CURRY AND SPICE

After a half day tour yesterday at the China Town, the lazy body is very much willing to be stationed at home except for an 1 hour swimming session down below. Then there is that "ghar shongshar"... Cristine is there to remind me that I have to go out to get some fruits and look for "Amul" butter in the local minimarts... our 'desi' superstore is running out of it... Given the Indian mindset, butter is synonymous to "Amul" for us... I do not know what I would have done if stationed in Timbuktu or Iceland. Raw Food is something that I do not allow Cristine to get.... you know that no one at this home can satisfy me with the fruits and vegetables they buy... so they got away with the habit totally. Last to last Sunday, I just requested the husband to accompany me to the Indian market for Bael Fruits because the day next was Shivaratri... The readers will not believe how his temperament changed within an hour... his irritation was causing me pain... "arey holoholo korcho keno...kota jinish kini eshechi jokhon".... The hyper sensitive me will get wetty eyed in such a situation and keep cribbing .... "go and see how the husbands accompany their wives everywhere, hold hands and express their 'eknishto prem' for their wives only"... the cool guy lights another cigarette within a gap of five minutes and says "dhop marey social media tey bou er bhoye".... Do you think I leave him? I also retaliate "tui aar tor maa miley besh kore nili amader opor".... I still remember how his mother partied with her friends and his father polished their shoes, stayed with the kids over the weekend... However, Shivaratri fasting is still not a forced practice for me, I lovingly do it praying for my loves. I have a writer cum painter cum good at cooking friend in Instagram whose note on a husband-wife relationship perfectly suits this home.... this couple and their monkey will always bond over such dishes like this non-vegetarian, fish curry... in fact "maacher jhol"... PANCH PHORON MOURI GURO DIYE BHETKI.

The family together had a "boro katlar jhol diye bhaat" yesterday night too... before that the senior was scolding me for turning the home into a zoo... not selecting a theme and then buying decorative stuffs.

He asked me how can a single wall have two different themes and he does have a point. As I always tell you all that I immensely love the PreeOccupied and the Hatkargha kind of homes or my husband's sister's home decor in Salt Lake. Her trekker husband collects artefacts from his travels, grows flowers and fruits in his small patch of green and cooks too. His wife is the rare kind who manages home and office equally well... You know what, while at middle school I saw her doing her home when her mother was away from home most of the time... so she can fold a mosquito net with an expertise of a trained hotel staff. I had to repeat these mentions... this guy Anirban may be closer to his mumma-in-law far more than me but he also says that "S di ... you cook the best in this family"... I find his mother's cooking too good... we both having our origin in Comilla, I like how his 75 year old mother, a 5'7-8" inch tall, former volley ball player in the national team may be representing Tripura cooks 5-6 course meal everyday. BTW, what if Anirban had been closer to me than his mother-in-law?... He would have been going to office wearing a Swatch by now or would be doning a Denizen instead of a Giordano or Bossini. Oh yes! I am that mean... However, I feel happy to see my brother's wife taking my mother to the top doctors in Kolkata.... else my side of the family was like buying medicines from the pharmacy asking the counter guys there... imagine! A dear family member is paying the price now for such negligencies. It is a regret that none from my side of the family have aesthetic sense.... what if the brother's wife had so?... She would have been unable to live in that home in Barrackpore that curate 30-40 years old furnitures.... my mumma madam did not allow me to ask the father to get some decent cupboards at her kitchen... she loves her vintage "jal deoa mitsafe" so much.... I shout at them "I will not stay here more than 4 days".... they say that they are happy with the grandson whose Kolkata visit means staying at "Dimma Bari".... going out with "nono & B aunty".... eating 'Bonde' and all the junk my brother orders online ... pizza, mac meals, KFC and yes... Dimma made 'murgir jhol' and her biryani.... not "dada boudir biryani".... However, he does like bhetki... okay seabass... done the mumma way with steamed rice... PANCH PHORON MOURI GURO DIYE BHETKI. Its his break time and he is getting on my nerves finishing 2litres of iced tea in two days, not letting us open the windows of his room resulting into severe cough and cold every month... "ato abadhyo ki bolbo".... its difficult to live with such kinds... its by inheritance but ... He watches shows on fencing classes while the mother wished him to learn a musical instrument. The mother wished to see his performance but he did not start until I left the venue... I do not even know if he is provided with proper guards or not.

So, my stress is to live with people who do not listen to me.... however, I find my own happiness in food... Yesterday night was totally Bengali with "begun diye aar maacher matha, kanchakola aloo diye katla, aam dal, laal shaak bhaja".... I do not like so big carps any more but the fish was really of good quality.... I have called few guests coming Saturday to clear off the big head and 25-26 pieces... the husband is travelling next week. The regret is not been able to send Sanak "katlar jhol"... he had "me" cooked food last to last week... I feel I should not take advantage of a very gentle Soumya or Cristine all the time and ask them to carry food packets to places... I had the biggest sized hilsa at Sanak's father's place while Sanak's immediate family prefers smaller sized "rui and chicken"... their teen prefers pasta and Northern India on the plate... I have a pasta recipe to share but at the right time! "katlar jhol" definitely went for Ipsita & Debarathi's family.... it will until we change this home... I wish for a bigger balcony to place my flowering pots and more of them. Day before yesterday it was "sabudana khichdi" for lunch.... Since, I do not like to prepare lunch for myself which I rarely have at home, Cristine does it and all this while she was feeding me "shabur jhal ghyat".... I had to take over and it was decent this time .... tapioca is high on starch and I should not have it often. I wish to blog on a Bengali "shabur khichuri".... I know two Bengali bloggers who have already blogged on it the way Chandrayee's mother used to do... it was not our family recipe... I must try it!

There is nothing much to say about this Bengali style fish curry... I just tried it with a different combination of spices keeping in tact the Bengali essence. Doing so, I used very less spices like a bit of ginger extract, fennel powder, red chilli powder, lemon juice, turmeric powder, salt... later I felt that adding some slitted green chillies towards the end would have done more justice to the curry. Come on, such dishes do not require stepwise pictures, it needs a hot bowl of steamed rice, "toker dal aar peyaz diye mushur daal er bora".... Do not serve me cold food when I visit your home... I cannot have food if I do not feel the warmth of the hosts.... Yes, the mother's daughter has stopped serving fritters to a big gathering of guests as she fails to coordinate the chat sessions & adjusting the gas oven heat alternatively, Cristine's timing in accordance with my instructions and serving them crispy hot fritters... fritters lose their crispiness if reheated!

INGREDIENTS :

SEA BASS / BHETKI : 1 PIECE OF 700-800 GM
GINGER EXTRACT : 4TBSP
FENNEL POWDER : 11/2TBSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TBSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP + 1/2TSP
LEMON JUICE : 3-4TBSP
BENGALI PANCH PHORON : 1/2TSP [A MIX OF WILD CELERY-CUMIN-FENNEL-BLACK MUSTARD-FENUGREEK-NIGELLA SEED]
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 3-4
OIL : 6-8 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

I always get my fish cut by the fish sellers who I think are babies compared to their counter parts in Bengal. Since, I am the daughter of a mother who still does not allow fish and meat to be cut by the fish sellers back there except for very big ones.... I cannot cook anything that does not look good to my eyes. My cutting instructions cause irritation to them. I am that Bengali who is against cutting open the fish stomach or chopping off the tail end totally.

Clean the scales very well before washing them. I remember that I did not let Sushama or Dipa didi when my son was 1-2 years old to clean and wash the fish and meat. I got older and lethargic, so Cristine gets the liberty to get me puke behind closed doors of the toilet at times. After that what she gets is oral abuses not amounting to physical assaults. What I get is scolding from the husband. "you will not be abusive to the needy"... So, each time I give demo with at least one piece of fish or meat... which again does not meet my mother's standard of perfection.

Now, wash them thoroughly under running water. I do enjoy those village style cooking videos, feel jealous to see their lakhs of followers, promote mine which you never should because there is no mutual belongingness that happens... most of them are not keen to trust you enough and click the recipe link ... .... Although I enjoy watching the shows, I cannot agree to the idea of washing food stuffs in a colander. Yes, I am that hypocrite whose wish to live deep inside the woods is just a romantic dream... she lives in a no man's land actually .... may be alongside one single inhabitant... the protagonist of Labyrinth.

Washed already ya? Now drain the water and rub with some salt and 1tsp turmeric powder... Those who eat turmeric regularly get less of skin cancer comparatively... turmeric has medicinal properties. Keep the fish pieces marinated for 20 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok, fry the fish pieces lightly. Take out and reserve for later use. Do not fry too much or at high heat. I had shown the door to one cook Julie within 6 months of appointing her for trying to play tricks with me doing 4 items within an hour. That was in 2009. Not knowing that cooking ability runs in my blood, she and her another "boudi" tried to give me a lot of lectures .... I learn from the right people, I do not entertain tricks and poor intents. I absolutely hated Julie's unprofessionalism when my that neighbour wooed and bought her with gifts... she could because every corner of her home has or had black money hidden... she could... I am not so rich. I sincerely hope my eye-surgeon's wife or my boy friend's wife Kana is not reading it... they cannot stop laughing for the entire day ... while a Rupa Roy will scold me for talking like this.

Okay, add the panch phoron to the wok and give a quick stir. Immediately add the ginger extract, dry red chilli, fennel and turmeric powders. Fold in well and stir at lowest heat for 1/2 a minute. Add the slitted green chillies and give a stir. Add 2 coffee mugs of water and let boil for 5 minutes at low heat.

Gently add the fried fish pieces and simmer at low heat for not more than 3-4 minutes. Switch off the gas oven and add the lemon juice.

I gift you a very light, summer cool fish curry that you may enjoy with steamed rice. We also had some egg curry and green moong dal that day!

Do not get upset if I have talked way too much today, stay put with CURRY AND SPICE for more on simple recipes and her simpler takes on life. Thank You!

I again repeat, this blog was meant to be totally Bengali in essence but then I could not keep my promise.... could not remain true to the iconic Bengali fictional or real life figures looking at whom I grew up... may be so a very upset Saubhik Sengupta does not find time to meet me / us on our Kolkata visit these days. There was a time when his vibrant wife too visited me alone... She shares her birthday with my husband and perhaps so T thinks she is far more accommodative than her husband. I had to mention Saubhik because such posts cause irritation in him just as in one Lalmohon Babu I know. Although I am no less a Bengali than them, I do believe in touching hearts in turns.... then there also works the influence of Liz Taylor's beauty to one Punita's glitz... I should have done away with this particular influence totally long back but could not... may be because our Pa was a fan of Sophia Loren... that my movie going experience started with him at Light House & New Empire... he was totally into Tollywood and Hollywood! So, bother less about what I "should"... let me handle my own odds or fight it until my end. I do not mind so long I get to do what I wish to... cook, eat, merry and repeat, continue. One should not waste their time trying to find justification in my actions... I myself had been unable to explore 25% of me so far, not bothered... I flow with my wishes & time. Like, I did not even try to reason why I had to have a dosa meal and thereafter two makai paratha with chicken & avocado chutney after a 10km walk in the sun... no one wishes to be sun kissed in this clime but I do not mind... Since, I do not set targets for myself ... I enjoy the surrounding in my own speed, hate the confinement of a gym but love the cage called home. In between preparing this vegetarian platter of AVOCADO COCONUT CHUTNEY & CARROT SESAME CORN MEAL FLAT BREAD, I did manage to capture the cloudy sky and how it turned into a weeping willow within minutes from my tiny living room... If I do away with romanticism, I will feel claustrophobic and die sooner.

I see a number of Southern Indian bloggers who have prepared an avocado chutney, since I have not clicked and seen any of their recipes... I need not make any mentions... mine may be similar but their chutneys I see have more or less the same tempering. However, I used coriander leaves without which I felt I cannot have it. I had to keep chicken as a standby, else they would have eaten the flatbread / paratha all by itself. They did have the chutney but one tablespoon each. The chutney was good as I did it as per my tastebud, the problem is that by then I had seen those perfect "moirar dokaner shingara.... Felu Mittir kaat hoye jabey to ami kon char"... Oh! I cannot mince words, I cannot fake, I cannot be a people pleaser, I stand bare in front of the world... that have cost me dearer, lost readers and I do not care... I will be following my Pa's footsteps rest of my life and hone my mother's cooking hat! So eagerly waiting to feed her the freshest of the fruit varieties here!

Today is a very hectic day for me. I have friends coming over tomorrow, today I have to attend Hariharan ji's programme... Ipsita will be taking the queen bee to the venue... only if she could manage loving her husband a little less and keep the speed limit within 80... [jha korey 120 korey dilo, blog e akhono Rukma Dakshir Ilishta otheni]... I have swimming class with the super taskmaster Joe tomorrow morning .... when do I cook? Anyway, its going to be a full course Bengali mains... so I am totally in control.... Anyway, I do not like measuring cups in my kitchen... I do it for you... my readers... for this habit... my cakes go wrong often. Okay, avocado chutney done with six avocados will fetch a big bowl of it.... what to do? It is not "dhonepatar chutney or shutkir bhorta" that I will savour it for a week. So some semolina idli went to the husband's lunch box with the chutney, son is having his breakfast with idli and chilli sauce, the rest of the chutney with few idli went to Debarathi & Ipsita's home. The dinner for the husband & son are left over chicken from yesterday and "dim sheddo aloo sheddo bhaat".... the son will eat double the rice today... mumma will not be there to force him with vegetables. What I must mention is that yesterday I prepared the chicken in the microwave... yes, I did enjoy the smaller leg piece... it does require a longer marination time.

Mumma is not the kind who would wish to leave the unwell son at home and attend a concert. So, he gets 6 dollars to get his lunch from outside... I know what it is.... a Mac meal! Weekly once I do allow. How much of upset Lalmohon Babu gets, my family enjoy the variety of breads I prepare including this AVOCADO COCONUT CHUTNEY & CARROT SESAME CORN MEAL FLAT BREAD. They are the kinds who can sustain anywhere in the world, I am not... I want an "aloo sheddo bhaat" after 5 days while on a tour. I have to finish off the post and do some arrangements for tomorrow.... my guests should not feel unattended! For the avocado coconut chutney, I used fresh coriander, green chillies, coconut, lemon juice everything to suit an Indian taste bud. The cornmeal bread did steal my heart.... I kept watching my friends having it.... so got a packet for the first time. Liked combining the shredded carrot, coriander, roasted sesame seeds. What happened was that after a standing time of one hour... the dough got softer... that made me use my palms to shape the mini flat breads. I was finding it difficult to roll them... so be careful while adding water. I was working with cornmeal for the first time and felt this can go up in the blog... have some trust and go ahead! Do not stop by here for photography, it is always like "Cristine kalo jamata aar shada orna ta dey to, then click, click, click!"

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE AVOCADO COCONUT CHUTNEY]

RIPE AVOCADO : 6 [CUT 1/2, SCOOPED, WASHED]
SHREDDED COCONUT : 1SMALL TEA CUP
FRESH CORIANDER : 2SPRIG [DISCARD ROOT, CHOP, WASH]
GREEN CHILLI : 4 [WASHED]
LEMON JUICE : 5-6TBSP
CURRY LEAF : 10-15 [WASHED, WIPED]
MUSTARD SEED : 1/2TSP
CHANA DAL : 1/4TSP
URAD DAL : 1/4TSP
OIL : 1TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
CHAAT MASALA : 1TSP

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE CARROT SESAME CORNMEAL BREAD]

CORN MEAL / MAIZE FLOUR / MAKAI ATTA : 11/2 COFFEE MUG
REFINED FLOUR : 1/2 COFFEE MUG
SHREDDED CARROT : 1SMALL TEA CUP [WASHED]
CHOPPED CORIANDER : 4TBSP [WASHED]
ROASTED WHITE SESAME SEED : 2-3TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 2TBSP + 1TSP PER PARATHA

Let us prepare the Avocado Coconut Chutney first.

Take the avocado flesh, shredded coconut, green chillies, fresh coriander and salt in a blender. I had to add a medium tea cup of water to get a smooth paste. My blender is not a supreme woman but a rebel like my men.

Now blend at hight for a minute, pause and repeat. It should be done in 3 minutes.

We will add the chaat masala and lemon juice now. Mix well.

Transfer the entire amount onto a bowl. Heat oil in a wok, add the curry leaves, give a stir and take out before they burn.

Add the mustard seeds, let them splutter. Add the two variety of dal and stir till light brown.

Garnish the Avocado Coconut Chutney with it.

Now, the Carrot Sesame Corn Meal Bread!

Take the corn meal, refined flour, salt, shredded carrot, roasted sesame, 2tbsp oil in a bowl. I added the chopped coriander later after the dough was ready .... may be so it got softer than required.

Add very little water and knead to a smooth dough. It will take 6-7 minutes.

Cover it for not more than 1/2 an hour. I did not calculate the time... kept it covered for an hour. It can be another reason for a softer than required dough.

At this stage I added some chopped coriander. I tore off smaller portions and smoothened between my palms.

Now, they required a lot of dusting to be rolled with a rolling pin, else it was getting difficult to give a shape. I even browsed some bati and litti recipes, but no, they need prior preparations and I wanted cornmeal 'tawa' breads.

So, "yeh jo meri haath hai, laga diye kaam pe".... I used my palms to shape the parathas.

Heat a pan, place one paratha... cook both sides well. Now add 1tsp oil and cook until each side turn brown.

I got 13 parathas from the dough and served it with salad, avocado coconut chutney and chicken!

I do not like people who avoid rice inspite of loving it. I mean you do it at your home but not when you are at our place. I am fond of those who ask me for more servings and yet more. That earned me a 'boudi' to mother to grandmother title .... Nowadays, I see whoever visits our home just try to skip the rice part... arey what is this? The grandmother's favourite girl will definitely feel a high to force feed people... "arektu khao noyto amar matha khao"... to which the senior gets irritated and asks me to stop forcing people. What he does not take into account is that not everyone on this earth is like his wife who never hesitates to jump onto food wherever she is... no amount of acquaintance is required for me to enjoy food ... who cares about people when I get to see my good friend, food ... only one home is an exception where I wish to limit myself to a cup of coffee or tea and nothing else. The very sensitive, egoist me will throw a question... "give me one good reason why I should have one morsel of any grain there"... I have no intent of disrespecting anyone's feelings however! Rest, I can sit on a "khatia" and eat if only the environment and the serving plates are clean. What is disheartening is that someone named Sanjoy Mondal has stopped eating, he was one of our guests last Saturday and the amount of rice to be cooked was calculated in accordance with his food intake. He is a very good cook, foodie and a dedicated football player.... the last passion perhaps made him to quit excess food and substituting two meals with herbal shakes or smoothies whatever. So, the maximum amount of rice stayed as a leftover until Sunday, facilitating me to the idea of DESI PANCAKE WITH LEFT OVER RICE for lunch and a cumin-turmeric rice for dinner. The husband has some reservations having stale steamed rice, so I turn them into fried rices and this time into a pancake. It was our lunch yesterday with the left over chicken curry, some fruits, I had to have a heaven called "Tomato Khejurer Chutney".... also love and truly so that Garlicky Mint Coriander Chutney... This morning, I had one reheated leftover with my black coffee.

