Kucho Nimki / Flour Fritters

 This post will be morbid ...  I need emotional catharsis.
If you don't want to brood, stay away.

Things have been happening in my life.

A lot more and a lot quickly than I'd ever wanted.

After months of suffering ill health and a trauma, I thought a lot of rest will heal me ... 

both physically and emotionally.

But no, nyet, nada.

The days I came back from home after the surgeries to this city, I saw my cousin sister ill.

Very ill.

In the ICU.

The whole family and friends came down.

I was surrounded with people ... way too many people.

And in that hustle and bustle I saw a quivering life slowly ebb away.

Very quietly.

N didi is ... was ... my second cousin.

And has been ... I still can't talk of her in the past tense ... in this city almost the same many years
that I've been.

I came as a student.

She came with her husband's job.

And her home was my haven from college and hostel.

Almost every weekend was spent at her place.

I want to eat non veg, I want my clothes washed and ironed, I just want to be with family ... 

I am at N didi's.
Even my friends loved to be at her place ... getting pampered with wonderful food and love. 

  She had never let it be known that she has been ill.

A diabetic, she has always been careless with her health.

And nobody around her bothered to be strict with her ... except for a casual criticism.

N didi would always laugh that away.

The last 2 years her health started to decline rapidly.

And I got to witness the kind of suffering the human body has to go through if not taken care of properly.

And after 2 excruciating months in the ICU, she passed away.

Quietly, painfully.

Leaving behind a void in her home, that is being futilely tried to be filled with her laughing photographs.

  N didi loved food. Loved to eat. And to cook and feed.

Her last lines to me, before they shut her up with the ventilator pipe down her throat, were ... 

"Amar jonne ektu patla patla luchi ar aloor torkari anbi?"

("Will you get some soft luchi and aloo ki sabzi for me?")

Inspite of my numerous requests, the docs did not allow.

And I still have not been able to eat luchi till date.

I do not know why I wanted to write about N didi here.
It is not only about emotional purging.
I had learnt a lot of the ways of cooking from her.
She never taught me how to cook, or ever discuss a recipe with me.
But she cooked beautifully.
And always answered my questions with patience.
That is ... if I asked, she taught me. Never ever tried to force me into the kitchen.

After I got married, N didi was just the person to call up when stuck in the kitchen.
She never gave me recipes, but always guided me through disasters.
When a phoron burnt, when the cooker refused to behave, when there was too much salt in a dish ....
also when I couldn't handle a maid ...
it was she who rescued me with advice.

It was she who taught me to make Rosogollas.
And yet, except a fleeting mention here, I do not think I've ever thanked her.
And she never expected me to.

 This Durga Puja was celebrated by the family with a heavy heart. The only consolation we fell back on was 

N didi is pain free at last.

After coming back from my trip home, I tried to keep myself busy.

I tried to do house work, cook, laugh, go on trips, made FB my second home ...
... anything to get those painful days out of my mind.

And I tried to keep up with tradition.

Made some sweets and these salty Kucho Nimkis for Bijoya.

Need

Maida / Refined flour - 1 big sized cup

Cooking oil - 2 tbsp

Kalonji - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Water - to knead

Cooking oil - to deep fry
I did not use any baking powder or soda ... you can if you want to.

How to

Knead everything into a firm dough. Do not make it too soft.

Roll out thick rotis and cut them diagonally both ways to get the diamond shaped pieces.

Heat the cooking oil in a cast iron or heavy bottomed kadahi.

Deep fry the nimkis in batches.

Remove on a kitchen towel or paper napkins to remove excess oil.

Cool and store in air tight containers.

Try to remove them just as they are turning just golden brown ... if you wait for too long, they'll turn dark.

 Serve with a hot cup of tea.

Or traditionally ... with sweets and ghugni for Bijoya.

Enjoy!!