अलीगढ बहुत याद आता है!



अलीगढ की सड़कें, बाजार, लोग और माहौल आज भी वैसा ही है जैसा मैं ग्यारह साल पहले छोड़ आयी थी. नोएडा शिफ्ट होते ही जैसे भूल गयी थी इस शहर को. पर अब साल में अगर एक बार जाना होता है तो शहर से बाहर निकलते ही दम निकलता है. यहाँ की यूनिवर्सिटी की सड़क हो या फिर घनी गलियां हो जहाँ की सड़कें हर वक़्त जाम रहती हैं. हर सड़क की अपनी ही खुशबु है. जो सालों गुजर जाने पे भी नहीं बदली है. खाना तो यहाँ ऐसा मिलता है की लखनऊ के कारीगरों को टक्कर देती मिठाईयां हों या फिर करीम दिल्ली वालों को चुनौती देती मट्टन रसेदार भरी कटोरी हो. अलीगढ बस अलीगढ ही है. छोटा है पर अपने आप को संभाले है. 

गर्मियों में आम के ठेले भरी सड़कें तो सुलगती अंगीठी पे सिकते भुट्टे हों यहाँ हर सुबह कचोरी, आलू की सब्ज़ी और सन्नाटे नाम से ख्यात पतला बूंदी का रायता हर सड़क पे बिकता मिल जायेगा. गुल्लू जी की गली तक पहुँच जाएँ आप तो अग्रवाल स्वीट्स की मिठाईओं के क्या कहने. बेसन के लड्डू हो या फिर चूरमे के लड्डू बस अंगुलिया चाटने पे मजबूर हो जायेंगे. वहीँ से थोड़ा आगे बढ़ेंगे तो एवन वालों की ताज़ी नमकीन की दूकान मन मोह लेती है. वहां की नमकीन खा के आपको पता चलेगा की बड़ी ब्रांड की नमकीन कितनी ख़राब होती है. नमकीन बंधवा के मैं हमेशा उपरकोट की दुकानों से बारीक सेवइयां जरूर लेती हूँ क्योंकि वहां तुरंत की बनी सेवइयां बहुत ही बढ़िया होती हैं. 

सिविल लाइन्स में स्टेट बैंक के सामने आलू टिक्की चाट और थोड़ा सा आगे जाने पे कुंजी लाल की बालूशाही हो या फिर विकास स्वीट्स की उम्दा मिठाईयां बस मन सा मोह लेती हैं. पर सुनार गली की शिब्बू की कचोरी का कोई मुकाबला ही नहीं. शाम को फूल चौराहे पे गणेश चाट वाले के जाके चाट और गोल गप्पे कहना तो बहुत ही प्रसिद्ध है. 

पर जिन लोगो को नॉन वेज खाना पसंद है उनके लिए तो आमिर निशा का मार्किट और रसलगंज का रास्ता स्वर्ग समान है. क्वालिटी की नॉन वेज थाली और चॉकलेट पेस्ट्री भी कम प्रसिद्ध नहीं है. वो मट्टन को या चिकन को मसाले में ही पकाते हैं. पैसा वसूल थाली उन्ही के यहाँ मिलती है. 

अलीगढ जाईये कभी, बहुत बढ़िया खाना मिलता है वहां.



Spicy Mangori n potato curry! 




Mangori is small dry balls made by moong dal paste. Mainly used in northern part of India.You can find mangories into any good spice shop very easily. Punjab produces best mangoris and vadis(urad dal). Here is the recipe for very spicy n yum curry. 

Ingredients ~ 
1 Cup Mangori 
2 Medium potatoes washed n chopped into medium small pcs

4 Medium green chillies washed n chopped finely

2 Medium onions peeled n finely chopped 

2 Big tomatoes washed n grated into puree

4 Tbsp freshly grated ginger

2 Tbsp freshly grated garlic


1 Tsp heeng (Asofoetida) 

1 Tsp jeera (cumin seeds)

1 Tsp black pepper powder

1 Tsp Haldi (turmeric)

2 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp Garam Masala

3-4 Tbsp dry coriander powder

1 Tbsp Kasuri methi powder ( dry fenugreek)


8-10 Tbsp desi ghee (Butter oil) 


Method of preparation ~ 

1- Fry mangoris into heated 2-4 tbsp desi ghee till golden brown
2- Crushed with heavy thing into semi thick powder and soak into 1 cup of water

3- Heat remaining desi ghee into cooker and fry the onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies for 5-6 minutes on the low flame till golden brown.

