CURRY AND SPICE

Aloo Tikki is something I am acquainted to since I was this small. In Kolkata, aloo tikki is usually served alongside ghugni as a chaat. Giant sized iron skillets and atop it aloo tikki and ghugni cooking. The ghugni was pre cooked, it was tempered and garnished on the skillet when the customer ordered. The mother thing never allowed us to have roadside food till we were at school. Once in college, we got some freedom and spread our wings. Our college was located amidst a number of eateries .... Capri.... the Indo - Chinese joint where we tasted Bengali style chilli chicken for the first time. There was a cafeteria serving coffee and mendu vada, idly and dosa, dahi vada .... we were regular at that.... Sanatan dar "roll er dokan." ..... Basanta Cabin selling mouthwatering fish fry with kasundi and onion rings .... though I do not know whether it is the branch of the famous one in College Street or not.... and then there was this aloo tikki seller who did full justice to it. We were frequently seen at this joints, at times we packed them and enjoyed them sitting at the college lawn. We were a naughty gang and not as good and studious as the girls of the college located just opposite ours.... they were Bethune-ites who looked at us as step or half brothers and sisters. Yes, we were a notorious gang of Scottish Church College. It had a very enriched history with a big number of distinguished personalities graduating from there since the British era. It lost its pride in the 80's and 90's allowing admission to hooligans like us.... now I hear it is reviving its past glory. Some of us friends visited our college back in 2013... it was a total nostalgia .... I am deadly against any kind of make over of the building. Years before that in 2008 I took my little boy to my college.... see this is mumma's college. It was a saturday evening, I accidentally bumped on "Chipu da".... our book store supplier where we got books and note books at cheaper rates. Oh God how some of us irritated him not paying for the books in time. We took no time to hug each other with teary eyes ..... "Chipu da kyamon achish?"..... forgetting we are grown ups and married with kids. Does this male - female thing matter when it comes to friendship? That is when I ask the boys gang of college to arrange for an outing on my next visit assuring them you can take your wives. The daddy thing ditched in between, so it has to be postponed.

If I am talking about our college, our pride today, I felt I should talk about Anindya Chatterjee of the famous Bengali Band "Chandrabindu." If he and his team has taken Bengali music to few places in the world, as an old time friend I should clap for him. I am not that kind of a person who will say oh Anindya.... we were best of friends in college and shared our lunch everyday. No, it was not like that. He was a year senior to us and we were just friends who chatted everyday if our off periods matched. His wife I see a Bong beauty.... a journo by profession. In college his eyes were stuck into another beauty.... daughter of a Kashmiri mother and Bengali father doing physics honours. She was too mild, pure and studious, and I could not help him anyway. Jokes apart, Anindya had excellent command over Bengali, no wonder he will write the lyrics of his songs. I remember he used to say I do not wish to go for a 9-5 job, I will do something else. They were four or five friends who took part in skits and extempore and would ask some of us to go and cheer for them when they went to different colleges.... Calcutta Medical.... RG Kar... National Medical.... Presidency.... Vidyasagar or elsewhere.... we did comply skipping our classes. I remember Upal.. one of the band member was from science department and I knew him by face only.... I was closer to Anubrata of physics and Sanjay too but the last two did not join the music band. Chandril.... now a band member and a journo was an excellent orator too and used to come from City college as a competitor of Anindya. They became friends later. I had a misunderstanding with Anindya later over a silly issue ..... one day I had to follow the trail to his Sahitya Parishad Street home to drop a letter in their letter box on behalf of a dear someone. Anindya thought the girl in question was me and was not very kind about it. As of me I could or can never disclose the name so long I am alive. I know if I meet Anindya in a concert we will smile at each other and request for an autograph. Last year he came with his band to this island but I missed as we were touring Europe. Some of my dear friends are still close to him, we need to plan something. As of me, I had a couple of crushes while in college, but then I did not feel the drive within to go and talk and settle for something. I had to call my senior to my college and ask take a look at that boy, does he look dependable? He used to get angry.... how do I know, how can I decide for you S? I stepped backwards, I knew they cannot give me 100% commitment. Yes, I have commitment phobia.

Why did I say all these in the above para - phrase? I have a message to convey ..... give your passion some time and love even if you are not willing to take a risk or be able to become as successful as Anindya. Secondly, hold hands only when you can trust and fully depend on a person. With doubts in mind we cannot do justice to any relationship. Life is definitely not only about running around the trees and singing songs. I keep my fantasies active to fulfil that area .... To girls in their 20's ... not so attractive .... you do not need to stoop low to seek attention .... focus on what can take you to new heights, find strength in your potentials. Grilled Pineapple and Matar Aloo Tikki post is not something where I should talk about Anindya and his band..... the excellent aloo tikki seller then took me there ..... I also have buddies .... non Bengali speaking, vegetarian who said S... your boris look good. I have to express my gratitude to them. Then some friends are touring Europe and eating grilled stuffs .... ok I wish to walk together with them .... then some butterflies are flying around in multiple colour tones..... so let us add some colour to the post .... let us take everyone in. What do I wish? Well..... who bothers? I do take care of myself cooking some mutton curry and paratha or ilish and rice for myself..... wearing a white and black combination of handloom cotton with antic silver jewelry ..... I know I look best when I am me.... rest are all made up because I only preach rise above yourself. You can prepare this yummy, healthy starters hassle free. In fact your kids can do it for you, I love watching them constructively engaged in cooking, painting, reading, dancing, singing besides studying.

You can do them in skewers, I find this method easier. I do not have griller and do all grilled stuffs in convection mode.

Let us get the Aloo Matar tikki ready to be grilled.

INGREDIENTS :
Potato : 3-4 medium sized
Green Pea : 1/2 small cup
Black Pepper : 1tsp
Green Chilli : 2 slitted
Aamchur Powder : 1tsp [dry mango powder]
Chaat Masala : 1tsp [assorted spice powder]
Salt : As Required
Melted Butter : 1-2 tbsp

METHOD :

Pressure cook 3-4 medium sized halved and washed potatoes in enough water up to one whistle.

Once cold peel of the skin and mash well adding salt, chaat masala, black pepper and aamchur powder.

Add the green peas and 2tbsp melted butter. Fold in gently.

Prepare balls or tikkis taking out small portions. They are ready to be grilled.

Let us get the pineapple ready to be grilled.

INGREDIENTS :

Pineapple : 1medium
Tandoori Masala : 2tsp [I use Everest]
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Lemon Juice : 1/2small cup
Oil : 1tbsp

METHOD :

Peel the pineapple properly and wash. Cut half lengthwise.

Cut further into smaller cubes. Marinate with tandoori masala, red chilli powder, oil, salt and lemon juice. Keep marinated for 1/2 an hour.

Arrange the marinated pineapple cubes and aloo tikki on your grill plate. Place it atop the tool.

Grill one side for 8 minutes. Check.

Turn over and grill for another 5-6 minutes.

They are done, enjoy fresh with your choice of salad, dip, chutney.

Well this was my final call on today's post after juggling with quite a few. Ask me why? I am just that way... whimsical and the master of my own mind. I decided on this universally accepted potatoes on a bed of red and white chequered mat .... a lip smacking mint - coriander chutney to accompany with a touch of blue far there. S what happened...... no South Asian / Indian / Bengali this week? Why these people do not eat western or what? Do not under estimate us, we can can lah. So far I am concerned I go for easy ones, do not expect a shepherd's pie from me. Even if I nail it some day, you will see this primitive fat old Bengali lady adding some chopped green chillies to the the shepherd pie before eating. Some chopped onion and coriander leaves will also work fine.... I mean I will end up preparing a shepherd pie chaat for myself..... ' thora woh cheese hatao our laal mirch dalo' .... I am that kind of a desi who cooks 'dhonepata bata shim' broad beans in coriander paste sitting far off from home in the kitchen of another home. Hola my expert counterparts, I can also cook 'lau chingri', 'loitta shutkir bhorta', 'chyachra', 'tatka loter jhuri''mutton dopiaza' and 'curry chicken-the island way too.'Always remember I have many other people to deal with, a mariner or his wife has friends and acquaintances worldwide. Not always the wifey wishes to show love to anyone or everyone.

My friend Bianca Castafiore would be sad if I blog on chaat today. She is among very few who thinks S is not so bad looking.... hahaha. Then some of the dear people are potato lovers whom Bianca loves too. So why not try some guilt free potato as yum snacks or appetisers. Besides, some dears are touring Santorini, Paris, Venice and sending beautiful pictures. Been jealous is not my forte, the best way I can call them back home is with some lemony, yummy, herbed grilled potatoes.... haha. My most favourite Bengali actor, Oscar winning Ray's 'akhon ke noor' Soumitra Chottopadhay receives France's highest award... the Legion D' Honneur? or Honour . I fell for him after watching Apur Sangshar .... one of Ray's famous trilogy.... available in youtube perhaps. I do not know whether this is the right post to talk about him or not, but this actor per excellence is my heart throb from child hood till date. More about him in a fish and rice post may be. I got too busy this week buying gifts for the family.... these idiots do not allow me beyond the airport gate if I do not..... haha. In reality, they know I love gifting people however small it is. Money never counts when it comes to a gift. With time really an important factor, I selected this easy and quick appetiser to be cooked together with you and shared. I prepared it for few visiting friends. My very beautiful dancer friend Nibedita Chottopadhay who specialised in kathak form, a choreographer too said she loved it. Whatever comes or whoever tries any damn thing.... this couple is or will remain very special to us. I have seen some people have very wrong habit of creating damage in relationship, I believe they have something really wrong about themselves. You see staying at home is by choice. Call us when you need us or we need you, I do not have time to indulge in all these non-sense. I sit at home but can sense what goes around, come on not so dumbo either.

INGREDIENTS :
Baby Potato : 250gm
Chopped Parsley : 1tbsp
Chopped Coriander : 1tbsp
Dried Mixed Herbs : 11/2tbsp [I use the FunFood one]
Salt : As Required
Black Pepper : 1tsp
Lemon Juice : 2-3 tbsp
Olive Oil : 2-3tbsp

METHOD :

Wash the potatoes with skin on. Prick all over of each with a fork. Place on a plate and microwave at high for 3-4 minutes. Let cool. Peel off the skin. Marinate with chopped parsley, coriander, dried mixed herbs, salt, black pepper, lemon juice, olive oil. Keep aside for at least 1 hour.

Place atop the grill tool.

Grill for 6-8 minutes depending on your machine.

Turn over the baby potatoes gently and grill further for 5 minutes. They are done.

They are crisp outside and soft inside, ready to served and finished immediately. Enjoy! We enjoyed with a mint-coriander chutney.

This is my summer assignment to all the kids.... known ..... unknown. You do not need to know a kid to love them. It just comes naturally. My senior is a better person to talk on this matter. At their home I have seen a couple of neighbourhood kids growing up ..... from morning till night playing, eating, sleeping. I am not a good daughter-in-law to them, neither they are perfect to me. A perfect situation cannot happen perhaps, then there would not have been any term like 'swargey jaoa'..... going to heaven. I have no guilt or regret for not been able to say publicly.... aww you know I love my in-laws so much... more than my own parents. I am a very poor actor. I know I am doing my duty well. I do not have the silly habit of patting my own back, I believe it is for other's to say.... yet I wish to say that if I could trust my paa-in-law so much so that I kept all my financial papers with him, at times even blank cheques, I know I am on the right track. I respect his dedication and sacrifice for his family and the Communist Party but I cannot accept his patriarchal mental set up. Keeping with the majority of the society, they expected me to leave my parents and be their's totally. I am unable to give in to that, neither do I believe in or support strict rules imposed on widows of any age. My men lives with an 'impossible to tame woman'.... they deserve dessert every now and then. I do not bother even if my man's sister is reading this.... she is very matured and a daughter-in-law herself, never fuelled her mom and dad against me...... so she deserves from her S di..... what? My stupid brother kisses her mother and sister right in front of his wifey.... the poor girl smiles and runs from pillar to post to settle our daddy's property... what gift is awaiting for her from didibhai?..... well gifts are best as a surprise.

