CURRY AND SPICE

After over a week, I got back to writing a blog post. I would have started next week, then tomorrow starts "Ganesh Utsav", many Indians would worship Lord Ganesha for few days starting tomorrow. I felt, I have to have my contribution in the celebration. Its only a week my beloved men left home, I just cannot get you a dry fruit loaded sweet to prepare and offer it to your lord. Then, the question arises who will eat them? I try to restrict my sugar intake, I would prefer to indulge into having the pleasure of "Teh Tarik" and "Coffee with Milk & Sugar." If you had seen my "Janmashtami" Platter, I tried to make a cut on the sweets I offer. My mother-in-law may say a new born baby cannot have nimki, yet. If we believe Gods have supernatural powers, young Ganesha or Ladoo too can manage the vegetarian fried snack MULTIGRAIN ATTA NIMKI.

In this homemade, snack item; I have used very few ingredients; multigrain flour, oil, salt, carom seeds, baking powder. Butter or Ghee would have imparted a great aroma but I did not use them, I though very much wished to use Ghee / Clarified Butter. They were good, I am having them with tea or coffee or just like that. That is the whole idea of getting some change in the menu list of my offerings to the God Family on any special prayer meet days. I am growing old with diabetes, hypothyroidism and a tendency towards a higher level of cholesterol. I do not invite a couple of families on such days for two reasons; I have stopped mingling with some and I have space crunch. I cannot entertain people who unnecessarily pinch you.

There are homes where every weekend food went, sent with love and care. People at that home if say they cannot have my food and make every attempt to tell me they are Brahmins and think only Brahmins should cook for the God Family, I should draw the boundary at some point. They never said a no when boxes full of "khichuri-labra" went from my home to their's. How will I know if they had thrown off my food or not; I will not allow any disrespect shown to my genuine effort. I never felt they cook any special, quality food during any puja being a Brahmin. I have the decency not to say anything straight on face but I will not allow people to cross the boundary; they are not my family that I have to tolerate. I do not like people who mince words. I do not use slang, what I can say is "get lost and learn to behave."

Anyway, this deep fried, vegetarian snack MULTIGRAIN ATTA NIMKI can be good enough to offer to the God Family. Bengalis do not usually make such offers but I enjoy watching the rest of India offering lemon rice to pakoras to nimkis during any festival. I have to follow those ideas. I totally love "chirey-khoi er murki", "murir moya" as an offering but I have to eat them all for a week after the prayer meet is over. I cannot take that risk at this time. Life will continue to be good if the son can study uninterrupted, stay healthy; the senior can come back home safely, back in India my family stay well without the virus attacking them. These are the assurances I want from the Almighty. I never miss gatherings, outings with gangs in my life; I do not enjoy them much, specially when they discuss people in their absence. Below is what I was doing this morning, sowing ripe chilli seeds.

I cannot remember how many attempts I made to grow chilli plants and failed. But I cook well. By the way, I always think snacks made with refined flour taste the best, okay it may not be a healthier option.

INGREDIENTS :

MULTI GRAIN ATTA / FLOUR : 11/2 COFFEE MUG
CARROM SEED : 1 TSP
BAKING POWDER : 1/2 TSP
SALT : 1/2 TSP
OIL : 3 TBSP + 50 ML TO DEEP FRY

PROCEDURE :

Take the multigrain atta flour, carom seeds, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Mix well and add to it the oil.

Rub well for 2-3 minutes.

Add water little by little and knead well to get a smooth and firm dough. This will take some 10-12 minutes.

Keep covered for 15-20 minutes. Remove cover, knead for 2 minutes.

Tear off tennis ball sized portions and smoothen between your palms.

Use the rolling pin to roll them big. They need not be perfectly round in shape.

With the back of a knife, cut into pieces. I was not in the mind to be very particular with the shapes. I am pretty sure you all will shape them better.

Heat the oil, I mean just warm it. The trick to get them crisp and keep them crisp for days lies in the technique of frying and the temperature of the oil.

Here we need patience and Cristine did help.

Add some of the uncooked snacks to the wok when the oil is warm and not hot.

Fry them in very low heat until golden brown. At times you may have to switch off the heat to adjust the temperature of the oil.

Place them onto tissue paper before putting them into a container. Do not refrigerate them.

I was all set to blog about a Garbanzo Beans & Minced Meat dish today. Then a death news jeopardised all my plan, I felt let me not do a non-vegetarian share today, let me pay homage to the departed soul of the aunty like with a vegetarian dish. I do not know if I can call this vegetarian side dish with raw jackfruit, good amount of spices, cashew nuts, raisins authentic Bengali or not. But yes, this "kalia" kind of curries indeed was made in our families with big sized Bengal Carp varieties occasionally, even earlier in the grandparent's home. I live it to the more learned to decide, let me share this Bengali Vegetarian Side recipe with raw jackfruit & dry fruits ECHORER KALIA; worthy of doing on an all vegetarian day and serve either with a pulao or fried rice as you see in the pictures or with any variety of hand made bread. It even may go with toasted breads. Some may remember it was a part of my tribute to our father's third death anniversary who was 74 at the time of his death.

About the person who left the world for the heavenly abode, we have a thin thread like childhood connection; I came to know about it only when her elder daughter got married to my man's high school friend. Both her daughters stay abroad; the elder in the Sugar Land area and the younger one in Canada. The elderly couple lived in Kolkata. The worst I felt is that the day before was her elder daughter's birthday, they might had a talk over phone. Even though we know such news are inevitable when our parents age, we are never prepared for it. There are birthdays, anniversaries around but this death had to have a mention.

Her elder daughter, who also happens to be our sister like had been helping my man all this while with valuable informations about where to buy stuffs from, what are the necessary buys for a hostel life. Although we got a list from the university, where to get them at the right price was very necessary for my man to know. She called us, offered help and with her suggestions; they bought the stuffs. This was a big help in a land about which we do not know much; I am more concerned about it's ferocious winter, how the son would cope up with it. To pay a tribute to this girl's mother's departed soul, I could not have possibly gone ahead with a non-vegetarian share. Okay, we do have fish whilst we mourn but I preferred to share a Bengali Vegetarian Side dish with young jackfruit ECHORER KALIA today in the blog. If you skip adding the ghee, it becomes gluten-free. If served with rice dishes, my men would need a deep fried fish piece or tandoori chicken beside it; if served with naan or kulcha or porota; they can settle for a vegetarian meal one evening!

INGREDIENTS :

RAW / YOUNG JACKFRUIT : A STANDARD SIZED
CASHEW NUT : 8-10 HALVED
RAISIN : 10-15
PLAIN YOGURT : 7-8 TBSP
CHOPPED TOMATO : 1 MEDIUM SIZED TEA CUP
SLICED ONION : 1 MEDIUM TEA CUP
GINGER PASTE : 2TBSP
GARLIC PASTE : 2 TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 2 TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 2 TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP
CINNAMON POWDER : 1/2 TSP
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/2 TSP
CLOVE POWDER : 3-4 PINCH
CINNAMON STICK : 1 INCH SIZED THREE
GREEN CARDAMOM : 2-3
CLOVE : 3-4
BAY LEAF : 1
CUMIN SEED : 1/4 TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1TSP+1TSP
GHEE / CLARIFIED BUTTER : 1 TBSP
OIL : 4-5 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

If we are buying a whole raw jackfruit, de-skinning is really an ordeal because it's skin is very thick and hard. I usually buy skinless, fresh raw jackfruit we get in the wet market here. On that particular day, I got a whole one. You can see how tough it was for our help to get rid of the skin with a knife; we cannot use "boti."

In most places these days, they cut of the skin for you and sell. I suggest you to get that and then dress.

After cutting off the skin, we had cut it into 4 pieces.

We had then cut off the very hard, inedible mid-section from each piece.

We had to cut them into smaller cubes then. If there are a bit matured seeds; we need to take out each seed and throw off the thin, yellow coverage. But this jackfruit was too young.

You can see, we had taken the pieces in a water filled bowl, washed them and again filled it with water. We had covered and kept soaked for few hours.

We had added some salt and turmeric to the water filled bowl and put it for boil at low heat, covered 80%.

When they boiled 70% to 75%, we took them on a strainer / colander.

We had let the boiled jackfruit pieces to cool. Meanwhile we had washed the chopped tomatoes and sliced onions.

We had taken together the ginger+garlic pastes, cumin+coriander+red chilli+turmeric powders+salt in a bowl. We added 2 tbsp of water and mixed together to get a paste.

We had beaten the plain yogurt and sugar together. We had halved the cashew nuts and washed them. We had also washed and soaked the raisins.

We had heated the oil in a wok and tempered it with cumin seeds, bay leaf, green cardamom seeds, cinnamon sticks and cloves.

We had added the sliced onions now.

We fried them at low heat until golden brown and added the cashew nuts.

We had then added the spice paste and chopped tomatoes and kept stir frying for 4-5 minutes at very low heat.

Thereafter, we added the beaten yogurt and stir cooked at low heat for a minute or two.

Then we had added the boiled pieces of raw jackfruit and folded in well. We stir cooked it for 5-6 minutes.

Thereafter, we had added 2 coffee mugs of water and cover cooked it for 7-8 minutes at low heat.

Then we had removed the cover and added the raisins, 1tsp sugar, cinnamon+cardamom+cloves powders.

We gave a stir and allowed the curry to boil for 5-6 minutes more. Its done.

We had added the clarified butter / ghee, and transferred it to a serving bowl.

We can serve it hot with rice and bread varieties.

Sea Bass comes regular at this home ever since we relocated to this island from Kolkata. In Kolkata, we hardly ate Bhetki; the nearest family member of sea bass or barramundi. They say they are almost same but not totally same. Whilst in Kolkata, bhetki fillets used to come home occasionally for fish fries to be made. I think we have talked about it in my earlier blog posts. Here sea bass is found in abundance; very fresh and of good quality. We get it here in baby form, in sizes ranging from 500gm-750gm-800gm and very big sized above 3kg to 6-7kg, as I have noticed in the past ten years. Because it is a fleshy, less boned fish; my men are all game for it. They definitely would want me to get those big sized and store in the freezer, have for days just as we do with "rui-katla" / bigger sized Bengal Carps.

