OATS MATAR GREENS KEBAB

 WHY WAS I BORN THIS USELESS?

Just asking! Whilst the maximum in the world are out of home latest by mid-morning to win over the world, I feel like lying down on the couch for the second time! I avoid that, do go out for a walk; but on coming back, taking shower & having a late lunch; I cannot stay awake, just wish to lie down & sleep, whilst the world is unto making important decisions!I get angry with myself of not been part of this decision making process, of being a born lethargic who loves her home & couch the most! This morning I felt less useless a self, I was cooking what you see in the pictures; it is less oily, healthy & tasty! Belonging to the food world, I felt accomplished! I wished to do something with regards to food, but I lack strong determination, am lazy; more of poor adjectives you can use about me!

I DO NOT MISS MY USUAL WALK & CLICK ON THE WAY!

Today, I took a new path, was scared if I would be able to find my way back home, sweet home! Ultimately I did get the lead to a known lane without much of a trouble, on the way I clicked those!

Your's truly is less bothered about her looks; unless my face & body gets me crores of rupees, I need not bother! I was more excited to discover something similar to "Babui Pakhir Basha"! All the way back home I wondered if it was made by a Babui Pakhi or  it is man made! This time outside, I really do enjoy!On days I do not write a blogpost, I stay some more time outside, sit at a foodcourt or eatery to have my lunch! What's there to hurry back home? Mumma's boy would not be there at home by 4:10 pm back from the school! Anyway, where ever he is, he should be hale & hearty; safe & secured always! Mumma keeps worrying about him, the daddy has a stronger heart!

WHAT IS THIS OATS MATAR GREENS KEBAB?

Your's truly is miser enough to pay for a "hara bhara kebab" sitting in a restaurant! She thinks what is there to pay for it, making it is not that difficult as dahi kebab is! I am the last person to follow ditto a chef's recipe of hara bhara kebab! I would follow my own instinct using the available ingredients in my kitchen! My kitchen definitely do not have "anardana powder", so mine would have a distinct taste & I guarantee a good taste! I have added oatmeal as a binder in this vegan, gluten-free starter / appetiser recipe; OATS MATAR GREENS KEBAB! I got a bunch of spinach for a purpose and a little of it was left to be used! I think I made a good use of it this morning, hence it was a fruitful day for me! I hope it got me some money besides my family having it! But I am not yet out of my jet lag, do not know what I wrote all this while, I wrote in my sleep literally! That is why I am angry with myself, when the world is hard working, my body is lazy enough to look for leisure at all times! I had the kebabs for my lunch but they suit the best as an appetiser!

Most of my kebabs are done in the oven, I think I am gifting you healthy food, low in oil! The only pain is the fact I could not feed the son all these for a single day, not possible sitting in an Airbnb kitchen! To a palak hater, this could be the best way to feed palak / spinach!

INGREDIENTS :

SPINACH / PALAK : A BUNCH

GREEN PEA : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

OATS : 1 MEDIUM TEA CUP

GREEN CHILLI : 2

CHOPPED ONION : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP

MINCED GARLIC : 1 TSP

CUMIN SEED : 1/4 TSP

KULAMBU SPICE MIX : 2 TSP

EVEREST KITCHEN KING SPICES : 1 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TSP

DRY MANGO POWDER : 1 TSP

CHAAT MASALA : 1/2 TSP

LEMON JUICE : 2-3 TBSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 2-3 TABLESPOON + A LITTLE TO BRUSH THE KEBABS

PROCEDURE :

I soaked both the chopped & washed spinach & frozen green peas in hot water for half an hour! Thereafter, I drained the water!

I powdered the oats & kept aside for later use! I pasted together the blanched spinach, green peas, 2 washed green chillies!

Cristine chopped & washed the onions, also the minced garlic!

I heated the oil in a wok & tempered it with the cumin seeds! I added the minced garlic to it & fried till golden brown! I added the chopped onion and fried until golden brown!

To that I added the green paste, kulambu spice mix, Everest kitchen king masala, cumin & coriander, red chilli powder, salt; folded in well & kept stir frying for 5-6 minutes!

Thereafter, I added the oatmeal, dry mango powder & chaat masala, lemon juice! I folded in well & kept stir cooking for another 5-6 minutes! I transferred the dough to a plate!

Cristine shaped them into kebabs, greased an oven proof metal plate with oil & arranged them on it, brushed with oil!

Mine is a convection mode microwave oven, I placed the low height wired stool inside & on top of it the plate!

I cooked it at 300 power for 10 minutes in the microwave+grill mode, I did not require to cook the other side! You can bake too!

Serve them immediately with the choice of sauces & dips!

If you have them fresh & hot, you get the best taste!

                             

MY STYLE MUTTON BUGLAMA

AFTER A MONTH LONG CELEBRATION TOGETHER WITH THE SON, IT FELT I MUST SOON CHOOSE A DAY TO COME BACK TO ACTIVE BLOGGING!

