Paneer (Cottage Cheese) in Tomato Gravy

The reason I started this blog was to have a record of mum’s dishes but with her sudden passing away the record remains incomplete. There are quite a number of dishes which I asked my brother to photograph as and when mum cooked the dishes; I planned to take down the recipes eventually from Ma. As I go through the photos now, her vibrant presence is so palpable, I can still feel her touch in these dishes.

It so happened one day Ma was cooking paneer and my brother just loved the look of it and said “I know this is

Back after the break with a Fish recipe.

During my break I have been going through some terrible mood swings. My emotions appear to be swinging like a pendulum from one end to another. But I will not bore everyone with my sob story but yes I am once again trying to make a comeback to blogosphere.

I do face some problems every time I cook and this has led me to come to the conclusion that I am not exactly a great cook. Why do I say that? Well I do not measure the spices I add to the dish; I invariably resort to what we in

I Need A Break.

I tried my best to continue with this blog but my health both physical and emotional has made it extremely difficult for me to carry on with the blog. I haven’t visited any of the food blogs  or for that matter any of the blogs I follow. I did have and continue to have problems with my computer but that is not the reason, I am just not able to put my mind to it. In the past few days I have only posted comments on two film blogs that is Memsaabstory’s review of Jaal a film in which my father (Tarun Bose) had an interesting role and dustedoff. Dustedoff wrote some stuff which stirred up memories and I was unable to control myself and had to share those memories. The fact is I just need a break.

I would like to thank each one of my followers for the support you have all given me during this most painful moment of my life.  Infact I was quite thrilled to see that Lalitha had tried my or rather Ma’s last recipe and enjoyed it. I am touched by all the kind and comforting words, I wish I could meet all of you.

Today with Ma no longer around I realize how unfortunate are those children who miss out on a mother’s love. Although I lost my father when I was little more than a kid, I was able to quickly come to terms with the loss thanks to the comforting presence of Ma but now it is, to put it mildly, rather tough.

I would like to work on a blog- cum- website on my father; well that is what I would like to do let me see whether I can actually do it after all Ma was supposed to play a major role in this venture. God willing and hopefully with Ma’s blessings I may succeed. I will of course visit the blogs I follow as when I am able to do so.

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN. I will not end with a good bye but I would rather say till we meet again on cyber space.

Masala Baingan withYoghurt

When the fact that Ma is no more sank in I thought I would just put an end to It is tasty Ma for, where was Ma? But this blogging journey has been just wonderful particularly the interaction with fellow bloggers so I thought let me see whether I can continue it and SchmetterlingWords gave me further impetus by including my blog in her 7 links challenge

Life without mum is not easy, ironically I am the one who is not the healthy person and mum was supposedly the healthy one who took care of me. 

Ma once cooked baingan (aubergine) with yoghurt. It

Sad Blog Anniversary and Reposting some Recipes

‘Time and tide waits for no man’, how true, there were many dishes that my mum cooked and I kept thinking --- I  will take down the recipe from ma later --- and now there is no later.

It was in the first week of August 2010 that I launched this blog, I was planning a grand celebration for its first anniversary but that was not to be so I think it is only right that as a tribute to mum I participate in Khushi’s ( of A Girl’s Diary) anniversary  event ‘What’s On Your Kebab Platter’. 

Since I am required to repost the recipes I am reposting the following four recipes.

Banana Flower Cutlets

Chicken Tikka          

Fish Kabab                    

Plantain Tikkis   

Some more memories and a recipe

Time is flying past, from 24 hours it is now nearly a month since mum left us. Recently I came across Sharmila Tagore’s interview in ‘The Times of India’ and as I read it I missed Ma very much, why? Well I came across two poems written by Rabindranath Tagore describing Sharmila Tagore’s mother; not being brought up in Bengal, understanding Tagore’s poem was always a problem besides most of the English translations did not appeal to me, I therefore did not take much interest in his poems but mum would have none of it, she took it upon herself to explain to us the finer nuances of the poem and the Bengali language. Later I discovered or should I say rediscovered Tagore when I began learning German, the German translations were far superior.  I have fond memories of how one morning we were discussing Tagore, I had the German translations in front of me and mum had her Sanchayita (a collection of Tagore’s poems) in front of her.

I can go on and on with such memories. But I have a job at hand, today’s recipe was the one I was planning to publish on 25^th July, it was in the draft so here is what I wrote when mum was working in the kitchen that morning.

Chicken with Onions 

The name of the dish is a little confusing, I am sure the immediate thought which crossed your mind was  what is so extraordinary about chicken with onions?