I, at all times cannot give in to the wishes of my men; though they are not at all demanding. I have a problem with cooking regularly fishes those of which smell, those I am not fond of or I am not used to eating since childhood. That is why for doing any fish curry with a pomfret or sea bass kind of fish, I buy in less quantity, cook and have fresh. When it comes to sea bass, I either buy the baby ones or a 600-700-800 gm sized, very fresh. This non-vegetarian Bengali Fish Curry with sea bass / bhetki / barramundi BEGUN ALOO DIYE SEA BASS ER JHAL ; that is sea bass curry with egg plant & potato using green chilli-mustard paste is done with a very fresh, medium sized sea bass. The same fish curry can be done using bhetki / barramundi too; I actually do not find any difference between them.

The more the senior of the men's returning date to the island is approaching, I am again into weird kind of thoughts. Off course, I will be happy to be with him; but more than my happiness; our boy's safety and security is important to me. He will be in a very safe and secured environment but a mother's fear knows no bounds. I sit all day and think, think and think nonsense, endlessly. I wish we could stay in the same city as his. Yesterday, I was all alone post afternoon, to get some respite from the thoughts, I stretched my eyes through the horizon and froze that moment.

And this morning, I woke up to these bitter gourd saplings.

I have started liking to eat it but I could not have thought of growing bitter gourd plant at home. My men are travelling, they do not eat it except that the son eats crispy fried bitter gourds; they have no interest in gardening. Then who? Ahh! Cristine! She says that in Philippines; they eat bitter gourd leaves & green moong soupy curry. Okay done! At this home, we respect each other's wishes. Like, I will never force my men to have "puti maach"; neither they would ever stop me from cooking and eating it. Today, all day I have been day dreaming of "gorom bhaat with borshakaal er dim bhora puti maach er tetul tok". That is what happens when you do not visit Kolkata for over a year. For now I will satisfy myself with the tail end piece of that sea bass; gladly the curry, egg plants & potatoes with some hot rice. My men, Cristine always love the fleshy stomach pieces from this non-vegetarian, Bengali Fish Curry BEGUN ALOO DIYE SEA BASS ER JHAL.

INGREDIENTS :

SEA BASS / BHETKI / BARRAMUNDI : 6-8 PIECES
EGGPLANT : 2-3 SMALL SIZED
POTATO : 1 MEDIUM SIZED
BLACK MUSTARD SEED : 1 TBSP
GREEN CHILLI : 5-6
GARLIC CLOVE : 1
SALT : AS REQUIRED
ICE CUBE : 2-3
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
NIGELLA SEED / KALO JEEREY : 1/4 TSP
OIL : 4-5 TBSP [ FOR US IT IS MUSTARD OIL]

PROCEDURE :

Wash the fish pieces thoroughly; they should be cut pieces from a fresh fish; frozen fish may not give you the desired taste. Rub well with little salt & turmeric.

Soak the mustard seeds in water for an hour.

If the eggplants are small, cut off the stem end and just half; if little bigger, cut each into 4 pieces. Wash and soak in water.

Cut the potato into cubes. I do not always throw off the skin. Soak in water.

We will marinate the potato & eggplant pieces with little salt & turmeric only 3-4 minutes before frying them, else they get black spots on them.

Heat oil in the wok and lightly fry the potatoes first. Take out. Now fully fry the eggplant pieces and reserve on a plate.

Fry the fish pieces light brown. Do not over fry. Take out.

While doing the frying part; we will strain the soaked mustard seeds and put it in the blender along with the washed green chillies, garlic cloves, salt, ice cubes. We will blend all to a fine paste pausing in between.

[Salt & ice cubes do not let the paste get bitter!]

We will temper the oil with the nigella seeds. Add the chilli-mustard paste and 1/4 small tea cup of water. Add the remaining turmeric powder.

We will stir for a minute and add the lightly fried potatoes. We will add 11/2 coffee mugs of water and give a stir.

Then, we need to cover cook at low heat for 5 minutes. We have to open the cover and add the fish pieces.

We have to cover cook at low heat for 3 minutes. Then, we will uncover, turn over the fish pieces, adjust the salt, add the fried eggplant pieces and few slitted green chillies.

Now, let us cook covered at low heat for 2 minutes. Let us switch off the gas oven.

We will serve hot with plain rice. We also had on the side palonger dal / spinach lentil curry; til bata diye jhinge aloo / ridge gourd and potato in sesame paste; begun aloo diye palong shaak on that day.

For a couple of days now I am wanting to share this non-vegetarian curry recipe using minced meat and Kabuli chana. Actually, we do not get that breed of mutton here that we are used to eating in Kolkata. It is either lamb or sheep meat here; goat meat stopped coming from Australia. I am too sensitive towards smelly stuffs. The problem is I cannot accept strong smell of fish and meat stuffs; neither can I become a vegetarian. Lamb meat does not smell but it does not have fat in it. Sheep meat smells a lot. At times; even after an overnight marination and slow cooking for hours, I find it smelly whilst the rest in the family do not. I ask them but they say it is just fine.

So, these days, instead of solid meat pieces, I mostly get minced meat; it requires less marination and cooking time. It smells less. I am not that extreme who would want to go back to Kolkata to have our kind of fish and meat. I will always consider the factors that would help us prosper more; that matters. I would instead use local ingredients to cook our kind of curries, desserts, snacks. This one pot OIL FREE MUTTON KEEMA & GARBANZO BEANS CURRY is one such family favourite as this family is fond of different kinds of bread. I prefer doing them fresh.

Cooking and having a variety of Beans & Legumes may not be very common in Bengali families but my side of the family have been cooking a few variety for many years now. The vegetarian Indians or South Asians perhaps get their share of protein from different kinds of legumes, beans. It was good to know other parts of the world too eat beans in soups, desserts. I take a leap forward and find it amazing to see so many varieties of them, specially when I visit the Mustafa Centre. Half of the varieties I did not know about; I am pretty sure, the maximum in the Bengali Community may not. I like cooking and eating them; dal varieties are favourite to the son too; the senior too loves if cooked the "non-Bengali" way. What I do is; I keep at least 4-5 varieties in stock at a time.

Round the year, I would stock the Bengali varieties of pulses, beans; "de-skinned moong, beuli, red lentil, Bengal Gram, Matar Dal, yellow & green matar". The rest of the beans & legumes you will see me getting home in turns; of which we are very fond of Garbanzo Beans & Red Kidney Beans. Our mother did not but I do prepare beans and legumes along with meat. The resultant curry is very much a coveted side dish at this home. If one day, we enjoyed this cooked in one pot OIL FREE MUTTON KEEMA & GARBANZO BEANS CURRY with naan bread, the other day, we had it with lemon-turmeric rice. It went well with both.

I cooked that rice 4-5 days before the man and the son had flown to a distant land. Look at my plate; I was eating the reheated stuff a day after they went off. Cristine overloaded my plate, I never say no to food; it helps us survive. I usually cook my family's naan bread with a simple dough made of self raising flour and plain yogurt.

INGREDIENTS :

MINCED MUTTON : 400GM -500GM
GARBANZO BEAN / KABULI CHANA : 200GM
PLAIN YOGURT : 150 GM
CHOPPED TOMATO : 2 MEDIUM TEA CUP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 4-5
ONION PASTE : 3-4 TBSP
GARLIC PASTE : 3 TBSP
GINGER PASTE : 2 TBSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 2 TBSP
CUMIN POWDER : 2 TBSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 2 TBSP
DRY MANGO POWDER : 2 TBSP
CHAAT MASALA : 1 TBSP
GARAM MASALA POWDER : 1 TBSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 2 TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
LEMON JUICE : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP OR 5-6 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Cooking this minced mutton and garbanzo beans curry is very easy because we will do it in a pot. Okay, the garbanzo beans have to be boiled separately.

We have washed few times and marinated the minced mutton with the cumin+coriander+1tbsp red chilli powder+1tsp turmeric powder+onion paste+garlic paste+ginger paste+plain yogurt+lemon juice for 2-3 hours.

We will wash the garbanzo beans and soak in hot water for 3-4 hours. Then, we have to take them in a pressure cooker, add 2-3 coffee mugs of water, little salt and 1 tsp turmeric.

We will close tight the lid and pressure cook at minimal heat up to 3-4 whistles.

We will open the lid once cool.

Now the rest of the cooking is a cake walk.

Take the marinated minced mutton is a deep bottomed vessel. Put it atop the stove and keep the heat at minimal.

We will cover cook for 10-12 minutes, open cover to see how much water it has released.

We will cover cook again at minimal heat for 15 minutes.

We will open the cover and add the boiled Kabuli Chana. Now, give a stir.

We will add the washed tomato pieces and slitted green chillies.

We will cook covered at minimal heat for 10-12 minutes. We will open the cover and add the garam masala powder, dry mango powder and the remaining 1tbsp of chilli powder.

We will cover cook at low heat for 12-14 minutes; open cover and add the chat masala. We will again cover cook for 12-14 minutes at low heat stirring occasionally.

Always serve it hot with rice and bread varieties!

I really wished to blog about this oats & apple cake today which I prepared last Friday. I am usually very prompt and eager to share the recipe of the cooked dishes that become an instant hit in the family. The men are travelling at this time; I am pretty sure they would have enjoyed this bake of mine. They actually have lapped off the worst bakes of mine all these years. I only share in public those of my bakes which are decent and taste good. This is an apple loving family, if they are sweet. Apple is almost always in stock. We need to acquire the taste of green apple which I think is not possible in this lifetime. However, I feel green apple is truly meant for great baking or in fruit salads topped with cream.

This vegetarian bake, a simple oats cake CINNAMON & NUTMEG FLAVOURED OATS APPLE CAKE is done using deliciously sweet and lusciously red apples. I just forgot which variety it is, they are so many in offer here. I am having a serious headache since morning, may be I had spent more amount of time on social media yesterday or did not have good amount of sleep at night. Menopause is approaching fast I guess, I am menstruating at seven days of interval. That is causing physical stress in addition to mental stress in me. Headache can be a byproduct of that.

Okay, the above portion was written in the morning, thereafter I was lying. The severe headache and bloating did not let me go out for a walk. Cristine thinks I am taking too much of mental stress with regards to the son's moving away from home. I have inherited this condition from the mother. This headache thing is related to our stomach. I think yesterday's vada and ikanbilis rice from the food court could not be friendly with me. I overate perhaps. I do not know why I eat outside when I cook so much at home. Coming to the share today, everything about the simple, vegetarian oats & apple cake CINNAMON & NUTMEG FLAVOURED OATS APPLE CAKE was good but the oats crumble turned soft by the next morning. Yet, it tasted good and the recipe is worth sharing.

