Chatpat Jhatpat McCain

While returning home from my office, I picked up my cousin from his school as my aunt was out of the town to attend a conference. The distance between his school and home was hardly of 10 minutes by walk even then at least ten times he repeated ‘I am feeling hungry’. Hungry kid! As soon as we reached home, I throw my bag in the cupboard and rushed in the kitchen to cook something for him. I got up late in the morning and like other days I couldn’t find time to do some preparations for lunch. Thank God! I have McCain packets in my freezer. I took out an already opened packet of McCain Smiles as he liked them very much. I quickly prepared them according to his taste buds.

Apple McCain Smiles

Ingredients

McCain Smiles – 4

Apple – 1

Tomato – 1 small

Butter – 1 tablespoon

Tomato ketchup – 1 ½ table spoon

Curry leaves – 5– 6

Powdered white pepper – ½ teaspoon

Red chilli pepper flakes – ¼ teaspoon

Salt to taste

For Garnishing

Coriander leaves – 2-3

Method

1. Cut the apple slices lengthwise.
   
2. Apply butter on upper side. After that apply a thin layer of tomato ketchup. Sprinkle salt, chilli flakes and powdered white pepper on it. Microwave it for 3-4 minutes.
3. Cut the tomato in semicircle and remove the seeds. Chop curry leaves finely.
4. Take out 4 smiles from McCain packet. Quickly make the tomato cut outs as smiling lips of smiles and fill the chopped curry leaves in the two holes on smiles with a help of toothpick. Spread a thin layer of butter with a help of knife on it.
   
5. Microwave them for 3- 4 minutes.
6. With a help of broad edged knife place the apple on the plate then put the smiley in the centre of the apple.
7. Place the coriander leaves in between the smiley and apple which will look like its’ green hat.
   
8. Beautiful and delicious smiles are ready. Serve hot.

“Did you wash your hands?” I asked him seeing him in a different dress.

“I not only washed my hands but face also.” He replied.

“Food is ready. Take it.” I handed over the plate to him.

“Beautiful flowers are blooming in the balcony garden. So, I will eat in the balcony. Today, my teacher told the students to spend more time near nature than on laptop, mobile and tablets.”

I arranged his table and chair in the balcony and asked him to have McCain snacks there. I returned in the kitchen to finish other chores. A few minutes passed, he came running to me with the empty plate in his hands.

“You finished it so quickly.” I asked with a surprise in my voice. “Did the plate fall off?”

“No. As I was about to eat Apple McCain smiles, a crow came from nowhere and sneezed it from my little hands before I could put it in my big mouth. I got scared and pushed my chair backward. Another crow, must be its close friend came and took away another piece from my plate.”

“Put this plate in the sink. Wash your hands. I will give you the two remaining ones.”

A big smile appeared on his face. “You have more.”

“Yup! Will you like to eat them near the nature or .......?”

“In front of T.V!”

After finishing those he said, “I am feeling hungry.”

“Oh! My God!!” I uttered. “I am damn tired.”

“My left side of stomach is still empty as the crow took my share. You can touch my stomach and feel. It is still empty.”

 “Your favourite smiles are finished. There were only four pieces left in the packet which I have already cooked for you.”

He opened the freezer, took out a fresh packet of McCain French Fries and said innocently. “I will eat it.”

I prepared this recipe for him.

McCain French Fries in Peanut Sauce

Ingredients

McCain French Fries – 15-20

Roasted Bengal gram powder – 1 table spoon

Peanut powder – 1 tablespoon

Coconut powder – ½ tablespoon

Powdered white pepper – ½ teaspoon

Mustard seed – ¼ teaspoon

Dry red chilli (crushed) – 2

Dry thyme – ¼ teaspoon

Dry rosemary- ½ teaspoon

Garlic powder – ½ teaspoon

Chopped curry leaves – 10-15

Sour buttermilk – 1 to 1 ½ cup

Butter – 1 table spoon

Olive oil – ½ table spoon

Canola oil – for frying

Salt to taste

For garnishing

Chopped basil leaves – 7-8

Sliced tomato – 1 small

Method

1. Heat canola oil in a pan and deep fry McCain French Fries in it. Take them out in a plate and keep aside.

2. Take coconut powder, peanut powder and roasted Bengal gram powder in a bowl. Mix them well. Add buttermilk slowly so that lumps are not formed. Add salt and powdered white pepper to it.

3. Heat butter in a pan. Add olive oil in it and mix them well.

4. Add mustard seeds when they start to splutter then add curry leaves and crushed red chillies.

5. Pour the already prepared mixture into the pan and stir it. Heat it to the boil.

6. Add garlic powder, thyme and rosemary in it. Reduce the heat. Gently put the fried French Fries in it and mix very lightly.

7. Take out the French fries in a plate.

8. Garnish it with basil leaves and tomato. Serve hot.

“This is more delicious. From now, McCain French Fries in Peanut Sauce will be my favourite!” He declared this with a beaming face.

