CURRY AND SPICE

Well, it had been a recent wish to share the recipe of this dish that is so hassle free to do and yum to eat. This variety of chillies are available here easily and in abundance. They are less hot and makes for a wonderful ingredient for fritters and stuffed vegetarian or even non-vegetarian dishes. Having chillies as a side dish is not a Bengali thing, I saw my non-Bengali speaking friends in school getting wonderful pickles made with chillies, the varieties my family never made. I am ahead of my family when it comes to the acceptability of a varied kinds of food, so I have to experiment with different ingredients and include in the family menu card those which more or less appeals to our taste buds. I see my visiting family choosing the "lyangra" variety of mango among at least ten variety of it. What was causing me irritation was that why do I have to choose a mango that might have been packaged a month ago keeping aside the freshest produce coming in from the neighbouring states. I do follow Bengal while in the market, I am not the kind who will get Bengal from there and try to install it here, I go to the Bangladeshi shops for fresh vegetables our kinds, long back I have stopped buying the stale, frozen fish coming from there.... they would do no good to my men. Then, if your men are happy with salmon, prawn, chicken and snapper, you would not go to that extreme. The mother did not have problem in her 11/2 month of stay, she got fresh "rui and chingri", she can survive on prawn+noodle soup, salad, even chicken strips in soups, fruits.... moreover the daughter prepared different vegetarian dishes. She does not fancy chunks of meat, no problem.... her daughter prepared a stuffing with minced chicken, did kofta... this... that! She enjoyed this vegetarian side, oven grilled SPICY CHILLI, but loved more the chilli pakoras I prepared last Friday when we had a visiting guest with us.... you can see some fish tikki beside.

Our guest loved what we served, then our son loved both the dishes with this fat, big variety of red chillies. This mother taught her son to have moderately spicy and hot food, problem is with the husband who does not enjoy too much of hot and spicy stuffs. I do not like his this trait, but so long he provides me enough to eat, eat and eat more of pizza and kueh, food in general.... I have no problem. Yesterday was pizza night which we have every fifteen days, the mother loves it too.

By the way, if you want to have good quality "kueh" here, always buy from shops which sell it fresh.

Being obese, I have them may be once every six months but from such shops usually. This restriction does not work when it comes to lemon rice, in fact rice is a love though made laccha paratha for the husband's lunch box, the rest's breakfast. Instead of paratha or chapati, I preferred serving the vegetarian, yum dish SPICY CHILLI last week with LEMON RICE. It definitely is not innovative, some parts of India and South Asia do eat it, where I stand out is using our Bengali "bhaja moshola" for the marination that I made to garnish a pickle.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FRESHLY GROUND DRY ROASTED SPICES:

DRY RED CHILLI / SHUKNO LANKA : 2-3
CORIANDER SEED / DHONEY : 1TSP
CUMIN SEED / JEEREY : 1TSP
FENNEL SEED / MOURI : 1/2TSP
CAROM SEED / JOYAN : 1TSP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE COOKED DISH :

BIG FAT RED CHILLI : 12-15
THE FRESHLY GROUND DRY ROASTED SPICES / BHAJA MOSHOLAR GURO
GRAM FLOUR / BESAN : 1TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
LEMON JUICE : 2-3TBSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
OIL : 2TSP + 1/2TSP

PROCEDURE :

Wash the chillies, pat dry. Make slits in each one of them and de seed. Wash again and pat dry.

Now marinate each one of them with the lemon juice, turmeric and salt as much as required.

Keep aside for 1/2 an hour.

Dry roast the ingredients required to prepare the freshly ground spices for 2 minutes at low heat. Cool and dry blend to get a coarsely ground powder.

Now add the besan / gram flour, dry roasted coarsely ground spices, 2tsp oil to the marinated big, fat red chillies and fold in well.

Keep aside for 10-12 minutes.

Grease a grill proof plate with 1/2 tsp of oil and place the marinated chillies in a single layer on it.

I work with a convection mode microwave oven, so I placed that high stool inside and then placed the plate on it.

I grilled it for 8-10 minutes one side. Then we will take out and turn over.

I grilled the other side for 5-6 minutes. We are done.

Doing it in a pan on stove top may require few more time and a little more amount of oil.

Whatever you are serving it with, LEMON RICE or other varieties of rice or chapati, serve it fresh and hot, else the crunch of the gram flour goes away.

Its a beautiful, sunny morning.. you never can predict the weather here however.... it was cloudy an hour back. I did wake up healthy after a "dahi poori" session around 8pm yesterday, in fact feeling refreshed very much. Ask me why? There are a couple of reasons you know. Until 1am I was listening to the iconic Ustad Rashid Khan, I am his fan and can listen to him for hours.... "albela sajan ayoo to yaad piya ki aaye".... the Indian community in the island is smaller than that of the bahargaon.... I can understand it is difficult to arrange sessions with such talents every year or do I miss them? I saw him on stage some 4 years back. Another reason of joy was to get some fresh "data" in a local Chinese shop yesterday, amazing na? My side of the family cooks the hard stem either with potato & jackfruit seeds or with potato and prawn. I am going to cook with prawns in few hours from now, hopefully to blog about it once I am back from Kolkata. I do have Bengali themed chicken recipes in hand to share, but I felt that can wait and this vegetarian and non vegetarian snack combo OVEN COOKED PEPPERY CHICKEN & AAMCHOOR ALOO should go up today. I was surfing my Google photos and found Bengali fish recipe pictures from 2017-2018 which I am yet to blog about, okay I will. The mother too is causing irritation trying to relate everything that is Indian here to Bengal or Bengali.... I severely dislike it.... "dekh Bangali money hocchey" I am like "stop it mani, there is a country called India, of which Bengal is a state, a state which will become a non-entity if they do not live in the present, even Tagore cannot save them".... People migrate there from different states, build palace even selling "khaini" and the "amra Bangali" do 'doshta-pachta apish" and give big talks, calling people "unpar-gawar, uncultured".... totally oblivious of the fact that the majority of Bengalis work "under" these "uncultured"..... we have to realise, accept and do something. I am with Bengal's cultural & food circuit, not with those who at all times deny themselves to be a part of a sovereign State called India. I was telling the mother that she and her son are influencing each other very wrongly. I will not give in to that, I have my father and husband's ideologies working inside. I told the mother when it comes to talent, appreciate the quality wholeheartedly, do not be regionalistic. "Bengalis anyway do the "bambooing" act most on each other, look at the brotherly feelings among the people of other states and learn.

From Ustad Rashid Khan, I have now reached Kaushiki Chakroborty, she inherited the qualities of her father in the right amount. Each day, I have to listen to music, from one genre to another, among the few genres I love.... raps, loud music is not for me. Once back from Kolkata, I should be able to sit with music in a lonely home, at times would visit my music teacher for a therapy. Yesterday, my entire time outside was spent listening to music and walking from this store to another. On way back, I saw three dedicated, elderly souls practicing outside our condominium around 8:30pm, my mother-in-law has a bag full of complaints at all times, it irritates me way too much..... all day sitting at home, watching television and complaining. Such kinds actually die long before they are brain dead. They have not seen the hardships of people actually. I enjoy being with positive, spontaneous people, they help me go on with life! Three of such kinds you can see below.

Do not you think I should share the combined vegetarian and non-vegetarian snack recipe of OVEN COOKED PEPPERY CHICKEN & AAMCHOOR ALOO done using freshly ground black pepper and dry mango powder in the marination today? I think these two snackers required the simplest marination I have ever used in my kitchen. Kids who enjoy cooking can prepare them too, at this home the mumma has to do it. Although they fall under the snacker category, we had them for dinner a month back which had some store bought garlic bread and a bliss called "kurkurey bhindi."

INGREDIENTS FOR THE OVEN COOKED PEPPERY CHICKEN :

CHICKEN LEG OR BREAST OR BOTH : 10-12 PIECES
FRESH COARSELY GROUND BLACK PEPPER : 1HEAPED TBSP
LEMON JUICE : 4-5TBSP
GINGER EXTRACT : 1TBSP
GARLIC EXTRACT : 2TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED [SEA SALT PREFERRED]
OIL : 2-3TBSP + 2TBSP TO BRUSH

INGREDIENTS FOR THE AAMCHOOR ALOO :

BIG POTATO : 2-3-4 [I USE RUSSET]
AAMCHOOR / DRY MANGO POWDER : 2TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
CAROM SEED : 1/2TSP
LEMON JUICE : 2TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 2-3TBSP + 1TBSP TO BRUSH

THE AMOUNT OF INGREDIENTS USED IS MEANT FOR A NUCLEAR FAMILY OF 3-5 MEMBERS.

PROCEDURE :

Let us do the PEPPERY CHICKEN first.

Wash the chicken pieces thoroughly. Pat dry.

Marinate with 2-3tbsp of oil, lemon juice, ginger and garlic extract, fresh coarsely ground black pepper and salt as required.

Fold in very well. Keep refrigerated in an air tight container for 5-6 hours or overnight.

Take out an hour before cooking. Grease an oven proof tray with oil. Place the chicken pieces in a single layer. Pour over the marinade evenly.

I work with a convection mode microwave oven, so I placed the high stool inside and the plate atop it.

Now switch on the grill mode for 10 minutes. Take out, brush with oil all over each one. Grill for 10 minutes more.

Take out, brush oil all over each one, grill for 6 minutes. Take out and brush oil, grill for another 6 minutes. We should be done.

Now let us do the AAMCHOOR ALOO / Potato with Dry Mango Powder.

I am a diabetic, hence I am prescribed to boil the potatoes skin on before using it for cooking. I pricked the washed potatoes with a fork, took them on a plate and microwaved at high for 3-321/2 minutes.

I took them out, cut into desired shapes on cooling. I then marinated them with lightly crushed carom seeds, aamchoor / dry mango powder, turmeric + red chilli powder, lemon juice, salt as required.

The marinated potatoes are to be kept aside for an hour or so. We will then place them in a single layer on a greased grill proof tray.

We will place the high stool inside with the plate atop if using a convection mode microwave oven. We will then grill one side for 8-10 minutes.

We will take the tray out, brush oil and turn over the potatoes. We will then grill them for 5 minutes. We should be done.

Always serve them fresh.

Well, I was too eager to take over my kingdom from Cristine once back from a fifteen days of hiatus. Cristine did a fabulous job as always but I needed some job to deliver. Last Wednesday when I called Cristine, I could feel the joy in her voice on the news of me returning home. That makes her stand different from others. Knowing that ma'am is a victim of extreme level of mood swings, she greeted me with a broad smile. She is my nice, little girl all of thirty but looks like 18-20. She asked me about aunty, our mother with whom she mingled pretty well. Our mother in turn is missing her, says chating with Cristine improved her English. On her visit, I told her had she not leave a government school job and dedicate her life in cleaning services, she would have brought up a self sufficient daughter. Following her, the daughter turned to be a good home maker alone, you know what home making is a thankless job. A girl has the ability to make people listen to her if she is working, money is honey folks.. accept it. I dream of a different me honing a strong personality who everyone around would be scared of [besh amar hunkarey baghey gorutey ek ghatey jol khabey]. I go back in time say to 1992 and see a very happy and content me in the lap of Kanyakumarika or Pondicherry. That was my real, actual call do I feel these days... away from home, free from any emotional shackles. With permission from the order, I could at least sell vegetarian delights like idli, vada, BHATURE O BEGUNER BHARTA on the beach. Oh My! if only single women in India were safe, were allowed to live on their own without being raped verbally and physically. Anyway, in your dreams you can go back in time, in reality one cannot go back and start a fresh.

The last fifteen days had seen the elderlies in the family suffering. The "in-laws" were admitted in two different hospitals with acute pneumonia, they are asthmatic too. Our mother fell ill with severe stomach ailments for three days. I thought I could handle it but it was her daughter-in-law who had set the things right and tactfully avoided an admission in the hospital. You will hardly find a daughter-in-law who massages her mother-in-law's feet, stomach, goes inside the toilet with her to make her poo and puke in front of her. You will hardly find a daughter who takes a huge amount of loan on her shoulder just to build a bare minimal home for her parents in a decent, Bengali neighbourhood. You must take a note that she earns quite good in a renowned Kolkata school but not in lakhs. My brother had his eyes on a Sonam Kapoor look alike, he got what was required in our home. My mother sounded so much at peace at her own home amidst her son and daughter-in-law yesterday. I told both my brother and my mother not to go against B's wishes, daughters do for their parents, there are very few daughter-in-laws who do this much for their "in-laws." The husband's sister was / is taking all the hassles for her own parents, each penny required was / is been transferred from the island through me. My husband discharges duties silently without any urge for name, fame, importance. I was just using my card as per instructions, rest I did not think I should poke my flat nose in to "their" family matter or anyone in "that" family wanted me to. Since, I am a daughter to my mother, I can tell her categorically that she has to stay fit and strong, continue to do normal household work. How good it would be if our mother could gradually get over her "khola mela boro bari" concept and agree to shift to a decent three roomed flat in between Airport and Sector 5 because my brother will never agree to shift without his mother. If I am this much in peace, I must be thankful to a B, ignore her social media updates and go out for a long, carefree walk today with my ear phones on, oblivious of the surrounding, hoping to be able to go back to Kanyakumari or Pondicherry "alone" someday, soak my feet in the sand, or go to "Har ki Pyari" ghat in Hardwar as the dusk would set in and sit there for hours alone, not with the family, not even with the mother but alone.... a dinner with "halwa or rabri or chapati-achar" would be just fine for me, had I be able to run a "didi bhai er Bangali Hotel" there, I would have served more authentic, better quality Bengali food there than the existing ones. My wishes has nothing to do with my severe dislike for the existing ruling party in India.

BTW, I wish a speedy recovery and a consistent good health for my "in-laws" in my own self interest. Then, with such a jewel son and daughter, a dotting son-in-law, they should. My brother-in-law is an extreme case of hygiene freak, has trust issues, yet he is allowing an unknown help inside his bedroom to take care of his maa-in-law who is unable to go to the toilet most of the time... well, he may not be this kind & nice to other visiting guests or veterans to his home say for few minutes or so.... Never mind, your behaviour depends upon your depth of relationships. You know, our mother has sent a token gift for a Sanak Chottopadhyay, why? She says, "Soumya Bhattacharya is a decent boy but Sanak is full of warmth. Sanak said "Kakima, your shutki maach and dhokar dalna was awesome, moreover a Sanak calls her daughter his second mother in this island".... so there comes a red, handloom cotton kurti with blocks from my favourite store Amar Kuthi for Sanak. Okay, his wife whose social media avatar I cannot tolerate has a saree from me, she is nice, never a mean, so she deserves a beautiful, token gift from Rene from my brother's wife too. About their daughter? You see, I better stop gifting them dresses, they will not value my choice, I am unwilling to get hurt.... too eager to distance myself from things that does not make me happy. I will get food items for her, may be pasta, chicken, fish.... she enjoys my cooking.. so be it. Yes, I am self-centric but I never ever try to create divide between people, I know people try it . Neither I will deviate from my principles, nor anyone can create a divide between us and a Sanak's family. My mother will not believe that Sanak too is a hot headed because he applauded her cooking, everyone loves themselves. The reason why I like a Soumya is that we speak less, only as much as is required, we are formal in public, we know how to keep a poisonous tongue under control, we do not oil anyone unnecessarily, his wife is more of a friend however. Okay, I did pick up very cheap, casual college wear palazzo with t-shirts for a daughter like, I like her company, her gestures, her sweaty self in a t-shirt and skinny rushing to meet me, her love for food. I will never send her a friend's request in social media handles fearing what I get to see, I may not want to see what she does in her life outside of me. Tomorrow the son will go away to a different land whose culture I will never accept, education yes is too good. He is a rebel, not an obedient, he may lead a life to which I will never agree, but duty towards your own child comes first, I will do that until my last breathe, prepare this vegetarian platter BHATURE O BEGUNER BHARTA for "them" if "they" allow me as a guest at intervals at their home. I dream of a long haired woman with eye kohl and a bindi sitting together sipping tea with her husband "early" morning, whose wardrobe will be beaming with sarees & salwar suits, trousers too, they will both work, both help each other in the kitchen, no problem but will not feed the husband and kids store bought frozen and re-heated stuffs. My dreams may remain a dream because Madhuchanda Dey Ghosh is a rarity, yet I will not stop day dreaming till my last day.

