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.
 

Gitanjali Express and some other Kolkata Highlights

"Gitanjali Express,  train number 12859 from Mumbai to Kolkata will be arriving at platform number 4 shortly.

Jatrigan kripaya dhyan de....Mumbai se kalkatta jaanewali Gitanjanli express......"

It was difficult to hear anything clearly over the cacophony of people talking, tea vendors selling, porters shouting and thousands of other things.

The train slowly rumbled into the platform.

"S5", my father shouted .

We gathered our baggage and walked towards the compartment S5. A few tired faces got down from the train, a few tearful faces said good bye, a few happy smiling faces could be seen through the windows. We boarded the train.

"58, 59, 60, 61"...I heard my father shout from the back trying to maneuver the trolley suitcase in his hand. A young man was sitting at the window seat 60 and showed no signs of moving even after hearing our ticket numbers. Thankfully the seats around him were empty, so we happily settled down without any uncomfortable conversation. A junior jumped to the other window seat and settled down happily.

After years of travel in non-AC compartments, at some point in life, we had shifted to AC travel. Comfortable, hassle-free, vendor free and cool. However, this time, due to some last minute changes, S5 was the only sleeper class non-AC ticket available.

Nostalgia. Food. Fun. Action.

Loved it! ....Am not going back to the cold, dull, lifeless AC compartments anymore!

As the train gathered speed, I looked out of the window and breathed in. A long breath.The "smell" of India...took me back to my childhood travelling days. Ma used to always make puri-sabji to take on the train. I longed for that taste. I remembered my yellow sabji-stained nails, the water bottle, trying to wash my hands through the window, ma saying "shabdhane! hath bar korish na" and so many other things.....

It was also very exciting for the 9-yr old boy. Travelling in a train where windows were open! With grandparents! Enough space to sit, stand, lie down, walk! He loved it!He loved it in more ways than I imagined he would!

My father always loved the train vendors as much as I did. Ma's protests were usually wiped out by father-daughter duo's love for vendor food. Most of the vendors had to stop at our seat side. The tea, the coconut, the samosa, the ......

"Jhalmuriiii.....Jhalmuriiii"

My trance was broken. One quick glance at my father. Our eyes met for a brief second. 

YES!Thankfully nothing has changed. He still loves the vendors!

The Jhalmuriwala was stopped. Jhalmuri was served.

This taste can beat any Michelin star taste. Crisp muri mixed with the rest of the tasty ingredients, a sprinkling of mustard oil and a coconut slice on the top. Heaven in a packet!

Jhalmuri!!!

Telepathy! Just when my parched throat wished for some tea with the jhalmuri, a tea vendor walked by. A-junior asked if he could have some tea. Grandparents looked towards me for approval.  As I nodded my head, the little boy's eyes shone with happiness. He took a sip from the steaming cup in his hands and said  "the best tea I have tasted in my whole life"! Something in his genes? The weather? Jhalmuri? the ambience? Whatever it was, I loved the way he enjoyed the journey!

Now for some Kolkata highlights (and low lights):

1. I am not from Kolkata.  So I stare a bit blankly when people discuss College street, or Birla planetorium or Chelo kebab of Peter Cat .....They too, stare at me with disbelief!

"Really? You have never tasted the Chelo Kebab of Peter Cat?"..the shock is so evident in their eyes that I start feeling guilty.This time I was lucky enough to break this reputation and successfully walk out of the Peter Cat restaurant with a full plate of chelo kebab in my stomach. The fact that I shared this experience with two of my closest friends made it even more unique.

What can I say? How can I best describe the juicy kebabs lying on a bed of fragrant white butter rice topped with a poached egg? How can I explain to you the melting of the kebabs inside my mouth tickling the taste buds with a taste beyond imagination? How is this feeling of eyes closing on their own after the first bite different from attaining Nirvana? You were right friends, going to Kolkata and not having the Peter Cat chelo kebabs is no less than committing a crime!

