Ruchira recalls her mother’s recipies. She misses those still. An exclusive for Different Truths.

Cooking was my Mom’s passion. Though she was well-educated and knowledgeable yet, during her entire lifetime, I guess, she spent more time within the kitchen than outside it. Ma was superb in cooking all well-known, popular dishes that  most Bengalis are familiar with. Yet occasionally she would come up with some quaint items, which I never got an opportunity to sample anywhere else, be it  eateries or other people’s homes. One was fish slices sautéed in mustard oil, spiced with the usual salt-haldi-jeera-dhania combination. Finally, she would garnish it with a profusion of chopped coriander leaves and lightly sauté again. Trust me, it jelled very well with shada bhat (plain boiled rice).

Ma was superb in cooking all well-known, popular dishes that  most Bengalis are familiar with. Yet occasionally she would come up with some quaint items, which I never got an opportunity to sample anywhere else, be it  eateries or other people’s homes.

Another of Maa’s specialties was adaa-jirey-lanka bata, aloo- pyanj  diye maach  (fish & potato in ginger-green chili-cumin -onion paste gravy). It was kind of a cross between the regular macher jhol and the rich macher kalia. Nevertheless we found it highly palatable.

When we eat puri, we pair it with either aloo ki sabzi or chana (black/white grams).But Mom did it differently. She would select a few medium sized potatoes; dice them into small pieces with the skin on, and boil them lightly. She would prepare a gravy using aata (wheat flour) blended with little water. Salt-turmeric- chili powder would go in next. This would be tempered with a pinch of hing (asafoetida) heated in mustard oil. To us it tasted divine. It’s been ages…but the taste still lingers in my memory.

Our family lived in Guwahati, Assam for a considerable period of time. The city’s proximity to Shillong – a veritable cornucopia – kept us well supplied with fruits all round the year. As a toddler, I watched Mom preparing jelly using ripe, luscious guavas.

Our family lived in Guwahati, Assam for a considerable period of time. The city’s proximity to Shillong – a veritable cornucopia – kept us well supplied with fruits all

round the year. As a toddler, I watched Mom preparing jelly using ripe, luscious guavas. The guavas were boiled first. She would then transfer the entire mass onto a clean, fine, highly porous cloth and hang it up in a secluded area of the kitchen. A large deep wide bowl was placed underneath the contraption. Many hours later, the bowl would be filled with rich amber, translucent jelly!

During my teenage, we lived in Punjab for a while. That’s where Maa picked up several Punjabi dishes. By far her most outstanding dish was aloo ke  parathe. She would divide the dough into sumptuous balls, generously stuff them with a mishmash of potato chopped green chili chopped onions and chopped parsley. Fried in desi ghee or vegetable oil they would turn into the most succulent parathas that anyone can imagine. Much later, when  I left home for higher studies, work, rounding up with matrimony, she was sad that no one pestered her for those any longer. However, during my periodical visits and sleepovers, she would religiously dish out my  favourite fare until her health gave in. It’s been quite a while that she is no longer amidst  us … but hardly a day goes by when I don’t miss (as they say in Hindi)  maa ke  hath ka khaana.

Photo from the Internet