I am pretty disturbed discovering something, somewhere around but I am learning to accept many a dislikes, to close my eyes to things that are against my taste buds, I am however not the ultimate to be followed. I will continue with my secret meets while in Kolkata and never keep my personal & family interest involved in it or allow my family to interfere in every bit of my life. If you have hurt me consciously, taken a dig at my physical features, my self respect, it is unlikely that I will remain loyal to you, I will just maintain a formal, decent relationship with you. As for "my" friends, a Swati, a Chandrayee, a Nirmalya are always present at a call from "me" alone and will not wait for a nod from my husband, unfortunately a Sushi lives in Thailand, may be a Joy Ghosh too will or may not be unless he gets a nod from my husband, a Debopam Raha as a mental support, the very egoist Saubhik may be as a medical advisor, their wives are good of whom Sarnali is a friend. So, while in Kolkata, I can call them my immediate helps, however my brother's wife is a "dasha bhuja".... if only she could be a little organised and calmer. The mother says she does wonderful "fulko luchi" and I want her to learn this easy, peasy South Asian bread done with refined flour, yeast, yogurt, salt, sugar, oil. On the sides there was a chicken kosha and Beguner Bharta. I like Begun Pora more but the husband is slightly allergic to eggplant, so bharta suits him more.

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE BHATURE]

REFINED FLOUR : 21/2 COFFEE MUG
PLAIN YOGURT : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
YEAST : 1TBSP
SUGAR : 2TSP
SALT : 1/2TSP
OIL : 4TBSP + 100-150GM FOR DEEP FRYING EACH ONE

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE BEGUN ER BHARTA]

EGG PLANT : 1BIG [I PREFER THE DARK PURPLE ONES]
TOMATO : 2 MEDIUM
ONION : 1MEDIUM
GREEN CHILLI : 3-4
FRESH CORIANDER : 2SPRIG
CUMIN POWDER : 1/2TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1/2TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
GARAM MASALA : 1/3TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 2-3TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Let us prepare the Beguner Bharta / cooked spicy roasted egg plant mash first.

Wash and pat dry the egg plant. Apply few drops of oil on it and rub well. Roast on stove top fire turning often until all sides are burnt well. Let it cool.

Wash and chop the tomatoes, fresh coriander and green chillies, keep separately. Peel and slice thin the onion, wash.

Take out the burnt skin of the egg plant, discard the stem end and mash.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with cumin seeds. Add the sliced onion and chopped green chillies. Stir until they turn golden brown.

Now add the turmeric + red chilli + cumin + coriander + salt and stir for 1/2 a minute.

Add the chopped tomatoes, stir and wait for them to melt. Add the mashed, roasted egg plant now and the garam masala.

Stir cook for 3-4 minutes, add the chopped fresh coriander and stir cook for a minute. We are done.

For the Bhature, Indian Bread, we will take the refined flour, salt, sugar, yeast in a bowl.

We will mix them well and add the yogurt and oil to the mixture.

We will rub them altogether for 2 minutes.

We will add water little by little and prepare a firm dough.

We will cover it with a cling wrap and keep it in a warm place, I use my microwave oven.

It took 3 hours to rise, when I took it out.

We will again knead it and tear off balls.

Roll out each ball using little oil in any shape, oblong or round. That is very cool, right?

Heat oil in a clean wok which has not contacted turmeric.. courtesy your Cristine or whoever, and fry each well, both sides.

Serve hot with any side which need not be chana always.

This happened last month I remember. When I was about to go out with the mother to somewhere, I discovered that half the container of a suji / semolina and dry roasted, ground spice mixture that I prepared and used in a stuffed kochuri (SEMOLINA & SPICE STUFFED KACHORI WITH SWEET TAMARIND CHUTNEY) back in October, 2017 is still sitting inside my refrigerator. It did not rot and spoil, hence I would not throw it. I had to go out and could do something only when I would come back sometime in the afternoon, I mean post 5pm. I had to think of something quick and yum to use up the entire amount of homemade spice mixture. On such occasions, bread comes to your rescue, be it bread halwa, bread malai, paurutir chop, bread gulab jamun or whatever. I took out few slices of bread, the semolina and spice mixture, brought them to the normal room temperature. Thereafter, I discarded the four sides of each slice, placed a spoonful of stuffing in the middle, moistened the edges with water, sealed the open ends with the help of a fork. I did two or three and asked Cristine to do the same with the rest. I had to take the mother out, so was in a hurry. We had a light lunch I remember because we wished to come back, take a quick shower and enjoy the vegetarian snack SUJI & MIXED SPICES STUFFED BREAD SNACK with tea in a relaxed mode. Once back home, I brushed butter on each of them and baked for few minutes. That little is the entire exercise. We can always deep fry the snacks but unnecessarily why should we consume more oil if we have an alternative option.

Back in the island, I am quite missing the mother. I am having an uncanny feeling entering the guest room where she would lie down with her new cell phone that the son-in-law had gifted few months back and watch Zee Bangla following the son-in-law's instructions. Cristine also asks me when aunty gets to come again. If God permits, she will. She has no such qualms staying at the daughter's place sometimes, nor do I have. Thankfully, my in-laws will also agree and accept now that that there is no wrong staying at the daughter's place at times or when required, their self proclaimed "do not" they were so vocal about in public. Oh God! Thank you for being nice to me but do not rob T or his sister of their parents sooner... me and my brother know how it feels to lose your parent. How much of self centric my brother is, he is loyal to his own family, he remembers it all who did what when and gives it back in time. I keep pledging him, "bhai it is not okay to behave rough with others in public, just keep doing your moral duty towards others, do not remember who did not do what when people may need your help." He is stubborn just like his sister. Anyway, a meat recipe was on my mind today, I will not do it.... in my consciousness, I usually do not wrong people. Today, there should be no fish or meat, I do not bother what the nation wants from me. Had this vegetarian evening snack SUJI & MIXED SPICES STUFFED BREAD SNACK was not there in the kitty, I definitely would have gone ahead with a sugar free oats ladoo or kheer or halwa. You know, I got some "aam sandesh and pista roll" from VIP Sweets, Kolkata for my beloved men this time, I had to have one of each variety , a bit scared so. I totally forgot that I must take a little amount of Kolkata sweets for my men, on the last day as I entered our neighbourhood to buy "roshogollas" for the security and maintenance staffs there, I remembered. We are perhaps among the poorest of the existing residents there, the richy rich do not even have ten rupees to give them to buy a normal paan. Being a perfect wife to my man, I did not bargain with the "rickshawwalas" there this time. This is a rich island, you pay dearly for the best services, so I should behave while in Kolkata. In a health drive, I will prepare oats-moong dal khicuri for our lunch. Today is for swimming, yesterday on my walk, I picked up four branches of "two jaba varieties, one tiny togor variety, one red frangipani" from the roadside.... let us see if they survive at this home. My oldest "togor gaach" died, it got pest inflicted, by the time I instructed Cristine over phone to get insecticide, it was late. Mango and coconut trees on my "do bigha zameen" is not possible anymore, but life is really good, accepting the don't haves you only help yourself live better.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SEMOLINA & SPICE STUFFING :

Semolina : 1 small cup
Cumin Seeds : 1tsp
Coriander Seeds : 11/2tsp
Fennel Seeds : 1/2tsp
Carom Seeds : 1tsp
Dry Red Chilli : 2-3
Green Cardamom : 2
Cinnamon Stick : 2 one inch stick
Sugar : 1tsp
Salt : As Required
Ghee : 1-2tbsp

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SNACK :

THE SEMOLINA AND ROASTED & GROUND DRY SPICE MIXTURE
BREAD SLICE : 10-12
MELTED BUTTER : 1/2 OF A STANDARD SMALLER BOWL

PROCEDURE :

You know I used stored stuffing for this. I had to go back and hire the pictures from another post to furnish you the stepwise pictures of making of the semolina and spice stuffing.

Let us prepare the filling first. Heat oil in a wok / pan and dry roast the cumin... coriander... fennel.... carom seeds and the dry red chilli for a minute or two.

In the same wok, add 1tbsp ghee. Once hot, add the semolina and roast till it turns golden brown.

Once it is golden brown, add the dry roasted spice mixture and fold in well.

Add sugar and salt to it and stir for 3-4 minutes. Transfer the filling to a bowl and let cool.

Cut the edges of each of the bread slices. Fill in with the semolina and freshly ground dry roasted spices.

Moisten a bit the edges with very little water. Close the ends. Press with a fork to tighten, be safe.

Now grease an oven proof plate. Grease both sides of each of the stuffed and uncooked bread slices with a brush.

I use the convection mode of a microwave oven, so I placed the low stool inside the oven and preheated the oven at 180*C for 8 minutes or so.

I placed the plate atop the stool now. I baked them at 180*C for 10-12 minutes. You must check your time because each machine differ.

We must have them hot and fresh with a hot beverage of our choice, else they will turn hard and chewy.

That gluten free, egg free salad cream was a good pick I think, the green chilli sauce did not give me happiness, I think I myself will prepare them at home.

Aha! how I love this fish, thanks to the neighbouring states of this island to get us the freshest of them, even fresher than those in Kolkata. It is considered a non-pedigreed fish in Kolkata, it was not even eaten in our family. On a certain winter, when we were at school, it was brought and cooked into my most loved fish gravy, raw fish boiling with eggplants, flat beans in a coriander paste based curry. On the very first day of it coming in, me and the brother embraced this Bhola Maach / Indian Jew Fish / Asian Trout Barb. When was the day our mother got it home, may be it was towards the end of the month! In those days, this fish was available in a better self during winters, two to three kinds of curry was made with it of which PEYAZ TOMATO BATA DIYE BHOLA MAACH is one. Our family does not use garlic, onion in all fish curries except for this variety or pomfret. Now that Bhola maach is available in the island's market, I get it on a regular basis, my men do not have any idea what a Bhola Maach or Asian Trout Barb is, just because this variety do not have bones, they eat it without any fuss. There is literally a mid-section bone to this fish, yet I have to debone the pieces for the son.... what a lazy generation we have given birth to. At least our one wants the kind of food that can be managed with a spoon and fork. The husband will be friends with bones if it is of mutton, chicken or hilsa, else he is too fond of that Far East nation who sells marinated raw fish and its roe. Okay, they love my cooking too because I put in all my love and effort doing so. If you do not do so, your food cannot have a decent taste. If you call me at your home and exhibit this lag, serve me cold stuffs, I get angry.... if you cannot entertain me do not call.... if you call me you must be able to make me feel important & comfortable even with a bowl full of "chop o jhalmuri" but the chop & tea have to be hot & fresh.

Coming to Bhola Maach / Indian Jew Fish / Asian Trout Barb, they have a lot of smaller scales. No shop in this island would cut it for you because they do not even have a highly skilled "boti" as their Kolkata counter parts, they do it with an electric blade kind in the Bangladeshi shops who call it Poa Maach. In the local, native fish market, they perhaps cut fish with a high end "ram dao".... I do not even see the love for fish in their cutting style that the Kolkata fish sellers hone. This time I could not do "dokan-bazaar" in Kolkata I so love doing, one reason is that our mother never let us be ourselves, never respects our freedom. The second reason was that my in-laws were hospitalised.... its a regular, continuous feature with my mother-in-law, thats what I am getting to see since marriage. Loose motion = Nursing Home, Fever = Nursing Home.... this time it was serious, who else but I will feel it dearly.... My husband's parents love gobbling end number of medicines for any little thing, will never find an alternative, they are very keen on contributing handsomely to the doctors' savings accounts. A little off from the normal route, they run to the doctor. Leave that, I am very mean that everyone knows, I can give you better examples of meanness than mine, big lectures cannot hide your actual self but I will not. We never know what is waiting for us in few seconds from now. Better I swim around in a sea of food and share with you our mother's recipe of bhola maacher thokthokey jhol, a non-vegetarian fish curry PEYAZ TOMATO BATA DIYE BHOLA MAACH both of us siblings so love. The recipe is so easy that you can relax with a "gola ruti or sujir idli with cha" while preparing it just like me!

Come let us start doing it, you will not even have an inkling when you are done, when you have cleaned the kitchen counter.

INGREDIENTS :

BHOLA BHETKI / POA / INDIAN JEW FISH / ASIAN TROUT BARB : 5-6 MEDIUM SIZED
TOMATO PASTE : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP
ONION PASTE : 1MEDIUM SIZED TEA CUP
GINGER PASTE : 2TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 2TSP [PASTE IS BETTER]
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP + 1/4TSP
NIGELLA SEED / KALONJI : 1/4TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 5-6TBSP [I USE MUSTARD]
CHOPPED FRESH CORIANDER TO GARNISH [OPTIONAL]

PROCEDURE :

The most time consuming part of the procedure is to remove the many number of tiny scales. You have to be very cautious to get rid of each of them. Once you wash the fish after it, more than half of your work is done. Use a tea spoon to remove the scales.

Once washed, cut half if they are medium sized. You will find it easier to fry them. Wash again and drain the water. Re-check if there is any scale remaining on the head or body. If no, apply one teaspoon of turmeric, salt and rub all over the body of each one.

Keep aside for 15 minutes or so. Heat oil in a wok and fry the fish pieces moderately in batches. Drain the excess oil before you take them out.

Add the nigella seeds to the remaining oil, stir and add the onion paste. Keep stirring for 2-3 minutes.

Add the ginger paste and stir until the raw smell goes off. Now add the tomato paste, 2tsp red chilli powder, 1/4tsp turmeric powder, salt as much required to it. Stir for a minute and add 1 coffee mug of water to the wok.

Bring the gravy to boil keeping the temperature at the lowest and continue for 2-3 minutes. Gently add the fried fish pieces and simmer at low for another 3-4 minutes. You may add little water it required.

Slitted green chillies and chopped fresh coriander can be added as a garnish.

It is to be had with piping hot steamed rice. On the sides we had "beguner bhorta, lau er chokla boti, lau + bhaja moong daal er jhali".

