Mooli Koftas- Rome was not built in a day

Pregnancy brings with it not only physical changes which are noticeable to outside world but also changes within which only the mum-to-be feels. These include mood swings and craving not only for sour things but also for unusual things which by normal standards are not deemed edible – e.g ash, chalk, etc.etc. Fortunately I suffered from none of these- being morning sick (not only in the mornings) but most of the time right through , I had no craving except occasionally, when some food would taste nice to me. I remember once, gorging on cucumbers (about a kilo !)at one go, only to vomit out everything a little later !

One day my friend Meera taking pity on my plight brought parathas and mooli kofta (on one of those days when my nausea decided to take a holiday )which I devoured greedily ! They simply tasted yum……….my and out of this world !

A couple of days later, craving for mooli koftas , I decided to make it myself-after all it did’nt seem like a very complicated affair. Anyway I called up Meera and took the recipe. Excitement at trying out a new dish (,I think,) kept my nausea at bay probably making the villain (nausea of course ) wonder bhala uski(excitement) shakti meri shakti se zyada kaise ho sakti hai .

Arming myself with the ingredients I proceeded to make the gravy which turned out quite well. One half of the recipe done I made the koftas and then proceed to fry them . The hot oil sizzled and in went the koftas. My appetite (a phenomenon almost non existent those days ) built up looking at the koftas sizzling & turning golden brown in colour while the burner was on high flame. Voila ! the koftas were ready to be added to the gravy and doing just that , I kept it on slow fire and removed it a couple of minutes later and Lo behold – my mooli koftas were ready to be relished by one and all (that is by my myself,& my better half and probably by my liitle one within who exhibited her excitement by having a full game of football inside me !Ha Ha –that was just a joke ). My husband ,who had patiently been putting up with my mood swings and unpredictable behaviour during this period was taken aback when he encountered a cheerful(not one of myfrequent traits those days) wife when he returned from office and when I told him the reason he too was eager to have dinner. We sat down to dinner and my husband marvelled at my ability to cook something so complicated given my present condition. The first mouthful of paratha kofta went inside- yuck what was golden brown on the outside was yellow and raw from inside and I spat it out ! I burst into tears (the dam had burst open !) and looked at my husband who sportingly ate some ,saying “So what if the koftas are raw, the gravy is good……. By the way – Rome was not built in a day . Better luck next time !” The resident within me must also have had some inkling of the disaster because the very next day my nausea returned in full swing-Jo jeeta wahi sikander.

As for Mooli koftas there has been no next time since then. The incident was so traumatic that I developed permanent aversion to mooli koftas . Much water has flown under the bridge,and over the years I have perfected my cooking skills but to date I have never attempted to make mooli koftas ! In my case I abandoned building Rome forever !