This is exclusively made for myself.... if I start preparing everything considering the tastebuds of my men.... I have to limit the cooking ingredients to meat, prawns, fish fillets and vegetables if any .... then it should be pakoras.... "badhakopir bora, fulkopir bora, dhonepatar bora, aloor bora"..... Milind Soman will never be friends with my men ..... even I do not give in to their demands else both would have conferred me the "Best Mom / Wife" Award by now! Our Filipino Cristine eats Shukto to this AAM PORA PUDINAR SHORBOT..... but the men take a sip and says enough.... now I cannot add one cup of sugar to this healthy cooling drink and turn it into an unhealthy one! So, I am not regular with it.... I made it last week just when Ipsita stepped in with her version of Fish Fry.... she gave a thumbs up to this healthy summer cooler! She is not the kind who would allow fish fries in her kitchen much.... Last month I got a roast pot at a great discount .... that too at Isetan and I immediately got it for her... she would use it wisely.... else you would see me setting "doi, chena, dal for dhoka" on it.... for me only "hata, khunti, korai" works!
Wise men knew it lo-o-o-o-ong before.... off course it is good to be "calculative" with your life.... you have only one! Anyway, how much of "hashi moshkora" you see me doing, I am not in a great mood! Even the husband says the son will get a mix of A and B grades.... mumma cannot be happy! No, I am not jealous with Piali or her daughter.... the teen who says after each examination in which subject she will get 95 percentile or in which 97! For her I get to know what is going on inside the examination hall.... too focussed & sincere about her career and life! Piali Maitra herself is a Bethunite! I tell her it is a waste of resource that you never went to work! Now, I am also not the kind who many people may like... I give them that liberty just as I reserve "my right of way".... For this friend Piali, I took my favourite Instant Semolina Idli yesterday! I prepare the batter in minutes.... mixing together Eno, Yogurt, Semolina and few vegetables! I have few expert South Indian blogger friends.... I do not even know they would accept it as an idli or not! I packed the men's lunch boxes... they will just "manage".... their idea of healthy food is limited to chicken / mutton stew, light egg and prawn curries!
My readers are not bound to accept what my men like at all times, I may not be accommodative but I do not lack sensibility totally as some do! See Piyali loved it with my homemade mint-yogurt chutney.... Tinni... her daughter had two.... this morning I had one with my black coffee! Piali aunty got some Kheema Curry for our son.... After the examination was over, I asked him to say thank you to aunty! A robotic voice says so! Aunty asked him how was the paper.... "I do not know!".... "Did you answer all the questions?"..."Everyone writes every thing!".... He is protective about his peers which is good but he does not speak to Tinni... may be because she talks only academics always... haha!
While chatting with her, I told her I have really grown old! Last Thursday, Piali's husband was with me at the school and ahh... we talked only about our kids and this island! Gosh 😀! I am open about my likes and dislikes... I told her... "he is calm and decent Piali".... he is in fact our batch mate.... an alumnus of that Science College under Calcutta University located few stops before Sealdah.... of the Computer Science Department! "Jhinchak" boys scare me always! What would have been the scenario had my husband been there? Well, he would have told 'excuse me' at least five times in one hour and would have gone outside the school gate to smoke.... he would have totally bored the lady talking about world politics.... I will not be surprised if he discusses about the shares of his MISC, Petronas, Exxon Mobil in the world market with the lady... such a bore! He is comfortable only with few known ladies.... an equally boring wife is there to warn.... "do not cross limits".... "ami chyablami pochondo korina janoi to"..... The wife is good too! If it was idli yesterday, it is tuna sandwich today! I can go ahead with AAM PORA PUDINAR SHORBOT now, then I have to rush to pick up the son!
It is really a surprise for our mother to see her daughter having idli, dosa, appam and AAM PORA PUDINAR SHORBOT! Her daughter's eyes were always fixed at "Malonchor Cutlet" on their monthly visit to Shyambazaar or a Chole Bhature worked! But our parents hardly did buy us all those! Unlike a desi girl, I did not like any sour thing like pickle or sambar except for our family recipe of "macher tok" during summers.... which perhaps is a cross breed of Assamese Fish Tenga and Comilla Cuisine.... I noticed Bongs getting surprised to hear of our "macher tok" which is different from some Midnaporean families' "puti macher tok shorshe bata aam kuchi diye".... From there, the daughter now not only eats but loves pickle... the sour ones too and dosa, idli.... loves appam too much. The mother was accommodative when it came to food.... our parents hated non vegetarian food while on a tour... her staple on any tour were dosa, idli, aloo-matar & tandoori roti.... how she loves the last one! The daughter literally cried having vegetarian food for 15 long days.... the little brother would say "get some meat for didibhai"....
Getting from there to here actually took three decades.... some old loves like "chop, shingara, cutlet" continues, while the new likes include mushrooms and tofu too.... though paneer rules.... "kintu paneer biryani tai boley?".... Kolkata loves Paneer Tikki, Matar Paneer but Paneer Biryani does not get through the Kolkata Airport.... "ek shart hai yaar.... paneer pulao / fried rice bhi chalega.... yaar biryani maat bulao.... Wazid Ali Shah ko maat uthao kabar se!"..... Never is it a dig at anyone but Biryani is an exclusive thing, never a commoner!... I wish to visit Lucknow for this purpose only.... the husband till date did not take me.... There should be no guilt blogging about a AAM PORA PUDINAR SHORBOT you see, neither these guys are bothered... they have pomfret curry for dinner.... bas "shod-bodh"....
One raw mango and a fistful of fresh mint leaves is just fine for two standard glasses, I like it thick, so I did not add much of water to the summer cooling drink! The sight of it reminds me of the mint cooler sellers in Kolkata.... they were seen roaming in the non-Bengali speaking belt, Burrabazaar and the rest.... "pudiner shorbot Bangali kothai kheto?".... AAM PORA PUDINAR SHORBOT does use fresh mint leaves.... I grow them, so I use often.... I love its fresh flavours, not when it becomes an artificial peppermint... so different is the feel!
INGREDIENTS :
Raw Mango : 2 standard size
Fresh Mint Leaves : A Fistful
Sugar : 2 tbsp
Black Salt : 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper Powder : 1/2 tsp
PROCEDURE :
Wash the mangoes very well and wipe dry. Switch on the gas burner and place it atop a manual roaster.
We will keep it turning over to roast it evenly.
We will switch off the gas oven and take the mangoes down on a plate once it is roasted very nicely on all sides.... the pulp will get soft. Let it cool.
Peel off the skin thoroughly.
Add a big cup of water to the blender. Blend for a minute.... we are done! Pour on to glasses, refrigerate and serve chilled!
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