CURRY AND SPICE

No, I will not start with the much cliched "poush toder dak diyechey, aaire chute aai aai aai"...... Gurudeb may get angry.... there is more and still more to him than the very few verses of him that circulates in the social media.... I have not read him enough so that I can make an impromptu quote from his treasure trove. Instead, let me thank the recipe source for this easier method of doing Chitoi Pithe..... I did not even dare to follow our mother's recipe..... she follows her mother's recipe which requires two particular variety of rice and salt..... they would wash and soak the rice overnight, drain the water next day, half grind in a "hamandista" and then prepare a semi smooth paste in the "shil nora" .... then would go ahead with the recipe. I will take a bow with reverence, saluting all these yesteryear ladies.... the super women but will follow an easier recipe that I discovered in a Facebook Page named Daisy's Recipe & Cuisine Gallery! I am so very thankful to this page for helping me to try and be successful with a traditional Bengali recipe with an easier method using modern equipments! I followed that particular recipe almost blindly, added some shredded coconut that the island provides us in abundance and got this near perfect, soft NARKOL DIYE CHITOI PITHE O KHEJUR GUR. It is a celebration time for the Indians spread all over the world! If it is a Makar Sankranti, I have to go ahead with something traditional that suits, if it is an Eid celebration, I will go ahead with a chicken recipe, its as simple as that! I was telling a very dear and trusted someone just yesterday that life seems complicated these days but I prefer a straight road! Do not ask me if the person is a man or a woman.... haha..... I never do think before an action and that lands me in to unwanted complications! Let me tell you about an incident that occured few weeks back. I was inside an Asian store, happy and content with the size of "ilish" or with a packet of "loitta shutki"..... chit chatting with the store guys.... all of a sudden I discovered they used the beef cutter machine for cutting my fish or mutton, chicken! I screamed "eta ki korlen apnara, aar nimuna mach apnader thika."...... Then I saw the pain on the known faces who call me "Apa"..... On my way back home, a feeling of gloom and guilt overshadowed me.... I was thinking what if they hold me at gun point tomorrow for hurting their religious sentiments? It was only last week that my son while ordering a beef steak was instructing the restaurant manager for a rare one ... with 20% cooking... I felt awkward then too! Why? Some where there a party wins 80 seats in a State Assembly election only by visiting temples prior to the election ignoring the other places of worship.... there are also other such places where you can stay in power for long if you speak ill of or destroy temples! Meanwhile, in both the countries a girl child is abducted, raped, strangulated and killed! .... and we are busy spitting at each other! It is good to protect animal rights, not alone of cows though.... but one should ensure that the kids and adults do not die in a hospital in absence of oxygen! I will not go ahead with a chicken keema ball share on a Makar Sankranti Day just because I try not to hurt sentiments. However poor I am at bakes, I did share a cake recipe for Xmas.... All of us have every right to uphold and take pride in our own culture and tradition, but without hurting the sentiments of the rest! We are unable to be this perfect always and that is so humane....

Chitoi Pithe is an authentic Bengali, savoury snack recipe which is done during Poush Sankranti and to be had with Khejur Gur / Date Palm Jaggery..... Unable to follow the yesteryear ladys' laborious method, unavailability of the required ingredients and utensils, I preferred to follow an easier method I discovered in a Facebook page. I follow such pages to go back in time, relive childhood through the food shares that I grew up eating! This recipe requires use of cooked rice which our mothers will never approve of! Cooked rice is "shorka" or "etho" to them.... she always complains "tora etho - katha manishna ekdom" .... The poor lady is at our Kolkata home now, cleaning before Sankranti because the daughter could not make her winter visit. It is only for her that it has not turned into a remains till date. Yet I do not do the 1/4th for her what my little brother does. Anyway, we do not offer savoury snacks to the God usually, so I went ahead with using cooked rice. I like it and giggle when the rest of India or say people of this island offer God what they eat!.... This recipe of NARKOL DIYE CHITOI PITHE O KHEJUR GUR uses a special variety of rice, cooked rice, a little of oil, sugar, salt, baking powder..... the shredded coconut is my addition! I really got an authentic taste of Chitoi Pithe. Inspite of being a diabetic, I am indeed enjoying it with date palm jaggery or a cup of tea.... You can turn these snacks into a dessert adding them to thickened milk. Will come up with that recipe later.... Till yesterday, I prepared only 3 desserts and pithe altogether because my men are small eaters. By the way, the picture of my Patali Gurer Payesh [ Date Palm Jaggery Kheer] just got updated... do you like it?

I still do not know how to share links of my previous posts as some of my friends do.... I am the only food blogger perhaps with no technical knowledge, neither I am a cook with precision.... I always urge people... leave me alone... be it in the kitchen or in life.... I perform better that way and do not wish to bother others either. Traditionally, this recipe requires a "matir shora" and "matir unan" but you can see Daisy's Recipe & Cuisine Gallery have provided us with a recipe that is full proof and can be done in gas oven and in a cast iron wok or in a round shaped, non-stick wok. I would suggest you to use even smaller wok. In the beginning I made the blunder of spreading the batter with the back of the ladle a bit.... never do that.... else they will not rise, neither will remain soft and fluffy at the center. I corrected after getting it wrong initially....

Heavily Inspired by :
Daisy's Notebook & Cuisine Gallery

INGREDIENTS :
Gobinda Bhog / Chini Gura / Kali Jeera Rice : 11/3coffee mug [we get this variety in Asian store]
Cooked rice : 1small cup
Shredded Coconut : 1medium cup
Oil : 2tbsp
Sugar : 1tbsp
Salt : 1/3tsp
Baking Powder : 1/3tsp
Water : As Required for a paste like consistency

METHOD :

Wash and soak the rice overnight.

Next Morning, drain the water and transfer the rice to a grinder, add all the other ingredients except the shredded coconut.

Add some water and grind to a fine paste. Do the grinding part with intervals and do not add water all at a time!

Pour the batter into a large bowl.... Add little water if only required! Mix well.

Add the shredded coconut.

Mix well again the entire content.

Heat a cast iron or non stick round, small wok on gas oven very well. Take a round shaped spoonful of batter and pour gently at the centre of the wok.

Do not do anything.... just cover and reduce heat to minimum immediately.

It took me 1 minute for each to fluff up though the original recipe said 30 seconds.

Gently take out, the bottom will be little burnt..... while the centre will be fluffy! Authentically we enjoy NARKOL DIYE CHITOI PITHE O KHEJUR GUR / date palm jaggery.... You can also enjoy it with your favourite chutney and hot cups of tea.... even stale the next day!

Ahh... tender, juicy, hot, spicy, irresistible... wooooow.... you are only mine.... I meant my rendezvous with mutton gets me to such expressions, I cannot help it. Boys can excuse me when mutton sings to me just like Akshay Kumar "Ab tere dil mein hum aa gaye, tere dil mein rahenge.... to? Tujhe apna kahenge.... Jhoota... says someone with that million dollar smile... who else but Madhuri Dixit.... she has a maddening effect on me since "ek, do, teen"days .... me and Chandrayee watched Tezaab first day, first show at Purnashree and how the naive Tanushree got vocal when it came to a fight with me over Madhuri and her heartthrob Sridevi.... Yesterday evening I came across this song after a long time and discovered my walking steps:pace ratio improved... Bollywood does rule my life... as does hilsa and mutton. Anyway, I cannot discuss on an on screen romance of Akshay Kumar & Madhuri Dixit much at this moment, why? No, not because Bollywood is unreal, because its unreal... I love it! Not unreal in all cases either, my couple friends, the active "SHER" members Joydip & Suchandra Kundu met in a Bollywood style... Joydip loves mutton and speaks for protection of animal rights too and I do not find anything wrong in it. There is one more Bollywood like couple among us, shall utter the names only if I am permitted to. Anyway, I should not go gaga about an onscreen couple at this time because a real life couple needs our attention and support .... if the queen of wit with substance Twinkle Khanna can get her "main khilari tu anari" husband to do a socially relevant movie like "Padman".... due for release on 25th January, she deserves a big hand from us!.... I loved the tagline... The gentleman Mr. Arunachalam Muruganantham dared to speak on women's hygiene which even women do not and invented a machine to produce low cost sanitary napkins for the needy.... We will watch the movie, you too should. My man definitely will not say no to it..... though I know if I call him now in office and sing 'Aab tere dil mein hum aa gaye, tere dil mein rahenge'.... his immediate reaction would be S .... have you started doing drugs? I will still be serving luchi and MUTTON WITH EGGS & POTATOES to him tonight. I am not this "lokkhi meye".... either.... I do not wish to be a good girl at all times, in all cases.... To go with a mutton dish today is a sudden decision , I was thinking of going ahead with something else that millions of those girls who cannot afford a sanitary napkin may cook and have.... but then do not you try to find logic in my actions .... neither do I explain my actions to anyone.... because only I know my own pain, angst, whatever.... majority of you do not.... The few who know it do join hands on special days to make fun of me in full public view.... Go, and kiss them on their cheeks, I do not care. Let me go ahead with a mutton dish for people who care for me...

Yesterday, I was enjoying some of my dear people's posts, uploads.... they are close to the heart, they have done something or the other for me at different times.... yet I do not always kiss them in public just to say.... I suffer from breathlessness if you hug me too tight in public .... I still love you, and I still dislike people who I have once disliked.... one cannot be a friend who intend to irritate you purposefully even after a couple of decades.... Let us come to the people who love mutton. If the little brother has stopped kissing Arnab, at least in public, he deserves a mutton today.... who are they smiling being in their wives's arms?.... a Sanak Chottopadhay & a Dibyendu Banerjee.... they swear by mutton and I love them way too much... Have I ever introduced you guys to one Debopam Raha? Well when I joined school he was the first boy in our class while this girl sat towards the last bench..... however so we became good friends... he went to another school a year later and you see we are still so good friends and his wife Sarnali seems too much of my dear! This superb guy is an IIT Kharagpur alumni who posted few pictures of their alumnus meet yesterday... in one of them the wonder woman Chutu's husband is standing beside him but I will not talk about one of India's genius today.... this dumbo's good friend "Debo" is no less either.... when a Debopam Raha.... Dr. Saubhik Sengupta and their loving spouses gets together at our Kolkata home, S has to cook a mutton curry! It is not so that the people who sat with me in the last benches are not my love.... each one of them has done good in their life expect for me who only managed to find a perfect host body.... haha.... These people's silly acts at times gets me angry... Who are those "rascalas" from college who went for a picnic to the Eco Park without me? Swati Bhattacharya and gang.... this girl is hyper sensitive just as me but she or some of them know I am too allergic to some people.... but I can treat them all with some MUTTON WITH EGGS & POTATOES always! Those girls with a red gown, or a black pullover or a black sunglass are a pleasure to watch at all times... I keep them in the warmth of my heart.... Since age fifteen I learnt to enjoy watching beautiful girls.... in the process I forgot to fall for boys you know... haha... Do not drag the man of the house into all these... the poor guy was destined to stand by a bush or in the mid sea with a water bottle beside his wife who has severe nausea.... there he is.... a banyan tree for the family that did not grow in width.... Coming to sunglasses, even when I was wearing contact lenses, I could not manage a sunglass... given the flat nose... it always slipped! The irritated me would scream.... yaar husband... can you please fund for your wife's plastic surgery.... you can see the moron did not! Yet he will get his favourite mutton today... I do not know whether I am a good wife or a mother.... the parameters to measure it is not clear to me... Day before yesterday Shamsa Anwar, a dear friend who teaches at Penn State University wrote a note on what a mother should teach her son on women and I instantly could identify with it. I am abnormally attached to my son but never say "hirer angti abar baka kisher".... I always tell him be honest with your commitments and always respect a girl's consent.... rest only our Olive Oyl can say how much he has learnt from it. By the way... my beautiful friend Shamsa is a wonderful photographer... her bald husband with moustaches, bhai jaan looks such a gentleman.... She happens to be my first virtual friend with three other ladies.... not all names are to be taken in a lifetime... For all, a curry MUTTON WITH EGGS & POTATOES.... For the rest and their dearest ones there are better people to take care as of now.... I do not wish any kiss coming to this direction today.... at times I love total seclusion for myself...

You definitely have got bored by now.... You are always at the liberty to dive directly into the recipe of this MUTTON WITH EGGS & POTATOES, the idea of which I got from our couple friends Sanjib & Paramita Ghosal. Their December visit to Kolkata has to have a mandatory visit to Aminia which has opened a branch in our locality there too. Sanjib shared a picture of such a dish with mutton, eggs and potatoes last week.... they were having it without me at Aminia.... The angry me did not call Paramita for any idea on the recipe and went ahead with something that is purely mine. It has yogurt, a number of mixed spices, etc. etc. in it... please do check the ingredient list.. As for the kids who featured yesterday in the social forums... I love you but a homemade jam for you some other day... when people leave me at myself... and do not prick me hard repeatedly for decades! "Ab to dil mein hai darde disco".... I am that woman who fought all "dards" and made a good choice and life for herself.... may be parasitical I am... how does it bother you?

INGREDIENTS :
Mutton / Lamb : 1kg [medium cut]
Yogurt : 200gm
Potato : 2big [peel, wash and cut into 4pieces each, ideally each should be cut into 2 pieces]
Egg : [1 for each person, wash, boil and remove the shell]
Ginger Paste : 1tsp
Garlic Paste : 2tbsp
Tomato Paste : 1/2small cup
Fennel Powder : 1/4tsp
Cumin Powder : 1/2tsp
Coriander Powder : 1tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1/12tbsp [adjust as per your requirement]
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Nutmeg Powder : 1/2tsp
Black Pepper Powder : 1/2tsp [coarsely ground]
Cinnamon Powder : 1/2tsp
Cardamom Powder : 1/4tsp
Salt : As Required
Ghee : 3tbsp + 1tbsp
Bay leaf : 1big
Oil : 2tbsp

METHOD :

Wash the mutton pieces thoroughly. Add half of all the powdered spices and some salt to the yogurt and beat well. Add to mutton pieces and coat each piece well. Keep refrigerated for at least 5 hours or overnight in a closed container. Take out 1 hour before cooking.

Rub little salt to the boiled eggs when you start the cooking. The potatoes should be soaked in water till the mutton is half done, else they turn black once peeled.... it happens to me at least.

Heat 3tbsp ghee and 2tbsp oil in a wok and temper with a bay leaf! Add the ginger and garlic pastes and stir for two minutes, add the tomato paste now and stir for another minute. Add the rest of the red chilli and turmeric powder only at this stage and stir well till oil separated from the spice mix.

Add the mutton pieces without the marinade and stir at high heat for 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat to minimum and add the marinade, fold in well and cover cook at minimal heat... check and stir in between. A lot of water will release and when it dries, the "koshano" part is done.

We will add the salt rubbed potato pieces now. Add the remaining spice mixes now except for the turmeric and red chilli powder which we have added earlier. Fold in well and stir for 2 minutes.

Add 11/2 coffee mug of warm water and fold in well. Cover cook at minimal heat for ten minutes, open cover and add the boiled eggs. Cover cook for 3-4 minutes. We should be done.

Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with 1tbsp ghee and enjoy with steamed rice, pulao, any kind of breads!

Well Malpua does not require a season to be made at this home, it is done whenever this lady feels the duo had enough of fruits without much complaints, they deserve some "bhajabhuji." As is the system of the schools these days, there are two breaks... a short and a long one. I manage some fruits going down through the food track packing them for the junior's short break and for the senior's post lunch treat. Once a colleague of the senior told me.... you send two boxes full of food for your husband, most of the days he goes from this table to that table distributing a major part of them. He says the wife creates ruckus if I take them back home. It is not so that the tiger has suddenly stopped roaring but he hates to see the wife frowning after a hard day at work. Anyway, since then I pack his lunch box with few more parathas and pooris ..... sharing food is good.... we did it while at school, college and at the university level too. The husband continues to play tricks till date and remain severely underweight... 54 kg with a 5'11"height. How much our friends say he is lucky, the wife is worried and keeps on motivating him.... had you have listened to me, you could have a body like "Jholmol Khan" and would roam around with "Jhilmils" by your side you see. He seems to be too much involved with his present love who he spends maximum hours with, comes back home at 10 pm giving a deaf ear to the wife.... no one can stop me from frowning! Anyway, Lunch Box holds a special place in my heart... our mother set the standard for it ever since we were at school.... I try to follow her footsteps in my kitchen too.... hopefully successful because the son does not wish to eat from the school canteen in general .... Besides all these... that film Lunch Box is also treasured and is deeply rooted in this heart..... Few have crushed me under their feet a couple of times in this lifetime, I still cannot turn off the face... haha.... Life did not teach me to be calculative..... Calculus was born to get me 54/100 in mathematics in our 10th board examination... we cannot be friends whatsoever. Anyways, as I always say, I do not give any explanations to anyone on any of my actions as long as I do not find it necessary. On a lighter note, I make it a point to call the brother during his lunch hours... "ki khachish?".... The answer is an obvious "polao & doi macch".... "biryani" or "rajma / chana & luchi".... no wonder this boy will never wish to move out of Kolkata! The entire family's prime is Food and though Bengalis are more into preparing malpua with refined flour / rice flour / semolina.... an ATTA GUR MALPUA is also welcome at this home at times!

ATTA GUR MALPUA is perhaps the most basic of the variety of malpua Indians do. Among us Bengalis.... "kheer er malpoa" is more common done with refined flour, rice flour, semolina, thickened milk, sugar.... at times adding shredded coconut and a banana. The grandmother used to prepare malpua at this time of the year with rice flour and jaggery..... I simply loved that.... burnt at all corners and soft in the middle. I feel malpuas made with more amount of rice flour is crisper than the rest..... I keep on doing malpua in turns throughout the year, the most common sweet snack.... can we call it? Lying down on the couch with an Ashapurna Debi or a Shamsur Rahman or at times a Kafka or a Saadat Hasan Manto and having 4-5 malpua with tea is a pleasure for this old lady ever since she was a teen. I did read Samaresh Basu's "Bibar" while at school... then it was banned perhaps for a long time.... An item song played during Durga Puja may be nasty but not a Manto... I mean to me and perhaps to my kinds..... though my knowledge of him is negligible! Now if I start elaborating on my definition of "obscenity".... Google may not allow... Lets dive into the recipe of ATTA GUR MALPUA which I have done with whole wheat flour, jaggery, shredded coconut, banana..... deep fried in ghee and served garnished with pistachios. I have done malpua with whole wheat about three times, what I see is that they are very soft compared to the other varieties. I dare not add thickened milk in the batter, cannot manage.... yet they are good in taste. I am never happy with the shapes of these ATTA GUR MALPUA.... you can see that in the pictures... which proves I am not a cook with precision.... do not expect a "goina bori" from me either.... I am far from any kind of fine artistry ..... Enjoy my food shares, if not the photography...... I repeat again do not take me into your arms always.... I am by nature reclusive who loves seclusion most of the time, specially when she is hurt not knowing herself what is actually hurting her! You will definitely not like to be friend with such a confused person.... so keep a distance! Let me enjoy all of your posts, share with you my kitchen tales.... at times me, myself too.... I love flaunting my sarees, dresses, jewelry.... if you can accept me as that you will not be hurt.... most of the time I fail to see who wore what when and why.... this is not a composed brain you see! Come let us cook together ATTA GUR MALPUA and be happy!

