Shameless Self Promotion ;-) ™ © ℠ ®

Yesterday 2 things happened in Chandigarh.
a) Power Cut
b) Season’s first fog
So I was out of the office for first half, and guess what I did. NSTP. I went to Panjab University. Read the spelling again its PANJAB not PUNJAB.
Being a Punjabi by nature also I enjoy everything thats Punjabi. Winter brings some pure punjabi stuff also. Mainly yummy things. I remeber we used to be at our maternal grandparents house in Pathankot. Me, my yngr sis and our than 5 more cousin sister and brothers. 7-8 kids in a house. In day time we use to be on roof flying kites. Shouting at each other. Screaming. Then in the evening in front of TV. But all good things come to an end. My cousins are now grown up and they have kids. My yngr cousins have either completed their masters or are in finals. Me in Chandigarh working round the clock missing even the sunlight.
But still I find some good old punjabi things.
Gachak. I dont know how to explain but you will find it in Northern India. Primary ingrediant is jaggery. You can add peanuts and or dryfruits.
Peanuts. Peanuts and Peanuts. I dont think I need to explain it more.
Gajar ka halwa. Its again a North Indian desert. Till 2 years back I used to be at my home and enjoy this delicacy made by my mom. After my mom the only best cook in this world is mee. (Shameless self promotion. )
Bhugga. This is a punjabi stuff. Made using sesame and jaggery. Sesame is commonly known as Til in northern India. There are more versions of Bhugga that even dont use jaggery. One famous is “Khoye wala bhugga.” This is not my kind of thing. But I do like til wali gachak.
Apart from all these you can find gulab jamun and this is the season when my supply of coffee is not under any scanner. I can drink as much as I can. Hot mild espresso is my fav. Club with some desert like Gajar ka halwa or Garam Gulab Jamun. Yummy!!!
And the one thing that needs mention here is sarson ka saag and makki di roti.
Makki di roti is tough thing. Its really hard to knead dough of corn flour and make roti. Only experinced persons can do it. My mom obviusly can make good makki di rotis. Now the toughest thing in this combo is saag. The sarson ka saag. Sarson or Mustard is grown in for its seeds. In the month of feb one can see fileds in Punjab that look like a carpet of yellow colors. I guess every one has seen DDLJ and must have seen SRK standing in a field. The saag requires picking up the right mustard stems from field. Separating leaves and boiling them. Now this simple boiling process can be as complex as you can think of. Wooden stove will have separate aroma. What herbs you use while cooking leaves also have different effect. Then the tadka or frying part.
At last when you have both things ready you need atleast 100 gms of butter with just one makki ki roti and minimum 2-3 table spoons of ghee with half bowl of saag.
Its not over you can use corn flour in making methi ki roti. Again a difficult but yummy thing. Methi wali roti is served hot.
One of the things I will be doing after being rich and famous is to have my OWN SEPARATE kitchen. Must go and grab some breakfast. Its really weired that when you cant sleep you just start blogging.
Really insane.