CURRY AND SPICE: VEGETARIAN GLASS CAKE

WHO ON THE PRESENT DAY SITS USELESS LIKE ME?

I feel the guilt at times! It is not about your family's financial strength, the thing is if you can independently earn for yourself at least or not! From that angle, I am a hopeless! Because I can feel exactly this way, I do not look down upon those who have taken financial responsibilities upon themselves! Besides, I / We do not hail from a pedigreed family full of engineers and doctors, IAS & IPS Officers, parts of both the family branches are still too rustic, working class or small time traders! T and I are two different personas who bond over certain things; like both of us would not mind visiting our rustic distant relatives and share a meal with an ease! I just did not wish the son to stay there; both of us shared the same dream to pull him up on the social ladder! Because T has the ability, the son need not stay there where he belongs; I expect him to achieve and a lot, yet stay grounded! Mumma does not like pride & show off, except for the pride of higher academics! Mumma tells her young adult baby that once he achieves enough, he should give back a little something to the society! Do you know mumma's way of communicating? She expresses herself through a series of WhatsApp messages without any answer! The weird creature only reads them! The world cannot have same kind of people all over. Mine is different, I have accepted it, I expect him to be good towards the society! T had been really difficult and aggressive but proved to be one of the most responsible son till this day! The definition of good and bad is not easy! My brother, on the other hand is softer, obedient! He was naughty in his younger days, as compared to my quiet self! But once I got married, he proved to be a dependent and obedient son! Not really he is economically dependent, he bears the family expenses; he just fears the thought of living in another city, fetching everything for himself! Except for his office work, he does not wish to do anything! I hold our mother responsible for this! She has pampered both of us to the core! Today is Rakhi Poornima / Rakshabandhan; the brother-sister day! Ever since, I left India for this island; our mother has taken the responsibility of buying and tying the sacred thread on my brother's wrist! How beautiful is that! T's sister too may call her brother, I do not always poke in their talks! My brother is more of a ritualistic and a believer in tradition than T! Our son is a single child, I wish he gets some good friends in life, who become family for him! I remember about this day in school; our mother would buy me a couple of rakhis for my male friends, chanachur & chips! She got too upset when I decided to marry one of my rakhi brothers!

THERE MAY BE SOME KIND OF AN ANOMALY IN MY THYROID LEVEL, I AM GETTING TIRED SOON!

A mere 5-6 km of walk is making me tired these days! It was last week the doctor's report said so, the doctor decreased my dosage of the thyroxin! Let me follow the course for a month or two! Today, I did not go out but was dancing! The problem is I do not know dancing, how effective my throwing of legs and hands is for the weight loss, who knows? Then, I cannot eat less and healthy! The jilipi and malpua desserts have caused increase in my weight! Though, I have switched to quinoa from the quinoa-brown rice mix, I ended up eating three chapatis yesterday! I always hurry to finish off the stale food!

Not one, I had two malpoa today, one frozen paratha for the lunch! Pran's is better, it is less oily! One packet stays in my freezer, I hardly use! Without some choice of food, life would become mundane for me, anyway I have nothing much to do at home! When would the son realise he needs to talk, at least text mumma frequently to keep her self going? All the negative news from all over the world would come across me, I would get bothered, worried! Neither T, nor the son would care a bit, both are hardcore practicals!

WHAT IS VEGETARIAN GLASS CAKE?

About thirty years back, I had it in the Dutta Bakery of Fariapukur area! My friend Tanushree who stayed in that area introduced to these local shops! Else, the other shopping centres I had been with the mother! Dutta Bakery was not actually a Bakery, but a stationary shop of our times who kept this glass cake variety that came sometime around 3-4 pm and got sold like hot cake literally by 6 pm! Later, they sold off half the portion of their shop to the Orphan Tea Syndicate or to the shop beside it and one day again Dutta Bakery was no more there! We shifted to Barrackpore and found an exact variety of glass cake there sold at the Barrackpore railway station's platform number one! That too closed sooner! Till date, the mother would visit Shyambazaar, even I must when I visit Kolkata! It was a long standing wish to try something similar to the glass cake but an eggless one! Last week, I tried once, then again the day before! I cooked one in the air-fryer but the top burnt! I am just unable to adjust the air-fryer power, stove top cakes give me peace!

VEGETARIAN GLASS CAKE is a nostalgia; a plain, glass shaped cake that was available only in certain shops in those days! Today, on my visits to Kolkata, I do not get the exact ones, I like it frill-free, be it life or cakes! You can get near something at Nahoum's, New Market Area, the heart shaped ones! I am pretty sure, addition of eggs would have given mine the exact taste but I kept it vegetarian! Also, my evening coffee has arrived!

INGREDIENTS :

REFINED FLOUR : 1 1/2 COFFEE MUG

BAKING POWDER : 1 TSP

BAKING SODA : 1/2 TSP

EVAPORATED CREAMER : 1 TIN

SUGAR : 1/2 A SMALL BOWL [YOU MAY NEED MORE]

JAGGERY : 2-3 TBSP

VINEGAR : 1 TBSP

VANILLA ESSENCE : 1 TSP

OIL : 1/3 SMALL BOWL

CASHEWNUTS TO GARNISH

PROCEDURE :

We are using the following ingredients; refined flour, baking soda and powder, evaporated creamer, sugar, a bit of jaggery powder, oil, vanilla essence!

My measuring small bowl is that!

Except for the refined flour, baking soda and powder, vanilla essence; we would take all the other ingredients in a blender! We would blend it at high to mix them well!

My measuring coffee mug is that! We would take the refined flour, baking soda and powder in a wide mouthed bowl, mix well!

To the flour mix, we would add the wet mixture and beat well for 5 minutes or so!

Thereafter, we would add the vanilla essence & mix well!

I have used the paper cups that I got from the Daiso Japan! I filled them a little more than half, tapped on the kitchen counter and placed half of a cashew nut on each!