4- Add heeng, jeera and all spices to fried onions and fry for 2-3 minutes. 

5- Add tomato puree and stir well.

6- Keep frying for 3-4 minutes on high flame.

7- Now add chopped potatoes and soaked mangoris. Mix very well. 

8- Now add 6 cups of water and close the cooker lid.

9- On lowest flame take 4-5 whistles.

10- Serve with hot chapatis or boiled rice. 






Yum! Slurrrp! Paneer tikka pulao!

It is one of the greatest rice recipe I have invented so far. Result was so amazing that I have made this 8-9 times this year. Basically, whenever we eat in park, I make pulao n choley(masala chickpeas) to take along with.
So I keep trying little variation to pulaos. This is bestest of all my experiments. So I thought of clicking a pic first than serve this time because it furrrs (flies) within few minutes without giving me a chance to click.
See, this pulao needs two time garlic to be added. Without garlic I have never made it so pls don’t accuse me if it doesn’t turns good without garlic.

Ingredients – For 2-3 people.

For Tikka –
1 Cup frozen or fresh paneer (cottage cheese) tiny cubes

1/4 Cup thick curd

1 Tbsp Apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp red chili powder

1/2 Tsp turmeric powder

1 Tbsp dry coriander powder

1/4 Tsp cloves powder

4 – 6 Tbsps grated fresh garlic

Preparation –

Mix all very well in a bowl and keep aside for 1 hour. Bake in a baking tray for 30 minutes at 250 Degrees till paneer cubes are little brown or corners are dark brown. Take it all in a plate and scrap the not too much burnt masala too alongwith.

For pulao –
2 Cups presoaked basmati or long grain rice

1 Cup peas fresh or frozen

4 Flowers of star aniseed

1/2 Tsp cloves powder

1/2 Tsp green cardamom powder

1 Tbsp salt

6 Tbsps desi ghee(butter oil)

4-5 Cups of water

1 Tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)

2-4 Tbsps of grated fresh garlic

Preparation –

In a cooker (yes cooker) heat up the desi ghee and add grated garlic till it is dark brown. Add rice and all other things.Close the lid and take 1 whistle in high flame and two whistles on lowest flame. After that close the flame.
Final mixing –
Now after 15 minutes add baked paneer tikkas to this pulao and mix well. Close the cooker lid and put on lowest flame for 4-5 minutes and close the flame.
This pulao goes (very very very) well with raita made of carrots, green chili, red onions and curd.

Super energizer smoothie with 11 ingredients!

Nobody was interested in having dinner after having late lunch. Because of Ramadan Kareem fasting timings we are going through little bit of reshuffle in cooking schedule.

So my son declared he will prefer smoothie and than daughter followed him too. Husband and me are silent and less fussy eaters. So I was in kitchen to create a dinner smoothie with all goodness of indirect dinner.
My smoothie making means whatever is tasty n sweet in house, goes in blender.So after putting the blender pot on mixi, I started putting things in.

Here is my super energizer smoothie with 11 ingredients. For Ramadan iftar or sehri you can make this and it will give you good quantity of energy.

****************************

Ingredients ~ For 4 big glasses
(Start putting in blender)

1- 1 Cup pitted cherries

2- 1 Big banana peeled n halved

3- 1 Apple cored and sliced

4- 1 Mango medium (Alphonso I used) peeled n sliced

5- 1/2 Cup cashews and almonds

6- 2 Cups mixed fruit juice

Grind it all very well
Now started pouring in ~
7- 1 Cup milk

8- 1/2 Cup sugar or honey or dates

9- 1 Cup curd

10- 1 Cup vanilla icecream

11- 1 Cup ice cubes

Now start blending it and give it 12-14 good blends.
If possible serve immediately or if later than put the pot in fridge and before serving give one more blend in mixi.

Hari mirch ke kale chaney!

