A Bong's Kitchen

Since I hail from the state of West Bengal, probably one would imagine that I will choose a city from Bengal as my most favourite city if I was asked to name mine. Well, had I not been to Delhi ever and had I not stayed here for so long, I would have done just that. Kolkatta was definitely on my mind but then in the end, I followed my heart and yes, I confess my love for "Dilli" - the heart of India. It took me some time to get used to Delhi and its ways but there ws something in it that had caught my attention. I instantly felt connected with the city. I had probably already fallen in love with the city the moment I landed here. It only took me a few years to realise the love. Now I feel more at home here than anywhere else. I had never been outside of Bengal before my marriage and so was taken aback by the fast moving lifestyle in Delhi. Initially I felt very out of place in the city and of course it took me a few years to get adjusted to the ways of the Dilliwallahs. There are still a few things that I dislike about Delhi but the good things outweigh them.

Being the capital city of India, Delhi is literally the heart of India. It has been a thriving city for several centuries. It continues to be one of India's most important cultural, political and commercial centres. It has got a rich cultural history dating back to the times of Mahabharata to almost 3000 years. Delhi used to be known by the name of Indraprastha in those days. As per the epic, Indraprastha or "city of Indra" was built by the Pandava brothers on the banks of the river Yamuna and used to be their capital. Centuries later the Moghuls made the city their seat of power. Delhi has always been culturally diverse and even though several rulers ruled over the city - from the Mauryas to the Moghuls to the Britishers, but the city managed to retain the essence of each bygone era. The city is dotted with several monuments from the Moghul era but in the vicinity, you will also find modern infrastructure with world class amenities, befitting the image of a capital city.

It's said the current city Delhi was built and re-built many times (some say five times) by its rulers. Then again in 1911 when King George visited India, the British empire made Delhi as its capital. During his tenure, the city underwent several changes and saw significant infrastructural development - important buildings like parliament and public offices were built. New Delhi was designed by British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker and was inaugurated in 1931 by Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India. Even to this day, the city continues to witness massive expansion, modernisation and redevelopment activities.

(Photo sourced from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Skyline_at_Rajiv_Chowk.JPG)

Teeming with a population of about 25 million, it is the second most populated city in India. It is situated on the banks of Yamuna and is surrounded by the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The city is the biggest and the most important commercial centre in North India and so almost every day, a huge number of people come from the bordering states to the capital looking for work. Be it educational and medical facilities or be it career opportunities, Delhi is indeed "the land of immense possibilities". They say that no one fails to get work and earn livelihood in the city.

(Photo sourced from http://www.naturalhighsafaris.com/cdn/cache/made/cdn/uploads/country_images/India/North/Delhi/India-Gate--Delhi-Photos2_940_529_80_s_c1.jpg )

Delhi is thoroughly connected to all parts of the country, be it by air or by road or by the Indian railway. The city has both domestic airports (two) and an International one - Indira Gandhi International Airport, which is said to be one of the busiest airports in Asia.Apart from the Indian railway network, Delhi also has a suburban railway system by which people from the city as well as from the neighbouring states travel to and from the city. It has five National Highways running through it - NH1, NH2, NH8, NH10 and NH24. DTC buses, autos and taxis and so also private RTB buses ply inside the city, thus connecting all parts of the city. Since 2002, the Delhi Metro has been the lifeline of Delhi. It has become one of the primary means of transportation in Delhi today and connects the cities to the neighbouring cities as well like Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad.
P.S. : Written for Tata Motors' Made of Great Zonal wars. You can also go to their website http://madeofgreat.tatamotors.com/ and know more about it.

It has been close to seven years now since I moved to Delhi from Siliguri after my marriage and though it took me some time to get adjusted to the new environment but I can now proudly say that I have pretty much succeeded in absorbing the way of living of the Delhiites.

To speak the truth, I was reluctant at first to leave my home state. I was actually pretty nervous, being apprehensive about whether I would be able to adjust at the new place. I had never moved out of my home state. We came over to Delhi only after a week of our marriage because my husband had to rejoin his duty. I was 23 then, I was young, naive and totally inexperienced. Not only was I going to stay miles away from my parents and in-laws, but also the fact that I had the added responsibility of setting up my new home at an absolutely new place and environment, was scaring me. I fumbled and made several mistakes. After my husband would leave for his office, I used to feel very lonely at home. I would miss my family very much and at times, felt miserable and helpless when I failed at something. That's when I found an extremely caring and a lovable mentor in Poonam aunty, our next-door neighbour. She came like a Godsend to me. She has always been there for me, like a mother would do. She would help me with advices and tips whenever I needed them. But the best thing of all is that, in all these years, she has benefitted me immensely by teaching me some quintessential Punjabi recipes - be it how to make kulcha or amritsari naan, or be it cholle and rajma; be it makki ki roti and sarson ka saag or desserts like gajar ka halwa and various barfis. Out of them all however, one sweet dish has always remained my favourite Punjabi dessert - Phirni. That was the first sweet dish that she had taught me and coincidentally phirni is her favourite as well. It's a very popular sweet dish in North India and is usually prepared during the festive occasions, especially during Karwa Chauth.

The other day while we were having our usual evening chat, somehow a passing mention of Phirni came up and that's when she told that she hasn't eaten it ever since she was diagnosed with diabetes a couple of months back. I was saddened to know that. But just then an idea struck me. I thought I could still make Phirni for poonam aunty by substituting sugar with Sugar free natura, which is an absolutely safe alternative to table sugar, even for the diabetes patients. It has no harmful effects and gives us the same sweetness as the normally available sugar but with negligible calories. It contains Sucralose and since it is highly heat stable, so it can be used for cooking and baking purposes without a worry. I wanted to surprise Poonam aunty by cooking phirni for her using Sugar Free Natura.


The recipe is quite simple and anyone can prepare it at home.