Do not try to dissect me... so whimsical I am... All of a sudden around 8pm yesterday, I went for a swim. Not every Sunday do I wish to walk long for a chaat plate, specially when you are disappointed with your husband. Yesterday, I requested him to accompany me to the nursery... within 3 km of distance we have about 5-6 nurseries. I went to my old favourite shop and got busy chatting and taking tips from the Bangladeshi brothers there... the husband fled the spot which made me sad... although I knew that he will come back in time. Thereafter, I had to go for some groceries which triggered his irritation... weekends mean beer, wine, nuts, television to him. I am pretty sure that had it been a trip to an electronic shop, he would have been fine with it. Back home... he so hurriedly took out the lovely baby greens that the flowering Orchid branch broke. I was into tears .... what was hurting me was he been too harsh in handling the greens.... in fact, I did not find softness at any corner of their home even before marriage... except for his sister, no one knew how to speak softly or to be appreciative although it is my husband who possesses a golden heart. Anyway, after the incident, I did not retaliate because I am not his father that I can sustain strong reactions like throwing and breaking utensils to food everything... such people live a queen's life but I cannot do all these to be one... not in my nature. I knew before marriage that this is not the environment I am looking for, I cannot gel into the family.... however, I am so self centric that only my own good concerns me. Totally done away with the matter of trusting a guy, I felt that T is the best bet. Whether I was right or wrong is still a question mark... perhaps I was wrong, you actually get married to a family as they say! Believing that you do not get everything in one life, I stayed cool and prepared those homely, egg free pancakes with left over rice for my family. I felt that it will go very well with a potato curry or meat curry.

We can have this DESI PANCAKE WITH LEFTOVER RICE at any three major meals of the day, I wished to present it to you as a breakfast platter. You are not as unwise like me and may want to have the carb intakes in the morning. Whatever you may call me, I have to have some rice with whatever I have cooked for dinner sitting with the family. I remember back in 2013-2015-16, I used to have carbs only thrice a week and thus I did away with my tummy that my entire family used to laugh at. Now, I have regained it and not bothering much... not much time is left on this earth, food gives me the necessary high. It is also true that all the diseases originate from the excess fat in the tummy... it is dangerous. Now you choose what to do with your life. Come on, we do not have this amount of leftover rice every other day, when we have do good use of it and do not throw... I just remember that the mother used to serve me leftover rice done with butter seared beetroot, carrot, beans, green peas for breakfast during the study leave session before the 10th board examination ... food of my choice was served every two hours so that I study... her only wish was to see a lot of degrees beside her kids' names ... we did not live up to her expectations. I will not say sorry this time because I do not know if I feel sorry at all, but she till date says... "koto asha chilo toder niye"... her daughter was in the "Kurchi" world already, unable to find a Prithu... they do not exist at all... they definitely do not kneel down with a bunch of flowers on social media and act silly.. Its a beautiful, wet & cool day today, perfect to go for a long walk... but the son is at home who is down with cold.... its their spring break. I think if I am not into some fruitful job of earning some money for the family, I should not freak around every other day just to get together with some, discuss people and show off the husband's wealth as compared to others'... so disgusting.... I knew people who tried to give me big talks once on why I am so public about my relationship with my in-laws... I cannot give it back straight on face... what I did was subtracted those fake elements from my life.... Once I started a food blog.... their problem started with me... they went on telling people that my food is spicy... not to follow my blog... I was the one to cook 3 dishes if I was asked to get one food item for a potluck. They actually have no right to speak on my relationships, they left their new born baby with the in-laws and freaked around the world with the husband for months... I just cannot understand or believe how me and T's requirements be more important than the need of a child who needs our warmth and care .... if we have given birth we must behave responsibly unless otherwise required for a job call. I see so many helps or small time workers here who leave their kids back in their homeland and work here day and night for some extra money. I categorically told T that I do not wish to keep any kind of relationship with those toxic elements and he respected my wish... he is nice you see and deserve me to be bit more experimental in the kitchen... more so because he never demands anything.... So instead of serving him the stale rice, I mashed it lightly, prepared a batter with refined flour, semolina, fresh mint and coriander, chopped onion & green chilli, added some cumin seeds & chaat masala towards the end, mixed and cooked those pancakes.... and voila it tasted so good. I am a spice lover and may be so I gave a thumbs up to the batter only when I added the cumin seeds and chaat masala to the batter. Unlike my mother or grandmother and all the similar yesteryear ladies, I do taste my food before the final step except for when I am cooking for my God Family!

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE RICE PANCAKES]

COOKED RICE : 2 COFFEE MUG [I USED LEFTOVER]
REFINED FLOUR : 2 MEDIUM SIZED TEA CUP
SEMOLINA : 3-4TBSP
CORN FLOUR : 1TBSP
MINT LEAF : 12-15
CORIANDER LEAF : 15-16
SLICED ONION : 1 SMALL SIZED TEA CUP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 2TBSP
CUMIN SEED : 2TSP
CHAAT MASALA : 2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 1/3TSP FOR EACH PANCAKE + 1TBSP FOR THE BATTER

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE GARLICKY MINT-CORIANDER CHUTNEY]

MINT LEAF : A HANDFUL
CORIANDER LEAF : A HANDFUL
GARLIC CLOVE : 2-3
GREEN CHILLI : 2
PLAIN YOGURT : 2TBSP
BLACK SALT : 1/4TSP

PROCEDURE :

For the garlicky mint-coriander chutney, wash the green chillies, fresh coriander & mint, garlic cloves and add to the blender. To it add the plain yogurt and black salt. Blend at high for a minute or until it turns onto a fine paste. We are done... I love it ... a little less that the Bengali style chutneys.

For the left over rice pancakes, I mixed together the refined flour, semolina, cornflour and salt as required. I added water as required to prepare a runny paste.... may be similar to an idly paste.

To the batter, I added washed coriander and mint leaves, sliced onion & chopped green chillies.... I adjusted the salt. I did not like the taste, found it bland.... felt a bit down.

Thereafter, I took half of that amount of rice on a plate and lightly mashed. The rest was made into a cumin-turmeric rice later at night.

Now, a idea popped up and I think I did it right to add some chaat masala and cumin seeds to the batter... it definitely tasted better. Add 1tbsp oil and mix very well.

Heat a non stick pan on gas stove. I chose a smaller one to my benefit, avoiding to work much. It was 2pm and the hungry son was hovering around the kitchen. Else I was thinking of clicking a better picture.

Add 1/3tsp oil to the heated pan. Add 2 medium sized serving spoonful of batter. Let cook one side at low heat. When we are adding the spoonful batter, the heat should be minimal. While cooking, it should move between medium to low. It takes 2 minutes or so for one side to cook.

Now, cook the other side for 11/2 to 2 minutes or until done.

We are done. We can enjoy it with a variety of chutneys, meat or potato curries with fruit servings alongside!

They are amazing you know.... both taste wise and health wise. During the season, I do visit the Bangladeshi shops for this kind of goodies... like peyazkoli... that is onion flowers went off, now is the season for Bengal Quince / Wood Apple / Bael... I definitely will get them home and have. Dadu.... the maternal grandfather made it a point to have it everyday during the season. I used to call my paternal grandfather "apel dadu" as he got me apple whenever he visited from Assam... the reason why you will not get too many stories about my father's side often... I met them occasionally! The old man known for his benevolence left us when I was 13. Our paa owes his greatness to his parents, okay including his fury. Anyway, all of us in the family more or less enjoy this fruit. Now, what I see in this generation of kids is that they want everything dressed, a nice packaging is so important to them.... mine is not an exception. There is a salon chain in this island that cuts hair at 3:80 $, I obviously would ask him to go there, but no he has to go for a 10$ cut.... what he is doing with his hair is even more irritating. I am not used to defying the parents at all times.... my husband is not bothered because he did not grow up in a rule bound environment... he enforces the same at this home to which I do not feel comfortable. There was a time when I used to feel sandwiched... the mother saying "what is all these mamoni... people sleep till 1pm and have their lunch at 3pm." You cannot change a set system, specially if you are on the softer side. I have come a long way thereafter and realised or accepted that we need to overlook certain things for a greater benefit. If I constantly nag after my husband and son, they will not listen to or respect my wish... they are not that kind... let us focus on what keeps us happy together.... doing so I serve bael fruit to the son in form of smoothie or prepare a DOI BAEL ER KULFI .... If I keep complaining like my mother about everything that is not in accordance to her wish, I cannot have a happy life! I cannot be a happy soul either if happiness depends on those who gets to be my pet... this is my mother-in-law's theory... obviously she will be unhappy with me who never agreed to give in to... no self-respecting person can fulfil her demands... my love towards her cannot be natural like her kids or husband. That is what they failed to understand that my feeling for them will not be natural... it can be only mutual... their actions towards me did not prove the law.

Now that I am nearing 50, I myself will turn a mother-in-law to the son's wife sooner. If I can handle the huge amount of irritation the son's haircut is generating in me, I should be able to accept all that I dislike in my daughter-in-law ... in that case I should or I am training myself not to wake up together under one roof every morning. The drama regarding Nachketa's "Bridhyashram" has to stop... people need to grow up.... if T and me live longer... we will end up in an old age home.... we will madly miss the son but will wholeheartedly understand his problem... My question is to those writers in social media [you hardly see them in print media] .... why do you unnecessarily sensualise an issue?... what will happen to some dear people of mine who are issueless?... in such cases who will you blame and write silly notes to target the audience thereafter?... To what extreme can a single child daughter do for her parents? Should not we keep all the drama aside, think and reconsider, stop accusing amounting to extreme pressurisation on the daughter or son.... off course I do not have any sympathy for those whose parents are found abandoned in a railway station or a bus stand. Such kinds should not be spared. "sneho nimnogami".... I am not doing anything for the son considering what to get back.... I have seen my parents .... I am applying it building up mine who in turn should do it for his kids. This is how the society works. I do not want my son to have soda drinks all the time, I wish him to adopt some healthy habits... food or otherwise.... In future, hopefully he may be hesitant to feed his kids everything store-bought. Until few years back, I sponged his body, changed his clothes every night.... all of a sudden the husband barred me from doing anything for the son... the anger is still there inside... till date I barge on him "why did you do this so early? I do not go out to work, neither take the son to school and then roam around and chat with the friends all day through... did you get jealous of the mamma-son's deep bond?" He told me the reason but I will not go public with it... I do not want anyone to cancel the recent trip to our island. On days when I do not wish to stop the fight.... I keep dragging it longer... "If you agree to the son's wish to go to the bahargaon... I have few conditions...find a A lister college in a remote state in which the terrorists may not have any interest, where the number of gun carrying kids is way less.... the important part is that can we consider ourselves well off enough to be able to buy air tickets whenever I wish to... I will get destructive if my son falls sick and I am unable to see him".... Way easier is to find the ways to admit him in SMOU... They do not listen to me which amounts to more of of my mental illness... Not everything is perfect in this island... the major problem is their inability to provide a foreigner's kid higher education... What irritates me more is the casual approach of my men towards academics... they are not bothered else the son has the ability to secure 42 / 45 in his IB Final with a bit of motivation. Wondering what kind of parenting is this ... setting loose the child to this extent.... I had this healthy, frozen dessert delight DOI BAEL ER KULFI without waiting for the husband. He is travelling, only to come back end of the next week.

I am not my mother either that I will stop living and see myself asking the son that I had so much of hope on him, I go for walks, I swim, I eat appam after a 9.7km of walk and totally spoil the effort, I even insult one Chitramma trying to hum "uyire uyire".... You know na music cannot have any boundary. The great news is that the son ate one big of those kulfi / frozen delight at breakfast besides roshogolla and a piece of bread with planta.

Mumma will finish this post and cook Millet khicuri and Begun Bhaja for all three of us... did not plan for dinner... such freshly made meals taste like heaven... Once the son's lunch is ready I can go for a swim... the husband's wife can have lunch at 4pm... If we have decided to give birth, we should be ready to keep their interest above everything else...... Well, I have decided not to poke my flat nose much, let us share the recipe of this no cook, creamy to the core frozen dessert with my readers. Actually, I drained the water from the yogurt and found 1 litre yogurt turning onto mere 250gm. Unable to prepare a no bake cake, I planned this with Bael / Bengal Quince / Wood Apple!

Note : If you are allergic to raw nuts, microwave it for 30 seconds at high before using!

INGREDIENTS :

BAEL FRUIT / WOOD APPLE / BENGAL QUINCE : 2 MEDIUM SIZED I USED HERE

PLAIN YOGURT : 1LT [DRAINING ALL THE WATER, I GOT SOME 250GM OF IT]

SUGAR : 4-5 TBSP [I USED SAME AMOUNT OF SUGAR ALTERNATIVE]

GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/3TSP

ROSE WATER : 3-4DROP

CHOPPED PISTACHIO : 1TBSP

COARSELY POWDERED PISTACHIO : 2TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Take the yogurt on a clean piece of fine cloth, tie to the kitchen counter... let all the water drain for 5-6 hours.

Extracting the bael fruit is a job else this recipe is all about assembling and mixing.

Break the hard shell of the fruit on the floor, not on wooden floor. {besh jomiye ekta achar maro}...

Take the flesh on a bowl scooping it with a spoon.

Add a medium teacup of water and keep doing knead and squeeze like movements ... idea is to separate the seeds from the flesh.

Now put the flesh on a strainer in batches and squeeze as much as possible, add little water if it is too thick.

Below is the extract of the fruit, ready to use.

Take down the yogurt and add both to a blender not used to prepare spices. Add the sugar, cardamom.

Blend at high for 2 minutes at high pausing after 1 minute.

Add the chopped pistachio and rose water now. Mix well.

Pour into plastic or thermocol glasses. Insert an ice-cream stick.

Freeze for 3-4 hours. Take out. Place the powdered pistachio on it .

Tear the glasses. Roll each kulfi on it.

Serve them before they melt or place them again on new glasses and freeze for future consumption.

Tell me who will treat me with this platter.... I can immediately feel the warmth of their hearts. Far far away from home, I really got a motherly touch last week at a newly made friend's place. All of my friends are nice, I mean I only take invitations when I think it is okay to visit someone's home and take forward the association. This particular lady had been following my blog for quite sometime, I knew her by name, saw her during Durga Pooja .... a very typical Bong beauty... so calm, so serene .... she did attract me but I am not in the habit of walking up to unknown people and talk. It was only a month ago that I got to meet this lady Neela Gupta through a big sister like Sumita di.... who is no less... she gifts me "goina bori" made by her mother & brothers' wives in their few acres of landed property... their ancestral home near Digha.... one of Bengal's tourist hotspot ... Sumita di makes wonderful cereal prawns and mutton curry but I love her bori, achar more. I like Sumita di because she is not a show off, does not mince words, told straight on my face that her husband liked the "shukto" I got for them on an earlier visit more than the bread I got to their home recently. Actually, she keeps on telling that her husband & daughter do not like food... so on my recent visit I was not particular about what to take to her home. Her daughter is doing Civil Engineering while Neela di's elder of the two daughters works at Mumbai with Zee TV... She is a travel vlogger, presenter, anchor and it seems Youtube is quite familiar with the name Ritwika Gupta... the proud mother asked me to follow her there... what is so wrong in that? Neela di's younger daughter is a real studious and totally into academics.... currently studying at NTU. What did I like in a Neela Gupta, her serene beauty? Not really, after may be 26 years of stay in this island.... she cooked this platter for us.... "sheem bhorta, kechki maacher chocchori, sabzi diye moong dal, thorer ghonto, shorshe bata diye koi maach, rui maacher kalia, aamer chutney".... I immediately got connected to her... only one dish was not a match with our family.... the 'shorshe bata koi' was done the 'edeshio' way... we "Bangals" do not add sugar to fish dishes and "shorshe bata" is really made hot among us adding lots of green chillies in it. Neela di is a wonderful cook and she greets her guests just the way the yesteryear women would do.... I love them.... any attempt to push them away calling them obsolete makes me angry.... I will stay strong beside them when it comes to choosing one... I mean most of the time I will do that.... may be with such a share KALOJEEREY BATA BEGUN DIYE ILISH..... a fish curry recipe with egg plants.

Okay, this particular recipe is an aberration of a dish with ilish / hilsa .... 'Barishali Ilish' made famous by Rukma Dakshi.... I have been following her for long.... since then when I used to read Sananda on a regular basis. I need to check with her "microovene ranna" series. Some paneer is been marinated for my lunch to be made into a salad.... that is a different issue. Me and the son love paneer, the husband eats without a fuss. The thing is that I cannot go ahead with a paneer recipe at the moment, what will happen to "him"? Who is that him? Don't tell me, since Saturday night I am having nightmarish dreams of a dear someone attempting suicide! Who is that dear someone? Why, you forgot about one Sailen Rudra.... he got very upset at the sight of paneer before Bengal's D-Day and attempted suicide. Freshly imported from Bangladesh in 1986, this boy from Sodhpur Ghola area made only one request to me... do not feed me paneer and soya chunks... please! We have not met for long but anyone who would laugh at his accented "Bangal" lingo, I will have one thing to say.... he kept under his sleeves 35-40 crew members from different nationalities including the supremes for many years .... I love it... I love genuinity in people. I have to save his life... though I am unlike him who considers a Mac meal at 7:30pm just a "jolkhabar".... I had the below around 5:15 pm yesterday.... forced myself with some fruits at night.... Sailen cannot go to sleep without a plate of fish and rice.

Sailen's young & beautiful wife who struggles with her two young boys in Mumbai unable to employ four helps as she had in Kolkata at times complains to me.... "Shailen got home six kinds of fish including "puti and mourala"... when to cut and cook them".... By the way, Sailen can clean and cut small fish with scissors. There might be followers of mine who will get irritated, many have unfollowed... but I will not care.... If you do not understand my policy of coming to you in turns.... I will not beg of you.... please take your leave, I do not care! Yes, I will never ever beg anyone to stay, I do not believe in it.... if you are mine, you will stay and never leave.... if you have left.... you were never mine! I also stay with those I wish to.... why? Did not I come across a perfecto "couple post" recently? I am yet to relay the conversation to the husband ... he is travelling and I am giggling alone... It is too much and I finally decide to keep the humour alive in both of us.... only that I warn the husband that "please mind your tongue.... you can be notched by a new age class who may think you are putting down your wife all the time." While he keeps wondering when his mother and wife secured a degree in medical science, let me tell you that under the influence of Rukma Dakshi's Barishali Ilish, I prepared this light curry unwilling to add the coconut milk. It was very tough to powder the nigella seeds in a blender. There is a practise of cooking smaller sized fresh fish with nigella seeds / kalonji among us and also having nigella seeds paste with ghee or butter and hot rice. I remember, my mother gave me a bottle full of "kalojeerey" powder to have with rice everyday after the son was born.... it gives relief when you have cough & cold, according to her it helps the stitch to dry early. Nonetheless to say that we loved this fish curry and I am planning to prepare this non vegetarian curry on a regular basis. We do not get good quality shad here... so stopped buying it... Ilish may belong to the Herring or Shad family but a Bengali will always stay true to ilish.... always.... I mean if you do not shy away from calling yourself a Bengali.

