Broccoli-Alur chop - Orebaba

Just the title itself is enough reason for Bengalis all over to world to come together, sign a petition and declare me  "anti-Bengali".

No matter what I write on my Hijibiji Blog, I will not be able to make them smile again. Ever.

I may be demolished from a few social media groups.

I can be taken off the friend's lists.

I can be...........

The verdict can be anything.

....  Broccoli in The Alur chop?  

"Ha Bhogoban, e din dekhar aage tumi amake tule nile na keno?" [Bengali movie style]

We, Bengalis,  are very sensitive , especially about the things which pass through our taste buds into our stomach. 

Usually, we do not tolerate any experiments there.

...Broccoli Alu-r chop??

A crime. 

Period.

However, in my defence, I need to give you the facts, Your Honour.

The menu on the table was NOT Broccoli Alu-r chop! 

It was not planned. 

The menu on the table was steamed carrots and broccoli drizzled generously with garlic olive oil and chilli flakes, grilled crisp zuccinis and roasted chicken. 

.......What happened next at the dinner table yesterday gave rise to the unprecedented recipe today.......

Pleading innocent, Your Honour!

As the carrots and the zuccini and the chicken gradually vanished from the plates, I could already notice a surplus of brocccolis.

No doubt, it was delicious but it was a lot.

We had all eaten a good share. But I was not very keen to put the remaining in the fridge ( a. extra work which I hate b. who do you think will eat leftover steamed broccoli the next day?)

I wanted to push them into the stomachs and succeeded in making two more florets vanish.

..but then A junior put his foot down.

"Ma, please aar Broccoli dio na. I already ate a lot and cannot have any more"

A-senior had the same pleading look in his eyes.

However (pause), he went on to say........"I cannot have a single piece anymore of these steamed broccolis".

Thats it!

That was the point when in my head I started planning the future of these iron-filled green flowers of hope and health!

Fast forward next evening.

Something fried and hot was served....totally unplanned. Brought few smiles....

"Bah besh bhalo hoyeche khete..."  {Good taste !}

"Ma, bhalo laglo khete, arekta debe?"   {Good taste Mom, can I have one more?}

.......and with that the broccolis from last night winked at me happily, passed through the taste buds with flying colours and made their way towards the stomach.

I clenched my fists and did a "YES!!".

[Of course I shared my recipe with A-Senior and Junior!! 😁, after the plates were empty]

I have said enough and will not risk talking explicitly about the "recipe"anymore.

But in short, (whispering) , if you have Broccoli left overs...

Mash the steamed florets with boiled potatoes, add 1 tsp of grated ginger, 1 tsp chopped green chillies, 1 tsp of chopped green coriander and salt.

Make small flat ovals, dip it in a besan batter and fry.

Taste was really nice, Your Honour!

Quick, finish it up before the Bengali community gets to know about it...........

The verdict can be anything.

Lockdown Haircut and Daal-delicacy

Never ever did I imagine that one of my blog titles will have 'lockdown' in it.

Our lives have changed over the last few weeks.

Staying home is saving lives.

Virtual is the new real.

Looking inward is the way forward.

Simplicity has been reinstated.

The Gift of Life is being appreciated again...................

When I started this blog, it was meant to be a diary of A-junior growing up. Small funny interesting anecdotes combined with the cooking and the cameras. But as he grew up, the anecdotes became less cute (;-) and discussing those publicly became a no-no! 

Today's situation is an exception. Totally unprecedented and unexpected. 

So the rules are a bit relaxed.

My hopes with the blog is that one day A-junior will be reading it with his family...and the anecdote will bring a smile to his lips.

After 2 weeks of lockdown when the hair started to cross the ears, the men in the family started to lose their cool and the locked-down-family equilibrium felt at risk.

Both men love their hair short. 

A-Junior has just started to like it bit longer at the top but still wants the sides cropped short.

A-Senior has lost most of it. Still.........

Hair cut is a necessity and part of "essential services' at our place.

So the situation was not very pleasant. The fact that the hair was really growing fast and making life difficult was mentioned multiple times a day. Mood swings became directly proportional to the hair length and had nothing to do with the teenage (or mid life) hormones. 

At some point, A-junior could not take it any longer and wanted to buy a hair-cut-kit. A-senior supported the idea with a lot of enthusiasm.

The kit was ordered online and was delivered at the door step.

So far so good, everything was ok, and then........

I was asked to inaugurate the machine. 

On my son's head! My one and only son,  and his one and only head!

...and I did.

Technically, these machines (am sure many of you use them as well) are quite easy to handle. They have settings on the machine which allows you to cut the hair exactly at a certain length, I have seen it used by the hair dresser ten thousand times.

Looked very simple...just like a lawn mower.......zzrrrrrrrrr....and done.

[A-junior set the mark on the machine and handed it to me].

However, in this case by the time I got the 'feel' of the zzrrrrrrrrr....the damage was already done.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was this big patch of 'nothingness' above the left ear of my son. I immediately realized he had set it at the shortest length and I had used my biceps a little bit more than required. I panicked.

To match the left side, I tried to use the same muscles on the right but nervousness gripped me. (what kind of a mother am I to have caused such damage?). The right side 'nothingness' did not finally match the left side 'nothingness'. I tried to play a bit with the settings and left the top patch quite long, to compensate for the blunders at the sides. 

The head looked like parched land in summer with the mirage of a few oasis here and there.

I also said sorry 50 times ( it was so bad!!).

He was cool and said, "no problem Mom, who cares? we are in lockdown" and with that put on a cap.

After the incident, A-senior's enthusiasm and urgency to get his hair cut suddenly vanished....

He even avoided eye contact for 2 days till he could not bear his long hair anymore.

So today, I did it again.......the result is not very bad. 

It is still parched land but without oasis here and there.

After all, practice makes a (wo)man perfect!

;-)

Corona is making us do strange things.

The two major takeaways for me from this lockdown is Simplicity and Humility.

Whatever we are, Wherever we are, Whoever we are.....

Stay simple, stay humble.

Under the lockdown situation our diet has become simpler. The supermarket visits are  few and we do not hoard a lot of stuff.

One of the most simple (yet diverse) items in our cuisine is Daal.

It is a comfort food for me and  takes very little time to cook.

A few variations can change the taste totally, making each recipe very unique and very tasty.

Let me share a daal  from my kitchen today.

Daal Delicacy-1.: Daal-e-rang-bahar

Cooked with tomatoes and spinach, this moong daal is rich in colour, taste and nutrition.

Ready steady cook:

Dry roast the moong daal till it turns golden brown in colour. Wash and boil together with one large tomato and fresh spinach. Add salt, turmeric and 1/2 tsp sugar.

In a heavy bottom pan, heat ghee. Add a tbsp of whole cumin, 1 bayleaf, 1 dry red chilli, and 1 tbsp of grated ginger.

Fry for a minute and then add the boiled daal.

Have with white rice.

Simple.