Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Bong Gluttony


I am a Delhi-Bong cross. And the thing of utmost interest to me is the food part of it.

While I can kill for the aloo tikkis, papdi chaat and gol gappe , I equally adore my jhal muri, beguni and mishti doi :)

Over the years Ma had to modulate her cooking to suit Papa’s North Indian palate and cater the sisters (“hopeless” as Ma calls them) who have inherited dad’s tangri-kebab taste buds.

So the only one who would pig out on her “bangla ranna” in the house was Me. And till date simple home cooked Bengali food is my comfort food.

One thing that I absolutely drool over is my Ma’s Palong shaker chorchori (Spinach with Mix veggies; and sister says it smells exactly like “pocha” (mop for cleaning floor!!!)

Alright..let me cut it short. I am basically sick of eating pseudo dinners. So after promising myself some good (Bengali) food today,I dashed down the grocery store, picked up the insipid frozen spinach, fresh looking yet tasteless vegetables, compromise "Indische" spices and dished up all in to a “fake-chorchori”, which tasted..welll...okieeee.

I wonder what was missing?
1. Was it Ma’s bangles clinking on the shil (stone grinder) while making the aada-dhone-launka bata (ginger-coriander-green chilly paste)?

2. Was it the mild frangrance of panch phoron ( a typical bengali fusion spice with five ingredients) mellowing down the pungency of mustard oil?

3.Ma?

4. Or the fact that only both of us would eat it and enjoy it ?(Big-fat thenga to the sisters!!)

Never mind...

Now the only question other than why one can never emulate mums, is who’s gonna finish the jumbo, langar type portion size I have cooked????

2 comments:

Munmun Baisantry said...

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!
I eat fish almost everyday...
Acc. to mummy, the only Bengali, besides her,at our household is me bcz i can gobble down large portions of fish....(Thenga) hhehehe.........

Arpita said...

Hahahahaha
Moti, I knew it!
I knew you would take advantage of being "fishy"..okieeeee....objection sustained!