Hari mirch ke kale chaney

Spicey black chickpeas with green chillies.

If you are looking for a very spicy n tangy recipe to make kala chana gravy than please try this recipe. It goes very well with boiled rice or hot chapatis.

I have gone through multiple failures in making these chanas in the initial learning phase. But now by God’s grace I can make them quite easily. All you need is few tricks to get perfection.

Ingredients –

For garnishing –

1/2 Cup green coriander washed n chopped

1/4 Cup green chillies finely chopped

1/4 Cup freshly grated ginger

For Boiling-

4 Cups Black chickpeas( kala chana)

Soak them over night in warm water and throw the water in the morning. 

1/2 Tbsp salt

1/ Tbsp Asofoetida

1/4 tsp Baking soda

8 cups water  

Method – 

Put all these things in to the water and take two whistle on high and 4-6 whistles on the lowest flame. Check to get the soft chanas.

For frying –

1 Tbsp Turmeric powder

1 Tbsp Red chili powder

1/2 Tsp Black cardamom powder

4 Tbsp dry coriander powder

1 Tbsp garam masala

1 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp cinnamon powder

2 large onions sliced

2-3 medium sized tomatoes

1/4 cup grated ginger

6-8 Garlic cloves peeled n grated

6-8 medium green chilies chopped. 

Put all this in mixi blender n grind well with little water. Do this atleast half hour back before frying it

6-8 Tbsp refind Oil to fry

1 Tsp Asafetida 

1 Tbsp Cumin seeds

1 Tbsp Methi dana powder ( fenugreek seeds powder)

1 Tbsp dry ginger powder

Method – 

1- Heat oil and fry asafetida cumin seeds,dry ginger powder and fenugreek seeds powder in it.

2- Now after 1 minutes immediately pour in blended masala into it and start frying.

3- It will take atleast 20 minutes to fry it continuously.

4- When this starts leaving oil than mix it in the boiled n softened chana.

5- Now crush the chana with potato masher for sometime.

6- Peel two medium potatoes and deep fry them till medium dark brown.

7- Add to the chana and close the lid of cooker and take one whistle.

8- When about to serve than add grated ginger, coriander leaves and green chillies.  

My journey n tips towards making perfect namkeen sevayin!

It was not an easy task to throw away those halua type disasterous javey or sevayin always. I was going through so many experiments of making perfect flavorful sevayin but it was all failure. In early 90s when no google or youtube videos were around to help in getting cooking done perfectly,it was actually a troubled time for me.

I was growing up and trying to help my mother in kitchen. Being marwari baniya from a small city we had three kind of options. One was home made javey, muslim groccers finely baked hairthin sevain and Maggi.

Sometimes it was a pulao type perfect sevayin my Mom used to make and whenevr I tried my hands it was always disaster.

It took 22 years to learn how to make perfect sevayin. But now my sevayin are best always.So I thought of sharing my tips with you all.

1- If you are using readymade than boil it in hot boiling water with little oil and salt.

2- First boil water to the bubbling point than add salt than oil than sevayin.

3- If you have plans to add peas and potatoes chunks too than add these too while boiling sevayin.

4- Once boiled perfectly than wash it with cold water and strain all water and keep aside.

5- Always do the frying in cooker.It will give more flavor tomyour namkeen sevayin.

5- Heat the oil or desi ghee and fry some curry leaves alongwith grated garlic for great frangrance.

6- Now add rai(mustard seeds), heeng(asofoetida)and carm seeds(ajwain) to it.

7- Now add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, salt and corriander powder.

8- Now add other vegetables like grated ginger, green chillies, grated cabbage, grated carrots and chopped capsicum etc to it.

9- Always add carom seeds for sure to get more flavor.

10-Adding grated paneer will make it very tasty.

11- Now after frying it all very well add boiled sevayin, peas and potatoes chunks to it.

12- Now mix well and sprinkle 2-3 tbsp tomato sauce n mix well.

13- If you wish than you can add few tbsps of ready made pickle’s gravy masala to it too.

14- Mix all very well and close the lid of the cooker. Put the flame to lowest possible.

15- Now close the flame after 4-5 minutes.

16- Open after 10-15 minutes.