Ingredients:

Whole Milk, 1 Litre
Basmati rice 1/4 cup
Sugar free Natura, 1/2 cup
Saffron, 10-12 strands to soak in milk
Green Cardamoms, 3-4, crushed
Dry Nuts (Almonds, cashew nuts), 8-10 each

Method:

Taking 1/4th cup of basmati rice, first wash it thoroughly to clean it of all impurities and after draining out all water, spread the rice over a dry, clean muslin cloth or paper so that the rice dries up quickly.

After the rice grains have dried up, grind them into a somewhat coarse powder, it shouldn't be an absolutely fine powder, it should rather be a litle grainy, resembling semolina or suji. Now keep that aside.

Take the milk in a non-stick pan and bring it to boil, stirring it continuously, over medium heat. That should take about seven to eight mnutes.

But before the milk has boiled, take out about 2 tablespoons of warm milk in a small bowl and adding the saffron strands, mash them a bit and leave it to soak in the milk, so that the saffron starts to soften up and imparts its colour to the milk. After a good 3-4 minutes, the colour of the solution would have changed to light yellow. Keep that aside.

In the mean time, in another small bowl, take some warm water and add the almonds into it and leave them soaked for 4-5 minutes. Doing that will make it easy to peel off the skin of the almonds. They can then be sliced thinly and kept aside and shall be used later for garnishing.

When the milk in the sauce pan starts boiling, lower the flame and add the powdered rice into it and keep stirring slowly.


We have to be careful that no limps get formed in the milk and rice mixture and so we have to keep stirring at regular intervals.

When the milk gets reduced considerably and the rice is almost cooked (that should take about 20-25 minutes of cooking over low-medium heat)and we see another boil, stir in the Sugar free natura. So also add the saffron and milk solution.
Then add the chopped dry fruits (almonds and cashew nuts) and also add the crushed cardamoms.


Cook the phirni over low heat for another 2-3 minutes and then turn off the heat and let it to cool down to the room temperature.

We can also keep it inside the refrigerator for about 15-20 minutes and before serving, we can garnish it with some more chopped dry nuts.


I made this Phirni day before yesterday and it tasted absolutely heavenly, even my husband who isn't that much of a sweet lover, was all praise for me. The best part was that no table sugar was used, instead it had been substituted with sugar free natura (and so was healthy) but even with no sugar used, one wouldn't have been able to notice the difference - it had the same taste and sweetness of normal sugar.

One should have seen the excitement on Poonam aunty's face when I called her over and told her that I had a surprise for her. She was over-joyed and was mighty surprised, when I served her Phirni and told her that it could safely eaten because it was sugar free (sugar free natura had been used and not the normal sugar). The moment she took a spoonful of Phirni into her mouth, she got up from her cahir excitedly and hugged me as if I had returned her a priceless thing. I had never seen her that happy before. My efforts were fruitful and I felt extremely satisfied, all thanks to Sugar free natura.

Traditionally prawns are cooked with the cream of a fresh, tender coconut and other spices and is more famously known as Chingri Macher Malaikari. It is one of the most popular dishes among the Bengalis and everyone in my family too love it. But here in Delhi, we aren't able to cook them as often since we fail to procure fresh prawns in Delhi. However my father-in-law told me this evening that he was yearning to eat prawns. So his son at once set out looking for prawns and luckily he could find the bigger sized prawns. So I made Chingri Macher Malaikari for dinner tonight.

Ingredients :

Prawns (big-sized) - about 500 gms
Boiled potatoes, diced
Onion paste - 1 tbsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Green chillies - 3-4 slit along their length
Tomatoes - 2 small sized, finely chopped
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Bay leaf - 1
Cinnamon stick - 1
Cloves - 4-5
Green cardamom - 4
Coconut milk - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Salt
Mustard oil - about 4 tbsp
Fresh coriander leaves (for garnishing)

Method :

After cleaning the prawn pieces, marinate them with turmeric powder and a small amount of salt and keep them aside.
Now heat mustard oil in a wok and fry the prawns till they turn slightly brown in colour. Take them out and keep them aside on a plate. To the same oil, now add the dry spices - bay leaf, cinnamon, green cardamom and so also the green chillies and saute them for a few seconds till their aroma starts coming. Then add the onion paste and also the ginger-garlic paste and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes till their raw smell goes away. Add the chopped tomatoes now and again fry them till they become soft ad mushy. Add turmeric powder, chili powder, salt and garam masala powder, and also add the coconut milk along with some water and stir in some ghee as well. Mix nicely and let the gravy to boil. Now is the time to add the fried prawns and the boiled potato cubes to the gravy. Cook for some 10 minutes or so or until you get the desired consistency of the gravy. Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and serve it with steamed rice.

Like I had written in my previous egg curry post, I have always loved eggs. Dimer Jhol has been one of my favourite dishes right my graduation days at Hyderabad and even when I wish for a change, I would ionstead make omellete curry instead of the regular fare. Omellette curry is quite easy to make and goes very well with both boiled rice or with chapatis. I remember, after marriage, when I came over to Delhi with my husband, the first thing I made in our new rented flat was this omellette curry. My husband had never eaten this curry before, so had never imagined that one could even make a curry out of omellete pieces! He had actually laughed at me when I told him what I was preparing for dinner that night. But then when he tasted the curry, he went gaga about it. So whenever I run out of options or I am in a hurry or whenever I feel very hungry but wouldn't have the time or patience to cook a full meal, I go for this omellette curry.

