Chances are that it’s food if you are on Finely Chopped. Again, if you are on this page, then the web could be a big part of your world And if you are Bong then the Fifa World cup would be right up there on your list. (Love the way Germany is running all over the field right now)
If you are not new to Finely Chopped then you would have noticed that I take a rather keen interest in what I eat. So I decide on what will be cooked in our house. Which means that I have to instruct our cook, Banu, on what to chop, store and cook. And when things are not to my liking then I wield the ladle myself.
Today was a day of things tailor-made to bug me. Begun by discovering that Banu had stored Pabda and Rohu, two different types of fish, in the SAME box in the fridge. Sacrilege. The over salted omelette at CBTL for breakfast. A rare slip. Banu’s call to me while we were out at CBTL on what to cook. Racking my brains and giving her rather complicated instructions.
Going home tentatively. Wondering what she’d cooked up. Happy to see that the mudo diye daal (lentils with fish head) had been cooked properly. Horrified that the Eelish or Hilsa was charred and decimated while frying. Even though I had put the masala out and just left the last step to her.
Hilsa is a delicate fish. You don’t fry it. You don’t burn it. You don’t singe it. You pat it gently like a baby. Turning it over carefully as the pan gets warn. You love it. You pamper it. You nourish it. You indulge it. It has to be tossed with care. Frying eelish is an art. And, as I told my mother, koda (deep) frying of eelish is fine for those who don’t care about what they eat. Doesn’t work for The Knife.
It needed a good dupurer ghoom (Bengali for afternoon siesta) to soothe my frazzled nerves. A good fifty minutes in the gym after that helped. And a stolen coffee break at Gloria Jean’s with Kainaz and a surprisingly good chicken quiche.
As I headed home I saw that a new Cinnabon store had opened opposite our house at Pali Naka, Bandra. My face lit up. The clouds began to part. God was remembering me again.These guys do wicked things with cinnamon buns, raisins, chocolate sauce and butter. The Cinnabon store at Souk, Dubai, gave me some much needed solace on a mad, mad night when we were starving as we were searching for a place for dinner. Thankfully we live in a lane next to Pali Naka now. So won’t pile on ‘excess baggage’ every night.
I realised that I needed to give myself a break from cooking. AND from thinking up what Banu should cook. So I decided to order a biriyani for dinner. My favourite Kakori House said they were too busy. It was Sunday night. Kareems of Carter Road came to the rescue with a decent biriyani and shammi kebabs. I ordered K’s favourite ‘Cookies and Cream’ from Amore which was a good way to end Sunday on a sweet note.
PS Given the way the day was, it was no surprise that the net connection broke and that the end of the post disappeared. But then Germany’s scored four already and possibly more coming up. At least the match is exciting