However are my in-laws to me, they are mine. They have lot of good deeds to their credit. The foremost is that they are helpful to others and have done a lot for people and extended family once with very limited financial resource. They loved kids, perhaps from them their son picked up this attribute. Kids are so comfortable and happy with my man who manages them pretty well. I so much wished for a second child, a daughter to be precise. He said we have so many around as our friend's and relative's and each time I said, he came up with a personal finance chart.... me too is living with a terrible person. Jokes apart, we could not take a firm decision on it for a couple of reasons. Do you know I prepared this sweet just in the morning and wished to blog on it immediately..... for a couple of reasons.... my grand mom is touring 'Jairambati' and 'Kamarpukur'.... with her three daughters. They are holy places for us and 'ailaaa... kya baat'.... grandma too did 'Mangalchandir Uposh' on tuesdays and whenever I was there, I enjoyed a bowlful of 'shaboo makha'.... tapioca pearls mixed with sandesh, shredded coconut, mango, banana, milk and sugar. It is also a holy month for many others .... I get a bit tired on the next day of fasting, I respect those who are doing it for a month..... there is no wrong if you sooth your mind and body with this yum dessert. I have a message also for those who consider touring or staying abroad..... is a crime..... come on they have earned it in a hard way shedding a lot of sweat. If tomorrow you get a chance you will not spare time to go .... learn to appreciate people..... and yes I will always praise the country I stay...... from time to time.... besides other reasons.... on my night run day I went to the race ground at an unearthly hour of the night.... ALONE.... praising the good in others does not demean my own. We are more of a nationalist...... we earn foreign currency for our motherland. Finally, I dedicate this post to the angels of the world.... THE KIDS.... rest each one of us have a satan living within. Come angels, let us prepare this instant, easy, melt in the mouth cool dessert at the comfort of our home. Ask your parents to make good use of leftover things..... I did it with leftover... a little of this and that.

INGREDIENTS :
Ice-Cream - Any Flavour [I used vanilla-chocochip]
Paneer - 100gm
Condensed Milk : 1/4medium cup

METHOD :

Take the ice-cream and cubed paneer in a mixer. Pulse for 30 seconds or so.

Take the ice-cream in a bowl and lightly crumble.

Add the mashed paneer and condensed milk to the ice-cream. Lightly mix. You can add little cardamom powder to the mix if you wish.

Transfer to individual bowls and freeze for half an hour. Serve chilled.

Chutneys .... Pickles.... condiments are a part of our lunch and dinner. As I have said earlier in similar posts that we have chutney to end a meal. Though, that elaborate cooking affair starting with a shukto and ending up with a chutney is not so much in practice today, many of us do elaborate cooking on weekends. Chutney does feature in that menu. When almost the entire world says and it is true that life got busy, this sit at home, good for nothing woman finds pleasure in cooking everyday something or the other. That is my pleasure, happiness, creative corner. How I wished my men to be big eaters and be demanding a bit. Many ask me why are you sitting at home idle, do something. I cannot make them believe how much I enjoy staying at home reading, or just watching my plants grow, going out for a walk, going through various recipes and suddenly screaming.... Cristine take out the flour, sugar too, soften the butter... I am planning for a dish and needs to complete it before he comes back from school. Why not? .... he is my father too ..... my daddy used to say 'mamoni'.... you are my another mother, my mother stays so far. My father stayed away from his parents from such a young age. The reason why I talk more about my maternal side is that I have spent so less time with my paternal grand parents they been staying in Nowgong, Assam. My paternal grand mother was a wonderful lady, never ill treated her four daughter-in-laws. I kept on telling my mother you are lucky to get such a lady as your maa-in-law who never showered you with choicest words or robbed you of your self-respect..... I am kind of jealous with you. My daddy derived his mom's purity and his father's anger. I look at his picture and say....... you must be having gala time over there with your parents.

This post could or should have been written very beautifully but I am so busy packing for a trip to Kolkata and cooking too. Do you think this extremely possessive wife will allow Cristine to take away all the credit? HaHa never so ...... It is my home, my den and I am the queen of this house. Perhaps for this reason my mom never allowed me to cook for my dad. The daughter has similar traits in character as of her mother though she always says I am good at heart like him. I do not agree to that .... I think I am a mixed-bag of all human emotions. Girls.... take hold of your own home, nurture it with love... do not allow outside forces to storm in ..... Boys appreciate your girls from time to time .... they too need fuel to energise themselves. Daddy loved chutney and achar too much and he needed any one of them for lunch and dinner. Maa used to prepare different types of achar / pickle and stock it for the entire year ..... chutneys were made fresh. This sweet and sour chutney is made of dates and pineapple complete with a garnish of 'bhaja moshlar guro.' This is done in most Bengali homes, 'biye bari'.... Bengali marriage ceremonies. Once upon a time, the main attraction in the 'biye bari' menu was papad with chutney for this little girl. At our place chutneys had always been done with ingredients available in the season. Most of them were done at home as daddy loved. So this KHEJUR ANARASHER CHUTNEY is my tribute to my late dad with a sweet note to the dotting fathers all around .... known.... unknown. Some of the known, wonderful fathers were famous casanovas in their youth, it feels so good to see them in the present avatar..... responsible, sincere, loving family person ..... some of them I wish to talk about in different posts ..... some names I will never utter, I buried 'it' in the ruins of Pompei?.... perhaps.Though I do not believe in any single day celebration of valentine .... father or mother, I also feel there is no harm in doing so. So let us prepare together this yum chutney done with few fresh ingredients.

INGREDIENTS :
Pineapple : 1/2 of a medium whole
Date : 8-10
Lemon Juice : 2-3tbsp
Sugar : 1/2 small cup
Panch Phoron : 1/4tsp [an equal amount of cumin, wild celery, nigella, fenugreek, fennel seeds or alternatively use mustard seeds only]
Dry Red Chilli : 1 + 2
Cumin Seed : 1/2tsp
Coriander Seed : 1/2tsp
Fenugreek Seed : 1/2tsp
Salt : 2-3 pinches
Oil : 1tbsp [Authentically Mustard]

METHOD :
Peel the pineapple, wash and chop. De seed and half the date, wash. The reason for a KFC touch in chutney? Well the brother thing has KFC addiction and he feels insecure when didibhai shows too much love for anyone except for his nephew.

Dry roast the cumin, coriander, fenugreek seeds and dry red chilli for a minute. Cool it and get a coarse powder from it.

Heat oil in a wok. Temper with panch phoron and halved dry red chilli.

Add the pineapple chunks and the salt. Stir and let cook for 2 minutes at minimal heat.

Add a medium cup of water and cover cook at minimal heat for 3-4 minutes.

Add sugar and stir. Cover again and cook again at low heat for 3 minutes allowing the sugar to melt and incorporate well.

Open cover, add the lemon juice and halved dates. Stir and cook for 2 minutes or so. We are done.

Transfer the pineapple - dates chutney to a bowl, garnish with 'bhaja moshla mix'... coarsely ground dry roasted mixed spice powder and fold in gently. We usually have it at the end of a meal but I have seen it goes very well with paratha too..... not so much with luchi or roti though.

I am back to the island this morning and all set to do what I love doing ..... weaving real life stories of which my recipes are a part. At times my stories are laced with melodrama, strong, silly emotions or even a little bit of exaggeration may be ..... but their essence is based on real life truths.... an account of how my life had / is been. How much I say I am just fine, I do miss my family .... the mother and brother. To give a goodbye hug to your bereaved mother is not that easy.... neither it is easy to look straight at the brother's sad face and get through the airport gate. I was telling my mom when I think of daddy, the first thing that comes to my mind is that my little brother lost his father so early. I did not take a single picture with my family this time, I want to see my brother's hair full grown, no frown on his face and that lost smile on my mother's face. All said and done I do not like going public with pictures of my family members, may be that is a mental block. I stay with an immensely positive person that helps me feel positive .... more so when I echo and agree to what my relatives told my mother .... you have two pillars of strength beside you .... the son-in-law and daughter-in-law. The supremely active lady will never sit and cry for her husband all day, she is so busy in her kitchen, with her garden, visiting places of worship.... wet markets.... that makes me proud of her. The daughter follows her.... did everything from meeting people to a bit of shopping..... only the last picture taken of her father on 7th January 2017 to be precise haunts her.... the one that rests on our bedside table now... smiling at me 24/7.... I was scolding him asking him to smile generously.

The old man loved achar / pickle ..... more the typical Bengali sweet ones. The person who was missing his wifey and son for three long weeks also loves achar / pickle to be served with his lunch and dinner... mainly the North Indian types. Both these men have immensely influenced my life and I have seen a lot of similarities in their character traits. To blog on an achar / pickle was a natural choice after a three weeks of break. There are three big jars of pickle resting at my mother's home .... kul / ber / Indian berry?, chalta / elephant apple and raw mango... all sweet and sour with a dash of chilli. The mother laments who will eat them now. The one who went will never come back, let me prepare and share in the honour of someone who is kind of an umbrella in my life. I used chilli padi too in this achar besides the normal green chillies for the extra heat. If you are not so fond of too hot chillies, skip using the red chilli padi and use the normal green, big ones. Since we use a lot of oil in pickles, it over powers the heat from the chillies... the more we give sunbath to pickles, the more tastier it gets and stays for longer period without spoiling. Come let us do this quick and easy Lankar Achar / Chilli Pickle together and store them in tight jars.

INGREDIENTS :
Green Chilli : 100gm
Red Chilli [Chilli Padi] : 50gm [can be skipped]
Oil : 1big cup [mustard always for us]
Vinegar : 4tbsp
Fenugreek Seeds : 1tsp
Carom Seeds : 1/2tsp
Coriander Seeds : 1tbsp
Cumin Seeds : 2tsp
Mustard Seeds : 2tbsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Sugar : 1tsp
Salt : As Required

METHOD :
Wash the chillies gently and thoroughly rubbing under running water for a while. Dry them with a clean, soft towel.

Dry roast the fenugreek, carom, coriander, mustard, cumin seeds without burning them. Grind to a coarse powder.

Chop the chillies to smaller pieces.

Add the ground spices, chilli powder, salt, sugar and turmeric powder to the chopped chillies and fold in well.

Add the oil and vinegar. Fold in well. Keep the bowl under the sun for 2-3 days covered with a strainer.

Now we can transfer the achar / pickle to a clean jar. Give it a sunbath more often.

If you think my men have turned obedient all of a sudden and started having salads with every meal, you are utterly wrong. The salad is for me, there definitely had some scrumptious mutton or chicken curry or a baked fish kind of thing with this Matar Pineapple Rice with a desi touch. Some people always say S you must incorporate salads and soups and stews in your family diet knowing how difficult it is to handle my men. My boys' healthy eating is limited to chicken, mutton or fish stew that too accompanied by anda paratha or aloo paratha or luchi / poori / naan. They love their rice only when it is fried with meat or egg, that is when I get to play some trick and add some veggies to it. I was clearly told some 25 years back ..... do not ever try to control my life, I love my freedom neither will I try to control yours. He does not ever try to either. That is where the equation is and there is no reason why I will not cook what they love. I always try to feed a bit of that extra morsel to my chopsticks. Living with these two weirds is quite an interesting journey even if it has caused early greying.... though this greying started as early as at age 16. My sixteen has not been so sweet either but I always had wonderful people around to keep me going and this lady does not take much time to eliminate people from her life who she does not like. Take it as my negativity or what I cannot rub shoulder with people who intentionally puts me down. My note to the beautiful people around me.... do not leave a single chance to show your power or ignore people who took it on you once.... purposefully... in full consciousness .... I feel no guilt in doing so because I take too much care of people who mean.

Unlike my men, I always believe and say there is an Almighty who takes note of everything. Remember one thing... how much of a tiger your man is.... they are unlikely to mingle with people who the wifey dispels from life for genuine reasons. I tell him these are the people I do not wish to be in my life, but you can go ahead. He laughs out loud at the phrase 'you can go ahead' and says when a wife says this it only means if you do so, I will turn this home into hell.... hahaha ..... I do not mix with people to get some benefits from them, hence I keep the best ones in the circle because friendship has a different meaning to me. Then there is certain kind of equation between couples that keeps us going for 15-20-25-40-45 years under one roof even if we have major differences of opinion. So far broken homes are concerned, one cannot be an angel and the other devil. There are faults on both sides .... more in one or less in the other. In most occassions we fail to see our own faults.