INGREDIENTS :

Whole Wheat Flour : 1coffee mug
Grated Jaggery : 1medium Cup
Sugar : 2tbsp
Shredded Coconut : 1small cup
Banana : 1
Black Peppercorn : 1tbsp
Fennel Seed : 1tbsp
Ghee : 1small cup
Oil : 1/2small cup +1tsp
Baking Soda : A pinch
Pistachio : To Garnish

METHOD :

Take the whole wheat flour, grated jaggery, shredded coconut, sugar and banana in a bowl.

Mash the banana and mix together all the ingredients roughly. Add water little by little to prepare a thick batter. Add 1tsp oil, the black peppercorns and fennel seeds.

Mix everything very well and keep aside for an hour, covered. When it is ready to be fried, open cover and add the baking soda, mix well again.

Heat 1small cup ghee and 1/2 small cup oil in a pan or a wok [ accordingly you get the shapes flat or round]. Take a spoonful of the batter and gently pour on the hot oil. Adjust heat. Once the one side is brown, turn over and let fry the other side till brown. My first 2-3 malpuas are always a flop, so do not worry.... adjusting the heat is important.

Take out once fried and place on a tissue paper! Enjoy hot with tea or stale the next day!

Oh I had something else on my mind for today's share, then I thought if someone is taking pride on one of their creation at the moment, let me not interfere.... we can share it later. Let us have some FRESH ORANGE JUICE & SEMOLINA HALWA instead. Anyway, we are "Bangal" hailing from the other side of Bengal, we do not have the ritual of "Sheetal Shashti" a day after the D-day.... Off course it is a big day for us tomorrow... its Saraswati Puja.... the Goddess of Art & Learning makes an yearly visit at our homes at this time of the year! At our home, the mother never missed it and is still going on with the ritual.... This year there is no puja happening at that home.... the father left us. I do not find any logic behind this.... he so much loved inviting his club associates for a "prasad" on such days. Anyway, since the daughter is married to another family, there is no hard and fast rule for her .... again there is a why so? here too but not in the right mood for any kinds of argument, so she will go ahead with all the Saraswati Puja rituals! This beautiful lady who plays the Beena / Veena had been very unkind to me till date, yet I go ahead with pleasing her to my best capability..... hoping the offspring should not turn in to a hopeless case like his mother. You can well imagine how busy I am today and tomorrow.... and what a bliss our Cristine is.... She fries the moong dal for the "Khichuri Bhog", continuously stirs the milk for the "rice kheer".... prepares the dough for "luchi" and her "naru" is more round than mine. The senior / junior does not know when the lady does the shopping for a special prayer meet, they are happy with the "naru".... one is glued into the computer screen and the other is back from the neighbouring country just yesterday night... The doubts are now turning into belief .... I meant I was wondering at what point does official meetings gets so interesting .... haha... How much of busy I am, or distracted the mind is, I enjoy sharing my recipes with all.... a Saraswati Pujo at the doorstep and let me give you a very quick, easy and yum recipe that you can offer the Goddess with luchi / Poori.... I am doing some normal "cooking - shooking".... and writing this super simple recipe because I wished to..... I love my blog however minuscule it is just as I love the "me" though it is full of flaws and a way bit weird too.... When I am hurt, I go out and buy myself a small gift, wear it.... take a selfie with a big smile.... I make it a point to repeat and repeat again "stay away from me if I have said no to you long back.... I have my own reasons and I prefer to stick to that".... I am too possessive, too protective of certain feelings or people, too averse to certain behaviours. Did you call me silly?.... Oh yes, I am.... very much.... I am 47.... I still call one Chandrayee Dasgupta and say you will not be friends with that person or hit a like in their post.... haha... but I am selfish enough not to comply to her wishes most of the time.... Leave me.... I am not the kind to be in your thought, let me walk alone and sing "yeh zindegi hai ek jua... kabhi jeet bhi kabhi har bhi yahan".... another hit number from Madam M.... At different stages of my life, Madam Ms have ruled on me, no more but! I know majority of you get irritated with my irrelevance ..... I just wished to say ignore people who let you down, rest.... to lessen your irritation I have arranged for some "mishtimukh" today.... FRESH ORANGE JUICE & SEMOLINA HALWA.

Oranges are found in abundance here in the island and of different variety throughout the year.... be it the naval oranges from that "bahargaon" or mandarin ones.... they are available fresh, juicy and sweet in most cases. I am fond of citrus fruits, we were so pampered kids that the mother removed the skin, seeds and served it in a plate... she should not have! She then dried the skin, powdered and prepared face masks for the daughter but the daughter made it a point that she will marry someone who accepts her the way she is.... she just uploaded a make up free selfie of her in few forums just to flaunt her newly bought nose pin, to say I am just this ! She tries to smile even when she is not in the right mood! I do not share every little feeling with the family or you.... most of the time I do not speak of what goes on inside hoping those who wish will know it... too much of expectations... huh? I know, I know! Anyway, I love the hint of tart even in a very sweet orange, use them in cooking occasionally besides having it as a fruit ..... what about a glass of orange juice every morning for your coughing men S? Come on do not get on my nerves... you are irritating me now... this is a family of three untamed horses... so orange juice goes to an ORANGE & SEMOLINA HALWA at times, even to chicken curries. Trust me and try, you will love this sweet & tart, to be had fresh & warm dessert done with fresh orange juice, semolina, sugar, green cardamom powder, ghee and dry fruits. If you cannot do an elaborate arrangement on Vasant Panchami, offer Maa Saraswati a plate of ORANGE & SEMOLINA HALWA with luchi / poori.... She will be happy & your family too! Tomorrow also happens to be Bengal's Valentine's Day .... young boys & girls wearing yellow coloured panjabi & saree are seen in flocks at the corner of a puja pandal or in front of a movie theatre.... they meet perhaps never to meet in future again! Let us concentrate on the recipe... bright yellow / basanti is the colour theme of our Saraswati Puja... My son or his father is not the type to wear a yellow punjabi on this day on my say.... your people are not this stubborn.... make them wear.... I can still feel the touch of my mother's fingers helping the daughter donning her saree .....

INGREDIENTS :
Semolina / Suji : 1medium cup
Orange Juice : 1/3 coffee mug [I used fresh]
Sugar : 1/4medium cup
Green Cardamom : 2-3
Bay Leaf : 1
Green Cardamom Powder : 1/4tsp
Chopped Pistachio, Cashew Nut, Almond, Raisin : 1tbsp + 1tbsp
Ghee : 1/2 to 1/3 small cup
Water : As Required
Yellow Food Colour : A pinch [optional]

METHOD :

Heat ghee in a wok and temper with green cardamoms and a bay leaf.

Add the semolina, fold in well.

Stir quite for sometime until the semolina is roasted well. Add the sugar now.

Fold in well the entire mixture and stir for 2 minutes or so. Add the orange juice now.

Fold in well and keep stirring for 1-2 minutes. We have the chopped dry fruits ready at the Kitchen counter.

Add a small cup of water, yellow food colour and half of the chopped dry fruits. Stir cook for 2-3 minutes till the entire content gets a paste like consistency.

We are done and we will transfer it to a serving bowl, garnish with the rest of the dry fruits mixture. If not offering it to the almighty, have fresh and hot either as a dessert or accompanied with luchi / poori!

About 40 years back, this day was a Saraswati Puja day.... I did not get a wake up call from the parents around 5 am in the morning, neither did I hear the tinkling sound of someone's bangles busy in the kitchen preparing a paste of "kancha holud and neempata".... fresh turmeric and neem leaves paste to which mustard oil is mixed and is a must to massage all over the body on this particular day.... if you do it five times a week you may get a skin like Cleopatra .... if you are trying to recommend me a neem leaves juice every morning, you are not my friend.... The mother did try all such things on me but in vein. I love watching others all decked up, not really applicable to me at all times.... "abhimaan?.... ta boltey paro tomra"... or may be self respect! Had I have a little bit of this self respect in our physics teacher Rakhal Sir's class... I would not be this idle brain today.... He made it a point to ask me questions in almost every physics class and I stood staring at him with a blank face....shamelessness for sure.... Self pride occured only when a comparison with a Nikhita, Punita or say Pricilla happened.... To be precise, till age sixteen I fought with the mother on why she applies so much of oil on my hair that barred me to be someone near to Pricilla.... Once I was 16, I felt otherwise.... let me be myself .... a vouch taken while strolling aimlessly at the DumDum railway station one afternoon.... we stayed 19 long years in DumDum. What you see in social media is a much done up face with a double layer of make up, that reminds that Xmas is over for long and I need to change the Facebook profile picture! Let us go back there from where we started.... That particular morning, the seven years old girl could not find her mother wondering where can she go on a Saraswati Puja day.... then our Paa and the neighbourhood aunties said God has sent a beautiful gift to you, a living toy.... That evening, the daddy took me to the RG Kar Medical hospital.... and wow what is that on my lap.... who else but my little brother ! As he grew older, history repeated.... every six months new names poured into my ears..... Babita, Nilanjana or may be a Konica ..... I had to deal it with patience while his "T dada" said you are looking for a Videocon washing machine.... not possible.... Then we got someone for him who is not a Sonam Kapoor who the birthday boy dreamt of but someone who got mad with the demise of her paa-in-law.... assembles all his financial papers at one place and does the needful .... forcefully includes my name as the joint owner of the daddy's home even after repeated denial from our side.... the Almighty deserves several thanks from me... truly! Coming to Pricilla, Nikhita, Punita, I could not think otherwise but to be a facilitator.... before I close my eyes I would definitely wish to hold one collar and say... listen, I had a mind too, but I lost the address of the person a couple of decades back! So far Babita, Nilanjana, Konica are concerned, well I had to play the role of a strict elder sister. Yet the food blogger sister has to give her little brother a treat.... may be with a BHINDI BEGUN JIREY KANCHA LANKA BATA DIYE ILISH ER PATLA JHOL! Let me tell you, the above discussed people do not have any connections whatever ..... when I speak of the mother and that 'another woman," I definitely do not wish to connect them as such, they have hardly met few times in life! ..... I do not believe in forced matches ..... I wish to compile tales of people who I met at different stages of my life..... the only common factor hence is "me"...... There is another celebration back home too.... the senior's sister is celebrating their 12th Marriage Anniversary at Puri now.... the duo are ardent travellers who travel at least 3-4 times per year.... trekking mostly! This girl had always given me the place of an elder sister, love my parents, a good friend to my brother..... her trekker husband is a wonderful cook too...... a mutton dish would have been great but they equally love ilish .... so a BHINDI BEGUN JIREY KANCHA LANKA BATA DIYE ILISH ER PATLA JHOL for their long life. This society approves only of things that has been made legal..... birthdays of dear ones, marriage anniversary, friend anniversary, baby shower.... let us keep the rest of the "do nots" confined to Bollywood, "I likes it".... There is a mind.... a soul in each one of us... and it reserves the right to celebrate anything within it.... a rain, a bloom or whatever.... no one stops.... As of me, I celebrate mango, mutton and ilish anytime.... haha....

Today I really wished to go with something the family loves, which is not much elaborate. The son does have ilish these days, in fact prefers it fried, loves its eggs more, given the mother de bones it! There is a severe back pain that I have developed recently.... Folks.... be careful when you take weights in the gym.... it should match your capacity.... the last week had been too much for my stomach to take.... "pithe puli, ilish, mutton to khichuri, luchi, payesh, labra, naru!.... Oats is giving me acidity... sorry to say.... this giant sized stomach was not built to digest oats.... then some heavy weights in the gym did not help much but caused an injury perhaps..... You are not an idiot like me and should know how to take care of yourself! Long back I heard people of a particular district of West Bengal prepare ilish / Hilsa curry with bhindi / okra / dhyarosh.... may be with green chilli-mustard paste! Google search did not help me in this matter much..... so I prepared a very light curry with minimal spices, okra and eggplants .... and named it BHINDI BEGUN JIREY KANCHA LANKA BATA DIYE ILISHER PATLA JHOL. Like many other Bengali families, the senior's side of the family has the ritual of not having ilish with the last "dhaker awaz".... that is the last day of Durga Puja and resume again on the Saraswati Puja night...... the idea perhaps is to give them ample time to grow and breed. We hardly follow the ritual these days, I buy an ilish whenever I get to see one. Let me wish the people around with a bowl full of BHINDI BEGUN JIREY KANCHA LANKA BATA DIYE ILISH ER PATLA JHOL and be a part of the celebration!

INGREDIENTS :
Ilish / Hilsa : 7-10 pieces
Eggplant : 3-5 small sized [wash, discard the stem end and cut half]
Bhindi : 7-8
Cumin Powder : 2tsp [preferably freshly ground]
Green Chilli Paste : 2tbsp [adjust if so wish]
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp+1/2tsp
Salt : As Required
Nigella Seed : 1/2tsp
Green Chilli : 2-3 slitted
Oil : 2tbsp [Authentically Mustard Oil]

METHOD :

Wash the hilsa / ilish pieces thoroughly. Rub with 1tsp of turmeric powder and salt as much required. Keep aside for 1/2 an hour.

Rub salt to the washed and halved small sized egg plants just 3-4 minutes before you drop them in the curry, else they turn black. Ideally, we will cut them just 3-4 minutes before any use.

Wash the bhindis / okra / dhyarosh, take in a microwave proof bowlful of water adding little salt. Microwave at high power for 3-4 minutes. Discard the water or reserve to drink when cold.

Once the semi boiled bhindis are cold, cut the stem end and rub with little salt.

Take the cumin powder, green chilli paste, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and little salt in a small bowl and mix well, sprinkle little water to get a paste like consistency.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with nigella seeds. Add the spice paste and stir for a minute at low heat.

Add one coffee mug of water. Let boil for 3 minutes. Gently add the marinated fish pieces and halved egg plants. Add the marinade too!

Let boil covered at minimal heat for 3-4 minutes. Open cover and add the semi-boiled okras and the slitted green chillies. Cover cook again for 2 minutes. We are done. Serve hot with piping hot steamed rice!

Egg ..... there was a time when the boss of this home had 3-4 eggs per day ..... I wondered how the thin framed guy would digest it! I used to scream.... you will not eat more than one or two eggs in a day..... After marriage, I stopped giving him more than two eggs in a day, limited his tea intakes to 2-3-4 cups per day.... Who is the boss then? There is a very good understanding between us in this matter.... I am the boss at home, he looks after the rest of the things.... the illiterate wife can sign papers only .... he says "ekhaney sign koro".... I do. It will not be an exaggeration to say that till date I do not understand how a bank operates. I go there and say you discuss with my husband and decide what is to be done. When I say this, I do not take any pride.... I love girls who are unlike me.... fiercely independent! I always admit that I am an "achal poisha".... In a world that needs women to be supremely active and street smart.... this lady continues to be Ashapoorna Debi's protege / subject! Some of my friends say she is of a particular genre.... but I love that genre! Have I had 1/4th of the capability of an Ashapoorna Debi or say Alolika Mukhopadhyay .... you would have seen my signature on a "Mon Bilashinir Podaboli".... "Firey Dekha" or on a collection of short stories "Ekti Mithya Premer Golpo O Onanyo"..... I told someone that when you travel to that land, get me an autograph of Alolika Mukhopadhyay... I had been reading her ever since she started writing in "Desh Patrika?" Wiki says "Dainik Bartaman"... memory says Desh..... Till date I did not get it because the person forgets to tell the concerned people may be for the work to be done, I can always remind in emails but I do not.... One who dreamt about Liz Taylor 24/7 once would hardly take any interest in getting an autograph of Alolika Mukhopadhyay.... that too for me.... a woman who mastered "witchcraft"...... who spreads poison.... not worth the effort.... etc. etc. Anyway, it is this time of the year that I miss Kolkata a lot.... its been 8 long years I did not visit Kolkata "Boi Mela"..... I met so many who's who there once.... Mrinal Sen, Sunil Gangyopadhay to Javed Akhtar and lot more! Once there was a hilarious situation! The boss of this house is never much into Bengali literature or say not into fiction as much like me... We always went to the Book Fair together.... once Poet "Joy Goswami" was standing outside the "Ananda" stall... without giving me any chance to stop him, boss ran to him to get an autograph on a novel written by "Harsha Dutta."..... The boss reads journals, non-fictions and insists me too.... those are not my cuppa.... My cuppa goes well with a Sunil's "Hotath Nirar Jonya"...... A Sunil Gangyopadhay had the right to take pride in saying "ami to madhyomik e third division e pash korechilam".... that he passed 10th board with an average score .... and now post doctoral students of Bengali Literature do research on his works. An average in all matters like me should have taken a little more interest in studies. It feels good to see that there is a writer in the family, does not matter if not in so much of fame. The brother's Paa-in-Law writes in different magazines, Kaku is a wonderful human being who will be travelling to Delhi next week to participate in a literary summit may be. Both kaku and kakima are a very good example of how to raise kids, they brought up their two daughters beautifully with education and manners in extremely hard conditions. My little brother never took interest in fictions, non-fictions..... he was totally into sports and 'Jholmol Khan'..... now that his wife has cleaned the walls of his room which was crowded with Khan's stickers .... he says he only has Kimi Raikkonen in his mind ... if there is a Formula1 race in Delhi or anywhere in India, he will go..... He had been far better in academics than me, though not in the top brass..... "fairly" placed in a mutual fund company ..... fairly because his sister thinks he had the potential to be better placed in life, his parents and sister were too worried of his tendency towards wrong associations till a certain age! His sister is very fond of the owner of his company ... Anil Ambani.... haha.... not because he is handsome and rich.... but because he was ready to leave his father's wealth and legacy for one Tina Munim.... You see the brother's sister also has a tendency towards wrong reasonings. There is another Tina.... creating raves at the Oxford University for a good cause.... I will publicly clap for her and team at the right time. Coming to the point why I call the senior my boss..... ok, may be because that wonder woman Chutu calls her husband so.... she is a first class first or second in Economics from Jadavpur University who did her MPhil from Edinburg University on a national scholarship.... she is an economist whose interviews I see in money control.com without getting a bit of it.... She never found it against woman's lib to cook for her husband after office.... a fiercely independent woman who dragged me into an auto rickshaw around 12am in Mumbai back in 1999, the husband's were in another auto.... I was in the verge of tears out of fear because the mother did not let me out of her lap ever.... More about this couple may be when I post her family recipe of what people of West Bengal origin ate last Tuesday... there is a strong Houston connection too in this bond which will be very wrong to avoid.... lets see.... I call him boss because he does all the paperworks for my meagre savings, does the work of a plumber, electrician in a land where "Babu and Sujon" is not a phone call away, long back I told him promise me not to leave me ever however flawed I am.... he kept his promise!.... Love has different forms and I respect each..... "ek egg dish banti hai unke naam".... however pathetic my Hindi is, this Bengali recipe of EGG PATURI is something you will love!

