AAM ER MOSHOLA ACHAR

 

PICKLE IS ESSENTIALLY INDIAN PICKLE TO ME; UNTIL LAST YEAR, I DID NOT KNOW PICKLE IN ANY CORNER OF THE WORLD CAN BE AS BLAND; WITHOUT USING OIL & SPICES!

Since childhood, I had seen HOMEMADE PICKLE making being a big thing in the family. Getting the choicest of fruits from the market; at a sale price; choosing the right ones; throwing off the spoilt ones; washing them under the running water several times and then putting them through the process of pickling; and then adding the best part of it; the roasted and ground spice mixture! The pickles made in our home were essentially BENGALI PICKLES; sweet ones with jaggery added to them. When jaggery mingled with the roasted and ground spices; they made a perfect pair for us in the family; sweet & spicy with a sour tone! At this time, I am having a similar kind made with chalta / elephant apple! The type of pickle the rest of India eats were never in the made to do list! They were bought to experiment whenever the family visited Hardwar, Delhi, Haryana. Gurgaon has a training centre for State Bank of India; if I am not wrong! That way, we got introduced to Indian Pickles at an age when I loved jams more than pickles. It is nineteen years now that I got hooked to sour & spicy pickles; chaats; I never did fancy them earlier! Dill Pickle does come home at times for a different purpose; I cannot consider it an "achar," no way!

WHAT IS AAM ER MOSHOLA ACHAR? IT IS RAW MANGO PIECES MARINATED IN SELECTIVE SPICE MIXTURE & DUNKED IN MUSTARD OIL!

From my childhood to teen hood; I had watched and heard of "Bengali Mishti Achar and Non-Bengali Jhal Nonta Achar"; a super simple clear demarcation. No one in the family did bother to know that something like "Chunda" and "Sweet Pachadi" existed somewhere within India. Way later in life; I had learnt, other parts of India also eat sweet pickles; and it is not Bengal's signature. It is just that the spices used are of a different combination. Bengalis, in general tend to think high of themselves. But these days we are open to other culture and food; more than other communities of India. We just need to know the limit and need not let go of "chirey-muri-khoi" and all the time talk high of oats. This is what irritates me just like any Bengali Grandparents; I also do not find any one good reason to buy a pricey Avocado leaving "kul, peyara, jam, kathal" and all the other vegetables we grew up eating. I myself do not encourage the shift. I believe, it is my fault if I cannot limit the amount of oily food in my life; this does not anyway lessen the goodness of our age-old fruits & vegetables. Else, I happily prepare an AAM ER MOSHOLA MAKHANO ACHAR; not really a family like condiment with raw mango, mustard oil and selective spices!

CONDIMENTS ARE ESSENTIAL IN THE LIVES OF INDIANS!

I mean; in our home, condiments like Indian sweet pickles, jam, jelly were a must for a happier daily life! Be it a sweet pickle or a sour & spicy one as this; I do them in less quantity. In the yesteryears; like many other homes; PICKLE MAKING was seasonal in our home and was done in bulk. I cannot think of buying 3-4 kilograms of raw mango or a little less than that of ber / jujube or 9-10 elephant apples; washing and dressing them sitting all day. I prepare a few kind of pickles round the year, in turns; but in less quantity. I lack space, energy and pickle need a lot of sunbath. Specially, the no-cook variety of pickles need the sunlight to help themselves be a perfect, Indian pickle. Trust me, if you once start making your own pickles at home, you may not want to buy them again. For me, preparing a condiment or baking, is therapeutic! Eating too keeps me going; look at my lunch today; 

INGREDIENTS :

RAW MANGO : 2 KG [TRY TO BUY YOUNG WITH A SOFTER SEED]

MUSTARD OIL : 300-400 ML

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TBSP + 2 TSP

CUMIN SEED : 1 TBSP

CORIANDER SEED : 1 TBSP

CAROM SEED : 1 TSP

FENNEL SEED : 2 TSP

FENUGREEK SEED : 1/2 TSP

NIGELLA SEED : 1 TSP

DRY RED CHILLI : 4-5

SALT : AS REQUIRED

VINEGAR : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP

SUGAR : 2 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

We will wash and discard the stem ends of each mango! We will cut them into bigger cubes; discarding the seeds. We will take off the thin inner layer lining the seed [my family did not use to take off the inner layer]!

