AAMSOTTO

I WAS WANTING TO SHARE AN EASY RECIPE TODAY!

And that it has to match with the current situation in the family circle; one of the closest someone is on the way to "Anantlok", may be to meet our father who the person adored, just a matter of time! I would divulge the details only when the right moment comes! There is less of pain & agony, terror in such goodbyes that are on time! Yet, the death of your own is never a matter of joy! Memories are not letting me stay in the greatest of mood! If I have a bit of humanity  left in me, what is happening within is the right thing to happen! To remain positive in such a situation, we should do what we enjoy doing! In my case, it is cooking & I am doing that! I am cooking from my blog & updating the earlier recipes! You must do something fruitful to keep yourself sane!  In my case, the thought of not earning a penny kills me! But such thoughts have not sent me to a trauma, you believe it or not, the man never taunted or made a mockery of me within the four walls of our home, neither in front of his friends! Has he had, I perhaps would have been earning by now; lazy bones like me are required to be pushed, motivated, encouraged! Even on this day, I dream of doing something; but sitting at home! I do not know how to but I do not wish to mingle with many, may be I want to do it as and when I wish to, in my style!

YESTERDAY, WE HAD THE SIMPLEST SUNDAY MEAL!

Ever since the son left home, we do not really eat special on Sundays! In fact, I used to go out & get some burgers or sushi or sandwiches or chicken rice for the man! For many months it has stopped, he does not have much of interest, I feel lazy to go out over the weekends, unless we are going together somewhere! But seriously, we enjoy every bit of our stay at home, the son too has gone after us in this matter! For me it is natural, but the man hails from a home where it bustled with visitors almost everyday or they had invitations somewhere! Coming from there, he enjoys sitting in the couch & watching the television! Within a family,  the members should have some areas of interest in common, else it becomes difficult to stay together under one roof! See, how I found happiness cooking a stuffed flatbread yesterday for our lunch or having a humble dinner with "shutki mach, dhyarosh bhaja, dal"! I was supposed to make omelettes but was feeling sleepy & lethargic! They would never argue or demand anything, I do not even know what the son eats, he never wants to discuss!

WHAT IS THIS AAMSOTTO?

You can call it my kind of toffee! The kind of Bengali family I hail from, having "dudh diye aamsotto" / dried ripe mango bar pieces in milk is common! I am not feeling comfortable calling it mango leather! I have never seen my family preparing it at home ever, it was always store bought! A bar would always be stored in the refrigerator for cooking a relish or had in milk throughout the year! There came a time, poor quality of them thronged the market, yet the family did not make it at home but had fixed shops to buy from! Then, after marriage, I tasted one pack the man's friend Mitty Matthew got us from Vizag, how pure & tasty it was! A couple of time Mitty & Anjana got it for us whenever they visited us in Kolkata! In the past 12 years, I did not see these ripe mango paste bars in this island! Only last month, I saw them at the Mustafa Centre! By that time I was determined I would try making it at home & here it is!

We can say, AAMSOTTO is a vegan, gluten-free sweet or dessert snack bar! It is made from cooked ripe mango pulp, then sun-drying it! I cooked in less quantity fearing wastage! How to forget the local trains or stationary stores selling small pieces of aamsotto wrapped in cellophane paper that attracted me more than any other variety of toffee! When we arrived to this island, we found sugar coated dried mango pieces, it became a regular snack for the son until he left home, I got less of them later as they were too sugary! If you use good quality, ripe & sweet mango variety, you can use way less sugar in your aamsotto!

INGREDIENTS :

RIPE MANGO : 3-4 STANDARD SIZED

SUGAR : 2-3 TBSP [USE MORE AS PER YOUR REQUIREMENT]

LEMON JUICE : 2-3 TBSP

PROCEDURE : 

I have watched videos, read recipes of others throughout the internet but did not take note of whose!

May be the lemon juice works as a preservative? I have always considered lemon as a taste & flavour enhancer with the power of enhancing our mood!

All we have to do is buy good quality, very sweet ripe mangoes, wash them well!

Thereafter, we would peel the skin and extract the pulp & discard the seeds!

We will take the pulp & sugar in a heavy bottomed vessel, boil it at low heat for quite sometime, stirring every 3-4 minutes to avoid burning from the bottom! 

As the mixture thickens, we would add the lemon juice and stir further for 3-4 minutes! We will take it down!

We will grease a plate with oil & pour the mixture on it! Thereafter, we will sun dry it for 4-5 days!

Then we are to cut them in desired shapes & have as is or use in sandesh sweet making or in chutneys, Bengali style!

