We
were on our way back from Navadarshanam after a three day
vacation. The "official" reason was to attend the Sunday satsang organised by Anantu and Deepa .... the whole stay, however, turned out to be perfect satsang to us ....sat-people,
sat-food and sat-environment made our short vacation a blissful one. Sunday was fully packed.... led by Deepa we together sang Kabir, Meera and Bulle Shah and listened to Anantu..... at the end of the day we were
tired but filled to the brim. While returning our new friend
Shibani was very kind to offer a ride and we happily
accepted that. It was a beautiful drive with the romantic bluish-grey
sky, wet wind with that after the rain smell and those profound
lyrics resonating in our heart. To top up Anantu was in our car
with his fountain of energy ..... infecting everyone surrounding him
with his cheerfulness. After reaching Bangalore Shibani
invited us to their villa in Whitefield for a cup of tea which we
readily
accepted to continue that joyful journey together for some more time.
While making tea Shibani mentioned that once she tasted drumstick
flower in her friend's house and loved it! That was enough to remind me
how much I love that very earthy taste and smell of sajne phul (drumstick flower in Bengali) and how I
badly miss it these days in Bangalore. Here we readily get the
drumsticks and the
leaves but flowers... I have never seen the fresh
flowers in market. Then Shibani revealed the top secret! They have a
drumstick tree in
the backyard which is currently in bloom! The two of us ran there
and started
collecting flowers from the wet grass...almost felt like a little
girl collecting shiuli-phul from the still-wet grass on an autumn
morning
before the Durgapuja.
We returned home with a handful of fresh drumstick flowers..... Thank you Shibani!
Now come to the recipe. Here I have cooked the flowers in a typical Bengali style using mustard oil and Kasundi (bengali style mustard sauce). The earthy flavor of drumstick flowers mingled very well with the pungent aroma of mustard.
Sajne Phul-er Torkari (Bengali Style Dry Drumstick flower Curry)
(Serves 2-3)
Ingredients:
Drumstick flower - 1 cup or more
Potato - 1 medium (peeled and cubed)
Geen peas - 1/4 cup or less
Panchforon - 1/2 teaspoon (see note)
Dry red chili - 1
Green chilies - 2
Mustard oil - 2 tablespoon + extra for drizzling
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Kasundi - 1 tablespoon (optional) (see note)
Salt and sugar - as per taste
badi (sun dried lentil dumplings) - 5-6 pieces (optional)
