CURRY AND SPICE

MAWA TOAST.... quite in the lines of Shahi Tukra though not exactly the same... an hour back I had a brief look at google... oh it also refers to some toast biscuit kind of. I did not consult any of the youtube videos that offers a recipe of MAWA TOAST but I came across a post on it in a food group few months back .... got an idea and did not take a look at the recipe. Why should I when I grew up on "paurutir opor mota korey shorer pur o chini"..... yes thick layer of milk cream and sugar atop toasted bread was a childhood favourite. In those days, quality of milk was ascertained by the thickness of the malai / shor / milk cream that formed atop after boiling.... milk was obtained from a "khatal".... dairy farm..... the mother of mine is very displeased that I feed tetra pack milk to the junior. She never did consider it necessary to change with time though the father wished to. Hence, till date cooking oil means "ghanir tel"..... mustard oil coming from an oil mill.... milk has to be from "Jhumri Mashir khatal".... from a neighbourhood diary farm owned by an aunt like lady named Jhumri.... Life is still very different at my parental home.... not at par with modern homes and it will remain so till my mother is alive. So blaming me for the reason of my men's thin frame is quite normal for her .... I refuse to change the system of the house.... if I ask Cristine to do a spice paste in "shil-nora" or say mortar and pestle, she will leave the job and go back home. I am not even 1/4 of my mother and cannot move the 'nora' of a 'shil'...... though knowing freshly made spice paste has no equal. I am lazy to that extent wherein someone is calling me to talk about a job offer and I am not calling back the person.... scaring "abar shaat shokaley chuttey hobey?"..... nonetheless to say the scare is more of this "complex box" called computer... "mouse maney idur.... idurey amar bhishon bhoy".... I am still stuck to that. Saying so I am in no way patting my back.... to a girl to be independent, she ought to be economically so first .... thank God the man of the house do not pinch me on this matter.... yet again that should not be taken for granted. Anyway, I found a very good home in him in the early 90's and felt..... with this guy I can get "blind in trust".... he will never compare me with "pasher barir boudi" and say S did you see how slim she is, how beautifully she dressed, she is a perfect blend of Lakshmi & Saraswati and look at you.... a total mess! .... and on this very day.... 20 years back we held each other tight and took some vows.... T... do not ever leave me alone please!... my tanned skin got darker.... black spots of acnes got lighter not as fast as the reducing thickness of my hairs.... body is still pear shaped.... yet he has not left me.... neither it has come to my knowledge that he told any third party .... you know I do not wish to keep any further contacts with this girl S, she does not fit in my frame and raised a toast to that. Come let us be in today and celebrate life on this special day with all the good shares of my friends, adding mine .... MAWA TOAST.... a dessert or a snack as you call it.

This MAWA TOAST was done yesterday evening for the son to have once back from the school. It is quite rich in taste and two should be enough for one person unless you are too hungry. The son had one, I am pretty sure had the toast been topped with minced meat, he would have had 3 slices. Two slices went to the senior's tiffin box this morning, trust me this diabetic had only half of one... that too I should not have I know. Then I do not blog on any dish without tasting a portion of it. Let me tell you, I made it last afternoon, refrigerated few, toasted lightly in the pan again this morning and they turned as crisp as fresh..... so you can do the same without any hesitation. We are definitely not celebrating our 20th with MAWA TOAST alone. If he is in town, we go out for dinner and a movie may be. This year however, something inside is stopping me from a full-fledged celebration. May be the old man in frame stationed on our bed side table is the reason behind it.... 20 years back, on this very day he fasted for the entire day to perform certain rituals to keep his daughter happy and merry for life. This is the first time he is not there to wish us.... or may be he has already... I need to concentrate and be sensible enough to receive it. Unwilling to go out, I am planning to cook a spread in the evening... few dishes we can enjoy as a family and dishes that do not require much sweating..... after all we need to sit together for a chit chat, do some leg pulling with the son..... His unit test is going on and the mother cannot think beyond food.... I have long lost the pride of being a "Kolkata Mother"..... so better is to share this easy recipe of a sweet snack or dessert called MAWA TOAST done with bread, ghee, instantly made mawa / khoya / reduced milk and a bit of sugar. It is quite rich in taste and we will do it together with help of few stepwise pictures. My readers should excuse my ignorance, till date I could not make out the difference between mawa and khoya.... so I treat them as same.

INGREDIENTS : [for the instantly made mawa / khoya]
Milk Powder : 11/2medium cup
Ghee : 4tbsp [clarified butter]
Full Cream Milk : 1/3small cup
Sugar : 2tbsp
Green Cardamom Powder : 1/2tsp

INGREDIENTS : [the finished snack]
Bread Slices : 5-7
Green Cardamom : 2-3
Ghee : 6tbsp
Chopped Pistachios, Almond, Saffron Strands to garnish

METHOD :
Let us prepare the instant mawa / khoya first. Take the milk powder, full cream milk, 4tbsp ghee, sugar in a bowl.

Mix it well and now it is ready to be microwaved.

Microwave at high for 3-4 minutes pausing every 30-40 seconds to stir well. Once done it looks as below.

Add the green cardamom powder, mix well and let cool the instant mawa. Place a bread slice on the chopping board. Take a round shaped cookie cutter and press on the slice of bread. I used a cap of a plastic container for the purpose.

Our bread slices are ready to be fried.

Heat 6tbsp ghee in a wok and tear 2-3 cardamoms a bit to add to the hot ghee.

Fry each slice of bread at a time, till both sides are crisp. This takes very less time.

Place on a tissue paper so that the excess of ghee gets rid off.

Top each fried piece of bread with the instantly made mawa and garnish with chopped pistachios, almonds, saffron strands.

Enjoy the crisp and ghee flavoured MAWA TOAST as an evening time sweet snack or as a dessert.

Aww this happened to be our "phool sajjar din".... reception day 20 years back.... what was my first thought early morning?.... what is the lunch menu? .... the scary thought of "I perhaps have to eat less as I am a notun bou... newly wed" was getting me sweat late November ..... haha.... I can only be romantically involved with food perhaps.... Instead of yearning to see my mate's sun-kissed face who was supposed to spend the "kal ratri"... in a different home, I feared "shobar seshe khabo, ekta ilisher tukro o pabona".... as a newly wed I have to eat at last and will not get a single piece of Hilsa... haha... My greatest regret is not been able to have the Mutton Biryani peacefully on that night because of the ruckus caused by "Shyama Poka".... Diwali Bugs. My husband's side of the family are like kings when it comes to food and there was everything of my favourite.... do you think I missed anything... I had them all and licked my fingers. What is "kalratri?".... well for that I have to tell you the story of "Behula-Lakhinder".... in short.... on the day between your marriage and reception, the bride and the groom will not see each other after the sunset till next morning. Anyway, the pain of not having to have a plateful of mutton biryani & thereafter a large piece of ice-cream cake got me so upset that I was in no mood to create a Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam moment ..... and this Smita's old, devilish, excellent photographer, good cook husband was insisting us to give him romantic poses @ 2:30 am... imagine .... the moron changed his profile picture last night .... who's work it is? his or her?.... having a joint social media account is confusing and not romantic at all.... What were the other friends and man's cousins doing?..... banging the doors and windows of our room at 3am till the paa-in-law intervened and scolded them hard.... I preferred to shelf all of the romanticism and sleep on the husband's lap saying I am missing my brother and parents.... the same me told my my mother after few years... mani do not expect me to go and stay with you for long... your son-in-law cannot cook. 20 years later, this morning when I said, today all roads should lead not to Rome ..... but to Malabar Golds / our very own MC..... my dear "Humdard"..... what did he say?.... My "Sir dard" please do not remind me, I am already in a "Shorosojja" for 20 years..... Haha.... but the day before yesterday someone barged into our home around 1:15 pm without any notification and took me out for a lunch.... the spread had black pepper crab, batter fried fish, sambal kangkong, hot & sour Sichuan soup, steamed buns.....

Someone knew that this lady will not go out in the evening as the son's unit test is going on.... so this sudden, untimely visit to home.... the lady liked it immensely.... Since she is not so good at oriental cooking.... she prefers to share a combined platter of FRESH HERBS TURMERIC RICE & CHANAR DALNA which also had Baked Herbed Salmon....

Above was the account of how a girl feels in a different home on her initial days on a lighter tone. On a serious note, she misses her family badly ..... what should be the behaviour of the husband's family during the initial period.... specially of the maa-in-law? They or she should be little co-operative and receptive towards the newly wed girl.... give her ample time to adjust to the new home. I do not know about others, but my very social, of tremendously helpful nature, tigress mother-in-law was very insensitive and lacked empathy towards her daughter -in-law..... On this day, at this time, she insisted that if I do not call her mother she will not have her breakfast ..... come on give me some time for that.... let it come from inside.... but no.... I was forced to. I do not accept my paa-in-law's attitude towards daughter-in-laws but he said do not force her, give her some time.... that is what I wished for.... definitely I would not have called them Mr. & Mrs. so and so. Not even a week passed after the marriage, she had to say my son looks so young compared to you.... had you been a little tall and less fat, things would have been better..... your mother did not teach you that you should not lick your fingers after eating? with a literal high nose she also had to say that their side of the sarees and dresses gifted were higher in quality than our side, everything was said and done in presence of the house helps.... you know S my wardrobe key was always kept in public.... I really could not get the purpose of showing off the hidden birth control items and some clothing.... I was categorically told you will not say anything about "our" family matters .... we will decide with "our" son .... I remember within a month of my marriage, I tried to surprise and impress my in-laws cooking something for them taking help of the whole timer .... "aai protima omelette er jhol kori".... the mother-in-law went for a chat in a neighbourhood home, paa-in-law in office..... Little girl Protima said "Boumoni... maima ke jigasha na kore korbey?".... before cooking you must take permission from your mother-in-law.... I did not get it and was taken a back for a while.... At night, instead of getting some accolades from the family, I overheard some complaints made to my husband.... how dare she cooks something without asking me / us?.... Thank God the husband said what is so wrong in that?.... how can you expect a 26 years old lady to take permission for trivial matters? Isn't she a part of the family?.... the reason why I respect my man so much.... but one fine morning I felt enough of it... if I am not allowed to take any decision at "their" home, I am unwilling to call it "my home" and stay there. I refused to be in the role of playing "ice and spice" with their son or just as an attendant to "their" family.... I want a home of my own and eventually proved I manage it far better than my not much of a friend maa-"in-law".....Otherwise, the lady had done a lot of sacrifice for her husband's family, very giving towards her friends and family.... visited our home everyday for three long months to attend her newborn grandson. They still lack empathy towards me.... 24 hours after my father's death, they had to call me and say once you are done with the rituals come back immediately... we are lonely here.... they definitely were but the death happened suddenly. It was my father and I am not a robot! They had a Cristine and three family friends at their service, not for a single day did she had to cook a single meal for her grandson.... Cristine did everything.... I know what made them feel insecure .... that their son left them and was attending his wife's family..... If they have told me... S we are feeling awkward but it is a permanent loss for you and you should attend your family.... I would have kissed them.... I roared like a tigress and then cried in silence, felt extreme lovelessness again..... The "another woman" in my life told me S.... you mean T stayed for all 11 days?... I said yes.... I hanged the phone, felt a severe bout of depression and whispered I an pretty sure you will not be surprised when something happens to my in-laws and I stay there for a month or more, tell me why? the relationship is same!....... I longed to see you at least once by my side near the hospital bed or at the temple where I performed his last rites..... Was it "protocol" that stopped you?... ok fine... you will not see me again to hug you with one hand and clicking selfies with the other .... Lets be formal if only life's lessons taught me how to be formal..... I am hurt but how does it affect the world? My expectations, my hyper sensitivity have always cost me dearly ... Anyways, what did my wise man do? he stopped all communications between the in-laws and daughter-in-law saying both sides are in a vulnerable condition now, bought my return ticket few days after him so that my family do not break down again. I will always have the guilt of not having been able to love his family ever but I discharge my duties to the utmost.... Girls do the duty towards your husband's family always... if your husband is your own... we cannot shrug off his' own... can we? we cannot...There are alternative stories of torturing elderly in-laws too.... both are unwelcome!

I wished to stop here today.... then I remember this is a recipe blog, how can I stop without sharing one? Above was a more or less true reflection of South Asian homes. Coming to our share today FRESH HERBS TURMERIC RICE & CHANAR DALNA .... such is our week night dinner arrangements along with some meat or salmon, prawns, or fish fillets baked, in curries or nearly oriental preparations. Chanar Dalna is the Bengali way of doing a paneer curry preparing the paneer from scratch at home. The Fresh Herbs Turmeric Rice was done using curry leaves, coriander leaves, mint leaves and parsley.... you can well imagine how flavourful it was. Come, let us do this yum platter of FRESH HERBS TURMERIC RICE & CHANAR DALNA with help of few pictures.... though I am yet to know the difference between paneer and chana... haha...

INGREDIENTS : [for the chanar dalna]
Milk : 2lt
Lemon Juice : 4-5tbsp
Potato : 1big [peeled, washed, cut into 8pieces]
Tomato : 1medium [washed and chopped]
Refined Flour : 1tsp
Baking Powder : 2-3pinches
Ginger Paste : 2tsp
Cumin Powder : 1tsp
Coriander Powder : 1tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 11/2tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Cinnamon Powder : 1/4tsp
Green Cardamom Powder : 2-3pinches
Salt : As Required
Sugar : 1/2tsp
Cumin Seed :1/4tsp
Asafoetida :2pinches
Bayleaf : 1
Ghee : 1tsp
Oil : 5tbsp

INGREDIENTS : [for the fresh herbs turmeric rice]
Pre-Cooked Rice : 3-4 Coffee Mugs
Coriander Leaves: 3-4tbsp [chopped]
Curry Leaves : 10-15
Parsley : 2-3tbsp [chopped]
Mint Leaves : 10-12 [roughly torn]
Green Chillies : 3-4 [chopped]
Split Chickpea Dal : 1tbsp
Mustard Seed : 1/2tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp [freshly ground if possible]
Salt : As Required
Oil : 2-3tbsp

Let us prepare the CHANAR DALNA first. For that I always make ahead the paneer / chena and refrigerate for a day.

Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed container. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Add the lemon juice, as it curdles switch of gas.

Once cool, drain the whey water and reserve to be later used in curries. Take the paneer we get in a clean cloth and tie to the kitchen tap for 40-45 minutes.

Take down, transfer to a plate. Mash for 2-3 minutes and transfer to a box, level properly. Refrigerate for a day and take out one hour before cooking.

Now, transfer the paneer / chena to a wide mouthed bowl.

Add the baking powder and refined flour mash well for a minute or so.

Add little of red chilli, cumin and coriander powders and salt, mash further for 1-2 minutes.

Take out small portions and shape as you wish.

Rub little salt and turmeric to the potato pieces.

Heat oil in a wok, fry the potato pieces and take out.

We will fry the paneer / chena balls too.

Once one side is done, we will turn over and fry the other side well too.

Keep the chopped tomatoes ready.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with cumin seeds, bayleaf, asafoetida.

Add the ginger paste.

Mix and stir for a minute. Add the tomatoes, potatoes, rest of the cumin... coriander.... red chilli powders and salt. Keep stirring for 2-3 minutes.

Once the tomato melts, add water and let boil.

Once the potatoes are almost done, add the paneer / chena balls. Let boil for 2 minutes.

Add the ghee, sugar, cinnamon and cardamom powders. Stir well.

Transfer to a serving bowl. Let us prepare the FRESH HERBS TURMERIC RICE now.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with split chickpea dal, mustard seeds, chopped green chillies, keep the temperature at lowest.

Add half of each of the herbs and the turmeric powder, stir and immediately add pre-cooked rice. Increase the heat, stir quickly with care, we do not want the rice to break.

Add the salt, rest of the fresh herbs and stir again. We are done, switch off gas.

Enjoy the combined platter of FRESH HERBS TURMERIC RICE & CHANAR DALNA fresh and hot. On that particular day, we had some island's favourite salmon... herb and lemon marinated, baked.

"Aaj Dil Shayaranna, Shayaranna, Shayaranna, Shayaranna Lagta Hai,
Udta Firey Dil, Utarna Janey Na.....
Bigra Hua Dil, Samhalna Janey Na....."

