SNOWY DAYS AND KHICHURI-ALOO PHULKOPI BHAJA !!!

Welcome to Winter Wonderland !!

Mother Nature has been overgenerous with us, in the Midwest, with her bounty of snow this year. Two blizzards in a span of four days. The patio has a few feet of snow which shoes no sign of melting away. The newspaper is either not getting delivered, or is getting buried under the fresh pile of snow accumulating very hour.

We are practically snowed in, although the snow ploughers are hard at work.

We are making the best use of our time indoors. Loads of indoor games, good movies on the telly and some neighborhood friends, who decided to walk through the snow. So we planned on a Khichuri potluck party.

Khichuri always brings back memories of rainy afternoons in India. Staying off from school, to enjoy an unexpected weekly day off, when it was pouring heavy. Khichuri from Ma's kitchen, with Begun Bhaja(Eggplant Fritters), Maachh Bhaja(Fried Fish). A dollop of ghee and even the grey rains seemed cheerful from the dining room window. Not to forget that anything from Ma's kitchen makes one warm and fuzzy, no matter how bad the weather is.

This time around, it was Khichuri from our friend Arka's kitchen. Loaded with peas and other veggies and also quite a few dollops of Ghee. He had dry roasted the Mugher Daal, till it changed color. The rice had been soaked in plain water for around half an hour.The ratio of Rice to the lentils was 1: 1. In a heavy bottomed pan, he had added some Mustard Oil, and let some whole Cumin (Jeera )seeds crackle along with some Green Chillies. Then he added the rice, daal, turmeric powder, Cumin Powder, Ginger Paste, salt and water and let it cook covered. He added in some random winter veggies lying around. Once the Khichuri was almost cooked, he added in some frozen peas, and finished off with some dollops of ghee.

Hubby cooked up some spicy Cauliflower and Potato Fritters , with a heady dose of Shukno Lanka ! Spicy crunchy and super nice. He added some Shukno Lanka(dried red chillies) to some Canola Oil. In the meantime, he had cut the cauliflower in small florets and diced the potatoes, to match the size of the florets. He mixed in some Paprika, salt with the veggies, and added them to the hot oil in batches. Somewhere between deep frying and shallow frying sealed the trick.

We had all run out of fresh fish. So Sayan improvised with some store bought breaded Halibut Fillets, which were fried to perfection.

We all decided on going with a little more ghee on each of our plates.

Pretty soon, everything was polished off, and then it was time for some playing in the snow !!!

Here's hoping all of you stay warm !!