The doorbell rang sharp at 5:30 am and I jumped out of my bed half asleep. Kanon (my cook ) turned up and I had to tell her the menu to be prepared for the day. For me, this used to be one of the most challenging tasks of the day to come up with a varied list of menus for break-fast, lunch and dinner. The same routine continued across the week!
It was around the first or second month post my marriage. With a profound hands-on proficiency of 2 -Minutes-Masala Maggi and ready-to-eat 3-Minute Poha, I used to pull my thinking hats desperately how-to bring variation with same old Potato, Onion Bhindi, Gobi etc. in the break-fast, lunch and dinner. One day could be managed somehow but what about remaining six days?! Life seemed to be a lot easier before marriage. Getting up a little late used to be comfortably accommodated with no hurry to prepare food. I had the privilege to have it in office canteen, especially on weekdays. Post marriage it is not ‘me’ but ‘us’!
One day, about a month before our marriage, my in-laws visited our place for high tea. We were all engrossed into a deep conversation on some traditional Bong delicacies my Mom and Mother-in-law prepare in different ways. They curiously asked me how I could manage my dinner, especially during weekdays when I was quite late to come back home. From the beginning of my professional career, I used to stay alone in a different city. Since I have always been a home-bee, I nonchalantly mentioned my preference on home-made food which made my in-laws-to-be highly impressed (I came to know this much later!). They were under the impression that I was very much into cooking even after a long day in office. Luckily, they did not ask me what I did indulge into, to satiate my hunger. It was none other than a plate of ‘Ghee-Bhat’ (Steamed Rice sprinkled with Ghee) which does not demand any culinary skill or effort! 😋😂
Those days, I was, definitely, not much
into cooking. Neither did I follow lots of videos available to assist novice
like us to come up with delicious dishes as part of day-to-day ‘Ghar ka Khana’. I must admit it to be
one of my drawbacks. So long story short, cooking had neither been a magic nor
bliss for me, at least during my transition phase from a happy-go-lucky,
fresh-grad office goer into a reasonable and responsible ‘lady of the house’ having
optimum culinary skill. I doubt, even today, I would ever be able to be a good
cook, but I have realized, ‘Way to a
man's heart is through his stomach’ – fits the bill appropriately in my
case!
Phase
1 :
Being a Bengali, love for tea goes without
saying. My entry into kitchen kick-started with preparing tea for my parents
when I was in class IX or X. With sole expertise in Tea and Maggi making (as my
asset) I plunged into marital bliss with someone who turned out to be a foodie 😊
It was a lazy Sunday evening post marriage
and I was about to prepare evening tea. My better half requested me to add
sugar-free Natura Pellets in tea
instead of normal sugar. No doubt, a small step towards healthy lifestyle. I
started adding that not only in tea but also each and every curry used to be
prepared just to avoid sugar. Pls. note it is a typical Bengali cooking style
to add a pinch of sugar in all Daal and
Curries, not just to make it
sweet but to add a flavor, kind of zing-thing. It was after a month or so, I
found him happily grabbing a big chunk of chocolates post dinner almost on
daily basis and offering me a share. “This is just for a change, you know “ –
was his modest, crisp reply to my clueless, overtly puzzled expression. Now I
do not recall exactly where all good effect of long-driven effort on sugar-free
tea along with sugar-free Daal and
Curries steered to !!
Phase
2 :
What I have observed, food preference or
liking of my better half is a way different from a traditional gastronomic
Bong. He is a foodie, by heart. He loves exploring different food specially
when he travels, be it official trip or personal vacation. I was and still am,
just poles apart and tend to be comfortable in my limited known territory in
the food-map. Specially during the weekends, when my mind used to race for ‘Murgir Jhol with Aloo’ (Bengali chicken
curry with potato) or ‘Rui Macher Kaliya’
(traditional Bengali Fish Curry), he used to crave for ‘Rajma – Chawal’ or ‘Gujrati-Kadhi’.
So, my culinary expedition unveiling a very latent passion for cooking (if
there was any!) set off with ‘seems-to-be easy’ recipes like ‘Tomatar ka Chokha’, ‘Baigan-Bharta’, ‘Vegetable- Jalfrezi’ etc. Not sure, to what extent it could satiate
the taste-buds of someone foodie, but it did instill such a unique feel-good
factor out of cooking, I never experienced before. Also, It did light a spark
expanding my culinary horizon beyond so-called ‘Paanch-Mishali-Torkari’ (Bengali mixed vegetable prep) and ‘Macher Jhol’ (Bengali Fish Curry) into
the realms of simple tasty cuisines beyond Bengal!
Phase
3 :
By this time, I started overcoming the
difficulties of specifying menu-list for break-fast, lunch and dinner with no
repetition for the entire week. “Let’s include only boiled vegetables for lunch
once a week” - my foodie partner suggested confidently to make it simpler and
at the same time it would add different dimension to weekly menu keeping in
mind, the intended ‘variation’. Cheerfully I nodded my head like a pendulum.
