CHALTAR ACHAR

This is an intense love in the entirety of my life. Even if I am a diabetic, I cannot get parted with it. In all probability it will not leave me either for it will not get a better lover than me. Not five but if only you could give me one good reason why I should share a recipe on "breaded salmon fillet with siracha mayo"on the blog .... Yes, I do them for the notorious men at this home but I do not feel any urge to share them.... if you can give me at least one reason to do so, I definitely will. My Bengal, my Kolkata do not eat salmon in general... I mean the "class & category" I belong to or mingle with will not hesitate to buy an ilish priced at 2000 rupees per kilo, never mind... me or they will manage the month end with charapona, telapia, bhola, folui. Lansdown Market and the "hahutash for black pomfret and salmon" is not what defines Kolkata. If  you wish to know her, join me on a food trail to the Manicktala Bazaar, walk abruptly on the by lanes of "North Calcutta", watch a game of gully cricket at the maidan on a lazy winter afternoon. Ok, start your walk or run from Ruby hospital and go up to Dakshinapan.... on way back "Balaram Mallick e dariye charte kochuri merey bari dhukba". If your '30B or 202" bus gets stuck in a traffic jam, walk with me from the Lotus cinema hall up to New Market, then walk to Park Street via Free School Street or walk backwards to the Bentinck Street to buy shoes and further backwards to Wellington Square and buy some good quality tea leaves. An 'average' Kolkatan do not have quiche with tea at Flury's or look for "bideshi maach" sitting in Kolkata. Its a new, affluent emergent class that have surfaced in Kolkata, the former "classy beings" of Kolkata definitely hunted Flury's or Mocambo on a regular basis, got membership in Saturday Club but they are a minority community and we are the majority! In this case, I will always speak on behalf of the majority. I would have spoken outrageously about it if not an Indirra Sengupta or Madhuchanda Dey Ghosh be my friends .... well they are more and yet more of T's friends. Our present home in Kolkata is in the Eastern fringes of it, may be we will have a bigger flat on return, the humbug me wish for a terrace garden. You bet I will not change the rest of my life style. You will see the 60-65 year old lady going to the wet market in an auto rickshaw. Last winter while in Kolkata, T shouted at me "S look at you, you are sweating on a wintry midmorning with two heavy weight bazaar er tholi, lets go to Spencer and buy stuffs".... I asked him to shut up and watch television. Both of our childhoods were spent in the same locality, he used to stay in the better part of DumDum, me on the other side where "Talar Jol" did not reach. We lived amidst smugglers & wagon breakers in a rented space for 19 years may be because of its proximity to the DumDum Railway Station, for the convenience to commute to the rest of Kolkata and off course staying there was cheaper . Our daddy worked in a good position as compared to any middle class "chakurijibi" Bengali but was very much unwilling to upgrade the living standard. Those wagon breakers told my mother not to worry if I come back late after tuitions, they will look after it as they felt I am a "bhalo meye", they also complained my family when I was seen with "boy" friends often at college, stood strong by my mother..... the iron lady whenever my father had arthritic attacks. DumDum was a nostalgia and love very hard to leave. Same may not be the feelings of all the DumDum residents who left it after a long stay, whose one reason of not keeping in touch with me was my pedigree or may be they were not allowed to. They felt that they started to live a decent life only after their home got shifted to "South Khyalkhata" .... Much later, a strong message was conveyed to me in a very subtle manner that the family got related to a high flying family living in "Kolkata's first ever condo".... Oh is it? I do not know that area well, else you would have seen me roaming in the exteriors of the "marvellous condo".... taking selfies in front of it, doing some research.... "arey kouno log rehte hai rey andar? The gate keeper would say... larki tum soch bhi nehi sakte kitthey barey log hai yeh, baria sa naukri kartey honge, tabhi na yaha akey kharidey!  Suniye bhaisab! humko na idharke rehenewale ek ke shadi mein invitation mili thi... gaye nehi... himmat na mili... barey logan se mera kya matlab?" 

You know what? Tomorrow I will be going to the Bangladeshi shop, the guys at home will have to eat what ever "deshi" I cook.... at least when the eternal storm inside gets a little more vigorous. It  is raining outside with strong winds. I purposefully do not let the storm inside die, the hurt keeps me going and it should not bother anyone. A little sister would again convey a message, "get the negativity out of you"... My silent answer would always be "no, never will I, its my junoon." 

