Payesh..the indian rice pudding ..the hack of all hacks

 A good payesh is paramanna or food for the gods , a bad payesh is dog food.  To avoid this slippery slope keep a tab on the milk to rice ratio. Ideally it is 1 liter of milk to 1 tea spoon of gobindobhog , any more and you end up with doodh bhat. Every puja Ma makes payesh from 4 liters of milk a day for the bhog. This is done the old fashioned way by boiling and reducing that massive quantity into a tiny bowl full and  if you see her right arm she has some serious muscles thanks to all the stirring. 

However , for a quicker fix without compromising on the taste, nestle invented milkmaid. 

Ingredients 

Milk : 1 liter , full fat

Rice: Gobindabhog rice or basmati if you don't have any other options, 1 tea spoon, yes you read that right

Sweetened condensed milk: 1 can 

Raisins: about 20

Cashew nuts: 15

Cardamom: 4

This is easy breezy. Pour the milk in a big non stick saucepan or wok. Add a teaspoon of thoroughly washed rice and bring to boil with cardamoms. Add condensed milk, the payesh will get its thickness and sweetness from this so no skimming on quantity. Keep stirring to avoid the payesh going all clumpy and sticking in the bottom of the utensil. Add the nuts and raisins and stir. You'd know when the payesh is done when the rice is cooked and the quantity of milk has reduced substantially. Payesh tends to thicken more once cooled so keep that in mind while serving. I like payesh served cold so I refrigerate it for a while. As a rule lick the spoon clean. 

Mangsher Chop ala Dida

This is my grandmothers signature dish . In most bengali households people have payesh for special occasions , we had mangsher chop. She would make about 40 at a time and we, a family of magicians, could make a truckload of these disappear in minutes. By her own admission this is my grandfathers recipe and technique which she has perfected over half a century. As soon as I knew that I was going home for the puja, I started pestering her to make these, however this time I decided to pitch in with the making instead of just the eating and the results were as follows. 

Ingredients to make 25

Minced mutton: half kilo . Mutton can be substituted with chicken, turkey, beef , and maybe even soyabean but why would you want to do that to yourself.
Potatoes : 1 and a half kilos of chandramukhi potatoes if you are in west bengal , anywhere else your local super market variety would have to do.
Onion : roughly 250 grams that is 4 tiny tot onions or 1 ginormous English onion , chopped fine.
Garlic: about 10 cloves chopped
Ginger paste : 2 tea spoon

Raisins : 20 , I didn't really count em
Green chillies : 4 , hotter the better
Powdered garam masala : one tea spoon
Salt : to taste
White oil : As per requirement, keep in mind that mutton gives out a lot of oil
Bread Crumbs: A packet,  about 250 gms.
Eggs: 2

Pressure cook the minced meet with 4 cloves of garlic , pinch of salt, and a tiny pinch of turmeric and a hof water for 5 mins or 5  whistles which ever is faster. After the steam settles open the lid and check if any of stock remains. Since the mince is being prepped as a filling the stock has to be dried out. 

In your favorite wok heat oil and cook the chopped onion. Add the rest of the chopped garlic when the onion turns translucent. Cook till the onion is golden then add the chopped green chilies and a tea spoon of the garlic paste and stir. Add the minced meat and cook further. Add all the raisins now. The mince might give out oil or fat but it is important to completely drain it out or you'll end up with soggy chops.  Sprinkle garam masala and remove from heat. 

Pressure cook or boil all the potatoes. its going to end up in a mash anyway so don't bother with finesse. to the mash potatoes add the rest of the ginger paste and salt to taste. As long as the mash isn't lumpy your good.

 The only finesse in chop making is required now . take a small heap of the mash on your palm and shape it to look like a bowl. Fill it with mince, making sure its enough to avoid the end result being a dhoper chop.Now gently bring the ends together then close close and flatten it to give it your preferred chop shape. In a bowl mix the egg white and yolk and dunk the chop in and then roll it on bread crumbs. Dida prefers to spread the breadcrumbs evenly on a newspaper. For reasons unknown , Oriya newspaper works the best.  Now in a wok , deep fry the chops till they are golden brown.

These chops tend to mysteriously disappear as soon as you put them down so keep a tab on the people who come into the kitchen under various pretenses.

Excuse the half bitten chop, I was hungry.

This is the bestest food in the whole wide world and for three glorious days I had it with toast for breakfast, with rice and daal for lunch, with ketchup for tea and with parathas for dinner. I wonder why I have gallstones?