Ingredients : Makes 26 Kathali Chapas 

                             For the dough :

                           1. flour 250 g

                           2. refine oil 4 tbsp

                             For sugar syrup :

                           1. sugar 1 and half cup

                           2. water 3 cups

                             For frying :
                           1. refine oil 400 ml

Method :

             Knead flour and refine oil well. Add water, little at a time and knead till the dough turns soft. Make small portions, roll out like puri. With a pointed knife cut the sides and make long slits like the above picture. Take the puri and press the top and bottom with your fingers. 

Heat oil and deep fry the Kathali Chapas, 2 or 3 at a time in low/medium heat. 

Boil sugar and water for the syrup. Keep stirring it, occasionally removing the scum that forms on top. The syrup should neither be too watery nor too sticky. 

Put in 3 or 4 Kathali Chapas at a time in the sugar syrup turn several times and remove. 

While doing this after several batches the water dries up from the sugar syrup. Put some water, stir and heat for some time till you get the same consistency again. 

Delicious and beautiful Kathali Chapas are ready to serve with a cup of tea. 

They can be stored for several days.