SPRING ONION PRATA

 ONE MORE DAY ADDED TO LIFE & THIS MUMMA SITS IDLE!

And the breadwinner does not bother about my mental health, he left home early today at 7:30 am without any lunch box; he does not have breakfasts! No there was no fight, he has meeting & official eating! On such days you get to see him happier and I get more of irritation! The irritation is about him not helping me to become, not earn a little something! Do not blame me if I call him an MC! I am telling you our mother still have this frustration! Although we have been good homemakers, we have this irritation in the back of our minds! J back from office thorough cleans her home & goes to bed post 12 am, we would have been something like that because cleanliness is the way of life! Ever since the son left home for good, the feeling is stronger that I need some serious engagement that may generate some financial gain too! When the MC asks me to go & serve the society for free, I ask him to shut up! I would do charity at that level with my own earnings!  It's peculiar he would not directly do charity but would always ask me to! Not at any point I think he has that amount of wealth to distribute, neither I have any intent to join those women who bask in the man's glory; wake up, wear make up, expensive saris, go to this club & that club; do charity using the husband's hard earned money, then attend kitty parties in the afternoon! I do not belong there, I am not built to play "ku jhik jhik" with other women and indulge in endless talks! I however enjoy watching their activities! My kind of socialising is calling friends home at intervals, cooking & feeding them with all of my possible warmth! It does not happen much these days, the kids went their ways, it hurts me! I wish my food blog could reach that height that would generate some finance! I have another passion besides cooking; that is teaching! Every year, when I visit Kolkata; I feel had I been in Kolkata, I would have been teaching in a school & forced myself to have a workable knowledge about the fearful information technology! But that is not enough reason to go back, I enjoy living abroad! This island has given us an extreme level of safety & security but I believe if we had been living in a bigger country, I would be working! This island's rules for the foreigners are stricter! Then, I have a thing; because I have no professional degree, I would prefer working in a school but not just do any job! 

WITH NOTHING MUCH TO DO, I WOULD HEAD TO HOUGANG FOR THIS & THAT!

Hence, I have started to write the blogpost in the day time! I may start from home around 3-3:30pm, so I can have my lunch there at Hougang around 4:30pm! Then come back home after the necessary buys catching a train! But what to eat? Many things I have lost appetite for; rice items I may want but avoiding more than once, same with roti! Noodles? Let us see, they claim certain dishes as low caloric! What is wrong with me I do not know, I like Indian street style noodles with only a bit of soy sauce added! My tastebud got limited, I enjoy home cooked food! If I am going out, I prefer eating out! I thought let me  write the major part & then finish it off in the evening! I am thinking whilst coming back I should walk back until Kovan & then catch a train or what! Hougang from here makes 5km & that is not enough for me at this time! You see, these days I prefer a "chirer polao or upma, semolina upma or non ta suji, idli, sabudana or dalia hotchpotch" for my lunches, but I do not stay at home in the day time! Cristine handles my home! This is the high time, I did something fruitful that generates money! I wish I could travel to the son and cook such simple, homely food for him, also for his flat mate & the entire friends gang! Mumma just wants to give him some comfort, so he does not need to do anything except for studying & going for classes! I wish to explore that city elaborately! It is not congenial to visit the food markets there for longer period with the man, he just does not understand how a kitchen is run! There I wish to walk a lot and find new markets, not of clothes obviously! But for a visitor like me, it is a challenge there in that country where people drive on their own, where public transport system is not that good! But I wish to find out how to shop like in Kolkata or this island in that country where roads are quiet in the daytime too! Yet, I wish to live there for few years if only the man tried to relocate!

WHAT IS THIS SPRING ONION PRATA?

Let us leave the discussion about what could have possibly happen if we relocated; both of us hardly conclude any discussion; we just do not agree at a point! Let me better show you what goes on inside my kitchen! That is my job for the past few years & I thoroughly enjoy the exercise! Here in this island, scallion or SPRING ONION PRATA is quite popular! I have eaten a few times, priced at 1:50-2$, they obviously would not have enough amount of spring onion! I have seriously not checked any of the recipes; perhaps they use eggs in the dough or batter! Batter because they call it pancake too at times! I really do not know if they prepare it from a batter or dough, I just find their's a bit less salty! Hence, I wished to cook this vegetarian, vegan flatbread, an easy one just our way! Later I felt, if I added some onion & spices, it would have been tastier! But I did not wish too much of modification, also we should keep rooms for more of recipe creations, right? 