How age is catching me up so fast, God! Rakhi Poornima.. the Sibling's Day is mid of this month and oh! I thought it is today. I always prefer or like to share a sweet or dessert recipe on any occasion, I enjoy doing so. Then this morning I discovered that today is 5th August, Rakhi Poornima is on 15th. I was thinking of reserving this dish for a later share and blog about something else today. I had to keep few things on my mind, it has to be something which our loving island would have no problem to eat, my men has to enjoy it, my family back in India should like it, it should be a tribute to the people I owe my love for cooking to and it definitely should not be "authentic Bengali". Considering all these factors, I thought of sharing this healthier sweet recipe COCONUT PINEAPPLE SANDESH today so that you can try them for the oncoming occasions. I can say even the non sweet lovers would enjoy it because I have used only one tablespoon of sugar and two table spoon of stevia powder in the making of it. We get so good quality pineapples here that you need very little sugar to be added to sweeten a dish with it. I wished to go sugar free with this dish but if you do not add a little bit of it you would find it difficult to bind them into a shape. So, here it is which took me a little over an hour to complete. I work and experiment a lot with coconut after relocating to this island because you get shredded coconut at every nook and corner of our island. I will be more praiseworthy of this island this week, the reason most of you know. Then, the best thing about this island is that it gives utmost safety and security to us. The only drawback of it we foreigners experience here is their inability to provide the Dependant Pass holders a decent job, a sit in their prestigious universities for many of our kids.... not everyone scores a perfect 44/45, 43/45 in IBDP. Our son is not the kind who would dedicate himself totally into studies, say 18hours a day to get into a "good" local university, he is far far away from Kolkata style of education, that no play / entertainment and 10 private tutors for a total of 8 subjects theory. We tried to get private tuitions for English and Mathematics for him but he so strongly refused. He follows / solves online questionnaire without any human guide. Then you get to hear about gunning down innocent lives in that crazy land. I feel like standing alone in the middle of an irruptive volcano, I am completely devoid of sound sleep. I am very much self centric and focussed on our son's non-abrupt higher education for the next five years. No, I am absolutely not great and benevolent like some who preferred doing social service at the cost of their kids' future. I wish to be known as what I am... an unadulterated version of me.

Look at what Cristine prepared for me a while back. I asked her for some 'chirey badam bhaja' with green tea, she made 'chirer upma' for me....

Ok be it.... what she cannot do is "jhaley noon e thik kora".... but she does it for us with a smile, so I must be grateful. I may not be the ultimate in cooking, but I just cannot false praise a poorly tasted dish. I have the ability to declare in public that the husband's cousin's wife living quite a distance from Kolkata cooks extremely well when it comes to Bengali dishes.... the warmth of that humble home is what I find praiseworthy when it comes to the husband's side of the family. Oh My! she is not in my friend's list as yet.... No hurry, it is not a necessity. I better share this easy sweet recipe with coconut and pineapple as main ingredients COCONUT PINEAPPLE SANDESH. The home I am talking of does not have the ability to use dry fruits in their cooking, yet they are a welcoming, less mean, a warm family..... I will not take any instruction from anyone as to what should be my relationship with them or how frequent I should visit them. I will visit that home in full public view, not even secretly because I value honesty & warmth in any relationship, trying to avoid complicated selves because I think if one has to down play others to praise themselves, they really have something wrong inside. The kind I am, I can only be formal with such kinds at this age. I have never seen a Partha Dey or a Madhuchanda Dey Ghosh or their likes speak low of others to exhibit what exclusive material they are.... If you speak of that Bengali guy in Houston, one Amit Bhaduri is perhaps the only guy in that land who does not know how to hold a ladle as yet, his clinical psychologist wife sacrificed a lucrative career to build a beautiful home, too beautiful. I really do not know when we will be able to sit together again but my loner husband needs them once in a while to unwind himself. I feel good when Partha too says the same. One need to meet these people and learn some good lessons of life.

INGREDIENTS :

SHREDDED COCONUT : 250GM
PINEAPPLE JUICE : A MEDIUM SIZED BOWLFUL
STEVIA : 2TBSP IF THE PINEAPPLE IS SWEET [YOU CAN USE EQUAL AMOUNT OF SUGAR]
SUGAR : 1TBSP
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1TSP
EDIBLE YELLOW COLOUR : 2-3DROP
CHOPPED DRY FRUITS TO GARNISH, I USED LIGHTLY ROASTED CHOPPED PISTACHIO

PROCEDURE :

We will extract the juice of a pineapple first using a blender or juicer. Then we need to strain the juice.

We will now heat a clean wok atop the gas stove. Add the juice to it. We will bring it to boil and add the stevia powder to it.

After simmering the content for 3-4 minutes, add the shredded coconut and fold in well.

After stirring it for about 8-10 minutes continuously, we will add 1tbsp of sugar, the edible yellow colour and the green cardamom powder.

We will fold in well and stir further for 5-8 minutes until the content gets sticky, yet remain moist.

We will transfer the entire amount to a plate and make into desired shapes, then either roll them on chopped dry fruits or garnish them with the same.

Try to have them fresh, that will give you the best feel of taste.

I did not take a decent picture of this condiment, never actually thought of blogging about it. It was only after tasting it with the bread and mushroom few months back that I realised its pretty tasty, way better than the store bought ones. Now, there is a thing about "store bought".... in one row I get to see different brands and quality of sauces, prices ranging from 2$ to 12$. Given I am a miser, I cannot buy the one priced @ 12$, I settle for a 4-5 $ one, was just thinking how about preparing basic sauces at home just like this CHILLI GARLIC TOMATO SAUCE or a green chilli sauce.... I mean we can prepare at home the very basic sauces, chutneys, pickles that require minimal and common ingredients. What we should do is make them in smaller batches at regular intervals, try them alongside rice and bread varieties or on wraps. Trust me it is a very good idea because sauces take less time to prepare, vinegar alone can play the role of a preservative, doing so we can avoid the intake of unnecessary chemicals that may harm our body. Considering all pros & cons and my ample free time, I have started the wise exercise, would you?

I do not know why I am feeling restless today, it usually happens when people either target me or something that I love.... that can be a person, a feeling, a tribe, a clan, my pride. You definitely can play matches among yourselves, the world is a place to meet more people and shake hands but definitely not at the cost of the sanctity of my courtyard.... I will not take time to retaliate if so. That may look very silly of a 48 year old, but I am helplessly whimsical. I will do what I think I should. I will tolerate one's attitudes only if one has helped me at least at one point in life, else you do not have anything to do in my life, at least in the social media forums. Did not I dig a grave for my younger baby which happens to be my blog behaving like this? Oh yes, I know how true it is but I cannot be otherwise. I do not use my blog only for my recipes to go viral and reach heights of acceptability, I also wished to make my life an open book doing so. I am not being able to reach the amount of readers I wish to is true, after the son gets settled down in life in few years, I may look for an editor / proof reader who would turn my miserably poor English & Grammar to a decent something and be able to give me the pleasure to see my life & cooking in print. Oh God! day dreamers hardly reached anywhere without the effort of making oneself capable. I see girls travelling alone around the world and our mother made a dumb out of me, the scene she created when I travelled alone to Houston with our littler, stayed alone at a hotel for three days as the ship was late to reach the port is unforgettable. Was I at peace and confident there? I would have died of fear had Amit & Ujjaini were not there or a newly wed Bangladeshi officer Harun and his wife had not been there in the adjacent room in the hotel due to join the same ship. When I called the mother to give her the comforting news, she asked me to stay stuck to that honeymooning couple all day, imagine. Now her daughter-in-law goes for training & seminar to other states, the momci-in-law thinks she is desperate and smart.... tell me who made me into this? BTW, taking pride in saying that my brother's wife works at a leading school in Kolkata, teaching at the middle school level there should not cause bitterness in others, or saying that I manage my home pretty well with dettol cleaners, incense sticks considering it my temple does not mean I am taking a dig at anyone.... I do not know why some souls are so complicated, so unconfident of themselves that they have to shout at every gathering how big they are, they have not learnt to be humble till date. Coming to me, my mother and husband are equally responsible turning me into a worthless.... I did not learn anything beyond homemaking, this guy is not letting me start a food home delivery business, the mother makes secret calls to people urging them not to bother her girl to stress much.... secret because she still wants her girl to be spoon fed, secret because I do not want her to speak much, beyond a limit.

Our island is waiting for a long weekend, I do not believe in a divide and rule policy ever since I learnt to take note of few things..... I have to go ahead with a home-made, vegetarian sauce CHILLI GARLIC TOMATO SAUCE done with few ingredients like chilli padi, tomato, garlic, etc. You see I got so scared looking at the condition of my in-laws that I am more into home cooked stuffs, keeping myself engaged at least in few areas of interest. Their major problem is being mentally & physically idle which took a severe toll on their physical health. The son took egg fried rice today for lunch, home-made bread pudding and apple in the snack box. How old would have been my mother-in-law when her kids were at school? The father packed their lunch boxes everyday while the mother slept till noon. He never uttered a word against her sedentary lifestyle, did he do any good to her doing so? An active person like him is scared to go to the toilet alone today, why?..... because each morning his routine is the same, he has to see the same face cribbing about diseases all day, no friends coming in, no interest to visit people... is this a healthy way of life? Our father, the champion of "bindasgiri" had a "chompakoli" death, he went for morning walk, to his club to play bridge, never knew what mental illness is, laughed, chatted with the son before going to the ultimate comatose state. I want the same life and death as of my father, will pass off silently having "muri chanachur makha".... before the d-day I will have to cook for a week long stacking enough food for my beloveds.

INGREDIENTS :

RED CHILLI : 5-6 [I USED CHILLI PADI]
RIPE TOMATO : 5-6
GARLIC CLOVE : 3-4 [BIG SIZED, ELSE 6-7]
DRY RED CHILLI : 2
CORIANDER SEED : 1/2TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1TSP
CHAAT MASALA : 1TSP
VINEGAR : 1TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Dry roast the cumin, dry red chilli, coriander on a tawa for 1-2 minutes at low heat, once cool ground them to a coarse powder.

Now wash the tomatoes and roughly chop. Wash the red chillies or chilli padi, discard the root end, half and take off the seeds. Peel and wash the garlic cloves.

Take the washed tomatoes pieces, garlic and de-seeded chillies in a pressure cooker, add 1 coffee mug of water to it. Add little salt and the turmeric.

Close the lid, pressure cook at the lowest heat up to 2 whistles. Take down and let cool.

Open the lid, transfer the entire content to a blender. Add 1tsp of the ground spices, the chaat masala, salt as required, the sugar, the vinegar to it.

Blend at high for 3-4 minutes with intervals. Strain through a very thin, white, clean cloth. We get a bliss called home-made Chilli Garlic Tomato sauce, a yum condiment.

You see how self centric I am, I had to share something I enjoy on this day, not really thinking of the vegetarians around or of those veg lovers among my readers. I do not plan anything much ahead, I am not an organised planner, the husband can give you all an well described note in support of it. I had some boneless chicken in the freezer which I used in an evening last week. I actually went to the Indian Super Store on that day and got a bottle of Ching's Oriental style sauce back home. There is an aberration of that particular spelling, do not know clearly which one is the corrupted form of the other.

I do not enjoy chicken as before is true, I enjoy tender chicken fries or popcorn chicken and in Oriental sauces, minced chicken kebabs, the only curry with chicken I am enjoying now is a light soupy "robibarer murgir jhol" type I do in a microwave. The thick curries and kormas are not going down well with me, I keep doing them for the men, skip my share of chicken and taste a bit of the curry. Curries with almonds and milk and ghee together are getting difficult to digest for me, its an "ada-jirey bata diye patla jhol seasoned Bengali pet... that is stomach".. How I wish to survive on "choto rui, katla, tyangra, aar, kajoli, pabda, koi er patla jhol" majorly. That is the reason I am absolutely disliking eating at speciality restaurants while in Kolkata, there I wish to visit the local market, buy my kind of fish and vegetables, cook them and eat. On my last visit, I did not make any attempt to buy "hansher dim".. duck eggs, one reason is that it is summer... they usually turn to be rotten if not fresh, then if your man is so fond of eggs and more of duck eggs, you feel awkward eating it alone. It is better I cook something which we would enjoy together moderately, in fact our son gets overjoyed to see this kind of non-vegetarian platter ORIENTAL STYLE CHICKEN & SPICE COATED BATTERFRIED EGG. Both my men enjoy sleek platters of homemade bread with suitable vegetarian and non-vegetarian sides, a variety of fried rices. Their life is sorted out, I have a mental block here at this point, I told my loving readers several times that I experience severe amount of identity crisis if I do not cook authentic Bengali often. You can see below I was cooking "kochur shak"that is taro leaves, this time with smaller prawns simultaneously on that day.

If you have a Cristine, you can prepare them often, my men do not fancy such kind of Bengal's signature, pride, history.... I do and I keep cooking them though in less frequency. I share them with few of my Bengali neighbours. they too send me good food but when one of their mother is here for six months every year, I get to eat my preferences coming from her, "kathaler bichir dalna, potoler bharta, kathaler bichi diye niramish tarkari".... I immediately switch back to an "egaro-baro kathar opor birat bagan ghera bari, gorur goyal, dhan sheddo, jatakoley chal guro, chirey-muri bhaja, pithey-puli, moya banano, chatey bori... achar.. sheyoi shukono, jhorey baganey aam porey thaka o ta kurono, kamini gachey shap joriye thaka".... I did not want to shift to Kolkata from that home, how come I would get over that nostalgia? However, that does not stop me from baking often, I did a decent garlicky bread yesterday evening, just today I cannot associate Bengal, India or any other place than this island and it's neighbours in particular to my share, it is unfair. I could not name the egg dish "moshola makha byashoner golai dim" which is actually so. I must show allegiance to my second home today that has given us safety & security, feeds our stomach.

I need not mention either what the occasion is, if I have learnt any good lesson from the blogger friends around, I will not do that. Let me call this non-vegetarian delight with boneless chicken and egg ORIENTAL STYLE CHICKEN & SPICE COATED BATTER FRIED EGG an Asian Delight that the entire world would love to have.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE ORIENTAL CHICKEN :

BONELESS CHICKEN : 500GM [PORTIONS FROM THE BREST PREFERABLY]
CUBED ONION : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 3-4
SZECHUAN SAUCE : 100-150GM [I USED STORE BOUGHT]
SOYA SAUCE : 2TBSP + 1TBSP
CORN FLOUR : 2TBSP
REFINED FLOUR : 1TBSP
WHITE SESAME SEED : 1/2TSP
BLACK PEPPER POWDER : 1/4TSP + 1/4TSP
VINEGAR : 2TBSP
SUGAR : 1/2TSP
GINGER PASTE : 1/2TSP [MINCED PREFFERED]
GARLIC PASTE : 1TSP [MINCED PREFERRED]
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 50ML, THE EXTRA CAN BE RESERVED FOR A LATER USE

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SPICE COATED BATTER FRIED EGG :

BOILED & HALVED EGG : 4-5
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1TSP
CHAAT MASALA : 1/2TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2TSP
GRAMFLOUR : 4-5TBSP
REFINED FLOUR : 2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED [REMEMBER CHAAT MASALA HAS SALT]
SUGAR : 1/2TSP
OIL : 5-6TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Let us prepare the Oriental Style Chicken first.

