Meat Curry

Finally, the holidays are over and our Boston traffic is back to normal. It was taking 15 minutes for us to get to work, but now it’s taking 30 minutes again. At the office everyone is back to work and there are no more cookies or candies everywhere. Like me, most people gained a couple of pounds during the holidays, so we are all back to diet and exercise. This week was bone chilling cold for the east coast. We are all bundled up in our coats, scarfs and gloves while outside and woolen socks, flannel PJ’s and sweatshirts while at home. Whenever it’s cold and white outside, my body craves for two things: Mexican hot chocolate and spicy meat curry. Although it never snows in Kolkata, whenever there was a chill in the air my mum always said,”It’s so cold today, let’s eat meat curry to warm up”.

Meat curry has a big importance in any Bengali’s life. We eat fish and rice six days of the week. But on Sunday, dad used to go to the local market and get goat meat for us. Then mom used to cook that goat curry in a low flame for a long time. For kids, Sunday morning used to be the Television morning. Unlike now, we did not have access to TV every day. Dad used to give us special permission on Sunday to watch a few kid’s TV shows like Mahabharata (an epic) and Aladdin.

After two hours into the TV program, mom used to shout at everyone to get in the shower. By one PM, we all used to sit in our table and start eating. Meat curry is always served with plain rice. It was not only a meal but also a family bonding time. We would chit chat about what happened over the past week. Even after we were done eating we would continue the gossip for an hour or more. After the delicious lunch everyone was ready for a nap. Sunday nap was mandatory for all kids and males of the households. Some women preferred to sleep.  Others, like my mom who has trouble sleeping, would use this time to sew or fold clothing. During the winter months, women will go the roof top and dry their hair, bask in sun and gossip with their fellow neighbors from another rooftop. Life was a lot different back then. We did not have Facebook or Netflix to entertain ourselves. We did not need to send a text to the neighbor to ask for something,   We would just shout out our question and he/she would respond likewise.

As I mentioned, meat curry has a huge role in our diet and life. Sunday meat curry used to be very plain with turmeric. But meat curry was not only a Sunday affair. If a guest was coming, or it was someone’s birthday or anniversary meat curry would always be there on our menu. If someone does not cook meat for guests, it implied that he/she is not doing well financially. Some guests would notify us in advance if they did not like meat. Mum would cook chicken curry just for that particular guest. For Indians guests are God, so treating them well is very important to us.

Recipe for Meat Curry