TAAL ER BORA

 

PITHE-PULI, TAAL ER BORA IS WADING THROUGH THE POOL OF MEMORIES!

I have so many things to write down, lined up in the memory bank; but every bone & nerve in the system wants to relax, the eyelids feel heavy! The heart however wishes my Palmyra Fruit recipe be featured as a Blogpost, today itself! Then let it be, I listen to my heart most of the time. I am managing my sleep thirst listening to my favourite, "summer kisses, winter tears; that was what she gave to me; never thought that I'd travel all alone; The trail of memories....". No, the father did not introduce me to Presley; its T who took me to the world of Elvis & KennyG! Even the brother & the son are fans of Western Music but I do not exactly understand their genre! My choices are very much like a hotchpotch; a complex "gatbandhan"; From "taal er bora, panta bhaat o bora bhaja to porota-aloor dom to grilled halloumi", I love them all! At this time, I am a satisfied soul done with a lunch of choice. In between, having the palmyra fritters is a continuous process; thats how the daddy would have. In big steel containers they would be kept covered on the table, he would pick &have some several times a day and for 3-4 days; that was his style. Your parents, your loved ones never leave; as memory tongs they hold you tight! I could not cry much, tears did not come to me, I feared to see his deformed face, the brother & his wife did cry a lot! But the memories often visit and tears you apart. What I do not get is why the parents had to go places to get me "mosher dudh"; buffalo milk and make me look buffalo like forever!

What you see on the plate are chapati, lobia curry made with kulambu spice mix and coriander chutney; I love is not enough to describe how I am loving the taste of a kulambu spice mix in a curry! Our today's focus is on the MAKING OF PALMYRA FRUIT FRITTERS; the VEGAN SNACK!

AN UNFORGETTABLE STORY RELATED TO PALMYRA FRUIT!

I forgot the exact year of the incident! May be when I was in the 11th or 12th or in 1st year. Bhai was in the middle school. We were coming back from Burdwan attending a marriage. I have mentioned earlier that my maternal grandmother's majority of the siblings & the cousins settled in Burdwan! It was our grandmother's youngest sister's eldest son's marriage! We had a good time amidst the greenery and our father came back a day or two early with "mihidana & sitabhog" packets! Because we lived in DumDum, very near to the railway station; the mother preferred coming through the cord line instead of coming to Howrah and then catch an11A bus with us two! I was always a useless, shaky kind, more on the road! In those days, there was only one train running between Sealdah & Burdwan via Dankuni; bringing all sorts of produce; vegetables to pigs, poultry! Passengers avoid that train but the mother looked at the convenience! Although the wife of a bank officer then, it was not in her / their nature to even think of hiring a cab from Howrah, conveyance cost was an issue. Anyway, we managed sits, but could not put our feet down; there scattered vegetable baskets! I remember it all; the oink of the pigs, the playful poultry not knowing their fate and the "gapshap" of the vendors! Once we reached Dankuni, we could see around some middle-class commuters like us! After few stations, our mother noticed a bag with two big palmyra fruits in it, one a bit smaller! She insisted the owner forgot and got down without the bag! Anticipating her intent, I was confused and bhai was feared to the hell! How she managed the baggages, her kids, and a heavy bag of two palmyra fruits from the DumDum station to her doorsteps is not surprising if you know her; she remains cool at the severest of the situation! That year we had the FRIED PALMYRA FRUIT SNACKERS without buying it! You obviously have to buy the coconut, refined flour, sugar, rice flour! The brother could not sleep for few nights, he would scream often fearing the police would come and arrest his mother! This can be a possible reason why he avoids this fritter every season! These days, he is not fond of any sweet pithe-puli, he eats shoru chakli! Such real life stories from time immemorial weaves the me, the person that I am!

WHAT IS TAAL ER BORA?

What is TAAL? Taal is PALMYRA FRUIT! What is BORA? It is Fritter in Bengali! TAAL ER BORA is ripe Palmyra Fruit Fritters! In our part of Bengal, this fruit is seasonal, that it ripens around July, August may be. Extracting the pulp is a tedious task and it happens only 1-2-3 days each season; at least in our family it is so! These days, Bidisha does it for the mother! Now that the Bengali shop Rajdhani Stores is selling this fruit in season, I think I should be able to prepare it every year! With Taal / Palmyra Pulp, my family also does a pudding with shredded coconut called "taal kheer"& "ruti"; others do "taal er luchi, malpoa, patishapta", I see! Cooking these VEGAN FRITTERS is tiresome but you are satisfied & happy once they are done, all of the neck & finger pain vanishes! I insist, I request hold on to your own tradition & culture, we are not doing all these every day! Readymade palmyra extract are sold in bottles, but I would not buy at this time, where is the pleasure in that? Its a thing in Bengal, where goes the saying "taal paka gorom"! I love it with or without tea or coffee!

INGREDIENTS :

PAKA TAAL / RIPE PALMYRA FRUIT : 1

BANANA : 2-3

SHREDDED COCONUT : 1 COFFEE MUG

REFINED FLOUR : 11/2 MEDIUM TEA CUP [SKIP & USE MORE RICE FLOUR FOR A GLUTEN-FREE VERSION]

RICE FLOUR : 1 MEDIUM TEA CUP

SUGAR : 1 SMALL TEA CUP [I USED BROWN SUGAR]

OIL : TO DEEP FRY

PROCEDURE :

At first, we will take out the skin of the ripe Palmyra fruit! Thereafter, we will take a washed colander, preferably of steel. Earlier, our families had a specific equipment for this job; "taal chaluni", triangular in shape with wooden frame, quite heavy!

Depending on the size, there would be two to four segments. seeds surrounded by fibres full of juicy pulp. When young, we eat it as "taal shash / taalgoda / ice apple"! 

Take each segment and start rubbing it against the colander net! At intervals, wet your right hand with water and rub!

The most difficult part was done by Cristine, the Filipino!

Now, I had to do some work! I had added the refined flour, sugar, shredded coconut, bananas to the ripe fruit pulp, mashed & mixed very well!

I had rested the batter for half an hour and then added the rice flour. I had mixed it well, the batter has to be paste like consistency!

We will heat about 200ml of oil in the wok!

Once the oil is hot, not smoking hot, we will add few balls to it gently! We have to constantly lower & increase the heat!

Once brown, place them onto a tissue paper!

Until hot, the coverage would be crisp and inside soft, thereafter, the coverage gets soft; it tastes the best once stale!