I do not have the patience of chef Sanjot Keer who the other day I saw was so minutely slicing each cooking strips into same sizes for a stir fry item may be. I watch a few of them including that little boy of Cooking Shooking? or even Sayan's Kitchen too. Sayan knows the art well, do not know why his pictures look overly dressed up to me, as if like an excess of make up on a face. Mr. K's casual cooking style rules over me though. So, I just chopped them into smaller cubes.

I washed the chicken cubes, drained the water. I pat dried them and marinated them with vinegar, little salt, 1/4tsp black pepper powder, 2 tbsp soya sauce. I kept the bowl aside for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, I prepared a mixture with the Szechuan sauce, 1tbsp soya sauce, 1/4tsp black pepper powder, sugar and salt.

After 45 minutes, I drained the marinade from the chicken and added very little salt, the refined & corn flour to it.

I folded in well and kept aside for 5 minutes. I heated 50ml oil in a wok. We are supposed to deep fry the chicken pieces but I do not wish to reserve too much of excess oil.

Once hot, I fried the coated chicken cubes in batches until light brown.

Once the frying was done, I took off the excess oil leaving behind 2tbsp oil. I added and stirred the ginger garlic paste in it for 11/2-2 minutes.

I added the cubed onions and slitted green chillies, stirred until the onions turned translucent pink.

I added the fried chicken pieces, the prepared sauce now and stir cooked for 2-3 minutes.

I added the white sesame seeds, mixed well and we are done. The best is to serve it immediately.

The above wok went to the dust bin, I got a heavily discounted one yesterday at Isetan.... the simple pleasures of life.

Now this South Asian style Spicy Egg.

You all know how to boil egg, it is so universal and you are not Parvin Babi's screen avatar. Then there is a point here, if I cannot insert a figure to an excel sheet even in 2019, August, there must be people like an on screen Parveen Babi.

Boil your eggs for not more than 4-5 minutes. Once cool, de shell, wash and half. Add salt, half of the turmeric, the cumin + coriander + chaat masala + half of the red chilli powder and marinate well. Keep aside for few minutes.

Prepare a batter with gram flour, refined flour, rest of the chilli powder, salt, sugar and little water. Beat until when there is no lump.

Heat oil in a wok, coat the egg pieces well with the batter and fry them in batches. Here too deep frying gives you a better result, I however have a mental block, may be so my "gulab jamuns" are not ok most of the time.

We enjoyed them hot and fresh with steamed rice, ghee, salad!

That tasted amazing, you bet it did. When people say "palak & paneer" taste amazing, we must believe... when I say the addition of roasted and ground peanuts took the taste level to another height, you must accept it and give it a try... You bet you win. It was actually done two months back when I had my visiting family here in Singapore. I discovered some 50 grams of paneer inside the refrigerator one evening, just forgot to stack it before the family arrived neither was willing to boil 2 litres of milk to get this little amount of paneer. Availability of spinach / palak is not a problem here, we get locally the Thai and Chinese varieties, for the young Indian variety we need to visit the Indian super store. The Thai Palak tastes exactly like the Indian variety, so it is welcome. When two bunches of palak got cooked with the little amount of crumbled paneer, the amount looked this little, I had to feed seven people. I always have a big jar of roasted peanut stored at home, the husband needs it everyday with his beer. I so tried other combination of mixed nuts & dried fruits on him but he does not enjoy them on a regular basis. So adding roasted peanut powder was not a problem. It made a big difference, all in the family so loved the warm, tomato based curry with the non-fried creamy textured kofta. I could not stop getting down the daddy in to the scene, he used to love kofta curries, made of raw banana the most. I started cooking KANCHAKOLAR KOFTA CURRY for his love of it but hardly got any chance to feed him. Our mother hardly lets anyone get away with accolades, to keep the rein in control she is ready to take the pain of tremendous labour even at this age. We do not stop her, at least she should have some engagement around attractive enough to make her live a decent life. Else, the brother's wife cooked a fabulous keema chana curry the day we reached Kolkata this time, I cook better dals than our mother, I find her dals too bland.... Anyway, along with my brother, his wife, she also liked the vegetarian curry, the side of SPINACH PEANUT PANEER KOFTA I served them. That definitely was a big satisfaction. The mother definitely had grown old, one who so loved dosa & idli, could not digest the giant sized dosas served here. She was more comfortable with the idli I prepared at home with semolina or dalia. She was more willing to have oriental style light soups that did not have pork or beef. On every outing, I had to instruct the outlets how to make a customised soup with fried & boneless fish, egg, prawn, a bit of chicken, .... she preferred vegetarian soups actually adding soya sauce, sesame oil, red chilli paste to it. I prepared soup for her too, one we so loved I did click, shall share with my loving readers at a later date.

Coming to this SPINACH PEANUT PANEER KOFTA, I just forgot clicking all the steps. When the kofta mixture was done, I realised I forgot clicking. Anyway, I did the entire process with the regular kitchen spices we usually use in our cooking. I mean being in the food world for a while, I came across so different varieties of spices, the tour of Istanbul Spice Bazaar further enriched my experience but I had to throw off half of the Ottoman Meat Spice I bought from there, meat curries with that did not catch my fancy. Its either South Asian Spices or Oriental Sauces for me... ok different salad creams too are a favourite. I still have some amount of the dried vegetables I got from Istanbul safe in the refrigerator, thinking of making a spicy, lemony pulao to serve with chicken tonight. I find it difficult to give life to a dish or do justice to it if it totally goes against my taste bud. So, the principle of "love thyself to be able to love others" pretty well works actually. Like I find broccoli too bland a stuff, I also know it has tremendous health benefits and it tastes horrible if we overcook it. What I do is I serve it over a bed of boiled noodles with a drizzle of olive oil, Thai & Vietnamese sauces I am so fond of or add to spicy tomato rice. Me happy, family too. Cooking occupies a major part of my life, it imparts happiness within. Had I have known cooking is a pleasure at an young age , would I have pursued something like a hotel management course? Nope, cooking is a pleasure, literature is a love. When I did not take it as a major subject in graduation fearing a poorer performance, the husband and the mother told me I am doing the biggest mistake in life and yes I did, the Masters + a bachelor's degree in education seems useless pieces of paper resting in the locker. In my country of origin, most get a master's degree by fluke, not loving the subject taken as major but by mugging up "previous ten years of question papers". A Nupur Dutta told me after our Master's result.... " S you got so many marks more than me because you have a superior power of mugging up texts".... I am not my mother that I would make a hell out of people doing positive criticism. There is a but, however our mother is, she means more to me than any other's parents. Nupur in her own right was the head girl of Ballygaung Shiksha Sadan in 10th standard or in Modern High in her 12th may be. In the recent past, I was not surprised to see her as a principal in a full fledged high school at New Barrackpore, North 24 Parganas. This time too I could not meet her though we discovered we live near each other, there is a next time and I know she would not have a problem accepting the fact that I cook maacher jhol perfectly like the wonder women in our grandmother's era .... neither I will hesitate to tell her "listen the thought of facing an interview gives me goosebumps till date" if she asks me why I wasted my life sitting at home. She will not find it necessary to tell and remind me often how successful she is in her profession because she knows she is, I know she is. We would definitely not try to take over and own each other, we know there are many people around who together contribute to our life, we cannot be selfish or idiot enough to pay attention to anyone in particular, thats so impossible at this age. She and her likes know what decorum a teacher should maintain at least in public, neither a Partha Dey and his likes need to stand at the roof top and shout what a big shot he is, he knows he is, frustrated souls like me are always in a hurry to prove themselves in public. Anyway, here is a full proof, yummy vegetarian recipe for near friends, just friends, distant friends, acquaintances.... everyone who follows CURRY AND SPICE !

INGREDIENTS FOR THE KOFTA BALL :

SPINACH / PALAK : 500GM
PANEER : 50GM-100GM
ROASTED PEANUT POWDER : 1SMALL TEA CUP
SLICED ONION : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1TBSP
CUMIN SEED : 2PINCH
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1/2TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1/2TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 2PINCH
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1TSP
OIL : 2TBSP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE KOFTA CURRY :

THE PREPARED KOFTA BALLS
TOMATO : 4-5 MEDIUM SIZED
ONION : 1BIG
CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
GARAM MASALA POWDER : 1TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TSP
GINGER PASTE : 1TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
BAY LEAF : 1
BUTTER : 1TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 3-4TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Discard the root ends of the spinach stalks. Roughly chop them, wash and blanch in hot water for few minutes. Discard the water and make a paste out of it in a blender. Crumble the paneer.

Heat oil in a wok, temper with cumin seeds. Add the cumin seeds, chopped green chillies and stir. Add the washed onion slices and fry till golden brown.

Add the spinach paste and stir for few minutes. Add the crumbled paneer. Fold in well. Now, add the salt, turmeric + red chilli + cumin + coriander powders + salt + sugar. Stir cook for 2-3 minutes.

Take it on a plate. Add the roasted peanut powder. Let cool, then mix well.

Shape into kofta of your choice tearing smaller portions.

I cook my kofta mixture well and avoid frying them.

For the curry, we would chop and wash the tomatoes. We would discard the two end of the onion, peel + halve + slice + wash the onion.

We would make a paste of the tomato pieces.

We would heat the oil in a clean wok and fry the onion until brown in it. We would take them out, cool and make a paste of it.

In the same reheated oil, we would add the bay leaf and the cumin seeds. We would then add the ginger paste and fry for 11/2-2 minutes.

Thereafter, we would add the tomato paste and stir at low heat for 2 minutes.

We would add the onion paste there after and fold in well.

We would stir cook for a minute or so and add the turmeric + cumin + coriander + red chilli powders & salt to it.

Mix it well and add 11/2 coffee mug of water. Let the gravy simmer at low heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the garam masala powder now.

After simmering it for 2-3 minutes, we would add the butter. As the butter melts, we would arrange the koftas is a bowl.

After allowing the gravy to simmer for another minute, we would pour it over the koftas evenly.

We would wait at least 1/2 an hour before serving the kofta curry with flat breads / rice or even toasted breads.

Its Rakhi Poornima for the Bengalis and they celebrate all occasions getting more of a carnivore or following Bengal's tradition of "no meat" during happy occasions, end up eating a variety of fish.... What about those who would be celebrating Rakshabandhan tomorrow? Most of them are vegetarian I know. So, I skipped the idea of sharing a post on a combined platter of rice and chicken, decided to share the recipe of that oil free chicken at a later date and go ahead with this vegetarian main dish MIXED NUT DRIED VEGETABLE TOMATO RICE today. I have paired it with a side of chicken and salad.... the way my sibling would love it, my immediate family would too. If you are a vegetarian just have it with NAVRATAN KORMA or this MIXED VEGETABLE KOFTA IN A CREAMY RICH CURRY . My family still would be happier if there is a fish or meat dish alongside these vegetarian dishes. So, the chicken had to be there on the plate today. I am not fond of chicken but like few other dishes with chicken, could have this one from my new experimental dish. I am not really willing to write a long post today, wish to go for a swim. Ever since, I am experiencing excruciating pain on the left side of my body over a year now, only swimming helps to keep the pain under control. You see I already take four varieties of medicine each day, do not wish more additions to it. Moreover, only queens deserve constant pamper, attention, care, expenditures.... I am far from being one. I am not a wise soul but I can tell you all that the one who cares too much is the loser, the one who does not at all steals the show. Being nice, quiet, gentle only makes you a victim because you do not have the power to retaliate, you cannot shout at the top of your voice, I know some venomous mouths for years now who destroyed the basic frame of my mind and I am too unable to be nice to them because I am not an angel, never wanted to be. I only know that there is someone up there, the Almighty who stands strong as an witness to all the abuses that was hurled at me for years using some pets in the process to do the same .... from the son-in-law to the who's who among the relatives. Do not always go by the social media love filled posts, they do not prove anything. Stationed far away from Kolkata, I feel better, at least I am not been sandwiched between an unholy nexus of a flock of abusive people. I really do not understand how and why people expect nicety towards those who shamelessly abuse you within the family frame ? Is not that insulting your own self? I have closed the doors tight to some who I wish to be formal with, just formal.... no amount of their "forced nicety" can make me love them, I will just be formal as one is to the employers at a work place. If you have robbed me of my good self, bear the outcome of it. These days my favourite pass time is to look back to the mid 90's and trying to mend some decisions. In that case, I would have taken up that part-time job at Bagula College, complete my MPhil course.... not all lecturers have to reach Nishi's level staying in the profession or be a stark feminist like Prama or be a school's principal like a Nupur or Ratnadi to feel complete. I know I would have become a full time lecturer by now in a "ganj or grameen" college, happily roaming India wide with "Kundu Special" Travel Agency ..... alone off course.... this self-centric wanted an absolute free, loner's life for herself once back from a tour of Southern India in 1992.... free of the parent's policing too.... uff, I cannot be my brother. I do not believe I have to live by the wishes of my family, I feel free to make some secret visits while in Kolkata because I do not hone any personal interest going there, the best thing is there are no family ties in those relationships, no family matters to be discussed, no carrying the family into those houses..... just one to one conversation over a cup of tea / coffee. My beloved Iva Dutta Miss asked me a question when I went to visit her after my Master's Degree Course result was out .... "S do you think you are taking your future steps cautiously??" Thereafter, we did not meet for years, now I feel I should on each visit. Because I could be strong enough to stop myself from begging for someone's mercy at a tender age, I have few places to go in Kolkata to open up at regular intervals.... I need them as breathers. For the rest of the decisions in life, I would say in my defence that no one of us have taken or can take 100% correct steps in life. We have to accept this truth and move on. If you have a handsome, weird monkey or a princess in other cases ruling your mind.... life should be good. If you know how precious they are, you will not consciously hurt people who are devoid of this happiness.... keeping this in mind is not possible at all times they should also know this. I try not to hurt people but I will not keep any soft corner for those who did not hesitate to abuse my being, my parents every now and then. I told straight on face to one dignified lady..... "my parents did not teach me to respect the elders ok, what have your parents taught you? I see they did not teach you the basic manners how to behave with people, neither your kids are perfect!" I am nasty, welcome.... I am so! Most of the Indian / South Asian Families give wrong lessons to the girl child, to be "submissive and hone Herculean digestive powers".... Learn to say "shut up" to those who take you for granted, however I still do not find bare bodied men and women in public quite an interesting sight unless those pictures are fetching you lakhs & crores of rupees / dollars etc. Come, have some "porota achar" with me or just be like me, a happy, lonely wanderer who loves going out alone and have some melon and reduced sweet "yuan yang". Do what you like, be a little cautious how you project yourself in social media.

Take good care of your wishes in a real life scenario. Because I do not give in to the man's family's wishes, did not allow them to decide what I do and what I do not, who to meet and who not to..... I have to love myself enough not caring about what they think of me. When the son is not at home, I wander alone, I spend quality time with a Cristine, with one Miss.W..... avoid mingling with "masked souls" often.... I decide how much time do I give to people who I find superfluous.... isn't it better to sweat out in the kitchen and stir up a main dish with rice like this MIXED NUT DRIED VEGETABLE TOMATO RICE? Life would have been better if I could earn a little something from this loving hobby.... I so wished to! The question is am I a flawless Ms. Perfect? Did I ever claim so?

