I do not click great pictures, neither good at using props, I do not! Ideally, I do not like a home dumped with furnitures.... I have grown up reading that Bengali magazine Sananda .... following it's food shares and home decor ideas. Many years back, I saw few pictures of Shabana & Baba Azmi's parental home .... Kaifi Azmi & Shaukat Kaifi .... oh, what an ethnic beauty!.... You really do not need lots of money to do up your interiors! Then, the husband and I have to disagree in almost all matters except for the wish of either building a school for the needy or running a low cost guest house @ Puri post retirement! If I prefer a "takia / chouki" with cushions and "chowpayas" and "beter mora"for the drawing room.... he prefers a leather sofa.... If I say smaller size bedrooms need not have beds with back rests but low height "choukis" with a bed spread & cushion covers bought from Mrignayani or Boyonika or Manipur Handloom & Handicrafts stores .... he will not agree! According to him... all the ants in this home comes from the few plants I have in that small piece of ledge... not even a balcony is that... ok! To my fellow Indians.... buy your stuffs from the cottage emporiums.... they are dying because of our negligence.... play holi / dol with natural / organic colours!
Take the example of my neighbourhood Uttarapan back in Kolkata... the bunch of Government Emporiums are unable to compete with the malls! I always love ethnic wear and wish to buy only handloom wear! Oh yes.... I am a proud North Kolkatan, now East? The entire area from Dum Dum-Chiriamore-Nagerbazaar-Dunlop to Laketown-Ultodanga is my "para"... neighbourhood! Even eight years back, people saw me and Kana watching movie at Jaya.... as a child I saw the neighbourhood movie buff aunties walked past the Patipukur rail bridge to Jaya.... God! It is a multiplex now! My favourite medium of transport is train and auto rickshaw..... you know I cannot be in a hugging position naturally with people to whom Kolkata means only Ballygung to Tallygung.... who feels ashamed to take pride in the place they belonged to once! Even if people find otherwise that I am attempting at any kind of "forced connection"... trust me ..... it is unconsciously ... because of lack of actual facts and informations..... I do have one medium of connection who does not equip me with necessary informations and I hate using people to feed my interests.... haha!
Coming to the Holi Celebrations, there is no such things at this home... only this mumma may put some on her younger son... Balgopal and the elder one may not get any fish or meat on his plate tomorrow..... but similar kinds of this SPICY OATS MINI POROTA & OATS-MANGO HALWA! I always admit.... I am a conglomerate of influences of varied kinds of people.... who are indispensable in my life .... may be so certain match games happen even after "snobby nose" shows full of humiliation!... You can blame it on my lack of self pride! I am actually what you see below... a bowl of rice with little butter, chopped green chilli and salt is the medicine for my "gas... ambal... gola...buk jwala".... believe me whenever I have acidity... a bowlful of the below comes to my rescue and I am cured within an hour!
Why did I say this? To echo Rujuta Diwekar.... eat locally grown food! An Indian living in India need not buy quinoa or oats for a fitter self.... you have dalia, suji, khoi, muri, chirey for the same. For non-resident Indians.... ok... they may need to travel few more kilometres to get desi stuffs and have no other way but to think global and be a part of the mainstream! I got a big jar of oats for guilt free mornings... Till date my most favourite breakfast is "gorom dhoya otha bhaat, tatka begun bhaja, ghee / makhon, kancha lanka, noon".... wish I had the liberty to have it! Please do not come to me with avocado.... would you like it if I prepare a paste of it with "shorshe-narkol-posto-kanchalanka" and drizzle some "shorsher tel" atop? You will not! I do not want to go further with it.... my dear friend .... glam doll Bianca may get very upset.... but she should know banana and apple is a regular affair at our homes, they are never foreign to me / us given the best variety comes from our very own paradise .... Shimla and Kashmir!
