MUSHUR DAL ER SOUP

I am harbouring the wish to blog about this spicy red lentil soup.... MUSHUR DAL ER SOUP for a month now. Ever since I had it in Turkey and found its similarity with that of what we had at home rarely, I decided to blog about it. When the son was this little I used to prepare masoor dal wali soup for him sans the spices.... you bet the roasted spice powder makes all the difference... and it tasted nearly to what I had on the first day at Cappadocia... while the son and his father were enjoying a mixed meat kebab platter! I always order my lamb kebabs separately. The son is the subject of discussion today.... through him I have an important message to deliver to the teens around! The tailed creature at this home's 10th board result is declared.... its two days now.... the mother is writing a post means she is not dead out of sorrow.... he did fairly good but not excellent! According to the teachers, he was supposed to be among the top in the class.... but the wonder boy did not show much of wonder given that in the present day education system, it showers numbers! How did the son do? He got three A*s.... 94... 93... 91 "percentile" in mathematics, English Language, Physics respectively.... he managed to bag a B in Hindi with a 77 "percentile" while in the rest he secured an A grade with 81 in English Literature, 80 in Biology, 89 in History, 86 in Chemistry, 87 in Economics! You can see mumma is not that happy if not too sad.... because people got double the stars than the monkey at this home of whom my friend Piali Maitra's daughter is one! I am not comparing for I do not wish to die like a Desdemona on this couch..... just saying! Last week they visited our home.... her grandmother told me that she does not comb her hair at times, goes out wearing an un-ironed dress but she relayed to all the uncles & aunties present there about the A lister universities around the world.... my senior had to say... "stop, stop I am unable to keep in track with you!".... 

Its not a boy vs a girl.... there are other boys who faired very well.... I know the monkey could have secured at least six stars. The sad mother messaged friends and family.... then thought of leaving this home because the father was rejoicing sitting in the neighbouring country.... it felt intolerable!.... I even thought of taking the next flight to Kolkata... head straight to the Dum Dum railway station and put an end to this life after writing a note to the brother "bhai protishod nish"! Then, I thought no.... I have to see the length & end to this life, how far it stretches! Then a Sanak Chottopadhay mildly scolds.... stop comparing kids S, a Kaushik Neogy writes... whatever boudi.... P proved he is the daddy's son... I cannot deny the truth but neither will blog about his favourite ilish or mutton today.... I sent a secret message to one Partha De... "shon all Bengali mothers want their son or daughter to score like a Partha De"..... They also wish for a daughter in law like "Chutu".... Partha outnumbered everyone around in the late 80's when getting a 90-95 % was rare... not rampant as of now! He consoles.... stop it S.... numbers will be of less use in the future course, teach him human values! Thereafter, a Dibyendu Banerjee writes something that angers me, he is blind about T..... Now some of the veteran school teachers close to me like a Ratna Ganguly Biswas, Paramita Ghosal, Neeti Pal told he has done pretty well and this class ten's number will not count much... he has to score well in the IB 12th.... the rest of the friends congratulated and consoled that it does not decide how he succeed in his career! I stopped myself from committing suicide thinking "jak baba mathata mar moto hoy nai"..... 

I do not stop yelling at the husband.... my readers must know how romantic our relationship is... haha! I always say that this home is the worst example to follow!

I keep on yelling, no one bothers to answer.... see my position at this home! The last nail was hammered into all the remaining romanticism when I told.... "listen husband, next two years we will only talk about the son's academics!"

Anyway, if I have not lost the sense of humour..... I am in a good mood! This girl Piali was pissing me off.... "S, Tinni should have got a star in two more subjects"..... I was like about to scream.... Piali look at me... I am eating, writing posts, I am behaving normal. I could do because I know the parents at this home did not guide him a bit all these years. The entire credit of grooming our son goes to NPS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL ..... if you have a Bangalore connection.... you will know the quality of education they impart, its a brand we believed in. I am grateful. I / We bow to one PAVAN SIR and CHITRA GUPTA ma'am.... Pavan Sir gave online tuitions to the son on Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics for an year!.... When he left this island we got skeptical.... but the son insisted that he wants online tuitions from Pavan Sir only. Chitra Gupta ma'am stays in this island and for many years now. An excellent Hindi teacher, this aged lady was my neighbour for 4 years. I credit our son's each number of the 77 percentile marks to her! He is scared of Hindi and took Spanish this time, else he would have continued with ma'am. Both of them give ONLINE TUITIONS, if you need their phone numbers, do message me, their students score way better than the tailed creature at this home! 

