TIL NARKOL BEGUN BATA

"Should not I concentrate on sharing easy, rustic, simpler recipes suitable for singles; students, working who live away from home; want to cook simple food back from college or office?" I ask to myself often these days. I have an intuition the weirdest member at this home makes secret visits to my blog. This is a day dreamer who sits and thinks sometime next year onwards may be there will be visits to my blog from new quarters, who will cook "curry-turry" from it. Coming back to the reality, I sit to think; how is it possible? My Blog has not travelled with time, who of this generation would at all take interest in "begun-aloo diye maacher jhol ba shojne datar chocchori?" People want quick recipes. I do not understand what is there to blog about cutting a packet of pasta, boiling it, straining and then cooking it in a sauce last week I had got from the super mart. If you are preparing a pasta from scratch following an Italian grandmother, preparing the sauce with fresh ingredients; the experience should be satisfying. I do not think I can ever make it, I am going more towards simpler cooking in my kitchen whose essence would remain "deshi" always. I will not switch over to anything else; never can.

Egg plant is a favourite ingredient in my kitchen; it comes home every week. If I had a little bit of sunny, green patch; I would have grown few vegetables. I do not blame our mother; she has cross passed 70, she works more than what her body permits; then she is too unwilling to take up any new interest after the father's death. I so wished if the brother had grown interest in planting some fruits & vegetables in their property. I am thankful enough that he knows how easy their life is just because our mother works all day. If he is a good son, his mother too is an extremely hardworking woman. None in that home until now has to spend any amount of energy for our mother. Even when she fractured her wrist to palm; no one had to do anything for her; she managed herself alone; okay with a cook for few months. I sincerely hope our mother leave this earth without giving any trouble to anyone or any chance to anyone to say "ami to eei sheba korechi. Aaj obdi karor gaye khete kichu kortey hoyni, shey akai shamley nei. Dosh thaktei parey kintu korey jai chupchap, kaukey byatibyasto korena; boshey sheba neoar kopal korey to asheni." 

Coming to egg plant, I do not know about it's health advantages, what I know is we just love it. The senior cannot have it fried; I have noticed he has a mental block at the sight of it's seeds actually. Never mind; I will make it edible for everyone in the family. I keep roasting eggplants / begun / brinjal and then combine it with different ingredients; give it a pate like look so that the man does not understand what it is. One such dish is this vegetarian paste / pate TIL NARKOL BEGUN BATA. It is done roasting the egg plant; then blending it with coconut, roasted sesame, onion, green chilli. Finishing it off adding salt and mustard oil makes it a superbly tasty vegetarian side to go with steamed rice and different variety of breads. If you wish to spread it on toasted bread, use olive oil instead of mustard oil.

I am waiting for my breakfast to arrive. No, a 12 hours of intermittent fasting does not help. Then a 14hrs span is so impossible for me. I mostly do my cooking experiments after 7pm. Yesterday, cooked a "mangshor ghoogni", shall blog about it later. I have many a recipes to be shared; just too hesitant to share something whose ingredients people may find trouble to get. Okay, I am having me made soda bread & tea stall peanut cookie with fine Darjeeling tea now.

What I do is I buy these biscuits loose, not in packets these days. Like I did not buy peanut butter this week; it has sugar man. I am scared having it regular, I will prepare it at home without sugar. I have to find out a good, easy recipe for peanut butter. That can happen later. At this time our most important job seems to be facing an uncertainty. I can be at peace only after I settle the most important aspect of our life as of now. Many around can completely understand my agony. The only relief is when I am in the kitchen playing with ingredients. This easy vegetarian Vegan, Glutenfree pate with eggplant TIL NARKOL BEGUN BATA is one such food venture that you would love doing and having with steamed rice, a variety of breads. Since childhood, I have been eating "bata, pora, sheddo makha" with different variety of vegetables. I need to ask the mother why she made them mostly in the night time. May be I know it now; for dinner I enjoy "etar bata, otar bharta" more than non-vegetarian food; I am totally in the family shoes. Would my baby remember his roots?

INGREDIENTS :

EGGPLANT : 1 BIG [ I DID NOT HAVE THE GIANT PURPLE ONES, SO USED TWO MEDIUM]
WHITE SESAME SEED : 1 TBSP
SHREDDED COCONUT : 1 SMALL TEA CUP
ONION : 1 MEDIUM SIZED
GREEN CHILLI : 2
GARLIC CLOVE : 1 BIG SIZED OR 2-3 SMALL INDIAN VARIETY
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 1-2 TBSP TO GARNISH, I USED MUSTARD OIL, YOU CAN USE OLIVE OIL

PROCEDURE :

Wash the eggplants and wipe dry. Rub it's body with few drops of oil.

Take it on a manual roaster and roast at minimal heat on stove top.

Take it down on a plate and let cool.

Meanwhile; discard the two ends, peel and wash the onion, roughly chop. Wash the green chillies. Peel off the garlic clove and wash.

Take off the skin of the roasted egg plants.

Take all the ingredients except the oil in a blender and blend at medium pace for 3-4 minutes with a pause in between.

Reserve it in a bowl and garnish it with your choice of oil. I added mustard oil and mixed it all to be able to have it with piping hot steamed rice one day and roti-paratha on the other.

It is always recommended not to store anything made with coconut for long. It spoils even if you are refrigerating it.