RANGA ALOOR TIKKI GARLIC PICKLE RICE

Yesterday, I was busy. Early morning I went out with Cristine to local wet market for raw produce, I am against buying fish, meat, vegetables from super marts unless theres an emergency. Wet markets give you best quality raw food at better price, you just have to reach there in time. I dilli-dally, get late. Many practices here are similar to that of Kolkata. I had seen our grandfather, father going to famous DumDum Bazaar by 7-7:30 am to get freshest of vegetables, fish. The father did not have any interest in this job, just forced himself.... my husband does not even force himself. Our mother inherited the skill of shopping raw produce from her father, her youngest brother does it too well, I am a moderate follower of them. 

Day before yesterday, something to do with "ranga aloo" aka sweet potato did strike my mind. Initially, I thought of preparing "ranga aloor jilipi", skipped that idea and prepared some "roshbora"instead in the afternoon, the entire evening was spent preparing sweet potato tikki rice tossed in garlic pickle; RANGA ALOOR TIKKI GARLIC PICKLE RICE, pairing it with spicy pomfret dish, lamb shabu shabu stew. It was tiring but never irritating, cooking makes me feel happier. From market, Cristine came back home, I went for walk, did a 8.6 km, ate Yong Tau Foo in Laksa gravy, Sugarcane Juice, bought three packets of soil for 10 Sing$ and a pot, still some of my plants do not seem healthy, they lack their main food which is sunlight..... thats what the expert in family told me. This winter she would be travelling to Bangalore to my cousin's with our father's youngest brother and his spouse, she is happy, worried about her plants. The brother will never peep, his wife is like me who lack knowledge about plant life. We are happy for mother too, she needs to go out of home at regular intervals, I scold brother when he gets choosy about who she would travel with. My father's youngest brother is great support, an ally to her gardening ventures.... if only he stayed near.... Nagaon, Assam is too far.

Back from my walk, I started with the "Roshbora" making and ended up making good use of the sweet potatoes I got, three standard sized at less than 3Sing$.

It was a satisfying Kitchen adventure for me, We had a get-together to attend, most interesting part for me is the food served, I cannot chat much! I miss Madhuchanda Dey Ghosh at times; we met at an important juncture of life, so welcome.... such people never let you stray. We are poles apart when it comes to IQ Level, however we both cried watching "Stepmom" at Eros, Mumbai. I don't run to few homes in Kolkata without a reason, I enjoy the talk and association. I do not know what my school and college friends do in their other circles but when we meet, it is only reminiscing those good old days including which boy or a girl or a lecturer we fell for, I love that! Better is for me to wander alone or sit together with the family to have a Domino's Pizza or this homely dinner spread of Pomfret, Lamb Shabu Shabu stew with a vegetarian rice main with garlic pickle, sweet potato tikki RANGA ALOOR TIKKI GARLIC PICKLE RICE. My next sole adventure is to visit an Iskcon Temple, I am more interested in their "proshad" lunch, thereafter visiting the nature reserves I haven't, I am to visit certain music fests this month .... life is good man. By end of next year, I should be able to get in touch with some literary groups, 9 years into this island, I did not take membership of a library. Its due to call few friends for lunch meet this month over some good music, let us see. Until then let us cook and eat!

INGREDIENTS : [for the sweet potato tikki]

SWEET POTATO : 3MEDIUM SIZED
CHOPPED ONION : 1SMALL TEA CUP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1TBSP
CUMIN POWDER : 2TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 2TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
CHAAT MASALA : 11/2TBSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/2TSP
LEMON JUICE : 2-3TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SEMOLINA : 1/2SMALL TEACUP
OIL : 2-3TBSP

INGREDIENTS : [for final Rice dish]

COOKED BASMATI RICE : 11/4 COFFEE MUG serves 4-6members. It should be cooked till 60%-70% done.
THE SWEET POTATO TIKKIS
GARLIC PICKLE : 200ML APPROXIMATELY
CHOPPED CORIANDER
SALT : AS REQUIRED

PROCEDURE :

Wash, cook rice in enough water until 60%-70% done, transfer to colander. Let it be for sometime.

Peel, half, wash sweet potatoes. Pressure cook adding 2 coffee mugs of water at minimal heat up to 2 whistles. Let lid open normally, strain. Let it cool.

Mash boiled sweet potatoes, chop, wash green chillies and onion.

Heat oil in wok, temper with cumin seeds. Add chopped onions, green chillies, stir at low heat.

As onions get translucent, add cumin+coriander+red chilli+turmeric powders. Stir for a minute or two.

Add boiled, mashed sweet potato, chaat masala, little salt, remember chaat masala contains salt in it. Stir to mix well.

Add fresh lemon juice. Fold in well, stir cook for 3-4 minutes. Take down, let cool.

Prepare tikkis / roundels, press between palms. I was enjoying!

Grease an oven proof plate with some oil, take some semolina on a plate and coat the tikkis.

Cook one side for 8-9 minutes, other side for 5 minutes. Spread some garlic pickle on top.

Heat wok on gas top, add about 200ml of garlic pickle, washed, chopped coriander to it.

Add cooked rice, fold in gently. Add little salt if only required. 

Transfer to serving bowl, arrange sweet potato tikkis atop.

