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@sarchakra

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Bengali roots. Global flavours.
Recipes, memories & food stories
Recipe developer & food stylist | Miami
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Kaach kolar kofta, or green banana kofta curry. A familiar recipe from my blog, with a little change of direction today- a cashew and tomato gravy.

I also sautéed the kofta mixture before shaping it to cook off the excess moisture. It made a soft, rather stubborn mixture much easier to handle. You won’t always need that step- let the mixture guide you. Sometimes it’s ready to shape, sometimes it needs a little time in the pan.

The original recipe is on sarchakra.com
#sarchakra
#indianfoodiesquad #foodiesofindia #indianfoodbloggers #foodblogger by @sarchakra

Kojagori Laxmi Pujo calls for something sweet, so the rose and cashew laddus from my last post are followed by these date and nut rolls.

Ko jagorti? Who is awake? It’s the question associated with Ma Laxmi’s visit on tonight’s full moon night, when she is welcomed into Bengali homes with lamps, prayers and offerings. For my offering, cashews, pistachios, almonds and coconut sautéed in homemade ghee, then crushed and combined with dates and freshly ground green cardamom seeds. Shaped into logs, rolled in poppy seeds and refrigerated for 15 minutes before slicing into rounds.

Shubho Kojagori Laxmi Pujo. 🪔 #sarchakra #kojagorilokhipujo #kojagoripurnima #laxmipuja👣 #malaxmi by @sarchakra

Rose on the first bite. Roasted pistachio at the heart. Cardamom threading its way through both. 🌹 For this festive season, I made rose and cashew laddus with cashews, milk powder and sugar, scented with rose syrup and cardamom essence. Just a little milk brings everything together before I shape each laddu around a roasted pistachio filling. Delicate and floral gives way to warm and toasted, all in one small sweet.

Shubho Durga Puja, Happy Navratri, and warm wishes for the coming Dussehra and Vijayadashami to everyone celebrating. 🌺

May Maa Durga bless you with good health, courage when life asks much of you, and happiness that needs no special occasion. May there be good company at your table, time to savour what you love, and care coming your way as generously as you give it.

What’s the one sweet that tells you the festivities have truly begun?

#sarchakra #DurgaPuja #Navratri #RoseLaddu #indiansweets by @sarchakra

The perfect bite 🌶️
Chewy, savory, spicy… and that chili crisp. Just yum 😋- came for the chili crisp- stayed for the noodles. 🌶️🥢The noodles are sun-dried and fermented, almost like the sourdough of noodles, with 12g of protein and they’re vegan too. Use code sarchakra for a 10% discount on your purchase

But really… it’s that noodle pull. 😍

#sarchakra
@flybyjing
#PerfectBiteChallenge #noodlestagram #noodles🍜 by @sarchakra

Hear me out. I know I’m posting two desserts back to back, one traditional Indian and the other very Western, but honestly, they both deserve their moment. This chocolate torte is ridiculously easy, deeply chocolatey, and made with just a handful of ingredients. It is my go-to for dinner parties, last-minute desserts, or when a serious chocolate craving hits and I want something that feels indulgent without involving a long list of ingredients or too much fuss. It has just the tiniest bit of flour- the rest is eggs, dark chocolate, vanilla and sugar. Minimal ingredients, maximum flavor. Rich, fudgy and very hard to stop eating. This one’s been on the blog since 2022, just waiting for you to discover it. Have you tried it yet? #sarchakra #chocolatelover❤️ #chocolatetorte #yum #dessert by @sarchakra

Gajar ka Halwa was one of my father’s favorite sweets, and my mother made it often during the winter months when carrots were at their sweetest. Although it has now become a beloved dessert across India, it is rooted more in North Indian cuisine than in Bengali cooking, reflecting my father’s family heritage. My mother’s Gajar ka Halwa was never hurried. She believed the secret was patience. The carrots were left to slowly soften and reduce in full-fat milk until they became meltingly tender, long before sugar or ghee ever entered the pan. There were no shortcuts, no condensed milk, and certainly no pressure cooker. Time was the most important ingredient. Only at the very end would she stir in the sugar and ghee, allowing the halwa to develop its rich, glossy finish. A generous pinch of freshly ground green cardamom gave it that unmistakable Indian aroma, and into something deeply comforting. It was a dessert that filled the house with warmth, announced the arrival of winter, and always brought a smile to my father’s face. When I make this at home I use a slightly different recipe but the technique is the same. You start with the raw crunch of carrots and end with a deep, glossy orange mass. This dish is all about patience. But believe me, it’s worth it. Recipe is #onmyblog now #sarchakra #gajarkahalwa❤️ #gajarkahalwa #gajarhalwa by @sarchakra

What do I like to do with my RYZE Mushroom Coffee? I save mine for mid morning, just when I need a little reset. It helps me feel more energized so I can power through the rest of the day. A creamy, frothy latte finished with a light dusting of cinnamon takes just a couple of minutes to make. Check out the simple method below, and don’t forget to use my unique code for 15% off your order.

Method

Mix 1 tbsp RYZE Mushroom Coffee with 2 tbsp hot water, stirring until completely dissolved.

Heat 6-8 oz (180-240 ml) of whole milk or oat milk until hot but not boiling.

Froth the milk with a handheld frother or steam wand until it develops a light, silky microfoam.

Pour the frothed milk over the dissolved RYZE coffee.

Finish with a light dusting of cinnamon and enjoy.