2. Birla Planetorium:  I had neven been to Birla Planetorium before. Again not being from Kolkata, the opportunity did not arise. This time we thought it may be a good thing to do with the son. So we went. The building was impressive.

It was an extremely hot and humid day.  The gates opened and we were welcomed by a gust of refreshing cold air as we walked into the air conditioned building.
Darkness. Cool. Nice.I felt sleepy already. 
The show started.
After 2 mins, A-junior asked me, "mama, is the REAL show going to start after this?"
After 5 mins, same question.
After 10, same question.
I had to tell him..."THIS is the real show".
Jokes apart, I was genuinely disappointed with the show. Other that the star-filled dark sky there was nothing interesting at all. The photos were from 1960's, no updates. I think the photo of Mars was taken by a click3 camera from the Earth! The narration material was just being read out from the pages of a geography book. On top of that the narrator had a very strong accent. He kept on saying "WONLY Saturn has rings". At some point of time the accent became so strong that my son asked me, "which language is it now Mom?".
In today's world of computers and google maps, how can such a show survive? The more important question is WHY should such a show survive? For whom? and for what?
When I compared notes with my father later, I realized that he had seen EXACTLY the same show in 1969!! At that point of time he LOVED the star filled sky. So did I! In 2014!

The list of holiday highlights is quite long....but so much for the time being....
;-)

Memories with Madhabi-r Mon-matano Alu-r dom

Makeup "happened" to me only a few years ago. Before that I was clueless.

[I can see some heads nod in agreement.;-)]

So much so that the first time my mom saw me with eyeshadow on she commented,
"Tor boro khatuni jache..Chokher charidike ki kali poreche ! naki shei liver er problem ta abar?" 
(You are working too hard...you have black circles around your eyes , or is your liver problem back?)!!

I screamed.."Maaaaaa, that is make up"!

Now, with more years added to life, a bit of make up has become quite "normal". Some people may also say it has become a "necessity", but such people are not my friends on FB.
Anyway, it reminds me of a conversation I just had with Arno.

[Scene]: 

Early morning. Mother son duo in the bathroom. Son is brushing his teeth while the mother is in front of the mirror trying to apply her "normal" make up. It requires lot of concentration from the mother to gently apply the eye liner on the eye lid which recently has started showing some rough contours. Again some people might call them "wrinkles". These people are also not on my FB friends list. Mother's concentration is broken by a sudden question from the son. She realizes that all this time son was observing her with full focus.

A:  Ma, meyera eye rong kore, lips rong kore, naak rong kore na keno? 
(Girls colour their eyes, their lips, why not the nose?)

Me:  (No clue how to answer this + the sudden question also disrupted the focus and the eyeliner goes out of line..not a happy situation, hence not a good answer!!) Naak colour korle to clown lagbe, tai kore na!!

Arno looked pretty satisfied with the answer. I was not.

Can someone give me a better answer? 
;-)
The recipe I am going to share with you today has a very special memory attached to it. 
I call it Madhabi-r Mon matano alu-r dom.
Many many years back, in the hostel of BHU, some girls became very close friends. Some girls from Durgapur bonded specially with some girls from Ranchi. (no jokes please, Ranchi is also famous for the lovely waterfalls they have!!)
;-)
They shared their lives 24/7 in the hostel which made them "friends forever".
Luckily I am one of them.
We needed to take the night train to reach Varanasi from Durgapur or from Ranchi. The night journey required our mothers to cook and pack dinners for us to eat in the train. I can still remember the grey sleeper berths, the dimly lit train interiors, the whole night chats, the antaksri sessions , the pinch of homesickness, the excitement of meeting friends again, the black coat ticket checkers, the pitch darkness outside the windows, the smell of the packed food, the monotonous sound of the wheels on the tracks as the train chugged towards Varanasi....
At some point of time, we dozed off only to be woken up early morning by the  "Chay-O, CHAY-o" of the tea vendors as the train entered the station of Mughalsarai. 
Once we Durgapurians reached the hostel we waited eagerly for the Ranchi girls to come in.
Firstly it was the excitement of meeting them after so many days of vacation. Secondly the left overs from the dinner packed by M's mom. Whatever M had left over in her tiffin box vanished in seconds as we hugged each other with shrieks of delight and happiness.
Madhabi mostly packed "daal er kochuri and alu-r dom". 
[Masi mero na please...your name makes the recipe more romantic]
I can still see myself using the last piece of the kochuri to wipe off the remnants of the  alu-r dom from the remotest corners of the tiffin box.  This Alu-r dom had an unique taste. Even today if I close my eyes and think very hard about it, I can taste it on my taste buds. 
So getting the recipe of this alu-r dom was like a dream come true. Thanks S for collecting it from M and sharing it....

