BENGALI CHATU MAKHA

 I SINCERELY WISHED TO BLOG ABOUT IT, TRUST ME!

And why not? It is essentially a part of my journey as a Bengali Blogger! Sattu / Chatu / Roasted Gram Flour had been a must have item in our family pantry! On days when the mother felt unwell & could not cook roti-prata, our breakfast was this recipe, that I would be sharing today! I indeed enjoyed it, still do! After relocating to this island, the diabetic me tried to eat it the other way quite popular in India; with salt, mustard oil, chopped green chillies & onions! I could not have it! Saying this, I do not intent to hurt the sentiments of those unfortunate daily wagers back in Kolkata whose staple was / is it! Near our college, there were a couple of such non-Bengali speaking daily wagers, who in the afternoon would sit & do the mixture, have it accompanied by a "lota" full of water! Also, on my way to & from school, I would see this, less because it was Bengali crowd there! I used to watch closely and couldn't just take the scene, it was tough! Even in the present day, the scene remains the same, I do not get to see as I hardly walk the streets of Kolkata in that manner! What I want to say is having malls after malls throughout the country is not development alone! But there is certainly a development because beggars are less seen in the roads; also it got hard to get house helps at a meagre amount! That means there have generated work better than working as a house help or begging on the roads! What it takes to betterment are a corruption free political set up, sincere hard working selves, population control! I hardly can do any good to the society, I do not wish to talk much on these topics! I eat, roam, relax, listen to few genres of music!

THAT IS WHAT WE ATE YESTERDAY!

It's being long I do not go out on a Sunday & get an outside lunch or dinner pack for us; actually for T as I keep eating outside! The reason is nothing but lethargy! Several requests of mine to go out together on a Sunday had been rejected! He enjoys his beer & whisky with peanuts & cheese respectively; more than outside food! I find it difficult to believe if this is the same person who took us to restaurants frequently during his holidays! No, the son's education is not demanding this amount of restrictions I can say! I do not wait for when he would, I go out alone and do what I enjoy! It is 3 pm now, at 4pm I would go out to eat my lunch, rest a bit & walk! Then I would come back, take a good shower, do the night prayer, blow the conch and finish off with the blogpost! T says because I cook a variety at home & quite good; he doesn't want to eat out regular! What we had for lunch & dinner yesterday are these :

There was a stale dough for one porota & I had! At night, I cooked luchi sans any amount of semolina in the dough! The dough got softer than required and I was finding it difficult to fry them! I think I enjoy a choice of fish over the lamb & mutton in this island! Tell me what to eat after an hour for a late lunch? I again went back to having dinner at 9:30pm-10pm! I felt it is too much of a hassle arranging dinner for myself at 6:30pm; eating before the bread earner at home is causing me discomfort, the family women never did! I have no contribution in the family expenses! We enjoy eating together, a little of chitchat that includes bullying me! If I sing, he calls me Pata Kumari; he calls my degrees fake, my physique that of an elephant! I do not take to the heart, he is an extremely honest & responsible person! Do not try his stunts on me! Every person is different and we deal with different person in different manner, at least I do! I did not like my mother-in-law literally throwing her half eaten fish on my plate, because I love fish bone & head! She had to understand that is showing disrespect to me! She saw me eating T's leftovers, but she had to understand she had to give me a lot of good vibes before expecting me to eat her leftovers! I would want to deal too carefully with my son's girl! I even offered him to get his present girlfriend if any, with him this summer! He is not agreeing to come before his graduation! I can understand his mind, I know he is sincere about his life at this time! Mumma finds out good activities for herself, she dances to Bombay Jayashri's "Zara Zara Behekta Hai", I am both Dia Mirza & R Madhavan fan! The islanders see me regular grooving with my headphone on! Neither Dia nor Maddy can pull a seductive number well, such innocent features they have! Come on, do not make out exact literal meanings of the lyrics of a song, we hum just for the love of it!

WHAT IS THIS BENGALI CHATU MAKHA?

As told, the mother kept chatu always in her pantry! It is roasted gram flour powder! You can say it is the Organic Bengali Protein Powder! The Bengali body builders' favourite drink was this powder added to water with a bit of jaggery or salt & lemon juice! It helps beat the summer heat! Even, in our family the young male cousins had the drinks! We did have exactly the powder this way with milk, banana, sugar, adding beaten rice & puffed rice to it! It is extremely filling and you must prepare it less for yourself! Once you have it you would not feel hungry for long hours! It is purely organic, gluten-free, if you use non-diary milk, it gets to be vegan too! Let us name it BENGALI CHATU MAKHA, one of my favourite breakfast item! At this point, I left for my first meal & walk! I had a banana paratha & onion paratha with teh-o-kosong! Such meals go against any weight loss program! That is why I am round!

I loved my meal except for that tomato sauce, I like a chilli infused sauce! Also, only on request they would add green chillies to the onion in the paratha! Now, I would go for my shower! I wished to share in the blog today something for those who would be fasting coming Thursday on the occasion of Neel Sashti! We keep fast for our child! Not only I  would fast for my son on Thursday; on Friday, the last day of the Bengali Calendar, we would prepare a ball with this powder, sugar, water mixture and place outside seeking blessings for the brother, asking for him a trouble free life! Actually, we are to place the food at the juncture where three roads meet, I would do in our ledge! If you are having it as a fasting food, skip adding the grains like puffed rice & beaten rice!

INGREDIENTS : 

SATTU / CHATU / ROASTED GRAM FLOUR POWDER OR BARLEY POWDER / JOB ER CHATU : 1 MEDIUM TEA CUP CUP

BANANA : 1 OR 2 STANDARD SIZED

PUFFED RICE : A FISTFUL

BEATEN RICE : A FISTFUL

MILK : 1 1/2 COFFEE MUG [USE NON-DIARY MILK FOR A VEGAN VERSION]

SUGAR : 2-3 TSP [I USED BROWN SUGAR]

PROCEDURE :

I used this brand of chatu!

The Neogy family gave me before leaving for Abu Dhabi! My family also uses Barley Flour [Job er Chatu]!

Take the roasted gram flour in a bowl! 

Wash the puffed rice & beaten rice under running water taken in a colander, let all the water drain away! Add them to the chatu!

Mix well! Wash, peel & add the banana to the bowl & mash! Mix everything well!

Add the milk & sugar, fold in well & enjoy your breakfast meal! I would always use chilled milk for this!

If you are having it as a fast breaking meal; skip using the grains like puffed rice & beaten rice!