Ingredients :

Eggs - 4
Potato - 2 medium sized
Onion paste - 3 tbsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Tomato - 1 large sized, chopped finely
Boiled white peas - about 100 gms
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 1” piece
Black cardamom - 1
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt as per taste
Mustard Oil - about 5-6 tbsp
chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Method :

Wash the pototoes thoroughly and put them into a pressure cooker to boil for two whistles. Then cut them into cubes and keep them aside.
Now in a bowl, break the eggs, add to them chopped onions, chopped green chillies, salt, crushed black peppercorns and some chopped coriander leaves and whisk the mixture to a smooth paste.
Now heating about 2 tbsp of oil in a flat bottomed pan, pour the omellette mixture and spread it nicely to make a thick but soft omellette. Cook it for about 2 minutes and when done, flip it to the other side and once again let it to cook for 2 minutes. Now take it out onto a plate and let it to cool for a few minutes. Similarly, you can make another omellette too, if you wish to have a greated amount of omellete curry. After that, cut the omellette into square pieces and keep them aside.

Now again taking the rest of the cooking in a wok, let it to become hot and then add the whole spices (slightly crushed so that their aroma comes out). Once they start to splutter, add the onion paste and saute on medium flame for a few minutes till they turn golden brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Now add coriander powder, chili powder and turmeric powder, also add the chopped tomatoes and little salt and cook till they become all mushy. Keep stirring every now and then so that the gravy doesn't get burnt. Now add the omellete pieces and the boiled potatoes, mix them nicely with the gravy and then pour in about 2 cups of water and let the curry to cook on simmer flame, after covering it with a lid. When it's done, you can garnish the omellete curry with chopped coriander leaves or garam masala powder and serve it hot with steamed rice or chapatis. Normally I prefer to have it with steamed rice. 

Childhood memories are hard to forget. Often I find myself filled with nostalgic thoughts from my growing up years back in Siliguri. Among other things, food memories are the ones that often come to me, hehe.Like it happened this morning when I remembered Roghu Kaku's luchi and alur dum that he used to sell outside our school premises on his bicycle. He used to be very popular for his alur dum around the area, especially we kids used to love his fare a lot. I remember how we used to wait anxiously for the bell to ring for the recess time, so that we could run to our school gate. He would be waiting already outside our school gate during the lunch hours. Those days used to fun. So this morning I decided to make kosha alur dum for breakfast to go with the luchis. I wasn't sure if I could replicate the same taste as that of Roghu kaku's alur dum but I tried and it came quite close to it. May be, the next time when I make alur dum, I will be able to make it taste exactly like Roghu Kaku's used to be.

Ingredients :

Potatoes -5 medium sized (boiled and peeled. Baby potatoes may be used too. We can poke holes in them with a fork to let the steam get into them nicely).
Onion - 1 (finely chopped or can be made into a paste)
Garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Bay leaf - 1
Green chilies - 2-3 chopped
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - ½ tsp
Salt, as per taste
Sugar - 1 tsp
Lemon juice, 1 tbsp (it is optional)
Mustard oil - 4 to 5 tbsp
Fresh coriander leaves - 2 tsp (finely chopped)

Method :

Heat the mustard oil in a deep bottomed pan and temper with bay leaf  and the cumin seeds. Once they begin to splutter, add the grated onion and saute them till they turn golden brown in color. Then add the ginger paste, garlic paste and the green chilies, saute them for a minute or two. Now add alur dum masala (equal amount of cumin seeds, coriander seeds, broken dry red chillies and black peppercorns dry roasted and then powdered) and salt and mix them all nicely. Fry this masala gravy on medium heat till it starts to leave oil from the sides. Now add the boiled potatoes, mix nicely with the masala and saute for 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Then adding a cup of water, stir nicely and let them to cook uncovered on low flame till there come no raw smell of the masala. The gravy should be thicker, so keep stirring every now and then to prevent it from getting stuck to the bottom of the pan. Now add sugar, lemon juice and garam masala powder, mix nicely and cook for another minute or so, then remove it from the fire. Garnish the alur dum with the chopped coriander leaves. It is now ready to be served with luchi, or porotha or even with steamed rice. I ate them with luchis, though not exactly like that of Roghu Kaku's luchi-alur dum, but they tasted very good.

Today being a Sunday, my family members were wishing to have something of a non-veg dish for lunch and were wishing for Ilish mach. Though it's not easy to find Ilish mach in Delhi but somehow my husband managed to find from the Chittoronjon park. We Bengalis prepare Ilish mach in quite a few different methos, sometimes it's cooked with curd (doi mach) and sometimes it is cooked with begun (brinjals) and sometimes it is cooked with only potatoes. Today I thought about preparing it with mustard paste, without using any onions or garlic or ginger. Everyone loved the taste.

Ingredients :

Ilish Mach (Hilsa fish) - 6-7 pieces (about 500 gms)
Potatoes - 2-3 medium sized, boiled, peeled and cut into long pieces
Tomato puree - 3 tbsp
Black Mustard Seeds - 2 tbsp (Soak them in lukewarm water)
Kalojeere or Kalonji or Nigella seeds - 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Salt as per taste
Green Chillies - (slited along the length) 8-10 nos.
Mustard Oil - 4 tbsp

Method :

After washing clean the fish pieces and wiping them dry, place them in a bowl and add 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder and some salt to it and mix nicely so that the turmeric powder and salt get coated all over the fish pieces. Let them to marinate. Then prepare a semi-smooth paste of the soaked mustard seeds along with 2 green chillies and a pinch of salt and keep it aside. Heat mustard oil in a wok and fry the Ilish mach pieces to a golden brown colour. Take them out when they turn crisp. Now temper the same oil with nigella seeds and the slited green chillies and add tomato puree too. Cook stirring every now and then till the raw smell of the tomatoes goes away. Add the prepared mustard paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and some water to the mixture and bring it to boil over medium flame. Now slowly add the fried fish pieces and the boiled potato pieces as well into the mustard gravy and covering the wok with a lid, let them to cook over low flame for about 15-20 minutes so that the flavour of the mustard paste goes into the fish. When the gravy reaches the desired consistency, remove it from the fire. Sorshe bata diye Ilish jhol is ready to be eaten. It goes very well with steamed rice.