This is exactly how I feel inside at the very sight of mutton and I have to buy a good amount, marinate overnight and tap my feet with the romantic Bollywood numbers in the entire period of cooking KOCHI PATHAR DOM.... that is Dum wale Mutton or an one pot spiced curry with mutton. My poet friends may get extremely angry with me being getting poetic over a plate of mutton but I cannot help it, such is my "Ishkiya" with mutton.... I was a six year old girl when my little brother's rice feeding ceremony was held... I was suffering from severe diarrhoea and ate up my mother's head until she secretly gave me two pieces asking me to seat at the corner of the kitchen. Thereafter both the siblings got addicted towards mutton and the love affair with it continues. None of such phrases like "motu mumma", "mumma is so fat"... could / can stop me from munching something or the other throughout the day. Yesterday, for the lunch... I had two "ghee te bhaja luchi" and two servings of shortbread raspberry ice-cream.... that too after a love-filled warning from Ipsita.... she called me for lunch on Friday over a wonderful bowl of Moroccan Chicken Soup with squash and potatoes... I loved that overpowering flavour of garlic in it... I was so engrossed in a chitchat and the soup that I forgot to ask her for the recipe.... I am sure she will not tell half and hide half like 'my mother'.... To make her accept that there is always a better someone than "me"... I keep on saying,"Mani jano oor barir patishaptar gaye ektao daag nei, tar barir malpoa thik didur moto... perfect shape... majhkhaan fola.... charidik pora pora"... haha . Now, yesterday I went for a music programme on Bollywood's selective songs starting from Saigal era to that forbidden song for the 80's kids 'rooptera mastana'.... to the foot tapping ones of the present.... This 'Rooptera Mastana.... Pyar Mera Diwana' was as usual banned to be watched or sung by my mother's daughter.... but I know she watched it when the daughter was not around. Our father had no problem with it as long as he got regular supply of "naru... nimki.... moya"..... Till date the late father, a wonderful human being, totally unromantic husband may be wondering why all problems in Bollywood starts with few drops of rain.... neither will the daughter of the erstwhile hero spare me if I say I was bowled over after watching your father in "Anand".... Twinkle Khanna may tell her action hero husband ... "yeh aaurat kaisi hai yaar .... character bolke koi chiz hai hi nehi"..... if her husband does some "dhishum dhushum" ... my 22 inch framed man cannot save me. In such a scenario, I would say it is not my fault, my friend, Chandrayee.... the teacher at a school who she considers her family keeps on telling me S.... you remember the eyebrows and the smile of the "kuch to log kahenge.... logo ka kam hai yeh kehna" hero?.... So let me sing "Roop Tera Mastana".... as I did last evening...... because the mother was not around, because it was not raining..... hence there was no possibility of getting into any trouble... haha..... though my teen was sitting beside who said "mumma behave!"..... Mumma of this house will not behave and have her lunch today with a plateful of KOCHI PATHAR DOM with some hot chapati and rice. Tomorrow the fatso will go to the gym and tell the three happening trainers Kate, Liza, Linda..... I want a body as yours.... the inevitable answer is you need to check your diet too... its not magic.....

I must say cooking marinated mutton pieces in a dum method as this KOCHI PATHAR DOM is a pleasure in the kitchen.The finished product brings magical effect on your plate when served with rice, pulao, South Asian, Middle Eastern or Western Breads. I actually covered it with a heavy top, you can seal with a dough too. I did it to check the water content without stirring for once. If you marinate the mutton for at least five hours before cooking the way as stated below.... you need not stir either for once till the curry dries and the mutton is tender. This may take some 1hour - 11/2 hours.... does it really matter?... you can finish off all other works, sing, dance, do some push ups and planks too just to lessen the amount of guilt.... why?.... simply because you cannot stop at having two or three pieces of that KOCHI PATHAR DOM. I keep on telling my senior, boss get me a license so that I can supply chicken / mutton curry rice to different homes in the island.... The answer that comes seems to be a recorded one.... S.... for your silly ventures, I cannot risk my work permit!You know the government here.... the way you are advancing towards baldness.... your customers are surely to get some hairs on the meat curry... then what? The husband google maps for the kitchen and shampoos his hair perhaps once a fortnight.... so does not know something like plastic gloves, hair caps exist in the world. Do you find shadow of "Mrs. Funny Bones" in what I write today?.... Hihi... actually I was thinking if I discover a lice on my man's head... I may fly to Mumbai, take shelter at our corporate couple friend's home.... supply food to Mrs. Funny Bones' and her friends' homes... earn as much required to buy a flat at Andheri West and order the husband "tolpi-tolpa gutiye chole aai boss.".... He will... with our savings we can hardly manage to buy a three roomed flat in the remote end of Borivali perhaps.Yes, you are right.... I am that stupid, good-for-nothing dreamer. Yesterday evening, I felt good to meet a couple of my ex-colleagues and my favourite mentor Susan John ma'am at the event venue....such an excellent teacher she is... I have the feel... if I go back there... I may get a job. There is a but.... I have long forgotten appropriate use of English Grammar.... for that I have to do some homework instead of taking a dip into Maupassant's "Diamond Necklace" once again, again and again. So you see, I am that lazy brat till date who is only good at sharing recipes with you as this hassle free , spice laden, less oil dish of KOCHI PATHAR DOM.... Dum Wale Mutton cooked in a sealed or covered pot for quite sometime till tender and soft. Shall we sing, dance and do it?... We will....

INGREDIENTS :
Mutton / Lamb : 1kg
Raw Papaya Paste or Shredded : 4-5tbsp
Yogurt : 150-200gm
Cumin Seed : 1tsp
Coriander Seed : 2tsp
Dry Red Chilli : 7-8 [adjust as per your taste]
Cinnamon Stick : 2-3 two inch sticks
Green Cardamom : 3-5Clove : 4-5
Onion Paste : 2-3tbsp
Garlic Paste : 2tbsp
Ginger Paste : 1tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 3-4tbsp [I use mustard]

METHOD :

Wash the medium cut mutton pieces very well. Add some salt and turmeric and keep aside for sometime.

Dry roast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, dry red chillies, cinnamon sticks, cloves and green cardamoms for about 2 minutes. Let cool, dry grind together to a powder and add to the mutton.

Add the raw papaya paste, beaten yogurt, oil, onion paste, garlic paste, ginger paste and the remaining salt and turmeric.

Rub and mix all the ingredients together very well.

Once done, we will transfer the entire content with the marinade in an airtight container. I usually refrigerate overnight, you should do it for 5 hours at least.

Take out the marinated mutton an hour before cooking. Transfer the entire content to a heavy bottomed vessel.

Switch on gas stove and place the vessel on it and cover with a heavy top.

Let the mutton cook at very slow heat. After 45-50 minutes, the content looks as this. We need not uncover and see from time to time. Do not let air to go inside much.

The entire cooking time may range between 1:15 minutes to 1:30 minutes and will look as below.

The cooking must be done at lowest heat. The raw papaya paste is a wonderful meat tenderiser.

Transfer to a serving bowl and enjoy hot with rice, pulao, paratha, poori, phulka or toasted breads.

Aww it was last night... a Monday when we had this platter of PINEAPPLE PRAWN & GARLIC TEMPERED RICE at the dinner table. Have I stopped cooking till 4 pm on Saturday's?... not really, I have a rack full of "aloo diye murgir jhol, phoolkopir dalna, beulir dal, jhingey-kumro" in the refrigerator .... yes I cooked half the number of dishes than I usually do on Saturdays.... the men are refusing to have their meals with three-four items. Instead, if I serve some hot poori with the chicken and potato curry for the dinner.... they are more than happy. I should not have any problem with it if they had a bowl of salad and raita alongside. No, they are not even near to your spouses and kids and will not eat something they do not wish to. This lady cannot rely entirely on fish and meat proteins but wish to serve a wholesome meal end of the day. In such a scenario, a "phoolkopir dalna".... helps.... If served with hot chapatis... they will have it.... though I doubt whether a cauliflower gets justice in a Bengali / Indian / South Asian home or not.... after a "koshano with ada jirey lanka bata and a garnish with cinnamon and cardamom powder."... I do have sautéed cauliflower, broccoli and mushrooms at the food courts and in parties but cannot make it my religion. I did not make my birthday public.... you know why? I was too scared of my friends sharing a broccoli soup on that particular day .... I did not wish tears rolling down my "almost blind" eyes on my birthday.... the spicy mutton soup native of our neighbouring country is a hot favourite though. So no wonder, this lady will add some dry roasted red chilli powder to the pineapple prawn of the combined platter of PINEAPPLE PRAWN & GARLIC TEMPERED RICE. Anyway, this miser finally got some Taiwan Cauliflower the other day at double the price than normal... they looked similar to the "deshi phoolkopi" that my grandfather grew in his garden and tasted similar too. Memories are not seasonal for me.... it is just there!

Saturday activities in the kitchen has to be lessened.... however unromantic the senior is.... he gets pissed off watching me busy in the kitchen till 4pm on a Saturday, that too wearing a worn out nightwear, messy haired, sweating profusely.... there he shouts... you are getting more & more unorganised S. I retaliate saying I refuse to sit and watch CNBC's "kochkochani".... if you promise me to take out for a long drive, sit at the cosy, dark corner of a restaurant and say only platinum suits my wife.... I can think and re-think about it.... Before he gives an answer in his signature style.... Cristine has to intervene.... "ma'am, the dal is boiling... shall I add the slitted green chillies?"... I run to the kitchen fearing she may add sugar to the 'mushurir dal' with a mood to tell her "jhogrer shomoy bagra dibina." In fear of gifting the wife Platinum Jewelry, the husband also lets the wife cook peacefully. I really have to stop cooking so much on a day.... two to three days in a week there are messages coming from the man... S, we have a conference with our "that" office, located in a place which starts functioning when it is time for us to go to bed. Each time I fail to see the messages in time , get to see them once the rice is done, dough gets ready, food taken out to be reheated. You can well understand the mood of this woman .... more so when she is approaching menopause... neither I am ill-tempered like his mother that I will throw all the food from the table to scare others present. No one wishes to see frowning faces after a hard day at office.... so such easy solutions like a combined platter of PINEAPPLE PRAWN & GARLIC TEMPERED RICE are welcome... always! The senior is not so fond of anything cooked with ketchups or a sweet and sour sauce to be precise.... where as the son's plate seems like squeaky clean without use of a dishwasher! What will the lady do? She will prepare some paratha tonight to go with the aloo-chicken and bring both the father and son in tune.... she herself will have a thin paratha with "boondi-raita" and salad... happily! Cooking is a pleasure for me so long people around are happy with the dishes I cook. This combined platter of PINEAPPLE PRAWN & GARLIC TEMPERED RICE takes only 11/2 hours to be done and we must have it fresh and hot. The pineapple used has to be really sweet and we are lucky to get it from a neighbouring country... Elephants like them or not, this baby elephant loves it just like that with some chaat masala and black salt. I / We love a very simple, burnt garlic rice at the beach side restaurants of our island and I try to do something similar. This platter has soya sauce, cornflour used... so what ?... I will not call it oriental... I do not have the required utensils for oriental cooking in the first place! It is something near to "Shyambazaar er morer chow chow".... flocks of people in queue to have a plate.... You too cannot stop at trying my recipe of PINEAPPLE PRAWN & GARLIC TEMPERED RICE only once!

INGREDIENTS : [for the PINEAPPLE PRAWN]
Prawn : 500gm [cleaned, de shelled, washed]
Pineapple : 1medium cup [peeled, washed, cubed]
Capsicum : 1/2small cup [washed, cut in strips or cubed]
Red Bell Pepper : 1/2small cup [washed, cut in strips or cubed]
Onion : 1medium [peeled, washed and cubed]
Cornflour : 11/2tbsp
Black Pepper Powder : 1tsp
Tomato Sauce : 1/2medium cup
Light Soya Sauce : 2-3tbsp
Dry Red Chilli : 4-6 [dry roasted and coarsely ground]
Garlic : 1tbsp[minced]
Salt : As Required
Oil : 4tbsp

INGREDIENTS : [for the GARLIC TEMPERED RICE]
Pre Cooked Rice : 4 coffee mugs [I used Basmati]
Onion : 1large [sliced, washed]
Garlic : 2tbsp [minced]
Light Soya Sauce : 2-3tbsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 2-3tbsp

METHOD :
For the GARLIC TEMPERED RICE, take a wide mouthed wok, heat the oil. Add the sliced onion and fry till crisp. Take out and place on a tissue paper.

Add the minced garlic and stir at high heat for 30-40 seconds. Add the pre cooked rice and stir at high heat for two minutes. Add the required amount of salt and the light soya sauce. Stir again for a minute and switch off gas... we are done. Garnish with the crispy fried onions.

For the PINEAPPLE PRAWN, marinate the washed prawns with some salt and black pepper powder for 45 minutes-1hr.

Rub the bell peppers too with some salt and black pepper powder. Prepare a mixture taking the tomato sauce, light soya sauce and coarsely ground dry roasted red chillies.

Heat the oil in a wok, add the cornflour to the prawns, rub well and fry them lightly discarding the marinade.

Reserve rest of the oil for future use, keeping 1-11/2tbsp in the wok. Once hot, add the minced garlic and onion cubes, stir at high heat for a minute. Add the pineapple chunks and bell peppers without the marinade and stir at high heat for another minute. Add the sauce mixture and fold in well. Let cook for a minute.

Add the lightly fried prawns to the wok and fold the entire content very well at high heat. Switch of gas.

Serve the Pineapple Prawn immediately with the Garlic Tempered Rice which you may reheat once if required. Enjoy!

Some days I wish to go back to the bygone days and rehearse few scenes..... how actually Sunday mornings had been.... how we got an extra hour to sleep, how we both siblings fought over trivial issues, how beautiful seemed the "khuntir awaj"... the noise coming from the kitchen. The concentration was never on the text books but in what is going to come for the breakfast.... the brother was never a foodie like his sister, but he loved his "didibhai" so much so that he took part in the discussion. I never took interest in the kitchen in those days and our mother too always had to say "rannar shomoy birokto korishna".... do not disturb while I am cooking.... Almost closing the text book, the sister used to ask ... "aaj porota na luchi korchey rey mani? Pa... ki anlo rey bazaar thekey.... jilipi na roshogolla? Ja na bhai rannaghor theke ekta luchi niye aai".... while the brother was totally engrossed in playing with his toy cars...... it is difficult to translate certain feelings and I will not. Saturday or Sunday mornings were never meant for chapatis, Sunday dinners were with hot chapatis and chicken / mutton though. Lunches were simple with less number of dishes as our mother's kids would not eat anything else when they got to smell meat... so lunch spread was rice, shaak [greens], chicken / mutton curry, chutney and off course Sherlock Holmes! I loved watching it as much as reading.... our Pa got me all the volumes by the time I was in middle school. If "Feluda" is our religion, Holmes was / is the temple where I would love to take refuge anytime of the day! Where does text books feature in here? There are people who read, write, cook, speak, work at the same frequency.... but I am always that average who never can multitask. Let us come back to food..... Saturday mornings were for fried rice with leftover rice from the last night, carrot, beet, eggs or a "phyana bhaat"... porridge kind of made with fragrant rice, to be had with boiled eggs, ghee, salt and a green chilli.... The other day I saw a Bengali Blogger had blogged on "maan kochu bata".... I loved it... and thought what the hell I am doing sitting here.... ain't I that Bengali who searches for "kharkol / ghatkol pata" throughout the island and laments... "kotodin kharkol pata bata khaini".... the reason someone scared and left many autumns back.....haha.... without even saying a goodbye, neither ever said "hi, whats up?"... perhaps out of the fear that this witch can do some "jadu tona" kind of black magic.... Anyways, I am living with a Captain Haddock for twenty years now who never lets me swim on a bucket of tears. Where was I?... ok, Sunday mornings, we had either "porota-begunbhaja- jilipi" or "luchi-aloor dom-sandesh" or something as this.... GHEETE BHAJA LUCHI O JHINGE KUMRO ALOOR TARKARI.... kalojeerey shuknolonka phoron diye. I keep on doing them for my happy go lucky men.

