Odisha Mo Odisha

Its fall already…. colors everywhere… everyone’s gearing up for festivities.. both eastern and western… this year Diwali & Halloween are just a day part… how exciting !!! Back home, we did not really care much about weather & season changes etc. Everything pretty much happened by the school events or cultural festivities.. like Durga Puja.. followed by Diwali etc etc… Now in Cuttack, food is (always has been) the center of attraction no matter what the event is… especially snacks during evenings… and extensive lunches and all… Speaking of snacks… we have all grown up eating Singada (Samosa), Bara (Wada), Piyaajee (Onion lentil fritters) and Vegetable Chop… The vegetable chop is this colorful mash up of veggies coated with semolina (Suji) and deep fried (Yummy) !! So here’s my version of the vegetable chop (beware its not the healthy of options)… made it with veggies that I had on hand, but I didn’t add any chillies because of my son… feel free to make variations &

Craving for some veggies, not gravy but dry... don't know what masala powders to put...don't have enough time... well this is my way of answering the questions... Mixed veg with mustard paste... simple, elegant & yummy !! What I used Cauliflower - cut into small florets Beans - Cut into 1 inch pieces 1 Carrot - Scraped - cut into 1 inch pieces 1 small red potato - skin on - cut into 1 inch pieces 1/2 red onion - thinly sliced 1 tablespoon of mustard paste (Remember me? Black mustard seeds + garlic + Green chillies + water) Salt & Turmeric to taste Mustard oil for cooking How? Heat mustard oil in a pan (non stick or otherwise) Once oil's hot, add the onions & fry till they are golden brown. Next goes all the veggies + mustard paste + salt & turmeric Give it a good mix, cover & let it cook till the veggies are tender. (I needed to sprinkle some water because the veggies were sticking to my pan. Next time I'll use a non-

After may be a decade, we had fish eggs cakes, totally Odiya style at home. I remember Baba used to get fish eggs (very rarely ever) & Mami would make these yummy cute little pan cakes & we would just gobble them up without waiting for the actual meal to come out to the table. It was silly but so much yummy fun.  So this fish eggs packet was in Bangla market in Sunnyvale, CA which we bought imagining many many things. Both my husband and I are fish fans, so getting the fish eggs in a store in US of A in itself was a big deal. I don't think I even looked at the price. I am sure, it was overpriced, but who cares. We had fish eggs & I knew exactly what to do with it.  Macha Manji Bara - Fish Eggs PanCakes (Not the type in Denny's, these are small almost bite size) Things I used Macha manji or fish eggs/roe (1/2 Lb) - I know its too much but thats what the Bangla store had. It was frozen, so had to defrost it in luke warm water (not in MW) for about an h