I cooked it. It tasted delicious. It reminded me of Mashi (Madhabi). It reminded me of Varanasi. It reminded me of the fantastic hostel life I had. It reminded me of my "friends forever".

Madhabi-r Mon-matano Alu-r dom

I used:

• Baby potatoes : 1 kg
• Tomatoes :- 4 large ones

For the dry masala :

• Sauf/ fennel seeds : 2 tsp
• Jeera /cumin : 2 tsp
• Dhania /coriander seeds : 2 tsp
• Methi/ fenugreek seed : 5-6 seeds
• Dry chillis : 3
• Hing/ asafoetida  - 1/2 tsp
• Amchur/ dry mango powder - 1tsp (Optional)
• Salt  to taste

Ready steady cook

1. Boil potatoes and peel them .

2. Dry roast the seeds for the masala separately, starting with dhania seeds and let them cool

3. After they cool , grind them all together.
4. Grate the tomatoes and throw the skin.
5. Heat oil in a  pan and fry the potatoes to a golden brown colour. 
6. Remove them from the pan and in the same oil fry the tomato paste till oil leaves the paste. Add a pinch of asafoetida.

7. Add sugar and salt to it.
8. Add the potatoes to this cooked tomato paste.
9. Mix in the roasted ground masala. 

10. Add amchur. Stir for a while on low heat.

Enjoy ......
Thank you Madhabi for such a wonderful timeless recipe...

The husband and Chingri-Chamatkar

Making the husband go close to the dishwasher is a challenge. 

There are the occasional days (saying "once in a blue moon" may not capture the right "occasionality" I am talking about) when the dishwasher is lucky to be loaded/unloaded by him without a word said by the wife. 

Then there are the more frequent days when the wife says..

" Amakei shob kaj korte hoy...keu ektu dishwasher tao khali kore na"[goj goj goj]
(I have to do all the work, no one helps me to even unload the dishwasher)

OR

"Amakei shob kaj korte hoy...keu ektu dishwasher tao khali kore na"[goj goj goj]

OR (this time a few decibels higher)

" Amakei shob kaj korte hoy...keu ektu dishwasher tao khali kore na" [goj goj goj]..

You get the message. So does he. In most cases.

;-)

Recently the doctor has asked the husband to be more conscious of his health and added the challenge of making him go for a walk/gym to lose some weight. Wife is happy if he does go for that walk/gym. The happiness shows.

So one day wife comes back from work, husband comes back from work...dishwasher needs to be unloaded. No response from husband. Wife starts unloading it...making some EXTRA noise with the dishes and the pans to make sure that husband hears that she is unloading the dishwasher. AGAIN...

Husband hears it , walks up to the wife and asks..

"Shall I unload the dishwasher OR go for a walk?"

Wife is speechless.  
After a moment answers back, "Don't you think your sentence has an error? Shouldn't it be AND in place of OR?"
Later on, she picks up phone to relate this "dialogue of the day"  to her best friend and cannot stop laughing after that!

Btw, this story has nothing to do with MY husband or MY dishwasher...

Anyway, today I am going to cook something which is A-senior's absolute favourite.
If done properly, the dishwasher may be unloaded by him tomorrow !