Coming to my favourite subject food, I am more into this kind of smart platters may be a fried rice or stuffed poori / paratha served with meat curries, fish, dum aloo or so. When I cook typical Bengali style vegetables I have to pack it for my friends too or call them home. The senior may have a bit of panchmeshali tarkari or chanchra or shaak, the junior will not allow them on his plate. What else a mom can do but to cook what her lifeline loves? Even my craze for typical Bengali fresh water fish has lessened. The frozen ones we get in the Asian stores here are not up to my level of satisfaction, I hear they are of better quality in other foreign countries. If you can adapt to sea fish, this island is the best place to be, I could not as yet. So our fish fair is limited to salmon.... the only sea water fish I love, pomfret that my men love, prawns[we call fish haha], Bengal Carp, Ilish and yeah very recently I discovered one shop in Tekka market selling 'jeol magur'.... live cat fish dancing in water. I wish to share a recipe soon, my dear friend Chandrayee wished so. On this visit to Kolkata, I told my mother 'amai choto mach khaoabey'.... feed me my favourite small variety of fish.. charapona, puti, kajoli, tyangra, pabda, choto rui-katla..... I am not translating them because I know my readers are not interested in Bengali Fish Curries from me.... but if you ask my wish, I will blog on each one of my family favourite fish preparations before I quit blogging even if there is not a single reader for it.

The mother fed me my favourites and also told me the stories she heard from her mother-in-law.... how much my dad loved 'tyangra mach' as a young boy who back from school would run to the football ground without eating..... the mother had to allure him saying.... 'tyangra massss diya bhaat khaiya jsa'....that is a Bangladeshi provincial accent meaning there is your favourite tyangra mach cooked today, have it with some rice and go. Do not question my flair for that, I can speak it well, though you should not expect me to decipher the Chittagong language... it is near impossible if you are not particularly from there, they are more near to Burma. Anyway, I could not tell my mother I hear a similar story from another mother... I wonder how can there be such similarities and then the immediate reaction.... damn it... why do I have to bother, my dad is gone and the rest does not concern me. My baked / grilled fish loving son will not eat a single 'tyangra'.... is there an ache inside?.... yes for various reason taken together. So it is better to cook what makes my loves to eat double servings than on a normal rice day..... this time a green pea and pineapple rice done with very few ingredients. You can serve it with some grilled fish, eggplant or aloo masala, meat curries... if your men are not as naughty as mine you can also serve this freshly made carrot n tomato salad with it. Come let us prepare it together. I will not claim authenticity of the Pineapple Rice as I do not use fish sauce.

INGREDIENTS :[for the rice]
Long Grain Rice : 1 coffee mug [I prefer Basmati]
Green Pea : 1/2small cup
Pineapple[chopped] : 1 small cup
Onion[sliced] : 1medium
Garlic[minced] : 1tbsp
Soya Sauce : 2-3tbsp
Black Pepper Powder : 1tsp [coarsely ground]
Salt : As Required
Oil : 2tbsp [we can use sesame oil too]

INGREDIENTS : [for the salad]
Carrot : 1medium
Tomato : 1medium
Coriander Leaves[chopped] : 2tbsp
Green Chilli[chopped] : 1-2
Olive Oil : 1tsp
Lemon Juice : 2tbsp
You can add other veggies too but
I had only these on that day

METHOD :

Take the rice on a bowl and wash 3-4 times. Soak for 1/2 an hour. Take enough water in a heavy bottomed vessel and put for boil. As the water comes to boil, drain the water from rice and add to the boiling water gently. Cook till 60% done and discard all the water.

Spread the rice on a big plate and allow it to cool. Heat oil in a pan. Add the minced garlic and saute till we get that nice aroma.

Add the sliced onion and saute till translucent. Add the green pea, increase heat and give a quick stir. Add the chopped pineapple pieces, black pepper and little salt. Stir at high heat for a moment.

Add the cooked rice and soya sauce, fold in well. Stir gently at high heat for a minute or so. Do not allow the rice grains to break.

Transfer to a serving plate.

For the salad wash and chop the carrot, tomato [discard the seeds], coriander leaves and green chillies. Add the lemon juice, olive oil and coarsely ground fresh black pepper powder. Fold in well and serve with the Matar Pineapple Rice. You can also have this meal with a pickle of your choice.

So many of my co-workers cum friends have blogged on Aam Sandesh at par their excellence, and then there is me all of a sudden yesterday planned three back to back recipes with ripe mango. The mango season in this part of the world is already over or going to be over. We though get a year wide supply of few varieties from Australia which are quite pricey. This miser lady will not buy one mango for five dollars, there are other variety of fruits to have. On my way back from walk I usually enter the mall or the wet market shops to sit and eat something, do some window shopping, buy this and that. I got some mangoes at a very good price a day before. The son thing too expects that the mumma will get something for him which he never expects from his father. The mumma does it ever since her boy was this small and the duo lived together happily waiting six to eight months for the father to come back from sailing. Every Friday and Saturday evening was the duo's outing day to either 22, Camac Street or Forum Mall or at Park Street. Ten - Twelve years back there were no malls or eateries within a kilometre from home as of now.

A Bengali's love for mango is by default I think.... in most cases. So I feel lucky to be in a country where we get a number of varieties, even few Indian ones like Alphonso, Dassera, Chausa, Baganpalli and wow Lyangra too! I am wondering what actually triggered my weight gain .... I think my inability to resist Mango and Sweets. I prepare a variety of sweets, ice-creams at home. I look at my latest picture and see my cheeks got chubbier, waist line out of control. Even our Cristine says I have put on a considerable amount after clicking me yesterday.... ma'am I think you need to watch your diet she would say. I never get angry when she says so... she is a very genuine, pure at heart, innocent girl. I always see the intentions of people and react accordingly, some I have decided to ignore totally. I know I need to do something immediately but feels so lethargic.... age is catching up fast and I am back to that lazy teen whom her parents never could force to go out and play in the neighbourhood. Back from school she would love to immerse in the world of books of her choice. The other day me and our friend Joy was frantically looking for the prose version of Odyssey.... I read a Bengali translation while at school.... so was really interested this time. Dear readers if you find it please do write the source in comments section.

By the way Girls, please stop taking pride in been obese.... been fat is not a good thing to be. People I am addressing might be much younger than me... start now before you become another me.... weak and lazy. My mom says my nature has always been lazy.... who loved her food and books .... not academics... by no means.... and mind it few of you guys and dolls.... I do not have a pokey nose... I am showing concern for you means I keep you near me.... for the rest my dear friends Ipsita Bhattacharya and Indirra Sengupta [formerly Bhattacharya] can help you with valuable tips... I have talked about Ipsita in a couple of posts.... Indirra is a friend from school.... more dear to my husband... Mid Eighties she was quite a fashion Icon when this primitive lady was more callous than now and looked at her in awe with her oil infused plaited braids. That does not mean she strayed.... she had been teaching in one of the leading schools in Delhi.... came back to Kolkata.... married and now teaching in one of the Birla run schools of Kolkata. Both of them worship their body and health and I love it. I am fond of Indira because she is carefree and much above and far from petty / cheap meanness.... she parties hard, very particular about her dresses and shoes but managed to admit her sons to the top in hierarchy school... St. Xaviers... Kolkata..... I never stop my man to love the right people.

Then there was one unique.... My Fair Lady who told straight on my face you know why you are rejected because you are so ugly and someone worships beauty..... look at me S .... every other boy in the class.... outside wants to marry me..... and God! same words repeated after 25 years, imagine readers what level of nonsense can it be! Oh my Sweetheart... I love you so much.... more than the handsome guys around, a kiss from me love.... muah..... hahaha. Life is not Bollywood.... that I will change myself after the well orchestrate insult showered on me and turn on to be a Priyanka Chopra or Katrina. Why should I change for someone either? I am still that dumbo after 30 long years but do not allow myself to be used anymore. I earn love and respect almost everywhere I go and learned to dump / ignore unwanted people from life.... who are very few in number though.

Coming to my nature and the decision to go up with a mango infused sweet....wow! My actual nature has revived... I had always been a loner... I cannot stand a crowd for long. I love my couch, to lie down there with a book, go to sleep wearing my glasses with the book lying on the chest. I am actually halfway of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's "Before We Visit the Goddess" and I am loving it. I can so much relate with Savitri ..... her teenage upheavals, coming to terms with it or may be never... whatever, fighting for the right cause on behalf of husband, and wow she started a sweet shop in the name of her mother Durga who prepared excellent sweets living in extreme poverty in a village. Didn't I start this blog to carry forward the legacy of my mom and grand mom? Then I broke my promise... 80% of my readers will not even understand what "kechki macher bora" is.... and I love traffic on my blog... haha... I have already seen Savitri's death because the author is alternatively taking us back through flashbacks and then bringing us to the present. Savitri is all set to introduce a new sweet with mango puree, saffron, sugar and paneer in the 80's Kolkata and name it Durga Sandesh. I think the author herself takes interest in cooking too, I remember her sharing with us picture of Chocolate Sandesh last year on "Bijoya Dashami."I felt so much for Savitri that I cannot think of anything else than Aam Sandesh / Mango Sweet to be shared today. Very few ingredients like fresh mango puree, little sugar, cardamom powder, homemade paneer are what we require to go ahead with this simple recipe. Come let us do it with few stepwise pictures.

INGREDIENTS :
Fresh Milk : 2lt [tetra pack one does not help me while making chena / paneer]
Mango : 2
Sugar : 1/2small cup [or as per your preference]
Cardamom Powder : 1/4tsp
Yellow Food Colour : A Pinch [optional]
Chopped Pistachio : 1tbsp
Lemon Juice : 1/2small cup
Rose Water : 1tbsp

METHOD :
Pour the milk in a deep bottomed vessel and put on gas. Once it comes to boil, add the lemon juice while stirring continuously. Switch of gas as the milk curdles. Let cool.

Once cool strain it through a soft cloth and keep tied for 1/2 an hour. Unless I am making roshogolla, I am not so particular about straining or kneading part of paneer / chena. I do not wash it under running water either because I love the smell of fresh lemon always.

After half an hour or so take down the paneer and transfer it to a plate.

Keep on kneading the chena / paneer for about 10-12 minutes.

Wash, Peel and get the pulp of the mango. Transfer to a blender and pulse it for a minute or so. We get a smooth puree.

Heat a wok on gas stove. Add the paneer. Stir continuously. You will see all the water has evaporated after 10-12 minutes. Add sugar and stir for another 5 minutes.

Add the mango puree.

Fold in well and keep stirring till the whole thing is incorporated well.

Add the cardamom powder and rose water. Fold in well and stir for another minute or two. Transfer to a plate and let cool. Knead for 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a square shaped container thats surface has been greased with some ghee.

Refrigerate it for half an hour. Take out and turn over onto a plate. Garnish with chopped pistachios.

Cut the aam / mango sandesh into squares or diamond shapes. Serve hot and fresh to your loved ones. Your can refrigerate the aam sandesh in covered containers up to 2 days.

We have literally grown up eating these dishes. In my side of the family this is a very common dish that maa used to prepare. This was more of a summer treat when coriander leaves was pricey... yet she would manage to buy small amount just to prepare few of these dishes. Later when we shifted to our own house, mum started gardening and grew a variety of coriander leaf which was called 'biliti dhonepata.'..... meaning 'foreign coriander leaves.' It had broader leaves and had a stronger smell.... the mesmerising smell and flavour I still could not forget. I never could get the actual name of it because mani says she does not get it anymore from the small time veggie sellers who got products from the village. In this curry she also added 'shimer bichi'..... roasted broad bean seeds. Jackfruit seeds and broad bean seeds are commonly used in my side of the family.... they were dried, roasted and stored throughout the year and added to various dishes. I do not know whether it was typical of Comilla or of entire Bengal. Now I see my friends from other states of India sharing recipes with jackfruit seeds. I feel wow!

You can well understand I have very less knowledge of the food world. I am learning each day from the people around. I never did any homework before starting with the blog. You know I am always scared of / averse to constructive learning or research .... I know my drawbacks so well. Anyway, I already have a very similar recipe of 'Jhinge Beguner Jhol' which I did as a part of a combined post. So this recipe can be called a copy paste with little variation. For two reasons I am compiling it separately with few changes.... one is that some of my near ones use milk in couple of their light curries besides shukto .... trust me it enhances the taste. Secondly, I have recently learnt to prepare "Bori".... that is dried lentil balls.... that too in a country where the sun plays hide and seek game every now and then. So, I am too eager to share some recipes with bori. Come let us do together this simple yet tasty curry with bori, ridge gourd and egg plant with minimal use of spices.

