Sauteed potatoes, mushrooms and spinach with ‘Panch Phoron’

My friend Tuti-Fruity got herself in a bind once. The evening was balmy and the garbage bag stank as she heaved it out of the door into the garage. Holding it away from her face with both hands, she hurriedly stepped out, intent on dumping the stinking bundle into the bin. That was when she heard the horrifying click of a lock as the door banged shut behind her. She had just managed to lock herself out of her house.

Believe it or not, that was not her biggest worry. Her biggest worry was her attire, or rather, the lack of it. All she had on was a chemise that barely touched her thighs. Cream, lacy, and sheer, it was more appropriate for a nightcap with her husband than a trek down her neighborhood.

With a husband who was away at a conference and keys with a friend who lived a couple of miles away, she was stuck. Her choices were bleak – she either spent the night on the garage floor, or sought out help in her semi naked state. However, she came to realize that without a phone, she would eventually have to step out anyway. She mulled over her dilemma for a good 15 before deciding that it might be wiser to seek help under the cover of night rather than in the broad daylight.

Her immediate neighbors were a young couple with children who switched off their lights before the clock hit 8.30pm. Diagonally opposite to her lived a young bachelor – a very conservative, religious, pious bachelor who also happened to be shy and reserve. She didn’t have a lot of choices as rest of the neighbors lived a lot further down the road. Barefoot, and flaming with embarrassment, she went and knocked. The door opened just about four inches, and a face peered out. A face with bushy eyebrows that drew themselves together in a stern frown. She quickly related her predicament, her face flushing beetroot. He listened, nodded, and then closed the door.

She gawked at the door in astonishment before it sank in that he had just shut the door in her face. As she turned in frustration, ruminating over her next steps, the door opened again. All 4 inches. A hand appeared, with a phone in it. She grabbed it, but before she could mutter a ‘Thank you’, it closed again.

Sighing, she looked at the phone, trying to remember her friend’s number with whom she always kept a key. However, a habit of auto-dialing with a name meant she didn’t remember it. She tried a few combinations, before she called 411 to ask for the phone number.

The door opened again, 4 inches, and this time flip-flops appeared. “You don’t have slippers on,’ the guy mumbled, before closing the door again.

As luck would have it, her friend didn’t pick up. Finally, she gave up, deciding to call 911. But before she used his phone to call the police, she wanted make sure it was OK with him. She knocked again. The door opened, 4 inches, and the face re-appeared. She told him she wanted to call the police. He looked at her, and then said, ‘wait here’. He went back inside, came back, before stepping out and closing the door again, this time behind him.

He walked with her back to her house, and with a few swipes of a credit card, he opened the lock.

She was overwhelmed with gratitude. But again, before she could even complete her ‘Thank you’ sentence, he was gone.

When her husband came back, she related the whole incident. He listened patiently. Then looked at her, and said in a deadpan voice, ‘ He must have gone back to say his prayers after all the sins he accumulated by looking at you.’

That encounter began a long association of friendship between these two families, which saw a marriage, two births and a lot of laughter at the expense of my friend who swore never to lock herself out of the house in her night-dress ever again ;p Though I do have my doubts about people minding it too much even if she did, considering she is an eye candy no matter what she wears.

It should be an easy promise to keep I guess, but not as easy as this simple sautéed dish of potatoes, mushrooms and spinach is. This dish is made with the Bengali five spice seasoning called ‘paanch-phoron’ or 5 spice seasoning. The ingredients of this seasoning are fennel seeds, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and nigella seeds, mixed in ratio of 2:2:2:1:1 . This mixture of seasonings is typical of Bengali cooking and jack up the taste quotient of any dish to an infinite level. The cuisine of Bengal is based much on these five spices, and I have a mind to start a series on them. Hopefully soon.