INGREDIENTS :

POWDERED OATS : 2 COFFEE MUG + 1 SMALL TEA CUP
APPLE : 3
BAKING POWDER : 2 TSP
BAKING SODA : 1 TSP
PLAIN YOGURT : 2 SMALL TEA CUP
VINEGAR : 2 TSP
BROWN SUGAR : 6 TBSP
CINNAMON POWDER : 2 TSP
NUTMEG POWDER : 11/2 TSP
BUTTER : 2-3 TBSP AT ROOM TEMPERATURE
OIL : 1/3 SMALL TEA CUP

PROCEDURE :

The following are the ingredients we are using.

We have powdered one small cup of oats and mixed it with the butter and some brown sugar.

We have washed, cut, chopped the apples and mixed it with cinnamon powder and brown sugar.

We have powdered 2 coffee mugs of oats, added the baking soda & baking powder, mixed well.

We have blended together the plain yogurt, vinegar, oil, sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg powders.

We have prepared a batter adding it to the oat meal mix.

We have poured it to an aluminium foiled tin; actually two of them.

We have topped it with the chopped apples.

On top of that, we have added the crumble and pressed it little.

Mine is a convection mode microwave oven. I had placed the low wired stool inside and preheated the oven for 10 minutes at 180*C.

I had baked the cake at 180*C for 40 minutes.

I think you will enjoy this simple bake.

This was again one evening I wished to feed my family a vegetarian meal. That was an evening three months back. The plan to prepare something different with raw bananas was there for quite sometime. I usually use raw bananas for some Bengali vegetarian curries or in curries with fish and in kofta. I definitely have seen raw banana tikki / kebab around; the truth is there is not much difference in the making of this vegetarian kebab & kofta. In this Indian vegetarian snack dish with raw banana and Bengal Gram Lentil / Dal DAL KANCHAKOLAR TIKKI; I did not use onion and garlic. You do not require. I really did not expect it to taste so good doing it with minimal ingredients.

I have an invitation today over tea and I am always excited about what comes with the tea. I do not much take part in the chitchat; I mean I just cannot take part in it. I keep eating as long as I can; in fact overeat and then ask for leave. The hosts ask me to sit more but I get unable to. With an extremely unfit body; I crave to come back to my temple called home; undress, take a good shower, change over to my usual torn, cotton night wears and dive into the sofa. Oh! God! I so love my home, my cosy corner of peace.

Had I been a smart, diligent, enterprising woman; I could have done so much from home. Everything was okay but this useless nature of mine is truly uncalled for. The husband has no interest in my hobby called cooking; else I had all the ability to home deliver this vegetarian snack delight with raw banana, Bengal Gram Dal / Lentil DAL KANCHAKOLAR TIKKI islandwide. Although, it is a snack item, we had it for dinner; so I needed a main dish to serve it with. I saw somewhere in a Bengali Blogger's space in Instagram that Black Gram Lentil / Kali Urad Dal & Rice Khichdi / Khichuri / Hotchpotch, did it. Although the taste was very different from our usual khichuri, overall we had a good meal. Let us proceed to finishing off with the post, I am just not keeping well this week!

INGREDIENTS :

RAW BANANA : 2 STANDARD SIZED
BENGAL GRAM DAL : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1 TBSP
CHOPPED CORIANDER : A HANDFUL
ROASTED & GROUND CUMIN SEED : 1 TSP
ROASTED & CROUND CORIANDER SEED : 1 TSP
ROASTED & GROUND RED CHILLI : 3
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP
DRY MANGO POWDER : 1/2 TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/2 TSP
CORN FLOUR : 2 TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1/2 TSP
OIL : 2 TBSP + 50-100 ML TO DEEP FRY

PROCEDURE :

I peeled, washed, cut and boiled the raw banana pieces to tender adding the turmeric powder and some salt to the water.

I dry roasted the amount of cumin seeds, coriander seeds, red chillies required for the ground spices to be added and ground them together to a coarse powder.

I had heated the 2tbsp oil in a wok and tempered it with cumin seeds & chopped green chillies.

I had added the washed Bengal Gram Lentil and stir cooked at low heat for 2-3 minutes.

I had added the boiled & mashed raw bananas and folded in well. Then I added the chopped coriander, roasted & ground spice mix, the dry mango powder, little of salt, the sugar and kept stir cooking for 7-8 minutes.

I had transferred the mixture to a plate and had let it cool a bit. I then added the cornflour to it and mixed very well.

I prepared small round tikki / kebabs from it and stored it in a covered bowl.

I had refrigerated the container with the kebabs for few hours, then took it out.

I had fried them in batches. I fried a few, the help did the maximum.

We had them with a black gram dal & rice hotchpotch / khichuri, very unusual in my family!

I think I have been trying to blog about this particular dish with raw papaya & coconut since the initial days of blogging. Each time something or the other was stopping me. My first picture of it was horrible, I deleted. Again one day, at a later date, I clicked it and do not know where I had lost the pictures or they might be sitting somewhere else. It is not that I do it rarely; I do not know about other recipe bloggers but I do not always make it a point to click what I cook, I mean I just forget to. This way, so many of my pictures in the blog posts are still awaiting to be substituted with proper pictures. Some of them I regularly cook but I forget to click and make my blog look better. Same is the case with this vegan, gluten-free Bengali vegetarian side dish with raw papaya & shredded coconut; PEPE CHECHKI. It is a very healthy and simple dish which requires no spices, the flavour comes from the tempering of a bay leaf & cumin seeds; the taste from the raw papaya's own juice and from the shredded coconut!

I am not always willing to state how Bengalis differentiate between "chechki, ghonto, chocchori and ghyat, etc." I grew up loving to eat and do not do research on food. I did not know how to hold a ladle even after marriage. I was only interested in the dish served on the table. I either liked it or did not. Even after taking to food / recipe blogging, I did not take initiative to do research on food of any region, state or country; not even of my own region or community. I am never a hard worker who would strive to excel in her own field. The regret is, in this food industry; I see even the unworthy gets to have thousands of followers with worthless pictures and posts in a forum that is meant for immensely qualitative pictures. In this lifetime, I continue to be blunt and straightforward. To become something, only quality alone is not enough these days; one needs to be tricky, ruthless, have a very sharp, political bent of mind and yes, one has to be the mingling type. To get fame based on your work alone is not the modern trend.

I did not know I would be able to finish this post today. Since morning, I have started writing, then parallelly I was doing some preparation work for tomorrow's menu for my visiting friends. The man also arrived around 2pm, Cristine had to go to the hotel with some essentials where he would stay quarantined for a fortnight; so the flow got disturbed. I am losing out on energy, hence I sit and write a post all day at intervals and share it only in the evenings. I just cannot concentrate well on any single thing; this is however a perennial problem. The more I see fake people around, more irritated I get; genuine, truthful selves are a rarity too. Anyway, let us have a taste of this Bengali side dish with raw papaya & shredded coconut; PEPE CHECHKI, which is vegan & gluten-free.

INGREDIENTS :

RAW PAPAYA : 1 MEDIUM SIZED [SHOULD BE GREEN]
SHREDDED COCONUT : 1 MEDIUM TEA CUP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 2-3
BAY LEAF : 1
CUMIN SEED : 1/4 TSP
DRY RED CHILLI : 2 [HALVED]
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4 TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1 1/2 TSP
OIL : 2-3 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Discard the stem end of the raw papaya.

Peel off the skin with a knife.

Cut half and discard the seeds.

Cut further and peel off the inner wall where the seeds were attached a little thick.

Wash each piece well and shred well with the help of a manual shredder.

Take the shredded raw papaya in a bowl and wash well.

Rub with little salt & turmeric.

Heat the oil in a wok and temper with the bay leaf, cumin seeds, dry red chillies.

Add a little more than half of the shredded coconut and fold in well. Keep stirring at low heat for 2-3 minutes.

Add the marinated shredded raw papaya, reduce the heat to the minimal.

Cover cook for 8-10 minutes, uncover and add the slitted green chillies.

Again cover cook for 10 minutes; uncovering and stirring every 2-3 minutes. There is no need to add water.

Uncover and add the sugar and cook further for 2-3 minutes.

Transfer to a bowl and garnish with the rest of the shredded coconut.

We always have it with plain rice.

This year, the Hindu Bengalis are having two major occasions on the same day, that is today. They both are yearly occasions but each year they are held on different dates but during the Autumn season for sure. This year, there is no excitement around. For us who live abroad, it does not make much of a difference; unless we are at venue where the event or the occasion is held, we just do not get the feel. However, this family never did crave to go to the hometown during specific times of the year for a feel. I think the bouts of nostalgia is less in this family, my fear is if at all our future would make itself present in such celebrations. If so, it will be very painful for us. So long it was attached to our skin, we tried to involve it in all the occasions; now that it has got wings, I fear how things would turn.

Should I even expect, after me anyone would clean oneself, change to washed clothes, prepare a vegetarian sweet with a little of dry fruits varieties, semolina & rice-flour roasted in ghee or butter, shape them roughly, offer to the God family? Harnessing a faint wish at the back of the mind; perhaps one day someone may just click the link for CHALER GURO O SUJIR HALKA MISHTI and prepare it, drape a saree or salwar suit beautifully unlike my weary self, wear eye kohl and lipstick, bangles and nail polish and do some offering, seeking blessings from the Almighty, for the family and the world. I may not be there for ever but CURRY AND SPICE would continue to.

I am feeling so sleepy at this time; then, I take this blogging thing very seriously. Today is the birthday of a friend too who is a non-Hindu; while doing the photography, I had taken into account various factors, the prime been not hurt sentiments, beliefs, etc. I removed the tulsi leaves before clicking, had them in my tea. What is the harm? I still remain a believer, wise men told me once, carry your faith within your heart and do not disturb the world peace doing so. It is not possible for me to cook and pack meat curry for the celebrating friends. Why should I exhibit myself as what I am not? Instead, I clean myself; think of a quickly made sweet with whatever is there at home. What is there at home that does not touch the non-vegetarian stuffs at all? Okay, rice flour, semolina, brown sugar, clarified butter, crushed black pepper; few nuts varieties got me those lightly sweetened stuffs; CHALER GURO O SUJIR HALKA MISHTI; a vegetarian delight all of you can enjoy.