Sweets and desserts are a regular at our home. Roshogolla / Rasgulla is something I do often which gets near perfect some days and lefts me dissatisfied on some other day with their shapes, sizes and texture. .... Someday they will be perfect for ever..... Extremely poor at artistry.... I am trying to design an amriti / amaretti... on a piece of paper.... isn't doing some GHEETE BHAJA LUCHI O JHINGE KUMRO ALOOR TARKARI .... quicker and easier?... they are... by the time the rasgulla boils in syrup, I am done with the platter... Look at the hotchpotch sequence of the stages of rasgulla making at my kitchen and you will get an idea of my height of illiteracy....

Ghee luchi is not anything unique but the aroma you get is out of the world and crisper perhaps... Before dalda entered a Bengali kitchen, "nuchi" was always made with ghee and served with ... with.... tell me what not?.... from begun bhaja, aloo chocchori, domer aloo, murgir jhol to bonde, roshogolla and this simple, no spice dish of "jhinge kumro aloor torkari".... done with ridge gourd, pumpkin and potatoes. This platter is so much easy that I actually do it singing "bachna aai haseeno".... Such songs takes me to the early 90's... me and Chandrayee on way back to home from coaching classes.... all of a sudden, we would buy night show tickets for a Bollywood movie... Tanushree never joined in such ventures as she lived in that neighbourhood. At the interval.... I used to scream ..... Chandrayee... its 9:30.... who will save us from our mothers?... Two girls leave the movie halfway, and run to catch a homebound bus.... did some boys say anything at the back?... yes "Hathibaganey akhono hathi paoa jai..." we both being fatso. Till date, we both fight apparently, we do not bother at all... I may suddenly call her one evening.... Chandreyee "tor buk folano dada ke money achey?".... there was one senior guy in our college who hardly mingled with anyone... he perhaps concentrated more on body building.... which was not so common in those days.... These two fat girls had to discuss him... sitting at "Basanta Cabin".... S just tore off a portion of "chicken kobiraji" and dipped it in "kashundi".... Chandrayee "shon, buk folano dada ki khai rey?.... chola bhejano?"..... This day I have a container full of "chola".... kala chana waiting to be soaked and eaten with greens... instead I call Cristine and discuss the dinner menu.... how about some butter naan, ghee rice and paneer tonight.... Ever since Rujuta Diwekar prescribed ghee as safe... I am literally taking a shower with ghee.... she does not know while at gym or at walk... I dream of food... To share this recipe of GHEETE BHAJA LUCHI O JHINGE KUMRO ALOOR TARKARI with my readers, I postponed my workouts. I also have the plan to prepare some "Bonde" today.... why on earth "Bonde" is considered a typo error and lands down to Bond.... Ok, for all our James Bond movie ventures during college days, we had a particular childhood friend from school accompanying us to the movie halls to protect us from the "dushtu loks".... This guy married our classmate.... the Bollywood style while we were just 20.... that story some other day, if he permits! When the degree of nostalgia is such today, an authentic Bengali recipe is a must.

INGREDIENTS : for the GHEETE BHAJA LUCHI]
Refined Flour : 2big cups
Salt : 1/4tsp
Sugar : 1tsp
Ghee : 11/2tbsp + 100-150ml to fry the luchi / poori
Water : As required for a soft, yet firm dough

INGREDIENTS : for the JHINGE KUMRO ALOOR TARKARI
Ridge Gourd : 2-3standard size
Pumpkin : 1/4 of a medium sized
Potato : 2big
Nigella Seed : 1/2tsp [kalonji / kalojeerey]
Dry Red Chilli : 2[halved]
Green Chilli : 2-3[slitted]
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Sugar : 1tsp
Oil : 2tbsp

METHOD :

Peel, wash and cut the potatoes, ridge gourd and pumpkin into cubes and wash thoroughly. Keep each of them in separate bowls and rub with salt and turmeric, let them rest for 6-8 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with the nigella seeds and halved dry red chillies. Add the marinated potato pieces, fold in well and cover. Let it cook at low heat for 2-3 minutes.

Open cover, add the marinated pumpkin and ridge gourd pieces along with the marinade. Fold in well and let it cook for 4-5 minutes at low heat.

Open cover and add the sugar and slitted green chillies. Fold in well and let it cook for another minute. We are done. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Now let us prepare the ghee the bhaja luchi.

For the luchi / refined flour poori, we need to take the refined flour in a wide mouthed bowl.... to it we will add 11/2tbsp ghee, salt and sugar.

We will rub all the ingredients for 2-3 minutes.

We will add warm / cold water little by little and keep kneading till a soft and smooth dough is formed. I did not have time to cover, but you can keep the dough covered for 15 minutes.

Take out small portions from the dough and smoothen between palms.

With help of rolling pin, roll out the balls into poori shapes.

Heat Ghee in a deep, round wok.

Gently place each luchi / poori at a time. Fry one side and flip over to fry the other side. The fluffiness of luchi / poori depends on how we control the temperature of our gas oven.

We will serve the combo meal of GHEETE BHAJA LUCHI O JHINGE KUMRO ALOOR TARKARI with any kind of sweets.... be it sandesh or roshogolla!

I am not in the mood or position to go for an elaborate recipe today.... so this super simple, supremely yum dish of BATTER FRIED POMFRET should be fine.... What do you say, my readers? Even if you are not so much of a fan of pomfret like me, you got to love it when cooked this way.... If we are considerate enough with the time taken for marination, this dish can be an overly delicious snack cum appetiser. I have got serious about exploring certain fresh, locally available fish, what else to do? Is it possible to wait for one particular supplier to get some "tyangra", even if I grab some and come home dancing.... the son will not touch one. The "rui / katla" that comes from the neighbouring state does not go down well with my taste buds.... I have grown up eating "Churni nodir Rui / Katla".... once we landed in Kolkata, the mother had some fixed fish sellers who sold fish caught from ponds and rivers only and not ones coming from "macher bheri".... I continued with that tradition.... As I always say my side of the family [read... my mother] is far from being modern when it comes to food.... She will be so happy to see some of my blogger friends owning a "shil-nora"to prepare spice paste.... she may even disown me and adopt them... haha... She always takes pride in saying... I was the eldest of six siblings.... I had to help my mother in all household chores.... I learnt to cut and clean "koi mach"..... climbing perch at age 12.... she had to because her father was a banker but not the director of it! Then I have to retaliate... "tumi to amai kichu kaaj kortey daoni, karo kaaj tomar pochondo hoyna".... She never had let me do any work... to which she has to say that her lazy daughter was always so engrossed in story books! The mother's daughter with a strict mother-in-law whose height of laziness can create legend did learn how to take care of home gradually..... but the parents' genes does not work when it comes to sports!.... the mother won medallions in "kho kho" and "kabadi" in school and college, the father played football... had to stop because of severe arthritic attacks, the brother had been so good in sprints, swimming, cricket... never pursued..... the daughter? takes almost double the time than normal to complete a half marathon.... then she has to post the picture in social media and seek some love from her friends.... They do deserve some good food share from me today.... just as yum a starter like BATTER FRIED POMFRET! Talking about genes.... it need not work always.... I must mention about my husband's sister in this regard.... I have hardly seen people who balance their work place and home so beautifully.... You enter through their main door and can feel the aesthetic sense of the couple.... She was in school.... I saw her folding clothes, cleaning corners when the mother was busy with her friends elsewhere.... When I was under heavy dose of sedatives after marriage due to my mental ailment, she even assisted me to the toilet while her mother was busy scolding my mother for not giving her the list of diseases I had before marriage.... My sister-in-law shares a bond with my mother appreciating each other.... I like it... the girl who slept till 12pm goes for trekking at the Himalayan belt twice a year with her certified trekker husband.

My sis-in-law's dearest brother had a lot of discouraging words on the way to drop me at the race venue yesterday.... oh! flocks of mad people going in the same direction at 4am like my mad wife.... are they like my wife?.... more interested in posting the picture with the race T-shirt and medallion on the social media rather than doing it for the love of the race! I had to say.... stop it boss! I do not fake it... I do not drive to the finishing line and post pictures in the social media! I do not even fear to show off my spotted facial skin or that impossible to measure waist line to the world, neither to the "chote nawab".... I will remain what I was or am, I still survive.... I will!..... however keen Times of India is showing me off his happening pictures with Kareena... haha! That glammy must be a nice woman who never lets me get jealous of her! I am one happy girl today because I do not have to go out the entire day.... too much of joint pains... As I always say never set me as an example.... I lead a carefree, casual life! Marathons require regular trainings.... I never do.... people are so sincere that they go for special diets two months prior to the race day... I hardly follow! If you are keen on such races.... follow what the experts has to say... you bet you can finish a half marathon within three hours. Each year the organisers give us a steep stretch of few kilometres, I slow down there, in the last lap of 5 kilometres.... I take maximum time... my feet gets heavy with pain.... this will not happen if you are trained well and are on proper diet. You are sincere with your life and will not eat "begun shutki"... dried fish with eggplants or rice dosas prior to such events like this insincere to the core woman....

Do not worry, I am not going to blog on them right at the moment.... Begun Shutki may happen some day but dosas never.... I do not blog on something I am not good at... Let me treat you with these crisp and yum BATTER FRIED POMFRET instead.... the mother used to do pomfret this way for the daughter who was not fond of this fish. If we can leave aside the marination time, it is a very easy and quick recipe with few ingredients with no labour at all. For this recipe, we need to take care of frying the fish in the right temperature throughout!I served the BATTER FRIED POMFRET with some spice coated potatoes..... help yourself with some beverages or with.... ahem... you know what!

INGREDIENTS : [for the marination]
Pomfret : 5-7 medium sized
Ginger Extract : 3tbsp
Garlic Extract : 5tbsp
Chilli Powder:1tbsp
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Lemon Juice : 4-5tbsp
Vinegar : 3-4tbsp
Salt : As Required

INGREDIENTS : [for the batter]
Fresh Coriander Leaves : 3tbsp chopped
Gram flour : 1small cup
Corn flour : 1/2small cup
Tandoori Masala Powder : 2tsp
Black Pepper Powder : 1tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Salt : As Required

Oil to Fry : 100-150ml

METHOD :

Wash each fish thoroughly.... specially the stomach. Make slits on the body and marinate with the vinegar for an hour. Wash all the fish again under running water.

Now marinate the fish with the ginger & garlic extract, chilli powder, turmeric powder, lemon juice and salt. Coat well each of the fish, specially inside the stomach if you like me is not so friendly with the smell of sea fish.

Cover and let marinate for at least 2-3hours. Let us prepare the batter about 15-20 minutes prior to fry.

Take the gram flour and corn flour in a bowl. Add water little by little to prepare a thick paste. Add the chopped coriander leaves, black pepper powder, tandoori masala powder, turmeric powder, salt. Mix well to prepare a smooth but thick batter.

Heat oil in a pan or wok. Gently place two battered pomfrets on it. Let it cook at low heat until one side is done well and brown. The heat has to be low and hot at the same time.... which means we will continuously adjust it. We also need to coat the fish thick with batter.

Once one side gets brown, turn over the fish and let the other side be done well.

Once done, we will place them on to tissue papers..... and then transfer to serving plates. Enjoy hot with some masala aloo, salad, your favourite chutney, sauce, hot / cold beverage or well... you know what I love to have.... do not forget to drop few olives in to your glass.

Ahh whenever I get inspired by such posts like "Shobbha De @ 70" and think of going in for a clean diet or doing a GM diet for a week, something or the other stops me .... which only proves my insincere self. You cannot blame me alone for this... every other day there is a celebration around .... someone has a birthday, others celebrating their marriage anniversary in the most romantic manner, while some other with a revealing neckline says "jealous yeah?".... the list has no end.... there is always another one who perhaps knows my weakness for sarees.... wears an enviable one and says.... so what if I have few extra kilos... I possess one of the best smiles in the world.... Then there is someone who knocks the door right at 4pm each day with a hungry stomach.... mumma has to think of something or the other.... say something as filling as these PEPPER & CHEESE STUFFED MINI PARATHA for him. Why not?.... this is the only thing I do at home.... I simply dislike those who do not earn a penny but goes out early morning for a coffee at Starbucks or for a periperi chicken at Nando's during lunch hours and takes pride in posting made up photos in the social media.... My only message to such people is that.... earn 10 dollars and see how hard it is.... save every single dollar and then go for parties with your friends... it looks good!.... Even a Twinkle Khanna does not depend on her husband solely for her branded stuffs... but she definitely is not being a true Punjab-an... she hardly eats paratha.... no proof can we see ... haha... she own my heart in lieu of few things... of which her style is one and ohh! what a sense of humour she has... The other day she wrote somewhere..... whenever I travel.... I call up my husband and tell him if fate betrays with me... all my handbags should go to my daughter.... I do not want your new wife to carry them.... oh God! I giggled for the entire day... I somehow identified with that.... whenever I go out, I ask my tiger.... if I do not come back would you cry?.... Those who know him know the answer too.... haha ..... Sarcasm has nothing to do with truth... when she says her stationary bike is used to hang washed clothes.... she wants her readers to laugh out loud.... "koi sach wali baat usme hai hi nehi".... I follow her mother and the daughters for many years now... when I first saw the trio's pictures making candles in our favourite Bengali magazine "Sananda"..... Isn't that quite meaningful than to see the pictures of star kids with their beaus in the parties? I do not even look at such news... It must be her mother's contributions towards their life.... no wonder I will buy a bobby print dress for a party.... though at a heavy discount... I adore stardom but do not try to imitate ... one must be very conscious about their own identity and ability. Coming to my ever graceful heartthrob.... Vidya Balan.... I do not know when and why she has started loving me so much... she absolutely need not put on those few extra kilos... why?simply because they are our divas.... fish is not a problem... rice must be the culprit in both cases... haha... PEPPER & CHEESE STUFFED MINI PARATHA is neither a contributor to a healthy self, but I had to go ahead with it considering the colours in the air.... [social media]...

My readers already know.... I interpret everything in terms of films.... Bollywood rules over me... also does a "Good Bengali Movie".... which is not a copy.... For an example.... I so much started adoring "Prasenjit" when he got himself free from the "Posenjit" tag... After getting overly exploited and spoilt.... Rituparna Sengupta got to prove herself in "Paromitar Ekdin" or "Dahan"..... Coming to Bollywood ... a noted member of Bollywood's first family.... Shashi Kapoor passed away day before yesterday...... who met his love Jennifer Kendal in Kolkata... 1956... while she was touring with her theatre practitioner family throughout India. The British Theatre actress's acting prowess we did see in few movies... be it 36 Chowringhee Lane, Junoon or Ghare Baire! I liked that pair .... that made me put up that status in Facebook yesterday.... the romantic me prefers to be romantic in death too.... a toast to their meet in heaven... with this PEPPER & CHEESE STUFFED MINI PARATHA! I planned about it yesterday noon and the miser me will not run to the supermarket to buy a spicy cheese block for 20 dollars.... I will coarsely ground some black pepper and use the available cheese slices for the super simple recipe.... How can I leave our loving island in the process?.... After my status update on Facebook, there had been a series of posts on how nice our island is.... haha so sweet of them.... To those who do not know much about this island, Cheese Prata is one of its best sellers! Porota / Paratha / Prata has to have in today's share.... I cannot go without having one small with a hot cup of coffee!.... rest is all yours and my men's. To all the mothers who do not sit idle at home like me.... do prepare this PEPPER & CHEESE STUFFED MINI PARATHA to brighten up your breakfast or dinner table.... After a hard day outside, you do not have to prepare a side dish either.... take out the dates & tamarind chutney from the refrigerator .... assort some mint leaves, a green chilli and few spoons of yogurt, few pinches of black salt and grind to a paste... you get a fresh mint chutney... Cheese is not something I swear by, this tongue still tickles with the touch of "shutkir bharta"..... Did I start this blog to please my tummy alone?..... no... When I promote my blog / page, do only people of a particular region respond?...never..... So there will be a variety of food fair here in this blog with predominance of Bengali / Indian food ... within my limits.... I never can be a versatile cook. The pictures down will prove that these PEPPER & CHEESE MINI PARATHA are a no fancy, child's play kind of... Once I finish sharing this.... I will watch Shashi Kapoor's Shakespeare Wallah in You Tube.... do you wish to?

INGREDIENTS :
Refined Flour : 11/2coffee mug
Ghee : 5tbsp
Nigella Seed / Kalonji : 1tsp [optional]
Black Pepper Powder : 1tbsp
Cheese Slices : 5[halved]
Salt : 1/4tsp or little less
Oil : 100ml

METHOD :

To be very honest, my initial idea was to prepare some cheese stuffed "trikon nimki".... triangular nimki and jilipi are the morning rituals of the Bengali sweet shops.... hence I added the nigella seeds. After I was done with the dough, I felt it seems soft and would not turn in to crisp nimki.... so I changed the plan and turned them in to these deep fried cheese stuffed yummy parathas.

