Alu Seddho/Alu Bhaate -- Thanks for Mashed Potatoes

This Thanksgiving I am really thankful that BS does not have a Thanksgiving Feast at school.

Now don't get me wrong. Usually I have no problem with them, the feasts that is. Actually I love feasts more when they are hosted by a third party.

In all her pre-school years, the teacher would put up a sign up sheet behind the door a week before the party and the parents would pick anything from that list to get for the feast. The school was paranoid about food allergy in a good way and no cooked food from home was ever allowed. The list was always always made up of boxed or packaged items, juice, fruits and paper products. The school supplied the rest.

Her school since last year is no less paranoid about food and does not even accept home baked cake etc. for birthdays.

So last year when her teacher sent home a list a week before Thanksgiving with a tick and my name against Mashed Potatoes, I was flummoxed. With despair I looked at the Paper Products, Table Cloth, Juice boxes, Apple slices all there on the list but nary a tick for me on any of them but Mashed Potatoes.

Why me ? I said silently and soon after I said 20 "Hail Marys". I mean shouldn't I be thankful that after all it was only mashed potatoes and not a whole stuffed turkey.

And what after all is Mashed Potatoes ? Nothing but what in Bengali we call Alu Seddho and what I ate for breakfast with rice and ghee for the first eight years of my life until the doctor intervened.

Alu Seddho or Alu Bhaate with a hint of mustard oil, finely chopped red onion and green chili, served with steaming rice, light masoor dal and a spoonful of flavorful ghee is after all every Bengalis comfort food. My Ma could make it with her eyes closed. Why, even my Dad could make it with his eyes open and that speaks volumes about the ease of the dish.If I had doubts about mashed potatoes I would be putting my Bong upbringing to shame.

So I said "Hah" and promptly forgot all about it.

However as the day dawned near I started having my doubts. Logical doubts based on real life. Doubts like would BS's classmate take to mustard oil like fish takes to water ? Was it ok to put finely chopped raw red onion in food served to 20 odd kids, half of whom probably had never seen an onion in life ? What if their parents sued me because the green chili was too hot or the mustard oil caused them to sneeze ?

So, I sent her teacher a mail asking what kind of Mashed Potatoes they preferred, Asian-Indian or American-Indian ?

The teacher said I need not worry too much and I could pick any American recipe.

So, of course I googled and each recipe of mashed potato looked worse than the other. I mean, milk, heavy cream and cream cheese in your mashed potato ? Why would you need two sticks of butter to make a potato taste good, hello, who set up that rule? What was I doing here, trying to teach kids spell O-B-E-S-I-T-Y?

Chop potato in quarters. Boil in pressure cooker or in an open pan. You can also microwave. When the potatoes are done, cool and peel the skin. Mash the potatoes with a masher or your hands. Add few drops of mustard oil, very finely chopped red onion, very finely chopped green chili, salt to taste. Work everything together. Make uneven, rustic looking balls and serve with steaming rice and ghee.

So, there I am again, e-mailing the teacher, asking which exact recipe she wanted me to follow.

Was Alton Brown's mashed potatoes with garlic good enough ? Did she want cream cheese or just milk and butter was fine ? What potatoes did she think would cut the deal, Russet or Yukon Gold ? How many times should I wash my hand and was Bath & Body Anti-bacterial better than Purell ?Did she even know how much a bag of Yukon Gold cost ? I mean, what is wrong with Idaho, I make Alu Seddho with Idaho and they are very good.

At this point I am sure the teacher must have hollered a few choice words at me in confinement of her school's staff room. In a very polite mail, she suggested I just buy mashed potatoes at the super market and send it to school.

Trust me, till that time the e-mail arrived I did not know that they sold mashed potatoes in the Super Market. Yes, mashed potatoes in a tub or in a box, microwaveable and ready to eat. I could see before my eyes, Manju'r ma, my Ma's house help, losing an opportunity to be the next Martha Stewart simply because she did not know to package and market alu seddho. My eyes welled up at the opportunity lost and I cried fat tears right there at one of the aisles in the frozen section of Shop Rite or was it Wegman's.

Ok, I actually cried because there were so much to choose from. I came home with tons of mashed potato boxes, some with sweet potatoes, some with garlic and chive, some plain, some organic, some in tubs while others in flat boxes. The hubby not trusting my choices had made his own detour and came home with boxes which had dehydrated mashed potato flakes. Where do they need that now ? NASA maybe ?

Our dinner table overflowed with boxes of mashed potatoes of all kinds. We finally narrowed down to the kind we thought would serve the school right it's purpose and returned the others. Some for which we lost the receipt stayed in the pantry for the next 6 months till expiration date. Some stayed in the freezer and my Mom made delicious Alu'r chop with them.

And BS claimed she loved mashed potatoes the way her Didun made.

This year I don't remember the exact brand which we had sent to school and I would have to start all over again. But the school authorities had enough of my mails last year and this year second graders are not having a Thanksgiving feast.

Honestly, it is not my fault.

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Ok, and today, at around midnight, I baked this zebra cake from this wonderful blog. The midnight part is not as important as the "I baked" part. It was an easy cake to bake and was quiet good to eat too. I found it a little less sweet for the kids liking so next time I am going to up the sugar. For now I did a cream cheese and chocolate frosting to enhance the sweetness.

Happy ThanksGiving folks, if you are celebrating. If not, just be thankful.

Dhonepata Maach -- Fish in a cilantro sauce

My two girls being different in a lot of aspects are uncannily similar and I am not including points about both being of the same gender here. For one they are both House Devils and Outside Angels. In case of LS, "Outside" means other people's homes and excludes public places like library, stores, mall etc.

But the charm of hearing "How well behaved your kids are", have worn off me.I would rather they jump on the neighbor's couch than mine and beat up snotty down the road than share my idli stand with him. I don't see that happening though. Even LS who screams if BS so much as touches her bagel, will politely give up her toys in face of a stranger who is not a house resident. And I did not even teach her to share !!!

Now to the fish. This recipe is my friend S's, the one who is the diva of fish fries and all such things. Have I told you she is an amazing cook ? Ok, I have.

But have I told you that she might be THE reason for me to eventually shut down this blog ? No, I haven't ? Well, I just did. I mean I didn't shut the blog, but if I ever did She(S) is to blame.

Every time I am at a dinner at her place, I want to come home and forget my password for Blogger. I mean there she is, cooking up a storm for 30 odd people, each dish perfect and delicious, the presentation beautiful and the best is, every time she has something new to offer, a slight twist on similar Bengali dishes  and here am I who gets the hibbie-jibbies at the very though of cooking for 30 people !!!

S is also very nice about sharing her recipes. She doesn't have intentions of filing a patent on them and her recipes are totally open source. She will share them with all her tips unlike some people who guard recipes like the state secret.

So last week at the dinner she hosted, she had made an amazing green fish/fish in cilantro sauce/dhone pata maach. It was very unlike anything I had ever had. It is another story, that "that evening" was unlike any I had ever had, what with the hostess accidentally cutting her hand and being rushed to the emergency for stitches and the kitchen looking like a murder scene with blood and shards of glass everywhere. But we Bongs are shameless folks, so while S was in ER we ate her awesome fish, bhapa chingri, biryani, fulkopi et al and discussed her awful accident.

Yesterday while discussing her eight stitches, she revealed the secret of her fish. I wanted to try it right then, but I did not have half her ingredients. So I improvised. The result was good but not as good as hers.

Maybe it is time for me to make the last call.

