The Gourmet and The Chef's Love

Recently my dear friend wrote in her blog "A happy couple?" I am quoting her "No one can be happy every moment of his/her life and that does not classify them to be unhappy. We all have happy moments in our lives."

I totally agree with her. If we enjoy these moment we can make our life happy and fruitful. In this context I want to tell about my self. Me and my husband are north-pole and south-pole. It's not just the appearance that is different, but our thoughts, beliefs, behavior, our tastes, our likings and disliking are totally different - poles apart. But one thing is clear that two poles make a world. The world where the children are safe and happy and where our elders are comfortable and cared. Two like poles can not make a world. I am going to tell you about two romantic dishes here which reflects the relationship and love (of a happy couple).

One Holi, (festival of colors) evening I and Abhijit visited our friend Dr. A.K. Singh's home. Doctor-saab and his wife 'Suman-ji' welcomed us warmly. Soon after we settled down in their drawing room, Suman-ji served us a lots of eatables. 3-4 types of sweets and variety of snacks plus 'Dahi Bara'. [Dahi Bara is a dish made of urad dal (lentil). Soak the dal and then make a smooth batter . Add some ginger and other spices. Take a dollop of batter and deep fry it. Then serve fried Bara with sour cream (dahi) and garnish with roasted cumin seed.]

Dahi Bara is one of my favorite dishes. So at first I picked up the Dahi Bara plate. I was amazed to see the size of Bara. I took a good look at the plate again and asked Suman-ji very politely "Did you make this at home?" She laughed and said "Bhabi-ji you are very intelligent." I could not make any relation between the size of Bara and my intelligence. I looked at her blankly. She pushed her husband by her elbow and said "Will you tell them please?" Doctor-saab smiled and told us the whole story. "In the early morning of The Holi, Suman was busy frying Dahi-Bara in the kitchen, when her friends came. She left the kitchen and went off with her friends to play Holi. I thought let me help her finish this job. By the time Suman came back, I had fried all the Baras. She was surprised and said "What the hell have you done... ...look... ...how big these Baras are???" I said "The size does not matter. You may serve one piece instead of two." Then Doctor-saab asked me "Bhabiji! How about the taste"? I smiled and said "Romantic Dahi Baras are always tasty . What's the difference if the size is masculine or feminine."

Another evening of Holi festival - I and Abhijit visited Mr.Sanjoy Sinha's home. This time the dish is Malpuha. [Malpuha is a kind of pan cake shallow fried and soaked in sugar syrup.]

Sanjoy and his wife Ruby welcomed us. As we settled down in their drawing room, Ruby placed a big bowl of malpuhas on the table. I was hesitating to eat as I am diabetic. But Ruby said "Please Bhabi, take one at least I made it with great love and labor."

Sanjoy interrupted and said "Hey! I made it."

"NO!" said Ruby "You just fried it."

"Frying malpuhas are most important". He raised his voice little.

But Ruby said softly "And making the batter is nothing? I alone did all the preparation."

Sanjoy said "On a holiday, I wake up early morning and fry the malpuha. This is not a matter of joke."

I interrupted them and said "Let me taste it first." I shoved my blood sugar aside took a good size of malpuha in my plate and ate whole of it, then said "This is excellent, Sweet and Romantic."