INGREDIENTS :

RICE FLOUR : 1 SMALL TEA CUP
SEMOLINA : 1 MEDIUM TEA CUP
GREEN CARDAMOM : 3-4
BROWN SUGAR : 2 TBSP [ADD MORE, I EAT VERY LESS SWEET]
CLARIFIED BUTTER / GHEE : 21/2 TBSP + 11/2 TBSP [ALTERNATIVELY USE BUTTER]
PISTACHIO : 5-6
ALMOND : 4-5
WALNUT : 4-5

CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1/4 TSP

PROCEDURE :

Though I wished to take stepwise pictures, I could not because the sweet was offered to my God Family. The following are the ingredients I used to prepare it.

Warm 21/2 tbsp of ghee in a non-stick wok or pan. Tear the green cardamoms and add to the ghee / clarified butter.

Add the semolina & rice flour together. Fold in well and keep stirring at minimal heat for 8-10 minutes.

Break and add the almonds, pistachios and walnuts & the crushed black pepper. Stir further at minimal heat for 5 minutes.

Add 1/2 medium tea cup of water and immediately start stirring and mixing well the entire thing.

Add 11/2 tbsp of ghee and fold in well. Switch off the gas oven.

Transfer the entire content on a plate and let cool a bit. We have to knead & prepare the sweets while it's still warm.

If you add more of ghee or butter while kneading, you can get smoother, good shaped sweets. I just wished to relax while at work today.

If you refrigerate them, they need to be brought to the room temperature and warmed a bit before eating.

With severe pain on my left shoulder & arm and on my right gum, I can only think of an easy share. My readers may think why I sit with the pain and do not go for a treatment. What I tell my man, I tell everyone; if it is not a severe ailment that requires immediate attention, we can always wait for our Kolkata visit. The man's office do have an insurance coverage for me and the son but we must reserve it for serious something, which we never wish to see in our life. Life should be merry and the exit should be plain and simple. I mean invest on mutton biryani, sandesh, fruits & nuts, hilsa, salmon & prawns too; a beautiful home, crockeries if one wishes to; why on medicines and hospital bills?

It is in my plan to go for Traditional Chinese Massage for the shoulder pain, I am not just going for the fear of the pandemic. I have to lie down on a bed where I do not know who had lay down before me. Few months back the same massage by an elderly gentleman got me rid of my pain; I guess, we have to do it regularly. He and even the younger Dr.Chang told me its just a case of stiff muscle may be. And Old Dr.Chang? He always asks me to do the expensive tests on my India visits. Unfortunately, we do not get to meet, he got older & weaker and sits in a chamber near their home. Would the doctors' family of four; father, mother, brother, sister like this light fish curry with pomfret, TOMATO PEYAZ ALPO MOSHOLA DIYE POMFRET ER PATLA JHOL? I think they will like the fish & rice meal. I have met them all in these ten years of stay, they do not know what fleecing is. In fact, the medical world in this island does not know what fleecing is; you just pay for the five star service you get. That is a huge amount for the expats like us.

The start of today was good. Our son was nice to mumma, at least texted back in no time. Some days, it is a long wait. He is always busy. Mumma wants every details of his day and night and he refuses to. I thought we will chat over video calls, he refuses to send even a selfie. Let the father come home, if he agrees to do some video chats over the weekend. I / We know life would never be the same for us once the birdling has flown from the nest. I do respect his new life, I know he is busy, just the thought of him been alone in an unknown land is so fearful. I thought, now that there is nothing like "the son will come back from school" thing, I can walk few more miles. But nope; I am more eager to be at home and wait for the evening and then for the next morning, when I get some text messages. The man must be having the same feeling, he hardly expresses. However, both of us wish for the same thing; that our son stays safe and free of any stress. He is very unwilling to say what he is eating in his meals; so I do not know if at all he is having fish meals, fish curry and rice, his favourite salmon or pomfret or prawns at all or not. Mumma cooked this non-vegetarian light fish curry with pomfret TOMATO PEYAZ ALPO MOSHOLA DIYE POMFRET ER PATLA JHOL few months back; the son & his father so loves this less boney, fleshy fish, Cristine too!

INGREDIENTS :

POMFRET : 6-8 MEDIUM SIZED

TOMATO : 1 STANDARD SIZED

ONION : 1 BIG

GREEN CHILLI : 3-4 [SLITTED]

CORIANDER LEAF : 2-3 SPRIG [CHOPPED]

RED CHILLI POWDER : 2 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1TSP

DRY MANGO POWDER : 2TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

RICE FLOUR : 2 TSP

RADHUNI / AJMOD [WIKI SAYS] : 2-3 PINCH [WIKI says radhuni is dried fruit of Trachyspermum Roxburghianum, a flowering plant; smells like parsley, tastes like celery. Honestly, until I had a blog, I did not require to know what radhuni is called outside my family; some called it wild celery seed, I took it, now WIKI says this, I have to correct the earlier blogposts. Others may not admit they have learnt from WIKI, they will say they made a lot of research and proved people like us wrong, I have no such airs; I only cook with care. But a wrong is a wrong, it must be corrected.]

DRY RED CHILLI : 2 [HALVED]

BAY LEAF : 1

OIL : 5-6 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Clean and wash the pomfrets well. Marinate with salt and half the amount of turmeric mentioned. Keep aside for 15 to 20 minutes.

Discard the two ends of the onion, peel, wash and slice. Wash and slit the green chillies. Discard the root end of the fresh coriander, chop and wash well. Wash and chop the tomatoes.

Heat the oil in a wok. Coat each of the pomfrets in rice flour and fry both sides medium at low heat.

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

Add the sliced onion and fry until translucent. Add the turmeric + cumin + coriander + red chilli powders, little salt and fold in well.

Add the tomatoes; stir & cover cook at low heat until half melt.

Open the cover and add water, bring to boil keeping the heat at low.

Add the dry mango powder and give a stir.

Add the fried fish pieces and let boil at low heat for 5-6 minutes. Add the chopped coriander & slitted green chillies now and boil for 2-3 minutes.

It is to be had with steamed rice only. We also had "mulo chechki, methi aloo begun, shojne data aloo beguner jhol" on the sides that day.

I am truly very busy today. I have two friends coming over for lunch tomorrow, I did some preparation work; the sandesh & cake, those which would be offered as sweet something to end the meal with has to be done simultaneously while I write today's blog post. That I will blog about a chicken dish today was decided earlier. It cannot be any rice & chicken combination dish however; I must put in my heart & soul into cooking, when guests are at the door. Sandesh making also takes time and concentration; an easy to go chicken curry is what suits the blog today. What else to eat here except for some selective fish varieties & chicken? I say this from the perspective of a primitive Bengali like me who failed to get out of her life long food habits even after a decade of stay here.

Cooking the family vegetarian dishes in a foreign land is not a problem. The mutton variety available here comes nowhere near the taste of what we get in Kolkata. Same is the case with chicken. I definitely do eat, in fact love to eat chicken on my visits to Kolkata; here I cannot eat. The quality may be supremely good here but the taste is very different to my taste buds, prawns too I do not find as tasty as in Kolkata! It is not about the quality of food, which is definitely top class here, it is something else that a KASURI METHI TANDOORI MOSHOLAI MURGI done with Kolkata's chicken variety is more acceptable to me than that made with any chicken variety done here. Kasuri methi is dried fenugreek leaves and I like it any day more than fresh fenugreek leaves or seeds. Are the Bengalis in Bengal too much in the habit of having fenugreek greens in particular? I doubt. We eat a lot variety of greens however; even "beto shaak", "bathua" which is bitter too but not really fenugreek.

Because I cannot get my choice of meat & fish much here; few of my old time favourites have come back; see I am eating "muri-narkol-chini"; puffed rice with shredded coconut & sugar.

Some days, I do not keep any tab on what I eat; I ate a plateful of rice for lunch and within two hours, this! The entire morning was a tense situation. Every Thursday morning it will be so. Wednesday night is our son's fencing class in that distant land, unless he is back in his dorm, I feel terrible. He is not the kind who would send messages every half an hour as told, I have to keep knocking him, try to make him understand how important a message is for us. Yes, this non-vegetarian chicken curry with Tandoori Masala and Dried Fenugreek Leaves KASURI METHI TANDOORI MOSHOLAI MURGI was done when the son was here, both him and his father love these kind of curries with their share of breads or fried rices; even the rest in the family too! I am the only one who ferociously is getting back to old family recipes of the bygone days; I may not have liked them then but I totally love them now.

INGREDIENTS :

CHICKEN : 1KG [MEDIUM CUT]

CHOPPED TOMATO : 2 SMALL TEA CUP

SLICED ONION : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP

TANDOORI MASALA : 2 TBSP [YOU GET IN ANY ASIAN STORE OUTSIDE INDIA]

TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 2 TBSP

GINGER PASTE : 2 TSP

GARLIC PASTE : 2 TBSP

LEMON JUICE : 5-6 TBSP

DRIED FENUGREEK LEAF / KASURI METHI : A HANDFUL

CINNAMON STICK : 2-3 ONE INCH LENGTH

GREEN CARDAMOM : 2-3

CLOVE : 3-4

STAR ANISE : 1

BAY LEAF : 1

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 5-6 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Wash the chicken pieces thoroughly and drain any amount of excess water.

Wash the dried fenugreek leaves taking in a strainer. Soak them in water.

Marinate the pieces very well with the washed & chopped tomatoes, ginger & garlic paste, tandoori masala, lemon juice, salt, turmeric.

Keep it covered for 2 hours. Thereafter, heat the oil in a wok and temper it with green cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon sticks & star-anise.

Add the washed, sliced onion and fry at low heat until golden brown.

Then, add the marinated chicken and the red chilli powder. Fold in well.

Cook it covered at minimal heat for 20-25 minutes, uncover & give a stir every 5 minutes.

This is the time to add about 3 coffee mugs of water; preferably warm water. Give a stir.

Now, cover cook at low heat for 10-12 minutes; discard the water and add the dried fenugreek leaves to the curry. Adjust the salt if required.

Transfer to a serving bowl and serve hot with any bread, plain or flavoured rice!

I will not say my family has a recipe with broccoli & Dried Bombay Duck for ages now. It is so that on that day few florets of broccoli lay dry in the refrigerator. We are not broccoli lovers at this home. I get at times for some purpose, use may be half or quarter and then forget all about the rest. Not in the habit of wasting any amount of food, I try to use them up if they have not rotten. Cooking broccoli florets with dried fish is the best idea for this family, that is the best broccoli dish for us I think. I mean, we just do not want broccoli in our lives. A non-vegetarian side dish with broad bean, egg plant, broccoli & dried Bombay Duck BROCCOLI BEGUN SHEEM DIYE SHUTKI MAACH just works wonder for us. The broccoli went into our stomachs without a frown.

