diary of a
food obsessed person

DEAREST DIARY

Remember that song ??? C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-I-O-N time, come on !! yeah !! was it Kool and the Gang or Cool and the Gang who sang this song? Anyway, I grew up listening to this song during my teens and suddenly this song seems so appropriate since Eid is just around the corner. It has been on my mind since the first of Ramzan. Talking about my mind, now-a-days, it is in such a fragile state, after all that bombardment of chemicals in the form of artificial sweetners and cell phone static, remembering any thing from the past is actually quite a blast.

G-o-d, how I stray from my point.

Anyway , to me and my family, specially meaning my mum and my sister Eid is a great time for shopping, making out lists, after iftar jostling with the saree shoppers, visiting the tailor (because at the moment he is the most important man in every women's life), dropping into peoples house with their gifts, great fun. Though my sister is at the moment in Canada for the last two years, so we are deprived of her vivacious, presence, but she is in spirit with us every ticking moment. So when ever me & my mum are out dong all the Eid stuff, we keep on talking about her, how she used to keep us in splits with her own brand of comedy. She had her own secret jaunts, where she used to go saree shopping for herself and pretend how she forgot to tell us, and like yeah... how much we believed her. But we played along. The memories of us three together in a car, blasting with hindi songs, having puchka brings tears to my eyes, but then again I believe we will soon be together again and do all these fun stuff again. And if by any chance my BIL (brother -in-law) thinks he is going to lead a Canadian life and die a Canadian death, he sure is in la-la-land. Because , I will than personally go to Canada, get him hitched with a Canadian woman & bring my sister back with me. But the irony of the situation will be, if my sister, after all these years in Canada turns around to be more Canadian then my BIL and refuses to come and like a hindi serial heroine says, "mei pati bina kaise rahu?" (How will I live without my husband?) Anyway only time will tell who will win the tussle of the roses.

So, back to my original point. Eid' to me is a celebration after a long month of abstinence from everything. If you get my drift. I do not leave Dhaka for some foreign land just because it seems so ... fashionable. I celebrate Eid with great gusto & verve. I wrap my presents, have a special party for exchanging gifts and an open house for family and friends with food of my choice. So, Eid Mubarak diary. May we all live happily and healthily and be good and honest to each other and contribute something worthwhile to society, be role models, so that in future we can at some point say that we have .... arrived.

Whenever that may be.
Once again, Eid Mubarak.

Mutton Devil Fry
½ kg mutton
12 flakes garlic
5 cm ginger
2 cloves
2 cardamom
5 cm cinnamon
3 large tomatoes chopped
4 tsp Aloo bukhara (without the seeds)
2 tbsp ghee
2 onions chopped fine
2 tbsp vinegar
salt to taste
2 cup of water
Blend the garlic, ginger, cloves, cardamom, Cinnamon, tomatoes and aloo bukhara to a paste. Heat the ghee in a pan and fry the onion till brown. Add the ground masala paste and fry well till the ghee floats on top. Add the mutton, vinegar and salt to taste. Stir fry for three minutes. Add two cups of water, cover the pan and cook till done over low flame, until thick gravy remains.

Pepper Chicken
1 kg chicken diced
6 tomatoes
200 gm butter
salt to taste
1 tsp black pepper crushed
for the Garnish
4 tsp lemon juice
Wash chicken and set aside.
Puree tomatoes in blender.
Melt butter in a pan and fry the puree. add salt, black pepper and the diced chicken. Lower the flame and cover the pan stirring occasionally. Serve with lemon juice.

Beef and apple cakes
1x500 gm beef mince
12 oz green apples, peeled and grated
1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled & grated
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp soya sauce
salt & black pepper to taste
2 tbsp plain flour
4 tbsp vegetable oil
Chilli dipping sauce (Optional)
Place the mince, apples, ginger, garlic, Soy in a blender till well blended. With damp hands divide the mixture into 24 small round balls and dust lightly with flour.
Heat oil and fry in batches until golden brown.
Serve on a platter, garnished with shredded spring onions and a bowl of chilli dipping sauce.

Vegetable Mexicana
3 small cauliflowers
2 mdm size carrots
1 large green or red capsicum
1 bottle of chilli sauce
2 onions sliced
2 tbsp oil
Salt & pepper to taste
Method
Cut vegetables according to required size
Par boil vegetables and keep aside
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a wok.
Add chopped onions
fry till transparent.
add chilli sauce
add vegetables
taste and then add pepper & salt.

Raita
1 cup yogurt
¾ cup green or red grapes coarsely chopped
¾ cup cucumbers diced
½ cup thinly sliced onion
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper ground
Method
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until well combined.

Fruit salad
2 large pomegranate (dalim)
1 tin of pineapple
2 large bananas
2 green apples.
Lemon juice to taste
sugar & pepper to taste
Method
Mix all the above ingredients together and keep on tasting till you think it is ready.

Frosted Chocolate Cake
125 g butter
½ cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ cups self-raising flour
2 tablespoons cornflour
2 tablespoons cocoa
¾ cup milk
Chocolate Frosting
90g butter
1 ½ cups icing sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa
2 tablespoons milk, approximately.
Method
Grease a 20 cm ring pan, line base with paper; grease paper.
Combine butter, sugar and eggs in processor, process for a few seconds until combined . Add dry ingredients and milk, process until mixture is smooth and changed in colour. Spread into prepared pan . Bake in moderate oven for about 35 minutes. Stand 2 minutes before turning on to wire rack to cool. Spread cold cake with frosting: decorate with walnut halves.
Chocolate Frosting: Beat butter in small bowl with electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sifted icing sugar and cocoa and milk, beat until frosting is spreadable.
Keeping time: 2 days.

By SAM Q
Photo: Zahedul I Khan
We are thankful to Sam Q for arranging the photo shoot.