PEA SHOOTS GREEN MOONG DAL & COCONUT PEANUT RICE

I am getting more forgetful with each passing day, I think I need to talk to my friend Dr. Nishi Pulugurtha who had been dealing  with two dementia patients for long, her mother-in-law just passed away. She does write besides managing her students and friends, travelling.... want to read? I like them, specially the accounts of her short tours. Coming to the plating, it was last Saturday, I had the burden of cleaning after all the cooking. Forget about the stepwise pictures! If you call it lack of sincerity on my part, I accept... the reason why I or people like me never can excel. Life got laborious in Cristine's absence, but I got two part-time helps coming for me every alternate day... they are nice! I should thank two known women for helping me out in this matter.... its really tough to get real helps when you need it... they did it! Thishome believes in a different ideology and we are celebrating today a special occasion.... a non-vegetarian share had to go up... then I felt okay let it be on the next day! The son is having his periodic examinations, I am not the kind of a mother who will go out on a dinner date to celebrate leaving the son alone at home! There is a reason why my brother could not get out of his mother's lap till date! There is a reason why his wife runs to her parent's home six days a week.... they brought up their two girls amidst hardships and pretty well....! I am cooking today with whatever ingredients are available at home... non vegetarian off course! As of now, let us explore this wholesome, vegetarian meal option PEA SHOOTS GREEN MOONG DAL & COCONUT PEANUT RICE...

People around are also celebrating their special days... a big sister like's son in Kolkata has his birthday.... unfortunately I am unable to go Bengali today for another reason... I cannot get along with shallowness in people... I am an idiot but I love those who are classy as is defined in my dictionary! Leave that, it was an angel's birthday too, then two of my loving friends' too... a boy and a girl.... I know today is the marriage anniversary of a Punjabi sister like who shifted to Ontario some two years back... the son was a littler student, last met when her daughter was born... Rupinder Syan.... forgot our beautiful island and plays with snowballs these days.... forgot her small, cosy flat here and shows off their plush, spacious bungalow.... However, she had been a beautiful soul, a science teacher here.... so this healthy, vegetarian platter of PEA SHOOTS GREEN MOONG DAL & COCONUT PEANUT RICE do they deserve. 

We can eat anything and everything at home. Look at this lazy self... I am packing their lunch box with left over egg curry that Ipsita has sent and stale rice "bhaja", store bought parantha, this and that! All the big talks I give on health boils down to a big, round coconut cookie.... Curse me people, I got a big box of pea shoots to eat as a salad at my lunch! By the way, always cling wrap cut fruits.... stop eating Romaine Lettuce for a while.... according to a Tasty's Facebook post, there is again an "E-coli" outbreak! After my appendix was removed, the daddy was told to stop my meat intake and lessen the amount of green, leafy stuffs... I have a problem of colitis.... I am alive till 48.... I will go and have a "bak-kut-teh" for lunch because dinner will be rice with meat.

INGREDIENTS : [for the COCONUT PEANUT RICE]

FINE BASMATI : 1COFFEE MUG
SHREDDED COCONUT : 1MEDIUM CUP
ROASTED PEANUT : 2TBSP
SKINLESS BLACK GRAM DAL : 1TBSP
CURRY LEAF : 10-12
BLACK MUSTARD SEED : 1/4TSP
DRY RED CHILLI : 3-4 [HALVED]
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4TSP
TAMARIND JUICE : 2TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 4-5 TBSP

INGREDIENTS : [for the PEA SHOOTS GREEN MOONG DAL]

GREEN MOONG DAL : 1SMALL CUP
PEA SHOOT : 1MEDIUM BOWL
MINCED GARLIC : 1TBSP
MINCED GINGER : 1TSP
SLICED ONION : 1SMALL CUP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLIES : 3-4
CHOPPED TOMATO : 1MEDIUM CUP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1TSP
GARAM MASALA POWDER : 2TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP +1/2TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
BAYLEAF : 1
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 2TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Let us do the PEANUT COCONUT RICE  at first!

Wash and soak the rice for 1/2 an hour. Cook it at low to medium heat until 70% done!

