Skip to main content

Pakoray!!!!

Ever had a yummy brown deep fried scrumptious aloo ka pakora??? I'm sure you've had dozens this Ramadhan. If there's one food delicacy that I associated with Mah-e-Ramadhan ever since I knew about iftars, it is a pakora.. or pakoray.. literally pakora is a fried delicacy usually made of onion or potato or spinach fried in spiced gram flour. There has to be something about pakoray which makes them so special.. is it their color, or the taste, or perhaps some deep memories attached.. I think all of them makes a good pakora..

As I fried pakoray today for iftar, unconciously my mind drifted back to the past as it always does. Drifted back to the time when we lived in that old apartment.. the three of us; Ashar bhaiyya, Sameer and me (always hoppin n prying into whatever the duo did.. :P ) would sit around the black dining table with Ashar bhaiyya slicing potatoes.. Sameer and me watchin him do it.. when done, we'd carry (oh yes, what else could I do back then) it to the kitchen... you'd fry them pakoray.. and Ashar bhaiyya would keep on moving them in the wok. yummm.... And then we'd eat...

that is not all... when we moved to the new house few yrs ago.. pakoray had a different story.. I talk as if pakoray is the kid next door... you had already taught me how to make the batter for thme.. every evening..routine... about 5 p.m I'd make the batter.. sliced potatoes.. and pakoray were a must for iftar... yumm..

and then when you left, pakoray didn't cease to be an iftar item.. we continued pakoray for iftar same way you told..

When it rained heavily in the moonsoon season Sameer would always ask me to get him some pakoray.. pakoray and chai are a must in barish.. I'm sure if I went back home now, the one food Sameer would want me to cook.. it ahs to be pakoray for iftar..

and when Sameer used to take me to the graveyard to meet you, on the way back home, he'd always grab a plate of pakoray fresh.. and 2 glasses of sugarcane juice... we'd recite Al-Fatiha and eat.. eat and talk.. talk about you..who else..

and yet today while I did those pakoray.. I missed Sameer.. missed going to the graveyard.. missed meeting you as I did weeks ago.. but missing that way is the worldly aspect.. when I sit down for iftar... I send those pakoray to you,there are ways and I, for one, believe in them, I recite Al-Fatiha..I'm sure you have them daily, else they wouldn't be turning so yummy every day..
--------------------------------------------------------------

A teent tiny flash(back)

Comments

Ahmed said…
Oh I so want a pakora! Its such a pain to go to restaurants to find a good one though. The ones near me are paneer pakora not the aloo ones that I like :(

I just made a pakora song on my blog last week too :)

Pakora, Pakora
People up in here tonight
No fighting, no fighting
We got the roza up in here
No fighting, no fighting

Pakora, Pakora

I never really knew that it could taste like this
It makes a man wants to eat that dish
Como se llama (si), bonita (si), mi casa (si, Pakora Pakora), su casa
Pakora, Pakora

Oh baby when your fried like that
You make a person go mad
So be wise and keep on
Reading the signs of my......

...recipe =P
Karachiite said…
Welcome Ahmed!

yeah, pakoray are ymmy.. never had a cheese one tho.

Popular posts from this blog

It’s a Dog’s Life!!

By Anjum Niaz There’s a dog in our neighbourhood that nobody wants. Actually it’s a bitch. Her litter is on the way, I suspect. The big patch of green bordering my home and the busy road in front is no man’s land (read the CDA) but the lucky homeowners have been gifted the land and told to develop it as best as their aesthetic sense permits. Gardens are abloom all around my garden (says who Islamabad will run dry?) which stands out for its pedestrian look, only because my landlord cares not a whit for the patch. But the dog does. She has dug a cradle under the tangled bushes and lies there unobserved by passersby on the street. I worry. What if the puppies — God knows how many — invade my space and arrive uninvited in my garden. Their mother may not live to feed them. She’s doing poorly. When she’s not sleeping, she’s scratching herself all over to get rid of the ticks and fleas that infest her body. The vicious summer heat has parched her. The sun is relentless. Down the road, I watch...

Memoirs of a Lost Soul!!

It was 9 p.m. I was making rotiyaan in the kitchen.. the same way you had taught me back when I was in grade 6th. How could I ever forget that. Kneaded the dough in that very way, and started making the rotiyaan.But Karachi's hot weather and taway ki aag doesn't make the kitchen exactly cool, and hence a drop of sweat trickled down my forhead, moving to my eyelashes, and standing there at the edge, like dew on the edges of a leaf. I unknowingly looked to my left with a smile just to find the grey tiled kitchen staring blankly and coldly at me. I had expected you to be there watching me do the stuff, but how could you be there when you were so far far way, in a place where I hadn't even set foot in. You'd say, 'oh, garmi lag rahi hai na!!' and try to take the rolling pin from me, but I didn't give in so easily. The sweat drop finally dropped mingling with the tear drops. As for me, I was left in the past. You!! who never left me alone. You!! who never even le...

The New Leaf!!

Naveed twisted on the floor, rolled from one side to the other. At times, he folded the pillow in two, and once he just held it in his hand, there were still five freakin' minutes to go before the dial struck 4. Still, quite a lot of time left before the azan for Fajr would echo throughout his town. Naveed, unlike most people in dirty old Karachi, was one of the few who spent the night thinking what happened today. Today wasn't exactly good. Seemed like Abba was really angry. Well, what could he do?? It happened at the breakfast table. Naveed as usual woke up at 12:30 p.m. took a shower, offered Zuhrain , and on to the table, his breakfast table, where as it was Abba's luncheon time. Abba usually took lunch to work, but this afternoon he wasn't feeling good, so came home just in time to see Naveed sit at the table yelling, "Amma, mera anda paratha ???" Abba was furious. "Nido, is this the time for an anda paratha ???" "Aa.. Abbbaaaaa!! Well... ...