INGREDIENTS :

BASMATI OR ANY LONG GRAINED RICE : 1COFFEE MUG
DRIED MIXED VEGETABLE : 2SMALL TEA CUP [ I got from Istanbul, you can use fresh veggies]
WALNUT : 2TBSP BROKEN
CASHEW NUT : 10-12HALVED
ALMOND : 10-12
TOMATO PASTE : 1COFFEE MUG
SLICED ONION : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
CURRY LEAF : A HANDFUL
CUMIN SEED : 1/2TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
GARAM MASALA POWDER : 1TSP
BLACK PEPPER POWDER : 1/2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
GHEE / CLARIFIED BUTTER : 4-TBSP + 2TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Let us prepare the rice first. We would boil it until 60% done, then strain and wait for half an hour for all the water to drain.

In that time we would arrange everything on the kitchen counter. We would wash the sliced onion and curry leaves. You can soak the dried vegetables in warm water for sometime before use, I did not.

Heat ghee in a wok, temper with cumin seeds.

Add the onion slices and curry leaves. Stir for a while and until the onion slices turn translucent.

Add the nuts and stir for a minute or so.

Add the tomato puree, and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the turmeric + cumin + coriander + red chilli + black pepper + garam masala powders + salt as required and stir for a minute.

Now, add the vegetables and fold in well.

Add the cooked rice and here we have to be little cautious. We will try to avoid the breaking of rice and use two ladles to gently fold in and mix all the ingredients.

Towards the end, add 2tbsp ghee / clarified butter to garnish.

Enjoy while its still hot. We had a chicken curry and salad. You can skip the chicken and have fish or mutton.... skip the non vegetarian part and add in vegetarian koftas and kormas or just enjoy the delightful rice main with a simple serving of salad and raita.

How I was willing to go Bengali today, how some around stop me from that. You know what, if once I decide I would not kiss few cheeks, I just fail to let those come near me. I fear the "pat patar" season would go before I can go up with the recipes. You see I am not a wise person, my whims decide who to throw and who to hug when.... its amazing that in the recent cases it is a parasitical element just like me who I am trying to avoid, one day I must break the barrier of decency and be able to detach or if those creatures are reading this they should set the barrier relieving me of the action. I am too much of an idiot to tolerate these "big" players. If only they could use their labour positively just as those "chatur shorbot" sellers in the streets of Kolkata instead of biting my back, that way they could get away from the tag "parasitical" and "decently" could take on me. I like "honest" game players. I have to ignore these creatures and go Bengali sooner, at least for the sake of a Tilottoma Majumder whose novel "ektara" I am just done with, I wish I had that guts like the protagonist. Anyway, leave these, let us talk what I enjoy the most.... "food"... Sattu / Chatu / Roasted Bengal Gram Flour was common in Bengali homes in our childhood. Barley Sattu and Chana Dal Sattu were the two varieties which were bought on a regular basis and I so enjoyed having it with puffed rice, milk, banana, sugar [dudh, muri, kola, chatu, chini]. With that memory still alive inside, I got a big packet of Sattu few months back, felt I can have it sans the sugar, I will never have sugar free alternatives on a regular basis. Then, it is a typical Bengali "ayeshi" body, a lethargic self that owns a big mouth to give big talks, severely unable to gobble a glass of "noon-lebu deoa chatu" or a bowl of "chatu... jol.. noon...lebu... lanka... peyaz diye"..... and work all day under the sun.... If they lack manners that is because they did not learn it in the process of earning fodder for the family or state.... at least they are not a parasite like me. If in a country, states fight constantly throwing filth at each other, what was the purpose of getting freedom in the first place. Wish I could get rid of certain minds and some "fasist nationalist groups" hovering on what I do in public. I do not blame those who go on a blocking spree, the problem is I want to keep CURRY AND SPICE in public setting willing to reach the right kinds of food loving people, doing so relieving and revealing my life, my self in my own space. I think I should go ahead with what I love doing.

So, you know this variety of sattu / chatu / Roasted Bengal Gram Flour entered home with a noble idea. Then, this is not a wise soul. It lay neglected in a container for months until when the idea of a CHATUR POROTA popped up. Indian / South Asian homes do prepare flat breads with a stuffing made of sattu but I wanted to go simpler and hassle free, that costed me some time. I am scared of stuffed hand made breads, but a dough made with chatu or roasted chana dal / barley flour may not give you the feel of easy rolling. I had to use that cap for good looking shapes with smoother ends. What I got were low caloric, healthy flat breads yum to eat and easy to digest. I had some left over beresta or fried onions on that evening. Not in the habit of wasting food, I used it, carom seeds, some chaat masala powder I think, ghee in the dough that fetched me enough flat breads to feed the family. Off course, my bread loving family enjoyed the vegetarian main CHATUR POROTA with tomato ketchup, green chilli sauce, an egg plant, onion and black chickpea vegetarian side. You can add a varied combination of ingredients in your sattu dough, roll them, cook them for a healthy meal plan, you can blindly follow mine to get your family smile..... I mean if your family has an universal tooth.

INGREDIENTS :

ROASTED BENGAL GRAM FLOUR / SATTU / CHATU : 2-3COFFEE MUG
BERESTA FRIED ONION : 2-3TBSP
CAROM SEED : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4TSP
CHAAT MASALA : 1TSP
SALT : 2-3PINCH
GHEE / CLARIFIED BUTTER : 2TBSP + 1TSP FOR FRYING EACH OF THE FLAT BREAD

PROCEDURE :

Take all the ingredients along with 2tbsp ghee on a wide mouthed bowl.

Then, rub well for 2 minutes.

Then, add water little at a time to prepare a soft, smooth yet firm dough. This may take some 7-8 minutes.

Tear off small portions, smoothen between your palms. Do you wash them before touching food items? A must!

Dust with flour before starting to roll. I do it, experts do not I have heard so.... not dusting gives you softer breads they say.

While rolling, I faced the trouble of uneven, split ends. Never mind, use your cookie cutters or container caps to shape.

I was very happy that the impatient me could show some amount of patience, you can too! To test my patience level, I did not take help from Cristine.

Now, we are ready to cook them. Heat the tawa / griddle enough. Place one flat bread first. Toast one side for 30 seconds. Turn over and toast 30 seconds. Add ghee... 1tsp and cook both sides well. They would turn light brown.

Serve them with your choice of sides.

How and why did this happen? Winglet, Wing Stick, Drumlet all in a bowl, a yellow coloured green chilli sauce chicken? When guests come in, I usually do not add those pieces to the curry I am making to serve them. About the green chilli sauce, it was not a good buy. Even while at stay in Kolkata, I had seen store bought green chilli sauces could not satisfy my taste bud. The last one I got home with much hope few months back but to my disappointment.... green chilli sauce instead of been hot had an overpowering sour taste. If I want a sour tone I would have a tamarind sauce, would not want it in a chilli sauce. I am planning at least three sauces and chutneys at home sooner, lethargy is not letting me get the ingredients together. I am too unhappy with the taste of "kasundi" we get here, I am not willing to get it from India fearing my dresses, specially sarees may spoil, neither I am willing to consult ten recipes of it to prepare mine..... So I would do something with raw mango that we get round the year, mustard seeds and green chillies, mustard oil, vinegar... and share the recipe too in due course. I would also prepare a better quality green chilli sauce. Quite irritated with the store bought green chilli sauce, I thought of using half the remaining bottle cooking with the leftover drumlets, winglets, wing sticks of the chicken few days after a guest come in. Thus this non-vegetarian, easy side dish of chicken CHICKEN IN GREEN CHILLI SAUCE was created. Its just fine for an evening to be served with some brown rice, onion dal, semolina fritters, paneer stuffed tomatoes. Even if you are not a non-vegetarian food enthusiast, you can manage a meal with the rest of the items. About the yellow colour in a green chilli sauce chicken, its more about the kitchen light, my poor knowledge of photography, it turned pale green after cooking actually.

It rains throughout the year here, but monsoon is between October and February. During this period it rains more, climate gets a bit cooler. While many a country wrap themselves in heavy blankets, dab bottles of cold cream on their face and body, we just use a thin bed spread at night while the fans are still on. Yes, my skin gets drier during this time and I so fail to maintain a decent skin care routine. I never had an interest, now totally lost it. I need to change my profile pictures in the social media forums because I think people should know how I look "now"..... that too requires some preparations like plucking off the greys from the eyebrows, colour my hair. I consider that too much of a job, specially when I an occupied most of the time with reading, cooking and having what I cook. All of a sudden, yesterday evening after a cuppa of fine Darjeeling and store bought namkeens, I felt like baking some egg free cup cakes and I did .... I must say cooking and reading gives me the utmost pleasure. The cup cakes went to their snack boxes today along with untimely mangoes.... sorry cannot resist myself from buying mangoes. What went to their lunch boxes is porota and okra tossed in crushed garlic. This foodie had to taste everything before sitting to write this post.... a foodie that I am. Within an hour I would have 4-5 table spoon of muri with half a mango, then around 3 pm I would have my kind of fish curry AAR DHONEPATA BATA JHOL with fox tail millet, around 6:30pm I must have coffee or tea with biscuits, around 10pm I would stop for the day having a dinner with fox tail millet and 3 items of what I cooked on Saturday. Even a Rujuta Diwekar cannot do anything to my ever expanding belly area which happens to be two tyred. A swimming session of 50 minutes and few miles of walk alternately cannot be proportionate to this pattern of eating. If I eat healthy, the joy of life would be gone. BTW, I did not like the taste of the namkeens, must do it at home sooner.

So all the above activities stores enough energy in me to share the recipe of this quick and easy recipe of a non vegetarian meat dish CHICKEN IN GREEN CHILLI SAUCE. I remember there was very little bit of spices used in it, the major idea was to finish off the remaining green chilli sauce with an addition of few ingredients of which onion and garlic were a must. I although have a PAPAYA CHICKEN recipe in the blog which does not use onion and is yet so good in taste..... I learnt it from Sanak... since marriage I saw him and his elder sister doing experimental cooking. Okay, Sanak's wife also does so, is a chicken-o-phobic unlike me, I do not agree with her way of life, never will but she earns more or at par with an average male here. We still bond over one factor.... we are submissive in nature.... so people get away doing anything, any damn wrong with us. I have decided to live my life without giving too much importance to the happenings around, my joy would be to live through my offspring's dreams. Sanak's wife cannot live without people hovering around her, even the kinds who bite her back, make her feel small. I can understand she needs people, an aura encircling her 24/7 .... so she gives in to all sorts of non-sense. I think we should not come in each other's way and preach to each other.... let us all live our life in our own ways .... giving a blind eye and deaf ear to what that does not attract us. I have a track record of not talking to my little brother an entire day as a teen, I bathed him, fed him, combed his hair but forgot to chat. He was hurt and complained to the parents. To that girl people had to batter with choicest words, people who lack softness, gentleness severely. If they have got the devil out of me.... I would not give in to their wishes, nor be warm towards them.... only cold and just formal. I do not wish to be called M. Angelic S anyway. Let us proceed with the recipe which is my pleasure always!

INGREDIENTS :

CHICKEN : 500GM MEDIUM SIZED
CRUSHED GARLIC : 1TBSP
SLICED ONION : 1SMALL TEA CUP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 2-3
COARSELY GROUND BLACK PEPPER POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
GREEN CHILLI SAUCE : 6-8TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 2-3TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Wash and pat dry the chicken pieces. Marinate with the crushed garlic, coarsely ground black pepper powder, little salt for 30-45 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok, add the sliced onions. Fry them until golden brown.

Add the chicken pieces without the marinade. Stir at high heat for 3-4 minutes.

Reduce heat to minimal and add the marinade. Fold in well and cover cook for 10 minutes checking in between. We cannot let it burn, if water does not release, add little water.

Open cover, add the green chilli sauce, the slitted green chillies and stir fry at low heat for 2-3 minutes.

Now add 2 small tea cups of warm water. Adjust the salt if required. Fold in well and cook uncovered at the minimal heat for 5-6 minutes.

Yeah we are done. Have fresh and hot with rice. We had some semolina fritters, paneer stuffed tomato and onion dal alongside. That is my kind of dinner, could be best if you substituted the chicken for a crispy fried river water fish.

Where to start from, there are so many memories associated with these two dishes with pat pata / jute leaves. I think most of the Bengali homes in those days used to have it during the season. The yester year veterans did not even know that Cleopatra used to eat jute leaves, we had it because we loved it and were told that it cools our stomach.. "pet thanda korey". Our family used to prepare the young jute leaves in three ways. The above PAT PATAR BORA O SHAAK and a garlic tempered light curry with it which happened to be of sticky texture. Let us not reminiscence memory today, I think my beautiful memories causes irritation to many around. Let me be nice to these people at times, if not possible always. I wish to talk only about myself today, well that is the case most of the time.... I am all about I, Me, Myself. It was a nice day yesterday and I promised myself to do some walking. Ever since I am enjoying the pleasure of going down for a swim any time of the day, going out for a walk has taken a back sit, a lazy that I am. Yesterday, I walked for 5km and then immediately had an overly chilled coconut drink. It is wrong to have chilled stuffs when the body is warmer than normal, it is more of a wrong to have canned drinks when there are fresh juices available around. Thereafter, I had my favourite, a too hot mini wok. On way back, I had to walk to the nursery because 5km of walk is not enough for a hippopotamus. It was after coming out of the nursery and sitting to have a sugarcane juice that I felt something has gone wrong... I got a sore throat within two hours. Back home, Cristine did the necessary work with the saplings, me being the uneducated instructor. After taking a shower, I felt feverish. Once home around 10.30pm, the husband indeed asked me to go to a doctor this morning. Unlike his father, he never was / is at his wife's service 24/7 and get tensed at the sight of a mildly feverish wife. Because my husband asked me to go to the doctor, I would make it a point not to go. I had a calpol at night and went to sleep. I woke up late this morning, around 6am and look at what I woke up to.... should not I hum "baharon.... mera jivan bhi sanwaron.... baharon.. sanwaron"... I must learn the lyrics of this old favourite. While I was paying my tribute to the deceased soul of Vidya Sinha in one forum, I got the news of the demise of Khayyam Sahab.... Umrao Jaan was as much as of him, as it was of the diva Rekha. I wish I had the guts of having a Rekha's life.... "the queen of her own self"... No, I do not have any problem with those who go public with kissing, smooching pictures with their partners, I think I am not the kind to abuse, back bite others unless they batter my self respect. I keep telling my brother to take good care of his wife.... so long she is duty bound to our mother, we need not monitor her life at all, she would not allow anyone either.

Should I have one more calpol now? If I can walk 6km to the Indian neighbourhood, I can have a plate of chaat or Southern Indian Rice platter. Then, tomorrow I have to visit that area for an oncoming occasion. I keep eating out but what goes in to their lunch boxes are usually homemade. Today, it was ruti with eggplant-egg bharta in the lunch box, beside a snack box as that.

Coming to the vegetarian sides PAT PATAR BORA O SHAAK, they were regular at home, still is and just this way. The problem is I do not get a regular supply of it in our island. All of us can finish two plates of the batter fries within minutes, though the husband never crosses the limit. The son would definitely not have the garlic tossed jute leaves. These were / are very common, rustic, authentic Bengali dishes and I sincerely wish to keep them alive at this home, in the blog.