What am I planning for the D-Day?..... not anything as simple as this fish curry KALOJEEREY BATA BEGUN DIYE ILISH .... I cannot cook complex.... but the share has to satisfy my ego.... it must.... I am alive till date for that... my ego, I will never let go of it!

I am roughly inspired by an Hilsa recipe from the renowned and veteran Rukma Dakshi, I used to love her sarees too!

INGREDIENTS :

HILSA / ILISH : 8-10 STEAK [800-900GM SIZED IS GOOD BUT MORE THAN A KILO IS BETTER]

EGG PLANT : 1MEDIUM OR 2 SMALL [CUT LENGTH WISE]

SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 5-6 [ADJUST YOURS]

NIGELLA SEED / KALONJEE / KALOJEEREY : 1TBSP + 1/4TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP +1/2TSP + 1/2TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 2TBSP [WE ALWAYS USE MUSTARD OIL, YOU CAN CHOOSE YOURS]

PROCEDURE :

This curry is light in texture and can be done with less oily ilish variety of 800-900gm size.... preferably fresh .... we get such supplies from the Mandai river of Burma....

Wash the pieces well but do not throw away the oil in the stomach, let them be or fry in oil separately. Have with hot rice and green chilli.

Marinate the fish pieces with 1tsp of turmeric, salt. Rub well and keep aside.

We will cut, wash and marinate the eggplant pieces with 1/2tsp of turmeric and salt as required just 5 minutes before adding it to the curry.

Now dry roast the kalojeerey for a minute at low heat and take down. Let cool and blend to a powder.

Take the nigella seeds powder in a bowl. Add a little salt and 1/2tsp turmeric to it. Add little water to get a paste.

Heat the oil in a wok. Temper with nigella seeds. Add the kalojeerey paste and stir not more than a minute. Add the slitted green chillies and give a stir.

Add 11/2 coffee mug of water and bring to a boil. Once the gravy has boiled for 3-4 minutes at low heat, add the marinated eggplants. Let it boil at low heat.

When the eggplant pieces are half done, gently add the fish pieces. Let it boil at low heat for 3-4 minutes. At this stage, you can add few more slitted green chillies and adjust the salt if required.

Try to have hot with piping hot steamed rice. We also had "palong er dal, bandhakopir ghonto and roshun phoron bhindi" alongside that they.... we really do not need anything when it is ilish on our plate!

I sincerely felt that I should go authentic Bengali today too.... if I feel that someone is trying to kiss me, I try to give it back. Then I thought that I can do it later... may be tomorrow or a day after! Whatever I will be doing this week is for the Bengalis for our oncoming New Year Celebrations.... and why not? We are a cornered community in our own country... off course we ourselves are to be blamed for that... we lack the spirit of brotherhood.... we do not stand together against anything that try to weigh us down, and that our oiling habit irritates me... I have seen it during my stay in an upscale condominium there in Kolkata... and both sides came to know very well that I was not a material to be cracked unless you are a very nice human being... The husband is more of a cosmopolitan, I am too although less of it... When it comes to any Bengali occasion, I become a true heart Bong because I can see, I can feel the discrimination. Why do I go and spend hours in a Bangladeshi shop? They are more of a Bengali than the Bengalis of India.... From Greece to Bahargaon to UK, they at least try to sell "maach bhaat" competing with the dishes from the happening states of India. I have nothing against the other states of India... we together make the country.... but why should Indian Food be identified as only Idli, Dosa, Butter Chicken in the world? We are to be blamed for that, we give big talks sitting at home, we are not at all a hardworking community. I love idli, dosa, uttapam, I do eat butter chicken, chicken bharta and feel that they prepare a common curry and then add different cuts of chicken to it, the dals and breads are way better. My family does enjoy all these Northern Indian Chicken Recipes or the Southern Indian Biryani Recipes.... but give me one reason why I should prepare a "beshan er mishti" and share it today or tomorrow, when I can see no one does it for us... If this is not discrimination, what is? I call those Bengali expats who do not visit a Bangladeshi shop a high nose, they are the major reason to push the Bengalis to earn this title... "Bangali.... Bissrito Jati"..... However, I am that kind of a person who hates quarrels, arguments, who does not believe in joining lobbies , does not have any enmity with people outside Bengal but my blog shares this week will only be in accordance with the Bengali tastebuds... I will ferociously be so during our major festivals and I think even if this chicken and rice main dish CHICKEN KEEMA RICE WITH CHICKEN KEEMA BALL is not Bengali, it suits their tastebud.

Chicken is not favourite with me anymore, I only enjoy few Oriental dishes with it and in minced form which does not feel as much inside the mouth. There are hundreds and thousands of keema rice recipes throughout the internet, I did not follow anyone. We need not follow anyone for these kind of rice and meat dishes unless we are associating some kind of history to it... like that particular Nawab's chief cook's recipe or of this Zamindar family .... I really do not wish to depend on the wiki on such kinds.... At times I wish to and when I consult ten recipes of the master chefs to the renowned home chefs, I see at least five different takes of the same recipe. The solution is to sit in a library and do research. "Sunil Babu sudhu modyopan korey Shei Shomoy ba Prothom Alo lekhen ni".... he did a lot of reading and research at the National Library! "Bot tolar boi amio chepey ditey pari S Debi namey, tomra kiney porbey, naki amar mon bhorbey?".... I think on my next visit to Iva Miss, I will pour in my heart, will tell her about the mistakes I did in selecting the subjects, how I lost focus! The nephew of SK Roy, the Peerless Group Head has something to say about how they reacted when Iva Miss read my essays in different classes ... he is a bad guy totally.... unable to avoid him however! Oh! Yes, I indeed wrote good essays in school according to her. Thereafter, I totally lost it and some dear friends including my husband felt very happy making an attempt to poison Iva Miss's ears talking about my failure. Till date her door is open for me.... she refuses, but feels happy when I gift her a saree or an handicrafted decorative item. My share today is a non vegetarian, chicken and rice mains CHICKEN KEEMA RICE WITH CHICKEN KEEMA BALL but it is true that I wanted to share the recipe of a heirloom Bengali dish... I vividly remember that I weeped a lot some seven years back when the son told me... "mumma, I find it difficult to read Bengali".... I am not a coercive parent, he eventually forgot although he can speak fluently... I say kudos to those Expat Bengalis whose kids can speak, read, write Bengali .... I know there are many! At least during our major celebrations, I will remain a loyal Bengali!

INGREDIENTS :

BASMATI RICE : 1COFFEE MUG

MINCED CHICKEN : 500GM

SLICED ONION : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP

CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 11/2TBSP

CHOPPED FRESH CORIANDER : 1SMALL TEA CUP +2TBSP

TOMATO PASTE : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP

GINGER PASTE : 1TSP

GARLIC PASTE : 1TBSP

CHAAT MASALA : 1TBSP

GARAM MASALA : 2TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP + 1/2TSP

STAR ANISE : 2

BLACK CARDAMOM : 1

GREEN CARDAMOM : 3-4

CLOVES : 3-4

CINNAMON STICK : 3-4

SALT : AS REQUIRED

LEMON JUICE : 2-3TBSP

CORNFLOUR : 2TBSP

OIL : 1SMALL TEACUP [WE CAN REUSE THE LEFTOVER]

PROCEDURE :

Prepare the rice until 60% done, take down and strain immediately. I do not know what we are eating in the name of Basmati.... hybrid long grain or what!

Wash and marinate the minced chicken with lemon juice and little salt. Keep aside for 1/2 an hour and then drain the water that has released.

Add 1/2tsp turmeric, the chaat masala, the red chilli powder, 2tbsp chopped coriander, salt only if required.

Mix well and keep aside for 15 minutes. Thereafter, take off half the amount and keep in another bowl. There should not be any marinade in this, retain that in the other half. Add the cornflour to it.

Shape into small balls. Heat 1small tea cup oil in a wok and fry the balls in batches.

Take out and reserve. Take 4 tbsp oil in a pan or wok and temper with the whole spices mentioned in the ingredients section.

Add the sliced onions and fry till golden brown. Add the chopped green chillies and fry for 1/2 a minute.

Add the ginger and garlic paste, and stir for 2 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and stir for 2-3 minutes.

Add the garam masala and turmeric powder, some salt and stir for 1 more minute. Add the minced chicken now.

Mix well and cook it covered for 7-8 minutes. We are ready to add the cooked rice.

Add the rice and use 2 ladles to incorporate everything well. We will do it at medium heat and gently enough to avoid breaking the rice grains.

After, 3-4 minutes of folding in everything well, we will add the meatballs.

Gently stir for some 2 minutes and add 1small tea cup of chopped coriander. Fold in well.

We are done! Transfer to a bowl. I also cooked some "luchi" and "dimer kasha" to complete the platter. "poila boishakh" ke "ekla boishakh" hotey dekha koshter boro!

This one fish is among the few which has caught our fancy recently. Well, not really mine but became a favourite of my men... it is less bony and fleshy! I can have it too when I make it the spicy Indian way hiding all the smell, enjoy the tail end piece the most. All the oil filled stomach pieces go to the men"s plate not because they are chauvinist, but I do not like "peter piece" except of an ilish. I remember, on our tours too, me and the mother would ask for the tail end pieces from the tour operators. Everyone else in the group... all happened to be our father's friends and family would get surprised to which we said that it is as per our wish. The husband at times complains that I am still a "jangli"... primitive how much he tries. To that I say that I will be what I am comfortable in.... I felt like buying two pair of sandals each for ten dollars and I did, it got me sores, they will go after 3-4 wears... I will be just fine! After six months I will get a new pair. I am very careful about one thing that I do not ever recommend buying second hand goods.... we go for warehouse sales but never prefer second hands. Only two of our furnitures are a giveaway by a couple friend which did not fit in their new home! The husband is a brand maniac which is right in a way, his Van Heusen shirts do not tear even after 6-7 years. I do not look for durability except for in the husband.... At times, when I sit alone and go back in time, I remember how his mother called me a dwarf and he did not take a minute to give a befitting reply to it. It was at that moment I took the final decision to marry this guy. It is very much okay to prepare a non vegetarian curry with a favourite fish of him DOI TOMATO BHETKI. I do not mind doing it for his mother either who will like this very less bony, fleshy fish. As I told you all that both sides of my family are "Bangal Bari"... only "bhetki" fillets came home for fancy fish fries occasionally. I remember, two-three times I did get "chara pona" sized "bhetki" and prepared it with a chilli-mustard paste... I liked it... Whenever they overgrow, I find fish smelly except for my two loves... "aar and ilish... even dhai".... the last one got to be rare in Kolkata! At times, I feel like taking the invitation of a brother like Tariq and visit his home in Dhaka and then Cox Bazaar to eat a variety of fish .... I wish to visit their fish market.... I have a strong branch of my family there who I do not know. Even the stories went off with my father... do you think our mother even know the meaning of "friendship" or "socialisation".... My mashimoni who was in hospital for a month is just back home. Our mother in a complaining mode "oor to bondhurai shob korchey".... I gave it back immediately "shekho... eta dorkar".... Obviously, she does not like such developments in her daughter when the son is still her "pet".... I give him too "sharajibon maar achol dhorey boshey thakle prithibi darshan hoyna... ujbuk tor moto nei ekta".... Do I sound selfish? Yes, only to some... what they do not understand is that the more they flourish, better they can provide for their parents. T's mother can afford to visit a Nursing Home six times a year because of the son, that his "baromami-shejomami" cannot.

I always seem irritated these days na? I think it is a pre-menopausal syndrome. Cristine added more to it. I discovered a broken bud in one of my orchids this morning, without knowing if Cristine has any involvement in it, I had to shower on her. Okay, okay leh... before anyone comes from the MOM, I will pay her for a Macmeal... The son is at home today and I had such plans because I have an appointment for a discounted hair treatment else you will see me bald in few months. This island supplies too much of chemically treated water. I may laugh at Ipsita's madness on diet but I must admit that it works.... she is just a year younger than me but look at her hairs. After quite sometime, I got myself clicked yesterday, I screamed... "Cristine did you notice my skin too is aging fast?".... No, I do not think I require filters, I do not work in the entertainment industry. I want people to know the real me... look wise and nature wise! The moment I started going public with my real looks and age... the stalkers stopped messaging privately, commenting on my posts without any interest on the food I cooked with so much of love... come on, my industry is different. I wish to provide some entertainment with food, flaunt my sarees, at times dresses and me too but just the way I am. A person in my "dislike or say enemy list" told me few years back that S, you have made a good decision in life else you would have been in trouble. The words broke my bones once more into pieces, I touched alcohol that night for the first time in life, told the husband many things that I thought I never will, they will be going in to the ashes along with me.... How much I dislike, get dismantled, I cannot deny the truth and murmur... "yes! you are very right!" Thereafter, it became mandatory for me to show off the real me..... I laughed my heart out when Ipsita commented "80% lok comment box e bhuri bhuri bajey katha lekhey..." Oh!My God... I was like "sotti to Piali Moitra aar amar chobir tolai ek katha tomra likhbey na".... You see there are a couple of my girlfriends who are beautiful, Piali stands out because she is really beautiful in South Asian standard and she is not bothered, she is not obsessed with her looks! I like it too much. Her daughter is not as much physically beautiful as her but she will outshine her parents in academics one day.... I like that sincere girl, specially that innocence in her "P amar sangey katha bolena aunty... to which I say, tui to okey beat korchish... male egoi lagchey moneyhoy!" We are meeting soon, perhaps will get some info on the son's activities. This boy will drive me crazy but this is a mumma, so she does not mind to cook his preferences.... this time a fish curry with sea bass, yogurt and tomato paste DOI TOMATO BHETKI. I have it too though not in the same fondness like an ilish or aar or boyal. I had my favourite dal and two veggies. The Bori Lau er Ghonto is up on the blog, the rest I wish to share later. Next week there will be no new shares, I will only take these to few places. This activity does not attract me but my readers are not active enough or they do not trust me enough to stay loyal to the pages I own. How I miss G+. I am not the kind who can say bravo... bravo to a "cheese diye koi maach.... I handed over my Thakuma's recipe book to Taj Bengal".... and then rise to fame in perfect unison. Although I am jealous.. ahem! of people's fame, I remain happy when Sumita di's husband says that the Shukto I got was just how he had in his childhood or when a Sanak Chottopadhay sends what is below!

Okay, on a serious note.... rising to fame is not all of a trick... you need to be an excellent communicator, build liaison that are beneficial to you, collaborative in a way, be very smart and yes "clever & ferocious too"... have thorough knowledge on food or whatever industry you are in, thick skinned, books & youtube videos to your credit! How can I badmouth such people when I know my intelligent husband plays a lot of strategies at home, may be in office too! It was mid 2010, the husband told his office "I got down from the ship never to sail again.... I want a shore job and you will give me one".... He got it within one month, me and a Dibyendu Banerjee who the husband calls one of the hardest working Ship Captains in the world discussed "look how he is bargaining".... so these kinds go ahead. The ability to bargain needs quality for sure. I have also seen some, say in the food world itself, who are excellent but just lack the luck or the ability to play tricks & politics and cannot make it. I call myself a mediocre, who does easy, Indian cooking pretty well. I am not fond of Sanak's wife but I know she could not have a strong foot in the Bengali entertainment industry only because a small part of her is like me... she cannot sustain lobbying and politics... anyway, she earns more than what she would have there... there should not be regrets but her kinds loves to be in the limelight always. I did want to be a part of few Bengali groups but had to take forced leave... they do not entertain independent works... groupism is what I am not interested in... I just wish to entertain the groups with good food and get some traffic "ke kar pishi, ke kar mama, kakey tel marley amar ektu naam hobey oshobey amar shomoy nei... mileymishey kaaj korbo byas, bondhutter ki achey!"... I will stay by the side of those for whom this blog is alive, not always is it possible... not that I have not given them anything in return! I have a better world, will be visiting an old place after some 3-4 years ... this is a rich island, they keep demolishing old establishments and renovate... I do not know why. I will roam around the mall, eat my lunch, sleep while they massage my scalp! Before that I had to share this easy, fish curry with my readers!

SEA BASS / BHETKI / BARRAMUNDI : 7-8 STEAK

PLAIN YOGURT : 200GM [BEATEN]

TOMATO : 1SMALL TEACUP [CHOPPED]

FRESH CORIANDER : 2TBSP [CHOPPED]

GINGER PASTE : 2TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 2TSP [ADJUST YOURS]

TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP + 1/2TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

GREEN CHILLI : 2 [CHOPPED]

CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP

CINNAMON STICK : 2-3 STICK OF 3INCH LENGTH

GREEN CARDAMOM : 2-3

CLOVE : 3-4

OIL : 6-7TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Wash the fish pieces thoroughly. Rub some salt and turmeric, keep aside for 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok and lightly fry the fish pieces, both sides.

Meanwhile, we have washed the chopped fresh coriander and green chillies.

We have taken the ginger paste, cumin-coriander-red chilli powders, 1/2tsp turmeric powder in a bowl and sprinkle some water to form a paste.

Once all the fish pieces are fried, temper the oil with the cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks, green cardamom, clove.

After a stir, add the chopped green chillies and give a stir.

Add the spice paste and stir for 2 minutes.

Add the chopped tomatoes and stir until they melt 85%, now add the beaten yogurt. Fold in well.

Stir for a minute and add 1 coffee mug of water. Bring it to a boil.

Once it has boiled for 3-4 minutes at low heat, add the fried fish pieces gently.

Let boil at low heat for 3-4 minutes, add the chopped fresh coriander.

Let boil for a minute and take down.

Enjoy with steamed rice, vegetable and dal.

