The value (price) of pain with Soba-chicken-noodle-soup

A-junior has bad luck with his teeth. For whatever reasons, his milk teeth refuse to fall out on their own. They want to stay with him forever.

This decision of theirs is totally unknown to the permanent teeth who are lined up already to come out and face the world. Most of them start their journey and find their path being blocked by very stubborn milk teeth who refuse to budge and give way.

This brings the dentist into our life in a permanent sort of way. 

Each and every milk teeth needs to be pulled out.

Painful. No doubt about that.

But what can we do?

After every such event, the dentist usually offers a little something like a small toothpaste or a magnet to pacify him. The parents also promise something, the thought of which helps him to face the pain in a better way and the recovery process goes faster. That "something" started off a bit big during the first such session (mom was in total panic mode when the howling 7-yr old looked accusingly at her as if to say "why are YOU doing this to me?"). So a toy was bought to make the child happy. However, later on as the story of the stubborn milk teeth gradually unfurled, the Mom realized that this is going to be more 'routine'. At some point of time it became so 'routine' that the budget for the "something" got substantially reduced. (I agree, how mean of a mother!!)

Time flew.....

After eight such stubborn milk teeth came a super stubborn one.

Meanwhile the mouth has been through some changes as well. It is now the proud owner of braces with hopes and promises of perfectly aligned white teeth in future which will win as many hearts as he can handle, I hope.

Due to this super stubborn milk tooth, a new character call the "gum surgeon" got introduced into the saga of the 'Stubborn Milk Teeth'. His title sounded so scary that I cannot blame the little boy when his face lost all colour on hearing this new development. The event, because of the complexity, had to be planned not at the dentist's, but at the hospital.

The day came, the event happened, the boy cried, the mom panicked, the dad pretended to be cool.

All ended well.

.....and then it was time for the pain compensation 'something'.

We came back home and opened an online toy store and he started looking for the toy he wanted. I, generously gave him a budget of 20 euros. After all, this time it was complicated!! A-junior, after considerable surfing could only find something of his liking of 32.99 euro.

Nothing else appealed to him. 
This "Transformer" character has been his dream character for a while, etc etc.

Mom reminded him of his budget constraint.

No, but this character can actually shoot small transformer weapons even!!!

Mom reminded the 20 euros again.

Mom:  But I really feel that the whole gum surgeon event was not THAT big. I think the pain was worth about 20 euros.

A-junior (tears filled up his eyes, tears of sadness mixed with tears of anger): But Mom, how do YOU know the pain I went through? I am 100% sure that the pain was of 32.99 euros!!!!!!

I shut up.
Knowing the price(value) of pain, even to the second decimal place is incredible!

Indeed who am I to judge the value of pain? especially the pain which I myself have not experienced?

Dear friends, this is no joke. I became very philosophical after this dialogue, had three more glasses of wine and tried to ponder deeply on this subject. Every time, the question took me deeper and deeper into the matter and I needed another glass to help me......

Before losing myself into the philosophy of life and everything complicated, let me cook some food. Food is needed for everything...

.....and drinks...also needed for everything.

;-)

Chicken Soba soup with Bok choy

I have lived in Japan for a long time. This dish took me years back to Japan, the same fresh taste, the same flavour, the same moments .....warm nostalgia in a bowl.

Ingredients:

• Soba noodles
• 1 Onion (chopped)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 carrots sliced
• 3 baby bak choy (sliced into two)
• 4 cloves of garlic chopped
• 200 gms of chicken strips
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2-3 tbsp soya sauce
• Chicken or Vegetable broth (Water is also fine)
• Black pepper

Ready steady cook

• Boil the soba noodles for 3-4 mins , drain with cold water  and keep aside.
• In a pan add the olive oil. Add the chopped garlic and the onions. Saute for a while.
• Add the chicken and the carrots. Fry for a while and add the bokchoy.
• Add the seasonings (salt, cayenne pepper, soya sauce, black pepper).
• Add the stock and bring to a boil. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.
• Put the soba in a bowl and pour the soup on top. Serve hot hot hot.

The exam season and some "flash back"

Yesterday while listening to a conversation of exam-worried mothers (my friends) on Whatsapp, I had a 'flash-back' moment.