We will wash all the pieces thoroughly! We will marinate the mango cubes with salt & 1tbsp turmeric powder well and keep under the Sun covered with a colander for a day or two, taking in after the sunset on each day!

We will dry roast the dry red chillies+nigella+fenugreek+fennel+carom+coriander+cumin seeds for a minute or two at minimal heat; cool! We will dry grind them until we get a coarse powder of them.

We will now add this freshly roasted and ground spice mix, 2tsp turmeric powder, a little of salt and the sugar to the mango pieces. We will mix them together very well.

We will now add about 250 ml of the mustard oil and the vinegar and mix very well. We will keep it under the Sun covered with a colander during the entire day time.

Every 4-5 days, we will pour about 50ml of oil atop the mango mixture! We will do this for 15 days.

After 15days, we will pour the pickle in a clean, sterilised bottle and pour little more of the mustard oil on top! Pickles continue to need sunlight even when they get edible.

RUI MAACH ER DIM CURRY

FISH ROE / EGG; MAACH ER DIM COMES FOR FREE WITH THE FISH FOR US! IT IS QUITE PRICEY FOR THE NATIVES HERE BEEN SOLD SEPARATELY!

Since childhood; I have heard the veterans saying; once the fish starts carrying eggs, it loses it's taste. But the FISH EGG itself is so tasty that we accept a little compromise with the taste of the fish to enjoy dishes with the FISH ROE; that comes free with the fish variety we are getting! Except for the roe of a Hilsa / Ilish; I do not think any other fish roe is sold separately in Bengali wet markets! HILSA FISH EGG is considered the king or the queen among us; next features the BENGAL CARP EGGS. I enjoy various other fish roes; of "tyangra, puti, koi, magur, parshe"! In a foreign land, I do not get to do the very minute  FAMILY RECIPES; like a lesser known "bhora borshar dim bhora puti maach er tetul tok"! If so, I would not have got the time to blog about a cake or a noodle dish! These days, the memory bank gets me to all these stuffs; "shim er bichi, aloo diye dim bhora magur er makha makha"! One has to get the raw materials to cook and blog about them! I try utmost to at least add to the blog the BENGALI RECIPES that are possible with the produce we get here! Here is one such with the BENGALI ROHU EGG. This RUI MAACH ER DIM CURRY is commonly made in BENGALI HOMES!

WHAT IS RUI MAACH ER DIM CURRY? 

MAACH ER DIM is FISH ROE; the most commonly available in the Bengali Wet Markets is that of the BENGAL CARP varieties'! ROHU / RUI is from the CARP FAMILY! Our families do a few recipes with fish eggs. We do fritters of it; then a fry with vegetables like okra, pumpkin, potatoes and this rustic curry with the FISH EGG FRITTERS & POTATOES! In the family, this NON-VEGETARIAN CURRY is considered an extra dish; we must have a fish  or meat curry, lentil curry, a vegetables dish to go with it! However, we are extremely fond of a fish roe of our choice. If the fish roe fritters are hard outside and little soft inside [you cannot ever get them crunchy]; in the curry; it gets juicer; a pleasure in every bite if you savour it! It is an usual GLUTEN-FREE curry done with tomatoes, potatoes, spice powders!

BESIDES RUSTIC FAMILY BENGALI DISHES; WHAT ELSE DO WE EAT?

As I always say, we are open to a variety of food! All day yesterday, we were relaxing at home! We had a chat session with our child; got very sad to know baby won't be coming home this summer; instead will be taking extra classes! We can be sad but cannot disrespect a meticulously made plan; as parents, we can only wish our child, the best! After an afternoon nap; I went out to fetch our dinner. I had got a grilled lamb meal for the senior; got for myself a mushroom soup, I so enjoy. I actually had a plateful of rice for lunch; hence. Anyway, the chicken karaage I had may not be healthy!

