You know this lady @ CURRY AND SPICE is a confused soul.... she in public speaks on health and how only exercise and a good diet chart, not food supplements can be a solution to all health hazards.... What does she actually do in the privacy of her home?.... She eats a big, bad coconut bun with her morning tea... Now doing a 6-8 km brisk walk is not a big deal for me only if the myth called eat what you like and then workout had any effect on the body.... It does not work that way... it never does. A proper diet is essential for a healthy body. I cannot quit the kind of food I love, I cannot afford to be an obese with a 4'11" height either.... what you see in a woman with all sweat on her face has 60% truth in it! The rest of the honesty is murdered by a coconut bun as of now! .... All my readers know, the son at this home is gradually turning to be one of this island... be it a coconut bun or a red bean bun.... enters this home on a regular basis! Until here it is fine.... when a mother nearing 50 does not have the power to resist herself from having one.... the problem lies therein.... Early morning a coconut bun already went inside... late evening a long walk will also happen... and that problem called 7-8 kg overweight is not going to be solved...
I am wise only when it comes to soda / aerated drinks... because they do not satisfy my taste bud.... did not even in those days of Gold Spot or Thums Up or Limca.... I was busy to watch and fall for those happening guys in the ads & had no time to fancy the drinks.... I had always been a "fishy" character.... do not go by my innocent looks... I am not! To hydrate oneself what should we do?.... We will go for the healthiest of drinks made with things lying around... like this GUR DIYE DOI ER GHOL.... Ghol which is near to Chaas rather than lassi had remained a quintessential cooling drink for the Bengalis for long besides a "lebur shorbot".... Do not ask me how long, place of origin, the reason, its nutritional value .... for that you have to travel to others' streams and enjoy the reads as much as I do! If you are an owner of a blog, give us something more besides your wonderful recipes... You are not silly as I am and I am sure you will not fill your space with melodrama.... but with more of information equipped with wonderful writing skills.... People by now got to know that the lady @ CURRY AND SPICE tactfully plays with few common words... they should also know that she at times needs a dictionary while going through the English literature.... This is the reason why I like reading our friend Dr. Nishi Pulugurtha... she speaks, thinks, eat, dream, write English in a way she does in Telegu, her mother tongue.... mind it she is a visiting professor to IIMs to that "bahargaon's" State Universities too.... I do not know with two alzheimer patients at home and a job... how she manages dining out every other day or travelling to remote places of Bengal & India often with her gang that includes her sister, a teacher at Roorkee Engineering college.... whose son is a wonderful photographer & painter....
Such drinks like GUR DIYE DOI ER GHOL are made occasionally at this home. If you run or walk in the sun, you need such healthy coolers once back home. I do not care about the sweat, I enjoy clicking the little pleasures you see below.... I do not know how an ace photographer would have taken the shot! As for my sweaty, burnt face, I never do really care... did not even on my hay days... come on I could not sacrifice food for a guy... haha... On a serious note... I always wished... one should be able to love and accept the real me beyond my not so pleasant looking physical features...... I do not have a problem with people having physical beauty.... I enjoy them... both men and women... God forbid I never get bored with an overdose of watching! Why do I like Nishi and her kinds? She takes life lightly, she has immense potential and "materials" in her that I like, she does take pride in herself which is necessary to move ahead but she does not show it off! You know by now that I am all about myself who is very rigid and vocal about what she dislikes... haha... I am never scared of loneliness... I do not care who stays in my life... who does not! I know my kinds will grace my surroundings... I am loose about the son, mumma loves him to the moon & back, how to stay without him? The emptiness would make both me & T numb!
