To Future Me,

In this letter, we will talk about persistence and write the recipe for rajma gogji.

The dictionary definition of persistence is:

firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.

Simply put: To complete your tasks in spite of roadblocks. A lot of our hobbies died because we dropped them when confronted with the first hurdle. Out of them, one has survived a year till now. That one is this blog.

This Blog

Remember those periods when you didn’t want to even open the editor and write a post. Or the time when you lacked ideas for posts and thereupon shifted towards book reviews. And that one when you had self-doubts about your writing and the photos. Or the weeks with less time on your hands. Be proud, you persisted through them by publishing one post a week.

Table Tennis

Table tennis is the other example of your persistence and a hobby which survived last two years. At first, one hit out of five will stay on the table. Moments when you can’t figure out what your husband is showing you in a shot. Handling spins is still an enigma for you. Frustration when picking up a new shot, or the numerous aches while playing led you to believe this game is out of your reach. Many days you wished to give up as you have done before.  But this time you persevered. You played every game and pushed yourself to understand and try every shot. Telling yourself, again and again, Megha, you can do it. The result is now you can hit five out of five shots correctly and even win few games. 

See, the power of persistence. If you ever consider leaving a task in middle because of a difficulty, recall these two examples, and continue working on the task. Things are tough now. But they will get better. You only have to follow through.

Rajma Gogji

Now it’s time to write about the second recipe Rajma Gogji from march’s monthly recipe bucket.

This recipe is adapted from Rajma Gogji recipe on Keep Calm & Curry On. I came across this recipe when I was searching for curries made using rajma other than the traditional recipe I usually make. And so decided to try it. I made few changes to the recipe given in the blog according to the ingredients I had and the way I prefer to cook. That is I made rajma curry in my style and then added turnips and let it simmer for some more minutes.

I liked the taste so much that I have made this one more than once till now. The turnips/gogji add a sharp taste to the spicy rajma curry.

Rajma Gogji

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Serves: 2 Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 2 cups rajma soaked overnight in water
• 2 big turnips roughly chopped into big pieces
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1/2 inch ginger piece finely chopped
• 2 tsp fennel powder
• 2 tsp jeera
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• pinch of asafoetida
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 2 small green chilies finely chopped
• 4 tbsp oil
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Add salt to the chopped turnips and leave them for some time.
2. Add 2 tbsp oil to the pressure cooker and let it heat.
3. Add asafoetida to the oil when it heats up followed by cumin seeds.
4. When cumin seeds start to crackle add chopped ginger and garlic and saute for 1 minute
5. Add onion and saute till onion become golden brown. Roughly 5 minutes on medium heat.
6. Next, add tomatoes and put the lid loosely on the pressure cooker. Let them simmer. After about 2 minutes, tomatoes will become pulpy and leave oil on the sides.
7. Now add coriander powder, fennel powder, chili powder, green chilis, and salt. Mix and saute well for 2 minutes.
8. Wash the rajma. Then add them to the pressure cooker, with around 5 cups of water. Less if you like the curry thick.
9. Then close the lid and give 8 whistles on high heat or 6 whistles on medium heat.
10. Meanwhile, take a paper towel and place the turnips on them to remove the excess water.
11. In a pan, heat remaining 2 tbsp oil and shallow fry all the chopped turnips in it. Saute them on high heat till they achieve golden brown color on all sides.
12. By now the rajma will be cooked, open the pressure cooker, add these shallow fried turnips to the rajma. Let them simmer for 10 minutes on medium heat.
13. Rajma gogji is ready. Enjoy hot with rice Rotis.

 

Ingredients

Serve rajma gogji with rotis

Rajma Gogji

From,

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