CURRY AND SPICE

I perhaps have mentioned earlier that once I left school, the mother got me a round shaped baking gadget in which we could bake basic cakes and some basic biscuits. I remember besides some easy to make cakes, I used to prepare some semolina biscuits with nigella seeds.... the famous 'cha er dokan er biskut' of Kolkata .... famous roadside stall biscuits of Kolkata ..... I do not know why I stopped doing them, perhaps after marriage. Then struggling with a little boy all alone for ten long years.... I cooked only that much as was required for the well being of my boy.... Eating out and travelling were what we waited for the father to come and take us to. Life was not so tough either with support from both sides of the family.... they were just a phone call away. I do wish to go back in that life when day and life revolved around my son, if only the senior stayed with us. I / We could not sail as much as compared to other mariner's wives.... for various reasons. My only concern was to take care of my son .... to get him all kinds of happiness so that he does not miss his father. Yesterday.... we were going out to meet a visiting friend and his daughter. They were in a short trip e route Kolkata from HongKong and said we wish to explore the place better we meet outside..... however I insisted them to come over at our place. I was gazing at the son once he was dressed up .... he grew up so fast .... that boy who knew nothing except for the mother's lap. I asked why do you have to wear black and white always?.... the son told his maternal uncle [ the only one he talks to] that his favourite colour is black .... perhaps so the mother too has developed a liking for black and white.... or it may date back further..... Anushree [Rumni] and Gargi if only you are reading this.... do you remember how your parents used to make fun of mani for her madness for black sarees..... and that particular incident at Nalli's, Chennai...... good old memories. My mother perhaps know only of two colours... black and red.... she wears white perhaps because she has to.

That son who grew up so fast and his father both love homemade basic cakes, what to do their girl fears to go beyond her limit. When it comes to baking.... oh I have made / make so many mistakes.... but I love baking small goodies for my men..... I pack them along with their lunch boxes.... the junior has something like short break in their school, while the senior refuses to eat any breakfast .... I do pack his breakfast too though there are severe fights on this issue. You cannot give in either if the waist size remains same for 35 years.... So the miser wife does not do any misery on feeding them ghee, butter or cheese.... I do tell the senior if you have followed the diet plan I made for you in the past years you would not have to lament for not having a girl friend. As usual the answer is get lost. I do not mind, rather get myself engaged in preparing this lemon and nutmeg flavoured banana cup cakes which they liked very much. There was a time when my brother, mom and father loved the cakes I made.... that is the only thing the mother allowed me to do.... at least I could do something for them. For the LEMONY NUTMEG BANANA EGGLESS CUPS we need very less ingredients. Come let us follow the easy steps carefully and prepare these basic cup cakes full of natural flavours together for our loved ones. These cup cakes goes very well as a tea time goodie or to be packed in your kid's snack box.

INGREDIENTS :
Cake Flour : 1 coffee mug [If you use plain flour, amount is same]
Baking Soda : 1/4 tsp [ If you use plain flour, baking soda should be 1/2tsp, baking powder 1/3tsp]
Nutmeg Powder : 1/2-1/3tsp
Lemon Zest / shredded skin : 2tsp
Banana : 1[ripened enough]
Plain Yogurt : 1/2 medium cup
Condensed Milk : 1/2 small cup
Sugar : 1/4 medium cup
Milk : 1/2 small cup
Vinegar : 1tsp
Oil : 1/2 small cup
Butter [melted] : 4-5 tbsp [ if not increase the amount of oil to 1/3 small cup]

METHOD :
Take the flour, baking soda and nutmeg powder and mix well.

In another bowl, take the sugar, oil, butter and beat well for 3-4 minutes. Add condensed milk, milk, vinegar, a mashed banana, plain vinegar and fold in well. Beat for about 3-4 minutes until we see bubbles forming atop and the texture is lighter. Add the mixture to the flour mix. Add the lemon zest too. Fold in just roughly and not to a smooth batter. Our batter for the LEMONY NUTMEG BANANA EGGLESS CUPS is ready.

Pre heat oven to 180*C. Fill some muffin cups with the batter until half or little less than that. Arrange them on a baking tray.

Place the rack inside the microwave and atop it the baking tray with cake cups. Bake at 180* for 15-18 minutes or adjust according to your machine. They should be done. Once cool they look as below.

I am as novice a baker as a child who is learning to speak, so my cakes may not look as perfect as that, but they taste well. Enjoy them as your tea time goodies or pack your kid's school box with these quick to make cup cakes.

From "Pabnar Bikhyato Kheer Potol"... that is from Pabna district of Bangladesh to Neha Mathur of Whiskaffair's or NishaMadhulika ji's kitchen...... "Kheer Potol" or "Meetha Parwal" did find a place I can see. So far as I am concerned, I tasted it back in the 90's from a shop in my T's neighbourhood. The already existing famous sweet shops in the locality we both lived in did not sell this particular sweet come dessert. I remember on my way back from his home, I stopped at this shop one day just to buy a few of these.... out of curiosity to try a new thing you can say.... ahh... now I remember the name of the shop... Madhuban .... the men at home do not even peep into my blog, otherwise the senior would have agreed and write a nice comment down below the post and say.... wifey yours meetha parwal / kheer potol / khoya stuffed pointed gourd tastes better than the Madhuban one ..... well have I started day dreaming?.... nothing new in that .... I am so at all times ..... with a kheer potol in my hand I was reading Rujuta Diwekar's post which says she would share with us some home exercises for weight loss and over all well being... I am already in a weight loss programme but so much unable to resist the sweet temptations specially when I prepare them.... I have to because my men love having them, and the senior does tell his colleagues about my food blog. Yesterday, I had some caramel custard and ilish-bhaat / hilsa and rice at Debarathi and Sounak's place.... the very sweet couple of Shaukh Creations Photography.Art.Designs. The lady owns a saree boutique in the island... my latest from her is a pink n ash combination Khadi-Linen saree .... I had to grab it because I saw Vidya Balan doning a similar combination ... ahh what an epitome of grace she is. Coming to this boy Sounak Chaterjee .... he is multi talented.... excellent photographer, painter, designer.... in a word he has got an eye for art in general. This is a Sunday, instead of taking some lessons from him.... I am doing this but I love sharing with you all my food tales. You see I am not so bad .... this guy takes picture of his glammy and beautiful wife and our beautiful Nibedita or others..... not of this fat old lady..... yet I am all praises of him ..... he deserves that..... you know when you work with him and so many in the island indeed work with him. I am more happy with this boy these days because he got my man get up from his couch and walk into the tennis court .... I am waiting to see how long. After a scrumptious lunch at their home, I went to meet a lady ..... to a very health conscious, sincere to the core Noopur Somani with whom I am doing a 12km night run end of this month. We were to collect our race pack yesterday and with her I cannot have anything else but a cup of yogurt ..... I love that though. Running with her is not a matter of joke given how much effort she puts in her work. She is not Kanti Bakshi who will pat my back and say do not worry... take your time. With a very bad record last time and daddy's sudden departure, I was not willing to do a run sooner, then this sister like former colleague Noopur said I wish to do it together with you this time.... I loved the way she approached and complied. I have given immense importance to this thing in life .... treatment.

From 'Kheer Potol' to running... I am a poor story teller indeed .... one who looses track every now and then. Anyways, back there are a series of celebration and festival and at my home too..... so a sweet share was a natural choice. I would say try Kheer Potol or Meetha Parwal at home... it tastes better than the store bought ones. My personal experience say the store bought ones are overly sweet.... at least the ones I tasted from few of the Kolkata sweet shops. I found it to be very convenient and easy recipe as was told by my friend Tanushree.... so I got a rough idea from her about the recipe of kheer potol last year. Earlier she used to read my posts and say these are the mistakes I found, edit them. She is busy now may be stitching a quilt or a dress. Though I peeped into Neha Mathur of whiskaffair.com and Nisha ji of nishamadhulika.com, I did it my own way, using date palm jaggery instead of sugar for the khoya / kheer. I do not have the energy or patience of boiling milk for hours for the khoya kheer neither do I buy khoya blocks from the store. I prepare that same old instant khoya following a You Tube video.... it is soft in texture than the normal khoya that tastes awesome. The pointed gourd is required to be cooked properly in this recipe to get rid of the raw smell and the feel of a vegetable.... the stuffing can be done by your little girls or boys ..... not all of them see Google Map to find the way to the kitchen. At my home the junior visits kitchen to see what is new for him there in the refrigerator and the senior for beer cans.... they both love their girl's cooking. So, here is a make ahead festive sweet for you with khoya and pointed gourd which is done in an hour or little more than that.

INGREDIENTS : [for the instant khoya]
Milk Powder : 1/3medium cup
Milk : 1/2medium cup
Ghee : 4-5 tbsp
Cardamom Powder : 1tsp
Jaggery : 1/2small cup [I used Date Palm Jaggery] [usually sugar is used in this]

INGREDIENTS : [for the finished product]
Pointed Gourd : 6-8
Sugar : 1/3 Coffee Mug
Water : 11/2-2 Coffee Mug
Green Cardamom : 2-3
The jaggery khoya kheer as we get
Chopped Pistachio and almond for garnish... or of your choice

METHOD :
I had some date palm jaggery left in the refrigerator, so preferred using it instead of sugar. Take the mashed jaggery, milk, milk powder and ghee in a bowl and fold in well. Do not worry about the tiny pieces of jaggery if using, they melt once microwaved.

Micro wave at high for 3 minutes, stirring every 1 minute. What we get is this which also tastes great atop a pao or bread... try..

Let it cool, it thickens a bit. We will take about 2 big cups of water in a deep bottommed vessel and bring to boil. Meanwhile we will, peel, half and scoop out the flesh and seeds of the pointed gourds. We will wash them thoroughly.

As the water starts boiling, drop the halved potol / parwal / pointed gourds gently. Let boil for about 7-8 minutes, we need to get rid of the raw smell, it should not feel like a vegetable at all inside the mouth.

Once done, take them out and discard the water.

In a deep bottomed vessel, take 11/2 -2 coffee mug and 1/3 coffee mug water and set to boil.

Boil for 7-8 minutes and add the pointed gourds and green cardamoms.

Let boil for 5-6 minutes further. Switch off gas oven and let the pointed gourds remain soaked in the sugar syrup for 8-10 minutes.

Gently take out the pointed gourds and place in a plate. We can reserve the sugar syrup for other purpose.

We will stuff each potol / parwal / pointed gourd with the instant khoya we already prepared.

We will garnish them with chopped pistachios and almond and enjoy fresh or refrigerate to be had chilled. Enjoy with your family and friends.

When some of my friends are already saying this is an innovative idea, I decide not to take all the credits and admit that I have seen a couple of Tomato Poori recipes earlier.... perhaps in that largest food group of India last year or so ..... I really do not remember who it was .... there were a couple of such posts I remember but I forgot all about the ingredients ..... The chutney aloo has been done with a mixture of yogurt, garlic paste and a generous amount of fresh coriander leaves .... this perhaps I also have come across or I may not have .... I do not remember .... I prepare fish curries with green coriander chutney paste. I have not Google searched also as I was in such a hurry to prepare the combo meal and feed my hungry men a scrumptious Indian vegetarian meal. They will have a vegetarian meal without any noise if only there are hand made breads. Though a bit of hired idea, I prepared this meal of Tomato Poori and Chutney Aloo following my own recipe. At times forgetting is a boon, we get to know we too can do more than what we think we may. You can call it a forgetful mind's self-defence mechanism too. Enjoying the platter together I was just telling the senior .... you see I have never tried to raise my level of performance... so laid back I am.... I do not want the son to be like me. So when I praise my fellow bloggers or friends or family members on their achievement, I do it from the bottom of my heart. Would anyone believe if I say how scary I find this box called Computer till date .... and there was one mother who tried all kinds of therapy on the daughter to sharpen her grey matter from "Brahmi Shaak to Brahmi Amla Tel.".... hahaha my actions proves it all .... whimsical, stubborn to the core.... that one little girl of six who came down from the dance stage and never went back .... over a silly, trivial issue. Then she grew up on the lap of one Sister Merilyn, felt that touch of love in the arms of one Bengali teacher Iva Dutta Miss.... who told this fat old lady last month... can you arrange a get together with us S .... I wish to see some people.... then someone who said .... you can have a blog of your own .... and then a sister like native of this island .... can you teach me some Indian cooking .... finally the love and support of so many people .... irrespective of caste, creed, religion, nation and beyond that.

Isn't that what was taught to us .... sovereign , democratic, secular, republic nation. I still stick to the belief that whatever violence happens are mere stray incidents, yet that should not happen too. Let me take the example of Kolkata as I was born and brought up there. Every weekend you will see people heading towards China Town for a taste of Indo-Chinese, they will get their Biryani packets only from Arsalan or Aalia or Shiraz, for fairly good cakes and bakes, an average middle class like me still prefers the neighbourhood Kathleen... We die to have Sharma's Lassi .... or Balaram Mullick's roshogolla, doi, sandesh..... wherein lies the problem then? the power monger's aim holding onto power through divide and rule .... letting us commoners stay in harmony do not serve their purpose. Having religious beliefs or practicing it is not a crime, been overpowered by it like an addiction for opium is definitely not getting us anywhere near good .... in all cases. I specially love this island not because it provides us a five star comfort but because it is uber cosmopolitan, people of so many nationalities stay here .... no one is bothered who follows what religion .... people work and sweat hard the whole week and let their hair down in the weekend. Back there, when we are fighting over who are majority and who are minority.... kids die of lack of oxygen in the hospital, men and women of all ages needs to go out in an unearthly hour of the night to defecate with threats of snake bites, wells full of female foetus are discovered..... how come religion top them all? I definitely shall watch Toilet Ek Prem Katha to support the issue. Saffron and Green stand only for peace and thats how it should be. I remember just a few days before my delivery, the doctor doing an ultrasound could not believe me enough to tell the sex of the child.... it is illegal in India though. I could not convince the doctor that we both were fighting over the name of the girl... he said it should be after his favourite character Sabrina.... while I said nooooooo it has to be Roopkatha... God sensed severe war at home front.... the boy made an early arrival in December while the due date was in first week of January.