Oh! finally I am ready with my pictures. Yesterday, I missed the very few stepwise pictures I clicked for this recipe, totally forgot actually. When I cook something different from usual or authentic Bengali or the picture of the final dish does not match with the ingredient list, I prefer giving stepwise pictures. I do not wish to put my readers into disbelief. I am starting late today, once I finish it, I have to run to the Indian market alone because Cristine didi has to serve lunch to the son... "Mumma cooked dal, bhindi bhaja, dimer jhol".... Why mumma has to run to the Indian market?... because she has some decent plans for next Monday... she wishes to cook fresh for the D-Day.... none of her pictures till now is at per with the oncoming occasion... I enjoy them only in other's space. I discovered such a rustically beautiful stream yesterday.... that too on a day of the men's favourite Bhetki... I get to see a "Loter Jhuri".... "I murmered... "bah... khub bhalo laglo, dekhbo ebar theke"... "Bangale Bangal chene, shuyorey chene kochu"... I even felt like calling the mother and ask her to buy these... "morche pora lohar bashon koshon kota kiney rekho to Mani".... then I restricted myself... I lack sincerity & aesthetic sense too may be ... after 9pm, I cannot do the arrangement to create such a lovely scenario.... "choter tukrao Baguiati Bazaarey season e mele, dur". I will just cook and serve, I am a fan of someone's diligence and sense of humour.... protocol does not have a strong presence in my dictionary. I will not waste time observing... I will just roam around, buy some good quality mutton today because I have requested someone to have me cooked mutton at least for once.... though this island is not the right place to buy mutton... its dry... where is the fat that mingles with the spices and play around in the wok kissing each other for 2 hours. I tried such a long distance romantic scene yesterday evening... thought of recording that song after a hairdo and send someone... "yeh hai reshmi julfon ka andhera na gabrayiye".... then I stopped myself. His new job role is quite demanding, he travels most of the time and they have the ordeal of arranging seminars with the officers attending with their wives. He and his team were in trouble this time when they had to arrange for two different hotels for the stay. If a sailing officer's wife gets upset with the arrangement, you know what can happen ... I had been attending with a baby boy then. I have stayed in one of them back in 2009, January.... the best breakfast spread did I find in one of the Holiday Inn, Glenmarie... oh! their variety of Danish Breads! At the moment, I am having my Japanese Green Tea with a Cheese Bun... love! I am not trying to prove anything but the pandan cakes or the Japanese cheese cakes I so loved are what I am unable to consume recently... they smell egg. I told Cristine to give me soft boiled eggs only when I ask for it and also wish to prepare egg curry with soft boiled eggs.

I love those local bakery cheese buns but cannot have on a regular basis... they come for the son, while the husband will have them only when we pack them in the lunch box. Next week, I will not be blogging, shall utilise the time trying my hands on may be a ladi pao or an egg free custard. As, of now I am in a more or less happy mood because I am blogging on a mutton dish SHORSHE BATA NARKOL DUDHE MUTTON, because I will have a chaat platter for my lunch, because I will welcome the husband's homecoming with home cooked food... we have not talked for 11/2 day long because he has no time to listen why I am upset, we do not agree on sending the son to the bahargaon so early. He things that country is the best for higher education... I think like a mother... how secured is that place for my son, he is a young boy... who will be his friends, to what extent will he set himself free.... I do not like that country's free culture... did using 6 slangs in one sentence, roaming bare and 5 marriages got peace in people's home... where is the bond? We are not accompanying the son.... what will he do there?

In a family there is something called sitting together and discussing an issue... in this family it does not work that way. So, I engage myself in the kitchen... happily though! With this mutton curry with Bengali style spices, I also cooked PEASHOOT GREEN MOONG DAL & COCONUT PEANUT RICE , SHAHI EGG CURRY .... just click the bold letters for the archived recipes. I know I am not touching the hearts of the vegetarian people at the moment.... did they ever try to touch our hearts? During the span of Mahalaya to Durga Pooja.... I see people pouring in their heart for Navaratri or Diwali... never they do anything for our Durga Pooja... Ok praying to Nabadurga is Navaratri celebration but I wish to see the mention Debi Durga... no one does.... coming pujo, if I have to share sweet recipes, I will do "chanar mishti".... and not "byashoner mishti or khoyar mishti".... but yes, Bengalis do lack standing together.... I have seen this in the first Bengali group I joined when I was an innocent, how the revered Mr. I, e, o, you's tone changes for different people.... I hate indecency in people... I know how independent workers are smothered by such kinds.... only because you do not pay allegiance to them... only because you are not a famous blogger... why would I even want to be with the Kolkata food related stalwarts, I do not even stay there! I am a Bengali from Kolkata and I am telling you in full sense that "Prabashi Bengalis" have a broader heart... No, I am not into any kind of "gatbandhan".... I am a free bird! It is not that I do not want thousands of visits but cannot lick anyone's feet for it... specially of those who do not know how to behave. I indeed used to get considerable amount of visits when the social media allowed us to post in groups generously. One among my friends again added me to that group, never will participate but do enjoy some shares.. I am happy with the few number of friends in the food world... and the real classy ones. Let us talk food, I need to finish and go out... an afternoon visit to a wet market does not fetch you the best quality mutton or prawns but I wanted to share this for my readers. Do not get upset looking at the number of the chillies used in the non-vegetarian meat curry SHORSHE BATA NARKOL DUDHE MUTTON.... they were not hot enough. Actually, I got some lamb chops that day so did with it, you can use mutton.

Feels very good to be able to get out go my mental block and contribute little something to two good causes, do it for the needy if you may! No, there is no wrong in saying that I have contributed to a good cause, Lady Diana's major fame did not come from her beauty alone.

You can either serve the mutton curry with a rice, lentil curry, a vegetable dish and fritters or prepare a similar platter in the picture, SHORSHE BATA NARKOL DUDHE MUTTON, PEASHOOT GREEN MOONG DAL & COCONUT PEANUT RICE, SHAHI EGG CURRY ! Click the bold letters for the recipes!

INGREDIENTS :

MUTTON : 1KG [OR LAMB]
MUSTARD SEED : 2TBSP + 2TBSP
GREEN CHILLI : 6-7
GARLIC PASTE : 1TBSP
GARLIC EXTRACT : 1TBSP
LEMON JUICE : 1/4 SMALL TEA CUP
SLICED ONION : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
COCONUT MILK : 1COFFEE MUG
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP + 1/2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
BAY LEAF : 1OR 2
CINNAMON STICK : 2-3
GREEN CARDAMOM : 3-4
CLOVE : 3-4
OIL : 5-6TBSP [I USED MUSTARD]

PROCEDURE :

Let us prepare the spice paste first.

Take the mustard seeds in a strainer and wash. I am not fond of yellow mustard but it is healthier. Transfer to a blender.

Add the chillies.

Add water, 2 ice cubes, little salt. Blend to a smooth paste.

Wash the mutton pieces thoroughly, marinate with 1tsp turmeric, the lemon juice, 1/2 of the mustard-chilli spice paste, mustard oil.

Refrigerate in an airtight container overnight or for 5-6 hours at least. Take out 1hour before you start cooking.

If you are too particular, prepare the spice mixture in two batches, else you can store the half in an airtight glass container.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with a bay leaf, cinnamon sticks, green cardamom, cloves.

Add 1/2 tsp turmeric and the garlic paste. Stir.

Add the rest half of the chilli-mustard spice paste and stir for not more that 1 minute.

Add the mutton pieces now without the marinade, fold in well and cook at high heat for 5 minutes.

Now add the marinade, fold in well and turn the heat to the lowest. Cover cook for 45-50 minutes or until all the water that have released dries up. Uncover and give a stir every 5 minutes.

When all the water have dried up, dilute the coconut milk with 1small tea cup of water. Adjust the salt.

Fold in well and cover cook at the lowest heat for 15-20 minutes, add little water in between if required.

I like adding fews slitted green chillies towards the end.

Enjoy hot with steamed rice, get some salad besides other vegetarian sides.

It is 9 am in the morning and I am just starting with this post.... when people set out of home for a greater cause, I look forward to a lazy, idle day. Whatever, I enjoy it if only you allow me to spend it my way! That freedom I do get, the reason why I am not venting out my anger even after four rejected calls from yesterday night till this morning, not even my messages are answered but they are seen. I cannot even give such ultimatums "bari esho dekhacchi".... come home I will show you. In this matter he is his mother's son, "ulte tomai norok theke ghuriye anbey"... Anyway, I am going to share an easy, dessert recipe today which is done in a jiffy, yet tasted awesome.... the son did have before going to school. The primary plan was to prepare a "shabedar sandesh".... did not get good quality chikku... a personal favourite since childhood... I think the ones we used to have in Kolkata are better... softer, juicier, fleshy and sweeter. The major difference between my side of the family and that of the husband's when it comes to buying fruits is that their home limits themselves to "apel, kola, aam, lebu".... in our side, almost every available fruits in Kolkata did come to our home "jamer shomoy jam, peyarer shomoy peyara"... the mother made it a point to feed us all the seasonal fruits except for these plums. I do not know why but they were available in the Dum Dum market, our landlady used to give us. We distributed in the neighbourhood the giant sized jackfruits that came from the maternal grandparent's home. I buy them here a mere 100-150gm for 5 dollars.... I love it but the rest cannot take the strong smell. I do not get my kind of jackfruit here, juicy. I wish to blog on my daddy's favourite "kathal kheer"... the entire summer he would be snacking on mango, jackfruit, his all time banana with puffed rice and beaten rice varieties.... he would not touch chapati during their season... he disliked chapati except for having them with milk, sugar and banana. He used to have "luchi-porota" instead in breakfast. I so wish to do a photo session of his favourite snacks with a caption... those were our paa's favourites... I do not do it... let those who are counting their last breath live life peacefully. I find it so silly when people pay their homage to the expired souls with a photograph in a public post, then my silly actions also cause irritation in them. Our father's second death anniversary is in few days, I will cook fish curries for him, go to the Ramakrishna Mission and donate a little something. So, when I am planning to feed the freshest of the fruits to our visiting mother next month, the brother says that she cannot stay for 2 months... I think the problem is with him.... he cannot! He got his hilsa curry, mutton and chicken all in a week, I am not bothered if he cannot have this uncanny but yum dessert with plum, milk and paneer... the homemade cottage cheese of the Indian Subcontinent... PLUM KHEER!

I actually prepared a good amount of paneer from 2 litres of milk, the initial plan was different. I used lesser amount of it finally on an unplanned dessert as this one. What to do with the rest? Let me think about it later. I have a lot of cooking to be done today, tomorrow I cannot touch fire and non-vegetarian food. So, when the plan for something with Sapota / Shobeda / Chiku did not work out, I bought those fresh palms... used three of them.... the rest will go in the making of a spread. All of a sudden I remember that "kaki"... our landlady used to say that plum cleans blood, even yam does so. Then I planned it this way, preparing a plum spread and filling in the paneer balls with it.... name it "plum bhora sandesh".... There came in some flashbacks.... I do not usually forget nasty behaviours.... cancelled my plans .... it was 7:30 pm yesterday and I landed into this PLUM KHEER.... a pudding. I could have named it Plum Paneer Kheer, I will not do it.... I hope my readers will not seek explanation for all of my actions.... even I have no idea of the maximum of my weird acts. Actually, instead of paneer you can use condensed milk for thickening of the kheer / pudding. If you have noticed, I do a little bit of experimentation with desserts, they may not be conventional most of the time. They enjoy it... specially the son. There will be a time soon when he will have to survive on store bought food, let me do my bit for him. I wonder why he watches those cookery shows on Netflix... he loves music but not of his mother's genre.... partly of his father's.... he watches cookery shows so different from his mother's choice of food ... the father is never into food shows! Anyway, that they take for mumma / wifey made idli in their lunch boxes and eat them too is a hope I would like to cling on!

That is this morning. Mumma even makes Cristine didi eat them... khik khik! Please stop buying those packeted batters. Like I do not wish to go through the hassle of fermented batter, what I do is do these instant ones with a variety of millets and grains.

INGREDIENTS :

MILK : 1LT + 500ML
FRESH PLUM : 3-4 [I GOT THE RED COLOURED]
SUGAR : 4TBSP + 2TBSP
WATER : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP
GREEN CARDAMOM : 2-3
CRUSHED PISTACHIOS TO GARNISH

PROCEDURE :

I actually prepared the paneer / homemade cottage cheese from 2 litres of milk. I took it on a heavy bottomed vessel and got to boil. I mixed 2tbsp water to 5-6tbsp of lemon juice. I added it to the boiling milk and the milk curdled. I strained and separated the whey from the paneer, hanged it for 30-35 minutes to get this.

I prepared the paneer with tetra pack milk, so it is not super white. I am not particular if it is not for roshogolla.

We do not need all of the paneer you see above, my final plan did not require it.

I washed and chopped the plums.

Add 4 tbsp of sugar to it.

Switch on gas and put the bowl atop. Let the sugar melt. Keep the heat at minimum.

Add little water to the bowl.

Let cook at low heat for 5 minutes. Take down. Let cool.

In another vessel take 500ml full cream milk and put for boil.

Boil at low heat for 12-14 minutes. Add 2tbsp of milk and slightly torn green cardamoms to it. Keep stirring.

Add less than 1/2 of the paneer you see, gently fold in. Let boil for 2-3 minutes at the lowest heat.

Switch off gas and transfer the content to a serving bowl. Let cool.

Gently add the plum & sugar mixture to the kheer / pudding.

Crush some pistachios and garnish your quick fix dessert.

Chill it before you serve.

Suji / Semolina is my most loved grain after rice.... Rice will always remain my first love.... something that never causes any kind of uneasiness to the stomach.... if only it did not have a major contribution to the increasing width of our body. Anyway, since baking is not my forte, because I still love experimenting with different ingredients, I discovered that cakes with semolina give me little less of tension and the family like them too. However, one should not go by the standard of my family's fondness of my home baked cakes. Take it from me, they have eaten all my "horribly gone wrong" cakes without a noise. That should have been enough reason to be a standard baker by now. Do not I love them? Not that, I do not know why I feel very lethargic, unwilling to follow rules and ethics of measurements that one must when it comes to baking. I think once I blog on a "Dhakai Porota".... I should be able to concentrate on "learning to bake".... until then there will be "just" decent cakes like this SUJI COCOA CAKE at this home. A Bengali blogger with pots full of ego inside like me should master the art of perfect "Dhakai Porota" first. I did it once last year, it was nice but not that crisp.... so did not click. Not all sweet shops in Kolkata do it, I used to have it in a shop in Nagerbazaar, DumDum whenever I visited our friend Tanushree's home back in the early 90's.... The sweet shop is still there, I still pass by it on each of my visit but I refrain from having it. That stupid ego says, "do it yourself S, you must!".... I think I have to soon to satisfy myself, else my family is happy with the variety of "luchi / porota" I prepare for them.

I leave behind all the ego and pray for the mankind when I enter a religious place. Yesterday was the day our daddy found a better place for himself two years back than listening to our mother's complains all day.... why he is not like her father always working at the garden and doing the right investments.... you know na our mother do not have a world beyond her mother, her father, her sisters & brothers, her children.... okay, she is fond of two of my father's brothers too...... Since I ask her to learn to think beyond, broaden her horizon just as our father did, she is more fond of her son now who is her pet. He is seven years younger to me, I cannot be jealous of him. That he is into a decent life & job today if not great to my standard is largely my contribution.... I will always take that credit. So, when he sent me the picture of what our mother cooked for our father yesterday, I felt like sharing it with my readers. I must mention that my brother cooked that omelette, I hear that our Pa loved his son made omelette with tomato sauce. Yes, my brother learnt to cook during his two years of staying alone in Durgapur as a bachelor. The daddy loved "khichuri" with dollops of ghee, a variety of fries including fish, "payesh", "mishti doi", "fruits".... so there was... Together the daughter, the son and the wife offered him what all he loved. Do not look at the furnitures of my paternal home.... they are 30-40 years old.

I went to Ramakrishna Mission yesterday of which my parents are followers, the brother's wife's family too.... On any major occasion, his wife would go to the Belur Math being an ardent follower of "Maa Sarada".... Me too is not an exception.... I visited there yesterday evening, sat for a while, contributed a very small amount of donation and came back to have a "samosa" with "teh o kosong".... To be honest, I crave for "shingara" and feels that I have to make it soon to be able to have it.

I am flexible when it comes to religion, that off course is the husband's influence on me.... rather the joint influence of the father and the husband.... I do enjoy my lunches at Muslim restaurants and without that super store, very few South Asians can survive here... The pro-Hindus do not think twice before getting the food or any item handed over by a Muslim or say a vice-versa.... are they a hypocrite like me who does not allow beef inside her home? I have lessened the amount of pork intake for health reasons... but having chaats, appams, dosa, adhirasam everything.... what a dumbo!

Off late, I have decided not to sit and eat on a too rustic place.... I discovered hair on a dosa.... so should not go for a 2 -3 $ meal. My lunch today is poha with lots of veggies.... its full of carb I know.... so unwilling to buy oats, so much. Leaving aside the chia seed, I was having tea with "ruti" this morning. My honest declarations may cause irritation in you just as your pretence does to me. Come to me leaving behind tricks & politics, else do not come.... I have stopped expecting or trying to woo you .... you will not get sugar coated words from the rustic me either.

After discovering hair on my food in a local eatery, I have increased the number of experiments at home... I am not so keen on spending 8-10$ for lunch everyday when my men carry home cooked lunch boxes. My next try is soaking and pasting some idli rice, adding coconut milk to it and preparing thin crepes. Yes, I will not buy an appam pan or ferment the batter just because I love it. When successful, shall do a photo feature. Let us come to the cake I baked on 14th of April... last to last Sunday. Cristine was on leave, so I had to plan for a few ingredients, easy cake... one to be taken to a dinner date I went for later in the evening and one for the family. My wish was not instant.... you can see that I got home the Stevia extract in advance.

I did so because I wished to have at least two slices of the SUJI COCOA CAKE with my morning tea. No, I am still not a wise person, I had "ek bati bhorti shinni", "jilipi o golap jam" in the past week at two different friends' places. Resistance Training of the Mind is the first step to a healthy life, weight loss programme which I failed in miserably. However, surviving on "ghol and dal" cannot be a part of a healthy diet either. If one has the resistive power, one should take the liberty to spend on a dietician. I cannot because I know I cannot survive without junks, spicy meat and fish curries. This cake is simply made without using expensive nuts, dry fruits, this & that and using the convection mode of my microwave oven. Reports say that it tasted good, whoever had it said it was good! My request was like "please give me an honest review".... I will not claim it to be a super soft cake... it was not... it was dense & moist... not "norom tultuley ba furfurey"....

INGREDIENTS :

SUJI / SEMOLINA : 11/2COFFEE MUG
COCOA POWDER : 3TBSP
BAKING POWDER : 1/3TBSP
BAKING SODA : 1/2TBSP
SUGAR ALTERNATIVE STEVIA : 1SMALL TEA CUP [YOU CAN USE SUGAR OF THE SAME QUANTITY]
MILK : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
PLAIN YOGURT : 1SMALL TEA CUP
OIL : 1/3SMALL TEA CUP
CINNAMON POWDER : 1TSP
VANILLA ESSENCE : 1TSP

PROCEDURE :

Take the semolina, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, sugar alternative on a bowl.