Let me take a break at this point, take shower, do the afternoon prayer & head for Hougang; have food, do the necessary buys & head back home; take shower, do the evening prayer and complete the blogpost! And that's mumma, she may not look like a college goer son's mother but she tactfully hides her wrinkles! In fact, yet with a wrinkled forehead sony boy's mumma looks younger than her age!

No, those are not dirt on my eyebrows, the dead skin post the eye embroidery is peeling off! I am neither that level of lazy or dirty that I would not keep myself clean! I cannot be as active as our mother, but I am moderate, try to follow healthy habits! I walked a total of 7.1km today, what I ate & what I did should be shared on Saturday in public! We have left the Hougang area in 2016, I keep going regular, mostly for the girls at Kushi's & other shops!

INGREDIENTS :

REFINED FLOUR : 1 COFFEE MUG

WHEAT FLOUR : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

CHOPPED SPRING ONION : A MEDIUM SIZED BOWLFUL

CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1 TSP

SALT : 1/2 TSP

OIL : 2TSP PER PARATHA + 2 TBSP

PROCEDURE : 

We would take both the flour varieties & the salt in a bowl & mix well! We would discard the two ends of the spring onion stalks, chop, wash & add them to the flour mix bowl! Cristine did this for me! Add some chopped green chillies too, I forgot!

We would add 2tbsp of oil to the mix and rub well! We would add little water and prepare a smooth dough kneading it well! Remember, the spring onions would release water, be careful! Keep the dough covered for 15-20 minutes!

We would remove the cover, knead the dough again for about 2-3 minutes, tear off portions to make flatbread with each of them!

We would dust the base & each dough ball well & roll! I did not give any extra effort to make them perfect round, I was cool, a bit unhappy hence!

We would heat a pan / griddle, add each prata, roast well both sides, add 2tsp oil in each case, fry both sides well & we should be done!

Ain't that too easy? I had it with pickle & roasted chillies; the rest had it with chicken curry & pickle! 

FRESH CORIANDER APPE

 AFTER A MONTH LONG LEAVE FROM BLOGGING, I AM THINKING WHERE TO START FROM!

Well, after a well spent vacation in Kolkata, India; I am back to my present home & happy about it! The Filipino takes good care of my home, does truly good Bengali cooking! Her sir would not mind if she feeds him dishes from other cuisines, yet she cooks Bengali including luchi-porota! Even after this, given our age; we should not stay without each other for long! Our only son is sitting in another country, discussing about him sitting together on the couch is therapeutic, same is watching a movie or series together! May be I can say this because our mother is in safe hands, the brother & B lets her be! T's parents too sit together all day & J, their daughter & her spouse take good care of them too! After three weeks of stay, in the last lap I feel I need to go back! Earlier, I used to travel to Kolkata with the son & stayed for three weeks! These days, I have expanded the holidays there! It is good to be with the family & friends but a fear factor works because the son & the man are in two different cities! T had stomach ailment for the past few days; having rice & yogurt or rice & boiled potato! He thinks I landed & force fed him & hence! What he does not consider are the long gaps between his meals, his beer & whisky intakes every day & smoking every 10-15 minutes! He is underweight, he need not do intermittent fasting! He drives to office & back, no exercise exists in his life, whilst I can go out again with him post dinner! Only shunning food does not help! He has to follow healthy habits! Then there is our weird son, he does not share a bit of information with us! He believes or not, Mumma is worried about his health & security! He is not making use of his kitchen, this amount of outside food cannot be good for him! Some of my friends in Kolkata went to live with their sons who cannot manage alone a hostel life! Our boy made no distress call; not alone three weeks, mumma wants to stay more time but together with him & set well his abode! In such a mental state, at least I and T should stay together!

I AM BACK TO MY NORMAL ROUTINE!

