The pre-Diwali office pot-luck...

I've always landed up in offices where people love to eat... IETS has been no exception. The gang from the BKC office has transported their urge to eat all things nice to the Saki Naka second office untarnished and if anything enhanced :)

Sharp at 1 I got a call from Ophi summoning me to the second floor for the lunch...

The alluring part for me about this feast was the fact that almost everything was home-made...

The spread on the table started with Farrari Patties. Now this is something that is had during उपवास/upwas, so it came with a bowl of smooth and sweetened whipped dahi...

Farrari Patties

The term farrari relates to all things that are used during upwas. The potato enclosed and deep fried roundels themselves had a yummy filling of flaky hand grated coconut shavings with an interesting blend of fresh shredded herbs.

Inside the Farrari Patties...

The staples like chappatis and rice were bought to save the trouble for everyone...

To go with the rice Rajesh's wife had made a very nice and homely Sindhi Kadi (सिन्धी कढ़ी) 

Rupa had brought some Undiu--the quintessential touch of Gujarat. Awesome to eat, nightmarish in terms of logistics to make...

Aishwarya made and got a light and fragrant pulao (पुलाव)

A fragrant pulao

... and to go with it, a light and interesting mixed vegetable curry...

Shobha introduced the flavour of the Southern reaches of India with Idlies and Mulaga Podi (also know as Gun Powder, Sambhar, and some awesome coconut chutney. 

Idly

Mulaga Podi aka Gun Powder

Gingelly Oil

Idly, Gun Powder (Mulaga Podi), in Sambhar

Awesome coconut chutney

I'd contributed a simple Bengali style Methi phorondiyey Phulkopi aar Palngshaker Torkari (মেথী  ফোড়ন দিয়ে ফুলকপি আর পালক শাকের তরকারি)  (Palak and Cauliflower Curry) ... Most of which was devoured by the time I landed up to click a photo for posterity... So I am guessing it was liked :)

মেথী  ফোড়ন দিয়ে ফুলকপি আর পালক শাকের তরকারি  (Palak and Cauliflower Curry)

After the spread was done, I moved on to the sweet bit. Ophi had made her hugely popular (and trademark :P) Mangalorean Coconut Cake

Ophi's Mangalorean Coconut Cake

A piece of Ophi's Coconut Cake

Sujyothi and Beni contributed and got some yummy Kesar Jalebis

A box full of Jalebis

Jalebi

The to end the desert section, Abhijit and Venkat enleashed tubs of Fruit Salad with Ice-cream from Aditi

Of course good things in combination taste divine... So I dolloped some of the fruit salad with some coconut cake to make things happier still :)

Combo of Fruit salad, ice cream and Ophi's Coconut Cake...

করলা বেগুন (Korola Begun) - Karela/Bitter Gourd with Baingan/Aubergine

This is one of the simplest recipes that I tried after getting my hands on the two volumes by Renuka Debi Chowdhurani-রকমারি আমিস রান্না (Rakamari Amis Ranna) and 

রকমারি নিরামিস রান্না

  (

Rakamari Niramis Ranna)

I could not lay my hands on the kind of বেগুন or baingan (aubergines) that I normally would find in Kolkata. So I settled for the variety that is commonly available here in Mumbai.

I would have ideally wanted to cook উচ্ছে (uch-chay)--a smaller cousin of karela that you get in Bengal but then... 

The most time consuming part about this is the amount of chopping needed. First the karela got chopped into tiny dices...

Then the বেগুন/baingan become little cubes less than a centimetre across...

A little splash of vegetable oil fumed with heat and I tossed in the karela bit while I chopped the baingan.

I sautéed till the karela was a little browned...

I kept the karela aside and heated a few teaspoons of oil in the same pan and added a little sputter of mustard seeds. I used these but the normal ones work and taste just as well... 

... then I added the baingan/বেগুন and cooked it a little but not till mush.

I added the turmeric/haldi/হলুদ mixed with a little water since the original recipe called for হলুদ বাটা or ground fresh root turmeric. 

... after a few tosses, I added the karela in and mixed everything together and cooked for a few minutes more...

And... I was ready to eat :)

চিচিন্গায়ের তরকারী (Chichingay-er Torkari) or Snake Gourd Curry

I have been meaning to cook চিচিঙ্গা (chichinge or snake gourd) for a while now.  I even bought the darn thing and then it just stayed in the fridge. The external appearance just tells you that this beast is much easier to cook that the other cousins. 
Well... At least the preparation bit is way easier. Even with the back of a blunt-ish knife it was an easy task scraping the outer skin away a bit.