The word "near" is apt for GUR DIYE DOI ER GHOL and not "similar" while comparing it with Chaas .... because it has a sweet element in it... authentically it is sugar that is used at the Bengali homes, I just used jaggery... nothing unique I have created. Chaas may not use sugar or jaggery in it(?) I prepared the doi er ghol for some visiting guests few days back... they told they loved it. This is exactly how a no fancy, yogurt drink is prepared at Bengali Homes with plain yogurt, lemon, ginger extract, black salt and lots of sugar... haha.... They say, sugar kills the health factor present in plain yogurt! In general, for Bengalis, Mishti Doi is doi in true sense, rest of India do not even sell sweetened yogurt in bulk.... may be!
Many of the expat Indians may be sad that they cannot eat to the heart's content on their next visit to Kolkata... I am not much bothered... In the past few years, what I had in Kolkata is sweets... no one can prepare a Bengali sweet better in rest of the world or in India beyond Bengal... I actually enjoy a Amritar Mishti Doi, SenMahasay er Dorbesh, Putiram er kochuri, Nokurer sandesh and if my friends Chandrayee or Swati visits... I get to have Balaramer Mishti too.... What I have to sacrifice is Coffee House' Afgani Cutlet or Mitra Cafe's Fish Kabiraji... You know I do not really crave for them anymore, our parents never bought those for us! I also feel I can do them with the freshest of ingredients maintaining the hygiene in the comfort of my kitchen, if not that authentic.... they will not bring health hazards... If you are in Kolkata.... do not miss visiting the sweet shops.... its one of the kind experience!
Cooking may not be your passion.... there is no harm in doing it for your own.... When you do.... add lots of love to it... else it would taste bland... I cannot guarantee that I will learn accounts, excel, science, mathematics, physics, chemistry in return... the brain matters! Cooking only requires love and the right balance, skilled movement of fingers as of the expert chefs! Eating out in Kolkata will remain a fear for many for quite sometime now.... one of my friends there who dines out every other day in spite of being a very good cook got phobic... "S will not eat out much rey".... I told "barite pot luck kor....".... if not literally, I meant so! 1kg mutton in Kolkata costs 550-600 rupees while a mutton cutlet in Hyatt Regency may cost nearly that.... make it a monthly affair, not a weekend one!
That young girl, with weight issues will get angry with me.... she also has to think of her "kochi chana".... its no joke.... set Adnan Sami as an example! All said and not done yet, I have a sweet making idea doing the round since yesterday with one weird element besides the few common... if it tastes well, it definitely will grace the blog! As of now let me share this "beat the heat" recipe of a desi cooler with plain yogurt, lemon, jaggery, ginger extract and black salt. Ghol was / is made in both sides of the family, was very much liked by the moron husband once, the brother perhaps still has it back from office... I mean Bengali homes love it between Spring and Autumn... for the rest of you... its definitely a cooler to keep... specially if you work outdoors for long! I use a chemical free jaggery powder available in the Indian stores... which does not add much colour or sweetness.
I have two Bengal favourite yogurt recipes made at home .... click the headings for the recipes!
KOLKATAR LAAL MISHTI DOI
KOLKATA R SHADA MISHTI DOI / HOMEMADE SWEETENED YOGURT
INGREDIENTS :
Plain Yogurt : 250gm - 300 gm [Use Homemade]
Jaggery : 3-4 tbsp [I used chemical free jaggery powder]
Lemon Juice : 1/4small cup [good if it is of the Bengal variety Gondhoraj]
Ginger Extract : 2tbsp
Black Salt : 1/2tsp
Water : 2coffee mug
PROCEDURE :
Take the yogurt in a heavy bottomed vessel.
Churn it with a "daler kata".... churner / whipper? Else use a hand beater!
Add the jaggery powder to the yogurt.
Add the black salt, lemon juice, add and strain the ginger paste through a strainer using a spoon. Add 2 coffee mugs of water!
Churn again for about 2 minutes and strain the entire content to another vessel.
We will use a spoon to get the entire liquid to be strained. You know I hate wastage!
We are done, now the content is to be chilled before serving!
It is always to be served chilled! Try to avoid using ice-cubes but I added some!
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