SPICY BHUTTA STUFFED OATS SNACKER

I WAS CAUGHT UP WITH THIS AND THAT SINCE THE MORNING!

In between I managed to prepare this stuffed snack; vegan, gluten-free and air fried! I have a reason to be happy, else the MacBook charger not working all of a sudden left me crazy. I am managing with an old wire, Cristine gets these solutions. I do not disturb the man when at office unless something is serious. He does not even take the calls. I wonder why an Apple product would dysfunction in little over a year. The son did not take our call last night is a reason enough to make me sad. I do not get angry at him, visiting that city two times made me understand the situation there. He stays in a temporary, rented home with minimal stuffs, he does not get the home feel. Even in the rain or snow, he has to arrange his meals by himself. He has his studies and now a shifting. I do not know whether to stop hoping for his admission in the city's other university. He is there until August, let us see. Only last month, around this time we were with him. Mumma never would get enough of him, at least he should stay safe always, that I pray for every minute. Thousand and one times we have pleaded him to talk to us often, he sticks to his own will. Cooking and Blogging keeps me sane, also the OTT platforms. 

YESTERDAY TOO I WAS DOING SOME EXPERIMENT IN THE KITCHEN!

For long, I had been watching semolina coated fish fries doing the round in the social media. I haven't seen it ever been done within the family, not a Bengali concept either. For any experimental recipe with fish, I choose the cheapest Basa / Sutchi fillet variety that is odourless. If my attempt fails, less of the money would be wasted. The son too has learnt to compare the prices of commodities of the various stores. As tourists, we ended up paying higher prices and he kept scolding us. He was also scolding us for wearing sweaters in a weather which he was thinking to be pleasant. In mumma's head, there had one word roaming; hypothermia, all her effort to advice the son went into vein. It seems peace in life has gone for ever. We got habituated living under an umbrella, want the same for the son. I was unable to accept the bare minimality of his home, more when I saw a lampshade or a discounted bed spread set at the Target. I was wanting to buy and decor his home. I forgot he is a student; he is at one place in the present, tomorrow he would be elsewhere. Mumma just wants to make his living space look like a home. He hardly is taking any interest and then I told any girl in  his place would have set the room & kitchen area nicely. Well, we had almost oil-free semolina coated fish fry and air fried potatoes for our lunch yesterday. My question is why the top did not brown? The potatoes were just perfect, why would I even deep fry?

At night, we had rice with fish kofta, cauliflower leaf & stalk bharta, pointed gourd-potato curry and lentil curry. Saturdays & Sundays I eat like a monster and gain weight by the Monday; again loose some by the Friday and the cycle goes on. Our son did not take the call, the in-law's son did not take their call. Amidst the chaos; the brother's video call last morning was pleasant; I was happy to see the newly renovated home but the way I wanted it would have costed him double the huge amount he has already spent. If the house was located beside the Barrackpore station, I would have insisted them to stay there forever and completely renovate it to a modern set up. I have no greed for that property, I have interest in my brother's upscaled living, he did not get himself a life he was capable of.

WHAT IS BHUTTA STUFFED OATS SNACKER?

Bengalis call the corn kernels or the entire thing Bhutta. The season of the corn is approaching in Bengal, this island sells it round the year, it is dear to the son's present country of stay too. Roasted corn with lemon juice, salt, chilli powder rubbed on it was the only street snack the parents bought for us happily. At some point, I stopped eating it. In the recent years, I again fell for corns, Bhutta Khees does not sound that deadly to me these days. But corn has to be served tossed in lemon juice and red chilli powder to me, mixed with onion & green chillies. I can have it only that way. Today, I cannot blog about a Bengali recipe, only last month the son took us to a war fact's museum. Although I have studied Political Science, I am far from Politics; I try to get back to the maximum. I was thinking of preparing a tasty but healthy snacker and I got this low oil, vegan, gluten-free, air-fried SPICY BHUTTA STUFFED OATS SNACKER! Trust me, it tasted fabulous. Here is what I ate as my first meal today.

Thats vegetarian Tom Yam flavoured noodles, the stuffed snackers, a shredded coconut laden Potong ice-cream that takes me to my childhood, how I loved the stick ice-creams & kulfi from the wooden box carriers.