1. S said, we need Shaan Fish Seasoning. I had none and no way was I going to buy a box for one dinner for two of us . The ingredients on the Shaan Spice box said:mace, clove, cardamom, green mango powder, fenugreek leaves and what not. I mixed 1/4 tsp Garam Masala + 1/4 tsp Kasoori Methi + 1/4 tsp Corriander Powder + little Amchoor to make my own seasoning.

2. S said to use a little of MDH dried Mint. Again I gave this a skip.

3. S said to fry the fish, I baked them. S said to use a little ajwain, instead I used Methi/Fenugreek seeds and Big Brown Elaichi/Cardamom.

As a result my dish wasn't exactly like hers. But still I am writing it down both with her and my versions so that I NEVER forget her version which I intend to do soon.


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Dhonepata maach -- Fish in Cilantro Sauce

Serves 2 adults and 1 kid. 2 fillet of Tilapia cut in cubes were used.

Grind together
1 cup of chopped fresh corriander leaves
1/2 cup of thick yogurt
2-3 fat cloves of garlic
1" ginger
4 green chili
to a smooth paste
Note: S used a little dry mint in this paste.

Cut the fish fillet in 2" cubes. S used a fish called Swahi, I did Tilapia. A firm fish with no strong flavor works well

Smear the fish with turmeric and salt and keep aside for 15-20 mins. Pan Fry the fish pieces till they are light golden on both sides. I baked them at 350 for 20 mins and then on broil for last 5 mins.

Heat White Oil in a saucier/kadhai. Add 1 cup of chopped red onion. Fry the onion till it browns on the edges. Cool and make a paste. I don't remember if she asked to use Tomato.

Season the oil with 5-6 methi seeds and two large cardamom. S did not use methi or cardamom, remember she had Shan. When the methi seeds sputter, add the onion paste. Fry for half a minute. Then add the corriander-yogurt paste. At low heat fry the masala till you see there is no excess water and oil seeps out from the edges. You need to cook the masala really well, you will no when it is drier than what you started with and there is oil around the edges.

Now add about 1 tsp of Shaan Fish Seasoning. I did not have this, so I added my spice mix of 1/4 tsp Garam Masala + 1/4 tsp Kasoori Methi + 1/4 tsp dry roasted Corriander Powder + little Amchoor . With a sprinkle of water fry the masala for a minute. Make Garam Masala like this.

Now add 1 cup of water. Add salt to taste. Let the gravy simmer at medium heat. Adjust and check for seasonings. I think I added a little sugar at this point.

Gently slide the fish pieces into the gravy. let it simmer for 2-3 minutes till gravy thickens. Switch off and transfer to serving dish.

Befriending Sarson da Saag

Unfriend -- a new word though trust Blogger to still thinks otherwise. Heard it on NPR day before and I was surprised, so "unfriending" was not a word all these days. How else could you explain the ebbing away of the people you once knew ? It is true I have not really "unfriended" people formally for ages. People just flow in and out of my life, some without even a formal good bye, they move away, I lose interest and one fine morning I ask D, "You remember T, she used to make such lovely shorshe chingri, heard they moved to a new home, its been years that we have talked to them". I don't make an effort to befriend T again, I have moved away, even if I call there won't be much to talk about so I don't. But I haven't "unfriended" her, if I ever refer to her shorshe salmon to new acquaintances I still say "I had a friend T".

My daughter and my neighbor's daughter "unfriend" each other almost every day. Every afternoon I hear "N says she is not my friend any more". There is hurt in that voice, the pain of rejection.Before, that pain used to hurt me, I used to reassure her "It is ok, you can make other friends". Now I know to ignore, almost every evening they get together and play again. I am not sure how the "befriending" happens, they don't lock their thumbs, they don't do anything, they just become friends.

This post reminded me of my childhood, those days of "aari" and "bhaab". The little girls holding up their cute pinkies and declaring a somber "katti". An hour or so of not talking to each other, not making eye contacts and then everything forgotten as thumbs were locked into "bhaab". If things were really rough, there was even a poem, a very humiliating one, to end it all.

Aaari, aari, aari
Kal jabo Bari (Tomorrow I shall go home)
Porshu jabo Ghor (The day after I shall be with my family)
Hanuman er lyaj dhore tana tani kor (Meanwhile you while away your time pulling a monkeys tail)

That is how we did it then, formally with decorum.

How do you "unfriend" for that matter, now that you have been reminded you can ? Do you just bump people off your contact list and send them a "unfriendly" message ? Soon will you also "unfollow" on Twitter ?

I befriended "Sarson Saag" very recently.


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Strange as it may sound, I never had it back in India. The famous Makki di Roti and Sarson di Saag never enticed me enough. Recently Baby A's nanny, M Didi, suggested that we get "shorshe shaak" or mustard greens and she would cook it for us. We never saw Mustard Green at the Indian Grocer's and then one day she pointed out to broccoli rabe at the Farmers Market and declared it to be "shorshe shaak". So that is how Broccoli rabe was re-christened as sarson saag at our home and later as I learned in many Indian homes across USA.

Her preparation of the greens were ok, nothing to be talked home about. And then one of my colleagues who is a Punju shared his lunch of sarson di saag with me. The greens were delightful, creamy and delicious. A call to his wife later, I got the following recipe. I have tried it only once since and have not measured the ingredients, follow your instinct and you will do fine.

Sarson Ka Saag

Wash the greens well.

Cook in pressure cooker one part broccoli rabbe (or mustard greens) with 2 part spinach, a little salt and a couple of green chilis for 15-20 minutes

Take the greens out, add a little chickpea flour to them and make a smooth pulp or kind of paste out of them. I did a coarse puree but technically you are not supposed to use any electronic gadget.

Heat Oil in a saute pan/Kadhai

Add minced garlic or garlic paste

Add a good amount of finely chopped onion and fry till onion turns reddish brown

Add a little turmeric, red chili powder, and pureed tomato

Fry till you see oil seeping out from the masala

Add the greens, salt to taste and cook till there is a little oil coming out from the side of the greens

Serve with butter or a dollop of yogurt as I did

Enjoy with Makki di Roti, Chapati, whole wheat bread or just by itself

Note: I felt some paneer in that saag would have been just wonderful


Trivia: In north India and Pakistan sarson is more intimately entwined with village life. Sarson is a surprisingly resilient plant that resists infestation and is not easily affected by adverse weather. It is, therefore, eminently suitable to an unsophisticated rural economy. Wide fields of blooming yellow mustard, the sarson ki khet is a popular shoot location for Bollywood romances.

Roasted Winter Vegetable Soup -- spiced up

"Any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field."

Who in the frickin blue blistering barnacles drafted this thing ? It is so dang complicated, I don't even have something concrete to base my argument upon.
Who brought on this topic about gender equality and equal opportunity ?

Yeah, please Sir/Ma'm,  I want some amendments.

All that equal opportunity has done for me is to make me work outside the home, inside the home, in the periphery of home and everywhere foreseeable. I have been given enough opportunity to work. Thank you.

Now I want the finer points ironed out. Like who gets the opportunity to fold the laundry or say pack lunch or plan dinner every night ? Whose fundamental freedom is it to watch Hulu while the kids are being taken care of ? Who gets the opportunity to be depressed when the baby says "Mummy four o clock e asbe" every single day ? Who has the exclusive rights to check and sign homework every night ? Who gets the "once in a lifetime" opportunity  to research & pick the nearest, cheapest Taekwondo center/Gymboree/Swim Class/some class in town ?

