WHAT STANDS IN BETWEEN ME AND A HEALTHY DIET?
May be my brother got bulkier but he does not overeat like me! His reason of getting fatter is something else; he sits all day while at work! He eats less but unhealthy food, a picky eater who hates steamed rice! The volume of food I consume in a day is huge, I am unable to put a control. Yesterday, I planned to cook and blog about this less guilt fries today. Accordingly, I soaked some cooked rice in water last night, to have it with the gram flour pakoras for my lunch!"Panta Bhaat" cannot be eaten measured, I at least eat it in big amount. I also had a sandesh after the meal! And before the meal? I was on my walk when I had a "Kopi-O-Kosong & Papor Bhaja"; a pack of it I bought from a known Aunty's shop, located the other side of the station. There we stayed for two years once we landed here! The mall was under construction then, these shops did good business!
You know what? Making a "panta bhaat" from Basmati Rice is kind of an insult to those who survive on it! But seriously, I do not have space in my kitchen to store few varieties of rice! In fact, I prefer Ponni rice or Sona Masuri with Bengali Food instead of a Basmati Rice!
IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY YESTERDAY!
Ever since the son went off, our Sundays seem dull! Two of us middle-aged people sit all day and the television keeps on going! I do not call home anyone or do a food delivery because it is Cristine's off day! Yesterday, we had guests for lunch! I thoroughly enjoyed cooking for them, also the chitchat! Not that we rubb shoulders with them often, yet there is a peculiar feeling that had they been here, we would have been happier. We liked meeting each other in the Durga Puja venue or at an office gathering! That too stopped in the last two years due to the pandemic! But I am happy for them; we should be happy for others' progress! Cristine helped a lot, took a half day off too and our guests are positive minded, typical Indian "addabaj" that I never felt tired. In the first place, I call people home only when I can take proper care of them, get comfortable with them and entertain! They took an early leave; Amit and Neeti would be shifting to South America whilst their daughters would be studying in England! If we are still there in this island after few years, we would meet them again; they are citizens here, they would come back I believe! Once they left, I was squaring up and T was taking a nap! At night, we would not have the leftover party food! T had his love; "dim sheddo aloo sheddo makhon bhaat"; I had "quinoa-brown rice-dal-begun bhaja"!
WHAT IS THIS APPE PAN FAUX FULURI?
Fuluri is a Bengali road side snack! Our mother is extremely fond of it! In early April, when I was in Kolkata, Mani was staying with me and one day asked Rizia Mashi, my house help there to get her Fuluri! Mani eats it with a bowl of Muri or as it is as an evening snacks whilst Rizia Mashi's family would have it for lunch with rice! I thought of having what I call faux fuluri with fermented rice! The fun fact is that I love this APPE PAN FAUX FULURI but not the authentic fuluri sold in all the roadside "telebhajar dokan" in Kolkata! I call mine faux because I cooked them in few drops of oil in a specialised pan whilst the authentic ones are deep fried! I gifted my family an appe pan which they have not used as yet! I do not know if my brother likes it or not; I cannot remember everything from the past, also forget to ask every little thing! My brother's wife is more of a snack lover than I am, she should start using the appe pan & get my brother homebound; with regards to food! This healthier version of fuluri snack is vegan, gluten-free that uses few ingredients like gram flour, salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, green chilli, baking soda! I like vegetarian snacks a lot these days, which was unbelievable a decade ago! If you want to cook authentic fuluri at home, there are a couple of written recipes and videos existing the internet! I found Tasty Crowd's Fuluri near to the Kolkata likes in looks and texture but in Kolkata, they do not use nigella seeds, this and that in the batter, but only what I have mentioned in mine!
Above is the original picture I was happy about. But I had to change it because I wanted to try it adding Eno Fruit Salt to the batter instead of baking soda.
INGREDIENTS :
GRAM FLOUR : 1 COFFEE MUG
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/4 TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TSP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 2 TSP
CHOPPED CORIANDER : 2 TBSP [THE WEST BENGAL VENDORS DO NOT ADD]
ENO FRUIT SALT : 1 TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
WATER : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 1/2 TSP REQUIRED FOR EACH POCKET
PROCEDURE :
We would take a coffee mug of gram flour / besan in a bowl and add to it the salt, turmeric, red chilli powders, mix well! We would add water little by little to get a paste like batter!
We have to beat the batter for 7-8 minutes to get a smooth consistency! In a cup of water, we would throw in a bit of batter, if it comes up, the batter is ready!
We would add the washed and chopped green chillies and fresh coriander; mix well, keep covered for half an hour!
In West Bengal, the street vendors do not add the coriander leaves, I did because I am not fond of gram flour, coriander covers the raw smell.
Thereafter, we would add the Eno Fruit Salt and mix well!
We would heat the appe pan on the stovetop and pour few drops of oil in each of the pockets! Each side would take 3-4 minutes to be done at the minimal heat!
Have it either with rice or as a snacks with tea or coffee.
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