 This morning, I had two luchis and a small slice of cake I made playfully yesterday morning! I wish to blog about it. For lunch, I made for myself and Cristine, multigrain atta chapati; we had it with "mochar ghonto & fulkopi"!

Cristine still cannot manage a multigrain atta dough, having which I feel less guilty; Cristine has learnt to prepare perfect luchis that are contaminated with a bit of semolina! An authentic luchi / Bengali poori does not use semolina in it; but this FISH EGG CURRY RECIPE is cent percent Bengali in essence! On that day, we had it with rice and "dhonepata bata sheem & bhindi aloo bhaja"!

INGREDIENTS :

BENGAL CARP FISH ROE / EGG : 300-400 GM

POTATO : 2 MEDIUM SIZED [PEELED & CUBED]

TOMATO : 1 BIG SIZED [CHOPPED]

GINGER PASTE : 2 TBSP

CUMIN POWDER : 2 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 11/2 TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP

CINNAMON POWDER : 1/2 TSP

GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/4 TSP

CLOVES POWDER : 2-3 PINCH

GREEN CHILLI : 2 [CHOPPED]

ONION : 1 MEDIUM SIZED [CHOPPED]

BAY LEAF : 1

CUMIN SEED : 1/4 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 4-5 TBSP [WE USE MUSTARD OIL]

PROCEDURE :

Wash the fish roe very well. Cut into smaller pieces and marinate with little amount of salt, turmeric, the chopped & washed onion  & green chillies.

Marinate the peeled, cubed & washed potatoes with salt and turmeric.

Heat the oil in a wok and lightly fry the potato pieces. Take them out! 

Fry the fish roe pieces in batches; to be fried lightly without deep frying! Take them out!

Temper the oil with the cumin seeds & bay leaf! In a bowl, mix together the ginger paste+cumin+coriander+red chilli+some salt+the rest of the turmeric+2tbsp of water.

Add the spice paste to the wok and stir cook at low heat for 2 minutes. Add the cubed and washed tomatoes to it. Stir cook for 2-3 minutes!

Add the lightly fried potatoes to the wok and stir cook for 1/2 a minute. Add 2 coffee mugs of water to it and stir.

Cover cook at minimal heat for 3-4 minutes. Remove the cover, add the fried fish roes, give a stir and simmer the curry at minimal heat, covered for another 4-5 minutes. 

Remove the cover, add the cinnamon+green cardamom+cloves powder, stir and take down after a minute!

 

SHOJNE DATA TETUL DIYE MUSHUR DAL

 

PROTEIN RICH DAL; LENTIL; PULSES IS A PART OF OUR DAILY LIFE!

Not today; but since my childhood; I am an ardent dal lover! My meals do not seem complete without having a dal. Like a typical "Bangal", I have my share of dal at the end of a meal; even if the meal has mutton curry or the choicest of fish! I made dal compulsory in my child's life; not so much store bought processed cereals. My preferred Bengali meal must consist of a curry with a choice of fish, two vegetables or one fry & one vegetable and a dal. Now, that the rest in my family would not eat a dal if served two vegetables and a fish or meat curry; I usually cook a fish or meat or egg curry, one vegetable, a dal and an additional fry on somedays. People like to have the dal more if served with a fry; the problem is we have lost the liberty to have "muchmuchey bora-tora dal diye" at every meal! Now that I am serving few clients every week; I am not finding enough space in the refrigerator to keep all of the vegetables. Below is the scenario today! I enjoy visiting the wet market as much as I do watching a movie of my choice! 

Quite late in life, I have realised, how important it is to have a balanced meal of vegetables; lentils; off course we do not need to denounce our habit of consuming meat & fish! Thats absurd!