I am poor in Geography too and do not know who belongs to whom .... I remember the conversations of the father with the locals there back in 1987.... I only know it is a conscious and deliberate decision not to solve the dispute ever! I only believe that the colour of blood is red always and it is a mother who is able to give birth everywhere, not a devil!.... Rest, we are product of circumstances! I love this workaholic island which ensures us peace.... well you may call me an escapist.... I will still say I love it, even more when I discover this just outside our back door.... "kasuri methi" in a local shop... haha!
You see.... even my Holi share like this SPICY OATS MINI POROTA & OATS- MANGO HALWA has to have a touch of this island.... say it is with Thai Honey Mango this time!
I do not call myself innovative enough.... I may have come across similar recipes which were caught in my radar! I did not browse Google yesterday either.... I thought let me see how it comes out. The husband is due tonight... it does not feel good at all to try hands on something new without the husband who loves any kind of desi breads and halwa.... the son has to be force fed halwa calling it pudding and he is simply happy with his meat curries and fries.... fish or any. I wonder where actually the monkey belong! I had all of the two glasses of lebu cha / lemon tea yesterday evening. It was stress free cooking the platter of SPICY OATS MINI POROTA & OATS-MANGO HALWA. You will not get the dough with oats powder as same texture as of with atta / maida! I had to use that cap to get perfect round shapes.... it was all worth because they were tasty... more like khakhra .... but it cannot be stored... try to have it fresh! As of the halwa... I will always suggest to use some fresh fruits to your halwa making process .... be it pineapple, strawberry or our family favourite mango... This time I did not use any artificial colour.... people are already smeared with colours!
Would you have a look at few other recipes of mine? Click on the links / headings below :
SWEET POORI
AJWAIN PARATHA
KORAISHUTIR KOCHURI O ALOOR DOM
Powdered Oats : 1coffee mug
Refined Flour : 1/2 coffee mug
Carom Seed : 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder : 1tsp
Coriander Powder : 1tsp
Dry Mango Powder : 1tsp
Salt : 1/4 tsp
Ghee / Clarified Butter : 2tbsp+1tsp for each mini porota
INGREDIENTS : [for the mango halwa]
Powdered Oats : 1/2 coffee mug
Mango : 1 standard sized
Sugar : 2-3 tbsp
Green Cardamom : 2-3
Green Cardamom Powder : 1/4tsp
Bayleaf : 1
Ghee : 2-3 tbsp
Chopped Dry Fruits to garnish!
PROCEDURE :
Let us prepare Oats Halwa at first!
Heat the ghee in a wok and temper with the green cardamoms and bay leaf!
Add the oatmeal and stir for sometime till it is roasted well.
Once done, add the sugar and fold in well. Stir for 2 minutes or so.
Add the mango puree and and fold in well.
Stir cook for 2-3 minutes and add a small cup of water. Stir cook until the sides come off!
Add a spoonful of ghee, the green cardamom powder & some chopped dry fruits.
Mix well and take down .... Transfer to a serving bowl.... top with the rest of the chopped dry fruits & some mango cubes!
Let us do the Oatmeal Paratha now!
Let us grind the oats required; add the refined flour, semolina, spice powders, carom seed 1tbsp ghee &salt to it.
We will rub the entire mixture for about 2 minutes!
Add warm water little by little to form a dough. Do not worry, the dough will be hard in this case! Add 1 tbsp of ghee to the dough & cover it for 15-20 minutes!
Remove the cover & knead the dough for 2-3 minutes again... adding a little of warm water if required!
Tear off small portions to prepare balls. Make roundels with help of a rolling pin.
Heat a tawa pan on the gas stove! Carefully and gently place the porota just in the middle! Roast both the sides. Add one tsp ghee and cook until the tops are light brown. Take down.
Enjoy the combined platter of SPICY OATS MINI POROTA & OATS-MANGO HALWA fresh and hot and do not forget some tea alongside.... for us it was green tea with lemon!
lovely and flavourful oats parathas...
ReplyDeletethank you Amrita...
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