I will not go on blabbering much today, I am again having headache or you can say I am experiencing a head block since morning. The homecoming guy's too much involvement with electronic gadgets on reaching home is causing me more of irritation. Until now, he did not get time to sit with me and talk about the son. I must get myself free by the evening and ask about his three weeks time spent with the son. He however managed to have a glance of me, asking me to colour my hairs. I explained why I do not want to go for it all over again and he complied. The reason why I call him more of a friend than a husband is this. It will be way more difficult to convince our mother & brother to accept me with my original hair colour. However, we will all sit together and have this vegetables & dried fish dish BROCCOLI BEGUN SHEEM DIYE SHUTKI MAACH with love.

These days, I see Broccoli became a common vegetable in the suburbs of Kolkata too. Not only in the market but few years back I saw street vendors getting it at the doorstep of my parental home in Barrackpore. I still remember, the guy told he had grown them in his small patch of land. They looked so fresh, yet did not create a stir on my mind as would do a fresh, home grown cauliflower. I remember how every winter season cauliflower was grown in the grandparent's garden or how the mother had grown it in pots. Why she does not do it every season I know, if I have lost the energy or will to colour my hair at 50, how can I expect her to work more. I pity my senior, he has to handle a wife who has a problem with every little thing; she hates crowd, she gets irritated if people around make too much noise and now he has to handle more of my tantrums because every few minutes she cannot stand in front of a closed door, knock and shout "mummar cheleta koi, ki korchey?" Though the answer was always "tokey merey debo", I consider those "love exchange" between us. I will make the man's life miserable because I cannot be jealous of my mother whose son sits with a laptop & television in a room next to her. I am confused enough to make out what I want from life!

INGREDIENTS :

DRIED BOMBAY DUCK : 4-5

BROAD BEAN : 7-8 [CUT INTO SMALLER PIECES]

EGG PLANT : 3-4 SMALL [CUBED]

BROCCOLI : 1 COFFEE MUG [SMALL FLORET]

SLICED ONION : 1 COFFEE MUG

CHOPPED OR CRUSHED GARLIC : 3 TBSP

SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 7-8

RED CHILLI POWDER : 11/2 TBSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 6-7 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Whichever combination of vegetables our family uses in dried fish; the spices remain the same and less. For dried fish, we depend more on oil, chilli, garlic and onion.

Discard the heads and tail ends of the dried Bombay Duck. Cut each into smaller pieces. Wash them several times and soak in hot water for 2 hours.

All the cut vegetables are to be taken in separate bowls and be washed well.

After 2 hours, discard the water from the dried fish and marinate them with little salt and turmeric.

The three vegetables are to be taken together and marinated with salt & turmeric.

Heat oil in a wok; add the onion slices and fry till golden brown.

Add the crushed garlic and green chillies; cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the dried fish and break with the ladle. Cover cook at minimal heat for 10-12 minutes checking in between. Sprinkle water if required.

Add the rest of the turmeric & the red chilli powder, stir for 2-3 minutes and cover cook for 5 minutes at low heat. Sprinkle water if required.

Add the vegetables and give a stir. Cover cook at minimal heat for 12-14 minutes. The vegetables will release a lot of water which we have to dry slow cooking the entire thing. Yet, check every 3-4 minutes to avoid burning. Adjust the salt if required.

Plain rice and nothing else goes with it.

I was in a dilemma what to share today in the Blog. What I wanted is not matching what I am going to share. I do keep cooking & clicking; doing it less for a month now though. Eversince the son had left home, I did cook from the blog and updated the pictures; rest of the time I was cooking for myself and Cristine to survive. I did not feel the necessity to cook elaborate with exotic fish & meat varieties. Tomorrow, I may run to the market to get a hilsa & a good quality mutton, if not then I may get lamb. Yet, I am not wanting to get involved in cooking as much as I had been earlier. At this age, we do not need much food; only that I enjoy food, love to have it.

Today, I was out on a work in the morning. People around refused to lend me a ride and also did not guide me properly with regards to the new direction I wished to try to reach the destination. It took me double the usual time to reach and got a severe headache that was caused sitting inside the confiner of the cab for barely ten minutes. People misread me, it is not always my misery; I get sick in a confined atmosphere, here they keep the blower at low. My fat deposits are also responsible for the unfit me. In such a scenario, I should have slept on my couch back home but I did not wish to prove myself more of a parasite; what I can do is share with you an easy snack meal recipe with bread & vegetables and name it BREAD & VEGETABLES SNACK MEAL.

I refuse to call this dish Bread Pulao, it is usually called so. I mean what has potato to do in a pulao or does any country or region have any such pulao dish with potato, vegetables & dry fruits? Dry fruits can be made optional here, we can add more of vegetables in this preparation. I just love this dish as a snack, as a meal too but I do not do it much as it requires a lot of oil. I usually fry the bread pieces before adding it to the fried vegetables, nuts & raisins. This is not a family dish but it is been done since the mid 80's in our family when I had learnt about it and expressed the wish to have it at times at home. I do not think this vegetarian snack meal BREAD & VEGETABLES SNACK MEAL is a good lunch box idea, it should be eaten fresh and hot with a hot cuppa.

I feel so sleepy, whilst I was to experiment with bread baking with cheese slices, tomato slices; why it has to be particularly an exotic one? As I always say, we do stop by where it is needed, do some charity but life goes on. It takes a heart and the guts to get out of our comfort zone and do some field work. What is the issue bothering me / many of us at this date; five years or a decade from now, we will not remember. Not a blog, real life experiences & protests need a book.

INGREDIENTS :

BREAD SLICE : 7-8

ONION : 1

CARROT : 1

POTATO : 1

GREEN PEA : 2-3 TBSP

GREEN CHILLI : 2-3

CASHEW NUT : 7-8[HALVED]

RAISIN : 12-13

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4 TSP

BLACK PEPPER : 1/2 TSP[CRUSHED]

SALT : AS REQUIRED

SUGAR : 2 TSP

OIL : 5-6 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Cut the bread slices in small squares.

Discard the two ends of the onion, peel and slice it, wash.

Peel the carrot, discard the two ends and cut into cubes, wash.

Peel the potato, cut into cubes and wash.

Wash & chop the green chillies.

Add salt & turmeric to the potato & carrot cubes.

Heat the oil in a wok or pan and fry the bread slices. Take them out and place on to a tissue paper.

Add the sliced onion & chopped green chillies to the oil and fry until golden brown; add the halved cashew nuts and stir fry at low heat for 2 minutes.

Add the marinated potato and stir fry at minimal heat for 3-4 minutes.

Add the carrot pieces and stir fry at low heat for 2-3 minutes and cover cook for 4-5 minutes at minimal heat, check in between to avoid burning.

Add the green peas, raisins, sugar and salt if required and stir fry at low heat for a minute or two.

Add the crushed black pepper while serving fresh & hot.

I am not the kind who prepares various spice blends and stocks at home. In fact, none in my family branches are in the habit of preparing dry spice mixture; they use "shil-nora", the Bengali style mortar & pestle / flat grindstone to prepare fresh spice pastes. Our mother still perhaps selects, washes and dries each kind of spice in the sun before stocking them in the container. They are then made into pastes in small amount each day as per the requirement. This has been the norm for many decades, they always got dried, whole turmeric, further dried it in the sun, then used after pasting at home. I cannot think of working myself up so much to get my curries reach the ultimate state of perfection. But I do not let myself get lazier, today I was to go for my monthly blood sugar check, I walked 6 km before that, reached there to find it closed for today. May be Dr. Chang & family wish to get high on Biryani today. Trivial things around are causing me irritation; they are not at fault but I am! People who could be a thing of joy for me, cannot get me happiness, comfort; the reason may be multifarious, justified too. I am not bothered, I am self centric, so I decide to move miles apart and get rid of whatever or whoever causes me pain. I better cook, read, eat. Reading is not happening at the pace as it should, another reason of my dissatisfaction.

Later, we saw our mother buying dried turmeric and getting it powdered from specific shops. The father when alive used to get them done riding the brother's bicycle; getting the spices powdered from specified shops; get mustard oil from oil mills. That is how the mother wanted. In the recent years, the mother prepares Biryani Masala of her own and frequently uses it to make chicken biryani. I was never into this preparation of spice blends. When I prepare biryani, I blend together the spices required, in less amount. In case of Bengali "bhaja moshola" too, I prepare in less quantity; I have seen they tend to lose the aroma if stored for long. These days, Cristine prepares the cinnamon & cardamom powders required in my regular cooking in small amounts. I have stopped making cloves powder. Coming to this exotic spice blend SHUGANDHI MOSHOLA MIX, it will remain a once in a while affair in my kitchen, I fear damage of my blenders.

So far biryani is concerned, Shan's works well. Everest's Biryani Masala I had tested just after marriage and it tasted like those non-Bengali tawa pulao, very spicy asking us to use yogurt too. Bengalis, I guess do not make their fried rice & pulao too spicy & hot, neither West Bengal it's biryani. I prepare various kinds of flavoured rice is a different issue. The main deterrent in the way of preparing dry spice blends at home is my fear of a spoilt blender, the same is the reason why I do not make sugarcane juice at home. I prepare the juice way better than any shop, adding jal jeera to ginger extract to lemon juice, etc. Yes; good idea, I can safely prepare my own jal jeera powder at home. The problem is there is always a risk of preparing this particular, vegetarian spice blend SHUGANDHI MOSHOLA MIX that has star anise, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg in it. This aromatic, exotic spice blend is made using green & black cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, bayleaf, mace, black & white pepper, caraway seeds, star anise, cumin seeds. I think the dried java peppers is what I am missing here.

INGREDIENTS :

CINNAMON STICK : 11/2 TBSP

GREEN CARDAMOM : 1 TBSP

BLACK CARDAMOM : 4-5

BAYLEAF : 4-5

CLOVE : 11/2 TSP

NUTMEG : 5-6

MACE : 6-7

CARAWAY SEED : 1 1/2 TSP

BLACK PEPPER : 1 TBSP

WHITE PEPPER : 1 TBSP

CUMIN SEED : 2 TSP

STAR ANISE : 4-5

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP

USE DRIED JAVA PEPPERS / KEBABCHINI TOO IF THEY ARE IN SIGHT

PROCEDURE :

The spice blend I am going to make.

I took them on a heated pan, kept the heat at minimal. I dry roasted them at minimal heat, continuously stirring for about 7-8-9 minutes. We must be very careful to avoid burning.