If in simple English, maybe bullet points, someone could take care of these, and in printed letters put it to UN or where ever you do such stuff, I would be ever obliged.

Ok, I am having had a bad day, so what ?

* The UN has intervened since this was drafted (on Monday) and some sort of a treaty has been reached but I want a signed official document.

Fall is practically Winter to my tropical soul, the kind of Winters I like, mild, pleasant with the sun on your back, and cold enough to bring out the woolens. But it getting colder and windier and a sweater is not enough.

Everyday that my Dad calls he asks, whether we need a jacket outside. "Yes, we do", BS says. My Dad sighs and grumbles about how difficult the cold must be for the kids. They don't mind all that much, except for the winter jacket. Yeah they don't like winter jackets and we are not yet discussing mittens and scarves.

A bowl of warm soup with the colorful winter vegetables warms up the heart though. It is a perfect way to welcome the cold.With some bread brushed with olive oil this made a lovely Sunday night dinner, a calm end to an otherwise hectic weekend. BS loved it and had two small bowls, though LS insisted that "Ami soup khai na"(I don't drink soup).

I don't know where or how I came up with this soup. It all started off with the lone sweet potato and then I was inspired by my previous Moroccan Lentil Soup.


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Serves 4, measurements are eyeballed

Roasted Winter Vegetable Soup

Peel and roughly chop 1 sweet potato, 1 small-ish beet root and half of an yellow squash, ok any squash, ok, ok no squash

Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Arrange flat on a baking tray and bake at 400F for 30 minutes till you see the veggies shrivel a little.. These are my small toaster oven settings

Heat Olive Oil in a deep stock pot

Add half a cup of chopped onion. Saute till onions are soft and translucent.

Add 2 tsp of fresh ginger-garlic paste and fry for half a minute. Add one small peeled tomato along with some juice. I used canned else chop one small.

Add 1/2 cup of chopped baby carrots(or regular). Cook till carrots are soft.

Add the roasted vegetables. Wash and add about 1/3 cup of Red lentils

In a skillet dry roast 1-2 tsp of cumin and then grind to a fine powder. I usually do a whole batch of this and store it in an air tight jar. Add 1 heaped tsp of roasted cumin powder and 1/2 tsp of dry ginger powder to the stock pot. Add a dash of adobo chile powder(optional). Ok, honestly you do not need adobo chile powder. What does adobo have to do with this soup anyway. It is just that I have a bottle of it and wanted to use it 'coz it sounds nice. No pressure.
Give everything a good stir and saute for a minute or two.

Add enough water and salt to taste.Cover and cook till lentils and vegetables are done. Squeeze a little lime juice and adjust seasonings to taste.

Puree with an immersion blender. Season with fresh ground black pepper.

Serve with some crusty bread or enjoy a warm bowl by itself.

More Heart Warming Soups:

Oven Roasted Tomato Soup

Healthy Moong Bean Soup

Thai Vegetable Soup

Salsa Soup

Moroccan Lentil and Carrot soup

Rosogollar Payesh -- the shortest cut

If you have known me for the last four years of my blogging, you must have realized by now that I am not-really "a-from-scratch" kind of person and take shortcuts if there is one. I mean I will not take a detour and heat frozen dinners when I cook for the kids or when I try to pack a healthy lunch or put dinner on the table but I will take a jump over the stream if there is one.

Like I mostly buy organic baby carrots instead of the regular sized ones which demands peeling and then chopping. I tend towards buying canned beans instead of the dry which needs pre-soaking. I will invariably lean to buy a box of clean baby spinach instead of the fresh green large leafed bunch. I will tend to over sleep and avoid the "what to have for Saturday b'fast" routine.

Ok, as I write, it dawns on me that the above points more towards me being lazy than anything else. So we won't discuss it any more. Period.

But I must admit that blogging has improved me a lot and I now no longer use off the shelf masala except for Pav Bhaji Masala, Deggi Mirch, Kashmiri Mirch, Kitchen king, Amchoor,...., ok that is getting long. But hey, I am not buying Garam Masala and making Biryani Masala from scratch. That counts.

And what about Ghee ? Come on, I make Ghee. So what if it is from sticks of store bought butter and made only quarterly and everyone except the baby is shunned from eating it to make it last longer.

I also try to bake totally from scratch now, with flour and eggs and frozen butter which never ever is at room temperature. Sometimes I just want to take a box of Betty Crocker and bake one of those totally delicious cakes with minimum effort and say "Ta-da". The family actually loved those more than what I spawn out now and I know they would be eternally grateful if I went back to Betty. But I have a blog where such stuff is looked down upon and I need to live up or down to it.

But even I have to draw a line somewhere.

And you all know that I am "oh so busy" .That I don't even have time to gulp my tea back from work. Yeah, tea is important, much more than ghee.That I volunteer as a chauffeur 3 nights a week and then a tutor , a washing lady, a very uninterested game player, a lousy story teller, a cook and odd job doer.

Those are fun jobs and I am really glad I have them. So as long as I have them, I am not buying me a cow, milking it, making paneer out of it and making my own rasgulla. No siree, no rosogolla from scratch. One fine day I might or not, we shall see. Honestly, even without any of those extra jobs I doubt my finesse and expertise in making things like rasgulla. So I will just open a can of syrupy rasgullas and make a Rosogollar Payesh as I have always done.

This I made not for Diwali but for Bhai Phota or Bhai Duj which comes two days after. My little girls have littler brothers to give phota and we try to celebrate this occasion every year. Not that the little ones are interested in such Rosgollar payesh, they would rather have cake or a lollipop as is the case for LS.

But Bengalis have a tradition of making Payesh on important occasions, kind of like Turkey on Thanksgiving.Only for Bongs, the occasion arises 1 x n times every year. Do I thank my stars that the Bong fore fathers chose Payesh and not Turkey...pheww.

This Rosogollar Payesh is one easy dessert to make and can be made couple of days ahead. It is best when served chilled and also thickens when a day old, a fact I adore.


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Rosogollar Payesh

In a deep thick bottomed pan add
1 can of evaporated milk
2-2&1/2 can of Whole Milk(use same can as Evaporated milk to measure)

Bring the above to a boil. Be careful so that it doesn't spill over.

Now add 1/2 can of Sweetened Condensed Milk to above and mix well. You can use sugar instead of C. Milk. Also depending on your sweet tooth, increase/decrease amount of C. Milk.

Add some ground cardamom.

Keep stirring at medium heat for 30-35 minutes till the milk thickens. You need to stir frequently or the milk tends to scald the bottom of the pan.

When the milk is at a consistency where it is pourable but thicker than what you started with, add a few drops of rose water and a generous pinch of saffron. Give a stir and switch off heat.

Meanwhile open a can of rasgulla/rosogolla. I had KC Das, you can use Haldiram or any good brand. Pick a rosgolla from the can using a spoon or your thumb and forefinger, give it a light squeeze to get little of the syrup out. In a serving bowl, arrange the rasgulla/rosgolla. I had about 15-18 rasgullas. Pour the warm thickened milk over the rasgullas so that the balls are soaked in milky goodness.Note: If your rasgullas are super sized, halve them, it is best to get a can of standard sized rasgullas though.

Alternately add the rasgulla/roshogolla to the pan of milk and simmer for about 30secs to a minute. This makes the rasgulla softer even with less time for soaking.

For a non-messy tip of squeezing rasgulla check Nupur's version of Rasmalai.

Chill and serve.