INGREDIENTS :
Ridge Gourd[Jhinge] : 2
Egg Plant[Begun] : 1
BORI [DRIED LENTIL BALL] : 8-10
MILK : 1/2 SMALL CUPNigella Seeds[kalojeera] : 2pinches
Red Chilli Powder : 1/2tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Salt : As Required
Oil[authentically mustard] : 1tsp
Chopped Coriander Leaves : 1tbsp

METHOD :
Peel and cut the ridge gourds and eggplants lengthwise. Wash and rub with salt, turmeric and red chilli powder.

Heat oil in a wok. Fry the dried lentil balls which we call bori. Take out.

Temper the remaining oil with kalojeera. Add the veggies and stir at high heat.

Lower the heat and cover cook for 3-4 minutes. Uncover and add 1/2 small cup water.

Again cover and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add 1/2 small cup cold milk, stir and let boil at lowest heat for 1 minute.

Add the chopped coriander leaves and stir.

Switch off,its done. Do not over boil, else the milk will cause the curry to curdle.

This is a very common Bengali vegetarian dish done with lau and bori.... that is bottle gourd and dried lentil balls. This dish too was a part of a combined post done earlier. I thought of sharing it as separate post with an updated picture. I am too poor in this area of taking pictures, I perhaps do not even have the required qualities to be a food blogger. While others use their high resolution DSLR and what not, our DSLR gets out of the cabinet when we go out on a tour. My men are least bothered with my blog that they will be interested in helping me with it and I am too lazy to learn and use it by myself. I use the shortcut method of aim and shoot with my cell phone. I keep on telling some of my blogger friends..... I really lack dedication of you guys. I mean I cook with all sincerity and the rest part is a happy go lucky thing ...... what in Bengali we call 'goyonggoccho bhab.' I am not happy with these pictures, yet I decided to use them. I have an excellent brother like photographer living within the same condominium. I feel too lethargic to visit him on Sundays and take some valuable lessons. Therein is my defeat. I never felt that urge to excel in what I do and remained a mediocre. Do not follow my footsteps..... youngsters.... you never can stand out.

However poor is the picture of my 'bori diye lau ghonto', its taste is guaranteed. You can go ahead with my recipe and enjoy it with some piping hot steamed rice. Lau or bottle gourd has a lot of beneficial factors which is consumed all over South Asia and South East Asia. It always had a top ranking place in the vegetable hierarchy made more popular by Baba Ramdev. However hilarious he is, his pranayam yoga is indeed helpful if we can do it correctly and have the tenacity to continue. I do not drink bottle gourd juice every morning but can share with you a very easy, simple and yum recipe with lau / bottle gourd. Come let us do it together.

INGREDIENTS :
Lau[bottle gourd] : 1medium
Bori[dried lentil balls] : 7-8 [you may skip or use dal pakora instead]
Green Chilli : 2[slitted]
Coriander Leaves : 3sprigs
Cumin Seed : 1/4tsp
Bayleaf : 1
Dry Red Chilli : 2[halved]
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 2tbsp

METHOD :
Peel and wash the the bottle gourd. Cut into smaller pieces and shred.

Heat oil in a wok and fry the lentil balls if at all. Keep aside.

Temper oil with cumin seeds and bayleaf, dry red chillies.

Add the shredded bottle gourd. Add salt. Stir and cover. It will release a lot of water.

Once it is 60-70% done, add turmeric powder, slitted green chillies. Stir and cover again.

Once the water dries up completely, add the sugar, chopped coriander leaves and the fried bori broken into halves. Stir and let cook for another 1-2 minutes.

Serve with steamed rice. It may go with South Asian Breads too.

"O Hasina zulfon Wali, Janey Jahan...

Dhoondti Hai Kafir Aankhey Kiska Nishan...

Mehfil Mehfil, Yeh Shamaa, Firti Hon Kahan...

Wow Anjana Dhoondti Hoon...

Wow Diwaana Dhoonti Hoon..."

Whenever I get to see this silvery beauty Ilish / Hilsa, I get as mad as Shammi Kapoor on screen and echo Rafi Saab on her praise. As I always say I can have ilish every day at each meal only if its sky rocketing price could be managed. We can still afford it but there are many back in India who loves it but are unable to have it given the prices going really high .... a kilogram selling at 1200-1500 rupees. It is a pinch in the pocket for a middle class Bengali. Ilish weighing less than a kilogram will not give you the right taste. What to do? In my side of the family, my parents compromised and look at the price while buying ilish for the past few years which is a normal thing to do. My mom will never buy an Ilish for 1500-2000 rupees unless it is a special day like the son's birthday or Jamai Shashti [a special day for the son-in-law] or any other occassion. Rest of the days she will buy those 750-800-900 gm weight at a little lower price but the fresh ones. Let me tell you we do not get fresh supplies anymore .... most of them frozen for 3-6 months coming from Bangladesh. In our childhood, a Bengali would take pride in saying 'Ganga-Padma r Ilish chara khabona'.... we will buy or eat an Ilish caught from the Ganges or Padma. Now they do comprise and buy the supplies from Kolaghat... what else to do? We have to have Ilish during monsoon.... it is our religion you can say. On the contrary, my husband's side of the family would go out of their way while buying Ilish or any fish or in general, food. It was not so that they did it when the son of the house got good luck for the family. My paa-in-law did it all within his limited financial sources. They ate like kings. I do not know what is right or wrong, each family has its own way of dealing with it. I personally believe we should save 60% of our earning and spend 40% of it.

We get Ilish in the island almost throughout the year that comes from Burma, caught from the Mandai river. Though they do not always satisfy my taste buds, they are just ok. They lack that oil that adds taste to an Hilsa Curry. Our very own kalojireey phoron diye Ilish Beguner Jhol... Raw pieces of Hilsa cooked with egg plants with a simple tempering of nigella seeds and slitted green chillies. It does not taste as heavenly here as it tasted back in Kolkata with Ilish from Ganga or Padma. I am still in a dilemma, should I blog on it... will it be an invasion on someone's identity.... with my limited grey matter I do not understand many of the things in the world .... unless my friends advice me what is wrong or right. I was not made to think, hahaha..... though everyone knows there are certain recipes that comes down on us for generations. Ilish Shorshe Posto or Hilsa cooked with mustard and poppyseed paste is not an unique recipe, its a common dish but its taste is out of the world. In my side of the family my mom does not mix posto with shorshe, this is my maa-in-law's recipe and I do it often while in Kolkata. The island is quite strict about Poppyseed and we cannot use it here. If you stay anywhere outside Singapore and Dubai, go ahead with this yum recipe of hilsa cooked with poppyseed-mustard seed-green chilli paste, else use only chilli-mustard paste or can we try some roasted sesame seed paste? This was also a part of a combined post done earlier that I wished to compile again as a separate post.

INGREDIENTS :
Ilish : 6 pieces
Black Mustard Seed : 2tsp
Poppy Seed : 1tsp[skip if you stay in Dubai or Singapore]
Green Chilli : 4-5[using generously enhances taste]
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Salt : As Required
Kalojeera[nigella seeds] : 2pinches
Mustard Oil : 1tbsp

METHOD :
Wash the poppy seeds , drain the water through a strainer and soak in hot water for 1 hour.

Wash the mustard seeds too. Blend together mustard seeds, poppy seeds, green chilli with little salt and 1/4small cup water.[the salt helps the paste not to turn bitter].

Apply salt and turmeric to the fish pieces and keep aside for 10 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok. Temper with kalojeera. Add the paste and saute at low heat for 1/2 a minute.

Add little salt and turmeric. Add 1 small cup water. Let boil for 2 minutes.

Add the fish pieces. Let boil for 2-3 minutes. Flip over, let boil for another 2 minutes. Add slitted green chillies.

Serve hot with piping hot steamed rice.

My men's favourite Indian food.... any kind of South Asian Bread but again not only with Raita and Achar / Pickle.... there has to have a chicken or lamb curry. You bet there always is because the fat old lady is very much concerned about her chopsticks. The senior would have raita as a second sides with his favourites as this anda paratha or keema paratha but the junior will not even touch yogurt. It is not his fault, the mother fed him so much of yogurt as a child that he got averse to yogurt now. Same with the senior, he got apple and banana everyday to school and now the sight of them irritates him. The one who sat beside him then can say better.... hahaha. However, I realised sitting beside or say sitting together within a classroom does not make one each other's friend, friendship is an altogether different equation. I conclude that in a classroom of say thirty people, all cannot be your friend... some are friends..... rest are just classmates. I may be wrong.... given my lack of wisdom. My known circle can blame the idiotic me as reason for my husband getting distant with some people, or is it like what is to happen will happen? As of me I am so averse to certain attributes of some that I do not want any kind of renewed relationship with them, they did no good to me however innocent they pretend to be to the world. However, by God's grace nothing bad has happened to me till date..... I do not know about future. Heartbreaks are ok for me, rejections too because each person is different... hence their choices too ..... what I cannot stand is exploitation because the present me hates to be that user friendly that I had been earlier. So whoever is trying to get me play match-match game I do not want to be part of .... is only irritating me.... I am late to understand but when I realise all these I simply get pissed off. Since I cannot plead innocent like some who were actually not at all so ..... I have to vent it out and I prefer to compile everything on my blog which is also my 'Life Tales.' I sincerely hope people do not force me to bare open my heart totally and publicly.... let us stay away from each other maintaining a respectable distance. If your sole intention is to irritate me then go ahead, I will set my own track. Rest... the colour of a saree, dress, lipstick does not matter, most of the time I forget who wore what the last evening.... the forgetful me is so occupied in her own world.

See how I lose track. Actually there were couple of birthdays yesterday and day before of dear people of whom all are not Bengali. This Dim Porota / Anda Paratha is not a birthday like post but wished to say Hi! I care! to all those who mean, for the rest do not get on my nerves, I am a scorpio..... though I know some take advantage knowing I cannot do wrong to people who mean. Anyways, as I say all kinds of Breads are favourite with my men.... Western, South Asian or Middle Eastern. At home, I preferably do some of the South Asian ones, rest I am scared to try thinking I cannot perfect them. I think I have to try soon. This egg parathas are really a joyful venture.... beat the egg.... roast and powder the spices, chop the onion, chillies and coriander leaves.... mix all and go ahead. I served it with a bowl of cucumber and onion raita and a store bought garlic pickle which is a favourite of mine. Come, let us do it together with help of few pictures.

INGREDIENTS :

Refined Flour : 1coffee mug
Wheat Flour : 1coffee mug
Egg : 3-4
Chopped Coriander : 2tbsp
Chopped Onion : 1/2small cup
Chopped Green Chilli : 1tbsp
Dry Red Chilli : 2-3
Coriander Seed : 1tsp
Cumin Seed : 1tsp
Fenugreek Seed : 1/2tsp
Salt : 1/4 tsp
Oil : 1tbsp + 2tsp for each paratha

METHOD :

Take the flours, salt together and mix well. Add the oil and fold in well again. Beat the eggs and get the chopped vegetables ready.

Dry roast the spices like cumin, carom, coriander seeds and dry red chilli and coarsely ground them.

Add the beaten egg mix, chopped coriander, onion, green chilli and freshly ground spices to the flour mix.

We will not use water to prepare the dough, the beaten eggs do a wonderful job to prepare a soft dough in 10 minutes.

Tear out tennis ball sized portions and make roundels with help of both palms.

Dust each roundel with flour and roll out round sized parathas with help of rolling pin.

Heat pan on gas top and place one paratha at a time. Cook both sides till they turn little brown. Add oil each tsp for each side.

Once done transfer to a plate. For the Raita beat plain yogurt with little black salt, yogurt and ginger juice. Add chopped cucumber, onion and green chillies. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and little red chilli powder. You can also serve the dim porota / anda paratha with some pickle of your choice.

I was this small since when I had been watching mom preparing jam and jelly at home ...... mainly of guava and mango. I remember my favourite pastime was to apply a thick layer of those homemade jam atop cream cracker biscuit .... sit with my favourite author and take small pleasure bites. Now when I ask the mother the recipe.... she says she forgot where she learnt from, how she made. Once I got married she stopped cooking variety because my brother never took interest in varied dishes .... he sticks to his love for biryani and meat curries with pulao and South Asian Breads and Hilsa off course. For the son, my mother learnt to prepare biryani at home with her secret spice mix, a plate of Biryani with a single piece of meat, potato and egg costs around two hundred rupees in Kolkata. I call it 'secret' spice because she never shares the actual recipe with the daughter or anyone.... hahaha .... this is her habit since ages. So long my brother and son are happy with her recipe of biryani, I am at peace too. Ain't siblings very special ? They so much are, they are always ready to go that extra mile for you. It is so nightmarish to think my son will be alone when we are not there in this world, what if our 'Olive Oyl' is not so much friendly with her 'him.' I do not know why my senior's sister and my brother are stick to their decision of not having kids, multiplying my worries.