Rest of the subjects the son managed all alone without any help.... I cannot and the father was busy with his only love.... excusing himself saying that the son has to be an independent learner .... so I am not in a mood to romanticise with him.... Ipsita & Soumya Bhattacharya have seen it all! I will not blog on a mutton pulao today but this MUSHUR DAL ER SOUP. To those daddies and mommies who dedicate their entire being for their kids' academics... you are wow!.... I love you!.... To the teens.... do not follow our son.... use your full potential.... this is not the time to concentrate on other things that much.... you will get to when you build a career for yourself.... do not get distracted.... its not a wise idea.

All said and done, I do feel happy for the son that he did well without much help, if not excellent! I will go public with his progress report if he bags a place in an A lister University after two years and with a scholarship! You get to know his provisional report, the permanent one is awaited. My readers have perhaps known by now exactly where our toilet is located at this home..... haha! It is not that I will blog about meat recipes after two years but as of now I will love myself! I had this spicy MUSHUR DAL ER SOUP in all the three cities we visited in Turkey.... I loved the South Asian touch in it! I do not know the exact recipe but I did it this way and really got the spicy kick of the one I had in Cappadocia! You will see in the stepwise pictures how I did it with a dry roasted powder mixture, tomato, garlic, chillies.... oh my tongue got celebrated man! 

You see, to say that the son did not inherit a smaller brain matter like me is self derogatory, but it is very true. You can go ahead with the truth when you know your men are nice people actually.... just that they are far from being normal.... You cannot fit them within a structured mould.... never try to.... you may die a Desdemona's death.... I eat, pray, merry my way! The morons always will have some other items alongside to go with the breads.... Turkey serves it with Turkish bread and their signature rice pilaff! If you are doing it for smaller kids, lessen the amount of the spices. The amount used serve few small bowls! It never tastes the same if not had fresh!

The men folks do love Bengali Khichuri with "begunbhaja and aloobhaja".... the picture got updated... here is the link... just click the heading for the full recipe! If you want more have it with hilsa fry or omelette... its heavenly...

KHICHURI..... BEGUN BHAJA O ALOOBHAJA

INGREDIENTS :

Masoor Dal / Split Red Lentil : 1medium cup
Tomato : 2medium [ washed, chopped roughly]
Garlic Cloves : 2 [peeled, washed]
Onion : 2 medium [peeled, washed, thinly sliced]
Lemon Juice : 2-3tbsp
Green Chilli : 1or 2
Butter : 2tsp
Dry Red Chilli : 2
Black Pepper : 5-6
Coriander Seed : 1/2tsp
Cumin Seed : 1/2tsp 
Salt : As Required
Turmeric Powder : 1/4tsp
Oil : 1tbsp

PROCEDURE :

Wash and soak the masoor dal for 1/2 an hour!

Take the dal, chopped tomato, green chilli, turmeric powder, garlic and salt as required in the pressure cooker! 

Add little water if required! Close the lid and pressure cook at lowest heat up to two whistles! Let it cool and open naturally!

Meanwhile, we will dry roast the dry red chillies, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black pepper for a minute.... when slightly cool we will grind them to a coarsely ground powder!

Blend the boiled dal / lentil mixture to a paste.

Heat the oil in a wok and fry the onion till brown, take them out.

Add the dal paste to the wok and one medium cup warm water! Let it simmer for 1-11/2 minutes at minimal heat.

Now add the dry roasted powdered spice mixture, 1/3rd of the fried onions, the butter to the boiling dal soup. Let simmer for 1/2 a minute.

Switch off the gas oven and add the lemon juice, stir.

Pour onto soup bowls and garnish with the rest of the onion fries and fresh coriander.

Enjoy with any kind of breads or rice. We had some luchi, rice and off course other sides!