Bengali Broad Beans Curry(SheemChachari)

Ma never taught me to cook. She would always say "you will burn yourself  and I wont be able to find a you a good handsome husband" or "Boy's enjoy their mom's cooking best so its better you master your mother-in-laws style than mine......so it was only after we got posted away from Kolkata and set up home, that I really learnt to cook. Ma however had taken the trouble to write down a copy full of every day recipes like Daal , Bhaat, Maacher Jhole, Sorshe diye maach, Aloo kofir dalna, Porotha, Luchi etc and also what" Phoron" (tempering) to put in each daal.....that helped not only me but my husband and his friends....

When I conceived and left for my Baper bari (Parents place) , hubby dearest had to fend for himself for sometime till his ma came to stay with him.....my ma's recipe khata (copy) was of great help to him. Santida, Santi Ranjan Sarkar a bachelor who lived next door to us and my hubby dearest cooked Bhaat-Daal and Maacher Jhole for themselves.

I learnt from my mother in law who is a very good cook and she, from her mother....dida. Dida was a scholarship holder of rupees three each for academics and cookery which was a big achievement for women in her days. She had in her times, been awarded a certificate  in cookery. In 1925 her achievement made all women very proud. She had an English lady Mrs Brown to tutor her in English as she desired to master the language. My ma in law not only remembers all that dida taught her but at 87 yrs she herself is still eager to learn. Watching Food Food and other channels on television related to food is a favourite pastime.

Sheem or broad beans is cooked in a number of ways in our family. Recently having spent a month's holiday with her sister, ma returned to Kolkata with a bag full of fresh vegetables from her sister's garden.....papaya (both raw and ripe), white Broad Beans, Borbotty, new baby potatoes etc.

So, I prepared Sheem Chachari  and Sheemer Kalia.........