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. 

Bengali Fish Chop ..... fish croquettes

With the first signs of winter setting in, the nights have cooler recently .
The perfect time for my muscle problems to set in. Trying to slow me down.
I am trying hard to keep pulling on.
Durga puja is just around the corner. We know it won't be the same this year. As before. 

The careful will stay in.
The lucky ones, who are with their family, will stay in.
But those who are alone, far away from home, might want to venture out to visit the pandals.
The loneliness and nostalgia will overwhelm them and they would want to out just once. 

To get that pujo pujo feel.
To hear the dhaaks reverberating.
The conch shells blowing.
The air heavy with dhuno and incense.

To look up at the glowing face of the mother goddess.
Eyes asking if all will be well again.
And hearts praying to keep the dear ones back home, safe.
And looking for that assurance that the next year, Pujo will be like what it was in the past years.
Asking for the faith and strength to move on to the next year with positive determination. 


This year, the pandemic has taken too much from us. 
Lives, hopes, dreams, jobs, normal life. 

Laughter, carefree happiness, joy, smiles. 
The assurance of presence, a warm hug, sharing a meal together, sharing a precious moment together. 
All snatched away. 

My thoughts turn to Bapi (dad) who would look forward to pujo just because I would be home.
He would start reminding me to book the tickets trom as early as two months before pujo.
Today,  there is nobody to call me home urgently. 
With the same overpowering, unconditional love.
Guess I have grown up.
And grown apart.
Guess that is life.

I had made these Maacher chops or Fish chops a long time back and had posted on Instagram. 
And had wanted to share it on the blog too. 

But then, as usual, it took me this long to be able to sit down for that. 

As I started to write about this much loved snack that Bengalis would enjoy at the food stalls, during Durga pujo, I decided that a write up about pujo would be apt to accompany these beautiful fish chops. 

So I picked up what I had written yesterday on my Insta and paired it with the chops here. 
I think both the food and the nostalgia will go well. 

I will take you to the recipe now. 
And hope that you will create them in your kitchen this pujo and enjoy .

And let it transport you to the pujo pandels where the smells of hot oil and deep fried food would be wafting all around. 

Just close your eye, be there in spirit and munch on a Fish chop. 

And stay home, to stay safe. 

Aasche bochor abaar hobe. 

I have used the Rui mach / Rohu fish. You may the use the bhetki too. 
There were some tail pieces that I usually use to make a makha / mash or a fish kheema .  
Also I fry them since I don’t like the smell of boiled fish.

Need : 

Pieces of fried fish , deboned - 1 cup

Boiled potatoes - 1 medium 

Chopped onions - 1 medium 

Chopped ginger - 1 tsp 
Chopped raisins - 1 tbsp 

Paste of garlic and green chillies - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp 

Bengali garam masala powder - 1 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Sugar - to taste

Cornflour - to make a slurry 

Breadcrumbs 
Mustard oil 

How to : 

Mash the deboned fish with the boiled potatoes. 

Heat 2 tsp oil and add the chopped onions, the garlic chilli paste and fry well. 

Add turmeric and red chilli powder, salt and the mashed fish and salt and sugar.

Fry well. 

Add the chopped raisins and the garam masala.

Mix everything well. 

Remove from heat and cool. 

Make a slurry with the cornflour and water.

Make small balls from the fish mixture .... you can give them any shape you want to .... dip them in the cornflour slurry and coat them with breadcrumbs. 

Place all of them on a plate and keep in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

 Heat enough  oil and deep fry them in batches. 

Done ✅ 
Enjoy! 

 PS : 

Hope you have checked out my giveaway for a wonderful book by Sandeepa aka Bongmomcookbook, on my blog. 

Last date is 20th of October. 

Do hurry!

Subho Bijoya and happy Dussera 2018!

I was out of the country last year , vacationing in the US of A, so had huge plans for Durga puja this year. But as luck would have it, all my plans went up in the air as an accident rendered me immobile. Not only were the muscles of my hands, shoulder and upper back damaged, as well as the wrists, but also I ended up with a huge cut across my face, nose and chin.
Not to mention the swelling that came with it .... I couldn't recognise my own self in the mirror.

So the days passed by in a haze of pain killers and before I knew it, it was Navami already.
And since I don't like to be defeated, especially by life, I took this challenge too, just like I have the numerous times it has thrown me one and went to watch the Aarti in the evening. Yes bruised body and face notwithstanding.