Few other similar recipes from the Blog are here; OVEN COOKED COCONUT KEBAB, BROCCOLI KAJU KISHMISH DIYE CHITOI PITHA, LESS SUGAR LOBONGO LOTIKA

INGREDIENTS :

CORN KERNEL / BHUTTA : A BOWLFUL

CHOPPED ONION : 3-4 TBSP

CHOPPED CHILLI : 1 TBSP [I USED THE BIG RED VARIETY]

CHOPPED FRESH CORIANDER : 2 TBSP

OATMEAL : 2 COFFEE MUG

CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1/2 TSP

LEMON JUICE : 1 TBSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 1+2 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

I washed well the corn kernels and all of the chopped vegetables, took them together in a bowl. Thereafter, I added a little of salt, half of the crushed black pepper, the lemon juice to the bowl and mixed well. Our stuffing is ready.

I prepared oatmeal grinding the oats in a blender, transferred it to a bowl. I added a little of salt, 1 tbsp oil, a bit of the crushed black pepper to the oatmeal and rubbed well.

To the oatmeal mix, I added some warm water and kneaded for a minute. The dough would tend to dry soon, add a little more of warm water and knead again but do not add a lot of water in the beginning.

From here, Cristine took up. She tore off smaller portions from the dough and made a pocket in each. She then filled each of the pocket with the spicy corn / Bhutta filling. 

She then closed the ends and gave it the easiest round shape, a bit flattened you can say. She placed them on a greased oven friendly plate and brushed the top with some oil.

Mine is a convection mode microwave oven with a limited air-frying facility.  I cooked them at AF-2 mode for 15 minutes.

We had them hot with fresh coriander+green chilli chutney.

BAEL FRUIT PARFAIT

 I TOLD YOU ALMOST NOTHING GOES TO THE WASTE BIN IN MY HOME!

Unless a food item rots, I try to give it a makeover and eat. On return from our travels, my handbag comes full with this and that served on the airplane, it is not possible to eat everything served on a long flight. Mostly comes the tiny chocolates, cheese squares, muffins. This time too they came, I had to use them because Cristine was not having them. Everything has an expiry. All about today's recipe share I am coming to later. I am gradually getting back to my normal schedule; that of early morning walks, then swim, shopping for the raw ingredients nearing the weekend, going out to nowhere, sit alone somewhere. Visiting some islands and parks alone are due. Actually, I enjoy more staying at home, eat home cooked food and watch something. I sincerely wish to do some online teaching, this is a life spent without the right connections. Lazy peoples' lives end doing nothing fruitful, planning great. I have to tell the son about the importance of networking. We know less about his contacts and friends. Homecoming after any tour is good, if only the home was near to our son's. We want the best of both the worlds in our lives, that cannot happen. 

IT WAS INDEED A FULFILLING TRIP THIS TIME!

We felt happy to see our child in a happier mood. He allowed us to click him, he clicked us, agreed to go here and there with us. We could feel that the son is in a relaxed mood. I was happy with the studio apartment we stayed in and the neighbourhood around. We were roaming the entire city mostly on foot, I loved it given the cool weather. For us, it was cold almost. I was sad unable to wear my tunics, they came back untouched. I happily cooked with few utensils, in less of space. Back home, my cooking spree did not stop. With Cristine's help, I kept cooking without calculating if we can finish all of the dishes in five days. I do not need to cook too much. Then one thing is that it is my passion, the other reason is that I am updating my blog. In an Airbnb kitchen, I was not giving my best shot; neither the son, nor the man ever complains. It is me who is not satisfied. Like yesterday, I mended the raw Jackfruit curry adding to it more of spices, we do not cook a light curry with it. I also added more of fried onions and chopped green chillies to the Hilsa Bharta. We had a fulfilling lunch, a Bengali meal yesterday.

At night, I made luchi; the Bengali puffed bread, had with the Gobi Butter Masala.

WHAT IS BAEL FRUIT PARFAIT?

Trust me, the idea was impromptu. Not in my wild dreams I thought of preparing a parfait with Bael fruit extract. I bought the fruit from a Bengali shop to have it's juice, a summer time ritual in the family. Here we get too good quality Bael Fruit / Wood Apple / Bengal Quince. They are too sweet with no hint of bitterness in them. Cristine was not having the muffins and cinnamon cake, we had yogurt and sweet grapes in stock. All of a sudden, the idea of a no-cook, sugar-free, vegetarian  BAEL FRUIT PARFAIT popped up in my head on a Saturday morning. Trust me, I loved having it. You may add sugar or honey but I did not require any. I am indeed fond of fruits-yogurt-oats kind of stuffs. I would have been happier if I could use granola instead of the oats but I do not store it fearing a spike in the blood sugar level. The cream parfaits I had been buying while touring cannot be eaten regular, such unhealthy it is. Parfaits should be done with yogurt and various combinations of fruits, now I recommend using Bael extract to it. Ayurveda goes gaga about it, since my childhood I have seen it works to ease constipation. However, medical science does not recommend it too often. If you are a diet watcher, this recipe is a keep. I want the son, brother, his wife to have this. The man, his sister do not crave for food, I wonder how! Take a look at my elaborate lunch, Cristine made my favourite vermicelli upma, my yogurt cake tasted good, mango is a love.

