CHINIR POROTA / SUGAR STUFFED FLATBREAD / SHAKKAR BHARA HUA PARATHA

If this is not a bliss.... what is? I remember this was an absolute favourite during our growing up period just as the winter treat "porota aar khejur gur" was... When I was new into this island... I jumped out of joy at the sight of date syrup... I thought it may be the English translation of "khejur gur".... I brought home a 500ml bottle and got more firm on the belief why I should have learnt more of the English  Language & Literature... Date syrup is perhaps derived from ripe dates or from dates extract which cannot appeal to a tongue that is seasoned with the taste of "khejur gur".... That is the reason why big malls, the tip of the alps, mercedes benz, the invite for a coffee date at Sangri La do not "always" attract me.... As I close my eyes... the smell of "jolonto patkathi".... burning dried jute stems[?] fills the room... Gallons of "khejurer rosh".... date palm juice used to come from the grandfather's farm house... and they were boiled for hours to get the tastiest of date palm jaggery.... The grandmother was 4'8" inches in height with a physical fitness and power of the Hulk.... till date I could not hug a maple syrup... my fault!.... I yet cannot blog about a baked salmon with a honey-lemon glaze .... the memory of my deceased friend Chanchal is too fresh.... he was a foodie, he definitely had hilsa and mutton on a regular basis.... but let me give him a warm hug with a family favourite ..... CHINIR POROTA / SUGAR STUFFED FLATBREAD / SHAKKAR BHARA HUA PARATHA today! A message has to be put through his wife that it is very important to concentrate on the kid's education now.... to teach them values.... to curtail all unnecessary expenses. Her children should know that competing with others and spending on clothes and jewelries are useless expenditures at the moment!.... When they grow up well... they can do it! .... Need of the hour is a very humble living.... to learn compassion and other finer qualities of life .... the lack of which in some of my dear people makes me angry / sad! 

I liked it when I saw my brother's wife to revive a couple of relationship in our side too! Honestly, she is a far more matured being compared to her husband... I wish she could get her husband in the right track.... Several times I told him how important it is to build bridges, stay grounded, practice compassion.... no one comes to your door demanding your property... humans seek few nice gestures and good words from each other! Loving our family is not a big deal, it comes naturally to us.... we achieve something when we reach out to people.... Anyway, you cannot desert your own.... I found this sugar stuffed South Asian bread apt to be shared today! My husband was often tagged as an arrogant .... how much of "roshogolla & sandesh" he ate, he cannot speak with a sugar coating.... but be it a CHINIR POROTA / SUGAR STUFFED FLATBREAD / SHAKKAR BHARA HUA PARATHA or rice & mutton or "ilish-bhat".... he used to sit with our staffs together and eat.... I learnt from him how to be nice to the not so fortunate in this world.... I believe that is something worthy to keep! Before we blog about some "ilish and mutton" ... I prefer some humble shares... again, I have no expectations from anyone!.... I will do what I think is right  at the moment.... Not in any circumstances or under any influence will I blog about a Bengali style lamb stew or smoked Hilsa Taj Bengal style this week .... I am that way.... "headstrong".....

I really do not know how authentic Bengali this sweet porota / paratha / flatbread CHINIR POROTA / SUGAR STUFFED FLATBREAD / SHAKKAR BHARA HUA PARATHA is, but our mother prepared it every week to feed her two kids some milk alongside.... The sister used to finish two mishti porota by the time the brother perhaps would finish half of one.... How will he eat?... His mind was set on the noise coming from the street..... We had a strict mother who would not allow him to be outside after the sunset.... The sister never wished to go out to play.... she was lost in the kind of love bond.... between Animesh & Madhabilata.... wasn't Madhabilata's trust, strength of mind amazing?.... and Animesh's truthfulness to his ideology?.... Perhaps for all these reads have an influence on me.... I could not fancy "jhinchak" boys or may be I fancied .... boys in fact did not tolerate my dull, lifeless character, haha; but they can try CURRY AND SPICE's recipes.... I will remain indebted! .... Is there any from my generation who did not wish to be a part of such revolutions after reading this Samaresh Majumder's trilogy... Uttaradhikar.... Kalbela ..... Kalpurush?.... How are the people doing now who fled to the developed countries in the 70s? Do their kids know there is a country called India? I was totally under the spell of such novels, perhaps I loved Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland too much... I like Jhumpa's books for they are not in all cases written to please a particular political party or people! .... I hope intolerant people will not catch the next flight to this island to shot at least few rounds on my chest! My son has a political stand but he is too secretive, I do not get what it is!