Ma -- did you have to leave us so soon?

Ma in Rishikesh

On the morning of July 25 I was busy drafting the next post for this blog. My mum meanwhile was in the kitchen preparing something delicious with mushrooms, when I asked her what she was cooking; she replied “I just thought up this recipe, would you like to taste it?” I tasted it, it was delicious, I said, “Ma this goes into my blog”. “Okay dear,” she replied, “I have more such recipes ticking in my brain for your blog”. Happy and contented at watching my energetic mum, who had this insatiable zest for life (she sometimes gave me a complex), I went back to polish up the post.
My mum preferred not to visit doctors; she said “I am fine; you take care of your health.” No medicines, no visits to the doctor or hospital. She never walked slowly, but on the evening of July 25, after my mum and I watched a cookery show together, she went to freshen up and then destiny revealed itself, when my mum rushed to the bed gasping for breath and left us with my brother beside her without so much as a good-bye. The doctor said this was the right way to go rather than prolong life with medicines but to us her children I wish she had got herself checked, maybe she could have been with us longer.

On our recent trip to Uttarakhand; Ma with my brother and myself

Bottle Gourd Peel Delight

 I wanted to post this earlier but got a bit sidetracked. There was the disturbing news of the bomb blasts in the city which was quite depressing besides I occasionally contribute to my brother’s blog Advertising Opinions; recently I did a post on Barbie doll’s journey in India. As soon as I completed the post I sat down to put together this post. Mum had recently prepared this dish but as I sat in front of my computer I was stumped -- well the problem was what do I call the dish in English? I did what I always do whenever I have a problem translating the name of a Bengali dish; I just add the word ‘Delight’ to the main ingredient.

Tiger Prawns with Green Bell Pepper

For the past few weeks or so we have had some respite from the rains; since a visit to the fish market was long overdue we set out to look for some fish. At this time of the year we were hoping to purchase some  bagda chingri that is what tiger prawns are called in Bengali and sure enough there were some fresh tiger prawns; we of course did not waste too much time and purchased a portion; yes in Bombay fish is not sold by the kilo, portions of prawns are laid out, these portions are called vata and we purchase these vatas of prawns.

AWARDS

  

 

These are the awards that Deepa of Hamaree Rasoi bestowed on me. Thank you Deepa for sharing these awards with me. Deepa provides a wide choice to her readers and if I were asked to pick one recipe ( a rather difficult task ) I would choose this Holi special Food something new and different.

Now according to the rule I have to share these set of awards with 15 other bloggers and inform them about the awards. I would like to share the awards with the following 15 bloggers:

Pushpa of Taste as you Cook

Vardhini of vardhiniskitchen

Deepthi of Good Food Recipes

Purabi Naha of Cosmopolitan Currymania

Anu of Anu's Healthy Kitchen

Seema Kamath of Amchi Bong Konnexion

Anu Santanu of Bhalo Khabo

Mugdha of Cooking Fundas

Malar Gandhi of Kitchen Tantra

Madhur of Madhur Recipes

Kalyani/Mom Chef of What's Cooking

Babli of Khana Masala

Aarthi of Yummy Tummy

Schmetterlingwords  of Schmetterlingwords

Tejal of My Cooking Experiments

Santosh Bangar of Santosh's Kitchen

I will be back in a few days with a tiger prawn recipe.

GUEST POST

Guest Post and Awards:

I am thrilled Deepa of Hamaree Rasoi bestowed me with some more awards. I will collect them as soon as I have decided on my 15 nominees.

I was also happy and surprised to find a Guest Post in my mail box from a fellow blogger Samir Padalkar of Oenophile. Well this is a dish he cooked himself and photographer is his son Jai Padalkar. Over to Samir

 

INDIAN BOUILLABAISSE

By

Samir Padalkar 

“I enjoy cooking with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food I'm cooking.”
    Julia Child

Bouillabaisse is a traditional Provencal fish stew originating from the port city of Marseille. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouillabaisse

The first time I ate this dish I was amazed at how spicy it was. It was served with a baguette, I felt an Indian style plain white rice would also pair well. Later I experimented making this dish, and found it to be relatively easy, the taste was magnificent. As the Wikipedia (and other) entry mentions, this dish originated with fishermen boiling the day’s unsold fish in seawater with some herbs. Later it became much more gourmet, with tomatoes and wine being added. An Indian version should be easy, since all that has to be changed is the fish (and spring onions instead of leeks). Here is one such version:

Chicken Pakora

 It has been raining continuously in Bombay. As I watch the news on the television, I see that it has begun to rain in other parts of the country too and what could be better than some steaming cup of coffee or tea accompanied with some hot chicken pakoras.