Paturi is a very Bengali thing, near similar to steamed dishes prepared in other Indian states or in South Asia, South East Asia or say the entire Asia. I always admit my knowledge on food or anything is very much negligible! Research is very important in life.... Even a Jhumpa Lahiri had to do extensive research on the Naxalite Movement before writing "The Lowland" or a Sunil Gongyopadhay spent days after days at the Kolkata National Library before writing "Shei Shomoy" or "Prothom Alo".... Literature is also a science of research I believe.... "kobita.... tobey ki sudhu tumii adi, akritrim, monoshij?] .... I wonder if poem is the only thing that is delivered straight from the soul ... just like true love! If you ever see my name in print media, it will be "bat talar Swapna Kumari".... this is a Bengali term used for any publish that is not anywhere near to literature.... Once I did read books by a male counter part of this Swapna Kumari to the utter disgust of our father.... the paa-in-law has terrible jokes in his kitty on this guy who wrote horrible detective stories! I love the father, do not wish the paa-in-law to leave us either soon.... Swapna Kumari need not happen, she should keep herself busy cooking when she is not into walking or music.... Egg happens often at this house given we do not get fresh pabda, aar, boyal, kajoli, tyangra, koi or dhai! During this time of the year you get the best quality Aar, Boyal, Dhai, Koi in Kolkata... slurp! I prefer variety in the kitchen! So there has to have different kinds of egg curries happening, a spicy DIM PATURI is welcome anytime.... You see I cannot survive on soups and salads alone.... After a long walk I love to have some fried wantons with Teh O Kosong and I am super elated to get that bundle of lau shaak in the Asian store yesterday... They are air flown from the land of my forefathers! Our mother cooks "lau er doga diye charaponar patla jhol or a laushaak diye posto"..... the daughter loves them till date ....

The oats will go for ladoo, to be tried in poori or pakora or halwa.... you bet that will not cause any harm to my relationship with that beautiful Bianca Castafiore or say that cook cum painter cum photographer.... we are matured enough to respect each other's role here! So far Liz Taylor fan / fans are concerned, there are better people to balance with a "lau shaak diye moong dal,".... I believe what gets lost, is lost forever.... we only can "preserve" memories! EGG PATURI is not a unique something but is done with the same, old, common spice mix for paturi ..... mustard seeds, green chilli and coconut paste. You may not paste the shredded coconut, it is up to you!

INGREDIENTS :
EGG : 5-6 [boiled, peeled, rubbed with little salt]
Mustard Seed : 11/2tbsp [black or yellow]
Shredded Coconut : 1/2small cup
Green Chilli : 5-6 [adjust]
Garlic Clove : 2 [peeled]
Turmeric powder : 1/4tsp
Salt : As Required
Mustard Oil : 3tbsp +2tbsp [A must for us in this kind of dishes]
Banana Leaf : Squared, big enough to wrap each egg and tied with a thread

METHOD :

Marinate the boiled eggs with little salt for 15 minutes.

Prepare a paste with the washed mustard seeds, shredded coconut, green chillies, salt and garlic cloves.

Add the turmeric powder to the paste and mix well. Pour on to the eggs, add 3tbsp oil too.

Coat each egg nicely with the spice mix, fold in the entire thing well.

Let it rest for 1/2 an hour! Take a piece of banana leaf.... place one egg in the middle, pour some spice mix atop.

Fold from all sides, tie with a thread. Repeat same with all the eggs.

Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Place the banana leaf wrapped eggs atop it.

Cook at low heat for 12-13 minutes on one side. Turn over and cook for another 7-9 minute. We are done.

A little of spice mix may spill over, do not worry. Once done, let rest for 5 minutes. Enjoy with piping hot steamed rice.... you can try with hot chapatis too.

"Kahan se shuru karein? .... Baat to kabhi khatam huyehi nehi..... har ek Khwaishyein kabhi dafna diye the hamne, yun lagti hain kafan kuch zordar nehi the... sab kuch nikal parey mujhe be abroo karne ki josh mein...." ..... No the husband did not clap and say wah...wah... kya baat... kya baat! while taking a heavenly bite on that MOCHAR CHOP with his favourite Earl Grey tea.... I do not blame him either, neither of us know how many grammatical errors are there in those two lines. The man of this house in fact said .... "wife you feed your readers utter lies, you do not have a bit of romanticism in you"..... Why did he say so? Well, it was yesterday morning.... a Saturday morning indeed and I was juggling in the kitchen .... which vegetable to coordinate with what spice mix.... whether to cook the mutton with "ada roshun bata" or to follow a master chef's recipe, would that semi-frozen 'katla' go well with 'sheem and aloo'?..... It was 1pm when the husband had to call the wife by his side and say... lets go out this evening wifey.... I will treat you with a wine of your choice... The answer was an instant "no"..... I was then planning how to get a near perfect filling for the MOCHAR CHOP..... similar to what we get in the "Kolkatar Telebhajar Dokan"...... how could I say an yes.... and why should I? When I am in mood, me too call him at office and say "arey dil samhalta nehi kya karoon".... he says take a shower, go to sleep or go for some shopping.... and then hangs the phone without saying a bye! When it comes to some "fry-shry" as yum as this MOCHAR CHOP, we do sit together with exactly the platter you see in the picture and bond over a good movie. Now, if you see the lady of this house in the roads always with her headphone on, totally oblivion of the people's reaction watching her foot tapping on a Bollywood number, it is not her fault. The police in this beautiful island are generous enough not to send her to an asylum till date! Once I heard Shabana Azmi saying in an interview that her poet husband Zaved Akhtar ji has no romantic bones in his body, so I did not take any initiative to file a divorce against the man of this house. Before I take it on the senior, I need to settle score with the junior ..... It is a couple of months now that the son is getting a haircut that is bothering me too much.... one side of his head is shaven, the other side is wavy with too much of hair.... The mother gets him acne removal creams, he does not apply.... The mother gets on her nerves, the father is not bothered! The duo are actually up on speeding my way towards heaven.... I am such a good "o-men" you see, still frying "pakorey-shakorey".... fries, fritters, snacks for them, I had a little.... else they may feel bad... haha... thats a naughty girl you have come across.

On a bit serious note, the veteran Bengali actress Supriya Debi left for the heavenly abode day before yesterday. So many of her movies I have grown up watching.... be it "Meghe Dhaka Tara" or "Chowringhee" ..... She was a good cook, I was a teen may be or in the early 90's, she used to feature in cookery shows or her recipes were seen in the Bengali magazine "Sananda" with the caption "Tomader Dada Eta Bhalobashten"..... Dada here refers to the the iconic Bengali actor Uttam Kumar.... I liked the way how she referred his name while showcasing each of her creations... No, they were not a married couple, they lived in together... later split too.... That should not be my concern, they gave us master pieces / good amount of entertainment .... Yesterday, I saw the Bengali celebrity chef Rongon Neogi's obituary note on her and liked it .... he says just few days back she was with him judging a cookery contest.... She was old, sick but active till death.... that is how life should be.... A Bengali recipe is a must today! In fact, as I take a look at my Google photo library, 90% of the food photos are Bengali... except for some homemade jams and simple cakes.... Why on earth should I go for a three layered cheese cake topped with raspberry compote.... when I know I cannot manage it... "sref dhyarabo".... when there is a Bengawan Solo to Icing Room just opposite our home, when a "shorshe-narkol bata diye loti" cries for some recognition ...... Yesterday, someone called and said we did not talk quite for sometime S.... I said you fall in that bracket who I /we need not talk or be formal every other day.... we are just there for each other... Now I do not wish to mention names always... because it gets me to something I am averse to..... profile updates with swim suits on ... truly! Some of my friends have already blogged on MOCHAR CHOP earlier, I did not take a look at theirs before trying it yesterday.... This tongue has tasted this bliss innumerable times till date, she should be able to do full justice to it. If you can consider the picture quality and the slightly distorted outer finish.... you will agree that I could get the "choper dokaner" taste. MOCHAR CHOP is a Bengali style savoury snack sold at every neighbourhood back in Kolkata. It is made with a filling prepared with chopped and boiled banana blossom, boiled and mashed potato, fried peanuts, ginger paste, roasted.... dry grind spice mix. It is then dipped in a batter made from gram flour and refined flour, coated with semolina and deep fried to perfection till crisp. If you are a miser like me, you will not buy per piece for 5-8 rupees, that too made with a negligible amount of banana blossom. If you are an "only soups and salads".... kind of a person, this blog is never your destination!

INGREDIENTS :
Chopped Banana Blossom : 1coffee mug
Potato : 2medium [peel, boil, mash]
Peanut : 2tsp [halved]
Green Chilli : 2[chopped]
Ginger Paste : 1tbsp
Cumin Seed : 1tsp + 1/4tsp
Coriander Seed : 1tsp
Fennel Seed : 1/2tsp
Cinnamon Stick : 2one inch size
Green Cardamom : 2-3
Clove : 3-4
Dry Red Chilli : 3-4
Turmeric Powder : 1/3tsp
Semolina : 1medium cup
Dry Red Chilli Powder : 1/2tsp
Chaat Masala : 1/2tsp
Refined Flour : 1/2small cup
Gram Flour : 1/2small cup
Sugar : 1tsp
Salt : As Required
Ghee : 2tsp [clarified butter... optional]
Oil : Enough to deep fry

METHOD :

Wash the already chopped banana blossoms taking it in a strainer. Pressure cook it adding 11/2 coffee mug of water, little salt and turmeric. Let cool and then drain the water. Reserve it in a bowl.

We have the boiled and mashed potato ready in the counter.

Dry roast 1tsp of cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, cinnamon sticks, green cardamoms, cloves, dry red chillies and coarsely grind them.

Heat oil in a wok, temper with 1/4tsp of cumin seeds. Add the halved peanuts and stir for a minute.

Add the ginger paste, salt, turmeric powder and stir for 2 minutes at low heat. Add the boiled banana blossoms and fold in well. Cover cook for 3-4 minutes.

Add the boiled potato.

Fold in very well, add the chopped green chillies and little more than half of the ground spice mixture or as you wish.

Fold in very well, and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add the sugar and stir further for a minute or two.

Our filling for Mochar Chop is ready and we will transfer it to a plate. Let cool. Make shapes of your choice.

Prepare a thick batter with the refined flour, gram flour, water and salt.

Take the dry red chilli powder, chaat masala and semolina in a plate and mix well.

Dip the yet to fry MOCHAR CHOP in to the batter.

Coat each well with the semolina mix. Repeat same with all of them.

Refrigerate for an hour. Take out.

Heat oil in a wok. Deep fry each side very well till brown.

Take out and keep onto tissue paper before you serve while still hot.

We enjoyed MOCHAR CHOP with Muri-Lanka, "shosha-peyaj kuchi"... that is a salad with cucumber and onion, Dates-Tamarind Chutney and with Tea / Coffee!

This spice paste is often used at this home for fish, vegetables or meat when may be I do not wish to exhibit my love affair with chillies ..... that happens only when the pantry runs out of it... there goes a shrill note to Cristine "kancha lanka furiye geche amai bolbi na sheta?".... totally forgetting Cristine is a Filipino... How do I remember?.... She now eats ilish mach to begun-pora to paratha to nimki.... However, this less spicy, little sweet KAJU KISHMISH TIL BATA DIYE FULKOPI works well when we need a shift from our usual "fulkopi-aloo r dalna"..... Anyhow, the senior says chillies and oil comes for free at this home, the wife has an instant answer to this...... "ami oshob aluni ranna kortey parbo na, mach-tarkari jhaley nuney thik thaktey hobey." I gave the junior the same food that we had once he was three years old. His paediatrician used to say even kids do have a taste bud, do not deny them of that pleasure. I have seen some of my friends' madness ..... feeding their 8-10 year old kids soupy fish & meat curries.... Come on, Indian stomach / taste bud is not built for soups on a regular basis and vice versa. The reason I am so fond of Bianca Castafiore is that she prepares awesome kebabs and curries, makes the perfect dosas and she has Indian friends who send her snacks during Diwali.... She might be a little high nose but she respects our culture..... She is the one to be kept close by! Coming to this family, people are a bit weird.... the son was only three months old when the paa-in-law made him taste ice-cream, roshogolla when he was only six months. One should not go to that extreme either! The boy who had his meals starting with a "shaak" and ending with a "chutney" does not fancy either of the two anymore.... how come Olive Oyl's husband does not eat spinach? The son's love for Bengali cuisine is limited to all kinds of fries and fritters, dal, meat curries, fish curry's fish has to be boneless or a prawn.... his love for vegetables is limited to "begun, fulkopi and aloo."..... Mumma feels so limited in the kitchen! The entire bunch of "lau shaak" was eaten by this lady and Cristine! This is not the case at my friend Paramita Ghosal's home... she trained her daughter so well. Why did I take her name?.... because she is among the very few expats who kept her kitchen very authentic... at large! Our temperament do not match, but I respect some of her qualities... she definitely is qualitatively high.... handling the IG level students the entire day.... coming back home and cooking for the family! The major defect you will find in this blogger at CURRY AND SPICE is that she is very rigid, her likes and dislikes are very strong.... The man of this house scolds me hard, perspectives differ wifey.... why are you so judgemental? My defence is.... I do not bother people either .... I enjoy my me time may be with a bowl of fruits of my choice with butter toasted paneer added to it or gazing at the small patch of green amidst the cringy skyscrapers we live in.

Yet, the husband has to worry... you sit at home... you do not mingle! Arey, I cannot... I feel very misfit amidst a crowd and useless talks that ranges anything from how unfaithful the helps are, how poor performer or ill behaved are other's kids compared to one's own, the worst been comparing the husbands' salary and position in the company, whether he drives a Mercedes or not, who lives in a condo and who in a HDB? .... Few bonds I do adore from a distance, rest I have doubts..... As of me? better I spread my wings and sing "panchi banu udti phiru mast gagan mein, aaj main azad hoon duniya ke chaman mein"..... Cooking.... thy passion goes on .... this time a KAJU KISHMISH TIL BATA DIYE FULKOPI.... served with a chana dal and curry patta tempered rice and there had to have some chicken for the people who would not touch the salad!

KAJU KISHMISH TIL BATA DIYE FULKOPI is not a regular Bengali dish but I have seen this variation when guests were due at home, if not always at our home. It is a dry curry little sweet and tangy as the gravy has raisins and yogurt in it, creamy with the use of cashew nuts and melon seeds. My men would not have asked for the chicken if there had been poori or porota by the side... they simply love.... They love rice when the lady gets giant tiger prawns for them. The miser lady obviously does not do it often, neither she will stress herself with forcing her impossible to train men to eat what they do not like. They never demand me to cook what they love, but I cannot take it when they eat 1/4 of what they might have eaten if the food had been of their choice. I never take it as their trick, they will eat a plate full of rice if served with boiled potatoes and eggs, dollops of ghee or butter, salt.... the lady will take a big green chilli with it. The husband ate it as breakfast all five days of his school, still weighing at 54kg. The almighty had been very unkind to this diabetic lady.... she has to be kind of shameless to find the earth worth living. The son is having one after another pre-board examinations and the mother is cooking! What else could I do? If someone does not listen to any of your words with full support from the father, you will live your own life.... do what you enjoy doing ! When all the mummas will have beautiful status updates with pride after six months, this mumma will cry behind the closed doors. The husband and wife are going for the movie Padmavat too today night, "gokuley boro hote thakuk ekti bador"..... I look around and see how sincere kids of his age are.... specially the girls.... I will not go further with it, as he already complained to his teachers that mumma does not trust him enough. Mumma wishes to keep aside all tensions and do what she loves doing.... sharing her kitchen tales with her readers. This is again a "fakibaji ranna" that this lady's mother will not approve, why? she made a paste taking every thing together and did not do much of "koshano."

INGREDIENTS :
Cauliflower : 1medium sized
Cashew Nut : 7-8
Raisin : 9-10
Onion : 1 medium [peel, wash, roughly chop]
Green Chilli Paste : 2
Dry Ginger Powder : 1/2tsp [optional}
Melon Seed : 1/2tsp[char mogoj]
White Sesame Seed : 11/2tsp [til]
Turmeric Powder : 2-3pinches
Salt : As Required
Plain Yogurt : 3tbsp
Cinnamon Stick : 2one inch stick
Green Cardamom : 2-3
Clove : 2-3
Bay Leaf : 1
Dry Red Chilli : 2
Ghee : 2tsp[clarified butter]
Oil : 11/2tbsp

METHOD :

Cut the cauliflower into medium sized florets, wash and take in a microwave proof bowl. Add 11/2 coffee mug of water and microwave at high for 5-6 minutes adding a little salt to it.

Let cool and then drain the water. Add little more salt, rub well and keep aside for 20 minutes or so.

Take the raisins, cashew nuts, chopped onion, green chillies, melon seeds, sesame seeds and plain yogurt in a grinder and grind to a smooth paste. Add little water if required.

Heat the oil in a wok and temper with the cinnamon sticks, green cardamoms, cloves, bay leaf and dry red chillies. I forgot to add the dry red chillies and did it later but you will not do the mistake as you are not heading towards dementia for sure.