Mix very well so that there remains no lump. Would powdered semolina give a better result? Shall try next time.

In a blender not meant for spices, take the milk, yogurt, cinnamon powder and oil. Blend at high for 2 minutes, pausing in between.

Pour the mixture to the semolina mixture. Add the vanilla essence and whisk to a smooth batter.

Keep standing for 20-25minutes covered. One covered and pour into two foils. I find them easier than cake tins.

I preheated my convection mode microwave at 180*C. I do not know how ovens function. Then I baked one cake at a time for 25-26 minutes at 180*C.

Your machines may differ, so be careful about the timing.

Enjoy as a tea / coffee time snack.

This morning the couple at this home woke up tired... ahem... no story material does it provide. An ever unromantic couple who have turned old lives in this home. We actually went for a late night movie.... If on weekdays ticket prices are way less, we definitely will choose it over a weekend.... the norm has become such that Hollywood movies are seen sitting at home, Bollywood movies at the theatre hall and that wait to watch Tollywood in Netflix. The rest in the group are not sit at home idles like me... so they plan around 5pm and then notify me. I was not so keen on going for "Kalank" yesterday but went for the company I enjoy.... Soumya's wit.... the Nacho and Cheese share with Ipsita.... Not that I love cheese or Ipsita has gone mad having that combo around 10pm but it is that movie hall effect... a place that attracted me always. After so many years, I met her... my heartthrob Madhuri.... Me and Chandrayee watched Tezaab on the first day of its release at Purnashree... throughout the show I kept on telling Chandrayee... "this girl resembles someone we know".... then realised that her million dollar smile resembles that of Suchitra Sen... she was then a mix of Suchitra & Madhubala look wise. So many times I had an open fight with Tanushree on Madhuri & Sridevi..... The diehard fan of her always felt that her talent was underused, she needed more of Prakash Jhas in her life! If I am 48, she must be somewhere between 52-55.... she still dances like a queen. You know what "apna woh Sanju Baba ko na Arshad Warsi ke sivai kisike saath accha nehi lagta".... I got so upset when "Munna Bhai Chale Umrika" was shelved. How was "Kalank?"..... Nothing special.... I actually decided not to watch it, could not avoid good friend Soumya's call... I am in that stage of life when I want an escapade from such stories which puts me in a dilemma... but mind it neither you, nor me are to decide what is wrong and what is right! I do not like situations when I cannot look straight into my husband's eyes, I feel better when we are into a fight.... we were to go out around 8:40pm yesterday and he came back from the office at 8:25pm. What is more irritating is that he constantly tries to prove me wrong in front of our friends. If I am saying that he had this habit of reaching school late, there is truth in it.... but I respect those who set out to work every morning. After a 31/2hours of sleep, he is all set for office like many of you. Even, I am tired of sleep deprivation, hence packed their lunch boxes with some easy dal & cumin tempered paneer rice.... the man eats paneer... does not enjoy! He does not enjoy Black Chana / Black Chickpea / Chola either and even uses derogatory words for it. I buy it for myself but unable to have it in salads every other day, excess intake causes me indigestion.... storing longer spoils them. I had to prepare this vegetarian curry CHOLA BEGUN ER TARKARI for the family. To stop them from badmouthing, I had to pair it with gram flour parathas / flatbreads. Actually, the son never speaks ill of any food item, he will not eat what he does not like.... one cannot just make him do what he does not wish to! Mumma deboned the very bony "koi maach" for him and he ate.... Anyway, it seems he will have baked tilapia rest of his life.... very few are like "je radhe shey chul o badhe".... so let me fulfil my wishes concerning him.

His mumma indeed eats fish like a cat. She is now feeling guilty of shouting at her tired man who is all set to go out for work. Whoever is sweating out for the family, deserves heaven.... Out of that guilt, I deleted my Linkedin Account recently... I have nothing to do there, I just want some promotion for my blog for which that forum is not right. At the moment, I am exploring some new avenues besides cooking, just for self satisfaction. Later in the day, the shameless me will be going for my second hair therapy session .... I must avoid a Biryani treat today and go for something light!

I remember, I had the best Chana Curry cooked by a former colleague Abhilasha Mani ma'am.... I do not know to which state of India this mother of two girls belong but I loved the spicy "chana curry" she got to school one day sometime in 2014. I do not usually forget things that appeal to me... "Kalank" is not a big deal to me, neither will I start analysing the movie, give judgements, get more involved.... I will instead move around alone, do my bit in the kitchen and let life go on. I have given a Bengali name to this vegetarian dish because I did it with Bengali spices... We do eat it as a snack, as an addition to some vegetarian preparations..... not really in a curry. Abhilasha ma'am made me rethink and feel that it can be had in a curry. My men are not so good as me and perhaps there was a meat curry alongside this on that day. Back at our Barrackpore home, I hear that the brother and his wife loves Rajma & Kabli Chola.... so prefers my men too... the husband would prefer an Aloo Kabli to this curry but he had because he or they both love their share of "ruti / porota".... This CHOLA BEGUN ER TORKARI might be an instant decision, an urge to use up the stored chola / black chana and some about to rot egg plants.... You know na I hate wastage.... I think I did full justice to the curry spicing it up with regular masalas and flavouring it with garam masala & lemon leaves! You must try it to prove me right. I am unhappy with the photo feature, I could not hide the shadow, I even thought of deleting it... but the food was good... so did not!

INGREDIENTS :

BLACK CHICKPEA / CHOLA / KALA CHANA : 200GM
EGG PLANT : 4-5 SMALL
ONION : 2-3 TBSP [SLICED]
FRESH CORIANDER : 2-3 TBSP [CHOPPED]
GREEN CHILLI : 1TBSP [CHOPPED]
TOMATO : 1 COFFEE MUG [CHOPPED]
CUMIN SEED : 1/4 TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 2 TSP
BLACK PEPPER POWDER : 1/2 TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 11/2 TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
GARAM MASALA POWDER : 2 TSP
TAMARIND PULP : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP
LEMON LEAF : 3-4
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 4 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Wash and soak the black chickpea in hot water for 2-3 hours. Pressure cook at lowest heat up to 2 whistles adding some salt and 2 coffee mugs of water. Let cool before you open the lid.

Cut and wash the egg plants just 5 minutes before you add it to the wok. Rub little salt to the pieces.

Heat oil in a wok. Temper with cumin seeds and add the chopped and washed sliced onions. Once they turn golden brown, add the washed and chopped tomatoes. Add little salt and the turmeric. Stir and let the tomato melt.

Add the spices like cumin-coriander-black pepper- red chilli powders and stir well. Add the boiled black chick peas now along with the water.

Give a stir and simmer covered at the lowest heat for 10-12 minutes. Open cover to add 2 coffee mugs of water. Cover again and simmer at lowest heat for 5-6 minutes.

Add the marinated pieces of egg plants and the lemon leaves, the garam masala now and stir. Again simmer at lowest heat covered for 7-8 minutes.

Open cover, add the tamarind juice and adjust salt if required. Simmer at low heat for another 3-4 minutes. We should be done.

Transfer to a bowl and garnish with the washed & chopped fresh coriander & green chillies!

I was miraculously spared yesterday from "ten thousand blistering barnacles" to "baboons" which I thought was inevitable after adding that amount of "bhaja mosholar guro" to the veggie dish and that number of "chilli padi" to the chutney. To ease my tension, I even tried one number to another in my broken voice... from "Julie aaaaa I labh you" to "Roop tera mastana".... these two songs our mother did not allow me to hum freely, so they are my favourites. Someone not only spared me but told that the "pav" bread tasted good, so I think Captain Haddock has a thing for Bianca at the back of his mind. I do not mind that so long he eats the food I cook with so much of love. I am anyway tired of people expressing their doubt on whether I serve him what I cook at all or all of them pass through my food pipe! His mother too tried to at times but she knows that I have fed him more and more varieties than she did. Oh yes! I do not bother to safeguard the respect of those who pose a threat to mine. Since she is the primary reason why I get to live a good life, I will always take care of her which is called duty and not love. No, I will not start with that "saas-bahu" saga, I stopped watching television just to avoid those boring soaps with utter lies.... all of a sudden after marriage the daughter-in-law starts loving her "sasural" more than her roots, the maa-in-law loving the "bahu" more than her son and the ladies of the house cutting "gobi & baingan" all day long. Had I have owned so big a kitchen, I would have bought an air fryer, an oven besides my microwave, a hand blender, this & that. That cannot be as ours is a rented 1100 sq.ft. area where you suffer from breathlessness at times. In such a scenario, I do what is required, plant some greens around... they freshen the air and keep me happy. Happier do I feel to cook, Cristine is the major reason who contributes to my energy level while cooking, she helps me immensely in this area. Yesterday, after we came back from the wet market around 12 noon, I thought of baking "pav" initially.... then prepared the dough for it following a couple of recipes but was unhappy with the shape of the balls.... I am miserable even in simple artistry! I preferred preparing a "pav" bread. If "pav" means 1/4 of a bread, may I call it so?

At night I served it with roasted herbed chicken legs, the spicy aloo-mushroom, tomato-chilli padi chutney. I obviously had to have my share of the brown rice while enjoyed me baked bread with Planta spread on it and tea this morning.

The combined platter of CINNAMON FLAVOURED BREAD & BHAJA MOSHOLAI ALOO MUSHROOM was indeed loved by the family. The husband's all time love is "double dimer omelette aar butter toast".... He is still at home today, getting ready to drive to the neighbouring country... so Cristine is preparing his favourite food that includes my home baked bread.

Looking at that omelette, I wished for a single egg one, but I know I will have indigestion until I eat some rice at night.... rice two times a day will turn me into a barrel from a football.

It is raining badly with strong wind. Perfect weather to sing my favourite numbers but a gripping fear has occupied my mind. The son goes to school alone these days instead of the school bus following his brother like friend Spandan.... what if it rains in the afternoon.... when the school gives over there is total chaos at the gate.... until the husband reaches and messages me, I cannot be at peace. The condition I suffer from will never leave me but I will sustain everything that comes my way... to get that strength I chant "Naam Myoho Renge Kyo".... This religion is not so strict as Hinduism... I see them offering noodles, meat, fish, fruits to the Buddha.

I have started recording what I hum with the help of a friend.... however poor my voice is, I am enjoying documenting few numbers in a forum with practically no views. I do not mind, I am not a Shreya Ghosal who does a 6 hours of "rewaz" everyday I heard. If ever I can train myself decently, I will share the information of the space with my readers and friends. So, that has occupied a precious part of my time. If only I could home deliver food to few Indian Homes here who hate cooking, busy professionals but want no fancy, home cooked food that they tasted at the grandmother or mother's hands. With a help like Cristine, I could have managed about 10 homes..... but daily food... "dal, bhaat, bhaja, shaak shobzi, maach, mangsho, chutney".... never "chop, shingara, kochuri" on a regular basis.... I lack that energy or concentration level.... I have to watch movie, listen to music & poems, sing, read.... I cannot turn myself into a machine.... the reason why I left taking reading and speech & drama classes in a school here, what a bore and waste of my time that was. The Day I will perfect the "poori" for "phuchka".... I will write about my first school, my experience as a teacher there in Barasat.... of the 5 beautiful years there.... "gondhoraj lebu deoa tetul jol" at Haritola More was the best. I have to get the pooris crisper. Till then enjoy this poor baker's vegetarian, dinner platter CINNAMON FLAVOURED PAV BREAD & BHAJA MOSHOLAI ALOO MUSHROOM .... which is just perfect on an all vegetarian day. I wish to share the recipe of the tomato-chilli chutney in a separate post some time later.

Recipe Sources for the Pav Bread :

tarladalal.com
anybodycanbake.com
mygingergarlickitchen.com [Anupama used to be a friend, so loved her excellent photography & innovative ideas besides few others'.... lost contact.... I got more self centric and keep to myself most of the time]

INGREDIENTS FOR THE PAV BREAD :

REFINED FLOUR : 2 COFFEE MUG
MILK POWDER : 1/2 COFFEE MUG
DRY BAKER'S YEAST : 8-9 GM
BAKING POWDER : 1 TBSP
CINNAMON POWDER : 11/2 TSP
SALT : 1/2 TSP
SUGAR : 1 TBSP
MILK : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP + 2 TBSP
BUTTER :3 TBSP + 2 TSP [MELTED]

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SPICY POTATO MUSHROOM :

POTATO : 300 GM [I USED A SMALLER VARIETY]
BUTTON MUSHROOM : 8-10
CUMIN SEED : 1 TSP
CORIANDER SEED : 11/2 TSP
DRY RED CHILLI : 4
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
BLACK PEPPER POWDER : 1/2 TSP
CHOPPED FRESH CORIANDER : 2TBSP
LEMON JUICE : 1TBSP
GINGER PASTE : 2 TSP
OIL : 2-3TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Let us proceed with the recipe of Pav Bread first.

Warm 1/2 small tea cup of milk and dissolve 1tbsp sugar in it. Add the yeast and stir well. Keep aside for 3-4 minutes till it rises to double.

Now, take the refined flour, milk powder, salt, baking powder, cinnamon powder in a wide mouthed bowl. Mix well.

Add the well risen yeast now.

Fold in well. Add warm water little by little and prepare a smooth dough. This will take 7-8 minutes.

Add 3tbsp melted butter, knead well for another 4-5 minutes.

Cover with a cling wrap and keep inside the microwave or at any warm corner.

Within 45 minutes it will rise to double.

Remove the cling wrap, dust the base with flour and place the dough on it.

Knead well again for 4-5 minutes.

Grease an aluminium foil or a cake tin with butter. Place the dough in it and spread evenly. Brush with milk.

Preheat oven to 180*C. I baked the Pav bread at 180*C for 20 minutes in my convection mode microwave.

In convection mode, we need to place a low stool first inside and keep the cake tin atop.

Once done we will brush it with the remaining melted butter.

Now the vegetarian side of Potato & Mushroom.

I dry roasted the cumin + coriander + dry red chillies for a minute, let them cool down.

Once cool, I dry grounded them to a coarse powder, that will take some 1-2 minutes at intervals.

I washed the potatoes, pricked each of them with a fork. I took them on a plate and microwaved at high for 4 minutes.

Once cold, I halved them.

I washed and halved the mushrooms. I marinated both the potatoes and mushrooms with freshly ground black peppers and some salt.

I heated the oil in a wok, tempered with 1/4tsp of cumin seeds.

Then I added the ginger paste, little salt and the turmeric to it and stirred for 2 minutes. I added 2 tsp of the ground spiced and stirred for 1/2 a minute.

I added the marinated potatoes and mushrooms and folded in well. I cooked covered just for 3-4 minutes.

I removed the cover and added the lemon juice and the chopped coriander. I stirred for 1/2 a minute.

We are done. I served the bread with the Bengali style potato and mushroom dish, roasted chicken, a tomato-chilli chutney whose recipe I wish to share later.

Ahh! The weekend did go well but was not a relaxed one. We love "lyad-ing" on a Sunday! The husband is travelling, I did a lot of cooking on Saturday, the son went for his "torowal khela" on a Sunday morning, it was Cristine's day off. I started the day yesterday on a positive note having chia with yogurt because Cristine reminded me that its time to visit the doctor. The sugar level got very stubborn just for my inability to bid a good bye to junk food. I had a relaxed morning, did a 7km walk, came back and took a shower, did my "dainandin pujoarcha" and was waiting for the son. He came home around 2:15 pm hungry and worried. Ok, mumma promised him that she would get his glasses fixed but he never found it necessary to listen to her request of learning a musical instrument... "ugrapantha ta komto ektu".... After a lunch with our style of a mutton curry, I was not in a position to walk to the Mall opposite our home. It was not necessary because the son has other pairs....... but then he had to hurry and this is a soft hearted mumma... The glasses were fixed for free but this lady spent near 100 $ shopping. It was not necessary but you know such small pleasures keep you going. There were more pleasures in the evening, baking a cake and frying "halenchar bora".... watercress fritters. What got the devil out of me around 8:45pm yesterday was discovering to what extent is Cristine callous in her cleaning services. Look at how I had to re-clean my microwave oven. Once back home, she got severe scolding from me but helped me chopping the leaves, washing the utensils which she is not supposed to on a Sunday.... she is a wonderful human being!

Clean your microwave oven with a mixture of baking soda, lemon juice and water. I cannot tolerate a single piece of dust particle at any corner of my home, the reason why I kept a helper.... Unless I take over the rein it seems no one can make me happy. Back in Kolkata, my helps used to mop our home two times a day, how beautiful it feels when in the evening all your rooms smell dettol and you do the "sandhya arati with dhoop dhuno".... I am indeed a grandmother's daughter.... she is presently at our Barrackpore home .... my mother says that at her 90"s she is still so particular about rules, rituals "etho-kata".... I cannot think of an oven or a refrigerator not made squeaky clean on a regular basis. I am just scared of doing it all alone, else I would have shown what my definition of cleanliness is. Anyway, I baked a "depression cake" too but I am not happy with the taste, fault is not of the recipe source but I think I used a bit more of baking soda than required.... we may not be eating it. The semolina idli is however wonderful as much as an idli in a microwave can be.

Yesterday night, my temper came down to normal when I had those watercress fritters. That watercress is our "halencha" was told by a blogger friend.... and I am so thankful to her. I so wished to share on blog today the "halenchar shukta" I prepared last Saturday, may be next week. "lau shaak chaira smoothie dhoroner public amina, idir modhya bhab bhalobasha ase ami jani, hokoldir jonyo nahoy ami kaskola diya kisu koira di".... I think few bloggers have this KANCHAKOLAR CUTLET IN OVEN on their blog, may be the deep fried version. Earlier this month, I tried this vegetarian, Bengali styled snacker in my own way. I wished to use less oil, so in the last step instead of deep frying, I baked them. On that day too, the husband was travelling, so I had it with salad while the son either got some porota or pulao alongside .... cannot remember.

I repeat again, how I wished to share a heirloom Bengali recipe today, specially after seeing "lauer doga to bilati dhonepata" around... I know about such food since I was 5-6. Then, not all grand children would have a similar tastebud as mine, neither all mothers are like our's. Commitment is a very precious word in my dictionary, I self impose it on myself in certain cases. However, I do not expect commitments in return.... An evil sleeps inside... I either own what I love, if that seems absurd, unnatural I would prefer to distance myself! I discovered the evil in me in the recent past and was surprised to see so much of negativity in me. I am not in the habit of work myself up to achieve anything! For such an attitude, I have failed in different stages of life....... Like, I will not order lau shaak online to satisfy my soul, will wait for my July visit to Kolkata to have "lau shaak diye charaponar jhol".... the mother used to do it in summer... The vegetarian, evening snacker KANCHAKOLAR CUTLET IN OVEN has been described with a pretty good number of steps, so it should not be a problem replicating it in your kitchen!

