Wednesday 25 April 2012

These Are Not Sour

We've grown up hearing the story of sour grapes. A jackal comes by a vine full of grapes. He tries hard to pluck them but alas, they are too high up for his reach. Disheartened, he goes away muttering that the grapes are sour. Khud ko bhulane ke liye Ghalib yeh khayal bhi achcha hai. Our story book has taught us what to do with sour grapes. To walk away from them! 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          But what does one do with the ones that are not sour? They are so sweet that you had bought more than you can now finish! Ab unka kya hoga kalia? You eat them for breakfast, give the family for their tiffin, have some in your snack time and let them complete their stay with dignity. Till you find a few that have come back in the tiffin-box! Antenna sharpens, warning bells sound. On demanding why the attractive fruit has come back uneaten, the unabashed answer is they have gone bad. GONE BAD, you barely hold yourself from shouting. They were quite okay in the morning. How did they go bad in such cold weather?! They have gone brown at the tip. Can we do something else with them please! The look is helpless, the tone beseeching.  
                                                                                                          Do we can & do we will. But never let that secret out. A fruit ought to be eaten as fruit for as long as it can be eaten without crooked eyebrows. Only when the whole family boycotts them or goes on an open/subtle rebellion by not touching them should you allow pampering. Never increase expectations, is a rule one strictly follows at the workplace. So why make oneself a scapegoat at home? Isn't that the more dangerous zone? There are no appraisals, no incentives, no hikes here. No holidays either! You cannot gossip about these resources to the world, they are your own. 
                                                                                                        So where does respite lie? In sweet revenge. Making them eat what they did not want to. Just change the packaging & see them lap it up. Brown at the tip, eh?! Try Grapes n Prunes Raita in the soaring temperature. Or in the cold. Wherever on earth you are.  
                                                                                                                                         Ingredients:
1. 1/2 cup grapes- cut in halves
2. 1/4 cup canned prunes(alu bukhara) - quartered 
3. 200 gms yogurt
4. Sugar to taste
5. 1 tsp chaat masala
6. 1/2 tsp bhuna zeera(roasted cumin powder)    
                                                                                                                                          Method: 
1. Arrange the grapes & prunes in layers.
2. Pour the yogurt in which sugar & chaat masala have been added, over it.
3. Garnish raita with bhuna zeera.


Serve cold as accompaniment with parantha. 
This is a sweet raita. Tweak the taste if you like sour more. Remember, the fruit in it are not! 



And the next time you are out buying fruit, go easy on the amount, Lady. Or don't! Fruit raita has never been known to hurt anybody ;)                                                                                                                                                                                 
We are having this with palak parantha tonight. All the grapes that came back in the tiffin yesterday.... 

No comments:

Post a Comment