All in a day's work: Food from childhood days

There are some foods that I associate with my growing up days. Like the bok ful bhaja, kumro ful bhaja, etc. They are blossoms from different plants and trees. Grandma had a big garden surrounding her home and it wasn't unusual for me to loiter about it all alone for want of company. Summer holidays were spent in sizing up her garden, taking stock of the plants, their names, what fruits they bore and plucking flowers that grew in abundance. She had bouganvilleas of various colors, pendulous sleeping hibiscus, the plain red hibiscus, sthal padma (translated literally its ground lotus, Hibiscus mutabilis), aparajita, some wild varieties that grew in bushes, whose names I now do not recollect. There were the eggplants, chillies, tomatoes etc that she planted seasonally.

The humming bird blossoms

At the centre of the plot was a well from which she and my aunts drew water. It was close to where the trees grew. A white flower blossomed in one of those and when they fell to the ground, I would collect them for her. She told me, "See, its shape is like the crane. Hence, we call it so." Bok=crane or flamingo, ful=flower/blossom. To a 6 year old, that was intriguing. And I pestered her for more. She shut my mouth by saying, "Go now! Go back and play until I call you." Later during lunch, I would have bok ful bhaja in my plate. The humming bird or the flamingo blossom.

Hummingbird fritters

My mother owned a kitchen garden too and we had pumpkin crawling on the ground. Its blossoms were used for making fritters too. A yellowish flower that blooms for one day and withers the very next.

Pumpkin blossoms.

To make fritters, you will need to use chickpea flour(besan), rice flour, salt, a pinch of turmeric and water. Make a batter with these and dip the flowers (chop off the bottoms) before frying in hot oil. The blooms are tender and do not make for much. So, make them when you have a handfull.