"Excuse me, Sir, but could i talk to my sister?" one absolutely cherubic 4-year old's countenance presents itself at her 8- year old sister's classroom door. The face belies an iron will not to be done out of her share of goodies which her mother has inadvertently mis-packed.
A very embarrassed older sister comes to the door of the classroom. Loud hiss - "what do you want? Can't you see i'm in the middle of a math class?"
"But, Akka, i think you got my cutlets and i got your salad"! Imagine this in a 4 year old voice which is way off the pitch scale, earning consequently for it's owner the nickname of "Squeaky" audible to the whole class and you have a classful of 8-year olds rolling about in laughter - very happy for the comic relief in the midst of algebra! As also an "Akka" who by looks as though she would cheerfully murder the 4 year old sibling.
The younger one has her lunch hour at noon; the older one half an hour later and the mom in question (me) having packed tomato rice and cutlets and a salad - has - in the morning rush, packed two dabbas of salad in one's lunch and two dabbas of salad in the other's, to the younger one's intense disappointment but like i said earlier, she wouldn't be diddled out her favourite cutlets!
End result - one very upset 8 year old stalks home in the evening - "Amma, you have to teach Kanchana to behave - tell her she can't come to my class"! No harm was done, however, and the story passed into the school's folklore!
So here's the dish that Kanch couldn't do without!
- Potatoes - 1/2 kg - the floury variety - boiled and peeled
- Carrots - 2 - peeled and boiled
- Peas - 1 cup - boiled
- Coriander (dhania) powder - 2 tsp
- Cumin (jeera) powder - 1 tsp
- Himalayan pink salt (kala namak) - 1/4 tsp
- Asafoetida - 1 large pinch
- Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
- Finely chopped green chilies - 1 large
- Chopped mint and coriander - 1 tbsp each
- Juice of 1/2 lemon or raw mango powder (amchoor) 1/2 tsp
- Salt
- Cornflour - 1 tbsp
Mash the potatoes and carrots together along with all the spices and salt. Mix in the peas. Fold in the cornflour without overworking it. Shape into flat discs about a cm thick and fry on a flat tawa (pan) with a few drops of oil on each. Serve with ketchup, of course!!! And watch your pitch rise from alto to soprano!
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