STUFFED CHILLI PICKLE

I think this variety of chili used in my STUFFED CHILLI PICKLE is the Carmen Italian Sweet Chilli Pepper! You know how casual I am with the details of my food posts.... the ingredients used... where the ingredients are sourced from! I had been buying this variety of chilli... both the green and red variety for a couple of years now for fritters, curry and pickle but I never did care to note down it's name... I call myself as less informed a food blogger as is possible. I know people who collect every details of the dish they are going to blog about, they collect the right props required for the dish and do not keep a bone china bowl atop a bamboo tray like me and click! I definitely do not like what I do but I have my own limitations.... 

I am open about who I am.... really not in the habit of boasting about myself.... jumping around and say  I am flawless.... yeah I am perfect!.... One needs to be down to the earth and be honest to their own self! When people speak good about me I do not get carried away.... they do it because they are trying to be decent with me.... no one knows me better than myself.... my vices and virtues walk hand in hand.... This is true about the entire mankind. I have seen how some around me have looked down at people who are not that fortunate.... who lack "pedigree".... that is a vice... for sure! That help people to go high up in the ladder though.... if you have the fire in you.... you must give answer to any wrong royally! What or whoever I like around I am vocal about.... 

Had not I found social media to be very complicated, you would have seen me going public praising people I really wish to compliment.... the people or their work! I only watch and praise in silence! My biggest vice is my laziness, laid back tendency, my pictures may not please the eyes of my readers.... but as I always say I can guarantee it's taste! I do not blog about anything that does not appeal to my taste buds! Then comes the misery part.... there are a couple of shops here selling antique utensils and show pieces.... when I am about to buy, an invisible hand holds tight my purse! My readers have to tolerate this condiment... a STUFFED CHILLI PICKLE ... that is a "pur bhora lankar achar / bharwan mirchi achar" on a fish shaped bowl.

Our mother used to prepare a variety of pickle / achar but not this one with chilli! The daddy loved to have pickle with his "macher jhol aar bhaat".... but the typical Bengali varieties.... sweet ones done with raw mango or tamarind or Indian berry or elephant apple and good amount of jaggery & roasted ground spices. The non-Bengali type of achar / pickle was not welcome at our home. I did taste them during our lunch hours from our non-Bengali speaking friends!.... I loved the smell of that mixed spices if not the achar. I was never fond of sour food except for the family special sour fish curries. It was three years after marriage that we shifted to our own home and the husband started getting jars of pickle. During my pregnancy I fell in love with northern & southern I Indian food ..... I was unable to have big... fat oily fish and meat for the entire period.... the "pomfret er kasha" I loved; was no more in my to have list. All of a sudden I leaned towards dahi vada, dhokla, idly, dosa, uttapam.... and to top them all tamarind & lemon rice! 

These days what I do is keep one or two variety of a store bought one and prepare one pickle / achar myself. Now that our Cristine has discovered broken pieces of glass inside a store bought pickle bottle, I am in a dilemma about what to do! How much of a miser I am, I always buy good brands! We were in a shock.... what would have happened had we have eaten it. This made me think ..... "should I prepare two variety of achar / pickle at home at a time and stop buying from the store?" This STUFFED CHILLI PICKLE that I prepared last year is about to finish now.... yes a jar full of lasts long because we have little at a time.... This particular condiment called achar / pickle is to be had in this little amount beside some rice & dal or with flat  or fluffy breads! The ingredients I used are those big, fat red chillies, a mixed blend of spices, a generous amount of oil, turmeric and salt. It needs a good amount of sun bath to survive for a longer period!

INGREDIENTS :

Big Red Chilli : 12-15 [the ones I buy are less hot]

Cumin Seed : 2tsp

Coriander Seed : 2tsp

Fenugreek Seed : 1/3tsp

Carom Seed : 1tsp

Dry Red Chilli : 6-7

Turmeric Powder : 11/2tsp

Red Chilli Powder : 11/2tsp

Cumin Powder : 11/2tsp

Lemon Juice : 1/2small cup

Salt : As Required

Mustard Oil : 200-250gm [we need to be generous]

PROCEDURE :

Wash the chillies thoroughly. Cut half and carefully take out the seeds, discard them.

Take all the spices like cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, carom seeds and dry red chillies in a pan and dry roast them for 2-3 minutes stirring continuously.

Once cool, take them in a blender.

Blend at high for 3-4 minutes pausing at every 1 minute.

Take the coarsely ground spice mixture in a bowl and add some lemon juice & salt.

Now fill each pocket of the halved chillies with the spice mixture. Use the back of a tea spoon for this job to be done. It works better.

Once done, they look as below.

Now add the cumin powder, red chilli powder, salt and turmeric powder to them.

Rub well. Be careful.... the spice filling should not come out.

Add the oil now, again mix in well.

In my case, what I do is that I add the oil little at a time.... I place the pickle under the sun for 2 days and add little more oil. I repeat the process for 15 days. Now, it is time to transfer the entire content to a distilled jar.... preferably a glass container and not a plastic one.

Once we have transferred the achar to a jar, we will pour about 100gm of mustard oil atop and close the lid!

At this stage we can refrigerate the pickle jar but we must give it a sun bath for one or two days every week.