There off course is a Janmashtami celebration at home today, just that the date is coinciding with a bigger event called Independence Day of secular India .... I am highlighting that for this year. I do not have any problem with my friends doing otherwise .... some of them are very intelligent and will understand me ..... some of them are quite indulgent about this dull, silly, stubborn me and love the way I am. Even our laddu Gopal's favourite food is sugar and butter, hahaha.... I am extremely busy today as Laddu Gopal is our family deity.... from the husband's side. The mother-in-law said you will not prepare anything salty, our family norm is to offer mishti and pithe - puli..... sweets, desserts, sweet meats? You all know how much time it takes to prepare luchi / poori, halwa, naru, patishapta, malpua, ladoo .... I am going for the common ones only while enjoying both the fusion and traditional shares of my friends. I have Cristine to help as the men are only interested in the food. I mentioned her as she does it with so much of love and care. Since I have an agenda today and I will stick to that, I wish to share with you this vegetarian platter of Tomato Poori and Chutney Aloo served with a carrot raita. Come let us prepare them together and bring some colour to the plate on an all vegetarian day.

INGREDIENTS : [ for the Tomato Poori]
Ripe Tomato : 2big
Refined Flour : 2 Coffee Mug
Asafoetida : 2pinches
Nigella Seed : 1/4tsp
Salt : 2pinches
Red Chilli Powder : 1/4tsp
Oil : 2tbsp +150gm-200gm to deep fry the pooris individually

INGREDIENTS : [ for the Chutney Aloo]
Medium sized Potato : 6-8
Fresh Coriander Paste : 1small cup
Garlic Paste : 1tsp
Plain Yogurt : 1/2small cup
Turmeric Powder : 1/4tsp[can skip]
Green Chilli : 4-5
Bayleaf : 1
Fenugreek Seed : 1/4tsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 3-4 tbsp

METHOD :
Let us prepare the dough for the tomato poori first. Take refined flour in a wide mouthed bowl, add the asafoetida, nigella seeds, red chilli powder and salt, fold in well. Wash and cut half the tomatoes. Discard the seeds and chop further. Prepare a paste of them in a blender and add to the flour mix. Fold in well and keep kneading for 3-4 minutes without using water. Add the oil and knead further for 4-5 minutes. It is done and we will keep it to rest for 1/2 an hour covered with a moist cotton cloth.

For the very easy, tasty with fresh flavour of coriander chutney aloo, we will wash, cut half the potatoes first. We will par boil them in enough water. It may take 5-6 minutes. Be careful enough not to over boil them. Let cool.

Once cool discard the water and peel the skin of the boiled potatoes. Rub with salt and turmeric. Heat oil in a wok and lightly fry the potato pieces in batches till golden brown. Take them out and let them rest on a tissue paper for sometime.

Temper same oil with some fenugreek seeds, as you get a nice aroma take out all of them or you may keep. Add a bay leaf to the oil.

Add the garlic paste and stir for 1-2 minutes. Beat the plain yogurt and add to the garlic paste. Fold in well. The pre washed coriander leaves with stem and the green chillies are to be made into a paste in the blender. Discard the roots of the coriander.

Now add the potato pieces to the garlic and yogurt paste and fold in well. Add a small cup of water, stir gently and cover cook for 2-3 minutes at low heat.

Add the chilli coriander paste now and fold in well. We will cook the whole thing for another minute uncovered. Once done we will transfer the chutney aloo to a serving bowl.

Remove cover from the tomato poori dough. Tear out small portions and smoothen each one between your palms.

Dust each ball with some flour and roll out on your base with help of your rolling pin.

Simultaneously, we will heat oil in a wok and gently place an uncooked poori.

Sprinkle little oil from the sides atop the poori. We need to be very careful about the temperature, once burnt we cease to get the right colour for the tomato poori.

Once done we will serve the fresh, hot tomato poori with chutney aloo with a carrot and coriander raita alongside. Its that very common raita.... beating the plain yogurt with some black salt, ginger extract, little sugar and adding some grated carrot, chopped green chillies and coriander leaves to it.

There are days when we wish to breakthrough from our regular 'fulkopi aloor dalna' or 'fulkopir rosha' and get a bit experimental. I usually pack vegetarian lunch box for my boys, hence I keep on trying my hands on some mix and matches, else both cooking and eating tends to be a boring affair. This was a day when I thought I will not use aloo / potato with the cauliflower and I had some store bought shredded coconut that required to be used up. Matar / motorshuti / green pea goes very well with cauliflower, so I added some green peas too ..... take a scissor, cut the packet and use.... as simple as that. Had the mother been here she would have definitely said .... 'motorshuti kiney eney chariye tatka khete parish na?.... eeijonyo cheledutor shorire mangsho lagena'..... can't you buy fresh ones and use them in cooking.... the reason why your men do not put on weight. Just because I continue to see the amount of effort she gives for her family, I accept that I am more of a casual homemaker compared to her.... I would not have taken it from her had she been sitting idle all day long and trying to dictate her terms on me .... I have already proved it to someone that I am a far better homemaker.... how much one had tried to prove and project it otherwise. Coming to the mother..... I keep on telling her move ahead towards a smart kitchen mani .... who listens to whom? we both are not in the habit of taking dictates when it concerns managing home. I would really tell her about this quick to make, regular dish of COCONUT CURRYPATTA TEMPERED GOBI.... all of us .... me, my men, Cristine loved this vegetarian sides bursting with flavours of curry leaves. After all the incidents that took place in the recent months and given her age .... I / We want the mother to go slow and relax...... I always talk about my mother .... the only one I have in this world..... but I have never spoken of one lady who gave me the feel of a mother ever since I stepped out of the comfort of my parent's home. She is my senior's eldest maternal uncle's wife ..... our very own 'boromami'..... each one of us should be like her who preaches and practise that there can only be one expression that suits your face 'smile'.... at any given situation. She is the one who gave a damn to any kind of protocol and embraced me with love on my first day in a strange home.... later too while the husband sailed for 6-8 months at a stretch and my prince was not born and till date. Unfortunately we did not stay in the same house and I am not jealous of her only daughter-in-law with whom she shares a wonderful, hearty relationship..... she has not much formal education but is wise enough to know the importance of building strong relationship bonds. When it comes to love and respect .... I hardly maintain protocol and give as I receive in most cases ..... for some it comes naturally though. This old lady called 'boromami'.... my eldest aunt-in-law lives in a township about 25-30 km away from Kolkata.... primitive in attire.... uber cool and modern in her thought process who made me believe formal education is not essential to learn wisdom.... the day she leaves .... her home that happens to be a joint family will turn into dark dome from an illuminated one.

I went for a get together yesterday and savoured an all Bengali scrumptious lunch fair at an elder sister like's home. I ate too much and is unable to get over the food and adda..... yet I will not go Bengali today to commemorate it. I wish to go beyond region today with ingredients that can be identified beyond boundaries .... the essence has to be desi. A non-vegetarian dish is due for a long time though ..... before Ganesh ji arrives we have too ..... the regular non-vegetarian affair at home continues else my return ticket to Kolkata is confirmed you all know. Jokes apart, this quick and easy vegetarian side dish of shredded coconut, green pea and cauliflower tempered with cumin and mustard seeds, dry red chillies and curry leaves goes very well with paratha topped with some ghee or if paired with some dal / lentil curry and rice. Keep faith on me and try preparing it on an all vegetarian day or keep it as a vegetarian delight besides your non-vegetarian exotics..... both ways you are going to love it. The entire preparation and cooking process takes 40-45 minutes.

INGREDIENTS :
Cauliflower : 1medium
Green Pea : 1/4small cup
Shredded Coconut : 1small cup
Curry Leaves : 8-10
Dry Red Chilli : 2 [halved]
Green Chilli - 2-3 [slitted]
Mustard Seed : 1/4tsp
Cumin Seed : 2-3pinches
Coriander Powder : 1/2tsp [optional]
Turmeric Powder : 1/4tsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 2-tbsp
Ghee : 1tbsp

METHOD :

Cut the cauliflower into medium florets, wash thoroughly. Rub with some salt. Take a microwave bowl and fill it with water. Add the cauliflower florets. Microwave at high for 5-7 minutes. Let cool and discard the water.

Apply salt, turmeric powder and coriander powder to the par boiled cauliflower florets. Keep aside for 5 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok or pan. Temper with cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves and dry red chillies and give a stir. Add the shredded coconut and keep stirring till it turns golden brown.

Add the spice mixed cauliflower florets, stir and sprinkle some water. Stir again and cover. Let cook for 2 minutes. Open cover, sprinkle some more water and cover cook for another 2 minutes.

Open cover and add the slitted green chillies and green peas. Fold in well and let cook uncovered further for 2 minutes. Switch off gas.

Transfer to a serving bowl and enjoy with handmade breads topped with butter or as an accompaniment with dal and rice.

After a Saturday late night bash, how do we feel actually? I do not know about you all but I wish to be treated as a queen, get even more lazier... throw myself in the cosy corner of the couch and do what we usually do on Sundays ... watch movies one after another on either You Tube or Netflix or listen to music. I very much need to go out for a warm up jog and then to the gym after having two rounds of desserts last night shamelessly and I am too tired and unwilling to.... on such occasions I really get jealous of my chopsticks with high metabolic rate. As I recall last night, I find myself eating a weird combination of food.... cheese poppers, chilli prawn, papri chaat to start with... then some tahini with pita, mixed green salad, Russian salad and mutton Stroganoff. I skipped Sarson Saag, Jeera Rice, Makhni Dal, Chicken Tikka Masala .... I do them pretty well.Then came the real killers.... melt in the mouth cakes with mango cream layers and jalebi with rabri. The shameless me had three jalebi.... aww I turned into jalebi bai out of joy... each spoonful of the cake .... each bite on the crisp jalebi were as pleasureful as... as .... as... well anything from watching a butterfly sipping honey from a flower to looking deep into dark, doe eyes of a deer off course... haha or sitting alone in the woods with a book and some music... these are the things I loved / love doing then, today, tomorrow and always..... yet such crowded, jazzy parties are welcome at times. The funny thing last night was the varied combination of food .... off course keeping in mind the fact that the mariner's come from different communities there with different taste buds. Ain't that is exactly what we are doing in the food world .... we cater to so many kinds of readers within and beyond boundaries. We cannot get regional at all times. It feels good to see some of us who practice what they or their blog aimed for .... maximum of their readers identifying themselves with what they share. All said and done a macher jhol is long due and it should be there soon .... if back there the movie 'Macher Jhol' is doing the rounds.

Sunday is a no cook day for me, however angry the mother gets, I will not cook everyday. Today I will neither cook nor share an elaborate recipe .... people are already in a festive mood. If they are as lazy as me, they must be looking for some quick to do handmade goodies. I remember grandma preparing naru, nimki, goja and lot more for Durga Puja, Lakshmi Puja, Bijoya Dashami along with other ladies at home ..... this was the picture in the entire community and beyond in a larger India .... no wonder the super excited, still primitive at heart grand daughter will call and say.... 'didu... mani jano shakkarpara aar amader mishti nimki aki jinish prai' .... even the locals in the island eat a kind of sweetened twister fries which I find similar to our goza in taste.... if not in looks. This sweet share is the resultant of some hired idea / inspiration drawn from friends around. Fig is not something common among us Bengalis, in my tireless effort to get my men rid of this under weight tag I keep on adding dried fruits, nuts, generous amount of ghee, butter in their food..... I feel the urge to do some constructive reading on food nutrition too. Before that, I bet you will love my 'INSTANT DATES FIGS N MIXED NUT LADOO' .... that has that unique flavour of our desi ghee and oh so quick to make without any fire to lit.... I am aging, I do not have 1/4 of energy of my mother and I do love quick and easy recipes..... with a heart that treasure and respect the tireless effort the yesteryear ladies have given for their family and also them who do the same following tradition ..... Each one of us have something good in us as an offer to the world .... we should applaud each other for that. This 'INSTANT DATES FIGS N MIXED NUT LADOO' of mine is done without any cooking, one we can do quickly and give a sweet treat to even sudden guests.... isn't that a cool idea? Let us do it together with help of few stepwise pictures this festive season or anytime.

INGREDIENTS :
Date / Khajur / Khejur : 8-10
Dried Fig / Anjeer : 6-8
Peanut : 1small cup
Pistachio : 8-10
Almond : 1-2tbsp
Sugar : 1/4small cup [optional]
Milk Powder : 1/2small cup
Cardamom Powder : 1tsp
Ghee / Clarified Butter : 2tbsp or little more
Garnish as you wish...

METHOD :
We will take the skinless peanut, pistachios and almonds in a glass bowl and microwave for 1-11/2 minutes stirring every 30 seconds.

We will take it out and put the mixed nuts in a blender.

We will blend them in to a coarse powder and keep it in a plate. Add the sugar and cardamom powder and fold in well.

We will wash and pat dry the dried figs or anjeer and the dates. It is better to soak the dried figs in warm water for 15-20 minutes before chopping. We will chop both the dates and figs roughly.

We will add both of them to the blender.

We will pulse it for 1-2 minutes at intervals. Add the mixture to the mixed nut powder.

Fold the whole thing well. We will now add the ghee and milk powder and fold in well further.

We will wash and pat dry our hands. We will apply little ghee on the palms, take out small portions of a tennis size ball and smoothen between two palms. Our instant, no cook dates figs n mixed nut ladoo is ready. We will refrigerate for an hour or two before serving. It has to be always served straight from the refrigerator.