The sound of the dhaaks, the conch blowing, the priest performing aarti and the ringing the bell, the smell of camphor and dhuno in the air, the crowd watching mesmerised ..... everything was like a balm on my pain and I came back home with a feeling of peace and the belief that all will be well soon.
Today dawned beautiful after last night's heavy rain and I craved the bhog or from the puja pandal that I missed this time.
And then decided to cook some as soon as the pain killer started to work.

So here is my plate of khichuri bhog. 
I made the dryish bhaja khichuri, cauliflower and potatoes cooked with white matar/chana/ legumes, tomato and khejur er chaatni , beguni / batter fried brinjal and batter fried green chillies.
B fried papad too but a little later,so not in the picture.

I plated everything together, trying to replicate the bhoger thala/plate, where everything is served in one plate.
I absolutely love the mix of flavours .... the dry khichuri, the gravy of the curry, the sweetness of the tomato chatni, along with the crunch of  the papad.

Savoured this meal and was glad I decided to do it.
Also, I am glad that I believe tomorrow never comes.

Live like you want to and you will have no regrets. Ever.
All you need is a little will and a lot of power.

Shubho Bijoya Dashami and happy Dusherra!! .
May your life be filled with light, love and everything good.

Macher dimer jhuri bhaja .... Spicy, scrambled fish roe and the beautiful day of Mahalaya

 

"Baajlo tomar alor benu" ....
The night before Mahalaya, there would be much excitement about setting the alarm for early next morning, much discussions on the time to set it to and setting the radio to the perfect band width so that we do not miss even a single word when Akashbani starts with the melodious strains of Mahalaya the next day.
I would still need a nudge or two by Bapi to be fully awake. By then Mahalaya would have started and be on the song "Baajlo tomar alor benu ....", meaning "Your flute of light has started to play ... ".
Durga is coming .... and that is all that is needed for any Bengali child to look forward to.
I would snuggle in with Bapi, under a thick, soft kaantha that Ma would throw on us to ward off the crisp cold of the of early morning that brought the hint of winter with it.
And it wouldn't be long before I was fast asleep again, only to wake up and realise that it was already morning. And the radio has been silent for a long while.

This year, Mahalaya brought with it a new episode of my life. The time when we realise that there is much more to life than what we have been seeing for so long.
The day of Mahalaya is the last, and most important day of the Shraddh period, that is made of a fortnight. In Hinduism, it is believed that Parlok, or the land of the dead , comes nearest to Mrityulok, or Earth, during this time. And hence, it is easier for the spirits of our dead ancestors to come nearer to us.
So, everything that is needed to be done for their peaceful next life is to be done on this particular day.

People offer pujas and offerings are made to the poor, the old and the needy.
It is believed that whatever our nearest ones have left behind or need in their afterlife should be offered to the needy. That way it reaches them.

While, once upon a time, I would have never given a thought to such beliefs, right now I yearn from my heart to be able to do anything that will help my Bapi to be at peace, where ever he is.
After he left us, I had innumerable questions in my mind.
I read books, looked up writings and followed spiritual lectures. No, I was not crazy to follow anyone and everyone.
I did look for logic.
And was astonished how much knowledge our heritage and ancient Hinduism writings held.
Devdutt Pattnaik's books helped me learn a lot.

Another wonderful read was the Mahabharat series from 1 to 10 by Bibek Debroy. It opened up a whole new world of what the real and the next world hold.
This series is very unlike the actual story of Mahabharat ... it does not actually says the story in anyway.
Rather, it deciphers every character's actions and thoughts .... and along with that it gives a beautiful insight to what this world and the next world holds.
And what actions are needed to be taken by every human being to make his/her presence and actions/ karma worthwhile in this life or on Mrityulok.

I was totally fascinated by this series. Especially the 10th edition. It opens up the world of Karma or actions .... what should be done and why.
And with every single guideline, there is a logical explanation.

It took me the past one year to read through them. And helped me deal with my loss and bring a lot of faith back in me. I picked up numerous points from them and added them into my life.
One of them was giving out to the needy.
It may be the poor on the children, the ill, small children or destitute women.
Do everything you can for them.
Feed them. Cover them with clothes and blankets during the rains or in winter. Hand out small treats to the children in the streets.
Anything that is possible by you.

While I and B have always done small things like keeping biscuits and chocolates in the car and handing them out to the children begging on the streets, giving out old clothes and sheets and blankets before every rains and winter, I had never actually cooked and fed them.

