Few days back I had invited my parents for dinner at our new home and I also asked my sister and her husband to join. My mom mentioned once that she doesn’t get much chance to eat food cooked by me as most of the time she is cooking for me. I guess that is the story of all moms as due to my never-ending list of requests for her to cook for me. So this dinner was specially for my mom. My husband Sid suggested to cook continental food as he thought my mom would like to try something new and my sister is also found of it as well. Dad is never fussy about food, he will eat whatever his children will cook or want to eat but he has his own preferences that is Indian food.

That night the following things were for dinner:

( sorry for the bad photographs as there was a lot of commotion plus as it was our baby’s sleep time, he refused to stay with anyone else once he saw me arranging the table.)

When they arrived, I was telling my sister the menu. I told her dad would go home hungry, jokingly she tells me it’s cool as he will eat more of his bed time fruits today – eating fruits before going to sleep is part of his fixed routine but more on that later. And that was the case that day as my poor dad did not take any second helping.

My dad is the most thoughtful person I know. I am so glad to have him cause even now at 33, he will take care of the smallest things in my life. If I call him up and inquire about something, like a name of a pen I used in his office, in the evening he has already brought  half a dozen for me. He will do this for all of us, mom, his girls, his grand child and his son in-laws. Sometimes I wonder how is it possible for him to remember such small things. When I go to stay at our home every night, he will come to kiss good night to me and my baby. He will come up with all my stuff which I left down stairs like my camera, baby’s diapers,his night medicine etc. He will even put my iPad for charging. It’s like I know no matter what, dad is always there. I believe for him, his family is his world and he takes such good care of us that sometimes we take so many things for granted. We would just not do certain things, so he will get irritated and ask us is this my work to do this? I would tell him, ” yes dad it’s yours since you have been doing it and I love you for that” 🙂

Me and my sister love making fun of our dad as he is such a good sport. We call him ram gopal Bajaj, a character from a hilarious  Bollywood movie who had an extremely strict routine and he wanted every thing at a particular time. When we were setting our business, I abused his office and I would jokingly call his office our branch office. As we saved so much of our start-up costs , I would do all my paper work, xerox, etc at my dad’s office so I got to see him work. It was so funny to see him in his office!  Before he would come in, his secretary would start his A/c and assemble his laptop, put his water on the table. Then once dad comes in, his coffee would come, then after an hour his curd would come in a bowl. Then it would be his lunch time and in between the meals, the boss would work hard. After that he would take a nap on his cabin sofa, (  I wonder how he sleeps on that small sofa but he is blessed with such good sleep that I have heard him snore there ) cause we stopped him from coming home to take his noon nap. During this time no one could disturb him. Then the evening snacks and fruits would come after regular intervals. Every thing was time to time. I just could not believe him, I found it so funny. This strict routine can be deviated only for his family and close friends. Thus on regular days he will eat in a very controlled manner but if he is out-of-town or just hanging out with his friends, he loves Indian food, snacks, street food , tandoori food ect. He will enjoy food and will relish it and insist that we tasted that particular thing. If he knew we were home specially when my foodie husband would visit him, he will pack some street food, or a spicy sandwich for us on his way back home. I call him an Indian foodie as his love for Indian food had made me so knowledgable about Indian food. We discuss food so much at our home. When he is back from his travels he will always tell us what he ate and will bring recipes from chefs. He will also save cookery shows on the TV for us. He will bring food photography books or references for me. No wonder I am so much into food. 🙂

He always orders this aloo Meethi sabji at a particular high way restaurant. On the second trail I nailed it’s taste. Since dad is travelling I am waiting for him to come back so I can make this Rajasthani dinner for him.

This one is for you pappa 🙂

Yes this is one of the best aloo methi ( potato and fenugreek leaves) sabji I have made! 🙂

RECIPE:

3-4 boiled potatoes cut up into cubes

2 onions

1 small tomato

1/2 to 1 cup fresh fenugreek leaves (according to your preference )

3-4 cloves of garlic

1/2 inch ginger

1-2 tbsp kitchen king or garam masala

2 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp dhanna jeera powder

1 and half tbsp of oil

salt to taste

( serves 4)

METHOD:

Purée the onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic.

In a non stick vessel heat the oil and add the purée and cook till the oil separates.

Add the kitchen king masala, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, dhanna jeera powder and cook for two minutes or till the spices are cooked.

Add the boiled potatoes, fenugreek leaves and add water if required.

Cook for 5 minutes till the fenugreek leaves are done and all the spices are blended with the potatoes.

Serve with roti, rice, kadhi, raita…whatever you feel like 🙂

P.s. Me and dad continuously have discussions and most of the time i never agree with him. We discuss about movies, politics, cricket, music, food, people etc, I think it’s because of these discussions I have a mind of my own. It’s because of this that I have learned to speak my mind to others as well.

Love you dad for that…and the truth I hate to admit it but most of the times Dad is always right 🙂