Transfer it to a strainer and let the water drain.

Heat the oil in a wok, add the skinless black gram dal, black mustard seeds, halved dry red chillies. As the dal turns little brown and the mustard seeds splutter, add the curry leaves.

Give a stir and add the shredded coconut. Stir at medium heat for 3-4 minutes. They will turn golden brown and ummm what an aroma.

Add the peanuts and stir for half a minute. Add the cooked rice, salt as required, tamarind juice and the turmeric powder. Stir gently for 2-3 minutes at medium heat.

We are done, transfer to a rice bowl, ready to be served.


Now, let us do the PEA SHOOTS GREEN MOONG DAL.

I washed and soaked the dal in hot water for 2-3 hours. Adding little more water, turmeric powder and salt, I boiled it at low heat for 15-20 minutes. Add more water if required. I love them little mushy.

Wash the pea shoots and add very little salt to them, rub well.

In a clean wok, I heated 2tbsp oil. I tempered it with cumin seeds and a bayleaf. I added minced garlic and ginger and stirred for 1/2 a minute. 

I added the sliced onion and stirred till it turned golden brown; then added the chopped tomatoes.

As the tomatoes melted, I added the turmeric and cumin powders, salt, slitted green chillies; then stirred for half a minute.

I then added the boiled dal, mixed well and cover cooked at low heat for 5-7 minutes. Thereafter, I removed the cover, added the pea shoots and garam masala powder. Then I stirred and simmered for another 4-5 minutes. We can add some warm water if required. We should be done! You can add some butter before serving!

We had a lamb curry alongside... oh! what a meal it was.

CHIRER MURKI

You see I am yet to get out of that aura that a lamb kebab creates... we had Middle Eastern Food yesterday and this family is a fan of it... I was thinking of writing a poem on my love for kebabs, then felt that for two days I am telling people that I will be blogging on this healthy sweet snack CHIRER MURKI ... I should! I do not have any problem switching from a kebab to an authentic Bengali primitive food as this... I love food in general. The men took burgers in their lunch boxes and mangoes in their snack boxes. What are you thinking.... I should not have given it to them after a dine out yesterday? I know, but after a weekend... Mondays make me feel very lethargic. There were some store bought chicken burger patties ... deep fried them and added mayo, cheese slice, tomato slice to the bread and packed. I scolded myself .... the husband is better... the son removes the lettuce and tomato from the burger and eats. Anyway, I do not pack all these for them more than twice a month.... but they eat a Mac Meal every week... I cannot do anything about it. What I do is that I prepare a varied kind of fried rices & pulao or chapati / ruti / porota .... stuffed or otherwise and feed them. 

Yesterday evening, when I was wearing a dress I discovered that I am looking like a football... I am not getting any motivation... food rules my life so much.... The mother or both the parents were worried since my childhood that how the daughter got to be so lazy in a sports loving family... This morning I sat with these sunflower seeds.... have to lessen the carb intakes.... My favourite old Dr. Chang told me last to last week that we cannot be too strict with diet in this island where there is food everywhere... what we can do is follow a moderately strict routine from Monday to Friday and indulge over the weekends.... which I was doing some 2-3 years back... I do not know why I cannot overcome the lust for fried, unhealthy food. Some really good clothes in stock are lying in the dark corner of the wardrobe.... many I had given to Cristine's sister... Cristine is "tomboyish" and wears only half-pants, trousers and t-shirts. When I landed in this island and gradually lost some 11 kg, I did buy some really short and bare frocks... Then one day someone inside asked me to look at the mirror.... I felt disgusted... they just do not go with my persona... I am so unable to carry them... Then, if you have a husband like mine he will say... " S... if you are wearing a spaghetti strapped dress.... do not put a shrug on it... no one is interested in your legs and arms".... I get even more irritated.... to me not all eyes are purified and gave away packets of dresses to Cristine for distribution... I am not a rich lady but this is a reason.... I wish to shop a lot of salwar suits, saree and long dresses this time from Kolkata... By the way, I sit just like this and write my posts on a week day morning.... not that my men are disturbing in nature.... but I prefer seclusion while trying to concentrate on something!