SHOJNE DATA TETUL DIYE MUSHUR DAL IS A SWEET NOSTALGIA / RED LENTIL CURRY WITH DRUMSTICK & TAMARIND IS A SPRING TIME DELIGHT!

Many may not want to equate dal with delight; but I stand by it. Tok Dal is a spring to summer time regular thing in the family; like in many Bengali families. Even the father who could live a life without a LENTIL CURRY loved his share of tok dal / sour dal. My family uses elephant apple or raw mango or dried raw mango or tamarind as the souring agent for dals. To welcome the spring without the hazards it brings with it; drumsticks were / are eaten extensively. As a child; neither me, nor bhai fancied a drumstick / shojne data! Till date; my son and the man dislike chewing any kind of "data"; I somehow have started loving it. I cook it separately for myself and Cristine; also add them in curries and dal hoping at least some of it's goodness might have mixed with the curry that the men would eat! They indeed have this kind of a dal; SHOJNE DATA TETUL DIYE MUSHUR DAL; sans the drumstick pieces. I am still okay with it. My food habit has taken the path of the mother; say of the parents & grand parents. I am hopeful about the son.

THERE ARE SPRING VIVES FELT IN THE AIR; BUT IN A TROPICAL COUNTRY; ANYTIME IS A GOOD TIME TO HAVE TOK DAL!

Raw Mango & Tamarind are easily available here, throughout the year; so tok dal / SOUR LENTIL CURRY keeps happening in my kitchen. I either use mushurir dal / red lentil or motorer dal for this purpose. Motor Dal is not so frequent in sight in this island; so I use toor dal instead! Our most loved dals are moong & mushur. My side of the family has adopted other non-Bengali kinds of Dals / PULSES for long now; I am happier to follow the footsteps. Many things make me happy. I try to keep aside or ignore what makes me unhappy indulging more in what makes me happy! Even if it means pushing inside unnecessary carbs and a whole lot of oil; I do not hesitate! I am the one who will not take calculative steps when it comes to food! This morning, after the shopping; I had an unhealthy breakfast with potatoes, spring roll, curry puff and tea! Thereafter, I had to have a polao lunch to finish them off. I only need a "maach bhaja" and a green chilli to lap off a bowl of Bengali pilaff; but it was offered to my God family, so cannot have it with non-vegetarian stuffs!

In between all the cooking and eating ventures; a pedicure & manicure session was a need! 

Our mother worked so hard all day but had been so particular about up keeping her body; using hair removing lotions to nail polishes to lipsticks! Well, that was yesterday! I am feeling better because I had funded the session from my earnings!

INGREDIENTS : 

MUSHUR DAL / RED LENTIL : 1/3 SMALL TEA CUP SIZED

DRUMSTICK : 2-3 STANDARD SIZED

TAMARIND : 1 TSP

GREEN CHILLI : 2-3 [SLITTED]

DRY RED CHILLI : 2 [HALVED]

NIGELLA SEED / KALOJEEREY : 2 PINCH

BLACK MUSTARD SEED : 3-4 PINCH

BAY LEAF : 1

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

SUGAR : 1-11/2 TSP

OIL : 2 TBSP [WE ALWAYS USE MUSTARD OIL]

PROCEDURE :

I think red lentil is the quickest to boil! You need not take out the pressure cooker for it!

Wash the dal taking in a bowl; soak in some hot water for an hour! Drain the water!

Add a little of oil, salt & turmeric to the dal and mix well. Keep aside for half an hour!

In a vessel, take the marinated red lentil and 2-3 coffee mugs of water. Give a stir and boil over low heat; covered!

Discard the two ends of the drumsticks; cut it lengthwise; remove thinly the skin fibre! Wash and marinate with a little of salt & turmeric!

Once the dal is about 80% to 85% done; take it down.

Heat the oil in a wok and temper it with the bay leaf, nigella seeds & mustard seeds, halved dry red chillies. 

Give a stir, add the rest of the turmeric powder and the marinated drumsticks! Stir cook at minimal heat for 2 minutes! 

