Today's Lunch - Kasoori Dal & Red Mooli ki Subzi

A simple food today afternoon was something on mind. So ended up making the two delicacies below. Sorry forgot to click any pictures and now its all gone while I write this post.

So here goes the recipe:-

Kasoori Dal

Ingredients:-

1. Toovar Dal - 1 cup
2. Tomato - 1 medium size
3. Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Haldi powder - 1/2 tsp
5. Pinch of hing
6. Kasoori methi - 1 tsp
7. Cumin seeds  - 1/2 tsp
8. Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
9. Oil - 1 tbsp
10. Sugar - 1/2 tsp
11. Lemon juice - 1/2 lemon
12. Salt - As per taste

Method:-

1. Wash dal and pressure cook it with haldi, red chilli and dice tomatoes.
2. After pressure cooker has cooled down mash the dal a bit with back of the ladle or big spoon.
3. To give tadka add oil to the pan. After oil has become hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, hing and crushed kasoori methi.
4. Add Dal to this tadka.
5. Add sugar and salt and lemon juice.
6. Bring it to one boil and it is done.

Red Mooli - Mutter Sabzi

Ingredients:-

1. Red Mooli - 1 packet
2. Green Peas/Mutter - 1/2 cup
3. Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Green Chillies - 4-5 nos.
5. Black Pepper crushed - 1/2 tsp
6. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
7. Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
8. Garlic cloves - 3-4 nos.
9. Hing- Pinch
10. Oil - 1 tbsp
11. Sugar - 1/2 tsp
12. Maize/ Maika ka Atta - 1 tbsp
13. Curd/Yoghurt - 1 tbsp
14. Salt as per taste.

Method:-

1. Wash and cut the Moolis first lengthwise and then breadth wise to get match sticks like shape.
2. Take oil in a kadai or heavy bottom pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and hing.
3. When seeds splutter add garlic cloves and green chillies. Fry it for a 30 secs roughly.
4. Add cut mooli and green peas. Stir it for 10 -20 secs and then add turmeric, black pepper powder, salt and sugar.
5. Stir it and then cover it for 7-8 mins. The mooli will release water so don't add any water.
6. In the meantime make a paste of Maika ka Atta and curd. Add it to the vegetable and give it a nice stir
7. Let it cook till oil starts leaving pan and Maika a Atta is cooked.

Note:- The above combination goes very well with Rotis as well as Rice.

Hope you enjoy relishing it :)

Happy Cooking!!!!!
-Namita

Entering the Rannaghar

The kitchen in Bangla is known as RannaGhar- the most favorite place of any Bengali women. The reason I call it as favorite is - for one thing all Bengalis are big time food lovers and another thing Bengali women take pride in preparing variety of dishes as part of their daily chores.

Born in a Maharashtrian family and then later on married to a Bong I was hardly aware of the mysterious cooking that happens into this equally amazing Bengali Rannaghar. I call the cooking mysterious because it was indeed a mystery for me when I first entered the kitchen at my in-laws place. The whole thing smelled different, the aroma was captivating but completely alien to my palate.

I must say Bengali cuisine is unique in its own way, their daily platter contains variety of vegetables, at least one non-veg item and how can one forget the sweet - without which the food is incomplete. From this one can easily guess that Bengalis are synonymous with food and both are inseparable entities.

I did face some challenges when I stepped into the kitchen and now when I look back I am amazed by my own blunders!!

Understanding the essence of Bengali cuisine was a herculean project in itself, because since childhood I was exposed to Maharastrian food which is much spicier than the Bengali counterpart. Also belonging to a Metro city like Mumbai which has a prominence of Punjabi and Gujarati cuisines this whole new world of Rannaghar was a rollercoaster ride!!

I hardly had an opportunity to cook at my in-laws place after marriage as had to accompany my husband to USA. Thereby the only thing I prepared during my short stay was Tea. Usually there is a tradition of Bau-Baath after marriage wherein the new bride makes Payesh (rice pudding) for the guests in the kitchen for the very first time. Fortunately for me and also for others this didn’t take place and the guests were saved from my disastrous attempt :)

I made my way to USA and here began the whole series of experimenting with cooking and especially giving the Bengali touch to it. My friends from iflex (company that I worked for before marriage and the place where I met my husband for the first time) had gifted me a recipe book on Bengali cuisine and this became a bible for me for the next few months. Although whatever I tried from it looked and tasted different as per my husband’s verdict and they really didn’t qualify for a mouth-licking bong delicacies. However as it is with every newly married couple a husband don’t really complain at the beginning and the usual tone is "whatever you cook tastes good". But believe me this fairly tale doesn’t last forever and soon you are made to face the reality.

