Tasty Memories of Days Gone By

When my parents stayed just 4 hours away, they would get me a huge hamper of food whenever they would visit, full of my favourite foods and a lot of produce from their gardens that partly they thought I should eat and partly that they wanted to get rid of and partly what I had demanded. It's been a year exactly since they moved and I've missed them terribly and also the lovely food that Mom would start making a day ahead.

My father is visiting again and I have a huge list of food that I want. This is my list:

1. Mathris - My Mom makes the loveliest mathris that despite the crispness, just melt in the mouth. I eat them with spicy pickle and since they have moved, I have craved mathris something awful.
2. Gazak and Rewadi - These are crisp white and black sesame cakes made with either molasses or jaggery or sugar. These were a fixture in our pantry during the winters and we did not get them in Bengal, so my parents would beg and plead our relatives and friends to send some from U.P. I hated them when I was young, and now I have asked for some.
3. Gazar ka halwa - Carrot Halwa. My mom makes the best. Seriously. Not over sweet but deliciously creamy and with loads of dry fruits.
4. Salted Makhane - Makhane are lotus seeds and are curiously bland to taste. One normally has to roast them and if you toast them a little and salt them, they are yum. When I get these, I shall post pictures. One normally uses makhanas as a dry fruit garnish (along with other dry fruits) in kheers, but I like them best toasted and salted.
5. Garam Masala - My mother makes her own. She sources the best quality spices, toasts each individually, cools it and then grinds it in her specific proportions. The aroma is unlike any you will find in the market and the flavor it gives to food is magic.
6. Dal or Green Peas Puris - Puris stuffed with lightly spiced ground dal or green peas. Yummm!
7. Nimona - Another seasonal favourite. It is ground green pea curry and as far as I know only made in U.P. (Uttar Pradesh - a northern state that my family belongs to originally. Now, we are almost half bengali)
8. Dry spicy Chole - Simply because Mom made the best ones.

This is my List so far. I may add stuff to it. I want to add the following stuff, and probably will.

1. Stuffed Karelas - My mother made the best stuffed karelas (bitter gourd) ever.
2. Tunde ke Kebab - A typical Lucknow Kebab. They are made of lightly spiced mutton that absolutely melts in the mouth.
3. Green Mango Pickle - The U.P. style one

I shall post pictures of everything and I can't wait to go visit my parents again.