If you want the recipe links of few more fritters on this blog, here they are.... MUSHUR DAL ER BORA , PEYAZ NOODLES PAKODA, CHOLAR DAL ER BORA

INGREDIENTS :

RAW BANANA : 2STANDARD SIZED
POTATO : 1BIG
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1TBSP
CHOPPED FRESH CORIANDER : 3-4TBSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/2TSP + 1TSP
CORIANDER SEED : 1TSP
CAROM SEED : 1/2TSP
FENNEL SEED : 1/2TSP
FENUGREEK SEED : 1TSP
DRY RED CHILLI : 2-3
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
SEMOLINA : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP
CHAAT MASALA : 1TSP
REFINED FLOUR : 1/4SMALL TEA CUP
RAISIN : 10-12
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 3-4TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Dry roast the coriander + fennel + fenugreek + carom + 1tsp cumin seeds + dry red chillies for a minute or two. Let them cool, grind them to a coarse powder. Keep aside.

Soak the raisins in hot water for 1/2 an hour, discard the water thereafter.

Peel, wash, cut half and pressure cook the potato and raw bananas at the lowest heat up to 1 whistle adding 2 coffee mugs of water. Let the lid open by itself. Strain the water.

Be good, do not eat the boiled stuffs with "shorsher tel, kancha lanka, noon, bhaat.".... You are doing "katlet" today, you are not like me who yet does not know the right use of fork & spoons ... "hai rey cemri"...

So, mash the boiled vegetables with some salt and the turmeric.

We have the washed and chopped green chillies & coriander, the ground spices right on the kitchen counter.

Heat the oil and temper it with the cumin seeds. Before they turn black, add the green chillies and give a quick stir.

Add the boiled and mashed vegetables and fold in well.

After you have stirred continuously for 3-4 minutes, you will add 1tbsp of the ground spices or a little more.

Fold in very well and keep stirring at low heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the washed and chopped coriander leaves now.

Mix very well, stir & keep mashing for 3-4 minutes. Add the soaked raisins now.

Fold in well, stir for 2-3 minutes and take down. Let it cool.

Do all the cooking at low heat.

Take the semolina and chaat masala on a bowl and mix well.

Dilute the refined flour with some water.

Tear out tennis ball sized portions and smoothen in between your palms, give your desired cutlet shapes.

Roll it onto the semolina mixtures, dip in the diluted refined flour and repeat.

To avoid deep frying them, I baked them. Preheat the oven at 180*C for 10 minutes. Place the low stool inside if you are using the convection mode of a microwave like me.

Bake at 180*C for 15-18 minutes or depending on your machine, they differ!

Enjoy with chutneys, sauces, salad of your choice and do not forget to tell me how they turned.... they cannot go wrong!

This is something I I have on my lunches some days. When the men at home carry pasta with lots of cheese on their lunch boxes, I ask Cristine to keep some boiled pasta aside.... later in the afternoon I prepare a salad with the pasta and few vegetables, use some store bought dressings. The thing is that do I wish to share such recipes on the blog? Is it a May Day kind of a share? What is more important is that today is the birthday of my Eye Surgeon based in Kolkata... if he sees this, he is not going to furnish me with first track appointments anymore.... today's share had to be a chicken or mutton chap or something with "ilish or chingri".... that is however a meat-o-phobic family. Then, if they set out for a foreign tour every six months, they might have trained their taste buds to different cuisines, they definitely would not get our kind of Biryani in Athens or Johannesburg. You never know, we have such friends who after a seven days of stay in Greece fell homesick, unable to eat local anymore, they followed a gentleman from Bangladesh for a couple of kilometres and requested for "dal, bhaat, aloo-sheddo, maach bhaja".... I so loved and laughed at it. Looking at that kind of couple bond, I turn to the rebels at this home and say... "look at you, why cannot you guys agree with me in most of the matters?".... On a tour, they will not look for Bengali eateries, that is when I prefer having oats and yogurt... I even carried "muruku" to Australia, now thinking of carrying "chirey-muri-naru" from my next trip.... I mean it. If I eat variety on tours, that is only to share my experience with my readers. Had my men agreed and bonded with me in this matter, I would have owned a "Didir Hotel" in Australia. I loved the quiet, smaller townships there with lots of greens. People who can have burgers & pizzas three times a day, who lack poetry in them will not understand my requirements. "prokritir roop rosh gondho ahoron korer jonyo ekta anubhutishil mon chai..... onekta Shirshendu, kichuta Buddhadeb Guha portey hobey, Rhitu Guhar gaan o shuntey hobey".... You see I do not care, in my broken, untrained voice, I do sing "jokhon prothom dhoreche koli amar mallika bone".... often.

When in such a mood, it is difficult to prepare a spinach & garlic stuffed bread or share the recipe of this more or less healthy CHILLED VEGETARIAN PASTA SALAD. I do these for you all who do not share similar taste buds as mine. Like the garlic tempered spinach & cheese filling I used to stuff my buns yesterday did not go with my taste bud. I did taste them, where is the spice factor? I have my share of oriental soups adding spoonfuls of chilli paste.

Some ten years back, I used to enjoy cheese, not anymore except for smoked cheese, ok feta to an extent. I enjoy pizza, not when there is some brown rice and "shutkir bhorta or ilish-kanchalanka or mutton curry" in the refrigerator. In that case, I reserve my share of the pizza to be had by the men the next day. This salad with pasta I do enjoy if not love. This can be your easy, lunch solution. I keep a couple of salad dressings in stock. I got my hands on this Vietnamese Lemon Grass salad dressing some two months back. About a month back, I had a visiting vegetarian friend, a Marwari last month. It was our evening teatime which was actually nearer to their dinner time. I fried some pakoras and prepared this pasta salad.... I never imagined that this would become such a hit with the person.... I was so surprised that I got unable to handle the applause. I decided to share the recipe of this vegetarian delight CHILLED VEGETARIAN PASTA SALAD on the blog. The ingredients I have used are boiled pasta, chopped coriander + green chilli + tomato + cucumber +onion, olive oil, black pepper.

You can browse similar recipes clicking on the bold letters : CHILLED PASTA SALAD, RAW MANGO AND GREEN MOONG SALAD CHAAT, YELLOW PEAS SALAD CHAAT

INGREDIENTS :

BOILED PASTA : 1COFFEE MUG
CHOPPED FRESH CORIANDER : 2-3TBSP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1TSP [YOU CAN ADJUST OR SKIP]
CHOPPED TOMATO : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP
CHOPPED CUCUMBER : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP [I USE THE JAPANESE VARIETY]
CHOPPED ONION : 1TBSP
CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1TSP
LEMON JUICE : 1-2TBSP
VIETNAMESE LEMON GRASS SALAD DRESSING : 3-4TBSP [CHOOSE YOURS]
SALT : VERY LITTLE IF YOU WISH, CAN SKIP
OLIVE OIL : 2TBSP

PROCEDURE :

I always add few drops of oil and some salt to the bubbling water when boiling the pasta. Once cool, refrigerate the drained and boiled pasta for an hour.

Chop the vegetables directly taken out of the refrigerator. Discard the seeds of the tomato, peel the onion well. Wash all of them thoroughly.

Get everything ready on the kitchen counter.

Better we take the pasta on a wide mouthed bowl, the mixing part gets easier. We have added every thing to the pasta except for the salt, olive oil, Vietnamese salad dressing, lemon juice.

Mix them well. Now add the lemon juice, Vietnamese salad dressing, olive oil and salt. Add the salt only if required. Your grandparents, parents are not watching right? Just taste a bit, make sure to wash your hands before you touch the food again. I have scolded several times for this habit [etho-katar biochar nei, ghenna lagey amar].... my mumma darling says so!

You bet it is still cold and I enjoy having it just this way.

It has been a recent wish to recreate this Kolkata roadside stall like "porota o holud motorer torkari" at home and share the recipe with my loving readers. As you all know that our mother never allowed us to have outside food, so we craved for them. Until age 17, I did not even taste the "feriwala's tetul o kul er achar".... she would say that they are not cleaned and washed properly, "ora poka kul aar tetul beche felena." She always strived towards perfection and did have the right to say. It was in college that I tasted freedom, earned 1200-1500 rupees per month giving tuitions back in 1988-1992. So, me along with my friends took the liberty of eating out and watching movies often. 1988 did see fourteen of us notorious teens of Scottish Church College occupying a full row at Light House or New Empire watching "Blue Lagoon." The entire time span, I was in tension because my mother used to visit the New Market area often on lazy afternoons. In such a situation, Chandrayee's consolation was "once the movie is over, cover your face with the "dupatta" until you get on to the bus back to college." I could still get away but Chandrayee would have been buried alive by her mother if caught. Now, the mothers are different na? No no, I mean Kakima, our kind of mothers are obsolete today, "kakima morey bechechey".... I will share her recipe of "shabur khichuri and chingrir bora" some day. Coming to this mother, she feels helpless when the son watches anything and everything sitting right beside her .... this Netflix needs some censorship. Well, I am good you see.... I still enjoy watching the Brooks around me, I just cannot be one because I too much like such platters like this vegetarian combo meal KOLKATA ROADSIDE STYLE POROTA O ALOO MOTORER TORKARI. Coming to the college, we had five years of total fun and forgot to concentrate on an important aspect of life.... "text books".... regrets in life would have been less. When I was engrossed in Brook's vital statistics, Nishi was seen sitting in the library.... later who did a Phd on something related to the Medieval British poets? I cannot even write a synopsis on Shakespeare. My funda today is .... "time that goes never comes back"..... Okay, on a lighter note, our team leader for the "Blue Lagoon" venture was a thin, short guy... "Pancha".... had he have tried in Tollywood, he could have been the protege of Chinmoy Roy or Robi Ghosh .... no one however can be a Bhanu Babu! So, when I discovered Pancha in Facebook, I was not willing to send him a friend's request.... I do not know this husband or father of someone.... I cannot be friends with any Panchanan Bhandari! Our vast fraternity of college is spread world wide, only one tenth of my college pals are there in my contacts....do they still feel what & how I feel?.... that Capri sold the best "Bangla Chinese" food, that Sanatan Da's "roll and pan" is an unavoidable, lifetime nostalgia, that sharing a plate of "medu bora" with your friend in the shop just opposite the 11A bus stand near the college had immense pleasure, that Caledonia, Basanta Cabin has seen the maximum number of promises and that Hedua Swimming Pool has witnessed the maximum number of promises being broken and heart breaks? When I see many a long lost faces all around social media, in friends' or friends of friend's spaces.... I feel like " arey yeh to different story lag rahi hai," I saw something else at the college lawn, canteen.... at Basanta Cabin. I am at the wrong side of "Basanta".... but the eternal bird inside sings spring at all times , which the husband relates to some uncanny, abnormal traces in me. I counter, "how does it affect the world economy or anyone's home?".... I still have a friend in The Labyrinth's protagonist, the writer must have drawn inspiration from an earthly being while sketching the character.... I will not set out to look for him, I will just draw strength from my partner and tel each other not to be silly because no one bothers.

So, where was I? Okay, however lost I am, I am in total control when I cook. Whatever little I know, I do it pretty well. The picture of this KOLKATA ROADSIDE STYLE POROTA O ALOO MOTORER TORKARI may not support my claim. I accept, I am not good at clicks. After I was done with the photography, I felt that I should have used steel plates, newspapers.... oh no! it was 9pm and I was too tired after a 8.6km of walk in the afternoon, thereafter having some watermelon even at dinner time is not a crime. It was nine at night, the husband was still not at home, how I wished to serve him fresh, warm food. At 10.20pm I enquire and he was still at office. At 11.15pm I had to reheat the food and ate together our dinner. Do you think, oats can get a Brook out of me?.... neither will I have dinner at 7pm leaving them. This morning, I cooled down after having one "bashi porota with cha"....

I will not only suggest but insist that this particular porota / flatbread that has only refined flour and baking soda in it tends to get hard soon.... a combination of refined flour and wheat flour gives you softer porota. Do not the roadside stalls in Bengal / Kolkata do it this way?.... you bet I could get that taste. Only that their's smell excess of baking soda, if you do at home it may not be so. When I use too much of oil in the dough, my porota shapes do not satisfy me but I have seen them doing it this way. The potato and yellow peas curry at the roadside has less of yellow peas and more of potato. They do not divulge the secrets of their recipes whoever says what, I replicated as much as I saw, the "bhaja mosholar guro".... dry roasted ground spices is my addition. I was totally bowled over by the "kancha aam-kancha lankar chutney" that much even Brook in a swimming costume could not get me.... "main kya khak slim hungi?".... Please excuse my below average Hindi and get me some genuine inspirations for a healthier, slimmer me....

Similar recipes you may wish to browse in this Blog are NARKOL DIYE CHOLAR DAL, LUCHI O CHOLAR DAL

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE POROTA / FLATBREAD]

REFINED FLOUR : 2-3COFFEE MUG
BAKING SODA : 1/4 TSP
OIL : 3TBSP + 1/2SMALL TEA CUP
WATER : AS REQUIRED FOR A NEITHER TOO SOFT OR TOO HARD DOUGH
SALT : 1/2TSP
SUGAR : 1TSP

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE BHAJA MOSHOLAR GURO / DRY GROUNDED ROASTED SPICE MIX]

CUMIN SEED : 1TSP
CORIANDER SEED : 1TSP
CINNAMON STICK : 2-3 STICKS TOE FINGER SIZED
CLOVE : 3-4
GREEN CARDAMOM : 3-4
DRY RED CHILLI : 2-3

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE ALOO MOTORER TORKARI / YELLOW PEAS POTATO CURRY]

POTATO : 1BIG
YELLOW PEA : 1SMALL TEA CUP
CRUSHED GINGER : 1TBSP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1/2TSP + 1/2TSP TO GARNISH
CHOPPED ONION : 1TSP TO GARNISH
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1/2TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
THE ROASTED & GROUND SPICES : 11/2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
LEMON JUICE : 1TBSP
OIL : 2-3TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Let us prepare the chutney first and let it chill for an hour.

I had cut 1/4th of a big raw mango, reserved the skin. To it I added 2 green chillies, 1/4tsp salt, 1/2tsp sugar, 2tbsp water. I blended the mixture to a smooth paste and got something with a heavenly taste and flavour.

We need to wash and soak the dried yellow peas / holud motor in hot water for 2-3 hours or in cold water overnight. Thereafter we will pressure cook it at low up to 2 whistles adding more amount of water, a little of salt and half of the turmeric powder.

The Kolkata roadside stalls keep them a little hard, so I followed. Now peel few pieces of ginger, wash and crush. We will also chop the onion and green chillies, wash them.

We will dry roast all the ingredients mentioned under "BHAJA MOSHOLAR GURO" for a minute, let cool and grind them to coarse paste.

Actually, I have seen them crushing the ginger and green chilli together.

Peel, cube and wash the potatoes. Add little salt & turmeric. Keep aside for not more than 5 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok, temper with the cumin seeds and the crushed ginger.

Add the potatoes.

Give a stir, cover cook at the minimal heat for 3-4 minutes stirring in between.

Open cover, add the boiled dried yellow peas, cumin + red chilli + little of turmeric powders.

Cover cook at the lowest heat for 8-10 minutes.

Open cover, add the bhaja mosholar gura, lemon juice, adjust the salt. We should be done.

They do not add so variety of spices, not at least our neighbourhood ones but I did.

For the dough, we will take the refined flour, salt, baking soda & sugar in a wide mouthed bowl.

We will mix well the ingredients.

We will add water little by little to prepare a smooth dough. When 70% done, we will add 3tbsp oil.

We will knead for another 3-4 minutes, Cristine did it for me.

We will cover it for a pretty 20 minutes. Remove the cover, knead the dough for 2-3 minutes and tear off portions in accordance with the thickness and size your desired porota / flat bread.

We must somoothen them in between our palm.

Heat a pan. Dip each ball in that bowl of oil and roll out roundels. Okay, when ever I use this much oil in the dough, I am unable to roll them round.... dusting with flour works well for me.

Cook them well, toast? before you add 11/2tsp oil for each of the breads. They will be white in colour with light brown patches.

The chilled watermelon and the raw mango-green chilli chutney are such a bliss for a weather like ours.

