Wednesday 21 May 2014

Chapor ghanto

Being a “Bati” we inherited two totally different set of families from our parents. “Ba” comes from “Bangal” and “Ti” from “Ghati”. So our childhood memories are amalgamation of Opposites! 
Our maternal grandma (we call Nana) used to prepare this dish almost all the time till the day she stopped cooking forever!   Alas, we did not care for recipes those days and there is no way to ask Nana now.  So all I can do is to call my Mom. Though she never made it I have good faith on her guess. The finished product looked colourful, smelled pleasant & gentle on tongue. It is less oily and comprised of loads of vegetables. So obviously gave a healthy feeling. Last but not the least it fulfilled my nostalgia well.


Chapor ghanto

1st thing first: How to make the Chapor ?
Take 1 small bowl of Chana dal/cholar dal and soak it in water for overnight in 4 cups of water.
Then make a paste in a mixer/blender with a pinch of salt and red chilli powder.
Finally make small round shaped balls from the paste & shallow fry them in white vegetable oil. 
Hooray!! Our Chapor is ready.


For the Ghanto I used Potatoes, Pumpkin , raw Papaya and Brinjal. You can also add Jhinge (Ridge gourd) , Chichinge (Snake Gourd), Sweet Potato, Long yard beans.
So if you want to de-clutter the vegetable tray of your refrigerator go for this dish…. J
Cut all the vegetables into slim stripes. Heat oil in a Kadai / pan. Add some Panch foron and 1 dried red chilli. When the seeds will start to splutter add the chopped vegetables.
Reduce the flame to low and cover. Sauté time to time. Add salt & sugar to taste.
This is a dry dish and does not have any gravy. So sprinkle little water just to ensure that mix does not stick to bottom of the pan. Simmer till all the vegetables become tender.
Then pour them in a serving bowl.

Final step: Crush the Chapors by hand and add with the cooked vegetables. Sprinkle some shredded coconut for garnishing.
 

Tuesday 20 May 2014

Chhana & Kacha aam er Paturi

I was in a mood of doing some experiments. So I just started mingling …. some chhana (home-made paneer or cottage cheese) with some shredded raw mango & coconut, then mustard oil, turmeric & red chilli powder, salt, sugar and green chillies. 
The result was just tongue blowing !! We loved it with rice. Next time, I want to try-out posto paste (i.e. paste of poppy seed) instead of  shredded coconut.  

With following measurement one will able to serve 5 grownups. Use these measures for a basic idea only and feel free to be governed by your intuition.  

Chhana (home-made paneer or cottage cheese) : Take 1.5 litre of whole Cow milk. Squeeze 1 lemon into the boiling milk and stir well. Let the mixture cool down before pouring it on a strainer to remove excess water.
Half of a raw mango : Peeled & Shredded with a shredder
Mustard oil : 1.5 table spoon (one can add more)
Mustard paste: 5 table spoon
Turmeric powder: 1 tea spoon
Red chilli powder: 1 tea spoon
Green chillies: 4 or more
Half of a coconut : Shredded 
Salt & Sugar to taste (I used to start by adding ½ tea spoon each. Then I keep adding gradually tasting over & over again like a lunatic :) )

Have everything mixed up in a Borosil bowl and microwave for 7 minutes. You may sprinkle little water to soften the blend.

Optional step: Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of Mustard oil on top before placing the mixture in Microwave (only recommended for brave hearts :) )

 

Got published in Rediff ....yippee

Monday 19 May 2014

Handmade Gifts

Each gift carries a different message, different meaning. Each originates from different feelings, different emotions or pure social obligation. The hidden emotions, sacrifice, effort, remembrance, respect or motives are what makes each one unique.
In childhood we didn’t have the luxury of buying greeting cards. So we used to make them. That became a practice which I’m adhering till date. Not only me, our entire pack of sisters has this habit. And I want to pass on this practice to my kid too.

This Rose basket card was made after we created our blog.

Handmade Rose Basket Card

Doing nothing

You know, I just love to shut off my mind…. away from all my professional  & personal agendas, away from whips of daily routines, away from news, away from social networks, away from any media, away from all grown-up people (well except a chosen few J).  
Once I shut off myself, I Love spending time in doing nothing. I mean almost nothing like walking aimlessly, sleeping, thinking of nothing in particular, scribbling, babbling with children or with those chosen few J …….
That’s when I relish every moments I am living. That’s when I feel I am living a life at all !! But ….the catch is ….
Why these golden living moments are so short?
Who is stopping me?
Why I call this as “doing nothing” not “living”?
Why I have to return to the main stream?
Why I have to catch the superfast life express everyone is travelling?
Why I have no choice but to spend life without appreciating ?
May be someday I will find the answer to all these unfathomable questions!!  


Wednesday 7 May 2014

Quilling

“Oh again, again you are sitting with papers, scissors and glue! Not again Rumki, I had enough of this. Soon I’ll see cut papers flying all around the house and floors sticky with your glue. How many times I have to tell you ? I don’t like this”….Mom usual nagging begins. My Sis snap back, “How many times I have to tell you ? That I’m Chumki not Rumki. I don’t like this too”
Mom: “Now see that’s how you talk to your elder. Whatever, you know I’m speaking to you only. Have you finished your study? Don’t you have any homework left? Then better go and clean your almira, it is in a horrible condition.”
Then after having a close look, “Chumki, is this my new scissor? The one I just bought for my tailoring work! Oh, how many times I have to tell you not to use my scissors? You ruined my last scissor also. It became blunt because you used it to cut those rubbish papers.” Wailing ascended like a musical fountain. But my Sis, the primary cause of this turbulence kept doing her work.

That’s my sis, the born “Unmoved mover”.

This is a snap shot from 20 years ago. Now my sis leaves far away from mom. She still keep working with paper, scissors and glue whenever she find some free time and having the artistic mood. The scissors, she used now probably her own bought item! I don’t know if her minds still replays Mom’s chattering as back ground music. Or I don’t know if Mom miss her yelling with nobody to mess around.   



 

Robibar-er Alik abosar e Ranna

 Sundays are irreplaceable and are becoming expensive every week. But as the sun rises in the sky on every Sunday, the countdown begins. Wait, but no not for me. Because there is 99.99% of chance that I will be sleeping. Honestly, I have neither an experience of watching a sun-rise on Sunday nor any wish to watch one (yes, even if it is on the most beautiful place on earth). Yeh, I relish my morning sleepover of Sundays. “Roti, kapda and makaan and Sunday” is my own basic rights manifesto.
After I wake up on Sundays (at least to some extent) all I want …yeh……. hmmm …a…..ok sorry I don’t know what I want ….but I definitely don’t want to spend long time in the kitchen but I definitely don’t want to starve.
I believe, we deserve a good lunch at least once a week. A proper lunch on Sunday is essential for our survival from week-long lunches @ office.

So who are the knights in shining armour ?

Here comes the list of saviours for our summer Sunday lunches:
  1. Aam diyeTak dal
  2. Chichinga bhaja
  3. Pabda Macher jhol
  4. Tak Doi