I learned to cook prawns from Bouma. She is this fantastic lady whom I met in Japan. Within no time she became "my Bouma" from a total "stranger".The moment it became known that I love prawns in any form, it became a "must have" for each and every weekend at her household. Dada got the prawns and Bouma cooked. Who says only blood relations are family?
I ate lots and and Bouma packed more for me to take back to my hostel room.

So I started cooking prawns in Japan. A-senior does not like fish at all, not even prawns. I tried to explain how prawn is not a fish and hence should not be part of his "dont-eat-fish-thingie". But he remained unmoved like the sage Vishwamitra infront of Menka (the analogy is fishy, I know). He did ask me to eat prawns as much as I like but then I did not feel like cooking for myself only. With both of us working full time it is almost always a one-pot-meal. So life continued.....

Till I made "Chingri-Chamatkar".

He has started eating prawns (ONLY Chingri-chamatkar). He has also proudly announced (even infront of my mother-in-law) that he will eat prawns (Chingri-chamatkar) if and only if I make it !!

I have even caught him red-handed trying to eat COLD chingri chamatkar directly from the fridge late at night!!!

This should be enough inspiration to make you rush out immediately and grab a pack of prawns.

Chingri Chamatkar

I used:

• Tiger prawns : 1 kg
• Mustard paste:  3-4 tbsp
• Coconut milk:  1 can 
• Grated coconut: 4-5 tbsp (frozen will also do)
• Cinnamon: 2 " piece.
• Cardamom: 3-4
• Green chilli: 5-6
• Mustard oil: 3-4 tbsp (you can also use sunflower oil but the taste will not be the same)
• Salt ( to taste)
• Turmeric

Ready steady cook: 

1.  Marinate the prawns with turmeric and salt. Keep it for 30 mins.
2. Heat mustard oil in a  pan. When it starts to smoke, add the cardamom and cinnamom.
3. Reduce heat to medium and add the chopped chillies ( 1 or 2)
4. Add the prawns and fry them for a few minutes. Be careful, prawns are delicate creatures...overcooking can make them rubbery. So just fry till they change colour to pinkish.
5. Add the grated coconut and cook for a while.
6. Add the mustard paste, turmeric and salt.
7. Cook for only a minute and add the coconut milk. Let it simmer with a cover.(4-5 mins)
8. Switch off the heat. Add a spoon of mustard oil on the top and garnish with more slit green chillies.
9. Please have with steaming white rice. DO NOT EAT COLD FROM THE REFRIGERATOR.

Marinated Tiger prawns

The prawns are cooked

Some steaming rice to enjoy and you are done...

'Wireless'-less days and Indian Pancakes

This time I have a SOLID excuse for not being able to blog for the last few days. The usual excuses of being busy and being busy and being busy which make people quirk their eyebrows and think "oh really?" will not be used this time. Neither will I complain about the weather or the pollen allergy or the impact of watching Skyfall. I have a SOLID-er excuse!
Our wireless betrayed us. Do you hear me? No wireless at home!!!

My regular end of the day routine of sitting on the sofa in the living room and dumping my brains on my blog got messed up totally. The evening mood in the house substantially deteriorated after Arno went to sleep. It consisted of A-senior watching TV (nothing much changed there!) and his wife grumbling about how the wireless does not work and more importantly how HE was not doing ENOUGH to get it fixed!
So yesterday, sacrificing weekend TV, the man put on his "enough is enough" looks and got the wireless fixed which restored the smile on his wife's lips. I agree that his unhappiness without the wireless was not so verbal as mine. But his  happiness when the wireless was restored was crystal clear from his questions.."it is working on the first floor?" "do you have full signal in the attic?", "take the ipad and check the signal in the kitchen" ..He himself moved around  the remotest corners of the house checking the signal and returning to the living room with a satisfied grin that said "All for you my dear"!
The relief in the household was refreshing. Even my 8-yr-old looked up from his toys and said, "O Thank God, You Tube works!" . Poor God! getting thanked for all the wrong reasons!
Anyway, to cut the long story short, we all realized how much of our lives are now taken over by these machines. No machine, no smiles!

