Jhuluk

आज अचानक एक वार्याची झुलुक काही तरी सांगुन गेली

मला उमजुन गेल, मला समजुन गेल सार काही

हा मंद सुवास , हा धुंद वारा आला होता माझ्या गावाहून

आज अचानक एक वार्याची झुलुक काही तरी सांगुन गेली

मला सोडून आली मला सोडून आली माझ्या बाल पणी

ऊर भरून आले , डोळे पानून गेले , भान हरपून गेले

आज अचानक एक वार्याची झुलुक काही तरी सांगुन गेली

आईच्या मायेची थाप अणि वडिलांची प्रेमळ हाक मला आठवून गेली

आज अचानक एक वार्याची झुलुक मला स्पर्शुन गेली

मागे सोडून गेली माझ्या आठवांची झोली ।

------------------------------------------------सोनाली

Palak Paneer

Hi friends, today I am going to share my recipe of Palak Paneer with all of you. Out of 100 people atleast 80 of us love palak paneer for its heavenly taste. I have been trying this recipes since i was child. After ages , i could now make a tasty palak paneer. So shall we start with it...
Ingredients:
Fresh Spinach - 1 bunch.
Paneer( Cottage Chees) - 150 gms.
Onions - 2 medium sized in number.
Garlic Paste - 1 and 1/2 tblsp.
Tomatoes- 2-3 ripe.
Fresh Cream - 3-4 tblsp.
Green Chillies -2-3 ( depending upon the hottness).
Jeera - 1 tsp.
Kasuri Methi - 1 tbsp.
Garam Masala- 1tbsp.
Sugar to taste.
Red Chilli Powder - according to taste.(optional)
Oil/Ghee - for cooking and frying the paneer.
Charcoal - 1 in number.
The Method:
1. Wash the spinach and get it blanched in a salty water for 2-3 min.
2. Drain the spinach and run it under cold water, remove excess water.
3. Grind spinach and green chillies into a smooth paste.
4. On the other hand get the paneers fried in oil.
(TIP: drop the fried paneers immediately into cold water, inorder to keep it soft)
5. In a pan heat oil/ghee ( ghee adds to the taste) and add jeera to it. Let the jeera splutter and then add the pureed onions. Fry the onions till golden brown till oil seperates.
6. Now add the garlic paste and saute for 30 secs. Add the pureed tomatoes, red chilli powder and cook till the oil seperates.
7. Add the kasuri methi (grind it in between your palms to liven its fragrance) and cook again for few seconds.
8. Pour in the pureed spinach along with salt, sugar and cream and let it boil.
9. Now add the fried paneers and garam masala. cook for few seconds and switch of the burner.
10. Now the magic step - heat a charcoal on a gas till its red hot.
Place this charcoal on a small steel plate and safely keep it in the pan of palak paneer.
Now add a tsp of ghee/oil on the charcoal and immediately close the lid of the pan.
11. Hot and delicious Palak Paneer is ready to be eaten with naan or roti or even rice.

Kolkata - City of Joy

KOLKATA - The city of joy, The city of Sweets, the city of tradition. its been a year now and I have started to like this city. Though being a pakka 'Puneri Punekar', I am now feeling a part of Kolkata. Before being to Kolkata, I have known It in books as a Huge Metropolitan and a home to the great Rabindranath Tagore, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Subhash Chandra Bose etc. From beginning itself I was fascinated by the charm of beautiful bengali 'Bahu' wearing a red bordered sari with huge red tika and sindoor and long hair. Its not difficult to recognize a bengali in the bunch even today by their typical bengali tone and skin texture.
Many of us have seen the bengali culture in movies like Devdas, The auspicious marriage ceremony, The Durga Puja, The Havelis and The Jamindars. During the British Rule, Kolkata was one of the important cities they had their impact on. Even today you can see the british architectured buildings here. Through the city flows the river Ganges making the city divine and the Famous Howrah Bridge which adds glitter to it.
Its little amazing to see a class of people who are simple, traditional, stuck to their roots, lost in past on one hand and the new, modern, sophisticated class of people on the other hand of the same city. Kolkata has lot of places forthe tourists - the famous Victoria Memorial, Science city, Eden Garden, Dakshineshwar Temple, Birla Mandir, Planetorium and many more. The most exciting place that I enjoyed being to was Eden Gardens on the First IPL Match of Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Deccan Chargers for which Shahrukh and troupe were present. You cannot get better crowd thean in Edens. Its electrifying and great stadium.
Moving to tasting the delicacies of Bengal, Kolkata is a place for Non Vegetarians. You can graze on variety of Fish, Chicken, Mutton Rolls, Kababs and Chops and Biryanis. Vegetarians do have a choice of Chats and Veg Rolls and the totally uncontrollable 'Phuchkas' . Phuchka is similar to Pani Puri but quite different at the same time. If you are a restaurant person you can drive to Park Street which is a street of Restaurants where you can get all kinds of cuisine and it is also a good hangout place. Try out the typical Bengali Cuisine at 'Bhojohari Manna'.If you are a shopaholic than ' New Market' isthe place where you can get anything and everything.
If you dont talk about sweets , you are missing out majorly. I swear by the soft,spongy and juicy 'Rossagulla'. I bet you cannot resist to have just one. One such speciality in sweets is a 'Khajur Gud' and sweets made by using it. I was knowing only a sugarcane 'Gud' but was really taken aback to hear of 'Gud' made of 'Dates' (Khajur). Every Bengali meal is incomplete without a Mithai and complete when you have a couple or more of them. :) Thats why people here are said to be sweet or mishti . On this sweet note i sum up my experience uptill now in Kolkata