Add the spice paste and keep stirring for 2-3 minutes. You will see that the oil separates from the spice mixture. Add the turmeric powder and dry ginger powder and stir for a while.

Add the boiled cauliflower florets and fold in well.

Stir gently for 2-3 minutes. Add a small cup of water to your grinder to mix the residual spice mixture... we call it 'bati dhoya jol'.... add that water to the wok and fold in well. Cover cook for 3-4 minutes. We are done.

Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with ghee. We enjoyed it with chana dal and curry leaves tempered rice and chicken. This KAJU KISHMISH TIL BATA DIYE FULKOPI goes very well with any South Asian / Middle Eastern Breads!

Yesterday night it took me so less time to prepare this sweet MAWA GUR PESTA SANDESH .... As you unfold the recipe, you will see its so instant .... The trouble started when I was wondering how to present it to the public?.... The picture that you see could not satisfy me .... this is not how the plating should be .... I realised again that I lack the necessary utensils for plating such items... besides, I do most of the cooking in the evening when I am left with little energy for plating .... Now, this is a very poor excuse. This sweet needed some copper / brass utensils, some lamps... if not "Aladdin's ashchorjyo prodip"..... some fresh flowers, burning dhoop sticks may be..... At 9 pm in the evening, I will not touch the utensils meant for God.... the mother comes in the way.... "etho kaporey sandesh guli banali, ogulo thakurer bashoney choyabi na".... Anyway, to touch "thakurer bashon".... I had to take shower at 9pm also.... the miser me is just unable to think of spending 300-500 dollar to buy appropriate utensils either.... So... try my MAWA GUR PESTA SANDESH, do not look at the photograph, its not worth.... The taste was too good and I am going to prepare it again soon "shuddho bhabey" for my Gods and Goddesses. I am really missing those guidelines pouring in from one Electronic & Telecommunications Engineer cum an excellent photographer cum a class food blogger cum the HR Head of her family business.... she has the ability to create magic with simple ingredients like "chirey, khoi, gur, doodh".... Each time she vanishes from the scenario, it feels she might come back with a good news for us... does not matter if it is one "Tista or Torsha"..... haha.... My height of stupidity, imagination never equated with the science of "x and y chromosomes".... Long back while waiting for my first ultrasonography, I told the senior.... a twin has to come out... one girl and one boy... names would be "Tista & Torsha"...... that did not happen...good.... that would have proved I am a mother's daughter only or I am too much in love with my maa-in-law or a Twinkle Khanna is my family member.... She is not... I do follow her and have full support for her home production Padman.... We do not even know Rani Padmini existed in reality or not.... She might have been poet Jayasi's pure imagination or the spiritual muse that the Persian poets? had as their subject... I just read that they had... not sure!... Jauhar was practised in India in those days which is irrelevant and unwelcome these days... Padman is a need of the hour... more men like Mr. Arunachalam do we need... I was just listening to Twinkle's lecture at the Oxford University.... she has shared the link on her page, you can check. I felt sad when she said she was not allowed to do a course there as she never completed her graduation .... I do not know why she could not because she never belonged to a needy family or does not seem to be a dumbo like me.....In fact the supremely wise, fairly intelligent man of this house had to forget all about his dreams and leave home for some quick money out of pure need.... Till date the genius of India, sitting in Mumbai says my man made a historic mistake doing so.... I agree! Saying this I am not trying to drag that tinsel town, sort of a rare thinking head there inside my home, neither am I disrespecting the big, busy shipping industry.... I am proud to be a mariner's wife who spent sleepless nights each time his ship passed through the Gulf of Aden.... I knew or was taught then the steps to be taken to reach Sonia Gandhi's door for help if any untoward thing happens.... I still cherish those moments of honour the Captain's wife got on her month long stay on board.... Since she is more near to the earth... she never found it un natural to cook for the crew members.... or to sit with the veteran "Bosun" with a cup of coffee. She is "classy" only when it comes to her likes and dislikes.... So do not try to explore this "jot pakano mahila".... enjoy her food shares.... as of today it is a MAWA GUR PESTA SANDESH.

During winter, gur to us Bengalis means Patali / Khejur gur.... that is date palm jaggery.... Living abroad... you just cannot afford to use them generously .... Ipsita got me a kilogram of it and I am yet to do Choshir Payesh... Kheer-Gur bhora Patishapta.... so I have to be very careful while using it... This MAWA GUR PESTA SANDESH required a very little amount of patali gur or date palm jaggery.... Going back to the childhood, I ate date palm jaggery as candy, instead of chocolate... I loved.... good enough reason to scare people away you know.... I do not blame, even the mother was unkind towards me at times.... I may have just sat with a plateful of mutton and rice, the mother would say "dyakh mamoni ooi cheleta / ooi meyeta madhyomike first hoyeche... ga thekey jyano jyoti berochey"..... The mother always had to draw inference from the academically superior boys and girls when the daughter was lost in one Buddhadeb Guha, his wife Ritu Guha's numbers playing at the background with a plateful of mutton and rice, there is again one "another woman" who has to say... S always read from Swami Vivekananda.... while her kin never let me look beyond the happening girls in the tennis court!.... and then vanished for life! Anyway, it is always good to see people who mean hale / hearty / happy wherever they are, if not necessarily within the four walls of your home.... To get away with all such confusions, I started with this Khaled Hosseini's book.... Ipsita's husband gave it to my father-in-law to read... I discovered yesterday that I forgot to return back, I messaged..... you will get back after I finish.... some relationships are of mutual admiration.... he is kind of my type in some areas...

The shameless diabetic tasted a bit of the left over of the sandesh.... the check up is due next week... I cannot take a risk. It will taste more like gurer kalakand sans any kind of labour. Done in the microwave, it was so quick, there was no "dhamshano" aka kneading of the dough.... so could cherish the lines from Khaled with cups of coffee.... If there is any shameless diabetic anywhere else in the world, let me tell you that any association with me may take you towards your dooms day... My total fat count increased within a month. My readers are not so unfortunate as me and they deserve this heavenly sweet MAWA GUR PESTA SANDESH made with instant solidified milk, date palm jaggery, pistachios. Let us do it in few easy steps!

Few of my dearest people like one Chandrayee Dasgupta and Kana Dasgupta had their birthday and anniversary celebrations on 30th.... a sweet share was a natural choice, just as natural is my feelings for very few in this world!

INGREDIENTS :

Powdered Milk : 11/2medium Cup
Full Cream Milk : 1/2small cup
Ghee : 2tbsp
Grated Date Palm Jaggery : 1/3small cup
Sugar : 1tsp
Green Cardamom Powder : 1/2tsp
Chopped Pistachio : 2tbsp

METHOD :

Chop the raw pistachios in a mortar and pestle!

Take them in a microwave proof bowl and microwave at high for 1 minute, stirring in between... keep aside.

Take the powdered milk, ghee and full cream milk in a bowl.

Mix well before you put it in the microwave.

Microwave at high for 21/2-3 minutes pausing and stirring every minute.

Add the grated jaggery to the freshly made khoya / mawa. Roughly mix.

Microwave at high for a minute. Pause, stir and microwave for another 30 seconds.

Keep aside till it is cold.

Add 1tbsp of rice flour, green cardamom powder to it and fold in well.

Add the chopped pistachios, fold in well.

Refrigerate for half an hour. Take out and shape as you wish.

Do not forget to garnish with pistachios.

Whatever happens.... let it be.... may be it was destined to!.... the lady @ CURRY AND SPICE gets this philosophical at the sight of hilsa and mutton... neither did mango stop coming in to this house all this while.... We perhaps have tasted mangoes coming from all the major mango producing countries during the entire off season! I will not shell out those dollars for a blue cheese, I save them to be able to buy hilsa, mutton, off season mango, salmon or at times cod whenever I wish to. There has to be a balance somewhere, I do not come from an affluent family.... The father indeed was a bank manager and a son of a rich businessman.... but with a different mentality! He never had any lust for his father's property and his typical East Bengal father did not know how to manage his hard earned, huge amount of resource.... he spent 80% of it on "ilish o chitoler peti and jhuri bhorti aam".... Recalling his childhood memory.... our Paa used to say... 15-20 villagers ate at our home each day.... That makes my maternal grandmother fond of my paternal grandfather more than her own husband who being the son of a poor farmer bagged a banker's job and saved each penny to build an empire.... The maternal grandma says my paternal grandpa was a big name for his benevolence .... both hailing from Comilla district of undivided Bengal ! Two questions arise... Who would you follow? and Aren't relationships complicated? Anyway, coming to my parents.... some of daddy's friends in the same profession and position, sent their kids to well known convents, they went to Calcutta Rowing Club or took some lessons in Lawn Tennis while our daddy stayed in a rented home in a notorious neighbourhood for 19 long years before he shifted to 25 kilometres interior of Kolkata in his own no fancy, fairly big home! Should you compare in this case? You never should! Our daddy never took us out for fine dining at a Park Street restaurant but he was the one who introduced me to something called Book Fair, got my brother a computer when no middle class homes thought of it! He took me to the amazing world of "Sindbad... the sailor"..... and yes later in life to "Arabian Nights" too.... did I stray... no! Be friendly with your kids, so they do not need to hide anything from you! Both of us siblings may not have been able to satisfy our mother with our academic records but we never ever compared our lives with others or blamed our parents... They scolded us in many occasions ... we never bothered.... We knew they did the best to their capacity for us! Look at today... why are the kids so restless? Attempting suicide because the parents scolded?.... We elders should be able to read a bit their minds, know the difference between scolding for a wrong doing and rebuking. I know some so called "perfecto daddies" who I hear are so disciplined about their kids.... they should thank the almighty for me not knowing their immediate family personally.... what if I tell them your father secretly worshipped a Parvin Babi or a Zeenat or say a Sofia Lorraine! Let me take you some 10- 12 years back... Smita Banerjee's and our family are seated in a Park Street restaurant! An elderly woman sitting at another table was reading and enjoying her meal. Just after 10 minutes, the two kids started creating a ruckus all around... the elderly lady opposes.... Dibyendu Banerjee scolds them hard.... when T loses his cool... tells his brothersome, our Dibsy... "tui chelebelai ki korti".... and then gets into an argument with the elderly lady .... how can you expect kids to behave as adults? Can you expect same environment as of home at a public place?....

Disciplining a child is important without expecting them to behave as a full grown teen or an adult! Do not set our home as an example, its a rule free zone much to my displeasure... I believe people should maintain some discipline in their daily chores of waking up, having meals and going to sleep! At this moment.... kid's suicidal tendency, increase in rape cases, nationwide unrest in my country of birth worries me... really not interested in public updates on my number of temple visits. I am a Hindu, I will visit temples, let people of other religious beliefs do it peacefully... too! You may well call me the so called salmon eater leftist! Well in this matter, I am a disciple of one engineer cum painter cum photographer cum poet Jayanta Roy... I do believe we do not need to be a leftist or a rightist to be humane.... The couple's natural flair for fine artistry makes their debutant film maker son do awesome pencil sketches since his childhood without any formal training.... Genes do work in some areas and our friend Dr. Saubhik Sengupta has something to say about it.... you can check his article on his Facebook profile.... you can also take a look at Jayanta da's page Endless Joy for some daily dose of wisdom. In this space, I wish to mention many other friends... Bengali / non-Bengali speaking who excelled in different areas and not a worthless like me! Do not call it imitation, but drawing inspiration from others that are worth!

It is a weekend, a mutton dish as supreme as this PEPE BATA DIYE PATHAR JHOL is worth sharing! Anyway, something is not allowing me to stay in high spirit, a mutton is an absolute requirement! I just shared few pictures of mine in a social forum and the silly me has to take a look at them ... that too after sharing... haha... I discovered my already flat nose tip looks more like a baby potato....... uff what a pain.... ahh this was one among various other reasons a moron fled many springs back, never to appear again... who knows I would not be that "Betal".... the ghost of that fable "Vikram aur Betal".... As a teen a mutton curry with rice and the television serial "Vikram aur Betal".... was a deadly combination for me! The moron at this home did not fund for a cosmetic surgery of my nose either. Since he tolerated this abnormal woman for a total of 20+6 years, I wish to treat him with a bowlful of PEPE BATA DIYE PATHAR JHOL along side some Dal Poori and a super quick curry with potato and peas whose recipe would be shared later. We also had an instantly made chilli-garlic chutney to go with the platter. The senile, weird, diabetic woman was making some place in the stomach just to enjoy this bliss of mutton curry eating light since yesterday.... She got her men their mandatory at least once a week double, spicy chicken burger, deprived her of a "filleto fish" one.... had a homemade tomato soup with butter seared paneer on it and one crisp toast... this morning tolerated a bowl of cornflakes and yogurt too instead of two "bashi luchi aar cha"..... all for the sake of a stale and heavenly mutton curry with piping hot steamed rice.... its worth!

PEPE BATA DIYE PATHAR JHOL is no unique recipe... just an "edik-odik korey boka chalaki"..... I was really not in the mood to search big brother Google for a Kolhapuri Mutton or others.... I prefer going my way most of the time. I have used very few ingredients like garlic paste, chilli powder, turmeric powder, onion paste, salt and grated raw papaya that is a natural meat tenderiser. I do have a dish of chicken on my blog done with grated papaya sans the onion. I learnt it from Sanak and Nibedita Chottopadhay.... Unlike me.... Sanak had always been an unconventional cook who loves experiments in the kitchen.... When I stepped in to this island... he taught me how to cook salmon in mustard-chilli-yogurt sauce to feel at home..... I told my family Sanak taught me this... then I saw Sanak learnt it from others.... Learning is a cyclic process. I may be apparently loggerheads with his happening wife because we do not accept each other's way of life.... Our marriage happened within a gap of 10 days.... I miss that small town, innocent, beautiful girl who I met 15 days prior to my marriage day.... but the bond is unbreakable! I am reserving the fish recipes with Indian touch for the approaching big celebration in the island!... Do not expect me to prepare a homemade Hoisin sauce and cook fish fillets in it.... there are experts who will be doing it for you! Since I am a sit at home, good for nothing fatso... I write all "no-sense" before a recipe share which has no relation to the later.... I do not have a bit of knowledge on the nutritive value of ingredients like some of my favourites. God made one Saira Banu, Liz Hurley, expert Chef, engineer, doctor, scientist, poet, computer wizard and then a worthless S too. If you cannot digest it, you can dive straight in to the recipe!

INGREDIENTS :
Mutton : 1kg[medium cut]
Grated Raw Papaya : 1small cup
Onion Paste : 2tbsp
Garlic Paste : 1 +1tbsp
Red Chilli Powder : 11/2tbsp
Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp [for colour]
Cinnamon Powder : 1tsp
Green Cardamom Powder : 1/2tsp
Bay Leaf : 1
Turmeric Powder 1+1tsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 2tbsp +1tbsp [ I use mustard oil]

METHOD :

Wash the mutton thoroughly taking it in a bowl. Marinate it with the grated raw papaya, 1tbsp garlic paste, 1tsp turmeric powder, 1/2tbsp red chilli powder, 1tbsp oil.

Mix it well very well for quite sometime... say 3-4 minutes. Cover with a cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 5 hours or overnight is better!

Take the bowl of marinated mutton an hour before cooking it.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with a bay leaf!

Fry the onion paste for 2 minutes. Add the garlic paste and fry at low heat for 2 minutes.

Add the remaining turmeric powder, red chilli powder and the Kashmiri red chilli powder. Mix well and stir for 1/2 a minute.

Add the mutton pieces sans the marinade and stir at high heat for 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat to minimum and add the marinade. Fold in well and cover.

A lot of water will be released and we will cover cook till all the water dries up. Heat should be at minimum and we need to check from time to time.

Once the water dries up, add 11/2 coffee mug of warm water.... fold in well and cook for 10-12 minutes covered, checking in between.

Open cover and add the cinnamon powder and green cardamom powder... fold in well and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

We are done! We enjoyed having it with Dal Poori, a green-chilli and garlic sauce made pasting the green chilli-garlic cloves-vinegar-salt- water together in the ratio 4:2cloves:1tsp:a pinch : 2tbsp.

The PEPE BATA DIYE PATHAR JHOL goes equally well with steamed rice, pulao, or even toasted bread!

Wasn't this GAJOR ALOO FULKOPI MOTORSHUTI DIYE PEYAJKOLI a winter bliss for us? It was and all the above mentioned vegetables except for the potato were available only in winter. The PEYAJ PHORON DIYE MUSHUR DAL was / is a regular affair at Bengali homes. Following the family, precisely my mother, I cook mushur dal that is red lentil in various ways.... with tomatoes tempering the oil with a bayleaf, halved dry red chillies and wild celery seed..... with tomatoes and chopped coriander leaves with a tempering of bayleaf, dry red chillies and nigella seeds, this one with fried onions and during summers with mango or tamarind. Usually at our home sour dal is done with Matar Dal.... I do not get it any where here.... I have a query.... Is toor dal that is pigeon pea and matar dal same? May be no, wiki calls matar dal split green pea though it is yellow in colour..... I got a packet of toor dal finally and enjoying sour dal with it! I hate confusion in any areas of life that made me marry the tiger at home.... the safest haven for a parasite you know ..... The action also earned me various, unacceptable titles "schemebaz mahila".... "sheyana pagol"....."dumbo wife / mumma".... "nagger wife"..... It is quite but obvious that I will not serve the two notorious men baked salmon & ghee rice or chicken / mutton pulao & prawn fried rice every other day, if they cannot say... "we two are the luckiest men in the world to have you darling"..... They will have to have a platter of GAJOR ALOO FULKOPI MOTORSHUTI DIYE PEYAJKOLI O PEYAJ PHORON DIYE MUSHUR DAL and with rice with no pakora or "luchi / porota" by the side. The son becomes an authentic Bengali at the sight of pakora with dal and rice on the plate. The question is did the senior ever call me "darling" or "sweetheart" or not.... Forget it my readers, neither would the son kiss or pose with his mother hugging her! .... That may be one of the few reasons of the bone of contention between me and the mother-in-law. I have hardly seen a man as of my paa-in-law who serves the wife as he did / still does! From serving the wife tea five times a day to ironing her clothes to preparing the kid's breakfast and lunch box for school to polishing their shoes he has done it and still does a lot. You do not have to guess what my mother's dialogues are after seeing all these.... haha! We always glorify a wife / mother, come on there are also husbands / fathers like my paa-in-law.... keep some love reserved for them too who never told his wife...... my salary do not match your spendthrift nature.... frequent visits to cinema halls, restaurant hopping with friends and get togethers.... well she in turn never said no to her husband taking the entire responsibility of his family... brothers, parents and also cousins up to a certain period. My mother had to bear such responsibilities for a very small period. We should never question the equation between a couple.... I get angry when even after all these years of living like a queen sans the money power.... the maa-in-law has to complain against that old man. I do not allow or entertain or take her side, so I am too bad. The husband's sister and cousins may read my blog post, and get disappointed of me talking as this of their "maa -mashi -pishi".... but they cannot deny the truth in it. How is my man?.... "A cocktail of his father and father-in-law".... "maaza aa gaya inke saath zindegi guzartey huye".... If today he gets some roses and bends in front of me.... I will just burst into laughter.... and say.... please do not make a mockery of yourself, be who you are!

