Cristine is back to her second home; an extremely good news to be shared with all! This time however I have decided that I will not sit all day in my favourite corner and be more of a couched potato! Yesterday, I wore a jumper at a couple friend's place, I was looking kind of an over grown frog who is unable to hop even! Only a saree is able to hide my defects but I feel lethargic to wear them at all times.... Cristine says that I have lost may be one or two kilos but I do not see it... the weight machine lies dormant under our bed! My knees are ready now to go for a walk... but a tour of India means putting on more of weight.... I cannot sacrifice "nolen gurer sandesh"..... and this time I am planning to visit Manjilat's to taste Begum Manjilat's authentic food.... that she is the great great grand daughter of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah is what attracting me towards her... else there is a Shiraj, Aminia and Arsalan within 50-200 metres from our home there... Before I go to India and start cleaning up my Kolkata home, I had to settle my present home first.... That is our Cristine and I told her how exactly my green corner should be cleaned! I had earthworms kissing my feet while cleaning the ledge last week... God! I am still alive!
It is a beautiful, sunny morning here but you never know when it will start raining! On my walks, I almost get into people's home to have a glimpse of their garden. The husband did water the tiny green corner in Cristine's absence, neither did he spare me saying that I am inviting dengue to this home. I have something to say in this regards before I share the recipe of this stuffed, batter fried Bengali fritter CHALKUMROR PUR BHAJA [BATTER FRIED STUFFED WINTER MELON].... Why in Kolkata has dengue become a terror in the recent years?.... Without getting political, I would say not to blame the government alone, we should maintain personal hygiene ourselves.... this is what our mother has taught us in the bygone years.... to keep our own corners squeaky clean.... Kolkata is getting dirtier.... India in fact, we do not value the need of cleanliness.... I feel sorry to say the locality with Indian majority in this island is messy.... I justify the local government's action of evaluating and restricting who they give a permanent residency status... I laugh, smile, crack jokes but I am actually in a tight situation ..... I did not allow the husband to apply for a PR when we came in as I did not want the son to go for a two years of rigorous military training after his 12th.... now that he wishes to flee from my lap too early..... I shout at the husband each day.... why do you want to send him to a land where school going kids possess guns.... I have a mental illness everyone knows around, so all sorts of negative, weird thoughts concerning our boy is taking a toll on my health. I cook to de stress.... I cook often what our boy loves ... who knows what he gets to eat when he is away from home! It was beyond my imagination that he will eat CHALKUMROR PUR BHAJA [BATTER FRIED STUFFED WINTER MELON]!
This dish with ash gourd / winter melon, coconut-mustard-chilli paste, thick batter of rice-flour and gram-flour is from my family.... "khuti-nati ranna" is a 'my family affair', the husband's side has limited variety to offer.... When we were in school, our mother used to say pointing at others... "mamoni where do certain ladies get this much time to chat all day, I cannot even finish my work before 10pm".... Our mother's routine was like this..... getting up at 5am in the morning... cooking a minimal "charaponar jhol aar shak" for the two office goers... the maternal grandfather and our father. Bhai was taken to the school at 7am by the father. Around 11am she took me to the school and got the brother back... in between continued with her cooking, doing the household chores with a part time help.... including a "muriwala" who used to come from Joynagar with urea free muri / puffed rice because dadu had to have "muri-chirey narkol" back from the office.... our Pa loved murir moya! In the afternoon, I had to come alone from school to the home stationed in a notorious neighbourhood! I do make it a point to meet those friends who in spite of its notoriety, visited our home for a chat... some high noses since their birth did not... I still keep a space for them within.... for I am unable to act otherwise.... The mother did arrange a school bus for me, I used to puke everyday so left and preferred walking... at times with friends .... In a middle class home with two kids ... it was a luxury to take a rickshaw everyday.... The mother's afternoons were busy taking the brother to swimming, cricket, painting classes. He got medals in sports and now piling up unnecessary fat everywhere in his 5'6" frame.... too unhappy I am! Anyway, I saw the tired mother teaching the brother and simultaneously doing CHALKUMROR PUR BHAJA [BATTER FRIED STUFFED WINTER MELON] or its likes for dinner.... before she could retire to bed around 10:30pm....
I am nowhere near the mother but picked up certain family recipes and habits from her! I will soon share a winter dal recipe, eating which my father-in-law did say that his mother used to do it when he was young. No, he did not take this liberty often, no one wants to die an unnatural death. The few years they stayed with me, he or his wife got variety of breakfasts from idli, upma to noodles to luchi-porota! When separated from me for the second time, he made bread-butter-jam and eggs for himself everyday.... his wife sleeps until 12pm and beyond, skips her breakfast! Now, there is a cook and we are relieved! I missed calling him yesterday.... have to today! Actually, I prefer to call him in the mornings.... haha! I want the world to know who I am.... I hate to fake in any matter! I love narkol-muri, here it is! The husband smokes a lot... it worries but no hiding the fact. He loves his beer and wine, more when in company ... I have to sacrifice the Vodka shots at the friends' homes these days which I used to enjoy a lot.... I am an on call driver on such days which angers me. I skipped our big day "Mariner's Night".... I will not go dry on such occasions... how boring! Yes, I am strict about drink driving and everyone should be! However, you can drive freely after a plateful of dal, rice and CHALKUMROR PUR BHAJA [BATTERFRIED STUFFED WINTER MELON] ... so feel free... but my men will love this fritter was beyond my imagination! They had it besides their favourite meat curry!
Let us come to the easy recipe now.... it is hassle free but requires patience... it takes time to cook it. Besides a dal, you can try my FULKOPI ALOOR DALNA too with it! For me, I only need an onion & green chilli for this kinds!
INGREDIENTS :
ASH GOURD / WINTER MELON / CHALKUMRO : 1STANDARD SIZE [YOUNG PREFERRED]
SHREDDED COCONUT : 4TBSP
BLACK MUSTARD SEED : 2-3TBSP
GREEN CHILLI : 4-5
RICE FLOUR : 5-6TBSP
GRAM FLOUR : 2-3TBSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4tsp + 1/2TSP
SUGAR : 1/2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
ICE CUBE : 2-3
OIL : 2-3TBSP
PROCEDURE :
It is recommended to use younger winter melon for this recipe! We will cook slow in way less oil.
Wash thoroughly and apply turmeric & salt or only salt. Rub well and keep aside for 1 to 11/2 hours covered. It softens them.
Soak the black mustard seeds for 1/2 an hour after washing them through a strainer.
Grind to a paste adding salt, green chillies and 2-3 ice-cubes.
Transfer to a bowl, add the shredded coconut and 1/4tsp turmeric powder. Mix well.
Discard the marinade from the winter melon roundels. Take one piece. Top it with the stuffing of black mustard-chilli-coconut paste. Place another roundel atop it.
For the batter, take the rice flour and gram flour together. Add water little by little to prepare a paste like batter. Add the sugar, salt, 1/2tsp turmeric and the red chilli powder. Mix well.
Keep aside for 5-6 minutes before we start coating the stuffed winter melon pieces and frying them.
Heat the oil in a pan, not to the smoking point. Coat the winter melon pieces well but it should not be thickly coated. The ash gourd pieces have to cook well in slow heat.
Place them gently in the heated oil. Slow cook at the lowest heat, do not hurry, the stuffing may spill. Do not worry either if they spill a bit!
Cover cook for about 20-25 minutes for one side to be done. Turn over carefully using 2 spoons. Cover cook for another 20 minutes till done.
Trust me you get soft ash gourd pieces with a yum stuffing and crisp outer coverage! Have it with rice or just like that!
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