Yes, I can make tortilla wraps if not so perfectly, but do not find any good reason to try and share the recipe of a Mexican wrap stuffed with tofu... my kinds do not go by reason, we go by our hearts. So, you guys better go ahead with whatever suits your beloved's taste buds, let me share with you a family Bengali sweet condiment recipe CHALTAR ACHAR, sweet pickle with jaggery, few spices and elephant apple. I am a bit sad, because of me and Cristine's callousness another blooming bud of an orchid broke day before yesterday. When soft and supples are torn, they do bleed, we cannot see it, we have no idea how deep the wound is. An orchid cannot be vengeful but venting out should be everyone's right.  Then, I have a lunch invitation to attend now, feels good.... more for the food I get to eat, the "adda session" is secondary but it is always good to be able to meet your friends.

Take it from me, for an Indian, deshi food suits the best! Be it grains or seeds, I buy mostly Indian and the miser me is not so keen on buying stuffs meant for different bodies. How I love having "sama chaler khichuri and upma"... Did I share these pictures with you earlier? Then consider this as a reminder.

 My men do enjoy having ripe papaya, my boy specially.... does he think it to be one kind of a mango? He does not speak to me unless required. If I try, he gives 1-2-3.... a total of 3 blows to me. He loved the spicy "nimki" mumma made a few days back.... I am hopeful, very much. "Naru, Nimki, Achar, Jam, Jelly" were all made at home in the bygone days. No wonder I will manage to pick a few from the roadside trees and prepare a CHALTAR ACHAR even if they are not sold anywhere in the island. Bengalis preferred sweet pickle in those days, our father was no exception. He had to have homemade pickle with his share of "maacher jhol o bhaat" everyday. The mother would prepare 3-4 types of pickles in their seasons and store until the next season. If I call myself her daughter and feel proud of it, I have to follow her footsteps to some extent.... its by default actually! For this authentic Bengali, condiment recipe I used Elephant Apple, Jaggery, a bit of salt and turmeric, dry roasted and ground "panch phoron"..... Do you use "multi grain atta?"... I do! I find it easier to buy it rather than buy all of them individually. Try the achar / pickle with multi grain porota and papad or fish curry and rice.... you will have no other option but to thank me!

Here are the recipe links to few more similar dishes : KANCHA AAM ER MISHTI ACHAR, TOMATO DATES CHUTNEY

INGREDIENTS : 

CHALTA / ELEPHANT APPLE : 4-5

SUGAR CANE JAGGERY : 150GM-200GM

PANCH PHORON / BENGALI FIVE SPICES : 1/4 TSP EACH OF WILD CELERY SEED, CUMIN SEED, FENNEL SEED, NIGELLA SEED, FENUGREEK SEED, BLACK MUSTARD SEED

DRY RED CHILLI : 5-6

SALT : 1/4TSP

TURMERIC : 1/4TSP

PROCEDURE :

We need chalta about 3-5 numbers of standard sizes.

 We need to tear each section, the papri or petals we can see and cut them lengthwise. We will discard the inner most sticky portion that comes alongside.

Cristine did it for me.

In a pestle and mortar, we need to take a little portion and crush lightly.

I remember, our mother used to place the "hamandista" on top of a folded, empty sack and do this job, I cannot even lift it.

We will wash it and apply the salt and turmeric. Keep aside for 1/2 an hour. Take the jaggery and 1 coffee mug of water in a wok.

Switch on the gas stove and bring to boil. Keep stirring continuously and throw away any visible scum.

Once the jaggery gets to get sticky, add the marinated and crushed chalta / elephant apple! Fold in well.

Let it cook in the lowest heat for sometime. Add a little water if only required and stir continuously.

Once the entire content gets sticky, transfer to a bowl.

Give it a sunbath everyday for a week. At night, keep it on a cool, dry place.

To prepare the spice powder, dry roast all the seeds and the dry red chillies on a clean wok stirring continuously for 2 minutes.

Let cool and dry grind to a spice powder. Let it be coarse.

Add and mix the spice powder very nicely to the pickle / achar. Give a sunbath for few more days before you transfer it to a sterilised bottle.

I do refrigerate it, I fear of it being spoiled in absence of enough sunlight!