See, I indeed had the ghee & sugar toasted bread with my morning cup of coffee.... Yesterday, my blood sugar level read at 190.8.... that is 10.6... Do not follow me ok! Girls... do some exercise, if your husbands are self trained bird watchers like mine, you are at high risk! Ohh! that is a very much "non-feminist" comment, we must keep fit for ourselves and the family actually.... corrected now.. haha...

All this while all the near and dear ones were having some celebration or the other and I was attending them with my small gestures.... I did not notice if there is one today, tomorrow or day after..... but I felt strongly that I have to blog on two winter special Bengali recipes, this GAJOR ALOO FULKOPI MOTORSHUTI DIYE PEYAJKOLI O PEYAJ PHORON DIYE MUSHUR DAL, another dal recipe to come up next day. The island provides us with all these vegetables throughout the year, this is not the case in most parts of India except for the metro cities. So better today than scrolling down a pile of photographs next winter. Do not expect technology from me, I click with the hand phone, refuse to learn something when people come outwardly to help with it and then scroll, scroll and scroll for the right pictures. I never hesitate to appreciate an achievement either! I do not wish to see similar people around me... lazy... sit at home, giving big talks .... acting to be overly social beings without earning a penny.... My nose gets a bit high in such cases and I murmur do you read, write, paint, sing, dance, earn a bit or just party? So, I clap always for those who achieve something, work hard and then party.... we should always.... GAJOR ALOO FULKOPI MOTORSHUTI DIYE PEYAJKOLI O PEYAJ PHORON DIYE MUSHUR DAL can be a bliss for an all vegetarian day.... it can be served with either steamed rice or any kind of South Asian Breads. Some pakoras included in the platter would have made it complete. The vegetables used in this non spicy dish are carrot, potato, green pea, Cauliflower, green chilli, onion flower. It is usually done with onion flower stalk and potatoes, but my recipe follows the way it was / is done in my side of the family. The red lentil dal is prepared with a tempering of nigella seeds, dry red chillies, bay leaf. Let us do it together with the dal at first. If you do not get onion flower stalk at your place, use spring onions.

INGREDIENTS [for the dal]

Red Lentil / Masur Dal : 1small cup
Onion : 2 medium [peeled, washed,sliced]
Dry Red Chilli : 2halved
Green Chilli : 2-3 slitted
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Salt : As Required
Nigella Seed : 1/4tsp
Bayleaf : 1
Oil : 2tbsp +1tsp [we use mustard oil]

Wash the dal 2-3 times. We need not use a pressure cooker to boil muser dal / red lentil.

Marinate the dal with little salt, turmeric and 1tsp oil for 10 -15 minutes. Now boil on stove top adding 2 coffee mugs of water.

Once done use the "dal ghutuni" or "daler kata" or the boiled dal masher to half mash the dal.... Bengalis do this. At times, I do dal as some of my friends do, the way other states of India or South Asians do.

Heat 2tbsp mustard or any oil and fry the sliced onion till brown, do not burn. Take them out to be added towards the end.

Temper the same oil with nigella seeds, halved dry red chillies, bay leaf.

Add the boiled dal. Add more water, turmeric and salt. Bengalis have their dal watery except for Bengal gram dal.

Let it boil at medium heat for 5-6 minutes. Add the slitted green chillies and the fried onions.

Let boil for 1-2 minutes, we are done! Transfer to a serving bowl.

INGREDIENTS :[for the non-spicy vegetable dish]

Onion Flower Stalk : 1[you can use spring onion too]

Green Pea : 1/2small cup

Carrot : 1medium

Cauliflower : 1/2 of a small one

Potato :1medium

Green Chilli : 2 [slitted]

Dry Red Chilli : 2 [halved]

Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp

Salt : As Required

Nigella Seed : 1/2tsp

Sugar : 1tsp

Baking Powder : A pinch [helps retain the colour of the vegetables even after cooking]

Oil : 2-3tbsp

METHOD :

Wash the onion flower stalk and cut the two ends, discard. Cut 2 inch size lengthwise and wash again. Apply very little salt and turmeric.

Cut the cauliflower portion into small florets and wash.

Peel the carrot discarding the two ends. Cut further into smaller cubes. Rub with salt.

Peel, wash and cut the potato into smaller cubes, rub with salt.

Wash the green peas too.

Heat the oil in a wok and temper it with nigella seeds, halved dry red chillies.

Add the cauliflower florets, cubed carrots and potatoes together. Add the turmeric powder and a pinch of baking powder, fold in well.

Cover cook for 3-4 minutes. Open cover and add the chopped onion flower stalk, slitted green chillies and the green peas.

Fold in well and cook uncovered for another 3-4 minutes stirring in between. Add the sugar, stir for a minute. We are done!

Enjoy GAJOR ALOO FULKOPI MOTORSHUTI DIYE PEYAJKOLI O PEYAJ PHORON DIYE MUSHUR DAL with some piping hot steamed rice or South Asian Breads. Some pakoras by the side are so welcome. At our home we had the veggie dish with some "ruti o roshogolla" too as breakfast!

The entire evening yesterday was spent doing this platter of SWEET POTATO & PEANUT SNACKER WITH MINT-PINEAPPLE-GARLIC CHUTNEY. This obviously is an evening teatime pleasure, but yesterday it was made as a part of dinner menu with some cumin / jeera rice and a quick egg curry, the recipe of which is to be shared later! What about the dal share S? Oh! it can wait for few more days.... back to back two dal shares do not sound great. Besides, I may not have promoted my blog at all in this island for the reason that I cannot cook the dishes that the natives here prefer and I am not so keen on being close to the people of my clan here except for the few known..... Then it is also true that there is a big upcoming event to be held in this island and we should well be a part of it. Why not use ingredients that people of this island and that of the country of my birth both eat, and with love? As of the rest of the vast world... I think most of them eat sweet potato or say peanut..... Well, I should think about them too and this platter should appeal to a majority! My exposure to the world beyond Bengal was only through few books for a long period..... and they were not necessarily on culinary art... at large. Had I knew that I have a natural passion for cooking... I would have pursued it after my 12th and would not be scared to go for recipe contests judged by the master chefs! Oh! I have a general apathy towards any kind of examinations and competitions.... If in a contest.. the judge asks me to prepare a "jilipi".... I will simply start shivering like "Jalebi Bai".... I have no qualms in admitting my shortcomings.... that makes me an "average brat".... One should have some amount of confidence and self pride in them to move ahead in life! I go back in time and see I have a so called master's degree in a subject I never loved.... I could have done something if I studied Archaeology, Anthropology, Sociology or Psychology or say even this Culinary Arts! The pain of choosing a wrong subject and the failure of trying to get crisp "jilipi or amriti" gets me to prepare something that majority of the people will love. I however have the feel that maximum of the people love fries and fritters. Moreover, when I have the feel that people are trying to bind me within a particular region, I prefer to take a shift and will definitely not conform to their wish. So, all the effort that took to this divine platter of SWEET POTATO & PEANUT SNACKER WITH MINT-PINEAPPLE-GARLIC CHUTNEY is worth!

Bengalis use Sweet Potato / Ranga Aloo in "pithe-puli" usually... The Hindi-speaking belt back in India use it for a Shakarkhandi Chaat? may be.... and I know the Southern India eat it often. Sweet Potato / Ranga Aloo / Shakarkhandi.... this root vegetable is very much loved by the people of this island. They even eat its leaves which I never got home. I ate it outside may be in a soup or in a stir fry, did not find any distinct flavour or taste, it tastes like any other greens to me. Back in 2012, when our mother visited us here.... she jumped at the sight of the sweet potato leaves, she mistook it for "kharkon / ghatkol pata".... a special kind of leaf we get during monsoon in Bengal and prepare a bharta of it with or without prawns.... it is perhaps a "Bangal" thing.... I so much crave for it and comb searched the island for it, never got! What I get here I do, from "loti to shorshe-narkol diye kochu bata"..... the rest in the family eats it or not. I am mentally prepared for such phone calls in future from one Olive Oyl... "mumma we had pasta with lots of greens n shrimps tonight, had some baked rice with roasted french beans yesterday"..... How much the senior says I will prove to be the worst mother-in-law.... I see myself giving a broad smile over the phone and say thats fine dear... have it hot and fresh.... She might be just back from her work unlike her useless mother-in-law and pretty tired. Come on this lady is not so horrible either, the only medal she got till date except for those race finisher ones is for Best Conduct back in school... haha.... The husband has to say something about it too!.... He says I am his wife and he knows me the best that it was a wrong selection, that our Bengali teacher Iva Dutta miss loved me too much, was partial towards me and the right candidate was sidelined.... I am partial too and make it a point to visit her every year.... The husband is always right... so why does he tag me to be the worst mom-in-law and says he will not allow the kids to stay with me for a single day after their marriage? Perhaps because I have rehearsed a several times by now what to say to my Olive Oil.... "Every little thing of mine is yours and only yours.... given my son features as prime in your life!"..... That sounds very much patriarch right?.... That is why I always say it is not the males alone who are patriarch.... we are prisoners of a system. Anyway, what I kept in mind while preparing this platter of SWEET POTATO & PEANUT SNACKER WITH MINT-PINEAPPLE-CHUTNEY are... people of this island should be able to have it now or later, I am an Indian who runs an Indian food blog... so the entire snack loving nation should be able to have it.... Today, the movie Padman releases.... it speaks of those needy women who cannot afford personal hygiene.... I wished to keep the ingredients low cost! We will watch it and Aiyaary both. I can see some people have already started criticising some associated with the movie as publicity stunts, pets of the ruling party. Come on, we should not associate religion and politics with everything.... focus on a particular issue.... So what if they earn money... they are spreading awareness for a right cause too... I have left leanings, even I did not allow my husband to waste his life in meetings, processions with party flag.... How much my dedicated party worker paa-in-law denies that during his party's rule.... the Calcutta University did not allow anyone through the back door.... in reality it definitely was in practice... may be less... His party removed English from the syllabus of West Bengal schools, while the party leader sent his own grand daughters to city convents and lived in a city mansion. I do not understand politics, but you all know that I give big talks... Marxism was part of my syllabi till the university level... isn't it a very good ideology that failed miserably in application. I am against the ruling parties both of India and in the state of West Bengal... they fuel the religious sentiments of the commoners, What is the opposition doing?... same thing... vote bank is all that matters.... We need not criticise every action of the ruling party once we lose the chair.... Selling pakoras will definitely not contribute to a country's economy, but it is always better to do something than sitting idle at home and curse. All separatist movements are fuelled, watered and nurtured to stay in power... who ever sits in the throne does it.... doing it since independence. How will the arms industry function and flourish if not the civil wars are fuelled? The lady giving big talks will not go and work at the grass root level but will go to the parlour for pedicure, manicure and then selfies... why? because she is a coward... she does not want similar fate as of one Gauri Lankesh. Yet, we need not be too critical of the chair at all times.... to handle a diverse country with an exploding population is not an easy task..... specially if its citizens are selfish like me who is scared to take back her son to his roots.... where a son is stabbed in the name of honour killing.... a daughter is raped every hour. How can I call myself a "desh premi".... Anyway, I see a future for myself back there.... I have a quite big kitchen done up by our very own Godrej.... where I can prepare this superbly delish evening snacks with sweet potato, peanuts, onion, coriander leaves, few spices and supply to different homes.... here the government is so strict with its laws! The green chutney is made with pineapple-mint and garlic! Let us do the SWEET POTATO & PEANUT SNACKER WITH MINT-PINEAPPLE-GARLIC CHUTNEY following the stepwise pictures.

INGREDIENTS : [for the chutney]

Pineapple Cubes : 1medium cup
Mint Leaves : 12-15
Garlic Cloves : 2medium
Green Chilli : 2
Black Salt : 1/4tsp

Take the pre washed pineapple pieces, garlic cloves, mint leaves, green chillies and the black salt in a grinder.

Grind to a fine paste pausing in between... It may take 1-2 minutes.

Transfer to a serving bowl and refrigerate until the snackers are ready to be served with it.

INGREDIENTS : [for the snackers]

Sweet Potato : 4medium sized [peeled, halved and pressure cooked adding water unto 1 whistle]
Peanut : 1/2small cup [chopped]
Coriander Leaves : 1small cup [chopped]
Onion : 1big[sliced and fried lightly]
Green Chilli :2[chopped]
Cumin Powder : 1tsp
Coriander Powder : 1/2tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1tbsp
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Chaat Masala : 1tsp
Lemon Juice : 4-5tbsp
Semolina : 2tbsp
Refined Flour : 1tbsp
Salt : As Required [add little at a time]
Oil : 2-3 tbsp +1tsp

METHOD :

Take the boiled sweet potato pieces in a wide mouthed, big bowl.

Heat 1tsp oil in a wok and fry the onion slices lightly.

Add all of the spices, chopped coriander leaves and green chillies, chopped toasted peanuts, lemon juice and salt to the sweet potatoes.

Mash and mix very well. Add the fried onion slices, semolina and refined flour.

Mix well further. Prepare cutlet shapes from the mixture.

Once done, refrigerate them for about two hours.

Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in a pan. Take out the cutlets and gently place atop the oil. Remember, they are soft because we used lemon juice which is required to balance the sweet tone of the sweet potato.

Once one side is little crisp and brown, turn over and do the other side. Do at low heat to avoid burning.

Place them gently on a serving plate along with the chutney, take some salad alongside and enjoy with tea / coffee!

This über delicious Bengali style CHINGRI ALOO PEPER DALNA was due for sometime now. This raw papaya, potato and shrimps dry curry is a regular at our home and it was / is so in my side of the family. I do have a vegetarian version of a similar recipe already on blog.... and it seems to be the most viewed recipe of mine so far haha... I did cook it at my in-laws place too after marriage .... the paa-in-law indeed liked the very authentic, heirloom recipes I cooked but was not at the liberty to go public with the appraisal... be it protocol or to avoid unwanted storm in the household... haha... I do not know why Bengalis fight over "Epar Bangla Opar Bangla"..... East Bengal - West Bengal.... Both sides of my family hails from East Bengal but I do not find much similarities between the two families.... Two women's cooking style from the husband's side of the family mesmerises me... one was of his mother's deceased big sister ... "mashi's" cooking and the paa-in-law's younger brother's wife's.... "choto kakima's"..... Now I did not care about any protocol in my life and naturally became a cause of irritation to the tigress mother-in-law.... I did not see her taking much interest in cooking... she was too busy with social work, chatting and restaurant hopping. She got angry and more angry with me when I praised my man's sister's maa-in-law breaking all protocol... because I always feel what I do not have in me should be appreciated in others! Do you know the tall, slim mother of two athlete boys played in the national Volley Ball Team representing Tripura... I could not hide my excitement when I first visited their home and saw a photograph with her team .... no doubt her younger son will be a cricket coach in Salt Lake and the elder a trekker. Our mother-in-law always regret that none of her kid's spouses hail from Dhaka and have origin in Comilla and bases in Tripura..... but remember.... a son-in-law is always dearer than a daughter-in-law... you bet.... at least in our society! Anyway, I do not care about all these sitting far from home... in another home.... where people do not fight over "chingri-ilish"..... "football-cricket"..... "allah-bhagaban-god"..... people are busy earning a livelihood.... strategising life and savings.... living / life is expensive here.... worthless, sit-at-home people like me are very rare here. So I have enough time to cook elaborate, heirloom recipes as this CHINGRI ALOO PEPER DALNA often.

CHINGRI ALOO PEPER DALNA is a Bengali style, semi-dry dish done with shrimps, raw papaya and potato in addition to few regular spices. We always have it with steamed rice but it should go well with hot chapati or paratha. Cooking this semi-dry, non-vegetarian curry does not take much time in my kitchen as I do not fry the potatoes and raw papaya pieces separately unlike the mother. The idea is to retain the goodness of the veggies used, if at all after using a generous amount of spices. Bengali cooking is not health prone.... they have a platter of "shorshe bata diye Golda Chingri, Pathar Kosha, Pulao, Sweet Chutney, Pantua and then a bowl of gorom, mota shor pora dudh".... what after?.... complaining of "gola, buk jwala, ambal"..... one may faint at the sight of our food platter and we have to complain of acidity after having it.... There are exceptions these days for those who live abroad for a long time.... Saying so, I am trying to avoid any kind of argument because I hate it. How much I dislike it, I am living with a man who loves to argue at all times. Just like parents warn their kids how to behave in a party, I keep on repeating and urging the husband to keep his mouth shut in a gathering.... but in vein... he inherited it! We are born with our both parents' genes. I think why people have to be vocal about their opinion at all gatherings, he things otherwise.... best is to stop bothering and sit at a corner with a favourite drink.... that is what I enjoy.... "manly chat, womanly chat, talking too much over phone" does not give me any high ..... I do not even know what to do with me.... that teen girl is back within me who loved to lie down on the easy chair in their balcony with a book and eat, eat, eat. The brother still may be making fun of his lazy, fat elder sister who never went out for playing and always walked in slow motion... according to him.... Anyway.... it is CNY celebration here in a week.... I wished to share with the prawn / shrimp loving nation a heirloom recipe from the Bengal kitchen with smaller shrimps, potato and raw-papaya. There are right people to share recipes that matches Valentine Day celebrations, I do not find myself motivated enough however. With cholesterol crossing over the danger level, not really in the mood to draw and design heart shapes.... I am miserable in that area... fine artistry! Here is the recipe of CHINGRI ALOO PEPER DALNA.... which should be had with steamed rice or say flat breads.

