There are a couple of special occasions round the year, I wish to give considerable amount of importance to a couple of them, if not all. For a Hari Raya Aidilfitri, I have to wish everyone who are celebrating ..... Ramadan Kareem.... People around who helped at different stages of life do not necessarily belong to my religion.... some explained me the meaning of a blog, stopped by my posts, a girl much younger than me was made my partner on the first day at work here in the island.... Me, who had always preferred to work manually got extremely scared at the sight of a computer getting back to work after 10 years.... When I lacked confidence totally, this girl named F helped me with all necessary guidance.... another F was one of my mentors.... both have a celebration today like few others.... fish shares can wait till Sunday. What I wonder is that is it me who at age 22 was entrusted with lot more responsibilities.... like accompanying 20-25 board examines from Barasat to Kanchrapara and getting them back safely.... I was young, inexperienced.... yet the management trusted me and said... we know you are the right person who can stay cool and handle anything on the road.... I definitely had few accompanying colleagues with me.... Look at me today, my colleagues and friends are either a principal at a school or a senior teacher.... what I am? nothing.... I sit at home and cook.... but one must follow one's passion.... If you look at my friend Atoshi Shyam's page Artesance.... you will not believe that she has no formal training in Art! Hence, not knowing to bake is no excuse..... The only thing I can say in my defence is that I still try to be honest in whatever I do! As a Food Blogger, we will try to unite people..... if not always but during special occasions.... I strongly felt that I will not go ahead with a meat share either..... Let me unite cooks, artists and skilled photographers 😊.... not always it is possible though.
That I will prepare a mutton pulao & paneer for our Ramadan lunch is a completely different issue... I cannot multitask.... writing a recipe and cooking 4 dishes before lunch is not my cuppa.... meat pulao is a wonderful solution to hide my drawback. I am not our mother, the extremely energetic person at 70 was cleaning my home last week and yes all alone! I / We felt very bad and said ... "Mani ask bhai to take you back home, get a help when we go and then clean... you are not our helper"..... You know now Rizia Mashi has failed to prove her faithfulness.... It was me who literally supported her home when she had no work, it was me who got her work in different homes once I left.... Now, you see allegiance changes according to convenience! I do not blame her.... she is a have not who has to feed few stomachs, obviously she has to keep happy her present resources.... What I can do best is stop going out of the way for people who will not move an inch for my benefit!..... People may forget what I did for them.... I will not forget what some did to get CURRY AND SPICE a place in the food blogging world.... to me this VEGETARIAN CURRY PUFF is the right share for today!
Till yesterday, I was very much worried about the mother who was cleaning our home all alone.... The husband always says.... curtail your expectations S.... Now that the mother is back to her "palace".... I am happy........ Rizia Mashi is just an example, it could be Radharani too.... and you know it is through small incidents you get to know people.... What I fail to make our expert mother understand is that poor people are just made pawns to fulfil our own interests, we are at fault.... not them! .... I will not tell her anything... just that "your service is not required anymore mashi.... come to me when your daughter's marriage is fixed.... I will help you more than anyone else.... I know I have a broader mind".... The only thing I can take pride in is I do not rebuke people even when they cause me irritation.... I am still struggling to pay due respect to the people who felt that this girl should be given the best conduct prize.... haha... do not know how long I can to maintain an "image" of innocence! .... I do not know why some nice / pleasant personas have to give so horrid poses in social media.... I do not know either why it irritates me.... they do not even feature in my life! Unlike some of you, S' Kolkata visits are not "romanticising with Kolkata"...... its work... work... work.... she loves her freedom and she hates to be questioned.... "why are you seen always @ City Centre2? Everyday you have to go out?".... My smile answers... "How is it bothering you? Will you do my works?" People only see my pictures with friends in the social media and takes no time to judge! .... S purposefully is behaving selfish with her family this season.... Instead of spending time visiting the doctors and the bank.... she has chosen to go for a holiday.... she will divulge in right time.... places we visited and the food we had!....Why do people publicise the hotel names too while on tour.... isn't that a serious security threat? Anyway, my concern today is wishing Ramadan Kareem to my friends and readers ... if not royally but with this simple, a famous snack in this island and its neighbouring state VEGETARIAN CURRY PUFF!
