His Jasmine

Today Siddhant was the happiest man on earth. Jasmine had toped UPSC and she was selected for the Indian Foreign Service. Happiness crossed all bounds for Siddhant. The path till here was paved of perseverance , dedication and his and Jasmine's sacrifices and Aliya's wishes and blessings.
Aliya's favorite flower was jasmine. A quarter century back this very day, she had told him about their love coming into this world. Their marriage was not excepted by any body, but nothing mattered to them. And with the news of the new member, Siddhant could not ask for more. Life was so beautiful. But god had other plans. Aliya had just few breadths to hold her new born and whisper into Siddhant's ears her last words " Let her conquer her world", and the next moment she was gone. Life came to a standstill that moment for him, but he had to come out off it bravely only for the sake of their love.
Friends relatives all asked him to remarry, they all said "a girl needs a mom the most". But he proved them wrong. It was not easy bringing up the baby girl. Sleepless nights, tiring days , but he made it. It was joyous to watch her take her first step, and ecstatic to hear her first "PA", sometimes irritating when she made the same mistake in maths a 100 times, and embarrassing  to tell her how to deal with her monthly best friend. He was not successful at professional life, but he never felt sorry for that.Today she was the most beautiful successful woman of his world. Oh , how earnestly he wished Aliya to be at his side now, at this happiest moment.
For Jasmine, Pa was her life. She had grown up telling Pa everything ..her mischiefs, her fights, her applauds, her crushes. But when Arun came into her life, things changed. She started lying to Pa, to go out with Arun she gave excuses of friends. Somehow she did not dare tell him about Arun. With Arun everything was the best. It was as if she was a new person. They were the handsomest of couple in the university. But Arun did not have the courage or heart which her Pa had. He was too frail to stand up to his parents. As destined he dumped her. That night she cried her heart out on Pa's lap.And Pa didn't question. Somehow he knew all without telling. He just stroked her hair with the softest affection . If love hadn't given her such a blow, she would never have realized Pa's unconditional and selfless love. And probably she would never have fulfilled her, Pa's and Ma's dreams... dream to conquer her world. As she got up today to a beautiful day, she made a promise to herself that she would never marry, and a promise to build an abode for those Jasmines who are not fortunate to have a PAs and MAs.

Read More

Bread Uttpam

I am a great fan of South Indian dishes. During my childhood we(Ma Baba n myself) religiously went to this "Coffee House" a stone's throw distant from my house and devoured the humongous dosa. The dosas were as crispy as paper and the aloo masala inside was divinely tasty and full of kaju kishmish. I have never ever tasted any dosa to compete with the "Coffee House" one's. Dosas , uttapams, idlies , vadas .. are all my favorite.
So instant south indian recipes are always a treat.I had once tasted this bread uttapam somewhere. Today for the Sunday breakfast I thought of trying it out.

What you need:

Few slices of bread, 1/2 cup sooji , 1 cup curd, a pinch of hing, a pinch of baking soda, salt to taste, 

chopped onions, ginger, chillies, coriander.

Mix the sooji, curd, hing , baking soda and salt in a bowl. Keep for an hour. 

After an hour, add the chopped onions, ginger, chillies, coriander to the mixture. Spread the mixture on one side of the bread slices. Heat a non-stick tava , add little butter or oil. Fry the bread slices with the mixture side down. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Flip and fry the other side. Serve hot with sauce.

Read More

Pyaz posto (Onion poppy seed)

Again back to square one after about 4 weeks of holiday at home, deciding what to cook daily has become a puzzle. At Kolkata it was a feast daily with all favorite recipes cooked by Ma and Sasu Ma.. from Bhapa Ilish, Koraishutir kochuri, Mangsho,Mochar Ghonto,Lal Shak (oh its an infinite list) to desserts of Gulab Jamun, payesh , Pithe.. ah I am missing Kolkata.. :( ..
We had decided not to indulge in non veg for a little time after our return so this saturday I decided to go for a            simple meal with a posto recipe.
We Bengalies are a great fan of posto, the most favorite of all is the aloo posto. Then we have potol(parval) posto, posto r bora, dherosh(bhindi) posto. But I (rather I should say "WE") kept it more simple.. Pyaz posto. This is one of my hubby's recipe and he really makes it devastatingly delicious.
So here goes the recipe.
3-4 tablespoon Posto (Poppy seed) soaked in water for 2-3 hour. Make a thick paste of 3-4 green chillies and soaked posto.
Slice a medium onion. Heat oil in a kadai. Add sliced onions and 2-3 slitted chilies (depends on how hot you prefer). Fry for a few minutes. Add salt and a pinch of turmeric. Now add the posto paste. Keep frying. You can simply remove it from the fire once the paste is dry.. but my hubby makes it more amazing.. He adds a little mustard oil in the middle of the posto in the kadai and keeps frying the posto in small amounts from the sides.. he fries it till the pyaz posto changes color to light brown.
A simple n very tasty recipe goes great with rice n daal.

Read More