INGREDIENTS :

Raw Papaya : 1medium
Potato : 1big
Tomato Paste : 1/2small cup
Shrimp : 300-350gm
Ginger Paste : 11/2tbsp
Cumin Powder : 11/2tsp
Coriander Powder : 1/2tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 2tsp
Cinnamon Powder : 1/4tsp
Green Cardamom Powder : 1/4tsp
Cloves Powder : 2-3pinch
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp +1/2tsp +1/2tsp + 1tsp
Salt : As Required
Cumin Seed : 3-4pinch
Bayleaf : 1
Ghee : 1tsp [clarified butter]
Sugar : 1tsp [optional]
Oil : 2tbsp [We use mustard oil]

METHOD :

De shell, clean and wash the shrimps / smaller prawns thoroughly. Marinate with salt and 1tsp turmeric powder.

Peel the skin of the raw papaya discarding the two ends. Also peel off the inner layer having the seeds after we have cut the raw papaya into 4 halves. My poor English does not allow me to use the correct terms at times... sorry readers.... You can still rely on my recipes though.

Now cut the peeled raw papaya further into smaller cubes. Wash and apply 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder and salt.

Peel the potato, cut into 8 pieces. Wash and rub with 1/2tsp turmeric powder and salt.

Keep all three marinated for 15 minutes or so.

Heat oil in a wok. Fry the shrimps lightly and take out.

Temper oil with a bayleaf and the cumin seeds.

Take the ginger paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder, 1/2tsp turmeric powder and some salt in a bowl. Sprinkle some water and mix well.

Add the spice mixture to the tempered oil and stir for a minute. Add the tomato paste and stir further for a minute.

Now add the cubed raw papaya pieces, fold in well and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add the potato pieces and stir further for 2 minutes all at medium heat.

Add one coffee mug of water, lower heat to minimum and cover cook for 3-4 minutes.

Open cover and add the lightly fried shrimps. Fold in well and let cook at low heat for 2 minutes or so.

Now add the cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves powder, ghee and sugar to the already semi-dry curry and let cook for a minute. We are done!

Enjoy the aromatic, spicy curry either with steamed rice or flat breads!

I got the idea of cooking an egg curry this way some 18 years ago and from whom?..... I keep on talking about a wonder woman who has an equally / superbly talented husband.... from him. No, you will not find him anywhere near the kitchen. In fact he is the one who says I google map for the kitchen and this copy cat's antenna caught it immediately. If I tell my husband.... you know I highlighted this or that today on my blog... he would say.... S you are stealing my ideas.... Isn't it so we learn each day from the surrounding and apply those in our lives whenever required? Anyway, coming to the recipe of this Bengali style Egg Curry TOMATO DHONEPATA DIYE DIMER KANCHA JHOL, I could not replicate the actual recipe as heard so many years back. Am I no more in touch with that person that I could not ask for the recipe? That cannot happen ever.... certain relationships are unbreakable, they are meant to stay forever ..... It is for this couple that my husband stayed in the comfort and warmth of a home in a situation when he may have had to stay in a boy's hostel and survive on vada pao. Such relationships I keep above, consider sacred! Then why did not I sent a message to him for the recipe? I felt shy really to bother a person who is busy and has to keep many delicate affairs on his head. If I ask him about the recipe, he has to call his mother and sister in Kolkata for it.... that seems so silly. I message him on lazy Sundays to complain about the senior, he stops me saying you are married to a very genuine person S, do not complain.... he does not miss the chance to play pranks on my man either... haha. There is another reason too.... he used to say this recipe of TOMATO DHONEPATA DIYE DIMER KANCHA JHOL is his family recipe who hail from East Bengal..... Chutu... his wife's family is of West Bengal origin.... Chutu's mother is an excellent cook.... my husband swears by her Tandoori Chicken.... while Chutu's husband's mother cooked the best "Thorer Ghonto"according to our another friend from school, Subhra. So better I rely on my memory for this dish of TOMATO DHONEPATA DIYE DIMER KANCHA JHOL. This Mumbaikar couple hailing from Kolkata are very private person, they may not like me going public about them but I will. The genius never had the habit of bragging, we know he was the roommate of the present Google CEO for a year. He never said we were so good friends you know T & S.... he said we did not gel well actually. We believe he need not brag either... he is no less in quality. Each year there are toppers from each department of IIT or elsewhere who flourish.... What makes him so different? The man at this home says... he is humble, down to the earth to the core and far beyond any kind of text books... a living Encyclopaedia.... but like Sherlock Holmes... only in his areas of interest. I dedicate this dish to a couple who did not behave like Valentines even after their marriage, never craved for privacy but were true guardians to some bachelor dears and to a flying, touch the ground and go friend like my T. I am emotionally indebted to the couple who are blessed with a daughter.

Imagine a pot of boiling water and you throw in few spices, slitted green chillies, chopped tomatoes, chopped coriander, boiled eggs and it gets cooked.... this was what he told me so far I can remember. Why did I not disclose his name today? I will do it when I share his wife's recipe one day..... it is she who cooked for my husband for days, months..... I indeed believe family is not only blood. You will not see us attending parties every other day but we have some really good ones around the world! This dish of an yum, Bengali style egg curry TOMATO DHONEPATA DIYE DIMER KANCHA JHOL is not a Valentine's Day kind of, nor a Maha Shivratri special one! Indeed I am fasting without water and will break fast only at night after offering the dancing Lord "dudh... jol.... shabu-kola"..... Its ok to say Valentine's Day is not a part of Indian culture, even rape is not! If some are more interested in booking people peacefully celebrating Valentine's Day instead of booking the rapists / honour killers .... stubborns like me will not share "shorbot" recipe either, neither place a heart shaped sandesh on a plate and share. There is indeed a CNY special recipe to be shared next day that everyone can prepare in their kitchen. Since I forgot the detailed recipe of it, I went ahead with my version of this quick, easy scrumptious egg curry and served it with cumin / jeera flavoured turmeric rice and some salad. Egg is a favourite with the husband, the son too have it without complain, this lady too prefers an egg curry than those too frozen "desher mach".... if only the egg was duck egg.... the yolk of duck eggs tastes heavenly in Indian curries.... chicken eggs are to have boiled, fried, poaches, omelettes.....

You may click the below headings for few of my other Egg Recipes already shared on blog!

BENGAL EGG CURRY

KOLHAPURI DRY EGG CURRY

OMELETTE WRAPPED FRIED RICE

I am sincerely thankful to the extremely well crafted, the versatile blogger friend Navaneetham Krishnan... who blogs at nava-k.com for helping me out with the process of adding links of different recipes on blog!

INGREDIENTS :

Egg : 5-7
Tomato : 1medium [washed, chopped]
Coriander Leaves : 1 small cup [wash, root removed, chopped]
Green Chilli : 2-3 [washed, slitted]
Onion : 1 medium [peeled, washed, sliced]
Cumin Seed : 2-3 pinch
Cumin Powder : 1/3tsp
Coriander Powder : 1/2tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 11/2tsp
Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder : 1/3tsp
Cinnamon Powder : 2-3pinch
Green Cardamom Powder : 2-3pinch
Cloves Powder : A pinch
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Bay Leaf : 1
Salt : As Required
Oil : 2tbsp

METHOD :

Wash the eggs carefully and boil in enough water adding little salt. Once cool, de shell... wash again and apply some salt.

We have the boiled eggs, sliced onion, chopped corianders, cubed tomatoes and slitted green chillies ready on the kitchen top.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with cumin seeds and the bay leaf. Add the sliced onion to the wok and stir fry for sometime till golden brown.

Add 11/2 coffee mug of water to the wok. Add salt, turmeric, cumin powder, coriander powder, both kinds of red chilli powders and tomatoes to it and stir. Cover and bring to boil.

Let the curry boil at low heat till the tomato pieces are tender.... we will not allow the gravy to dry. Add more water if required.

Now add the boiled eggs, chopped corianders, slitted green chillies, cinnamon... green cardamom and cloves powders to the boiling curry. Give a stir and let boil for another 2 minutes.

Once done, transfer to a serving bowl. We had it fresh and hot with Jeera Rice and salad!

The entire island is in a holiday mood right from today till Monday! Post afternoon most of the shops get closed, people just go out in flocks and indulge in Merry making.... The environment is similar to a Durga Puja or Christmas or an Eid celebration. Though we are not in to the mainstream of the island, the merriment touches our hearts too! As I or my man always say, whichever place we live in is our home. When I travel to Kolkata, I am definitely happy but after three weeks I long to be back here... not for the high speed internet or the other comforts it provides us but because it is my home now. I indeed called my mom more frequently last December to get our Kolkata home cleaned since I could not go this time ..... The senior corrects me saying this 1150 sq.ft., rented space is your home now. Our family members reading this post may get sad, but the truth is that we thoroughly enjoy our stay here. One cannot stay at one place and go gaga about another place all the time. One must have a sense of belonging to the place he or she lives in. Let me give an example of how I adjust here.... It is been quite sometime I do not enjoy having chicken here except for some particular oriental preparations or some minced meat in tikka or kebab or say cutlet! While in India I still can have one or two bony pieces from the curry! I did not lament over it and started trying and testing on what is going wrong. Finally realised..... it is the "Kampong" variety of chicken that matches my taste bud here.... though mutton remains a favourite. If we compare all the time we cannot feel that belongingness. To use a place just as a source of earning dollars is very wrong.... I feel before going elsewhere or back, we must need to show some love to the place we are in . If it is a CNY celebration here, we will very much be a part of it and enjoy sharing a recipe of PINEAPPLE JAM WITH CHILLI FLAKES with my readers. Any festival is enjoyed with a sweet something, thats what we believe.

My readers believe it or not, both of us siblings grew up on jams made at home. Our mother did not know how to bake cakes or pastries or pies.... her expertise revolves around Bengali cooking that she inherited from her mother. The only "foreign" thing she used to make was mango, pineapple and guava jam. She had / has a daughter with a giant sized stomach which once could digest anything and everything. In those days, such terms like "body shaming" and all were not much there.... not at all among friends. I cannot recall that my friends had ever called me a fatso.... hence I kept on eating! What does it say of my nature?.... that I prioritised food more than the attention of a boy or may be I put across a message.... accept me the way I am if you can or quit. What is wrong in the way I thought? Well, "body shaming" is wrong but there is no pride in being obese and invite all sorts of diseases at an early age. The garland of diseases I wear today is all because of the wrong food habits. Not that I turned into a wise person but I try to balance my diet a bit. This morning I packed the husband's lunch box with some leftover chicken kofta curry and paratha.... it cannot happen that I will not have one paratha with my morning tea. What will be my lunch like?... some stir fry mushrooms & veggies with no rice at all.... some fruits to have too! Dinner may be 1/2 small cup of rice.... This is not an ideal diet plan... so I could manage to shed only 10-12 kilos in the past few years and look just like me instead of a Shobha De .... I am just unable to go for clean eating and rigorous physical training. At times, the trainers at the gym knocks me asking are you ok S? I might have lost then somewhere else in between workout sessions.... It is my nature... may be early signs of dementia too... who knows? No I do not eat breads with this PINEAPPLE JAM WITH CHILLI FLAKES often, neither did I follow our mother's recipe of it . She might have forgotten the recipes of jams altogether. She stopped cooking variety once I got married because the brother never fancied variety in his food. She cooks what he loves... biryani, pulao, meat.... after a lunch with these he can enter a KFC for a giant chicken leg, Pizza Hut for a pizza but never a Mac meal.... silly boy! The junior at this home indeed loves all the simple spreads and jams I prepare.... just like his mother used to some 30-40 years back on cream cracker and marie biscuits... 10-15 per day.... paying for it hard now. A diabetic foodie is the worst combination to happen in this world. I am still not clear about the difference between spread, jam and jelly..... I just do a jam like something with fresh fruits and with few other ingredients readily available at home. I do not use pectin / any kinds of artificial preservatives on jams given my shallow knowledge on food. So... if you call my PINEAPPLE JAM WITH CHILLI FLAKES .... anarosher mishti achar... I do not mind.... it still tastes great! I stick to the idea of adding chilli flakes to jams deriving it from one of the jam recipe of scratchingcanvas.com ... it rocks! Those who are celebrating CNY can try it after the celebration, rest of you can try it tomorrow itself... what you need is a good quality, juicy... ripe pineapple.... with which I have a long association... the grandfather grew it... not so sweet as we get here. The mother spoilt her kids serving it cubed, tossed in black salt and pepper on weekends post lunch when the lazy daughter was engrossed in a story book and the naughty son was on an experimentation mode inserting a "kuler bichi" .... an Indian berry seed inside his nose! Enjoy this PINEAPPLE JAM WITH CHILLI FLAKES on biscuit, bread, poori, paratha / porota. The first item that went into the lunch box of the junior were two tiny luchi rolled with jam spread on it... it should work at your home too!

INGREDIENT :

Pineapple : 1standard size
Lemon Juice : 1/2small cup
Dry Red Chilli : 2-3
Sugar : 1medium cup
Water : 11/2coffee mug

METHOD :

Cut the two ends of the pineapple, peel the skin. Cut half and then further into 4 pieces. We will discard the hard pineapple core / woody centre too.

Now cut the remaining pineapple into cubes and grind to a paste. Use a grinder and not a juicer.

Take the pineapple paste on a heavy bottomed vessel and add 11/2 coffee mug of water to it.

Put on gas stove and bring to boil. Let boil for about 10-12 minutes. Now add 1 medium cup of sugar and stir.

When it has boiled for about 12-14 minutes, add the lemon juice and yellow food colour. Stir.

Let the mixture boil at low heat further. Heat a clean wok and dry roast the dry red chillies just for a minute. Take off, let cool. Crush roughly with your hand. Wash your hands several times with soap before you touch any part of your body. I hope you are not a forgetful mind like me.

Once you see the boiling mixture getting sticky, add the chilli flakes and fold in well. Switch off gas stove.

Once cool, transfer to a sterilised bottle. Refrigerate for its longevity and enjoy atop bread, poori, paratha as and when required!

There is one category of people around you..... though rare.... who have no fruitful contribution to the society as such.... they do not do anything the entire day but seems busy... without being busy.... take it from me... I fall in that category! What was I / we doing the last four days? We had some friends at our place on the first day of CNY, we enjoyed to the fullest past midnight, thereafter I got tired and took some rest the entire Saturday morning. An ideal Saturday evening during CNY would have been to go out with the family for a mezze platter and kunefe accompanied by some Turkish tea as planned a week earlier but cancelled over a fight... why? The man at this home had holiday till today but he flew back again to the capital city of the neighbouring country yesterday evening... I am not a saint and could not keep my cool and had to fight... Who is your interest there that you have to spent half of the week in that place?.... was what I started with followed by a lot of drama.... with no one bothering at all. I turned to the son.... mumma wishes to go out with you on a lunch date tomorrow... hoping it may give the father a first degree burn at least.... but as I say, I stay with weird stuffs in the family.... the son has to say no to everything his mother wants him to do.... he supposedly finds it chivalric. Mumma travels back in time and misses those days when she took her soft, little toy for swimming / art / badminton classes..... this mother never thought of dumping her toy at home and go out and merry.... My neighbours back in Kolkata will agree 100 % to what I say... Weekday evenings S was with her son at home or at different clubs .... weekend evenings S was with her son @ 22, Camac Street until City Center 2 became our neighbour. Then I stepped into this island.... the father of the son felt I am abnormally attached to the son.... my attention needs to be diverted! The attention did not divert, mumma got more sad and craved for a girl child who might have been a friend to her by now and would not have given a deaf ear to whatever I say! Not all men are like mine... they do care for their lady I believe. Till my little brother got married, the entire Kolkata used to say... there you see a "didi's pet / mumma's boy".... Yes, I controlled my brother's life, he knows it well why I did so. The senior at this home is not jealous because my little brother is his so too by all means, only that my man thinks his son should not do mumma-mumma to that extent. In the process, I got lonelier as I just cannot party around with flocks of people ..... I love watching people doing so.... I love watching kids sing, dance, play and achieve... be it a boy or a girl! I will always fight and disagree with the senior over the son.... He thinks if the son does not love playing... he need not be forced.... if he loves sitting in front of the computer the entire day, let him be! I believe interests are to be grown in kids..... then we both agreed to disagree few decades back.... so I do not mind cooking some EASY EGG BIRYANI for the husband on a Friday night. My brother and son may start searching for some meat pieces on the plate... haha. The brother gets to eat meat biryani too often .... courtesy the mother and her homemade biryani spice mixture. The son prefers an egg biryani than a "rui macher jhol bhaat".... 2nd of May is his boards examination starting and he wasted an entire evening watching a movie on Hitler yesterday... he will not get to eat meat for the next 2-3 days. With two Hitlers in the family, why he needs to watch a movie on him?.... His mumma does not want another girl to be terrorised in future! To top all the tensions, there is one mother sitting there in Kolkata... She calls the daughter.... the daughter disconnects and calls back.... to hear what?... " T achey naki rey ashey pashey?" Is the son-in-law near you? If I say no, she starts .... "Bubun cheleke niye boro chinta amar.... lekha pora korena thik moto... kicchu shekhash na alada korey... sharadin ki korish? Ami koto dourechi chele niye... swimming club... cricket club..." If the son-in-law is not around, she has to pour in all her tensions concerning the grandson on her diabetic daughter with full knowledge of the fact that her daughter lives with two rebels who are impossible to manage. I have to stop her saying I may have 1/4th of your energy, but do you think I would not have run here and there for the son had he or the father listened to me a bit?.... Stop it and tell me what you cooked today... what new seeds you sowed, do not stay in the terrace for long... who listens? The brother had sent me a lot of pictures of their terrace garden yesterday..... a death in the family did not stop our mother to nurture her passion...