Add the boiled dal; give a stir and let it simmer at low heat for 2-3 minutes. 

Add, 11/2 coffee mug of water; give a stir and bring to boil at low heat. When it has boiled for about 3-4 minutes; add the tamarind; sugar, washed & slitted green chillies and the salt as required!

Simmer it for another 3-4 minutes! 

Serve it with rice, fritters, fish curry & vegetables!

SUJI NARKOL ER BORA

SUNDAY HO YA MONDAY; THE NEVER ENDING DISCUSSION ON FRIES & SNACKS CONTINUES!

This is a Sunday evening; 7:25pm to be precise. We usually watch a movie or a series, at this time. Today is different, I sat to write about my tomorrow's blog share. Okay, simultaneously, we are watching a documentary on Elisa Lam's mysterious death in 2013, streaming on Netflix! I am feeling very awkward, neither can stop watching it! Many around will know coming Tuesday is Saraswati Puja; and how busy would I remain tomorrow, a Monday! I thought of buying the fruits locally at least but there was hardly anything available. Immediately after the CNY; this is the scenario! Few shops have opened; the majority are still closed. Until last week, there was no dearth of "narkeli kul or kata ankh"; that is winter jujube & cut sugarcane, around! Let me see if I get it tomorrow. Just a day before the Saraswati Puja, I do not get them. Another must fruit to offer in this prayer is "shakalu", I see it is known more as Jicama or Yam Bean! Getting it is not a problem here, the natives here eat it as a regular vegetable! So, I have to run to Mustafa Centre in search of cut sugarcane packet and few other stuffs at cheaper rate and then walk to the Tekka Centre for the rest of the things. Thereafter, coming back home, we need to clean and change all the clothings of my God Family. Tuesday, I would start to cook for my God Family, arrange everything, do the offering. At night, we have few guests. Where is the time to sit and write a blog post tomorrow? But I must have a contributory FOOD SHARE like this SUJI NARKOL ER BORA on the occasion.

A SUNDAY SPENT EATING, SLEEPING AND NOW WRITING THE BLOG!

I went out in the vicinity today to get few things, but most of the shops are closed. The majority of the stuffs are to be got tomorrow. Now, that I do not have an extra refrigerator; I cannot do the shopping too early. Trust me, I will manage. It was the help's off day today, tomorrow, the two of us should be able to discharge everything together. The cool me was having an idly & vada breakfast with teh-o-kosong at a nearby stall. It was already 11.15 am. I did not feel like having outside food for lunch. I did get sushi for the man. Each time I buy meal from outside, I miss our boy; I miss him at all times! I only pray to my Gods to keep him safe & healthy wherever he is! Special Prayer meets are kept for the good of my own. Saraswati is the Goddess of Education among us and I must seek her blessings for my child!

What was my lunch then? Brown rice with "loter jhuri, makhon-aloo bhaja bhaat"! This is the kind of meal I love; half of the rice eaten with a dry preparation of fresh Bombay Duck, the other half with butter-salt-potato fry-green chilli! I had a peaceful afternoon siesta, only to wake up and start with the blog post! I must gift my readers something to offer their God Family, right?

Our dinner was "aloo sheddo, ilish maach, illisher matha diye bhaja moong er dal"! 

Our Sundays are like this; relaxed! If only we / I could video chat with the boy!

SUJI NARKOL ER BORA / SEMOLINA COCONUT FRITTERS; A PERFECT, EASY TO MAKE VEGETARIAN, DIARY FREE; FRIED SNACK!