DAL ER BORA DIYE MOCHAR GHONTO

Of the few authentic Bengali recipes with "mocha" / banana blossom, this is one done with lentil fritters, coconut and the regular Bengali spices we use. Or we can put it this way, Bengal may have few other ways of having Banana Blossom but I have grown up eating these few. I can see a "mochar paturi" recipe doing the rounds, I wish to try it. The thing is that I have to take up the project not on a Saturday morning, neither on a week day evening but on a quiet week day morning after the two go out for the school and office. Following all the steps and then that extra step of wrapping in banana leaf and slow cooking further requires time and concentration.... more so because you will be following someone else's recipe which feels tiring to me. I was not satisfied with the picture above, it was an afternoon but raining, the light above the dining table is too bright and the pictures look unnatural. It is not possible to use my kitchen counter for photography on a Saturday until 6 pm, its messed up! If you follow our mother in the kitchen, you would be wondering how she manages to keep the kitchen clean even when she is totally into cooking. This I wished to but could not learn from her. I did not wish to learn few other things from her.... like she is coming in two weeks, after a day or two of rest, she will start keeping a bird's watch on all the activities... whether Cristine changes her clothes after her visits to the toilet and before touching anything in the kitchen, then complaining "jamakapor rode na shukoley suddha hoyna"..... I have seen her spoiling many branded clothes of my brother and the late father just drying them in the open terrace. I tell her "see mani, my tiny hedge has few plants, they will spoil if I dry wet clothes there. In some countries they dry clothes in a drier, what would you have done then? 'roj ghar porjonto mochey na'... so?" 

Those who know our mother and her mother, they also know they would have woken up at 5am, swipe your courtyard to gate as the first ritual along with the entire home however big it is, then wipe the kitchen, then water the plants, then take shower, then do the morning prayer, then cook 4-5 items and clean and wipe the kitchen again, then wipe the entire home, then take shower again, do the afternoon prayer, then they have to have piping hot food, then they are to start the newspaper reading session, then switch on the television and sleep, then wake up and swipe the home again, do "sandhya pooja," then sleep again switching on the television until the dinner time arrives. If you have a son who wants "aloo bhaja" at 10 pm in the night, you will see her with a "boti and aloo around 10 pm cutting and frying mota aloo bhaja in the kitchen".... What would your mothers do in that time? They may do some cooking, visit your friends's place or the museum or the mall and definitely would not move the mountain on her concern on the son-in-law not taking shower before the lunch time [I am wiser, shono mani, jiboney onek kichu apochonder jinish meney nitey hoy, shanti agey] .... My mother warned me already ... "amai karo bari jete bolbi na".... she will visit the wet markets with her daughter, visit RKM, sit on a not so pricy but squeaky clean eatery enjoying a dosa or idli, ask me "dillir moto tandoori ruti paoa jai ekhaney?".... will also have "Kolkata-Chinese".... the only one we have here serving.... I never can have a foot in this island .... I found their batter fried chicken and fish not rightly cooked... the chicken smelled raw which cannot happen if it is marinated properly and deep fried for the right time period, so I cannot go gaga about their food, neither will I cook sambal ikan with sea fish and try for a name here! Do not ask me to mingle with my community here, I prefer to buy a ticket to India at regular intervals instead. 

I cannot be a famous food blogger because I am not a good observer, pleasing every other person is a waste of time for me. I do not have a book to my credit which I  think requires quality and is not everyone's cuppa. Being a versatile cook is a blissful quality too but may not be a requirement to be famous... "chomok-dhomok lokeder sange othabosha chai".... One can get publicity instantly endorsing famous brands, its collaborative actually. I do not know to photograph properly what I cook which is again a quality. Since I lack diligence, I fail to know the right way to promote myself or my dishes to be precise.  I may lack all the above qualities, but I take 11/2 hours to cook DAL ER BORA DIYE MOCHAR GHONTO and its authentic to the core. What I have learnt in these years is that the virtual world have not tasted my dishes, so they cannot trust me unless I have a famous tag attached to me. However, I will always insist when it comes to the family recipes, I cannot go wrong, I am the daughter of one of the best certified Bengali cook of her times.... who used to attend 30-40 heads serving them "fulko luchi" continuously, never cooked them beforehand. 