INGREDIENTS : FOR THE GARLIC TOSSED YOUNG JUTE LEAVES

PAT PATA / YOUNG JUTE LEAF : 500 GM
CRUSHED GARLIC : 2TSP
DRY RED CHILLI : 2
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 1OR 2
TURMERIC : 1/4TSP
NIGELLA SEED : 1/4TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 1TBSP [I USE MUSTARD, YOU CAN USE ANY]

INGREDIENTS : FOR THE BATTER FRIED YOUNG JUTE LEAVES

PAT PATA / YOUNG JUTE LEAF : 500GM - 750GM
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 2TSP
RICE FLOUR : 1SMALL TEA CUP
GRAM FLOUR : 1/4SMALL TEA CUP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
SUGAR : 1/3TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 1OOML - 150ML TO DEEP FRY [THE EXCESS CAN BE STORED FOR A LATER USE]

PROCEDURE :

For both the dishes, it is required to dress each young leaf of a jute plant properly. We would fold each leaf, tear off and discard the mid section. Thereafter, we would wash them few times very well. We would let all the water drain well. Now the leaves are ready to be used for both the recipes.

Let us prepare the PAT SHAAK ..... Jute Leaves tossed in crushed garlic first.

Heat 1tbsp of oil in a wok or a pan and temper with nigella seeds, dried red chillies and the crushed garlic. Stir at low heat for a minute.

Add the leaves as much you are using [They become 1/4 of the amount you are using after being cooked.]

Add the turmeric, slitted green chillies and the required amount of salt. Fold in well and lower the heat to minimal.

Cover cook for 10 minutes checking in between. They should release water and get cooked in that water. If not, keep sprinkling water every 2 minutes.

Once all the water dries up, we should be done.

Now let us do the PAT PATAR BORA .... Batter Fried Jute leaves Fritters.

Prepare a batter with the rice flour, gram flour, red chilli powder, chopped green chillies, turmeric powder, salt as required and the sugar adding little water at a time. The batter should be the consistency of a tooth paste. Keep the batter standing for 6-8-10 minutes allowing all the ingredients to incorporate well.

Heat 100-150ml oil in a wok. Take 3-4 leaves together, dip into and coat well with the batter. We do not thickly coat these leaves, we should be able to get the taste of the leaves, which should be very crisp after being fried.

Now add them carefully to the hot oil. Fry them in batches, turning over constantly. We have to adjust and readjust the heat constantly during the process. Take down as the leaves gets to be crisp without letting them to get burnt.

Both the items go very well with steamed rice, you may try the fritters with tea / coffee.

Finally, I could prepare something similar to "kashundi"..... that Bengali style mustard sauce. This is the sauce the grandmother never made at her home, so I never had seen the process of it in person. I have always heard that it calls for stricter rules and regulations, it spoils if you do not abide by them. Kashundi was not even a regular affair at our home, I mean it was not so that we could not have "shaak bhaja and bhaat without a kashundi and sliced onion alongside." The mother would occasionally buy it and never thought of trying it at her two roomed rented flat where there was constant monitoring by the land lord on what we were doing. I mean that interference could not stop her from preparing a variety of pickles though, its all about preferences. May be that 19 years of humiliation made my father build a decent two storied home in Barrackpore after retirement. Once I reached an age when I could speak on family matters, I told them if you occupy someone's home for near two decades, they would get scared and act weird. I still wonder why the daddy did not shift to a better neighbourhood after his first promotion. Its all about your mental setup, how you want your life to be. Moreover, we are a generation who would never understand the value of a hundred rupees note... how important, what difference it could make in a man's life.... our very middle class parents knew the value of it. The reason why I consider the father-in-law nearer to me in that family..... he definitely is not my father, never can be but we could have been good friends.... that did not happen under family pressure. Even after the son of the house made a triple forward leap and changed the family's financial scenario, his father lived a bare minimal life, till date he is so concerned about the son's huge amount of responsibility. In that family.... only the father-in-law cares about our future.... always he has to enquire about the grandson.... thinking about his future. Worrying about his son.... how he would manage the huge responsibility entrusted on his skeletal structure, he fell more sick.... only he cares for his son and knows that all those printed paper notes are result of sheer hard work and a lot of sweat. That gives him a place in my heart, he need not be my father for that.... I have seen his struggle and sacrifice throughout his life, one who did not change his lifestyle even after the son brought a sea-change in the family set up.... I have always seen unequal treatment in their family and have argued with the husband "why so?" I am like my father-in-law, had I have freaked around with friends, carry nothing less than a Gucci or a Guess at least, start my day at the nearest Starbucks..... the husband would not have been able to save enough to take care of his parents.... his family should feel that, admit that, not really do they. What is my bargain with the husband? "See boss, I am too mean, never a social worker.... I want uninterrupted educational aids for my son, his dreams of building his own life his way should in no way be disturbed"..... So, there you are, I have no regrets carrying a 25$ bag, wearing a 20$ dress most of the time, saying a stricter 'no' to a 'Shaukh' or a 'Gahonaz'.... which is quite an exercise given I am a saree and antique silver jewelry lover..... However, I have a profile picture coming up wearing their products, before pujo I hope. You see, if I am not working, I should respect other's labour.... if I am working, I should respect mine..... a spendthrift's home hardly gets to thrive. So, mutton, salmon, giant tiger prawns, good hilsa do not come together at our home.... two at a time, all in turns. Okay, preparing chutney, sauces, condiments at home is not the result of a miserly act or exercise, I really find the homemade stuffs tastier these days.... take the example of this AAM SHORSHE KANCHALANKAR CHUTNEY, I did it better , mine is tastier than any store bought average quality "Kashundi" done hygienically if not wearing "shuddho kapor on a shuddho shorir." I did not name it kashundi because I did not consult any kashundi recipe and just took the liberty to go my way with a similar kind.

I find making jams and sauces at home very relaxing. They rarely occupy much of your time and energy. If you are starting your day looking at your home grown greens, you feel fresh all day.

One was yesterday morning, one today. Yes, I do spend on them, they give me the necessary boost. Without spending too much on them, our mother grows wonders on her terrace. I requested her for a vegetable garden in her space this year..... so long she does not listen to me, the people around keep me alive with their lovely produce. Once I get the necessary energy for the day, preparing a fried rice for their lunch is not a problem because Cristine gets everything ready on the kitchen top. The magic of a fried rice is that you can prepare it with any combination of ingredients..... I either like very authentic, simple Chinese fried rice or the Southern Indian variety of rices. Doing an easy fried rice and a vegetarian condiment with raw mango and black mustard seeds like this AAM SHORSHE KANCHALANKAR CHUTNEY is not a hard job, I mean even if you are a minimalist cook.

Shall we proceed with the easy, no cook recipe?

INGREDIENTS :

RAW MANGO : 1BIG OR STANDARD SIZE [SHREDDED]
BLACK MUSTARD SEED : 50GM
GREEN CHILLI : 10-12 [ALTER AS PER THEIR HEAT LEVEL]
GARLIC CLOVE : 6-7
WHITE VINEGAR : 100-150ML
LEMON JUICE : 2-3TBSP
SUGAR : 2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
MUSTARD OIL : 5-6TBSP

PROCEDURE :

We will peel the mango and shred it well. Wash it thereafter. Then we will take the ingredients on the kitchen counter.

Thereafter, we will wash and soak the green chillies in half of the vinegar required. Later I used more of the chillies as per the requirement.

Then, we will wash the black mustard seeds taking on a strainer and soak in water for 1/2 an hour.

After 1/2 an hour, we will take the strained black mustard seeds, green chillies along with the vinegar it was soaked in, the garlic cloves and salt in a blender.

We will pulse at high for a minute, then pen the lid. With help of a spatula, we will get the content together.... add more of vinegar and pulse at high for a minute.

Now let us open lid, add the rest of the vinegar, sugar, turmeric and the shredded raw mango.

Now let us pulse at high for a minute and take down and transfer to a bowl. Then we will add the mustard oil.

Let us add the lemon juice, adjust the salt if required and beat well.

At this stage, I felt it requires more of green chillies. So I added them and blended well.

Before transferring it to a sterilised bottle, I kept it under the sun for the entire day.

Now refrigerate and enjoy for a month.

The homestyle sweet is majorly done with a sugar free alternative but towards the end there was 1-2 tsp of sugar added, else I find it very difficult to bind them into a shape. The coconut variety we get here are a bit of weird, they do not release much oil. Wasn't it the jaggery or sugar and the oily juice of the coconut together made a perfect "naru".... my narus are softer.... Oh! my God! the eldest of my cousin is Narayan with a pet name Naru.... I so played on the lap of my "Nanu."..... The elder of his two sons now got married and are both working.... so you know our age difference. The mother always says that this guy is a wonderful, honest person who helped her tremendously when she could not manage alone a big family which had my father, a toddler me, pishimoni, nanu, the father's youngest brother, the mother herself during our Asansol days. Because pishimoni and the father's youngest brother had no interest in studies, they were sent back to Assam before leaving Asansol, the mother never wished to leave that place.... ask me why? The Loreto and few other convents were located just the other side of the road. Ahh, the poor mother so wanted her daughter to get "convent" educated. Once in Kolkata, she made me sit for admission test two times in Auxilium Convent and one time in Loreto Sealdah.... in all I failed in spelling test and handwriting. That weakness in English Grammar and Spelling still remains a persisting problem in my life. She tried the brother to get in to Calcutta Boys & St. James but could not. The brother was way better in academics than me but was more interested in getting into wrong associations. Taking control over his life and engaging him in sports activities was a religious duty for us I still believe. You cannot allow a part of your body get rot, right? I could not get "conbhent" educated is right, destiny takes it's own course but I tell my mother always "you see mother, boys make very good friends if you associate with the right ones".... we were at the experimental stage of that "Benglish" school with teachers changing every month! I really feel good for those who made it in life which proves they had matter in them. I stand strong with the rest of us back benchers whose mark sheets got severely affected. I still believe academically sound students can survive through any damn school, for us a good schooling is a necessity, now that school earned some name I hear. Coming to my eldest cousin, he had a struggled life. Okay, he could make a political career, from a Pannchayat Head like in the Nabadwip area he managed a meagre job in Kolkata through his parent party. Those who try to prove otherwise have to accept that their party too used their power in jobs and elsewhere, everyone in power does.... question is that to what extent I am using my power. I heard that they did not use their political power with regards to admission in the Calcutta University at the post graduation level.... but all the major, top level posts in that University during their reign were the party loyals. You will not see my dignified friends speaking rational on their page. It is obvious that whoever is in power would misuse it.... I admit that now the situation is worser because the present party in power does not have any history of politics..... they are just a flock of "gunda-gardi" loving people, even worser days are approaching towards West Bengal. Big Sister herself may not be too bad but her associates are terribly dishonest. I do not know why I am too unwilling to see politically motivated posts coming in ..... Social Media was not solely started for us "computerbotamtepabiplabi".... news on achievements are welcome, food & music very much welcome, expressing our own view on a social or socio-political issue welcome, poorly made viral posts most of which are hoaxes with wrong informations ..... please excuse me, keep in touch with me in WhatsApp or Messenger.... I mostly use social media handles to promote my blog, to flaunt my sarees often, dresses at times, to practice my hobbies.. thats it. Those who try to associate me wrongly, demean my picture posts writing "oh you look so beautiful"..... remember I will hit you back even if it takes decades, I am a scorpio. I am not all about a face, I know how I look, I am not stuck at sweet sixteen that I would want to look like a Pricilla.... that silly me have already wasted my life but Pricilla perhaps cannot make a perfectly shaped REDUCED SUGAR NARKOL NARU like me, just as I cannot do many a things in life. Had I have a bit of wisdom at my teen.... I definitely would not have wasted my life brooding over wrong things..... your feelings... your emotions are pure and precious.... it should not be wasted wrongly on them who do not value you and instigate their associates to make a mockery of it. My eldest cousin spent each droplet of his blood & sweat on building his home, bringing up his sons. His wife I hear is an extreme case of cleanliness freak who equally sacrificed for the family living in a two-roomed shabby rented home. Now their elder son is married, both sons are in decent jobs and they finally could build a two-storied, airy, no-fancy home in the interiors of Parnashree, Behala. A primitive, Bengali soul still yearns for a landed property, thats when the wise husband says S, do not be silly.... when we go back we would go for an "assisted living".... a newly developed concept coming up in India I hear which is a bit different from old age homes. I think I read about it in social media.... if you say so I read news and different stories in social media handles .... this Milaap's page does not let me sleep.

You see, fragments of my life keep coming in all of my blog posts. I did not plan them at any point in the past few years, they just flow. Much later I discovered that people around also do so.... this particular idea was not hired.... else I self associate myself willingly with people who feed my quest for knowledge, class, beauty as defined by me. I wholehearted support a Nishi's confident self, a Swati's hidden talent in art & craft finally coming out of the trunk, I have so many times rebuked an Indirra Sengupta silently for not getting her art and craft out in public. When she told me after school she goes for high tea with friends and her sons stay with their trusted chauffeur, I got upset thinking is she at all using her potential in art & craft which happens to be her special quality? She herself would understand when her boys would leave her on career's call and she would feel lonely..... her bindas self got her kids admitted to the best school in Kolkata till date. However, the "conbhent" maniac girl happens to be very much Indian ..... her father used to love all kinds of "pithey-puli-naru".... so they were a regular affair at home and was not occasionally made. The grandparent's home always had big tinned containers full of "moya"stored for days, naru in glass jars.... the mother too made it a practice.... it was not a "so called romantic liaison" per say.... in fact they hardly had any common interest but I have never seen the mother partying outside leaving the daddy fetch his food by himself. He should have learnt to help our mother I definitely admit. Our mother so struggled with her two kids, so after marriage when I saw people sleeping until 12pm while the husband and kid went to office and college making their own breakfast I wondered as if it is the 8th wonder of the world and realised I cannot stay in this loud and weird atmosphere. Then, this kinds of extreme lazy stuffs went to people and called me a lazy just because my husband earns more than an average, normal Kolkatan.... the bone of contention was that her younger kid did not have that amount of financial security as me.... they never admit that they have zero amount of financial responsibility ..... a situation quite unlike me or us.... that family do not have any idea what amount of strength it takes to bring up your child almost alone, there were nights I shivered and sweated alone with a feverish child, I visited the doctor, called my father-in-law and my mother thereafter. At times, the mother was away to aid her son in Durgapur and her husband cannot even hold a child properly, just one night the father-in-law stayed with me as the son's fever was not getting back to normal.... early morning he was called back because one adult in his home had stomach ache. I have many such stories in the kitty and true ones. The homes who heard the other side of the story over cups of evening tea and further fuelled conflict in my home as part of their regular dose of entertainment, I have finally learnt to disregard them in spite of their age.... they do not deserve my respect or "roshogolla" anything.... they have enough money to buy both. Why do my son makes it a point to spend alone time with my brother and why I never instigate him to misbehave with his paternal grandparents?.... The answer is their love towards him but my offspring did witness his mother getting abused by the paternal grandmother. Oh Pricilla, my Pricilla.... did you ever carry two bags full of rice in your "pelob-kusum" hands? Did you spend sleepless nights when your only "security of life" passed through Gulf of Aden or did you run from this "bazaar to that bazaar" for a "jyanto magur" for the kid and family? Your kinds may have a soft & supple palm that is a poet's dream, they may work very swift on computer keyboards, but I have tougher palms .... try them. My only dream as of now is a good future for the son, not only they but I hate making him public until now..... a fear I need to overcome, when I do not know..... let him grow far from the crowd, mumma continues to prepare this homestyle traditional sweet in a new way REDUCED SUGAR NARKOL NARU for him as she is concerned of her family's health. The things used are evaporated cream, shredded coconut, green cardamom powder, sugar. The evaporated cream worked wonder in reducing the cooking time, I could not let it be sugar free because it is sugar or jaggery which helps to get the content sticky. I could not click stepwise pictures because we are not supposed to take pictures or taste the food we are supposed to offer the Almighty.

