AFTER A MONTH LONG LEAVE FROM BLOGGING, I AM THINKING WHERE TO START FROM!
Well, after a well spent vacation in Kolkata, India; I am back to my present home & happy about it! The Filipino takes good care of my home, does truly good Bengali cooking! Her sir would not mind if she feeds him dishes from other cuisines, yet she cooks Bengali including luchi-porota! Even after this, given our age; we should not stay without each other for long! Our only son is sitting in another country, discussing about him sitting together on the couch is therapeutic, same is watching a movie or series together! May be I can say this because our mother is in safe hands, the brother & B lets her be! T's parents too sit together all day & J, their daughter & her spouse take good care of them too! After three weeks of stay, in the last lap I feel I need to go back! Earlier, I used to travel to Kolkata with the son & stayed for three weeks! These days, I have expanded the holidays there! It is good to be with the family & friends but a fear factor works because the son & the man are in two different cities! T had stomach ailment for the past few days; having rice & yogurt or rice & boiled potato! He thinks I landed & force fed him & hence! What he does not consider are the long gaps between his meals, his beer & whisky intakes every day & smoking every 10-15 minutes! He is underweight, he need not do intermittent fasting! He drives to office & back, no exercise exists in his life, whilst I can go out again with him post dinner! Only shunning food does not help! He has to follow healthy habits! Then there is our weird son, he does not share a bit of information with us! He believes or not, Mumma is worried about his health & security! He is not making use of his kitchen, this amount of outside food cannot be good for him! Some of my friends in Kolkata went to live with their sons who cannot manage alone a hostel life! Our boy made no distress call; not alone three weeks, mumma wants to stay more time but together with him & set well his abode! In such a mental state, at least I and T should stay together!
I AM BACK TO MY NORMAL ROUTINE!
In Kolkata too I walked to places because walking is my medicine, a part of my treatment! Today, I was at Vincent's chamber & that leaves me at peace! Not only him, the sisters there are comforting too! His mother takes off on Thursdays! Yes, I had an ardent wish that our son become a doctor but we had given him the full freedom to choose his subjects & career! Okay, T interfered a bit but that was good for the son! I felt happy at the doctor's chamber knowing my weight went down by two kilograms! The blood sugar level went up, I had sweets every day there, even an eighteen hours of intermittent fasting there too could not save me! I am unable to stop having sweets, I know I must lessen the frequency of intake, if not stop totally! I do not know if my weight would spike again, I eat out my weekday lunches!
We have these Malaysian-Indian 24 hours joints islandwide, in our locality there are at least 3-4! But this one is the biggest, newly renovated! Look at the size of the paper dosa, thank God I did not order a stuffed one, that is TehC using evaporated creamer instead of condensed milk & sugar! I enjoyed the meal but it was heavy for me; got acidity & having chilled sugar & milk free tea & water! I walked about 8.4 km today, cannot have more than one spicy tofu stuffed porota / stuffed flat bread I am to cook at night! I wish to reach 54kg of weight & lock in there, I just cannot go to gym, only enjoy walking & swimming!
Life here is good! New here in 2010, I did not want the son to go for the NS, I wanted to put him in a choice of local school which was not possible! T and I believe, a child's future cannot be decided as early as in 5th-6th standard! The yesteryears' "britti porikkha" in West Bengal & PSLE here are same! We have seen kids blooming as late as in the University level, we have to allow them to choose their subjects & career!
Now that I sit idle, I wish I could go back to teaching! Not only because I am a DP holder, I lack confidence too! I was enjoying the food home delivery thing, but I have met the weirdest of Indians, precisely Bengalis in the process! I do not have the time & patience to have fruitless talks with strangers without them getting me money / business! Better is to go & give my best to the kids; off course in return of a decent honorarium! I see no light, I have the capability, no confidence; then there have the island rules & my allergy towards computing! That does not mean one would spread false fear around! The world needs to go ahead, my lagging behind is my problem!
After a shower, I feel too good & clean! People should shower regular, even when there is a snowfall! I told my son, he knows what he does! I only saw he keeps his home clean!
WHAT IS THIS FRESH CORIANDER APPE?
This was not planned! I am telling you it was not! Last March, I was trying to prepare a Coriander Chutney / Dhonepata Bata we are too fond of having with rice & roti! In our kind of families, they use "shil-nora" for the purpose, any paste our mother still does in it! I take help of a mixer-grinder! I willingly did not get "boti" & "shil-nora" from Kolkata, I am unable to use them! It happened on that day, I mistakenly added more water than required! What came to my mind immediately was adding to it some rice-flour & semolina and cook some healthy snacks, as good as these vegan, vegetarian FRESH CORIANDER APPE!
I consider my appe pan a blessing! Staying abroad & in an island where people from various cultures stay together, I learnt about different cultures & food! Let us do the healthy snack without talking further! How healthy is semolina, rice flour, etc. ? They are good if taken in moderation! We cannot go back to eating raw fruits & vegetables!
SEMOLINA : 1/2 COFFEE MUG
RICE FLOUR : 1 SMALL TEA CUP
FRESH CORIANDER : 200-250 GM
GREEN CHILLI : 2-3
FRUIT SALT : 2 TSP [I USE ENO PLAIN]
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL OR GHEE : 1/2 TSP FOR EACH ONE
PROCEDURE :
We would take the two variety of flours & salt in a bowl & mix together!
We would wash the green chillies & the coriander sprigs! We would discard the root end of the coriander sprigs & paste both together, adding a little of water!
We would add the green paste to the flours & some water, little at a time! Beat well to prepare a smooth batter, neither thick nor too runny!
We would keep it covered for 35-40 minutes, thereafter add the fruit salt, beat well & keep standing for 5-6 minutes!
Heat a clean appe pan on the gas top, add little of oil in each hole, let the oil get hot but not to the smoking point!
Use a round spoon to fill each with the batter, lower than the top, they would fluff up!
Keep the heat between minimal & low, each would take some 6-7 minutes to cook or you just check your own! They are supposed to brown on both sides once done!
I need a variety of sauces to compliment, do not forget your tea / coffee!
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