Being a Bong, ‘boiled vegetable’ straightaway boils down to ‘Aloo Sheddho Bhat’ (mashed boiled potato
sprinkled with salt, a tea spoon of butter or a drop of mustard oil flavored
with a streak of green chilly along with steamed rice). But assorted boiled
vegetables (Potato, Cauliflower, Carrot, Papaya and Green Peas) sprinkled with
black pepper and salt along with a cup of Masuri
Dal and chopped onion –, boiled together- a learning from mother-in-law,
can equally be tasty with the simplest continental touch in ‘Roz-Ka-Khana’. With guidance from her, I
started trying my hand making different types of Parathas adding the ‘variety’ in my break-fast menu. The journey
had become enriching, satisfying and encompassing a shield of confidence ( in
me ) that the same ‘ Aloo, Piyyaz, Gobi ,
Mulee, Bhindi’ can work wonder to bring tasty , varied ‘Khana’ onto the table for all the days
in a week, rather all through the year.
The platter I made ready on one of my family occasions 💞💞
Phase 4 :
My mother-in-law is a great cook with an
extra ordinary caliber. When she guides me with simple tips and tricks of
making staffs , things become so simple. Even when I tried making same item
multiple items later on which she might have prepared earlier, I always felt
something was amiss. They call it ‘Mom’s
touch’ and I wish if I could imbibe a small fraction of that magical spell
into my culinary journey ahead. To infuse the zeal for making food in a person
like me with absolutely no interest in cooking had not been an easy task and
she did it seamlessly. She started with simple, easy-to-be-made recipes and
gradually took me to the world of baking. I clearly remember, the first time
when she told me about making Biscuits at home, I was wondering why to take
this trouble as 'Britannia', 'Marie', 'Bisk Farm' and so many branded products
are easily available in the market. But when I soaked in the aroma of ‘Melting Moments’ ( a variety of cookies)
she freshly baked at home, my heart melted away!
Phase
5 :
Bong house-hold would be incomplete without
magic wand of sweets. Just to mention, this is not only during our traditional
festivals which is fondly referred to as ‘Baro
Maashey Tero Parbon’ ( meaning 13 festivals in 12 months) , but also in our
daily life, we crave for sweets, be it ‘Rashogolla’,
‘Shandesh’ , ‘Chitrakoot’ and the list goes on. ‘Baditey Banano’ ( home-made) sweets had already been into my radar
from my childhood but again as a glutton. My maternal grand-mother used to
prepare ‘Khirer Shandesh’ ( a dried
sweet item made up of kheer & khoya ) , ‘Taler Boda’ ( a sweet item made up of Palm fruit) during
‘Janmashtami’ but I never tried my hand making this. After my marriage , my
stint at making sweets was initiated with ‘Bhapa
Shandesh’ ( a sweet item made up of Paneer or ‘Chenna’ by steaming process)
under supervision of my mother-in-law. The moment I started getting actively
involved in it , I could appreciate its process, effort and the mistakes. Need
not be perfect always!
On the occasion of 'Makar Sankranti' and typical Bong way to celebrate with Patishapta ( made out of Sooji, Kheer or Jaggery ) and Payesh ( sweet preparation made up of rice and jaggery )
And undeniably signature Bengali sweet preparation - 'Cholar Dal r Pithey ' ( a sweet preparation made up of Chana Dal )
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Phase
6 :
Cooking is a bliss; it is a real
stress-buster giving me a respite from long-running work load or the late night
calls – typical of corporate life I have been part of. Now I can feel the
gradual transformation I have been evolved with. Around Ten years back, I used
to make it a point – no cooking during weekdays when office was on, thinking it
to be an additional stress! Today, if I get a chance and in reasonable time
frame, I love to indulge in pungent aroma of ‘Lemon- Pepper Chicken’ and
nitty-gritty of its preparation as a means of ‘De-stress’ , accommodated
blissfully in the interim break of my evening calls.
During a summer evening , my maiden attempt in delicacies of Mango Ice-cream 😋😋
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The learnings never stop! The sky is the limit even if we ever try to ‘limit’ this. For all of us , being tagged as women of so-called modern era, we do experience the gradual transformation through different phases of life based on the priority, situation and the expectation we intend to fulfill. The rituals , cultures and delicacies of different states in India , by itself, is a big asset and we can imbibe the learnings from all of them beyond the border of our native place. I have been lucky to be part of some of the cultural events of other states , specially Southern part of India owing to my stay here since more than last 10 years . We celebrate Saraswati Puja, Holi, Ganesh Puja, Dussehra all together in the true essence of unity in diversity !
'Bapppa' s favourite Modak, tried for the first time , this year , during Ganesh festival.
Like me, I am sure many of you might have had the similar or unique experience juggling between office deadline and a strong commitment towards appeasing hungry souls at home. More we tend to learn, re-learn, adapt, easier it is to strike a balance (to some extent!). It is altogether a different lookout towards life. Even today, I am far behind from being ‘Good’ in my culinary skill but now I have learned to manage my kitchen even without ‘Chicken’ 😊
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Dear Readers, thank you for reading my Blog. It would be great if you post some of your comments , that would help to improvise further in this journey 😊😊😊😊