Did I say I love kids?..... yes I mean it.... these angels on earth do not know how to pretend or to dramatise an event or situation. They just bring in fresh air wherever they go. How much I love kids... I perhaps do not have the patience of handling them.... these bunch of fresh flowers are more fond of my man. He says you must treat the kids as another human being S and not as your play doll.... stop cuddling and kissing them every now and then.... it irritates them .... give them your time, attention and be playful. He is so good at handling kids even when he was in his twenties. In the Indian or the Subcontinental context, we really do not think of the kids much ..... how many movies are done just for the kids? or books written of quality is not that much as is required. Kids should not grow up reading Harry Potter alone. This old lady still gets goosebumps when she thinks of the Adventures of the Sailor Sindbad, Shamaresh Basu's 'Gogol' series or Sunil Gangopadhay's 'Kakababu O Shantu.' I am thankful to my father in so many ways .... Did I wish to go for a kid friendly recipe today? Yes I indeed felt so..... why I do not know. Do not try to find logic in my actions, mad people do not think logically, they are just instant with their actions .... good .... bad or whatever.

Since my mother forgot how she made her jams and jellies which she stopped making some 20 years back, I had to scrawl through Google for some ideas. I loved the spiced mango jam recipe from the blog Scratching Canvas and wished to go ahead with my own version of a mango jam with a dash of coarsely ground black pepper powder done fresh. It was done about two months back in bulk, my son loves it with his bread, your kids will love it too. The recipe is really simple with few ingredients, homemade from scratch. Come let us do it together or you may engage your kids to do it.

Recipe Idea - Scratching Canvas Blog!

INGREDIENTS :
Ripe Mango - 4-6
Sugar : 1 small-medium cup
Coarsely Ground Black Pepper : 11/2tsp
Lemon Juice : 1/2 medium cup
Water : 1/3 Coffee Mug

METHOD :
Wash and peel the mangoes. Chop the pulp roughly into smaller pieces and discard the seeds.

Take the mango pieces in a heavy bottomed vessel. Add the water and put on gas.

Let it boil at medium to low heat for 5 minutes. Add the sugar and let simmer for 3-4 minutes. Stir every 1-2 minutes.

Add the lemon juice and simmer furthermore for few minutes till the jam gets little stickier.

Add the freshly ground coarse black pepper powder and give a quick stir. Switch of gas.

Once cool transfer to a clean, sterilised glass container. It stays for month if refrigerated.

I am just back from Kolkata and finding this tropical island cooler than what it is back there. Me and our friend Joy were sitting at the Indian Coffee House and was having a detailed discussion on the changing weather pattern and the demography of the city. I was feeling very uncomfortable in the environment that happened to be our favourite hotspot once. It has not changed a bit, I have changed perhaps. I strongly felt it needs a thorough renovation keeping the infrastructure same. It is managed by the coffee worker's union? perhaps and according to my friend they have enough fund to go ahead with the renovation ..... we got a sit after twenty minutes, that too we had to share the table with someone else, they came for the order after fifteen minutes and finally I could gorge on that heavenly Afghani Mutton Cutlet after half an hour since we made the order ... I was still sweating profusely. As we were chatting together, I had a thorough brush up of the surrounding... the table wares needs to be changed, the fans to be cleaned and serviced, the floors need cleaning. Given that I am very particular about cleanliness, I felt that the old Kolkata needs a thorough brush up keeping its heritage intact. Though this is not the scenario all over the city, it is developing indeed but only the extended part. Has the main Kolkata really seen much development except for sudden growth of some malls and condominiums? Before you call me an anti-national, think what actually development means. For people like my part of the family living in the suburbs, we had to wait for the whole day for the specialised ambulance to reach and take our daddy to a decent hospital. So those of my close ones who get wild whenever I blog on a western dish or share similar something should know Kolkata is perfect if you have money going for fine dining in your AC cars or in Ola or Uber cabs. The commoners still commute in over crowded buses and eat fly inflicted aloo poori or mach bhaat if not the wife pack their lunch. Besides, we as food bloggers have to cater to different kind of readers and my own men are not essentially Bongs .... their taste buds are totally different. I usually cook and share what they love. We do not need to go out of the country to see development always. Back in 1999, I stayed in Mumbai for over a month and seen the difference. It is high time, we stop accusing the centre for a step motherly attitude and stop quoting Tagore every five minutes. I know there will be an array of protest posts till tomorrow in the social forums and I do not mind it. I will still say that an average Kolkatan and the major part of the city is still far from a quality life. How nice it would have been if the suburbs / outskirts of Kolkata or Bengal at large had some decent health facilities instead of another quest mall. Call me an anti-national, I will stick to what I say. I get a decent meal at three dollars here, me and even the labour class ride AC buses. No, I am not trying to impress anyone, we are not aspiring for a citizenship here. We will go back some day, live in a condo, ride my own car, buy stuffs from Spencer and wow I will have three to four helpers and have an electrician, plumber just a phone call away.... be sure readers I still do not represent the average Kolkatan or represent Bengal at large. So, I will not mind if my son does not wish to go back, we never force him with his decisions. Doing so the son thingi will only be echoing someone so far my memory recalls. Howmuch I try to delete the memory button .... kambaqt jata nehi yaaron ..... it does not go. Idiots like me does have such attributes to their characters.

I sound very bitter this morning, I have to give a sweet treat to my readers. Moreover, the very happening singer from Kolkata Rupankar Bagchi is arriving tonight or tomorrow. We are going for his concert off course. I remember attending his concert back in 2013, he just stole our heart. He is going to rock this time too and I thank the Bengali Association of the island for keeping us grounded to our roots. Back to the track, Kolkata sweet shops are always a class apart when it comes to innovations .... the baked sandesh, roshogolla, ice-creams or sandesh with varied flavours. No wonder old Dr. Chang will be unhappy with me. However, this Baked Aam Doi is learnt from three ladies and I must mention their names before taking any credit. One is Ujjaini Mazumder..... she hails from Kolkata, now stays in Philadelphia, an excellent cook and an academician by profession. We met in a group which claims to be the largest food group of India. She is one of the leading ladies there, yet stopped by my posts who was almost a non-entity there. You know I am too lethargic to communicate with people, more so in food groups, unless required. She calls me big sister and I like her, wow we were in the same school once. About a decade younger than me, she is a calm, diligent woman. My friends Ipsita Bhattacharya and Nibedita Chottopadhay prepares this quick dessert wonderfully. You will get all 'quick meal' recipes from our Ipsita. Nibedita, the Kathak danseuse is presently touring USA and performed at the NABC held at Sanfrancisco. These people are kind of family and we prefer quiet meetings over good food.... with all our differences of opinion we are good friends. Come let us do some relaxed cooking while reading the newspaper or watching television. I am losing out on energy these days.

INGREDIENTS :

Ripe Mango : 2

Plain Yogurt : 200-250gm [I use homemade]

Sugar : 1/4small cup [alternatively artificial sweetener of same amount]

Yellow Food Colour : A pinch

Mango Essence : 1/2tsp [optional]

We can garnish with few saffron strands or not at all.

METHOD :

Wash and peel the mangoes and get the pulp. Add it to the blender and blend it to a smooth paste. Add the yogurt, sugar and the food colour if using and pulse for 1-2 minutes.

Take a bake proof tray and fill half with water. Pour the mango-yogurt mixture into ramekins or oven proof small bowls. Place the bowls on the water filled tray.

Place the tray gently atop the low tool and bake for 15-20 minutes at 170*C.

Once done, let rest for 3-4 minutes inside the oven and then take out.

We are done. Take out the bowl, let cool completely. Refrigerate for an hour or two before serving.

Its weekend, and we will gorge on some mouthwatering food .... be it an appetiser or main. These days I am giving in gradually to my men's wishes and cook what they love in most cases. As I always say, they are less demanding, hence there is no reason why I will not do that extra bit for them. You will always tend to serve the best way for your dear / loved ones unless they are real demons. Rising above self is so very required to build strong relationships. The two weird men are my pillars of strength and I take a lot of pride in saying so. I still have a major part of the world left to travel, you see I have to say this, haha. Jokes apart, I remember last year while touring Europe, we were at the Barcelona Football Ground, my men were engrossed at taking a look at everything minutely. Their girl was eager to get clicked with her men at every point, the senior hates to pose for clicks and the junior has to echo his father. Then came the severe blow..... S when will you grow up? S uses her last weapon.... she starts weeping, sobbing and declared she does not want any food for the day. The dad asks the son to get ready for some quick clicks. The son hugs mumma and says stop crying, see the pizzeria is calling us. The senior says, see you always say the son does not care for you as before, it is not so, we are just different. Oh, they are so much that, yet I never get on to them because the same person attends me with so much care when I throw out given my extreme condition of vertigo, motion sickness, whatever.

The sole intention of saying the above is that however self centric we are we must give genuinely to relationships that mean. I do not usually have any problem with the world unless anyone is taking an unnecessary dig at me. If someone does that.... well.... well... well I still cannot say I will see you.... even if I say so, I cannot do it really, I am not built that way. These days I am not entertaining such behaviours neither I am interested in cat fights. I have no time for all these, I have to cook and share, read more and more and get lost amidst nature. However you accuse me of been a cell phone addict , I would still defend myself.... so what if so.... I am not interested in unnecessary gossips or causing harm to others or whatever. With my zero observatory power, I may not be doing justice to you all, I mean to the world, and to me too.... be sure that is unintentional. My too intelligent boys stay with such a nut... and happily without a complaint..... shouldn't I prepare some hot curries and kebabs and tikka for them? I must. My junior was this small when he had gluten allergy and mamma fed him bland porridge and what not while watching Thomas The Tank Engine or Finding Nemo, Dora... the Explorer together. Its high time I prepare what he loves more often. In few years, he perhaps will leave mumma and step into a bigger world. I still do not know how to live then, but never mind lah, I am a champion in handling departures, severe blow and wow! insults too!... I call that GRACE! Gone are the days when the senior happened to be my best friend..... I used to run to his home whenever I felt heavy on heart, T ..... anything to say that makes me happy? I do not remember when I stopped asking him such silly questions, once we got engaged, he ceased to be my 'best friend'.... we are 'very good friends' because I am not at the liberty to pour in all of my heart to him. I lost my best friend for ever, so long he funds my sarees, I am happy. So, this week I say cheers to that bond with these easy and quick to make fish tikkas which has a predominant flavour of ajwain / carom seeds in it. Nonetheless, to mention we had some vodka martini to go with it, tea / coffee if you are a non-alcoholic. Live life to the fullest, in any given situation, life is precious, each one has to value our own because no one else will. Too much of 'fundas' need some tasty fillers as cover, let us come to that. These spice laden easy Fish Tikka I do prepare on a regular basis. Can we rock the weekend preparing it together?

INGREDIENTS :
Fish Fillet : 750gm [any white, firm, fish]
Carom Seed : 1tbsp
Red Chilli Powder : 11/2tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Garam Masala Powder : 1tsp
Lemon Juice : 3-4tbsp
Refined Flour : 1tbsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 2-4tbsp [ I use mustard oil for colour, once I heard chef Harpal Singh Sokhi saying so]

METHOD :

Wash the fish fillets thoroughly and cut into smaller pieces. Marinate with lemon juice and little salt for sometime. Meanwhile, dry roast the carom seeds / ajwain and grind with a hand pounder or in a grinder.

Marinate the fish fillets with oil, carom seed powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and keep aside for an hour. Add the refined flour to the marinated fish and arrange them in a grill plate. We need to grease the plate. We can always do the fish tikka in a pan on stove top. Time taken will be little more.

Place the high tool in the microwave and the grill plate atop. Grill it for 8-10 minutes.

Take out, we need to turn over and grill for another 5-6 minutes. Brush little oil if required, at this stage.

Once done, transfer to a serving plate alongside some salad. Have it hot, an appetiser too hard to resist.