Not that I do not want to write new blogposts, an exercise I enjoy! Just that there was a pause to my usual routine, a sweet pause so much so that I cannot get out of the hangover! I find it unbelievable we were just half-an-hour walk from the son! And why would not I have such emotional upheaval? No one can say I ever dumped my son & went out to party! With T travelling most of the time, our son was my world! I have spent some wonderful eighteen years with him! All my decisions and actions revolved around the wellbeing & uplift of our child! That's what parents should do, else they need not get a child  on this earth! We cannot keep our child's interest at the last in the priority list, that is a criminal offence! I have always believed & expected the rest around to understand this simple fact! One's love for one's kid is an altogether different thing, we must discharge our duties for the other family members & the rest related in the society, of which duty towards building the kid's future on a strong foot is most important! There can be no second thought about it once you become a parent! One day, the son would have his own family, I / We would not be required much then, until then let us be there for him! I know I would never get him the way I have had in those eighteen years of his life, at least we should be together few times in a year until our end! To maintain a good relationship is required! That anyway majorly depends on the woman in his life, most of the girls think their man came to them from nowhere, that he has to consider her family as his! Thinking of the distance between us, I get weaker, I fear; in this situation I wish to pay maximum attention to his needs; everyone else related has a settled life, I do not need to think!

WHAT IS FOR LUNCH TODAY?

I cooked red lentil hotch-potch today! There is a specific reason why I was cooking it at 12pm on a weekday! But I refuse to make every details of my life public. Though people think my life is an open book, it is just partly true! I make public what I wish to! 

Doing this arrangement, I got late for my walk! The thing is walks, self-care, self-indulgence can wait; they are required but there is a greater call of humanity, of making oneself available as and when necessary! In her one-sided messages, this mumma does teach her son to reach out to people but keeping the self safe & sound, that is important! If a "mushur dal khichuri" has happened at home, I would have a big serving for my lunch! Thereafter, instead of going for a much desired nap, I am writing this blogpost. Its no force, I enjoy adding to my blog all new stuffs, it's as interesting as having those digestive balls, I love that of tamarind the most, but got a bottle of pomegranate balls this time!

WHAT IS THIS MY STYLE MUTTON BUGLAMA?

Few months back, I came across this lamb recipe from Azerbaijan & Georgia! I keep visiting the net to gather knowledge about recipes & various other news, that's when I came across this recipe made usually with lamb! Vegetables & meat cooked in it's own juices is not new to me! Following the family, I use little amount of water in most of the vegetables & meat, I let slow cook them in their own juices. I felt the urge to cook this Buglama recipe using mutton or lamb! Unlike our's, this recipe uses too less amount of spices, hence I had to add my inputs, like at some point whilst cooking this non-vegetarian meat curry; MY STYLE MUTTON BUGLAMA, I used red chilli powder & green chillies which was not in my plan initially! Doing this, I consulted a couple of recipes existing in the internet, not mentioning a particular one. And yes, I added some warm water, that added depth to the curry!

INGREDIENTS :

MUTTON OR LAMB : 1 KG

TOMATO : 2 MEDIUM SIZED

SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 2-3

CHOPPED CORIANDER : A SMALL TEA CUP

GARLIC PASTE : 2 TBSP

GINGER PASTE : 1 TBSP

SLICED ONION : 1 SMALL BOWL

LEMON JUICE : 5-6 TBSP

BLACK PEPPERCORN : 1/2 TSP

BAYLEAF : 2-3

CORIANDER POWDER : 2 TSP

BLACK PEPPER POWDER : 1 TSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 3-4 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

I washed the mutton pieces a couple of times in the running water & drained the water. Then I marinated the meat pieces with salt for an hour, washed them again!

I marinated the mutton pieces with the ginger & garlic pastes, turmeric powder, cumin, coriander, black pepper powder, lemon juice, a little of salt, washed sliced onions for 2-3 hours!

I heated the oil in the wok and tempered it with the black pepper & bayleaf! I added the marinated mutton to it, folded in well and covered, set the heat at the lowest!

I had let it cook at minimal heat, covered for an hour! We need to check every few minutes & stir! Thereafter, I added the washed tomato pieces & the slitted green chillies!

I folded in well & cover cooked for 15-20 minutes, removed the cover & added 2 coffee mugs of warm water & the washed chopped fresh coriander! I cover cooked it for 35-40 minutes at minimal heat!

Once done, we would transfer it to a serving bowl, serve it with breads or rice!

 

TRADITIONAL MALPUA

 

DURGA PUJA IS OVER BUT IT DOES NOT SADDEN ME ANYMORE, IT USED TO IN MY STUDENT LIFE!

I hated studies during my entire school life! I didn't enjoy most of the subjects. The school did not give us the proper guidance we required, it itself was going through a turmoil. We were made Guinea Pigs in the hands of the newbie teachers coming and going! Whilst other nearby schools had teachers well equipped with the board syllabi! Till date I regret the poor start of my academic life! I enjoyed going to the school but the academic part remained uninteresting! Once in the college, I took up the subjects that interested me but friends & chatting occupied me so much so that I proved to be an insincere student! The parents never insisted I should work, earn, have a career! Whenever a festival or a long holiday would end, I dreaded the academic part, of opening the books every evening! I never did enjoy reading the text books! Today when I see the youngsters quite focussed about what they want in life, choosing the field of study way in advance, I feel proud of them! I wish I had been sincere a bit! My regrets multiply when I see myself in a vegetative state when it comes to finding a decent job for myself, I am not eligible for any!