I have mentioned in the About page that every time my mum cooks I will note down the recipe while my brother  points his camera at the dish and that is precisely what we did when mum made these delicious chicken pakoras a few days back.

Chicken/Mutton with Poppy Seed Paste

It has begun raining heavily in Bombay and I wasted the last few days debating/mulling over what I should call this dish.My mum and I were watching a cooking programme on a Bengali channel, the food was Awadhi cuisine; mutton/chicken pasanda, korma, rezala were some of the dishes which featured on the show. It obviously evoked our interest and mum decided to adapt one of the dishes.

Raw Papaya Delight (Papaya Ghonto)

There is a villain in almost all stories; many believe it is the villain who makes the story interesting. Well I do not know how interesting but the villain in my life sure left me frustrated and who is the villain? Well, none other than my internet service provider. Constant glitches and interruptions prevented me from regularly updating my posts; now I have changed my service provider and hope to have a trouble free blogging experience.

In one of my earlier posts Foreign Influences, I had mentioned that, thanks to foreign invasions, certain fruits and vegetables have become an integral part of our daily life. One such fruit/vegetable is the papaya. Introduced by the Portuguese,

Banana Flower Cutlets (Mochar Chop)

The past few weeks have been tough. The internet connection also played truant which did not help matters, meanwhile Blogger closed down for a day and the following day I noticed a comment had just disappeared- why? And how?  Still trying to figure that one out, I am quite upset at losing a precious comment.

Anyway, since there is not much I can do about it, I might as well continue with the job at hand which is to post recipes. In my previous post I showed you how to clean and chop the banana flower.

Banana Flower Delight (Mochar Ghonto)

 

 In my previous post I had mentioned that my next post will be 'Mochar Ghonto' or 'Banana Flower Delight' as I like to call it.

Foodie Jaunts

Goodies from Chittaranjan Park.              

Kali Temple at Chittaranjan Park

My injured arm continues to play spoil sport, preventing me from regularly updating my blog. After some painful tests I thought enough is enough I must get back to my favourite task--- which is blogging. So I will quit the sob story and greet you all with some sweets on the occasion of the Bengali New Year which fell on April, 15. 

Nolen Gurer Sandesh

Bhapa (Steamed) Sandesh

Nolen Gurer Malai Chomchom

Nolen Gurer Rossogolla

The sweets you see here are sandesh, bhapa sandesh or steamed sandesh

Foodie Jaunts

Foodelicious Trip To Delhi and UK

 

Bijoli Grill at Dilli Haat

 As is obvious from my prolonged silence I was away from blogosphere. My wonderful holiday was marred by an injury to my arm, to make matters worse this was the arm  I had injured during Christmas as a result of which I am compelled  to type with my left hand. There is also the problem of the internet connection which appears to have mind of its own. I apologize to my readers for not being able to update my blog.

I sure would like to share the foodie experiences I had on this holiday but before that I would like to thank each one of you for your encouraging comments. In my absence I am also glad to see that I have a new follower. A big THANK YOU! 

I have to confess that I learnt to thank my readers with these flowers from my fellow food blogger schmetterlingwords who has also helped me keep in touch with the German language. Thanks schmetterling for providing me with this inspiration. Incidentally we

Chicken Kerala Style

It was all about my mum’s cooking so far in this blog, but now for a change this post is about my cooking. My cooking? No that is not the complete truth, this is not my recipe. 

I like to watch food and travel shows on television; long ago on such a show (I do not remember the name of the show or even the channel on which it was being telecast), I saw the show’s anchor cruising along on the beautiful waters of God’s own country, Kerala, in a luxurious houseboat. During the

Saraswati Puja, Whole Boiled Vegetables and Ber Chutney (Kooler Ombol)

February 8 was Basant Panchami, this is the day Bengalis worship Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge, music and art. Panchami is the fifth day after new moon or full moon. In case of Basant (Spring) Panchami it is the fifth day of the bright fortnight (waxing moon) of the month of Magh (Indian calendar month) which falls between mid–January and mid-February. Incidentally the day previous to Saraswati Puja, is celebrated as Lord Ganesh’s birthday, there is a ten- day long celebration at Bombay’s most venerated Ganesh temple – the Siddhivinayak temple. Many Bengalis are not aware of this but in the villages of West Bengal people offer puja to Lord Ganesh on this day.

Coming back to Saraswati Puja, the day has special significance for students and artists. On this day little kids are made to write their first word before being admitted to school. I found something interesting this year on a Bengali television channel, I saw that instead of writing their first word, children were made to key in their first word on a laptop, “Computers play an important role today so we are continuing tradition with a touch of modernity,” explained a parent.