Cholar dal with vegetables is a regular dish for dinner at my home. Not only does it taste very good but it is also very nutritional, as bengal gram dal is high in fiber and so helps in fighting cholesterol. It is also good for the diabetics as it is low in fat content and rich in zinc, calcium and proteins. Normally cholar dal is prepared with only grated coconut in it by the Bengalis and then is given a seasoning of ghee and cumin seeds and red chillies. But I add carrots, brinjals, pumpkin, potatoes, green peas and radish too. It tastes differently from the normal cholar dal but everyone loves having it this way at our home.

Ingredients :

Bengal gram dal or channa dal - 1 cup
Carrots - 2 small sized, diced into small pieces
Pumpkin - 150 gms, diced into small pieces
Potatoes - 2 small sized, diced into small pieces
Brinjals - 150 gms, diced into small pieces
Green peas - 100 gms
Raddish - 150 gms, diced into small pieces
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Freshly prepared Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Bay leaf - 1
Asafoetida (Hing) - a pinch
Red chillies - 2-3
Green chillies - 2-3 slit along the length
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Freshly Grated ginger - 1/2 tsp
Fresh coriander leaves - chopped finely

Method :

Wash the vegetables and cut them into small dices and keep them aside. Then wash the cholar dal (chana dal) in water and after draining off all water, put into a pressure cooker. Add the diced vegetables as well as the grated coconut. Then add turmeric powder, garam masala powder, sugar and salt and some water (about 2 cups) and closing the lid, let the dal and the vegetables to boil to two whistles. After two whistles, when the steam goes out, this dal mixture will need to be given a seasoning. So for seasoning, take some ghee in a pan and heat it. Add hing and the slit green chillies, then red chillies and cumin seeds and saute them for a few seconds, and then add the boiled chana dal along with the vegetables into this pan. Stir in another cup of water, mix nicely and give it a boil (for about 2-3 minutes). Then turn off the burner and garnish it with the chopped coriander leaves and garam masala powder before serving it. This cholar dal goes very well with hot rotis or porothas or even with luchis.

I have always loved eggs and Dimer Jhol used to be a regular item for dinner during my graduation days at Hyderabad. I often used to cook bhat and Dimer Jhol for dinner after returning back tired from my tuitions. Even now after marriage also, whenever I run out of choices or have not much options in terms of vegetables, this Dimer Jhol comes as a rescue. Today I added a twist, I added boiled matar as well, so it was a dimmer-jhol-cum-ghughni.

Ingredients :

Eggs - 4
Potato - 2 medium sized
Onion paste - 3 tbsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Tomato - 1 large sized, chopped finely
Boiled white peas - about 100 gms
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 1” piece
Black cardamom - 1
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt as per taste
Mustard Oil - about 5-6 tbsp
Chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Method :

Wash the pototoes thoroughly and put them into a pressure cooker to boil for two whistles. Then cut them into cubes. Boil the white peas for a whistle in a pressure cooker and take them out to soak in plain water for sometime. Boil the eggs as well in another pan with a pinch of salt, till you see cracks developing on the egg shells. That would mean that they are cooked. Now let them to cool down a bit and then drain out all the water and add fresh cold water to the pan so that the eggs remain in them for 4-5 minutes. Then remove the egg shells and sprinkling some salt and turmeric powder, coat the eggs nicely on all sides. Then heat the oil in a deep bottomed pan and fry the eggs till golden. Fry the potatoes too and keep them aside.
Again to the same oil, add the whole spices (slightly crushed so that their aroma comes out). Once they start to splutter, add the onion paste and saute on medium flame for a few minutes till they turn golden brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Now add coriander powder, chili powder and turmeric powder, also add the chopped tomatoes and little salt and cook till they become all mushy. Keep stirring every now and then so that the gravy doesn't get burnt. Now add the fried eggs and potatoes and the boiled white matar, mix them nicely with the gravy and then pour in about 2 cups of water and let the curry to cook on simmer flame, after covering it with a lid. When it's done, you can garnish the dimer jhol with chopped coriander leaves or garam masala powder and serve it hot with steamed rice. I had it with bhaat today. Ah, it tasted heavenly. 

Almost an hour had already passed by then but there was no sight of Arindom yet. He had promised me that he would take me to the theatre for the latest movie. The last time that I had called him, he said that he was just about to leave his office and would be at the door in the next ten minutes or so. That was an hour ago. I had been waiting for him, all dressed up, like a fool.

Patience had never been among my strong points. I could feel my temper rising. I have always had a fiery temper and could explode at the drop of the hat. Arindom had bore the brunt of my ire a few times earlier as well. But as is his nature, he always remains calm, hardly says anything to me and instead lets me to cool down on my own. I too could never be angry at him for long, I love him too much. But this time, I was really furious. I was so angry that I decided to lock our flat and go and sit somewhere all alone. I had also switched off my cell phone so that he wouldn't be able to call me to know about my whereabouts. I wanted him to be a little worried about me as a punishment. I wanted him to wait for me just as he had made me to wait.

I simpled walked blindly into our colony's park without too much care and sat on a bench. I was still angry and was almost crying. Just then my eyes fell on an elderly couple sitting on a bench just across mine, holding hands and smiling at each other, unmindful of the bustle of activities around them. They just sat there looking over the park and enjoying each other's company.


They looked like they had been together forever! And even after all those years, they looked very much in love with each other, they were holding hands and they were still together. For me that was very cute. I kept on looking at them. They looked so happy, so comfortable together.

I kept on watching them carefully with all intent and then the old man said something to the woman while pointing his fingers at a tree or may be at a bird sitting on one of its branches and the old woman started laughing. I could hear her laughter even from the distance that I was seated away from them.

