MY STYLE GREEN CHICKEN CURRY

I FORGOT HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE TOLD MY READERS ABOUT MY FIGHT TO STOP HATING CHICKEN!

I can only say it was a miraculous come back starting to eat chicken again with a pleasant mind. Chicken came regular, for few years I was unable to have the chicken curry I was cooking. I had been always a mutton lover, also enjoyed the Sunday's chicken curry whilst watching Sherlock Holmes and few others. Doordarshan had given us good watches one after another. Why does time pass this fast I do not know. But I had been a dilli-dallied self in a fast paced world, I relished life I think! I have eaten the food I enjoyed, I have read the books I wanted. Everyone would have something unread, unversed that he or she might have wanted to cover in a lifetime but couldn't. I think we need not bother about that part much, one lifetime is too short to get to do all that we want. At times, I do want to re-watch my favourite serials from the Doordarshan era. Not only we watched the serials but also the documentaries like Bharat ek Khoj I liked, I was fond of Jonny Soko and his flying Robot, WWF. Watching Knight Riders and Remington Steel, I learnt about a rich country named America, not from the history books. Watching Jaws, I learnt about Hollywood. I started losing interest in the tele serials in the early noughties. They did not remain as good as what we watched in the 80's-90's. After watching Tamas you would not want to watch petty stuffs. Yes, I remember my chicken leg piece and some of them well. I forgot about most of them, when social media does a mention of them, I get nostalgic. What else to do sitting idle at home?

ON A BENGALI NEW YEAR'S DAY WE ATE HOME COOKED FOOD!

In fact, for a couple of years things are like this, we spend a special day as any other normal day, just that the man enjoys an extra holiday and I enjoy cooking and off course his company. You can blame it on me, I cannot mingle. I also do not get why people's lives are guided by the social media. The spontaneity of a relationship is lost and I got to be more like a snail. I get to hear the son too is kind of reclusive. Mumma wants him to have a warm & active friends circle without hampering each-other's academics. I made a late start today and want  to wrap up quickly. I was baking dates cup cakes to update an older blogpost, may be tomorrow. Yesterday, we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch with Hilsa fish curry, Dried Bombay Duck fish and Vegetables Medley, Raw Mango-Red Lentil Curry. I forgot to click. Because it was our New Year, I asked the fish vendor brother for big cuts of the fish and I got wind, it is not always about misery. In the evening, we were planning to order pizza. Then I changed the plan and cooked our favourite noodles with potato, onion, green chilli, scrambled eggs, vinegar, salt, black pepper. 

Even my sophisticated man loves this version of noodles. Below was my today's first meal. Making of that Bajra Roti / Pearl Millet is pretty tough. If I mix it with wholewheat flour, we still enjoy. But a gluten-free version with the millet alone is a strictly no for the rest at home. 

I too did not find all of that work worthy enough, with a dysfunctional thyroid gland, it is not okay to have millets. I am making my kitchen devoid of excesses. Henceforth, I would stock only Barnyard Millet among the millet varieties, only few varieties of lentils and beans Bengalis were known to eat decades back. Those who eat fish and meat, they need not eat that much of Bean protein. Instead vegetables are better to have.

WHAT IS MY STYLE GREEN CHICKEN CURRY?

I cooked this last November but the clicks done at the night time were not making me happy. I again cooked it last December, 21st day time and clicked. Either the son arrived on that day or the next day to spend few days with us. I think of those few days and miss him more. That is because he doesn't talk to us often and I do not work that I can make up that void. I have tried several times to make my men feel this but in vein. So I cook this and that. 

The entire morning was spent on this. I had to swim less, my God Family was hungry. I had to write a blogpost, the mind was looking for a thriller to watch. In the morning only I chose to blog about an easy recipe without needing to sort the stepwise pictures. I am not a machine and all day, at all times I would not be in the same mood. I found this non-vegetarian, gluten-free meat curry, MY STYLE GREEN CHICKEN CURRY as a perfect share for the day. To be on the safer side, I would tag it my style because I do not store kaffir lime leaves or candle nuts at home. Our marts do stock "Tom Yum" or "Thai Green / Yellow / Red Curry"spice packets, I feel lethargic needing to be this organised before cooking a dish. I cooked this recipe with whatever was available in my kitchen, that gets the best out of me.

