ROSE FLAVOURED 'MOCK' BAKARKHANI ON STOVE TOP

This definitely is a breakfast fair or even goes very well with meat or potato curries. However, I had it for dinner yesterday with a strong dose of Arabica coffee... Bossy fled to the neighbouring state in the afternoon, I had nothing much to do except for sitting idle.... either day dreaming or listening to some Latino Classics... Flamenco Guitar is my favourite actually! I think I loved everything about Spain... I mean the very little of it we got to see back in 2016... Isn't Toledo the near perfect place to retire? Every piece of a stone there has a story from the distant past to say... Looking towards home... this Nomadic Weekend page in FaceBook is driving me crazy... just when I wish to go for a weekend trip... the son gets engaged with something or the other. Our mother considered us her prime focus... how can I be otherwise? I was even unwilling to leave the son alone at home and go out for a walk yesterday .... but I did go... anyway the  ROSE FLAVOURED MOCK BAKARKHANI ON STOVE TOP had to be done at night... it required only 30 minutes of standing time besides the rest of the preparations. It is that rhythmic Latino music that got me put on my shoes, wear some sun screen lotion and set out .... most of the time to nowhere... it is hardly any cardio for me... I walk in slow motion... click food... purposefully take unknown roads to get lost and feel the thrill... then ask the passerby for the way to my home.... Of the few of them I could only click the elderly gentleman... Doing all these, I completed a 6.8 km in an hour and have two bakarkhani / sweetened desi bread for dinner.... It never works... neither can I be friends with people who spend their life eating boiled broccoli and get on to the weighing machine every 5 minutes. I do not allow Ipsita to overdo in front of me... I am already a controversial woman, she gets me to earn the label 'dirty woman'.... what else?... I keep measuring Soumya from all angles and say... where is the loose fat you had been hallucinating? I cannot be too rude else she will stop sending me "potoler khosha bata".... hehe... however, I will not touch the giant sized fish pieces she has sent... but having the egg curry she parceled yesterday right now with one table spoon of rice, trust me only 1tbsp .... Of the very big fishes, I only like 'aar, boyal, dhai, chitol' It feels bad to have alone anything that the husband loves. Anyway, I get lost on the road purposefully, can afford to because I live in a 98% crime free nation.... I discovered a new park yesterday... not too far from our home... and that was the gift I got home .... I can take a lazy stroll there, sit on a bench until reality pecks... "go home... people are waiting"... Here no one bothers you on the road, neither anyone questions me on my integrity at home. The happy self feels thankful... I do tell the husband that I might not have tolerated a poky nose husband... 'my father never did it, your father did not... you too never took the risk... haha'.... The sweet sensation called Bakarkhani should be made again soon once  he is back home and served with a meat or potato curry!
See, I do not even know how to make a collage sequentially!

I tasted a Bakarkhani for the first time at age 22 and fell in love with it.... Bengalis of DumDum hardly used to have this sweet toasted bread or biscuit kind of thing.... they were mostly my mother's kind... happy and content with the quality of fish at DumDum Bazaar .... "Naruda aajkeo lyaja ta free dilo janish mamoni".... even after few years of stay in Barrackpore... she could not stop raving about her "Naru da"..... no... no I did not question her intent for a single time... "mummy kya gulchari ura rahi hai kya pata".... haha! Anyway, this "Naru kaku" was one of the richest fish seller in DumDum and he used to give free tail end pieces of giant sized 7-8-10 kg of weight Rui / Katla to his loyal customers... I may have lost interest in bigger carps, but anytime is a good time for a "kora korey lyaja bhaja".... the mother and her daughter loved it... the daughter had it most of the time.... the brother never questioned why didibhai gets the bigger pieces on her plate... His problem was elsewhere... all my complaints against him were revenged with physical hits and I had to take refuge under the bed. How did I take revenge? Till date, I check his friend's list regularly and decide on the course of action to be taken .... Those I thought to be mine may have got lost leaving me alone to brood but my brother is mine .... so thankful to his wife who allows my nuisance! If only the two stopped eating junk, moreover if the mother could stop controlling their lives! All the three of them are revisiting in few months and I am planning what new dishes to cook for them... a yummy snacker as this ROSE FLAVOURED MOCK BAKARKHANI ON STOVE TOP is one of them. 

Back in 1992, I bagged a job in a newbie school in the subdivisional town of Barasat.... after a year, joined an elder sister like lady from my neighbourhood in DumDum .... the unpredicted meet was surprising! We used to come back together some days.... I have a five years of experience in facing "rail roko"..... stopping the train at any damn place and creating trouble to the daily commuters was rampant. On such a day, the tired us were on a bus to reach home after three changes when Mitadi told 'lets get down here right now, you get to taste  heaven.' A small, shabby room and tins of Bakarkhani... sweet breads / biscuits stacked. I loved. I have consulted the Bakarkhani recipe of Whiskaffair, Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, Cook With Faiza, Lail Hossain, Times of India before going ahead with my easier version of it.... I found Faiza's picture nearer to what I had in that bakery. The grandmother loved "mishti bun ruti of only DumDum"....haha... perhaps my love for breads originated from there... why I did not get bakarkhani thereafter for the family I do not know. Now, my present home in Kolkata is only 1/2 an hour to 45 minutes from there which in all probability is near the Central Jail or the Gun and Shell Factory... but I cannot locate it after so many years .... better I cook it my way and feed fresh to my loved ones. I used raisins that the recipe calls for. My man & the son loves a variety of breads!

Recipes Consulted :

MASTER CHEF SANJEEV KAPOOR
WHISKAFFAIR
COOK WITH FAIZA
TIMES OF INDIA FOOD
LAIL HOSSAIN - HONEST COOKING

INGREDIENTS :

REFINED FLOUR : 1COFFEE CUP
ROSE WATER : 2 TSP
MILK POWDER : 2 TBSP [CAN USE MILK INSTEAD]
YEAST : 2 TSP OF DRY BAKER'S YEAST DID I USE
BAKING POWDER : 1/2TSP
SALT : 1/4TSP

SUGAR : 1 TBSP [CAN USE MORE]
RAISIN : 2TBSP
BLACK SESAME SEED : 1TSP
GHEE : 2TBSP + 1TBSP + AS REQUIRED TO BRUSH & GREASE


PROCEDURE :

Those I used and the ghee, rose water!

Take all the ingredients including half of the ghee required. Add warm water & knead to a soft dough which will take some 6-8 minutes. 

Cover & keep inside the microwave for 2 hours. Take out; add a tablespoon of ghee & knead for a minute or two; tear off portions; smoothen the balls between your palms; rest covered for 20-25 minutes. 

The lawn tennis sized balls need to be rolled out now. Remember when Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg, Chris Evert or Gabriela Sabatini retires, there fans reminiscent the past with cups of coffee and bakarkhani!

I simply rolled them out & made few slits on the body. Because I would cook them on stovetop on a griddle, they won't be biscuit like crisp as in a oven. Hence, I did not make layers & applied refined flour & ghee in each layer!

Grease the hot griddle with some ghee. Place one uncooked bakarkhani gently. Apply some ghee atop and cook at the lowest heat for 1/2 a minute. Turn over and apply some ghee atop. 

However, anything cooked in my capacity; I prefer them homemade! I know the quality, amount of the ingredients used!