We had watched Ranvir Kapoor starrer Jagga Jasoos last night and oh! I am wondering what genre I can tag it as .... extreme state of fantasy? then I could not handle it. Throughout the entire movie I could not keep track of what was happening and preferred to sleep. My man says it was experimental, an attempt at a musical one, I strongly felt whatever it is, it failed. We both are Ranvir Kapoor fans at home, yet he could not keep me up on my toes. I thought it would be a thriller, but there was total absence of a strong script in the movie. However, my craze for Bollywood continues and we enjoy our night outs with a dear couple friend. We are so much of movie buffs that we do not mind venturing out on weekday nights. What varies is my level of satisfaction, back from watching a really good movie I usually feel very happy and content which was missing yesterday. The senior jokingly said its good to watch such movies often where we do not have to think much ... fill it, shut it, forget it. I am a sit at home, good for nothing not so good 'wo-man', I have nothing much to do all day other than watching movies, cooking a bit or reading or listening to music, yet I reserve this 'watching movie' part to be had together with him, I enjoy his company though it has never been a running around the tree kind of relationship. I keep on telling my friends it is not so that my man will get angry if I go out with you all, but I still do not because he feels and understands me way too much. His mother was a champion in freaking out with her girlfriends, chatting, eating out, it is quite obvious she would not be happy with this quiet, dull, unsocial daughter-in-law. He learnt to respect women from his father. I have complained about him to people but till date he has never talked negative about me to anyone.... he could have. He always says be happy in what you do. So I happily prepare all kinds of pakoras or fries over the weekend to enjoy with our joint 'drinking session'. The son loves fritters so much so that whatever combination it is, he will have a couple of them. The husband loves the non-vegetarian ones over the vegetarian ones.

Narkel er bora or Coconut Fritters was / is made frequently at my side of the family. My mother hated wastage of food. Whenever coconut milk was used to prepare any dish, mani would use the remaining shredded coconut to prepare bora or pakora. That perhaps was the scenario in every middle class then, and I take pride in saying that a major part of my life was spent in a two-roomed rented house, and a happy home indeed where the mother used to say 'dekhli tor baba amar ekta kothao shoney na'.... see your father does not listen to me at any time and the next moment I saw she was all set to prepare murir moya, chirer moya, naru for him and us.... they were worst examples of feminism and so am I. I have not even inherited 1/4 of the quality of my mother or grandmother, whatever little I have I use it doing it for the dear ones. You people may well call it as a weapon to hide my deficiencies, what to do I am such a shameless creature, there is no place to hide my parasitical being in my present 1100 sq ft flat either. So, I keep on bragging about my-self to the world ..... these are all attributes of an illiterate you know. Anyway, preparing narkel er bora was not so much of a quick and easy thing in those days.... moms had to buy a coconut, break it, shred it and then proceed with the process of preparing heavenly pakora with it. We do not have to go through such hassles, we get readymade shredded coconut at shops here, so I prepare it often. Let me tell you what kind of an extreme case my mother is ..... she never gets small fish or chicken cut by the seller, she gets whole and cuts them by herself, she just asks the seller to get the skin off from the chicken. She is miser enough to keep a gardening help, and does it all by herself, even at unearthly hours of the afternoon wearing a cap. I am no where near her.... so when I see my blogger friends sharing posts of hand pounded spices and elaborate recipes, I see my mother and grandmother in them or yesteryear ladies at large. Some of them have blogged on narkel er bora or coconut fritters too beautifully, I am adding mine following my mother's recipe of it. I either serve it with a Bengali style coriander chutney or we enjoy it with some rice and dal. Come let us prepare it together.

INGREDIENTS :
Shredded Coconut : 2big cups
Green Chilli : 2-3chopped
Rice Flour : 1/2small cup
Gram Flour : 1/2small cup
Salt : As Required
Sugar : 1tsp [optional]
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Oil : 1medium cup to deep fry

METHOD :
Take the shredded coconut in a bowl. Add the chopped green chillies, rice flour, gram flour, salt, sugar and turmeric in it. Mix well. We will try not to add water because coconut itself releases water.

Prepare balls from the mix taking small portions and flatten little with help go your palms. They are ready to be fried.

Heat oil in a wok. Fry the narkel er bora at low to moderate heat in batches. We need to adjust heat from time to time. Too less heat breaks the fritters and too much of it burns them outside while the inside remains uncooked. Patience is required in cooking.

Take out the fritters already done and place on a tissue paper.

Transfer to a serving plate. At our home, mom used to prepare a coriander chutney / dhonepata bata with say a big cup of washed and chopped coriander leaves, 1/4tsp nigella seeds, 1green chilli, 1or 2 cloves of garlic. Blend to a paste, add little salt and mix well. We had it with piping hot steamed rice adding a little mustard oil to it.... a humble recipe from a humble household. It you are having it as an accompaniment to fries and fritters, skip using the mustard oil. Enjoy narkel er bora, crisp and hot with your loved ones.

Weekend arrives, we will do some elaborate cooking and how beautiful it looks when we place all the spread on the table. That is the scene at our home on Saturdays at around 4 pm. For the next two days till Monday I will not cook. I usually have my lunch at 5 pm on Saturdays yet quite energetic to attend a party or get together if any. As I always say do not follow me, I do not follow any routine in life, a very bad example of discipline. I was not this till I was at my parent's home, the mother was very strict with maintaining time. The marriage got me here where people had tea at 10 pm , dinner at 11 pm, everything opposite of the environment I grew up in. Crowded all day through, I found myself amidst a zoo and got peace taking refuge at my sis-in-law's room. She is one who I found nearer to my nature. Girls do have to go through that ordeal of adjusting in strange homes in their mid-twenties.... to feel and say that I do not need to be a feminist, I came across some excellent males in my life. Coming to the point, after so much of cooking-shooking, the mother thinks I am not doing enough, I feed stale food to my men..... I refuse to be like her, never could reach that energy level.

By the way, how does the pomfret curry look? I am not so fond of it but it is a regular at home because my men love it. My dislike for pomfret started during my pregnancy, after that I never could like it, though I have it a bit when done with lots of spices, onion, garlic, ginger, tomato. We were at middle school when this poor man's fish flooded the Kolkata market. Hence, it was welcome at month end at middle class homes as ours. Maa used to cook it with lot of spices, different from our usual 'ada-jirey batar jhol'.... ginger - cumin paste fish curry. She even batter fried it with a spicy marination. Within few years its price went up. These days I try to have pomfret, I see I can if I cook it with lot of spices. I prefer the batter fried version, marinating it with a lot of spices and lemon juice. I like my curries red, there is too much use of Kashmiri Mirch in my kitchen, my favourite is the Everest brand.... alternatively Selvi's. When we are talking red today, I felt the urge to talk about another 'red'. Are you aware of the "Binti Movement" or following their Facebook page? Please do, they have a very strong message for all of us. It is time we stop accepting all that taboo associated with 'menstruation'...... and believe there is no 'hush hush' matter in it. Till date, I cannot touch anything related to God during those five days of the month because the mother taught so. If I do otherwise.... my mother or grand mother may attempt suicide, I accuse myself too for been so prejudiced. As I said, I am not a good example to follow, do your bit for a cause .... support mission Menstrupedia.. I got to know about this mission from another blogger friend in Twitter .... writer_foodie. Any talk about Binti / Menstrupedia remains incomplete, if I do not tell you about a real life incident ... one of some that makes me believe there are more good men then bad. It was 1990-91 may be. I was chatting with four of my boy-friends at 11A Bus Stand near our college.... Angsuman Hazra, Anjan Das, Aveek Dutta and Kunal.... the naughty products of Don Bosco, Liluah. The girls were not there on that day, perhaps they were attending class like good girls. Without my knowledge, I started bleeding and spoilt my skirt. We got up and were walking towards the college, just then they noticed it. It was winter, as usual Kolkata winter never drives me to an urge to wear sweaters. What they did? Angshu lent me his sweater, tied it around my waist and all four escorted me till I rode the bus leading towards home. Friends are friends.... boy or girl.... Angshu, if you are reading this... you will only agree and your beautiful wife would not mind I am sure. My love for some men around stops me from been a so called Feminist, neither does it stop me from standing strong beside 'Nirbhaya'... that is a humanist call. We should stand up for a cause.

I will be wrong if I say my girl friends do not mean anything to me. I have come across a couple of loving ones. Today, I wish to talk about two of them.... my left and right hand. I will talk about the rest in different posts. The two are... are.... are... well... one is our very own Asha Parekh aka Tanushree Choudhuri and the other.... no gifts for guessing ... the vibrant Chandrayee Dasgupta.... from school till date and forever. Who is the binding force of the three... me off course. Both visited us in the summer of 2015 and the four of us went back to the 80's.... the day they went back, I could not enter home till the evening, got in when the husband came back... so empty look it had. The stupid Tanushree is averse to social media and threatens me echoing my husband ... do not drag me into all these. She has an excellent hand in stitching, aspired to get trained at NIFD, got married instead after meeting her handsome. She is again into her passion after the son grew up... he is a budding cricketer perhaps playing for the Andhra Pradesh team? They stay in Vizag hailing from Sodpur, Kolkata suburbs. About Chandrayee, well she is a teacher teaching at higher secondary level back in Kolkata.... haha what do I write about our equation?... we fight with all might and then patch up with kisses... because my stomach aches if I do not share my heart with her. She accuses me of not loving her that much as she does and I accept.... I am that wave ... touching the shore and slipping away... at once... or the lonely bird you see above each evening.... a free spirited bird not to be caged... that is my whats app status.... you can see it if you have not blocked me as yet like some .... it feels so funny to view myself as a dangerous, harmful material ... hahaha .... its all fun.... no pain babes... a series of mutton and chicken curries in line.... only botheration is of some dear veggie friends and off course blog visits. By the way, what is the colour of insults, pain, etc., etc...... it paints your face red, right?..... Anyway, red is my family's favourite colour and of my second home too.

I cannot differentiate between who are good or better than the other.... a man or a woman... we should never generalise it, thats how I feel. Then, I am not literate enough to think otherwise and prefer to cook something instead.... Two Ks keep me happy... kids and kitchen. I am on way to a musical night this evening, on an invitation from a beautiful rose, before that I wish to share this pomfret curry recipe cooked with tandoori spice mix. I lightly grilled the spicy marinated fish before adding them to the curry. This way I could save some oil. You can also deep fry the fish. They say spices are good for us but not oil.... I have not done any research on it, hence cannot say anything for or against it... I only know I cannot listen to cooking in one table spoon oil each day with minimal spices... Karina... Twinkle... Priyanka will remain a dream.... no matter what... I loved the fat, pimpled face, oil drenched plated braid girl of sixteen then too ..... boy or a girl... love yourself enough not to give into any insults. Come let us do some cooking and sing together with Ranvir.... Aai Dil Hai Yeh Mushkil....

INGREDIENTS :
Pomfret [silver] : 6
Tandoori Masala : 11/2tbsp[I use Everest]
Onion [sliced] : 2tbsp
Tomato Paste : 1/2medium cup
Garlic Paste : 1tsp
Ginger Paste : 2tsp
Cumin Powder : 1/2tsp
Coriander Powder : 1/2tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 11/2tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp + 1/2tsp
Lemon Juice : 1/2small cup
Cumin Seed : 2-3 pinches
Cinnamon Stick : 2 one inch size
Cloves : 2-3
Green Cardamom : 2-3
Salt : As Required
Oil : 3-4 tbsp

METHOD :
Clean the stomach of each pomfret and wash thoroughly.... they have small, white, soft scales. Apply 2-3 tbsp lemon juice and little salt. Rub well and keep covered for 1/2 an hour to 1 hour. Wash thoroughly again.

Marinate each of the fish with the remaining lemon juice, little salt, 1/2tsp turmeric powder and tandoori masala. Keep aside for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Grease a grill plate with little oil. Apply 1tbsp oil to all the fish and rub well.

Grill for 5-6 minutes, take out and turn over. Do not forget to wear your gloves.

Grill for about 4 minutes, rest of the cooking will be done in the curry atop gas stove.

Heat oil in a wok, temper with cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, cloves and green cardamoms. Add the sliced onions and stir.

Fry the onion till golden brown.

Add the ginger and garlic paste and fry for 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and fry till the oil separates from the mix.

Add the red chilli, cumin, coriander and turmeric powder, salt to the mix and stir for a minute.

Add water and bring to boil.

Once the gravy boils, gently add the fish. Use a bigger wok, we will not let the pomfrets break. However bad I look, I am very particular about the look of my home, my food.

Let boil at medium to low heat for 3-4 minutes. We wish for a thick gravy. Once done, we will transfer the pomfret curry to a serving bowl and serve with piping hot steamed rice.

