“Aaj dhaner Khete roudro chhaya-e lukochuri khela re bhai – lukochuri khela” – (The fun game of hide-n-seek in the sun & shade of the paddy field…)
These beautiful lines(part of a song) by Tagore reminds me of my childhood. We were three sisters – me & two of maternal cousins who I spent the initial 10 years of my life with. It was enriching & full of activity. Now that I see my little niece who can barely hold her herself together demanding an ipad, I can’t help but wonder if how the days have changed. For us luxury was either a trip to the zoo or a Bengali spread at lunch with Pulao, beguni (Eggplant fritters), pathar mansho (Mutton gravy), something sweet my mami’s tomato chutney. I know that makes me sound like hundred and two years old but how simple & charming were those days! Gone!
Before I fly off to my memories, let’s get on with the recipe of the day, Pulao. I am sorry if I come out as an Indian Classic dish maniac to you but I can’t just help but try these evergreen recipes. But this time I took a step ahead & whipped up something my family hardly makes – Moti pulao (Pearl pulao).
Weird name?? Well, the word moti which means pearl in hindi comes from the pearl-like cottage cheese/paneer balls. They are either stuffed or plain flavoured. They look good, yes. But they also taste delicious with the saffron sweet-ish rice!
What irked me the most for years is how the pulao made at home in the comfort of my kitchen never seemed to be the same as those we are served in fancy restaurants. I have tried endless versions of similar kind of pulaos & 70% of the websites online are all good but alas not the restaurant-like. Note that by no means do I want to say the homemade ones are any bad but….well! you know what I mean, don’t ya?
So after a good number of try & massive help from my maa, here’s a restaurant trade secret just for you. It certainly was an ‘eureka’ moment for us in the kitchen!!
Here’s the recipe of the day for you. Go crazy!