Few other Wood Apple recipes from my Blog are these; BAEL AAM CHILLED NECTAR, DUDH DIYE BAEL ER PANA, DOI BAEL ER KULFI, DAAB ER JOL DIYE BAEL ER SHORBOT, DOI DIYE BAEL ER PANA

INGREDIENTS :

BAEL FRUIT : 1 STANDARD SIZED

MUFFIN : 2-3

GRAPE : 7-8 [YOU CAN USE OTHER FRUITS, EVEN DRY FRUITS]

PLAIN YOGURT : 100 GM

OATS : 2 TBSP [YOU CAN USE GRANOLA]

I DID NOT USE SUGAR, YOU MAY IF YOU WANT

PROCEDURE :

Wash and break the Wood Apple fruit without damaging your kitchen floor. 

Take the extract in a bowl, add a little of water and do kneading like action. Thereafter, use a strainer to get a smooth, nectar like extract.

Beat the yogurt and chop the washed grapes. Cut the cakes into smaller cubes. You may or may not dry roast the oats, I did not.

Take a glass, not a tall one because a parfait is pretty filling. The first layer was of yogurt and then of the fruit extract. Thereafter, I added some oats, chopped grapes, cake cubes.

Then again I had put a layer of yogurt, Bael extract. Top it with the rest of the chopped grapes, cake cubes, oats.

Chill it in the refrigerator before having.

MY STYLE GREEN CHICKEN CURRY

I FORGOT HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE TOLD MY READERS ABOUT MY FIGHT TO STOP HATING CHICKEN!

I can only say it was a miraculous come back starting to eat chicken again with a pleasant mind. Chicken came regular, for few years I was unable to have the chicken curry I was cooking. I had been always a mutton lover, also enjoyed the Sunday's chicken curry whilst watching Sherlock Holmes and few others. Doordarshan had given us good watches one after another. Why does time pass this fast I do not know. But I had been a dilli-dallied self in a fast paced world, I relished life I think! I have eaten the food I enjoyed, I have read the books I wanted. Everyone would have something unread, unversed that he or she might have wanted to cover in a lifetime but couldn't. I think we need not bother about that part much, one lifetime is too short to get to do all that we want. At times, I do want to re-watch my favourite serials from the Doordarshan era. Not only we watched the serials but also the documentaries like Bharat ek Khoj I liked, I was fond of Jonny Soko and his flying Robot, WWF. Watching Knight Riders and Remington Steel, I learnt about a rich country named America, not from the history books. Watching Jaws, I learnt about Hollywood. I started losing interest in the tele serials in the early noughties. They did not remain as good as what we watched in the 80's-90's. After watching Tamas you would not want to watch petty stuffs. Yes, I remember my chicken leg piece and some of them well. I forgot about most of them, when social media does a mention of them, I get nostalgic. What else to do sitting idle at home?

ON A BENGALI NEW YEAR'S DAY WE ATE HOME COOKED FOOD!

In fact, for a couple of years things are like this, we spend a special day as any other normal day, just that the man enjoys an extra holiday and I enjoy cooking and off course his company. You can blame it on me, I cannot mingle. I also do not get why people's lives are guided by the social media. The spontaneity of a relationship is lost and I got to be more like a snail. I get to hear the son too is kind of reclusive. Mumma wants him to have a warm & active friends circle without hampering each-other's academics. I made a late start today and want  to wrap up quickly. I was baking dates cup cakes to update an older blogpost, may be tomorrow. Yesterday, we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch with Hilsa fish curry, Dried Bombay Duck fish and Vegetables Medley, Raw Mango-Red Lentil Curry. I forgot to click. Because it was our New Year, I asked the fish vendor brother for big cuts of the fish and I got wind, it is not always about misery. In the evening, we were planning to order pizza. Then I changed the plan and cooked our favourite noodles with potato, onion, green chilli, scrambled eggs, vinegar, salt, black pepper. 

Even my sophisticated man loves this version of noodles. Below was my today's first meal. Making of that Bajra Roti / Pearl Millet is pretty tough. If I mix it with wholewheat flour, we still enjoy. But a gluten-free version with the millet alone is a strictly no for the rest at home. 

I too did not find all of that work worthy enough, with a dysfunctional thyroid gland, it is not okay to have millets. I am making my kitchen devoid of excesses. Henceforth, I would stock only Barnyard Millet among the millet varieties, only few varieties of lentils and beans Bengalis were known to eat decades back. Those who eat fish and meat, they need not eat that much of Bean protein. Instead vegetables are better to have.