Pour them on a plate and let cool.

Take a little at a time on your mortar and a pestle and break them further. This step is necessary, else the homely blenders may face a breakdown.

Once done, transfer half the amount to the blender. Blend at high for sometime definitely pausing every 30 seconds in between.

Add the turmeric & red chilli powders now and blend for 30 seconds. We should be done.

The commotion while blending generates heat, let the thing cool and then transfer it to an airtight jar.

I suggest do it in small batch, longer storage does away with the aroma.

Most of the afternoons, I am not keeping well. Headache starts in the morning, drags on until I apply some balms or the bowels get clear. On such days, I do not take the risk of going for a walk, that too on an empty stomach. I usually go for swims, today I went and started feeling dizzy, immediately I came back. I never wish my name to be written in golden letters in a collection of adventure stories or in a book titled Up / Close with Beast Mode Stunts for Weight Loss. I was a born, lazy child, the family called me names, I have let them free. I did not complain to the police of abuse by the family.

Given my inherent nature, I chose a full time help over anything else. I am a cleanliness freak but hate doing cleaning job every day. The son went off, the best way to keep myself occupied was to do some house work, I just do not wish to. I only enjoy cooking; I sit and plan what to cook when the son would visit during his holidays. This non-vegetarian main, rice dish CHICKEN & EGG FRIED RICE was prepared for the dinner on the day the son and the man set out for their journey to the distant land. Yes, I enjoy cooking so much that with a heavy heart and totally dislodged mind I could cook what my family loves; dry kind of fried rice with chicken, fish, vegetables added to it. This is the near kind our families learnt to prepare Bengali-Oriental Fried Rice at home on certain Sundays and served with Chicken Kosha; a dried chicken curry. Mine cannot be called oriental; it has an all purpose seasoning, Italian herbs, soy sauce & sesame oil as well, I served it with hash browns.

Hash Browns are not coming once he left home, we do not need it. Can I ever forget that evening, my child handling over the MRT Card, Back Gate Card to mumma without a drop of tear shed; I am proud of my strong men. But today I wish to pay a tribute to the recently deceased old doctor of mine with a non-vegetarian rice dish CHICKEN & EGG FRIED RICE my family likes. He and his family had been treating me for 10 years now. He left us last Friday, it feels like a personal loss. He was so vibrant, so nice towards his patients, so cool and motivational that I can never forget him. I will continue to visit his chamber which will be looked after by his family of doctors. Good behaviour & right treatment is a big issue for me.

INGREDIENTS :

COOKED BASMATI RICE : 3-4 COFFEE MUG

CHICKEN : 250-300 GM

EGG : 3-4

SLICED ONION : 1 MEDIUM TEA CUP

MINCED GARLIC : 2 TSP

MINCED GINGER : 1 TSP

CUBED CARROT : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP

GREEN PEA : 2 TBSP

CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 2-3

CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1 TSP

ITALIAN HERB MIX : 1 TSP

ALL PURPOSE SEASONING : 1/2 TSP

CHILLI FLAKES : 1TSP

SALT : VERY LITTLE

SOY SAUCE : 2 TBSP

SESAME OIL : 1 TBSP

OIL : 3-4 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

We used these seasonings.

We have to cut and wash the vegetables.

We have to boil the washed chicken strips in enough water, adding salt.

We also have to scramble the eggs.

We now need to heat the oil in a wok, add the ginger & garlic mince and stir cook for a minute.

We added the washed onion slices & chopped green chillies and cooked till translucent. We then added the washed carrot and stir fried at low heat for 3-4 minutes. Then we added the green peas.

Stirring 2-3 times, we will add the boiled chicken and scrambled eggs. We can reserve the chicken stock for later use.

We will add the soy sauce & all the seasoning now, sprinkle little amount of water and stir at minimal heat. We will cover cook for 7-8 minutes.

We had cooked earlier the Basmati rice in enough water and strained.

We have added the rice now and folded in very well. We have added the sesame oil and tossed well.

We can have it on it's own or with some chilli chicken or fish on the side.

Doing a savoury cake was a wish for sometime; ever since I came across the mentions of Handvo, Muthia, etc. I mean, when we Bengalis cook the "dhoka mix", it seems something like this before frying. The thing is, as per my habit; I did not consult in details a handvo or muthia recipe, I find it a very boring exercise. Whatever idea I could make from the pictures my co-bloggers shared and the short description that came along, I thought of baking this BHAJA MOSHOLA OATS DAL SAVOURY BAKE. "Bhaja Moshola" is Bengali spice mix; a variety of! The most common in my family is the one where we dry roast cumin-coriander seeds & dry red chillies; dry grind them. I totally love this spice blend, may be because I have grown up having it in various dishes including achars [Indian or South Asian Pickles]. We can call today's share a savoury cake, vegetarian bake / vegetarian baked teatime snack made with oatmeal, soaked yellow lentil / moong dal, semolina.

The man is at home for the next two weeks, starting from today. The new system in their office is to work at office for two weeks & work from home for two weeks. How happy could be the days if our heart had been here. The son kept himself closed in his room mostly, when in the living room, he would mostly fight with mumma; how badly I miss those days. Each time, I console myself thinking it's for his good. Did not I want my brother to explore the unknown outside the boundary wall of his home? I still believe, it was required in his life; so let it be!

Then, why I am lost most of the time, I do not even like wandering outside for long. I like sitting in my favourite corner trying to catch hold of the son and talk timeless. I have not been successful as yet, may be some day, as of now he allows me texts. Because, I do not know the details of his class time, I do not make calls now and then; that is not the right thing to do. Had he been here, at this time I would have served him a big slice of this vegetarian, savoury bake, a supremely tasty evening snack BHAJA MOSHOLA OATS DAL SAVOURY BAKE with his choice of sauce. We will be having it now with our sugar free, black tea / coffee.

I had blend together soaked moong dal, oatmeal, semolina, baking soda & powder, the Bengali spice blend , salt, oil, plain yogurt; added minced garlic, sliced onion & chopped green chilli, cashews & raisins; poured the batter into an aluminium foil, baked and its done! I actually wanted a healthy something to gorge on and here it is!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SPICE MIX :

CUMIN SEED : 1TSP

CORIANDER SEED : 1TSP

DRY RED CHILLI : 3-4

REST OF THE INGREDIENTS FOR BAKE :

YELLOW SPLIT MOONG BEAN : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

OATS : 1 MEDIUM TEA CUP SIZE

SEMOLINA : 2-3 TBSP

PLAIN YOGURT : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

THE SPICE MIX [BHAJA MOSHOLA] : 2TBSP

SLICED ONION : 1 SMALL TEA CUP SIZE

CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 2

MINCED GARLIC : 1TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

BAKING SODA : 1/2TSP

BAKING POWDER : 1TSP

OIL : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP SIZE

CASHEW NUT : 8-10 HALVED

RAISIN : 12-13

PROCEDURE :

The first thing I did was to wash & soak the amount of split yellow moong dal in enough water.

Whilst we will let it soak for at least 11/2 hours, we can do the rest of the prep work like slicing the onion, chopping the green chillies, mincing the garlic and wash them all.

We will take the oats & semolina together and blend it to a powder.

We will add the baking powder & soda and pulse it for just few seconds to mix well.

We will drain the soaked water & add the moong bean to the blender.

We will blend the mixture to a paste and add the yogurt & salt to it.

We will switch on the gas stove & dry roast the cumin, coriander seeds & dry red chillies for less than a minute at minimal heat.

We will take the prepared batter in a bowl, add the dry spice powder / Bengali Bhaja Moshola to it!

We will also add the onion slices, green chillies, minced garlic.

We will mix the batter well and pour in to an aluminium foil cake tin, then top it with cashew nuts & raisins.

Mine is a convection mode microwave oven. I had placed the low height wired stool inside and preheated for 10 minutes @ 180*C.

Then I had placed the batter filled bowl on top and baked for 28-30 minutes @ 180*C.

Be careful, every electrical apparatus differ from the other; temperatures may differ.

Once done, take out.

It is best to have it warm & fresh with tea / coffee.

I am too tired to start with a blog post at this time of the day, 5:10pm it is! I walked to the next station earlier the day, called Cristine to catch the train to join me. We see, all the nurseries are relocated to different venues leaving one. I had the news earlier but today we found the job done; only one is still there, the rest are turned on to a green patch of land. As of now, we do not know what the government's future plan is. In this island, this "bhangagora" / construction work goes on. They have money, they maintain it to look like a five star hotel. What I expect is a little bit of space to be left out from urbanisation. I mean when my mind hovers around folk songs, I do not find a matching place where I can sit away from home and enjoy that moment, the particular wish may vanish the next day or the day after. Again, I may get into Bollywood soft romantics, even item numbers while walking in a crowded street.

This is me, predictive or not others can say. I think my moves are very much predictive but I am not a consistent person, nothing is constant in my life except the love for my own. Okay; my love for typical Bengali, fish varieties & dishes is constant; this one with Bengal Carp variety, raw banana , potato and regular kitchen spices KANCHAKOLA ALOO DIYE RUI / KATLAR JHOL has to feature! I could have done way more fish shares with a variety of fish but I do not get them as fresh here. I like to write my blog posts, else you would have seen me sleeping now! We felt tired looking for the new venue of the nurseries; some has been relocated in the same area but we could not find in a hurry; others went to quiet far. I finally decided to buy the pots, soil, fertiliser from the existing shop; The sister at the counter and the brother who chooses the soil for me or get me the tubs are friendly. This guy can be a Southern Indian or a Bangladeshi; while talking to him, I missed that particular Bangladeshi guy who sat in another shop beside. The sister has given me a printed leaflet, I have to see which shop went where.

Me and Cristine had sugarcane juice & my favourite chives kueh. Look at the table, we wiped it with an antiseptic wet tissue before sitting there. We cannot have lunch right? There are certain people who will not heat the food, take on the plate and eat, we have to serve everything; when I just served hot, people start calling colleagues. Arey, there should be something called lunch break; I get irritated. I did nothing but instructed Cristine and got tired; she did all the work of repotting. I had to write an easy and extremely favourite fish recipe today like this one with rui ba katla, kanchakola, aloo aar shadharon moshola; KANCHAKOLA ALOO DIYE RUI / KATLAR JHOL.

Thereafter, we both took shower and had our lunch.