Thank you God for creating such beautiful things and thank you Man for inventing the camera to capture it!

The other day I also had a "pleasantly surprised" (read "embarassed") moment with my son. It was his first presentation at school. First exposure to Microsoft Powerpoint. The class teacher asked them to choose any topic. No surprises there, Arno chose "Ferrari". (Between you and me, for a moment I did feel that he is taking it too lightly! Offcourse I did not expect him to talk on global warming or world population or the economic crisis but still....FERRARI??Seriously??)
Anyway the deal made was that first he was going to make a 5-slide presentation TOTALLY on his own. After that Mummy would look over his shoulder and share some "tips" to make it better! The excited boy got busy for two evenings and on the third day, I sat with him to have a look.
The first impression was WOW! 
The second impression was that the spellings needed serious correction.
The third impression was...
Okok....Impressed Mom asked him to correct the spellings one by one.
When he was done with three spelling corrections, I said with the I-am-the-mother-I-know-it-all-looks,
"Arno, why dont you SAVE? Look, here is the save button. Click on this from time to time , otherwise you might lose your work...then it is a waste of time...it feels so bad...you have to be careful"
Arno let me finish my whole knowledge base on "saving" and then said,
"Mama, why dont you do a SAVE AS? That will allow you to put a name and a place to this file"
Thank God , He gave me enough strength to make a proud face and say,
"Oh, how wonderful ! you already know about SAVE AS!!

In a confused state of pride-cum-surprise-cum-embarrassment, the happy mother proceeded towards the kitchen.
Arno shouted.."Mama, you promised Indian Pancakes".

Indian Pancakes - very easy and hit brunch recipe at my place

Pancakes are an integral part of dutch cuisine. Arno loved them. 
.......Till he tasted the Indian ones.
;-)

I used:

• All purpose flour:  1/2 cup
• Eggs:     3   
• Rice flour: 1/2 cup 
• Onions:  1/2 cup (chopped)
• Tomato: 1 (chopped)
• Green chilli:  acc to taste (chopped)
• Ginger:  1 tsp (chopped)
• Fresh coriander:  chopped
• Black pepper
• Salt

 Ready steady cook

1. In a bowl mix all ingredients and make a batter.
2. The consistency should not be too thick .
3. In a non stick pan, heat 1 tsp of oil.
4. Spread the batter ( like an omelette) on the pan.
5. Cook till light brown and a bit crispy.
6. Enjoy with sauce or kasundi.

The batter

Indian Pancake

Howzat* and Alunia : A cannot-go-wrong combination.

It was a cricket weekend.

First the match in Utrecht on Saturday. Then the match in London on Sunday.

A loss. A win. A realization that Arno is growing up very fast.

As a mother, (offcourse) I do not need cricket to realize that my son is growing up. (We are supposed to have eyes on the back of our head, remember?) But from time to time there are situations or  comments or actions which make a lot of implicit things more "visible". 
Even for a mom. 

Once upon a time....

Match 1: Voorburg Cricket Club (VCC) playing Utrecht. Under 9.

The morning had a bit of a chill but the sun was shining brightly. Both teams were dressed up in their club gear ready to hit the ball. (I will not mention or discuss the grumpy look on the parent's face who had to wake up at 7:00 am ON A SATURDAY morning and drive 80 kms to reach the grounds on time. But being the cheerful good parents that they are, once the match started, the father got real busy with the score board while the mother did the cheering and the photographing).

While bowling, his shoe laces came loose. I was expecting him to run out of the field to me and get it tied (like he usually did). But no, he bent down on his knee, carefully tied his laces and continued playing. (He was not able to do that even last Thursday!!)
I looked on. A small incident. Big implications for the mother at the sideline who does not have to tie shoe laces anymore. The boy is definitely growing up.