WHAT IS MY STYLE GREEN CHICKEN CURRY?

I cooked this last November but the clicks done at the night time were not making me happy. I again cooked it last December, 21st day time and clicked. Either the son arrived on that day or the next day to spend few days with us. I think of those few days and miss him more. That is because he doesn't talk to us often and I do not work that I can make up that void. I have tried several times to make my men feel this but in vein. So I cook this and that. 

The entire morning was spent on this. I had to swim less, my God Family was hungry. I had to write a blogpost, the mind was looking for a thriller to watch. In the morning only I chose to blog about an easy recipe without needing to sort the stepwise pictures. I am not a machine and all day, at all times I would not be in the same mood. I found this non-vegetarian, gluten-free meat curry, MY STYLE GREEN CHICKEN CURRY as a perfect share for the day. To be on the safer side, I would tag it my style because I do not store kaffir lime leaves or candle nuts at home. Our marts do stock "Tom Yum" or "Thai Green / Yellow / Red Curry"spice packets, I feel lethargic needing to be this organised before cooking a dish. I cooked this recipe with whatever was available in my kitchen, that gets the best out of me.

Few other similar blogposts can be the following; DHONEPATA BATA TYANGRA MACH, BEET GAJOR ALOO DIYE MUTTON, GURO MOSHOLAI MUSHROOM BROCCOLI

 INGREDIENTS : 

CHICKEN : 1 KG [MEDIUM CUT]

BABY CORN : 7-8

GREEN CHILLI : 6-7

FRESH CORIANDER : A HANDFUL

FRESH MINT : 8-10 LEAVES

SKINLESS ROASTED PEANUT : 1 TSP

LEMON GRASS : 2 STALKS

GARLIC PASTE : 2 TBSP

ONION PASTE : 2 TBSP

GINGER PASTE : 2 TSP

LEMON LEAF : 2

LEMON JUICE : 3-4 TBSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 2-3 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Wash well the chicken under the running water, drain the water. Marinate it with salt, the lemon juice, half of the ginger+garlic+onion pastes. Keep aside for an hour.

Prepare a paste with roasted peanuts, washed and chopped coriander & mint leaves and green chillies. Discard the stem end of the baby corns, cut half and wash.

Discard the outer layer of the lemon grass & wash, cut into pieces the softer, young portion and crush a bit.

Heat the oil in a wok, add the crushed lemon grass. Give a stir and add the rest of the onion+ginger+garlic pastes+salt. Stir fry at low heat for 2-3 minutes, add the marinated chicken and keep stir frying at medium heat for 8-10 minutes. Reduce the heat to the minimal and cover.

Keep checking the wok every 7-8 minutes, give a stir. After some half an hour, remove the cover and add the baby corn pieces and the green paste. Fold in well. Add 1 & 1/2 coffee mugs of warm water.

Cover cook at minimal heat for 12-15 minutes. Remove the cover, add the lemon leaves, stir cook for 2-3 minutes. We should be done.

                                                                                                         

EASY MADE FRAGRANT SWEET

WHY DO THE VARIOUS OCCASIONS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD COINCIDE WITH EACH OTHER THESE DAYS?

I keep wondering about it. May be it had been always like this and I wasn't bothered about other's celebrations or mournings when we were staying in Kolkata? It can be that once I entered the Blogging world I took upon myself the ardent task of uniting the people from different walks of life or say different communities. I consider it a holy duty to serve food on the maximum of my reader's plate. Actually the Indian Bengalis, specially those from West Bengal would celebrate each other's occasions. Bengali Hindus would go out to have "biryani, rezala, rumali roti, firni" on the occasion of Eid celebrations before anyone else would. When the son was this little, we had Turkey meat at a restaurant in Park Street around the Xmas time. May be the ritual was already there since way before but I hail from a family where Xmas meant "Borodin" which had to have fruit & nut cake in the breakfast, thereafter may be "pulao" & "mutton" or "doi mach" for the meals instead of the regular fish or chicken & vegetable dishes. Our father never took us to dine in a restaurant. He had been staying in Kolkata since the early 60's and did visit those restaurants in his student life, never did acquaint us with those. He wasn't selfish, after getting into a family life, he did not leave us and go, enjoy there; he chose a simple life for the family. He did go for outings with the friends and also with the family along with his friends'. I have gone to the best of places with the man, yet could not ever ditch what the parents taught us, simplicity. Showing off irritates me, I feel shy to exhibit in front of those who may not be that fortunate. I keep telling the son about what I want from him; that he has to achieve a lot in his life but he need not be a show off. I do not believe in living a life below one's capability, I do not believe in exhibiting one's wealth.