....... Late 70's ..... Early 80's .... Long winter vacations at school... for a month or so..... and I spared no time to travel to my maternal grand parent's home. The brother would come with my parents later. This was the scenario until I was in college. It was an irresistible call..... I was born and brought up in that home.... too strong a bond. I remember when we first came to Kolkata, I cried and refused to..... I loved everything about that small township some 100 km away from Kolkata ..... also famous in some parts of the world for something. I feel I will take its name only when I pay a tribute to my birth place..... which I should have done by now. The wow thing is that the senior was born just few kilometres away from mine, though a year later. I often say, you see we were destined to meet. The inevitable answer comes quick and crisp .... oh yes! you would not have got a better head to eat. The wife does not get bitter, perhaps she had zeroed in on one or two of the exclusive collection of sarees from Jayeeta or Debarathi and an accessory from Gahonaz to pair it with.... how much of a dumbo she is, she cannot afford to get bitter in such a situation ..... she has to buy them all. Instead, she soaks some rice and dal separately for 3-4 hours, grind them to a paste in an electric grinder, switch on gas, places a non-stick pan atop and prepares the crepes. It never was this easy for the grand mother, mother or for the yesteryear ladies in general. That is the reason why I always say, I am nothing compared to them.

Let us go back to our childhood. The grandmother wraps a shawl around her little girl who sits quite with a steel plate looking greedily at the 'unan'.... the clay oven.... it was a big one in the courtyard of half of a football ground size, a garden surrounded by thirteen coconut trees, the grandfather grew even turmeric, ginger in the open space he kept for growing seasonal produce, and some landed properties further interior. No, he was not a zaminder, just a banker who valued every coin he earned. Excuse me dadu .... I will just buy an authentic Kalamkari and Madhubani on my next visit to Kolkata ..... after that not much .... plain cottons ..... I have to unlike all the saree pages that I have liked in Facebook .... they are up to prove that I am not the daughter of that family. Coming to the grandmother, she would tirelessly prepare a number of sweet and salty pithey .... Bengali sweet meats / salted snacks.... Dhupi, Doilla, Chitoi, Shoru Chakli, Gokul or Moongpuli. As a child, my appetite was like that of an adult, perhaps so I am punished with something called Diabetes .... 'jiboney onek paap korechilam noiley oats khete hoy'..... I must have committed major sins in life, else I would not have to live on oats. My oats loving friends, its just for fun and no means to take a dig at you.... just as you cannot think of having oil drenched fried eggplants with rice accompanied by a dollop of ghee, a pinch of salt and a green chilli... you will need to have an antacid at the very sight of it.... that was my favourite breakfast on way to school / college. Rujuta Divakar will surely block me from her page.... you guys are not as bad as I am, and you will get some valuable notes on over all health, on pregnancy from her page. She does not need a recommendation from a 'chunoputi' .... small time blogger like me, all in good gesture... I find her reasonable who even recommends ghee for the weight watchers.

The mother too did all the sweetmeats / savoury snacks mentioned above learnt from her mother, and here is my attempt to carry forward the legacy. I will not talk much about the mother today, she is not picking up my phone..... early morning and she must be on the terrace.... mending her plants, cleaning her prayer room. When she is busy, she would not talk over phone. The daddy used to say, mamoni your mani is too busy now.... call in the evening.... the mamoni has to chat with her senior in the evenings and do a bit of cooking. Yet, my mother knows about every secret of mine, each story of my life, I find peace in that. I wished to share something with her.... the pppppp ... pops, daddy, father is visiting too much in the dreams these days... I see him mostly in family gatherings... marriage or otherwise and yesterday in a shoe shop along with the brother and me... woh... buying only from Bata was the norm in our house.... He is angry with the daughter, she no more remains his sweet, little, innocent girl who he thought will remain so for ever.... What to do Pops.... survival strategies, but trust me I will not go beyond limits. Do not ask me what the yellow roses are doing atop shoru chakli, red roses are ok though as its common. Well, do you ever ask the Big B why he signed some horrible movies breaking the hearts of millions of fans. We do not always do everything for a reason or we may too, which is not important here. More important is how to prepare 'shoru chakli' / salty Bengali style Crepes on oven top with just two ingredients rice and dal and a little bit of salt. Authentically, we always enjoy it with Khejur Gur aka Date Palm Jaggery. I used Thai Jasmine Rice and the dal has to be Beulir Dal or Urad Dal in this recipe. Do not use over polished, fine cut rice for this purpose. If you do not want to be too conventional, serve it with some veggie sides. Come let us dive into the recipe and enjoy them hot and fresh.

I had a rough brush up of few recipes of Shoru Chakli on Google, but we all know each Bengali family follows more or less same recipe, I followed mine.

INGREDIENTS :
Rice : 11/2 Big Cup [I used Thai Jasmine Rice]
Beuli / Urad Dal : 1/3rd Big Cup
Salt : As Required
Oil : 1/2 tsp for 3-4 Crepes

METHOD :
We will soak the rice and dal in two different bowls in enough water for 3-4 hours.

Drain the water from the dal, and grind it to a paste. Try not to add too much water.

Now transfer the dal paste to a big bowl.

Now we will get a paste of the rice in a grinder adding little / some water. Transfer it to the same bowl where we kept the dal paste.

Mix well both the dal and rice pastes. I straightaway use my right palm. Add water little by little until it becomes a running consistency, yet a bit thick. Add salt as is required and fold in well.

Heat a pan atop the oven. Grease with little oil. Take one big spoon and pour in the middle of the pan and quickly spread with the back of your spoon. Turn over when the sides are little crisp. It is preferable to use a dal serving spoon for the crepes.... 1/2 tsp oil makes 3-4 crepes.

Once we turn over, the done side looks as below.

Authentically, we enjoy it with Kejurer Gur aka Date Palm Jaggery .... you can choose yours.

Before we indulge into some good, festive food for Rakhi Poornima / Raksha Bandhan and rest of the occasions to be had this month and next, let us have some comfort food. Do not expect much healthy fairs in this blog. This is one food blogger who jumped into blogging without doing any homework, hence will dare not try to write about the history of a dish or a detail of its nutritional value. The lazy me denies to read and learn because she is more interested in novels laced with melodrama..... what to do I grew up on 'Sarat Rachanabali'. Though the old me now believe the Indian women need not be that epitome of perfection at all given situations, I cannot deny the fact that I always marvelled his kind of writing, his description of 'Gram Bangla' is deep rooted within me. I read all of his volumes while at school, perhaps that was an influence enough to make me a silly, billy goat as this who feeds you made up stories from the past with a good amount of dramatisation. Eight years into this island, I am still that typical Bengali girl who told her senior 'T.... ami kanta chamoch dhortey janina'... when he took her for a dinner date for the first time at Trinca's, Park Street in the early 90's, 1992 to be precise. We lived in Kolkata but at our home there was no ritual of fine dining at restaurants. Eating out for us meant eating falooda-kulfi at Rally's or Indra Mahal and Roshogolla-Pantua from a decent sweet shop... the mother got us cutlets and fries though. The mother who always said 'tor baba amai to bairey khaoaini' was crying profusely day before yesterday.... your father could have lived a little more.... 'aar kota din thakte parto'. So, it is not always a blame game, the same father had subscription of end number of books, three to four bi-monthly magazines adorned the balcony of our two-roomed rented home, the brother got a computer set as early at a time when very few middle-class family thought of owning one. So, this Kolkata girl did not know that Park Street had so many restaurants and people can spend so much on eating out until my senior took me there. At their home, they did dine out once a month at least. The maa-in-law had beer with family but was not generous enough to accept that a daughter-in-law should be taken into consideration in any decision making process, that it may hurt the girl if you talk negative of her family, and that it is absolutely unnecessary for the daughter-in-law to ask each and everyday what amount of rice should be cooked just to prove and accept that the mother-in-law has the supreme command in the household. No this is not an attempt to assault my not so much of a friend maa-in-law.... I do not spare my mother too if she behaves otherwise. There must be a reason why the brother's wife loves me much... she said her colleagues and friends were impressed when they met me at our father's Shradh Ceremony.... they say I am quiet, reserved, calm ..... and the T da had to deny it quickly and say .... only I know what kind of a volcano I live with...... So he will get only shojne patar bora and dal and no mutton curry..... haha..... or may be there will be some.

The primitive girl of the 80's-90's remains so till date.... Eight years into the island and she cannot use chopsticks neither knife and fork properly.... 'konta kon haathey je dhorbo chai bhule jai'.... I forget which one to hold in which hand... hihi.... Someone took a very wise decision of not walking along with such a primitive, that again is a bad joke based on an imaginative story. Anyway, I feel one should not come in the way of someone with an aspiring dream of going high up in the social and economic ladder, you definitely should not if you care. Coming to the point, in the first week after I stepped into the island... I went to the super market and saw something similar to 'murir moya'.... puffed rice balls kind of.... I could not hide my excitement and called the mother.... Mani... 'era murir moya khai..... shutki mach o khai'..... The mother visited in 2013, went back happy and told her mother, brothers and sisters, neighbours.... 'ranga aloo, shorshe shaak shobi paoa jai janish, shomudrer kekle, mourolao..... mamoni ke bolechi kekle mach diye mulo ghonto ta korish'.... in a word.... she was content and happy to know her daughter will not die of hunger and can do our kind of cooking in a foreign land that feels so much of home, each morning you get to see the 'Ranganer Jhar or Tagar Phooler Gach' as you walk along the road just the ones the mother grows, saree clad women every 200 mt. I love to see my friends cooking pies and pastries and so much appreciate it, but the purpose of this blog is to share what I grew up eating. Shojne Phooler Bora / pakora with drumstick flowers was more popular at our home with the onset of spring but this also is a much loved one.... especially my men loves it... either with dal and rice or as a snack or an appetiser . You can trust my dishes full fledged, but do not believe in my stories.... they hardly have any truth in them.... all for fun. By the way, a small note or wish to some people concerned.... I do respect a struggling mother and to every child... a mother is a Goddess and thats the way it should be. I accept and respect that part... but please do not force unto me any kind of unwanted match-match... I am simply not interested. Friends who are taking part in such non-sensical game is only distancing me from them.... I know I am not a material to be kept, but you must respect people's wishes too.... as I said not all in a classroom needs to be taken along and treasured in memories.... Most important is.... I am yet to understand this game.... I am a very free willed person who refuses to think deep. To the rest of my readers who has faith on my recipes.... come let us enjoy cooking together Bengali style Urad Dal and Drumstick leaves pakora / fritters / bora.

We will prepare the Urad Dal / Beulir Dal first. Let us start with it.

BEULIR DAL / URAD DAL

INGREDIENTS :
Urad Dal : 1medium cup
Dry Red Chilli : 2 halved
Green Chilli : 2-3 slitted
Fennel Powder : 1tsp [preferably paste]
Ginger Paste : 2tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Cumin Seed : 1/4tsp
Salt : As Required
Sugar : 1tsp
Oil : 2tbsp [Authentically Mustard]

METHOD :

Place a wok on gas oven top and add the beulir dal. Stir till they turn little brown. Transfer to a bowl and wash thoroughly under running water.

Take the washed dal in a pressure cooker, add 2 big cups of water, little turmeric and salt. Close lid and pressure cook up to 2 whistles. Let cool.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with cumin seeds and halved dry red chillies. Add the ginger paste and stir for a minute. Add fennel powder and rest of the turmeric powder and salt. Fold in well and stir for a minute.

Open lid of the pressure cooker and add the boiled dal to the wok. Fold in well and add two big cups of water. Stir and cover cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the slitted green chillies and sugar. Let boil for another 2 minutes and it is done.

SHOJNE PATAR BORA :

INGREDIENTS :
Drumstick Leaves : 300-400gm
Onion : 1sliced [my addition]
Rice Flour : 1/2 medium cup
Gram Flour : 1/2small cup
Refined Flour : 1/4small cup
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Salt : As Required
Sugar : 1/3tsp
Oil : 100-150ml to deep fry

METHOD :

Tear and wash the tender, young leaves of drumstick . Prepare a batter with the rice flour, gram flour, refined flour, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt and sugar adding water little by little.

Add the washed drumstick leaves to the batter and fold in well. Make sure to drain all the water from the leaves.

Heat oil in a wok. Take out small portions of the mix and add gently to the oil. We will fry the shojne patar bora in batches while adjusting the heat from medium to low. Once done we will place them on tissue papers to get rid of any excess oil.

