Go Fish ( Fingers) and have some fun with Math

I was thinking about this a few days back but never had the time to write …it’s about a celebration day called the Pi day. I now can’t really remember the exact day – but hey, I’d rather not remember it.

Pi Day – are you serious?!  For a moment I thought I might be reading it all wrong and they probably meant it to be the ‘Pie’ (I mean the eating variety and not the mathematical one) day. I was so wrong, they really meant the ‘pi’ as in the (3/14) day. 

I don’t think the day makes me want to celebrate in any way. The numbers haunted me when I first learnt about them and they continue to haunt me even now.  It’s such a setback to my honest bong genes.  
When I was first introduced to these peculiarly named set of numbers, I was flummoxed.  My father – who used to teach me math in school was furious and my mother turned to faith and food. She firmly believed that perhaps I’m too small for all these complexities and one day I will grow up to be like my father and grandfather, and be  a math pro atleast if not a genius. It was a lot of pressure for a ten year old ‘with highly ordinary’ math skills.

 After faith, or maybe along with faith, my mom adopted the food route to make me math whiz. She latched onto fish. She is not alone in this; almost 90% of the fish eating bong believes that fish consumption is somehow directly proportional to the intelligence of a human being.  So along with increasing the portions of this super power dish in my diet, she also increased the frequency. Introducing various snack recipes for me to savor with my morning and evening milk.

I have to admit that I relished those ‘super power’ meals, I frankly don’t know what it did to my brain power as I’m still scared of numbers , however it did its bit to my waist line.  And I do regret that I should not have overdone it, but then I was just a 10 year old!

Since I ate so much of it, that I have now completely eliminated it from my diet. Fish still continues to remind me of maths!!! and It’s been 10 years or so. I wouldn’t have had given this much of a thought , until I met a fellow bong mom at my daughters play school (incidentally on the pi day) who commented on  how important it is to introduce fish to my daughters diet, now that she has started to go to school. This time I just smiled, I knew I have fallen for that ‘fish is must for your brain’ trap. Maybe it has something to do with being Mommy brained.

Anyways, my mind is working fast thinking of an easy fish recipe for my little one to have and C'mon, what can be easier and tastier than fish fingers. After all it’s the pi day. One day she will have to understand the complexities of the math world. Let the fish carry the day for her.

Fish Fingers 

Ingredients:
10 pieces any boneless fish cut in finger shape
1.5 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp white pepper powder
2 tbsp bread crumbs
1 egg (for wash)
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Method:
Douse fish fingers with salt, pepper powder and lemon juice, and keep then aside well covered in fridge for around 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan. Now prepare the fish by dipping them in beaten egg and roll in your palm to coat the crumbs uniformly.

Heat oil and deep fry the fingers until fish fingers are light golden and cooked. Alternatively, you can shallow fry them and serve with your choice of sauce.I served mine with creamy mustard sauce.

A Nourished Friendship and some Chirer Pulao (Beaten Rice Savory Snack)

Around my 21st Birthday few awesome things happened to positively change the outlook of my life:

1. I joined a boring office
2. Quit it.

I had high aspirations for myself. But somehow winded up in a really boring office doing even more lackluster job. Of course that is not awesome.

Well the awesome part is: that this small office was where I met this girl let me call her H, and we stuck together ever since. Now the office was so boring and job so worthless, that we conspired every day at work about ways to get out of that rut.

In came college. We decided to get our masters together.

College was fun. New Delhi was not as notorious back then, and to us it felt like living a leash free life with a promise of better tomorrow. Or maybe I’m just recalling it through a young adult’s eye. If that’s true, then I hope I never wake up to reality.


H is the reason I enjoyed college; On dull days her friendly face would light it up, on free days we’d be scurrying from movie to movie catching all the Friday first releases and later share all the scandals and gossip and whispers, she introduced me into the world of the South Indian delicacies and was someone who was always happy to invite me to any ‘family only ’celebrations when no one else would.

H is spiciness of South, warmth of a sister, delicate’ but never proud’ nose, whispered gossips and shared life logic all along.

Like soul sisters we too had our high and low moments, nonetheless every time our lives fell back into same old rhythm of yesterday.

Last November, H reached a *milestone* of motherhood.  I recently went to meet the little one, and my heart was alight with love for the baby princess. Secretly I dreamt of our two little girls to be friends and carry the story forward.This thought made me want to celebrate the day in the simplest of manner and get her stuff she would really like and use. Uh – I know post motherhood all she’s been lamenting about is weight, but there’s nothing in the world that I can do to make her the Sandra Bullock of Miss Congeniality. Can I?

So here’s what I can do. Make a frugal meal of the past, something which talks to her about that 'small office' in wordless ways  and is of course is in tune with her 'weighty' issues of today . And even though I know this is not a magic wand to get her into skinny jeans right away, this will certainly not ruin her chances.