I couldn't resist myself from going over to them and having a chat with them. Though we hardly knew each other and I was meeting them for the first time, but for some reason, I was very keen and eager to hear their love story. They were very friendly and lovingly shared their story with me how they had met each other for the first time at a bus-stop, how they became friends which gradually turned in love and they eventually got married to each other.
"We have been married since the last 43 years. We saw both good as well as bad times. We saw some dreams together, we were able to fulfill some of them while the others couldn't be. We couldn't have all that we would have liked to, but we have always had each other and that is all we have ever needed," said the old lady, smiling from ear to ear and holding her husband's hand. That was truly an aww moment for me.

Suddenly I got reminded of my grandparents - how they used to fight almost every day and yet they were inseparable, they loved each other more than anything else. They had a love that stood the test of time. They remained together until they died. One doesn't see that anymore these days. That was true love. Then I also realised that true love isn't always perfect. The old couple whom I had been conversing with too would have fought with each other at some point. But their love for each other hadn't diminished, I was sure.

"Arindom too loves me sincerely with all his heart, though he is a little forgetful and somewhat unromantic," the thought of that brought a smile to my face. Nothing else really matters to me.

When I returned home, I found Arindom dialing someone's number. "He must be trying my number. Good that I had switched off my cell phone" I thought to myself. On seeing me, he sighed in relief but stood there with his head down like a little child was waiting for punishment for some misdeed. Somehow I managed to suppress my smile.

"He must be feeling hungry", I thought and so I went into the kitchen to prepare tea and his favourite mohonbhog for him. When I opened the fridge, I saw a small paper note being stuck on the milk container, that read "I am sorry. I won't be late again".
A smile slipped onto my lips. My anger had completely gone away by now. Still I acted like I was still furious with him. We sat together in our living room and he slowly handed over the TV's remote to me, as if he was saying, "I will watch today whatever you watch, even if it means watching a saas bahu saga!"

After a few minutes, he slowly leaned towards me and laid his chin on my shoulder. Then wrapping his arms around me, he whispered into my ears, "I love you".
I could feel his love in the blissful moment of warmth.
"I love you more," I smiled again.

It had stopped raining and so she furled her umbrella and started walking again towards her home. But she had hardly walked a few steps when she heard footsteps following her from behind. She hesitated, her heart once again began to beat loudly. She turned around but found no one. Was it him who had following her?, she thought. Had he found out her whereabouts? Or was it only a figment of her imagination? Whatever it was, but she felt scared once again. She thought she had left her painful past way behind. Without looking back again, she first hurried her steps and then began to run until she reached her hut and got inside. She felt safe in there. Soon she fell asleep on the cot.

Life had been a hard struggle for Meera all along. Her parents had died when she was still very young and it were her uncle and aunty who raised her up. However she hardly had a happy childhood with them, her aunty used to make her do all the household chores - from washing clothes to cleaning the stable and tending to the cattle, from fetching water from the community tap to washing the dishes, she was made to work from morning till night without any rest nor was she given enough food to eat. Her aunty had her drop out of school long back when she was only nine.

Life, which had been nothing great to start with, became even worse and unliveable for Meera after her marriage to Sundar. Sundar was an indolent fellow who never stuck with any job for too long and whatever he used to earn from his temporary jobs, he would spend them all in gambling and drinking. Meera's aunty and uncle knew all about him and yet they forced her to get married to him because he didn't demand any dowry. It was as if they wanted to get rid of Meera.

Sundar was a drifter and worked briefly at whatever odd jobs he found - sometimes as a coolie at the bus-stop or as a labourer at the brick factory and sometimes as a cleaner at some restaurant. With no permanent source of income, they lived a hand-to-mouth existence. So she started working at the nearest tailor shop to run the house. She was earning enough but her drunkard husband would wrest away all her income to waste on his drinks and gambling bets. So she used to sleep hungry most of the times. Her life quickly turned into hell. Her husband was an obsessive gambler and ran huge debts too. SO his lenders would often threaten her and she had to work over-time to repay her husband's debts. But instead of appreciating his wife and changing his ways for good, her husband Sundar would come home drunk and would beat her mercilessly using any pretext he could find. He would unleash his fury by pummeling her until he tired. Still for some reason, she continued to suffer the brutal neglect and beatings silently. But then something broke loose inside her when one night Sundar came home in a drunken stupor with a man whom he had met at the bar and asked her to accompany the man because he had sold her to him to repay his debt. But Meera fought like a tigress against his advances and somehow managed to run away from their house in the middle of the night. She had got nothing but the clothes on her back.

She spent the night huddled in a doorway near the market and waited for the morning to dawn in. As soon as it was morning and the market opened, she went around looking for some work so that she could pay for her bus-ride to another city. She did find a small job and with the money that she earned, she took the bus and left the city for a new place. She had to start from scratch but being very sincere, she was never short of jobs. Whatever sort of work came her way, she always grabbed it and worked hard at it. It was not long before she got a permanent job as a cook in a restaurant. Slowly her life began to turn for the better, of course she worked hard for it. No one would have laboured more untiringly than she did. She started saving money from her earnings little by little and she had now finally managed to rent a small hut to stay.

It was early morning now, her body-clock had got used to getting up at around that time every day. Another day had started but it felt so different. She could hear the birds chirping outside, as if they were welcoming the morning. Her eyes were closed but she could hear the sound of the dripping faucet. She got up from her bed and looked outside from her small window. It was a beautiful sunrise, she felt as if the rays that fell on her were urging her not to think about her painful past, not to feel scared anymore, instead to continue with her new life. Indeed she felt reborn, far away from her abusive husband and her uncle and aunty, she was happy that she had escaped from a bad dream that had lasted for so many years. Suddenly a sense of freedom had risen up in her. She felt proud of herself for having mustered courage to rebel against her fate. With a roof above her head and a permanent job, now she was confident and self-sufficient. "From now on, I will make my own destiny," she told herself as she looked out of the window aimlessly, "No one is going to make me suffer again".