I think this resembles a lot with Goan Kulkul recipe. I never have the patience to try a Goan Kulkul recipe, doing those perfect curls is not my thing! Neither was I wanting to prepare a modified version of it! It's only last week, I came across a "pithe" recipe using semolina, coconut, milk, sugar; in a Facebook page. There are a couple of food pages I follow, who sit amidst a village kind of atmosphere and cook with fresh produce. They anyway get millions of views; I have not followed their recipe that much as required for a mention. From the beginning, it was my plan not to use milk in it! We do not at all require it! My family does not do this particular SWEET SNACK but there are a couple of "pithe" done using this combination. There will be many like me who are lazy enough to shape a KULKUL into curls; I ask you to follow my EASY RECIPE with few INGREDIENTS! Its a no fail recipe done within an hour; using semolina, shredded coconut, sugar, refined flour, green cardamom powder, oil. What you get is a DEEP FRIED SNACK; a TEA / COFFEE TIME SNACK called SUJI NARKOL ER BORA! The use of Coconut helps us use a reduced amount of sugar! All the fear for my own after watching the feature on Elisa Lam's death mystery; needs an outlet; I either cook or take recourse to my God Family; it helps! Yes, I do believe in the paranormal!

INGREDIENTS :

SEMOLINA : 1/3 COFFEE MUG

SHREDDED COCONUT : 200 GM

REFINED FLOUR : 1/4 COFFEE MUG

SUGAR : 3 TBSP [I USED VERY LESS OF BROWN SUGAR; YOU CAN INCREASE THE AMOUNT]

GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1 TSP

OIL : 250-300 ML TO DEEP FRY

PROCEDURE :

We will take all the ingredients except the oil in a bowl. We will mix well!

We will cover it for 1/2 an hour.

Thereafter, we will just shape each as per our wish! Our helps assists me, always!

We will heat the oil in a wok or vessel.

We will add the prepared uncooked snacks when the oil is warm and not too hot. We will fry them at low heat until golden brown.

We need not hurry but fry them in batches!

While taking them out, we will wait for the excess oil to go.

We must place them on to tissue papers before serving to get rid of the excess oil!

It tastes best, when hot. We need to refrigerate, if there are any extras because coconut spoils faster. In that case, take them out 40-45 minutes before eating; slightly warm in the oven and have!

 

MILLET-RICE-PINEAPPLE STEAMED PUDDING

THE FIGHT BETWEEN DESSERT, SWEET & HEALTH!

There is no denying the fact that sugar brings health hazards! But we are not the extreme kinds at this home who can quit desserts altogether! There are a couple of special prayer meets that held in our home throughout the year; how is it possible not to offer DESSERTS & SWEETS to my God Family? The best I could do to help my ailing health is replacing the daily offerings to my God Family; from the bigger sugar crystals [michrir dana] to a mix of roasted & broken dry fruits mix at first and then finally to a mix of roasted cashews and pumpkin seeds!

Not everyday, we prepare rice pilaff; regular desserts are a no for health reasons! Munching the cashews & raisins were a thing of joy until when I knew the sucrose content in fresh & dried fruits is also not good for me if eaten regular. My side of the family had been a minimalist; so am I. I will not get home this seed and that nut; all at one time. So, how I manage our dessert / sweet cravings? With available ingredients, using less amount of brown sugar; I prepare an unconventional pudding; name it MILLET-RICE-PINEAPPLE STEAMED PUDDING!

I AM TRYING TO EAT HEALTHY; PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME TO EMBRACE SALAD & SOUP!

A 16-17 hours of intermittent fasting was causing me severe bloating. Looking at my blood sugar level in the report last week; I had to rethink! Moreover, there had been warnings coming from the doctors' mouths that a diabetic should not go for longer periods of fasting! It's the third day now, I have started with breakfasts. I am just trying to have healthier breakfasts; doing only a 12 hours of intermittent fasting. I enjoy food any way, the only fear is of putting on weight again. My problem is my inability to exercise hard. I had always remained my family's laziest member; a dili-dallied self. They tried to mend me but did not push me hard to be worthy in life; neither did my partner did something to make me learn how hard it is to earn few dollars on my own. If I said; "amar chakri kortey bhalolagey na, oshob bujhina ki kortey hoy computer e"! I was told, "korona tobey"! I could only become a guaranteed assurance that there be no wastage of the hard earned money! People at home trust me! The thing is; we do not eat everything, together! We have our own choices of food! Just an hour back, I was having oil free, ragi idlis! I tried them steaming manually in bowls, they did not turn really idly but I liked the "jhal ragi pudding"! It tasted as good as the MILLET-RICE-PINEAPPLE STEAMED PUDDING!