We had a wonderful time and at the end our grumpy faces changed contours even though our team lost by 17 runs.

 "Winning is not everything, its all about good playing and giving in your best". 
As long as we parents say this it, it is fine. But not all the time. Your kid might start taking this sentence too seriously.
;-)

After Saturday match

Match 2: India playing England.  
The match started after a lot of uncertainty due to the rains. But it was a match worth waiting for! The family enjoyed every moment of it. A few packs of chips disappeared and a few bottles of beer vanished. I also fried some lovely Alunias...scroll below for recipe.The match went on to a nail biting finish. Arno refused to go to sleep at his usual bed time. His pleading looks and the tension in the match made me grant him permission to watch the last bit of the match. Yippeeee..he shouted and settled down happily on the sofa.

The Indian team did not have a huge score to defend. At one point of time England actually started looking quite comfortable. Suddenly, the Indian captain (MS Dhoni) called Ishant Sharma to bowl (which I heard from the learned commentators was not the "usual expected move"). This tall lad (I envy him for his SunSilk-y long hair) immediately took two wickets turning the game in favour of India.

Last two overs. England struggling badly. Nervous running between wickets. Adrenalin pumping. We are biting our nails. A-senior is pacing back and forth with a serious frown on his face. Suddenly the eight year old lazing on the sofa seriously said, "Papa , I think MS Dhoni took a good decision!!!"

8 year old....born in Holland....joined cricket only a few weeks back...Commenting on MS Dhoni's decision?

It was almost funny-ly serious. Not what he said but how he said. 
When young boys start discussing sports or cars or girls in a serious tone, they surely are growing up. 
The parents exchanged glances. The boy is indeed growing up! ..
India won. The excited boy rushed to the TV trying to interview the winning team!
Not so grown up after all!!!!

After Sunday match

*According to the Laws of Cricket, an appeal is a verbal query, usually in the form of, "How's that?" to an umpire. Since the taking of a wicket is an important event in the game, members of the fielding team often shout this phrase with great enthusiasm, and it has transmuted into the slightly abbreviated form, "Howzat?"

Now I need food. 

Alunia - The potato crisps
 (Totally made up name , influenced by the reknowned "Beguni".  So Aluni.  Adding "a" at the end just sounded so much more tasty--Alunia!) 

I used:

• Potatoes: 2 ( grated/ chopped into very small pieces)
• Onion: 1  ( chopped very small)
• Green chilli: 2 (chopped)
• Ginger: 1 inch  (chopped)
• Fresh coriander: chopped
• Eggs: 2
• Rice flour : 2 heaped spoonful
• Flour(maida): 6-8 heaped spoonful.
• salt : to taste
• Red chilli powder: optional

Ready steady cook:

1. Mix all ingredients together with water to make a batter.(not too watery)
2. Heat oil in a pan.
3. Fry these lovely golden Alunias in batches.

I served some while the family was watching the cricket match.
Served the rest with khichuri --- a cannot-go-wrong combination.

Warning: If you start serving them while frying,  almost nothing is left for dinner later.

Alunia with khichuri

Rong-Chong-e Daal & Mother's Day

Mother's Day definitely deserves a post, some stories and some food.

The reason for creation of a mother is clear from my last post, right? 

I was neither joking nor did I make that up. It is a fact and I believe in it strongly. Usually this belief and realization only comes much later in life . Not at 8 or 16 or 25! Things which I took for granted as HER DUTY when I was young, gradually metamorphosed with years and experience into genuine admiration and thankfulness. I realized (specially after giving birth myself) that this is a relation which is far beyond anything as mundane as duty. ...it is the umbilical bond that is designed to love and care and fight for her child..expecting nothing in return. 

A mother with her unconditional love- God's best gift to mankind.

This is getting a bit filmy, I know. But honestly if the above script reached the hands of a 1970s hindi movie director, this would have been the scene when the child would be singing "meri ma..achhi ma..bholi ma..." while the mom (Nirupa Ray, in most cases) would be coughing away to glory due to poverty and lack of medicine. 

