SHAAM HONE KO HAI & I AM IN THE MOOD TO WRAP MYSELF WITH A THIN BED SPREAD & WATCH ANYTHING OF INTEREST!
"Shaam hone ko hai" means it's time for the sundown! I am in the mood to watch a thriller or anything of interest! There may not be a winter season in this island but between the months of October & February, its monsoon here & feels cool & dry! I wonder why we experience a drier skin, a winter time attribute sitting in an island! I like almost everything about this island, not the climate! I got burnt totally & my skin got destroyed! You can blame it on the tropical sun! I am not in the habit of applying this & that cream on skin! Most of the days, I go out without applying the sunscreen lotion & end up with an itchy skin! A little over a decade back my skin was soft & supple! I am not a multitasker but today I have decided to let play Kishore Kumar's hits; Sagar Kinare dil ye Pukare to Leena o Leena Dil Tune Cheena to Dil Kya Karen Jab Kisisse Kisi Ko Pyar Ho Jaye! I remember all of the fuss, rules created with regards to the film Julie! In this context, what a South Asian woman has to go through if caught up in such a situation, even today! We look at the West & see how the society & the celebrities flaunt their unwed parental status! I am too strict about not commenting on such things! Every country would have it's own set of rules, we cannot compare those with others! I need to study sociology in it's depth, do a post doctorate & then comment on what is right & wrong for us! The kind of person I am, I would vote for certain kind of restraints, even if it causes us pain, a compromise with our happiness! In a multicultural, multi linguistic society like in India, we cannot let chaos set in! The man & the son are liberated souls but mumma constantly keeps warning, asks them to be at par with our culture! I have specifically told the son to stay away from the strangers! Anyway, my job is to get you good food, so I do! Else the thought of the son staying alone in an unknown land kills me!
IT FEELS GOOD TO SHARE A FAMILY BENGALI RECIPE THE MAXIMUM IN THE WORLD CAN HAVE!
Most of the time, what I get you as my family recipes are rustic which the majority of you may not understand! Regional Cuisines are like that, beyond a certain geographical boundary, people cannot identify with it! What comes as a barrier are the availability of the ingredients & tastebuds! We are a middle class Bengali family, the recipes for daily consumption had been normal vegetables & fish or meat curries; never restaurant style! A normal Bengali Home would never cook restaurant style regular! Our mother still keeps cooking authentic, homely Bengali Food even though the rest in the family would want a rice pilau & chicken! Even I plan to cook rustic Bengali less but end up doing them every Saturday! To us it is like preserving our own food culture! You take or do not take, at least my blog should have the recipe of "maan kochu bata" or "pui metuli bhaja" or "ruti, suji o shada aloor chocchori"! We eat normal, Indian Food on a daily basis & my lunch was "thin porota, peyazkoli-aloo bhaja, aloo-potol er dalna, achar"!
This rice bowl our mother used to do every winter quite often! In those days; cauliflower, green peas & carrots were available only in the winters! Their taste was unmatched! In the present day, we get most of the vegetables throughout the year, the taste of them is surely compromised! This rice dish is in true sense a "khichuri" / hotchpotch dish! Our mother used "polao er chal", the rice grain meant for pilaf but the dish was / is not cooked how a polao is meant to be cooked! A fried rice is made by draining the water after cooking, then stir frying but a pilau is cooked together with the measured water! A pulao uses dry fruits & sugar among us! This vegan, gluten-free vegetables & rice dish; FAMILY WINTER TIME VEGETABLES RICE is stir fried but uses sugar in it, only specific vegetables! It uses French Beans too, I forgot to get! We used to enjoy it with a light chicken curry on a Sunday lunch time! Whilst a fried rice or pilau is eaten usually with a dry curry, veg or non-veg! It hurts you know; I am unable to feed my son all these stuffs he so loves! In his country, I have seen The Stop & Shop, Roche Brothers, Trader's Joe selling oriental fried rice hot & fresh! I ask him to get, but such shops are not rampant in the neighbourhoods the way we have them here or back in Kolkata! I am more worried during these winters what he says he likes! Our mother always used a mix of ghee & oil for this recipe, I used only oil to keep it vegan! That is a compromise on the flavour part!
INGREDIENTS :
FRAGRANT RICE [KALIJEERA / CHINIGURA / GOBINDA BHOG] : 1 1/2 COFFEE MUG
CAULIFLOWER: 1 SMALL
GREEN PEA: 1 SMALL BOWL
CARROT : 1
CASHEW NUT : 1 TBSP
BAYLEAF : 2-3
CINNAMON STICK : 3-4 HALF INCH SIZED
CLOVE : 4-5
GREEN CARDAMOM : 4-5
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 2 TSP
OIL : 1 SMALL TEA CUP [I USED CANOLA]
THE FAMILY USES GHEE TOO FOR FLAVOUR
Wash the rice grains well & cook in enough boiling water until 70% done! Pour on a colander & let the water drain thoroughly!
Cut & wash the cauliflower, carrots; also the green peas! Soak the cauliflower florets in hot water!
I made a mistake here! Do not mix together the carrot & cauliflower together, we will add them to the oil at different times!
Drain the water after 10 minutes and add salt, mix well!
Warm the oil & fry the cashew nuts, take out! Heat the oil & add the whole spices, give a stir! Add the cauliflower sans the marinade!
Mind it, we would fry the cauliflower florets at the medium heat & not at low, so it fries well & do not get soggy!
Better we add the carrot strips & green peas when the cauliflowers are half done!
We would add the cooked rice & fold in well! We will add the sugar & salt, fold in well! We would stir cook at medium heat using light strokes with a ladle for 5-6 minutes!
Do not let the rice grains to break! Transfer to a serving bowl & garnish with the fried cashew nuts!
You can have it with any vegetarian or non-vegetarian sides or just with papad & pickle!