Although for me, the board-exam-worried-mother phase is yet to begin [A-junior is still going to elementary school with a lunchbox and a water bottle], but I know that there is no escape. Especially, having studied in that system (in India), I totally  understand what the moms are going through.

Roles have changed. Now, we have become the mothers of the examinees and that is a very different feeling from being the examinee ourselves (this is true irrespective of country, system or culture).

There is stress in both cases but the 'type' of stress is different.

The examinee thinks  'will I be able to answer the questions'?

The Mother thinks "will he be able to answer the questions? Did he study enough? He is always on the ipad, when did he study? Will he have a good future? Am I too strict? How can I help him keep focus? Where can I ...? How can I ....? When can I ..?"

[I can fill the whole page with questions that race through her mind]

The stress is 'different'  .....

On Whatsapp, I wished my friend's son all the best saying "Physics is a piece of cake, cool" and asked my friend to "chillax"!!
In my heart, I went back to my days of stress....drifted into some "flash back " moments.......

Subject: Physics.

Time: Class 12th, pre-board exam

I was terribly stressed. The chapters Heat, Light and Electricity were to blame. So many problems, so many diagrams, so much theory! Really felt like the most difficult day of my life, Physics exam.

After the usual "baba ma ke pronam and doi -er tip"[blessings from parents and yogurt for good luck], I left for the examination hall. 
(Even today, when I am writing about it on my blog for fun, it still gives me the goose bumps, ha ha!). 
Anyway, the bell rang and the question papers were distributed. I quickly glanced through the paper. First glance told me that I knew most of the answers quite well. The good news was there were no problems from the chapters Heat and Electricity! Phew, what a relief, almost too good to be true! 

My pen started rolling. Since most problems were relatively known and within my comfort zone, I took time to draw nice diagrams with all answers, drew straight margins and tried to continue in the best of my handwriting..slow and steady. I even sharpened my pencil once or twice.  Having successfully finished my paper, I walked out of the hall, confident and happy. While riding back home, together with a friend, she asked, "Could you answer the question on coefficient of thermal expansion ?"
I fell from the sky. 
"But there were no questions on heat and electricity", I replied back.

My friend gave me a shocked look and said "What?? About half the questions were from those two chapters!!"

I could not believe my ears.....Hastily took out the question paper from my bag and glanced again. She took the paper from my hands and turned it! Next page had 5 questions on heat and electricity!

In my super-stress-converted-to-super-relief state of mind, I did not turn the page.

I had only answered/attempted half the questions.....

The world around me started becoming hazy as tears filled up my eyes.........
Managed to 'just' pass.

Subject: Physics.

Time: BSc, final exam

Again terrible stress. Exam time. Girls studying everywhere. Home sickness. Power cut. Candles. Mosquitoes. Hostel mess serving shitty food --gourd curry and rice, thats it!

(have to build up the sympathy factor among my readers to make them relate to my stress). 
Parents were not around, so no 'baba ma ke pronam' but friends made sure that we had the 'doi-er phonta' [yogurt luck]. 

A bit of digression here...have to say that friends in hostel become more than family.

The exam hall was as usual - tense.

Question papers were distributed. One quick glance and I realized that I did not know the answers to most of the questions. Read it again, as if reading it twice would trigger the 'light bulb' moment. Still blank. No clue where to start. Heart pounded so loudly .....I was certain everyone could hear it. I did not even dare to look up from my paper fearing that everyone else had started writing. I tried a few seconds of 'ooommmm' with closed eyes and then looked at the question paper again. Still the same unknown questions. Then I heard a hustle beside me. Looked up and saw a friend of mine submitting the answer paper and leaving the room. Within 5 mins another girl left. Looked around to see more blank faces like mine....I did not have the guts to leave a blank answer paper.
Focus focus, there must be something .......you have studied, girl!
There was one question which (on repeated reading) started to feel vaguely familiar.  A tangent galvanometer problem. I tried to solve the problem and then as an after thought wrote about all the different types of galvanometers I studied. 
;-)
At some point of time the stress vanished (surrendered to fate), a new nirvana sort of feeling kicked in and I found a few more things to write.
Have no clue how I managed to pass that paper......

Subject: Physics.