INGREDIENTS :

ANY BENGAL CARP VARIETY [BIG OR EVEN BABY] : 6-8 STEAK [using fresh fish is recommended]

RAW BANANA : 1 STANDARD SIZED

POTATO : 1 BIG

SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 2-3

CUMIN SEED : 1/4 TSP

BAY LEAF : 1

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1/3 TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 2 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 5-6 TBSP [I ALWAYS USE MUSTARD OIL FOR THE FAMILY BENGALI DISHES]

PROCEDURE :

Clean & wash the fish steaks. Drain the water, rub with salt & turmeric; keep aside for 10 minutes.

Take out the skin of the potato & raw banana, wash and cut as you wish. Rub with salt & turmeric; keep aside for 5 minutes.

In a bowl, take the rest of the turmeric, little salt, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder; add little water and mix to get a paste.

Heat oil in the wok and fry the raw banana & potato pieces in batches. Take out on a plate.

Fry the fish steaks lightly and take them out.

Temper the oil with the cumin seeds & a bay leaf. Add the spice paste and stir cook at low heat for 3-4 minutes. Add 2 coffee mugs of water and give a stir.

Bring the curry to boil at low heat; let it boil for 3-4 minutes. Add the fish pieces and cover cook at minimal heat for 4 minutes.

Open cover, turn over the fish and add the fried potato & raw banana pieces, slitted green chillies. Cover cook at low heat for another 3-4 minutes.

We should be done. Have it with rice. On that day, we also had eggplant-potato-okra fry, broad beans with coriander paste, lentil curry, chilli-coriander paste on the side; all Bengali items.

It is a beautiful "shorot er akash" today. Autumnal sky in Kolkata used to be brighter than usual, with a bit of cold feel; with lack of proficiency in English, I cannot explain the term "shirshirey thanda amez". In the later years, there was lack of that cold feel, may be because of global warming, do not know. Yet, an autumn morning is always special for a Hindu Bengali; it ushered in Durga Puja which is a festival, not purely religious you know. I call it a fair, mela; Ananda Mela.

From our tiny corner, I could not stop freezing the moment and whisper, "esho maa". If I cannot be a part of the celebration, I will create an ambiance at home. Cristine has been asked to clean my God Family's Abode and change their clothes whilst I write this easy & yum lightly sweet, vegetarian dessert recipe with left over jalebi / jilipi, rice flour, corn flour, milk, LEFTOVER JILIPI CHALER GURO DIYE PUDDING. Oh my God! I am so happy to discover there is still a set of new clothes left for my Gods.

Each year, on my Kolkata visit, I buy two sets of new clothings for my God Family, they wear new clothings every Poila Baishakh[Bengali New Year Day] & Durga Puja. I do not know what will happen next April! Here I do not get the right size and they are too expensive. Do they even have a variety & stock like our Shyambazaar-Hathibagan?

Now, the thing is again I had cooked an unsatisfied batch of jilipi / jalebi / spiral shaped fried sweet in syrup; you know I do not serve awkward looking stuffs to my family. They tasted very well; even like a jilipi, later like a thin malpoa or jibey goja; they fell flat refusing to be called jilipi. I tried them using Housebrand's Readymix Idly powder. They tasted so well that I had to do something with them, you know how I hate wastage. It is then the idea of this easy sweet popped. I prepared a thickened, lightly sweet dessert using milk, rice & corn flour, vanilla essence; added broken pieces of the jalebis with the sugar syrup and got this LEFTOVER JILIPI CHALER GURO DIYE PUDDING.

You can see, it is a yellow bowl of beautifully tasted sweet in sugar syrup but we cannot call it jilipi; they fell flat while frying and got soggy after dunking in the sugar syrup. I had to do something with them, before that I ate quarter portion of the bowl but I do not serve my family poor looking stuffs.

You will not go for such time consuming mistakes and then use them in a milk pudding or have with ice-cream. I know when Indian Families buy jilipi / jalebi, they buy a bit of excess, there are some leftovers the next morning. Indians love their jilipis warm & crisp; only diabetics like me would buy only 2-3 at a time. What to do with the stale jalebis? Try such easy pudding with them. If you have the dessert warm, you can feel there is jalebis in it; if eaten chilled, the jilipis feel like rabri or extra dose of cream or "dudh er shor" in a pudding.

Our father so liked having "dudh er shor". After a double boil the next day, the mother would transfer the thickened milk to a clean bowl. Then, the father would sit with the "korai layered with dudher shor" and scratch, have until it looked clean & barren, that too after having a snack of "dudh-muri" and the mother who wanted to move ahead was like "shei Bangladesh er gramyo rose gyalo, egobar kono icchey nei family ter." Thereafter, she sat to prepare "chirey-muri-khoi er moya, naru, nimki" for the three of us. So, we did not bother much about the fight.

I wish to finish off quickly; I will go for a walk, then book a pedicure-manicure session for tomorrow; have to do this much for the festive season. I must make out of the sunny day.

INGREDIENTS :

LEFTOVER JILIPI / JALEBI : 5-6 [WITH THE SYRUP]

MILK : 400ML

RICE FLOUR : 11/2TBSP

CORN FLOUR : 1TBSP

VANILLA ESSENCE : 1/2TSP

SUGAR / HONEY : 1TBSP [OPTIONAL]

CHOPPED DRY FRUITS TO GARNISH

PROCEDURE :

Break the jalebis roughly into medium sized pieces.

Take the milk in a bowl.

Take 4-5 tbsp from it and store in a glass. Add the rice flour & corn flour. Mix very well.

Put the milk bowl for boil, bring it to boil and boil further for 7-8 minutes at minimal heat. I did not use sugar, jaggery, honey or any sweetener, you can. For us, the syrup of the jalebi was enough.

Add the rice flour + corn flour + milk paste to the boiling milk and start stirring immediately.

Boil it for another 4-5 minutes, while you stir continuously. Take down the bowl and let cool.

Add the vanilla essence and give a stir.

Add the jilipi / jalebi pieces and the sweet syrup that comes along; half of the chopped dry fruits too. I used toasted & chopped almonds, walnuts, raisins.

Pour onto a clean bowl and garnish with the rest of the toasted & chopped dry fruits.

Let it set for half an hour before having or refrigerate to chill.

I am supremely excited about going for the pedicure & manicure session this afternoon; after quite a few months; they badly require to be pampered. I am in a hurry, yet I wish to share this non-vegetarian rice & meat dish with biryani flavours; BIRYANI FLAVOURED FULKOPIR DALNA O CHICKEN RICE BOWL. I know these body pampering stuffs are excesses in life but I need them at good intervals. I feel so lazy doing the process at home.

I am never stopped from doing what I want, I dislike interference & coercion in my life! I manage everything within the stipulated amount given to me every month and save a bit too. Yes, I do not work is true but I take good care of my home.

Who takes excellent care of their homes? I see one staying in Canada, perhaps is working and maintaining a fabulous home, I see one in Malaysia whose home & garden I so like, who might be working part time; I know excellent homemakers in Thailand, in India's neighbourhood. They inspire me but I do little; I always had a lethargic body & mind. I only love sitting in a quiet corner and brood, dream, think. These days, I enjoy getting this seed and that root end from the roadside and try my hands on them. Please wish my okra / bhindi / dhyarosh / ladysfinger plant.

I so wished to shift to a ground floor flat here this season; they come with a bigger balcony, at times with one at the backside too. I would have planted so many more. I am sad all the nurseries got scattered, there were six side by side and just a station after; so convenient. Besides doing some gardening as approves my tiny space; cooking is my all time love. Both these interests have been inherited from my family off course. I may be lazy but I will not take the last breathe either watching television or sleeping all day. I will engage myself in activities that does not require much of sweating.

Life got very much mundane, I miss the normal rhythm my life was used to but I will not give in. I will engage myself in what I enjoy; last Friday evening, it was a bowl of non vegetarian chicken+rice+potato+cauliflower dish for us. Actually, I cooked our very Bengali Aloo-Fulkopir Dalna with the Taiwan variety of cauliflower in bulk last week. We had it with chapati, we had it with rice and then I got bored with another bowl.

I not only love food but also want to serve my own or guests a variety of food. For a makeover, I had got some chicken, soaked some basmati rice, chopped the required ingredients, took down the bottle of me made flavoured spice mixture; SHUGANDHI MOSHOLA MIX; and there you are! You will regret if you do not try my recipe of BIRYANI FLAVOURED FULKOPIR DALNA O CHICKEN RICE BOWL; that is a dish cooked with mixed spices, clarified butter, chicken, basmati rice, leftover cauliflower-potato curry, etc.

INGREDIENTS :

BASMATI RICE : 1 COFFEE MUG

CHICKEN : 6-8 PIECE [BIG CUT]

LEFTOVER CAULIFLOWER-POTATO CURRY : A BOWLFUL

PLAIN YOGURT : 6 TBSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TBSP

CUMIN POWDER : 2 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 2 TSP

SHUGANDHI MOSHOLA MIX : 1 TBSP [A HOMEMADE AROMATIC SPICE MIX]

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP

SLICED ONION : 2 SMALL TEA CUP FULL [OF TWO BIG ONES]

MINT LEAF : A HANDFUL

CORIANDER LEAF : A HANDFUL

GREEN CHILLI : 5-6

GINGER PASTE : 1 TBSP

GARLIC PASTE : 1 TBSP

LEMON JUICE : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP SIZE

CINNAMON STICK : 2-3 TWO INCH SIZED

GREEN CARDAMOM : 3-4

BLACK CARDAMOM : 1

STAR ANISE : 1

CLOVE : 3-4

MACE : 2

CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1/2 TSP

MILK POWDER : 1 TBSP

BAYLEAF : 2-3

SALT : AS REQUIRED

GHEE / CLARIFIED BUTTER : 1/3 SMALL TEA CUP + 2 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Let us wash the chicken pieces at first. I took a mix of legs, thighs and breasts.

I had beaten together the powders of turmeric+ cumin+coriander+red chilli +SHUGANDHI MOSHOLA MIX, plain yogurt, salt, lemon juice taken in a bowl.

I marinated the chicken with it.

We had marinated the chicken at least for 3 to 4 hours or little more.

For the rice, we washed the basmati rice in required amount and soaked in water for 1/2 an hour. we tied the cinnamon sticks+green & black cardamom+mace+cloves+star anise in a piece of white, cotton, clean cloth.

We had thrown it and some salt to a pot of boiling water.

When the water has boiled for sometime, we added the soaked rice, discarding the water.

Once the rice had cooked 70%, we strained it.

While the rice was getting rid of moisture, we got readied the ginger & garlic pastes, washed & sliced onion+chopped coriander+mint leaves+slitted green chillies.