Take the flour, ghee, nigella seeds and salt in a wide mouthed vessel.... do not look at my kitchen utensils.... neither me or Cristine do justice to them always.... no wonder my mother disapproves of my home making skills... her 20-25 years old aluminium woks are flawlessly silvery... ohh...

Rub the entire content for at least 2-3 minutes.

Add warm or normal water little by little and keep kneading to form a smooth dough.

Cristine was very eager to show maam's spaghetti strap dress, I had to edit hence. Anyway... we will knead further for 12 minutes and cover with a cling wrap for say 1/2 an hour.

After 1/2 an hour, remove the cling wrap and take out small portions... smoothen between your palms. Take all things required on your work station. Roll out poori like roundels and place half of a standard cheese slice right in the middle, sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper.

Fold sideways, and press the border.

Fold again lengthwise and press the sides properly.

A Bengali always has a triangular paratha on mind... hence. We will roll lightly pressing it to level. We have to be careful not creating any holes.

Heat oil in a wide wok and deep fry the parathas on both sides.

Take out, transfer on to tissue papers first before serving. Can you see little of melting cheese oozing out... a little does not matter as we will serve them fresh & hot.

Serve the yum PEPPER & CHEESE STUFFED MINI PARATHA with Mint-Yogurt Chutney and Dates-Tamarind Chutney.... I had to have it with a hot cuppa of coffee.... what about you?

Ahh... it seems I can never learn the tricks of good photography... those reflections and shadows pisses me off. I remember the evening I prepared this KURMUREY BHINDI IN A SPICY SESAME SEED & RICE FLOUR BATTER... The recipe is super simple and this greedy woman ate half of the crispy, superbly yum batter fried bhindi while frying, leaving little for the men and Cristine. When it came to taking pictures, I could not get away with those reflections, it was perhaps 10 pm with two hungry people waiting for the dinner to be served. Thanks to the use of rice flour in the batter, they were still crisp when served. We Bengalis eat fries and fritters either as a snack or as an accompaniment to dal and rice. All the sweating I had in clicking these not so satisfying pictures did vanish when we had our dinner.... However the picture quality is, the KURMUREY BHINDI IN A SPICY SESAME SEED & RICE FLOUR BATTER tasted heavenly. Doing a batter fry is not a big deal for us with the readymade rice flour or gram flour or corn flour always stored in our kitchen. Going back in time, it indeed was a tiring job for our mothers. On days when they planned for a batter fry, they had to soak "atap chal".... a special kind of low priced rice for hours, then made a paste of it in a "shil nora".... added spices, chopped green chillies, poppy seeds in it to prepare a batter that yielded super crispy fritters. My mother's two kids wanted fritters everyday but she did not allow..... both parents had serious concerns about their overweight daughter. They were unhappy that the daughter did not take interest in physical activities, neither did the mother allow me to mingle much in the neighbourhood famous for its notoriety. Those were the days you know people respected the good in you, yes I will take the pride of being a decent girl who was not disturbed by the notorious gang except for one or two rascals. We were worried about the little brother who had to go out to play every evening and had to pick up dirty words. That boy, my little brother who was always asked to follow his "didibhai", today has taken all the responsibilities of his parents, while I manage with few calls weekly. Our father left for the heavenly abode like a king whose daughter-in-law used to call me every 10th January and say "Today is Pa's birthday, you remember na?".... No wonder, the happy and content me will have fries & fritters more often.

Different kinds of fries & fritters was a Thursday affair at our home. It was an all vegetarian day and our mother had to feed us some way or the other. It was last week when she complained that her son still does not want to eat veggies.... only meat and his favourite "mota aloo bhaja".... home style french fries. Come on, many of you will agree that our mothers knew how to fry something near like french fries some 40 years ago.... My senior's late big aunt used to shred potato this thin using her two hands and a "boti" or pirdai [wiki]... a special kind of knife with stand used in Eastern India? I do not have a "shilnora" or a "boti"at my home, yet I remain that traditional Bengali.... I need to prove it soon. Sitting in this island, it is not really a problem. I find it very much amazing that the natives of this island eat what we grew up eating!.... gosh from "kamranga".... "ankh"..... "narkol" to "batabilebu"... "aam".... "gur"..... so recreating a traditional dish using fresh, local ingredients is not a problem.... if only my men's tastebuds matched mine.... the senior is still ok but the junior does not seem to have come out from my womb. In any of my posts, I do not at all feel like keeping aside this wonderful island, neither my birthplace / secular India .... Since I lack grey matter.... justice may not be prevailed in all cases.... but the wish is genuine. Those who know me also know I do not fake. Anyways, batter fried bhindi / okra / ladysfinger / dhyarosh is not really a Bengali thing.... we love bhindi bhaja actually and add it to prepare mixed veggies. I must mention boiled bhindi is my favourite and very good to have when you have constipation. I first tasted this kurkurey bhindi at my immediate neighbouring aunty's place. She stayed in Mumbai for 42 long years and came back to Kolkata to spend the rest of their retired life. I simply loved the crunch, given I love anything with bhindi / okra / ladysfinger. Back in Kolkata I did try but was not happy with the outcome. Once I entered the food blogging world, I saw a couple of my blogger friends had blogged on it. I thought why not try it again with a slightly different batter. With absence of "posto".... or poppyseed in our life, there is a considerable use of "shada til" ...... white sesame seed in my kitchen. We must use the correct amount as it tends to taste bitter if the amount is more than enough. So, below is my recipe of KURMUREY BHINDI IN A SPICY SESAME SEED & RICE FLOUR BATTER which you can enjoy as an evening snacks or as an accompany to rice and dal.

INGREDIENTS :
Bhindi : 12-15
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1/2tsp
Coriander Powder : 1/2tsp
Cumin Powder : 1/2tsp
Black Pepper Powder : 1tsp [coarsely ground]
Aamchur Powder : 1/2tsp [dry mango powder]
White Sesame Seed : 1/2small cup
Rice Flour : 1medium cup
Gram Flour : 2tbsp
Baking Soda : A Pinch
Sugar : 1tsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 150-200ml... the left over can be reserved for later use

METHOD :
Wash all the bhindis / okras / dhyarosh / ladysfinger thoroughly under running water. Pat dry with a clean, dry, kitchen towel.

Discard the stem end of the bhindis and then cut half. I think authentically, for this recipe they are cut into thinner strips.... I did not take that risk just like those friends who will not take the risk of cooking a fresh, sweet water fish with only slitted green chillies, nigella seeds, turmeric and water.

Marinate the halved okras with salt, little turmeric and black pepper powder and keep aside for at least 20 minutes. Meanwhile, dry roast the white sesame seeds till they turn light brown. Let cool and dry grind to a powder.

Take the rice flour, sesame seeds powder, gram flour, turmeric powder, sugar and the required amount of salt in a bowl. Add water little by little to prepare a thick paste.

Add the red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, black pepper powder, aamchur powder and a pinch of baking soda to the batter. Mix very well and keep at rest for 5 minutes.

Heat oil in a deep wok. Coat the behinds / dhyarosh well in the thick batter discarding the water that had released after marination.

Deep fry adjusting the temper from low to medium. Take out and place them on to a tissue paper.

Transfer to a serving plate and enjoy hot either with tea / coffee or with dal and rice!

Where to start from and how to? Well I wished to go authentic Bengali today with ingredients known to majority of the people. In fact most of the time I wish to go Bengali, I am thinking of asking my friend Bianca what if I wish you and others with a baked roshogolla on xmas?... If you can prepare those "complex cakes".... why not a rassgulla.... which is no less complex to me but I still manage.... No sweet shops in the island come near to Kolkata roshogolla... better to do them at home....how much they ditch me at times. Coming to that particular point why I at times stay away from promoting Bengali Cuisine.... ahh... some people keep on sending pictures of "macher alpona"... fish designs or of "patali gur"... date palm jaggery on whatsapp whenever I blog on some other cuisine ..... that disturbs me ..... I am not a kind of a person who can be forced to do anything .... free willed people perform the best when they are left to be at themselves. No one can stop me from going Bengali today.... why? Yesterday night I came across a mind blowing post of four little girls ..... staying 50 km away from Kolkata .... going to Bengali medium school taking part in an English Drama competition held in New Delhi and grabs the 6th position in finals!.... wow... they were contesting with the prestigious city schools of the country! Their English teacher Sayantan .... happened to be a student of our friend Dr. Nishi Pulugurtha at the degree level.... his proud ma'am will definitely share it on her stream. Only kids of low-income groups go to such government schools these days ..... no, people who scream when I share a picture wearing a frock or share a baked recipe do not send their kids to such schools but to the city convents. They go to Park Street restaurants to have a Turkey dinner on xmas but cannot stand a xmas tree as the background of my profile picture..... but I am that untamed horse who is not bothered by all these and live by her own set of rules.... courtesy, the ferociously independent thinker I am married to. Anyway, many of you I know do a lot of work and contribute to the cause of the needy and do not sit idle at home like me and give big talks. Even this lady tries to do her bit sitting at home. The miser me too waste money buying clothes and utensils which later I do not wish to use. I do not stuff my wardrobe and cupboard with them but give it to our Cristine, she stores them in a packing box and courier to her home. We can do our little bit sitting at home too.... I follow a couple of NGOs working towards such causes, but I do not send money to their funds because I know some organisations do not make proper use of their funds.... Before I contribute, I must know about that NGO.... I do not wish to waste my husband's hard earned money. One NGO I follow is "I-India-Giving Street Children a Future" based in Jaipur, Rajasthan. If you see any kind of child abuse around, you can call their toll-free number 1098, valid within India. Below is the box ready to be despatched and Cristine's ma'am has not filled it with her torn underwear. Charity indeed begins at home.... so many are waiting for your worn clothes... may you?

The air is getting heavy friends and readers! Before I dive into the heirloom, humble Bengali recipe from my side of the family DHONEPATA BATA DIYE MULO SHEEM ALOO CHINGRI, I must narrate a hilarious incident that occured day before yesterday. I mentioned about one or two notorious guys who disturbed my peace of mind years back so much so that the mother had to guard me in and out of the neighbourhood for a couple of years. One rascal followed me to the school gate or on way back home. Our daddy was miser in some areas and never thought of renting another house until he built his own dream home some 25 km away from Kolkata and declared..... I want to spend my retired life peacefully amidst greens.... Off course all the responsibilities of his home and garden had to be borne solely by our mother while he was busy with his club and its charitable activities. Theirs was a story of a fun loving, friendly, extremely warmhearted husband and a cold, too very hardworking, family oriented wife.... even my "parabyarani" mashimoni says "your mother had been a total bore always, you know".... haha. Anyway, my readers noticed I called those notorious boys "stray dogs." That was in the morning, few hours later around 6:30 pm, I was in the gym on my stationary bike.... Suddenly this thought popped up.... why should I bad mouth referring an innocent animal. A sense of fear engulfed me, what if any member of PETA reads it? I jumped out of the machine, ran back to the home before a PETA representative could take an earliest flight to the island and book me.... Keeping pets is almost a norm in this island too... people here are bhindi lovers but how much of kurkurey bhindi I do not know, so fear of an attack by them was less.... haha. Then I have my couple friends from college Joydip & Suchandra Kundu who are associated with the "Tiger Bachao" project back in India, they are a major part of "Sher". Joydip can still be a terror if you demean poor animals, but I support and like them because they do support a noble cause and fund towards the cause of spreading education in the backward Sundarban area. He is a film actor too.... this very dear friend was a naughty boy at college, can dedicate his life entirely to such causes because he perhaps never had to earn his bread, his family owned four petrol pumps in the Hathibagan area in the early 90's.... but we can always do our bit to support them. Our Ipsita & Soumya had adopted a stray dog... Kaizu... He is old and sick.... Our friends are going to Kolkata and Cristine has to take care of Kaizu.... so I had to edit and term those notorious boys as "rascals."Jokes apart, My family indeed had a pet, Jenny... she was a mixed breed gifted by a neighbourhood aunty when we were leaving Kolkata way back in 1995. Below is our Jen sitting on my then gorgeous mother's lap... beside was our Pa who loved wearing a variety of watches. At the back were standing their two kids.... clicked 18 years back. Jenny died early when seven and half years old for our ignorance, making her an aficionado of mutton and dried fish when she was prescribed yogurt & rice by the vet and for missing one of her vaccine in time. The brother got so emotionally drained that we never had one again , he developed asthma too from her fur ... the doctor said no too....

Many of such things are shrouding my mind and makes me firm on sharing a recipe of my side of the family today. Both my mother and grandmother says that DHONEPATA BATA DIYE MULO SHEEM ALOO CHINGRI is a recipe from Comilla... now in Bangladesh.... it is what they have known from the family itself.... better informed people can always disagree. I loved anything with fresh coriander paste during winters at age 6 and now too.... specially fresh water fish curries. DHONEPATA BATA DIYE MULO SHEEM ALOO CHINGRI is a winter regular dish in our family done with even smaller shrimps, fresh coriander paste, green chilli paste, broad beans, radish and potato with skin on.... see I lessened your work load.... Absolutely no garlic, ginger, onion or any exotic spice is required in this dish... we will cook with all fresh ingredients, covered and at lowest heat. Do not expect stepwise pictures of my Saturday cooking.... This messy woman is totally messed up on Saturdays.... starting at morning till the afternoon.

INGREDIENTS :
Radish : 2medium... the island standard or 5-6 small, red Indian variety
Broad Bean : 7-8
Potato : 1big
Shrimp : 350gm
Fresh Coriander Leaves Paste : 11/2medium cup
Green Chilli Paste : 11/2tbsp [adjust as per your taste]
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Nigella Seed : 1/2tsp
Dry Red Chilli : 2halved
Bayleaf : 1
Salt : As Required
Oil : 2tbsp [ authentically mustard]

METHOD :

We will not peel the skin of potatoes in this recipe, wash it thoroughly and cut into cubes. Peel, wash and cut each radish into four parts if medium or big. Then make thin slices. Wash the broad beans, discard two ends, make 5-6 pieces from each. Take all the vegetables together and marinate with salt and turmeric powder.

Wash and de shell the shrimps. Wash thoroughly again 3-4 times under the running water. Rub salt and turmeric.

Heat oil in a wok, lightly fry the shrimps, take out and reserve to be added later. Temper the remaining oil with nigella seeds, a bay leaf and halved dry red chillies.

Add the marinated vegetables along with the marinade. Fold in well and cover. We will cover cook the entire period at the lowest heat till the vegetable are soft.

After about 8-10 minutes, open cover and add the red chilli powder and little salt if required. Fold in well and cover again.

After 5-6 minutes, the content in the wok gets semi-dry, it is then we will uncover and add the lightly fried shrimps, the fresh coriander paste and the chilli paste. We will stir for 2-3 minutes and take down.

Authentically we enjoy this dish DHONEPATA BATA DIYE MULO SHEEM ALOO CHINGRI with nothing but plain white rice, you can try with some chapatis too!

