MIXED MILLET ROTI

I HAVE TO RESCHEDULE THE BLOG WRITING TIME!

For a pretty one hour, I am struggling to keep my eyes open! What you see in the picture did I have for lunch, quite heavy! Okay, not all of those hand rolled breads I had! Because I wished to blog about them, I prepared quite a few, stored the rest to have in the days coming! All of a sudden I felt like cooking those & get to the blog today itself! The entire morning I was working in the hedge, treating my plants with a homemade spray, it rains here everyday & they get fungal infection! Mine hardly get proper sunlight! Cristine had to go out for few hours & I do not like to dump all of the utensils used in the sink! Finishing off with everything took the clock to 2 pm! It was raining all of the morning & still cloudy! Well, that was not the time to go out for a walk or swim; I had to edit & arrange the pictures for this blogpost, had to take shower & offer lunch to my God Family! Would I get time to dance for a while pre-dinner?

TWO ROTIS WERE NOT HEAVY BUT THE AMOUNT OF SIDE DISHES WERE EXCESS!

The amount of cabbage sabzi is for two people; in a normal scenario, I would not have taken out the chicken either! I took them out for a photo feature, if I keep them back they would get spoiled! Cristine told she would eat outside! She loves our food but has an addiction for noodles. I go against my principle & get her instant cup noodles which I think should not be had regular! The son too loves it & I would want him to buy it but have fresh from a takeaway joint than storing cup noodles at home! Few years back, I would have at times, now totally stopped! Its either a fresh bowl of noodle soup for me at an eatery or homemade! T used to enjoy noodles when young, he would take me to the restaurants & order it, these days he eats but would not crave for it! In fact, he no more craves for food! I wish I could be him! But in life, you have to have some kind of a passion & that for food is harmless! 

I seriously did not add any sleeping pill to the Dalia Kheer dessert but immediately after having that I was unable to keep my eyes open! When I think of my contribution to this world & in the family been zero, it hurts! At least T had to love eating for me to feel my life as important or the son had to love staying on the other side of the wall or say, "tui ashbi Amar kachey every six months"!

WHAT IS THIS MIXED MILLET ROTI? 

I am a rustic at heart! You see, in a first world country I picked up and planted something on my pot that is not considered edible here; that surely for a nostalgia, a family love for kharkol pata!

I have uprooted all of them given we have eaten enough; they refuse to leave me, have grown from nothing! I have two to three standing recipes about it to share but people have to help me get those, their actions must be good enough to inspire me! I had another Bengali recipe on my mind to share today about banana stem, then changed my mind this midmorning! This MIXED MILLET ROTI has used three varieties of millet flours; bajra / pearl millet flour; jowar / sorghum flour; ragi / finger millet flour! What I do is mix them together & store in a container! This family is typical Bengali when it comes to the choice of flour; the men, also Cristine wants refined flour the most, on my insistence they eat wholewheat roti; these days I add a little of the millet flours to the wholewheat flour and use the dough! For myself, I had been trying millet flour alone flatbreads for long! Also, I wished to blog about a vegan, gluten-free flatbread! After several failed attempts, I saw a reel & also a video by a vegetarian co-blogger from this island to cook the millet flour before preparing the dough! I followed the co-blogger & got this! 

INGREDIENTS :

BAJRA / PEARL MILLET FLOUR : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

JOWAR / SORGHUM FLOUR : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

RAGI / FINGER MILLET FLOUR : 1/4 COFFEE MUG

SALT : 1/2 TSP

WARM WATER : 1-1 1/2 COFFEE MUG

PROCEDURE :

I roasted the mixed millet flour varieties at low heat for 4-5 minutes. Thereafter, I added some warm water! Remember, our aim is a paste like consistency & not a liquid or semi-liquid batter!

I constantly stir cooked at low heat for 6-7 minutes & took down on a bowl!

I had let it cool a bit, added more of the millet flour & kneaded it for a pretty 8-9 minutes while it was still warm!

I dusted more of the millet flour to the small portion I took out from the dough prepared and smoothened between the palm!

I pressed lightly the rolling pin to give each a round shape; hard pressing would break them!

There were breakage on some, whilst some puffed up perfect; that made me decide to blog about them!

There can be umpteen number of vegetarian & non-vegetarian side dishes to go with the vegan, gluten-free roti!

DESICCATED COCONUT BANANA CAKE

 

A CAKE BAKE HAPPENS REGULAR IN OUR HOME!

