STOVETOP BENGALI GRANOLA

 

THIS TAKES ME BACK IN TIME!

In fact, when I first saw muesli, granola as food items; I immediately got transported to my childhood! Big tins of "KHOI, MURI, CHIRER UPRA BA MURKI"; TOSSED PUFFED / POPPED / BEATEN RICE IN JAGGERY were made by the grandmother all alone and stored. For fifteen, twenty days post any special prayer meet at the grandparent's home; everyone would have that HOMEMADE BENGALI GRANOLA topped with shredded COCONUT for the breakfast! I have spent a considerable period of my childhood at the maternal grandparent's home, so such memories are vivid! The father's side too did the same kind of cooking; a major part of his side lived in Assam! They still do, so I cannot give an experienced account of that part of the family as we did not frequent each other! Only the father's eldest brother's family lived in Nabadwip, that too half of the family; a few of their seven boys lived in Assam. People are wrong when they say everyone wants a male child; my jethu-jethi had eight boys in total, of which one died at age 12! Do you mean they wanted only boys in a not so well off financial setup? Jethu being the son of a well off business house in & from Bangladesh; hardly studied or wanted to have his own earning. The man of flaws loved me and our mother so much! Actually, for long I was the only reigning child in the maternal side, the mother's siblings got married and bore kids way later; in the father's side I had the "shat bhai Champa" status for long! Anyway, till date I love 'khoi, muri, chirey, gur narkol diye" any day but I am a diabetic! Its only after starting to blog, I have learnt a little about the world cuisine. I look at granola and giggle, "arey, eto amader khoi / muri / narkol er upra!"

A FEW HOURS IN THE OPEN HELPS!

I was out of home around 12:50 pm, around 1:55 pm it felt let me eat something; so had that rice free meal in a local food court.

The plate has blanched greens I enjoy, a saucy fish & fried chicken; may be salted egg yolk chicken! Although, we should not walk immediately after eating; I took a slow walk for sometime and was finally back home sometime after 3 pm, I had walked only 5 km, that too at a slow pace! I could not be better, I am menstruating since the morning after a gap of 3-4 months! With menopause at the door step, its not a pleasant body condition! I look back at life and see myself very unfit in this smart world. People are doing so many things, they are so upfront with multifarious  qualities. Look at me, I only want either to sit idle with a choice of book or go out in the greens! Whatever I do, wherever I go, food has to be there. Around 4 pm; I ate that "poori-halwa-chana" meal. This is not a Bengali thing to have, I got curious watching the non-Bengali world making it a lot as part of their offering to the God. So, this morning, I had soaked some black chana! Back from my walk, after a shower, I boiled the chana & cooked a super quick halwa following one of MasterChef Sanjot Keer's recipe; the poori dough was there in the refrigerator!

The rest had what I cannot eat! Earlier in the morning, Cristine cooked and packed the man's lunch box with egg-cheese-pasta, her lunch was the same. 

The son would have loved too, but he is having this kind of food there, one day he told he was having macncheese for dinner. Mumma would feed him her choice of cooked food when we meet next!

WHAT IS STOVETOP BENGALI GRANOLA?

I mean to say cannot we call some ghee or oil toasted popped / puffed / beaten rice tossed in jaggery, in addition to some dry fruits as BENGALI GRANOLA? Anything cooked on a gas stove can be referred to as stovetop cooking! May be the remote area homes in India still uses kerosene stove. Our mother always has a kerosene run stove as a standby; it was from my childhood! I remember scenes from that time; the buying of new sholte / wick; the superb homemaker with great hygiene sense mother's cleaning of the stove; it stood as an example of her cleanliness freak self as compared to the stoves of other homes. Way before her, I saw the grandmother using a heater kind of, usually used to make the morning tea, her clay ovens took time to lighten. That heater was defective and would often catch fire. Today it feels, the house could have burnt down into ashes because of that heater! I stand witness to history it seems. Bhai is not bothered about all these details; he was only interested in the uncles' cars' & bikes' mechanisms! In this curious case of a VEGAN & GLUTEN-FREE, STOVETOP BENGALI GRANOLA, I only added some PUMPKIN SEEDS & DRY FRUITS and lessened the use of JAGGERY because I am a diabetic. I want it every evening with my tea or coffee, cannot have for the same reason of been a diabetic! We can offer this to the God Family on the occasion of any prayer meet!

INGREDIENTS :

PUFFED RICE / MURI : 11/2 COFFEE MUG

BEATEN RICE / CHIREY : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

POPPED RICE / KHOI : 2 COFFEE MUG

JAGGERY : 1/4 SMALL TEA CUP [HONEY CAN BE USED TOO]

CASHEW NUT : 7-8 HALVED

WALNUT : 7-8 BROKEN

PUMPKIN SEED : 1 TBSP

OIL : 2 TBSP [GHEE CAN BE USED TOO]

PROCEDURE :

Clear off each variety of the rice grains of any existing husk! Take them in separate bowls.

Heat the oil enough but not to the smoking point! Add the beaten rice / chirey at first, roast at low to minimal heat for 7-8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

Roast the khoi / popped rice thereafter for 3-4 minutes and transfer to a bowl.

If the puffed rice / muri is crisp, we do not need to roast it; else we would for few minutes!

Dry roast the dried nuts & seeds for 4-5 minutes & take out!

Add the jaggery & 2-3 tbsp of water to the wok. Let it boil at minimal heat for 7-8 minutes or until the mixture gets sticky.

Add the puffed rice / muri at first; fold in well. Add the roasted beaten rice / chirey and fold in well. Add the roasted popped rice / khoi and fold in well!

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the roasted nuts & seeds, mix well. Once a bit cool, transfer to a clean, dry container!

Please Note : I am a diabetic, hence used less amount of jaggery, you can use as per your requirement!