YESTERDAY WAS ANOTHER SUNDAY AND I DID NOT DO MUCH OF EXTRA COOKING.

It is over a week I am not cooking that much. I am not in a hurry to update the earlier blogposts. This month and next we are busy with something else, a travel is on the cards. If yesterday's lunch was with a fish curry and vegetables I cooked last Saturday, the dinner was with Bhature, we had to finish the stale rajma curry. My Bhature breads are soft and tasty, I am not really fond with their looks.

I have a picture of Bhaturas done few years back, spotless just like "naan poori" of Kolkata. May be I have forgotten to cook that just like I am failing to make "murir moya". I must re-learn them on my visits to Kolkata. I enjoyed yesterday's lunch plate too. I did not expect to like the fish curry because back in Kolkata we do not buy "Bacha" fish much, we buy more it's look alike "Pabda" fish. Here, at the Rajdhani Enterprise, "Bacha" fish is always available fresh, cleaning them is easy. The addition of the sliced onion in the curry really enhanced the taste, the mother cooks this fish this way. I forgot to click my fish plate, I dislike the frozen fish varieties, only the frozen "kechki" and "hilsa" varieties suits us. If the Bengal Carp varieties had been like those in Kolkata, life could have been better. My non-Bengali speaking readers may not understand this issue; how we want a proper fish curry on our plates regular and that I cannot stand the smell of the sea-fish varieties.

WHAT IS THIS EASY MADE FRAGRANT SWEET?

What I share on a special occasion is important to me. We may not celebrate Eid but my friends would, a large section of the man's colleagues would. I wish I could cook chicken tehari or biryani on the day for one of my favourite daughters who happens to be a muslim. These days we hardly meet, you know once these young people starts earning, they want to explore the food and go to places, aunty's home cooked food no more interests them. They would again come back to home cooked food in their mid-forties or may not like my brother and his spouse. The duo's food choice is scary. I have changed a lot; give me three luchis, two roshogollas or pantuas, fresh coriander chutney; I would be happier. I have left behind that Bengali mentality of Kolkata and West Bengal where people whisper at your back if you do not treat them with large prawns and mutton once invited. We have to walk out of our homes and mingle to broaden our horizons. This vegetarian sweet meat, EASY MADE FRAGRANT SWEET, is the outcome of a series of failures of mine. My initial plan was to prepare a "khaja" sweet with dates sans any amount of sugar or jaggery. But I failed to get them crisp, also their look wasn't good. I had put the fried stuffs in a blender, made a coarse mixture, added the sticky date palm jaggery and thus the sweet came into being. I must say I rolled out fab round shaped uncooked parathas from the dough. Then a poor planning marred all of the possibilities. Also the dates filled with pistachios were gifted by the Neogy family of Abudhabi. I stock pistachio, walnuts, almonds at home in smaller quantities besides the cashew nuts and raisins, we do not enjoy or can digest a lot of dry fruits, we are not used to using them in food regular. I wished to share a chicken recipe, then this week we also have a prayer ritual where we would be fasting for our kids and family, no non-vegetarian share I can make. I have deleted almost 10 to 12 photographs, else I could have shown you my journey to failure, from there getting to an insanely tasty something. Anyway, below was my first meal sometime back.

Few other similar recipes from my Blog can be these; SUGAR FREE OATS SNACKER , SUJI AND MIXED SPICES STUFFED BREAD SNACK, APPLE BANANA STOVETOP CAKE , DALDAR LUCHI, TRADITIONAL MALPUA

INGREDIENTS : 

REFINED FLOUR : 1 & 1/2 COFFEE MUG

DATES : 10-12

PISTACHIO : A HANDFUL [OPTIONAL]

DATE PALM JAGGERY : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/2 TSP

GHEE : 2 TBSP + 1 TBSP

OIL : 100-150 ML

PROCEDURE :

Our friends from Abudhabi got us that box full of pistachio stuffed dates. None of us can have such sweets, though I am fond of dates, pistachios only a little bit atop a sandesh sweet. The box was resting in a dark corner of the refrigerator. The expiry date was approaching, I had to do something with the pricey stuffs. Come, let us make good use of the stuffed dates.

I took both of the dates and the pistachios in a blender and blended to a paste.

In a bowl, I had taken the refined flour and the dates paste, rubbed well for 2-3 minutes.

Thereafter, I added to it 2 tbsp ghee / clarified butter and kneaded to prepare a dough. I did not require water, if you require add a little.

