My little Devil loves 'Dim-er Devil'

Parenting is a tough job. 

As a parent, the aim is to achieve the right balance. You need to be strict, you need to indulge, you need discipline, you need to pamper, you need to be a friend, you need to encourage, you need to... . 

I told you, it is tough.

For me the strictness part is in my blood. I inherited it (I hope my parents are too busy to read my blog this week).

So even though I try my best to use my patience, love and flexibility to do the balancing, somehow in most cases the "strictness" part tends to dominate.

A-junior feels the same.

I end up being the " not normal" mom.

But who cares? Did SHE care when I cried and complained about HER strictness ?

No.

But SHE made me who I am today.

Therefore, we mothers have the right to judge what is good and what is bad for the kid and hence we have the right to define and redefine and re-redefine "balance" whenever we feel like.

Amen.

The morning started with a bit of a turbulence.

Just 2 minutes before leaving for school,  a frantic search for the gloves began. 

Under the table, in the bag, on the shoe rack, in the shoe rack, on the bed, under the bed.......all over the house. Under such circumstances, one cannot expect the mother's temper to stay low, right? The temper rose, so did the voice. Meanwhile the clock ticked away happily which made the temper rise even higher and the voice too. Finally, angry and sad, amidst a raging storm and the mercury at -2 degC, mother son duo left home without the gloves. The atmosphere inside the car stayed stormy -- the mother could not stop grumbling and son's eyes were brimming with tears.

Inspite of reminding him 10,000 times that the gloves and the cap needs to go into his bag as soon as he reaches school.........Ufffff.....

However, after dropping him off at school, I did feel bad. Maybe so much shouting and screaming was actually not required. I promised myself that I will handle this with patience in the evening.

[Evening: After school]

As soon as he entered the car , he smiled and said. "Ma, look, I found the gloves. Do you know where they were? They were actually infront of the gym, I must have left it there.......etc etc etc"

Awwww.....I gave him a quick hug and thought that this is the time to kind of neutralize my morning behaviour.

I said, " I know I am very strict at times. But all this is for YOUR good. You will understand when you grow up.

A-junior: (Absent mindedly) Hmm..

Me: (wanted to elaborate and make sure he understood): Even my parents were like me, very strict. You will not believe how strict dadu and dida were. But after a certain age, I understood it was all for MY good.

A-junior: Hmm...can you tell me EXACTLY at what age you understood it was for YOUR good?

I did not see this coming, hence I was not prepared with THE number.

Me: (hastily blurted out and I have no clue why):  35!

A-junior: O baba...she to onek deri!! ( Oh no!  that is really far away!!)

;-)  he winked! the little devil.....

That reminds me ...I wanted to share the recipe of "Dim-er Devil" today....

Dim-er Devil  (Egg devil : a typical Bengali snack)

I used:

• 6 Eggs (hard boiled)
• 6 potatoes (Boiled)
• 1 small onion (chopped super fine)
• 1 tbsp Ginger paste
• 1 tbsp Garlic paste
• 1 tbsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp red chili powder
• Chopped coriander
• salt to taste
• Oil for frying

Ready steady cook:

• Cut the boiled eggs into halves/quarters. (I cut them into quarters, it is easy to handle and the devils are of reasonable size, not too big).
• Mash the potatoes and mix in all the spices mentioned above.
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a nonstick pan. Add the chopped onions and fry them till they change colour.
• Add the potato mash and cook the mixture for a while. adjust salt according to taste.
• Also mix the chopped coriander.Let it cool.

Now prepare the coating.

1. some plain white flour

2. One egg beaten

3. Bread crumbs. 

• Take one round ball of the potato mixture and flatten it in your palm.
• Place the egg quarter/half at the center and cover it with the potato mash from all sides.
• Gently press between your palm to make it into a flat oval shape. 
• Roll it in the flour, dip it in the egg and then roll it in the bread crumbs.
• Repeat for all pieces and once done keep it in the refrigerator for an hour or so.
• Deep fry them and serve with mustard sauce (or the Bengali Kasundi) and sliced onions.

