CURRY AND SPICE: KORANO NARKOL BHORA PATALI GURER PATISHAPTA

How do they look? .... Just as Bengali Patishapta / Desi Crepes.... right?.... The filling of fresh coconut is definitely not a Bengali thing. Is it my idea? No way.... all of my readers know by now that my brain runs at a slow pace, ideas do not get much space to play around there! Most of my shares are associated with some kind of memory unless I am baking a cake hiring ideas from "all recipes" or my ace baker friends or Martha Stewart or Betty Crocker.... Most of the time I fail to deploy their recipes and follow mine.... I will not buy demerara sugar / brown sugar / this pipe... that pipe for a cake.... I do the simplest ones that are under my control! Experiments beyond capability is not my cuppa and that is an attribute of mediocrity. The woman who prepared these crepes for me with a fresh coconut filling is not a mediocre.... but an epitome of grace.... dignity.... intelligence! Her presence in a room will make a disturbed soul feel calm and comfortable.... No, you will not find her or her husband in my friends' list .... the rigid & private couple are not comfortable with me being so open and frequently seen in social media.... they loved the quiet, balanced, private person that I had been two decades back! Who are this couple? Mitty and Anjana Mathew.... do not ask me to spell their full name... mad or what.... they are Keralites! Hahaha .... and very religious minded, Catholic Christians... That never came in between the deep connection that Mitty and atheist T shares for almost three decades now....

The trio... T... Mitty and the old moron Dibyendu sailed the first six months of their sea life together... staying in one cabin.... an unbreakable bond happened. For T, it was his second tenure! I met the duo for the first time at age 22 when their ship was harboured at the Kolkata dock.... they might have felt much letdown to know T was going to settle with this short, fat, heavy glassed girl! Even I wondered then how the pretty good in mathematics T was not calculative enough with life! I still do wonder... why I cannot go ahead with meat shares every other day when I know I should.... I meant given the frequency of meat been cooked for the carnivores at this home.... my counter parts fill in that gap .... though! Anyway, I again met Mitty after few years! .... He was there in Kolkata for his examinations and it is obvious that he will not stay in a hotel but with us! Until I met Mitty and one Sanak Chottopadhay, I thought, all handsome boys are casanovas who this poor girl dreaded... Who would you blame?... It is irrelevant at this juncture of life! Mitty is an icon of decency, Sanak is a brother.

It was in 1999 that Mitty had to rent a home at Behala Parnashree as his newly wed wife Anjana accompanied him this time! I saw her and loved at once.... a cool breeze swept me off as if .... On that day, she prepared this KORANO NARKOL BHORA PATALI GURER PATISHAPTA for us. The super excited me called the mother once back home.... "Mani.... orao amader moto patishapta korey... kintu narkol takey radheni".... till then South Indian food meant dosa, idly, vada, uttapam to the Kolkatans.... with "kabiraji cutlet, radhaballabhi, moglai porota" all around, I did not have any interest in the giant dosas of Madras Tiffin our mother forced me to have! Now I do... idly rasam, appam, puttu! Then they visited us when our monkey was 1or 2 years old! She is such a person full of warmth that the monkey stopped eating for quite sometime after his "annana" left. God had been very unkind to this Vizag based Keralite couple who perhaps have never skipped a Sunday prayer in the Church. We visited them in 2005 or 2006.... I am kind of a person who does not wish to spend night anywhere... pester the husband to come back home even if the party ends at 2am.... but I thoroughly enjoyed the stay at their home... Why? You see I played "rannabati" a lot as a child and love this thing called "ghar kanna".... Anjana was doing her Phd in Pharmacology then... and the three of them were out all the day.... only me, the son and a part time help was there! As I stepped into their home for the first time, I understood Anjana does not like "ghar kanna " that much. Their big, two roomed flat had four balconies which needed cleaning, the kitchen too. I took up the charge of a makeover .... cooked... cleaned without thinking she / they may not like it! Fortunately, she gave me full freedom at her den! This was not the case back in 1999.... Mumbai... I used Chutu's toilet and she cleaned it... The mother may have been in my blood... but I learnt how to take care of my own from Chutu.... the top ranked in academics told me that her paternal grandma was strict and told besides education.... the two sisters should learn to cook too!

