Ideally one should eat to live but reverse is true for me and it shows on my waist line.I am grateful to my Ma and Baba, I still appear slim to their myopic eyes.Food is often on my mind and I try to recreate magic of the past(in food matters).One such magical comfort food that comes to my mind distinctly is Khichudi(with a dollop of ghee) with hot alu bhaja or begun bhaja or potol bhaja.Khichudi was synonymous with rain, during my childhood.If it was raining, then we had hot khichudi with deep fried vegetables.But it never tastes the same...as it did once upon a time.
Durga Puja meant luchi and alur dom and bonde for breakfast.Lunch was again a spread of pulao, cholar dal, tomato chatney,chanar dalna,kaanch kolar chop, chaler payesh etc. etc....havent had so many varieties of food at one go, since ages.Anything festive in a bengali household would mean consuming mishti doi..it surely is a piece of heaven.I have some how perfected the art of making mishti doi and hence dont miss it, no matter where I am and also got my daughter hooked to this very bengali delicacy.
I distinctly remember a puja at one of our relative's home,sometime in the month of November and waited for it all year round as the Natai Chondi pujo meant pati shapta,narkoler pithe, puli pithe among other dishes.Janmashtami meant gokul pithe.Winters meant lots of notun gurer payesh and i just can't get over the aroma of it.
The Sunday breakfast, lunch and dinners were something to look forward to.Breakfast would consist of kochuri or singada or dosa but soon I'd be famished, on hearing the pressure cooker whistle to emanate the aroma of kosha mangsho...aahhhh....mutton with potatoes and loads of oily gravy on steamed rice, nothing like it on planet earth.I craved and dreamt about kumdo fuler bhaja, during my pregnancy as dear hubby scoured many parts of Mumbai but all efforts were futile.I did more than make up for it on my next visit home.Food needs no reason-pregnant or not, binge.
The every day food that we had at home, now seem rare treats, courtesy lethargy,my impaired culinary skills,unavailability of raw materials and my yo-yo calorie consciousness.Food, now is more of improvisation of things available, thinly lined with home grown tastes.Ma's day to day recipes are to be tried, tasted(often disastrous versions of the original) on weekends.I have picked up new recipes, tried and liked new dishes but always yearn for the very ordinary yet delectable diet of a quintessential bengali.
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What a tongue-watering read this was. Remembered the old days and the lovely food we used to have. Somehow, as you say, maa's recipes never taste as good as it did when I make it.
ReplyDeleteI was under the impression that secret to Ma's sumptuos food was generous amount of oil, did that but in vain..somethings cannot be reproduced!
ReplyDeleteHi, just discovered your blog :) This post had me drooling! And you're so right - the food we had almost every day growing up are rare treats these days - lethargy, calorie consciousness, and not-matching-up-to-mom's culinary skills being the culprits! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd btw, your daughter is simply adorable! God bless.
ReplyDelete@Mystic Margarita:Thank you so much for your compliment and yes..food now is like an old world charm
ReplyDeletekhichdee and bhajiya..can never beat that!!
ReplyDeleteCannot read the whole article..No sooner I only read halfway through it than and my mouth started watering. Will Read it again when I am full and no desire for food. :).
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