What was I doing the last two days? Oh! a lot of silly things; a lazy, stay-at-home does! It was Vesak Day holiday here the day before yesterday.... at this home there wasn't any, the son had his economics examination and his father had to catch a flight! In spite of knowing that I have a condition that the doctors do not call normal, he could not wait for few more days for the son's examinations to be over. This tall, dark, severely underweight guy who happens to be my husband did not even say that he will be travelling this week. I would not have stranded in the rain with an overflowing stroller then.... the son is happy with his salmon, prawn & chicken and mumma can manage with "muri-chirey-doi-aam-lichu-kathal".... My favourite summer fruits are in abundance here now.... Litchi too is coming from East Asia.... I am happy... they all have high sugar content and I am not bothered at all.
This middle aged guy dropped us at the school gate the day before yesterday, went off... came back yesterday around midnight and now again going where?... Amritsar... only to come back over the weekend! There would be no "saptaher bazaar" this week... no it does not make me happy! I wished to sit with him and have the "Ilish Polao".... Instead, I chatted for long with Piali over some tea and paper dosa! This girl has her own set of friends but we get along well! I tell people not to depend on me, I cannot give much.... I am a lone wanderer... I am unable to be in a crowd for long! I loved watching people of this island in a holiday mood... going out, getting clicked and posting them too!
What was S doing? She is wishing to drape her summer cool cotton sarees and seek Cristine's mercy for a click but that has to wait for the right mood and time! Cristine is there with me in all my silly ventures. See, this year we again planted some pumpkin seeds.... last year in the greed of having some "kochi pata"... the plant never saw flowers and this woman is craving for some "kumro phool er bora".... I see some in the western world blog about minced chicken stuffed zucchini flowers! We love batter fried pumpkin flowers, let me keep my fingers crossed! Tell me what we do not fry? If we get "dhonepata"..... coriander leaves in abundance.... I have to prepare DHONEPATAR BORA O CHUTNEY!
If you cook simple and quick stuffs, you have enough time to do more silly things.... like eating jackfruit and mango and then go down to sow the seeds at the condominium backyard😁! I did not even seek permission from the management office, do not even know they will grow or not, even if they grow.... the gardener may throw them not knowing! I repotted that indoor plant too, got the pot at a cheap price.... you know how I love black, white and anything that soothes my eyes! What do I get from all these? Nothing else but simple pleasures! How much the husband scolds that I am breeding mosquitoes and spoiling the owner's hedge, I give a deaf ear... I feed him some meat and fish dishes following my gardener friends' recipes instead! Our mother has a regret that her son-in-law never took interest in her garden! She would say that her daughter's new family is only interested in tea and "adda"! Leave that, we need not bring in topics that does not make me happy.... the veteran women in both the families could never get along because the two families are miles apart from each other in their ways!.....
Let me tell you how happy I am to have six dhonepatar bora and a good amount of chutney with nothing else but rice, toor-mango daal, kasundi, achar.... "Bas zindegi choti hi sahi... dil kush rehna chahiye"...... Many of you might remember that movie and the song... "choti si hai baat, koi nehi janey".... we never know what is next! If you remember the song, you will also know the reason why "Tina and Rinki" could not make it in Bollywood.... their mother had already set a high standard! At the moment I am craving for that black & white Dhakai Muslin one of my most loved diva is wearing in that song, haha! The Kaash, Gardish, Rudali, Lekin, Dil Chahta Hai diva may not eat DHONEPATAR BORA O CHUTNEY at her home, they do not have the liberty to but I am humming her numbers and eating the Bengali Vegetarian Snack and Chutney with rice....
That is what the silly woman was doing yesterday! No, I am not playing match game with Rujuta Diwekar.... I planted them in the morning, when I got to see Rujuta's share of "folonto kathal gaach"... the heavily fruit bearing jackfruit tree... it was afternoon.... Her post definitely took me back in time .... the grandfather had two big which bore the juicy variety that we do not get here. I was helping my cousin to open her saree page too.... though she needs better people as guide! I also wish to introduce my long time college friend Atoshi Shyam to my readers.... she has just opened her Facebook page... Artesance.... too good at painting, she is a class danseuse too! During our college days, she also made to the front pages of the Statesman.... one of the very loving and leading students of Tanushree Shankar! She too got married at a very young age, shifted to Delhi, had a dance institute there and now a resident of Bangalore... she is taking contracts of painting walls... are you there Bangalore? What I do not like in the mother of two girls?.... her profile picture... haha.... She still is in touch with Tanushree Shankar... I love that celebrity dancer's dance form and yes, her elegance.... and her "saaarreees".... you see with this much of "don'ts" in my life, I prefer being alone!