Yesterday night, the belief got stronger that I am not that much of a good homemaker, neither a class food blogger... .... I so much wished to bring that Kolkata Tea Stall effect in this particular post, messed up the kitchen but could not find a single "bhar".... the earthen tea cups.... Then I tried to break the corner of a plate as they use in the most simplest, rustic stalls to serve "cha, mumlet, tos, kola".... but you know how miser I am and could not get on with the action. Some of my blogger friends would have done full justice to this post. Anyway.... you must excuse me considering I at least prepared that milk masala tea and had it too at 8:45 pm which neither of us two are used to anymore. During the college days, I loved those masala tea with an overdose of sugar either from those big brass kettles in the Burrabazaar area or from the roadside tea stalls who served in earthen pots..... and the "sujir lero biscuit"..... till date I simply fancy them. I saw them every where .... in the railway stations, while traveling through the highway or just in the neighbourhood and craved.... The mother never allowed either a "lero biscuit" or "bapuji cake." Instead she got me a "gol moto oven" from the Modern Variety store located in between Shyambazaar and Hathibagan.... We are North Kolkatans.... so our tryst continues with "Malonchor Kobiraji Cutlet".... "Town Schooler Golir Ankher Rosh aar Phuchka"..... "Sampader Blouse".... "Amritor Doi"....the famous tea leaf shops in the Lalbazaar area.... the list is too big to fit in here.... Some of our known area were ranged from the airport to Park Street.... beyond that.. is still a foreign land.... If I take a bus for Dakshinapan, I still ask the bus guide to drop me at the right place. Kolkata is calling more because this winter we are not going there. How much I am wishing to take a tour of Sharma's Lassi, Lakshmi Narayan Shaw's "Telebhaja"..... I still do visit the century old shops of New Market... may taste a roll from "Badshah".... a "Tea Room" or a "Cookie Jar" cannot stop me from visiting "Nahoum's"..... again and once more... not for the cakes alone but for the nostalgia!... During the Xmas season those areas are a must visit.... The only difference between Kolkata and this island is that for good cookies you have to travel to particular places while you have a bakery shop every 200 metre here. What do you want?.... wife biscuit, husband biscuit, lotus paste, red bean paste, pandan flavour, coconut cookies... the list is quite big..... and Milind Soman declares he does not touch biscuits.... its poison for the body! He will surely block me from his page if he sees the picture below.....

My mother may tell him.... " e ki amon dekhcho.... ami barir theke beroley amar meye akbarey sholota biskut kheye nito"..... and there is not a bit of exaggeration in it. The major reason of that bulging out tummy is my love for biscuits and cookies. I had to think of some home baked simple ones with very less sugar or not at all of it. This ELACH DANA O KALOJEEREY SUJI BISKUT was successful in the first attempt. Do not expect me to blog on a pasta recipe.... I do not wish to feed my readers "gajor, lonka, peyaj, cheese kuchi diye pastar chocchori ba ghonto."

There was a time, say in the early 90's when I really could prepare those roadside tea stall like "suji biscuit."..... courtesy the recipe booklet that came with that unique oven gifted by the mother. I have lost the booklet, baking skills and confidence. Lacking the proper props to create that tea stall effect and of a perfect recipe, I modified a bit using butter, a little of green cardamom seeds and two drops of rose essence for this ELACH DANA O KALOJEEREY SUJI BISKUT. I wished for some thin, flavourful, less sugar, not heavy on the stomach biscuits and I got them, hence the share. I am missing someone around who does not approve me of blogging on bakes or pasta.... messages "kichu niramish torkari dao." Why do I listen to the person?.... for the same reason why I married the Captain Haddock at home knowing he will throw me out of the window at least eight times in a day. Preparing this biscuit was a very stress free job, all my readers know by now I do not take up complex recipes. I did not follow any recipe as such except for some of "sugi cookies" authentic of our immediate neighbouring country. I love those but they are sugary, hence did not. I have already copy pasted a recipe of an authentic Bengali / Indian sweet following few bloggers, to blog on soon giving due credit to them. The very impatient that I am, I repeated at least five times while shaping them with cookie cutters "dur birokto lagchey, Cristine chal porota baniye feli."...... Then the senior was back home, there was a blast attempt again at some place, I had to sit beside him, get some kind of a nervous breakdown and plead... boss promise me you will not send the son for higher studies anywhere else, he will study whatever he gets to in this safe haven, in this island..... the man will ask Cristine to get gallons of water saying his wife has again started with her dramas. So enjoy my recipes, do not take a look in my other areas.... you cannot get along.... just the way I do not in most cases.... You can call it my short coming , I accept it and prefer to remain a happy loner. Anyway, for the... slightly modified version of Kolkata roadside tea stall style biscuit..... ELACH DANA O KALOJEEREY SUJI BISKUT, we need very few ingredients like semolina, refined flour, melted butter, little of salt, baking soda and sugar, nigella seeds and green cardamom seeds.

INGREDIENTS :
Semolina : 1/3coffee mug
Refined Flour : 1/2coffee mug
Butter : 3-4tbsp [melted]
Nigella Seed : 1tbsp
Green Cardamom Seed : 1/2tsp
Rose Essence : 2drops
Baking Soda : 3-4pinch
Sugar : 1tbsp
Salt As Required

The amount yields about 25-30 mini sized biscuits.

METHOD :

Take all the ingredients except for the melted butter and the rose essence in a bowl. Mix well.

Add the melted butter and the rose essence to the flour mixture.

Rub well for 2-4 minutes.

Add little water and knead till you get a soft, little moist, oily dough.

Prepare little bigger than that of paratha balls from the dough.

Roll out round parathas with your rolling pin and press any small cookie cutter to get the shape of your choice.

Place a cookie sheet on a baking tray and place the unbaked cookies on it.

Preheat oven at 180*C. Place the tray inside.

Bake for 15 minutes @ 180*C. They will be done.... it depends on your oven though as I used the convection mode of a microwave oven.

Once cold, we will transfer to an airtight container. Do not refrigerate, they should stay well for a week in a cool, dry place. Enjoy with tea or coffee.

My name is Bond.... James Bond! Aww.... "Ami Bonde... cholbe naki luchi... murir sathey?".... Hi....hi... hi..... This is good enough reason for any real or virtual life Mr. Bond to avoid coming anywhere near me... Oh my God! Ain't I that little girl still who loved wrapping these pearl drop sized, juicy BENGALI BONDE with luchi /poori and finish at least four of these sweet rolls in four minutes? Yes, I am if only my health conditions allowed me to have the tummy satisfying amount, neither would I deprive myself from having a little of everything that I love.... That is the way I make peace with life! I indulge in all kinds of fried stuffs... salted or sweet .... the son seems to have picked up that habit .... He loves jilipi, amriti and this BENGALI BONDE. I thank the Almighty for this.... else it would have been a thing of suspicion that he is mine and that he belongs to a very humble, overly "Bongofied' family on both sides. I have noticed, this much loved but not that much pedigreed Bengali sweet gets tastier as it travels towards the interior of Bengal, you can always prove me wrong because my inferences are drawn from assumptions and not extensive researches. The son's love for BENGALI BONDE made our father get fresh bonde everyday from the local shops whenever the son stayed at his "dadun's.... the smiling buro's bari", now the brother gets for him. BENGALI BONDE can be called the nearest cousin of sweet boondi... it is juicer and melt in the mouth whilst sweet boondi, the non-Bengali way is drier and crunchy.... the ingredients used may be same.

Some mornings brings in nostalgia, with it some "shalpatai mora bonde.".... a teen girl asking the man at the counter.... "kaku dusho gram bonde aar roshogolla doshta.... mani boleche tatka dekhe ditey... taratari dao... school jabo".... She was in a hurry for the school but the mother planned for some "luchi... torkari...bonde" for the lunch box. Besides the thrill of opening the yum lunch box, there was other areas of interest in the school which eventually turned out to be nightmarish and I whispered to myself each day... when is the last day?... I do not wish to come back here again! .... may be because of the fear of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics classes...haha! It is 30 and 1/2 years now and time to break that promise! On my next visit to Kolkata, I wish to take a tour of "our school and aaspass."..... no I will not inform one of my dearest friend Kakoli who is a teacher there, neither will ask the brother or Chandrayee to accompany me.... my readers know I am a happy loner. Coming to the point, I have in fact copy pasted this recipe of BENGALI BONDE following few of the bloggers.... but you know there cannot be any other recipe for preparing bonde neither do I have the chance to meet a "haluikar"... a sweet maker sitting here in the island. You will definitely appreciate the amount of labour I have put in or all of us do put in for all the dishes we prepare. I am not an angel who gives due credit to everyone who I follow.... there are two reasons for this... any heirloom recipe demands more or less same ingredients... the second is "kuch emoson wali baat hai".... I am unable to.... Anyway, for this BENGALI BONDE, which was not actually made in our family, I have drawn inspiration from the following blogs.... Scratching Canvas, our blogger friend Amrita Roy's Motions and Emotions and Mellow N Spicy. The lady at Scratching Canvas has described it with few do's and don'ts which I liked but did not follow, yet the sweet boondis came out really well and authentic. When I am extra cautious, I am surely going to have some serious kitchen blunders, hence! The sweet boondi we get here is the dried ones unlike the ones Bengalis usually have though the Belur Math serves the dry variety as prasadam.... I felt I should try the the original BENGALI BONDE at home.... Now a days the Kolkata sweet shops are serving baked bonde... I did not taste yet. Usually, two to three food colours are used to prepare BENGALI BONDE and I used icing colours for it!.... that too in the xmas season.... haha! The pretty cool me was having a hot mini wok treat yesterday afternoon just to prepare the stomach for a sinful, favourite breakfast platter of "muri.... bonde.... aam"...

Bonde is enjoyed just like that, or with murmura [puffed rice], luchi / poori or you can even have atop bread. While having this BENGALI BONDE, I was actually lost in somewhere far there... "dhulo orano path, bus ta thamlo cha o jol khabarer dokaner pashey.... dada duto kochuri, torkari aar bonde din, sange cha....He asks... didi kothai uthben?... je bhalobeshe deke dal, aloo bhaja, mach bhaja, lebu, lanka debey... ami tari".... Thats me.... in sharp contrast to someone who hated everything about me.... I still remain the very me though... The luchi - bonde or muri-bonde has to be accompanied by few pieces of ripe mangoes and our island supplies this fruit throughout the year! Come let us treat our family / friends with sweet boondi or BENGALI BONDE which requires only few ingredients, of which gram flour and sugar is prime.

Heavily Inspired by....
scratchingcanvas.com
motionsandemotions.com
mellownspicy.com

INGREDIENTS :
Gram flour : 1standard cup
Rice flour : 11/2tbsp
Baking Soda : A pinch
Red Food Colour : 2pinch [I used icing colour]
Yellow Food Colour : 1pinch [I used icing colour]
Green Food Colour : 2pinch [I used icing colour]
Sugar : 1small cup [coarse grain]
Water : 11/2big cup
Rose Water : 1/2tsp
Lemon Juice : 2tbsp
Green Cardamom Powder : 3-4pinch
Ghee : 2-3tbsp
Oil : 100gm

I used a "luchir hata"... perforated ladle it is called too?.... but a specific one is used for this purpose I have seen.

METHOD :

Take the gram flour, rice flour and baking soda in a bowl. Mix very well.

Add water little by little until it forms a smooth batter. Make sure there is no lump in the batter.

Now we will divide the batter in to 3 parts taking it in three bowls. We will take little more amount in one than the other two.

Add the yellow food colour to the bowl with more amount of batter. Add the red and green food colour to the other two bowls and mix very well with 3 different table spoons.

Take the sugar and water in a deep bottomed vessel and put for boil at low heat.

Below are the two ladles I used for frying the batter and taking out the fried balls.

Heat the ghee and oil together in a wok. Hold one ladle atop it and add a tbsp of batter to it and move the table spoon on it in circular motion. The other ladle we will use to take out the fried balls on to a tissue paper. We will neither fry the gram flour balls too much nor let it burn.

We will repeat the same process for the green and red colour batter. You can see not all my balls are round, that is because I was not particular about washing the ladle after each round. It does not matter, as the bonde tasted well.

All the gram flour balls are on the tissue paper now.

Once the sugar syrup gets little sticky, add the rose water and lemon juice. Give a stir for a minute and switch off gas. Add the balls while the syrup is still warm. Stir.

Keep covered for about 30-40 minutes before serving. Enjoy with puffed rice or poori and super sweet pieces of mangoes alongside.

Well, I do not know how authentic Bengali this TIL NARKOL BATA MURGI dish is... Someone counter questions.... "few days back you said you prefer giving Bengali names to dishes that are authentic, traditional Bengali!".... Aww ... did not I tell you too that I am the most confused personality around who you will see contradicting her own self most of the time.... haha.... There are a couple of reasons for this.... I am one Uncle Podger's daughter who is gradually advancing towards dementia... Second, I am too lazy and lack the brain to observe, analyse things and act sensibly... I heavily depend on my eyes and heart. What attracts my eyes, the heart responds to it with some restrictions though! Life may not be that simple, people who refuse to do some brain exercise makes life as transparent as water for their own convenience.... rest to accept it or not is up to you. Two days back I suddenly wished to wear a saree, do up my face and asked Cristine to click few pictures. The son came back from school and said... Mumma is so freaking mad! The senior comes back from office, the wife says the son called me lame, fat and mad... Come on... my readers know what the answer was.... "wifey you only taught him to stand up for the truth always!".... and you see that evening I was cooking both of their favourite.... chicken.... this time TIL NARKOL BATA MURGI.... I continued with the fight though but with whom?.... I said very soon I am going to leave you and be with someone who will eat everything I cook and in big amount.... The answer is again obvious .... go ahead... I am pretty sure no man on earth can stay with you more than a week.... when he sees you eating up his head for every little thing!.... That is true... eight years in this island... while going to the north... I take a sit in a south bound train..... get down midway and call him if I cannot see any official around. The brain needs some exercise to prevent such forgetfulness. .... but this attribute of mine is from my birth... The mother still says... "tui rastai berolei chinta hoy amar... rasta par hosh, kichui dekhish na!"... The answer,.... "tumi jano amar kichu bishleshon kortey birokto lagey.... aajkaal ektu kortey hoy boley asojjo lagey".... Most of the time on my walks, I get lost but I explore a new avenue too! I manage to come back home anyway.... how long I do not know.... so excuse me if I missed to smile at you on some mornings, I may have been lost somewhere else! I do not miss the salt, turmeric or the right amount of spices on my dishes.... 'coz I am a foodie, 'coz I love to cook, 'coz I usually share dishes after tasting a bit of it.... I am not so fond of chicken but may have just one piece and the gravy.... I can assure all chicken lovers will swear by this TIL NARKOL BATA MURGI.

Coming to the point why I gave a Bengali name TIL NARKOL BATA MURGI to this dish without knowing its authenticity, I would defend myself saying I indeed have seen 'til murgi' shares in a couple of Bengali groups but never bookmarked them. Using sesame paste for a meat or fish curry is not a family thing on either side, that does not mean that the entire Bengal do not do it at their homes. I am not my mother-in-law who will ask the daughter-in-law right after marriage to adapt only the food and habits that 'her' family follows... so do not tell me only the males cause pain to us. The readers may curse me and accuse me of speaking ill of the husband's mother.... I do not really care so long I am taking good care of her 'worldly' needs.... as long as I am speaking the truth. Her pain is not being able to control my life, an exception in her entire family.... My pain is she robbed me of my self-respect in front of her helpers too, insulted my parents [my mother] at any given chance. Till date she is suspicious of my cooking skills and has to express it over phone because she will never accept my ability, she never does understand the emotional needs of people! My readers should know I try to be honest with life!.... I tried some Roomali Roti to go with the TIL NARKOL BATA MURGI, but I failed.... so went ahead with the multigrain atta poori.

That was also not the right kind of wok for doing Roomali Roti.... I will keep on trying my hands on it... it is not a matter of joke. I had to prepare some grilled tofu, cherry tomato, broccoli alongside for me, and that wonder of the world happened!.... my men had it!.... I excused them for calling me lame, mad and fatso. The TIL NARKOL BATA MURGI is done with minimal ground spices... we do not require them at all..... a thick paste of toasted white sesame seed and shredded coconut works wonder for this semi-dry curry. If you want the colour of the gravy to be whiter, skip the red chilli powder and use few more green chillies. Come let us do this semi-dry chicken curry together and enjoy with roti-paratha-poori or rice. For the multigrain atta poori we follow the same recipe for plain atta poori. The super simple grilled veggies was even easier, wash and marinate the tofu, broccoli and cherry tomatoes with black pepper powder, salt and butter and grill for 5-6 minutes, turn, brush with butter and grill for 4-5 minutes.... I am trying to be friendly with such stuffs. Now do not tell me ... S.... Jane Fonda eats only that grilled stuff.... if my men shows me the door, you will not give me shelter at your home!

INGREDIENTS :
Chicken : 1kg [cut into standard size, I prefer to buy younger ones]
Garlic Paste : 2tbsp
Ginger Paste : 1tsp
Onion Paste : 3tbsp
White Sesame Seed : 11/2tsp [toasted till light brown]
Shredded Coconut : 1small cup
Green Chilli : 2
Lemon juice : 1/2small cup
Red Chilli Powder : 2tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Bayleaf : 1
Salt : As Required

METHOD :

Wash the chicken pieces thoroughly, and marinate with half of the turmeric and chilli powders, salt and lemon juice for 2 hours.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with a bayleaf. Add the onion paste and fry at low heat for 2 minutes.