The husband got this MacBook Air specifically for me... so that I explore and learn something! You all know me, I only use it to write blog posts. He got me this when I asked for a pair of diamond earring .... imagine who I live with! This computer box is a fearful thing to me, the reason why I sit at home.  I left the job at the last school for this reason.... I hated those routine works of preparing lesson plans... what is the need of it, damn it. A teacher and student's interaction should be free flow... it comes from within... a teacher will do some home work prior to the next class and never read from the text book.... just use it as a reference.... Many may remember Bengal's syllabi and way of teaching in our time.... students mugging up ten years question paper and vomiting in the answer scripts.... that does not create leaders and think tanks.... and that faulty education system gets dumbos like me a master's degree with pretty good numbers.... useless... absolutely!.... I am happy that the son is in a different system and doing it all by himself... and his friends too are doing better without a private tutor for each subject. When the husband was a friend long back.... he used to say looking at the interviews of the "first boy or girl in Madhyamik".... 'do not they feel shy to say that they had nine private tutor for each of nine subjects? It is the teachers who should get the award!' Today I feel it is true in a way!

The above does not have any connection with today's food share, perhaps loving to eat CHIRER MURKI since my childhood made me a nut.... Had the mother fed me some "brahmi shaaker juice" .... I could have got a clue why the two trains criss-crossing each other stopped at a point instead of taking their own courses. Only KC Nag's Alzebra book saved me you know!

Anyway, I may not have learnt Mathematical Equations at all.... neither Life's Equations .... toughest seems the Social Media Equation .... Until six months back I thought we should like those posts that seems beautiful to our eyes.... gosh! It turned out to be something else! I am the kind who says to herself.... "nikuchi koreche liker.... beshirbhag jinish dekhbo na, bhabbo na, like botamey angul choabo na"..... Instead I go out for walks, go down and enjoy the ripples, will do until the residents complain of a rhino playing water polo in the swimming pool .... and yes.... take some silly clicks... Not sharing them? Ok, will do that when my mood permits! In between all these.... my cooking venture continues... in fact takes the lead! One such day, I prepared this CHIRER MURKI ... During our childhood, I saw the grandmother made tins of them .... 'Chirer Moya' was what I was up to this time.... but one needs a bit more expertise to bind together the cooked mixture of flattened rice or beaten rice and jaggery.... so the lazy me went ahead with a murki. My men will not touch it... its a personal favourite snacker. CHIRER MURKI requires few ingredients to be made...... beaten rice... the thicker, chewy variety....good quality jaggery, peanuts, ginger extract, camphor powder a bit, shredded coconut ... thats it.

INGREDIENTS :

Chirey / Flattened or Beaten Rice : 250gm [I used the thicker variety]
Jaggery / Anker Gur / Bheli Gur : 75gm [I used a bit of coconut rock sugar & sugar crystals too]
Toasted Peanut or Mixed Dried Fruit : 2-3tbsp
Ginger Extract : 2tsp
Camphor Powder : 2pinch

Ghee / Clarified Butter : 1 tbsp
Shredded Coconut to garnish when you eat

PROCEDURE :

"Chirey takey kulotey niye ektu jherey nao"..... Most of us do not have a "kulo".... so we will take a big strainer .... add the beaten rice to it and .... hold it with two palms and move it in slow, circular motion for 2-3 minutes.... 

Heat a clean wok not used for making curries or anything that uses turmeric to moderate and add the clarified butter; add and dry toast the beaten rice & mixed dry fruits for 3-4 minutes. Take down and keep in a bowl.

Now heat the same wok again! Add the jaggery, coconut rock sugar & sugar crystals, a small cup of water. Keep stirring and whatever scum deposit atop we see, we have to remove and throw away that!

We will add a bit of ghee now if we wish to!

Once the jaggery gets sticky which may take some 7-8 minutes of slow cooking, we will add the ginger extract & camphor powder, mix well.

Let us add the toasted chirey or flattened rice now and fold in very well so that each grain of the beaten rice is coated well. 

Switch off the gas. Transfer the entire amount to a bowl and keep in open until it cools down.