This recipe of DHONEPATAR BORA O CHUTNEY is actually our family recipe that may not match with other families. The mother used to do them on Thursdays during winter.... In those days, only in winter did Kolkata markets saw coriander leaves... ahh... what a smell / flavour! These two dishes are very easy to do.... though we have it the way you see in the picture.... the coriander pakoras / dhonepatar bora will go well as a pure vegetarian snack with your choice of tea / coffee or whatever! The chutney is supposed to have a teaspoon of mustard oil added to it, I skipped so that my readers who prefer poori / paratha can have those with it... If you have a tastebud like mine you will love. In fact... I will prepare some instant, semolina idli to have with the chutney for lunch....
You see, I wished to represent our mother in today's share... she loved / still loves following the academically sound kids' stories, I discovered that I am doing the same... I am following the ICSE & CBSE results worldwide! If a girl with some physical difficulty secures high marks in boards, I will fry some DHONEPATAR BORA O CHUTNEY, sit with her and eat together.... may God save her eyes... she wishes to be an IAS officer! For the rest, I think there are better and closer people to take care and do the necessary! Leave me alone! Anyway, this is for the first time that I asked the husband to get us some Amritsar special food stuff... he did not give me any time to ask anyone from that region... I do not wish kulcha, we can make it if not that authentically! For the coriander chutney... Bengalis do try it adding a teaspoon of mustard oil.... a couple of Indian communities have their breads with their version of coriander chutney, the western world too can try!
Yesterday, I prepared Kolkata Style Egg Roll for the son's lunch.... I had to change the picture of the blog post too! Do have a look...
EGG ROLL
INGREDIENTS : [For the Coriander Pakora]
Fresh Coriander Leaves : 8-10 sprigs or a small colander full
Chopped Green Chillies : 2-3
Rice Flour : 1medium cup
Corn Flour : 2 tbsp
Baking Soda : A pinch
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Sugar : 1/3tsp
Salt : As Required
Oil to deep fry
INGREDIENTS : [For the Coriander Chutney]
Fresh Coriander Leaves : A cup full
Green Chilli : 2
Garlic : 2cloves
Nigella Seed : 1/2tsp
Salt : As Required
Mustard Oil : 1tsp
PROCEDURE :
You might get surprised at the idea of adding nigella seeds in the chutney.... In our family it is done this way. In fact, our mother used to dry grind nigella seeds... she and me ate it with some ghee, green chilli and salt.... love it... the brother never fancied!
Anyway, discard the root ends and any spoilt leaf of the coriander! Wash taking on a strainer!
Take all the ingredients for the Coriander Chutney in a blender except for the salt and mustard oil.
Blend adding little water at intervals for 2-3 minutes till it becomes a smooth paste!
Transfer to a bowl and add the salt and mustard oil if you are having with steamed rice.... skip the mustard oil if having with breads!
For the coriander pakora / batter fries, discard the root ends and any spoilt leaves. Wash thoroughly under running water.
Chop the coriander leaves roughly, chop the green chillies small.
Prepare a paste like batter with the rice & corn flour, baking soda, red chilli and turmeric powder, sugar and salt adding very little water at a time. Rest for 5 minutes.
Add the chopped coriander leaves and green chillies to the batter. While frying the pakora, I felt that the batter could accommodate some more chopped coriander. So, you should be careful.
Heat enough oil in a wok to deep fry! Once it comes to smoking point, reduce the heat!
Add small portions to the oil. We need to fry and keep turning the pakoras all the time and adjust the heat. They should be crisp without getting burnt.
Once done, we need to hold the perforated ladle / chakni hata for sometime, to get rid of the oil as much as possible.
Keep on to tissue papers before serving.
In our family we usually had / have it with rice and dal, the husband do have some with beer.... so it can well be considered as a yum vegetarian snack, appetiser.
Today, I had it with my evening tea.
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