These women in my life... say Chutu or Anjana.... the later are three sisters may not get entry in a feminist den.... I also do not understand what is it actually? Just straying around or deeper something? Anyway, I am near to Chutu in only one matter.... we do not really want anyone to interfere in our den... feel free here... I will handle the rest my way... Anjana is more near to T with her wisdom and ability to take kids on her lap and spend hours with them telling stories and playing.... Anjana & Mitty took us for an Onam lunch where I made friends with avial... I love it.... The Onam saree she gifted me is worn by the mother now.... golden bordered white... on which I had some block prints done! I did not accept her decision of leaving the job of the principal of a pharmaceutical college ever.... and I wished to recreate her recipe in my kitchen after 18 years as KORANO NARKOL BHORA PATALI GURER PATISHAPTA because all of a sudden I remember I missed wishing Anjana on her birthday this year... it was on 14th February... haha.... We are a part of a dormant WhatsApp group though! I have to call them asap.... they went to AbuDhabi then again came back to a deserted place like Kandla.... having dhokla or not... as the husband says Mitty is getting bored.... This guy would call T before taking any major decision.... I heard my man saying not to shift to Kandla... his siblings stay in Dubai.... I felt, let me dedicate this post to the very gentle couple Anjana & Mitti Mathew .... towards whom God is not that kind....

Let us ease the situation. The other day we went for a new set of curtains but did not buy one! We sat with some coffee and one quiche.... it was good... no I am not trying to hug people of my community who prefer a quiche over ilish.... An evening for quiche... a life dedicated to ilish ...... In fact, I got wiser than before, gained some self pride too and told the husband, tell me I am the best thing to happen in your life! The answer was not a surprise... only that all romantic attempts from my side evaporated in a minute.... Dear wife! You know I do not lie! Below is an example of an unromantic date!

The wife feels hopeless as usual and follows him to a take away counter to get some family favourite Turkish food stuff.... I was sad that the lamb rice was finished... lamb doners were packed for the men and falafel stuffed bread for me... too big a meal for me in the present scenario... dips and bread pieces are preferred... and I whispered "baniye felbo ekdin kabli cholar bora.... falafel na bollei holo!"

Well, I am very fond of Mee Soto and Soto Ayam for my lonely lunches too!.... They are big for the present me!... So I ask them to give me less of that yellow noodles which is very much yum. I must say... I do not mind the chicken in these bowls... I do not know why I am unable to have it in Indian curries.

I sit with a bowlful of such things and wonder why I get irritated easily these days... approaching menopause is a reason... rest what? The fairly rigid me do not like myself to be dragged in to something I cannot connect with or believe in.... None of us are saints but one should know the limits of decency in public .... I do go public with my feelings but emotional attributes needs to be fairly static... do the subject or object of love change every six months? I have doubts.... call it anything like infatuation, momentum attraction, time pass .... but one should not jeopardise it with the deepest feelings of people and I do not wish my name to be associated with something I am not! We all have fair amount of everything within us... good, evil, unparliamentary wishes .... wrong is when we fail to draw the line... I cannot cry if I am unable to exercise self control and people call me a stray!

Anyway, the kitchen is the best place to ease off for me... and yesterday evening I went ahead with this KORANO NARKOL BHORA PATALI GURER PATISHAPTA.... I did not call my friend Anjana... instead prepared the batter our Bengali style! This morning I had it too... I had some lemon rice too as I packed their lunch box with a dry egg curry and lemon rice... breakfast box with this sweet snack. There can be a number of avatar for patishapta ..... Bengali / Indian crepe.... this can be considered one done with refined flour, semolina, rice flour, date palm jaggery, coconut, sugar.... enjoy with some masala tea / chai!

INGREDIENTS :

Refined Flour : 1coffee mug
Semolina : 1/2coffee mug
Rice Flour : 1/2coffee mug
Grated Patali Gur : 11/2medium cup [date palm jaggery, use other variety during off season]
Shredded Coconut : 11/2coffee mug
Sugar : 4-5tbsp + 2tbsp
Green Cardamom Powder : 1tsp
Baking Soda : A Pinch
Water : As Required [you can use milk for the matter, the coconut is raw so I did not... Bengalis are weak in stomach}
Oil : Few drops for each Crepe

PROCEDURE :

Take the refined flour, semolina, rice flour in a wide mouthed bowl and mix well. Add water little by little to prepare a batter.... add 2-4 drops of oil, grated date palm jaggery and sugar to the mixture. Keep stirring with your right palm.... It takes about 10 minutes of labour to get a smooth batter free of lump. Keep aside covered for 2 hrs.

Take 4-5tbsp of sugar, green cardamom powder and the shredded coconut in a bowl. Roughly mix. I made your labour half... we do not have to thicken the milk on stove and then cook it further with coconut! Keep aside covered.

After 2 hrs, add a pinch of baking soda to the batter! Mix well.

If we are using a non stick pan, we do not need to grease pan with oil. If not add a tsp of oil when the pan is very hot, spread with a ladle. Wipe it with a wet cloth before you pour the batter. Repeat after you do 3-4 crepes.

Use round, dip spoon for pouring the batter and a ladle to take out. Once you pour the batter, then spread it clockwise immediately! The pan has to be pretty hot else we cannot.

Place some coconut mix just in the middle and roll it off like a chapati once you see the top is cooked. The bottom will be slightly brown. If you have used milk... the crepes may be more brown.