Typical but hit. You would be watching with tears in your eyes.
If I had continued writing a few more lines on these lines, it might have even ended up in a more glamorous one like the one and only "Mere paas ma hai!" scene. 
Super hit! You would be clapping and watching the movie 25 times.Who knows?
(Unrelated, unnecessary information, but have to share: I love Amitabh Bachchan!!)

However, nothing like that happened.

It was Mother's Day. My parents are visiting us in Holland. I went to meet my Mom at my brother's place. She looked at me and said,

Ma: Ektu janla-r kache aye alo-te. Mukh ta dekhi. 
(Please come towards the window in the light, let me see your face)

I did.

Ma: Tor chokher opor abar ki shob jeno hoyeche....shei liver er problem theke noyto? 

(There is something on your eyelids, hope it is not the liver problem you had before!)

Me: MAaaaaa..that is MAKE UP -- Eye Shadow Ma!!!

So much so for wearing eye makeup on Mother's Day.

After the initial laugh is over, I have to say (in her defence) that she has not seen me so much with eye make up before. I never NEVER used it in my youth.

But things have changed. With the years (some of you might call it AGE) came wisdom and eye shadows. Part of life.

I also got a wonderful gift for Mother's Day. It is a hand painted clay piggy bank painted by the small hands that I love the most in this world. With the lovely gift came a lovely letter, heart shaped, pink, best handwriting..what more does a mother want? Opened the letter with lots of excitement.It read:

"To the world's best mom..from the WORLD's BEST SON"

and I thought it was MOTHER'S DAY!!!
;-)

Ideally this post should have a recipe from my Mom. But she will come to stay with me next week...so once she is with me...Lights ..Camera ..Action! I promise you.

Till then, lets eat something I cooked for you.
I cooked something very tasty, very colorful and very healthy (like a good mother should especially on Mother's Day).

Rong-Chong-e Daal 
Daal (Pulses), in my home is another gift of God to mankind! (Ok,ok, after Mothers unconditional love, Mutton Biriyani, Red wine, waterproof eyeliner, TomTom, etc....)
If there is a bowl of daal in any form in my fridge, I feel very relaxed. I solve problems at work, I attend meetings, I pick up Arno from school, I phone my car garage etc --all of this with a smile on my face just because there is "daal in the fridge". The reason for such relaxed mood is because even after a busy day I can just make some white rice, cut some salad and with the "daal in  the fridge" , I can serve a super dinner. If my mood permits, I can even convert the super dinner to a bit of a Michelin-starry-type-dinner by  just frying an omelette with it!
.....and on top of all that, if like a "good" mom, you can add some vegetables to your "daal in the fridge"..
Wa-La. you are SUPER MOM certified. For sure!

I used:

• Yellow Moong daal : 1 cup
• Fresh Spinach  leaves: 1 bunch
• Carrots:       2 large (chopped in big pieces)
• Green peas:  1/2 cup (optional)
• Tomato: 1 large
• Ginger: 1 tsp (cut in very small pieces)
• Whole cumin: 1 tbsp
• Sugar: 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Turmeric powder: 1 pinch
• Cooking oil: 1 TBSP
• Ghee:  1 TBSP (optional but surely makes a difference)

Ready -steady- cook:

1. Dry roast the moong daal till a few of the grains change to brown. Be careful not to over cook. Switch off heat as soon as you get the lovely smell of the roasted moong.

2. In a large bowl boil the carrots , spinach , tomato and the dry roasted daal with some salt, turmeric powder and sugar.

3.Let is boil till the daal becomes totally soft.
4. In a separate pan heat the cooking oil. Add the whole cumin seeds and the ginger. Saute for a few seconds and add the boiled daal .
5. Let it come to a boil.
6. Adjust salt to taste and switch off heat.

7. Add the ghee , stir well and cover.
8. Serve with white rice.  (Make an omelette if you have time...cut some salad for sure)