"Ufffff chine badam, shosha, tomato, cucho lanka, bhutta... besh ektu lebur rosh aar dhonepata kuchono .... tar opor besh moshladar chingri chorano ..... wooooow slurp! Didi eto macher chaat hoye gelo .... dekhun bhaya .... didi obdi thik achey .... kaal jodi Ranvir Kapoor didima daakey.... ami heart fail kori apni tar dai neben moshai? tai bhaat takey nahoy ektu side korlam, mach takey ektu ebhabey rakhlam .... kolbalish aar mach.... e dui chara Bangalir mete ki aash" ..... I must translate it for you ..... after some shameless eating .... I have to go for some cleaning the system phenomena .... thats when my Bengali counterparts are questioning my integrity .... prawns on salad instead of rice .... are you a Bengali? My answer is clear ..... who will take the responsibility if Ranvir Kapoor calls me grandma and I suffer a severe heart attack? With 70% of grey hair I do force myself to the gym out of that fear .... I am yet seven kilo away from the right BMI, hence keeping aside all the invitations from our friends in Mumbai..... again ..... what if Ranvir calls me grandma ?..... haha these are healthy jokes just as healthy and yum is this spicy shrimp salad. The phrase in the beginning is quite influenced by Tanmoy Mukherjee who blogs at bongpen.net, he has few books to his credit too . He does not require my recommendation and this is not the right post to discuss him..... he is that typical Bengali who does his breakfast with Luchi .... Aloor Dum... jilipi.... golapjam and ends with Kosha Murgi / Mutton / Ilish and Mishti Doi ..... You see our whole community is hale .... hearty and alive after this kind of a diet ..... my question is what is so wrong if we adopt some healthier habits ...... I will always recommend that ..... given that I am a foodie since childhood who dumped her stomach with carbs beyond limit since ages and now paying hard for it ..... wearing a garland of quite a number of diseases . That should never make a good example to follow.... I cannot follow any hard rules in life but I try to keep the cheat days limited to two in a week..... yet I will never claim my blog to be one of a kind of healthy food share ..... it is more about what an average Indian or I / We eat everyday. Coming to the writer Tanmoy Mukherjee what I like about his writings is that they are on similar lines as that of Munna Bhai's philosophy ..... they help keep melancholic characters like me in high spirits .... this guy has to say a lot about life and philosophy keeping the tone lighter .... hence the follow.

Coming to the food share today, I force myself to have salads, it is not a natural love for me. So I need to think of some yummy add ons .... life gets easier for me that way.... I have anyway sacrificed my love for few things in life ... take for example rice and luchi .... two tablespoon and one number is never enough for a greedy like me but I try to follow what the wise men say .... old Dr.Chang been one of them. I have never been too particular about my salads..... I do them with whatever is available in my kitchen .... legumes, greens, nuts, cucumber, tomato, sprouts .... to that I will add some spicy prawn / shrimp, or minced chicken or at times eggs too .... nonetheless to mention there will be some tofu or paneer too. If you think my men ate the salad happily just because there were spicy prawns atop it .... then you are not following my posts sincerely .... their girl has to prepare some fried rice kind of thing with the masala prawns. I am kind of indulgent about their diet. Salads are usually a part of my lunch spread, so that I can have two tablespoon of what I love sitting with my men at night ...... which is again a big no according to fitness experts.... but a Bong and a bongpen.net follower will take that liberty.This was a simplistic salad with some assorted greens, corn, green pea, onion, cucumber, tomato, peanut tossed with lemon juice and olive oil and atop it some grilled masala shrimps .... you got to love it. To prove that how tasty it was we need to cook it together which means assorting, tossing, light grill and done .... as simple as that.

INGREDIENTS :
Shrimp : 150-200gm
Cucumber : 1 medium [peel, wash, chop]
Tomato : 1big [wash, cut half, deseed, chop further]
Assorted Greens : 1big cup [washed, chopped, alternatively use lettuce]
Corn : 1/4small cup
Green Pea : 1/4small cup
Onion : 1small [peel, wash, chop]
Carrot : 1small [peel, wash, chop]
Green Chilli : 2[chopped]
Peanut : 2-3tbsp [skinless and roasted]
Lemon Juice : 2-3tbsp + 1tbsp
Olive Oil : 1tbsp
Black Pepper Powder : 1tsp [coarsely ground]
Black Salt : As Required
Coriander Leaves : 2tbsp [washed, chopped]
Tandoori Masala Powder : 1tsp
Garam Masala Powder : 1/2tsp
Mustard Oil or any other : 1tsp

METHOD :

Let us prepare the grilled masala prawns first. De shell, de vein all the shrimps and wash thoroughly. Marinate with 1tbsp lemon juice, 1tsp mustard oil, tandoori masala powder, garam masala powder and keep aside for 20 minutes. We will place them in a greased grill plate and grill one side for about 8 minutes, turn over and grill for another 5 minutes. They are ready to savoured either in salad or fried rice.

Sorry, the greedy girl was in a hurry to eat and forgot to take stepwise pictures.

Now we will assort all ingredients for the salad. Take the chopped assorted greens, green chilli, onion, tomato, cucumber, coriander leaves, corn, carrot, green pea, peanuts in a bowl. Add the remaining lemon juice, olive oil and black pepper powder, black salt and toss very well.

Add the grilled, spicy shrimps atop .... keep the big prawns for some chingrir malaikari... haha... thats the Bong way.

Anaras .... Ananas ...... Pineapple .... was not that much of a favourite of mine as of mango or litchi or even watermelon .... but if you have a mother like mine you have to have all seasonal fruits. Up to a certain stage not much of a fruit variety except for mango, banana or jackfruit were seen at our home unless there were special prayer meets. Once the father got transferred from one place to another given his nature of job, the mother got used to live with her two kids doing all kinds of jobs alone .... odd and even both. Going to the wet market all alone was something she learnt then and she did / does it pretty well .... courtesy .... my maternal grandfather. It is then she learnt how to judge and buy a fresh fish or meat or vegetables. She gradually started buying fruits on a regular basis for her kids, which we had to have in the afternoon .... peeled, cut, dressed by the mom. How I regret now for never asking her ..... mani, do you need some help? No wonder that she will surprisingly ask me .... when did you learn so much mamoni? .... her lazy little girl was always seen lying on the bed with a book .... undoubtedly a fiction .... either with that little detective boy Gogol or in the romantic world of Buddhadev Guha .... till then I did not have to hear from the senior of the chopsticks .... you know S, he writes keeping in mind silly romantics like you .... I had never been within the justifiable limits of reasoning and I am absolutely fine with it .... I have some similar minded people as my confidant.... One of my dearest friend from college .... Swati Bhattacharya been one ... a voracious reader and an excellent cook who runs a small home catering unit. You can swear by her kaju bata pabdar jhol.... Where do we bond? ... over music, poem, cooking and our indomitable love for fictions ... she named her only daughter who is doing final year of dentistry after a very famous character of Buddhadev Guha .... Kurchi.... Ahh I have perhaps dated almost all the male characters of these writers .... I am not that good as I seem to be .... kind of woo - man .... The senior at home knows it well, hence the wifey has to lock herself in the kitchen often ... prepare goodies like this enthralling dessert .... Pineapple Malpua or Anarasi / Ananas Malpua.

Taking control of home came naturally to me perhaps ... I am my mother's daughter and grandma's pet too .... besides ... a mariner's wife has to know all kinds of work, there cannot be any other way out .... we stay all alone for months, we ought to know everything from visiting the wet market, to men's saloon to near their toilet door ... that is when you have a rebel son grown up as much as not wanting to visit a women's parlour or toilet and a littler enough not to understand the embarrassment of the mother in such situations. I had been very lucky to get compassionate males and females around me, perhaps so I fail to take sides... I had always been an worst example of women's lib, I always believe we compliment each other. That son goes to the saloon alone these days.... mamma gets ample time to spend time in the kitchen, the island is too clean to have enough cockroaches to get the son run un to mamma's lap .... the one who did not know any other lap except of his mother.... hence the mumma cooks and cooks more ... her joy, comfort zone, stress reliever. This momma has few other kids .... laddu Gopal.... Ganesh .... I am pious but not crazy about been so as some .... spending hours in the prayer room .... I am everything in moderation except for been rational ... most of my readers have known it by now .... To stop them from leaving my blog, I have to arrange for some sweet treats on a regular basis. Moreover, Ganesh ji arrives shortly, I am not the kind who will cook and treat him with sweets each day of his stay but I definitely will do it my way .... I try to respect other's wishes, sentiments, emotions though my shortsightedness, apathy to think and observe much does not support my feelings always .... here I am truly my daddy's girl .... carefree.... oblivion of whats happening around.

This Pineapple Malpua's idea happened for quite sometime .... then I thought let us do it sooner and share the joy with all of my readers, let Gonshu baba eat few of them besides modak. There is nothing too great about it but the syrup made with freshly made pineapple juice and sugar is something you will love. I have added some pineapple juice to the malpua batter too that has been made with the basic ingredients we usually use to prepare the malpua batter .... semolina, refined flour, rice flour, shredded coconut, mashed banana, sugar, condensed milk, milk. We have grown up eating malpua, so it is not a big deal for us to go ahead with it. Simultaneously, I did some basic bread baking too .... the men at home like both, hence they are regular at home, I am trying to be better than poor. Off course, malpua is more in the comfort zone, the only satisfaction of taking up the harder job of baking a bread is that its bleach free. The malpuas will go to the senior's office tomorrow. Besides the Indians there .... his colleagues from this island and the neighbouring country do say .... we love your Indian sweets ..... isn't that a reward enough to prepare often and pack them for the people who appreciate your effort? The happy cook would love doing these Indian style deep fried pancakes dunked in pineapple syrup together with you all.

INGREDIENTS : [for the pineapple syrup]
Pineapple : 1medium
Sugar : 1/3small cup
Water : 1small cup
Green Cardamom : 3-4

INGREDIENTS : [for the Malpua]
Semolina : 11/2big cup
Refined Flour : 1big cup
Rice Flour : 1/2big cup
Milk : 300-350ml
Condensed Milk : 1medium cup
Sugar : 1small cup
Banana : 2medium
Shredded Coconut : 1small cup
Fennel Seed : 1tbsp
Baking Powder : 2pinches
Oil : 150 -200ml + 1tsp

METHOD :

At first, we will soak the semolina in some milk and keep it like that for about 1/2 an hour.

Now wash the pineapple and cut half. Scoop out the flesh and get the juice using a juicer, strain it.

Add the refined flour, rice floor, rest of the milk, condensed milk, sugar, shredded coconut, banana to the semolina and milk mixture.

Mash everything well until we get a smooth batter. We will add 1/4 of the pineapple juice to it.

Now add the fennel seeds, baking powder and little oil to the batter and fold in well. We will keep it for rest for about 35-45 minutes before frying.

Heat 200 ml oil in a wok. Use a round-shaped spoon to take the batter, the shape of the malpua has to be round.

When one side of the malpua / pancake turns golden brown, we will flip over and fry until the other side turns brown too.

We will keep them on a tissue paper first before transferring to a serving plate. Once we are done with frying quite a few of the malpuas, we will prepare the pineapple syrup side by side. Take the pineapple juice , sugar, water and 2-3 torn green cardamom in a clean wok, switch on the burner.

We will simmer it till we get a sticky consistency. Switch of and let the syrup cool a bit. Add the malpuas gently, keep for 1-2 minutes and take out, place in serving plates. We will do this in batches.

Serve while still warm. We can refrigerate it up to 3-4 days. Always take out 1 hour before serving, heat for 30 seconds - 1 minute before serving. An irresistible sweet / dessert suitable for any festival is ready to be served. Enjoy!

The fat, old lady is getting old by all means..... another day .... evening... another run and one more 'shomoy niye dhyarano'..... messing with time..... but someone deep inside said .... 'lyad priyo Bangali je ektukhan dourechey moshai, onek korey feleche .... shonibar dupurey amra murgir / pathar jhol ba shorshe ilish diye bhaat kheye bhaat ghum ditey bhalobashi'..... how do I translate 'lyad'.... ok let us call it 'leisure'..... that a leisure loving Bengali goes for a run on a Saturday instead of having chicken / mutton or hilsa curry and taking their much loved afternoon nap .... is a pretty good job done... walking, hiking, running, exercise are not usually our cuppa, if someone is doing it.... they deserve applaud. I remember how my football player father was too worried about his lazy daughter with excess fat.... what he did not do to get me rid of that excess fat? He got me a yoga teacher.... went out with me early mornings with my brother's cycle. Every effort of him went haywire because his daughter loved to eat. He sweated, got tired.... the daughter did not learn cycling. On our sports day, all the friends participated in one event or the other, I used to sit and watch after doing the mandatory march past thingy. My thin framed little brother had been very good in sports... I do not know why he his so keen on putting on unnecessary weight these days .... He was so good in sprints, learnt to ride cycle all by himself..... I vividly remember the bike maniac went out in the road with our maternal uncle's scooter at age thirteen.... it was a small township... perhaps so there was no police case.... he played so good cricket and now see .... I cannot scold that hard also because he is someone's husband now. The sports loving football player father told me he walked each day early morning from his hostel at College Street to Maidan, played there and then came back in a tram to attend class. He used to say... see mamoni look at your mother... she always will stay slim as she works hard..... yet the mother had to say your father does not care about me... how do you know?... that uncle does so much of household work, praises wife to others .... Now that he is no more there.... she says I do not feel like cooking for lunch... I better do it in the evening when your brother and his wife come back home. What is love? I never try to define it.... beyond my capacity.... just as confusing as a row full of different sauces in the super markets of the island.

Then there is the senior at home.... Bossy I wish to go for a run with you.... S you know I do not utter a single word without been paid... you go mad woman... see you later.... Ok fine.... you will get an all vegetarian meal today. Then there is my very sincere, sister like running partner of yesterday Noopur Somani who hails from Rajasthan, staying in this island for over a decade now..... she said straight on my face... I will not wait for you after the race... let us take some pictures at the start point. It was perhaps an Arthur Lee or David Tan who clicked us, a Radha Ramakrishnan or Noorani Huda who finished with me.... I cannot invite strangers to get clicked with me.... hence my picture post may not reflect exactly why I go for the races .... last year I saw a pregnant European woman running with us.... I simply love the harmony we get to see there. This island has taught me a couple of things I will treasure for life. There is a son too who says... tui last hoyechish motu mumma.... you finished last fat momci? He loves paneer.... the lazy, old mumma tries such combo dishes on weekday nights. She has a mother too who says .... bas eei radhli?.... only this much you cooked today? How much the daughter says mani..... my men love food this way, more if it is vegetarian .... she will not be convinced.... But my readers know me well by now.... I do not speak for other families.... neither do I listen to anyone how to run my own.... I do it my style. When there is too much of meat or fish eating at home, I take a break and prepare a vegetarian meal as this.... a fried rice kind of thing .... some sweet and sour cauliflower or potato or some crispy fried paneer tossed in a tangy, yummy, flavourful ginger-garlic chilli sauce. The fried rice is too simplistic with the crunch of cabbage .... flavoured with celery stalks.... we use wild celery seeds that is radhuni in our cooking... so I love its smell. Do not expect me to prepare an Oriental sauce at home and then use it in a recipe.... I like this Sinsin Brand products for this purpose, love even more the strong flavour of garlic. Come let us prepare this Soya Sauce Cabbage Rice and Paneer Tossed In Ginger-Garlic Chilli Sauce and serve with some salad alongside.