Traditionally students place their books in front of the idol of Goddess Saraswati. I remember as a student I took it very seriously, I made it a point to place the textbooks of those subjects which gave me nightmares, as mathematics topped the list, algebra, geometry and arithmetic were reverentially placed by me at the Goddess’ feet; that was my way of ensuring success in these subjects, needless to mention it did not help, I had to study. 

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There is another interesting custom which most Bengalis observe during Saraswati Puja; it is related to the Indian tropical fruit, ber or bor – a kind of berry. This Indian berry also called the

My First Two Awards

Who does not like an award,even it is a virtual one so thanks to
Reshmi Mahesh I feel quite motivated by these two awards.

 I have to abide by some rules. The rules for the One Lovely Blog award are:

1. Accept the award. Post it in your blog with the name of the blogger who has given u this award with a link to his/her blog.
2. Pass it on to 15 other blogger friends.... to keep the ball rolling.
3. Let the nominated blogger know about their award [leave a comment in their most recent post]. 

The rules for Stylish Blogger award are:

1. Share 7 Things About Yourself.
2. Award 15 Recently Discovered Great Blogger.
3. Contact The Blogger and Inform Them of The Award.
4. Thank the award-giver in your post.

Abiding by the rules the following are my nominees for both the awards. While selecting my nominees I found that they have already won several awards so I thought I will draw attention some of their posts which have impressed me. I am amazed at the amount of effort that each blogger takes, if I had the means I would have loved to institute a real award a sort of Food Blogger’s Oscar, which the winner could feel and place in her/his home.

My nominees:

Radish with Mustard Paste

Although I am new to blogging, I find the whole experience very, very enjoyable. I particularly enjoy the interaction with my readers and fellow bloggers. I have just completed 25 posts and as if on cue Reshmi Mahesh of Easy Cook (http://funwidfud.blogspot.com/) gave me an award!---- My first award;

Stir Fried Fenugreek Leaves with Potatoes or Aubergine (Methi Shaak Baygoon /Aaloo Bhaja)

My last few posts were vegetarian dishes and I was debating whether I should now move on to some non-vegetarian dishes or continue with the vegetarian recipes. Well the latter won hands down, after all leafy vegetables are still available in the market and since mum is busy cooking all the Bengali vegetarian dishes, I felt I should not let go of this opportunity to introduce you to some Bengali vegetarian -‘starters’. I call them

Plantain Tikkis/Patties

I love to have some snack with my cup of coffee and on the days we have an entire vegetarian meal, which is usually Thursdays, I like to have a side dish with it; needless to mention I would love this snack and side dish to be something sinfully deep – fried. My mum always frowns on this bad

Stir Fried Radish Leaves/ Moolor Shaak Bhaja

Recently my mum made stir fried radish leaves or moolor shaak bhaja as we Bengalis call it; moolo is radish in Bengali and leafy vegetables are called shaak (saag in Hindi). I dug into it with relish knowing that with the celebration of the harvest festival Makar Sankranti,  which marks the onset of spring, summer is not far behind and leafy vegetables are going to soon disappear from the dining table.

I also realized how much I had changed over the years; as a child I remember I detested vegetables, therefore

Green Peas Kachori

 

Come winter you find fresh green peas in the markets in India.

Green peas kachori is a favourite Bengali snack, if you visit West Bengal during the winter, you will find almost every store which sells sweets and Bengali savories, selling green peas kachori along with a potato dish. You will find Bengalis as well as non-Bengalis relishing this delicious snack.

Foreign Influence on Culture, Architecture and Food

Since I am still literally tied down thanks to my unfortunate accident and compelled to type with my left hand , I thought  I will put down some tips and trivia; these are basically some thoughts related to  cultural influences as a result of foreign rule. When we talk of culture, food habits cannot be far behind. The influence of the Portuguese  who ruled over  the western coast of  India is apparent all over India and more so along the western coast, in Goa, Bombay (now Mumbai), Cochin (now Kochi). It is visible in the architecture and of course the food. 

 

The above photos are of houses in Bandra, Bombay with architecture reminiscent of the colonial era. The photos below are of similar houses in Cochin 

As a child I remember I found it a little difficult to believe that potato which was an integral part of our diet was not of Indian origin but was introduced by the Portuguese along with sweet potato, papaya and pineapple. While in most of  India potato is called alu in Maharashtra it is called batata; right from my child hood I automatically assumed that batata is a Marathi word, Marathi is the  language spoken in Maharastra.