Few other similar blogposts can be the following; DHONEPATA BATA TYANGRA MACH, BEET GAJOR ALOO DIYE MUTTON, GURO MOSHOLAI MUSHROOM BROCCOLI

 INGREDIENTS : 

CHICKEN : 1 KG [MEDIUM CUT]

BABY CORN : 7-8

GREEN CHILLI : 6-7

FRESH CORIANDER : A HANDFUL

FRESH MINT : 8-10 LEAVES

SKINLESS ROASTED PEANUT : 1 TSP

LEMON GRASS : 2 STALKS

GARLIC PASTE : 2 TBSP

ONION PASTE : 2 TBSP

GINGER PASTE : 2 TSP

LEMON LEAF : 2

LEMON JUICE : 3-4 TBSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 2-3 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Wash well the chicken under the running water, drain the water. Marinate it with salt, the lemon juice, half of the ginger+garlic+onion pastes. Keep aside for an hour.

Prepare a paste with roasted peanuts, washed and chopped coriander & mint leaves and green chillies. Discard the stem end of the baby corns, cut half and wash.

Discard the outer layer of the lemon grass & wash, cut into pieces the softer, young portion and crush a bit.

Heat the oil in a wok, add the crushed lemon grass. Give a stir and add the rest of the onion+ginger+garlic pastes+salt. Stir fry at low heat for 2-3 minutes, add the marinated chicken and keep stir frying at medium heat for 8-10 minutes. Reduce the heat to the minimal and cover.

Keep checking the wok every 7-8 minutes, give a stir. After some half an hour, remove the cover and add the baby corn pieces and the green paste. Fold in well. Add 1 & 1/2 coffee mugs of warm water.

Cover cook at minimal heat for 12-15 minutes. Remove the cover, add the lemon leaves, stir cook for 2-3 minutes. We should be done.

                                                                                                         

EASY MADE FRAGRANT SWEET

WHY DO THE VARIOUS OCCASIONS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD COINCIDE WITH EACH OTHER THESE DAYS?

I keep wondering about it. May be it had been always like this and I wasn't bothered about other's celebrations or mournings when we were staying in Kolkata? It can be that once I entered the Blogging world I took upon myself the ardent task of uniting the people from different walks of life or say different communities. I consider it a holy duty to serve food on the maximum of my reader's plate. Actually the Indian Bengalis, specially those from West Bengal would celebrate each other's occasions. Bengali Hindus would go out to have "biryani, rezala, rumali roti, firni" on the occasion of Eid celebrations before anyone else would. When the son was this little, we had Turkey meat at a restaurant in Park Street around the Xmas time. May be the ritual was already there since way before but I hail from a family where Xmas meant "Borodin" which had to have fruit & nut cake in the breakfast, thereafter may be "pulao" & "mutton" or "doi mach" for the meals instead of the regular fish or chicken & vegetable dishes. Our father never took us to dine in a restaurant. He had been staying in Kolkata since the early 60's and did visit those restaurants in his student life, never did acquaint us with those. He wasn't selfish, after getting into a family life, he did not leave us and go, enjoy there; he chose a simple life for the family. He did go for outings with the friends and also with the family along with his friends'. I have gone to the best of places with the man, yet could not ever ditch what the parents taught us, simplicity. Showing off irritates me, I feel shy to exhibit in front of those who may not be that fortunate. I keep telling the son about what I want from him; that he has to achieve a lot in his life but he need not be a show off. I do not believe in living a life below one's capability, I do not believe in exhibiting one's wealth.

YESTERDAY WAS ANOTHER SUNDAY AND I DID NOT DO MUCH OF EXTRA COOKING.

