Koraishutir kochuri

Koraishutir kochuri or matar ki kachuri.. come winters and this fellow would elegantly march from Ma's kitchen to our dining table. Koraishutir kochuri was and still is a must for every winters. We three basking in the winter sun , shelling green peas and chitchatting .. gone are those days.. staying at US I am deprived of this pleasure. I mollify myself by making and then devouring the kachuries.
I start with a cup of frozen peas. Once defrosted coarsely grind them with some green chillies and a little peeled ginger. Do not make the paste too smooth, keep it coarse. Now in a kadhai heat a spoon of oil. Add a pinch of hing to it. Now add the grounded peas. Add a little dry roasted cumin powder. Keep stirring till water from the mixture evaporates and it becomes dry. Remove from flame.
For the kachouri.. knead maida with a pinch of salt , a pinch of sugar and little of oil or ghee and water of course. Make a smooth dough. Make small balls of the maida dough. Fill a ball with the peas stuffing and seal it. Roll into puris. Ma's trick: do not roll the puris too big as the stuffing may come out, keep them small and cute. I used a plastic sheet to roll them into puris. Now comes my hubby's scientific idea(he being a physicists). You do not have to roll the stuffed balls. Just keep it inside the plastic sheet and press with your palm. They would be perfectly round and not even a little stuffing would come out.Now fry the puris on medium flame, my hubby did the honor for me.. Enjoy with pickle or chatni.

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The common man's uncommon rail budget

The third rail budget given by our very own Mamta Di .. the budget she and our PM claim to be a common man's budget.. is it really a good one.. or is it just a voter friendly budget. With the Bengal assembly election at the door step, what could be more luring for voters then promising for 14 new trains to the state. This is completely a Bengal oriented budget. Forum and blogs reflect the wrath of people from other states. Shouldn't  there have been trains which would have covered the length and breadth of the country rather then just her (and my) state. And the so called "DURONTO" trains .. will they not help only by delaying the other train? Cant our ministers just think of improving the existing logistics and infrastructure instead of making hopeless promises? I mean what good is it to start new Durontos and Shatabdis when at the first place night trains at maoist areas are not possible, when train travel is a complete nightmare , when trains get delayed by hours and sometimes days , where Sleeper class is the last place you will find neat and clean, where the railway pantry serves the worst food and where long or short distance express trains the bathrooms are pathetic and most unhygienic.
No hike in fares is ofcourse a welcome in this inflation market, but with the current deficit ever increasing how are we going to come off it. Even a nominal increase in fare would have amounted a lot viewing the traffic on the rails.And it would have not harmed at all if the fare of AC and luxury trains increased by a small percent.Promises like "Housing to all railway employees in the next 10 years." isnt it ludicrous? And what about the pending projects
I dont understand how our PM could approve such a budget.
It agonizing to say .. but sometimes I feel our country should be under president's rule.. a president with no political background but with a vision for India.. a president like may be APJ.. a President who can show the world what we can do when we think much above the boundaries of our states.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Egg rolls

With my exams over and few days left before flying to India, I decided to try out something different from the usual sabzi roti for dinner. Since my hubby loves eggs I decided to make every bong's favorite snack egg roll. Oh we bongs love to devour egg roll. Every lane of every colony in Kolkata has a stall of these mouthwatering egg rolls. And they are too easy to make at home. 

So I started with 4 parts of maida , 2 parts aata, you can change the ratios as needed, more or all of maida will make it more tasty while more of atta would make the roll more healthy). Add a little of melted butter for moyan and a pinch of salt. Kneed the dough as you would for paratha. Adding a little of buttermilk or milk would make the roll crisper. Keep it aside for an hour or so covered with a muslin cloth. Make roti balls and roll the individual balls into round parathas. Beat eggs (I used 5 eggs for 7 parathas) in a bowl. Add green chilies, corinader , chopped onion. Now what I did was, I cooked the paratha a little without any oil. Then adding a few drops of oil in a non stick pan, poured 2-3 spoons of egg batter in the same shape as the parathas(actually my hubby did this part for me). Then I kept the half cooked paratha over the egg. Flipped it around when the egg side was done. You can directly put the paratha over the egg without cooking the paratha before. Or you can first put the paratha on the pan with a little oil, while the lower side is being done pour 2-3 spoons of egg batter on the upper side. Once done place roll on a flat surface with the egg side up. Add julians of cucumber,onion chilies in the center and pour some tomato sauce. Roll the paratha and cover half of it with kitchen paper. Your mouthwatering egg roll is ready to be served and hogged.

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Life is beautiful

There she sat in the park watching her daughter Ananya play with Deep. Suddenly her eyes were flooded with tears. Today Payal was the happiest woman in the world, a sweet daughter , a loving and caring husband and a respectable vocation what else can one need in life. But ten years back she would have never dream t of such a life.

Born to a very orthodox family, Payal was the fifth daughter in a row. Because all were expecting a boy atleast this time, she was welcomed only by her mother. Within a year of her birth, her mother was again rushed to the maternity ward , but this time it was boy. Being the youngest daughter didnt help her much. Her mother was always occupied by the tantrums of her baby brother. The elder sisters were responsible for cleaning and feeding her and yes they showered all their love on her. But somewhere something was missing. At the age of two she got her first polio attack, no one would have a guessed what a meager fever would turn into. Three months later she landed up with a crippled leg. Things changed much after that.Her name became the irony of her life. She was confined indoors , could not run and play with her friends. Her only friends were her books. Thanks to her mother who fought for her to get her admitted in the same school as her brother, she surpassed all in studies. At the tender age of ten she wrote her first poem and never looked back after that. Payal dedicated her first novel to her mother.

And then one fine day, she had gone to one of her colleague's birthday party. Shy and introvert Payal sat at one corner admiring people laughing chatting dancing. And there in another corner sat Deep sketching the shy girl. For a flick of a second their eyes met and Payal felt her heart leap. The next second he was gone. Two days later they again met, this time in a local train. Accidently or intentionally they took the same train to their office. Friendship bloomed between the two. But Payal started drifting apart when she felt they were getting emotionally bonded. No she did not want to blemish his life. He was the only son. How could she mar the dream of his parents' .. the dream of a perfectly fit daughter in law. Neither did she want any pathos from Deep. She was resolute to live life on her terms with her head held high. But it was agonizing to keep away from him, to decline his requests to meet, to not pick up his calls. Days passed and the affliction of separation bore a mark on her. She had deeply loved him. Then one day Deep stood at her door knocking. He looked lean and tired. She could not help but beckon him inside. Payal's heart skipped a beat. She felt like hugging him tight, crying her soul out with her head on his broad shoulders. But no she could not afford to be weak. She stood there tight lipped waiting for Deep to speak out. And Deep spoke with a voice as wet as his eyes , "Payal.. accept me as a part of your life. May be you can live without me but I can not.". Somehow she could no more restrain herself. She dropped her head on Deep's lap and started weeping like a baby. She could never believe someone so good and adept like Deep would want her as his wife. Really love knows no bounds. And to her surprise Deep's parents accepted her with all their hearts. Perhaps they knew more than anybody else what would give Deep true happiness.
Ten years had passed since then. Payal gave a deep sigh. "Life is really beautiful" she murmured to herself. "Ananya would rise to the peak. She would carve a niche for herself ".. as Payal's mother had always dreamt for her, she dreamt the same for her daughter.

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