DHONEPATA MUSHUR DAL ER BORA

OUR ETERNAL BOND WITH SNACKS, FRIES & FRITTERS!

Any day, any time can be a good time for snacks. It feels exactly so to me, even to the rest! The Filipino got adapted to our food habits and loves our fries to puffed and flat breads. As told earlier, the senior loves but controls for the health's sake. It is the son and his mumma who would not count when it comes to FRIES & FRITTERS! I cannot resist making them, I also feel sad unable to feed them to the son. Then, we are not the kind who would stop living or postpone all of our family plans waiting for a homecoming. Instead, I insist the son to buy at least two to three varieties of fruits per week. This way, in a month he can have a couple of the varieties. He might not be having the INDIAN STYLE FRIES & FRITTERS there, but SNACKS is there in his life. In fact, I am scared and warn him not to eat too many fried stuffs. Snacks freshly prepared at home and those bought from outside have a difference, I fear of the preservatives & the taste enhancers used! Even I do not prepare them often, although I want them everyday. Earlier, it so happened that the men skipped their share of vegetables & even non-vegetarian food if I had served them "bora-tora"! Unless it was a meat or fish variety of their choice, they would prefer fries or bakes! What I am to share now is a humble, BENGALI STYLE FRY made with RED LENTIL PASTE & CORIANDER LEAVES! I named it DHONEPATA MUSHUR DAL ER BORA!

A BENGALI PLATTER KEEPS ME HAPPY & FULFILLED!

Perhaps, each day I retire to the bed thinking of starting a new day the next morning with clean eating. It does not happen, I get weak at the sight of food! Take the example of today. I had started the morning with a cup of sugar free, milk free coffee with 11/2 patishapta / jaggery-coconut filled crepes! I went for a walk, on my way back I felt hungry and ate a prawn pancake kind of. I did walk for 6.1km, went for a hair cut too! I wanted a gradual layer this time. Back home, had my humblest & beloved "ruti torkari"! Now, I will be trying something in the air fryer to go with my tea. Thinking if I should have a chilled tea or coffee. Its pretty hot here in the island!

Any wise person would have had a smoothie in the morning and only this chapati platter for lunch! Oh! I also had a homemade coconut sweet and litchis in between! I started with the blog post very late, now feeling sleepy. There is an empty look around, the man is in office from today, as of now for every alternate week. Anyway, he does not make any amount of noise, closes himself in the son's room until he retires little before dinner time! What angers me is his reluctance to talk to me. Because I do not like chatting with people all day, I expect him to talk to me, about our home, future and child. He is more interested in CNN, WHISKY, CHEESE CAKE, HOLLYWOOD MOVIES, STAND UP COMEDY, and others I have no interest in. So, I keep myself engaged in the kitchen and eat way more than him!

WHAT IS THIS DHONEPATA MUSHUR DAL ER BORA?

What is Dhonepata? Dhonepata is fresh Coriander Leaves. What is Mushur Dal? Mushur Dal is Red Lentil! Today, we are using split, de-skinned red lentil. DHONEPATA MUSHUR DAL ER BORA is a VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE FRITTER RECIPE, just perfect to go with your evening cuppa or if you are a proud Bengali; have it with your "dal, rice and a kora korey maach bhaja". As I write, I make a sharp slurp sound; I want that platter in the picture for our dinner but I am not eating carbohydrates at night. How silly it is to have ilish maach with salad but I will. After visiting the doctor this week; I am to decide if I have to shift back to intermittent fasting again or not, it depends on my blood sugar level! I cannot live a life dependant on oats, salads, smoothies, millets! Happiness is growing your own coriander, that too in your tiny green space!

Won't you want to know what is there in the platter? They are Bengali homely, rustic dishes; Banana Blossoms with Potato, Coconut, Peanuts; lentil curry; Kharkol Pata / A variety of yum leaves Bharta! Our mother never served us cold, burnt fritters. She cooks for longer period in so less oil. She does not have time to be active in social media and make friends with the world; curiosity to know their whereabouts!

INGREDIENTS :

SPLIT DE-SKINNED RED LENTIL : 1 MEDIUM TEA CUP SIZED

FRESH CORIANDER : A HANDFUL OR TWO

CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 2 TSP

CHOPPED ONION : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP SIZED

SALT : AS REQUIRED

SUGAR : 1 TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1/2 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1/2 TSP

OIL : 4-5 TBSP TO FRY

PROCEDURE :

Soak the red lentil / mushur dal in a bowl for at least an hour.

Thereafter, wash two times and discard the water. 

Prepare a paste of it in the blender.

Transfer the paste to a bowl. Add the chopped onion and green chillies, salt, sugar, cumin+coriander+turmeric powders!

I had harvested those coriander leaves on that very day; washed and chopped well discarding the root ends!

We will add the coriander leaves to the dal paste and mix well.

We will heat the oil in a pan and slow cook both sides very well at minimal heat!

We never should cook them in high heat; they get burnt from outside and remain under cooked inside!

Have them hot and fresh to get the best taste!