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| Kaatla kalia |
I felt like the UN Secretary General this afternoon and let me explain why. This story began when I had just finished answering a long and interesting phone interview for a biryani story which left me famished.
I then placed an order for a family lunch in Kolkata, sitting in Mumbai, from the Bhojohori Manna outlet at Garia through Swiggy, as it is my mother’s birthday.
I then placed an order for a family lunch in Kolkata, sitting in Mumbai, from the Bhojohori Manna outlet at Garia through Swiggy, as it is my mother’s birthday.
Turned out that there was a mismatch between what I had ordered and what was available at the restaurant! That led to my moderating a tripartite call between a Swiggy call centre lady from Rajasthan (according to the caller id) and the gentleman at the shop. This worked better at the end as I managed to get the Borishal jumbi ilish and the bhetki rongpuri which ma wanted to order in the first place, but which did not show on the app initially. Us two Bengalis on the call switched to Bengali and Bengali pronunciations and much credit to the Obangali mohila (non-Bengali lady) that she managed to fix things despite this. Even if she probably put down the phone and said, ‘these Bongs are crazy.’ Later the Swiggy delivery person called me too and thanks to the directions I gave, now knows how to reach our apartment. I later learnt that it was raining heavily by the time he delivered so God bless him for that.
Ma spoke to me after the meal and said, ‘ theilish was super as was fish chop. The coconut in the curry added a nice balance. Overall, the food was even better than what we have had from there.’ She sent me some pictures too!
I had heard of a comment recently saying that I get better food than others when I order at Bhojohori Manna as they know that the order is for me. Well, this time they had no idea that it was I who was ordering. My mother’s reaction goes to prove why so many others and I are such fans of this chain. Don’t be so cynical folks!
I had heard of a comment recently saying that I get better food than others when I order at Bhojohori Manna as they know that the order is for me. Well, this time they had no idea that it was I who was ordering. My mother’s reaction goes to prove why so many others and I are such fans of this chain. Don’t be so cynical folks!
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| pulao kaalia from the #FinelyChoppedKitchen |
Since the last of the kaju kishmish pulao from Oh! Calcutta, Khar, was still left, I took out some kaatla from the deep fridge, which I had bought from Khar market the other day, and made a kaatla kalia to go with it after the call. Banu had reached by then and helped my with the frying and grating.
My lunch was super too! Very birthday celebrations appropriate.
PS 1. Bengali grannies have been adding cauliflower instead of potatoes to dishes way before cauliflower rice was discovered (albeit in winter) 2. Rohu/ kaatla stays longer in the deep fridge than pomfret/ rawas in my experience. 3. The advantage of making fish kaalia at home is that one can deep fry it a lot less than restaurants do (my blog has recipes)
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| Mutton curry rajma and pulao |
PPS Yesterday I had the leftover pulao with the leftover mutton railway curry from Oh!Calcutta (their rice portions last me 3.5 times) and fresh rajma made by Banu. A meal I dedicated to my Punjabi Bengali couple friends, the rajma chawal obsessed Vernika of Delectable Reveries and her fiance, Souvik.
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| And this is the mutton curry and pulao meal which I had day before night. K ordered it from Oh!Calcutta as I was returning home after a long day and wanted so good food. The pulao that kept giving |
Do forgive the wonky formatting. This started first as a Facebook post and copy pasting does that