 

YOGURT BANANA COCONUT CAKE

ANOTHER MONDAY ARRIVES; THINGS REMAIN THE SAME FOR ME, MORE OR LESS!

It may not be the same either, there is something called mood swings! More importantly, there is something called the mental happiness of your own! In our case, at this time the son's well being & a smooth completion of his studies, fulfilment of his further aims & wishes are the most important! I say this, keeping the rest of the family members closer to my / our heart! I give big talks & the man literally does the duty! I am too clear & firm about the fact that the son, being a student & young, needs the father's full support! The reason is clear & simple; he has the potential to do good in life & his father has the ability! What I like about our son is that he has an aim, the willingness & sincerity to build a career & he must get there where he wants to without facing much of hurdles! Any mother would want that for the son or daughter, right? At this time, our happiness is aligned with his, mumma wants smooth transitions in his life, the way he wants to shape it!

I WAS UNWILLING TO GO OUT OF THE HOME TODAY!

Hence, I went down for a swim! Walking is the best thing for a patient of high blood sugar! Though I have lessened the sugar intake, quitting it is not possible! Every week I would bake a cake & make a sweet or dessert! I do use less amount of sugar but it is bad altogether, yet too addictive! Cristine made that snow peas & carrot noodles!

Yesterday was a Sunday I went out in the evening after ages! I felt a severe urge to buy few ingredients to cook & change the picture of "Gota Sheddo" again! The curry I cooked last Saturday had the lentils overly boiled! I had some 5km of walk, came back home cooked the curry, then an Okra batter fried crisps & paratha for our dinner! Not a single utensil used I left for Cristine to wash today, I washed them all! And the clock struck 11:15 pm or somewhere around! The son called us & the three of us had some sincere talks! It is always a joy to hear him talking! As I say, we only want him achieve what he wants without any trouble or barrier! Rarely the man asks for anything! Yesterday, he asked me to get a tub of Vanilla ice-cream & Strawberry! We did not have it yesterday though! Surprisingly enough, these days I enjoy strawberry as a fruit, but only six of them costs 5:45$; a kilogram of super sweet litchi costs 5$ but! I am not comparing between the two, just love sweet litchis, a lot of memories are attached to litchis & mangoes! So you know tastebuds keep changing, who knew I would like having Strawberries one day!

WHAT IS THIS YOGURT BANANA COCONUT CAKE?

I actually had a little of desiccated coconut flour to finish off! Also had a banana left to be used! That is when the idea of baking a cake with them popped up! Initially, I wished to bake a vegan &  gluten-free cake! But I do not store almond milk or soy milk at home, neither I had 3-4 bananas! I forgot we can use coconut cream instead of the yogurt! I like yogurt cakes actually! What I did was used half & half oatmeal & desiccated coconut, a banana, yogurt, jaggery, some walnuts for the cake! When the batter for this vegetarian bake; YOGURT BANANA CAKE was made, I felt I must use a bit of refined flour for the binding, else it would get crumbly! I believe rice flour too would have met the purpose! 

I wish I could parcel for the son, meeting him every six months seems to be a necessity for maintaining my mental health; the absence of him around is causing a lot of irritation in me! A student has to go through this life to learn to be independent, yet the parents' hearts yearn to give him / her the home like comfort & warmth at all times!

INGREDIENTS :

OATMEAL : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

DESICCATED COCONUT : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

REFINED FLOUR : 2 TBSP

BANANA : 1 STANDARD SIZE

BAKING POWDER : 1 TSP

BAKING SODA : 1/4 TSP

PLAIN YOGURT : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP

OIL : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP

JAGGERY POWDER : 4-5 TBSP

SUGAR : 1 TBSP

CINNAMON POWDER : 1 TBSP

CHOPPED WALNUT : 2-3 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

I powdered the oatmeal and took it in a bowl along with the baking powder & soda, desiccated coconut! We are to mix all of the ingredients well! Use a hand beater! You will add the refined flour at this stage, I forgot & added it later!

We are to blend together the wet ingredients; banana, plain yogurt, oil along with the sugar & jaggery!

We will add it to the flour mix, beat well! We will add some broken walnuts & the cinnamon powder; beat well! Because I forgot to add the refined flour earlier, I added it at this stage!

We are to grease a cake tin with oil & pour in it the cake batter! We would tap lightly on the kitchen top & arrange few broken walnuts atop!

I preheated my mini toaster oven for 15 minutes & then placed the cake tin atop the tray! I baked it at 180*C for 30 minutes & it was done!