The true biryani lovers may call this EASY EGG BIRYANI a cheat, I do not mind! Even the very famous Bengali columnist Ranjan Bandopadhay once said Biryani means only those done with mutton / lamb / beef.... rest are not. My chicken loving friends may get hurt, they should not.... neither it was told to hurt any religious sentiment.... let us take it light heartedly! We must accept that the fat from the red meat along with the spices gets the taste of what is called biryani... rest are all pulao... Just following the present trend, I also named it EASY EGG BIRYANI. Last week I came across a post of Debjanir Rannaghar where her husband asks her to drink poison before cooking a no garlic, no onion biryani.... Oh my God.... the entire day I could not stop giggling .... really enjoyed! Some blogs I do visit for the history of a dish, some for its nutritive values, some for excellent food photography, some for the skilfully written life stories revolving around the heirloom recipes.... they add pleasure to a lazy life and I learn few things without much effort. That is how education should be.... fun to learn! Take the example of Mrs. Funny Bones.... did you read her Sunday column yesterday at Times of India? Hahaha.... "maaza aa gaya".... it was such a fun to know what goes at my home also happens at a celebrity home too.... I like her because she is a mom who drives her daughter and son to and fro from school and tuition classes and do not spend the entire day in front of the mirror! .... In all probability she is not lying... she is just another mother! For some favourites, I cannot just take names... I respect some areas always and will! My readers... you will see influence of such people on me .... my mother's perhaps the most. The poor lady does like her son-in-law, she knows him for ages... he had been visiting our parental home for over 3 decades now.... just that she is a very self-restraint kind of a person who is not comfortable beyond a point. What did the daughter tell her family decades back? Do not expect the son-in-law to chaat and giggle and call you every other day and ask your whereabouts.... he will be there when you need him.... I did not have peace on our marriage day.... ask me why? On my marriage my quiet husband got sidelined, Smita Banerjee's moron husband got famous... why? my aunts and mother till date says... "Dibyendu amar maa key koto ador korlo... ki hashi-khushi chele".... Our mom is 70.... the grandmother is 90... the former is a mumma's daughter till date! The man of this house gets egg dishes regularly.... also a cheat biryani as this EASY EGG BIRYANI.... just because he had been my best friend once... now the closest one if not the best... this space is not enough to write about him! Just one example.... after marriage, we went for the first time to our grand parent's home.... My grandmother had been famous for force feeding during her rule.... and it was royal. What she forgot was that there was a gap of few decades between her eldest son-in-law and my husband and more when it came to dealing with elderlies. After a meal with prawn, hilsa, mutton and aar mach / cat fish may be... she was forcing my husband to have a bowl of warm milk boiled to half of the original amount for a thick layer of malai.... at 10:30 pm. My heartbeat multiplied anticipating the consequence.... Ultimately the unwanted situation could not be avoided.... the husband had to revolt and say... "gorur dudh manusher proyojoney lagey na... raatey to khaoai uchit na"... that cow milk is not required by humans and should not be consumed at night.... then he had to smoke in front of my grandfather too. He said he cannot pretend what he is not. Anyway, my side of the family does like him.... and the uncles did tell my mother something very precious at our father's funeral watching my man in action.... though the mother and grandmother still raves about one Dibyendu Banerjee who still spends sleepless night together with my man when they meet... oh yes that makes me jealous! A friend is a friend is a friend... be it a boy or a girl! The man of this house had been a wonderful friend till date and an EASY EGG BIRYANI does happen on week day nights instead of the wife's favourite "dal o panchmeshali tarkari".... He already said .... feed mixed vegetables to your friends and readers and not us. The final stage of this quick egg biryani was made in the microwave... say the "dum" part... it saved some time... I did not use saffron / zafran either. The idea was to prepare a wholesome meal with few ingredients for my chopsticks. The husband loves raita alongside, both will not touch the salad... all for me and our Cristine. The miser me did not throw away the spices I boiled the rice with.... I made a paste of them and used it in the egg curry.

Come let us do an EASY EGG BIRYANI together..... I hope you will also be willing to have a look at the following recipes already there on the blog... Just click on the headings :

CABBAGE PULAO

MURG PULAO

MACH PULAO / FISH PULAO

INGREDIENTS : [for the making of rice]

Basmati Rice : 1coffee mug [fragrant, long grained rice]
Cinnamon Stick : 2-3 two inch sticks
Green Cardamom : 4
Cloves : 4-5
Caraway Seed : 1tsp
Mace : 2
Star Anise : 1
Salt : 1tbsp
Water : As Required

INGREDIENTS : [for the egg curry]
Egg : 6-7
Potato : 2 [washed, boiled, peeled and cut each into 4 pieces]
Onion Paste : 2tbsp
A paste made of the cinnamon sticks, green cardamoms, cloves, caraway seeds, mace, star anise that we used to prepare the rice.
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Garlic Paste : 1tbsp
Ginger Paste : 1tsp
Green Chilli Paste : 1tsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 2tbsp
Ghee : 2tsp

INGREDIENTS : [FINAL STAGE]
The Cooked Rice
The Cooked Egg Curry
Shredded Khoya : 1small cup[solidified milk] [can skip]
Mint Leaf : 8-10 [chopped]
Kewra or Rose water : 2-4 drops
Ghee : 4-5tbsp [clarified butter]

METHOD :

Let us prepare the rice first . Take enough water in a heavy bottomed vessel and bring to boil. Add salt as required.

Take a clean piece of cloth, place the cinnamon sticks, green cardamoms, cloves, mace, caraway seeds on it. Tie the cloth and drop on the boiling water.

Once the water has boiled for 7-8 minutes, add the pre-cooked rice. Let it cook up to 60% done. Drain the water.

Prepare a paste of all the spices that are tied in the cloth. Marinate the boiled potatoes and eggs with salt.

Heat oil in a wok.... half fry the potatoes, take out.

Add the onion paste and fry for 2 minutes. Add the ginger - garlic paste and fry for another 2 minutes.

Add the red chilli powder, green chilli paste, the spice paste, turmeric powder and salt to the wok. Fold in well and fry for 1 minute. Sprinkle some water if required.

Now add the potatoes, mix well and stir for a minute. Add the eggs and a small cup of water. Cover cook for 5 minutes. Add the ghee, fold in well.

Take a microwave proof bowl. Place some rice and half of the eggs and potatoes with curry. Add 2tbsp ghee, chopped mint leaves, and some of the grated khoya. Repeat again, the top layer should be the rest of the rice, ghee, shredded khoya, chopped mint leaves and kewra / rose water!

Cover with a microwave proof plate. Microwave at high for not more than 5-6 minutes.

If you are doing it on gas stove top, place all of the things in the same way as above but in a deep bottomed metal vessel, seal the sides of the cover. Place a frying pan atop gas stove. Place the sealed vessel on it. Cook at low to medium heat for 40-45 minutes.

We had it with salad and mint-yogurt raita!

"Bashonto esheche, Shimul.. Polash er Rongoli.... Dol Purnima- Holi Hai amar kachey aki artha .... Nirbhejal Anondo Prakash... Boshonto hariye jai onekeri... Bashanter Bilap thekei jai... "..... Do I have to translate?... the thought of it is feverish for someone who is not confident about the language. Its spring... time for some special blooms... Time for Bengal's "Dol Khela" and rest of India's Holi! I am not a part of this celebration.... for some reason or the other .... but I can play for you Tagore's "shei to boshonto firey elo... hridoyero boshonto kothaii" or can sing for you "rangeelarey tere rang mein yun ranga hai mera mann".... I really do not mind enjoying both or different kinds given what, when suits my mood. I do not categorise myself into a particular genre. I grew up enjoying a mix of quite a few kinds ..... light ghazals been the most favourite until the husband introduced me to a Kenny G and Elvis Presley .... What a bliss! The husband made the biggest blunder too! I do not allow anyone near me when I listen to Kenny G.... They go out to office and school.... I am in the right mood.... Cristine put the phone in mute mode... curtains on... give me that fat book... may be a Jane Austen... so what if I find solace in an Ashapoorna Debi or Jane Austen or Suchitra Bhattacharjee's Mitin Mashi series.... they all are good literature... Some do categorise or accuse some literature as "womanly".... that does not sound good to me.... Literature can be only good or bad. I am a Bengali.... I know I am so much of it that I had a plateful of rice with a blogger friend's lucrative "tyangra er jhol" last week.... it was maddening given I could not visit Kolkata last winter.... A big, orange salmon entered this house last week... yet I am craving for a "charapona / kajoli macher jhol".... So I do not have to show it off on a particular day .... The confident me went and had some chaat and dosa instead while humming a melodious Bollywood number .... This morning the son's lunch box was packed with "luchi o kalojeera phoron diye aloo chocchori" and mumma had to taste it with tea and Kenny G.... Lunch would be either a homemade tomato soup or I may go out for a "Bak tu teh".... Balance your meals... folks!

So you see I hear a Kenny G, an Anupam Roy or one "pot full of attitude" but with a God gifted voice Rupankar as and when I wish to! We go to any extent to watch a Srijit Mukherjee / Rituparno Ghosh / Anindya Chaterjee film.... but prefer to watch a Padman instead of a "Swapan Saha" movie! Its up to you whether to call me a Bengali or not.... while I tap my feet humming Suneeta Rao's "Pari hoon main... Mujhe Na Choona"..... Well, we do not leave a chance to attend the concerts of the Bengali singers coming here... from Lopamudra Mitra to Anupam Roy.... This lady takes over the entire stage once she is up there... such is her command over her voice that she uses very less hands and oh! her wits in between... Bengalis spread worldwide... do not miss to attend her programme if there is any! Coming to this guy Anupam Roy, I always have a special place for him on my mind.... the engineer left a highly paid job in Bangalore to pursue his passion.... music. Few years back, he came here for a concert and wow... me and the son were in the same flight with him from Kolkata as I could not afford to miss his programme. In the waiting lounge, I went up to him for a click... and... I liked him more... no airs at all... so gentle. The husband came to receive me at the airport... I had to say .... look at that handsome... we are going to attend his concert tonight... and he is so soft spoken unlike you! After all these, the husband did go to the concert.... he knows his birdwatcher wife does not spare guys half her age.... while the brother may still wonder... who is Anupam Roy didibhai pointed at? .... not my Kimi's competitor nor Jholmol Khan's gym mate .... let me have luchi, mutton and "chorbir bora" instead. You see my dear readers, so long I miss "chorbi in mutton"... that is the fat in the mutton we do not get here... I am very much a Bengali... wherein a Dol Poornima celebration will start with a sweet.... CARROT PISTA LADOO.... instead of a jibe goja.... that is also true about me!

However silly I am to write anything and everything that is not remotely near to the concerned recipe, the end product of the dish I prepare is edible and good.... I cook many a things... but share those recipes that I confidently can say.... you can do and have them. I do pizzas and pastas too.... why should people follow my recipe of pizza?.... Hey.... lovely people... got some "loti" and "lau" too yesterday.... I felt this time... let my men do not eat my kind of things... I will do them to celebrate my "self"..... I should.... else my stomach grumbles...

I will keep them happy with meat curries, homemade pizzas, different kinds of sweets including this CARROT PISTA LADOO.... At times, all of us will bond over mango desserts, middle-eastern breads & dips, vegetarian kofta, salmon, oriental sweet &sour preparations... dumplings, sashimi.. sushi.... Vietnamese / Thai spring rolls... the list of common food interest is big too.... Yes, I may not blog on my dumplings or pizzas as such but I will soon share the video link of a two ingredients pizza dough I came across and tried... too good! ..... and I cannot help but share that winter dal recipe in spring.... getting a bit more selfish and say... we are lucky enough to get every thing throughout the year.... except for fresh "aar, boyal, dhai, tyangra, kajoli".... sigh! Once a Bengali.... always so... no wrong in loving a black glutinous rice topped with ice-cream either. Anyway, let us kickstart the Holi celebration with this sweet.... CARROT PISTA LADOO made of freshly made carrot paste, sugar, ghee, green cardamom, chopped pistachio. I sincerely hope our "Radha-Krishna" would love to have this sweet .... we should also see that part... she had the guts to go public with her feelings... haha.... we do it and are called witches.... "paper mein sign kiya? gandegi fyal rahe ho... samaj mein... chchi!".... Rest of the world... this sweet tastes as good as a carrot pie filling or carrot squares topped with some cream... go ahead... you will love! Do not expect much innovations from me.... the mother could not help even after feeding the daughter "Brahmi Shaak"..... she still must be watching those topper boys & girls speaking and regret not feeding the daughter... files of brain booster "Brainolia" too! Buddhadeb Guha to Raj Kapoor / Yash Chopra / Maniratnam / Gulzar Saab... all are responsible.... I cannot even ask one Tina .... how could you be good in mathematics when I kept on wondering " tumhari mummy ko kamre ki chabi khona hi tha?"..... I passed in mathematics perhaps for the algebra part... Let my mother adopt those who study,sing, dance, play, cook, work et all with same pace.... while I cook and sing for you.... "eei sundor sharnali shandhyay.... aki bandhaney joralego bondhu"....

You may also wish to see few sweet / dessert recipes already on blog...

KOLKATAR LAAL MISHTI DOI

NOLEN GURER SANDESH / COTTAGE CHEESE JAGGERY FUDGE

CHOCOLATE SANDESH

INGREDIENTS :
Carrot : 4
Sugar : 1/3small cup
Powder Milk : 1small cup
Full Cream Milk : 1/4small cup
Ghee : 3tbsp + 2tsp
Green Cardamom Powder : 1/2tsp
Green Cardamom : 2-3
Chopped Pistachio : 2tbsp
Powdered Pistachio : 1tsp

METHOD :

Cut and discard the two ends of the carrots. Peel off the skin and wash.

Shred the carrots and get a paste of it.

Take together the powdered milk, 2tsp ghee and the full cream milk together and mix well.

Microwave the mixture for 2-3 minutes stirring every 1 minute. Our instant khoya / solidified milk is ready.

Heat 3tbsp ghee in a wok and from 2-3 green cardamom to it... aroma matters.

Add the carrot paste and keep stirring till we do not get the raw smell of the carrot anymore.

Now add the sugar and green cardamom powder and keep stirring till the mixture come out clear from the sides of the wok and kind of dry... but moist.

Add the solidified milk / khoya and chopped pistachios... Fold in well and stir for just 1/2 a minute or so.

Transfer to a plate... let cool a bit.

Prepare ladoo from the mixture when it is still warm.

Transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle powdered pistachio atop the CARROT PISTACHIO LADOO. They taste the best when served fresh.... I had to refrigerate though for the moron who is travelling.

This morning did not start just as well as it should ..... the yesteryear Bollywood diva Sridevi passed away last night .... It is not that I am writhing in pain but its kind of a shock. Many years back I was diagnosed with a mental disorder that of fear of departure or death of dear ones .... Thanatophobia is it?.... I am not sure as I have lost all the prescriptions. I should not have because I know I am not cured. A Sridevi died at age 55 while attending a function in Dubai, the husband at this home is travelling again this morning and my behaviour does not seem normal. There will be a number of silly phone calls that irritates him, there will be phone calls to the mother .... mani ask bhai to drive slow, not to take up a fight on the road, ask him to cross the train lines carefully.... A Barrackpore resident will know the scenario at the "choddo number rail gate" in the evening! So, I know I am not cured till date.... yet very much unwilling to visit a counsellor.... I am against baring my soul entirely to a doctor and eat sedatives like "muri-murki"..... If my readers think I have bared 80% of my soul to them... they are wrong... no one can... I read and treat an autobiography as another novel... they are half-truths just like me! So, that is how I connect to a celebrity's untimely death and brood over .... is something going to happen to my own .... near and far?.... Not all concerns reach destinations... as I always say this world is smart, chic and not at all silly as me to think on my line.... that makes me a loner! Death is a sudden guest... but I was wondering what makes Sridevi get a massive heart attack at 55... they have a doctor assigned for each part of their body! She was naturally a bit plump even at the peak of her career... we liked her that way. Why she had to go so skinny later? Was the process scientific / health prone? Did she survive on food supplements? I am so much averse to health supplements ..... I do not think they are good for our body. I am not a Rujuta Diwekar to talk further on it but I like it when she says my favourite "nona ata" aka "Ram phal" has so many benefits or a Milind Soman says he does not eat biscuits but never say no to a dosa or idli for breakfast just because they have rice in the batter. Some in the gym do tell me you are not getting the desired body shape because you eat rice, paratha, poori... you are to eat them once in a month! I am so unable to.... yesterday night I had 11/2 methi paratha with what?.... well.... soon to blog on the platter! For whom do I do all the cooking-shooking?.... One who just said shut up and do not call me unless required.... follow Sridevi quick! The jobless me has no where to go but to cook a DHONEPATA PUDINA BATA MAACH for such kinds you see! I had never been a jealous kind of a person .... so I feel happy to see couples who are otherwise.... haha! After the share today.... I may go for a chat with Tanushree.... we both were / are Bollywood fans unlike Chandrayee who did enjoy hindi movies but did not "live" in it! Tanushree.... the ardent Sridevi fan must be sad today! I do not like too rigid or snobs who frowns at fans mourning Sridevi's death!... We must have a "bit" of acceptance of everything around.... that makes me like my friend Dr. Nishi Pulugurtha so much... she teaches, she visits IIMs for lectures, travels a lot, watches Bergman and surely do not laugh at people watching Govinda movie either .... sends terrible jokes too in WhatsApp... handles two dementia patients at home and never ceases to smile! I do not know why I could not set her or my father as an example and smile at life! Anyway, I did hum Rupankar's "Chupi chupi raat neme ashe akashe, guti guti raat eshe pashe boshe... kane kane gaan shonai...guti guti tara joley othey abar.... Na janey kyun dil yun sataye.... Beetey hai raat par neend na aaye!" while cooking this superbly delicious fish curry DHONEPATA PUDINA BATA MAACH.... I know I am in full control of such recipes.... I grew up on them!

Authentically, in my side of the family who hail from Comilla district of Bangladesh.... cooking with coriander paste is very common during winter. Assorted vegetables like hyacinth beans, egg plant and radish is cooked in coriander leaves and green chilli paste with or without shrimps & dried fish.... fresh fish like " chara pona and aar" that is baby Bengal carps and long whiskered cat fish are cooked the same way too! Only two to three times I did get some fresh "aar and pabda" here in this island.... I simply do miss them! How do I manage with my test buds if I am unwilling to buy frozen "deshi maach" too often? I do drift a bit... get some fresh red snapper.... make use of my home grown mint leaves too in the green curry paste along with green chillies and fresh coriander and enjoy with a humble serving of plain, steamed rice! Can I please our mother with it when she comes later this year.... No! She may hunt every corner of the island for "dishi charapona / bata" to please her daughter with a humble, authentic curry.. I agree 100% with the brother and his bubbly wife when they say it is so tough to get compliments from mani! How can she?... all her praises are reserved for the academically sound boys and girls.... they are the only angels on earth according to her may be.... The mother-in-law may praise my cooking ability within the four walls of our dining room but will not spare anyone who spends a single word on my praise... Only a "boromami" .... has the guts to love me still enough and I am missing not meeting that ever smiling lady last winter.... she hails from a fish selling family... does it smell my darling folks? Anyway, I really love it when my brother's dear wife or people elsewhere are seen in a kissing-smooching scene spending some "us" time with their maa-in-laws.... That is how it should be.... I do not wish people to be like a big, bad, nasty me! For the modified version of a very authentic fish curry from my parental side, DHONEPATA PUDINA BATA MAACH.... I used fresh red snapper steaks, a freshly made paste of fresh coriander & mint, a bit of garlic and green chillies. It goes well only with piping hot steamed rice and the platter had some fulkopir bora / gobi pakora and aam dal / mango dal. The platter was loved by my not so Bengali men because snapper fish do not have bones. It could have been a total bliss for me if the fish had been a "chara pona, aar, pabda, koi, tyangra".... but its still ok.... people with broaden horizon unlike me will enjoy it!Life is good when there is adjustment... in all spheres so long as "possible"....