Time: MSc, 1st year
This incident actually comes from borrowed memory of my roomie-best-friend M. During our exam related discussion on whatsapp yesterday, she asked me how could I ever forget my stress during the master's exams?
I do not remember much of it. She does because she was my room mate...and am sure she had her Botany exams that day too!!;-))
Apparently I had serious stress for that paper (must be Electronics) and went for the exams already with a long face. Came back crying ...exams went very bad.  She said 'half of the hostel was there in our room in the evening to comfort you, you were so heart broken'.
;-))

How can a person with such a history even dare to say  "Physics is a piece of cake" and  "chillax"??
The only reason she can is because for her exams are "over" and she is not going to take one single exam anymore ..........kuch bhi ho jaye....
hihihihihi..hahahaha...hohohoho.....

I do not have a recipe today. 
Instead, let me share a photo from my camera which is so serene, so peaceful, so relaxing.....am sure will help to cope with some of your stress, specially if you are a mom and a Physics exam is coming up.....

photo: www.pinterest.com

High school selection and Patishapta

An excited (read 'tense') mother, a very excited (read 'cool') son and a moderately excited (read 'chill and cool') father are currently on a school tour.

According to the system here, junior school ends at the age of 12 and on the basis of a final test and overall performance, the school gives "advice" as to which level of high school the child can/should attend. This means that one needs to visit schools in the area on "open days"and get a 'feel' for it. This day is also a source of lots of  information on basis of which one is supposed to make the right choice for their children.

Haha!

Not so easy....

Carmel School, Durgapur  (my school)

Having studied in one school my entire life, this step is new. Exciting no doubt, but there is an element of 'newness' and 'decision making' which makes the mother 'tensely' excited!

There is an element of 'growing up' and 'not so much to worry about' which makes the son 'coolly' excited.

There is an element of "I know she will handle it"and "just cannot understand what is there to be tense about" which makes the father 'chill AND cool'.

;-)))

Brochures from many high schools have been lying on the living room table for the last few weeks. It was as if having them infront of my eyes 24/7 would already help me make my decision. They were also kept there with the hope (high hopes) that the cool boy would absentmindedly pick up one and ask specific questions to the mother, thus opening up meaningful conversation. None of the above happened.
The mother also discussed this in details with colleagues and friends who are from this system. All answers put together and a few sessions with the school teacher helped her understand the 'system' better and also pacified her nerves to some extent. ( A few glasses of red wine while reading the brochures definitely helped too but let me not digress from the topic).
The choice has been narrowed down to two schools. 
The first open day is a very nice experience. As the trio enter school A,  A-junior though visibly shy at first starts showing considerable excitement.
Within 5 minutes he declares "this is the school I want to come to!"
The parents are really surprised because in 5 minutes they have only reached the central atrium after passing through the main door and one corridor. What is it that triggered such a confident choice? What have we missed? What did we not notice in our excitement?
He understood that we were struggling to understand the reason for his choice.

"Have you seen the cool lockers Ma? Fully electronic operated with own card!! I really want to study in  this school".

Of course!! THAT is the criterion to choose a school...
......and we were thinking of talking to the teachers, visiting the classes, going to the labs and THEN taking a decision......parents can be so "not-cool"!
;-))

The next open day made life difficult. 
Surprise!!!!!!School B also had fancy lockers. 
Electronic, own card..the whole lot!!
What a dilemma for the 11-yr old boy!!

Let him sort it out while I cook something nice.......

Patishapta

This is a typical Bengali dish--it is so traditional, so heartwarming, so authentic...........
Just as the winter is about to vanish mid January, Bengalis celebrate Sankranti with a huge platter of Pithe-Puli. These are extremely tasty and sweet objects which are hard to resist and contribute immediately to the mid region of one's body. Since we are very "calorie conscious" these days and do not allow a single extra calorie intake from what is prescribed by Mr. Atkins, we are gradually moving away from these recipes .To add to that, these recipes also require quite some effort, time and patience to make. In today's fast world, we do not have much left of these three. Hence these recipes are vanishing from our plates very fast.
Not from our hearts though.
As the patishapta melts in my mouth....I feel like saying..."WHAT CALORIES??"
This is purely a "Gift of Life".
;-)

Ingredients:
For batter:

• 1/2 cup Rice flour
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup Semolina
• 1 cardamom powder
• 2-3 tbsp sugar 
• 2 cups milk

• Filling:
• 2 cups grated coconut
• 1 cup sugar/jaggery
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup kheer/khowa/milkpowder/condensed milk(optional but highly recommended)
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder

Ready steady cook:

• In order to prepare the filling, first cook the coconut and milk and sugar in a wok. Add the khowa/kheer.
• Keep stirring so that it does not stick to the bottom.
• The end product should be sticky and like a dough.
• Add the cardamom powder also. Mix well and let it cool
• For the patishapta batter:
• Mix all the ingredients together
• Add milk and keep mixing well such that there are no lumps in the batter.
• Keep it aside for 10 mins.
• Now in a nonstick pan, add little bit of oil
• Pour a small portion and spread it evenly (like dosa, but smaller)
• Add the filling in the center.
• Neatly fold the two sides 
• Let it cook over medium heat till it changes the colour from white to very light brown
• Serve with molten jaggery on top (optional)

School photo:(durgapurcityonlinemobile.bugs3.com)

Holiday-lag and Moong-Puli

Happy New Year to all!!!

Best wishes for a happy and peaceful year ahead.

;-)

They should arrange it in such a way that one can start off with an hour, then two hours , then three, gradually building it up to the grueling eight hours per day!

Coming back to work after the New Year vacation is such a "culture shock" and this is doubled by the fact that the vacation was spent in India.

First of all, the body does not recognize the alarm clock any more. Hence early morning, the noise is unknown and irritating and the search for the "snooze" button is totally futile.

The quilt-force is much stronger than the will-force, hence I am sucked back into the warm quilt for 5 more minutes of sleep.
The five more mins somehow get extended to fifteen which leads to panic at the end of it.

After several attempts, I did manage to get up and walk towards the bathroom. But believe me, the body now works at a different pace. The hands are used to moving the tooth brush back and forth at a normal human speed while the eyes are used to admiring the tiny sparrow sitting on the window sill beside the sink (in India). 
My God! What a change! The electric brush rotated at thousands of rpm while the eyes were fixed on the clock and the mouth shouted "hurry hurry , we will be late" to the little boy who is also going through a similar culture shock.
"But Maaaaaa.......I am hurrying......"

Next the food. The body got used to paratha, upma, noodles, poha, etc as breakfast! My taste buds revolted loudly as the dry tasteless bread touched them. My stomach rumbled with anger, the pancreatic juices gurgled with frustration and my intestines curled up with indignation at the sight of this brown tasteless matter that they were supposed to digest! After all those days of spicy, tasty, mouthwatering stuff!! This is more than just "culture shock"!

Somehow managed to drag the body towards work. Once there, nothing more to complain. Within a few minutes, it started to feel as if I was always there.
Jet lag is taken so seriously. I demand that holiday-lag should get the attention it deserves!

;-)


Moong-Puli
Today's recipe is a difficult one. I tried it out for the first time. 
It is a festive Bengali recipe special for the "Poush Shankranti". These dishes require effort and time. In today's fast world, indeed that time is difficult to make. But I strongly feel we should keep these recipes alive, someway or the other.

Ingredients:

2 cups of yellow lentils (moong)

2 tbsp Rice flour

3 tbsp plain flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp aniseed powder (saunf)

Filling:
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup milk
1 cup jaggery (palm sugar)

Oil to fry

Ready steady cook:

• In a nonstick pan, put two spoons of water. Add the lumps of jaggery so that they melt completely in medium heat.
• Add the coconut and stir.
• Add the milk, a little at a time so that the mix stays moist.
• Cook for about 20 mins till the whole mix is nice and sticky. This is the filling.
• In a separate pan dry roast the lentils, till they are light brown and the aroma comes out.
• Add water only enough to cook the lentils.
• Strain and let it cool.
• Now add the flour, rice flour, sugar and aniseed powder. Mash them together to make a dough.
• Pinch a ball out of it, flatten it between your palm and add the coconut filling in the center.
• Wrap it up and seal the ends.
• Pull the ends a bit to give it the traditional "puli" shape.
• Deep fry them till golden brown in colour.

Before

After

Serve with liquid jaggery  or sugar syrup.

A very tasty twist is if one adds jeera powder, red chili powder, salt and green coriander  to the dough. The taste is really nice. Salty and sweet , together!!! Try!

Fish Chops : No Generation gap there!!

Today, I was watching a movie called City slickers...a comedy celebrating mid life crisis. 

Ha ha!