Now, we can keep it in a clean, airtight container for 4-5 days without refrigeration. 

Whenever you wish to pour some amount on a bowl, garnish with shredded coconut and enjoy... get a cup of tea for yourself if you are someone like me!

DOI MUTTON

I was wishing to blog about something that is a family love for quite sometime. It was not happening for this or that.... Finally, I decided today that I am not going to look "hither and thither" and share the recipe for this DOI MUTTON with my loving readers. Mutton is a bimonthly or even trimonthly matter at this home. Whoever says what, I cannot stop having this one red meat in this lifetime. I have almost stopped having pork.... only two variety of preparation do I like .... sweet & sour pork and 'bak kut teh'.... The son loves sausages & bacon way too much.... I discourage cooking or having them at home. However, when I look at their breakfast plates while on any tour, I wonder were they at all born in Kolkata to an average Bengali family? So, the lady makes it a point to pack their lunch boxes with "desi food".... The father will stay with me, he is bound to have Bengali food until I die. The son once leaves home will eat whatever he wishes to or will he be like his mother who after leaving her mother started loving all the heirloom, vegetarian family recipes? I do not know.... just trying to cherish the moments together.... I enjoy this after school scenario at home. Someone thinks mumma stares at him way too much, hence, such barriers are created. You cannot talk but you have to sit and watch what he watches.

Do not blame me, even our P used to tell me mani is always chanting son...son.... son.... not letting him to be independent. I was really worried for a long time thinking if any girl would agree to marry my brother or not! Coming to me, you see a total of nine years was spent alone with the offspring, I got help from both set of the parents but I never took advantage of them.... if I have given birth, it is my responsibility.... My own parents had to wait long for getting my attention.... I was so much of a pet of the maternal grandparents. They had to wait till I got admitted to that 'Benglish' School and made some good friends and beyond... haha! I know I have a weird kind of attachment with the son, I enjoy it and I do not care who thinks what about it. What I do at times to the husband is not fair to him though.... I keep muttering "I will elope with the son.... flee with him to an undisclosed location"..... this is done when he instigates the son to choose an university at that 'bahargaon'. Then I get kind and cook a favourite of this nuclear family.... DOI MUTTON .... send virtually to the rest of the family in India!

The question is this  DOI MUTTON authentic Bengali at all? I mean we are having yogurt marinated mutton / chicken / fish since childhood but at our home, however not at the grandparent's home. Leave it.... even tomato was "biliti begun" some hundred years back. Talking beyond this needs research which I hardly do. Our mothers learnt new recipes from different families who need not be Bengali alone just like my maternal grandmother learnt different kinds of steamed 'pithe'... desi cakes from the Assamese.... I am eager to try the jaggery, coconut and rice flour cake of Bangladesh origin? I can identify with a number of Southern Indian recipes. I could eat that smelly sea fish Batang only because I used tamarind juice and a couple of spices and simmered it for long. Saying "I love North Indian Food" and "I can identify with South Indian Food" has a different meaning .... we have some common interest with the later or even with Maharashtra... "chal, narkol, gur, til, maach".... I did not go for my kind of fish this week.... for whom I will cook them? People are not interested in smaller sized 'rui-katla'... deboning them is a hard task for them! I felt let Cristine come back. I got a sea bass to cook with 'aloo-kanchakola'.... lets see if it suits my taste bud! In Kolkata, bhetki was never our priority except for it's fillet! Hello Bongs there... have you ever tried "bele maacher gurguri?"... The mother's youngest sister does it awesome... bele maach cooked with ridge gourd strips in minimal spices.... what is the English name of Bele? Whats the point knowing? Had I have lived in Bengal after this blog was created.... I definitely would have shared the numerous, family fish recipes from my side..... the husband's side does not even know the names of those fishes.... limited to 'rui-katla-aar-dhai-boyal-pabda-tyangra-chitol'.... Taken together one of the best choices of both the families, let us have some DOI MUTTON .... the non-vegetarian meat dish gets its thickness from the use of yogurt... not really much spices are used. 