The husband says I have a habit of thinking myself to be too important! Leave that... he might be right you know! A CHINIR POROTA / SUGAR STUFFED FLATBREAD / SHAKKAR BHARA HUA PARATHA comes naturally to me.... We do eat salmon, lamb, prawns at home, we do travel to exotic locations once in a year....or  once in every two years.... yet I wish to keep my blog very simple in general!.... If you had seen the expression on my face when I got to know from one blogger that water lily is actually "shapla o shaluk".... which tastes yum with "shorshe narkol bata".... you would have known I am not lying.... There were days when I had holidays.... say before major examinations.... the seven years younger to me brother had school.... I saw the mother holding him tight with one hand... his water bottle on her shoulder... and big stems of water lily on the other hand walking towards the home!..... They got cut that evening which took about 45minutes to 1hr, soaked in water overnight to be cooked the next morning.... 

I am not my mother.... Cristine will cut the colocasia stems for me which neither does mean that in her absence I do not do it....

This primitive woman grew up fancy-ing "kochu-ghechu, shutkir bhorta, ilish, patha", Homer to Agatha Christie to Leo Tolstoy to Anton Chekov to Buddhadev Guha to Samaresh Basu to Shirshendu. She is madly in love with nature & music too! She fears science, mathematics, technology or say any kind of structured textual studies.... she writes English with hundreds of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, she is happy that her present batch of "bori".... dal vadi tastes just like her grandmother's.... she takes pride in her honesty! Too much of lecture causes indigestion and needs some relief.... which you will get preparing this CHINIR POROTA / SUGAR STUFFED FLATBREAD / SHAKKAR BHARA HUA PARATHA with just few ingredients.... Refined Flour, Wholewheat Flour, salt, sugar, oil.... done.... way simpler than a three-tier cake or a pie or a rye bread ... uff! 

I did not have time for a nice photo feature as it was the son's lunch menu yesterday.... else... have it as your breakfast! I do not know how authentic Bengali chinir porota is but I might have seen a blogger from Bangladesh sharing a similar kind in one of the social sites.... I felt then that the mother might have sourced it from her family itself.... I was too eager to have rice, fish, mutton, "naru-nimki" from the grandmother's kitchen & I forgot how frequently she made this!

INGREDIENTS :

Refined Flour : 2coffee mug
Wholewheat Flour : 1coffee mug
Sugar : 2tsp per paratha / porota / flatbread
Salt : As Required
Water : As Required [you can use warm milk too]
Oil : 1tbsp + 11/2tsp for each paratha / porota / flatbread [use ghee for a better flavour]

PROCEDURE :

Let us prepare the dough first. Take the refined flour, wholewheat flour, salt in a wide mouthed bowl. Mix together well.

Add 1tbsp of oil and rub for 2 minutes. 

Now add water to the flour mix little by little and keep on kneading until a soft but not soggy dough is formed. This will take some 7-8 minutes. 

Cover the dough with a moist cotton cloth and rest for about 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove cover and knead the dough again for 2-3 minutes.

Tear off smaller portions and smoothen between your palms.

With help of a rolling pin and base, roll out round paratha sized shapes. Spread some sugar atop the paratha.

Fold the paratha half and seal with the tip of your finger.

Heat the tawa / griddle on stove top. Add one folded paratha at a time.

Once one side is cooked this much as below, we will turn over to cook the other side. 

Once both sides are cooked, add the prescribed amount of ghee and cook both sides well without allowing it to burn.

Can you imagine the smell.... its ummmmmmm....!

Repeat the same for rest of the parathas.