Of the few authentic Bengali recipes with "mocha" / banana blossom, this is one done with lentil fritters, coconut and the regular Bengali spices we use. Or we can put it this way, Bengal may have few other ways of having Banana Blossom but I have grown up eating these few. I can see a "mochar paturi" recipe doing the rounds, I wish to try it. The thing is that I have to take up the project not on a Saturday morning, neither on a week day evening but on a quiet week day morning after the two go out for school and office. Following all the steps and then that extra step of wrapping in banana leaf and slow cooking further requires time and concentration.... more so because you will be following some other's recipe which feels tiring to me. I was not satisfied with the picture above, it was afternoon but raining, the light above the dining table is too bright and the pictures look so unnaturally bright. It is not possible to use my kitchen counter for photography on a Saturday until 6pm, its so messed up! If you follow our mother in the kitchen, you would be wondering how she manages to keep the kitchen so clean even when she is totally into cooking. This I wished to but I could not learn from her. I did not wish to learn few other things from her.... like she is coming in two weeks, after a day or two of rest, she will start keeping a bird's watch on all activities... whether Cristine changes her clothes after her visits to the toilet and before touching anything in the kitchen, then complaining "jamakapor rode na shukoley suddha hoyna"..... I have seen her spoiling so many branded clothes of my brother and the late father just drying them in the open terrace. I tell her "see mani, my tiny ledge has few plants, they will spoil if I dry wet clothes there. In some countries they dry clothes in a drier, what would you have done then? 'roj ghar porjonto mochey na'... so?" Those who know our mother and her mother, they also know that she would have woken up at 5am, swipe your courtyard to gate as the first ritual along with the entire home however big it is, then wipe the kitchen, then water the plants, then take shower, then do the morning prayer, then cook 4-5 items, then wipe the entire home, then take shower again, do the afternoon prayer, then she has to have piping hot food, then she has to start her newspaper reading session, then switch on the television and sleep, then wake up and swipe the home again, do sandhya pooja, then sleep again switching on the television until dinner time arrives. If you have a son who wants "aloo bhaja" at 10 pm in the night, you will see her with a "boti and aloo around 10 pm frying mota aloo bhaja in the kitchen".... What would your mothers do in that time? They may do some cooking, visit your friend's place or the museum or the mall and definitely would not move the mountain on her concern on the son-in-law not taking shower before the lunch time [I am wiser, shono mani, jiboney onek kichu apochonder jinish meney nitey hoy, shanti agey" .... My mother warned me... "amai karo bari jete bolbi na".... she will visit the wet markets with her daughter, sit on a not so pricy but squeaky clean eatery enjoying a dosa or idli, ask me "dillir moto tandoori ruti paoa jai ekhaney?".... will also have "Kolkata-Chinese".... the only one we have here serving.... I never can have a foot here .... I found their batter fried chicken and fish not rightly cooked... the chicken smelled raw which cannot happen if it is marinated properly and deep fried for the right time period, so I cannot go gaga about their food, neither will I cook sambal ikan with sea fish and try for a name here! Do not ask me to mingle with my community here, I prefer to buy a ticket to India at regular interval instead.I cannot be a famous food blogger because I am not a good observer, pleasing every other person is a waste of time for me, I do not have a book to my credit which I think requires quality and is not everyone's cuppa.Being a versatile cook is a blissful quality too but may not be a requirement to be famous... "chomok-dhomok lokeder sange othabosha chai".... One can get publicity instantly endorsing famous brands, its collaborative actually. I do not know to photograph properly what I cook which is again a quality. Since I lack diligence, I fail to know the right way to sell myself or my dishes to be precise. I may lack all the above qualities, but I take 11/2 hours to cook DAL ER BORA DIYE MOCHAR GHONTO and its authentic to the core. What I have learnt in these years is that the virtual world have not tasted my dishes, so they cannot trust me unless I have a famous tag attached to me. However I will always insist, when it comes to family recipes, I cannot go wrong, I am the daughter of one of the best certified Bengali cook of her times.... who used to attend 30-40 heads serving them "fulko luchi" continuously, never cooked them beforehand. I still remember the teen me carrying "Kashmiri Aloor Dom" for a Subhra Mukherjee's father or "Chingri Diye Kharkon Pata Bata" for Chandrayee's father, now the brother's wife carries "shutkir bhorta" for her father... they enjoyed / enjoy besides their wive's cooking. This guy Subhra is no more in my contacts, his mother fed me, Tanushree and him from one plate on days we went for English tuition at their home after school. I tolerated his mischiefs to a certain extent, saved him being almost caught by the police during one Durga Pooja.... but when he crossed all limits of decency [in my eyes, may not be in yours] I had to severe ties. He comes from one of the "bonedi baris" of Shobha Bazaar, father being the cousin of the iconic Uttam Kumar & Tarun Kumar. At one point in life one must know to rein in the beast we all have inside us. Anyway, Subhra is just symbolic, as a childhood friend I should not have discussed the dark side of him. I cannot fake, it is better than hugging in presence and then dissecting in absence.... I see both is done in public! Subhra visits me often these days, the son who is desperate to go to some other land without his parents is forcing me into all kinds of sickening thoughts. However, mumma feels good that he eats "mocha - echor" these days. Mumma does not mind deboning the "bhola maach" and mixing the mochar ghonto she cooked last Saturday with some rice, squeeze some lemon juice atop. He sails in dal too, actually I found dal to be a quicker way to go down my toddler's food pipe.

Coming to the DAL ER BORA DIYE MOCHAR GHONTO, it is vegan, a perfect side to steamed rice and can be had with chapati. The lentil fritters are usually done with matar dal, I did it with masoor / red lentil fritters because it soaks up quickly and I was in a hurry. Else red lentil fritters taste best with onions and green chilli added to it! This is one of the authentic Bengali dish I have learnt from the family, innovations can be many. This week will see some of my family favourites and I will stick to my decision. One need not know Trigonometry to prepare this dish, love for the family traditions and the urge to maintain it works the best here.

Here are few more recipes with Banana Blossom on my Blog that you can browse : MOCHAR GHONTO, MOCHAR BORA O ADA DIYE MOONG ER DAL, MOCHAR CHOP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DALER BORA / LENTIL FRITTERS :

MUSHURIR DAL / MASOOR DAL : 1SMALL TEA CUP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1/2TSP
TURMERIC : A PINCH
OIL : 4TBSP TO FRY

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FINAL DISH :

BANANA BLOSSOM : 1 STANDARD SIZE OR 2 SMALL SIZED
SHREDDED COCONUT : 1SMALL TEA CUP
THE LENTIL FRITTERS
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 3-4
GINGER PASTE : 2TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
DRY RED CHILLI : 2-3
BAYLEAF : 1
CINNAMON POWDER : 1/4TSP
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/4TSP
CLOVES POWDER : 2-3PINCH
GHEE / CLARIFIED BUTTER : 1TBSP
SUGAR : 2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 3-4 TBSP [preferably mustard]

PROCEDURE :

Soak the dal in enough water for an hour. Drain the water and blend it to a paste, sprinkle water if required. Doing it in a "shil-nora" gives you the right consistency. I cannot use it.

Discard the brown coverage of the veggie. Take out the transparent case and the hardest stigma from each one. Do not forget to rub oil on both of your palms before starting with it.

Now chop them thin taking a bunch together. Soak in a container full of water for sometime, wash well. Pressure cook at the lowest heat up to 4-5 whistles adding enough water, salt and turmeric.

Once cool, drain the water. Squeeze the boiled veggie with your hand, it reduces cooking time.

Now add the salt, sugar and turmeric. Beat with your hand for 3-4 minutes.

Heat oil and add small portions to it. Fry both sides well until the top is light brown.

Add more oil to the existing one. Temper it with a bay leaf, cumin seeds, dry red chillies when hot.

Add the ginger paste and stir for 2 minutes at low heat. Add the turmeric & cumin powders, shredded coconut and stir for 1/2 a minute.

Add the boiled banana blossoms now, stir well. Cover cook at the lowest heat for 10 minutes.

Open cover and add the slitted green chillies. Add 1/2 coffee mug of water it required.

Cover cook at the lowest heat for 5-6 minutes. Open cover and add the lentil fritters.

Cook uncovered at low heat for 5-6 minutes stirring gently.

Now add the cinnamon + cardamom + cloves powder to wok, the sugar too. Fold in well and let cook for 2-3 minutes more.

Add the ghee, gently mix and take down.

We had it with rice, bitter gourd dal [kancha moong diye tetor dal], methi aloo [fenugreek leaves with potato]. Add your choice of fish and meat. Banana Blossom is rich in iron, so eat it often.

This is an intense love in the entirety of my life, even if I am a diabetic I cannot get parted with it. In all probability it will not leave me either for it will not get a better lover than me. Not five but if you could give me one good reason why I should share a recipe on "breaded salmon fillet with siracha mayo".... Yes, I do them for the notorious men at this home but I do not feel any urge to share them.... if you can give me at least one reason to do so, I definitely will. My Bengal, my Kolkata do not eat salmon in general... I mean the "class & category" I belong to or mingle with will not hesitate to buy an ilish priced a 2000 rupees per kilo, never mind... me or they will manage the month end with charapona, telapia, bhola, folui. Lansdown Market and the "hahutash for black pomfret and salmon" is not what defines Kolkata, if you wish to know her join me on a food trail to the Manicktala Bazaar, walk abruptly on the by lanes of "North Calcutta".... watch a game of cricket at the maidan on a lazy winter afternoon, ok, start your walk or run from Ruby and go up to Dakshinapan.... on way back "Balaram Mallick e dariye charte kochuri merey bari dhukba".... If your '30B or 202" bus gets stuck in a traffic jam, walk with me from the Lotus cinema hall up to New Market, then walk to Park Street via Free School Street or walk backwards to the Bentinck Street to buy shoes and further backwards to Wellington Square and buy some good quality tea leaves. An 'average' Kolkatan do not have quiche with tea at Flury's or look for "bideshi maach" sitting in Kolkata. Its a new, affluent emergent class that have surfaced in Kolkata, the former "classy beings" of Kolkata definitely hunted Flury's or Mocambo on a regular basis, got membership in Saturday Club but they are a minority community and we are the majority! In this case, I will always speak for the majority. I would have spoken outrageously about it if an Indirra Sengupta or Madhuchanda Dey Ghosh would not have been my friend.... well they are more and yet more of T's friends. We presently stay in the outskirts of East Kolkata, may be we will have a bigger flat, the humbug me wish for a terrace garden. You bet I will not change rest of my life style.... you will see the 60-65 year old lady going to the wet market in an auto rickshaw. Last winter while in Kolkata, T shouted at me "S look at you, you are sweating on a wintry midmorning with two heavy weight bazaar er tholi, lets go to Spencer and buy stuffs".... I told him to shut up and watch television. Both of our childhood was spent in the same locality, he used to stay in a better part of DumDum, me on the other side where "Talar Jol" did not reach. We lived amidst smugglers & wagon breakers, in a rented space for 19 years may be because of its proximity to the DumDum Railway Station and for the convenience to commute to the rest of Kolkata and off course it was cheaper. Our daddy worked in a good position as compared to a middle class Bengali but was very much unwilling to upgrade the living standard. Those wagon breakers told my mother not to worry if I come back late after tuitions, they will look after it as they felt I am a "bhalo meye".... they also complained my family when I was seen with "boy" friends often at college, stood strong by my mother, the iron lady whenever my father had arthritis attacks. DumDum was a nostalgia and love very hard to leave. Same may not be the feelings of all the DumDum residents who left it, whose one reason of not keeping in touch with me was my pedigree or may be they were not allowed to. They felt that they started to live a decent life only after their home got shifted to "South Khyatkhata" .... Much later, a strong message was conveyed to me in a very subtle manner that the family got related to a high flying family living in "Kolkata's first ever condo".... Oh is it? I do not know that area well, else you would have seen me roaming in the exteriors of the "marvellous condo".... taking selfies in front of it, doing some research.... "arey kouno log rehte hai rey andar? the gate keeper would say... larki tum soch bhi nehi sakte barey log hai, baria sa naukri kartey honge, tabhi na! Suniye bhaisab! humko na ek shadi mein invitation mili thi... gaye nehi... himmat na mili... barey logan se mera kya matlab?"

You know what tomorrow I will be going to the Bangladeshi shop, the guys at home will have to eat what ever "deshi" I cook.... at least when the eternal storm inside gets a little more vigorous. It is raining outside with strong winds. I purposefully do not let the storm inside die, the hurt keeps me going and it should not bother anyone. A little sister will again say, "get the negativity out of you"... My silent answer... "no, never will I, its my junoon."

Yes, I can make tortilla wraps if not so perfectly, but do not find any good reason to try and share the recipe of a Mexican wrap stuffed with tofu... my kinds do not go by reason, we go by our heart. So, you guys better go ahead with whatever suits your beloved's taste buds.... let me share with you a family Bengali sweet condiment recipe CHALTAR ACHAR, sweet pickle with jaggery, few spices and elephant apple. I was very sad, because of me and Cristine's callousness another blooming bud of an orchid broke day before yesterday. When soft and supples are torn, they do bleed... Then, I have a lunch invitation to attend now, feels good.... more for the food I get to eat and the "adda session" is secondary.

Take it from me, for an Indian, deshi food suits the best! Be it grains or seeds, I buy mostly Indian and the miser me is not so keen on buying stuffs meant for other bodies. How I love having "sama chaler khichuri and upma"... Did I share this pictures with you earlier? Then this is a reminder.

My men do enjoy having ripe papaya, my boy specially.... does he think it to be one kind of a mango? He does not speak to me unless required. If I try, he gives 1-2-3.... a total of 3 blows to me. He loved the spicy "nimki" mumma made a few days back.... I am hopeful, very much. "Naru, Nimki, Achar, Jam, Jelly" were all made at home in the bygone days. No wonder I will manage to pick a few from the roadside trees and prepare a CHALTAR ACHAR even if they are not sold anywhere in the island. Bengalis preferred sweet pickle in those days, our father was no exception. He had to have homemade pickle with his share of "maacher jhol o bhaat" everyday. The mother would prepare 3-4 types of pickles in their seasons and store until the next season. If I call myself her daughter and feel proud of it, I have to follow her footsteps to some extent.... its by default actually! For this authentic Bengali, condiment recipe I used Elephant Apple, Jaggery, a bit of salt and turmeric, dry roasted and ground "panch phoron"..... Do you use "multi grain atta?"... I do! I find it easier to buy it rather than buy all of them individually. Try the achar / pickle with multi grain porota and papad or fish curry and rice.... you will have no other option but to thank me!

Here are the recipe links to few more similar dishes : KANCHA AAM ER MISHTI ACHAR, TOMATO DATES CHUTNEY

INGREDIENTS :

CHALTA / ELEPHANT APPLE : 4-5

SUGAR CANE JAGGERY : 150GM-200GM

PANCH PHORON / BENGALI FIVE SPICES : 1/4 TSP EACH OF WILD CELERY SEED, CUMIN SEED, FENNEL SEED, NIGELLA SEED, FENUGREEK SEED, BLACK MUSTARD SEED

DRY RED CHILLI : 5-6

SALT : 1/4TSP

TURMERIC : 1/4TSP

PROCEDURE :

We need chalta about 3-5 numbers of standard sizes.

We need to tear each section, the papri or petals we can see and cut them lengthwise. We will discard the inner most sticky portion that comes alongside.

Cristine did it for me.

In a pestle and mortar, we need to take a little portion and crush lightly.

I remember, our mother used to place the "hamandista" on top of a folded, empty sack and do this job, I cannot even lift it.

We will wash it and apply the salt and turmeric. Keep aside for 1/2 an hour. Take the jaggery and 1 coffee mug of water in a wok.

Switch on the gas stove and bring to boil. Keep stirring continuously and throw away any visible scum.

Once the jaggery gets to get sticky, add the marinated and crushed chalta / elephant apple! Fold in well.

Let cook in the lowest heat for sometime. Add a little water if only required and stir continuously.

Once the entire content gets sticky, transfer to a bowl.

Give it a sunbath everyday for a week. At night, keep it on a cool, dry place.

To prepare the spice powder, dry roast all the seeds and the dry red chillies on a clean wok stirring continuously for 2 minutes.

Let cool and dry grind to a spice powder. Let it be coarse.

Add and mix the spice powder very nicely to the pickle / achar. Give a sunbath for few more days before you transfer it to a sterilised bottle.

I do refrigerate i fear of being spoiled, in absence of enough sunlight too!

Its pretty long time that I came across sweet recipes made of aloo / potato. There was kind of a surprise at the first sight of it. Our homes never made sweets with potato, they used sweet potato. All this while I was very skeptical about using potato as the main ingredient, I felt that yesterday was the right day to try my hands on a sweet with boiled potato. I went for "Bengali Shopping" yesterday, super excited with the availability of "pat shaak".... I was too tired to prepare chena / paneer back home, Cristine had to clean all the fish and meat, thereafter asking her to get the clean white cloth from the wardrobe, assist me to strain the whey from the paneer was not the right thing to do. Then she had to wash the utensils used and not me. Instead you will see later in the post how neatly I prepared this vegetarian sweet KANCHA AAM O ALOO R MISHTI. I am in fact using raw mango in anything and everything these days.... the afternoons are so hot and the flavour and taste of raw mango is so refreshing. I got home two kilograms of raw mango yesterday, got it for less than 5$. I will do an "aam er mishti achar" and change the horrible picture I have in the particular blog post. I also wish to prepare a typical spicy and sour skin on raw mango pickle, the husband will like. I am having it ever since my non-Bengali speaking friends from school had been getting it in their lunch boxes. It is in the recent years that I have developed a fondness for "non-Bengali achar" as always termed by the family. It perhaps started with buying a particular brand popular in the Delhi region on our way to Shimla / Manali way back in 2008... I always forget the name, starting with the letter P may be. People from that region say that it is one of the best selling pickle brand there. There was a time when hundreds of pickle variety in Hardwar, our "hariddhar" could not cause any stir on my soul but I still remember the taste of halwa I tasted there. Halwa is something me and the husband love, our family love except for the son.... so I do less. I do eat it as a part of the mini thalis that I have in the Southern Indian restaurants.... but Northern India prepares the best halwa. Coming to mini thali that I had yesterday too, Southern Indian mini thalis are too big for me.... will share the picture in public tomorrow with my proud possession "pat shaak".... The grandfather loved "pat shaak er lutlute jhol" and oh my God! Cristine says that they too eat jute leaves this way... soupy. The world is indeed round and small. I was very disheartened to learn that my Bangladeshi brothers may not ever import "kharkon Pata"here.... I asked them yesterday... "kyarey?".... They told, "folon za hoy ta dyashoi shob khaiya loy".... So, before stretching your arms towards me, think several times. As of me, I will not make any attempt to walk towards you.... I was never a mingling type and now a lethargy has crippled me of any such wish to be nice to anyone... I enjoy spending time with myself.... turning to be my mother actually.... if only the Almighty could give me her level of physical and mental strength.

I do so much of irrelevant talks na? Yes I do, this space is mine and I do not venture out for any fruitful activity. I am documenting my life and deeds here, just in case my son tries my recipes when he goes to live far away from mumma, so that he feels for his roots in the remote corner of his heart and visits mumma once a year, may be for authentic Bengali food? I should not be bothered if he spends most of the time with his wife and enjoys cheese balls, gets super elated when she adds more and more to the wealth and health of his life... "eei poribarer sesh borita oor maa i diye jabey, I do not even know who to handover my laddu Gopal, the family deity after me".... I have so much of work pending before my family arrives.... now that we are getting fresh "parshe, rui, katla, mrigel, kalboush maach".... fish is not a problem. I must finish off preparing the pickles today and the boris next week. I had the plan to share the recipe of "shutkir bhorta" today.... an entire family love including the son, the genes does work. Then I felt that it may not be wise a day after Tagore's birthday.... I do not think he had dried fish even during his stay in "Shilaidaha".... What I could do best is to prepare a sweet like this KANCHA AAM O ALOOR MISHTI that may stand as a bridge between "epar o opar Bangla".... he belonged to both. This vegetarian sweet can also be a prized possession to those who are fasting. Trust me, you never can smell or taste potato in it, I trusted one of the youtube videos of "aloor kalo jam" by a Bangladeshi woman and I think that both of India's immediate neighbours prepare amazingly innovative sweets. I wished to share a recipe from the kitchen of the Tagore household but I do not have an authentic, reliable book on "Thakurbarir Ranna", I wish to own one... need to do some research on its availability.... I did not find in Rupa & Co. or Chaterjee... my two regular hunts in Kolkata.... suggestions are welcome, you get an Afgani Mutton Cutlet in Gravy treat from me. Our mother at times used to try recipes from "Bela De".... her book is still there in our Barrackpore home may be.