It's often seen that as time goes by, marriages and relationships tend to lose their initial spark. The romance that was present during the initial phases of love gradually diminishes and sometimes it makes one feel like she is being taken for granted by her partner. This happens because after we fall into a routine and reach a level of ease in our relationship, we subconsciously start to care a little less about putting in enough efforts to keep the relationship exciting or to make our beloved feel special, though we continue to love our partner as much as before. It's just that we somehow stop expressing our love as often. That is why open communication with your partner is very essential to make your relationship work. Each partner should make efforts to reignite the lost zing in their relationship, if he or she feels that things aren't going as smooth as earlier. Of course after a phase, since people get busy with their other priorities and obligations, so as a result they aren't able to devote enough time to their beloved. They no longer try to please or impress their partner as they used to do during the honeymoon phase. This is when cracks may start to develop in the relationship and the person with unrequited love may feel betrayed, especially women, who look for emotional connection with their partners more than anything else. If a girl feels like her husband isn't loving her anymore the way he used to do earlier, she becomes depressed. She loses confidence in herself thinking that her husband doesn't find her attractive any more and so doesn't love her anymore. Such negative thoughts had entered my mind too.

I had an arranged marriage with my husband Arindom. He is diametrically opposite to me, as far as our character traits are concerned. While I am an extrovert and an expressive person, my husband is a silent type who often keeps his emotions to himself. While I am a die-hard romantic who loves to be wooed, he is as unromantic a person as one could be. However I have always loved his simplicity and his child-like heart and he does care about me and loves me a lot, even though he rarely expresses his feelings for me. We women expect our men to do the little things every now and then to show that we are special to them and that is exactly what Arindom rarely does. Initially I had loved his romantic naivety but gradually when he started to remain busy with his office work and so wasn't giving me enough time, his unromantic ways made me irritated, it made me lose confidence in myself. Then came a phase when it seemed like we were only going through the motions of living together. The energy and the romance that once coloured our relationship had gone out of the window altogether.

That is when, out of the blue, Arindom surprised me on the day of our marriage anniversary. Not only did he remember the date but he also took the day off from his work to spend the day with me. We didn't have any lavish party nor did he give me an expensive gift, any necklace or any saree but he surely won my heart  once again with his simple gestures that proved that he still loved me as much as ever. It was a day full of surprises. The first surprise was that he had left me a note under my pillow in the morning that read, "I don't say it often but I hope you know that I love you with all my heart and I want you to keep loving me the way you do". I couldn't believe that Arindom could write me such a message, I could only blush and smile. The next surprise was that he had already prepared the breakfast for the day by the time I got into the kitchen -- some burnt rotis :P and alu chorchori. Prior to this day, he had probably never entered the kitchen, at least never to cook. He knew nothing about cooking but on our special day, he wanted to make me feel special, he wanted to spare me of the kitchen chores and so he took it upon himself to do the cooking. He had asked a friend of his to teach him a few cooking steps and also some easy Bengali recipes. Never mind the burnt rotis but he had surely put in the effort and it showed in the way his alu chorchori tasted. That made me so emotional that I couldn't hold back my tears. He was even insisting on preparing the lunch but I didn't want to take chance, hehehe. So we went out to a Chinese restaurant for lunch, which was then followed by a movie. After the movie, we then went to the India Gate and spent the evening there doing some boating and taking strolls across the lawn. We also ate gup chup and alu tiki from the street vendors there and so also the ice-lollies. We then sat down near the water-fountain and enjoyed watching the cascading water fall down to match the music. But all along he mostly remained silent. Even as we were coming back home, he hardly spoke much on the way but I still felt so nice resting my head on his shoulders as he gently held me close. It was indeed a delightful evening, one that i would never forget.

When you love someone dearly, the place or the setting doesn't really matter, what matters is the togetherness, the companionship of your beloved. That he was present with me all day, both physically as well as emotionally, is what made the day special for me. He didn't do anything extraordinary for me that day and yet with his simple gestures, he made me feel special. That is love. When someone's feelings are sincere, they needn't do anything grand to make you feel special. It's their company that does, it's the feeling of togetherness that matters.

P.S. - This is about the power of #Togetherness, it's the company of a loved one that matters more than anything, and this is courtesy https://housing.com/. 

Karela (bitter gourd) or "Ucche" as we Bengalis call it, is probably the most hated vegetable, almost everyone dislikes it for its bitter taste. But ucches are good for our health, they have great nutritional values and vitamins and in fact because of its bitterness, it helps a lot in purifying our blood of all toxins. Moreover there are ways to make the bitter gourd more palatable. We Bengalis often make Uchhe-alur chorchori (bitter gourd stir fried with sliced potatoes), or else like the north-Indians, we also sometimes stuff them with varied fillings. Sometimes we even fill the ucches with spiced mashed potatoes or chenna or even with chicken keema or fish keema! They taste very well.

Ingredients :

Ucche or Bitter gourd - 6-8 pieces
Besan (bengal gram flour) - 1 tbsp
Onion - 1 medium sized
Amchur powder - 1 tbsp
Chili powder - 1 pinch
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fennel seeds (saunf) - a pinch
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Salt
Sugar or Jaggery
Mustard oil - 2 tbsps
Refined Oil - 2  tbsp
Coriander leaves - finely chopped, about 1 tbsp

Method :

Make slits in the bitter-gourds from one side and de-seed them (but don't throw them away, they will be used in the stuffing mixture). In a deep bottomed pan, heat some refined oil and add cumin seeds and the chopped onions. Saute them until the onions turn golden brown. Now add the besan flour and turmeric powder into the pan and fry for some more time till a nice aroma starts coming. Now add chili powder and garlic-ginger paste and stir nicely. Now add bitter-gourd seeds and mixing nicely, let the stuffing mixture to cook for a few minutes. Then add the amchur powder, coriander leaves and small amount of jaggery or sugar and saute over low heat for some more time. Our stuffing mixture will be ready in about 5-6 minutes. This cooked mixture will then be filled into each ucche (bitter gourd) piece and then will be tied tightly with a thin thread so that the mixture doesn't come out at the time of cooking. Again taking the mustard oil in a wok, these ucche pieces are to be shallow fried over medium flame until they get cooked fully. These stuffed karelas or ucches can be served as side dish with bhaat or even can be eaten with hot chapatis.  