INGREDIENTS :[for the Soya Sauce Cabbage Rice]
Rice : 1coffee mug
Celery Stalk : 1-2 chopped
Cabbage : 1coffee mug shredded
Garlic : 1tsp minced
Soya Sauce : 4tbsp
Sesame Oil : 1tbsp
Salt : As Required
Black Sesame seed : 3-4 pinches
Oil : 2tbsp

INGREDIENTS : [for the Paneer Tossed in Ginger-Garlic Chilli Sauce]
Paneer : 200gm
Onion : 1big cubed
Green Chilli : 4slitted
Garlic : 1tsp minced
Ginger : 1/2tsp minced
Ginger-Garlic Chilli Sauce : 2-3tbsp [I use the Sinsin Brand]
Soya Sauce : 1tbsp
Salt : As Required
Lemon Juice : 2tbsp
Corn Flour : 2-3tbsp
Refined Flour : 1tbsp
Black Pepper Powder : 1/2tsp
Oil : 50ml to fry, rest can be used later

METHOD :
Let us do the rice first, before that we will marinate the paneer with lemon juice for half an hour and then dip it into the cornflour batter for sometime.

We will wash the rice and prepare it in enough water till 60% done. Discard the water totally.

We will chop the cabbage and celery stalks, wash thoroughly.

Heat oil in a pan and temper with black sesame seeds and minced garlic.

As we get the nice aroma of the garlic and they look little burnt, we will add the chopped cabbage and celery stalk, add the soya sauce and little salt, increase the heat and stir fry at low heat for a minute.

Add the rice and fold in well gently. Add the sesame oil and little salt if only required. Stir fry at high heat for a minute or so. We are done with the Soya Sauce Cabbage Fried Rice.

Coming to the crispy fried paneer tossed in ginger-garlic chilli sauce, I like this Sinsin Brand products.

We will heat oil in a wok and crisp fry the coated paneer pieces in batches.

Transfer them on to a plate.

Take a clean pan and heat 2tbsp oil. Add the minced garlic and ginger and saute till we get a nice aroma and they turn golden brown.

Add the cubed onion and saute at high heat till they turn translucent and pink. Add the slitted green chilli and the soya sauce, stir and add the crispy fried battered paneer.

Now we will add the ginger-garlic chilli sauce and fold in well. Stir carefully at high heat 3-5 times. We are done.

We will serve the yummy, combo meal of Soya Sauce Cabbage Rice and Paneer tossed in Ginger-Garlic Chilli Sauce with an Oriental touch with some salad alongside.

Celebrating Life ! .... We all do and we must... Any celebration calls for some sweet treats. While Gonshu Baba is enjoying his stay on earth with the royal treats of modak, ladoo, fruits.... I felt let us concentrate elsewhere .... the humans living on earth deserves some love too. At the home front, I always have to prepare this or that titbit kind of things ..... you know if there are growing or grown up kids at home they look for food everywhere .... on the table, kitchen cabinet, refrigerator. At my home the scenario is such, I do it with lot of love, interest and energy.... because I have nothing else to do. I pretty well remember the teen me.... parents not at home..... the two siblings had a severe fight and then a muah muah kind of make up .... and after that an empty biscuit tin. My personal record is having about 15-16 biscuits at one go, the little brother followed but he was not a foodie as a child. Thick layers of mom made jams on marie or cream cracker biscuits are perhaps the reason for all the assimilated body fat that this old lady is finding hard to shed. That does not stop her from preparing sweets each week. I am just done with these super quick and yum MICROWAVE CHOCOLATE YOGURT CUPS and another desi sweet which I will definitely share.... but later. There has to be fair distribution of love, Gonshu baba alone should not steal away the show. There is a celebration this weekend too and we have a long weekend. I am gathering more energy to gear up for arranging a fairly good dinner spread for a pair of visiting uncle and aunty from India .... their kids took good care of my visiting in-laws while I was attending my bereaved family back in India. Their dessert will definitely not be these chocolate-yogurt cup cakes.... you know I got some betel leaf for the purpose .... let us see what I can make out of them.

Then for whom I am baking these super simple, easy, quick, homemade goodies? .... for my loves at home, for anyone who stopped by me at some point in life and smiled ..... to leave a message for those who I call the only agents of God on earth .... take up baking at this tender age so that you are not scared of it when you reach my age. The recent development somewhere in the world makes my belief stronger and firmer that there should not be any agent between me and God.... I will deal with Him directly. How much of a diabetic I am, an addiction for dessert is better than been blind for all the wrong kind of things. A couple of our friends, acquaintances stay in Houston as my senior's company has an office there ..... sending a sweet message to them ..... stay strong, you are in our prayers. I was thinking if such is the scenario in a developed country... how can we blame the government of a developing nation?.... taking the example of the recent flood in Assam. Coming to food.... when I bake I do taste a piece of it and I must have tea or coffee with it. We are tea connoisseurs at home, we stock different flavours of it.... Recently, I have developed love for coffee.... take it from me it eases your bowel movement..... aww that sounds so unromantic coming from a romantic like me ... hahaha... I must admit I am nearing half century.... back in 1988, it never came to my mind while watching Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak.... Aamir eloped with Juhi and took refuge in the secluded hill .... where will they pee? It is more of a genuine problem back there than supporting a criminal who should be hanged right now. To sooth my nerves I prepared this extremely flavourful Cinnamon Coffee to go with the eggless Chocolate-Yogurt Cups done within five minutes in a microwave. Shall we dance?.... err I meant shall we cook them together .... it is such a stress free procedure that we can sing and dance while doing them. Inspiration for all my microwave baking is drawn from all the Youtube videos on them or just typing Google.

INGREDIENTS : [for the chocolate-yogurt cake]
Cake Flour : 1coffee mug
Baking Powder : 1/4tsp [1/3tsp if we use plain flour, 1/4of baking soda too]
Cocoa Powder : 1/2small cup
Plain Yogurt : 1/2coffee mug
Milk : 1small cup
Condensed Milk : 100ml
Sugar : 1/2small cup
Vinegar : 1tbsp
Oil : 1small cup
Melted Butter : 1/2small cup
Vanilla Essence : 1tsp
Some powdered sugar to garnish the cup cakes....

INGREDIENTS : [for the Cinnamon Flavoured Coffee]
Coffee Granules : 11/2tbsp for two medium sized cups [my pick is Nescafe always]
Milk : 11/2big cups
Water : 1small cup
Sugar : 2tsp[ I skip]
Green Cardamom : 3-4

METHOD :
Take the cake flour, baking powder and cocoa powder in a wide mouthed bowl and mix well.

In a blender, take the melted butter, oil, sugar and blend for a minute or two. Add the condensed milk, milk, vinegar, plain yogurt and vanilla essence..... blend for another 1-2 minutes.

Add the flour mix little by little and blend for a while, finally blend it for about 2-3 minutes.

Arrange few bowls and pour the cake batter till half in each one of them.

Arrange them inside the microwave properly.

I cooked them for 3 minutes at 160*C. You can adjust yours according to your oven.

We will prepare the cardamom flavoured coffee now. Take the sugar, milk , green cardamom and water in a saucepan. Switch on oven.

Let it boil for about 6-8 minutes . As the milk thickens, we will switch off gas and add the coffee powder. Mix thoroughly with a spoon. Pour onto cups through a strainer.

We will dust some powdered sugar atop each cup cake and enjoy both the MICROWAVE CHOCOLATE-YOGURT CUP CAKES and CARDAMOM FLAVOURED COFFEE hot and fresh...

Basking in the joy of a long weekend!..... some good cooking and eating together with my men. I have nothing much to do all day through, neither I am comfortable with frequent get-togethers, given my inherent nature of "staying confined and content to and with I, me, myself"..... a nature that was very much disliked in my newly wed husband's household...... I overheard a couple of times .... " bouta ekta ekla chora hoyeche, sharadin gharey dhukey boshey ache"..... meaning the daughter- in -law is very self centric and remains confined to her room all day through. They indeed had reason to complain because every household aspires for a bubbly daughter- in -law full of warmth..... but I am one person who is too lethargic to change her 'self'.... do we really can change our nature? My dearest friend T did support me saying leave her at herself..... the one who stayed only 3-4 months a year at home.... rest of the time he was sailing at the sea.... the wife and father running to the neighbourhood uncle's home to receive his call till we had our own. Do not ask me the reason why I took so much interest in cooking after stepping into this island.... I was still in utter disbelief.... are the three of us really going to live together? Finally after 13 long years of marriage.... we tasted how a true home is like. Off course I missed my family there as much as they did. My daddy had a mild heart attack just after few days I left Kolkata and within few years phew... vanished ..... I love it when kids take to cooking..... do it often.... you may not get a chance to serve your parents later in life. I hear a similar story from an old lady.... S you know my man left early because he could not take the pain of staying far from his kids.... such statements are laced with emotions and we should stay quiet and listen... someone is trying to share the pain and ease heart saying so.

I can see mourning after departures and what is called missing the partner. I can also see how some people take advantage of situation and storm in into your own household. They take mean ways to earn your confidence and go to the extent of poking their nose and talk ill of your partner.... adding more to an already tensed relationship. There are a couple of friends who share their deepest secrets with me.... a sincere note to them.... make your family your priority.... spend some 'us' time together and do not allow anyone to speak against your partner and create a rift between 'you'.... they cannot be your true friends...... neither should you speak too much about your home to others. If I tell all these to them directly, they will not listen to me.... I do not have that aura, or a persona to take hold of people.... I can never be a people pleaser... a raw deal as I always call myself. I learnt cooking way after marriage, I did it for the new household I became a part of.... come on the women did not fight always there... more for my visiting guest-in-honour husband. The two things I learnt first were chicken curry and matar paneer.... is that for this reason the son loves these two the most?... haha... The only praise my not so much of a friend mother-in-law makes of me is my cooking.... wish there was an express train service between the island and the cities of India... I may not want to live under one roof with her but very much wish to pack food boxes for them...their cook takes advantage of their age and serves non-sense.... that is where I get angry... if you can watch television all day through with poor eyesight, why cannot you cook a macher jhol bhaat, torkari, daal? Am I too wrong saying so?... My father-in-law has done immense hardships throughout his life, he deserves this little bit of care.

However patriarch Indian society is, there is a parallel trend among many of sidelining the husband's parents and embracing one's own and dragging the husband too in the process.... it definitely digs a hole in the relationship and unacceptable too. In this context, I must mention my friend Dr. Nishi Pulugurtha.... an Andhraite who married a Bengali and living with both mother and maa-in-law under one roof. She attends college all day, freaks out with friends often, comes back home and cooks non-vegetarian food for her husband.... herself been a vegetarian. She speaks for feminism. There is my friend Saubhik's wife Mousumi.... who left her job in USA to attend his ailing mother in Kolkata leaving Saubhik back there.... she is a feminist. My friend from school Sandip Mukherjee who married a vibrant Punjabi kudi Varshini Kapoor Mukherjee told me she left Delhi and a lucrative job for few months to take care of her maa-in-law living in Kolkata. I like that girl.... she eats "tyangra macher jhol with rice".... with love... courtesy the husband.... she is a feminist who always puts a like on the happening pictures of her bald husband who replicated Kishore Kumar perfectly at school ..... There is my brother's wife who is a teacher... visits her parents after school everyday and spent alone in a hospital cabin for a couple of days to attend her paa-in-law.... made an effort to discover my parent's birth certificates just to celebrate their birthday.... who are not so rich people ..... she is a feminist too..... and I define feminism as this.... either way.... if a chauvinist requires a woman to look after his home, to give birth to his children.... why cannot he respect the women around? Hey, we need each other to build a better world. .... "bahut gyan diye felley je gyanoda debi".... "shei jonyo kokhon je cha er sangey ekta porota aar aloo-peyaj-roshuner chochori kheye fellam kheyali nei"..... I am preaching too much... in the process I had a paratha with aloo-onion-garlic fry... that I cooked for my men's lunch box. Now I am free for the entire day. This is high time I should enjoy sharing with you this island's favourite or perhaps of South East Asia's favourite? Curry Chicken done with lots of coconut milk and a specially made spice mix. I did it for the first time at home and used a store bought spice-mix which has salt, sugar? vegetable oil, candle-nuts, shallots, garlic, chillies, lemon-grass, young ginger, turmeric in it so far I can remember. You can mix and match accordingly. I love to have the one we get at Toast Box who usually serve it with French? buns .... You see I do not qualify to be a food blogger in the first place ...... At home we have chicken / mutton curries with either rice or South Asian breads.... my food posts always reflect what we eat at home. The perfect blend of spices had been complimented by the use of thick coconut milk. To it I added some fried sliced onion and lemon juice, little of cumin-coriander powder in the marination of the chicken. The recipe is an adaption from a similar one from rasamalaysia.com. There is some celebration this weekend for many throughout the world.... I wish them all happy celebration with this island's favourite "Curry Chicken.".... which has to have potato in it.

INGREDIENTS :
Chicken : 1kg [medium cut]
Potato : 2[medium]
Spice Mix : I used a readymade one [you can mix and blend some salt, red chillies, candle nuts or peanuts, small onions or shallots, galangal or ginger, lemon grass, garlic, turmeric, vegetable oil]
Coconut milk : 100ml
Lemon Juice : 2-3 tbsp
Cumin Powder : 1/2tsp
Coriander Powder : 1tsp
Onion : 1[medium] sliced
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Curry Leaves : 7-8 [I was short of it that day... had to skip]
Salt : As Required
Oil : 2tbsp

METHOD :
The lazy me used this spice-mix to prepare this delectable curry chicken with potatoes.

Usually it is done with skin on the chicken but I prefer to discard the skin.... it is habitual in fact.