Use the link in my bio to get 15% off your order. Use the code SARCHAKRA15 to get you 15% off any order.

@ryzesuperfoods #ryzeaffiliate #coffee #howiryze #sarchakra

Or shop directly here:
https://get.aspr.app/SH1paG by @sarchakra

Kathaler Bichir Dal- most people just toss jackfruit seeds without a second thought, which is honestly a shame - cooked and peeled, they turn into this wonderfully creamy, earthy dal that barely takes any effort. No cream, no cornstarch, nothing extra is needed. They mash down into a velvety texture that thickens the broth on its own, so you end up with something really comforting from just a handful of pantry staples. It’s the kind of frugal, no-waste cooking Bengali kitchens have always been good at - taking something most people throw in the bin and turning it into a dish that’s hearty, nourishing, and honestly pretty satisfying to eat. The best part is, it feels like way more effort went into it than actually did. This dish is so Bengali in spirit -take the thing most people throw away, and turn it into something you actually look forward to eating. Hearty, filling, good for you, and honestly? Kind of a little secret once you try it #sarchakra #kathalerbichi #bangali #indian #dal Recipe is on the blog now by @sarchakra

When Life Gives You Tomatoes (and No Mozzarella)

So here’s the thing about buying three crates of tomatoes at once -half of them were always going to end up as marinara, frozen and tucked away in the freezer for days exactly like this. I’d already made the pizza dough. Everything was going according to plan until I realized there wasn’t a shred of mozzarella in the fridge. But when you’ve already committed to homemade pizza, there’s no turning back, you don’t just give up, you improvise. So instead, I built a different kind of pizza. Sweet caramelized onions as the base (cooked low and slow until they’re basically jam), then meaty portobello mushrooms, garlic, spinach, plenty of cracked black pepper, with just enough salt. That frozen marinara finally got its moment and tied the everything together beautifully. Stretch the dough, pile on the toppings and crank your oven as hot as it’ll go -I did mine around 450-500°F. Ten to fifteen minutes later, the crust’s puffing up at the edges, going golden, and your kitchen smells like an actual pizzeria. The real magic happens right when it comes out: a drizzle of good olive oil, some freshly grated garlic, more black pepper, some oregano, and a generous amount of Parmesan on top. Non-negotiable. Turns out you don’t need mozzarella to make a pizza that hits. This beautifully crisp homemade pizza proves you don’t always need cheese to make something deeply satisfying
#sarchakra #homemade #pizza #yum #deliciousfood by @sarchakra

#sarchakra #foodphotography #foodie #yum #pizza by @sarchakra

This is a tribute to all the Indian mums who make preparing jackfruit look effortless. It’s also a tribute to every time I happily ate jackfruit in India, blissfully unaware of the sheer work involved in cutting through its thick skin, pulling out each golden bulb, and then washing and drying the seeds to be cooked later in a dal or curry.

Growing up, visits to my uncles’ homes were always special. One of my fondest memories is waking up to a tall steel glass of freshly made jackfruit juice that my aunt would prepare while calmly directing the farmhands to fetch fresh fish from the ponds for lunch. Their homes had grain reserves where sacks of rice and lentils harvested from their own land were stored for the year. Lunch would often be fish, freshly caught that morning, cooked alongside vegetables from the garden, with jackfruit and mangoes picked from the orchard. At the time, it all seemed perfectly ordinary. Looking back now, I realize what an extraordinary privilege it was.

A couple of times while living in Atlanta, I became ambitious enough to buy an enormous whole jackfruit. More often, though, I gratefully picked up the cleaned and chopped ones from the farmers’ market, letting someone else deal with the sticky battle. Minnesota taught me an expensive lesson. I bought a gigantic jackfruit from the farmers’ market, convinced it simply needed a few days to ripen. When I finally opened it, the entire fruit had rotted inside. Sixty dollars in the trash stung, I won’t lie. After that, I stuck to the safe option: pre-cut jackfruit.

Now I’m in Miami, a paradise for fruit lovers. Mangoes, lychees, jackfruit… if it grows in the tropics, chances are you’ll find it here. I wasn’t particularly optimistic about this one because when I bought it, it had absolutely no aroma. But patience paid off. A week later, I cut it open to reveal sweet, fragrant, perfectly ripe jackfruit. Yay. And yes, after spending nearly four hours wrestling with it, I have a whole new appreciation for every Indian mum who has ever made it look easy
#sarchakra #jackfruit #fruit #ñomñom #goodfoodisgoodmood by @sarchakra

Kaach Kolar Kofta Curry

There are many dishes that Bengali families grew up eating, though every home made it a little differently. A little bit of patience, spice and instinct makes this dish deeply satisfying. Raw bananas and potatoes are mashed with spices, shaped into koftas, and fried until golden before being added to a light curry. The koftas are soft and delicate inside with crispy golden edges and the thin gravy is light and aromatic, made to be mixed generously with hot rice. I rarely make these for guests because this is a deeply nuanced dish that takes time, patience, and care to prepare properly. It is not the kind of recipe that can be rushed. Every step, from seasoning the koftas to getting the texture just right, matters. And when something takes that much effort, you want it to be truly appreciated when served. So this dish falls into that category of recipes where, if you know, you know. The kind of dish that may look simple at first glance, but anyone who truly understands the time, balance, and care behind it will immediately appreciate what is on the plate #sarchakra

Kaach Kolar Kofta Curry – sarchakra

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#koftacurry #BengaliRecipes #bengalicuisine #kaachkolarkofta by @sarchakra