Phuchka, Egg-Chicken roll, Jhaal Muri and...

On my recent trip to the mater land, I had lofty intentions to make "eating food", especially street food my priority.

Yeah, 2 weeks of binging on street food on the streets of Kolkata was going to be my motto.I had decided. And then I would click enough pictures to last me an year of blog post. I dreamed.

That way I could still have a food blog and not cook. I was elated.

And then some publisher would come across my wonderful blog posts and commission me for a book, a nice glossy book, and then I could chuck my job and start my very own telebhajar ar cha er dokan (tea stall) by NH 34 or NJTPK if you prefer. I was on cloud nine.

But things did not exactly happen as planned. It never does. Not complaining.

I ate a lot, but not exactly street food.The Ma, the Ma-in-law, the aunts and similar characters thought it necessary to feed us delicious, home cooked meals, by the bushels every few hours. While my agenda said I should eat greasy shingara from Mahaprabhu down the road, early morning my Ma got up and made singara from scratch. There is little you can do on the face of such maternal super power.

And thus it went, 3 kinds of fish for lunch, mutton for dinner, long forgotten vegetables like mocha and thor, fried luchi or kochuri for breakfast, narkel narus to stuff your face with. I managed to do my best in spite of this. Aided with dependal, metronidiazole and other such serious sounding stuff I had limited amount of roll, phuchka, jhaal muri, alur chop and such. My pics were taken hastily and I didn't dare take out my DSLR , at any of these places in the fear of being shunned and ridiculed.

But I can't resist sharing with you some of the delicious stuff along the roads of Bengal.

Phuchka, the life line of most female Bongs who have come of age. While gushing about Phuchka to my non-Bong friends and colleagues , I would refer to it as Pani Puri or Golgappa. But that, it is not. Phuchka is well...phuchka. You stand in a circle around the phuchkawala, the shalpata bowl in your hand, you lean forward a little and pop that brittle pale brown ball into your mouth and it goes "phichik", the light sour tamarind water bursts into your mouth giving way to the mashed potatoes, spiced with green chili, cumin powder and red chili powder. Fireworks explode and honestly this is the closest I have experienced to what a M&B heroine would have in a totally different scenario.

And D, you need not worry, I just love food too much.

Phuchkas, I found have become very expensive though. "Paanch takay Paanch ta"(5 for 5), the guy told me. Even then, I did not haggle or ask for a fau( a free phuchka without the tangy water), a typical criteria when ordering phuchka. I ate only 2, in the fear of my dying of cholera and then I moaned my impending phuchka less old age.

Then there is the egg roll or still better the egg chicken roll. I cannot get enough of this but could only manage two rolls during the stay. The very thought that I could not visit Hot Kathi makes me want to take the next flight back.

But the rolls at my para( the neighborhood) almost made up for it.The paratha was soft and flaky, the chicken pieces tender and the spices just right without an overdose of ketchup.The chopped onions extracted from the dungeon below with a squirt of lime added just the right crunch.

And the sauce in that Maggi bottle is not Maggi, it is some amazing tomato thing which my dad insists does not even have tomatoes.

If you can close your eyes and not think of this man perspiring in the hot, humid atmosphere, you will eat only egg roll from the street all your life.

Then there is the Masla Muri or Jhaal Muri as I prefer to call it. This amazingly simple and tasty commodity is not available in all corners of Kolkata any more. The lanes, by lanes and  Shoshtitala'r mor is now overtaken by garish yellow carts selling Bollywood Bhel Puri. Now Bhel Puri is NOT Jhal Muri, though both have muri/puffed rice as the base. Bhel Puri is wet, doused with a wet chutney and needs to be eaten with a wooden ice cream spoon at Chowpatty. Jhaal Muri is dry, can be eaten directly out of the paper bag or using your fingers in Kolkata.

To eat Jhaal Muri you need to travel, slow.You have to take a bus or a passenger train rushing through the green paddy fields and potholed roads to the far suburbs.A commute where time is not really an important factor. It is only to be whiled away and there is nothing better than Jhal Muri to aid you in that process.

The jhal muri guy at the bus terminal or station just tosses some muri/puffed rice with a sprinkle of some suspicious oil, finely chopped onion, green chili, roasted peanuts, a handful of bhujia and a pinch of dry masala powder. I never ask the other stuff like chana etc. in my jhaal muri but you can if you want. He then shakes the mix in the tin can.Poured into a small paper bag made of yesterday's news with a sliver of coconut balanced on the top, you have your fuel for the journey. 

I also ate alu'r chop and singara sold just behind this Jhal Muri wala along the highway.

Tha nimki, gaja and Jalebi stall outside the Puja Pandals.

And when the tummy protested with all that eating, daab er jol aka coconut water came to the rescue.

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BS however insisted on having nuggets and fries at the McDonald. Sighhhhh.....

Happy Deepavali, the Winner and Forgotten Food

It seems every week I surface only to wish someone something. This week I holler Happy Deepavali.

Life has been extremely busy since we got back.The littlest one has a new fresh bout of separation anxiety which makes it extremely difficult for me to rush out to work, to cook, take a shower. Yes, I haven't taken a shower for the last 3 days. Ok, scratch that. It is not entirely true.

Once home all my time is for the girls until after 9. And while before I would sit down after that to do anything blog related, now I just huddle with the Bangla books I got back from my recent visit. There is a sinful pleasure in huddling on the corner couch with a book on a winter night while flames dance in the fireplace. The guilt of not cooking, not making anything special for Diwali slithers in the shadow and I bravely ignore it. There is a whole lot of pleasure in not cooking for Diwali as long as you can scavenge goodies to eat, trust me.

Choddo Prodip(14 candles) to be lit on the day before Kali Pujo on Choti Diwali

Occasionally I look through the comments on my last post, the beautiful comments on forgotten food. Thanks Everyone, those comments were the most beautiful words on food I have ever read.

It seems it is not always about the food, it is about that exact person who made it, the memory we carry with it. That was the recurrent theme in most of the forgotten food that readers mentioned.

Brat Payal talks about, "Dadi's aloo chips and aloo papads and sweet whole aamla achar!!  She would slice the potatoes up patiently and meticulously, sun dry them in the verandah, we were incharge of manning the drying chips and papadums...shooing the drooling birds and turning the chips over...one by one! I miss miss those...can we bring back the unforgotten human behind these forgotten dishes...:)"

Really, would it be the same if you slogged and made them instead of Dadi, maybe not.

Sonal's Aaji made home made Supari,  "As a child I remember every summer Aaji would make a huge trip to a specific store to purchase ingredients like betel nut, aniseed, dried ginger, licorice, rock sugar and many many exotic spices. These would be sun dried for a few days on our terrace and then crushed on an iron khalbatta(mortar & pestle) by one of her trusted aides. The final SUPARI would be bottled in glass jars and distributed to family members near and far away. You never left home without a jar of Aaji's famous SUPARI. It was like a good luck charm from her……"

Sometimes a food is forgotten because it is easier to lament about it than cook and serve it. How much effort is not too much effort to re-create such a dish ?

Eves Lung mentions "Chapor Ghonto" -- made with chholar daal bora , thhor ( the stalk of the banana plant ) and assorted veggies like brinjals,potol,etc with a phoron of with methi , red chillies ,randhuni and ginger paste .And a small bay leaf. 

