Ghughra ni Kor

19 year old Tanvi is visiting her newly wed Maasi in Amherst, Massachusetts. She talks about how she's bored of eating pizza and craves for gajar ka halwa. Maasi feeds her yummy Indian food for the week, forcing her to help in the kitchen and lecturing her about how she should learn to cook. Tanvi is asked to roll out the last two rotli's, and Maasi almost gives up...

And then it's time for Holi. Maasi has to visit a friend and bring some food for the potluck. She decided to use chinese wanton wrappers as a substitute for ghughra covers (which turn out perfect, by the way), and prepares the stuffing. She forces tanvi to help with the ghughra, thinking may be she can just stuff them...but tanvi chooses to prepare the "kor" instead...and that's when Maasi is spellbound. Tanvi prepares absolutely fine kor (despite the dry edges of the wonton wrappers)..but she's still not happy. She thinks her grandmom - Shashi dadi would be unhappy with the result. Maasi knows that her own grandmom - Ba..would not have approved of the "kor" either. She remembers Ba checking every girl's "kor" during a big family feast, and nod in disapproval if she wasn't happy...But Tanvi had done an awsome job...and Maasi knew that all is not lost....

The legacy of cooking in Gandhi family is passed on from one generation to the other...like any other Indian family..They all have their specialities...exquisite sweets of Charumasi..all time hit ghughra of Shashi mami..the ultra thin khandvi of Beena foi..and the Surti delights of Asha masi and Smita mami..The daughters of the family married into other families adapt to their tastes..Snehal cooks spicier food, and Gita makes sure there's some farsan on the plate every meal...Prachi learned Avial from her Saasu and Pallika learned Sindhi Kadhi...The daughter-in-laws brought their own special touches to the cuisine...Shashi mami introduced khasta kachori and Heena bhabhi brought paneer paratha...

Nobody does it all like the food obsessed Gandhi family does it..And now it's time for the next generation...to carry it on...Of course, the times have changed..The way Ba taught the girls to cook is not how the girls (and boys) of this generation would learn. They learn everything from the internet, and having things written down helps..

So I urge all you wonderful wonderful cooks in the family to take some time out, and write down your favorite recipes..They don't have to be fancy..even simple, everyday shaaks, kachumbars, basic farsans...upvas recipes...everything....it would be nice to have mostly Gujarati recipes, since anyone can get pizza-pasta recipes from the internet .. it's the basic home cooking recipes that are hard to find... of course, if you have some special continental dish that won your husband's heart or something like that..that's most welcome...

Also, please include personal stories..."I made this when 'He' came to see me for the first time"..or "The first time I made this at my in-laws place, and it turned out to be a disaster"..Tell us the full story...Food brings our family together..so everyone will love to hear those stories...

Please keep mailing the recipes on Gandhi family, and I'll compile them on a blog:

http://gandhifamilyrecipebook.blogspot.com

I really urge you to send in as many recipes as you can ... The next generation will appreciate all those little gems in the midst of pizzas, and burgers, and tacos, and nachos......And I also request all the guys who read gandhi family mails regularly to encourage their moms, sisters, wife...to write down the recipe and help them put it up on the mailing list...

May all future generations know how to do "Ghughra ni kor" upto Ba's quality standards......