We will marinate the washed chicken pieces with salt, turmeric, lemon juice, cumin, coriander and red chilli powders for an hour or so.

Peel the potatoes, cut each one into 4 pieces and wash thoroughly. Rub with little salt and turmeric. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a wok. Add the curry leaves if you are using. Stir and then add the sliced onions. Once they turn golden brown, add the spice mix.

We will keep stirring the spice mix for 1 minute at low heat. We will add the chicken pieces along with the marinade. Fold in well and cover.

We will open cover and stir every 3 minutes. After 10 minutes, add the marinated potato pieces. Fold in well and cover cook for 3-4 minutes stirring in between.

Open cover and add the coconut milk and a medium cup water. We will cook not more than 2-3 minutes without cover, else the curry may curdle.

Serve hot with your choice of mains, we at home love it with steamed rice or South Asian breads.

Isn't the festive fervour still going on among different communities world wide? I always doubt my observation power and fail to keep track of all of them, neither can any one of us satisfy all around at a time ..... at least I am not able to. I think there is a clearcut understanding among us... my co-workers who are working in coordination to cater to different kinds of demands, needs, emotions or sentiments of the readers. Even few months back I did not know that a food post can represent so many things and it is important to take care of that.... Oh God ! isn't that a torture on a free willed person like me? It is not so that I have learnt every inch of the trade, my grey matter will not allow me to... but I think I have grown wise a bit. That is little better from my stupid brother who wants mutton, chicken, hilsa everyday from me.... I love the Kimi Raikkonen fan a lot but cannot cater to his demands always. There will be some authentic Bengali fish, mutton, chicken prior to Durga Pooja.... I do not wish to start with them so early and smell stinkingly regional..... more because I have made friends worldwide beyond region, boundaries and whatever. My blog will remain essentially Indian .... I am already unhappy with the pictures of microwave yogurt-chocolate cups.... not with the taste though.... yet some of my ace photographer girl friends went and showed some love to it... I have hope yeah... in this trade, hihi. Anyway, those who are trying to drag me into that cocooned shell that I had been in some ten years back.... I can arrange for you some sessions with my elder son who as a 10-12 year boy told why is it so difficult to accept aunty to have a vegetarian meal at community lunches just for four days, we can always have non vegetarian at home .... I feel so ashamed looking back at that me .... if we can fight among ourselves on such trivial issues, we have no right to blame others on Gurkha Land issues... I remember we had a paper on Boro Land Movement during our masters course and how our professor beautifully taught us about it going beyond text books.... I myself have heard from my own extended family how the innocent Boro clan were exploited... so much so that some from my family could employ them for a whole day work at a meagre amount of five rupees. However, I am not equipped with enough research and knowledge to say who is right or who is wrong. I wish to say for each separatist movement in the country, each one of us are to be blamed. Then there is one junior at home... if I call him weird there is enough reason... I wonder if he has any interest in anything in the world except for his laptop and food, non vegetarian of course. The two vegetarian items he loves are paneer and aloo. Then there is a senior at home who told his son at a tender age of ten... you know son... fish and chicken steak is a cheat, have beef steak... the mother shed silent tears then. This island is too expensive for us to stay after retirement neither we have applied for a permanent residency.... India may not allow us .... hahaha... shall we then live in a tent in a no-man's land?

I will go Indian today, a more or less healthy, simple breakfast fair with such ingredients that anyone can enjoy if they are on a healthy diet plan... a big bowl of SUJI UPMA. Many years back it was confined to a particular part of India, then we all saw its popularity at Bengali homes too. At our home , the mother loved dosa, idly, upma and uttapam. She learnt doing upma and perhaps idly at times. Back then they were not so much of a favourite with me like chicken... mutton or fish kabiraji cutlet, but I had to go to Madras Tiffin at Shyambazaar atleast for once in a month for the mother... a masala dosa as big as the width of my nose.... a nose that loved the smell of an egg- mutton roll just the opposite side of the road.... but then there is a thirty years gap between me and my son... who has his own, strong opinions and a father who said the son is to be considered a part of the decision making process and should not be made a mere pawn. I must say I love idly, upma and ragi puttu these days and so much excited to take my mani to the excellent joints for these items when she comes next.... I love the MTR chain. The husband loves upma which he had first after he joined ship, the son will not touch... he would take bread with cheese slice and eggs on such days. This upma thing I love to have the homemade one ... a little drier version than the restaurant ones with peanuts, cashew nuts and any available vegetables at home like carrots, cauliflower, green peas, potato.... I love to add a bit of ghee too in it.... I do not know how authentic my way is... my friends from particular regions can say.... but I am absolutely ok if my friends invite me over zucchini aloo posto.... just that there has to be a jirey bata diye patla macher jhol, peyaj diye mushurir dal, and a big bowl of salad or raita .... yes I love salads if they are modified as per my taste and raita too ..... just that I have stopped getting oats for two reasons.... I will finally end up preparing ladoo with them with ghee and jaggery.... secondly, Indian bodies are best suited to Indian ingredients / food...... I may not have a fabulous body like Rujuta Diwekar but I have faith in what she preaches. I prepare upma with either semolina or broken wheat and a happy weekend is sharing my way of Suji / Semolina Upma done with cashew nuts, peanuts and available vegetables with you all.

INGREDIENTS :
Semolina : 1coffee mug
Cashew Nut : 8-10 [halved]
Raw Peanut with skin on : 1/2small cup
Carrot : 1medium [cubed]
Green Pea : 1/2small cup
Green Chilli : 2-3 [chopped]
Dry Red Chilli : 2 [halved]
Mustard Seed : 1/2tsp
Skinless Split Black Gram Dal : 1/4tsp
Curry Leaves : 8-10
Lemon Juice : 2tbsp [optional]
Ghee : 1tbsp+1tbsp
Turmeric Powder : 3-5 pinches
Oil : 2-3 tbsp

METHOD :
Heat oil and 1tbsp ghee in a wok. Temper with halved dry red chilli, urad dal, mustard seeds and curry leaves at low heat. Give a stir and add the halved cashew nuts and skin on peanuts. Stir for a minute.

We have already washed the carrot pieces and rubbed with little salt and turmeric, we will add it to the wok, stir and cook for a minute or two.

Add all of the semolina and keep roasting until they turn light brown. Add some salt and stir for a minute. We will add water little by little with the left hand, while stirring constantly with our right one. If you want your upma little dry and crumbly, you cannot add all water at a time, we have to have little more patience for that.

Add the green peas and chopped green chillies now, add little water and keep stirring and cooking for some more time. Add the lemon juice and a table spoon of ghee, stir well and ahh its done.

We will have this yummy bowl of SUJI UPMA with tea or coffee, I have it for my lunch too.... it has to be served hot always.

Its spicy, a little hot, its yum and what not?.... Baby need some ice? .... nah ... you will not ... I bet you will love it ... with or without your chilled beer but tea / coffee is a must. How come the most confused woman on earth sounds so confident today... thats because the two carnivores at home loved it besides the grilled tandoori fish .... I was in such awwwwww that I watched them eating quite a few with "gol gol chokh"..... with surprising, unbelieving eyes I kept on watching. Did I say we had some guests this weekend including two elderly people? I remember I did .... the main course had to be authentic Bengali with doi-shorshe bata ilish, tomato diye katla mach, motorshuti diye mutton keema, moong er dal, ilisher matha diye chalkumror ghonto, chal diye aloo-potol, tomato-khejurer chutney and there was a big begun aka eggplant to be batter fried just before they sit for dinner.... and I totally forgot about it .... We got so engrossed chating with the elderly couple meeting after 10 years perhaps.... Then this old couple has a son... the brother some Kaushik Neogi ..... whose happening wife Gargi happens to be my paa-in-law's childhood friend's daughter ..... yes you have guessed right .... the two met in our marriage, and there was a Bollywood kind of chasing the dream which finally came true and now they are blessed with a son.... a ninth grader. I told earlier some of these guys were my support when I was learning to cook, the food connoisseur he is given his mom / aunts / mom-in-law and wife too been wonderful cooks .... I had to be extra cautious while setting the menu and cooking. He told his parents his boudi has a food blog, hence I did not want to go Bengali for the starters too, I had to prove I represent India at large and beyond. Besides that, I wished to prepare some easy to make, guilt free starters so that the old people can eat the main course properly. We get very fresh, delicate baby corns in the island, this time my pick for the vegetarian finger food was this besides tandoori fish and a salad .... that sounds less as my appetiser platter is little more when there are more guests. Anyway, instead of batter frying them deep, I cooked them in the oven at grill option..... and yessssss ..... using only two tablespoon oil. You can either thank me or curse me for not remaining a true Bong.... either way I am ok.... I do what I wish to.

We went for a Bengali movie though on Saturday evening, named Rokto Korobi, done in a modern scenario, it is loosely based on Tagore's Rokto Korobi .... after the movie, the senior told the director you are bold enough to do a movie as this.... he was taking questions from the audience and said I have to be bold when I am making an anti-establishment movie ... he narrated how difficult it is to reach more and more audience with such films, there is opposition from the urban quarters, all quarters rather . As usual our movie going partners are Ipsita and Soumya ... a very well read and well informed couple, decent.... articulate who respect boundaries. We went for a dinner to an Arab Street joint... that is when my man said.... my wifey is mentally unstable.... our friends got so upset with my man... hihi... I said stay cool... I am nearly so... I am generally indulgent with people I love and more so because I was too much into a love making scenario with the mezze platter and kunefe... oh what a bliss!... each time I have them I am floored... the only guilt was not having the sons with us. I do not take my man seriously.... I have a habit of dozing for the first ten minutes in the movie hall loving the dark, cool ambience.... it was this husband who told me wake up wife.... you will love this movie..... its a love triangle while watching Baji Rao Mastani... can you really get angry with such people? You will definitely prepare some butter-garlic baby naan instead to go with the left over mutton keema while writing this post. In between mezze platter and kunefe, there were some kebabs too which are not attracting me too much of late... who is that trying to have such bad influences on me?.... soon to prepare some Kashi Bai - Mastani kind of dish with mutton and aloo ... be sure.... haha... there is a naughty girl... and that is me.... Let jokes be jokes, I prefer spice coated meat... the South Asian way or batter fried boneless pieces coated with sauces... the South East Asian way... killing totally the raw smell. It is 11:30 pm at night and I am still writing this post... I sincerely need to go for an early morning brisk walk tomorrow and then to the gym before posting this quick, easy, full of yum, spicy baby corn grilled in a microwave and served with a mint-yogurt-chilli chutney. The guilt of having the heavenly kunefe on a bed of cream has to be lessened .... .... Come let us buy some fresh baby corns asap and get - set - go with the recipe.

INGREDIENTS : [for the masala baby corns]
Baby Corn : 15-20
Plain Yogurt : 2tbsp [beaten]
Corn Flour : 1tbsp
Gram Flour : 1tbsp
Red Chilli Powder : 2tsp
Cumin Powder : 1tsp [I use homemade]
Coriander Powder : 1tsp [I use homemade]
Garam Masala Powder: 1/2tsp [I use Everest Brand]
Lemon Juice : 3-4tbsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 2tbsp [I use mustard for a nice colour]

INGREDIENTS : [for the mint-yogurt-chilli chutney]
Plain Yogurt : 100gm [I used Nestle Brand this time, I make it at home otherwise]
Mint Leaves : 12-15
Green Chilli : 2
Sugar : 1/2tsp
Black Salt : 3-4pinches

METHOD :
Wash the baby corns and marinate with beaten plain yogurt, red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, lemon juice, salt and the oil. Keep aside covered for about 15-20 minutes.

After about 20 minutes grease an oven proof plate with few drops of oil. Rub the marinated baby corns with corn flour and gram flour and arrange them on the plate and pour the entire marinade on them.

Place the plate on the high tool and cook in the grill option for 8-10 minutes. Turn over and cook for another 6-8 minutes. We are done.

For the Mint-Yogurt-Chilli Chutney, Take all the ingredients in a blender and blend to a smooth paste. Always serve chilled, hence we need to prepare it much ahead of having it.

Serve the Masala Baby Corns and Mint-Yogurt-Chilli Chutney together and see happy faces around. Once done they should be had fresh, the chutney can be refrigerated up to 2 days.

There is some conspiracy going on in the household that the lady of the house has gone senile and should be sent to either a mental asylum or deep in to the forest, the biggest fear of going to either of the two for me is that there is no wifi connection at these places perhaps ..... According to my boys, I am doing too much of moral policing, developed a pokey nose, interfering in other's life.... oh the list is not so short. I definitely have something to say on my defence as every other individual do as we love ourselves the most. I cannot threat them either saying who will cook for you ?.... they are naughty enough to say .... yeah we are free now to order from the fast food joints. On a serious note, the wise man at home always says we should not react to every other incident wife.... learn to take people at face value, stop judging. I do not have the wisdom or intelligence or whatever to act smart like him and always let my heart bare to the world. I am too fragile and get disturbed at silly little things, specially if it is done by people who mean. Since I have not learnt to ignore, I get more confined to my own self.... knowing to overlook things is an art, the world will not act according to my wish. Perhaps that makes me loner seeking seclusion from the mankind itself.... since I love my blog too much.... I need to remain in the crowd... and the lack of grey matter causes rest of the stir .... "gondogol pakaoing."

