Is age just a number? Or does it signify something… For sure
I am getting older! This year I would be celebrating my big 3 with a child who
is a big 2. I don’t know if it’s the number, but I surely think it’s a bigger
issue here. I chose to settle in matrimony at an early age, and as a result, my
life took a fast turn into a calm sunset. Lots of my friends are still living
off tinned, packaged food, while I make gourmet domesticated stuff that I grow
in my garden. Flirting with fenugreek and spinach is all I do to perk up a
boring week evening. And nothing can lift my mood up and beyond than a simple
glass of chilled iced scotch coupled with jazz in my ears. Really, I am still
in my 20-ies. But these are the things I work hard for, the good luxuries of
life.
Why do you think I am ranting about age today? Well, it
stemmed out of nowhere literally, but when it did, I was completely flummoxed
and out of words. It all started on a fateful evening. I decided to drop in
unannounced on a friend who was a birthday girl that day. In the morning when I
called to wish her, I heard her recount all amazing plans for the weekend and the
birthday; and I severely felt left out as I didn’t fare in any of the plans she
recounted out to me. So, after my busy day in the kitchen, I picked up my little
guy from school and barged in to her apartment. There I met a girl for the very
first time- Miss X. I casually told her my name and she brightened up to tell
me that ‘I have heard so much about you, so good to finally meet you.’ Here was
Miss X, of whose existence I had no idea at all; though she regularly featured
in my friends various parties and get-togethers. But she knew me by my name and
I didn’t. That got me thinking, why it is that such a good friend of mine never
involved me in her plans, but talked about me to everyone she met. She is still
single, has a happening life in the metro. She can go to Agra at a moment’s
notice. Somehow I don’t have that luxury anymore. I have matured into a place
where I plan each day in the morning, and follow it immaculately all
throughout. I cook, I write, I garden, I work and then I drink my favourite and
off to sleep to wake up to this very routine again. Boring is it? Don’t know! Am
I too busy to notice? Don’t know again! Am I enjoying this? Well, in a very
strange fashion, yes I am.
I am enjoying being in this routine. We do party, but our
parties don’t have night clubs or discos anymore. And somehow, we have grown to
like such a quiet elegant life. Merits are plenty too. We eat healthy each day, and so eating out or
ordering in is special and is done to make memories. We spend our days thinking
about designs of new furniture or some other thing like a new dish or a new
crop to grow. And my little guy, he is in the centre of it all. We have grown
old. And it’s good to agree, feel and act like your mental age. After all, I conclude-
Age is just a number!
Today’s recipe is nothing else. It’s an ode to mature
tastes. As a child everyone hates colocasia. It’s an acquired taste, just like
whiskey. A matured palette can differentiate the finer nuances of the taste. The
itching fades away as our throat becomes bolder to fathom more calcium oxalate
than before. Today I made this dish to be served in a potluck. I packed it in
colourful dabbas, and the picture is testimony to that. But really, the dish can’t
get simpler than that. Now, I created this curry with colocasia stems, but you
can easily substitute it with cauliflower, following exactly the same steps as
shown below.
Ingredients
500 gms Colocasia stems, washed peeled and cut in 2 inch
size pcs
To be ground to a fine
paste
·
2 tbsp of black mustard seeds
·
1.5 tbsp poppy seeds
·
Green chillies to taste
·
Pinch of salt
·
Very little water
P.S. I don’t strain
the paste to remove the black shells of the mustard. You can if you so wish to.
The old kakimas (aunties) always blamed the shorshe shells for their husband’s
poor tummy. Though I feel otherwise, and blame the mustard oil instead.
2 to 3 tbsp of mustard oil (I know it’s quite less, but if
you use this efficiently it will give you amazing results)
A pinch of ginger paste (to enhance the mustard flavour)
1 tsp of onion seeds/ nigella seeds
Water as per requirement
Salt, sugar and turmeric as per taste.
Method
Wash and drain the stems well and in a steaming pot, steam
it in a microwave/steamer with some water. Steam on high power for 5 minutes. Let
cool, strain and discard the water which would now be filled with calcium
oxalate- the culprit that causes the itching. Let the stems drain out
completely and come back to room temperature.
Once it’s cold to touch, smear on the mustard and poppy seed
paste evenly. Mix in the ginger, salt, turmeric and a tbsp. of oil. Marinade in
it for 30 minutes or so.
In a non-stick wok, heat a tbsp. of mustard oil till smoking
hot. Splutter in the onion seeds and tip over the marinated stems.
Cook it on low to medium flame, stirring it occasionally till
its soft and cooked through. This will take about 15 to 20 minutes. To aid it
to cook faster, partially cover the wok with a lid, but make sure to toss every
now and then to incorporate air. This will help in uniform cooking.
Salt it generously as it would be served dry with steamed
rice. As an optional step, do balance the taste and pungency by adding some
sugar and mixing it well in the dish. Just 2 big pinches of sugar would do the
trick.
Once you are happy with the texture and taste, switch off the
gas and drizzle on a tbsp. or more of raw mustard oil. This is optional, but
highly recommended as it takes the dish up to a new height where no one will
understand wat exactly hit them. Serve piping hot with steamed rice.
