TIL BATA BROCCOLI CARROT CASHEWS

A TIRED SOUL, NOT DEFEATED!

I am pretty tired today, I had to go to the Indian Market, I have a client to serve tomorrow. There is another on Saturday and I am also to cook our usual weekend dishes. Bengali Cooking for ourselves has to lessen more because I wish to bring more of variety on our plate. Some days it can be kachori, on some it can be noodles, on the other Oriental style chicken. Hence, I cook less for ourselves on a Saturday. Isn't that a better idea? I do not allow my physical ailments or limitations to rule me. I may be lazy but I keep up my spirit; I always ask those in the habit of talking about their ailments, not to. Be happy, do what keeps you happily engaged. These days, I do not get time for myself; but it's okay; at least I have something to do, I do not feel like an useless. I came home late, had my lunch late and wished to lie down. Then, blogging about a RECIPE is a love, never a compulsion. Its long, I did bid a goodbye to this afternoon nap. The son was four and half years old, not wanting to leave his juice bottle. The doctor told he has to. I forced him and he refused to sleep back from his school. I was living with him alone then, I used to wake up at 4 am; do Pranayam, do the arrangements to take him to his school twenty two kilometres away from our home. Mumma wished to sleep but baby wanted her to play and chat. Now mumma wants to talk all day with him, he does not have time for me. It was there in his school area, in the outskirts of Kolkata; I perhaps first saw BROCCOLI cultivation or did not? I do not remember well. May be I had been served broccoli when we visited the restaurants, it was never a thing to remember.

BROCCOLI, CARROT THEN AND NOW!

It was 2010, October that we landed here; nothing got changed in my kitchen. But wherever you go, that place would have an impact on you. It is very silly of you if you do not embrace at least something of the lifestyle there. I am used to certain kind of flexibility here, anytime is a good time to go anywhere here; which is not possible when I am in Kolkata. Life is routined, controlled and less adventurous there. Here, all of a sudden I go out on a walk around 1.30 pm, then may eat a broccoli & snow peas curry sitting somewhere. And gradually, you take interest in a vegetable which was foreign to you. Meanwhile, I see and hear my parental home getting broccoli. I see with my own eyes in the outskirts of Kolkata, local farmers cultivating Broccoli. Carrot that was a winter produce; is available throughout the year now. Each time I call home or meet them, I forget to ask the dishes they cook with broccoli. I am not an organised self, so I double work most of the time. Because I am earning from what I enjoy doing, that is COOKING; it is not causing irritation in me. Every corner of the home evokes love, so its fine getting to stay at home and earn. Only that I wish to finish the story with regards to this VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE, FUSION FOOD done Indian style quick and rest until I retire to the bed! I aptly named the dish TIL BATA BROCCOLI CARROT CASHEWS. 

WHAT IS THIS TILBATA BROCCOLI CARROT CASHEWS?

WHAT IS TIL BATA? It is lightly roasted, white sesame paste. WHAT IS BROCCOLI? It is a cruciferous vegetable and source of a lot of vitamin, fibres, minerals [says WIKI]. CARROT, the root vegetable with a number of health benefits; we are eating since we got our senses, these days it is everywhere and throughout the year. I think I had the freshest carrot, right from the farmland on our way to Sikkim from New Jalpaiguri. Its been long I am craving to tour North Bengal, it has fabulous spots. For that we need to go and stay in Kolkata which I do not want. But my Kolkata visits enrich me with beautiful memories. It was on one such visit that I came to know there can be a recipe with broccoli and posto / poppyseed paste and I had it at our childhood friend's place, Sukanta. His wife prepared it along with aloo and she is a good cook. Sukanta's stomach is weak for long, cauliflower he cannot digest well and his wife makes this. I loved it and wanted to cook something similar. Their entire family contacted Covid-19, our friend, his wife Moumita, Mashi, his mother and probably their two girls too. They had a talk; Sukanta and T. I am so bad, did not enquire as yet. In this island, consuming poppyseed is banned. So, I keep cooking this HEALTHY FUSION DISH with BROCCOLI, CARROT, POTATOES, CASHEW NUTS in roasted SESAME PASTE! 

INGREDIENTS :

BROCCOLI : 1 STANDARD SIZED

CARROT : 1 OR 2

POTATO : 1 STANDARD SIZED

CASHEW NUT : 7-8

RAISIN : 9-10

WHITE SESAME SEED : 11/2 TBSP

GREEN CHILLI : 2-3

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4 TSP

NIGELLA SEED : 1/4 TSP

DRY RED CHILLI : 2-3

SALT : AS REQUIRED

SUGAR : 1/2 TSP

OIL : 1-2 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Dry roast the sesame seeds until golden brown. Take it in a blender along with a green chilli and half small tea cup of water.

Cut the broccoli into florets. Peel off the skins of the carrot and potato and cube medium sized.

Wash them well and marinate with salt and the turmeric, taken in separate bowls.

Heat the oil in the wok and temper with the nigella seeds and the dry red chillies. Add the cashew nuts and raisins, stir for a minute or two and take out.

Add the sesame paste and little of salt and stir fry for a minute; add the carrots along with the marinade and stir for 3-4 minutes.

Add the potatoes with the marinade now and stir for 3-4 minutes. Let them cover cook at for 3-4 minutes. Until now, we will cook at minimal heat!

Remove the cover and add the marinated broccoli with the marinade. Stir cook at low heat for 2-3 minutes. Reduce the heat to minimal and add the rest of the green chillies slitting them, the cashew nuts and raisins. 

Stir and let cook at low heat for another 3-4 minutes. Add the sugar now and stir for 1/2 a minute. We should be done. Have it with rice or bread varieties!