After Bapi's demise, I became obsessed with this one thing. Every weekend I would cook up a simple meal, make packs and hand them out to the needy as we roamed the streets of the city.
And the peace that settles our hearts at the sight of a huge smile, or if we are lucky to go through that same road and  get to see the children sitting down and eating that food, is huge.
And priceless.
We always look out for the very old and infirmed, pregnant women and small children.
And believe me, our country does not lack in them.

So this Mahalaya, I did just that.
Cooked all of Bapi's favourite dishes, packed them up and set off.
And finally, rounded the day off with ice creams to a big group of little children of construction workers nearby.

We were still smiling as we prepared for bed, the happy screech of a small voice shouting "Kulfi!!!!!!!" still echoing in our ears.

Shubho Mahalay all!!
Have a wonderful Durga Puja!! And happy Navaratri too!

And while you are munching on that delicious food, do think of the little children selling balloons or toys outside. Hand them some munchies and see your festivities light up even more with their smiles. 

If you have been patient and reached here, you will be rewarded with a recipe that is awfully simple but is so flavourful, it will blow your mind away.
I had got a good amount of Rohu fish roe on one of my trips to my fish shop. And was tired of the same kind of Boras or even the ambols. I wanted to taste something different.
So, as usual, I turned to my friends and readers on my Facebook page.
And as usual, they were all very generous and shared some precious recipes with me.

The Macher dimer jhuri bhaja got the majority of votes and so I decided to keep the other recipes for another time and settle with the jhuri first.

Need :

Rohu fish roe
Turmeric powder
Lemon juice
Onions - chopped, use lots of them
Garlic - chopped, be generous with this too
Green chillies - chopped
Mustard oil
Salt
Fresh coriander leaves

How to :

Marinate the rohu fish roe with turmeric + salt + lemon juice ( this helps
hugely in taking away that fishy smell. )

Heat mustard oil and fry the onions + garlic + green chillies till they are nicely soft and golden brown.
Remove from the kadahi.

Add some more mustard oil and fry the marinated roe stirring constantly.

It will solidify quickly ... so break up the pieces and scramble well.
Add the fried onions etc and some red chilli powder.

Fry well for a while. ... till the roe starts to get slightly crispy brownish at the edges.
You will see the oil leaving on the sides.

Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and remove from heat. 

This is one of the best things that I have eaten in my life.
Mix it with boiled rice and you are in food heaven. I needed nothing else on the side ... not even dal.

Some pointers :

* Do use a little more oil than usual ... that oil mixed with rice is awesome.
The sweetness of the garlic comes through as a surprise in every morsel.

* Do not heat the oil to smioking hot when fry the roe .... keep it slightly raw ... add the roe when just warm .... that flavour of the mustard oil comes through in the end and just blows you away. :-)

Enjoy!!!

Shubho Bijoya !!

Wishing all my readers and visitors a Shubho Bijoya!

I know it is a little late but for Probashi Bangalis the time is extended till Diwali ... right?
So technically, I'm not too late.

May the good always prevail in your lives.
And may the good help you with courage.

I had a whale of a time this Durga Puja.
Celebrating after almost 2 years, back in my city, among familiar people and smells and places, I was really at peace.
Nothing can compare to the warm exuberance the people of Pune celebrate Durga puja with.

This time B was hell bent on making up for the two years of lack lustre Puja that I had to deal with.
So we had started off the celebrations on the day of Panchami itself.
Not to mention the drives every evening before that to see if the pandals are done and the idols have arrived.

The first two evenings, Panchami and Shasti, we spent at Congress Bhavan, one of the oldest Puja pandals in Pune.
Went for Pushpanjali and Aarti to Rohi Villa at Koregaon park for Shaptami, Ashtami and Navami.
That is my favourite puja pandal.


Evenings were divided between various other places.
But it was Rohi villa for the Dhunuchi naach and aarti, every evening.

And then it was pandal hopping.
Not to forget the gorging on delicacies like fish chops, rolls, biryani and luchi kosha mangsho.
Singaras and veg chops and mishti doi and rosogollas for B.

Among the various places we visited the Kalyani nagar puja pandal, the AFMC pandal, the Kali bari pujo and the new Viman nagar pandal.

We had the khichuri bhog at Congress bhavan on Shaptami and Rohi villa on Ashtami and Nabami.

The cultural programmes in the evenings are more watchable at Rohi villa than any other place.
This year the musical program on Nabami night was wonderful and a perfect round off for our perfect Pujo.

The stalls are few and with average products at Rohi villa. Among the food stalls, the only mentionable one is Pradeep caterers from Bombay. They served awesome food and had different stalls for pure vegetarian and non vegetarian food .... a huge help for vegetarians like B.
While Congress bhavan has the maximum number of food stalls with a huge variety of foods, it was only Radhika that ruled in both flavour and hygiene. 