On my recent visit I ate lot of the Bengali foods that is never cooked at my home. It is not that I have forgotten them, it is just that I have never taken the pain to know how to make them, it takes too much of an effort and they don't get made. This time my Ma and Ma-in-law made Mochar Ghonto, Thor, Chapri diye Mocha, Taal er Bora, Dhokar Dalna and what not. No, whatnot is not a dish.They made it with an ease I can never muster. I don't think I will ever make Mochar Ghonto or Taal er bora at home. Naaah, too much effort I will say. And thus slowly, gradually such food will be forgotten by the next generation or the next.

As Manasi says Puran Poli, "This is not forgotten, but never made at home because it is time consuming and so I'd like to bring back Puran Poli ( I have learnt it, but not perfected)just the way my grandmother used to make"

At times a food is forgotten because it is too simple. The sabzi that your Ma made with Roti everyday, the jhol that you loved to hate and sweared never to cook as an adult. This is the easiest category to bring back.

Satrupa talks about "Santula" -- "There is nothing fancy about this dish and may be that's the reason I happily forgot it.Vegetables are cooked with little water, salt and turmeric powder in a pressure cooker. Then it is seasoned with panch phoran and garlic. It is an everyday diet and we usually we have it with roti. But now I would luv having it any day ..."

Maninas talks about "Fried Bread Dough", "Which food would I like back in my family? My mum used to fry some bread dough in oil (looking a little like naan), which we had with sugar, or jam, or some savouries. It was delish!"

And now about the Give Away. I picked up a random winner using the Random Number Generator at Random.org .

Drumrolls for the winner is Indosungod. Indo, Please send me a mail with your choice and I will have it shipped.

Because it is Diwali, I decided to give one more gift of $10 Amazon gift card. And this time the winner picked up was Shruti who said "mocha'r ghonto". I am not sure if Shruti blogs. Shruti send me a mail at sandeepa( dot )blog(at)gmail(dot)com and I will send you the gift card.

Related Posts:

To read more on forgotten food go through the wonderful comments of this post.

Check out specialty food items at Food Spring

Shubho Bijoya

Shubho Bijoya  to all my readers.

I have not forgotten the Give Away and will announce the winner by next week, pinky promise, cross my heart.

It is just that I have been extremely busy. Flying across seven seas and 13 rivers, with two kids to a land where you share the itinerary with Ma Durga and her five off-springs is pretty unnerving. And when your vacation is only a tad longer than her 5 days you do wonder at her immense energy and patience.
Back home I guess she has it easy with her umpteen house helps. Me ? I have to breathe and pack lunches and make the kiddo work on missed lessons and unpack loads of suitcases and soothe kinder spirits and in general slog...

But the short whirlwind trip was worth it. Things that we would like to remember from the trip:

1. First international flight for LS. She was pretty good I would say and made friends on the way.

2. Air India is not as bad as they portray.

3.The new terminal at Delhi Airport is amazing. The loos are sparkling, better than JFK.

4. Cafe Coffee Day there charged me $2.50 for a donut. I almost fainted

5. Sadly Kolkata Airport looked sadder.

6. First Pujo in Ma's own land for BS. She was thrilled.

7. Main attraction for BS was the Ferris wheel and the makeshift rides they put up outside the Pujo pandals. She went on a rickshaw at 10 in the night to ride one of them with her grandpa for whom the shock of such rides was just too much.

8. She loved Monginis.And discovered my Enid Blytons. Tinkle was another new found love.

9. LS loved her baths in a bucket and the rickshaw and opening/shutting glass cabinets in a an uncanny rhythmic order. She loved riding without seat belts and fighting with "my friend" cousin.

10. I of course loved food, shopping, food, shopping and more food and not having to cook or photograph any of it.

More later, till then enjoy the season....Happy Halloween

*********

While I wish all of you the best in health, wealth and happiness let us take a moment to think about giving this season.

A reader sent me a mail with a request. I quote her here,
"I have a friend, Sanjana, who is fighting cancer, and her odds have suddenly gone down drastically. The only way to save her is by a stem cell transplant. The problem, however, is of finding a match. There is quite a big lack of awareness in the South Asian community about stem cell donation, and as a result, for a person of South Asian origin, the odds of finding a match are less than 1%.

Please go the the National Marrow Donor Registry's web-site at www.bethematch.org and register online.

For more information about Sanjana, you can go to:
http://www.savesanjana.org/
or FaceBook page
http://www.facebook.com/savesanjana
"

Giveaway because I love You

Because it is Durga Pujo and on Pujo we Bongs have a tradition of giving gifts to people we love, like, and dislike but pretend to like I am having a giveaway.

In your case though it is only love,like, love, like and so on.

You don't have to love me in return. But
1. You can Like my Blog on FaceBook

2. Read me without fail by Subscribing

3. Leave a comment telling me what you can do to bring world peace. Ok scratch that, here is an easier one.
Tell me in your comment "What is a forgotten food in your family that you would like to bring back"

I will pick ONE winner by random draw from the comments to this post.

**********

The winner will be able to choose a gift from one of the following

1. Miss Masala by Mallika Basu -- I loved this book. It is a wonderful wonderful read with lovely recipes.

2.Garlic & Sapphire by Ruth Reichl -- This is another of Ruth Reichl's memoirs. I am a big fan of her writing . In this book Reichl focuses on her life as a food critic, dishing up a feast of fabulous meals enjoyed during her tenure at The New York Times.

3. An Amazon.com gift card worth $25.

Disclaimer: These gifts are not sponsored by anyone, not even the husband. I just wanted to share the spirit of the season and this is a small something from me to say "Thank You".
Books will be shipped only within US. I think the gift card can be used all over the world if I e-mail the gift card.

In your comment DO NOT tell me what you want instead answer the question I asked

"What is a forgotten food in your family that you would like to bring back"

I will announce the lucky person's name by end October.

Till then have Fun and wish Happy 4th Blog Birthday to Bong Mom's Cook Book in October.

Pujo 2009

Pujo 2007

Kochur Loti diye Ilish Maach -- lost in translation

If someone told me last week that I would hardly find time to do things that are important to me, like cook or blog or browse blogs or do nothing this week, I would say "Pfbttttt".

And this week, I cannot tell you how much I am missing doing nothing.

If someone told me last year that I wouldn't miss Durga Pujo at all this year, I would roll my eyes and look away

But this year I really am not missing it. No nostalgia about sharat, sheuli, kashful whatsoever.

Nope, none, nada, zilch.

I am secretly happy that I don't have to push aside sweaty bodies smelling of jasmine and Aminia's biryani in Gariahat and prostrate at my tailors to get my salwar stitched in time. I don't have to decide which pandals to visit on Panchami when the crowd is at its mildest best and sit home on Ashtami watching "Sharodo Parikroma" on Television. And yes the food, the long wait for that single egg roll because it is Pujo, ahhh I have overcome that.

If someone told me last year that I would have "Kochur Loti diye Ilish er Matha" in my blog, I would say "In your dreams, dude".Ok, maybe not the "dude" part.

Yeah, really. Kochur loti ? Who am I kidding ?

I am sure my Ma cooked such stuff but honestly I have no memory of Kochur Loti from my childhood, teenhood, pre-adult hood, neighborhood...

But LS's baby sitter who is from Bangladesh and has this fond fascination for such things got a pack of Kochur Loti from where else but New York. I already had the Hilsa fish's head or Ilish maach er Matha languishing in the freezer, waiting to be thrown out, for my family detests such smelly things. So when LS's baby sitter said she wanted to make Kochur Loti with fish head, what did I have to loose ?

M Didi made this with onion, garlic, ginger and lots of chili. It was hot and happening.

