shubho noboborsho! i don't actually celebrate this because i'm extremely disconnected from my culture but hearing about it made me sad today because i don't know the next time i'm gonna get to see my parents, who i usually visit every month or two, or the rest of my family, who i see...basically never.
i don't have fish or shrimp which makes it pretty difficult to do a bengali meal and the only meat i have in the freezer besides stuff that isn't halal is a rack of lamb and wtf do i even do with that.
piyaju:
lmao i can't make piyaju. i modified
this
already modified piyaju recipe and used cabbage instead of zucchini
because it's the only vegetable i had on hand that seemed like it might
work. cultural note: piyaju are onion fritters made with red lentil
batter.
cauliflower and potato korma:
i don't have chicken. refer to
this tweet
for my mom's chicken korma recipe. i also used some elements from meera
sodha's
cauliflower korma. basically, melt some ghee and add the whole spices and almond flour.
when it starts to smell toasty, add garlic and ginger paste. add in
yogurt, cubed potatoes, milk, salt and sugar. while the potatoes cook,
roast cauliflower until it gets some brown and black spots. once the
potatoes are done, add the cauliflower.
polau:
polau is how we say it but i always see it spelled pulao? whatever. it's
just fancy rice. wash 2 cups of rice. heat ghee in a pot with a cinnamon
stick, couple of cardamom pods, and a bay leaf. add a 1/2 tsp of ginger
paste then the washed rice. add 3 cups of boiling water and like 1/2 tsp
salt? bring to a boil, lower heat, then simmer covered for 15 min. finish
in a 300F oven for 15 minutes.
patishapta pita:
afaik pita (pitha?) are like rice flour based snax with some kind of
filling? i've only had pitha (pita?) once in my life that i was old enough
to remember and it was the kind that was like a steamed rice flour...thing
with some kind of jaggery based filling? again, very disconnected from my
culture here. this kind is a rice flour crepe with a coconut and date
molasses filling. here's the thing: i don't have coconut or date molasses.
instead i toasted some almond flour in place of dried coconut and used
american cane sugar molasses + some chopped dates. i'm trying my best
here, y'all.