Add the ginger and garlic pastes and stir at low heat for another two minutes. Add the rest of the red chilli and turmeric powders, salt as required and stir 2-3 times.

Add the chicken pieces along with the marinade and fold in well. Stir at high heat for 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat to minimum and cover the wok.

In a blender prepare a paste with the dry roasted sesame seeds, shredded coconut and the green chillies. Reserve in a bowl.

We will uncover the wok and stir the chicken every 5 minutes. After about 15 minutes, remove cover and add the sesame seeds, shredded coconut and the green chilli paste. Fold in very well. Cover again.

We need to check every 2-3 minutes, cooking at low heat helps to release water and we may not require to add water at all. This adds to the flavour and taste of this semi-dry curry.

If you require water, add a medium cup only... but try to avoid. The chicken curry should be ready in 35 to 40 minutes.

Enjoy with piping hot steamed rice, roti-paratha-poori! Do not forget to have a healthy vegetarian sides either!

The situation or the occasion is such that I had to take that tremendous pressure of baking ... ahh else some of my dear friends will take it to their heart.... take the example of Bianca Castafiore alone.... she is not in the right spirit at the moment either! However, baking a cake is never a cake walk for me, rather like a catwalk .... that too when you discover some fresh 'borboti' hanging when out on a walk or a bunch of fresh 'laal shak' adorns your kitchen counter!.... thats pretty painful ya! A winter wet market in Kolkata / India means greens and loads of greens.... from 'peyajkoli' to 'palong shaak'....

I hope the above pictures describe me pretty well and also the reason why it takes 3:45 minutes for me to complete a half marathon..... but yes, December in Kolkata is also about fresh bakes, and a ritualistic visit to the St. Paul's Cathedral or to the Park Street area, picnic starting with oranges in the bus and ending with 'mangsho bhaat' around 4pm, nonetheless to say "poush sankrantir pithe puli" is one major attraction. I wished to go very simple and rustic today, there was a lot of rich cooking yesterday and the sight of food is not giving me much comfort. In fact this morning I planned not to go ahead with any recipe sharing on the blog, then back home from my walk and gym, I had a super soft chicken filled "bao"... local steamed bun... felt happy enough to share a Xmas friendly recipe for all my readers and friends who are celebrating... Even we do celebrate or celebrating Xmas since childhood with oranges & local bakery fruit cake. After the high nose senior came into my life, he started taking me out for turkey and wine if he was in town during winter .... So "cake to banti hai yaar".... By the way, if you have come across my self boasting post of the platter I cooked for someone yesterday, you will pardon me for being so once a year. This morning, I felt there was nothing so much to boast of compared to what the yesteryear ladies did on such special days.... starting from "panch rokom bhaja to chaler payesh"... not less than 10-12 dishes or even more... and they did not click pictures like me either. I was really expecting few people to take it on me, they did not .... a slice of this simple LEMON & NUTMEG FLAVOURED COCONUT CAKE for each one of you.

By the way, I will not give myself the sole credit of creating this recipe, neither can I give credit to anyone! Tell me how to?.... I perhaps had taken little from here, a bit from there... now totally forgot what from whom ... "kar theke kon angsho ta jherechi money kortey parchina chai, haaha"..... Do not expect this horrid baker to treat you all with a proper Xmas cake.... I am not the one who will get all the ingredients required for it... moreover I myself will have all the wine before soaking the ingredients in it and start all kinds of drama to seek the attention of my men. Better I do an easy bake like this LEMON & NUTMEG FLAVOURED COCONUT CAKE so that you can have it as your teatime snack not only during Xmas season but on any day..... each day of our life counts! In this cake, I have used eggs with a mention of an alternative to it. It should work. Cheers to all those who consider a cake batter as "shinni".... just my kind!.... please do shed off the idea of asking me questions on Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics or on text books as such before entering through that door.... hope you guys are kind enough not to cause me an untimely heart attack. I think I am done with all my rubbish for the day and can dive straight into this basic cake recipe with coconut, lemon jest and nutmeg.... I am kind of allergic to artificial flavours, prefer natural flavours on my food.... Thai food is hence very much of a favourite... that Kaffir lime leaf... aha... Come let us do this soft, with full of fresh flavours.... LEMON & NUTMEG FLAVOURED COCONUT CAKE together.

INGREDIENTS :
Refined Flour : 1coffee mug
Baking Soda : 1/2to 1/3tsp
Egg : 3-4 large [If you do not use it, increase the amount of condensed milk to 1medium cup and add one tbsp of vinegar to the batter]
Condensed Milk : 1/2medium cup
Plain Yogurt : 1/2small cup
Sugar : 1/4 medium cup
Butter : 11/2 medium cup [melted]
Lemon Jest : of 2standard sized lemon
Nutmeg Powder : 11/4tsp
Shredded Coconut : 1/2coffee mug

METHOD :
Preheat oven to 180*C.
Take the refined flour, baking soda and the nutmeg powder in a bowl and mix well.

Take the sugar and butter in another bowl and use a table spoon or an electric blender to beat. I use a spoon in general because this horrid baker always beats more than required if using an electric blender.

Once the mixture turns frothy, add the eggs one by one and beat very well. Add the condensed milk and yogurt and beat again. After 3-4 minutes, add the shredded coconut and beat once so that it is just incorporated well.

Add the flour mix little by little to the batter and keep beating, nothing like a table spoon as a beater for such a lame baker, I tell you! Once we have added all the flour mix and the batter seems lighter in texture with bubbles forming atop, it is ready to be baked. Add the lemon jest and mix well.

Grease an aluminium or any bake proof tray with little butter. Pour the batter in to it.

Bake at 180*C for about 40 minutes. I use the convection method of my microwave oven for any kind of baking, so you should be cautious with the time, it may vary!

Once done, let cool and turn over on to a plate.

Enjoy a slice or two with your tea or coffee!

Wondering why an ice cream share during winter? What if I get very selfish and say why should I bother for others, I stay in an island with tropical weather and can have ice cream every hour of the day! How would you feel?.... very much irritated. I remember.... when "rationer chal" .... that is when the subsidised price of rice meant for a particular, but a larger section of India had a sudden rise, some people around said.... "it does not matter to me, I do not eat that poor quality rice!".... I wondered then, I wonder always that if we think or treat an issue as this, a country bounds to degenerate, extremist forces with rise... if you do not provide us our basic needs, we will snatch it! From that belief we are here today taking shower in walnuts, salmon, cod and what not, planning a short break in our neighbouring country's happening resort atop water.... A father who loved to tell us the story of how he was chased by the 60's Kolkata police and had to take shelter in "secret homes" at times ..... has a son who changed his political allegiance all of a sudden!.... However good life seems to be, it is not guilt free! We have so much shifted from the ideology that perhaps got us together years back. Now I tell him .... boss show me the pictures of the toilet before booking a resort or a hotel..... hypocrisy has reached new heights right here! However, the husband says we still and always will represent the working class, yet the confused me has to prepare and have a bowlful of ROSE & FRESH MINT COCONUT CREAM ICE CREAM WITH WALNUT to ease the situation and reminience the life before college! Indeed there was another one besides the daddy's indoctrinated stories, for five long years I had to give a patient ear to someone's happening stories.... S you know those girls at the tennis court looks so wow in their minis, you know S yesterday evening I had a fabulous TT match with one Rapunzel in the club.... and this S ran to that girl for her roll number or to the other for her address within the periphery of the school .... Thank God, there were no G plus or Face Book or Twitter in those days, that someone would have employed me to hack "pretty girls'" social media accounts. That someone was selfish enough never to ask me about my likes and dislikes!.... Obviously, I would not have told that I loved gazing at the small, homebound steps of someone after school .... I am too self-respecting to be a beggar! I whispered "eei chotto chotto paye cholte cholte thik pouchey jabi, jekhaney jete chash,"..... I was longing for a bigger environment called a college, where I wished to make a lot of friends without allowing anyone to come too near to me..... rest, for sharing all the tension and pain, I had one "T"..... You see after so many years, I have not learnt how to hold a tennis or a badminton racket, neither could transform myself how much that someone taught me how important it is to have a beautiful face!...... I fell in love with a non glamorous job called cooking, yesterday was my first experience with Pita Bread served with Mixed Dal Cutlets.... I will not share it on blog unless I perfect them with practice.

The entire evening yesterday was spent doing this platter.... I am a bit exhausted... Hence, I will go ahead with a very simple. frozen dessert recipe as this ROSE & FRESH MINT COCONUT CREAM ICE-CREAM WITH WALNUT and go for a long walk with the ear phones on! By the way, indeed alluring are some of the authentic Bengali shares around, I will get back to them next week.... You are only making me greedy and jealous at the same time.... slurp... slurp...

How much of irrelevant, stupid stories laced with utter lies and imaginations do I feed my readers, the recipes I / we share are full proof. How did this ROSE & FRESH MINT COCONUT CREAM ICE-CREAM WITH WALNUT happen? You know how I hate wastage.... what was to be done with the leftover coconut cream that I used for the prawn malaikari the other day?.... once opened, it gets spoiled within a day or two even if we refrigerate.... So I had to make good use of it. The coconut cream was too much of a good quality.... creamy... I always store a rose syrup for adding to the son's smoothies and iced drinks, mixed nuts are kept to keep me away from my hunger pangs, I grow my own mint leaves.... the idea of assorting them together happened naturally.... the nocturnal senior too should have something or the other while watching television .... No, we do not go by the diet or health rules always. The ice-cream thing is a family love, we have it anytime and I think I have made a good use of the coconut cream.... No wastage, few ingredients, no bake, less guilt frozen dessert as this ROSE & FRESH MINT COCONUT CREAM ICE-CREAM WITH WALNUT was a pleasure to have.... You must try it to trust me! I am extremely unhappy with the clicks but I can swear by its taste.

INGREDIENTS :

Coconut Cream : 250-300ml

Rose Syrup : 203tbsp

Sugar : 1/4small cup

Fresh Mint Leaf : 7- 8

Chopped Walnut : 2tbsp

METHOD :

Wash the mint leaves and chop roughly.

Take all the ingredients except for the chopped walnuts in a blender and pulse for 3-4 minutes, taking a pause at very minute.

Pour in to a container and cover. Refrigerate for an hour. Take out and blend for about 2-3 minutes with an interval after a minute.

Pour in to a container. Microwave the chopped walnuts for a minute and add half of them to the ice-cream mixture and stir.

Arrange the rest of the chopped walnuts atop the mixture, cover and freeze for at least 5-6 hours or overnight. Enjoy with a sinful piece of cake or just as a dessert!

Its Xmas.... what else could I do?.... There might be many other things to be done but I am not a versatile cook you all know .... cake is safer, however poor I am at it! Considering all my readers and followers, I kept this baked delight .... BEETROOT.. BUTTERMILK.. NUTS.. NUTELLA... A CAKE...... egg free, plain and simple ..... there can always be some like me who gets fever at the thought of baking. This cake was part of a special menu earlier this week, many of you know from my share in different public forums. I however feel, on this special day I will prepare everything at home.... a day when we were given the greatest gift of our life years back! Since I remain quite busy on that particular day, and given my inability to make proper use of the icing colours, I will go for the most simple and hassle free bake with the simplest decoration. Moreover, I will not spend 50 dollars buying ingredients of which I may not be able to make good use of, would you believe my family prefers plain sponge cakes! Anyway, I found it wiser to get a bottle of nutella and do the topping... tore some leaves from my table top indoor plant, flowers are there in store always... and there it is... not so classy but good taste wise. I did have a small share from this BEETROOT.... BUTTERMILK.... NUTS.... NUTELLA.... A CAKE and now I am compensating for the sin with what?.... Oh God! Oats and watermelon.... anything I hate has to be accompanied by something I love... in this case watermelon is a love... anytime pleasure!

I again say and will stick to it, "onek paap korechi jiboney tai oats khetey hocchey.".... Oats is not a matter of joke for me, specially after packing their lunch box with poori & paratha! God is not always kind to me.....

Why should the Almighty be kind to me? I am kind of judgemental... my list of dislikes is this big, but I give people the liberty to dislike me too .... its mutual! In a word, I disliked immensely when a Smita Patil danced to the tune of "aaj rapat jaye to humhe na uthaio"..... she is meant for an "Akaler Sandhaney" or Shabana is meant for a "Paar".... or both in an "Arth".... a movie too close to my heart and the daddy did allow me to watch it while at school.... The deceased old man helped me to garner interest and love for finer things in life! I remember, while I first joined Facebook I may have shared few clippings of "Arth".... thats when someone messaged me "Are you depressed S?" Awww what a joke!... thats what was my immediate reaction.... after that I lost all kinds of "social connection" with the person... cannot even say "depression choro, cake chalega?".... The immediate answer would be..... there are better people to feed me cakes and patties than you.... So better I tune in to a Chaplin or ask Mrs. Funny Bones... what about sharing the Sunday Times columns... we are waiting! Even these celebrities crack jokes on us.... Milind Soman does a 15k in Mumbai.... is it a news for us?.... he will do it in half an hour.... we want bigger news from the Ironman! I am again going offtrack... let me share this decadent, cake recipe which may not be authentic of any place but is good and yum to try at least for once! I have used everything that is available at home like beetroot paste, buttermilk, cashew nuts, walnuts, nutella for this BEETROOT.. BUTTERMILK... NUTS... NUTELLA.. A CAKE! Shall we do it together now?

INGREDIENTS :
Refined Floor : 1coffee mug
Baking Soda : 1/3tsp
Beetroot Paste : 1small cup
Butter Milk : 1/3medium cup
Condensed Milk : 150ml
Sugar : 1/2small cup
Cinnamon Powder : 11/2tsp
Oil : 1medium cup
Vinegar : 1tbsp
Cashew Nut : 10-12 [halved]
Walnut : 10-12 [halved]
Nutella : As much required for the topping...

METHOD :

Take the refined flour, baking soda, cinnamon powder in a bowl and mix together well! I do not sieve, need to buy a proper one... so sieve if you may!

Beat the oil and sugar together for 5-6 minutes if you are doing it manually like me! Add the buttermilk, condensed milk, sugar and vinegar now and whisk further for 3-4 minutes.

Add the beetroot paste and keep beating till bubbles are formed. Add the flour mix little by little and keep beating until all of the flour mixture is incorporated well and the batter is light and fluffy.

I use my table spoon to whisk the batter, while the electric one rests in the cupboard with the cookie cutters!

The cake batter is ready!

Take the halved cashew nuts and walnuts in a bowl and microwave at low power for a minute!

Arrange the nut pieces nicely atop the batter once we have transferred the mixture to a bake proof bowl.

Preheat oven to 180*C.

Place the bowl inside atop the low wired rack and bake for about 36-40 minutes at 180*C. I bake in the convection mode of a microwave oven, so you adjust yours accordingly.... I am not an expert!

Once cool, turn over onto a plate!

Apply nutella atop as much as required!

Decor as you wish and enjoy the sin.

Wasn't I too eager to share this "bengli chow from the 80's"on my blog though I fear by tomorrow morning I may be thrown out of this beautiful island.... "aloo, dim, peyaj, roshun-lanka kuchi diye chow bhaja korcho eei deshe boshe?".... How dare you? Even I do not know from where I had drawn the courage to cook noodles the way we grew up eating, breaking all the norms of cooking it the way as is done authentically.... but I strongly felt I will blog on this NOODLES........ A DESI TOUCH some day, never knowing it will be today! If you are an 80's kid from India or to be precise from any middle class home from Bengal, you will definitely agree with me that this is how noodles was prepared in our homes..... by our homes here I mean the small towns of Bengal, and of the Kolkata suburbs including the entire Northern Kolkata.... I do not know how the kitchens of Ballygunge or Southern Avenue worked.... those were the "posh areas" of Kolkata after all! I remember all the boys and girls in the college who hailed from those upscale areas, ahh this primitive girl found them so alien! If my friends Sushi and Indi or one dear "chutu"are reading this, please do not mind.... I speak generally in most cases. About "Chutu".... I really need a proper mind and post to talk about this super woman. This Indirra Sengupta joined our school pretty late, all the boys and girls would stare at her with such an awe! I used to watch her, her aura had a spell on me but never imitated her..... I just cannot be anyone else, someone loves herself too much! She might have learnt the near proper way of preparing noodles but she never stopped from doing it the way as this NOODLES ..... A DESI TOUCH was done in the family.