I don't remember my Ma cooking it that way though. She belongs to a different genre. I am sure she made it with coconut and kala chana. I am not even sure if she added fish head.

Google tells me Kochur Loti is nothing but colocasia stem/shoots and it requires special technique of cooking to remove crystals of calcium oxalate. Kochu or Colocasia too has these crystals and cause itching if they are not removed by thorough cooking. These stems or shoots are very popular in Bangladesh and is now also popular in West Bengal. It is available in the US in South Asian grocery stores in the freezer aisle and a frozen packet costs around $2.

To cook Kochur loti with Ilish Macher Matha follow this recipe, looks pretty authentic. For vegetarian version just don't add fish head.

Edited To Add: The blog Akansha's Recipe, that I had linked earlier has stolen many blog posts and photos. I was not aware until Jaya of Spice and Curry told me she herself was a victim. This Plagiarism is killing us.

I do not have an exact recipe because I did not cook it. Here is how LS's sitter made it.

Wash and clean the fish head pieces and smear with salt and turmeric

Heat Mustard oil

Add ginger, garlic and onion. Fry well

Add the fish head pieces. Fry till they are lightly browned

Add the Kochur loti, Red Chili Powder, Turmeric Powder and salt to taste.

Keep stirring frequently at medium heat. Continue stirring till all the water released has dried up.

Add little more water and cover and cook till fish head is soft. Dry up excess water.

And since Durga Pujo is less than 3 weeks away and we know that you need to eat good food for that IS celebration, here are some things you can cook if you are stuck at home watching Pujo Porikroma on the telly. If you have a steel heart and iron arms , I am sure you will be out there during Pujo waiting behind umpteen people at the Phuchka wala outside the Mandap. Or do people go to Mainland China these days ?

Shoshti

Luchi Alur Dom ar Cholar Dal
Luchi ar Alu Charchari 

Chaal Kopi

Doi Fulkopi

Beguni

Dhokar Dalna

Saptomi

Kolkata Egg Roll

Fish Fry

Maacher Chop

Chingri Pakora
Egg Pulao
Dime er Parota ar Keema

Ashtomi

Pathar Mangsho ar Luchi ba Bhaat

Mutton Rezala ar parota

Doi Murgi

Chicken korma

Nabomi

Bhapa Ilish ar Jhar Jhare Sada bhaat

Chingri Maacher Malaikari ar Ghee Bhaat

Doi Maach

Doi Shorshe Ilish

Rui Maacher Dumpukht

Shorshe Chingri Bhape ar Sada Bhaat

Muri Ghonto

Bijoya Dashami

Bhapa Doi

Kalakand

Narkel Naru
Malpua

Ghugni

Mutton Rogan Josh -- any which way

Last week when I decided to cook Mutton Rogan Josh I found that it was as disputed as Park 51 if not more. There were several manifestations of the dish depending on where you came from.None radically different from each other but differing in subtleties that was enough to cause mayhem. Every one looked down upon the other Rogan Josh and there was much confusion about the authentic version.

For all you know Rogan Josh could be God.

From the several sites I visited I could narrow it down to the following.
Not God, Rogan Josh !

1. Authentic Rogan Josh -- This is the version created by the Kashmiri Brahmins, a clan who ruled India after the Mughals and Brits. Kashmiri Brahmins have the same food philosophy as Bengali Brahmins and are happy to eat meat as long as it is made satwik way with no onion or garlic. This version of the Rogan Josh has no onion or garlic but has Hing/Asafoetidia. The red color of the dish is brought by a root known as "Ratan Jot" found only in the Kashmir Valley. Recipe is here and here and here...

2. British Indian Rogan Josh -- This is the version created by HaraCurry Singh Patak in Glasgow, UK. This version was cooked like any other mutton dish with onion, garlic, ginger and tomatoes in the small galley kitchen but was given a brand new name. It was made mild so as not to upset the Brits who loved curry and HaraCurry. Soon it became popular among Indians and non-Indians living abroad and depending on the heat tolerance quotient(HTQ) of the clients the dish was made Red with Red Chili Powder, Red with Kashmiri Mirch or Orange with Food Coloring, the last being the most popular.

3. North Indian Rogan Josh -- Exactly same as British Indian Rogan Josh, made popular in Delhi by HaraCurry Singh Patak's second cousin Dhaba Singh Telwala. The cousins share the exact same recipe and this version only differs in the amount of oil floating on top of the dish. Grease being not a problem in India and available cheap the chef uses all kinds in this dish.

4. South Indian Rogan Josh -- This recipe was a novel creation by Swami Idli Iyer who had fallen in love with this dish on his tryst with the Brits in the late 1940's. Swami never told his mother Rasam Amma that he ate meat, smoked tobacco and never took his meals at Chennai Tiffin while in London.Instead he told her Rogan Josh-a was made with Jackfruit and was offered as Prasadam at the Balaji temple in UK. His version has fragrant curry leaves and grated coconut and is popular in Udupi restaurants.

5. Bengali Rogan Josh -- This version was created by Mishti Kumro Mukherjee who on her visit to Delhi was as impressed by the height and physique of the Punjabis as she was with the Red Fort. She took to feeding her "roga"(thin) son Rogan Josh every day at lunch since she felt that is what made the Paanjabi "mota"(fat translates to strong in Bengali) and not "roga" and also gave them "Josh"(fame & money). She added a good amount of sugar to this dish to make it mishti and marinated the mutton in mustard oil. No news of the son was ever reported.

6. Madhur Jaffrey Rogan Josh-- Whether this version was created by Madam Jaffrey, her mother's cook or a cook at Sitar I cannot tell. This version has onion and garlic but no tomatoes. It is made by people who blog and are not sure of what is the exact way to make Rogan Josh. The recipe is from here and it says Preparation Time :0:00, whatever that means.

*Recipe Number 2 to 5 are partly figments of the author's demented mind who has lots of time on her hand today. They do exist though.

If I am honest and look deep down in my heart and squint through the arteries, blood vessels, muscles and whatever they have there I should tell you that I wanted to make Rogan Josh as per Recipe Number 1. The only reason why Number 1 tilted my favor is it does not have onion. I can go any lengths to not chop an onion. I am lazy that way.

However I was supposed to take the mutton dish to a Bong Picnic and anyone who has been to a Bong Picnic knows how important a role food plays there. Bongs do not play badminton, antakshari, cricket or dumb charade at Picnics. They eat and chat and eat in a vicious cycle. I couldn't take risks at such a place. I have never cooked mutton sans onion & garlic. If my mutton dish faltered, I could as well be ousted and denied the Luchi, Alur Dom, Lyangcha which also featured on the menu. So I chose recipe Number 6, simply because of the brand name which backed it.

Recipe Number 6 was actually great. Even the measures worked perfect. I however added Fennel seed Powder from Recipe 1 to this one because I thought it would give this dish the unique flavor. In the end it was not a whole lot different from any other mutton curry but it definitely was one more great mutton curry. Go cook your own version of Mutton Rogan Josh or just follow this one. If you don't eat mutton substitute with chicken or jackfruit(kathal), really.


Read more...

Mutton Rogan Josh

This is an easy dish to cook and the only factor is time taken to cook the mutton. Do not use pressure cooker to cook the meat, the flavor comes out only on slow cooking.