In Kolkata too I walked to places because walking is my medicine, a part of my treatment! Today, I was at Vincent's chamber & that leaves me at peace! Not only him, the sisters there are comforting too! His mother takes off on Thursdays! Yes, I had an ardent wish that our son become a doctor but we had given him the full freedom to choose his subjects & career! Okay, T interfered a bit but that was good for the son! I felt happy at the doctor's chamber knowing my weight went down by two kilograms! The blood sugar level went up, I had sweets every day there, even an eighteen hours of intermittent fasting there too could not save me! I am unable to stop having sweets, I know I must lessen the frequency of intake, if not stop totally! I do not know if my weight would spike again, I eat out my weekday lunches!

We have these Malaysian-Indian 24 hours joints islandwide, in our locality there are at least 3-4! But this one is the biggest, newly renovated! Look at the size of the paper dosa, thank God I did not order a stuffed one, that is TehC using evaporated creamer instead of condensed milk & sugar! I enjoyed the meal but it was heavy for me; got acidity & having chilled sugar & milk free tea & water! I walked about 8.4 km today, cannot have more than one spicy tofu stuffed porota / stuffed flat bread I am to cook at night! I wish to reach 54kg of weight & lock in there, I just cannot go to gym, only enjoy walking & swimming!

Life here is good! New here in 2010, I did not want the son to go for the NS, I wanted to put him in a choice of local school which was not possible! T and I believe, a child's future cannot be decided as early as in 5th-6th standard! The yesteryears' "britti porikkha" in West Bengal & PSLE here are same! We have seen kids blooming as late as in the University level, we have to allow them to choose their subjects & career!

Now that I sit idle, I wish I could go back to teaching! Not only because I am a DP holder, I lack confidence too! I was enjoying the food home delivery thing, but I have met the weirdest of Indians, precisely Bengalis in the process! I do not have the time & patience to have fruitless talks with strangers without them getting me money / business! Better is to go & give my best to the kids; off course in return of a decent honorarium! I see no light, I have the capability, no confidence; then there have the island rules & my allergy towards computing! That does not mean one would spread false fear around! The world needs to go ahead, my lagging behind is my problem!

After a shower, I feel too good & clean! People should shower regular, even when there is a snowfall! I told my son, he knows what he does! I only saw he keeps his home clean!

WHAT IS THIS FRESH CORIANDER APPE?

This was not planned! I am telling you it was not! Last March, I was trying to prepare a Coriander Chutney / Dhonepata Bata we are too fond of having with rice & roti! In our kind of families, they use "shil-nora" for the purpose, any paste our mother still does in it! I take help of a mixer-grinder! I willingly did not get "boti" & "shil-nora" from Kolkata, I am unable to use them! It happened on that day, I mistakenly added more water than required! What came to my mind immediately was adding to it some rice-flour & semolina and cook some healthy snacks, as good as these vegan, vegetarian FRESH CORIANDER APPE! 

I consider my appe pan a blessing! Staying abroad & in an island where people from various cultures stay together, I learnt about different cultures & food! Let us do the healthy snack without talking further! How healthy is semolina, rice flour, etc. ? They are good if taken in moderation! We cannot go back to eating raw fruits & vegetables!

INGREDIENTS :

SEMOLINA : 1/2  COFFEE MUG

RICE FLOUR : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

FRESH CORIANDER : 200-250 GM

GREEN CHILLI : 2-3

FRUIT SALT : 2 TSP  [I USE ENO PLAIN]

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL OR GHEE :  1/2 TSP FOR EACH ONE

PROCEDURE :

We would take the two variety  of flours & salt in a bowl & mix together!

We would wash the green chillies & the coriander sprigs! We would discard the root end of the coriander sprigs & paste both together, adding a little of water!

We would add the green paste to the flours & some water, little at a time! Beat well to prepare a smooth batter, neither thick nor too runny!

We would keep it covered for 35-40 minutes, thereafter add the fruit salt, beat well & keep standing for 5-6 minutes!

Heat a clean appe pan on the gas top, add little of oil in each hole, let the oil get hot but not to the smoking point!

Use a round spoon to fill each with the batter, lower than the top, they would fluff up!

Keep the heat between minimal & low, each would take some 6-7 minutes to cook or you just check your own! They are supposed to brown on both sides once done!

I need a variety of sauces to compliment, do not forget your tea / coffee!