The "KICK" with "Kochu-Keramoti"

A-junior will turn ten this month. Double digits..big deal indeed!

It is amazing how time flies. I remember him crawling all over the place with a two-words-rich-vocabulary of "Gu gu  ga ga". The fact that the same "gu gu  ga ga " baby can turn back and reply to me in full sentences with full logical sense (at times a bit too logical for a mother to digest) still amazes me. I think all mothers go through this experience.

This time in India, one morning he said, "Mama lets go for a movie"!

Off course we have been to movies here many times, but this time the way he said it was so "grown up"-ish that it made me smile.I think he was also a bit bored with the warm weather in India and the constant in-house-playing-with-the-ipad situation. So we decided to go for a movie. Mother son on our first movie date in India!

First we looked through the pages of the newspaper to check which movies were on.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) none of the theaters were running an animation film. So after some "shall we, shall we not?", I decided to go for one of the masala movies with him.

We chose "KICK".

You heard it correct. I went to watch Salman Khan starrer "KICK" with my 9-yr old.

A 9 yr old who does not understand Hindi at all. 
I feel, "One does not need a language to understand a Salman Khan movie".

Since the theater was inside a big shopping mall, I promised him that in case..in case he did not like it,we will still have many other things to do. ( I am not a Salman Khan fan myself, so I too needed a plan B)

Fully equipped with the Cola and the popcorn, Mother Son duo entered the hall. It was a Tuesday 2:45 show.

The theater was deserted (as expected on a weekday afternoon) except for the few "usual suspects".

Jatin and Lalita happily settled down at the extreme corner seats of the last row. Obviously, watching Kick was not their first priority.

Ramesh, Jitesh, Lokesh, Mukesh were seated at the front close to the screen. It was their day off from their fly-over construction job. They were already muttering the Salman Khan dialogues and were very keen to see the item number which Nilesh could not stop talking about.

Sharma Uncle and Aunty prefers this afternoon show. Less crowded, more peace. Aunty loves Salman, Sharma uncle makes it a point to bring her to a Salman movie during its first week of release.Their children always joke about it.

Ranu and Debi had bunked their afternoon classes. The new History professor is as old and uninteresting as the subject itself. Sitting in his class is both a physical and a mental torture.

..and amidst all this, me and A-junior., the "unusual suspects"!

The movie started. Like I said, a language is too small a barrier in a Salman Khan movie. He breaks much bigger unrealistic barriers without dropping an eyelid!A-junior loved all the action. However, he wanted to understand certain scenes which made the ten people in the hall laugh. So I started explaining the funny dialogues to him. This resulted in A-junior laughing at the same joke alone AFTER the whole hall was done with their laughing! Some heads turned in our direction. I smiled in the darkness!
;-)

A-junior also asked me " Why is Salman khan not taking the stairs in the building to go down?"

He is new to Bollywood movies. Pardon him.

He does not know that Salman Khan movies are not supposed to answer questions. 

You are just supposed to watch and get the "Kick"!!

Now the "kick " from Kochu Keramoti .

Kochu is Taro. Kochu Keramoti is a name I just made up.

Taro is a root vegetable that is eaten in many different cultures around the world. The leaves of the taro plant are also used as a vegetable. Taro root is easily digestible and the leaves are a good source of vitamins A and C.

Taro

I used:

• Kochu(Taro):  500 gms (chopped in cubes)
• Potato:  1 (cubed)     This is optional. 
• Black grams:  1 can (boiled)
• Tomato: 2 large (chopped)
• Green chilli: 2
• Mustard seeds (whole) : 1 tbsp
• Coriander powder: 1 tbsp
• Ginger: 1 tbsp (grated)
• Ghee: 1 tbsp
• cooking oil
• Salt & turmeric

Ready steady cook:

• In a pan, heat 2tbsp of cooking oil. Add the whole mustard seeds and the chopped chillies. 
• Fry for a while (till the mustard splutters) and add the cubed potato and the taro.
• Saute for 3-4 mins.
• Add the tomato and the grated ginger. 

• Add salt and turmeric.
• Mix well and then add the boiled black grams. Add the coriander powder.
• Mix well and add 1/2 cup of water.(enough to get the vegetables cooked but not to make a curry. The final looks should be a thick gravy.("makha makha" as we call in Bengali.)
• Cover and cook in medium heat so that the vegetables get cooked. 
• Switch off the heat and add the ghee.
• Serve with hot chapatis or white rice.

Sorry the picture of the fully finished product was not taken. My mistake. The picture above is just before adding the water.