You may wish to have a look at my two authentic Bengali recipes.... Three Bengali summer dals and a green curry with fresh coriander and long whiskered cat fish!

AAR DHONEPATA BATA JHOL / FISH CORIANDER CURRY

THREE SEASONAL DAALS

INGREDIENTS :

Red Snapper[fillet or steak] : 6-7 pieces
Mint Leaves : 10-15
Coriander Leaves : 20-25
Green Chillies : 4-5 [I love to be generous with them... you can choose yours]
Garlic Cloves : 2
Red Chilli Powder : 1/2tsp
Lemon Juice : 2-3tbsp
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Salt : As Required
Nigella Seeds : 1/4tsp[kalo jeera / kalonji]
Oil : 2tbsp [authentically mustard]

THE STEPS :

Wash the fish pieces thoroughly. Marinate with the lemon juice and very little salt. Keep aside for at least an hour or little more.

Wash the coriander and mint leaves, green chillies, peeled garlic cloves under running water and prepare a fine paste out of them.

After an hour or so, discard the marinade from the fish and wash each piece again thoroughly. Marinate with the red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and keep aside for at least 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with nigella seeds. Very gently add the fish pieces along with the marinade. Cover and cook at minimal heat for 3-4 minutes.

Open cover and very carefully turn over the fish pieces. Cover cook at minimal heat for another 3-4 minutes.

Open cover and add the fresh herbs paste. Add a coffee mug of water to the spice bowl and add to the wok... Let boil at medium to low heat for 3-4 minutes. Add a little salt about a minute before taking down from the gas oven.

We cannot think about any thing else but a big bowl of piping hot steamed rice to go with it!

Remember... this curry never works with frozen fish!

What was I doing the last two days? I was going through some expert comments on Sridevi and her character assassination , how karma served her etc. etc. I really could not digest the fact how people can be so cruel and heartless.... it was not even 48 hours that she died.... The dignified people quoted their mothers on how could and why Sridevi married a person who was already married! I am an illiterate and really do not understand how humans are expected to behave like robots, though I do not approve of a free society where we are at the liberty to go to extremes! That is when / where / why Pain is Sublime .... If you are me, you will turn pain into a pleasure and cook ALOO NARKOL KUCHI DIYE GHUGNI and have a big bowl of it. I do not claim my philosophy of life to be followed, but it feels extremely disgusted of people pointing fingers at the character of a deceased person within a day of her death as if they are flawless, God's own child on earth.... I sincerely hope these kind of elements are as caring towards their mothers in reality as much as they are vocal about their "mom" in social media.... Posting in a saree .... its my mom's gift as if the husband never gifted anything ever... come on write about the details of a saree following the group rules.... discuss on Sridevi's contribution to mainstream cinema.... of the ordeal of her two daughters at this moment..... of the mother in Sridevi who was so much excited about her daughter's debut next... Take lessons from her life that there is no wrong in looking like a 50 year old @ 55..... Then it is us... the fans who constantly pressurise our matinee idols to look slim, trim and perfect! You see I am no where near these dignified people dissecting a deceased person .... after 4-5 doses of vodka with lime over the weekends, I tell my boss at this home with eyes fixed on one Arjun Rampal may be on screen.... kya body hai yaar!... haha! Come on, keep your parents in the temple of your heart and scold them too! I scold the mother every now and then.... if your son cannot stop doing "maa maa" after six years of marriage.... how can you expect otherwise from people? How can you have best of both the world? She in turn still has to regret on why the daughter did not take up the part time teaching job she got in a college in a far off, remote place in Nadia district called Bagula.... 20-22 years back the place was a "gondo gram".... perfect to start with what I loved doing then.... Why I did not? I was too eager to marry .... some one was gifting me Chanel to Christian Dior to Swarovski to Swatch too much then... hihi! The mother had to lose the tug of war! Why the mother has to bring up something that makes me feel guilty now a days... that I forgot all about my subject! Why did I leave the job I was doing in this island?.... I strongly felt being used as a stop gap and assigned to take reading and spelling classes is kind of wrong which will not help me grow .... furthermore a Speech & Drama teacher should not be a dull and lazy character like me! Why do I respect the boss of this house?.... He tirelessly keeps on saying... S take a shift and go back to Pluto & Aristotle, I have downloaded for you! Why did I say the above lines! .... to warn the youngsters, do not be a "mistaken identity" like me.... even a "mediocre" can be "something" if they focus on the right things at the right time in life... we cannot rewind an entire life and start afresh! ..... So far as dissecting the people who bring their mothers in social media too often out of the context..... they should know I am not jealous .... I am not that kind! Had I have a bit of self pride or competitiveness in me.... I would not have been such an worthless sitting at home! The DSLR is crying for some fresh air and I say.... Cristine lets take the picture just like that.... I am feeling tired after all the cooking! There goes my supremely tasty with poor picture quality Bengali chaat dish ALOO NARKOL KUCHI DIYE GHUGNI!

There must be other very similar recipes as this ALOO NARKOL KUCHI DIYE GHUGNI or Dried Yellow Pea Curry with potato and coconut pieces that you may come across Google search..... but as I say, we do not need to see each other's way of cooking when it comes to the authentic, heirloom recipes! They will be near similar one way or the other! Ghugni is something we eat either with luchi / poori or with pao or just as a chaat! It has to be topped with chopped green chillies, onions and coriander leaves! We do both the vegetarian and non vegetarian version of it! Authentically, we do ghugni with yellow matar / dried whole yellow peas? and the non vegetarian version was done strictly with minced mutton! Gradually with time, we started using minced chicken and kabuli chana / garbanzo beans too. Somewhere I read ghugni with mutton fat is very popular among Bengalis.... though it was not done in our family, neither the mother let us eat it from outside! The first thing I will do on my next visit to Kolkata is to buy some mutton fat and prepare pakora with it.... just craving for it! ..... Though the mother gets my home cleaned so that the daughter can enter there peacefully..... I do not run to the parental home the next day. I will first settle my home that was made with the husband's hard earned money. I always tell the mother .... one cannot build a strong home if they keep on doing "mummy-daddy" at all times after marriage.... every thing needs a balance... relationships too! I have seen broken homes because of such behaviour. One little sis... if reading my post will get severely upset to know that I accuse both of them for the unpleasant turn of an event.... I cannot help it.... I am not a people pleasure! What I can do is to share this ALOO NARKOL KUCHI DIYE GHUGNI for such "petuk".... foodie people.... and for everyone who love spice in their life... ohh! I meant food... haha.... Bowlfuls of this spicy bliss with generous amount of tamarind juice and dry roasted spice powder are also for those who are busy with character analysis of Sridevi.... instead take a look at her career graph.... the empire she built starting at childhood from nothing.... and do not tell me your hearts did not beat faster at the sight of any other men except for your husband or vice-versa ... not all lies are gullible!

INGREDIENTS : [for the dry roasted spice powder]

Cumin : 1tsp
Coriander : 1tsp
Fennel : 1tsp
Dry Red Chilli Powder : 4-5
Green Cardamom : 2-3
Clove : 3-4
Cinnamon Stick : 2-3 1inch stick
Bayleaf : 2small

INGREDIENTS : [for the ghugni / yellow pea curry]
Potato : 2medium : [washed, peeled and cubed]
Coconut Pieces : 1/2small cup [I used dried, packet ones]
Dried Yellow Pea : 2small cups
Onion : 2medium [peeled, washed, sliced] + 1small [peeled,washed,chopped]
Green Chilli : 2-3[washed, chopped]
Coriander Leaves : A sprig [washed, chopped]
Garlic Paste : 1tsp
Ginger Paste : 2tsp
Tamarind Juice : 1small cup
The dry roasted spice powder
Bayleaf : 1
Cumin Seed : 1/4tsp
Dry Red Chilli : 2-3 [halved]
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : 3-4tbsp

THE PROCEDURE :

Take the dried yellow peas in a bowl and wash. Soak in hot water for at least 5-6 hours or overnight. You can boil it in two ways. Either pressure cook it at low heat up to one whistle adding one big cup water, salt and turmeric or boil in a vessel quite for sometime. I boiled them in a vessel this time until they were soft and not mashy.

Dry roast the spices required for the spices needed for the spice powder and dry grind them.

Prepare the tamarind juice too adding water to the tamarind, reserving it quite for sometime and passing through a strainer.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with cumin seeds, halved dry red chillies and a bay leaf! Add the sliced onions and fry.

Add the ginger and garlic paste and stir for 2 minutes or so. Add the cubed potato pieces rubbed with little amount of salt. Stir for a minute.

Add the coconut pieces now and stir for a minute. If you are using pieces of fresh coconut, they are to be fried and added later.

Add the boiled peas now to the wok and fold in well. Cover cook at low heat for 12-15 minutes. Add water in between if required.

Once done add the tamarind juice we have prepared and the spice powder too to the curry.

We will boil the curry further for 2-3 minutes and switch off gas. We will top it with chopped onions, green chillies, coriander leaves and serve with pao, luchi / poori or just like that!

Such a horrible plating na?.... My dear readers must be thinking that the props are not coordinating at all... at least I felt so... I cannot buy some unless the husband gets me a new crockery unit customised to fit in our 1150 sq.ft. already crowded space.... You must consider.... I am no more a girl friend but a wife now .... that too a jobless, fat, old one .... gifts do not pour in as often! Ideally, I do not like a home dumped with furnitures.... I have grown up reading that Bengali magazine Sananda .... following its food shares and home decor ideas. Many years back, I saw few pictures of Shabana Azmi's parental home .... Kaifi Azmi & Shaukat Kaifi .... oh what an ethnic beauty!.... You really do not need lots of money to do up your interiors! Then, the husband and me have to disagree in almost all matters except for the wish of either building a school for the needy or running a low cost guest house @ Puri post retirement! If I prefer a "takia / chouki" with cushions and "chowpayas" and "beter mora"for the drawing room.... he prefers a leather sofa.... If I say smaller size bedrooms need not have beds with back rests but very low height "choukis" with a bed spread bought from Mrignayani or Boyonika or Manipur Handloom & Handicrafts stores .... he will not agree! According to him... all the ants in this home comes from the very few plants I have in that small piece of ledge... not even a balcony is that... ok! To my fellow Indians.... buy your stuffs from the cottage emporiums.... they are dying because of our negligence.... play holi / dol with natural / organic colours! Take the example of my neighbourhood Uttarapan back in Kolkata... the bunch of Government Emporiums are unable to compete with the malls! I always love ethnic wear and wish to buy only handloom! Oh yes.... I am a proud North Kolkatan, now East? and the entire area from Dum Dum-Chiriamore-Nagerbazaar-Dunlop to Laketown-Ultodanga is my "para"... neighbourhood! Even eight years back people saw me and Kana watching movie at Jaya.... as a child I saw the neighbourhood movie buff aunties walked past the Patipukur rail bridge to Jaya.... God! its a multiplex now! My favourite medium of transport is train and auto rickshaw..... So you know I cannot be in a hugging position naturally with people to whom Kolkata means only Ballygung to Tallygung.... who feels ashamed to take pride in the place they belonged to once! Even if people find otherwise that I am attempting at any kind of "forced connection"... trust me ..... it is unconsciously ... because of lack of actual facts and informations..... I do have one medium of connection who does not equip me with necessary informations and I hate using people to feed my interests.... haha!

Coming to Holi Celebrations, there is no such things at this home... only this mumma may put some on her younger son... Balgopal and the elder one may not get any fish or meat on his plate tomorrow..... but similar kinds of this SPICY OATS MINI POROTA & OATS-MANGO HALWA! I always admit.... I am a conglomerate of influences of varied kinds of people.... who are indispensable in my life .... may be so certain match games happen even after "snobby nose" shows full of humiliation!... You can blame it on my lack of self pride! I am actually what you see below... a bowl of rice with little butter, chopped green chilli and salt is the medicine for my "gas... ambal... gola...buk jwala".... believe me whenever I have acidity... a bowlful of the below comes for my rescue and I am cured within an hour!

Why did I say so? To echo Rujuta Diwekar.... eat locally grown food! An Indian living in India need not buy quinoa or oats for a fitter them.... you have dalia, suji, khoi, muri, chirey for the same. For non-resident Indians.... ok... they may need to travel few more kilometres to get desi stuffs and have no other way but to think global and be a part of the mainstream! I got a big jar of oats for guilt free mornings... then I saw oats with yogurt and fruits is a torture on me... Tongue is a very important part of my body... it should be kept happy... Till date my most favourite breakfast is "gorom dhoya otha bhaat, tatka begun bhaja, ghee / makhon, kancha lanka, noon".... wish I had the liberty to have it! Please do not come to me with avocado.... would you like it if I prepare a paste of it with "shorshe-narkol-posto-kanchalanka" and drizzle some "shorsher tel" atop? You will not! I do not want to go further with it.... my dear friend .... glam doll Bianca may get very upset.... but she should know banana and apple is a regular affair at our homes, they are never foreign to me / us given the best variety comes from our very own paradise .... Shimla and Kashmir! I am poor in Geography too and do not know who belongs to whom .... I remember the conversations of the father with the locals there back in 1987.... I only know it is a conscious and deliberate decision not to solve the dispute ever! I only believe that the colour of blood is red always and it is a mother who is able to give birth everywhere, not a devil!.... Rest, we are product of circumstances! I love this workaholic island which ensures us peace.... well you may call me an escapist.... I will still say I love it, even more when I discover this just outside our back door.... "kasuri methi" in a local shop... haha!

So you see.... even my Holi share like this SPICY OATS MINI POROTA & OATS- MANGO HALWA has to have a touch of this island.... say it is with Thai Honey Mango this time!

I do not call myself innovative enough.... I may have come across similar recipes which were caught in my radar! I did not browse Google yesterday either.... I thought let me see how it comes out. The husband is due tonight... it does not feel good at all to try hands on something new without the husband who loves any kind of desi breads and halwa.... the son has to be force feed halwa calling it pudding and he is simply happy with his meat curries and fries.... fish or any. I wonder where actually the monkey belong! So, you see I had all of the two glasses of lebu cha / lemon tea yesterday evening. It was stress free cooking the platter of SPICY OATS MINI POROTA & OATS-MANGO HALWA. You will not get the dough with oats powder as same texture as of with atta / maida! So I had to use that cap to get perfect round shapes.... it was all worth because they were very tasty... more like khakhra .... but it cannot be stored... try to have it fresh! As of the halwa... I will always suggest to use some fresh fruits to your halwa making process .... be it pineapple, strawberry or our family favourite mango... This time I did not use any artificial colour.... people are already smeared with colours!

Would you have a look at few other recipes of mine? Click on the links / headings below :

SWEET POORI

AJWAIN PARATHA

KORAISHUTIR KOCHURI O ALOOR DOM

INGREDIENTS : [for the oats porota /paratha]

Powdered Oats : 2 coffee mug
Refined Flour : 1small cup
Semolina : 1/2small cup
Red Chilli Powder : 11/2tsp
Cumin Powder : 1tsp
Coriander Powder : 1tsp
Aamchur Powder : 1tsp
Salt : 1/2tsp
Ghee / Clarified Butter : 2tbsp+1tsp for each mini porota

INGREDIENTS : [for the mango halwa]

Powdered Oats : 1coffee mug
Mango : 2 standard sized [I used Thai Honey]
Sugar : 1/2small cup
Green Cardamom : 2-3
Green Cardamom Powder : 1/4tsp
Bayleaf : 1
Ghee : 4-5tbsp
Chopped Pistachios.... Cashew nuts.... Coconut Flakes.... Almonds and Raisins to mix and garnish!

PROCEDURE :

Take the dry fruits in a bowl and then microwave at low for a minute stirring in between. Take in a hand pounder and grind roughly or chop. Soak the raisins in water.... all to be used later in the halwa.

Let us grind the oats required for both the items first. Below is how it looks! We will separate two coffee mugs of it, take in a bowl and add the refined flour, semolina, spice powders, ghee, salt to it.

We will rub the entire mixture for about 2 minutes!

Add warm water little by little to form a dough. Do not worry, the dough will not be soft, I meant if you want predominance of oats powder in it! Cover the dough for half an hour!

Let us prepare the Oats-Mango Halwa now!

Wash and peel the mangoes and get a paste out of them discarding the seeds. If you have a garden... sow the seed and wait for 7-10 years.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with green cardamoms and bay leaf!

Add the oats powder and stir quite for sometime till it is roasted well.

Once done add the sugar and fold in well. Stir for 2 minutes or so.

Add the mango paste and green cardamom powder now and fold in well.

Cook for 2-3 minutes until the entire mixture gets semi-dry. Add half of the chopped dry fruits.

Mix well and take down .... Transfer to a serving bowl.... top with the rest of the chopped dry fruits!

Uncover the dough and knead for 2-3 minutes again... adding little warm water if required!

Tear of small portions to prepare balls. Dust the surface with refined floor. Make roundels with help of a rolling pin. Press a cap of a jar on it for perfect round shapes. I am not an expert with oats, hence this way... the taste is guaranteed!

Heat a tawa pan on gas stove! Carefully and gently place the porota just in the middle! Cook 30 seconds or so on both sides. Add one tsp ghee and cook until the tops are light brown. Take down.

Enjoy the combined platter of SPICY OATS MINI POROTA & OATS-MANGO HALWA fresh and hot and do not forget some tea alongside.... for us it was green tea with lemon!