It is over a week I am not cooking that much. I am not in a hurry to update the earlier blogposts. This month and next we are busy with something else, a travel is on the cards. If yesterday's lunch was with a fish curry and vegetables I cooked last Saturday, the dinner was with Bhature, we had to finish the stale rajma curry. My Bhature breads are soft and tasty, I am not really fond with their looks.

I have a picture of Bhaturas done few years back, spotless just like "naan poori" of Kolkata. May be I have forgotten to cook that just like I am failing to make "murir moya". I must re-learn them on my visits to Kolkata. I enjoyed yesterday's lunch plate too. I did not expect to like the fish curry because back in Kolkata we do not buy "Bacha" fish much, we buy more it's look alike "Pabda" fish. Here, at the Rajdhani Enterprise, "Bacha" fish is always available fresh, cleaning them is easy. The addition of the sliced onion in the curry really enhanced the taste, the mother cooks this fish this way. I forgot to click my fish plate, I dislike the frozen fish varieties, only the frozen "kechki" and "hilsa" varieties suits us. If the Bengal Carp varieties had been like those in Kolkata, life could have been better. My non-Bengali speaking readers may not understand this issue; how we want a proper fish curry on our plates regular and that I cannot stand the smell of the sea-fish varieties.

WHAT IS THIS EASY MADE FRAGRANT SWEET?

What I share on a special occasion is important to me. We may not celebrate Eid but my friends would, a large section of the man's colleagues would. I wish I could cook chicken tehari or biryani on the day for one of my favourite daughters who happens to be a muslim. These days we hardly meet, you know once these young people starts earning, they want to explore the food and go to places, aunty's home cooked food no more interests them. They would again come back to home cooked food in their mid-forties or may not like my brother and his spouse. The duo's food choice is scary. I have changed a lot; give me three luchis, two roshogollas or pantuas, fresh coriander chutney; I would be happier. I have left behind that Bengali mentality of Kolkata and West Bengal where people whisper at your back if you do not treat them with large prawns and mutton once invited. We have to walk out of our homes and mingle to broaden our horizons. This vegetarian sweet meat, EASY MADE FRAGRANT SWEET, is the outcome of a series of failures of mine. My initial plan was to prepare a "khaja" sweet with dates sans any amount of sugar or jaggery. But I failed to get them crisp, also their look wasn't good. I had put the fried stuffs in a blender, made a coarse mixture, added the sticky date palm jaggery and thus the sweet came into being. I must say I rolled out fab round shaped uncooked parathas from the dough. Then a poor planning marred all of the possibilities. Also the dates filled with pistachios were gifted by the Neogy family of Abudhabi. I stock pistachio, walnuts, almonds at home in smaller quantities besides the cashew nuts and raisins, we do not enjoy or can digest a lot of dry fruits, we are not used to using them in food regular. I wished to share a chicken recipe, then this week we also have a prayer ritual where we would be fasting for our kids and family, no non-vegetarian share I can make. I have deleted almost 10 to 12 photographs, else I could have shown you my journey to failure, from there getting to an insanely tasty something. Anyway, below was my first meal sometime back.

Few other similar recipes from my Blog can be these; SUGAR FREE OATS SNACKER , SUJI AND MIXED SPICES STUFFED BREAD SNACK, APPLE BANANA STOVETOP CAKE , DALDAR LUCHI, TRADITIONAL MALPUA

INGREDIENTS : 

REFINED FLOUR : 1 & 1/2 COFFEE MUG

DATES : 10-12

PISTACHIO : A HANDFUL [OPTIONAL]

DATE PALM JAGGERY : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/2 TSP

GHEE : 2 TBSP + 1 TBSP

OIL : 100-150 ML

PROCEDURE :

Our friends from Abudhabi got us that box full of pistachio stuffed dates. None of us can have such sweets, though I am fond of dates, pistachios only a little bit atop a sandesh sweet. The box was resting in a dark corner of the refrigerator. The expiry date was approaching, I had to do something with the pricey stuffs. Come, let us make good use of the stuffed dates.