The very first dish I made was every Bengali’s favorite - Aloo Posto, it is a preparation with potatoes and poppy seeds paste. The poppy seed paste has got special place in the RannaGhar and one can find so many varieties made out of it. It is something similar to using coconut in Keralite cuisines. Other than aloo posto we can find posto bora which is poppy seed vada and literally you can find poppy seed paste making its mark in almost variety of vegetable potato combinations. We can have lauki- aloo posto, drumstick-aloo posto, biangan-aloo posto, tomato Posto, pyaaz posto and any other combination one can think of. Bengalis love their potatoes and their postos. They are must haves on everyday plate. So back to my first attempt at aloo posto, one need not take much effort in guessing it would have been disastrous. I added my own imagination and tried making it spicier by adding garlic and what not as I had a doubt about its taste because the only spice it was supposed to use was green chilies.

These and similar kinds of blunders and re-blunders finally after 6 years of marriage I can now say I have somewhat managed to have attained the art of cooking the Bengali cuisine and now my Rannaghar has the same aroma and the same atmosphere like most Bengali households.

My Pilot Attempt at writing

Today I happened to browse through my Laptop's hard drive to catch up on some old snaps and refresh some old memories and sooth my soul in the tender warmth that the pictures creates around one. While browsing I tumbled upon few of the word documents which I had been penning down during my idle times. Being a talkative person by nature I indulge in self talk at times and especially when I have no one to talk to or rather enjoy my own company. So the very first penned down composition I came across is the one I would like to publish on my blog today. So here it goes:-

Summers in US

Never thought I will be writing on something like this but this happening place has compelled me to appreciate itself in few words or rather after a long time I have been bestowed upon with so much of free time.

Well I think I was fortunate, one more time to visit US during summers and to top it all Boston. Summers here are really nice, no scorching heat but a warm pleasant sun and to complement it a nice chilly wind. A perfect weather to move around and get mesmerize in its glory. As oppose to winters here, which are so ghostly quiet, summers are equally thrilling. I look outside from the patio of my apartment and enjoy the whole lot of activity going around. I see people enjoying a nice warm swim in the pool, children running helter-skelter into parks, old couple on a morning walk with their faces shining in the glory of the fulfilled and satisfied life. And not to forget the early morning visits of flamingos to the pond and a geese couple swimming happily in the sparkling water body throughout the day.

One thing really unusual about summers in Boston is that, nature keeps playing this game of shine and rain. When temperature reaches to soaring high, clouds come down gushing and cooling the heated earth. This makes the entire atmosphere very pleasing and extremely delightful. If Boston summers are blend of rain and shine, Cincinnati summers were hot and dry but again full of life.

I recall one such incident of the summers of Cincinnati; I was relaxing and enjoying the afternoon sun on the Fountain square of the Cincinnati downtown. The Fountain square stands in the centre of the Cincinnati downtown and is always buzzing with lot of activities. You can see people doing whole lot of things here and thoroughly enjoying every moment of life. I got myself a book from library and an ice-cream from Greaters and sat down at a convenient location enjoying my icy treat and getting immersed in my book. Just then a small kid approached me asking for 75 cents to buy himself some snack. I didn’t have exact change so I handed him 1 dollar note. He went and got his snack and came back to handover the balance 25 cents. I wasn’t really expecting this, so told him “You should be fine, you need not return me the balance.” He replied: - “I happened to drop my money somewhere and now while I wait here for my mom I felt extremely hungry. I saw you and thought you to be a kind lady and hence approached you. I don’t need the remaining money and request you to please take it back.” I thought not to further make him feel embarrassed and took my balance, however was touched by his gesture.