Though methi paneer is primarily a North Indian dish but I sort of Bengalised (if that could be taken as a word, hehe) it with a few variations like adding potatoes (we Bengalis love to add potatoes in almost all the curries). Fenugreek leaves (methi) is normally cooked as dry saag along with chopped brinjals and potatoes but it also can be cooked with cottage cheese (paneer), adding tomato puree and cashew nut paste. It tastes the best when taken with naans or rotis.

Ingredients :

Fresh paneer cubes - 1 cup
Potatoes - 2 medium sized, boiled, peeled and cut into cubes
Fenugreek (methi) leaves - a bunch (about 150 gms)
Onion - 1 medium sized, finely chopped
Tomatoes - 2 small sized, finely chopped
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Sugar, a pinch
Green chillies  - 3-4 finely chopped
Cashew nut paste - about 3 tbsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Amchur powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Refined oil

Method :

Heating enough refined oil in a deep bottomed pan, deep fry the paneer cubes till they are golden brown in colour and drain them on paper napkins. Then in the same oil, deep fry the potato cubes as well and keep aside. Then wash clean the methi leaves under running water and then squeeze out all excess water from them and keep aside. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan, add the chopped green chillies and the chopped onions and saute for a while till they turn translucent. Then add the ginger-garlic paste and fry for some more time, follow that with the chopped tomatoes and fry again till they are soft and mushy. Now add salt, red chilli powder and turmeric powder and so also the cahsew nut paste and adding some water, give it a boil. Then add the chopped methi leaves and the fried paneer and potato pieces into the gravy, mix well and let it to cook for sometime over low flame by covering the pan with a lid. It will be ready in another 3-4 minutes. Garnish the curry with some fresh cream and serve it hot with naans or rotis.

Some time back, after coming home from office, my husband started raving about a particular Chinese restaurant where he and some of his office colleagues had gone for lunch. He couldn't stop gushing about the Chilli Chicken that he had there. He didn't believe me when I told him that the taste could be very well replicated at home as well, that I could prepare Chilli Chicken just the same way. So I had to prove him. It isn't actually very difficult to make Chilli Chicken at home, the chicken pieces are marinated in sauces, corn flour and crushed pepper. They are then deep fried and seasoned again with thesauces, onion and capsicum. It tastes a little sweet, somewhat hot and a bit sour too and goes very well with fried rice or noodles. They may even be served with rotis. Unlike the restaurants, I didn't use any food colour or ajinomoto. Instead I used kashmiri red chilli powder and also used egg white solution for marinating the chicken pieces. My husband absolutely loved its taste and simply couldn't believe that it could be cooked at home.

Ingredients :

Chicken cubes - about 200 gms
Corn Flour - 2 tbsp
Egg white - about 3-4 tbsp
Soya sauce - 2 tbsp
Chili sauce - 2 tbsp
Tomato Sauce - 2 tbsp
Sugar - a pinch
Vinegar - 1 tbsp
Crushed Black peppercorns - about 1 tsp
Red Capsicum - 1/2 a piece, cut into small pieces
Onion - 1 medium sized, cut into small pieces
chopped garlic - 1 tsp
Spring Onions celery - 2 nos, cut into 1 inch long pieces
Salt
Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Method :

In a bowl, take the chicken pieces, and add soya sauce, chili sauce, vinegar and crushed black pepper, mix nicely and leave them to marinate for about an hour.
After they have got marinated, add corn flour, red chilli powder and salt to the chicken pieces and also add egg white to it and mix nicely so that the chicken pieces get coated nicely.
Now heat enough oil in a deep bottomed pan and fry the chicken pieces and drain off on a paper towel to soak all the excess oil. Then in another pan, heat about 2 tbsp of refined oil, add chopped garlic, chopped onions, chopped green chilies, chopped spring onions, chopped capsicum and celery and saute them all for a few minutes but don't fry them for too long. They should remain crunchy
Then add soya sauce, chilli sauce, tomato sauce, a pinch of sugar, kashmiri red chilli powder and the crushed peppercorns and mix nicely. Add the chicken pieces and keep tossing and turning the spices and the chicken pieces over high flame for another 3-4 minutes so that the flavour of the sauces get into the chicken pieces. Now garnish with chopped celery and serve hot with fried rice or haka noodles.

Among other things that I love about the Punjabis, I love their food a lot. Though their food is often very rich and has too much of oil or butter in them, but they taste very good. My neighbour Sharma aunty is a Punjabi too and it is from her that I have got to learn quite a few Punjabi dishes. I had instantly become her fan when I had tasted her Shahi Paneer. She is no doubt an expert cook and she is very affectionate as well. It is she who taught me how to make these super soft yet extremely delicious in taste, alur porotha or alu paratha as they call it.

Ingredients :

Wheat Flour - 2 cups
Boiled Potatoes - 3 medium sized
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Finely chopped Green Chillies - 2 tbsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Salt
Coriander leaves, finely chopped
Refined Oil

Method :

To prepare a soft dough, mix the wheat flour with salt and gradually adding little amounts of water, keep kneading the dough till it doesn't stick to your hands. Now cover it with a wet thin cloth and let it to sit for half an hour. Now for preparing the stuffing mixture, take the boiled potatoes in bowl, peel off their skin and mash them smoothly. Add chopped onions, green chillies, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt and the chopped coriander leaves and mix nicely. Divide the dough into small balls of equal size and flattening them a bit, make a cup shape out of that and stuff it with the prepared potato stuffing mixture and close the ball. Keep these balls to rest for a few minutes otherwise it would be difficult to roll them out. Then roll out these balls carefully into porothas, but be careful that the mixture doesn't come out. Now heat some refined oil on the tawa over medium heat and place the porotha on it. Soon it will change its colour and will also start to puff at different places. After a few minutes, now flip it to the other side and spread some oil on this side as well. Every now and then, press the porotha slightly with a spatula so that the porotha is golden brown on both sides. Now take it out onto a plate, it's ready to be served. Similarly fry the other porothas too. These alur porotha can be eaten with a simple mango pickle or they even taste good with plain yogurt.

