CURRY AND SPICE: BAKED BEET ER DOI

I prepared this baked beetroot yogurt ...... BAKED BEET ER DOI happily and thought I will blog about it on the occasion of Poila Baishakh.... that is Bengali New Year! I did it, clicked the pictures, found them a little loud; re-deed & these picture seems okay! I still cannot be called a food photographer! I wish to put through a message that I may not like shines and too much of colours but I do not have a problem with people who like it otherwise.... How can I when I come from a family where people cannot think beyond red, yellow, green, blue! On my each visit, I cancel at least ten of the mother's sarees and say you will not wear this kinds.... now she is in track more or less! I have not followed protocol much in my life and that gets me in to trouble! I have a childhood friend Sukanta Saha, whose mother... our Mira Mashi's choice of saree I loved since our school days. I never hesitated to tell our mom.... "Mani.... I like mashi's choice of saree... off beat, matt finish, ethnic!"..... Till date I do not get what is wrong in that? I find a singer from a different state of Eastern India classic, having depth, I do not go public with it avoiding further controversies!

I adore two kinds of food photography.... appropriate props and the subject.... wherein the picture itself weaves a story.... there is another kind that is plain and simple focussing on the food! I do have a recipe of baked doi / yogurt blogged about earlier.... The discomfort of going ahead with this dessert today lies elsewhere! For the past two days, two doe eyes on a blue-yellow dress is haunting me, pelting stones at my "glass heaven".... India is fighting for a cause.... a genuine cause! Two Kashmiri Pandits leading a team to get justice for a muslim girl is a ray of hope denoting integrity but we should not focus on this aspect... never! It is humanity that stood up against barbarism ..... in the history of the country the alternative do / did happen.... religion is not important here... but the crime.... the grievous truth that the woman tribe is vulnerable! Then, I am just a food blogger.... not a versatile cook either.... I do not have 25 different dishes to choose from! Here is a small time blogger struggling to get some readers! Had I been able to create a niche for myself in these few years, would You have seen me doing "ghanta pujo" in different groups? Never....

Anyway, we can say that baked doi has become a craze sort of in the entire Kolkata, if not in West Bengal! Correct me if I am wrong, I am not an well informed person... not a part of the Kolkata food scenario for a long time now.... There was a time when it took me one spoonful to differentiate the quality of food between Grain of Salt at 22, Camac Street and the one that came up in its place after few months! I and the Boss kept wondering for a long time why Grain of Salt could not sustain in the Kolkata food scenario.... See how self centric I have become.... majority there cannot afford even a normal Park Street restaurant on a regular basis, leave alone a boutique restaurant!.... I am feeling lack of love towards myself these days!.... Coming to the point, we truly loved the food served at the Grain of Salt..... saying so without any prejudice, the master will not train me for free about different cuisines, praising the master will not make me famous overnight!.... Once our mother said.... "mamoni.... watch the fingers at work.... they are too much at ease making cooking easier for you using few ingredients most of the time"! She seemed happy if she did not have to buy creams to mixed nuts for a dish. Each time I use "mutho mutho badam".... the guilt is on.... my middle class values will not set me free... neither should it!

The point is it is Bengali New Year tomorrow.... I wished for a vegetarian share, global as far as possible considering all my friends around...... trying to remain apolitical. The doe eyed girl along with her likes are not going to leave me sooner, I kept fast yesterday not alone for my son but for them too.... Standing right at the present, I do not find it necessary to share the picture which I like doing.... the daughters are in distress... my prince will remain my prince... The mother of a prince was a girl child too and a victim of #metoo, however protective the mother had been ..... If you have given birth, be a caring parent.... getting boxes of chocolates and dresses for the kids is not good parenting.... a considerable part of our time and life is to be given to them!

This BAKED BEET ER DOI is a moderately quick and simple recipe done with few ingredients like plain yogurt, green cardamom powder, sugar, fresh beetroot juice.... We can have this superbly yum dessert just like that or you can have it with your choice of toppings!

INGREDIENTS :

Full Cream Milk : 1 litre
Plain Yogurt : 50gm+ a little to line the containers
Beetroot Juice : 11/2medium cup
Green Cardamom Powder : 1/2tsp

Sugar : 2-3 tbsp

PROCEDURE :

We have prepared the beet root juice in a juicer using a little of water. Thereafter, we would boil it & reduce it to 1/4th & let it cool!

We would boil the milk until less than 1/2, switch off the gas stove, add the green cardamom powder!

We will whisk & strain the beetroot milk! We will add about 50gm of plain yogurt and beat well when the milk is still warm, not hot!

We will apply some plain yogurt on the walls of the containers we would be using! In fact, this is not required if we are baking the yogurt! Thereafter, we would fill the containers with the semi-liquid!