INGREDIENTS :

MUTTON / LAMB : 1KG
PLAIN YOGURT : 250GM
BLACK PEPPER POWDER : 1TSP [FRESHLY GROUND, COARSE]
ONION PASTE : 1/2MEDIUM CUP
GARLIC PASTE : 2-3TBSP
GINGER PASTE : 2TSP

GREEN CHILLI PASTE : 2 TBSP
GARAM MASALA POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1TSP 
CINNAMON STICK : 2-3 TWO INCH SIZE
GREEN CARDAMOM : 3-4
CLOVES : 3-4
BAYLEAF : 1
3-4 SLITTED GREEN CHILLIES TO BE ADDED TOWARDS THE END IF YOU WISH
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 4-5TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Wash the mutton or lamb thoroughly under running water. Drain all the water. 

Beat the yogurt well and add to the mutton. Add the black pepper, salt as required, half of the ginger & garlic paste, 1tsp turmeric to it. Mix very well so that the mixture is spread evenly and each piece of the mutton or lamb is coated well.

Transfer the entire content along with the marinade into an airtight container. Refrigerate at least for 5-6 hours. 

Take out 1hr before we start to cook.

Heat the oil in a wok and temper with the bay leaf, cinnamon sticks, green cardamoms and cloves.

Add the remaining ginger and garlic paste, the green chilli paste  and stir for 2 minutes. Add the onion paste and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add little salt & fold in well.

Add the mutton or lamb pieces without the marinade. Stir at high heat for about 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat to minimum and add the marinade. Fold in well and cover cook for 1/2 an hour. We need to uncover every 5-7 minutes and give a stir. We are to check the water content.

Once the water dries up.... add 2 coffee mugs of water. The mother always asks to add warm water... I am not that particular.

Cover cook at minimal heat for another 15-20 minutes. 

Uncover, add the garam masala and slitted green chillies [if using], adjust the salt. Cook for another 7-8 minutes at minimal heat, covered.

Transfer to a serving bowl, enjoy with bread & rice varieties!

BAKED MALAI

Today, I really wished to share an old blogpost and jump onto a cleaning spree, Cristine has turned this 1150 sq.feet. space into a dumping ground.... torn, discarded clothes, towels, utensils.... I am weeping and cleaning one room at a time. Then there is a husband shouting at you saying it is not Cristine's fault, it is the lack of proper instructions on my part. Really it is, I see myself busy getting hundreds & thousands of viewers to the blog when my home turned into a garbage bin. Now that I am back in to the track, I am  confused where to start from... Harpic has spoilt my hands, but the toilets are shining... happy I am! I cannot blame the husband.... it is I who told him that I do not want money, I do not want you to sit at one place and stagnate! Saying so, I just wish to put through a message to some beautiful people that if you want the husband to have dinner with you everyday at 7pm -8pm, accompany you to the supermarket whenever you wish to, follow the routine of dining with you in a restaurant every weekend, you are restricting him from moving ahead... his career gets a setback. Well, every home has its own priorities and I should not poke my flat nose always, I do not earn a penny what almost all of you do! 

Grapes are sour you know... the husband is not there at home most of the time, since I am not a social being I do miss his presence! When he is there we do enjoy time together, with "jhalmuri & cha".... wife gets bitter gourd chips for herself and he has to crack jokes on that.... yes every Saturday & Sunday is his "finer drinking days".... weekdays are for "beer".... the wife has to get it from the shop. He totally lost interest in two things .... Photography and Shopping .... specially of raw materials. He bought his first camera spending few hundred dollars long back... that got spoilt... then this present DSLR which made a tour of Turkey without being used. Every day he carried it and did not use saying... "wifey you are clicking... that is enough"..... Arey wifey cannot take photographs man, she just aims and clicks.... Then she has to keep many things in her head before a click.... "Boss wait wait.... delete that photograph where I am sitting under the tree.... Why wifey, you are looking good.... Arey nahi yaar.... you have to have certain qualifications to get clicked in that pose".... I did not go for further clarifications, no point, he hates social media.... opens it only on his birthday at one time.... did not even say a thank you to few good people who wished him late including his dear friend... Madhuchanda.... I told him from next year he should open it a day later and say thanks to all... that is decency! 