I was trying to follow the trail to the root cause of me been so unaccommodating. I reached to a short statured woman with two kids.... always at service of her kids and family.... who never felt that at some point she should untie the "pallu of her saree" and let her kids fend for themselves. The daughter took rounds with her man wearing the warmth of her mother's lap. Like the daughter, the mother too expected that her daughter will be treated the same way in the new home.... a bone of contention brewed.... "amar meyeta roz kotogulo dokaner kena cake mishti, fol niye chakri kortey jai, keu duto ruti porjonto kore deina.... school theke firey nijei jol niye khai... keu ektu shorbot porjonto korey deina".... I remember my mother lamenting of no-one packing her married daughter's lunch box at the in law's house with home cooked food .... never telling the daughter you must learn now to take care of yourself and the rest .... that is called blind in love... that is perhaps so my brother at mid thirty is seen kissing his mother five times a day and his wife gifting a latest model refrigerator to the mother-in-law even after that.... there must be a reason for that..... there must also be a reason for me to never failing to do my duty towards my not so much of a friend maa-in-law.... does not matter if there is less love in the relationship.... she was strict so I could learn everything we need to take care of a household. I learnt everything from scratch and self-centric enough not to allow anyone in my kitchen ..... I feel very disturbed if anyone does so.... every fork and spoon has my signature on it. I cannot be lazy to that extent where I allow my cook to use one kilogram flour to prepare poori for four people.... not asking her why you have to take so many to your home.... doing so one has to get off the couch leaving two Ts .... tea and television.... My point is if I am a sit at home woman, I should take care of my home. I will not exploit others and not get exploited. Do I regret for not having it otherwise.... never my readers.... The Almighty gently placed me on a very trusted, full of warmth lap right from my mother's .... only if I could sing with him "sawan barse tarse dil, kyun na nikle ghar se dil".... the island gives you lovely rain situations for romantic liaisons, if only your man's first lady love is not an air-conditioned room in a tall building.... so if this fat, old lady is talking about a Neellohit, she only means Sunil Gangopadhay's fictional character and not of any real life business minded or whatever..... mind it smiling, beautiful barbies.... a word is a word for this 4'10".... with progressive lens glasses wearing for 40 years now, 70% grey, obese since childhood ..... exactly four fillings at the inner jaws... no worries.... come let us learn the tricks and method of preparing ladoo without any pain ..... let the heart go on... it does not really disturb a routined life.... moreover, one's heart solely reserves the right to who it keeps and who it does not, does it ever listen to any reasoning??.... so silly this stupid thing is....

This festive sweet or ladoo does not require any pre-planning. Done with cashew nuts, sesame seeds, jaggery and ghee, this KAJU TIL GUR GHEE LADOO is something that will be loved by anyone from kids to adult..... This can well be a make ahead festive sweet or be made anytime to satisfy our taste buds.... more so if you have a sweet tooth.... One good thing about this ladoo is that you never have to struggle to bind it into a round shape even if we are not cooking it.... the magic is the use of ghee and the moisture released by the gur / jaggery... I think the oil from the cashew nuts and sesame seeds also has their contribution in this matter. Come let us see how we can do it together with the help of some pictures.

The recipe may resemble nearly with some other but I have not followed particularly anyone's for this. In fact I have drawn idea from a number of such posts on sweets by my friends at large.

INGREDIENTS :
Cashew Nut : 11/2 medium cup
Sesame Seed [white] : 1/3medium cup
Ghee[clarified butter] : 1/2 small cup or little more
Jaggery : 1small cup
Cardamom Powder : 1tsp

METHOD :
We will take the sesame seed and cashew nut in a pan and roast them till light brown at slow heat.

Once brown, we will switch off gas and let cool the sesame seeds and cashew nuts.

Take the jaggery in a hand pounder, ready to be ground.

We will grind the jaggery into smaller pieces.

Now we will take every thing... the jaggery, cashew nuts, sesame seeds and the cardamom powder in a electric mixture.

Grind them into a finer mixture pulsing it for about 3 minutes at intervals.

Transfer the mixture to a plate, you can feel it is warm.

Add the ghee little by little and keep kneading for about 7-8 minutes.

We will immediately start forming balls and smoothening between palms to give the shape of a ladoo.

.... and they are ready to eat.... We can also store them in airtight containers up to a week.... using ghee will not spoil them quickly. Do not add water at any time to shape the ladoo, if required use more ghee.

I am sad and not in the right mood to concentrate on sharing a recipe post with you all today..... Ask me why? The very graceful Indian actress Vidya Balan was in the island last evening and I did not even know though I follow her page just to see how beautifully she presents herself. There is some collaborative fare going on between the Government of the island and that of India... oh what a miss! Then yesterday was Akshay Kumar's birthday too and his multitalented wife Twinkle Khanna wished him so beautifully. Off course CHIREY BADAM BHAJA is not a kind of dish to wish happy birthday to the Bollywood hero, but it is something the couple of this humble home enjoys with tea or coffee on weekends while watching some good movies. The hero's wife did not follow her famous parent's footsteps and appeared in very few movies.... but wow.... she reads, writes, cooks, travel and makes those beautiful perfumed candles along with her mom and sister since childhood. When did I start liking her?.... when I read she told her husband we will not have a second child unless you do some meaningful cinema.... isn't that an inspiration enough to go and get the country's most prestigious award.... besides the sheer hard work? My co-blogger friends will be happy to know the glamorous Twinkle's husband and son cooks too... unlike me she has trained her boys well.... if only the world knew what material my boys are... impossible is the right word. Anyways, I know the couple are blessed with a daughter and their son studies in one of the prestigious IB schools of the island.... I definitely should not go public with the name of the school.

Neither my heart throb Vidya Balan nor the uber urban, happening Twinkle Khanna and her husband eats CHIREY BADAM BHAJA as their evening snacks .... our son will not even touch it. Then the mother will not share his favourite grilled chicken or spicy boneless fish or paneer tikka today, she is extremely unhappy since yesterday post the parent's teacher meet ..... the son had always been favourite with his teachers because he was / is very well behaved at school and as they say he is fairly intelligent... No that is not making the mom happy.... she wants a consistent reflection of that in the report card.... in one test he is scoring full marks and then coming down in the next. The mom is getting panicky now with only six month left for his 10th board examination. Anyways my literature loving friends will be happy to know that his teachers say he writes very good English in spite of the mother been poor in both written and spoken and cleverly plays with few words given her limited vocabulary. Now to some, do not shower on me on this issue, we need to know English as it is the language of communication in the present day world. Not knowing it well is never a 'crime' but the 'need' to know it is undeniable. Coming to the point, why is the wife who is an angry bird towards the husband when it comes to strategise son's study plan goes ahead with the duo's favourite weekend evening snacks CHIREY BADAM BHAJA that her mother used to prepare for her kids? Well her man confessed to the teachers yesterday that the son went after him, overconfident enough to think I know everything and can do away with minimal studies....mistakes need not be repeated..... Oh finally! .... and yeah the teachers said the 10th board examination marks will be taken into consideration while seeking admission in college.... the father cannot say now.... S stop it.... marks do not matter so much in life! The son's mother does not want him to stray as his mother did. His mother was below average but could polish herself a little more if she had given some effort.

Coming back to food again, my mom used to prepare chirey bhaja or poha / chivda / flattened rice / beaten rice fry two ways.... one is this and another one was a sweetened one which will be shared later. This particular dish is done with flattened rice, peanuts, green pea, toasted coconut, dry red chilli flakes, chopped green chillies, cashew nuts, curry leaves, chopped coriander leaves, nigella seeds. This goes very well with your evening cuppa of tea and coffee.... Shall we do it together with all available ingredients in the kitchen and with a bit more of patience?.... that is required as we need to stir for sometime to get that crispiness... we are not deep frying it in lot of oil. Life is short enjoy 'been together' and 'being in each other'.... both ways it is beautiful haha.... we do not need to kiss and smooch each other for that ... there are so many ways to show that but then that is a silly romantic , a dumbo saying so !

INGREDIENTS :
Flattened / Beaten Rice : 11/2coffee mug
Peanut : 1/2small cup
Cashew nut : 5-6halved
Green Pea : 2tbsp
Dry Red Chilli : 2
Shredded Coconut : 1/2small cup
Green Chilli : 1-2chopped
Onion : 1small chopped [optional]
Salt : As Required
Turmeric Powder : 2pinches
Nigella Seed : 1/4tsp
Curry Leaves : 7-8
Oil : 3tbsp
Chopped Coriander Leaves to garnish!

METHOD :
For this dish we will not wash the flattened rice but lightly seive it. Get all ingredients ready on your work station.

Heat oil in a wok or pan. Fry the dry red chillies for a while at low heat and take out... Once cold, we will lightly crush them with hand and keep aside to be added later. Fry the cashew nuts and peanuts in batches and take out to be added later.

Temper oil with nigella seeds and add the shredded coconut to it ... keep stirring till it turns light brown. Add the curry leaves and the sliced onion and saute till the onion slices gets that caramelised colour.

Add the green peas and chopped green chillies and saute for a minute. Now add the beaten rice and the turmeric powder. Here is where we require some patience, we need to keep stirring continuously as we want our chivda / poha / aval snacks to remain crisp for some hours.

Add salt to the mixture, keep stirring for another 4-5 minutes, add the crushed dry red chillies, fried cashew nuts and peanuts. Fold in well and we are done.

Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves, enjoy fresh with tea or coffee! If we skip the onion part we can store the beaten rice snack mixture in an air tight container for sometime without refrigeration!

This is exactly how I served dinner to my family last night ..... Narkol Kora Murgi.... that is chicken prepared with shredded coconut or say nariyel ke saath pakaye huye murg .... some rice, few fluffy poori and a bowl of basic salad which was off course for me. How about that hindi phrase... correct or not? Our Hindi speaking and writing ability is terrible. The son is managing.... courtesy... the school and his private tutor. Coming to the problem now, my supposedly happy clicks fails to make my expert blogger cum photographer friends happy. I could not click the way I wished to, in the process my fluffy poori did not remain fluffy any more. This does not happen when I prepare luchi with refined flour. I have to learn the trick to keep poori fluffy for sometime from my friends around .... I think we need to add semolina to the wheat flour for that. Anyway, food was served fresh to my men with not so fluffy poori after reheating .... yet I got to see happy faces... why? there was chicken.... or say a meat on the plate gets sunshine reflect on my shoulder even at 9:30 pm at night. There was some achar / pickle too for me, my senior and yes for our Cristine too.... hahaha.... I have already trained her to eat everything Bengali / Indian.... She says ma'am it is hot but I enjoy.... only that she does not like our sweets that much. She prepares wonderful Oriental soups for my lunches.... I prefer my soups light and my beverages sugar free these days with no alternatives either. The mother of this home's eyes again got "golgol"... surprisingly watching the son secretly sipping from her bottle of green tea without sugar. I am indulgent and I love it when kids..... whosoever it is secretly opens the refrigerator door to look for food and drinks...... perhaps because I am a foodie since childhood.

This chicken dish with shredded coconut.... that is NARKOL KORA MURGI is not a family recipe. I have not seen it to be cooked in either side of the family. When my parents shifted to the outskirts of Kolkata back in 1995, a boy helped us with gardening, and other household works. This boy knew so many things construction work, cooking and what not. He said they are from Barisal district of the formerly undivided India and use coconut in cooking a lot. He was really a help for us in the new neighbourhood.... I remember the date of shifting .... 10th May, 1995. Why? We were having an uncanny feeling in the new house leaving behind a crowded neighbourhood where we lived for 19 years. It was 11pm at night, someone outside was calling my brother's name... who is that? The senior of my chopsticks whose ship reached the Kolkata Harbour that evening..... He came home, got to know we shifted that day, caught a train at 10pm and visited us.... next day he had to reach ship by 10am. I remember he told my father... you have achieved something, does not matter if it is late ..... while the mother and her kids were still lamenting over leaving behind the crowded, happening city. This guy took the last train towards home without knowing it was an express and will not stop at his place.... Later I heard he reached home at 3 am.... as I told you this is one of the few reasons why I never could think of not doing my duty towards my in-laws.... They had been very liberal about our relationship .... my height, length, breadth, looks were not so much of a concern for them or to their son who earned pretty well as a boy of say 23. Thanking the Almighty, I must come to the recipe now... my untold story will be unfolded at different times.... My readers are interested or not, I love narrating. Bengalis do use coconut in their cooking but not always like Southern India .... going beyond this will not be permitted by my level of knowledge or research. I had coconut chicken in Chennai and loved it.... ahh the spice and the flavour. After landing in this island, life really got "coconutty" and I love it too..... the taste and flavour both. Come let us cook together my way of Narkol Kora Murgi. This is exactly what I served my family last night. You can always choose your mains.

INGREDIENTS :
Chicken : 500gm
Onion : 1medium [sliced]
Coconut : 1small cup [shredded]
Lemon Juice : 3tbsp + 2tbsp
Ginger Paste : 1/2tsp
Garlic Paste : 1tsp
Coriander Powder : 1/2tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Bayleaf : 1
Cinnamon Stick : 1one inch
Green Cardamom : 2-3
Clove : 2-3
Oil : 3tbsp

METHOD :
Wash the chicken pieces well and marinate with 3tbsp lemon juice, little turmeric powder and salt, coriander and red chilli powder. Keep covered for an hour.

Heat oil in a wok. Temper with bayleaf, cinnamon stick, green cardamoms, cloves. Add the sliced onions and fry till it turns translucent. Add the shredded coconut and fry till both turn golden brown.

Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for a minute or so. Add salt, turmeric and fold in well. Add the chicken pieces along with the marinade and fold in well. Cover cook for 10 minutes stirring every 3-4 minutes in between.

Open cover and add about half coffee mug of water. Fold in well and cook uncovered for 4-5 minutes. We are done. Add 2tbsp of lemon juice over the curry.

I served it with whole wheat poori, rice and a basic salad made of tomato, cucumber, onion and green chillies. You can always have it with your choice of mains.

I was thinking let me bother less about food for 3-4 days and just relax and watch the activities of my friends from different spheres, I was busy too planning something for the occasion of Mahalaya and Navaratri.... end of pitripaksh and the beginning of Debipaksh. The on going rain too added to my laziness and that silly billy thing inside said lets be merry.... "Mon meteche mon moyurir ki khelay .... Naam na jana phool fotanor eei belay"..... today I literally got caught in the rain and let myself drench.... that is when I felt like a peacock deep inside and sang this.... the best thing of this place is that no one is bothered what you are doing unless you are causing any harm to anyone. This is a famous yester year Bengali song sung by the legendary Asha Bhosle who had her birthday 2-3 days back.... No Mulo Chechki is not something what Asha ji eats or would love to.... it is this music lover at this home who has grown up eating it. I do not think these legends are ever bothered about what they eat.... they are so dedicated to their religion.... music. Last to last year while she was performing in this island, the news of one of her son or daughter's demise reached..... she did not leave the stage, completed her programme and flew back the next day to attend the funeral.... can you imagine the amount of dedication? Nearer the Mahalaya day is approaching, more I am missing my father who would go to the Ganges early morning to pay homage to his ancestors, now my little brother will carry forward the ritual from next year. When the heart is this heavy, I try to remain calm thinking of such stories that there are such people who has to attend their kid's funeral ..... my sorrows get less. When the mind is this disturbed, do take refuge to your hobbies .... music or any kind of arts and entertainment .... wonderful therapy, trust me!