This I quickly chopped into semi-circles or what you would describe in Bengali as চাকলা-চাকলা করে (chakla chakla koray).

This proceeded to nuke (microwave) for 2min while I got the ফোড়ন/phoron/tempering ingredients ready.

I took some garlic cloves and roughly sliced them along with  a small onion. I also took a Kashmiri red chilly, some mustard seeds and a small roundel of garlic. The garlic nub was quickly smashed, the Kashmiri chilly gutted to rid it of the seeds that could potentially set my mouth on fire, and then the oil splashed into the pan for a quick heating.

The chilly and the mustard went in first and sputtered till the chilly aroma wafted from the pan...

Next the onion and the garlic bit went in... I have a tendency to caramelize the garlic since I'm partial to the taste it imparts to whatever cooks after that...

In the meanwhile I got the microwaved (hence steam cooked) চিচিঙ্গা/chichinge out...

Now everything went into the pan with a little salt added...

And voila! My dinner was ready... 

Kalo Jeeray Kumrow

I gravitate towards a set lot of vegetables that stay ok in the fridge for a while and are easy to chop and cook in the morning. So, this time around, I wanted to buy something that I don't normally buy.

I bought myself half a large pumpkin (or কুমড়ো/kumro in Bengali)   and then wondered what I'd cook with it. Morning soon came and presented me with 20 minutes to rustle something up for lunch. Owing to its sheer dint of volume, the kumro/pumpkin was the first thing I laid my hand on when I reached for the vegetable tray.

I sliced off a crescent of the pumpkin and then looked around for inspiration to cook with.

I washed, peeled and sliced the pumpkin into little pieces and then decided to use as little as possible to cook. I realized that it would take sometime to cook so I nuked the pieces for a 2 minutes after spraying some water on them and covering them.

I had a few green chillies that the Sita (the vegetable seller) had throw in gratis. Two of them came to my rescue as did some কালো জিরে/kalo jeeray (as Bengalis know it) or kalonjee and a couple of bay leaves.

I put in a generous splash of mustard oil and smoked it before adding everything in and then tossed things around for a while. Then I covered the pan and turned the gas down to sim and started getting ready. 
I came back to a well cooked meal to which I added some salt and packed for lunch.

Bhaja Kari Inspired Beguner Torkari

I remember my mom making a dry fish preparation called Bhaja Curry with begun (baingan/aubergine). I think that it has its origin in East Bengal since I have not really heard of it elsewhere.


This dish needs a certain type of begun (baingan/aubergine) that I have not really seen since I moved away from Kolkata. Now, this type of begun is elongated and unlike the baingan  that I normally find in the market (either small or large but with a distinct shape that defines our memort of baingan) 

When I saw these with Sita (my vegetable vendor of choice), I bought them on a lark and then wondered what to do with them.


Making bhaja curry is quite impossible without the fish (and that too when you wake up on a work day morning). So I tried to replicate as much I could dredge from my memories of sitting in my grnadmom's kitchen in Bandel. Most of the memories were rather obscured by rather more vivid memories of one or the other dog in that kitchen—Honey, Gypsy, Sandy, or perhaps even Candy... Anyways...


I sliced the begun as quickly as I could...

Once all the begun was sliced, I put them in the vessel I use as an impromptu colander...


I sprinkled haldi (turmeric) and worked it into the begun without crushing or mangling them.

Then I put some dhania powder and worked that in as well, and then kept the lot aside as I prepared for the rest of the process...

Just before I started cooking I added a little salt to the begun as well, since adding it before would result it the begun releasing all the water in them and becoming a mangled useless pulp.


Now this is where I went completely away from the 'Bengali'ness of the original recipe.

I took methi, til (sesame), curry patta (curry leaves), and chopped some garlic as well...
All this went into the pan with whatever cooking I had at hand...

I added the begun and cooked the mixture by tossing the entire thing to coat the oil instead of using a ladle. If I used a ladle the thin and delicate begun slices would immediately mangle into a rather pulpy mass...

Idea is to cook the begun well while retaining the coat of spices without destroying the slices that provide the texture.


I knew that I was done when it looked like this....

Then it was into a recycled take-away dabba and I rushed to