You see, even if I divulge few secrets to the man, he will not hurl abuses at me.... ours was not a marriage of convenience, neither that of romance but two good friends who came together taking one damn chance to get back into life and build a happy home. Doing that, I cook a family dessert like this BAKED MALAI, besides eating together "jhalmuri, cha" and watching "Sanju" in Netflix! The couple at this home  is a Ranbir Kapoor fan and the husband says he is going to rule. It is not the movie that you will miss if you do not watch .... but I liked always how in real life Sunil Dutt tried hard to get his "gone wrong" son back in to track, how his sisters stood strong beside him all through and how his present wife made him a calmer, homely person. A strong family bond saves a life for sure! I loved the last scene where he tells his son and daughter they should make their grandfather their idol and not their father. When I used to stay alone with my toddler for months, I watched his "Munnabhai" series to keep myself cherry-merry.... Sanjay Dutt & Arshad Warsi make an amazing pair...

Coming to BAKED MALAI, it was again a failed attempt which dumbos like me usually make. I was actually trying to prepare a "sandesh".... sweet that is authentic of my place of birth. I am 4yrs into blogging and yet not delivered an ode to my birth place! The problem is that there is no clear recipe of it in the internet, except for a vague one. I requested my veteran, family members to ask the oldest sweet shop there for the recipe.... the family is getting its sweet from that shop for 50-55 years now. They say they will never share the secrets of the recipe. All my cousins are scattered in different parts of India and abroad, the old people do not even know what a food blog is, how dear it is to my heart! From the vague hint I got, we are to boil the milk, collect the "shor".... malai / cream from the top and bake. The thing was not clear to me. Only the son drinks milk at this home, that too chilled.... 

I thought may be trying with fresh cream will help.... It did not work but we ended up into a soft, creamy dessert BAKED MALAI that has to be eaten chilled. What did I learn from this fault of mine? Not always does a short cut method gets us what we wish... working hard matters! However, the family and few guests liked it! If you are looking for a vegetarian combo meal to be served before this yummy, vegetarian dessert BAKED MALAI, my earlier blog post about SWEET PULAO WITH SPICED POTATO  is just perfect! Eat everything first, you can feel the guilt afterwards.... I usually do that.... there is only one life! You see the CURRY AND SPICE Blog is not meant for all these, I am yet to share "kanchakolar khosha bata" or "chingri-kumror bati chochori".... "kabhi kabhi karna parta hai".... certain commitments are made without applying any condition!

INGREDIENTS : 

FRESH CREAM : 4TIN [I always buy Nestle, Bulla is better?]
SUGAR : 11/2TBSP
BLACK CARDAMOM SEED : 1/3TSP
DRY FRUITS & NUTS TO GARNISH

PROCEDURE :

After I failed in my attempt, I felt there definitely have chena / paneer in the sweet. Like my baked sandesh recipe is somewhat near to what I was trying to get on that day!

Anyway, the tins were cut... haha!

Now, pour all the content on a big bowl. Add the sugar and cardamom seeds, stir & mix. 

Pour the entire content on a bake proof bowl. Tap lightly on the kitchen counter and use the back of your spoon to level atop. Show your power of banging on your husband if he refuses to gift you jewelry and saree!

I preheated my convection mode microwave at 200*C.

I placed the low wired tool inside and placed the bowl atop.

I baked it for 12-15 minutes at 200*C.

I did not get what I wished for, but this is something tasty & good that is not to be regretted! We liked the thin crust outside and the soft creamy texture below it. Once cold, I set it to chill in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. 

I took out the bowl and garnished it with chopped pistachios.