What You Need

Mutton(Goat meat) or Lamb ~ 2 &1/2 lb, shoulder or front leg cut in medium pieces
Marinate the meat for 2-3 hours in 1 tsp ginger paste, 1 tsp garlic paste, 2 tsp vinegar or lime juice, a little turmeric and salt

For Gravy

Fresh Ginger peeled and chopped ~ 2"
Garlic ~ 8 fat cloves

Onion ~ 2 cups finely chopped

Yogurt ~ 6 tbsp

Salt
Oil for Cooking

Spices in Gravy

Cumin powder ~ 2 tsp
Corriander Powder ~ 1 tsp
Fennel Seed Powder ~ 2 tsp
Kashmiri Mirch ~ 1 tsp or more to get the coloring
Red Chili Powder ~ 1/2 tsp to start and then to taste

Pepper powder ~ 1/4 tsp
Garam masala ~ 1/4 tsp

For Tempering

Green Cardamom/Choti Elaichi ~ 6-8 pods
Black Cardamom/Badi Elaichi ~ 2 pods
Bay Leaf/Tej Patta ~ 2 small
Clove/Laung ~ 6 whole
Whole Black peppercorn/Kali Mirch ~ 10 whole
Cinnamon/Dalchini ~ one 2" stick
Mace/Javetri ~ 1/2 tsp

How I Did It

Marinate the mutton as instructed for 2-3 hours in 1 tsp ginger paste, 1 tsp garlic paste, 2 tsp vinegar or lime juice, a little turmeric and salt

Put the ginger, garlic and very little water in a blender and blend well into a smooth paste.

Heat White oil in a wide, heavy pot over a medium-high flame. Add the meat in a single layer and saute till they are browned. Add a dash of Kashmiri Mirch while frying the meat. Remove and set aside.

Temper the same oil with all spices listed under tempering. Wait a few seconds for the spices to sizzle.

Now add the onion. Fry the onions to a medium brown color.

Add the ginger-garlic paste that you made and saute for the next minute or so.

Now add the dry spices the Cumin Powder, Corriander powder, Fennel powder, Kashmiri Mirch and red Chili Powder. With a sprinkle of water fry the masala till you see oil separating from the edges.

Now add the browned meat cubes along with the meat juices. Mix well so that the meat is coated with the masala. Now lower the heat and put in 1 tablespoon of the yogurt and stir and fry for about 30 seconds until yogurt is well blended. Add the remaining yogurt, a tablespoon at a time in the same way. Stir and fry for another 3-4 minutes at low heat.

Add 1&1/2-2 cups of water and salt to taste. Mix everything well, scraping the sides and bottom of cooking pot. Bring the gravy to a boil.Check to see if salt and red chili powder is in correct amount. If you need it more hot add more chili powder.

Cover, turn heat to medium-low and simmer for about an hour or two until meat is tender. Every 10 minutes give the pot a good stir to prevent burning. If the gravy is becoming too dry add some more water.
When the meat is tender, take off the lid, turn the fire to medium high and boil off some of the excess liquid, stirring all the time, until the sauce is thickened.

Sprinkle the garam masala and black pepper over the dish and mix them in just before you serve it.



Trivia: Rogan means oil in Persian, while josh means heat, hot, boiling, or passionate. Rogan josh thus means cooked in oil at intense heat. Another interpretation of the name rogan josh is derived from the word rogan meaning color and josh meaning passion, hot or red. So this is a meat dish which is red in color.

Raspberry Cup Cakes for a Tea Party

In the age and place I live, people are strange. They do not drink tea. Even if they do, it is the weird stuff, the echinacea tea, the dandelion tea, "please-don't-drink-me" tea but very rarely ever the simmering on the stove-frothy-milky-sweet-dhaba-style Indian tea.

I like the last kind. I patiently wait for the milk and water to simmer and froth, to put a teaspoonful of Lipton Red Label, to soak an Earl Grey tea bag in it, to sweeten it with sugar or Truvia when feeling guilty and then dunking my Marie Biscuit in that hot tea before I take a sip.

I do that every afternoon disregarding cries from my neglected kids who haven't seen their Mother all day. But I just need my tea exactly so, I need my inner strength to face home after a long day and so I brew my tea. The kids get a Marie Biscuit each, they are allowed to dunk their biscuits in my steaming cup. Their baby hands falter and often a sliver of Marie sinks into my tea, it's lumpy form settling at the bottom of my cup. Some days I don't mind. On rough days I do, I want to sip my tea in peace without a lump of Marie in the dredges.

But I never have a tea party. I don't call people and invite them to one. Not that anyone would come if I asked. Unless I said I would fry some pakodis and promised a dinner after wards. I have great friends that way. People don't have time to sit down and talk over only tea, they would rather grab a coffee and go and call to chat.

People have changed. They don't call out for "duto half cha"(two half tea) to justify their sitting and smoking all day on the rickety bench by Montuda's canteen. They don't acknowledge your hard work. No one thinks twice about passing your Mom's recipe as their own.They don't give you credit if it was actually you who inspired them. Being polite is no longer the norm.

So I drink my tea all by myself. I like it that way better. Even with the sunken Marie.

These Raspberry Cup Cakes are from Madhuram's Vegan Strawberry Cup Cakes. It was HC's raspberry cup cakes which had actually pushed me towards baking some. But I wanted an eggless version, and I wanted raspberry. Madhuram's strawberry cup cakes came to the rescue. They have vinegar. Can you believe...VINEGAR ? I was so awed by vinegar in the cake thing that I simply had to do it. And it is amazing, those cakes actually rise and are so moist inside without the buttery richness.

Since I used raspberry and not strawberry the measures were a little off for me. I added almost 3/4 th cup of milk and 2 tbsp of oil extra because my batter had become very thick. But those cakes were awesome. While serving I slathered some raspberry jelly on top and made a butter cream frosting like Happy Cook does. Only mine weren't as pretty as hers. Thanks Madhuram and Happy Cook.

I don't have any measurements so the recipe I have here is exactly like the original . But I did have to make some adjustments and I will add that as a Note.

Cup Hanger from Mother's Day

And yes I did have them with my tea, only I had my tea in under 6 minutes and that cup that you see in the first pic does not have tea. It is so pretty, a friend got me a pair from Italy and I don't drink from it. I just stare at it while I drink from my regular cup, that one I got from the job fair, the job fair which never resulted in a job...ok whatever.

Does this make this post good enough for a Tea Party at Anita's ? If yes, over there it goes.


Read more...






Original Recipe

Raspberry Cup Cakes

Preheat Oven to 350F

In a saucepan put about 20 raspberries, sprinkle with 2tbsp sugar, a little lime juice and let it sit for 30 mins. Then make a raspberry filling like this, only I didn't make mine very thick. Or else just puree the raspberrys.


In a mixing bowl combine together
1 & 3/4 cup flour,
1 tsp baking soda and
1 cup sugar.

In another bowl, mix
1/2 cup oil,
1 tbsp white vinegar/apple cider vinegar and
1 tsp vanilla extract

Add the raspberry filling that you made to above and mix. It won't mix well but try.

Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Stir together but do not over stir.
Note: At this point my batter was very thick. So I added almost 3/4 cup of Milk and 1-2 tbsp of oil. I did this gradually starting with little milk so that I did not add excess milk.

Grease 12 muffin cups or cup cake liners. Pour the batter in them

Bake for about 22-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When cool, slather the cupcakes with raspberry preserve, butter cream and top each with a whole raspberry.

If you are a sucker for Numbers-Thank You..if Not-Thank You

Thanks for the 1.5 million hits.

You guys mean a lot to me. Without you this would never have been possible.

Trust me, except for me, the hub and my Dad, no one I know and influence in real life visits this blog.