Drilling a well with 'Fishy Peppers'

Very soon I have to stop with these stories. Now that he is ten, I am sure the boy will start protesting against making his stories "public".So maybe a few more here and there till the year ends.

My new year resolution will have to be "Start looking for stories elsewhere".

;-)

With age comes maturity and wisdom. For most people.

Last month, I experienced that "maturity" when  he proudly announced "Oil and gas " as his chosen topic for the yearly  "class lecture". Till last year it was the "Cars" or "Cricket" or something  like that. The double digits in age has definitely effected his choice. I think.

On one hand I was happy that he is "growing up". On the other, I was frantically thinking of a way to explain to him this topic which earns me my daily bread...Cannot be so simple, right?

Guess who came to my rescue. Mr. Google, as expected.

Google Uncle, with his huge information bank gave the boy whatever he asked for. From time to time he forwarded the boy to Wiki-Aunty. When he needed some action in the form of videos, Cousin-YouTube was ready to help. While the whole 'net' family helped him, Mommy just stood and watched and wondered, "how did we manage without Google in our childhood?".

But  back then we did not have Powerpoint either! So what would we need the photos for?

We had a syllabus and we had written exams. We had pen and paper. ( ..and No! I am not THAT old ;-))

Once the slides were done, I had a look.  My admiration for the Uncle, Aunty and the Cousin increased even more. The amount and quality of information a 10-yr old can dig out on something which is not such a "day-to-day" topic is amazing. The other amazing thing is 'this generation'. Their exposure to everything is unimaginable. Honestly, watching him "Copy paste" and press the "Save as" button with a  file name still surprises me! Exactly the same confidence with which I filled my ink pen from an ink pot at that age (with Ma saying, 'not a drop on the table!!').
;-)
However, being the mom plus being in the oil and gas business, I DID make some corrections! I HAD TO! But I have to admit it was all there , as much as required from a 10-yr old.

He started to practice. I sat infront of him  with the timer on. We practiced a lot. His confidence increased. Suddenly he stopped.

Eyes gleaming with a "let-me-give-you-some-information-which-I-am-sure-is-new-to-you" look he said , 'Ma, did you know the drilling bit used to drill the well has holes in it?'

Of course I know my dear but how can I answer this without destroying your enthusiasm ?

I said, 'Well, I know ONLY because I work with this subject but most people would not have a clue'.

A radiant smile.

He did well. Tension over.The teacher was surprised with his choice of topic. I hope he understands that I had nothing to do with it.

;-)

Fishy Peppers

The moment these peppers arrived fresh from the market, they stole my heart. Such colour, such texture, such smell...to die for. Usually they are eaten raw at my place. Sweet and juicy, a perfect healthy material for A-junior's school snack. But I wanted to make something else.

I used:

• Pepper: 7-8 whole
• Tuna : 1 can
• Potato: 1 (boiled)
• Ginger:  2 inch (grated)
• Onion : 1/2 cup (chopped and fried)
• green chili : 2 chopped
• Coriander: 1/2 cup   (chopped)
• Egg:  1
• Cornflour: 1 tsp
• Cumin powder: 1 tbsp
• lemon juice: few drops
• salt

Ready steady cook:

• Clean the peppers and de-seed them from one side.
• Mix and mash the tuna fish, potato, onion fry, chili, ginger and coriander.
• Add the cumin powder, lemon juice and salt to taste.
• Fill in the mix in small portions in the peppers.
• In a separate bowl mix the egg and the cornflour to make a thin batter.
• Dip the peppers in the batter and fry in oil. I shallow fried it in little oil just enough to make sure that the batter seals the opening.

(Making a batter with chickpeas flour and egg would have been better..but I did not have it at home. Deep frying will taste better too.)

• Serve hot.

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