Mulo Chechki is not something my men would eat happily either.... do not worry lah.... I have not stopped loving them. There are some chicken legs been marinated, to be coated in a buttermilk-cornflour batter, deep fried and served with dinner rolls tonight. Some fresh lamb pieces have been marinated to be cooked tomorrow for lunch..You will hardly see me blogging on such recipes like batter fried KFC style chicken..... I have specific friends doing that ..... each one of us are doing our job. I always wished to maintain a certain kind of authenticity while sharing my food posts .... though I failed to be purely so. When it comes to saree, I do try to showcase what I adore.... handloom wear.... most of them I get from government emporiums or few of my trusted friends who know my taste and ability by now. I so much wish to buy a Cheongsam .... ethnic wear of the people of this island ..... why I have not? Come on I do not want to look like a nine months pregnant woman wearing them.... you need a fabulous body as them to fit in. I am thinking of totally shifting to saree..... this is again not any kind of a dig at anyone.... I can see quite a number of beautiful people on the heavier side carrying themselves pretty well in such dresses .... I always blame my lack of confidence and tremendous love for sarees for what I say and I mean it for myself only.... no hard feeling yeah.... How come the people of this island manage to remain so slim after having so much of my love .... Rice... that brings tears to my eyes.... similar to a heart break at your teens... hahaha.... On a serious note, I feel natives here eat healthy, lots of medicinal herbs, complete dinner by 6:30 pm and its genetic too.

We get radish throughout the year here. Mulo or radish is a favourite and was / is cooked in so many ways in the family.... mulor shaak, ghonto, chechki, with dried fish, shrimps, nonetheless to say the famous winter curry with it..... mulo, begun, sheem, aloo diye macher jhol..... My today's share is a very authentic, humble, non-spicy dish from Bengal Kitchen MULO CHECHKI.... that is an almost no-spice dish of radish tempered with nigella seeds and dry red chilli and garnished with chopped coriander leaves. Below is exactly how it is done in our family .... authentically we have it with steamed rice.... it should go well with chapati, poori or paratha. Shall we do it together? The pictures are not something you will enjoy, they were taken a few months back when I did not take other factors into consideration while clicking... not that I am a wise person altogether by now.... can you change someone who does not want to think beyond a point?

INGREDIENTS :
Radish : 2big or 4medium
Coriander Leaves : 2tbsp [chopped]
Green Chilli : 2 [slitted]
Dry Red Chilli : 2 [halved]
Nigella Seeds : 1/4tsp
Salt : As Required
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Sugar : 1/4tsp [optional]
Oil : 2tbsp

METHOD :

Cut the two ends of the radish and peel them. Now wash and shred each one of them. Add little salt and turmeric, mix well and keep aside for half an hour, covered.

Open cover squeeze the water from the shredded radish, discard the water. My mother steam the radish before adding to the oil but I do not.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with nigella seeds and halved dry red chillies. Add the shredded radish and fold in well. Cover cook for about 8-10 minutes. Open cover every 3-4 minutes to check, we cannot allow it to burn. Sprinkle little water from time to time.

Open cover, add remaining water, slitted green chillies, salt and turmeric powder. Fold in well and cover cook for another 6-8 minutes.

Open cover, add sugar and chopped coriander leaves. Fold in well and allow to cook for a minute or two. We are done. The entire cooking should be done at low heat.

We have it with steamed rice, you can enjoy it with poori, paratha or roti!

It was Viswakarma[the God of Engineering?] Pujo yesterday and I do not have a bit of him within me, "ekta chotto pronam sherey palai baba." It is Mahalaya tomorrow.... end of Pitripokkho / Pitripaksh and the beginning of Debipaksh / Debipokkho .... We are all set to welcome Maa Durga and her kids .... in few days she will be on her Royal entourage of the earth ..... her yearly ritual with her kids leaving behind her husband for few days.... according to the Hindu Mythology. With every passing year I am getting little older ..... not been a J Lo you see. Each year such occasions takes me back to those days when pujo meant a month long celebration..... starting from going out with parents to buy 'notun jama.'.... new dresses on a sunny Saturday morning. Kids today will never understand the amount of joy it had.... they get stuffs throughout the year. Once I cleared class twelve, I became richer than many in my age group... I started giving home tuitions and earned 1200-1500 rupees per month, back in 1989. My parents never asked me to, it was by choice. It was during Durga puja, Bengali New Year I loved gifting my own with that amount.... My banker father opened an account in my name and said do not spend all of the amount, save some. My mother still have the semi-precious pearl set I gifted her with my first salary as a teacher in a school. The father used to scold whenever I gifted him something.... save... save mamoni... you waste too much. The actual scenario was different.... he used to wear it the next day and tell his friends see my daughter has gifted.... this was the scenario till March 2017. There were gifts for my now husband too with my tuition fees and later with my salary however meagre it was.... a shirt or a T-shirt... I could not afford a trouser along with it. Our priceless gift to each other.... our son off course, a daughter never happened.... an Olive Oyl will happen. Coming to the fact that once upon a time I was quite active..... I do not know why I am sitting idle at home, I can always go back to my first job.... giving home tuitions.... For that one needs to be communicative which I have lost interest in. I am perhaps more communicative with the virtual world than real except for few people and with no regrets. I can feel I am back into my actual nature of been a happy loner.... all the "in-between" years were actually trying to fit in at my in-laws house.... who are of warm and friendly nature. I am a mixed bag inheritor of my parents... self-centric like the mother.... happy go lucky "Uncle Podger" like the father..... failing to be a person like him with warmth and excellent communication skills.

This ever smiling man full of warmth who happened to be my daddy did perform the ritual of paying homage to the ancestors on this day every year since his father's death in 1985. Waking up early morning and going to the Ganges and performing all the required rituals. The "pujo pujo feel" started right from Mahalaya. This year he is no more, there is an awkwardly low feeling deep inside.... yet I will wear my new sarees, get clicked and share some too because words like depression, sorrows were not in his dictionary. There is perhaps no tomorrow, do it now.... live the moment.This island gives you the opportunity to flaunt all you have on this occasion of Durga Pujo, that "baroyari pujo feel" with five pujos at different venues happening islandwide..... its an island mind it..... It is also Navaratri for many but I cannot go with full vegetarian shares for two long weeks prior to Durga Pujo.... it is that time of the year Bengalis will eat Chingri Malaikari for lunch.... and then Pathar Kosha or Murgir Chap with Roomali Ruti at 3am after pandal hopping.... with no antacid either.... some of my readers may get upset with some of my shares next two weeks, hahaha. Trying to stay in your good book, my share on this auspicious day is a not so authentic Bengali sweet..... but a makeover to our very own naru..... KAJU KISHMISH BHORA SUJI NARKOL ER NARU..... Cashew nuts and Raisins stuffed Coconut and Semolina Balls / Ladoos. This sweet is easy to do if we can have the patience to boil the milk for a longer period to get the right consistency. You need not boil that amount of milk as mine, I was actually preparing another dessert with milk and vermicelli simultaneously with this KAJU KISHMISH BHORA SUJI NARKOL ER NARU..... an irresistible sweet meat option for you this festive season. It became an instant hit with my family..... Come let us prepare this sweet together and bring smile to our loved one's faces.

INGREDIENTS :
Coconut : 2big cups [shredded]
Semolina : 11/4big cup
Dudh er Kheer : 1big cup [milk thickened over prolonged boiling]
Sugar : 11/2medium cup
Green Cardamom Powder : 1/2tsp
Raisins : 2tbsp
Cashew Nuts : 2-3tbsp [chopped]
Ghee : 3tbsp

METHOD :
Take the milk in a heavy bottomed vessel. I have taken about 2 lt. of milk as I was cooking another dessert simultaneously. You will take about 500ml of milk and keep boiling at low heat. Keep boiling till it becomes thick and reduces to about 200ml.

Heat a pan and add the ghee to it. Add the semolina and roast it till it turns brown at medium to low heat. Ahh you will love the aroma.

Transfer the semolina / suji to a plate . Place the same pan on the gas oven, no need to wash. Add the shredded coconut and sugar to the pan. Sprinkle little water. Fold in well and keep stirring.

After about 8-10 minutes, add the roasted semolina, green cardamom powder and fold in well.

Add the dudh er kheer / thickened milk little by little and keep stirring. We will do this for 5-7 minutes.

Our naru mixture is ready, we will transfer them to a plate and let cool a bit.

Chop the cashew nuts, wash the raisins and get them ready at your work station.

Take small portions of the coconut-semolina mixture and flatten between your palms. Place some raisins and chopped cashew nuts atop.

Take little more of the mixture and place over the dry fruits, slowly and carefully bring in to the shape of a naru / ladoo.

You can see they are done and ready to eat. The happy souls at my home got happier having them. They will be done in large amount after Durga Puja and sent to the senior's office, for visiting guests. You too can try this KAJU KISHMIISH BHORA SUJI NARKOL ER NARU this festive season and see happy faces around. They can be stored in a refrigerator for a week.

Have you ever had dinner and appetiser at the same time? We did it last night. Do we really have any time for enjoying appetisers on weekdays? We do not have ..... not at our home where some one finds it really difficult to leave his first love and come back to his wife and kid ..... more so when the kid has his major examination knocking the door..... at least this is the scenario at this home. It is absolutely unnecessary to listen to a worried wife saying please sit with the son at least for an hour now. The knowledge level of the mother of this particular house is questionable and limited to "H2O maney jol.... O2 maney oxygen"...."eei prithibi je amai oxygen nitey dicchey akhono dhakka merey joley feley deini eei onek bhagyo amar" ..... what she can do to keep herself engaged? She makes some plan and calls for Cristine ..... come let us do some"mukhorochok".... may be a "fry.. shry" this time. Ideally the fry had to have some kheema or fish stuffing inside because it is the eve of our biggest festival. Then it is also the start of a fasting week for many in India, abroad and yes.... perhaps majority of my readers .... I definitely will take care of their sentiments.... I also need to see the Bengalis do not use their sticks on me.... come on MIXED VEGETABLE & DRY FRUIT FINGERS is a good option to have before setting out for your pandal hopping on Panchami.... Phuchka may have been a better option but I do not know if chaat is welcome during fast or not. Even on "Shashti.... Bengalis of the West Bengal side keep fast or do not eat rice. In my side of the family, all four days are painstakingly vegetarian as the daddy's extended family still perform Durgotshob at their Bangladesh home. Before her marriage, the daughter of the house then would run to her now in-law's place or to one of her dearest Chandrayee's place for a taste of fish and meat. At times my little brother would also accompany me though he was never a foodie like his didibhai.

Before we dive into some "jomiye ekta pathar jhol" or "chingrir jyamon tyamon".... let us share something that would say ..... fast can be a feast too. A couple of my friends in this island, back in India and elsewhere shall be keeping fast from today I know.... my small way to say.... you mean. I also felt this kind of food can appeal to the Western world too if you can take the heat of my RAW MANGO-GREEN CHILLI DIP.... just take a look at the number of chillies I used.... hahaha .... no worries, choose yours. I simply loved it and the man who tells his friends oil and chillies come for free in our house loved the platter..... we had some rice, narkol diye cholar dal and choto chingri diye aloo-potol to complete the dinner ..... while J Lo must be having her dinner with an assorted vegetables and seeds salad and a low-fat Greek yogurt..... To my defence I will say so long I have a saree to hide my tummy.... "go as you like more often.... zindegi do pal ki"..... Keeping in mind that many of my followers and friends too are keeping fast today, I kept this appetiser and the dip.... MIXED VEGETABLE & MIXED FRUIT FINGERS WITH RAW MANGO-GREEN CHILLI DIP totally free of onion and garlic. Earlier, I never used semolina as a coating, I found it really awesome to get that crisp, hard coating which does not allow the fries to get soggy for a long time.... You can reheat them after few hours and still feel its fresh and crisp. The fingers may look fat than usual..... what else do you expect from this fat, old lady... her fingers are never artistic enough to be a poet's fancy. Haha..... actually it was too late yesterday and we preferred 13 medium sized fritters than 18-20 beautifully shaped ones.... I can guarantee you taste but perfectionist I am not ..... "doi er modhya shosha dubey gelo, kheyali nei.... chobi tola hoye gelo"..... the cucumber pieces are not arranged properly in the yogurt salad bowl.... I did not even notice and clicked. I am a lost case.... diagnosed and it is true. Forget that, prepare the fries along with me and enjoy the heavenly bites. Do not forget to have your favourite beverage with it either.

INGREDIENTS : [for the RAW MANGO-GREEN CHILLI DIP]
Raw Mango - 1[shredded]
Green Chilli - 3-4 [choose yours]
Ginger Extract : 1tsp
Jaggery : 2tsp [shredded]
Black Salt : 2pinches
Water : 2tbsp
You can add little olive oil atop the dip, I did not.... the difference between chutney and dip is not always clear to me..... "likhtey icche holo like dilam..... diiipp"

INGREDIENTS : [for the batter]
Corn Flour : 3tbsp [I do not know if we can use this for fast]
Black Pepper Powder : 1/2tsp
Salt : Little [rock or black salt as alternative]
Water : 1/2small cup or little more

INGREDIENTS : [for the MIXED VEGETABLE & DRY FRUIT FINGERS]
Cauliflower Florets : 1coffee mug
Potato : 2medium
Carrot : 2medium
Beet Root : 1
Raw Mango : 2tbsp [shredded]
Green Pea : 2tbsp
Coriander Leaves : 1small cup [chopped]
Green Chilli : 2 [chopped]
Raisin : 11/2tbsp
Pistachio : 2tsp [chopped]
Cashew nuts : 11/2tbsp [chopped]
Asafoetida : 2pinches
Cumin Powder : 1tsp
Coriander Powder : 1tsp
Fennel Powder : 1/2tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Cinnamon Powder : 1/4tsp
Cardamom Powder : 1/4tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Salt : As Required [rock or black salt as alternative]
Corn Flour : 2tbsp
Semolina : 11/2medium cup
Oil : 100-150ml for deep frying

METHOD :
Let us prepare the RAW MANGO-GREEN CHILLI DIP first and refrigerate till the fries are done.

