BENGALI STYLE CURRY PAKORA
AFTER FEW ATTEMPTS, I GOT WHAT I DESIRED!
I am talking about the curry you see. It is not a Bengali Recipe, there is no harm cooking and having what is not authentically our's. I do try some that are not that much of a mismatch to our tastebuds. Because I did it for us, there is a hint of sugar in it. Today morning, I cooked a full Bengali menu to be delivered to a known family. Because they enjoyed having my food, I am in a good mood. It is not only about the money involved, satisfaction is when your client says they enjoyed the food sent. I did not go for my walk or swim and ate a plateful of rice.
In fact, the amount of rice is not that much, I added a boiled potato and dried lentils; that made the plate look bigger. Made flavourful with a tablespoon of ghee and a green chilli, such plates have always been my favourite.
The litchi season may be over, not tasting great anymore.
If I have used shredded coconut cooking for my client, I would keep a little to have with puffed rice sprinkling a little of brown sugar. I did not do intermittent fasting today, neither did any exercise, just wished to sit and relax after the food delivery. If I continue this, I may become an obese in no time. Tomorrow morning I must go out for a walk and then swim. Again I have to go out later in the day, I am planning a late lunch at the Saizeriya. It pains if I tie my hair, but I must tie when I am cooking for my client, forgot to wear the cap. Without Cristine's help, I would not be done in time, she dressed the banana flowers required, also stuffed the pointed gourds. I would share the dishes in public.
LONELY SUNDAYS AIN'T PATHETIC, HOWEVER I DO NOT WANT THEM!
I could have gone out yesterday but I am a lazy self. Every Sunday we feel lethargic enough to go out somewhere. It feels at times we did not do much of outdoor activities with the son, he eventually have become home bound. We do not want him to be a party monger but he should have some solid, good friends around him. They should be close knit enough to be there for each other whenever required. He would be staying alone in a new city for the next two years. I may get panic attacks, what if he fall sick in the middle of the night? Each day, I read many a sad news, someone lost the partner, some the kids or a kid might have lost the young parents. I struggle to keep sane and end up eating the extra. My yesterday's lunch was heavy, I had my favourite mango+puffed rice at night. My today's lunch was heavy too, I am planning for two pieces of bread and omelette for dinner.
It is not easy to stay alone, eat meals alone. I keep telling the mother to complain less in life. She is pretty occupied which is good, neither the grandmother nor the mother ever complained of boredom or told they do not wish to live anymore. I love this. I wish to live longer together with the man, I want to witness the son's progress, roam around, travel far off. What I do not want in our lives are adventures; I have told the son this several times, not be a lone traveler ever or be too curious about the unknown, he has to live a normal life.
WHAT IS BENGALI STYLE CURRY PAKORA?
I have seen Kadhi Pakora and I have seen Mooru Curry, I wished to draw inspiration from the both, cook something similar with a Bengali touch. I have tried Kadhi Pakora earlier following a blogger friend's recipe. I tried foodaholic.biz's recipe of it in the google plus days. The family liked, even some of the friends. But in all these attempts, my curry was turning too thick. That flavour and taste of besan / gram flour I do not like. May be the pictures of mooru curry attracted me more, "doi er suruya" if I may call it. Fritters / Pakora I die for but it has to he hot and spicy. Keeping all these on my mind, I cooked this vegetarian, gluten-free yogurt & gram flour based fritter curry BENGALI STYLE CURRY PAKORA! I used a Bengali style tempering and one of our flavour burst dry roasted and ground spice powder. How lovely is that? Okay, the pakoras flattened because the batter got a bit watery, it proved good because it required less amount of oil to fry! I really enjoyed having the curry.
YOGURT : 250 ML
GRAM FLOUR : 2 TBSP + 1 SMALL TEA CUP
SLICED ONION : A MEDIUM TEA CUP FULL
CHOPPED CORIANDER LEAVES : 1/2 SMALL TEA CUP FULL
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLIES : 1 TSP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLIES
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 + 1/2 TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2 TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
CUMIN SEEDS : 1/2 TSP + 1/4 tsp
CORIANDER SEEDS : 1/2 TSP
RED CHILLIES : 2 + 3
DRY MANGO POWDER : 1 TSP
GARAM MASHALA POWDER : 1/2 TSP
SUGAR : 1 TSP [YOU CAN SKIP]
BAYLEAF : 1
OIL : 4-5 TBSP
PROCEDURE :
I added together the cup of gram flour, washed and chopped coriander leaves and green chillies, salt, turmeric. I had beaten it well. I heated the oil, and fried both sides of the fritters well. I took them out.
While frying the fritters, I had beaten together 2 tbsp of gram flour, the yogurt, salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, 2-3 coffee mugs of water using a hand beater.
After the fritters are done and taken out, I tempered the remaining oil with the cumin seeds, 2 halved dry red chillies and a bayleaf. I poured the spiced yogurt mixture to the wok and gave a stir.
I cover cooke it at low heat. As it started to boil, I added the dry mango powder, the garam masala, slitted green chillies and let it boil more.
Meanwhile, I dry roasted the cumin seeds, coriander seeds and 2-3 dry red chillies for a minute and ground to a coarse powder.
After about 10-12 minutes of boiling, I added the fritters to the boiling curry and then the dry roasted ground spices. I had taken it down after 3-4 minutes of boiling.
It is to be had with steamed rice.
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