BITTER GOURD CHIPS

I was literally giggling looking at the stepwise pictures of this BITTER GOURD CHIPS making process. Cristine is still on leave, the men are at home! I went through it spending more than an hour of my valuable time .... that too singing "patjhar sawan basant bahar".... haha... that means I became a fan of bitter gourd chips that I tasted for the first time last month when I saw small packets of it being sold at a famous grocery here "Karthika".... Is it only that? Nah, the monkey at home has started having bitter gourd chips from the packets mumma got for herself! That is too surprising, has has to try them at home!

Accha, does Jaya Prada eat bitter gourd?.... so sweet she is! I am a fan of her ever since I was in school.... when she sang "koyel boli duniya doli, samjho dil ki boli" with that heavy ghungroo working with the "dafli". Be it a Jaya Prada or a Rekha Ganeshan or a Tanushree Shankar ..... I wish to follow that trend.... make saree my signature attire in public. I do not have their beauty or grace, then how does it matter? Jaya's "dafliwale" is presently stationed in a hospital of that "bahargaon".... suffering from what the family did not declare.... not everyone possess the courage of these girls... Sonali Bendre or Manisha Koirala.... 

I do follow Bollywood news in Instagram.... I may not get any breakthrough in that forum as my pictures are not qualitative,.... I am too laid back to take any initiative in this matter.... instead I enjoy watching a poise called "Nisha Narayanan" there.... haha! I sincerely hope she does not pose in public in a swim suit and break my heart... swim suits look good in a swimming pool, a beach wear on a beach.... not in public profiles.... I am a grand mother's favourite girl I know! 

By the way, does a grandmother prepare "scallion diye mushurir dal?" Yep, I did it last Saturday adding some lime leaves to it.... amazingly tasty result it got. The son obviously had it with lamb! He is at home today and having this dates-nuts & banana smoothie with store bought butter cake.... the kinds he prefers .... plain & simple or with cream frosting! The tawa for "roti-prata" is always ready to be used in this kitchen. The daddy took "ruti with palong er dal"..... the son prefers dal with rice.... mumma does not have any potato curry, meat curry or "begun bhaja" in store .... so his lunch will be hot "ruti rolls" with dollops of butter and sugar! So, mumma can manage the time to fry some BITTER GOURD CHIPS !

The idea of adding scallion to the "mushur dal" was simple..... to make it healthier... I knew we will like it because "peyaz phoron mushurir dal" is an Authentic Bengali recipe & dear dal dish for us!

Besides cooking, what does the lady of this house does? She plays with her newly bought gifts. She got some cash as an anniversary gift from the husband.... instead of buying for herself only.... she got three little things. The husband is not in the habit of wearing any kind of jewelry... not even the diamond studded, gold tie pin I gifted him few years back or what he got as gifts from our family in marriage. Yesterday, when I tried to put in the ring I meant for him.... you know what I got in return.... Oh! God why did I marry this guy? I get a little "mean" in such situations.... "bou jodi sundori aar rojgere hoto, bouer kathai uthti aar boshti boss"...... His attitude each time is like a tiger... "try me and know that I am not born to be tamed"..... who knows this better than me and the father-in-law who we are living with?...... I do not have half of the old man's patience though! My belief  gets stronger that this world only belong to those who have a voice! Since he never compares me with others, cleans me after I puke ten times on his shirt on the road, in the air or at the hills.... I do not consider myself as an unfortunate. I think my dream of exploring the Himalayan Range will remain a dream.... I have nausea.... fear of heights, an unfit body and what not!

Do not be silly like me, keep changing the location of your ring from this finger to that. See, the condition of my ring fingers.... Something is wrong inside, the reason why I will be staying back for a week more in Kolkata, the men will be coming back.... I wish to spend some more time with the family, request good friend Bonya to accompany me to the Apollo Hospital for few tests.... Wise and old Dr.Chang discourages me to do the tests here which are too expensive. 

By the way, when my little brother got a little wiser, he used to say "I like Bonya di kinds.... long plated hair, soft spoken, Bengali Beauty".... now he flaunts the high end cell phone his wife gifted him last month, shamelessly eats 'phuchka' his wife gets for him while he watches Formula 1 races. Bonya aka Manasi Mahanty is my boy friend no.1's lovely wife... who is a handsome engineer from Bihar.... I am a fan of his persona.... may not have married the book-a-holic, much revered person .... why? He smells "a bit of a chauvinist & excessively stubborn".... hihihi.... Bonya is perfect for him .... He continues to remain a favourite, he shares his birthday with our son after all! Soon to meet my morning walk partner.... I hardly get to though, my Kolkata stay got busier! Kolkata did see me going for morning walks towards sector-v with my boyfriends .... from the veteran Dr.Santra to dear Suman da, now a days it just not happens.... I have many things in hand to be done.... I cannot even call them home.... can I serve them this vegetarian snack BITTER GOURD CHIPS with tea, tell me? Once the son's 12th grade is over, I will go and stay there for over a month..... Till then, let me treat people near and far virtually with simple, easy, largely "desi" food!! I usually enjoy this snack with my evening time tea / coffee or with dal, rice and some salad!

INGREDIENTS :

Bitter Gourd : 3-4standard sized
Turmeric Powder : 1/4tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Corn Flour : 3-4 tbsp
Gram Flour : 1tbsp
Rice Flour : 1 tbsp
Salt : As Required
Oil : As required to deep fry

PROCEDURE :

Wash the bitter-gourds under running water.

Discard the two ends, cut half.

Discard the seeds and make thin slices from each half.

Wash the slices of bitter gourd again. Add some salt, soak in enough water and keep aside for at least an hour.

After an hour, drain the water & wash again well. Add little salt, the corn flour, gram flour, rice flour, red chilli powder, turmeric powder to the bitter gourds and mix well. 

Do not add a bit of water, it is not required! Just keep aside for 5 minutes before frying!

Heat the oil in a wok. Deep fry the batter coated bitter gourds in batches till they are crispy.

Take out draining as much oil as is possible. Better you keep them on tissue papers before eating!

Enjoy them as a tea / coffee time snacks or with dal, rice and "sosha-tomato-peyaz kuchi"....

NOTE : Once cool, if you microwave them for a minute at low heat, they remain crispy for few days!