Durga Puja 2012: Mahalaya er Misti Mukh -Komola Rosogolla-Orange Flavored Rasgulla
I can feel Durga Puja is the
air, even in London! Today was a wonderful sunny day, little chilly, just like
winter morning in Kolkata. Moring that indicate the arrival of Durga Puja or Sharodotsav
(festival of autumn)
“Durga Puja is the biggest festival in Bengal. This is also known as
Dussehra and Navaratri in other parts of India. Durga is the Goddess of divine
power against all evils. The story goes
that Mahisasur, the Buffalo Demon, through years of praying, received blessing
from Lord Brahma, that no power can kill him, which means he is invincible. But
once gaining this power he started ravaging the whole world and killing people.
And finally he wanted to uproot the Gods too. The Gods, in dismay, combined
their powers to create a beautiful maiden, and each placed his or her most
potent weapon in one of her ten hands riding a lion. Her return in each year in
the Bengali month of Aswin (September-October) commemorates Rama's invocation
of the goddess Durga before he went into battle with Ravana.The tableau of
Durga with her four children - Kartik, Ganesh, Saraswati and Lakshmi,
representing respectively the Protector, the Initiator of the puja, Knowledge
and the Provider - signifies the complete manifestation of the goddess”
(www.calcuttaweb.com)
Tomorrow is Mahalay- an
auspicious occasion observed seven days before the Durga Puja. It is a kind of
invocation or invitation to the mother goddess to descend on earth. It is only
from the day of Mahalaya that the preparations for the Durga Puja reaches the
final stage. The pandal gives it final
touches, shopping gets it final stages and offices gets slow and people wait
for the all the fun to begin. The midnight chants of 'Mahishasura Mardini' sets
the beginning of Durga Puja. The day of Mahalaya is also the day of remembrance.
On this day, people offer 'tarpan' in memory of their deceased forefathers. Many
of my family members will go to ganga ghat to pray and remember their
forefathers. Mahalaya also is brings back the memory of listening to all India
Radio program Mahisasura Mardini” or “The Annihilation of the Demon. This
program has almost become synonymous with Mahalaya. We used rise along with whole
of Bengal in the early hour of morning to tune in to the “Mahisasura Mardini”
broadcast.
I miss those days of
listening to mahalaya. London celebrates Durga puja with all its color, festivity
and spirit. My new sari’s are ready with matching shoes and ornaments. Office leaves
booked and puja plan made. Still it is never like being in kolkata never like
being home. I miss those days of standing in pandal queues at mid night, eating
puchka at 5am in the morning and welcoming the new sun. Those days with friends
and adda. The day of meeting my mashi’s on astami, nabami at R mama’s place
where the puja is 250 years old, Dashami in kolkata and ma’s cooking. Still collecting
so much of money after bijoya pronam like a child. I miss home. But now that I am here in London, I will celebrate is as much
as possible.
Therefore, Durga puja is
here again and the celebration begins from 20th October to 24th
October. Let us start the festival with some sweets from Bengal. And it has to
be rosogolla.
Ingredients:
4-Litre
full fat milk for chana/paneer
4-cups
sugar
3-cups
water
2-tablespoon
plain flour
3-tablespoon
sugar dust
2-Lemon
(juice taken)
1-cup
Orange juice
4-drops
orange flavor
3-drops
orange eatable color
1-orange
cut into small pieces to go inside the rosogolla
2-slice
orange for decoration
1-Orang
zest for garnishing
1.
Boil 4 litre the milk in another pan and heat
well until boiling point
2.
Slowly add lemon juice to make the chana
3.
Drain the chana using a strainer/ Muslin
cloth. Wash the chana so that it does not smell of lemon.
4.
Hang the cloth so that water drain properly
from the chana
5.
Take the chana in large bowl or on kitchen
slab
6.
Add the flour, sugar dust
7.
Use your palm to knead the chana into smooth
dough. The better the kneading the better will be your roshogolla
8.
Add orange color and orange flavor and mix
well with the dough
9.
Meanwhile take water and orange juice, mix
well and heat
10. Add
sugar on flame and make sugar syrup. It is not thick syrup.
11. Now
make balls of the chana. While making the chana ball insert small piece of
orange inside each ball. Remember that they will become twice their size once
they are in the syrup. Also make sure
there is no crack on the chana ball, otherwise they will crack once in the
syrup
12. Add
the chana balls in the syrup and cover the lit for 7/8 mins. The balls will
double in size
13. Take
the lid off and cook for 15-20 mins
14. Press
one roshogolla if it springs back to its actual size, then you know that it is
done.
15. Take
off the flame and cool it totally ( say after about 2/3 hours)
16. Garnish
with orange zest and serve either in room temperature or chilled
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