Jai Hind Jai Bharat ! Mera Bharat Mahaan !

Wish you all a very happy and vibrant 78th Indian Independence Day !

With India strengthening its position on the world stage, we indians are filling with pride each day with every triumph of our Bharat !

Our national festivals, whether it is the Independence Day, the Republic Day or Gandhi Jayanti are all marked by one unified notion of our beloved tricolour tiranga (the tricoloured flag of India). We tend to fancy and celebrate this spirit of Indianness everywhere, every year on these special days. We do play and celebrate with the three colours in our national flag namely deep saffron, white and green where each colour symbolizes a character or values that it wants us to incorporate in our lives. Since food is an important component of just any celebrations, it is natural that we would incorporate these three beautiful colours in the special celebration menu on the occasions to raise the patriotic sentiments of the merrymaker. On every independence or republic day, it has become a sort of customary for me and my family members to indulge in some delicious tricoloured food, either in breakfast or lunch or both to honour the spirit of the day.

This time, I thought of preparing a simple tricoloured meal platter for lunch. The three colours of tiranga are distinctively visible in the items in this meal platter e.g., the daal in the platter displays the saffron colour , the rice which is the staple in the plate displays the white colour and the green colour is displayed with the Steamed paneer in green gravy and in the sauteed beans & capsicum. The meal concluding bowl of doi mishti representing the dessert also incorporates the three colours in it, like the saffron coloured bengali sweet komla bhog topped with some chopped green pistachio & paired with the plain curd or doi which represents white colour, slightly elevating the common  and usual bengali dessert dish of doi roshogolla or doi mishti, that too in a patriotic way. So, there is a mishmash of the three colours of indian flag everywhere in this platter creating a feel of complete patriotism in a foody way…😀😀

The components of this simple tricolour meal are here :

1. Tarke wali daal: Arhar daal prepared with tomato and tamarind puree,  tempered with black mustard, onions, curry leaves, and accompanied with some veggies such as carrot & beans, just like andhra style pappu or daal.
2. Green salad : Slices of lemon and carrots.
3. Freshly Steamed White rice.
4. Bengali Bhapa/Steamed Paneer in green gravy : Paneer steamed in a yummy green gravy of poppy & mustard seeds paste, coriander leaves, mint leaves, curry leaves, capsicum and green chillies blended together for a thick gravy & tempered with little garlic and ginger in mustard oil.
5. Sautéed french beans & capsicum in little butter with sesame seeds powder & green chillies.
6. The usual bengali meal end note of doi roshogolla which is mostly mishti doi & roshogolla but here Tok Doi or plain curd relished with komla bhog i.e. orange flavoured slightly dry roshogollas garnished with some chopped pistachios for a complete satiation of your tricolour hunger.