PHORON CHARA PEYAZ MUSHUR DAL
LET US SHARE A BENGALI RECIPE TODAY!
For quite sometime I have not blogged about a Bengali recipe! I don't know what was stopping me from sharing a Bengali recipe with ingredients we had been using since ages! May be I did not have any specific reason; even if I had, it isn't clear to me! I do not understand myself much, none know themselves fully! I do not even try to get what is going on inside; it's strange that I get involved in matters and incidents I need not interfere; allow nothing to disrupt my peace of mind! It is peculiar enough that I feel sad not only for the victims but also for a perpetrator if I understand the later had also been a victim! At times, the person I disliked until yesterday, I feel for some reason or the other! I am a happy loner, but I have some feeling for that loner who did not wish to be one, instead wanted some friends to be with! I ask myself or throw the question to you, you there and them; is it too wrong to expect an inclusive society, feel for a complete stranger?
MUSIC, FOOD, A BIT OF GROOVING KEEPS ME GOING!
It's about two three days I am not going out of home, a lethargy has gripped in! I am eating a lot may be but doing little of exercise, just some awkward dance moves when at home! I think I had injured my feet today; they are unable to take my weight, I guess! Though my friend told yesterday that more of my concern is my absolutely unattended skin, body & face! How to explain I simply do not feel like and did not bother burning my face & body walking under the tropical sun! This is a happy home where I enjoy sitting and listening to Bhupinder Singh-Rahul Deb Burman-Gulzar with their lead girls! My choice of genre had always been the sad numbers! Let us think of all of those who lost their own; all of them who had! It hurts me sitting thousands of miles away! I had good news to share with my beautiful readers today, but I have not learnt to celebrate victory standing on a corpse or corpses, else my son would not learn compassion! We have to celebrate our kids' victory, we also have to bear the burnt of their deeds until our end, we cannot help it! If only T allowed me to talk endless to him back from the office! My blog is a good place, ain't it? This morning, I did not even wish to visit the market, there is no food order this weekend either! I had sent Cristine to the Indian area to get some Bengali stuffs to cook on Saturday! She also got our lunch from the Tekka Centre, they make good pakoras & Tamarind Rice, not the Ghee Pongal!
I had a fruit bowl too, I feel sad that the mango season is almost gone! There cannot be rice on my plate tonight; had a lot at the lunch time!
WHAT IS PHORON CHARA PEYAZ MUSHUR DAL?
I wanted a plain and simple share in the blog today, even the picture arrangements had to be less. It had to be something that we cook regular! Lentil Curries are a regular in the Bengali Families! This particular curry with onion and red lentils is not a family recipe! Between 2001 and 2007, we lived in a neighbourhood in Kolkata where my house help Saraswati got me this recipe which she learnt from a non-Bengali speaking family in the same area. After our son's birth, Saraswati cooked for quite sometime, worked for us for five years of our six years of stay in that flat! Her younger son Pratik was such a good boy, he used to come and play with our boy when I went to buy stuffs! I have lost all contact with her, wished to know if Pratik had pursued acting in plays he liked! Her elder one and her man are bus conductors! My house helps had been good and trusted all through except one or two, you have to be nice to them, feel for them to get a good return service! Our treatment of people matters the most! This PHORON CHARA PEYAZ MUSHUR DAL does not require any tempering and is quick & easy to do! This lentil curry is vegan and gluten-free, vegetarian, not really the Bengali way of doing it! Tempering is important in our cooking!
MUSHUR DAL / RED LENTIL : 1 SMALL TEA CUP
SLICED ONION : 1 SMALL TEA CUP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 3-4
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 2 TBSP [I ALWAYS USE MUSTARD OIL]
PROCEDURE :
Wash the red lentils and drain the water! Marinate it with the turmeric powder and a bit of salt for about 1/2 an hour!
Peel, cut wash the onion, slice, mix with the marinated lentils!
Heat the oil in a wok and add the marinated red lentils and onion mix! Stir cook at minimal heat for 3-4 minutes!
Add 2-3 coffee mugs of water to the lentils in the wok, stir and cover cook at minimal heat for 7-8 minutes!
Remove the cover, add the washed and slitted green chillies, adjust the salt & give a stir. Add a little more of water if required but it need not be light textured!
Let the curry boil for another 1-2 minutes and it is done! Serve it hot with chapatis or plain rice and pakora or just with cumin tempered rice & salad!
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