That is the line for Bhog in the afternoon at Rohi Villa, Koregaon Park.
The line on the left is for all and the line on the right is for senior citizens only.
Extremely well managed and a wonderful menu that changed everyday, this puja is indeed perfect in every way.

All too soon, it was Dashami and time to say goodbye to Durga.
While this year Nabami and Dashami had fallen on one day, the puja organisers everywhere had decidedto keep the deities for one more day, thus allowing us full celebration of five whole days.

The evening of Dashami saw a very light rain with dark clouds as Durga started her journey back.
The sun came out later to spread a golden hue all over.
The Visharjan was done amidst dhaak and dancing and dhuno.
And lots of Sindur on everybody after the Debi boron.

And all too soon, she was gone!

"Asche bochor abar esho Ma!"
We will wait eagerly for you.

Hope all of you had a wonderful Durga Puja!
Please do share your experience with me. I'd love to hear your stories too.


I had made similar posts on Durga Puja a few years back.
The writing and the enthusiasm was far better then.

You can enjoy reading them here. 

A little Durga Puja fervour for all .... Part III ... Shubho Bijoya !!

The highlight of Dashami is the Debi Boron and Sindur Utsav ... of course after the morning puja, pushpanjali and the visharjan pujas.

Debi Boron is a kind of send off ... the daughter is leaving for her home back in the Kailash Parvat. So she is sent off with a lot of affection and "mishti mukh" ... married women offer her sweets and paan/betelnut leaf.

Sindur Utsav is the offering of sindur / vermillion by married ladies to Durga ... and then to each other ... it is considered auspicious. Back home everybody would be smearing everybody with sindur. ... it would be like another holi all over with only the colour red. Faces and dresses and sarees would smeared. Out here people are pretty sedate .... so only a few indulge in the game.

And then .... it is time to go.

I clicked this by zooming in from afar ... had no idea what I was clicking. Turned out as this .... my favourite in the whole lot ! :-)

It was night by the time we returned from the immersion. I cooked a very simple yet flavourful meal of Mishti Ghee Bhaath, Cholar Dal and an Aloo Peanuts in Lemon juice.

I'll post the recipes later.

Am so tired right now I have no idea if I am even typing correctly ... I'll update this post tomorrow with some very beautiful movie clips of the immersion.

Want to hear a little dhaak and lots of people talking all at once in Bengali? Then stay with me friends.

Tomorrow. Same place. Promise. :-)

Till then ... Here's wishing you all a Shubho Bijoya and Dusserra !!

May the good always prevail. :-)


Updated :

A little Durga Puja fervour for all .... Part II

We had an unexpected guest in the morning ... as a result were late in leaving for the puja pandal. And in the hurry ... forgot to take the camera along. :-(

So managed these few snaps with my mobile phone camera.


It was way too crowded ... today being the last day of puja. And a Sunday. So the line for prasad / bhog was very very long .... snaking its way from the main gate .... making 2 'U' turns and then a straight line up to where the food was being served.

We got to see the Kumari Puja today .... small girls are worshipped as the goddess. And then collected our bhog parcels.




There was no place to sit .... so we went to our car. We had parked it under a neem tree .... and there was a cool breeze blowing. The sun was scorching hot in the late afternoon.

We were hungry .... so sat in the car under the neem tree .... and had the prasad there .... with the AC running ... balancing the parcels ..... with the sounds of mantra from the loudspeakers. ( In case you are wondering ... I always keep a few spoons and other paraphernalia with us in the car ;-p).



The food was as usual ... heavenly! There was khichuri, mixed vegetables torkari, payesh and tomato chaatni. But don't even think that the same menu is boring .... we would happily give away our right arm to have a little of that any time during the rest of the year. :-)

We had a wonderful afternoon!



I could somehow manage this click .... the food was balanced precariously on the dashboard of the car. :-)


Have a great Nabami evening friends!!
I'll try to get good snaps of the Bhasan / Visarjan of the goddess tomorrow.

The very thought makes me feel sad ... but for now I'll rush .... got to enjoy the whole evening and night .... enjoying cultural programs and chomping on lots of food. And oh yes ... we will be pandal hopping tonight too.

C'ya all!! :-)

Updated with these snaps from the evening :
Kalyani Nagar Durgotsav.

The lighting was very different and the decorations in white looked very beautiful ... does not look the same in this snap.






The lawn for dining and the seating arrangement for the audience in the background.

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. :-)