Likewise I spend many summer afternoons on the Fountain square, sometimes just sitting there and listening to young boys and girls play country music. On other occasions watching young kids do iceskating with unusual ease and equally thrilling grace. One thing I really admired and always look forward to was the spring afternoons, the entire Fountain square used to be blanketed with variety of colourful and fragrant flowers. Simply a treat to your eyes, with shades of yellow, pink, red, lavender, and white almost all colours one could think or rather couldn’t think of!!!!! And more interesting was the flower arrangement , one couldn’t help but admire the exceptional art of arranging them in squares,circles,rows ,columns … simply awesome!!!

Another interesting summer thing to do in US is “A visit to a Farmer’s market”, where one can find fresh fruits and vegetables sold by the farmers themselves at an exceptionally cheap rate without compromising on quality.
In Cincinnati it used to be called as Farmer’s Market but here in Boston they call it Hay Market. So as I was saying this market is a fun place to visit- it’s not only a place to buy your fodders but you will find people enjoying the warm sun by singing and playing music. The whole atmosphere smells refreshing just like fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers that are on display. Cincinnati never had any beaches however Boston is blessed with the sea-shore and summers just glorify its beauty all the more. Whether it’s a quite self-engaging walk along the sea shore or enjoying the saline cold water, the whole experience in itself rejuvenates and fills you with lots of energy.

I look around and see people of varied origins assembled to enjoy the fun evenings at the beach ,I see young kids swimming and playing dodge ball in the sea waters, some making sand castle, toddlers running behind and playing with sea – birds and some others collecting sea-shells and sparkling stones from the shore.

All this really took me back to my childhood days in Mumbai, where I and my brother would visit the sea-shore at Marve with our parents. It used to be so much fun, my mom packing us some bhel an Indian snack , dad buying us ice-cream candies or sometimes butta( a corn nicely buttered with spices and heated over charcoals ), overall it used to carefree, fun and yummy evenings.
Collecting sea shells and decorative stones and building sand castles had always been my hobby then and I simply loved doing it. Now after so many years when I visited the Revere beach here in Boston I flashbacked to my carefree and happy childhood days. I simply wanted to re-telecast it and so started collecting stones and shells and filling them into my pockets exactly the way I did when I was quarter the age I am now. The feeling was a refreshing one and for a moment I wondered why didn’t life pause then but that’s how it is, change is the way of life and accepting change is an experience.
Beaches had always played important role in my life in fact it was here that I made the greatest decision of my life, yes, you guessed that right. The decision of getting married to a person whom I knew from my work place- as a good company, a genuine human being and a simple individual. And it was the same Marve Beach which had seen me as kid running and playing on its shore and now witnessing the biggest and much important decision in a young girl’s life!!!!!!

Other thing that fascinates me about beaches is its waves, the music they create with every tide, the rhythm with which it keeps hitting the shore every fraction of seconds, makes me wonder can there be a better music than this? Where the Almighty Himself plays the vocal strings with such a divine perfection!!!!

All this feels my heart with sheer happiness and for a moment makes me forget all my worries, all the competition, the entire money thing and all this exhausting race of life. I simply feel like getting absorbed in this mystic charm of nature!!!!
And summers here are not just all about Natural beauty, as we know America has always been “Land of immigrants” and this can be clearly witnessed during summers when the cultures across the world come together in the city downtown to celebrate their traditions.
One such festival I attended was “International Food Festival” while I was in Cincinnati. However it is celebrated in most parts of US. Here people from different cultural backgrounds across the world gather to exhibit their culinary skills. If you are a real food- lover you just can’t afford to miss this wonderful treat to your palate. But it’s not all about food, group of young boys and girls exhibit their talent by showcasing the cultural events of their respective countries. Overall it’s one complete day of fun and frolic something like a MELA as we say it in India.
I always feel the best way to enjoy summers is “Go Camping”. I haven’t really got an opportunity to do so; however I do promise myself to get this wonderful experience at least once.Setting up a tent by a river side, fetching water from the river, hunting your own fresh fish and then barbequing it traditionally over charcoals and of course camp-fire under starry night. I do long for such kind of a lifetime treat and hope to add it soon to my fun days that I spent here.

Now summer is nearing its end taking away its usual warmth however promising a cosy Fall (Autumn). And I am sure this wonderful season too, would like me to pen down something for itself,-just like its cousin!