My VEGETARIAN CURRY PUFF may not look that much authentic, I have used less butter in the dough, I did it for the first time and decided to blog about it! I find the very popular curry puffs of OCK chain very heavy on my stomach.... they are quite tasty though.... They have chicken too in the filling alongside potato.... I do not prefer always... I discovered another joint who sell pure vegetarian ones.... yet again they are heavy on the stomach. My sealing part is a tampering of the original.... haha.... I used a fork to seal which is not done in case of curry puffs. For recipes of this island and its neighbour.... I trust Rasa Malaysia.... though I made the filling as per our taste bud! It is more like our samosa / shingara. This salted, deep fried, vegetarian snack VEGETARIAN CURRY PUFF seems to me like a near cousin of our samosa / shingara sans the tempering of the oil or the use of green peas / peanuts! I even found the casing of curry puffs easier than samosas. I was very much willing to blog about something today that South Asia / India can feel connected to and can recreate at their homes. I found curry puff the right choice. For the rest, if you can make me eat salad with an olive oil dressing, you should prepare a curry puff too.... its near to your minced chicken pie.
Yet.... few nations' and Bengal's take on food is same.... keep separate food and health.... haha.... My note to them.... "if you can pile your stomachs with French Fries every other day, having curry puff once a month is no big deal".... the stepwise pictures will say its not a sweaty affair! This pretending to be an angel is not a wise soul either when it comes to food! She balances her diet and hunger pangs eating one paratha instead of two and good amount of fruits of her choice. She is a champion in spoiling the process of clean eating.... she got burgers for her men and Cristine yesterday night, she herself had "amriti o muri".... If she cannot have burgers, she should have dined on a soup.... and salad! These days I have stopped showing my tummy to Cristine... no point except for turning her crazy.
God forbid... I do not have a generous serving of the mutton pulao... walking 7-8 km five days a week and eating loads of carb rarely helps.... You have not developed severe neck to back pain and you will do some weight trainings... walking is a low intensity cardio.... It is the lazy self who loves brisk walks and no other exercises. Anyway, when I prepare and enjoy a snack as tasty as this VEGETARIAN CURRY PUFF, body trimming is hardly on my mind.... I am lost in each bite. I know you too will.... shall we proceed to prove it? In one of the steps.... you will see that I have messed with the frying part in the beginning.... We have to be careful... they should not feel like "poori-aloo" roll... heat the oil, bring it to minimum and fry.... At times we have to switch off gas and fry and again switch on in minutes.... Yet, I could not get the perfect look... Google Images will prove that! Trying to be honest, I must also say that they tasted amazing! Instead of meat masala they use, I made use of the tandoori masala and garam masala I always have in stock.
Fairly inspired by a recipe from Rasa Malaysia!
REFINED FLOUR : 11/2COFFEE MUG
BUTTER : 4TBSP
BAKING SODA : 2PINCH
WATER : AS REQUIRED
SALT : 1/4TSP
INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE FILLING]
BOILED POTATO : OF TWO BIG ONES
MINCED ONION : 1/2SMALL CUP
TANDOORI MASALA : 2-3TSP
GARAM MASALA : 1TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 2TBSP
INGREDIENTS : [FINAL ASSORTMENT]
THE DOUGH
THE POTATO FILLING
OIL TO DEEP FRY
PROCEDURE :
Boil the potatoes as you wish, wash again and peel. Chop them roughly... they chop it here unlike mashing it as in case of samosa / shingara.
Peel, wash and chop the onions.
Heat oil in a wok and add the chopped onions. Stir and fry for 3-4 minutes.
Fold in very well and keep stirring for 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.
Take the refined flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Mix well.
Add water little by little and knead to prepare a smooth dough... do not add all the water at a time.... it may give you trouble. This may take some 10-12 minutes.
Cover the dough with a moist cloth for 15 - 20 minutes.... Remove cover and knead for 2-3 minutes again. Tear off small portions, smoothen between your two palms.
Fill in with the potato mixture.
Fold in and seal the ends with a fork. I found it very much convenient compared to casing of a samosa / shingara.
Now heat enough oil in a wok to deep fry. Reduce heat to minimum. Frying in too hot oil will make them soggy and give a poori feeling.... you can see the difference between the first one and the rest.
So, we will fry both sides at very low heat, even switching off gas if required and again switching on in a moment.
We will use a "chakni hata".... perforated ladle to fry both sides well and hold for sometime as seen below to get rid of oil. We will then place them on tissue papers before serving.
We will definitely have them hot and fresh with a generous serving of salad.... which the senior had this time to my surprise... the prince did not. The tea / coffee cups are missing.... do not forget them.
Never tried puff because it needs lots of butter. But you made it with only 4 tablespoon butter. And loved the idea of adding tanduri masala in potato stuffing. Awesome share. Bookmarking it to try soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Sujata... I used less butter and hence the outcome was not exactly like the original... tasted good... I do not too much buttery or oily feel
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