COMING FROM A DISCIPLINED HOME, I HAVE TURNED JUST THE OPPOSITE!
Actually, only our mother loved the word discipline, the rest of us followed! I mean being an obedient child, I did what I was asked to! Later, even that home did not remain routined anymore, after the father retired! He loved his untimely naps that enraged the mother who sat to relax only after her second round of shower in the afternoon! Yesterday, when I called her, she was not done with her lunch even at 3 pm, Indian standard time! The brother & Bidisha goes out in the morning, they cannot be blamed for this delay! In my case too, I do not follow any fixed routine; none of us at this home do unless for the working days! Our mother actually tried to follow her father's disciplinarian policies, her physical features resembles her father and to some extent, the mentality too! None of us in the family remain what we had been in our DumDum days! The father anyway is in a different world now, might have got a group to play bridge! I do not see that old time's Bengal anymore; boys do not form groups & chat or middle aged males play bridge even sitting at the side of a road, beggars are minimal in the streets! The world has developed a bit for sure! Our mother holds the same belief that playing "tash-pasha" / bridge is bad; her father did not play, in his spare time he did gardening only! In my life, I have learnt we need not keep pestering one person to become like another! My men are not the kind to give in, good that they would teach you that it is wrong to ask one to wear the shoes of the other! The son would say, "rule dibi na"!
THIS PARTICULAR FRIDAY WAS ALWAYS CONSIDERED A GOOD DAY AMONG US TOO!
May be because I was born in a place where the Church played a vital role or that my youngest maternal aunt had Christian friends who I visited with her that I learnt to hold special such days! I have not learnt Bible well, neither Quran; as a believer I know they all have good things to say for us to follow! Non-believers like my men may have the habit to counter argue, but in a way that helped me not to get blind about anything & I could at times tell the son not to show disrespect to other's point of view because his father has not! Leaving Krishnanagar & Birnagar for DumDum was a decision to taste a city life! There too I relished such days like a Good Friday in a Hindu Majority area! Our school was an English Medium School but with a majorly middle-class Hindu crowd! One good thing about it was that it did not allow much of religious celebrations within the school premises! And seriously in those days people did not break head with regards to who is from which faith; certain things these days put me off! That way, I find peace in this island, there can be rare cases of racism but at large people live in harmony! When in college, some of us did attend the Wednesday morning Bible class, it was not even compulsory for us; we never felt it was a Christian College! Even today, West Bengal stands for religious harmony, one cannot instigate a Bengali against another fellow being just on the basis of religion; we may be a lazy community, a state lacking a strong economy!
WHAT IS THIS CARDAMOM FLAVOURED COCONUT CAKE?
Off course, it is not a happy day for the believers of Christianity, the lord was crucified, he sacrificed his life wanting to restore Humanity in this world! Also, my readers know I do not have the habit of attaching the word "HAPPY" to every occasion! I think they call it Good Friday because the good soul sacrificed his life expecting the society to be human enough! I do not know why my family have associated any holiday of such kinds as a day to have some food better than the regular menu, be it a mutton curry, a sweet other than roshogolla or a cake! Yes, my family used to have cakes in every occasion & it started from their stay in Krishnanagar I believe! The father's side did not have such a ritual! I carried along with me this habit of getting a cake or baking one! I do like my simple bakes; I can get better results if I use refined flour & eggs! But on special days, I wish to reach out to more of people & happily bake a simple cake, that is vegan & gluten-free & name it CARDAMOM FLAVOURED COCONUT CAKE! Because I do not buy expensive flour mixes, coconut flour is a favourite ingredient when it comes to baking!
INGREDIENTS :
COCONUT FLOUR : 1/2 COFFEE MUG & A LITTLE MORE
RICE FLOUR : 1/2 COFFEE MUG
CORNFLOUR : 1 TBSP
BAKING POWDER : 1 TSP
BAKING SODA : 1/2 TSP
BROWN SUGAR : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP [I USE LESS, ADJUST YOUR'S]
COCONUT MILK : 200 ML [I USED COCONUT MILK POWDER]
CARDAMOM POWDER : 1 TSP
BANANA : 1 STANDARD SIZED
OIL : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP
VINEGAR : 2 TSP
CHOPPED PISTACHIO : 1 TBSP
PROCEDURE :
I used coconut powder for the milk, mixed an entire sachet to 1/2 coffee mug of warm water & mixed well!
I poured it onto the flour mix and mixed well! Then, I added cardamom powder & half of the chopped pistachios! I had beaten for about 3-4 minutes & kept covered for half an hour. Any batter using rice flour requires a resting period!
After half an hour, I poured the batter onto an aluminium foiled cake tin & tapped lightly on the kitchen counter! I sprinkled the rest of the Pistachios atop!
I preheated my mini oven toaster for 10 minutes @ 180*C, put the cake tin inside & baked for 40 minutes @ 180*C!
The time taken in your oven may slightly differ, be careful & do not blame me! I can guarantee a good taste if you like coconut! Having it warm would get you the best taste! This home has to refrigerate!
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