Day 52 of Lock Down

Well I have kind of lost track of the number of days now. Tomorrow lockdown 3.0 ends and lockdown 4.0 beings in Maharashtra. Officially it says 52 days, but I have been holed up in my home since the first week of March. Back then I had decided to work from home just as a safety measure, because employees around my cubicle were either coughing or sneezing. Who knew the work form home would spill into May or even June and no idea how much more.

As I jot this down, it started to pour outside. Like literally it is stormy weather outside and coming down as cats and dogs. From past two days, right from the morning it is cloudy. And then post afternoon we are getting light or heavy spells of rain. I think we are already getting the pre-monsoons. Somehow I don't even know where the summer went this year. we are inching into June when the monsoons are about to start. We lost a complete season to the virus, something we might have never anticipated. But the good part is, nature transformed. Getting Kalbaishakhi in Pune was something unexpected. We also transformed. We learnt to do everything a bit differently and then improvised as well. Had not it been for the lockdown, I barely got time to invest in the blog. But now I am once again investing time in things I had put on backburner even after day's office work. It feels great. Cooking, writing, photography, painting and reading all sorts of interesting stuff on the net, plus making new friends and acquaintances in food forums. There is definitely a fear looming on us about the situation around, especially when we are stepping out of the home to make essential errands. But still we are learning to live with it and adapt. The journey has been interesting so far with a few hiccups as well.

 I had joined a few food groups in facebook much before the lockdown started. But I hardly spent time to check them out on a daily basis. When lockdown started, initially the time spent in looking at all I could find in facebook increased considerably. And I realized I was part of a food group names as Pune Food Group which had some amazing recipes published on a daily basis by its patrons. Watching all the amazing creations over there I felt inspired in true sense. Once the lockdown phase stabilized a bit, when we again started getting food essentials properly, I started investing a little more time in cooking dishes which I never tried before. Some of them were traditional Bengali recipes, some fusion, and some totally based on the ingredients available at any given day.

For the longest period in time I was missing getting fish. Being a Bengali its pretty unimaginable that I didn't eat any fish for over a month back then. Previously I used to get my fish supplies from local fishmongers and mostly it would be either Rohu, Catla or Magur. Because that's all I would get in my area which was aligned to my Bengali palate. Rest all were mostly the fishes which Maharashtrians preferred. Not many Bengalis live in this part of the town hence no Bengal specific fishes would come, apart from Hilsa which I would get at the nearby Big Bazar. But with the lockdown, there was absolutely no option of leaving this area, since all roads were blocked. One day to my utter joy I found a neighborhood fish store open. I wrote about the experience in my Sorshe Diye Macher Jhal blog. But then again when the soul is Bengali it can not thrive long on the Bangda and Kolambi selections alone.

So it happened that when I started posting about a few of my dishes in this FB group, I met a few folks with whom i built a good camaraderie and shared the usual fun banter. During one such instance I met Sinchita and we got talking over things including sourcing good fish in these times. That's when I got to know about Fresh to Home from her. Previously there was this one time I had bought fish online because I was not getting Catla locally and I need it for preparing curry for some guests coming over. But when it had arrived, I was utterly disappointed. Right form the packing to the contents everything was dismal. The fish was probably dead a month back and in freezer till then. The fish tasted like cardboard and I swore never to order fish online again.

But dire situations demand dire actions. So I thought I will give it a go again, especially since many members of the group were all praises for their service. Problem was that it was still the phase of lockdown 2.0 and my area came under one of the many containment zones of Pune. So whenever I was looking at the app it showed all empty. After trying for a couple of days I finally concluded that they were not servicing in this area at all. When I told this to Sinchita, she went out of her way and informed me when they were available. And I was able to place the first order. So just as a precautionary measure I ordered something else initially to gauge their quality. The delivery guy was dot on time and he was wearing all safety gears. I saw him sanitizing his hands before he touched the bag of products. The product is vacuum sealed and then put inside another packet and then the delivery guy puts it into a brown paper bag and hands it over to you. I pretty much liked what I saw. This is not a sponsored post or anything. I liked the services of Fresh to home and hence I wanted to mention it in here, so that if someone would just stumble upon my blog they might find this information useful.

After the successful attempt now I was ready to order my first fish from them. This week while just gazing the application I saw a fish that looked like Shol. I looked at it twice because Shol is something I never thought I would see anywhere outside Bengal. At least in the last decade in Maharashtra I never saw it, not even in Mumbai. When I was kind of convinced I thought its still better to double check with my mom, because the prices looked a bit steep. Immediately send a picture of it to mom who was as surprised as me and confirmed it was indeed Shol. My joys knew no bound as I ordered them. and they got delivered just on time the next day.


Shol is a fresh water fish with a firm flesh. They also known as shoal fish, channa striata, shoul fish, snakehead fish etc. Its a very popular fish in the eastern part of India, especially Bengal, Assam and Bangladesh. My first memories of this fish gravy was that prepared by my grandma when we used to visit her in vacations. She would make small pieces of the fish and that was my only gripe. I always wondered why she used to only make this particular fish into such small pieces. No way to know that now because she is no more. My best guess can be because of its firm texture, smaller pieces means better absorption of seasonings. Whenever I visit Kolkata, at least once mom would prepare this. I never realized I liked this fish this much until I saw it in the app and ordered even at Rs 200 extra per Kg than what it is in Kolkata.

The fish looked firm and pink and when I cooked it today , a day later it was still super fresh. I could tell it clearly by the way they looked when I fried them. Traditionally I prefer it with red pumpkins just the way my mom prepares. But during this lockdown I am not getting them. So next best option was lauki or lau. This is also a classic combination. Mainly this combination of fish with Vegetables might sound a bit weird to many, but its very common in the east, especially in the Bangal cuisine. A very simple and light gravy which has the goodness of both vegetables and fish making it a wholesome meal in one with rice.




