CURRY AND SPICE: SOY & COCONUT MILK PUDDING

Let there be a sweet start to a new decade. Though things were not that sweet late at night yesterday for me. If you are an amateurish boozer like me, have it cautiously. All the pleasure of sitting beside the river and having the vodka shots yesterday went haywire only because I went faster with it even after repeated warnings. People were enjoying, I always feel happy when my husband seems happy; he did not even drive yesterday wanting to relax. We went in a cab to join the party and was to come back in the same. The moment I felt I may spoil the party which I will never do whoever I am with, I took an exit asking the son and husband to stay back. Whoever of you are reading this will not blame my boys and you will take one lesson from me; each of your family member has their own space, do not rob them of it, let them be! The worst thing to happen was that on the way I soiled the back sit of the cab badly. Here you do not have the fear to get dishonoured if travelling alone at 12am in the morning but they will not spare you for a loss caused. The cab driver forced me to pay 78Sing$ on reaching home; I had no other way but to comply. I cannot argue, I wanted a shower and my bed. What if I soiled the venue of the party? I absolutely hate to be the reason of others' discomfort. My boys came back around 2am. I say all these to assert one thing; too much of anything is bad. Drinking is not a crime if you know where to stop and it does not take you over. Do not be like my beautiful friend Madhu; she is such a simple, next door girl but her one problem is "S ora mod, goru, shuor khai, kichutei bhalo na." I think I cross limits at times to tell her that we need not agree and still can be friends, its her nicety or the couple's nicety which makes me remain close to them, not that they will gift one of their flat to us. She definitely would get angry looking at my late night social media post few hours back. Okay, the thing is that in Kolkata or in anywhere in India, I never would have the guts to come home alone around 12am nor my husband would have let me. I reached home safely yesterday around 12:20am. This can be one good reason to share South East Asian Styled dessert recipe today. I named it SOY & COCONUT MILK PUDDING. But tell me one thing, how do you go for sleep overs at each other's place? Ahh! I may be very homesick kind, I love every corner of what I call my home!

I had shower as early as 12:30am today, I had to wash the soiled clothes this morning and take a good shower again with Dove which did not give me a soft & supple skin. What I want to say is that if you have gone through a sickly night, have a plate of rice in the morning and no kind of breads. I did so today before the sun rose.

Thereafter, I felt better and noticed three "jobas" ushering in the new year. I clicked and had a round of biscuit and cha with some milk.

So, I had two rounds of food before anyone could wake up. After I finish this post, I will do a "motor dal er tetul tok o bora", Cristine will in fact do the "daler bora o mushroom er bora" and we will have a good lunch with "data chingrir jhol, motor dal er tetul tok, til bata diye broccoli o aloo, pakora bhaja." At night, I will fry some luchi and serve with the mince chicken. I do not know how my mother-in-law freaked out everyday even when she was my age, she only felt sick when it came to cooking or household work. I think one is energetic about what one enjoys doing. We siblings never are outgoing, "sharadin chorki baji aar bokbokom amader poshai na." Dal I need for my meals, the son too prefers it while eating desi. If I serve the man four items including a dal, he skips the dal and I get angry. Anyway, I call this dessert SOY & COCONUT MILK PUDDING vegan & gluten free because I am using a proper kind of soy milk.

Coconut milk is always diary free. The thing is if the brown sugar I used is free of bone char? Next time when I buy sugar, shall try to see if its "beet sugar." I do not know how many posts of mine did I wrongly tag vegan and gluten free earlier? I am clueless why you people do not bother to correct me? By the Way, this is made in the lines of Maja Blanca if not exactly so because I have used less amount of coconut milk and corn flour than is required in a Maja Blanca. Cristine helped me in explaining and she prepares good, authentic Maja Blanca.

INGREDIENTS :

SOY MILK : 500ML + 100ML
COCONUT MILK : 200ML + 200ML
BROWN SUGAR : 1/2MEDIUM TEA CUP
CORN FLOUR : 2TBSP
POMEGRANATE KERNEL : 1MEDIUM TEA CUP

PROCEDURE :

Take 500ml soy milk and 200ml coconut milk in a heavy bottomed vessel and mix well.

Put it for boil.

While it will be cooking at the minimal heat for the boil to come, we will mix together 100ml of soy milk and 2tbsp of corn flour.

We have put 200ml of coconut milk in a sauce pan and switched on another burner. We will prepare the latik here by boiling the coconut milk till it dries and latik [caramelised coconut milk or cream]. It takes about 12-14 minutes of cooking. I loved the smell.

When the milk comes to boil, we will let it boil for another 6-7 minutes at low heat giving an occasional stir.

We will add the sugar and stir. Thereafter, add the soy milk and corn flour mixture.

At this point, we will start stirring the milk mixture continuously until it turns creamier which may take 6-7-8 minutes. I prefer cooking at low heat.