Serve the pakoras / shojne pasar bora and beulir / urad dal with piping hot steamed rice.

If 'Amrito' is far from me, I will bring it to my home.'Amrito' is a sweet shop in Northern Kolkata which is famous for its 'Laal Doi'.... sweetened red colour yogurt because of the use of jaggery and perhaps a bit of caramelised sugar in it. Having Amritor Laal Doi in a 100gm "bhar".... earthen pot is a ritual for me since childhood... and to be continued.... have you seen such a shameless diabetic.... you have not.... I am not even a good girl as my mother who eats 'neem pata bhaja without adding eggplant in it .... that is crispy fried young neem leaves with ghee.... I flatly denied to have and said.... spare me that... I am ok with bitter gourd, my men says no to that too.Those days are still not 'gone' when a Bengali's end of the meal dessert was inevitably mishti doi and roshogolla or pantua. As we all know yogurt is considered very auspicious among us and is a must in any ritual or prayer meets. Nonetheless to mention, during our examinations, the mother would put a big 'doi er phota'.... a dot with yogurt on the forehead, on the mathematics examination day that dot was bigger on the daughter's forehead..... oh maa... how I regret not been able to fulfil your wishes. Coming to yogurt, both sides of my family love yogurt, specially my late daddy loved it too much .... it had to be served with roshogolla to him. As of my brother, these days he is not much into sweets and desserts, but he definitely loves his share of mishti doi. His didibhai, this fat, old lady sends him 'Rakhi'... every year....... a sacred thread to be tied around the wrist of brothers only? .... I do not believe in that.... sisters too should do that to each other, and friends too .... 30-35 years back, we did exactly that within the four walls of a classroom .... we used to exchange rakhi among us on the auspicious day of Rakhi Poornima. When I declared to my mother first that I have chosen T as my life partner, her shock was not that I chose it without letting them to decide for me but that... "mamoni... he is your Rakhi brother"..... I said no mani.... he is a dear friend.... not every person I meet is my brother or sister.... That is off course my belief.... once I came out of my mother's lap.

Sharing our very own, much loved 'laal mishti doi' was a natural choice today. I just wish to say try our 'laal mishti doi' and you got to get a wonderful chilled dessert option for life. On my last month's visit to Kolkata, I noticed most of the sweet shops are selling 'shada mishti doi' and not that much of 'laal mishti doi' alongside. To blog on sweetened red coloured yogurt became an urge. My senior loved it and gave me a thumbs up. The junior will not eat a tea spoon of yogurt, he does not have a sibling either..... on such particular occasions I feel that guilt of leaving him alone in this vast world.... so I compensate getting him his favourite Mac Meal or a Sushi Platter or a Pizza.... there is absolute harmony at my home.... just that they eat their beef outside, I eat my pork outside.... because I am fairly prejudiced and value the sentiments of my mother and my not so much of a friend maa-in-law. I have not sent a rakhi to my brother this year because we or to be precise he is not entitled to any celebration for a year, as if doing so makes him or us loving his father any less... my atheist men do not leave a single chance to take on me... you see darling / momci.... all the trouble in the world is because of religion.... look at us we do not react even when you guys shower us with not so acceptable adjectives. I really do not have anything to say.... he never has tried to impose his beliefs on me. Anyway, I hope you will love to prepare this no hassle, no pain, three ingredient chilled dessert... 'Kolkatar Laal Mishti Doi'..... sweetened red colour yogurt..... with milk, jaggery, plain yogurt.... I have used little caramelised sugar too. You definitely have to bear the setting time too.... that is somewhat between 8-10 hours... for me it takes that much. If you are in a hurry.... there is a baked option too which I have mentioned at the end of the post. Come let us enjoy preparing this Bengali chilled dessert together for our loved ones.

This was my 4th attempt at perfecting it and finally I could... I am immensely happy and satisfied. Wish you all who are celebrating this day a very HAPPY RAKSHA BANDHAN / SUBHA RAKHI POORNIMA...

INGREDIENTS :
Full Cream Milk : 1litre
Jaggery : 1/3medium cup [I used date palm jaggery]
Plain Yogurt : 1/2small cup [beaten well]
Sugar : 2tsp [to caramelise]

METHOD :

We will boil the milk first. Take the milk in a heavy bottomed vessel. Place it atop gas oven and switch on gas. Bring the milk to boil and keep boiling till it reduces to almost half and little creamy colour. We should not let the milk to burn below and stir often.

Meanwhile, we will break and mash the jaggery as much as is possible with our right palm. As the milk reaches to desired consistency, we will switch off gas. Add the jaggery and stir constantly so that both the jaggery and the milk get to mix well.

Take the sugar and 1/4 small cup water in a metal bowl and place atop gas. Switch on gas and stir constantly till the mixture turns dark brown. Pour it atop the milk and jaggery mixture and give a gentle stir.

Pour the entire mixture to a glass / earthen bowl, add the beaten yogurt and give a gentle stir. We must remember that at this stage the milk mixture has to be lukewarm.

Cover the bowl with a lid, place a big vessel upside down on it to cover it entirely. Wrap a thick towel around it. It will take 8-10 hours for the yogurt to set properly. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.

If you are in a hurry for this mouthwatering Bengali dessert, there is a QUICK, BAKED version, which is not authentic but the taste remains same. You will take some water in a bake proof tray. Place the milk mixture pot in the middle of it. Cover with aluminium foil. Preheat oven for 5 minutes at 180*C. Place the tray with pot inside the oven. Bake at 180*C for 25-30 minutes or adjust according to your oven settings. Once done take out, let cool and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.

Sesame seed or Til is quite in use among us Bengalis though not so much in our family except for during the period between Bijoya Dashami to Lokkhi Pujo .... Grandma, maa, aunties preparing 'Tiler Naru'... Sesame Ladoos.... and a greedy little girl trying to steal some at once. I use the word steal because we were not supposed to have before offering them to the Goddess. I am yet not successful with tiler naru... though it is just a two ingredient sweet with roasted sesame seed and jaggery.... the trick is in properly cooking the jaggery mix.... with Janmashtami approaching I am so much willing to prepare them. Then I land in this island and see both varieties of sesame seed is so much in use here. To add more joy to the soul.... so good quality tiler naru is available in the shops here. These are the little things that helps me feel connected. I am not saying this because the island celebrates its National Day tomorrow, its a gut feeling for sure. I should have gone for an authentic dish of this place today, but you know though I have adapted a taste for couple of their dishes, I rarely try them at home. You need to buy a couple of ingredients for that.... and the confused me gets more confused standing in front of the sauce section of NTUC or Cold Storage or Giant .... you will always see me taking a lazy afternoon stroll in these stores after a healthy lunch of Yong Tau Foo or a dumpling soup or a fish soup. One major reason of identifying myself with this place quickly is that their staple [if I can take the liberty to say that] and ours is rice and fish. This may not be an authentic Bengali dish but I have given a Bengali touch to it.

Coming back to til or sesame seed... it is quite in use at my home these days as an alternative to posto or poppyseed. Wish I / we could convince the higher authorities here that 'postor moto mahargo bostu hoyna, bhalo ghumo hoy'.... poppyseed is good to have and I hear it helps to sleep well.... if it has come out from the mouth of a 'Bangal'.... there is truth in it. That very good quality Tiler Naru is I think a Southern Indian influence in the culture. I do not wish to emphasise such things as that requires a good amount of research..... but there can always be such telephonic conversations with the mom .... 'mani jano South Indian der sangey amader khabarer mil achey.... narkel dudh diye mach bolo ba onno besh kichu... oder pithe-pulir sangey amader mil achey'..... there are similarities between South Indian and Bengali cooking.... their Kozhukattai and our doilla pithe is almost same. Anyway, if I cannot prepare a local dish for the occasion, I will at least use some ingredients that are common here and understandable to a majority. Whether the dish is suitable to symbolise an Indian living happily in the island or not is for the readers to decide. It was 8pm yesterday when I told Cristine... let us prepare a quick fix vegetarian dish... so that in the next morning I need to prepare only the parathas.... So this TIL BADAMBATA ALOO with Paratha went into their lunch boxes today. I need to write more about Cristine soon... last Saturday I went to attend a programme... she prepared a dessert for us with cornflour, coconut milk, sugar and sweetcorn kernels and calls it Maja Blanca... I really liked it.... I think I have to recreate it using dry fruits for my men..... my chopsticks are naughty enough to consider sweetcorn as an ingredient for salad unless it is used for some corn and cheese fritters. So at 8 pm on a weekday, you or rather a lazy me will not go for any elaborate cooking but for a quick, simple one as this TIL BADAMBATA ALOO. I am not happy with the pictures either but the taste is guaranteed. For that you need to cook together with me TIL BADAMBATA ALOO. If poppyseed is not banned at your place, you can use a bit of it's paste too. A fish curry and rice dish was so much apt for the occasion but then what about the friends and readers who are keeping fast for the rest of the month or thereafter?

A Happy National Day to all who are celebrating, we stay or not... this island will continue to be one of the safest, cleanliest, disciplined country in the world map.... how will we spend the day tomorrow?... I will cook a jirey-kancha lanka bata diye Ilish beguner jhol - Hilsa with eggplants with a simple spice mix of cumin and green chilli paste.... authentically we use only slitted green chilli and nigella seeds for tempering if the fish is fresh and will not fry the fish too..... the brothersome store helps in the Asian stores say Apa, 'borofer hoileo maccc ta bhalo khaiben'... though frozen, you will enjoy it.... overjoyed at the sight of some gondhoraj lebu and jolpai too, their Apa uses the dialect of her forefathers.... ' jjjalpai diya cccchadni ki bhalo khaitam maa... didur haatey kon bhaijjan.... shidol / hidol shutki / hudki nimu ektun, kobey aaibo janayen'.... their Apa also takes pride in saying publicly that some of her and her senior's closest relatives live under moderate to extreme financial limitations and yet smile at any untimely visitors or guests and say 'ektu macccc bhaat na khaile jaitei dimuna'.... if you have come, you have to have some fish and rice before leaving.... and in the evening we are due to meet some special guests.

INGREDIENTS :
Potato : 6 to 8 medium [ I used Brastagi variety]
Onion : 1 big
Green Chilli : 3-4
Til / Sesame Seed : 1tbsp [roasted]
Cashew nut : 4-5 [raw]
Plain Yogurt : 2tbsp
Fennel Seed : 1/4tsp
Bay Leaf : 1
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 4 tbsp

METHOD :

Wash the potatoes and take in a microwave proof dish, make holes in each one with a fork. Microwave for 3-31/2 minutes.... we do not want them to over boil. Take out and hold under running water to cool if you are in a hurry.

Peel off the skin carefully and cut half. Add salt and turmeric.

Peel and wash the onion, cut into smaller pieces. Dry roast the sesame seeds till golden brown. Take the onion pieces, sesame seed, plain yogurt, green chillies and cashew nuts in a blender.

Blend to a smooth paste, use water if only required.

Heat the oil in a wok and fry the potato pieces till little brown.

Take out and keep aside. Temper same oil with with the bay leaf and fennel seeds. Add the paste, little salt and turmeric. Stir for not more than a minute, now add the fried potatoes and fold in well.

Add a medium cup of water and fold in well again.

We will cover cook for 3-4 minutes.

Open cover and see.... it should be done.

Ingredients like sesame seed or poppyseed pastes have a tendency to soak the gravy.... do not worry, it enhances the taste of the potatoes. Transfer the entire thing in a serving bowl and enjoy with either fried rice or paratha, poori, chapati or even bread.

GRILLED PINEAPPLE AND ALOO MATAR TIKKI

HERBED GRILLED BABY POTATOES

INSTANT ICE-CREAM SANDESH

KHEJUR ANAROSHER CHUTNEY

LANKAR ACHAR

MATAR PINEAPPLE RICE WITH CARROT N TOMATO SALAD

AAM SANDESH

DUDH BORI DIYE JHINGE BEGUNER JHOL

BORI DIYE LAU GHONTO

ILISH SHORSHE POSTO

DIM POROTA / ANDA PARATHA

PEPPERY MANGO JAM

BAKED AAM DOI

AJWAINI FISH TIKKA

NARKEL ER BORA

TANDOORI MOSHOLAI POMFRET ER GAMAKHA JHOL

SHORU CHAKLI KHEJUR GUR DIYE

SHOJNE PATAR BORA O BEULIR DAL

KOLKATAR LAAL MISHTI DOI

TIL BADAMBATA ALOO