In a round wok, I heated the oil & 1 tbsp ghee, tore off portions from the dough and fried them well. I forgot to click this step.

Once cool, I coarsely powdered the fried dough balls. 

Thereafter, I added a little of water to the date palm jaggery bowl and microwaved to get a sticky consistency, I added it and the green cardamom powder to the coarse mixture; folded in well with a spoon.

We have to shape and bind them while the mixture is still warm. 

Enjoy having fresh. If you refrigerate, take out an hour before having.

BANANA ORANGE OATS CAKE

AFTER EVERY SPECIAL PRAYER RITUALS AT HOME, I WOULD PREPARE SOMETHING WITH THE LEFTOVER FRUITS!

That too after some 15-16 days post the occasion. I love my choice of fruits but I am not supposed to have too much of them. The man would take a little only in his lunch boxes. The son ate fruits when packed in his snack box. I do not know really if he buys fruits for himself these days. Today, whilst on my morning walk, I saw a 11-12 year old boy in the school uniform having cup noodles. Such scenes make me get  angry at the parents. There isn't any excuse when it comes to parenting. Even if both the parents are working, it is not an ardent task to wake up early, prepare a butter bread toast or boil some noodles, broccoli, carrot, onion; season and feed the child and then send to the school. There is a primary school, a high school, a 7-Eleven outside of our back gate, such scenes are rampant; kids buying packaged food from the stores. I do not think the parents should have any excuse when their kids' health is concerned. I cannot thank the mother enough for teaching us the important lessons about home care through her tremendous dutifulness towards her family. For both of us family & kids are prime; we do not need much of resources to spend partying, chatting with friends. We only have weaknesses for buying saris which are not that pricey, household stuffs. In my case, I enjoy sitting alone in an eatery. I cannot just mingle with people. Most hilarious was a client, she gave me good business a few times and then almost claimed, placed a condition that I have to roam around the island with her. She  might have been a nice girl but I couldn't agree to that. Many a woman in this island made unnecessary calls without any intent to buy food from me. In business, I would seek profit and name, not friendship at all. A person of few words, I had to put an end to this. Although I love watching my friends party, sing and dance; I feel awkward amidst a crowd. There are many in the same food business, unfortunately, the Bengalis too want chole-bhature or idli-dosa on their plate instead of "lau-ghonto, chichinge-boti, dhokar dalna". Bengalis are those Indians who have forgotten their own food; they eat biryani, fish fry, chicken kobiraji, chicken and paneer masala day and night. At least the reels say that. 

WHY DOES OUR SON HAS TO PROVE HE IS DIFFERENT?

It feels he is in constant endeavour to prove he is weird and a rebel. Doesn't his mother pay enough attention to him that he has to behave this weird to get her occupied in his thought 24/7? Some 20 years back, all my friends would say he does all the weird acts to irritate me, that he behaves normal in my absence. Since then, until now; all my attention revolves around him, he doesn't need to do anything for that. May be for few years I became a bit absent minded, I curse myself for that. I should not have missed a single moment of his company. In fact, I need not curse myself, that happened because all of a sudden his father wanted him to be independent; I wasn't allowed to sleep with my child, bathe him, feed him, kiss him, hug him. What emotional upheaval I went through only I know, a void was created. I believe everything has a time, I need not had to be distanced with my playmate after a decade of staying with him alone, he was my only living play dough 24/7 whose childhood I shaped as per my wish. Nope, we are not in a strained relationship, it is our joint decision to keep our son's need our top priority. I do not like people talking about spending lakhs doing the interiors of their home but tell their kid / kids they do not have money to sponsor their kid's education abroad. However, they have money to buy property in two-three cities of India or buy jewellery for the spouse. That way I am proud of the underweight partner, I get angry when both my men ignore my emotional needs. I then keep myself happy cooking and eating. Yesterday, I ate those and gained 500 gm by this morning.

I had more rice than usual because the sides were dried fish, Hilsa fish and veg dal. More of wrong was to have two bowls of puffed rice and coconut. At night, I was to make appam, but the iron wok betrayed, the sides got stuck. The same batter was used in a non-stick pan. Having consumed a big amount of coconut caused me wind this morning, this keeps happening since my childhood. Too much of coconut consumed may cause acidity and wind in many, I am one of them.

WHAT IS BANANA OATS ORANGE CAKE?