The above book is of Poornima / Purnima Tagore, gifted by the brother-in-law and the husband's sister which ever suits you! I am a bit suspicious about its authenticity looking at the recipes... Did Indira Debi really compile the recipes of "Madraji Narkol er Chutney" or "Moisur Pak" or "Marathi Achar?" I must come across some supportive opinions before I blindly believe. However, I see in this book the recipes of fruit salad, "peyarer jelly", the mother used to do them the same way. Then, I saw her following the recipes that were telecasted or on hearsay. I need to wrap up, I have pickles to make, spices to grind. I have used boiled potatoes, raw mango paste, coconut flour, ghee, stevia extract, dry fruits to garnish, cardamom powder for this sweet. The only mistake I did was adding two drops of icing colour while the requirement was 1/4th of a drop. I wished to get a light green colour like my favourite yesteryear's "aam sandesh" which was not made from ripe mango.

INGREDIENTS :

POTATO : 2BIG
RAW MANGO : 1/2 OF A STANDARD SIZED [Later I felt that I could use 1 full]
COCONUT FLOUR : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
STEVIA POWDER : 6TBSP [you can use sugar of the same amount]
SUGAR : 1TBSP
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1TSP
GREEN FOOD COLOUR : 1/2A PINCH
GHEE : 3TBSP + 2TBSP
DRY FRUITS TO GARNISH

PROCEDURE :

We are using the below ingredients. I had to replace the pistachio with almonds later, you can understand why.

Wash the potatoes, prick all over with a fork. Take on a plate and place inside the microwave.

Microwave at high for 5 minutes or according to your machine's capacity.

Let cool a bit, peel off and lightly mash with a fork while it is still warm. Blend at high for 1 minute.

Transfer to a bowl and mix well with 3tbsp of ghee / clarified butter. At this stage, you may want to have the "aloo-sheddo ghee bhaat with kancha lanka and salt".... please hold your greed and proceed with the recipe.

Chop and wash the raw mango discarding the seed. Blend at high for 2 minutes to get a smooth paste.

Heat a pan or a wok you do not use to cook curries. Add the food colour, raw mango paste and the stevia powder or sugar to it.

I added a bit more colour which does not affect the taste but you do not need.

Add the ghee flavoured boiled potato and mix very well.

Keep stirring for 2-3 minutes, add the coconut flour now.

Mix well and stir further for 2-3 minutes.

Add 1 tbsp sugar, 2tbsp ghee, 1tsp green cardamom powder.

Mix and stir well, you can see the content easily coming out of the edges. We are done.

Transfer to a plate, let cool a bit. Knead for 2-3 minutes. Tear a portion and give your desired shape.

Do not forget to garnish before you serve.

The kind of platters my men love is what you see above. I definitely can prepare such combinations at least 4-5 days a week if only they had the salad servings and a bowl of raita with love. One will have the raita and chopped cucumber too in it, the other will not touch salad or raita. So, I feel better if I mash all the Bengali kinds of vegetables with dal and feed them, I am not at guilt if I serve them meat and fish of their choice. Last Thursday, I got so perfectly sized "parshe".... small and fresh..... felt very lethargic to get them.... I will cook and I have to eat. The husband and his mother does not like this fish..... not because it is more of an "adeshio maach" but because they only love fleshy fish with lots of fat. They call themselves "Bangal" but are so limited when it comes to very "Bangal... kochu-ghechu, bata-buti"...... I have no interest in the fight, I do enjoy "parshe to bati chocchori to 'nuchi o bonde' everything".... Yes, when some "adeshio" take a dig on us saying our forefathers used to fake about their belongings back in their country of origin, it hurts immensely. Then I feel, how can they even feel what being an "udbastu" mean.... getting uprooted from your own land and living as beggars in other's home with an extra dose of warnings day and night that you are unwanted here is a severe pain that only who suffers will feel.... the rest can say anything and everything.... we do not have to pay tax for what we say! I never wished to be a part of all these, may be it has become irrelevant too in the present day scenario. Even before I started dating Bossy, my mother told me "adeshio barir cheleke pochondo korey boshish na, oder sangey amader thik khap khaina"..... I got married to a "Bangal" family who so lack "bangalotto" except for the lingo spoken by the family veterans, they have not eaten "shutki maach until a neighbour fed them some 30 years back ba bele maacher gurguri ba bayin maach".... Since I am not so interested in the divide, I prefer to share today a recipe like this vegetarian & non-vegetarian combo meal FRAGRANT CHANA DAL RICE O MICROWAVE E PATLA MURGIR JHOL. This definitely is not from my mother's kitchen and why should I at least today? Did not I bring up my brother as my elder son? Is he not his mother's son? I saw some mothers yesterday going to the extent of giving such captions on their posts.... "sharing the joy today with all the mothers of daughters".... At times their attitude, behaviour makes me feel may be they wished for a male child just as we wished for a girl.... the husband even named the unborn "Sabrina"..... Later he told me that we will remain happy with a son, our friends' daughters we have to cuddle. These girls who does male bashing or discriminate a male child openly need males often, they perhaps lack a wise person like my husband in their life who consoled me saying we have so many daughters around. My son comes first to me you all know, if you are not nice to him, I cannot be to you but I usually do not discriminate kids. Being a girl myself, I knew / know what the girls had / have to face on the road, in the train, in the bus! Anyway, on a Mother's Day, I reserve most of my feelings for some of my dearest people who could not bore a child.... they do feel very much left out on such a day.... I find it very difficult to be cautious enough not to hurt them, love for your child is so natural but... but... but not wanting a child or not being able to bear one is not a crime.... reasons can be manifold.... I have the guts to tell my mother that holding her tongue is a necessity, many girls or boys cannot. Some apparent feminists around are so much of a pet of their mother that they even ignore their father.... I am watching this for decades now. I do not know the structure of any family but wise enough to understand this simple thing.... if my mother has sweated, spent her precious drops of blood for us.... I have seen her struggle, did not my father catch S10 or travelled to Chetla from DumDum changing train at Sealdah for us with his arthritic legs.... come on even the sperm was his both time, not of her girl friends'.... My beloved Bidisha's father comes to Birati from Park Circus to his factory everyday, do you think on his will? My paa-in-law goes to the market, serves tea and food to the wife till date, looks after the daughter's and son's needs too!

So, for the woman or her friends who formed special cells.... oh sorry! I meant groups for "daughter's mothers".... here is a toast for you, a vegetarian main with a non vegetarian side FRAGRANT CHANA DAL RICE O MICROWAVE E MURGIR PATLA JHOL, else I had a very good mutton fat recipe to share today. I am unwilling to share a post on paneer or mutton liver".... "this home's chele aar maa kind of"..... "bisesh dingulo te chele athaba meye je kono kichu niye matamati korata bhul"... in fact, a boy's mother has to mete out more responsibilities towards the society, I will not repeat my grandmother and say, "shonar angti abar baka kisher".... I would rather prefer to replicate her and her eldest daughter's recipe with "pat shaak".... hold on, sooner.... anyway, people have on their blogs already. Chicken had to go for sure today, I had to tell some people that I usually do not discriminate between a boy or a girl unless it is my boy's birthday or any such occasions.... I do not even make him public because I do not want it, he is not giving me any hope to go ahead with a very public post next year, some boys and girls will score 45 / 45 or 44 / 45 in his class.... I do not see happiness showering at this home, the marriage is on the rocks on this particular issue. I did not want our son to have my brain, the Almighty listened..... I did not want my son to be as casual a guy as his father, lacking severely the tenacity to study, the Almighty did not listen. I really never have seen a father like T, his son's happiness is his concern, not my wish! Leave that, let us come to the "daughter-mother group" created yesterday "functionally"..... was in practice for long! I am not the one who is in the habit of oiling anyone for my personal benefit. I know I am a girl and cannot be anything but nice to another girl even if some have not so good vives towards my pride. I definitely am unable to give it back tight, but yes I can limit my accessibility to them because the hurt is immense, the scenario is not virtual, hence the expectation is higher! I am not Godly you know and I am not even including the blogging world in to this.... we are doing the same job.... gifting our readers unique or very simple recipes.

Last Saturday saw me totally collapsed. I finished my cooking and took shower around 7:30pm, then cooked the chana dal rice with Bengal gram dal and basmati around 8:30 pm.... The initial plan was a "cholar dal er pulao".... got very tired and went for the easier method of straining the starch from the cooked rice and go ahead. I have seen this recipe somewhere, just forgot all about the source. The light chicken curry in the microwave really proved great for me, I could have it and liked it. It is so hassle free to make it but obviously not a cheaper option.... adds more to your electric bill. You see, I am very happy to be engaged in what I enjoy doing, that is cooking. Because my men do not listen to me, I prefer doing what I enjoy! Saturdays I get very late because I click too ... see I changed my two earlier pictures....

These keep me going, I think I spend a better time than sitting together and back biting each other tight. Its way better to fight with the husband on a lost battle, "Boss, ami kintu ebar next ek bochorer jonyo husband exchange programme er bigyapon debo".... "you are welcome" prompt is the answer! "tar maney? shobai Partha Dey hoye jonmai na bossy, bhetorey jader chokmoki pathor achey ghoshe-meje tairi kortey hoy tader.... tui tar bodoley ekta ugropanthi baniye dili cheletakey"..... Then I find a true friend of T in a Partha Dey and Madhuchanda Dey Ghosh, off course their daughter was supposed to be a rank holder at IG level and be featured in Times Of India by now but she did not , who according to my wish or by default should be a top rank holder in JNU.... but the parents are less bothered and travel every 3 months, travelling right now. I definitely will not convey the news to my husband, I do not want to see him happy"..... Come let us have a feast!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FRAGRANT CHANA DAL RICE :

BENGAL GRAM DAL : 1SMALL TEA CUP
BASMATI RICE : 1COFFEE MUG
CASHEW NUT : 8-10
RAISIN : 10-15
CINNAMON STICK : 3-4 HALF FINGER LENGTH
GREEN CARDAMOM : 3-4
BLACK CARDAMOM : 1
STAR ANISE : 2
CLOVE : 4-5
BAY LEAF : 3-4
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 2TBSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
GHEE / CLARIFIED BUTTER : 2TBSP
OIL : 3-4TBSP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CHICKEN IN MICROWAVE :

CHICKEN : 1KG [MEDIUM CUT, SKIN OFF]
ONION PASTE : 2-3TBSP [EXTRACT IF YOU WANT EVEN LIGHTER A CURRY]
GARLIC EXTRACT : 2-3TBSP
GINGER EXTRACT : 2-3TBSP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 4-5
RED CHILLI POWDER : 2TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1/2TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1TSP
BEATEN PLAIN YOGURT : 2TBSP
LEMON JUICE : 2-3TBSP
OIL : 2-3TBSP [IF YOU ARE USING SKIN ON CHICKEN PIECES, SKIP THE OIL PART TOTALLY]

PROCEDURE :

See I forgot to click the individual pictures, it was a Saturday night man and I had to write a long mail to someone with a proof that I took my shower at 7:30pm, that I look younger when I colour my greys, that my crow's feet are so visible, that I am you ditto when it comes to train my son but he is not like yours'.... so I weep most of the time! "yeh ek ajeeb sa relason mein fas gayi main yaaron, yaarana hai, abhiman bhi".... Oh yes, My friends range from the youngsters to the old, it is at my discretion!

Do not let me talk further. So for the flavourful chana dal rice, I washed and soaked the rice for 30 minutes, cooked it in enough boiling water until 70% done. I strained immediately.

Even before, we will soak the Bengal Gram Lentil in hot water for 2 hours. Then we will boil it with little salt and turmeric until 80% done. We will reserve the water to use later in a different dish, we will not require it now.

The cinnamon sticks, star anise, cardamoms green and black, cloves are to be crushed lightly.

Heat the ghee and oil together in a wok. Temper with the crushed whole spices and the bay leaves.

Add the cashew nuts.

As the cashew nuts turn light brown, add the raisins, stir.

Add the boiled Bengal Gram, chopped green chillies and stir for a minute.

Add the salt and sugar and stir for a minute. Add half of the rice and stir very gently.

Now use two ladles to mix the content well. We are done.

For the chicken, many years back I did try it in microwave back in Kolkata. It took a lot of time and I lost interest. Here the chicken variety is very soft, one reason why I do not like it. I do not wish to leave eating it either. I casually tried last month and woh I loved the curry, light and tangy like our "robibarer jhol".... I really enjoyed doing and having it.

We will marinate the chicken with all the ingredients in a microwave proof bowl and keep aside for 1:1/2 hours to 2 hours covered.

We will microwave it at 450*C for 10 minutes, covered with a microwave proof plate. We will take out and stir.

Repeat the process. Take out and stir.

Now microwave covered at the highest temperature for another 10 minutes. We are done. How cool is that?

Enjoy the platter with pickle, salad and raita!

I will repeat again that I am not so good with stuffed flat breads. This does not mean that I will not try them in my own convenient way... I love cooking and do not find it as boring as mathematics, science or academics in general.... so this trying to perfect cooking is very spontaneous and may be genetic. This particular shape of flat bread was used to be made when the mother served us CHINIR POROTA ..... sugar stuffed porota, one of my most viewed recipes on my blog CURRY AND SPICE ! Actually, the above is my Plan C for yesterday. Plan A was to prepare Dhakai Porota which gave me irritation as I proceeded towards the mid noon. So I sketched a Plan B which was Aloor Dom stuffed Pav Buns, it had the tension of not looking smooth on top. I have to try it in accordance with the instruction given by a blogger friend and then. The Plan C, a vegetarian stuffed bread DRY COCONUT AND DRY FRUIT STUFFED PRATA seemed easier because I am used to doing it and watching it been done since decades. I went for a hair do yesterday afternoon, after a 2 hours of indulgence in a dark room, on a cosy couch I was unwilling to get my sweat glands too active in the kitchen. They did and I do not. The only thing which is normal in my entire body is my blood pressure, yet I sweat way too much may be because of the excess fat deposit. I will sweat more in the kitchen is normal and I am not bothered about it anymore. I am not so keen on going for a whole body check up as prescribed by old doctor Chang, but I definitely can prepare some prata for him which he loves as much as he loves Biryani. The entire island nation heavily depends on food courts including Dr.Chang's family of doctors but he always ask me or in all probability to his patients to eat home cooked food. I will draw the inference that Dr.Chang was a dear friend of my side of the family.

The problem with me is that I eat double when I am happy. Look at how I am having a stale, reheated prata with tea after having a big one just 10 hours back. Last Sunday, I prepared a milk bread and had to have a big slice on Monday morning. What is the reason for an extra dose of happiness? Last week I got home one more hibiscus and too much of a favourite "Bel phool er chara".... I confuse between which one is Jasmine ... Jui or Bel? Are Mogra & Jasmine same? I am happy on the mornings I see few more flowers on my ledge. I come from a home who never had to buy flowers required for the daily prayers [referring to the grand parent's home], so it is natural. I remember, "didu jao to chad theke koyekta sheem perey niye esho ba bagan theke kota lebupata".... even my cousin who roams around in a half pant and spaghetti strapped tops somewhere in the streets of the Bahargaon will not deny that she had "echorer dalna" with jack fruits freshly cut from their garden or her maternal grandfather grew the best "Tarmuz" big and red in his own hands somewhere in Nagarukhra, a few miles interior of Kanchrapara. I sincerely hope she keeps doing "koraishutir kochuri" in her kitchen, share the pictures often just as much as of her sprawling bungalow in a snow clad valley, "arey koi neighbours dikhta bhi nehi, bhoot-pret ayega to chillake koi faida nehi.... bhoot chasing, they driving 20 miles to reach a friend's home... eeijonyoi era lanka theke aloo chash shob shikhey nei, mudi dokantao to pach kilometre durey".... Nope, I am not jealous of her but definitely will keep a distance with those who "indulge in 'kondols'"..... I so hate it "para byarani, khobor shongroho and then kan-bhorani"..... Isn't it better to indulge in doing what I enjoy?

"Aloo r chokh kete lagiyechi, tori-tarkari chash oto shoja noi".... potato needs cooler weather right? The maternal grandfather had magic in his hands because he hailed from a farmer's family in Bangladesh. The husband has no idea with how much vigour childhood is knocking at the heart, dadu grew potato and turmeric too in season. I told my childhood buddy to shift again further to the interior to a bigger flat where a balcony is a must.... in this island commuting is not an issue. So, yesterday I prepared a DRY COCONUT AND DRY FRUIT STUFFED PRATA at night, only after taking things under my control to my convenience, you remember na how I did TOFU BHURJI STUFFED PARATHA sometime last year? We will require few ingredients like multi grain atta, refined flour, dry coconut flakes, almond, cashew nut, walnut, pistachio, raisin, oil... thats it! Cristine did the kneading part and also helped me while frying them, else I would have been late! If you are having it for the lunch or brunch, take plain yogurt and a fruit of your choice.. suits better!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE STUFFING :

DRIED COCONUT FLAKE : 1 SMALL TEA CUP
RAISIN : 2TBSP
PISTACHIO : 2TBSP
WALNUT : 8-10
ALMOND : 1TSP [SLICED]
CASHEW NUT : 7-8
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/4TSP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE PRATA :

THE STUFFING MIXTURE
REFINED FLOUR : 21/2 COFFEE MUG
MULTI GRAIN ATTA : 1/2 COFFEE MUG OR A LITTLE MORE
SALT : 1/2TSP
OIL : 11/2 TSP FOR EACH OF THE FLATBREAD

PROCEDURE :

Let us prepare the stuffing mixture first. Take all the ingredients required for stuffing except for the dried coconut flakes and the green cardamom powder on a heated tawa or wok first and stir for 1-2 minutes.

Now, add the dried coconut flakes and stir for a minute. You will see the mixture turning light brown. Transfer to a blender and let cool.

Pulse it to lightly break, we will not powder it.

We have already soaked the raisins in hot water 1/2 an hour earlier. We will drain all the water and take the broken roasted dry fruits + coconut flakes, green cardamom powder in a bowl and mix well.

For the dough, we will take both types of flour, salt, oil in a wide mouthed bowl.

We will mix them well and rub for 2 minutes. We will then add little water at a time and prepare a dough kneading well. This will take some 10 minutes and Cristine did this part for me.

Keep the dough covered for 15 minutes, remove cover. Tear off smaller portions and smoothen between hands.

Dust each ball, and roll out roundels with help of your rolling pin and base.

Fill in with the stuffing mixture keeping the edges free.

Now fold in and press to close tightly the ends.

Place each on a heated tawa and dry roast both sides until light brown, now add 11/2tsp oil for each prata / flatbread and cook until golden brown. "maa e diseni cutobelai aguner syaka? orom hoibo dogdogey ghaer muto poruter gaye"....

If there is any trace of burnt dusting flour on the pan, we will just wipe before we do the other one.

Try to have fresh if you do not have to go through a photo clicking session.