We had heated the ghee in a pot and added the bayleaves, onions to it.

When the sliced onions are brown, we took out some to garnish later. To the rest, we added the ginger & garlic pastes.

We stir cooked for 3-4 minutes and added the marinated chicken to the pot and folded in well.

We covered it with a lid having no holes. We had put the heat to minimal. In between we opened the cover and gave a stir.

We had warmed our leftover "aloo-fulkopir dalna" too.

After 15-20 minutes, we had opened the cover and added some crushed black pepper.

We gave a stir and add most of the the washed green chillies+ fresh coriander+fresh mint. We are to add the cauliflower & potato curry at this stage but I forgot. Please, you need not be so forgetful.

We gave a stir and add the rest of the fresh mint+coriander & ghee, milk powder, kewra / screw pine water. I added the "aloo fulkopir dalna" at this stage.

We had put on the lid and lightly shaken.

We had placed a pan atop the gas stove and kept it at low heat.

We had placed the rice, vegetables & chicken pot atop the pan, cooked at minimal heat to low heat for 10-13 minutes. We would be done.

We switched off the gas stove and shaken well before serving hot with raita & salad.

It's been long, I wished to blog about this potato-onion fry every Bengali homes perhaps used to cook at least twice or thrice a week for breakfast. It goes with any kind of Bengali / Indian breads, "luchi / porota / ruti. I loved it so much that I had it with baked breads too; on days the mother could not prepare hand made breads! I preferred the combo any day over a "dudh pauruti" the mother wanted us to have. I always hated milk, who knew then there is something as heavenly as "bangdung", the chilled rose milk drink? Ruti / Porota / Luchi with this ALOO PEYAZ BHAJA and a Bangdung drink is what I would prefer for my lunches and pack the lunch box. A Bengali breakfast plate would be like handmade bread, this potato-onion fry and "jilipi or roshogolla or pantua"!

Earlier, the worst tendency among Bengali Homes had been to have boiled, creamier milk served hot, at least warm. It was a must have in our family and how I hated it. I do not know how my predecessors digested it served around 10:30 pm, post dinner with thick cream on top. I loved only the top cream, the rest was forced on me. Way later in life, when I met T, I knew cow milk is not a necessity for humans. Yet, I fed it to the son as any Indian mother would do until one day his system refused it. Pediasure, powdered puffed rice, boiled beaten rice, popped rice, rice, lentils, potato, carrot, beetroot, fish & chicken stews were his staple for 21/2 years. Thereafter, milk was allowed only thrice a week, chilled; never boiled and hot.

How I remember running to the doctors with a child; immensely stressed; from Dr. Dipak Kumar Roy to Dr. Aninda Kundu to even the very renowned Dr. Amitava Pahari. They allowed this panicky mother; it is only the visiting guest T, who would say had he be the doctor, he would have thrown me out of the chamber. Yes, Bengali Mothers are accused of not allowing their children to grow; its true in both cases. If girls, they cannot let the girl be in her new role without interference, wants her to be the same as before. In case of sons, they cannot accept his new role and let be. I have gradually taught my mother that I have a different role now; without their importance getting any less. Not all girls will do that. I am now being entrusted with the responsibility to prove Bengali mothers are brave, giving, liberated, etc. How could someone take a flu shot without telling us? After much coaxing, he told he had taken it already.

Life turned very different; got dilly-dallied, slower. In between 9am and 8pm I can do anything, I can go anywhere, I can meet anyone but a virus is not letting us be us. We are very cautious at this home but at times, I am getting irritated; life seems mundane; there is no fight with the resident of the next room; you cannot force anyone to take calls, you cannot let go of your own blood either. You are a bothering kind and sit at home; you feel very lonely and sad at times; your partner clearly told not to visit movie theatres this year. Kya karey? You do not like sitting amidst crowd and talk; you want to bring some changes in the room set ups but cannot call labourers! In this scenario, what you all will do I do not know but tomorrow I will be visiting Hanifa to avail their discount on sarees, I have the plan to buy some low cost cotton and semi cottons from Hanifa & Mustafa. I cannot wait for Kolkata visit anymore, neither am I willing to buy expensive ones.

It feels good to get back to blogging after over two weeks, that too with a family favourite Bengali breakfast side with potatoes, onion, chillies; ALOO PEYAZ BHAJA. In our fifties; we want our meals simple. It is a bit difficult for us to have vegetarian rice meals day in and day out; once a week is fine. But as I say, the simplest Indian / South Asian Bread meals seems a bliss to us; if there is a dessert, its near to heaven. We had it for dinner, so the plating is different from how the Bengali breakfast meal is like; luchi / porota / ruti, ALOO PEYAZ BHAJA o mishti / a sweet. Breakfast seldom happens at this home post August 2020; so you see a salad instead.

INGREDIENTS :

POTATO : 2 BIG SIZED

ONION : 1 BIG SIZED

GREEN CHILLI : 2-3 SLITTED

DRY RED CHILLI : 2 HALVED

NIGELLA SEED / KALOJEEREY / KALONJI : 1/4 TSP

SUGAR : 1 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP

OIL : 2-3 TBSP [I USE MUSTARD OIL]

PROCEDURE :

Peel the potatoes, cut lengthwise into three pieces, a bit thick. Again cut widthwise, thick off course. Wash well and soak in water for 10-15 minutes.

Peel the onion, cut the two ends and cube. Wash thoroughly. Drain the water from the potato and take together with the potato. Add the salt and turmeric to it and rub well. Keep standing for 5 minutes.

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

Give a stir and add the marinated potato and onion pieces. You can add the marinade but do not cover cook; it will be fry kind and dry.

We will cook uncovered at minimal heat for 5-6 minutes, stirring every two minutes. We will add the washed & slitted green chillies now.

Thereafter, we will cook uncovered at low heat for another 7-8 minutes. Once it gets soft, yet firm; we are done. We will add the sugar, stir for half a minute and switch off the gas.

We can enjoy it with any kind of bread or dal-rice!

I read Thankuni Pata is called Asiatic / Indian Pennywort in English! Some parts of India call it Gotu Kola. When I was in Kolkata, I did not feel any urge to know about the English name of this medicinal plant which grew just like that in our parental home in Barrackpore. We are having it since childhood; whilst our stay in DumDum too, the mother got it from the DumDum Bazaar where the "Bongaon ba Naihatir mashi ra" would sit with a variety of shaak pata / greens, deshi hash, murgir dim / eggs of country ducks & hens.

Thankuni Pata / Indian Pennywort was used as a medicinal herb when we were sick and our stomach got weaker, we lost appetite. The leaves & stems were used in light curries made with raw banana, raw papaya, potatoes; along with or without shing, magur maach / a specific variety of catfish. We always knew these variety of catfish are good, now I read Magur's farming is banned in India because it gets health hazards? We however were never fed the farm bred ones, not any farmed fish actually! I have to read in details, let us now concentrate on what we loved the most with thankuni pata; it's batter fries what you see in the picture; it's THANKUNI PATAR BORA. What you see are BATTER FRIED ASIATIC OR INDIAN PENNYWORT.

Our mother also used to prepare thankuni pata bata / a paste made of the INDIAN OR ASIATIC PENNYWORT LEAVES & STEMS and fed us often to get rid of the worms within. I read now regular consumption of this is not recommended, it has side effects. To have with rice, besides the VADA / PAKORA / THANKUNI PATAR BORA or the light curry of the ASIATIC PENNYWORT / GOTUKOLA LEAVES; the mother also made one or two other recipes. I wish to share them too in the Blog.

Actually, after shifting to Barrackpore, "Thankuni Patar Gaach"; the plant started growing just like that without the mother taking any care. On Thursdays, an all vegetarian day, such FRIES & FRITTERS happened. Because, the neighbourhood cats made their permanent toilets near those creeping plants, the mother did away with them. If you are not fond of the God's lesser children, you cannot bear cleaning their potty everyday; but do not ill treat them, please! THANKUNI PATA continued to come from the wet market and we till date eat THANKUNI PATAR BORA. I prepared this plateful when the son was at home, sometime last June.

I am feeling too tired today. I had an appointment with the doctor, a routined monthly check up this morning, I am disheartened to see my pressure level going up, for the past few months it was fluctuating. Stress is a natural character trait of mine; to it is added the fear of the pandemic and the son living in a far off land, he not doing much of talking. Then, I eat more salt than normal; that I have to lessen; but how to make the son behave like other kids or how to relieve myself of the stress that is inbuilt?

I wish to live a life not depending too much on medications and be mobile till the last day. Yes, I want at least 20-25 more years in my kitty. But these metrics of my physique are not making me happy, neither can I switch to soups, salads, grilled fish & meat. Anyway, that egg onion prata this morning caused me severe indigestion. I cannot live without rustic Bengali food. I want a plateful of this VEGETARIAN, BATTER FRIED LEAVES OF INDIAN / ASIATIC PENNYWORT / GOTUKOLA; THANKUNI PATAR BORA, Dal, Maacher Jhol, Niramish Torkari o Bhaat on a regular basis!

INGREDIENTS :

THANKUNI PATA / ASIAN PENNYWORT / GOTU KOLA : A BUNCH OR TWO

RICE FLOUR : 1 MEDIUM SIZED TEA CUP

GRAM FLOUR : 2 TBSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TSP

NIGELLA SEED : 1/2 TSP [OPTIONAL]

SALT : AS REQUIRED

SUGAR : 11/2 TSP

OIL : 100-150 ML FOR FRYING

PROCEDURE :

Below is what is called THANKUNI PATA / ASIATIC OR INDIAN PENNYWORT / GOTU KOLA!

We have to discard the stems and take only the leaves. We have to take them in a colander and wash thoroughly. We will roughly chop them and again wash under running water; usually greens come with a lot of dust & insects too.

We will prepare a thick batter with the rice flour, gram flour, turmeric & chilli powders, salt, sugar, nigella seeds [if using] adding water; little at a time.

We will take few leaves at a time, dip & coat well in the batter.

Once the oil gets moderately heated in the wok on the gas top; we will put the heat between minimal & low and fry both sides of the BORA / PAKORA / FRIES / FRITTERS / BATTER FRIES well until done well & crisp!

While frying, we have to constantly adjust the heat level. Once done we have to place them on tissue papers, they will help to get rid of the excess oil of the BATTER FRIED FRITTERS.

We must serve them hot & crisp; either with dal-rice-salad or have as an evening tea or coffee time snack.