Bonding

These days, not only younger generation but older generation is also caught in the clutches of smart phones. Everybody spend more time in virtual world then in real world. My cousin who was only five years old was always busy playing video games like ‘Snake’ and ‘Angry birds’. His eyes were always fixed on the screen while taking his meals or drinking milk. Like my youngest family member, my grandmother was always busy on the phone. Whole day, she chatted with her friends, relatives and even next door neighbours. I had to wait for several minutes if I wanted to talk to her. Similarly, my aunt was always busy in dealing with business enquiries on phone. In her free time she preferred to listen to her favourite songs with the ears phones than conversing with family members. I desperately wanted my family members to break the shackles of digital world and came together to enjoy the beautiful moment’s life has given us.  

I saw the advertisement of Kissanpur on T.V. I ordered tomato seeds online and downloaded the ‘Tomato Growing Guide’ from Kissanpur website. I arouse the curiosity of my cousin by explaining him that Kissan tomato ketchup which he liked so much is made of tomatoes. Moreover, we would be growing those tomatoes in our house. He opened his mouth in amazement.

We together sowed the seeds in the moist soil and placed the container on the refrigerator. My cousin at regular intervals climbed on the chair to watch it. He was the first to notice the first sapling of tomato. He was so excited and happy. Now, he wanted his eyes fixed on the tomato plant while eating and drinking milk.

When all the saplings came out, I put the pot in sunlight as they now required sunshine for the whole day. I went out of the town for three days to attend the marriage of my close friend. When I came back, I was surprised to see my grandmother watering plants along with my cousin. They both were enjoying each other company and I too joined them.

The plants grew up to the height of 6-8 inches I put support to the plant by adding a stick around it. The tiny flowers of tomatoes were very beautiful and we loved to watch them blossom. The fruits appeared and their size increased. The colour of fruits started changing from green to red.

One day when I was in my office, my cousin was in his school and my grandmother was in temple attending a spiritual lecture on that day, devastating hailstorm came. I was feeling that our efforts to produce tomatoes would fail. The storm was so strong that it would destroy the tomatoes. When I came home, I rushed to check our tomato plants. I was quite surprised to see them swinging happily in cool breeze. My aunt came smilingly and told that she put a temporary shed to protect the tomatoes from hail storm.

On that night, all family members experienced the ‘Real Togetherness’. We sat near our tomato plants, watched them in full moon light. Red tomatoes were shining brightly. After that, my family started spending time with each other, watching stars, moon, clouds and tomato plants.

Thanks Kissanpur for bringing my family together! :) 

Ravana Dahan

Today, while passing through a road, I came across these artistic faces and realized that the preparations for the celebration of Ravana Dahan were in full swing. On Dussehra, these faces will be mounted on the huge bodies stuffed with hay and fire crackers of Ravana, Kumbhakaran and Meghnad . The person playing the role of Lord Ram will target them with flaming arrows and will burn them to ashes depicting the end the evil. 

Healthy Halwa

Today, I prepared Navratri special - Bottle gourd and cashew-nuts halwa. Many people cooked giya ka halwa in these days as it is liked by many in the fast days. I opted for more healthier option shakar (powdered jaggery) instead of sugar in it.

Ingredients
Milk - 1 1/2 liter
Bottle gourd - 1 big size
Malai (Cream) - 100g
Powdered cashew-nuts - 25g
Powdered cardamoms - 7-8
Powdered jaggery - 300g
For garnishing
Musk melon seeds - 1/2 table spoon

Method
1. Boil milk, cream, grated bottle gourd, powdered cashew-nuts and cardamoms together till it thickens. Stir it continuously.
2. Add jaggery and mix it well. Stir the mixture continuously till it leaves ghee and the sides of the pan.
3. Take it out in a bowl and garnish it with musk melon seeds. Serve hot.

Pranayam (Breathing Exercises)

Pranayam means control of breath. It calms the mind and provides more oxygen to the brain. The most common pranayam are bhastrika, kapalabhati, jalandhara bandha, uddiyana bandha, mula bandha, anuloma viloma and bhasrika. I am teaching pranayam to my students from the past nine years. In these two videos, I explained the procedure of doing pranayam. 

Dear readers, you can daily watch these videos while practicing breathing exercises and be benefited from them.

Eyebrows of a cow

I find this very funny that somebody painted the eyebrows of this cow. I must say 'Height of Creativity'!

Begun Bhaja

Today I tried begun bhaja, a delicious n delightful recipe of Bengali cuisine. One of my close friend who is a Bengali shared the recipe of begun bhaja. Her method was to deep fry sliced egg plants and then sprinkled it with salt and spices. I gave a twist to it to make it more crispy and tasty. And my recipe is like this .....

Ingredients
Egg Plant - 2
Rice flour - 1 table spoon
Red chillies - 1/4 tea spoon
Black pepper - 1/4 tea spoon
Mango powder - 1/4 tea spoon
Roasted cumin seeds - 1/4 tea spoon
Salt to taste
Desi ghee for shallow frying

Method
1. Sliced the egg plants in half circles. Wash them in water thoroughly.
2. Rub the rice flour on both the sides of the egg plant slice gently.
3. Shallow fry them in a pan.
4. Sprinkle the spices on it and serve hot.