It was 1982 perhaps when Maggi flooded the Indian market, did plain noodles came into our lives before that? I cannot remember! I remember both of us siblings had this Bengali style noodles around 6 - 6:30pm while watching "Jonny Soko and His Flying Robot"...... This was the scenario in most of the homes then. Those ladies were relieved perhaps to get a quicker option to "luchi, porota, torkari.".... I have literally tortured my mother making her do paratha / poori every day.... two times, never realising she also needed to stay off from the kitchen in the evening. This went on till I was in the university.... the guilt disturbs a lot these days! My men are far more decent, they can survive on sandwiches. I am the one who cannot buy this idea, there is a kind of identity crisis and that guilt.... what I am here for then? Poori / Paratha / Samosa has to happen in my kitchen, this oats thing is becoming a spoilt sport in my life! Yet, I must admit that a bowl of oats with fruits in the morning is keeping me away from that "24/7 hungry kaya mode".... that is something to feel happy about! I do not want an untimely exit just to facilitate another woman to get in, take over my kingdom and throw out my son. Readers do I really need to say what the answer was? Just in case you wish to... its plain, clearcut.... the bad, old man said... in India, life time imprisonment is for 14 years, I have long passed that and living with you for 20 years.... I will never do that historic mistake again.... So people..... please do not take it to your heart if he had not said hello to you for a long time or had not wished on your birthday or anniversary. Coming to this NOODLES.... A DESI TOUCH, it is done with potatoes, scrambled eggs, onion, garlic and chillies. Initially, our mother used ajinomoto, but stopped later! My aunt and my husband's aunt went to the extent of adding peanuts, coriander leaves and turmeric powder to it, I cannot do a blunder of that magnitude , I have to stay in this island as of now! I had one Punjabi colleague in the school I worked after marriage, Namrata Negi.... she added a specially made Punjabi masala in her noodles.... I simply loved both the taste and aroma of it. I will go ahead with the recipe of NOODLES...... A DESI TOUCH as was done at our home .... though I loved how the aunts and the colleague did!

INGREDIENTS :
Noodles : 3-4 small packet of any variety
Egg : 4-5 [scrambled]
Onion : 1big [peeled, washed, cubed]
Garlic : 3- 4 cloves [minced]
Green Chilli : 2-3 [chopped]
Potato : 1big [peeled, washed, cubed]
Carrot : 1big [peeled, washed, cubed]
Green Pea : 1/2small cup
Green Chilli dipped Vinegar : 1/4small cup [to be soaked for at least 5-6 hours]
Light Soya Sauce : 2tbsp
Black Pepper Powder : 11/2tsp [coarsely ground]
Tomato Ketchup : 2-3tbsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 4tbsp + 1tbsp

METHOD :
Boil enough water in a heavy bottomed vessel, adding a little salt and 2-3 drops of oil in it. Once the water has boiled for 5 minutes or so, add the broken pieces of noodles.

With another boil, we will immediately switch off gas and transfer the entire content to a big strainer. Let all the water drain away which may take 10-15 minutes.

Transfer the boiled noodles to a bowl and add 1tbsp oil to it, mix well so that all the noodle strings are coated with oil. Keep aside.

Get all the ingredients ready on the kitchen counter. We need to rub the carrot and potato cubes with salt.

Heat 4tbsp oil in a wok or wok pan. Add the minced garlic and stir till they are little burnt and you get that lovely aroma.

Add the onion cubes and stir for a minute. Add the chopped green chillies, potato and carrot cubes, stir.

Now cover cook for 3-4 minutes, we need to check in between not allowing the veggies to burn. If required sprinkle little water.

Open cover, check if the carrots and potatoes are almost done. If so, add the green peas and stir for a minute!

Add the scrambled eggs and tomato ketchup now and fold in everything very well.

Add the boiled noodles and mix.

Add the black pepper powder, chopped green chillies soaked in vinegar, light soya sauce and fold in very well. Add salt if required.

Stir at high heat for 2-3 minutes and its done! Transfer to a serving bowl and we really do not have any hard or fast rules about having it in our family! We just have it hot and fresh, hence hardly do I pack it for their lunch box! How about you?

"Aada Diye Moong er Dal, Ghono Doodh Er Chana, Shobai Boley Dena Dena, Diley Je Amar Ghar Cholena"...... the rest of the lines I forgot, even the name of the writer! The mother used to sing for her kids!

When it comes to blogging, shouldn't this give me the utmost pleasure to blog on what I belong to? Did not I create this space to share what I grew up eating, dishes that are vanishing from the scenario with such a pace? It is very good to move ahead in life, else we stagnate but it is not so wise to forget all about the roots! A balance is so much required in all aspects of life. As I always say I have made my blog a "khichdi"one which was not intended to! It is also true that along the way I have made friends from so many walks of life that blogging on a MOCHAR BORA O AADA DIYE MOONG ER DAL pre Xmas is difficult on emotional ground!That pretty woman from the west, a BigB and curry fan does not deserve a lau ghonto either from me during Xmas. I tell her you know I will live a life like you once the son completes his studies.... She said you know S, I saved each penny while I was bringing up my kids.... now that they are established.... I enjoy my life to the fullest! Didn't I instantly see my mother in her .... I did! So, I will not think twice before blogging on a cake during Xmas, you must consider and reconsider that I am not good at pies and tarts..... The xmas fervour may not be over yet, but I will not stick in there, a majority of my readers do not know what a tart is! I remember last year when I blogged on a cake, one young girl commented "didi, I do not have a microwave, can you post a cooker made cake?" Till date I have not conformed to her, the guilt is on! To prepare a perfect cake on a cooker requires a certain amount of skill that I need to learn.... In fact a lot of things are required to be learnt to call myself a proper food blogger.... I do not comply to that norm of having the required props for the blog! I simply barge into certain blogs just to get a visual treat, while some others I like for their diligence, their thorough understanding of the pulse of their readers and delivering accordingly.... there are still some who became a part of my life! You are so much welcome until you expect me to observe and think! I will not do that as I am ruled by my heart...... anyone in the "real" world who "deliberately" hurts is instantly bid a good bye ... my plastic smile at you will say I just tolerate.... after all we are social beings! Coming to that unknown girl whose words still haunts me got lost somewhere may be, if you still follow my posts, you may like to prepare today's share of MOCHAR BORA O AADA DIYE MOONG ER DAL .... an authentic Bengali recipe done following the family recipe.

This family's love for fries and fritters is known to all by now, it is a must on an all vegetarian day! The men's hatred for vegetables is handled this way compromising heavily on the health part but not on a regular basis. I do have a saviour in a variety of kofta curries and in that universal aloo, haha! I would really seek some expert advise on the benefits of Aloo / Potato.... are they really healthy? I do not always go by the wiki tales! At this home if a vegetarian bottle gourd / lauki / lau ghonto is made, this lady will eat some extra grains which she is not supposed to, the senior is ok if there is a nice fish or meat curry too, the junior will not touch and gorge on the meat curry! If there is a "Chingri diye lau ghonto"... the man and his wife are happy and happier respectively, the junior will pick up the prawns and leave the rest! What if I prepare a Lauki Kofta? both the men will eat with luchi / porota, provided there is a meat curry! So I do them in turns trying to keep everyone happy.... even this "pathetic in mathematics" woman has to do this much of calculation! Before I happily share this authentic Bengali way of doing MOCHAR BORA O AADA DIYE MOONG ER DAL, I had to recall those unhappy moments before the mathematics examination.... I never could get why the two trains had to meet at some point and create so much of ruckus in my life.... That does not mean I faired well in literature either! You know a couple of my childhood buddies follow this blog, any kind of lies will catch their radar! The poor mother never could digest the fact that her daughter is an average and never miss a single interview of those promising boys and girls on television till date. With that gloom and guilt on my mind, I try to follow her footsteps in the kitchen at least. Mocha is Banana Blossom.... we do chop it and prepare a vegetarian dish with coconut, potato and black chana or a non vegetarian version with shrimps. At times we reserve the innermost portion, slice them and batter fry! I am sorry I should have taken the picture for a better understanding. Anyway, rice.... dal... and fritters is something we love in an all vegetarian day, the platter you see below is incomplete.... the onion, lemon and green chilli is missing! Mochar Bora is done in our family with slices made from the inner most part of the banana blossom.... Of the various Bengali dals, this moong dal done with ginger is common and simple! Both goes well with rice, the dal will go with South Asian Breads!

INGREDIENTS : [for the Banana Blossom fritters]

Slices from the innermost portion of Banana Blossom : 5-7
Rice Flour : 1/3small cup
Gram Flour : 4tbsp
Nigella Seed : 1/2tsp
Green Chilli : 2 chopped
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Turmeric powder : I tsp
Salt : As Required
Sugar : 1/2tsp
Oil : 100ml to deep fry

INGREDIENTS : [for the Split Green Gram with minced ginger]

Moong Dal / Split Green Gram : 1small cup
Turmeric Powder : 1/3tsp
Minced Ginger : 1tbsp
Dry Red Chilli Powder : 2 halved
Cumin Seed : 1/4tsp
Bayleaf : 1big or medium
Green Chilli : 2 slitted
Salt : As Required
Sugar : 1tsp
Oil : 1tbsp [authentically mustard]

METHOD :

Let us prepare the dal first. Bengali dals are little watery and mashy... what is the english of "daler kanta?"... stirrer?.... we use that! Moong dal is little thicker!

Dry roast the dal till light brown, take it in a bowl and wash under running water 2-3 times.

Pressure cook adding half of the turmeric, salt as required and 1 coffee mug of water up to 2 whistles! Let cool.

Heat oil in a wok, temper with the cumin seeds first, stir. Add the bayleaf, halved dry red chillies and half of the minced ginger. Give a quick stir, add some salt and turmeric! Stir for half a minute at low heat.

Now add the boiled moong dal. Add 2 coffee mugs of water in the pressure cooker, mix with the remaining residue of the dal and pour in to the wok. Stir and let the dal boil for at least 5 minutes at low heat.

Add the slitted green chillies, half of the minced ginger and the sugar. Stir and let boil for another 2-3 minutes. Add salt and water if only required, else do not.

Transfer to a serving bowl.

For the banana blossom fritters, we need to discard the stem end of the inner most part of the banana blossom. Slice them at medium thickness, do not forget to rub your palms with few drops of oil before slicing.

Wash and pressure cook up to 4 whistles at low heat adding salt and turmeric. Once cold, discard the water.

Apply little salt on them again. Let us prepare the batter now! Take together the rice flour, gram flour, salt, turmeric, sugar, nigella seeds, red chilli powder, slitted green chillies together in a bowl.

Add water little by little and prepare a batter of paste like consistency.

Heat enough oil for deep frying in a wok! Coat the banana blossom slices very well with the batter.

Fry both sides very well till they are brown and crisp.

Once done, transfer them on to tissue paper.

Serve the Mochar Bora fresh and hot with Aada Diye Moong er Dal and piping hot steamed rice! Let me know you enjoyed it or not!

It was a long standing wish to blog on baked roshogolla / rasgulla, ever since Kolkata started making it. Few of our friends are already back from there, I got my "patali gur".... date palm jaggery for the season, you know I do not allow the men to lament on not being able to have "shitkaleen pithe-puli" anymore, I do them as much as I can. I got my "panchphoron" packets too, I must say the "Bengali Panchphoron" and "Panchphutan" we get here are slightly different combination of spices. We can always prepare it in our kitchen though. Kolkata is already making Baked Roshogolla and Baked Bonde for a couple of years now, now I hear some renowned outlets are preparing Baked ChamCham too! I however find the store bought ones too sweet to my taste buds..... I am not a sweet lover by birth as of 'ilish' and 'mutton.' I was not allowed to eat sweets that I loved... the fried ones. Till date Roshogolla rules in my side of the family, the senior's side goes for variety. Our son grew up loving Roshogolla and Bonde, he was this small since when every evening he had to have two roshogolla / rasgulla. Its been quite for sometime that I am trying my hands on roshogolla / rasgulla at home, with reduced amount of sugar. This baked version of Roshogolla was done last week for the first time and it was successful.... why not share it during New Year celebration! The nation we stay and its neighbours are mango lovers just like this family.... so my version of baked roshogolla had to be modified further into BAKED ROSHOGOLLA WITH MANGO! By the way what are your plans for the New Year I do not know... if you are planning to eat and merry.... do keep my version of baked roshogolla / rasgulla in your dessert menu! This family is going for a week long vacation on the first day of 2018.... to to to.... a quaint place not too far ....... from the sea to the sea do we tread! I will try to capture some ecstatic moments with the nature and us.... the us moments is a question mark given my mens' severe dislike for it. The blog too needs some rest given all the rubbish things that goes on here! Once back, we can go ahead with some "poush shankranti pithepuli" shares .... reliving childhood!

This BAKED ROSHOGOLLA WITH MANGO recipe of mine is done with less sugar given my health condition.... also that we are now used to having less sugary dessert just like the people of the island do! I always feel if you are staying away from home elsewhere, you need to get along with its food and culture to some extent and be able to call it your second home. Take the example of me, I love eating rice with soya sauce and green chilli, loved that dessert of black glutinous rice served with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream in the husband's office party. I have not stopped loving 'bhaja bhuji.... bata buti' either, I can instantly say a hi to people with similar food habit given they consider the amount of grey matter in me! Both sides of our family are from "opar bangla" with different kind of cooking.... The maa-in-law with a literal high nose would serve a big "aar mach er lyaja" on my plate and at the same time would say amra oshob kochu-ghechu khaina.... That was exactly when I was unable to have a bit of that lucrative piece of "Aar."I used to take a bus way back from the work place the next day to the parent's home to have a plate of piping hot rice with "kochupatai mora kanchki maacher bora"..... for such secret missions I always lied to the in-laws saying we have a staff meeting after school. Small gestures, few soft words make dumbos like me happy. Our parents indeed fed us everything in turns not going beyond limits! Anyway, for this particular Bengali dessert recipe of BAKED ROSHOGOLLA WITH MANGO, I have not followed anyone as such though I know there are as many as the Google search engine can gather, some of my blogger friends too have done it I know! However, the idea of adding fruits to it is drawn from Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and the idea of adding cornflour to the malai mix is drawn from the wonder woman, the Late Tarla Dalal. Why Mango of all fruits?... Well, the people of this island do not eat roshogolla but I wished for a roshogolla share today... Mango is always there at home, we love it and the people of the island too... let us sew them together! Why pomegranate?.... Topped with them, the BAKED ROSHOGOLLA WITH MANGO tasted better... that juicy crunch of it means! As of the rest, I firmly believe if you can prepare those 2-tier... 3-tier cakes, roshogolla / rasgulla is not a big deal either! Come let us do it following few stepwise pictures I could manage.... If you are bored with my "ekgheye" pictures with no variations, you are right! I need to buy some new props.... but who will help me with the ideas on decor and photography skills which I am poor at?.... Enjoy the food instead and recreate them in your kitchen.... my gift from you...

Roughly Inspired by....
Master Chefs Sanjeev Kapoor & the Late Tarla Dalal

INGREDIENTS : [for the rasgulla]
Milk : 1lt
Semolina : 1/3tsp
Lemon Juice : 1/4small cup
Sugar : 1small cup
Water : 2 coffee mug
A soft cotton white piece of cloth
A strainer and a wide mouthed bowl

INGREDIENTS : [for the milk malai]
Milk : 11/2big coffee mug
Condensed Milk : 2tbsp
Sugar : 1tbsp
Corn Flour : 1tbsp
Kewra Essence : 2-3 drops

FINAL ASSORTMENT : [for BAKED ROSHOGOLLA WITH MANGO]
The Roshogollas.... We get 10 medium sized from 1lt milk
The Milk Malai
Cubed Mango from 1 standard size
Pomegranate Kernels to top
Aluminium foil bowl or any bake proof bowl

METHOD :

Let us prepare the milk malai first so that it gets ample time to cool.

Take 11/2 coffee mug of milk in a deep bottomed vessel and bring to boil.

Let it boil for 7-8 minutes, add the sugar and condensed milk now. Stir and let boil for another 4 -5 minutes stirring in between.

Dissolve the cornflour in 2 tbsp milk and add to the boiling milk. Mix well thoroughly.