I still remember the teen self carrying "Kashmiri Aloor Dom" for a Subhro Mukherjee's father or "Chingri Diye Kharkon Pata Bata" for Chandrayee's father, now the brother's wife carries "shutkir bhorta" for her father... they enjoyed / enjoy besides their wive's cooking. This guy Subhro is no more in my contacts, his mother fed me, Tanushree and him from one plate on days we went for English tuition at their home after the school. I tolerated his mischiefs to a certain extent, saved him being almost caught by the police during one Durga Pooja.... but when he crossed all the limits of decency [in my eyes, may not be in yours], I had to severe ties. He hails from one of the "bonedi baris" of Shobha Bazaar, father being the cousin of the iconic Uttam Kumar & Tarun Kumar. At one point in life, one must learn to rein in the devil we all have inside us. Anyway, Subhra is just symbolic, as a childhood friend I should not have discussed the dark side of him. I cannot fake, it is better than hugging in presence and then dissecting in absence.... I see both is done in public! 

Subhro visits me often these days, the son who is desperate to go to some other land without his parents is forcing me into all kinds of sickening thoughts. However, mumma feels good that he eats "mocha - echor" these days. Mumma does not mind deboning the "bhola maach" and mixing the mochar ghonto she cooked last Saturday with some rice, squeeze some lemon juice atop. He swims in dal too, actually I found dal to be a quicker way to go down my toddler's food pipe years back. The case of Subhro hurts me, we grew up together, at some point in life he had to mend his ways!

Coming to the DAL ER BORA DIYE MOCHAR GHONTO, it is gluten-free, a perfect side to steamed rice and can be had with chapati.  If you skip adding the ghee, it becomes vegan! The lentil fritters are usually done with matar dal, I did it with masoor / red lentil because it soaks up quickly and I was in a hurry. Else red lentil fritters taste best with chopped onions and green chillies added to it! This is one of the authentic Bengali dish I have learnt from the family, innovations can be many. This week will see some of my family favourites and I will stick to my decision. One need not know Trigonometry to prepare this dish, love for the family traditions and the urge to maintain it works the best here.

Here are few more recipes with Banana Blossom on my Blog that you can browse : MOCHAR GHONTO, MOCHAR BORA O ADA DIYE MOONG ER DAL, MOCHAR CHOP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DALER BORA / LENTIL FRITTERS :

MUSHURIR DAL / MASOOR DAL : 1SMALL TEA CUP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1/2TSP
TURMERIC : A PINCH
OIL : 4TBSP TO FRY

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FINAL DISH :

BANANA BLOSSOM : 1 STANDARD SIZE OR 2 SMALL SIZED
SHREDDED COCONUT : 1SMALL TEA CUP
THE LENTIL FRITTERS
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 3-4
GINGER PASTE : 2TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
DRY RED CHILLI : 2-3
BAYLEAF : 1
CINNAMON POWDER : 1/4TSP
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/4TSP
CLOVES POWDER : 2-3PINCH
GHEE / CLARIFIED BUTTER : 1TBSP
SUGAR : 2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 3-4 TBSP [preferably mustard]

PROCEDURE :

Soak the dal in enough water for an hour. Drain the water and blend it to a paste, sprinkle water if required. Doing it in a "shil-nora" gives you the right consistency. I cannot use it.

Discard the brown coverage of the veggie. Take out the transparent case and the hardest stigma from each one. Do not forget to rub oil on both of your palms before starting with it.

Now chop them thin taking a bunch together. Soak in a container full of water for sometime, wash well. Pressure cook at the lowest heat up to 4-5 whistles adding enough water, salt and turmeric.

Once cool, drain the water. Squeeze the boiled veggie with your hand, it reduces cooking time.

Now add the salt, sugar and turmeric. Beat with your hand for 3-4 minutes.

Heat oil and add small portions to it. Fry both sides well until the top is light brown.

Add more oil to the existing one. Temper it with a bay leaf, cumin seeds, dry red chillies when hot.

Add the ginger paste and stir for 2 minutes at low heat. Add the turmeric & cumin powders, shredded coconut and stir for 1/2 a minute. 

Add the boiled banana blossoms now, stir well. Cover cook at the lowest heat for 10 minutes.

Open cover and add the slitted green chillies. Add 1/2 coffee mug of water it required.

Cover cook at the lowest heat for 5-6 minutes. Open cover and add the lentil fritters. 

Cook uncovered at low heat for 5-6 minutes stirring gently.

Now add the cinnamon + cardamom + cloves powder to wok, the sugar too. Fold in well and let cook for 2-3 minutes more.

Add the ghee, gently mix and take down.

We had it with rice, bitter gourd dal [kancha moong diye tetor dal], methi aloo [fenugreek leaves with potato]. Add your choice of fish and meat. Banana Blossom is rich in iron, so eat it often.