I took both of the dates and the pistachios in a blender and blended to a paste.

In a bowl, I had taken the refined flour and the dates paste, rubbed well for 2-3 minutes.

Thereafter, I added to it 2 tbsp ghee / clarified butter and kneaded to prepare a dough. I did not require water, if you require add a little.

In a round wok, I heated the oil & 1 tbsp ghee, tore off portions from the dough and fried them well. I forgot to click this step.

Once cool, I coarsely powdered the fried dough balls. 

Thereafter, I added a little of water to the date palm jaggery bowl and microwaved to get a sticky consistency, I added it and the green cardamom powder to the coarse mixture; folded in well with a spoon.

We have to shape and bind them while the mixture is still warm. 

Enjoy having fresh. If you refrigerate, take out an hour before having.

BANANA ORANGE OATS CAKE

AFTER EVERY SPECIAL PRAYER RITUALS AT HOME, I WOULD PREPARE SOMETHING WITH THE LEFTOVER FRUITS!

That too after some 15-16 days post the occasion. I love my choice of fruits but I am not supposed to have too much of them. The man would take a little only in his lunch boxes. The son ate fruits when packed in his snack box. I do not know really if he buys fruits for himself these days. Today, whilst on my morning walk, I saw a 11-12 year old boy in the school uniform having cup noodles. Such scenes make me get  angry at the parents. There isn't any excuse when it comes to parenting. Even if both the parents are working, it is not an ardent task to wake up early, prepare a butter bread toast or boil some noodles, broccoli, carrot, onion; season and feed the child and then send to the school. There is a primary school, a high school, a 7-Eleven outside of our back gate, such scenes are rampant; kids buying packaged food from the stores. I do not think the parents should have any excuse when their kids' health is concerned. I cannot thank the mother enough for teaching us the important lessons about home care through her tremendous dutifulness towards her family. For both of us family & kids are prime; we do not need much of resources to spend partying, chatting with friends. We only have weaknesses for buying saris which are not that pricey, household stuffs. In my case, I enjoy sitting alone in an eatery. I cannot just mingle with people. Most hilarious was a client, she gave me good business a few times and then almost claimed, placed a condition that I have to roam around the island with her. She  might have been a nice girl but I couldn't agree to that. Many a woman in this island made unnecessary calls without any intent to buy food from me. In business, I would seek profit and name, not friendship at all. A person of few words, I had to put an end to this. Although I love watching my friends party, sing and dance; I feel awkward amidst a crowd. There are many in the same food business, unfortunately, the Bengalis too want chole-bhature or idli-dosa on their plate instead of "lau-ghonto, chichinge-boti, dhokar dalna". Bengalis are those Indians who have forgotten their own food; they eat biryani, fish fry, chicken kobiraji, chicken and paneer masala day and night. At least the reels say that. 

WHY DOES OUR SON HAS TO PROVE HE IS DIFFERENT?

It feels he is in constant endeavour to prove he is weird and a rebel. Doesn't his mother pay enough attention to him that he has to behave this weird to get her occupied in his thought 24/7? Some 20 years back, all my friends would say he does all the weird acts to irritate me, that he behaves normal in my absence. Since then, until now; all my attention revolves around him, he doesn't need to do anything for that. May be for few years I became a bit absent minded, I curse myself for that. I should not have missed a single moment of his company. In fact, I need not curse myself, that happened because all of a sudden his father wanted him to be independent; I wasn't allowed to sleep with my child, bathe him, feed him, kiss him, hug him. What emotional upheaval I went through only I know, a void was created. I believe everything has a time, I need not had to be distanced with my playmate after a decade of staying with him alone, he was my only living play dough 24/7 whose childhood I shaped as per my wish. Nope, we are not in a strained relationship, it is our joint decision to keep our son's need our top priority. I do not like people talking about spending lakhs doing the interiors of their home but tell their kid / kids they do not have money to sponsor their kid's education abroad. However, they have money to buy property in two-three cities of India or buy jewellery for the spouse. That way I am proud of the underweight partner, I get angry when both my men ignore my emotional needs. I then keep myself happy cooking and eating. Yesterday, I ate those and gained 500 gm by this morning.

