food from the street and more

ফুচকা/पानीपुरी 

.....in a lazy spring afternoon, far from homeland, if a walk in down memory lane, takes you to the man/দাদা /ভাইয়া , standing ad mist the hubbubs of busy Saturday market, selling ফুচ কা/ गोलगप्पा  , what can you do?close your eyes for awhile and sigh? crib to your mom  over Skype or update you status with a sad emoticon on Facebook  or 
simply give it a try and be the master of the trade;the most wanted women in community gatherings and the star auntie who can make golgappa!!!!
choice is yours for sure but trust me its easy & worth experimenting...
miles away from India i can still enjoy ফু চ কা / golgappa thanks to the vendor at Park Street , Kolkata, for sharing with me the recipe.
দাদা  আপনাকে প্রচুর ধন্যবাদ আমার এবং আমার বন্ধুদের  তরফ থেকে। ...জানি আপনি কোথায় এই লেখা পড়বেন  তবু...

ok getting back to the recipe:

Ingredients for Poori:

1.  Sooji/Semolina:       1cup
2. Whole wheat flour:  1/4 cup
3. Refined flour :          1/4 cup
4. Baking powder:      1/2 tsp
5. Oil for deep frying

Procedure:

Make a dough of all the above mentioned ingredients using enough water and leave aside covered with a wet towel at least for an hour.
the more the settling hours the better though.....

check the dough, if its too tight or too dry, with little water knead it again.

take a little dough and roll it to a thin roti...be careful enough not to roll it too thin as it will make papri. cot out small poori with a cookie cutter or lid of your oil jar or with whatever whose shape suits you.

deep fry in medium flame and drain in a kitchen towel....repeat till the dough is over
keep changing the kitchen towel and don't stack too many poories at one place.

leave it open for around 2 hours till it gets crisp.

Stack in an airtight container or serve thereafter.

Note: using the same dough you can make rajkachori making a big single poori.  

Ingredients for Masala:

Well this varies from State to State depending on the palate ;like  Delhi  prefers सौंठ  the sweet tamarind chutney with smashed boiled potatoes,chole but in Kolkata we would love to have it with bangali  style chaat masala, made dry roasting coriander cumin red pepper bay leaves and dry grinding together; to it add black salt, as much green pepper as you can risk, a dash of lemon juice, pulp of tamarind as per taste and fresh coriander leaves.

for the tamarind water 

 you can either mix your tamarind pulp with pudina ormint leaves, cold water anda litlle of pepper or just make a combo of tamarind pulp,water , black salt ,green chilli and fresh coriander.

well taking about गोलगप्पा। and Delhi if you are in for a Vasat Kunj PVR style then surely try your pooris with the shot of vodka!!!!!!!

am sure you are going to rock specially amongst all those expecting mummies who are dying for ফুচ কা/ गोलगप्पा abroad.

रामलाडू   

when i had first came to Delhi to study advertising some 12 years back it was June. monsoon in Kolkata...i was already missing my পেয়াজি & আলুর  চপ   but only to discover during one of my first visit to Sarojini Nagar market that actually there's nothing much to loose...every city has its own flavor the fast you get adopted the better...and then onward every shopping spree at Lajpat or Sarojini would end with a plate of pipping hot रामलाडू  topped with green chutney and grated white radish.

well there are two variations of the recipe that i had learnt from the street vendor:the choice of using channa daal depends absolutely on your palate. 

 well so these are the few things that we require:

1. yellow moog dal   : 1 cup
2. channa daal (if using) : 1/4 cup
3. fresh coriander (1 cup) , mint leaves(1/2 cup) & green chili as per taste for the green chutney
4. grated white radish for topping

method:

soak the daal/daals for at least 5 hours

grind with very little water & a bit coarse.

add salt, i prefer a pinch of hing & chili powder which might as well be omitted.

meanwhile let the oil heat up

in a medium flame fry small size ladoos

in the same batter you can coat green chili slit a bit length wise & fry.

for the green chutney

blend together all the ingredients with a little water 

(i also add a dash of lemon, i pod of garlic & 1 teaspoon of grated radish for extra flavor)

now that your ram ladoos are ready...u have already made the green chutney & grated radish देर  किस बात की ?