KOLKATA ROADSIDE STYLE POROTA O ALOO MOTORER TORKARI

It has been a recent wish to recreate this Kolkata roadside stall like "porota o holud motorer torkari" at home and share the recipe with my loving readers. As you all know that our mother never allowed us to have outside food, so we craved for them. Until age 17, I did not even taste the "feriwala's tetul o kul er achar".... she would say they are not cleaned and washed properly, "ora poka kul aar tetul beche felena." She always strived towards perfection and did have the right to say. It was in college that I tasted freedom, earned 1200-1500 rupees per month giving tuitions back in 1988-1992. So, I along with my friends took the liberty of eating out and watching movies often. 1988 did see fourteen of us notorious teens of Scottish Church College occupying a full row at Light House or New Empire watching "Blue Lagoon." The entire time span, I was in tension because my mother used to visit the New Market area often on lazy afternoons. Coming to this mother, she feels helpless when the son watches anything and everything sitting right beside her .... this Netflix needs some censorship. Anyway, I still enjoy watching the Brooks around me, I just cannot be one because I too much like such platters like this vegetarian combo meal KOLKATA ROADSIDE STYLE POROTA O ALOO MOTORER TORKARI. 

Coming to the college, we had five years of total fun and forgot to concentrate on an important aspect of life.... "text books".... regrets in life would have been less. When I was engrossed in Brook's vital statistics, Nishi was seen sitting in the library.... later who did a Phd on something related to the Medieval British poets? I cannot even write a synopsis on Shakespeare. My mantra for those concerned today is .... "time that goes never comes back"..... Okay, on a lighter note, our team leader for the "Blue Lagoon" venture was a thin, short guy... "Pancha".... had he have tried in Tollywood, he could have been the protege of Chinmoy Roy or Robi Ghosh .... no one however can be a Bhanu Babu! So, when I discovered Pancha in Facebook, I was not willing to send him a friend's request.... I do not know this husband or father of someone.... I cannot be friends with any Panchanan Bhandari! Our vast fraternity of college is spread world wide, only  one tenth of my college pals are there in my contact list ....do they still feel what & how I feel?.... that Capri sold the best "Bangla Chinese" food, that Sanatan Da's "roll and pan" is an unavoidable, lifetime nostalgia, that sharing a plate of "medu bora" with your friend in the shop just opposite the 11A bus stand near the college had immense pleasure, that Caledonia, Basanta Cabin has seen the maximum number of promises and that Hedua Swimming Pool stands tall  as a  witness for  the maximum number of broken promises and heart breaks? When I see many a long lost faces all around social media, in friends' or friends of friend's spaces.... I feel like " arey yeh to different story lag rahi hai," I saw something else at the college lawn, canteen.... at Basanta Cabin. I am at the wrong side of "Basanta".... but the eternal bird inside sings spring at all times , which the husband relates to some uncanny, abnormal traces in me. I counter, "how does it affect the world economy or anyone's home?".... I still have a friend in The Labyrinth's protagonist, the writer must have drawn inspiration from an earthly being while sketching the character.... I will not set out to look for him, I will just draw strength from my partner and tell each other  not to be silly because no one bothers.

So, where was I? Okay, however lost I am, I am in total control when I cook. Whatever little I know, I do it pretty well. The picture of this KOLKATA ROADSIDE STYLE POROTA O ALOO MOTORER TORKARI may not support my claim. I accept, I am not good at clicks. After I was done with the photography, I felt I should have used steel plates, newspapers.... Oh no! It was 9pm and I was too tired after a 8.6km of walk in the afternoon, thereafter having some watermelon even at dinner time is not a crime. It was nine at night, the husband was still not at home, how I wished to serve him fresh, warm food. At 10.20pm I enquire and he was still at office. At 11.15pm I had to reheat the food and ate together our dinner. Do you think, oats can get a Brook out of me?.... neither will I have dinner at 7pm leaving them. This morning, I cooled down after having one "bashi porota with cha"....

I will not only suggest but insist that this particular porota / flatbread that has only refined flour and baking soda in it tends to get hard soon.... a combination of refined flour and wheat flour gives you softer porota. Do not the roadside stalls in Bengal / Kolkata do it this way?.... you bet I could get that  taste. Only that their's smell excess of baking soda, if you do at home it may not be so. When I use too much of oil in the dough, my porota shapes do not satisfy me but I have seen them doing it this way. The potato and yellow peas curry at the roadside has less of yellow peas and more of potato. They do not divulge the secrets of their recipes whoever says what, I replicated as much as I saw, the "bhaja mosholar guro".... dry roasted ground spices is my addition. 

