Recipes

Relishing grandma's secrets

The monsoons had descended into the late days of August. The musky essence had diffused into the humid and heavy air. A sudden release from the heat and the sweat of the summer days with the drizzling rains was a relief to us all.

A warm mug of tea in the mornings next to the fogged windowpanes became an every day ritual. The raindrops pattered on the terrace, as my eyes swiftly travelled over the city skyscrapers.

As I placed my face briskly against the windows, the cold of the rain penetrated through my skin and a dilemma of epiphany and reminiscence soon followed.

I would often then be teleported onto our family courtyard, where the scent of freshly cut grass and the trickling of raindrops on the tin shed, even after ten long and tiring years intoxicated my senses.

I would stretch my memories back to the days when a plate of my grandmother's molten khichuri with jars of her delectable olive pickles or her infamous kashmiri chilli achaar were eternal bliss.

The steamy wood and clay stoves whistling against the serenity of nature, sitting next to a mahogany cupboard loaded with dadi's yearlong supply of seasonal vegetables and fruits pickled into jars.

There is something, something that I cannot define about an escapade into the trails left behind by our forefathers. Ancestral recipes or the art of cooking, all appear so vague and as far-off tales lived, yet not comprehended.

I often just want to drive out of the city to relive those tales but then again, reality strikes and I am shaken back to the present. My grandparents' house, devoid of their presence yet standing still and steady, is now where a family of strangers reside.

The tastes unforgettably forgotten yearn for resuscitation. The hands which once held me close are only nothing but mere whims or shadows following my presence.

One of the family heritages I have gotten hold of is my grandmother's secret recipe book. It consists of fresh ingredients, interlocked with her touches of sheer magic. There was something about those particular jars that I still long for, though I try remaking her recipes each and every time, there seems to be a lacking, a lacking that protracts beyond the exact measurements, the same sequences and the alignments of the ingredients.

Her recipes were synonymous with what I can compare to little drops of heaven.

Now the gloomy nights ascend dawning with a new day. The late afternoon sudden rushes of wind across the horizons are what I see in the month of March. Yet again, with a mug of warm tea I sit on the balcony with a plate of aloo parathas next to the kashmiri achaar, known yet unknown.

My grandmother's secrets:
Mango Kashmiri Achaar
Ingredients:
2 tbsp garlic paste
4 red chillies
1 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp red chilli powder
½ tbsp turmeric
1 kg mango
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp pachporong powder
1 tbsp whole pachporong
½ cup sugar
½ litre mustard oil

Method:
Cut seedless mangoes into cubes and marinate with salt for an hour. In a bowl add 4 tsp oil and fry pachporong. Then add ginger and garlic paste, fry till golden brown. Then put the salt, chilli powder and turmeric. Add the mangoes. Mix it well and fry for a while. Add sugar to the mixture and pour in the rest of the oil. Allow the mangoes to boil in the oil. Add another spoonful of pachporong for aroma. Once the mangoes are fully cooked, let the mixture cool. Store in a tightly sealed container.

Fish pickle
Ingredients:
¼ kg fish, cut into cubes
1 onion, sliced
1 inch piece ginger
1 tsp garlic
½ cup chilli powder
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp fenugreek (methi)
Few curry leaves
½ cup oil
½ cup vinegar
10 cloves
Salt as required

Method:
Apply a little chilli powder and salt on the fish and dry in the sun for a day. Heat oil and fry fish, keep it aside. Roast mustard and methi and grind it fine with the rest of the ingredients. Heat oil in a pan. Fry the onions until brown, and then add the ground masala.

Mango pickle
Ingredients:
3 raw mangoes (medium sized)
4 tbsp red chilli powder
4 tbsp mustard seeds
3 tbsp salt
200 ml sesame oil
1 tbsp fenugreek seeds, roasted
1 tbsp curry leaves

Method:
Clean and wipe dry the mangoes. Cut them into halves along with the seed. Remove the pulp from the seed. Dice the mangoes ensuring that the hard shell is there in each piece inside. Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add red chilli powder, salt, and fenugreek powder. Remove from fire. Add the mango pieces and mix well. Take dry earthen jar and put the mango cubes into it. Add sesame oil to the mango cubes and mix them well. Put the jar in sunlight for 3-5 days. Mango pickle is ready to eat.

Tomato Chutney
Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
2 large tomatoes, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp tamarind extract
3/4 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
8-10 curry leaves
Pinch of Asafoetida powder
Oil
Salt to taste

Method:
Take some oil in a pan and fry the chopped onions till they become translucent. If possible, use madras or pearl onions instead of large onions for good taste. Add the garlic cloves to the chopped onions and fry for 2-3 minutes. To the fried mixture, add some chopped tomatoes and fry till the tomatoes are cooked and mashed. Add salt and chilli powder and stir for 3 minutes. Remove the mixture from fire and allow it to cool. Take the cooked mixture and grind it to a fine paste in a food processor. To garnish, heat some oil in the same wok and add the mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter, add asafoetida and curry leaves. After 1/2 a minute, add ground paste and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Tomato chutney is ready to be served.

By Sanjana Rahman

The trickling tickle of achaar

The insipid dishes always welcome a warm and cold, bitter and sour, sweet and tantalising, tongue-tangy taste. The tongue twisting and tongue curling phenomena are not only advocated to your genes but to the intensity of the family of pickles.

The very thought of a jar of pickle or deshi achaar makes our mouths water and ignites the flame of a sudden crave. Pickles have been an integral Bangla delicacy and have managed to survive the various trends in diets or cuisines.

Originally, pickles were initiatives to preserve ingredients for a period of time, when refrigerators were yet to be invented. Preservatives such as salt and oil were laid on meat or vegetables and stored away in airtight containers.

Usually served as condiments next to luscious meals, achaars are now available in plastic bags to be nibbled on through the day. Achaars have crept their ways into salads and into the recipes of beef resalas.

The malleability of achaar allows them to be mixed into any dish, be it our regular mashed potato or roasted chicken. Just a spoonful adds a new flavour to any conventional recipe of meat. If you haven't tried this un-conventionalised conventional achaari trick, it is time you let it sink in. But then again, of course you have!

By Sanjana Rahman