Khichuri and its companions .... for Durga puja 2020

 

Durga Puja came and went by.

Today is Nabami. Only one more day left.. 

The only festival Bengalis all over the world look forward to. 

The festive feelings, the enthusiasm, the excitement of wearing new clothes, meeting friends and families, spending time at the pujo pandals, the crowd, the reverberating dhaaks and the conch shells, the fragrance of incense and flowers, the rustle of new fabrics, silks and cotton, the aroma of bhog / prasad as well as the food being made at the stalls .... all spell Durga puja. 

All ended. All snuffed out. 

Just by one deadly pandemic. 

One life taking pandemic. 

So many people could not go home to be with their families. 

So many parents spent the days alone, at home. 

The whole world has been shut up at home. 

As if it has been covered with a dark, heavy blanket. 

As if rejoicing is banned. As if breathing is illegal. 

My heart went out especially to those Bengalis who craved just one chance to see the face of the goddess. Just one time. 
To offer pushpanjali / obeisance with flowers. 

To be able to live just for one moment the festive feel. 

Due to safety measures, most places have not organised the celebrations of Durga puja. 

And whichever few have, they have set restrictions and have not allowed anybody other than members to attend the functions. 

And the cry of despair on the social network pages has been heart rending ..... everybody asking for one place where they can get a glimpse of the goddess or offer puja. At least for a few moments. 

Having said that, I must mention the excellent arrangements the organisations have made for regular live streaming of all the activities for people to watch from the safety of their home. 

From Pushpanjali to aarti to cultural programs .... everything. 

And people have been most sensible in doing that .... staying at home and creating happiness for themselves in their own way. 

Memories of pujo in my childhood flood me today. 

Getting ready early, wearing the dress that has been the result of months of agonising on designs and fabric and discussions with Didi and the rest of the brood, going to the pujo mandap with Dadu with a trail of helpers carrying the pujor dali / offerings, while the rest of the ladies of the family and Thamma would come later. 

And then, lunch! 

Ashtami lunch would be Luchi, Cholar dal, labra and chaatni. And papor bhaja / papad.

And of course a sweet. 

We cousins would sit in the long verandah, in a line. Fresh banana leaves would be placed in front of us and Kakimas would serve the food. 

But the luchi was always served by Thamma. 

Carrying an open, oval shaped jhuri filled with hot, fluffy luchis, she would pick out each grandchild's favourite and place it on the leaf. 

I loved fluffy ones. Didi loved both the fluffy as well as the flat ones, the youngest one loved the crisp browned ones .... and so on. 
The Cholar dal would be thick, sweetish with generous bits of fried coconut in it. We kids loved to trouble whoever was serving to fish out more coconut pieces for us. 😀 
And we loved to break a piece of the papad and scoop up some chaatni with it and stuff our mouths. 

The savoury crisp crushing inside our mouths, mixed with the syrupy sweetness of the chaatni would make us go mmmmmmm. 

Days gone by a little too soon.

Sigh. 😞

I had orders for the traditional Khichuri plate for lunch. 

People who did not go to the pandals and wanted to enjoy the regular, traditional bhoger khichuri had placed  orders with me. 

I made the regular accompaniments that go with it. And offered it as prosad / bhog in our mandir at home. And then sent out the batches. 

Tried my best to give a festive feel to my loyal clients through my homecooked food. 

May the divine goddess give us the shakti / strength to fight every demon of ill intentions in the world. 

As well as within us. 

May Durga keep us and the whole world in her care. 

Happy Dussera!! 

Ps : I will declare the winner of my giveaway in my next post. 

Sorry for the delay. 

A little Durga Puja fervour for all ....

I have been having a great time ... rushing around the puja pandals ... offering Pushpanjali ... having prasad or bhog ... being at the evening aarti .... and of course sampling out the artery clogging delicacies at the food stalls ... :-) ( of course rushing home in between to cook for the hubby and carry his food ... he is still not allowed to have food from outside ).


Today is Maha Ashtami. After offering Pushpanjali ( offering flowers to the the diety amid mantras and shlokas ) early in the morning, I thought of clicking some snaps and posting them here .... so many of my Bengali friends abroad are pining for Puja back home.

I know this is not the same .... still ... am trying to give you all a glimpse of the puja pandals here.

For now ... just the snaps.

I'll post details later in my other blog.


Kali Bari.


Congress Bhavan.





The line for Khichuri Bhog.