[No need to calculate, I am not there yet!!;-)]

Even though a comedy by definition...(Billy Crystal takes care of that!!), yet it left a very content (something 'more than laughter') feeling at the end. Within a few minutes into the movie, I realized that I have watched the movie before. Continued watching it because I remembered it was a funny one. It was funny then and it was funny today. But yes, today the focus of the fun was different. 
(I could relate to so many other things in the movie.....no no....still not there yet!!)

Today the focus was not only on the pure nonsense laughter (which we also need) but on the laughter which can make your eyes shine at the end.

A small message lingered on.......

"There is this ONE thing in life which is the most important and it is upto YOU to figure out WHAT!"

....resonated with my thoughts today.

[Extra information: today the weather is dark, gloomy and rainy. Researchers have found out that the weather can have a significant effect on human emotions...so the credit of the above banter goes to ....

No, I am not there yet!!] ha ha!

The boy (ok, double digits now but still far away from the teens) has recently learnt "sarcasm".  
The eyes have started rolling, the shoulders shrug themselves atleast five times in one sentence, facial expression can oscillate between funny and sarcastic very easily, hands go up in air as a sign of 'Oh no, not again!' and the words chosen to reply back can be significantly sarcastic!

Mama listens, gets furious, scolds.
'khali mukhe mukhe kotha, amra mayer mukher opor konodin kotha bolini!!' 
[You are replying back, we never spoke back to our moms like this!!]

But when the mercury drops to a normal level, Mama rethinks. Some dialogues do bring a smile to her lips.  Only some!

Generation gap was always there.However, nowadays it has doubled its impact by also bringing in a technology gap with it. Whatever WE say, THEY are always a step ahead. 

You do Facebook? Ewww.....that is so "last generation"!

You do Whatsapp? OMG ....That is so "what parents do"!
E-mails??  "Seriously"? How can you spend so much time 'typing'?
This generation is in such a hurry that they have replaced 'would' with 'wud' , thereby saving time to type TWO FULL ALPHABETS!! I have no clue what they are using this extra time for......
;-)

Amazing what parents of today need to do to keep everything in balance. 

We did not have a TV at home till I was sixteen. Correct, sixteen years old! 

When the TV finally came, somehow my mom felt that I should be banned from watching Chitrahaar .

(Wikipedia: Chitrahaar is a Bollywood songs television program on DD National, most widely watched in the 1970s.The word literally means 'a garland of pictures')

Of course not all mothers thought the same. So next morning at the school bus stand, I was the poor soul with no knowledge of Chitraahar, while my lucky priviledged friends who were allowed to watch chattered away in glory. I don't think my mom needed to worry about anything called 'peer pressure'. All my mom needed to do in order to implement the ban was only make her eyes REAL BIG and say " AMI bollam to dekhar dorkar nei, byas! [I told you not to watch, thats it]"

THAT dialogue is so "last generation" dialogue now.....

;-)

[At the dinner table last night having khichuri ]

A-junior:  Is the khichuri recipe in your book? It tastes really nice.

Me (obviously very happy after hearing this):  Yes, I think it is.

(Now taking it a step further..)

Why do you ask?  Will you make it later from my book? for your family when you grow up?

A-junior: No! we dont have to MAKE it. I will take a picture and just print it....3D.

Forget everything I said before....let us enjoy "Macher chop" which has not been affected by the generation gap...my father loves it, I love it, my son loves it too.

Fish chop

The first fish chop I can still remember (because of its heavenly taste) is one that was made by mashi , my friend Putku's mother, in Durgapur.  I can still 'taste' it! 

Ingredients:

2 cans of Tuna

2 chopped onions

3 boiled potatoes
1 tbsp rice flour

1 tbsp ginger mince (I like to use minced ginger and not paste)

1 tsp chopped green chilis

chopped coriander

1 tsp of cumin powder
Salt

Oil to fry

Ready steady cook:

• Mash the potatoes and the fish from the can.(drain the fish before if it is in water or oil)
• 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 to light brown colour.
• Add the fried onions to the mashed potato mix. Add the chopped coriander, minced ginger, chilis, rice powder, cumin powder and salt. Mix well.


Now prepare the coating.
1. Some plain white flour
2. One egg beaten
3. Bread crumbs. 

• Take one round ball of the potato-fish mixture and flatten it in your palm.
• 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.

A Big Mac or Borar-jhol?

