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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Marriage is: matar pulao and tamatar alu


Like the perfect marriage, there can be no perfect picture to post at the seemingly perfect time on a less than perfect (and active) blog.

So, without any further ado, I'm going to launch right into my latest obsession - matar pulao! And mind you, it's no ordinary pulao this - it is the recipe of my ancestors; a great Raisurana secret, no less! My grandmother used to  make pot fulls of this mythical pulao on Sunday afternoons and the family would literally scarf it down. And my aunts and mom, party to the secret, would just pick up a pressure cooker of matar pulao right off the stove and rush out the door for family picnics in the winter sun. 

The world's best picnic entails sitting under some trees, on a random water tank somewhere in Golmuri or Telco (Jamshedpur references), with hot matar pulao on a paper plate accompanied with salad, lemon juice and tamatar chutney. Beatles playing on the car stereo. And the family. Perfection!

That's the Raisurana part of the story. As the title suggests, this post is about marriage, indicating two sides of a story. 

In the absence of lemon juice; ingredients for a salad; gud and panchforan for tamatar chutney, I decided to couple the matar pulao with tamatar alu from the husband's family. This tamatar alu has to be the simplest and bestest recipe ever. It is the most constant standby in my recipe book. Can't find inspiration? Make tamatar alu! Don't have much time? Make tamatar alu! No dal in the house? No worries, watery tamatar alu can sometimes be better than thick and rich tamatar alu! My mother was less than impressed with this 'lazy' combination but believe me, once she tries it, she'll be converted for life!
So, I know that the pictures aren't great but the look on the husband's face while having my grandmother's recipe along with his family's staple, was worth more than a thousand good pictures!

Every marriage has it's own unique flavours. Mine tastes like matar pulao (peas pulao) with tamatar alu (potatoes floating in tomato gravy). What does your marriage taste like? I would love to know!

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