Today's lunch was Khichuri, Beguni ( batter fried brinjal/eggplant slices ), Payesh ( don't miss the pantua / gulab jamun in it ) , Labra torkari, Tomato chaatni and Papor bhaja ( papad fry ).





Shubho Ashtamir Shondhya bondhugon !! :-)

Have a great Ashtami evening dear friends. :-)

Beguni / Batter Fried Eggplants

"Aur bolo..." .... persisted the pest for the nth time. The husband gives a pained smile for the nth time. I look away.

How I hate it when people have nothing to talk about and try to satisfy their curiosity under the garb of making conversations. And how I hate going to such gatherings.

"Aur kya chal raha hai ...." ... and then not to give up .... " Who sits next to you in office these days? " ... "What happened to so and so? Heard such and such happened to him/her! Is it true? " .... and then after a pause when there was no satisfactory reply .... " Aur bolo ...."

Ugghhhh! But no ... pests are pests.
Suddenly finds out that yours truly exists. So turns to me. "Aur aapka kaisa chal raha hai ..." I give my politest smile and thank him. "Aaj kal kya kar rahi ho? "
" Pura din ghar mein kya karte ho? .... come over to our place sometime ... my wife is also doing nothing ... just sitting at home".

Another polite smile .... I even show my two twisted teeth that is so typical of Bengali girls .... see ... am smiling still. Hubby can't call me ill mannered.

Let me mention that inspite of most people knowing that I work from home most of the time .... I face this question a lot. Unless a person has an "office" or "company" name as a tag, s/he is not considered as a proffessional. Infuriates me to no end.

So I have started being gleefully adamant at not providing an answer to this particular question at all . :-)
They stare at me after asking ... I smile back at them. Just love to see them squirm. ;-)



The ladies are not that subtle. " Ghar mein pura din reh kar pagal nahi ho jati kya? " One of them even suggested once that I sell off the huge number of books that are all over in my house .... so that I can buy new books ..... just to pass time.

Well ... I am usually very tolerant .... but the books here of here are my collections of the condensed classic novels selection by the Reader's Digest ... that I have so painstakingly collected over the years. :-(

I really don't understand what troubles them more .... the fact that am happy in my home ... or that I don't join them for their gossip sessions or their kitty parties ... or the fact that the both of us are so comfortable with each other that we don't need to tolerate insolent company just for the sake of having company.

When I was young, I would make friends based upon what and how much a person can converse on. Most could not go beyond movies. After I grew up, I have come across worse people .... and really missed the ones who just discussed movies.

Well .... maybe I am expecting too much. Or am I ?



A friend had once declared that if we want to have a huge self confidence or a permanent feeling of superiority, the easiest thing to do is to surround ourselves with morons and idiots.
I had wanted to choke him then.
And I want to choke him still.

As for the aforementioned pest .... I was getting so sick of him that I really had to shut him up. Which I did ... with a look.

Just widened my big eyes bigger with a shocked look at his plate .... you see ... he is a glutton and weighs maybe 120 kgs. Disappeared with an inaudible mumble. ;-) Hee hee.



My recipe today is deep fried ... I know, I know .... deep fried stuff is bad ... unhealthy ... etc. etc.
But what with the weather turning so beautiful with the rains and a nip in the air ... I just have to have something crispy, spicy ... and well ... a little deep fried. :-)


Most of my regular friends here know how simple and healthy my recipes are. But I too indulge once in a while.
And nothing can beat the feel of moist cold on myself when am standing in my balcony or near a window .... and an occasional cloud passes by.
Oooohh .... awesome! Some hot crispy fried stuff then .... and I am in heaven!

Need : Fresh eggplant / brinjal, cut into roundels ( if it is too big, you can halve the roundels), 5 tbsp besan / gram flour, 2 tbsp rice flour, chilli powder, chaat masala [optional], salt to taste, water and cooking oil ( I used mustard oil as it is absorbed less ).



How to : Make a thick batter with the besan, salt, chilli powder and water. Heat enough oil in a kadhai or wok.

Dip a roundel in the batter and coat it well on both sides. When the oil is hot enough, gently slide them in one by one .... leaving enough space between them so that they don't stick to each other.

Fry on slow heat till they are brown on both sides.



Serve hot with some chilli powder and chaat masala sprinkled on them.
Enjoy with some hot tea !!

This is also a great accompaniment to the much loved Khichuri.
And is almost always served with the Bengali Bhog er Khichuri or the Prasad ki khichdi.

Have a great weekend all!
C'ya again soon ! :-)