INGREDIENTS :

SHREDDED COCONUT : 2COFFEE MUGS OR 400-500GM

EVAPORATED CREAMER : 1CAN [385ML]

STEVIA POWDER : 100-150GM

SUGAR : 2TBSP

GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1TSP

PROCEDURE :

Pour the evaporated creamer and stevia powder in a wok. Bring to boil and keep simmering at low heat for 7-8 minutes. During this constantly do we need to stir.

Now add the shredded coconut and constantly keep stirring folding in well.

When the content gets 80% dry, add the sugar and green cardamom powder. Keep stirring further until it gets sticky.

Take down and let it cool. Shape into small, round balls, "naru" when it is still warm.

This was the soupy curry that caught our fancy when I prepared it earlier in July. The mother was visiting us and she was only wanting to have light soups the island styles having a bit of noodles or rice in them as part of her carb intake. Just like our mother, chicken in soups is very welcome to me and I prefer doing it at home because I give them a vinegar bath for quite sometime, cook for a little longer period as per our taste bud. So, I thought let me try similar kinds at home using different combinations of ingredients. Yes, the rest in the family liked it and would not mind having such kinds often when served with something like garlic tempered rice. If they get to have good amount of chicken and prawns in one dish, they would tolerate the vegetables. I think what made it seem too favourable to us are the use of lemon grass, khaffir lime leaves and lemon juice in good amount. I do not know back from India why I have not done a non vegetarian soup with chicken, prawn, broccoli, mushrooms, watercress like this CHICKEN PRAWN VEGETABLE SOUP for a single day but I must now. Yesterday was the day for my blood sugar check and it reached a staggering height. I really do not wish to be my husband's burden, he is already overburdened with too much of responsibilities.... he is no "Mithunda".... you know na that guy bought a lorry for one relative, and set some other business for the other. Off course, I had to poke my flat nose and give a strong message as and whenever required that my husband is not a billionaire and I am no social worker neither we have a money plant. History cannot repeat and I cannot put my son's future at stake. Mr.T was not born to furnish the entire family branch, excuse me! Nope, I have no regrets speaking harsh, I do not start my day at Starbucks and end at Nando's neither the husband gifts me gold now and then depriving others.The guy is travelling and had sent me the picture below last Monday morning because I get too tensed when he drives to the neighbouring state, he has to provide me details at every stop. Nope, he is not a regular Facebook-er but a black tea aficionado, never with milk and sugar.

I think I have to tell all not to send any kind of sweets at this home, it comes for the men but I cannot resist myself having them. I got the punishment yesterday at the doctor's chamber. Let me prepare the family sweets my own way. Out from the chamber, the demoralised me had to have a pork & egg fried rice with some vegetables. Broccoli is not something we enjoy but we eat it as an accompaniment. Thereafter, late afternoon I had "samo rice and mushur dal porridge," at night we had the best meal... mumma made chicken with bell pepper ..... our boy is having fencing lessons everyday and the babai is not there to drive him back late night. My question is.... "when will you study after all these?"

Yes, I am having everything with millets but I have read that it is not good for people with hypothyroidism. You see, I have everything at a food court or food chain / joint.... the man cannot say I deprive others and have my own pleasure and luxury.... people can always have a different notion.

I actually have a series of fish and meat recipes in the kitty to share. I am so unwilling to share a prawn I so want you to prepare, all my earlier fish photos are in a package of five or two I am so unwilling to share at the moment.... never knew five can have such a broader, wide perspective.... amazing thinking ability people possess, look at me! Its always a pleasure to end the day looking at the son's and his father's face who happens to be my ultimate security. For the son or his parents, a soya sauce chilli chicken or a non vegetarian soup CHICKEN PRAWN VEGETABLE SOUP any time of the day is welcome. If only he cared about mumma and think what gives her a high. What gives me ultimate pleasure? Well, I keep telling the son, if you have inherited the father's brain matter, do not waste it, do not get me average results.... your mother always has kept your interest, your well being at forth.... remember that. Who listens? The friends' daughters and sons have scored 95%-98% in almost all subjects. I am like "amar jiboney kichu chaina, amar number chai, academic records chai"..... I am my mother's daughter after all who became a diabetic when the brother refused to pursue further education after leaving college.... I am also my maternal grandmother's girl.... whose sons, specially the eldest and the youngest of the three are business magnets, quite known in the Nadia circuit.... even few years back she used to say "ora ayam-e pash korlo na, bank e dhuklona, amar dukkho"..... She is 90 up, she must be happy knowing that her youngest grandson is doing PhD in mathematics who does not want his father's huge property.... need to ask him if he can kindly transfer it to my account.... bad joke... lets cook and eat.

INGREDIENTS :

BONELESS CHICKEN STRIP : 250-300GM
DE SHELLED PRAWN : 200-250GM
MUSHROOM : ANY VARIETY
CHOPPED WATER CRESS : A BUNCH
BROCCOLI FLORET : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP
SLICED ONION : 1SMALL TEA CUP
CRUSHED GINGER & GARLIC : 1TBSP
CHOPPED LEMON GRASS : 1TSP
KAFFIR LIME LEAF : 6-7
LEMON JUICE : 4-5TBSP [I REMEMBER I USED GONDHORAJ]
CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1TSP
VINEGAR : 2TBSP
SOYA SAUCE : 1TBSP
TABASCO : 1-2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 2TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Wash and drain all the ingredients well. Marinate the chicken strips and dressed prawns with vinegar and very little amount of salt for an hour. Drain the marinade thereafter. Add the broccoli, chicken and prawn, half of the lime leaves to a vessel with boiling water. Add some salt.

You can see we have got everything ready, crushed ginger garlic to sliced onion. We would add the washed watercress and mushrooms in the last lap of the cooking.

After the chicken, prawn and broccoli has boiled for 5-7 minutes, strain and reserve the stock.

Separating the crushed and cooked garlic-ginger and lime leaves was a tedious job, did I need to?

Heat the oil in a wok and add the lemon grass pieces. Stir and add the sliced onion. Stir until they turn translucent.

Add the freshly made stock. Bring to a boil.

When it has boiled for 3-4 minutes, add the cooked chicken, prawn and broccoli. Add all of the lemon juice and crushed black pepper.

Add the mushrooms and watercress and cook for 2 minutes.

Then add the rest of the lime leaves and tabasco, adjust the salt if required.

You can have it as a soup or enjoy it with plain rice or garlic tempered rice.

There was a homecoming yesterday evening and I prepared this steamed egg curry which I found hassle free and quick. The senior of the two men at home swears on egg, the son was getting what he loves for the past few days.... therefore should be able to share an egg meal with babai, mumma was too full after an overdose of mutton biryani late afternoon. Mumma yet had two tablespoon of rice, egg curry and dal else all that extra amount of ghee will create trouble all through the night. The Bengalis love "Mughlai" food way too much that is true, the reason their death due to heart diseases is on the high. That the Bengalis and the Muslims mostly of South Asia in general love rich, unhealthy but too tasty dishes is a truth, there need not be so much of hue and cry about it, neither backlashes should be targetted at me. Just yesterday, I was talking to my childhood buddy Tanushree who is far from the maddening social media games and hates me for being a part of all these. She always says that if the social media robs me of my natural self, if I cannot feel free and be myself there, I need not be there. I do treasure such friends who will not try to control my life ever, who will not expect me to belong only to them ..... Tanushree is more timid, soft spoken and meek than I used to be, I keep her within the warmth of my heart without feeling obligated.... we know we need not do hi-hello often, we still would remain friends for ever. If you try to own me, I will get cold ..... I will stop giving special attention to you because you are ignoring, trying to insult my other friends who are important to me. Tanushree happens to be the husband's classmate too with so opposing character traits, even we are opposing partners.... if you are honest to each other you can carry along an entire life together. There was a time when me and Tanushree both were of same character traits.... less interested in studies, timid, quiet, Bollywood buffs.... she however unlike me was a beauty of our times.... too serene and known as Asha Parekh among us.... I have never seen her being proud of that or using her beauty wrongly to woo anyone.... neither male nor female. What you should know is that she is excellent in sewing, sewed maxi dresses for me when we were young, learnt quilting, now prepares bags.... I asked her to open a page and start her business ..... I think I have to open it for her.... she can always change the password later. I am the least qualitative among us friends but enjoyed cooking this non vegetarian egg meal ALOO DIYE BHAPA DIM ER JHOL , Dal, Bhindi Sheddo, Potato Fry, Rice for the family, specially for the husband who is back home after few days. I still have the wish to home deliver egg, fish, meat or vegetarian simple, daily meals to South Asian Homes in the island.... an island so strict with rules.

Coming to Life and Death, I think about it often.... when I cannot bear it anymore I go out for a long walk. Like I have a soft corner for an Ipsita and wondered how she survived through the death of her both parents by age 11. I do not sit together often with her for few reasons... she is busy with her teaching job , next we are neighbours, there is a possibility of misunderstandings .... she is not a social media buff ... so I would prefer to maintain the relationship. When our father expired, I felt everything gets bearable with time but it may not be the same forever.... so before flaunting often, think of the others.... a widower, a divorcee, your marriage would not be on the rocks for it.... personal relationships are not to be flaunted in social media[often]. Tanushree seemed too disturbed two-three months back.... she messaged me that she lost her mother all of a sudden within hours. Kakima [who you refer as aunty] was just back from the "bahargaon" staying for months with her younger kid, her son's family. Her first born, her daughter cleaned the flat where she used to live alone, she entered... next morning she fell sick, the daughter saw her sweating profusely, on reaching the nursing home she was declared dead. Think of this girl, she lost her father back in 2012, Semtemper, her husband stays in Kazakasthan, the brother in the "bahargaon", the son studies BBA in Vizag. I would call her strong, oh! unlike me, she is an excellent daughter-in-law who handled not one but three sets of in-laws and their kids since 1993.... they helped. Did they ever think or cared about the fact that Tanushree or Juna could be a cloth designer if given a chance? I am a bad girl you know, I hate her for one reason.... be a very good daughter-in-law no problem, in the journey do not neglect yourself and know that one part of your heart remained empty.... you missed friends' gathering, you failed to experience a beauty called "friendship".... I cannot be this sacrificial, I must have my own life. So, this girl's boy will be going for MBA course next year and she would go back to Kolkata and start living alone most of the time.... she is still beautiful, hence I will not divulge her address. I remember, when our son was born, she visited us with their's.... he was only six and called my husband "mama" instantly without being tutored.... he plays very good cricket at the Hyderabad circuit I think but he has to be a MBA graduate you know... bye bye cricket.... I am pretty sure my brother would have been playing cricket in the Bengal team by now if our parents were not Bengali. Anyway, I have not met Tanushree's family except for her and her mother after that accident / incident at the BBQ Nation restaurant, Sector 5, Kolkata.... I fell sick and one of her family member had to be admitted to the hospital, you remember? I also remember the expression of disapproval in kakima's face watching me wear a three-quartered jeans and okay a shirt. Her brother told, ' I miss the S di I knew".... I immediately said "Diu I am the same, trust me!" So, Tanushree loves wearing salwar suits and saree, never can go against the wish of her dead parents, dead paa-in-law or her surviving family, she is timid.... spare her in social media.... she is not smart and up-to-date like you.

Did I mention Tanushree's son with an intention? Not really I am that bad! We may not meet him ever.... I always feel sad to accept the truth that our son may "not have cousins ever.".... I am very clear to what extent I can maintain relationships..... but if you play with my emotions without a viable reason, I may get into the shell gradually. I have no problem with the man's parents living on this earth, in fact I call his father mostly because he speaks sense, he was not too active in "outraging the modesty of me and my family." He cannot ever be a generous, a rare species of a father-in-law like my father, it is also true that he sweated handling my son for long, I could not entrust the responsibility of our son to my father, if anyone came in between... he would sit to chaat forgetting the toddler's meal time.... yet he was our son's "smiling buro"... he was visibly disturbed on his death news..... kids can feel love, a good soul, a pure heart. It is always better to cook and enjoy the recipes I always share for you including this non vegetarian egg meal ALOO DIYE BHAPA DIM ER JHOL, egg, that is so loved by the man.... a severely underweight fella, who had the strength, ability to sacrifice all his academic dreams and take upon his shoulder immense responsibilities. Accept that, those around who play virtual games behind our back, there is no other way for me but to be very cold and formal with you. He may shout at me, quite a political brain unlike me, I may retaliate and fight it but all who know him must admit that he is an extremely honest, trusted and responsible person, your ignorance does not prove anything. Come, let us eat.

This is not a family recipe, I learnt about it from the various Bengali Food Groups I had been part of earlier, some of the Bengali Bloggers may have this recipe but I have not consulted their recipe in the recent years. The steaming part definitely can be done on stove top, I just do not have a square steel bowl and feared scratches on my cake tins.

INGREDIENTS :

EGG : 6
POTATO : 1BIG
CHOPPED ONION : 2TBSP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 2TSP
CHOPPED CORIANDER : 2TBSP
TOMATO PASTE : 1SMALL TEA CUP
ONION PASTE : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP
GARLIC PASTE : 1TBSP
GINGER PASTE : 2TBSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 11/2TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
CINNAMON POWDER : 1/4TSP
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 2PINCH
CHAAT MASALA : 1TSP
CUMIN SEED : 2PINCH
BAY LEAF : 1
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1TSP [OPTIONAL IF YOU ARE NOT A BENGALI]
OIL : 4TBSP

PROCEDURE :

I did the entire cooking at low to the minimal heat as and when required.

I am in the habit of washing the egg shells before using, we must. Thereafter we have to break them, add 2pinch of salt and turmeric and then beat well.

Add the chopped and washed onion + green chilli + coriander leaves and beat well.

Add the chaat masala and use a whisk to beat well. Pour into a greased oven proof bowl.

Mine is a convection mode microwave. So, I placed the low stool first, on top of it an oven proof bigger bowl less than half filled water.

Now preheat at 200*C for 10 minutes. Gently place the egg mixture filled bowl atop the water filled container after being covered with a foil.

Bake at 200*C for 12-14minutes. Let stand for 2-3 minutes and take out.

Let it be cooler and let us prepare a tomato+ onion paste mean while. We would also prepare a spice paste with the ginger paste + cumin powder + turmeric + red chilli powder + salt + little water, keeping the garlic paste in a separate bowl.

Meanwhile, Cristine had washed the potato and pricked all over it with a fork. She placed it on a plate and microwaved at high for 2 minutes. She had let it cool and peeled, made 8 equal divide.... rubbed some salt & turmeric and fried them.

We have cut the steamed egg into squares too. Now we have tempered the oil with cumin seeds and bay leaf.

We would now add the garlic paste and fry for a minute.

Now we added the spice mixture, and stirred for 2 minutes.

We should add the tomato paste now and fold in well.

After stirring it for a pretty 2-3 minutes, we need to add the lightly fried potatoes.

After a minute, we added a coffee mug of water and waited to bring it to a boil.

We added the cinnamon + green cardamon powder now.

Fold in well and let simmer for 3-4 minutes, add the steamed egg pieces now and let cook for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and simmer for a minute.

Enjoy with steamed rice, dal, vegetables, some fries & salad!

That was prepared earlier this month when I got home good sized pomegranates at a decent prize.... the miser that I am any expensive fruit comes at a discounted price to this home. Not to worry, I do love my family and do not compromise with the quality of food to that extreme. The lazy men at home do not wish to have pomegranate as a fruit.... make dessert with it or use it as a garnish, yes! These people are not really fussy with food or very demanding, you just need to serve them what they enjoy having. I do not always conform to their wish, would do so had they have at least one meal of the day with some salad.... listening to their wish means no vegetable going inside their stomach. So, I use coercive actions often. I am getting kind of restrictive with the white sugar intake, so desserts and sweets are made in lesser amount at home. How can I stop preparing them altogether? I must prepare them, what I do is use the freshest of ripe, juicy fruits to lessen the amount of sugar or sugar alternatives in whichever sweet or dessert I prepare. Like this healthy frozen dessert POMEGRANATE KULFI was done with a good amount of pomegranate juice besides full cream milk and evaporated milk. I used stevia powder because I am a diabetic and I am unable to manage the blood sugar level for quite sometime now because of my love for food in general. I have to taste what I cook.

I am careful about what I feed my men like this morning I finally had the last piece of semolina muffin I prepared more than a week back, that luchi dough was prepared for a Saturday lunch, I told Cristine let you and me finish off the remaining this morning. In a worst case scenario, I have to throw food that I dislike.

Tea and Coffee without sugar and milk is what suits me I found, that milk coffee and tea on a daily basis is causing me acidity, bloating.... the other day I had to take hold of my ailing self after glasses of Ayataka Tea. I only asked Cristine to prepare a "jompesh dudh cha" for me as we had to finish the evaporated creamer can which I already have opened. You may anyday find me dead from food poisoning, but I try to be honest when I cook for my family and you.... my friends, followers, readers!

I am however willing to finish off today quickly .... I have my hair to be coloured, have a shower after an hour, although there is no Ganesh Chaturthi kind of celebration in the family, I am feeling awkward offering "jol-michri" only to him today, thinking what can be done in a jiffy.... only halwa comes to my head.... Thereafter, I may venture out for a very late lunch ..... which may be a non-vegetarian which has nothing to do with the public sentiment. Ganesh ji / Gonshu Baba was prayed specially on the occasion of "Akshaytritiya" in our maternal grand parents home.... almost all Bengali business families worship Ganesha either on Poila Baishak or Akshay Tritiya. I hear this time of the year it is the start of the Muslim Calendar too.... anyone can enjoy their special occasion with this frozen dessert POMEGRANATE KULFI. I have used full cream milk, evaporated milk, pomegranate juice, stevia powder, green cardamom powder and mixed nut to prepare it. You can use equal amount of sugar instead of stevia. Our boy specially needs these kind of food entertainments after school.... ... he is the prime focus in our life, had we have a girl child, she would have been so, its so plain and simple, had we being issueless we would have lived with a pain one can have an idea of.

INGREDIENTS :

FULL CREAM MILK : 1LITRE [I USE MARRIGOLD]
EVAPORATED MILK : 1CAN [385ML]
POMEGRANATE JUICE : 1COFFEE MUG
STEVIA POWDER : 2-3TBSP [YOU CAN USE EQUAL AMOUNT OF SUGAR]
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/2TSP
EDIBLE RED FOOD COLOUR : 1-2DROPS
CHOPPED PISTACHIO AND ALMOND : 2TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Take the entire amount of milk in a container and put for boil.

Stir continuously until it reduces to half. Add the evaporated milk and stevia powder now.

Keep stirring for another 5 minutes. Add the green cardamom powder and 1/2 of the chopped pistachio and almonds now. Switch off the oven after a minute or so.

Do the entire cooking at low heat.

Meanwhile, Cristine had extracted all the juice from the pomegranate. I have added a bit of edible red food colour to it which is optional.

Now, let the milk mixture cool completely, add the pomegranate juice to it and mix well.

Pour onto a clean container. Garnish with the rest of the chopped pistachios, cover with a foil and freeze for 5-6 hours before we can have it.

I totally loved it because the addition of fresh pomegranate gave it a light texture, the family enjoyed it too....

Yesterday was my first attempt at multigrain atta / flour poori, few months back we switched over to this variety replacing whole wheat flour. All this while I was preparing either chapati or porota with this healthier variety of flour, was failing each time to get fluffy pooris / puffed breads. The fluffiness of luchi / poori is a must for me, if we are calling it puffed bread we need to work towards puffing it up. If I cannot do those icings and toppings atop cakes or not being able to explore different combinations of it, I should not call myself a baker. It is as simple as that. So, I just asked Cristine to add a teaspoon of baking powder to the semolina and multigrain flour mixture yesterday and I was able to do a fairly good job with the dough. However, I never thought of blogging on a vegetarian snack combo meal MULTIGRAIN ATTA POORI O SHUKNO MOSHOLA ALOO at this moment, so did not click the stepwise pictures. It was when I prepared the dry spiced potato dish for myself and Cristine's lunch, I felt let us do some clicks, its worth sharing if the food taste good. So I did. I would always want to say one thing that a freshly made dough gives you the best result, I was finding it difficult in the afternoon.... experts may manage better.. I am not one. The clicks could have been made better but I think I was more in a hurry to eat, then later at night I knew what was making me restless unknowingly .... one diamond earring of mine got a miss in the swimming pool perhaps. I am prejudiced, I have heard it brings bad omen. I think I have to be less explicit about my family and life in public. Not everyone can be happy and feel sad along with me ..... I was never this expressive, why am I even looking for mental support in people who may not want to be my friend, more interested to play different mind games at my back. I needed some brain truly. It is the final school year for our ward and I wanted some peace around for the safe passage of our child.

However, food always give me the necessary high and a wise, cool husband. He never scolds at my stupidities. Although he told he would compensate me, he would not unless I pester continuously which I am poor at. I am always like come to me if you need me, do not put me through tests and play tricks on me. My husband has not tried anything nasty on me ever, he shouts and shuts the case. It is me who broods, broods and broods over one issue, then weep and wipe and sit to eat. Either I remain prime to the people who I give my heart, else get lost... play, dance, merry, kiss.... spare me your tricks please.... the reason why I prefer few elderlies in my life .... they seem easier to me to mingle because I am considering myself a step forward to join that group sooner. I mingle less because I cannot tolerate people sugar coating their words, I finally get to know the lies. I will talk to you genuinely and as much as required.... that pouring the heart in to the wrong bowls should stop.... I mean something, people get something and hit me back.... why not, they have more friends with similar bent of mind and intellect may be. How can people shamelessly use and play with other's feelings I really do not understand. Eating more is also a time pass for me.... I have to go a little light today, yesterday I had a lot of food.... that heavy lunch with the vegetarian snack platter MULTIGRAIN ATTA POORI O SHUKNO MOSHOLA ALOO, it was when I was having murukku with tea, I discovered that I have lost my earring.... search was on, in between that I made that "mash kolai er dal" and Cristine those crispy cauliflower and egg plant fries. We had to finish that steamed egg and potato curry too.... who wants egg, if I get "bhaja bhuji"...

Cristine's ma'am is trying to be a gardener in vein.... just waiting for the next year to read more on it. The pleasures of life would go, our baby would go off home.... he is there today.... early morning the curtains are off, the television set is on.... mumma gets irritated but enjoys his company which would get rare with time.... she is not too keen to exhibit his hairy leg.... her eyes may not be fairly trained na?

Let me but share with you a favourite kind of family meal. I act in accordance with what needs my attention at this time if only it does not miss my eyes.... most of the things around may get missed.... I do not hunt around and act to get people towards me.... the best IQ-ed people should unite but without using my sentiments. With each passing day, I am learning to expect less from people, I know they do not have the ability to be clean to people as me which I attribute to my blunt self "manushke bajano amar shobhabey nei." Let me finish off the post and at least go and report to the office.... we are not a rich home not to feel sad.... do not know why the husband is not bothered, a diamond studded earring is lost.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE MULTIGRAIN ATTA POORI :

MULTIGRAIN ATTA FLOUR : 2COFFEE MUG
SEMOLINA : 2-3TBSP
BAKING SODA : 1TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 1TBSP + 100-150ML TO DEEP FRY [I USE GHEE]

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DRY SPICED POTATO

ROUGHLY CUBED BOILED POTATO : A BOWLFUL OR AS PER YOUR REQUIREMENT. [2BIG SHOULD BE FINE FOR A NUCLEAR FAMILY]
CHOPPED CORIANDER : 2TBSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1/2TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1/2TSP
CHAAT MASALA : 1TSP
LEMON JUICE : 2TBSP
CUMIN SEED : 2PINCH
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 1OR 2
OIL : 2TBSP

PROCEDURE :

The potato sabzi making was impromptu, I like how the non-Bengali homes prepare their potato curries, was trying one of them using a rough idea and it clicked.

Wash, boil, peel the potato in your own convenient way and drain the water. Roughly cube and marinate with salt turmeric and 1/2 of the lemon juice. Keep aside for 10-15 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with the cumin seeds. Add the marinated boiled potatoes and give a stir.

Add the cumin + coriander + red chilli powder and stir. Sprinkle 1/2 a small tea cup of water and stir for 2-3 minutes at medium to low heat.

Add the remaining lemon juice and chaat masala, washed & chopped coriander, stir for 1/2 a minute. We are done.

Let us do the Multigrain Atta Flour Poori now.

Take the salt, baking powder, multigrain atta and semolina in a bowl, mix well.. Add little water at a time and keep kneading.

When it is 80% done, add 1tbsp oil and keep kneading. We would need some 10-12 minutes to get the proper dough. Keep covered for 15 minutes.

Tear off small portions, add a drop of oil and roll out round pooris.

Heat enough oil in the wok. Deep fry each puffed bread / poori as you see below.

Is not that a wonderful meal idea, my family eats vegetarian when they get this kinds? Do not forget your pickle.

This is something I always enjoy having with piping hot rice. Few decades back such kinds would have been my third option, keeping a fish curry or fry at forth or even a meat curry given meat was a weekly once affair.... hence we treated it as a weekend celebration. Now, I have crossed the prime phase of my life..... meat is no more the main interest although I am unwilling to quit it... fresh water fish still remains a love. We do not get the kind of fish I prefer here in this island on a regular basis, so I lean more on the vegetarian dishes that I have grown up eating. By God's grace, this island sells those vegetables that Bengali homes eat.... we even get packeted jackfruit and broad bean seeds. I saw the grandmother and mother roasting broad bean seeds in sand and then storing them for year long to be used in curries. It is not possible to follow every step of them in our modern homes, some I do... those which I can. This very rustic, humble vegetarian dish with cauliflower leaves & stem FULKOPIR PATA BATA is one of them. I can have it every week, the rest in the family would not mind to taste anything that may feel like "shutkir bhorta" but the thing is that this island sells "fulkopi in nyara form".... all leaves are thrown and then sold, even the stems are rarely kept.... they make a wonderful dish when cooked in chilli-mustard paste. No part of a cauliflower was been wasted in our family. I try to follow that. For a cauliflower with leaves, I have to go hunting for it in the Indian shops who gets their supply from India or say South Asia, even the Taiwan Gobi I love in curries comes without leaves. I had an existing picture of this dish stored in Google Photos but I was not keen on sharing that one, I felt I should do a better plating so that my family does not feel being left out. It was quite an exercise yesterday.... a single cauliflower gives you this little amount of leaves if ain't you getting it from your family farmland. So, I included the stems too, never mind we need to cook them too well to avoid bloating.

This was the earlier one, the present one is definitely not a perfect one either. It was nine past at night, poor light, later I felt the rice bowl should have been in the place of those batter fried Malabar Spinach because it seems to get focussed than the main dish for today. You can always excuse this part if what I serve you is good in taste. All these errors are due to poor observation power.

Actually we had a couple of dishes to have yesterday night, anything seems excess beyond 3-4 dishes at this home. We had "maacher jhol" too. So the boiled potato was refrigerated in good amount. I prepared an "aloo chokha" this morning and packed their lunch boxes with "ruti o aloo chokha"..... You can see I must have one ruti with my morning tea. The chapatis today were not good, perhaps I could not maintain the heat level of the oven well.

Food is my religion, the kind of food I like energises me. I am not an energetic person, not 1/10th of our mother but whatever little I cook, I try to do it with love like her and her kinds. By the word "authentic Bengali" I always refer to an era I have immense respect for because I have seen what hard work is, what doing it for the family is and I would continue to stick to my belief.... who ever says what. I do not know how authentic this vegetarian recipe with cauliflower stems FULKOPIR PATA BATA is, when it dates back to the history of Bengali Food, I am doing the way our mother used to do. Here it is done with good amount of onion, a tempering of crushed garlic too is a must.

INGREDIENTS :

CAULIFLOWER : 7-8 [WHOLE]

SLICED ONION : 2MEDIUM SIZED TEA CUP [2-3 MEDIUM SIZED]

CRUSHED GARLIC : 1TBSP [3-4 PEELED CLOVES]

GREEN CHILLI : 2-3

DRY RED CHILLI : 2-3

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP

NIGELLA SEED / KALONJI / KALOJEERA : 1/4TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

SUGAR : 1/2TSP

OIL : 4-5TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Tear off the leaves from the cauliflower and "do not rush to wash."

Switch on the gas, place a wok and add the unwashed cauliflower leaves. Keep stirring at low heat and after 3-4 minutes, it looks like this.

Transfer to a strainer and wash at least 4-5 times under running water.

Thereafter, soak the roasted leaves in a bowl full of hot water adding a little of salt to it for an hour.

Then strain the water, add the soaked leaves to a blender along with the green chillies. Blend it to a paste.

Now, get the rest of the ingredients ready on the kitchen top. The sliced onion, crushed garlic, dry red chillies, kalonji, the prepared paste.

Heat oil in a wok. Temper with the nigella seeds, crushed garlic and the dry red chillies.

Give a stir and add the sliced onions. Fry until light brown and then add the leaf paste.

Add the rest of the turmeric and salt, fold in well and keep stirring for 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat to minimal and cover cook.

After 10-12 minutes, open cover and you can see that the water have dried up and the colour of the content turned darker.

We would stir cook for another 2-3 minutes and take down.

Enjoy it with piping hot rice or chapati.