HASHER DIMER KOSHA

FOR LONG I AM GARNERING THIS WISH!

That is of having Bengali style duck egg recipes in the blog! Actually, Bengali regular egg curry recipe would be two, a little runny curry with potatoes and a thick gravy! The rest are all innovations! What I have seen in the family when young is that egg curries essentially meant duck egg curry! Chicken or it's eggs had no entry in our homes until we relocated to Kolkata! In fact, egg was not at all popular in our family, may be once every fifteen days we would have a duck egg curry, I never had a whole duck egg until I entered the in-laws' place! I believe, our parents need not be that restrictive as they had been! Not lavish I expected them to be; as I grew older, I felt they lacked the aesthetic sense, the urge to raise the standard of living! On the other hand, the man's family had the wish but they lacked the ability! If you have the aspiration, your future generation would try to go way ahead in life! We do not live much in luxury may be because our backgrounds are too simple & that we cannot get out of our middle-class mentality! Also, we firmly believe a good savings keep us safe until our end! There is no requirement to show off in our lives, neither this is a woman who has a social life where she has to exhibit a rosy picture; I mean the worth of her furnitures, glitz & glamour! I am thousands of miles away from such a life! Food engulfs me, look at my lunch today!

YESTERDAY TOO I COOKED THIS & THAT!

It's been long I do not go out to get some food for the man on Sundays, neither he aspires to have! He does have outside food now and then at the office lunches! In my case, it is lethargy & then the thought we are thousand miles apart from the son numbs me, we do not feel like going out for expensive dine outs! When we visited, the son was choosing those eat outs where he might not eat at as a student but wish to! That hurts mumma, true that one day he would treat us at a way more expensive eat out! We do not require it but he has to reach there & mumma-babai wants to stay alive until then! Like today our new sofa set arrived an hour back & something keeps pricking me, when would the son have his full fledged flat? If I do not have such a feeling, I am not a parent! Mumma wants to talk a lot with him, wish he too felt it! If you have a workless life you are bound to eat more! My weight is on rise again I think! I cannot rob myself of this pleasure! Look how beautiful the building looks but that fear of working in a computer, lack of confidence & smartness do not allow me to apply for a job in the hundreds of international schools here! Also my age is a factor!

At least, the food home delivery business had to go but it is just not working! I am not the kind to deal with people I guess! I thought I would earn a bit sitting at home without much of interaction! Anyway, yesterday we had our lunch with "laal shaak, anarosh ilish, pepe-aloo-chingri!" In the evening, we had some 'jhal muri' with our coffee! I was lethargic enough not to chop the onions well! But for dinner, I cooked that noodles with lots of love using potato, onion, chilli, egg, spring onion, vinegar, salt, sesame oil!

In our Kolkata Home, I do not cook much of "ruti-porota-luchi" or noodles for myself, hence I do not put on much! I remain watchful there though end up eating a lot of sweets! Here, in this island, there is food in offer every hundred metres, it is hard to resist for my kinds! There you see our Kolkata home is guarded by all these Gods & Goddesses! They get some food, air, light, cleaning only when our mother visits! She was there last week! The in-laws hardly remain that flexible though they live within 3km! The young group do not wish to stay! When to go next depends on the son's graduation! He has to go & stay for sometime, meet everyone before taking the next leap!

Each day is passing by without me doing anything fruitful! But we watched two good series yesterday on Hoichoi; Rajneeti & Noshtoneer; both good! I am yet to finish the Khaled Husseini novel! Life is simple for me, simpler should be people's approach towards me! I am fond of Partha Dey's mother because she does not understand politics, has no airs or a voice! I am too tired & nuts enough to understand anyone's intent, mood, etc. If I have approached someone with the sole intent of care & the person has hurt me; I would never ever walk the same direction, I love myself enough & do not like complex people with airs!

WHAT IS THIS HASHER DIMER KOSHA?