{And I’ll not lie -: I’m pretty sure I’d like to be that Sandra Bullock too if given a choice again. }

Chirer Pulao  (Beaten Rice Savory Snack)

Ingredients for Chirer Pulao

:

2 cups Beaten Rice/Poha (washed and drained)
1 Onion sliced fine
1 Potato
Green Peas (optional)
1/2 cup  Peanuts (roasted or fried)

Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Sugar
2 tsp Lemon juice


Spices for tempering
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1 slit green Chilly
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp Bengal gram
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
2 tbsp Vegetable oil

Cooking procedure:

Heat the vegetable oil in a pan and temper with the Mustard seeds, once they start to splutter add  all the other spices for tempering and the onions. Fry until it turns pale brown.

Then add the peas, potato,salt and sugar. Cook covered till the potatoes are soft. Now add the drained and dry Poha to the Spice mix. Cook for two minutes while it blends well with all other ingredients.Turn off the flame and add the lemon juice.Top it with the peanuts and its ready to serve.

Sharing this post with Evelyn@My turn forUS, HungryLittleGirl,No Rules Weekend Blog Party by Paula, Simple Sweet Home,HomeMaidsimple,Free Pretty Things For You ,Full Hands Full Hearts,I love my disorganized life and Frugally Sustainable

Dimer Devil (Bengali style Deviled Eggs recipe)

Dimer Devil (Bengali Deviled Eggs recipe)

Last week had a training session at work. Out of the very many things learnt and forgotten with equal ease the one which is worthy of mention here is the lesson on ‘and’ & ‘but’.

The example shared struck a similar chord with my daily conversations and miffs with dear husband (DH)…you’ll know once you hear this.

Me: Both of us are ready and getting late for our show , BUT little one?
DH-No response (which meant I have to be the one getting her dressed)

Me:Is the dress looking ok?
DH: Looking great on you , BUT isn't it too tight?

The 'But't in ruined my day.

So the moral of the story --- to keep our butt out of trouble we must replace “but” and start using “and.”

Well I'll be glad if I and DH can settle the AND’s into more of a routine!

Till then setting up the stove is my task and I get to make the Dimer devil. I can t tell why the ‘devil’ I chose this today over anything else though…

Dimer Devil

Ingredients of Dimer Devil (Bengali style Deviled Eggs recipe)

Ingredients

4 boiled eggs
2 raw eggs  (used for egg wash)
1 tsp Lime juice
1 tbs breadcrumbs
Mustard oil for frying

Mince meat filling

250 gms minced meat
50 gm Bengal gram dal (cholar dal)
50 gms green peas
2-3 flakes garlic minced
1/2 tbs ginger julliened
3-4 green chillies
1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
1tsp chilli powder
Salt to taste
1/2tsp Bengali garam masala
1/4tsp nutmeg powder

Mashed potato topping (optional)

3-4 boiled potatoes
1 tsp cumin powder

1tsp chilli powder

Salt to taste
1/2tsp Bengali garam masala
1/4tsp nutmeg powder

Directions

Cut theboiled eggs to half.

Mix the mince with all the ingredients for masala. Pressure cook with 3/4cup of water for 10 minutes. Evaporate the excess water over a high heat.

I usually try to mix it all by hand, this leaves a bite when I'm eating, you can grind the cooked mince to a smooth paste if you'd like. Cover each boiled egg with one portion of the mince.

I double coated with a potato mash.You can skip the step if you like. Make roundels.

Once done, heat oil in a pan, coat the deviled eggs with with egg wash.Dip in breadcrumbs and deep fry the eggs over medium heat till golden brown. Cut the devils in halves and serve with chutney. I served it with the onion chutney , recipe courtesy Tamils Kitchen

Further Reading 

(Well I did come across these links earlier while looking up for my devilled eggs, but here they are courtesy research effort of a fellow blogger BengaliCuisine)

Vaidyanathan Pushpagiri on Eggs in Calcutta, Deviled Eggs and everything in between
Check out the website Deviled Eggs Recipes for some great variations in Dimer Devil recipes

Bengali Dal Cutlets (Potato and Lentil Cutlets)

Bengali Dal Cutlets (Potato and Lentil Cutlets)

Today is a good day. Warm, Sunny Sunday - just the kind of day which allows you to sleep till late without an alarm clock.Enjoy a quiet Darjeeling  tea with crispy marie biscuits, read the big fat Sunday newspaper. Read the gossip columns too and that too, end to end. Its pure Luxury. If you don't - quite understand what am I saying here - Then go ask any mom of a toddler or two. She'll tell ya :)

Happy beginnings show a happy day. Right. Well sometimes the answer can be a disheartening NO . 

I just happened the step on that bathroom scale which seemed to move up north, much more than I would like.That's when the  awesomeness of the day just stopped for me.Period.  Specially after being to the gym whole of last week. No excuses. I rewarded myself with an indulging Birthday night dinner yesterday and all the goodness of the gym sweat went flying out of the window.And here I am , moping in despair..Now that you are thinking that I'll go - enter kitchen and dish something soupy for myself. You cant be far from wrong. For food is the perfect balm for a plunging will-power and expanding waist line.Still for the sake of gymming the entire last week , lets make something healthy and filing...Do you have some leftover dal (lentils) cooked from last night - if yes- lets begin :)

Aalo aar Daler  Cutlet 

Key Ingredients 
11/2 cup thick lentils/dal (any red/yellow or green lentil would do)
4 boiled potatoes
1tsp garam masala 
1 chopped frod onion
5-6 cloves garlic 
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp red chilly flakes (as per taste)
1 tbsp chopped Dhaniya(Cilantro)
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)
Oil to fry

PREPARATION:
Cook the lentils until they are tender and drain out the excess water from them and mash them well. If you are using the leftover then all you have to do is to cook it 0n heat till the water dries out. Hands work best for mashing/else a blender can also be used . Chop and dice the onion and garlic finely. Heat a pan with some oil and add the diced onions and garlic. Sauté them for a few minutes until they are tender. Now add the sautéed onions to the mashed lentils. Mix. Add mashed boiled potatoes.Mix.Now add ginger-garlic paste, cilantro, salt, garam masala, chili powder  and mix everything well. Make small round cutlets out them and keep aside. Take the egg in a small bowl and whip. Keep aside. Take the bread crumbs in a bowl keep aside. Heat a flat bottomed pan with ¼ cup of oil. Create a work station arranging the plate with the cutlets first, the bowl with the egg batter next, and the bread crumbs plate next to that. lastly a plate if sesame seeds.When the pan is hot enough, take a cutlet and dip it in the egg batter. cover with bread crumbs. dip in egg again. Now coat with the sesame seeds. There should be some space between the cutlets while cooking to move them around. Let then cook for a few minutes till the top is golden brown and crisp. Flip all the cutlets and let them cook for few more  minutes. Repeat the same with the remaining cutlets and serve the hot cutlets hot with chutney or sauce.

The weighing scale dilemma. let's park it for another day. 

Pujor aahar -- Vegetarian Kobiraji Cutlet

Durga Pujo to us Bangalis is as much about Ma Durgar Pujo as its about our little own Pet Pujo. Every Bangali worth his fetish for Pheesh , Phootball and Phoron, knows the role of food during these four days of Pujo...and of course the Bijoya days that follow. This year while vacationing with my family back in Lucknow, I gratefully realised that not much as changed since my growning up years. Bijoya Pronam is still followed by a plateful of mishti--that's a wide variety of assorted sweets , some home cooked and some store brought with narkel nadu (coconut laddu) making its presence felt in almost every household, ghooghni(chick peas dried curry), nonta(salty savories) and a signature dish to add as a suprise element. Now this signature dish is anything from a devilled eggs to kobiraji cutlet to a kid friendly version of the menu such as mini burgers. And the taste ah! it tastes all the more incredible, as its that time of the year when the bright october sun mixes warmly with mami and mashi' excited banter, and the mild smell of shiuli flowers add to the heady aroma of freshly fried cutlets. I dont know whether its my nostalgia speaking, but as I'm writing i feel that there is this tiny sadness clutching onto faint corner of my heart , as much miss those Pujo days , I also miss my mom's famous cutlets, this to me is 'wishful craving', this to me is also nostalgia, can anyone tell me why...?

2 cups boiled cholar dal (I'd use a pinch salt and haldi for boiling)
2 onions chopped fine
1 t ginger paste
1 pinch asafoetida(heeng)
1 tsp garam masala
1 chopped green chili
2 tomatoes, skinned and chopped alternatively can use 1.5 tsp aamchur powder
2 T ghee
2 eggs for coating
1/2 cup bread crumbs
ghee/oil for frying cutlets
1/2 t sugar
salt to taste

Add to the chana dal a pinch of turmeric and some salt. Place in a pressure pan with just enough water water and cook. Around 4 whistles or let it boil until the dal is cooked and quite soft. Let teh extra water remain.

Heat ghee in a pan. Add onion, ginger, turmeric , a pinch asafoetida and green chillies. Mix
well and fry 3 or 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and finally the boiled dal. Mix thoroughly, adding salt and sugar to taste. Add garam masala when the water dries off.

Remove from fire when the dal mixture has browned and appears well mixed. Cool.
Divide mixture into desired shape about quarter inch thick. Makes around 10.

Beat the eggs and now coat the cutlets in egg mixture, and finally roll in bread
crumbs .Heat ghee in frying pan and fry cutlets until well browned on both sides.


Serves 5, calories : 175-190/cutlet.