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.
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.
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