I think this is the easiest and simplest of all the cakes I have made until now. Whatever I am unable to do is complex mathematics to me. All those three & four tier designer cakes are as complex as science, mathematics, geography taken together. But I love to bake and keep on doing that. Not only this vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan BANANA ORANGE OATS CAKE is easy make, we found it tasty too. I am  fond of using fruit juices in cakes, not really fond of dairy products, eggs, chocolates. All those chocolate rice & rainbow rice, sugar coated fruit strips atop a cake put me off. Fresh Fruit & Cream atop a cake is a love though the cream would have egg & dairy products in it. That too I avoid after the son relocated. To eat fancy stuffs you have to have an equally enthusiastic partner. He shows no interest, I too do not wish to spend on a choice of pastry only for myself. A Bengali mother would pause and think, "my child might be hesitating to have a 21$ meal in a choice of eatery or he may have skipped two meals to have that over the weekend! Let me wait until he gets a deserving job." However, mumma keeps buying from the Lazada, Shein, saris & kurtis while in Kolkata. This is the time and onwards I / we want the son's concern for us and attention. We are waiting for him to settle. We will see if he gets normal, else what to do, we would keep travelling from the Himalayas to the Kanyakumari. It is not right to complain about your kids unless they cause major harm to you. Anyway, I made myself something between "nonta suji and sujir upma" today, I cannot eat the gooey upma neither I had the patience of sprinkling a bit of water a few times on the roasted semolina to make what I enjoy.

I do not know why the son dislikes upma, poha, dosa. He would love  sausages, bacon, breads on his plate. His father too but he enjoys upma, chirer polao too. It is from him that we have learnt about upma in the early 90's. 

Few similar recipes from the Blog are DRAGON FRUIT CAKE, VEGETARIAN GLASS CAKE, STEAMED TAPIOCA CAKE

INGREDIENTS :

OATS : 1 COFFEE MUG

FRESH ORANGE JUICE : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

MASHED BANANA : 1/2 COFFEE MUG

SLICED BANANA : 1 SMALL TEA CUP

RICE FLOUR : 1/4 COFFEE MUG

CORN FLOUR : 2 TBSP

SUGAR : 4 TBSP [YOU MAY NEED MORE] [I USED BROWN SUGAR]

BAKING SODA : A PINCH OR TWO

BAKING POWDER : 1/4 TSP

OIL : 2-3 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Mix together the orange juice and the mashed banana pulps. 

Take the oats, rice flour, corn flour, baking powder & soda in a bowl and mix well.

Add the wet ingredients, oil and the sugar to the dry ingredients, mix loosely. We do not need to beat vigorously.

Grease an oven proof bowl.  Add the batter, tap on the counter to level well. Arrange the banana slices atop.

Mine is a convection mode microwave oven. I did place the low height wired stool inside the microwave.

I preheated the oven at 160*C. I did place the bowl with batter atop the wired stool, closed the door and baked it for some 20-22 minutes. We were done.

Temperatures may vary in different machines. The cooking time may slightly differ in your's.

The only mistake I did was that I sliced the bananas thicker, I had to slice them thinner. If you are eating it fresh, there would not be any issue. If you refrigerate, the banana slices would darken if you wouldn't slice them thick.

VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE DOI BORA

I WOULD WANT TO TAKE A LOT OF PRIDE IN TODAY'S  RECIPE SHARE IN THE BLOG!

The urge to prepare a "dahi vada" platter occured last week. I was there at the East Coast for some work. Still on the bus, I could see a renowned fast food Indian joint, my destination was after 2-3 stoppages. I thought on my way back I would walk to have their chaat. I do not visit that side regular, I eat my first meal late, also the eatery was on my bus route. As planned, I walked to the eatery and ordered a plate of "papdi dahi bhalla". I have no complain about the taste and quality of the food, neither the ambience. But I am not the kind who would want to pay 13$ for one piece of vada / lentil fritter, six pieces of papdi / fried snack, some yogurt, 7-8 pomegranate kernels. Kailash Parbat gives a way big platter including roasted mirchi / fat chillies at that price. Shiv Sagar's 6$ plate houses two "Vadas", may be less decorative. Near the sea it is expensive they say, whilst the son was in school we thought of renting a flat that side. Then, I must stay near the Desi market area. Hence, we prefer always the North-East line, my choice to be precise. Anyway, after paying 13$ for a minuscule amount of "doi bora", I landed into this vegan & gluten-free "doi bora" platter. What is there not to take pride in it?

YESTERDAY WAS A BETTER SUNDAY THAN THE ONE BEFORE!