They are a bit unusual, I try to prepare vegan & gluten-free ones! I prepared this cake in the month of September, 2021! Time is flying too fast, I try to make it go slow; "Samay tanik dhirey chalo;  come & sit beside me"! Not that I got tired of living. This world is vast; I may be able to explore little of it in my lifetime! It cannot be a boring affair waking up each morning. You need not pay much of attention to your don't haves! In case, waking up feels boring; you must consult an expert or a proper yoga guru. I find a great thing like yoga boring; else  our parents tried a lot deploying good teachers for me. Today it feels, if I got someone to come and teach me everyday or at least 3-4 days a week, I would have been in a better position! Because one day of class is not enough for a lethargic like me; unless there is someone to push me, make me do; I won't move! T is least bothered! I feel bad he had to pay a huge amount for my new spectacles; also I am on medication. I did nothing fruitful until now; amidst such an empty feeling; the blogposts moving towards number one thousand is a feel good factor! Hope it stays with my readers even after me!

I AM NEVER TIRED OF GOING FOR FOOD VENTURES, NEITHER TO SHARE MY EXPERIENCES IN PUBLIC!

Take the example of today! Yesterday, one of my regular client asked me if I can cater on Tuesday evening! My answer would be an yes  as long as I can, it gets me dollars! This morning, I find the wet markets closed; I had to pick up stuffs from the GIANT, NTUC SUPER MARTS! They sell fresh sea-fish, meat, vegetables though I prefer to buy raw fish, meat, vegetables from a wet market! It is New Year Celebrations here; every thing would get closed today afternoon onwards! I cannot control the greed of earning dollars! I came back home around 12 pm, then arranged the pictures required for the blogpost! Cristine meanwhile went to buy cartons of cigarettes, her Sir cannot survive without it! She came back, I went out for a short walk. I could have gone down for a swim but wished to have a "dokaner karak cha o biskut". That was okay but I should not have eaten the "badam gur & amriti" around 2:30 pm!

I cross passed the neighbourhood park; there are quite a few but smaller sized, I do not like "gol-gol ghumna". Today, I did not follow the rule of not doing a brisk walk immediately after having food!

Around 4 pm, I had to do some prep work for my tomorrow's food order, Cristine did the breading! Unless I refrigerate the breaded stuffs for a day, I fear breakage while frying!

Around 5 pm, I ate the above. Porotas done from the leftover dough of the potato-radish leaves-flours; Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce & Palak Pakoras from yesterday's leftover batter, ginger-black coffee; chilled  without sugar or milk! Again, we would eat rice, Bhola mach er jhol, dal, mochar ghonto at night!

Yesterday too we ate everything homemade! Only in the night time; I served T Hilsa curry & Mochar Ghonto with rice; I ate Muri o Payesh! The white eggs crate Cristine was asked to get from the Mustafa Centre on her way back from her off day! You need to get it when you are hands free, locally white eggs are sold only in a pack of 6. I wished to taste the Kolkata style white ones, this home gets a crate of 30 eggs which is a good savings! For my clients, I have started buying a pack of jumbo eggs; larger sized!

WHAT IS THIS DESICCATED BANANA CAKE?

Tomorrow is Lunar New Year Celebrations! T entered home, we had a fight! He would never lock the door. I asked to do it, why Cristine has to go and do it. Also why would not someone take a full shower back from the office? But our fights are not nerve wrecking, the son grew up a happy child. The little contribution we have in his life is this! We simply miss his weird self around, got very dependent on Cristine; she has decided to renew her contract with us! But she needs to go home to rest, meet her own for at least two months! Things are not working out neither my brother wants me to go at this time! He thinks I would roam around and his overly cautious self I know is scared to come to the airport! He cannot feel comfortable asking didibhai to take a cab either! I am to bake a cake for Cristine sometime this week! As of now; let me wish the dear islanders with this stovetop, vegan, gluten-free, vegetarian cake made with shredded dried coconut, rice flour, cornflour, banana, brown sugar! I named it DESICCATED COCONUT BANANA CAKE! A banana or two is good enough to moisten a cake if paired with oil or butter!