Similar recipes you may wish to browse in this Blog are  NARKOL DIYE CHOLAR DAL, LUCHI O CHOLAR DAL

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE POROTA / FLATBREAD]

REFINED FLOUR : 2-3COFFEE MUG
BAKING SODA : 1/4 TSP
OIL : 3TBSP + 1/2SMALL TEA CUP
WATER : AS REQUIRED FOR A NEITHER TOO SOFT OR TOO HARD DOUGH
SALT : 1/2TSP
SUGAR : 1TSP

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE BHAJA MOSHOLAR GURO / DRY GROUNDED ROASTED SPICE MIX]

CUMIN SEED : 1TSP
CORIANDER SEED : 1TSP
CINNAMON STICK : 2-3 STICKS TOE FINGER SIZED
CLOVE : 3-4
GREEN CARDAMOM : 3-4
DRY RED CHILLI : 2-3

INGREDIENTS : [FOR THE ALOO MOTORER TORKARI / YELLOW PEAS POTATO CURRY]

POTATO : 1BIG
YELLOW PEA : 1SMALL TEA CUP
CRUSHED GINGER : 1TBSP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1/2TSP + 1/2TSP TO GARNISH
CHOPPED ONION : 1TSP TO GARNISH
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1/2TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP
THE ROASTED & GROUND SPICES : 11/2TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
LEMON JUICE : 1TBSP
OIL : 2-3TBSP

PROCEDURE :

We need to wash and soak the dried yellow peas / holud motor in hot water for 2-3 hours or in cold water overnight. Thereafter we will pressure cook it at low up to 2 whistles adding more amount of water, a little of salt and half of the turmeric powder.

The Kolkata roadside stalls keep them a little hard, I preferred softer. Now peel off few pieces of ginger, wash and crush. We will also chop the onion and green chillies, wash them.

We will dry roast all the ingredients mentioned under "BHAJA MOSHOLAR GURO" for a minute, let cool and grind them to coarse paste.

Actually, I have seen them crushing the ginger and green chilli together. 

Peel, cube and wash the potatoes. Add little salt & turmeric. Keep aside for not more than 5 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok, temper with the cumin seeds and the crushed ginger. 

Add the potatoes.

Give a stir, cover cook at the minimal heat for 3-4 minutes stirring in between.

Open cover, add the boiled dried yellow peas, cumin + red chilli + little of turmeric powders. 

Cover cook at the lowest heat for 8-10 minutes.

Open cover, add the bhaja mosholar gura, lemon juice, adjust the salt. We should be done.

They do not add so variety of spices, not at least our neighbourhood ones but I did.

For the soda flatbreads, we will take the refined flour, salt, baking soda & sugar in a wide mouthed bowl. 

We will mix well the ingredients.

We will add water little by little to prepare a smooth dough. When 70% done, we will add 3tbsp oil.

We will knead for another 3-4 minutes, Cristine did it for me.
We will cover it for a pretty 20 minutes. Remove the cover, knead the dough for 2-3 minutes and tear off portions in accordance with the thickness and size your desired porota / flat bread.

We must smoothen them in between our palm.

We need to heat a pan & dip each ball in that bowl of oil and roll out roundels. Okay, when ever I use this much oil in the dough, I am unable to roll them round.... dusting with flour works well for me.

We would roast them well before we add 11/2tsp oil for each of the breads. They will be white in colour with light brown patches.

Enjoy the combo at any meal, take some pickle on the side!

CHILLED VEGETARIAN PASTA SALAD

This is something I have on my lunches some days. When the men at home carry pasta with lots of cheese in their lunch boxes, I ask Cristine to keep some boiled pasta aside.... later in the afternoon I prepare a salad with the pasta and few vegetables, use some store bought dressings. The thing is that do I wish to share such recipes in the blog? Is it a May Day kind of a share? What is more important is that today is the birthday of my Eye Surgeon based in Kolkata... if he sees this, he is not going to furnish me with first track appointments anymore.... today's share had to be a chicken or mutton chap or something with "ilish or chingri".... that is however a meat-o-phobic family. Then, if they set out for a foreign tour every six months, they might have trained their taste buds to different cuisines, they definitely would not get our kind of Biryani in Athens or Johannesburg. You never know, we have such friends who after a seven days of stay in Greece fell homesick, unable to eat local anymore, they followed a gentleman from Bangladesh for a couple of kilometres and requested for "dal, bhaat, aloo-sheddo, maach bhaja".... I loved and laughed at it. 