The man was back from the tour by the Saturday afternoon, we had a late lunch together with fried Hilsa fish. And the leisurely Sundays we spend together watching various stuffs on the OTT Platforms and pestering the son to talk to us. When he travels, a Sunday gets too lonely. But your work comes first because it fills our stomach. What puts me in tension is that he drives 5-6 hours each side alone and through a highway. Who knows if you can feel or not what tension means for a fear monger who suffers from anxiety disorder since the 90's. Whatever goes on my mind, I do not fail to cook well, feed others well, eat well. Last night, I cooked a noodle bowl for the two of us, I had some leftover broccoli, yellow chilli, green beans, used them. The man as usual refused any amount of vegetables in his noodles except for potato, onion, garlic and eggs. Our mother never considered potato as an important vegetable with nutrients, I unconsciously think that way though I love potato, unlike her. 

I forgot to click yesterday's lunch plate but how I loved homemade yogurt with the pomegranate kernels, any choice of fresh fruit with plain yogurt works for me. Then, I can have them as a post meal treat, not as a main meal. Today, it is Dol Purnima / Holi celebrations, the quickest thing I could cook for my God Family is that Whole Wheat Halwa. It is about a month that I am offering fruits to my God Family once in a day, in the other two meals they have brown or palm sugar. I stopped offering snacks thinking we do not eat salty snacks waking up in the morning. Who will eat biscuits every day or sugar crystals?

I used a lot of ghee and roasted the wheat flour, yet I believe I fail to make it as good as a North Indian Home. I love the Halwa varieties.

WHAT IS VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE DOI BORA?

It is that plate whose idea popped up from a sense of dissatisfaction and that it resulted into what I exactly wanted. In fact, I did not expect the Soy Pudding to taste this close to a plain yogurt, I purposefully bought a low sugar, plain flavoured one. I visited the FairpriceXtra to get a vegan yogurt, they stock Cocobella's and Reglan's coconut yogurt. They are pricey and I was skeptical about how a coconut yogurt may taste, at least I have tasted and like a soy pudding that is too light on your stomach. Then oven cooking some oats vadai adding some spices and soaked beaten rice was a cake walk given Cristine helped dressing the pomegranate. How I enjoyed assembling and having a plateful of this VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE DOI BORA !

I also had the fritters separately with my hot cuppa, thats how my men would prefer it. In fact, I have arranged the platter like this because my men wouldn't want a yogurt based chaat bowl. I believe this plate would suit the Iftar & Easter table too, next Monday, I can get the oats-banana cake for you.

INGREDIENTS :

OATS : 1 COFFEE MUG

BEATEN RICE : 4-5 TBSP

RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2 TSP

CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1/4 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP

DRY MANGO POWDER : 1/2 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

CRUSHED CUMIN SEED : 1/2 TSP

BAKING SODA : 1/4 TSP [IT DID NOT FUNCTION MUCH]

SOY PUDDING : 300 GM [YOU CAN USE VEGAN YOGURT]

DATES TAMARIND SAUCE / CHUTNEY : AS REQUIRED TO GARNISH

CORIANDER LEAVES & GREEN CHILLI SAUCE / CHUTNEY : AS REQUIRED TO GARNISH

GINGER EXTRACT : 1 TBSP

POMEGRANATE KERNEL : 2 TBSP

GRAM FLOUR POTATO FRIED NOODLE  : 1 TBSP [AUTHENTICALLY THE BOMBAY SEV VARIETY IS USED, I BOUGHT ALOO BHUJIA]

OIL : 3-4 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Powder the oats. Soak the beaten rice in water for sometime, strain and add to the oatmeal. Also add 2 tsp oil, all of the powdered & whole spices, salt to it.

Mix them together very well, knead actually and them shape into patty.

Grease an oven proof plate with a little of oil and arrange the patties on it.

Place the low height wired stool inside the oven and on it the plate full of the uncooked patties.

I combo cooked, grill+microwave at C-02, 15 minutes one side and 5 minutes the other side.

Once they cooled a bit, I brushed oil on them.

To the lightly sweet, natural flavoured Soy pudding, I added a bit of salt and ginger extract, beaten well to get a near taste of our kind of plain yogurt. We must keep it for chilling in the refrigerator.

For the Dates-Tamarind Chutney, follow my this recipe BHAJA MOSHOLA DATES TAMARIND CHUTNEY Else I follow the late Tarla Dalal's recipe of it too. You can use store bought.

For the green chutney, you can paste together some washed coriander leaves, boiled and strained green chillies, salt or follow this blogpost of mine MINT CORIANDER CHUTNEY!

I always would buy the gram flour noodles, making them at home is a complex method, I never had been fond of them, also they are enemy to your weight loss journey. Authentically, they use Bombay style gram flour noodles for a chaat dish, I used Aloo Bhujia.

I would not apologise for the fact that the fritters are not fluffy, I have given you too tasty a snack so that you can forget making a chaat plate and just have them hot with less of guilt. Omit using the baking soda if you want.