BEET GAJAR ALOOR PUR BHORA POROTA

Such humble platters are catching my fancy these days.... with unavailability of my kind of fish here in this island.... I am perhaps leaning towards vegetarian food. That does not make me less of a fish lover, just waiting for the India visit coming December... I have to feed myself and the husband 'hasher dimer jhol', 'kochi pathar jhol', 'aar, boyal, dhai, koi, tyangra'... 'kajoli & charapona' for myself... The son goes to Barrackpore, plays car games and 'dimma, nono, Bidisha Aunty' take good care of his food... No romantic liaison does happen with the husband during the  holiday.... I have no time.... "Pradip Bonya dir bari theke amai ekta gas cylinder ene dao na, kuri taka debo cha khete".... "Nirmal ekta mistiri pathao bhai dorjar kobja bhengeche".... "then there is a Khokon.... who promises now and comes after two days".... One can see the wife cleaning the floors with a mixture of oxalic powder and surf.... the husband shouts why one has to do all these when one makes a six monthly or yearly visit. I do not know what to say to this... I mean I cannot stay in filth for 20 days .... come on. The mother sets it for us to get in and then it is solely my responsibility! 

I am not a single child, the child like brother is heavily dependent on his mother! Only the father-in-law and the mother understand my ordeal because they sweat it out for the family! These girls Bonya & Paramita help me a lot. There are 4-5 eye surgeons including my friend Dr. Monalisa Pramanik and the fatherly figure Dr. Debashis Roychoudhuri da within our condominium, the reason for going to Arup da are two... one is that my entire family goes to him ever since we had shifted to Barrackpore. If you visit Disha Eye Hospital at Barrackpore, you will know about his fame... his name features just after the founder Dr. Debasish Bhattacharya.... Secondly, he always gives some kind of vocal tonic & moral boost to the son that his father does not! I very much wish to arrange a get together with these 5-6 families, specially when T is there... but unable to.... I work with few spices there... there is no trolley system ... Spencer is 200mt. from our main gate but how to carry stuffs back home? We do not even have a free car service! Wise people will understand my inability to socialise there anymore. The few school friends who are there do I call home because they are few in number, rest are located elsewhere! 

You see Life of an Expat on a holiday may not be the same! Misunderstandings should be cleared.... there had been complaints why a food blogger gives a treat outside... this is the reason.... I can just go, talk over phone and come back.... but friends matter to us.... we make it a point to meet! The man has to spend a night with one Joy Ghosh and visit a car & bike showroom in Shyambazaar... that bald headed guy ... Peerless head SK Roy's nephew... 45 years of relationship you know ... I do not poke my flat nose into that! Anyway, life seems hopeful when a Madhuchanda Dey Ghosh consoles saying that T still helps a lot, Partha Dey does not even know anything about how a home is run.... The conditions he set before marriage were clear.... "I have to remain focussed to reach the top, my career comes first." One of the top honchos of a leading bank in India, he could be at Sundar Pichai's place but luck does matter.... I do believe it is a factor!

 Look at my ruti / chapati this morning.... I am not this lucky everyday.... I do not do a ruti the right way, while rolling, it should move by itself and form a circle. I have to touch it and change position while rolling. They love it so much so that I had to learn making it finally at age 35. Fluffing up of a chapati depends on the correct heating of the pan. I packed their lunch boxes with "ruti o kumror tarkari" today.

Their snack box had a left over pizza we ordered on Saturday evening and a banana -jaggery bread I made yesterday evening.

Look at me, what I am eating early morning! From where and how will I lose a pound?

Anyway, however poor I am with stuffed parathas, I do them twice or thrice a month for practice and get smile to the family.... this BEET GAJAR ALOOR PUR BHORA POROTA looks better in shape... isn't it?

Cristine may be on leave, but our movie going ventures at night continues. I am not  keen about  leaving the son alone for 3 hrs..... if not ghosts, he is scared of flies... "cockie & tiktik".... for the husband and the couple friends do I agree! Ipsita & T want kids to be independent. I know it is required.... but I am our mother's daughter, how to? Last Monday, we watched Saif Ali Khan's Bazaar.... the husband says its a remake of the movie Wall Street with an Indian twist.... I do not understand finance yet went for my favourite actor.... Today we will be going for Thugs of Hindustan.... the son does not say anything but I can sense the displeasure on his face.... he does not chat with mumma-babai but they have to stay around. Look who visited our home to deliver the food "ucche bhaja, kumro shaak aloo diye o sultan maacher patla jhol" that Ipsita had cooked... its their Kaizu.... he is a rescued pup that they adopted.... he loves me and do greet me licking my feet when I visit. The son did not eat Ipsita aunty's 'maacher jhol' because mumma cooked GOAN PRAWN CURRY at home. I did send it to them but they do not wish a prawn curry from me but an authentic panchmeshali torkari or loti shorshe narkol or kochur shaak. 