I had more rice than usual because the sides were dried fish, Hilsa fish and veg dal. More of wrong was to have two bowls of puffed rice and coconut. At night, I was to make appam, but the iron wok betrayed, the sides got stuck. The same batter was used in a non-stick pan. Having consumed a big amount of coconut caused me wind this morning, this keeps happening since my childhood. Too much of coconut consumed may cause acidity and wind in many, I am one of them.

WHAT IS BANANA OATS ORANGE CAKE?

I think this is the easiest and simplest of all the cakes I have made until now. Whatever I am unable to do is complex mathematics to me. All those three & four tier designer cakes are as complex as science, mathematics, geography taken together. But I love to bake and keep on doing that. Not only this vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan BANANA ORANGE OATS CAKE is easy make, we found it tasty too. I am  fond of using fruit juices in cakes, not really fond of dairy products, eggs, chocolates. All those chocolate rice & rainbow rice, sugar coated fruit strips atop a cake put me off. Fresh Fruit & Cream atop a cake is a love though the cream would have egg & dairy products in it. That too I avoid after the son relocated. To eat fancy stuffs you have to have an equally enthusiastic partner. He shows no interest, I too do not wish to spend on a choice of pastry only for myself. A Bengali mother would pause and think, "my child might be hesitating to have a 21$ meal in a choice of eatery or he may have skipped two meals to have that over the weekend! Let me wait until he gets a deserving job." However, mumma keeps buying from the Lazada, Shein, saris & kurtis while in Kolkata. This is the time and onwards I / we want the son's concern for us and attention. We are waiting for him to settle. We will see if he gets normal, else what to do, we would keep travelling from the Himalayas to the Kanyakumari. It is not right to complain about your kids unless they cause major harm to you. Anyway, I made myself something between "nonta suji and sujir upma" today, I cannot eat the gooey upma neither I had the patience of sprinkling a bit of water a few times on the roasted semolina to make what I enjoy.

I do not know why the son dislikes upma, poha, dosa. He would love  sausages, bacon, breads on his plate. His father too but he enjoys upma, chirer polao too. It is from him that we have learnt about upma in the early 90's. 

Few similar recipes from the Blog are DRAGON FRUIT CAKE, VEGETARIAN GLASS CAKE, STEAMED TAPIOCA CAKE

INGREDIENTS :

OATS : 1 COFFEE MUG

FRESH ORANGE JUICE : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

MASHED BANANA : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

SLICED BANANA : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

RICE FLOUR : 1/4 COFFEE MUG

CORN FLOUR : 2 TBSP

SUGAR : 4 TBSP [YOU MAY NEED MORE] [I USED BROWN SUGAR]

BAKING SODA : A PINCH OR TWO

BAKING POWDER : 1/4 TSP

OIL : 2-3 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Mix together the orange juice and the mashed banana pulps. 

Take the oats, rice flour, corn flour, baking powder & soda in a bowl and mix well.

Add the wet ingredients, oil and the sugar to the dry ingredients, mix loosely. We do not need to beat vigorously.

Grease an oven proof bowl.  Add the batter, tap on the counter to level well. Arrange the banana slices atop.

Mine is a convection mode microwave oven. I did place the low height wired stool inside the microwave.

I preheated the oven at 160*C. I did place the bowl with batter atop the wired stool, closed the door and baked it for some 20-22 minutes. We were done.

Temperatures may vary in different machines. The cooking time may slightly differ in your's.

The only mistake I did was that I sliced the bananas thicker, I had to slice them thinner. If you are eating it fresh, there would not be any issue. If you refrigerate, the banana slices would darken if you wouldn't slice them thick.