Parenthood is fun. (yipppppeeeeeeeee!!)

..But it is definitely not simple.

The complexities are not in the process of feeding, caring, changing diapers, feeding (again), changing (again).....
Parents who are in this stage please do not be angry. You have no clue what is coming after this. Enjoy the feeding and the cleaning......
;-)
The complex part is how to 'react as a parent'? Nowadays, these little (or not so little) human beings called children, just know it ALL. There is almost nothing new to add to their immense exposure through google and hence their extreme confidence of 'knowing it all'. As a parent (who claims to be a friend as well), it becomes very difficult to come up with the correct reaction which is able to balance both roles properly. In some cases, when things are assumed to be too friendly, I have to remind him I am a mother first!!

Really not that simple anymore.

I am sure my parents struggled too, in their own way....but my parents were "only parents" when I was growing up. They became "friends" much later in life. I have no complains because I am extremely glad with the end product they created. Hi Hi Hi....

Problems were different. Reactions were different too. 'Simple' reactions like "the big eyes glare" from Ma just worked like a miracle. (Believe me, my mom has real big eyes!). Those reactions do not exist anymore. Neither do those problems. But like everything else in life, struggles are also relative. Times change, struggles change, reactions change. 
However, I feel that the  'delta'  stays the same.

All those years ago, my mom struggled to keep her calm when I was late coming home from school (No mobile phones those days). She paced back and forth in the garden with her eyes fixed on the road.

I struggle when my son is late in sending me the message " I am home" on Whatsapp. I am at work and keep checking my phone (under the table) during the team meeting.

The basic concern of both mothers, even though so many years apart is still the same. No matter where technology takes you, once a parent, always a parent (even with the 'friend' cap on!).

Going back to the 'reactions of a parent'.....

Yesterday I saw A-junior doing something on our home computer. This is a Mac computer (and we payed for it with a kidney and an arm) and he was not allowed to touch it till a few months back. By allowing him to use it, I have bestowed upon him a huge sense of responsibility and trust. I keep reminding him of that whenever I get the chance! So seeing him press the keyboard with unnecessary force and indifference was not a pleasant sight for me.

Me:  "ashte ! ashte!.... taka poyshar mormo bojho, Mac ta kharap hole? " 

[ Gently!! Gently! ..Try to understand the value of money..what if the Mac is broken?"]

A-junior: I have money in my Piggy bank!!

Me: Oi diye Mac kinte parbe na!! [ You cannot buy a Mac with that money!] 

A-junior (smiling wickedly): Of course, I can!!....A BIG MAC  is only 2.97 Euros!!

I laughed a lot ! It sounded hilarious in the context of things. But am not sure whether that was the right 'reaction of a parent' ! Maybe I had my "friend" cap on......

;-))

Borar Jhol: 
Long time back Ma used to make something similar but with mustard paste...not JHOL, but JHAL. (will share recipe later). These recipes are very difficult to make these days. Too time consuming and too patience consuming. But believe me, all the pain is worth the taste at the end.
Steaming white rice with Bora-r jhol! Give it a try.
Warning: Keep enough ingredients for frying some extra boras, if needed. Do not be upset if half of them already vanish into your stomach while frying.

Ingredients:

Bora: 
2 sliced onions
1 cup gram flour
1 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp Kalojeere (kalaunji)
1 tsp Ajwain
1 tsp red chilli powder
salt, turmeric
Oil to fry

Jhol (Curry):
2 chopped tomatoes
1 chopped onion
2 cubed potatoes
10-12 curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp grated ginger

Ready steady cook:

• In a bowl mix all the ingredients from the 'Bora'.
• Heat oil in a pan. Deep fry the bora in groups.
• Keep aside on a kitchen tissue to soak the extra oil  (this step really helps making you guilt free). 
• In a separate pan add one table spoon oil.
• Add the mustard seeds and chopped chillis. Let them sizzle for a while.
• Add the onion. Fry for a while. Add the potatoes, grated ginger and the curry leaves.
• Cook till the potatoes become light brown in colour. Add chopped tomatoes.
• Add salt and turmeric. 
• Cover and cook on low heat till potatoes are cooked. 
• Add a cup of water and bring to a boil.
• Add the bora (pakoras) and switch off the heat. Cover it for a while.
• Add a small spoon of ghee before serving.(Optional) 
• Serve hot with rice.