Sometime in 90s
Just like any other day, I came home from school. Kept my school bag on the study table, and picked up the frock which Maa (mother) had kept on the Aalna (cloth hanging rack), nicely folded. As usual, while picking up my frock, I dropped few clothes which were kept below my frock. I saw around… Checking if Maa or my brother saw me dropping the clothes. Confident that nobody was around, I picked up the clothes and quietly kept them back on the Aalna. My brother came out from the bathroom. It was my turn to freshen up. By the time I came back (from bathroom), Maa had already served my lunch and had started feeding my brother. I quickly put my sweater on and rushed to the lunch table, where in lieu of chewing and swallowing the food, my brother was feeding her with his boring adventures in school. I ignored all those conversations and put my eyes on the thala (plate) with a disinterested look on my face. Suddenly, everything changed… Suddenly my day came to life… My eyes twinkled with excitement… I looked at Maa. It seemed like she was waiting for the moment. She gave a nod of appreciation. That moment my happiness knew no limits. Maa had made Badhakopi’r Bora (Cabbage Fritters) for lunch! Just like all my favourite food, I saved the Boras till the end and finished the rice and dal (lentil soup) just by admiring the boras, of-course with few uncontrolled bites of Boras as large as a grain of rice. And finally, the moment arrived. I took the Bora in my hand and gazed it with admiration. I bit into it, and the music of crunches inside my mouth along with the flavour and taste took me to a divine realisation. Without wasting time, but slowly, and concentrating all my senses into eating and feeling the Boras, I finished them without leaving any traces on the plate.
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Recipe: Badhakopi’r Bora Or Cabbage Fritters
Preparation Time: Around 22 minutes Pressure Cooking Time: 8 minutes Frying Time: Around 35 minutes (includes heating pan and heating oil) Frying Time Per Fritters: Around 5 minutes on a medium flame Equipment Used: A pressure cooker, a mixing bowl, a knife, a pan and a deep frying strainer Yield: 4 Fritters
Ingredients:
- One half of a fresh cabbage
- 3 cups water
- ½ cup maida or all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup rice powder
- ¼ cup rawa or semolina
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5/8 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup mustard oil
Method:
- Take a fresh cabbage
- Take off the outer leaves or the leaves that are already broken
- Cut the cabbage from its stem into two halves
- Take one half and pressure cook the piece till 1 whistle after adding 2 cups water in pressure cooker
- In another flat bowl add all-purpose flour, rice powder, semolina, turmeric powder, salt and sugar
- Add 1 cup water to the above ingredients and mix them well to make a smooth batter till no lumps remain
- In the meantime, take out the pressure-cooked cabbage piece and cut the cabbage from stem to four pieces vertically
- Insert tooth picks into the cabbage pieces to hold the leaves from breaking
- Soak the cabbage pieces in the batter
- Turn the sides so that the batter spreads to every part of the cabbage
- Heat a pan
- Add oil into the pan and heat the oil
- Deep fry the cabbage pieces one by one till they turn brown and crisp
Take a fresh cabbage.
Take off the outer leaves.
Cut the cabbage into two halves.
Take one half and pressure cook the piece till 1 whistle.
In another flat bowl add all-purpose flour, rice powder, semolina, turmeric powder, salt and sugar.
Add 1 cup water to the and mix the ingredients well to make a smooth batter till no lumps remain.
Take out the pressure-cooked cabbage piece and cut the cabbage from stem to four pieces vertically.
Insert tooth picks to hold the leaves from breaking.
Soak the cabbage pieces in the batter.
Heat oil in a pan.
Deep fry the cabbage pieces till they turn brown and crisp.
Tips:
- The dish tastes best with winter cabbage
- Choose the half (cabbage), which has the leaves tightly bound
- For the rice powder, I have used readymade puttu powder. But you can grind rice to smooth powder
- While making the batter, add water little by little, so that you can acquire the perfect consistency. So that the batter spreads and remain on the cabbage pieces, they should not be too runny or too dry
- Taste little batter, to check the proportion of salt and sugar. Adjust salt and sugar as per your taste
- You can use the whole cabbage and can make more boras or fritters. Just increase the ingredients accordingly
- You can use the leftover oil later
