Mixed vegetable curry

If you ask what dish first your mother taught you, I will answer none. Yes, it is true. My mother never taught me to cook. Only one time in my life she asked me to learn cooking. That was a very funny story. One day after my high school final examination she asked me to prepare tea. When I serve the tea, it was already cold. Everyone at home loves to have steaming hot tea. My mother asked me, why I didn’t not heat the tea before serving. I answered that, heating up tea many time caused lead secretion. From that day she never asked me to cook. I also never took the hassle of cooking. However, I usually watched her cooking, while talking with her. By this way I learned the basics of cooking. Though she never taught me to cook or do anything to be a ‘good’ daughter-in-law, but she taught me to be strong. She taught me how to accustom myself in any condition. She taught me how to live life only with bare necessities. Till now she is a minimalist. She is the only lady I have seen in my life without any desires. I never saw her to demand anything to my father. She is a person like water. Water takes the shape of the container where you keep. She also accustoms herself with any condition. When my husband asks me why I don’t have any demand, I answer, this is my mother’s teaching.  Long back, one morning suddenly she felt very sick. At that time I was sleeping. She called me asked me cook. That was the first day in my life I cooked. I cooked an entire Bengali lunch. My father just was taken aback in my accomplishment. He called all our relatives and told that for the first time I cooked in my life, and all dishes were tasty. Anyway, when you asked me to write something about her, all these memories flooded my mind.

Here I’m giving one very simple recipe of mixed vegetable curry which my mother cooks.

One cup of chopped pumpkin

One cup of chopped carrot

One cup of chopped long beans

One cup chopped eggplant (optional)

One big bowl of chopped spinach

One tsp cumin powder

One tsp coriander powder ( she use to make paste of cumin and coriander seeds)

half tsp randhuni seed paste( wild celery)( I didn’t have in my kitchen, so I Couldn’t use it)

One tbsp. oil

Pinch of turmeric

Salt to taste

For tampering:

paanch phoron ( five spices)

Method:

Heat one tbsp. of oil; add all the vegetables, except the spinach. Cover the wok, and fry for few minutes. Add salt and turmeric, and fry for another few minutes. Then add all the spices. Stir and cover the wok. Wait for few minutes. Then add the spinach, and stir. Cover and cook for a while. In the mean time add one cup of water, if needed. Boil for 10 minutes. The curry is done. Serve with rice or roti.

Sending this to VIRNUTHU UNNA VAANGA for her event 'Feast for your guru'