Coming to the sultan fish, it tasted like rui maach... sweeter and oh! so fresh.... off course sourced from a Bangladeshi store. I will be asking Ipsita's husband tonight and visit there with my trolley on Thursday.... loved it! The son will get some meat and salmon or prawn! Problem solved! The husband or his mother is not in the habit of deboning fish.... to that I doubt whether they are truly Bengali or not, one who does not eat smaller sized "tyangra / pabda, charapona" cannot be called a Bengali.... those "bherir" farmed, big sized, fleshy 'tyangra / pabda' are not near to the taste of the real ones. To me, farmed fish is unwelcome. Well, you are right, at times I feel like retiring at a farm house in Hoogly, Nadia or Murshidabaad district. I wish few particular things these days.... like I do not have the guts to travel alone, else you would have seen me at Leh-Ladakh any day.... alone! No one will say... "akele akele kahan ja rahein ho... hamey bhi tumharein saath le jao.... akele... akele"..... anyone? haha! I wonder how my blogger friend Navanitham Krishnan travels alone... I can only say kudos to that! 

The husband does not wish to go to Leh Ladakh, I do not force.... when I broke down watching the film featuring the song "akele hai to kya gam hai" back in 1988... it was T who helped me stand straight and move ahead .... Leave that, he is good enough to have that BEET GAJAR ALOOR PUR BHORA POROTA with the pickle and yogurt, but the son? Nope, he needs something like this CASHEW MUTTON alongside.... but he does not mind having a stuffed paratha just like that.... he may eat the chapattis today without the veggies.... Then I do make good use of leftover vegetable dishes, will share later the idea. Anyway, the initial plan was to make vegetable cutlets, but again I got late and made these parathas.... was I good with the planning?

INGREDIENTS : [for the stuffing]

Beetroot : 1medium sized
Carrot : 1standard sized
Potato : 2medium sized
Salt : As Required
Cumin Seed : 1/2tsp

Cumin Powder : 2 tsp

Coriander Powder : 2 tsp

Dry Mango Powder : 2 tsp

Red Chilli Powder : 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder : 1/4tsp

Asafoetida Powder : 2-3 pinch

Cornflour : 1 tbsp
Oil : 1 tbsp

INGREDIENTS : [FINAL ASSORTMENT]

The Cooked Stuffing
Refined Flour : 1coffee mug
Wheat Flour : 1/2coffee mug
Salt : 2pinch
Oil : 1tbsp + 1tsp for each paratha / porota

PROCEDURE :

At first, we will wash the beetroot, carrot and potatoes; peel them, cut further and pressure cook at low adding a coffee mug of water and little salt up to 2 whistles.

Once cold, we will open the cover and take the content on a big bowl. We need not drain the water but mash it well.

We will heat the oil in a wok and temper with the cumin seeds & asafoetida.

We will add the boiled & mashed beetroot, carrot and potato to the wok and fold in well.

We will add all of the powdered spices except the dry mango powder & fold in well, keep stir cooking!

We will add the dry mango powder & stir cook for a minute!

We will add the cornflour, fold in well & take down the wok!

The stuffing is ready, let it cool on a plate.

Take both the flours, 1tbsp oil, salt in a wide mouthed bowl.

Rub for 2-3 minutes.

Add water little by little to form a smooth dough that may take 5-7 minutes.

Keep it covered for 10-12 minutes!

Tear out portions, smoothen between your palms and make pockets.

Fill with the stuffing. Close properly. 

Dust your rolling base with some flour. Dust each stuffed balls and use the rolling pin softly on them to roll out roundels. 

Do not press hard.... else the stuffing comes out. I am also not good with stuffed parathas!

Heat a pan. Place an uncooked paratha and roast both side till 60% done. Add 1tsp oil and cook both sides well!

We had them with a variety of pickle!