Do try this out and tag me (@curriesnstories07) on Instagram on your photos whenever you try the recipe and I will give a shout out to you.

After a beautiful winter the summers are finally here full on. And this time it promises to be intense with the mercury touching 39 degree centigrade at the beginning of April. Pune has a very dry summer unlike the humid summer of Mumbai. You feel the heat but it doesn’t leave you drained. The apartment where we are currently staying is in the outskirts of the city for which after sun down the evening breeze coming down from the surrounding hills creates a pleasant weather.

The best part of Summer is waking up to the sweet cooing of the cuckoo in the morning.  I had almost forgotten what it’s like waking up to the song of a cuckoo once I left Kharagpur for attending college a decade ago. The city lifestyle had taken over from there on. The beauty of living among nature, summers bursting with the fiery blossoms of Palash , monsoon bringing in an array of colorful critters and petite white lilies, autumn ringing in the tall Kash Phool hedges , winters with the classical chilly evenings and spring coloring the landscape with golden Radhachuda.

We stayed in a huge B-type  quarter in the IIT campus, specially allocated to professors.  The quarter was bigger than 15000 sq. ft pent houses of today. And we had a lawn like a football ground surrounding our quarter with huge tall trees as boundary lines between two adjacent quarters. Summers would be pretty intense in the campus. And the hollow brick house would heat up quickly in the day. During summer vacations as soon as the sun went down behind the trees me and ma would set up a small table and a few chairs in the red stone paved area before the lawns.  With sun down the temperature would come down and a nice breeze would start. As the evening progressed the air would become heavy with the smell of Madhabilatas.  We settled down in the chairs with some snacks and summer special drinks like lassi, bel er shorbot etc.  I would study in advance for the next class and she would sit engrossed in some book. As the evening set in ma would light the Hurricane lantern or a few candles (Emergency light was still uncommon back then). It was difficult to read and write in that flickering flame but it had become such a natural thing for us that we never felt at
unease. Now-a-days Hurricane Lantern are only used as décor for rustic themed restro-bars, but back then it was a way of life. There would be evenings when it was breeze less, we would then bring out our brand new table fan.   My cats would play around us, sometimes one of them would curl up on our laps or lie down on one corner of the table to enjoy the fan. Dad would come home late from the institute almost by 7:30 PM. He would sometimes join us outside after that. There would be long hours of mother-daughter talks once I was done studying.  I believe those were the evenings over which the two of us bonded as friends.  I remember this one particular evening when I was studying for my entrance exams into the new school. Ma was as usual engrossed in some book. The Hurricane lantern would only light the top of the table. Down under it was all dark. I suddenly felt some things slither over my feet and jumped in alarm. First we thought it was one of my cats but then we heard something rustle over the fallen leaves and saw a snake run away. It gave us quite a fright but snakes and living in the IIT campus was synonymous.  There were snakes everywhere you could imagine. So even though we were scared and took precaution to light up more Hurricane lanterns and set on the ground all around us, we didn’t refrain from enjoying our evening sit-outs.

Summer would also mean endless hours of watching children program on DD1 throughout the morning as there would be no school. Chandrakanta, Potli Baba, Dino Danasur, Duck Tales, Shaktiman, Aladin all these would be studiously devoured. My dad would also buy me many story books to spend my summer. I was a vivid reader and books always made me super happy. Covering the new class books and copies with brown papers and smelling the crisp pages was another of my favorite activity. As ma would cover the books I would meticulously select the fancy label to be put up on each book – a mermaid one for the science book, goofy for geography and so on. Ah the joys of childhood!

Another thing that I remember from the Summer months is the cooing of the cuckoos in the wee hours of the morning. They would start cooing even before the first ray’s of the sun hit the earth. And it would be a powerful orchestra as dozens of them would sing in unison. You see we never needed a rooster to wake us up back then. We were used to it so it didn’t mess up with our sleep. But once my grand pa was visiting us and all this cooing made him wake up. He complained throughout the day about the Cuckoos. The cuckoos of IT were fabled for their early morning choir even till day.

Compared to all those cuckoos here we have only a lone cuckoo singing in the morning and afternoon. Sometimes it is joined by its mate. But these two loners really ring in all the beautiful childhood memories for me. I have never seen them but I have heard them every single day.  I have a lot of pigeon friend though for whom I keep boiled rice on the terrace every night. By day break they are all polished off.  And with the onset of summer I have made it a practice to keep a bucket of water outside in the patio so that thirsty birds can have a drink anytime. I would urge all my readers to also do the same. Think for the earth, and you will not go unrewarded. As I witness the enormous speed at which the concrete jungles are encroaching the nature I just wish that somewhere some cuckoos are still there to regale the children in the days to come. 

During the summer days you don’t prefer to have spicy and heavy stuffs. The heart craves for soothing light food. The Bengali household would almost discard the usage of onions in their gravies during this time of the year. And you would find all the high water content rich summer vegetables like potol (pointed gourd), kacha pepe (green papaya), jhinge (ridge gourd), kach kola (raw banana),  sojne data (drumsticks), begun(brinjal), kumro (pumpkin) etc made into very light gravy in every household. We usually call such gravies as “patla jhol” or “thin gravy”.  The recipe that I am going to write about today is a soupy gravy of fish and vegetable. It’s ideal for the hot summer afternoons and easy on the stomach too. I used two types of fish for the gravy, you can just use Rohu if you want.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes 

Marination Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serves:4


Ingredients: