ATTA GUR MALPUA

Well Malpua does not require a season to be made at this home, it is done whenever this lady feels the duo had enough of fruits without much of complaints, they deserve some "bhajabhuji." As is the system of the schools these days, there are two breaks... a short and a long one. I manage some fruits going down through the food track packing them for the junior's short break and for the senior's post lunch treat. Once a colleague of the senior told me.... you send two boxes full of food for your husband, most of the days he goes from this table to that table distributing a major part of them. He says the wife creates ruckus if I take them back home. It is not so that the tiger has suddenly stopped roaring but he hates to see the wife frowning after a hard day at work. Anyway, since then I pack his lunch box with few more parathas and pooris ..... sharing food is good.... we did it while at school, college and at the university level too. 

The husband continues to play tricks till date and remain severely underweight... 54 kg with a 5'11"height. How much our friends say he is lucky, the wife is worried and keeps on motivating him.... had you have listened to me, you could have a body like "Jholmol Khan" and would roam around with "Jhilmils" by your side you see. He seems to be too much involved with his present love who he spends maximum hours with, comes back home at 10 pm giving a deaf ear to the wife.... no one can stop me from frowning! Anyway, Lunch Box holds a special place in my heart... our mother set the standard for it ever since we were at the school.... I try to follow her footsteps in my kitchen too.... hopefully successful because the son does not wish to eat from the school canteen in general .... Besides all these... that film, Lunch Box is also treasured and is deeply rooted in this heart..... Few have crushed me under their feet a couple of times in this lifetime, I still cannot turn off the face... haha.... Life did not teach me to be calculative..... Calculus  was born to get me 54/100 in mathematics in our 10th board examination... we cannot be friends whatsoever.  

Anyways, as I always say, I do not give any explanations to anyone about any of my actions as long as I do not find it necessary. On a lighter note, I make it a point to call the brother during his lunch hours... "ki khachish?".... The answer is an obvious "polao & doi macch".... "biryani" or "rajma / chana & luchi".... no wonder this boy will never wish to move out of Kolkata! The entire family's prime is Food and though Bengalis are more into preparing malpua with refined flour / rice flour / semolina.... an ATTA GUR MALPUA is also welcome at this home at times!

ATTA GUR MALPUA is perhaps the most basic of the variety of malpua Indians do. Among us Bengalis.... "kheer er malpoa" is more common done with refined flour, rice flour, semolina, thickened milk, sugar.... at times adding shredded coconut and a banana. The grandmother used to prepare malpua at this time of the year with rice flour and jaggery..... I simply loved that.... burnt at the sides and soft in the middle. I feel malpuas made with more amount of rice flour is crisper than the rest..... I keep on doing malpua in turns throughout the year, the most common sweet snack.... can we call it? Lying down on the couch with an Ashapurna Debi or a Shamsur Rahman or at times a Kafka or a Saadat Hasan Manto and having 4-5 malpua with tea is a pleasure for this old lady ever since she was a teen. I did read Samaresh Basu's "Bibar" while at school... then it was banned perhaps for a long time.... An item song played during Durga Puja may be nasty but not a Manto... I mean to me and perhaps to my kinds..... though my knowledge of him is negligible! If I start elaborating on my definition of "obscenity".... Google may not allow... Lets dive into the recipe of ATTA GUR MALPUA which I have done with whole wheat flour, jaggery, shredded coconut, banana..... deep fried in ghee+oil and served garnished with pistachios. I have done malpua with whole wheat about three times, what I see is that they are very soft compared to the other varieties. I did not add thickened milk in the batter, I felt I couldn't manage.... yet they are good in taste. Enjoy my food shares, if not the photography...... 

I repeat again do not take me into your arms always.... I am by nature reclusive who loves seclusion most of the time, specially when she is hurt not knowing herself what is actually hurting her! You will definitely not like to be friend with such a confused person.... so keep a distance! Let me enjoy all of your posts, share with you my kitchen tales.... at times, share myself too.... I love flaunting my sarees, dresses, jewelry.... if you can accept me as that you will not be hurt.... most of the time I fail to see who wore what when and why.... this is not a composed brain you see! Come let us cook together ATTA GUR MALPUA and be happy!

INGREDIENTS :

Whole Wheat Flour : 1coffee mug

Semolina : 1/4 coffee mug

Rice Flour : 2 tbsp
Grated Jaggery : 1medium Cup
Sugar : 2tbsp
Shredded Coconut : 1small cup [I skipped]
Banana : 1 [I skipped]
Fennel Seed : 1tbsp
Ghee : 1small tea cup
Oil : 1/2small cup +1tsp

METHOD :

Take the jaggery and warm water in a bowl and let it melt!

Take the whole wheat, semolina, rice flour in a bowl.

Once cool, add the jaggery water little by little to prepare a thick batter. Add 1tsp oil and the fennel seeds. Beat well, add the mashed ripe banana & shredded coconut if you are using, I did not! Keep the batter covered for rest 15-20 minutes!

Heat 1small cup of ghee and 1/2 small cup of oil in a pan or a wok [ accordingly you get the shapes flat or round]. Take a spoonful of the batter and gently pour on the hot oil. Adjust the heat. Once one side is brown, turn over and let fry the other side until brown. Keep adjusting the heat from low to medium.

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