The milk tea & coffee were causing me severe bloating & acidity too! I have noticed, if we do not use sugar in milk tea or coffee, this happens! Honestly, once I started eating my breakfast, bloating is at bay!

STEAMED PUDDING WITH FRESH PINEAPPLE JUICE, FINGER MILLET FLOUR, RICE FLOUR IS A HEALTHIER DESSERT IDEA!

I stock jowar, bajra, ragi flours at home. Being a Bengali, I did not grow up having them! Only in the recent years, I got to know they are healthier food options. Given my heightened blood sugar level; I felt, okay, let me have my "maacher jhol" with these instead of rice. Its few years, I had been trying my hands at unconventional desserts! The youngest, whilst at home used to enjoy all my experimental desserts & sweets. He definitely would have enjoyed this MILLET-RICE-PINEAPPLE STEAMED PUDDING! I hardly prepare my hometown's traditional sweets. Firstly, they require time and patience. Secondly, the amount of white sugar they require is no more what I have the liberty to allow in our lives. Roshogolla, however shall keep on going; at least once every two months! But, this week is a celebration here and there too! I had to plan something for the maximum! I always wish to; love to celebrate with a little of sweet something. I think this HEALTHY PUDDING fits in! I had used very few ingredients doing it; PINEAPPLE JUICE, FINGER MILLET FLOUR, RICE FLOUR, PLAIN OIL, BROWN SUGAR, WALNUT, DRIED COCONUT FLAKES, CINNAMON POWDER! We really get very good supply of pineapples here. The day before, I got sad not getting the usual honey sweet variety with an orange hue on the body! This was green and the help warned me it may be sour. But no, with a super white interior instead of yellow, it was supremely sweet! I used only 3-4 tablespoon of brown sugar! I had used an orchid for the photography purpose of the bare pudding and I call it a flower with magical elements! It requires a little of water to keep fresh for few days; it comes to serve my God Family!

INGREDIENTS : 

FINGER MILLET / RAGI FLOUR : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

RICE FLOUR : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

BAKING POWDER : 1/2 TSP OR A LITTLE MORE

FRESH PINEAPPLE JUICE : 2 COFFEE MUG

SUGAR : 3-4 TBSP [I USED BROWN SUGAR]

OIL : 2-3 TBSP

CINNAMON POWDER : 1 TSP

CHOPPED WALNUT : 11/2 TBSP

DRIED COCONUT FLAKES : 2 TBSP

PROCEDURE : 

                                

We had taken the essential ingredients together atop our kitchen counter! Cristine prepared the fresh pineapple juice in a juicer; so I was relieved of peeling, chopping, juicing of the fruit!

We had taken the brown sugar, 2 coffee mugs of pineapple juice & 2-3 tbsp of oil in a blender!

After blending for 2-3 minutes; pausing in between, it looked like below.

We had at first half filled a coffee mug with rice flour and then the other half with the finger millet flour.

We had added the baking powder to the flour mix and passed it through a strainer to the bowl that has the wet mixture!

We had stirred the entire thing until smooth & lump free; added the cinnamon powder, dried coconut flakes & chopped walnuts.

                                          

We had again beat well the mixture.

We had greased an aluminium container with few drops of oil and then dusted it well with flour.

We had poured the batter into it!

Here is my manual steamer. Alternatively, we can use a colander, deep vessel and a lid! I do not know how to use an electric steamer!

I had removed the cover of it; poured water; about 3-4 coffee mugs of! 

Then, I had placed the stand atop and covered! We will let the water boil!

When the water started boiling; we had placed the bowl with batter at the centre of the stand!

We had covered the steamer and let it steam at low to medium heat for about 20-25 minutes.

We should be done. We will allow some standing time before having!