HOWEVER USELESS I THINK I AM, I DO NOT STOP ENJOYING THE LIFE!

I thank my men for this, they do not criticise or shame my useless self! Once the forceful association with text books were done with, life got easier! I enjoyed doing the masters & the bachelor of education degree courses because by that time you are specialising only in one area! But somehow my lack of confidence did not allow me to use my full potential! Not everyone is born with talent, any mediocre can do good in life if the person is a bit organised with an aim! Today, when I am free of the responsibilities more or less & want to earn some decent dollars, I see my lack of communication skill stands in the way of my wishes! My friends flatly say my unfriendly nature would not get me business! What they say and suggest is true but it is impossible for me to make hundreds of friends at this time to get business! I am not built for it! How beautiful it feels to walk the island alone, sit & have quiet meals! Today, I was at my doctor's, Vincent is down to the earth with absolutely no airs! Even the sisters working in his team, in both his chambers are nice! My today's lunch was this and I had it in a known food stall run by few young boys! I do not like food served on those broken plates but they give you food at the cheapest rate! Moreover, they are like my kids!

I planned not to eat anything with my evening tea but I could not keep my promise! There is an increase in weight! Not only my poor diet & lack of exercise, attaining menopause is also a major reason! Any day I enjoy only walking and swimming! I am soon to start swimming, all of my toning is gone! Also, I can feel there has been a lot of water retention!

Today I got home the local style "muri chikki" but it was too low in sweet! A little more of jaggery or sugar in it would have been better! Although I do not have an average Bengali's sweet tooth, I am weak about some varieties of sweets!

Today, it feels I am only capable of writing; pages after pages of what's there on my mind! Then, there too you have to be organised & systematic, have language skills! As per a friend who is a published author; I have to write everything in the pdf format, run after the publishers, also spend from my pocket to publish whoever agrees! Else, I need to catch an editor to organise into a format picking from my blog! But I want only my name on a book's cover! But yes, if I could pick up portions from my blog and organise into a format, get published; the second, third would have come easier; the flow comes with confidence & not all authors need to be bestsellers! I expected the men to help me with it, lazy beings like me hardly can achieve anything! A happy loner like me cannot do useless talks with people to get food orders, the very thought irritates, more irritating is when strangers ping with no intent to get me business!

WHAT IS THIS TRADITIONAL MALPUA?

Eversince I got to my senses, I had been eating malpoa and  patishapta, perhaps chushi too made from rice flour, never with semolina and refined flour! It is in my immediate family, refined flour & semolina started to be used for making "pithe-puli"! It is same for the most in the Bengali Community, that in the early 80's the female heads in the family started using refined flour & semolina in place of "atap chal" for a couple of sweet meat recipes! I had a long standing wish to do malpoa / malpua the traditional way! Okay, I have used the idly / dosa rice grain variety for making this TRADITIONAL MALPUA, that is a gluten-free, vegan fried snack, an authentic Bengali recipe! It is an immense pleasure for me to author a detailed blogpost about it! Trust me, it is easy to cook using few ingredients! But we cannot use readymade rice-flour in the recipe!

INGREDIENTS :

RICE KERNEL : 1 1/2 COFFEE MUG

BANANA : 1 OR 2 STANDARD SIZED

SHREDDED COCONUT : 1 MEDIUM TEA CUP

JAGGERY POWDER : 1 SMALL TEA CUP [USE AS PER YOUR REQUIREMENT]

SUGAR : 2 TBSP

FENNEL SEED : 1 TSP

OIL : 100-150 ML TO DEEP FRY

PROCEDURE : 

We would wash & soak the rice for at least 5-6 hours or overnight! Thereafter, we would drain the soaked water, wash again & blend the rice kernels to a paste, adding a little of water to the blender!

We cannot make it runny, neither paste like! We would take it in a bigger bowl and add the rest of the ingredients to it except the oil!

We would mix together all of them well, I did not mind using my right hand for this!

We would cover the batter for an hour, this is a must do!

We would stir the batter before starting to fry! We would heat the oil in a wok but not to the smoking point! 

We would use a deep bottomed, round spoon for the purpose! Before frying each one, we would stir the batter to avoid deposits in the bottom!

When one side browns, we would turn over & brown the other side! The oil should never be too hot!

Hold the perforated ladle above the wok for a while to drain as much oil as possible and then place each on to a tissue paper for sometime before transferring to a serving bowl!

If you want round, fluffier malpoa, use a round shaped, deep bottomed wok & more of oil; if flatter ones, use a wok like mine!

If you eat them fresh & hot, they would taste crisp! The use of banana softens the interior! If storing for a later use, refrigerate once they are cold, take out an hour before, re-heat at the lowest power for 30 seconds before having! Or you may not reheat, just eat at normal temperature!