INGREDIENTS : 

DESICCATED COCONUT : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

RICE FLOUR : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

CORN FLOUR : 2 TBSP

BAKING SODA : 1/4 TSP

BAKING POWDER : 1 TSP

BANANA : 2 STANDARD SIZED

BROWN SUGAR : 1/2 SMALL CUP

OIL : 1 SMALL TEACUP

VANILLA ESSENCE : 1 TSP

YOUR CHOICE OF SEEDS, NUTS, DRIED FRUITS

PROCEDURE : 

Get everything ready on your workstation! 

Take the dry ingredients except the brown sugar in a bowl, mix well. 

Take the banana & oil in a blender, blend well! Add the brown sugar, blend again! 

Add the vanilla essence, the liquid to the dry mixture, fold in well, beat for 5 minutes!

Pour it to a cake tin, I used an aluminium foil! Tap lightly on the kitchen counter, top it with dried fruits, nuts & seeds!

Keep one wired stand in the middle of a pan, get heated. Place the cake tin atop, cover!

Bake on the gas top covered at minimal heat for 55 minutes to 1 hour!

Take down and allow it to cool before having! It tastes better when warm, can be refrigerated!

PAT PATAR JHOL

This is such an age old family recipe; our mother used to cook it throughout the season when paat pata / young jute leaves were available in the DumDum Bazaar; she continues to cook it till date even after shifting to Barrackpore. The deceased maternal grandfather used to love it the most, then the mother. Rest of us in the family preferred more a "shaak bhaja & bora" with young jute leaves. I hope some of you remember my blog post about PAT PATAR BORA O SHAAK last year. I have developed a love for this curry in the recent years. My family is in the habit of eating a wide variety of greens mostly with a tempering of nigella seeds, crushed garlic, dry red chillies. Though I thought of blogging about a dish today too what we loved entirely as a family including the deceased father, I could not keep the promise made to myself. He was not particularly fond of this sticky, slippery, soupy, vegetarian curry with young jute leaves PAT PATAR JHOL, neither the senior or our boy at this home are. But the three of them enjoyed / enjoys fritters made of young jute leaves. Give them some rice, butter / ghee, salt, or dal with fritters; they are game for a plate full of rice. This morning I called my mother again to confirm if he liked it later in life; he did not but his son does, his spouse too. They all eat a bowl full of each.

Yesterday night, I had a good chat with the mother; yes, has to call the husband too if I get into any trouble outdoor. Given the new government rules, I got stranded near a super mart yesterday with a big  number of stuffs, broke a new stroller too. Thirty Sing $ went into ashes. This staying at home is definitely not good if we can look a little beyond ourselves. If we can think about those who are finding it hard to survive. If you ask me to eat "chal-dal er khichuri or panta bhaat" everyday, I will puke. 

I am not too much in the wrong track today, am I? I remember who did what during my period of mourning, I watch if people are happy in my happiness! I have for you today a healthy, vegetarian bowl of PAT PATAR JHOL done with young jute leaves. The Filipino at home says they use it to prepare saluyot; a thickened soup kind of. The wiki says Africa too eats it. Whatever, I know my family eats it a lot and I continue to bring it home whenever it is available. Even if you are not in the habit of eating it, do try once. If you do not like it, do not force yourself. If you like, make it a point to eat it every season. What else? I am doing what the maximum are doing; eating jackfruit whilst reading, drinking soy bandung for a change back from my walks! Life is good because I have buying power.

INGREDIENTS :

PAT PATA / YOUNG JUTE LEAF : A BIG BUNCH OR TWO
NIGELLA SEED / KALO JEEREY : 2 PINCH
CRUSHED GARLIC CLOVE : 1TSP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 2-3
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
WATER : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 1TSP

PROCEDURE :

Tear the leaves from the stems. Fold each one and discard the mid stem too. This is the most tedious job; I mean it requires patience and Cristine did it for me.

Take the dressed leaves in a colander and wash under running water thoroughly. Keep aside; let the water go off.

There they are; the washed, crushed garlic cloves & slitted green chillies.

Heat oil in a wok and temper with the nigella seeds, crushed garlic and slitted green chillies. Stir fry until the garlic turns light brown and gives a nice aroma.

Add the washed leaves, little salt and turmeric. [I need not have added that much of salt you can see. I have a bad habit of eating more amount of salt.]

Stir at low heat for 2-3 minutes. Add 2 coffee mugs of water. Give a stir and cover cook at low heat for 14-15 minutes stirring occasionally.

What else? We should be done.

We have it with steamed rice. I had to keep some fritters with it and dal alongside for my men.