It was not until I came over to Delhi fours years ago after my marriage that I got introduced to this mouth-watering snack. Prior to that, I had never seen or tasted a bread pakoda. Back in Bengal and precisely in Siliguri, our street food mostly comprised of bora, piaji, alur chop, vegetable chop, beguni and dal but among others. Here in Delhi, along with the samosas, bread pakodas are probably the most popular fried snack and are ubiquitous at almost all the street food vendors. They may contain different types of stuffings but normally they have fillings of spicy mashed potatoes, green peas, and paneer slices, before they get deep-fried. They are then served with mint-coriander chutney which makes the combination a superhit! Since I have a weakness for fried stuffs since my childhood, so I instantly took a liking for these Bread Pakodas ever since the first time I ate them. Every now and then, I make these at home too, especially during the monsoons or during the winter season as a tea-time snack.

Ingredients :

Bread - 5-6 pieces, cut diagonally into 2 halves
Paneer slices

For the Filling -
Potatoes - boiled, peeled and mashed - 1 cup
Green peas - boiled and roughly mashed - 3 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 5-6
Chopped Onion - 1 tbsp
Ginger-garlic-green chilli paste - 1 tbsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Amchur powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt
Finely chopped coriander leaves
Refined Oil

For the Batter -
Gram flour or besan - 1 cup
red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
salt
Water - 1/2 cup

Method :

Heat some oil in a frying pan and temper it with mustard seeds, chopped green chillies, curry leaves and grated ginger. When they begin to crackle, add the chopped onions and saute them till they are golden brown. Then add the boiled and mashed potatoes and the green peas, turmeric powder, ginger-garlic-green chilli paste, the chopped coriander leaves and salt, mix nicely. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes and then remove from the fire.
Prepare a smooth besan batter mixing the ingredients - besan, red chilli powder, salt and water. Now taking a diagonally cut bread piece, whose borders have been cut off, spread a portion of the prepared alu stuffing mixture on the bread piece, place a thin slice of paneer on it too and then place the other half of the bread over it. Likewise we can prepare a few more bread slices filled with stuffing. They will then be dipped into the gram flour batter and then will be deep fried in refined oil till they become crisp and their colour changes to golden brown on both sides. Take them out onto paper towels so that the excess oil is soaked up. These bread pakodas can then be savoured with tea and mint-coriander chutney or khatti-meethi chutney (prepared with imli and jaggery).

It is often said (and with good reason) that the way to a man's heart goes through his tummy. That is so true. Because I remember though initially my husband's family weren't too keen to take me as their daughter-in-law (mine was a love marriage and being somewhat old-fashioned, my in-laws didn't like it that his son hadn't gone with their choice and instead got married to me, whom they didn't know) but I succeeded to create a good impression on my father-in-law because of my cooking. The magic recipe was actually something very simple - luchi er alur dum - a combination that is so commonly made in almost every Bengali household. But what impressed him the most that my luchis were soft and as per him, perfect. Since that day, luchi- alur dum happens to be a regular breakfast item in my home. Both my father-in-law and my husband love the combination very much. Even my MIL loves and appreciates my prepared luchis.

Luchis are both very easy to make but need to be paid attention whether we are kneading the dough nicely or not.

Ingredients :

Maida - 2 cups
Ajwain - 1tsp
Refined Oil - For deep frying
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Water - 2 cups

Method :

In a big bowl, take the maida, ajwain, salt and adding 2 tbsp of cooking oil to the mixture, mix all these ingredients nicely. Now pour in half the water and knead the dough to almost dry. Once again add the rest of water and knead nicely, until the dough doesn't stick to your palms. We will then know that it's ready. Now covering the dough with a wet, thin cloth, leave it aside for about 45 minutes or an hour.
After that make out small balls out of the maida dough, brushing a few drops of cooking oil on their surface, flatten them and then roll them out to small puris (of about 4-5 inch diameter).
Heat oil for frying in a deep wok till it is smoking hot. Then reduce the flame and slowly add the rolled puris into the hot oil. Using the back of the frying spatula, slightly press the puris into the hot oil, this helps in making the luchis fluffy. When they are done frying, take the luchis out from the oil onto paper napkins so that all the excess oil gets soaked up by the napkins. The luchis are ready to be eaten. You can serve these luchis with any thick gravy curry (veg or non-veg) but it is mostly eaten with alur dum.

Starting my blog was one of my new year resolutions and I am glad that I didn't let it to die as a mere wish on my to-do list. Of course, beginning a new thing is always exciting. Though this is my second attempt at blogging (I had first started to blog when I was doing my graduation but couldn't keep with it and the blog died), but eight years is a long time and so much has changed over the years. Now that I have decided to document my culinary exploits on this blog, I have to be sincere and regular with my postings. As my first post, let me share one of my favourite poems of Tagore (Sri Rabindranath Tagore).

Let only that little be left of me
whereby I may name thee my all.

Let only that little be left of my will
whereby I may feel thee on every side,
and come to thee in everything,
and offer to thee my love every moment.

Let only that little be left of me
whereby I may never hide thee.

Let only that little of my fetters be left
whereby I am bound with thy will,
and thy purpose is carried out in my life
and that is the fetter of thy love.

written by Rabindranath Tagore