Hasher Dim is duck egg and Kosha is a semi dry curry! HASHER DIMER KOSHA is a non vegetarian, gluten-free Bengali curry recipe with duck eggs, lots of onion, garlic, ginger, chillies; use of tomato is optional! It is Bengali regular food! I cooked this curry last month in our Kolkata Home, I used to enjoy duck egg curry and like it more now! This island does not sell fresh duck eggs, they sell salted duck eggs that are cooked! Some 13 years back, when I was new here, I mistakenly got those salted duck eggs, was shocked! Now, I have it once in a while at the Food courts! I would not get home salted eggs to cook! Whenever I visit Kolkata, I would cook a fresh duck egg curry once or twice; with or without potatoes! I did not miss having it even in the present heat! If the eggs are fresh, it is better to have than the stale fish in summers! I could not have good quality fish last month in Kolkata! What was disgusting is that an irregular buyer like me is cheated, that dishonesty I hate! In this island, I have learnt to savour egg curries at least once a week or in a fortnight because I detest sea fish varieties! Here they say, duck eggs stopped coming may be after the Vietnam War, it used to come from there! The scarce supply raised the prices! Also, the authorities fear open farming of duck eggs may cause them Avian Flu! Even in Kolkata, the price is getting higher, each duck egg selling for 12 rupees! There too you would get them only in the bigger markets! In our Kolkata Home, it is difficult to click decent for the blog, I could manage only these!

INGREDIENTS :

FRESH DUCK EGG : 4-6

TOMATO PASTE : 3-4 TBSP

ONION PASTE : 4-5 TBSP

GARLIC PASTE : 1 TBSP

GINGER PASTE : 2 TSP

SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 1-2

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1/2 TSP

GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/4 TSP

CINNAMON POWDER : 1/4 TSP

CLOVE POWDER : A PINCH

CUMIN SEED : A PINCH OR TWO

BAYLEAF : 1

SALT : AS REQUIRED

SUGAR : 1/2 TSP [OPTIONAL]

OIL : 4 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Take enough water in a deep bottomed vessel and gently place the washed duck eggs at regular temperature! Put them for boil & add some salt, this helps the shell to come out easily later!

Boil them at low heat for 10-12 minutes, switch off the gas burner & let cool! Take off the shell once cool! Wash again!

Prepare a paste with the ginger & garlic pastes, some turmeric & salt, cumin+coriander+red chilli powders, 2-3 tbsp of water!

Make slits on their body, marinate the boiled eggs with a little of salt & turmeric!

Heat the oil & fry the marinated boiled eggs lightly! Take them out! 

Temper the oil with the cumin seeds & the bayleaf! Add the onion paste & stir fry at low heat for 1-2 minutes! 

Add the tomato & spice paste & stir fry at low heat for 2-3 minutes! Add 1 coffee mug of water, stir & bring to boil!

Add the fried eggs to the boiling gravy, stir & cook at minimal heat until the gravy quite thickens! 

Add the washed & slitted green chillies, the cinnamon+green cardamom+clove powder, sugar, stir! Adjust the salt if required! Let cook for a minute, take down!

Enjoy with rice or chapati! I also cooked red lentils curry & raw banana kofta curry on that day!

JOL BHORA TALSHASH

I AM LETHARGIC IS TRUE; THAT I DO NOT WISH TO ALLOW IT CONTROL MY LIFE IS ALSO TRUE!

All of the morning I kept thinking whether to go for a walk early, come back & have home cooked food, then sit to write a blogpost or should I write the major part, then go out have food, do my walk & come back! If you take some 15-20 minutes rest after a meal & walk, your food get digested well! That I read somewhere, I can try that because I do not run, neither walk fast! Yesterday, I got severe wind! That I do not drink enough water is the main culprit! I was perfect whilst at home, but we were to go out to furniture warehouses! I sit all day at a particular spot and manage to break that portion of the couch! Once in the car, I was browsing the locations; that was the spoiler! I immediately got severe headache, wind! Once I reached the destination, the man was looking at the furnitures, I had to sit quite! Yet I needed to use the loo! They were surprisingly dirty & dilapidated, unbelievable that such exist in this island! I was wondering how can such big showrooms have these dirty toilets for their employees! You know what, each one of us need to have clean habits! There was no water, nothing! Back home after a shower I had to lock myself in the room! Since I did not have to cook even the rice, I served both of us some heated food & was lying quiet! At night, I could manage some luchi, it was my call, the man never demands! He had his with the mutton keema curry & I had mine with cabbage! I had no issue! I am still a bit weak but I must go out for a walk & eat something healthy! Our plan to eat our lunch outside was jeopardised!

I did not change the used oil, hence that yellow colour! Also, if your luchi dough have more of water than is required, the surface would be uneven! Tam took me to the loo & guarded, the father used to do the same on tours! 

WHY AM I LIKE THIS IN A WORLD THAT IS SMART & FAST MOVING?