My Dad has a slow connection and accounts for maybe 1% of the hits.

The hub has blogger blocked at work, he can do only so much on his blackberry -- 0.5 %

Me -- ok, ok 2%

The rest 96.5% is you guys who came, Visited, Liked, Subscribed and Searched.

Thank You from the bottom of my heart, even the one who searched for "arun sour daey a girl hot video" and landed here.

I hope you like what you get here, except for ummm..."hot video"...I will see if I can do anything for you next time. For now be happy with a "hot curry".

We will celebrate in 2 weeks time, stay tuned.

"Ganapati Bappa Moriya, Pudhaycha Varshi Laukar ya"

Samwich -- Sandwich

Easy, quick meals is my mantra these days.

In my late twenties I would have scoffed at "meal" and "mantra" being uttered in the same breath and dialed DeenDayal Dabba Delivery or Shanghai Indian Chinese for the quickest route to nirvana. If DeenDayal refused or my delicate digestive system protested I would say "Yenna Rascala" and throw potatoes, egg and rice in the pressure cooker. In under 20 minutes I would have a princely meal of alu seddho(mashed potatoes), dim seddho(boiled eggs), bhaat(rice) and ghee with a tender kancha lonka(green chili) to be bitten into.

As I even write the above line, I have a strong desire to do it again. The "alu seddho-bhaat" part I mean. Ok, ok even the "Yenna Rascala" part.

But growing up to be in the wrong side of thirties comes with it's own baggage. Blogging adds to it. So even though Indian cuisine has a plethora of quick-easy meals, Dal-Chawal cooked in the Pressure Cooker being a prime example, I don't do that.

I make sandwiches.

And I intend to write erudite sentences like "And what works better than a sandwich for a quick easy meal, may I ask ?"

So we have had sandwiches for dinner exactly 4 nights in the last 3 weeks. The sandwich toaster languishing in some dark corner of the closet has been fished out, dusted, wiped and given a warm hug.

"Why didn't I think of you in my dark, cranky, loony days ?", I croon to her, the sandwich toaster, in a hushed tone. Yeah I am weird and I have phases. Currently it is the sandwich's turn. Let it bask in unrequited love till Dal-Chawal pushes it over.

The idea of the first meatball sandwich with mushroom comes from the Pioneer Woman. Also the term "fry sauce" which I then saw in the price club's flyer last month

If you have the ground chicken do everything like my Chicken MeatBall post and instead of making spherical shapes make patties. Or if you have those chicken meatballs already, just use them. Drizzle a little olive oil and pan fry or bake them.

Now heat some olive oil in a fry pan. Add onion and saute till soft. Add some chopped mushroom, a little garlic, salt and lots of black pepper powder. Saute till the water from mushroom has dried up and it is cooked.

Take a slider or a whole wheat burger bread. Mix a little mayo with Maggi hot & sweet ketchup. This apparently is called Fry sauce. Only no one but me uses Maggi Hot & Sweet, actually they use some ketchup or hot sauce and cayenne. Slather this on the bread. For a Desi touch, use green corriander chutney instead but that doesn't go too well with the onion+mushroom combo.

Place the chicken/balls/patty strategically on it. I halve the chicken balls and place them on the bread.

Heap the onion+mushroom on it. Sprinkle some grated cheese. Pop in the oven and broil till cheese melts.

Put the other half of bread slathered with the same sauce on top. There is your sandwich with dark,musky secrets inside. Yum, yum.

.

The idea for the Tomato sandwich cones from One Hot Stove.

In a bowl put some chopped fresh tomatoes. The tomatoes need to be good, fresh ones, the one's from Patel Cash & Carry will not seal the deal. Add some chopped fresh basil. Sprinkle some salt and fresh ground black pepper. Drizzle a little Olive Oil. Let the tomatoes sit for 15 minutes.

Now take a slice of whole wheat bread. Slather it with a green corriander chutney. I used straight from a jar. It is beautiful. Heap the tomatoes on the bread. Sprinkle grated cheese. I used Taco Blend. Cover with another slice of whole wheat bread and pop in the sandwich toaster till it magically turns into a sandwich that shrieks spring even in Fall.

Tomorrow we will make Rogan Josh, maybe Not.

Alu Gajor er Tarkari

School has started. The weather too has decided that summer vacation is over. The car windows have signs of frost in the mornings and dusk comes in early. BS started 2nd grade and seems to like her class teacher a lot.

We have the same bus driver since last year, a sweet soul who drops off BS right in front of home and always has a cheery word in the morning. This is important because our current situation is such that walking even a few yards to a bus stop and waiting for the bus to drop off in the afternoon would be very inconvenient. The driver could have easily told us to do that given that there is one more kid down the road but thankfully she didn't. Thank God and bus drivers for the small blessings they scatter our way.

The only change BS faces is in her section and hence a change in some classmates. She hasn't complained about it yet and continues to meet her old friend during recess.

The morning commute however has been worse, worser(?), worsest(?) with start of school and looks like it is me who is the most overwhelmed with the start of a new school year. There is so much to get done during a day that I just wish the earth would spin slower or the girls grow up magically and go to college, live in a dorm, make their own meals and leave me alone. It is another thing that when that time comes I will cry my heart out, write sob stories and book a vacation to Greenland.

Talking of growing up either I am going nuts or the world is no longer the place of my childhood but I seem to have weighted questions on my mind these days. Like how do I tell BS to be safe when I am not around, I meant not "not around for ever", momentarily, an hour or two or eight. Like is it okay to drop her off at one of her activity classes and then spend that 45 minutes contemplating what to make for dinner while roaming the streets with shrieking LS in the car seat.

Do you sit through your kid's activity classes or do you just drop and pick up ? What if it is a solo activity and you are not too familiar with the instructors ? What do you do, I desperately need to know.

The Alu Gajor er Tarkari/Potato and Carrot sabzi is a quick dry dish usually prepared during the winter days back home when the first sweet orange carrots of the season have made their appearance and green peas are in plenty. It would be served with rutis hot off the tawa on cold evenings or with parota/paratha on Sunday breakfast.

I made neither ruti nor parota. But I like it with rice and BS does too.

Sometimes I give BS rice mixed with a dry vegetable dish or lemon rice/fried rice for her school lunch.This was a friend's brilliant idea and works for at least one lunch a week. The Alu Gajor er tarkari works well towards that purpose. I wish I could say BS happily ate this lunch of hers. But I will be honest, she didn't. I made her eat the leftover at home though and that she happily did.


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Alu Gajor er Tarkari

Chop 3 potatoes in small cubes.

Peel and chop fresh carrots in cubes or longitudinally(cubes preferred). You can use frozen mix of carrots and peas too. I had 1 cup of carrots and 1/4 cup of green peas.

Heat Olive Oil/Canola Oil in a fry pan

Temper the oil with 1/2 tsp of Kalonji/Nigella Seeds and 4 green chili. If you like the smell of Hing/Asafoetida add a pinch

When the spices pop, add the potatoes and 1/4 tsp of turmeric. Saute for a minute

Add the carrots and saute for one more minute. Next add the peas. Add salt to taste.
Edited to Add: I add a tsp of fresh grated ginger too. I forgot.

Cover and cook with intermittent stirring. Sprinkle a little water if necessary, only little. The potatoes should retain their form and not be mushed up.

When the veggies are all done, not mushed up but done, add a few drops of lime juice and adjust for seasonings. This is usually a light dish with no spices overpowering the taste.

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