Boil for another 1 minute and switch off. Add the kewra essence now, stir and let cool.

For the roshogollas, we will take 1lt milk in a vessel and let boil. Once it comes to boil, we will add the lemon juice. As the milk curdles, switch off gas immediately. Cover and let cool.

Place the clean piece of cloth on top of a strainer and place it on the bowl. Pass the paneer through it. The whey will be deposited in the bowl which you can use in curries, making dough or preparing another batch of paneer as I have seen my mother doing.

Tie the piece of cloth tight to the kitchen tap. Let all the excess water drain. I will suggest 5-6 hours time for it! Best if you prepare the chana at night and hang overnight! Once done, take down and untie the piece of cloth, the paneer looks like below.

Take it in a plate and mash... keep kneading for 10-12 minutes, add the semolina and knead for another 10 minutes. We are ready to prepare the balls which Cristine does for me.

We are simultaneously boiling the small cup of sugar and water alongside. The ratio of sugar and water is different here, why should we use more sugar if we are baking it with malai.

Once the sugar syrup has boiled for 5-6 minutes, gently drop the chana balls to it. Cover immediately. Let boil at medium heat for about 20 minutes before you uncover.

They are done by now.

Take a bake proof bowl and arrange the rasgullas and mango pieces on it.

Pour the milk malai atop. It is now ready to be baked.

Preheat oven to 180*C. Place the bowl atop the low rack provided with a convection mode microwave.

Bake at 180*C for 15-17 minutes or till it is brown atop and we are done.

Serve with some pomegranate kernels atop and enjoy the heavenly Bengali dessert with your loved ones!

We are just back from a week long tour of Port Dickson & A'famosa Amusement Park located in Malaysia.... a four to five hours drive from our island. They are not major tourist attractions as of Langkawi or Redang Island or say Penang, yet we chose them for a couple of reasons. Going for any kind of tour was not in our agenda this year as the son is appearing for his boards. We did not go to meet our family back in India for the same reason. However, I felt the son needs a break from the monotony of daily routine.... He is not the type who will sit at home and study all day through ..... better we go for an outing! We wished to save on the airfares and have a luxurious stay, and we did! I do not wish to go into further details on our stay.... it can be as boring as is the account of how lavish is the interior of the Ambani House... Antilia or the Virat Kohli-Anushka Sharma Wedding is to me! The husband travels to Port Dickson for ship visits and said you will like the place wifey.... it is quiet, free from any kind of crowd. On her tours, this lady loves to explore the daily life of the local people ..... how they live.... what they eat or wear! People come n stay there to play golf and eat street fries too. I indeed caught few moments and did not miss a cheese cake either ... haha...

That is when a message comes from that wonder woman Chutu's husband on my phone.... S..... is your husband playing golf?.... He is among very few who does not leave a single chance to play pranks on my man.... Chutu is perhaps the only woman on earth to whom my stubborn husband listens to a bit.... The woman or the couple gave shelter to one T for three long months at their Mumbai home when T was frantically looking for a decent job after a 21/2 years stay at home when our monkey was born, running out of all our savings. I can never repay their debts, more details on them some other day.... today is definitely not the right day to discuss them.... though the post suited! Anyway, I do not understand anything about photography, I just aim and shoot.... that too with my cell phone. The senior did not carry his camera either.... he takes them on long tours.... In fact he said S absorb dear... why do you ask us to pose... its irritating.... I say, I am making memories... I will relish them when the son will be away or my skin gets wrinkled! Moreover, our family and friends want to see us together at least once or twice in a year.... Port Dickson is a small township by the sea.... some 11/2 hour drive from its capital Kuala lumpur and a 4-5 hours drive from our island. It has few small beaches, good food.... local and fusion.... its market areas reminds me of the "haat" we read about in our Bengali text books or story books.... farmer's market? The palm & coconut gardens, small patch of farmlands remind me of such places I went for picnic years back.... the journey seemed as if I am travelling through the Kalyani Expressway towards the interior! A'famosa Amusement Park is an estate with water themed park, animal safari, hotel, condotel, villa, farmlands.... both personal properties and for the visitors. I enjoyed the view while those theme parks were for the men. Thank God, taking pictures in the theme parks were prohibited, else it would have been a comic relief for you to see me in the wave pool.... I am not adventurous with life! When the son ventures out with his girlfriend or wife, the old couple will stay in one of those log houses in the deep forest.... by the way.... is there any insect free forest with wifi connection in this world?

This MAWA MATAR STUFFED PATISHAPTA has an unusual filling. Patishapta / desi crepe falls in the 'pithepuli' category .... the sweet meat? section among us! It is during this winter do the Bengalis had or may be still have 'pithepuli'.... I will do a few among many in the coming days as I do every year. I do them round the year, this is a tropical island.... no point waiting for the winter to prepare them. The idea of doing them in winter is that a lot of milk products and coconut is used in them.... summers are not ideal.... anyway Indians and bloating are synonymous if you are not an ardent follower of Milind Soman or Rujuta Diwekar! Rujuta is here today to speak at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre.... I missed an earlier one, this time I do not want to miss it.... We are tired.... let us see if I can.... I just wish to listen to her... very scientific take on life and health! Patishapta / desi crepe is usually made with a coconut and thickened milk filling.... I drifted away from the traditional recipe and prepared this MAWA MATAR STUFFED PATISHAPTA with an unusual filling made of instant reduced milk, thickened milk, green pea paste, ghee! The family enjoyed it and are forced to welcome my experiments with food.... I tell them... I love my blog, however unwilling you are.... there can be no other guinea pig better than you... haha... The little brother loves his sister, yet will not agree to be a guinea.... could he ever get out of the Biryani phobia and explore the vast arena of food?.... though I do not agree with my men's comfort level with anything from octopus to camel.... that is the painful part of travelling with them!

INGREDIENTS: [for the filling]
Green Pea : 1coffee mug
Thickened Milk : 1small cup
Instant Mawa : 1medium cup
Powdered Milk : 2tbsp
Green Cardamom Powder : 1tsp
Sugar : 3tbsp
Ghee : 4tbsp

INGREDIENTS : [for the desi crepes]
Refined Flour : 1coffee mug
Rice Flour : 1/2coffee mug
Semolina : 1/2coffee mug
Sugar : 2tbsp
Baking Soda : A pinch
The Mawa Matar filling
Oil : Few drops
A non stick pan

METHOD :

I did not specify the ingredients for the thickened milk and instant mawa.... I mentioned it several times and there are too many youtube videos on them.

For the thickened milk, we will take about 400ml of full cream milk in a vessel and boil till it reaches half the consistency.... let cool for later use.

For the instant mawa, take 1/2 medium cup powdered milk, 1/4 small cup ghee, 1tea spoon of sugar and 3 table spoon of milk. Mix together all and microwave at high for 2-3 minutes stirring every 1 minute.

Wash the green peas and prepare a paste of it! Heat ghee in a wok and add the green pea paste to it.

Stir for 2-3 minutes and add the powdered milk. Fold in well.

Add the sugar and fold in well.

Add the thickened milk, fold in well.

Stir till the mixture tends to come out from the sides. Add the green cardamom powder and fold in well. Stir for a minute or so, take down.

Once the green pea paste is cool, add the instant mawa to it and roughly mix. Our filling is ready.

As for the patishapta crepes, we actually will prepare the batter at least 2 hours prior to its making, the soaking period is very important.

Take all the flours and sugar in a bowl.

Add water little by little and prepare a batter that is not too thick, neither too watery. Add 2-3 drops of oil.

Keep aside for 2-3 hours and add a pinch of baking soda and mix well only before frying them. Usually thickened milk is used to prepare the batter, but I wished to keep it less rich and added water.

Heat a non stick pan and grease with few drops of oil, wipe off any excess! Add a big spoonful of batter and immediately spread in roundels with the back of your ladle.

Let it be for few seconds, place a portion of filling in the middle and flatten a bit.

Fold from both sides. I am not so good at the folding part, yet they are patishaptas for sure.

Enjoy fresh, or may be the next day... both ways yum.

I have not taken any stepwise pictures for this appetiser called FISH ALOO BITES, I cannot remember when I took these shots! Such dishes keep on happening at our home.... sweet home ..... only that I do not take pictures always..... At times I prepare appetisers from some remains.... when the refrigerator requires a spring cleaning. These FISH ALOO BITES are made of such ingredients like a little of fish fillets, carrots, green pea, onion, very few spices and our universal potato..... Somedays I do not at all put much effort in the kitchen, may prepare some easy-peasy starters and enjoy with some handmade breads or a pulao by the sides.The last two days I was busy assembling and sharing the family album of our recent tour, observe the reactions of some as much as possible with the limited edition of grey matter.... I meant how far people can go with their insensitivity.... then took no effort to remove few from the so called friend's list. Who are those people?.... Well people who think I have made the biggest mistake of not giving birth to a girl child, they find it difficult to wish my pride on his birthday, but adorns their daughter in most cases in dresses matching to this island's flag and post just when I have posted few pictures of my men which I do yearly once or twice may be..... I am so busy promoting "myself" rest of the time haha..... Anyways, I felt a strong urge to eliminate such elements from my list.... it is at some of these characters' times of emergency did I fund a bit without a second thought.... it hurts.... when it hurts, I prefer to remove. So, I was in a cleaning spree though not thoroughly.... there are still some who I am strongly unwilling to remain connected in social forums, unable to be stern in some particular cases.... but we can always avoid. Haven't I grew up watching two women protecting their kids like a tigress? I keep on telling my mother that the only difference between you and the "another woman" is that.... her kids listened to every word of her and your daughter did not and obviously lacked their brain ... haha.... My mother at least was / is a saree aficionado, wore lipstick, nail polish..... I have never seen that "another woman" wearing anything beyond a cotton, never wore a lipstick or a nail polish..... each penny, every dream of her revolved around the betterment of her kids.... to feel that you need not wake up together every morning... you just know. I watched everything from a distance, how does it matter if I am not in the list of her most loved people? In the home front, isn't it for my little brother that I can live peacefully in a far off place? .... off course his wife is a contributor!With the senior's sister too taking utmost care of her parents, life should be good.... If you ask me do you apply on your son what you have learnt from the two ladies..... then you are truly a stranger to us.... the junior went after his father ..... he decides for himself.... this character trait off course is my maa-in-law's contribution! Why did I write all those rubbish above?.... Well you should always consider having more than one kid in your life, it helps .... some dear / dearest people around do not have any.... I will definitely not go ahead with a 'you... me... and my kid' kind of post today.... its for all! Most of us love kids, we must without any prejudice or discrimination.... but deep within your heart.... you must take utmost pride in yours.... always.... We will not hurt other's sentiment so long they are not hurting mine! I am my mother's and that "another woman's" prototype ..... so I cannot think beyond this!.... I never claim to be a wise person!..... but more or less an honest cook and can treat you with such an awesome starter / appetiser / snack called FISH ALOO BITES!

Fish is a staple in any Bengali home.... you bet after returning home from any tour.... I so much crave for our kind of fish curry.... this is not the case for my men who may be planning for a deer meat or snake meat on their next trip. I am my mother's daughter and still remember after returning from a vacation, how she ran to the wet market... got some "shorputi or aar" and prepare an authentic curry with"dhonepata bata, sheem, mulo, begun".... Indeed I watched that Bengali movie with a 'fishy tale' and was giggling looking at the "bori-begun diye rui / katlar jhol".... I found so similar few of the dialogues... our mother still says "amra kena bori khaina".... or when my senior says "katla r kachey rui kichui na"..... The problem is I do not get that authentic taste in the curries made with fresh water fish coming from the neighbouring countries, its better to have a snapper, salmon or the universal shrimp... If the Senior and the Junior is happy, the lady has to be happy.... Even the people of Bengal with an authentic taste bud says the fish markets of Kolkata are flooded with fish from the "bheri" or from other states, we hardly get "khal bil nodi pukurer mach" these days. I do prepare them keeping a meat dish, vegetarian dish like kofta for the son, click pictures too.... shall go ahead in a good time..... If one Anindya Chaterjee goes ahead with my dearest contemporary Bengali author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay's "Monojder Adbhoot Bari" for his next venture, we have to go ahead with a "kheer kodom or chal potol" too.... as of now I have to think about the lovely people who came and showed some love to my family album.... with or without much calculation.... I mean they understood that it is not possible to wear winter clothes in a tropical beach or request an unknown teen to be in the frame just for the sake of a match-match game.... is it ever possible to remember who wore what when.... that too with my men who will not listen at all which clothes to wear and when..... I am an idiot and dumbo but what goes around in the social forums is sheer madness ..... It feels very depressive to realise that I have become a part of it.... too unwillingly.... Some may not have a spouse, while others may not have a kid... do I / we stop featuring in the social media for that or should they stop? ...... I do not like people taking too much interest in my family matters that refers to my brother, cousins, sister-in-laws, brother-in-laws.... Tomorrow if I kiss their sister-in-law or brother-in-law leaving them, they are going to kick me out! If it is food.... it should be the recipe that should concern us.... if it is someone's picture, how graceful they look in the attire should matter.... I do not understand how a family with a girl child can have a boy in their frame and vice versa...... I mean if they are self centric like me and prefer family tour / time. The world should not be brainless like me.... if the man at home says I hate those social forums, I cannot blame him.... one of his dearest someone in Mumbai also says... S, I indeed have a Facebook profile with no picture or post... haha.... The best way to keep all these complications at bay is to do what you love.... in my case it is to share this recipe of non vegetarian fish appetiser / snack FISH ALOO BITES with you all. It requires very few ingredients that are always in your pantry and is quick to do. It is crisp, yum... such a pleasure at every bite that you will love it even if you are not a fish lover.

INGREDIENTS :
Any Firm White Fish Fillet : 300-350gm [boiled with little salt and roughly mashed]
Carrot : 1medium sized [cut in to small cubes]
Green Pea : 1/2small cup
Potato : 2medium [peeled, washed, boiled and mashed]
Onion : 1big[peeled, washed, roughly chopped]
Cumin Seed : 1/4tsp
Black Pepper Corn : 10-12
Fennel Seed : 11/2tsp
Dry Red Chilli : 2-3
Coriander Leaves : 2tbsp[chopped]
Turmeric powder : 1/4tsp
Lemon juice : 2-3tbsp
Refined Flour : 1tbsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 2tbsp + 2tbsp

METHOD :

Dry roast the fennel seeds, black pepper corns and the dry red chillies, grind to a coarse powder.

Wash the carrot cubes, green peas and rub with little salt. Heat oil in a wok and temper with cumin seeds.

Add the chopped onion and fry till light brown. Add the carrot cubes, green peas and stir fry at medium heat for 2 minutes.

Add the boiled and mashed fish, turmeric powder and stir cook for a minute or so. Add the boiled potato and fold in very well. Keep stirring continuously for 3-4 minutes.

Add the coarsely ground powder, lemon juice, chopped coriander leaves and fold in very well. Stir for 2 minutes and add the refined four. Add salt if required. Fold in well and take down. Let cool.

Once cool, make into desired shapes. Heat 2tbsp oil in a pan, arrange the fish tikkis atop. Let cook till one side is brown. Turn over and let cook till brown.

MAWA TOAST

FRESH HERBS TURMERIC RICE & CHANAR DALNA

KOCHI PATHAR DOM

PINEAPPLE PRAWN & GARLIC TEMPERED RICE

GHEETE BHAJA LUCHI O JHINGE KUMRO ALOOR TARKARI

BATTER FRIED POMFRET

PEPPER & CHEESE STUFFED MINI PARATHAS

KURMUREY BHINDI IN A SPICY SESAME SEED & RICE FLOUR BATTER

DHONEPATA BATA DIYE MULO SHEEM ALOO CHINGRI

ELACH DANA O KALOJEEREY SUJI BISKUT

BENGALI BONDE

TIL NARKOL BATA MURGI

LEMON & NUTMEG FLAVOURED COCONUT CAKE

ROSE & FRESH MINT COCONUT CREAM ICE-CREAM WITH WALNUT

BEETROOT .. BUTTERMILK... NUTS.. NUTELLA .. A CAKE..

NOODLES ........ A DESI TOUCH

MOCHAR BORA O AADA DIYE MOONG ER DAL

BAKED ROSHOGOLLA WITH MANGO

MAWA MATAR STUFFED PATISHAPTA

FISH ALOO BITES