I blame our mother & the man too! Our parents did not encourage me to go for proper jobs which one can call a career; neither the man helped me build one! I got to be lazier, overly sensitive! Our mother tended to get a doll as her daughter-in-law who would be a better homemaker than her! I hated that mentality, I asked them not to look for wealth or looks too much, to get home an educated girl, thats important! A family that educates the daughter amidst all odds is a new age family! Anyone believes it or not, I feel too awkward unable to apply for a job in a place that has hundreds of schools! That is only for the fear of working in a machine! If the son has not followed Mumma's footsteps, he has done the right thing! I want him to shine & brighter! Mumma wants phone calls, adulation, yearly meet, video calls; that he refuses! I get angry & then go into depression! My cooking spree need not die off, what would I live with? BTW, I think neither sattu nor corn meal suit us! I made these sattu paratha last Friday for dinner!

They were tasty but we are fine with refined flour & whole wheat flour! I have seen millets too cause me stomach upset, quinoa increases my weight! That corn meal cake I thought of blogging about but it is not tasting good at all, I deleted all of the pictures leaving this one wanting to share the experience with my readers!

Let us eat normal food what we have grown up eating instead of experimenting too much! Weight gain & loss mainly depends upon the amount & type of food intake sans any exercise! Dal, fritters, a choice of vegetable makes me happy! A light fish or mutton or chicken curry are a requirement too!

WHAT IS THIS JOL BHORA TALSHASH?

It is a winter speciality sweet in West Bengal! It uses Date Palm Jaggery that only Bengal produces & consumes! I wonder why the date cultivating countries do not make date palm jaggery? It may be because only the Bengalis have it? This particular jaggery is made from the sap of the date trees! Early morning, drinking that juice had been our winter ritual! Urbanisation has robbed us of such traditions but the world has to move forward, urbanisation is inevitable! You can get a number of videos circulating about the making of date palm jaggery, I have watched the making of it within the family! Thereafter, this particular kind of jaggery is used in the making of the sweets of Bengal or eaten as is with roti-prata throughout the winter! One such gluten-free, vegetarian sweet is this JOL BHORA TALSHASH! The drier sweets in Bengal are usually made with paneer, sugar or this variety of jaggery in the winters! The rest of the enhancements are in your hands! At this time, that red hibiscus plant that grew from a branch I picked up from the roadside is making me happy too besides the authentic Bengali sweet!

I do not have an issue if I look like this after a 6.8 km of walk, but my greying eyebrows & eyelashes cause me discomfort! I feel, had I been doing something fruitful, this would not have bothered me! However, I like well kept selves!

I had an uttapam, would get that in a public post, also the ripe jackfruit pieces I got for myself! Once I finish this post, I would have a good shower, offer the jackfruits to my God Family & enjoy some before the dinner!

INGREDIENTS :

FRESH FULL CREAM MILK : 2 LITRES [I USED MEIJI FRESH MILK]

DATE PALM JAGGERY : 100-150 GM

SUGAR : 2 TSP

VINEGAR : 2-3 TBSP

WATER : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP

ICE CUBE : 3-4

RICE FLOUR : 2 TBSP

RAISIN : 2 FOR EACH SWEET

PROCEDURE :

We would take the fresh milk in a heavy bottomed utensil & put for boil! I keep the heat at minimal! Meanwhile, we would add the vinegar to the water & stir! 

Once the milk has boiled for some 5 minutes, we would gradually pour the vinegar & water mix to it & stir! Once the milk starts curdling, we would switch off the burner & add to it the ice-cubes! Ice Cubes restrict it from cooking further!

We would pass it through a clean, thin piece of cheese cloth that we would place on a strainer! We would wash it with water & tie the cloth for 1/2 an hour for the whey to drain off! Thereafter, we are to take the fresh paneer on a plate or bowl!

We would add a little of water to the date palm jaggery & melt it in the microwave!

We would knead well the chana / freshly made paneer adding the sugar!

In a wok, we would add the paneer & date palm jaggery & keep stirring at minimal heat for 10-12 minutes! 

Thereafter, we would add the rice flour & continuously stir until the sides leave the pan!

We would transfer it to a bowl & knead once a bit cool! We would grease the pair of mould with a bit of ghee & our palms too!

We would make a little amount of paste with some date palm jaggery & water!

We would use portions of the cooked paneer in one mould and press; make a hole in the middle & add a little of the jaggery in it! 

Again, we would take some portion in another mould and press lightly, join both and take out from the mould gently!

Once done, we would place 2 raisins in each this way as they do it in the sweet shops in Kolkata! I must admit Cristine shapes well than I do! I got the exact taste as in the best sweet shops in Kolkata if not the finish!

Eat them fresh or feel free to refrigerate & have them the next day or within 2-3 days, not beyond that!