Looking at that kind of couple bond, I turn to the rebels at this home and say... "look at you, why cannot you guys agree with me in most of the matters?"....  On a tour, they will not look for Bengali eateries, that is when I prefer having oats and yogurt... I even carried "muruku" to Australia, now thinking of carrying "chirey-muri-naru" from my next trip.... I mean it. If I eat variety on tours, that is only to share my experience with my readers. Had my men agreed and bonded with me in this matter, I would have owned a "Didir Hotel" in Australia. I loved the quiet, smaller townships there with lots of greens. People who can have burgers & pizzas three times a day, who lack poetry in them will not understand my requirements. "prokritir roop rosh gondho ahoron korer jonyo ekta anubhutishil mon chai..... onekta Shirshendu, kichuta Buddhadeb Guha portey hobey, Rhitu Guhar gaan o shuntey hobey".... You see I do not care, in my broken, untrained voice, I do sing "jokhon prothom dhoreche koli amar mallika bone".... often.

When in such a mood, it is difficult to prepare a spinach & garlic stuffed bread or share the recipe of this more or less healthy CHILLED VEGETARIAN PASTA SALAD. I do these for you all who do not share similar taste buds as mine. Like the garlic tempered spinach & cheese filling I used to stuff my buns yesterday did not go with my taste bud. I did taste them, where is the spice factor? I have my share of oriental soups adding spoonfuls of chilli paste.

Some ten years back, I used to enjoy cheese, not anymore except for smoked cheese, okay, feta to an extent. I enjoy pizza, not when there is some brown rice and "shutkir bhorta or ilish-kanchalanka or mutton curry" in the refrigerator. In that case, I reserve my share of the pizza to be had by the men the next day. This salad with pasta I do enjoy if not love. This can be your easy, lunch solution. I keep a couple of salad dressings in stock. I got my hands on a Vietnamese Lemon Grass salad dressing some two months back. About a month back, I had a visiting vegetarian friend, a Marwari last month. It was our evening teatime which was actually nearer to their dinner time. I fried some pakoras and prepared this pasta salad.... I never imagined this would become such a hit with the person.... I was surprised I was unable to handle the applause. I decided to share the recipe of this vegetarian delight  CHILLED VEGETARIAN PASTA SALAD in the blog. The ingredients I have used are boiled pasta, chopped coriander + green chilli + tomato + cucumber +onion, olive oil, black pepper.

You can browse similar recipes clicking on the bold letters : CHILLED PASTA SALAD, RAW MANGO AND GREEN MOONG SALAD CHAAT, YELLOW PEAS SALAD CHAAT

INGREDIENTS :

BOILED PASTA : 1COFFEE MUG
CHOPPED FRESH CORIANDER : 2-3TBSP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1TSP [YOU CAN ADJUST OR SKIP]
CHOPPED TOMATO : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP
CHOPPED CUCUMBER : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP [I USE THE JAPANESE VARIETY]
CHOPPED ONION : 1TBSP
CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1TSP
LEMON JUICE : 1-2TBSP
VIETNAMESE LEMON GRASS SALAD DRESSING : 3-4TBSP [CHOOSE YOURS]
SALT : VERY LITTLE IF YOU WISH, CAN SKIP
OLIVE OIL : 2TBSP

PROCEDURE : 

I always add few drops of oil and some salt to the bubbling water when boiling the pasta. Once cool, refrigerate the drained and boiled pasta for an hour.

Chop the vegetables directly taken out of the refrigerator. Discard the seeds of the tomato, peel the onion well. Wash all of them thoroughly.

Get everything ready on the kitchen counter.

Better we take the pasta in a wide mouthed bowl, the mixing part gets easier. We have added every thing to the pasta except for the salt, olive oil, Vietnamese salad dressing, lemon juice.

Mix them well. Now add the lemon juice, Vietnamese salad dressing, olive oil and salt. Add the salt only if required. 

Your grandparents, parents are not watching right? Just taste a bit, make sure to wash your hands before you touch the food again. I have been scolded on several occasions for this habit [etho-katar bichar nei, ghenna lagey amar].... our mother says so!

You bet it is still cold and I enjoy having it just this way.