NUTRELA MEALMAKER ER TORKARI

I am not really in the mind to sit for 2-3 hrs at a stretch and concentrate on something. Then, writing my Blog Posts are a kind of unwinding for me. I do not know if more of wind has formed within or not since yesterday late at night but my mind is elsewhere at this moment. Sometime after 10pm last night, I discovered that the movie Gumnami Baba is streaming on You Tube. There and then I had to watch it.

Okay, I had more expectations from a Srijit Mukherjee movie, more of details. Then I realised that no film maker can furnish us with a detailed insight about his life and death; it is controversial, so suppressed was he. I have always believed that his family never took proper initiative to unfold the truth or the truth is they were under threat too. Such is the hunger for power that the life of a hero was turned onto a suppressive no one. I am too much of an emotional and Netaji was not a hero for us alone, he is an inbuilt emotion for us. For the next generation Bengali, I do not know really. May be we have failed to teach our kids to take their history, their pride along with them wherever they go. Emotionally charged around 1am in the morning, I searched more videos about it and watched them until when the husband asked me to go to sleep and watch what I wish today. This morning I completed watching them, now started to write the recipe of this vegetarian soybean chunk curry with potatoes NUTRELA MEALMAKER ER TORKARI as it was done in the maximum of the Bengali families.

I definitely like idli or ruti and do them on a regular basis, but when it concerns a Bengali persona as magnanimous as him, I keep idli or ruti at far from him. On his birthday falls the date of two of my family celebrations which is not their fault. What my only request to them is that they should stop from going public with their celebrations on the particular day, the great persona perhaps was crossing danger zones on his birthdays keeping the interest of the nation above his own. Let people come to you and wish, even if they do not wish you are not going to die a year early, it will happen when time comes.

I wish to finish this post as early as possible and write a review about the movie "Gumnami" on my personal stream. What I am feeling since yesterday is that there is no point dissecting his life and trying to solve the mystery, it will only get us emotionally disturbed. The powerful never wanted to get him back to the country, they feared his persona. We do not know if this hermit was the same freedom fighter, it is controversial, it is political, it is a political conspiracy that kept on playing even after the independence because people love power and position the most. Now, let him rest in peace because there shall never be a come back. 

If Bengal is the step child of a nation, we Bengalis are to be made responsible, it is our nature to consider ourselves supremo after a minuscule achievement. That makes us unfriendlier towards the rest, we do not know how to mingle, we are lazy too. Because, I am in a different state of mind today not willing to do an elaborate recipe; let me blog about this easy peasy vegetarian dish NUTRELA MEALMAKER ER TORKARI. When these two brands brought these soybean chunks in the market, fish eating Bengalis got some relief that they can have at least paneer or this a day or two in a week; fish prices were soaring high. Both the brands became household names and we called them in this name instead of "soy borir torkari" as most of the Bengalis did. The senior says he used to love it as a teen, the junior most too eats it though does not consider it a substitute to meat. Me too like it if cooked spicy. At times, I do it with onion garlic, today's share is a no garlic, no onion one. 

INGREDIENTS :

SOY CHUNK : 150-200GM

POTATO : 1BIG

TOMATO : 1MEDIUM

GREEN CHILLI : 3-4

GINGER PASTE : 2TBSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1/2TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 11/2TSP

CUMIN SEED : 2-3PINCH

BAYLEAF : 1

CINNAMON POWDER : 1/4TSP

CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/4TSP

SUGAR : 1TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 5-6 TBSP [more of it may be required]

PROCEDURE :

Take the soy chunks in a bowl and wash. Heat a sauce pan full of water and add some salt to it. 

Bring it to boil and add the washed soy chunks. Boil it for 5 minutes and take down from the gas oven. Keep it aside for half an hour. Alternatively, you can save them in hot water for 10-15 minutes, drain the water!

Wash and chop the tomato. Wash and slit the green chillies.

Wash and peel the potato. Cut into 8 cubes and wash again. Rub little salt and turmeric to marinate.

Take the ginger paste, a major amount of the turmeric+cumin+coriander+red chilli powders+salt in a bowl and mix well. 

After half an hour, drain the water from the soybean chunks. Rub little salt and turmeric and marinate well.

Heat the oil in a wok and fry the potato pieces in batches until light brown from all sides. Do it at minimal to low flame.

Take out the fried potatoes and add some of the soybean chunks squeezing them to the wok. Fry them brown. Repeat the process until all of them are done. I fear these chunks soaks in all the oil while frying, you may need to add more oil if so in your case too. If done without frying, they do not taste as good as the fried.

Temper the remaining oil with cumin seeds and a bay leaf. Add the spice paste and stir at low heat for 2 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and stir for another 2 minutes for it to melt. 

Add 11/2 coffee mugs of water and bring it to boil keeping the flame at low. After 3-4 minutes, add the fried potatoes and cover cook at the lowest heat for 3-4 minutes.

Remove the cover, add the fried soybean chunks and let boil at low heat for 2-3 minutes covered.

Remove the cover, add the slitted green chillies, sugar, cinnamon and green cardamom powders. Stir and cook uncovered for 2 minutes.

Switch off the gas oven & transfer it to a serving bowl.

Serve it with rice or handmade bread!