17- Make sevayin in desi ghee for more flavor.

Why I am folding noodles on fork!

Yes, for the last 10 minutes I am folding noodles on my fork! Well, only all this I can do, at this very moment.I have no other option. My husband bought a bottle of lemon juice yesterday and today evening it is found finished. Now husband is questioning me. So I am busy in bowing my head down and pretending to find n fold noodles in my soup bowl.It is a big deal because I have two little kids from my first marriage.Not biological kids of my second husband. I am other person’s first wife and now second wife of my second husband. We both are widowers and remarried.

It is a matter of two liters of lemon juice which two little kids drank in one day. May be because there is nothing to snack upon or may be because we are taking only two meals a day. Fridays and Saturdays we take only two meals a day because third meal interrupts the kids studies. This is what my husband feels. So this evening it was a big mistake to make noodles and may be he is quite angry. So to avoid his big insulting me looks in eyes I am busy in folding the noodles on my fork.

Life was not always like this actually. Life was easy and little happy when my younger stepson was staying here with us. We used to go out, shopping and eating a lot. But now everything stopped. We go to cheap dinning outs. We watch less tv. We don’t go grocery shoppings too. So thinking all of this I am wrapping the noodles in my fork.

Remembering my past life with first husband is no use because he was a die hard foodie person and my home was always full of million things to eat all the time. I was house controller. He used to take money from me. All his building construction money was in my hands. I was his director. He was my sleeping n working partner as my first husband used to joke to me. But now life is different, as I am remarried to NRI who works out of India. It is not a same life. Convincing myself for this fact I am trying to fold noodles on my fork.
I need to tell my kids to not touch anything in the fridge and kitchen so that he can’t scold me and may be I shall buy a big bottle of juice for them. May be I have to accept that little money paying part time job to go on my own expenses to buy few things for my kids. May be this year again I am not able buy anything for myself because kids needs are getting higher so planning all this I am busy in folding noodles on my fork.

Spices, snacks, kids lunch boxes, water bottles, stationary, undergarments, shoes and clothing all need money. How I cope up with these demands only my God knows. How I work and manage money only my heart knows. Several part time jobs of marketing and sales is not an easy job. My eye power is increased due to my long hours of working on computer. But my kids never saw any shortage in their lunch boxes or life standards. One day they will forgive me for getting remarried. In this hope I am busy in folding noodles in my fork.

All day being alone I know how I pass my time. I am discarded from local families of my husband’s social circle. Not my fault but they all feel that why he got remarried? He is not ready to go out to meet anybody because he feels something in heart to go same families with second wife with kids whom he visited once with first wife. So going through a very lonely life in Qatar I feel empathy for my husband too lot many times because we both are facing a tough phase so why to fight with him for tiny issues. So being quite I am busy in folding noodles on my fork.

After getting married first time I learned so many things from my business class husband. How to control office, construction sites and handle labor. How to give back to the society and how to remain humble in the most tough situations of client’s hyper aggressive moments. But with my second husband I learned one thing only i.e. how to live most simple life. He is my own Warren Buffet. You see his clothes, shoes and way of living. I gave away lot of clothes since three years because I feel guilt of being too classy. I stopped visiting malls because it feels useless. I look back at the society and feel laughing strong at their mindsets. I am not happy somewhere in my second married but yes at least my both kids are under strong wings of very simple but studious person. They are under that person’s parental control who worked so hard since his childhood to reach such a high post.He is in house for their exams, writing multiple sheets for their studies and finally gives a mild smile when they bring good marks in tests. So thinking all of these things I am busy in folding noodles on my fork.

We the wives have two options to see the world after marriage. The way we feel it is and the way our husbands try to show us. It is a joint venture being married. It includes respect for each others sentiments, emotional setbacks and families. A single lack in anything means you are selfish to trying to dominate the other person. Being neutral is safer but not a solution because lot many times we repent why we didn’t paid attention to the spouse.In my case it happened twice. So now I feel being bit precautionary before venting out my frustrations or anger on my husband.He is much older to me. He is also struggling hard to settle down his grown up kids.So without being judgmental on his inquiry on juice I am just busy in wrapping noodles on fork.