Take the peeled, washed and shredded raw mango leaving 2tbsp for the fries, shredded jaggery, black salt, ginger extract and 4 green chillies in a grinder....

Grind to a paste adding the water. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate till we are done with the fries.

Peel, wash and cube the potatoes, carrots and beet root. Pressure cook them along with the cauliflower florets in enough water adding little salt and turmeric up to 2 whistles . Let cool, take down, open cover and strain all the water.

Take the vegetables in a wide mouthed bowl, mash adding salt and turmeric powder.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok. Temper with asafoetida. Immediately add the green peas and fry for a minute or two. Add the chopped green chillies and stir.

Add the mashed vegetables to the wok and fold in well. Add all the remaining powdered spices to the wok and fold in very well. Keep stirring for 3-4 minutes till the water dries up.

Now add the corn flour, chopped coriander leaves, raisins, chopped cashew nuts and pistachio to the mixture.

Fold in very well and stir for a minute. We are done, we will transfer the mixture to a plate and let cool for sometime.

Add the shredded mango and little semolina to the mixed vegetable and dry fruit mixture and mix well.

Take out small portion and prepare finger like shapes and roll on to the semolina.

Once done, we will refrigerate them for sometime.

Prepare a batter with black pepper, salt, water and cornflour.... mix well. Keep the semolina, batter and fingers ready on your gas table. Dip the fingers in the batter, coat with semolina well, they are now ready to fry. Heat oil in a wok for deep frying the veg fingers.

Deep fry the vegetable and dry fruit fingers at medium to low heat in batches.

Once they turn golden brown, transfer them onto tissue paper for the excess oil to soak.

Arrange the MIXED VEGETABLE & DRY FRUIT FINGERS in a nice plate and serve with the cool, RAW MANGO-GREEN CHILLI DIP along with some salad.... It still remains incomplete if you do not have your favourite beverage with this superbly delicious platter.

Our week long celebration started with the kind of food that makes my boys ..... specially the junior.... happy..... some dry kind of sides and meaty dishes with bhaat bhaja.... rice fried with any thing makes rice acceptable to them. I have become kind of "let go... what can be done?"..... There is a Bengali in essence or essentially so mother at this home who is ready to serve a 3-5 course typical Bengali meal to her family from shaak..... shukto to rui / katlar jhol.... but there is a son who chooses salmon over ilish ..... chicken / mutton over dim bhora khal-biler koi. Off course it hurts me but as a mother / wife you will always want to see your family happy, at the dining table too. If you are like me you will take a midway and will not do away with 'desi khana' entirely and cook something like MACHER PUR BHORA MOSHOLA DIM. I will not stop cooking ilish / hilsa either and be in a happy conversation as this " Rehman bhai.... Ganga / Padma r ilish aaise ni... toi ekta dyan.... Burma r ilish gosaiben na amarey... ilisher namey kolonko ogulan"..... and this mother will sit and de bone ilish for her 15 year old son with the hope that some day he will adapt to the taste of it. There is less reason to be sad when the kid of your neighbourhood friend do lap up all the rice with the mulo chechki or pui chocchori you have sent with love.... that is hope enough to know that generation next may not forget the roots.... the son eats four rasgullas at one go at least. It is perhaps the failure of the mother of this house not been able to make her son continue with reading and writing in Bengali.... a punch of "Ghanada".... "Feluda".... and religiously "Upendra Kishore" would have set him on the right track.... Unfortunately they are all breathing feebly in a locked, dark room back in Kolkata. This time of the year, our biggest attraction were the "pujo barshiki"..... our newspaper dealer Bhola Kaku got them on the first day of publication. However, while taking a lazy stroll at the by lanes of College Street on my last visit to Kolkata with our friend Joy Ghosh.... he said they do not remain as attractive as before..... this guy is one of the species who spends 80% of his limited resources buying books and so I have to believe him. However poor I am in science or say in academics, Professor Shanku was an all time favourite. My friend Swati does reserve them for me though.

I do not cook at all on the four main days of Durga Puja.... I do not stay at home either. Mornings I will visit the Ramakrishna Mission and evenings are spent at the puja venues followed by eating out with friends. So next few days will be some kind of cooking that we love as a family. There could have been a Bengali style dimer devil but I had some boneless fish resting in the freezer and I had to use it.... there will not be much shopping for the kitchen this week, just using up the remaining..... so there was this last night.... MACHER PUR BHORA MOSHOLA DIM served with some meatball ghee rice done with minced chicken, the recipe of which will be shared later. The recipe of this fish stuffed egg whites is super easy and yes, loaded with spices. As I happily cook it in my temple called the kitchen, I indulge in an imaginary conversation with an elder cousin whose daughter got relocated to the West recently. I can feel the father who have not studied beyond school, a majority of my extended family have not tasted even a college life but brought up their kids beautifully.... I love it.... On both sides of our family, we are perhaps the first generation who got to see "bahar gaon".. "foren"..... I was wondering what he must be thinking.... " Mezda.... oto bhaibyo na... hai shob paibo Bangali mass-torkari.... shun bon hyaira ki khai ri? ogo dyashe moshola khai na.... moshla sara zhul randhey ... orey koi soup... dimer debbil randhe ogo moto koira... shiddo kushum tarey maikha piper modhya dhukaiya dimer shadai bhoira khai.... moshola nai, bhazeo na amago moto.... he asks... tui khaisot ni itan? Khaisi... barite randhi na... lanka tipya bhaat na khailey amar pyato bish lagey.... arey oto bhaibyo na amago dyasher koto manush thakey....amagor moto bhaat, rutir h-utel er abhab nai.... ami zei dyasho thaki moza paiba.... kamraranga, batabi lebu, kot bel o paoya zai.... bhabtey partaso? ooi dyasheo paoa zai hoyto... zigai nai bondhugo"..... I really cannot translate this conversation.... if there is any expat like me who are always charged / overloaded with nostalgia besides enjoying all the fruits of living in a developed nation.... they will understand by themselves, they will feel what I mean. Eggs are too much of a love for my husband who had even 3-4 a day once.... for me egg is good when there is a duck egg curry with rice or a paratha. All of us loved the spicy minced fish filling on it though and we will do it together with help of few pictures. The yolk can be refrigerated and later used in a salad... what do you say? The left over fish filling is kept for some fish kachori... who can stop me from gaining 4kg weight in the next week?

INGREDIENTS :
Egg : 4-6 [boiled and halved]
Boneless Fish : 250-300gm
Onion : 1 medium [chopped]
Green Chilli : 2-3 [chopped]
Coriander Leaves : 2-3tbsp [chopped]
Cumin Seeds : 1/4tsp
Asafoetida : 2pinches
Cumin Powder : 1/3tsp
Coriander Powder : 1/2tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Cinnamon Powder : 1/4tsp
Cardamom Powder : 1/4tsp
Aamchur Powder : 1/4tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Lemon Juice : 4-5 tbsp
Refined Flour : 1tbsp [optional]
Minced Garlic : 1tbsp
Minced Ginger : 1tsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 1/2 medium cup

METHOD :
Boil the eggs... Once cool, de shell and wash under cold water. Half them and take out the yolk. We will use them later in another dish.

Marinate the boiled egg whites with salt, little of cumin, coriander, red chilli, turmeric powders, a tbsp of lemon juice and the aamchur powder. Keep aside for 1/2 an hour.

After 1/2 an hour we will deep fry them till golden brown and crisp.

We will rest them on tissue papers and set to prepare the fish filling. We have already washed the cubed fish pieces and marinated them with salt, turmeric powder and 2tbsp lemon juice.

We will heat 2tbsp oil in a wok or a pan. Temper oil with cumin seeds and asafoetida. Add the minced garlic and ginger, chopped onion and green chillies.

Once the onion turn brown, add the fish with the marination, cumin, coriander, turmeric, red chilli powders too.

Fold in well, cover cook for about 8-10 minutes.

Open cover, add the cinnamon and cardamom powder, chopped coriander leaves to the wok.

Fold in well and cook for 1-2 minutes, uncovered. Add the refined flour.

Fold in well and cook for a minute or so, our filling is done.

Once cold, we will fill the pockets of the boiled and fried egg whites with the mouthwatering, spicy, aromatic fish filling.

Arrange them well in a serving plate and we enjoyed them with some minced chicken meatball rice and salad. Our Durga Puja celebration starts with a bang.

Ashtamir Shokale jodi mon dei radhaballavi aar aloor dom e.... Nabami utshargokrito KABLICHOLAR KEEMA GHUGNI o trikon porotai..... and a Bengali has that ability to have this kind of heavy breakfast after a rigorous pandal hopping on Ashtami night... more so after gorging on a heavy meal of mutton biryani at Arsalan or mutton rara and kulcha at Azad Hind Dhaba or Hilsa at Taj Bengal or Kewpie and finally we must mention the flocks of crazy people running for their favourite Indo-Chinese at Park Street or China Town.... I really do not have any idea of the present day eating house scenario at Kolkata.... a once a year or twice visit is not enough to give a good account of it... We do not even get time for restaurant hopping as we did years before.... Back then the son was little, the man of the house came home every six months and we explored new and more of new eateries often.... at times thrice a week. If he was there during pooja, pandal hopping happened after midnight of the first one or two days of Durga Pooja with few friends.... rest at home or at our own neighbourhood pooja. If you ask me now how would you wish to spend the four days of Durga Pooja... I would say one or two days at the pooja venue and rest at home over a good read, good food and chat with like minded people. Then what will happen to my sarees? .... this time they are 25 in number but you need not make "golgol chokh"... they are mostly cottons... some gifts too. I will give you one example of how extravagant the pooja organisers at Kolkata can be.... at one pandal the saree of the Durga idol is weaved with gold.... crores of rupees are spent on each of the famous poojas from the costume to lighting while the flood affected areas do not get relief in time or not at all.... it is not always wise to point finger at the government.... how enlightened are we as citizens?.... I am not in a position to say anything beyond as I have made no contribution to the cause till date.

Let us be less critical today and talk about something I love and my readers wish to hear from me.... food..... come on this should be my last post till Bijoya Dashami... its Durga pooja and my nails are not done yet, hair not coloured.... the blog needs some rest. Coming to the post to be shared today, this garbanzo beans and minced chicken curry is usually had with paratha / porota or poori / luchi. Very authentically, the Bengalis do it with minced mutton and dried white pea. Bengalis must be eating Kabuli Chana.... kabli chola as we call it.. any mention of it reminds me of Tagore's famous short story Kabuliwala.... that heartrending conversation between the trader and the little girl Mini.... will remain etched in my mind / heart / memory forever........ and how the perfecto called Chobi Biswas immortalised that role of Kabuliwala in the movie with the same name..... In the early 20th century or may be earlier, these traders were seen in Kolkata selling dry fruits and lending money... which provided a rough plot to the poet to write it laced with finer layers of emotions between a little girl and a father like stranger who found his daughter who he left behind in that distant land for business in this little girl Mini. Each time I cook something with garbanzo beans..... kabuli wala overshadows my mind..... today I strongly feel I have to read it once more.... you can also watch the movie in youtube if it is there, cannot guarantee the print quality though. Forget about my "wetty eyes".... drama queens get so every now and then.... let us cook together KABLICHOLAR KEEMA GHUGNI and enjoy it with any kind of bread... yes I mean it... among Kolkata tea stalls' best selling items are "cha-tos-mumlet" .... that is tea, butter toast & omelette ..... and "cha, pauruti aar ghugni"..... tea, soft local bakery loaf bread and dried white pea curry.

INGREDIENTS : [for the dry roasted spice powder]
Cumin Seed : 1tsp
Coriander Seed : 1tsp
Dry Red Chilli : 2-3

INGREDIENTS : [for the kabli cholar keema ghugni ]
Garbanzo Beans : 200gm
Chicken : 250-300gm [minced]
Onion : 1big [sliced] + 1small [chopped]
Tomato : 1big [chopped]
Coriander Leaves : 2-4tbsp [chopped]
Green Chilli : 2 [chopped] + 3[slitted]
Ginger Paste : 1tbsp
Garlic Paste : 1tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1/2tsp
Lemon Juice : 2tbsp
Tamarind Juice : 1/2small cup
Salt : As Required
Dry Red Chilli : 2-4
Bayleaf : 1
Cinnamon Stick : 2one inch size
Green Cardamom : 2
Clove : 2
Cumin Seed : 1/4tsp
Oil : 3-4tbsp

METHOD :

Heat a pan, dry roast the three spices meant for a dry roasted spice powder. Stir for 3-4 minutes, switch of as you get a nice aroma. Let cool and grind to a coarse powder with help of a grinder.

Wash the garbanzo beans / kabuli chana and soak in hot water for at least 5-6 hours or overnight in cold water. Pressure cook them adding little salt and turmeric in enough water up to 4-5 whistles at low heat. Let cool completely before we open the cover.

We will wash the minced chicken and marinate it with little salt, turmeric powder, lemon juice and the red chilli powder.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with cumin seeds, dry red chillies, bayleaf, green cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon sticks.

Add the onion slices and fold in well.

Keep stirring till they turn golden brown. Add the ginger-garlic paste and keep stirring for a minute or two at medium heat. Add the remaining turmeric powder and little salt.

Add the chopped tomatoes to the wok and fold in well.

Once they melt, the spice mix looks as below. We will now add the minced chicken along with the marinade. Mix well and cook covered for 10-12 minutes.

The boiled garbanzo beans can be added now along with the slitted green chillies. Fold in well.

Cover and simmer for about 14-16 minutes. Little water can be added in between if required. Open cover and add 1/2 of the chopped coriander leaves, rest of the lemon juice, tamarind juice and the dry roasted coarse spice powder. Fold in well and simmer for a minute or two.

Once done, we will transfer it to a serving bowl and garnish with chopped onion and green chillies and rest of the chopped coriander leaves. Enjoy with your choice of bread.... hot and fresh. There has to have some sandesh or roshogolla, tea or coffee with this platter.

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