Perhaps we are the last generation of urban middle-class Indians who have seen the earthen stove as a primary cooking medium in their childhood! Back then the chulah was ubiquitous part of every household. Even I also had a toy version of this earthen stove for my rannabati-khela (play kitchen) ... a neighborhood aunty's brother brought this present for me from a fair .... yes, it was normal on that time ... neighbors (even relatives of neighbors) were part of our extended family! I even used to repair that stove with mud just like my mother used to do hers 😏 I still have faint memories of my mother doing a serious bargain with a tiny lady clad in colorful saare and bangles who used to come to our house once in a fortnight to sell "GuNte" aka cow-dung-cake each piece carrying an impression of her smalllish hand. (Hey! Want some GuNte? ... just search in amazon with "cow-dung-cake" ... you will get the branded ones...😀) There was a wooden box full of "gul" under the staircase made by my mom herself using a mixture of charcoal powder and mud. I still have a nostalgic memory of the jingle of her bangles when her fair rounded hands was busy in making small balls from that mixture .... then putting them on a wooden plank to sun dry in the backyard.
Time is passing so quickly! Back then they had no luxury of cooking at their "own time" or ordering food online like we do nowadays. Her day started early .... making the stove ready for cooking .... serving a palate of daal-bhat-macher jhol (daal, rice and fish-curry) was mandatory before the office and school-goers headed out from home. By the time my father and elder sister were out, I was back from my morning school and glued myself behind her. She is done with her kitchen chores, the stove has almost died down and that was the time ... some days she would make a spicy bati-charchari with a concoction of mustard paste, mustard oil, lots of green chilies, potato and some veggies on that dying stove for our lunch. Some day it would have small prawns... that smelled so delicious!
For making a bati-charchari, the basic idea is to mix everything in a bati aka bowl, close the lid tightly and allow it to cook slowly over a dying ember. The mix should typically consist of potato, onion (optional), green chilies, mustard paste and mustard oil. it may also have some other veggies like cauliflower, green peas etc or for the non-veg variety some small fish/prawn. Nowadays we sometime add tomatoes/cilantro but back then that was not common except in winter... those were the so-called seasonal items!
Here is a recipe for bati-charchari with drumstick flowers and a non-veg one with small fishes.
Sajne Phuler Bati Charchari (Drumstick Flower One-Bowl Curry)
(Serves - 2)
Ingredients:
Fresh Drumstick flowers - 1 cup packed
Potato - 1 small (thinly sliced)
Tomato - 1 small (thinly sliced)
Green chillies - 2-3 (slited)
Mustard paste - 2 tablespoon (mixed with 1/4th cup of water)
Mustard oil - 1 tablespoon + extra to drizzle
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tespoon
Salt - to taste
