Sausage Stuffed Tortillas

It’s been over a month since I quit my job and turned myself into a stay at home Mom. Not that the kids are very happy with the situation considering that I can be quite the Sergeant Major!! Anyway I have taken it upon myself to fix breakfast for my brood these days. Was warming up to the whole deal, getting comfortable about it and wondering why most women cribbed so much about a simple chore as this. It does not take much to get the cornflakes bag out, fix some toast with butter/jam and fry a couple of eggs. Do a couple of variations on the theme from day to day (depending on how short a fuse you are on of course!) and you have the first “grab-meal” of the day on the table. Hah!! Simple enough isn’t it?

That was until late last evening when Supriya announced – no bread in stock, no eggs, low on the stock of cornflakes and no, not enough dough for puris to be served at breakfast as well. The dough for puris is just enough for the lunch tiffins, she insists. This, just when I thought, I could nip the panic attack in the proverbial bud and have a restful night’s sleep.

Watching a lovely movie, “Khuda Ke Liye” from across the border managed to stave off the anxiety for the following morning. The movie did disturb me and move me and added to the myriad thoughts and emotions racing through though of a different kind and context. Will write about that later, I promise myself. Good-nights said the family dispersed to their respective rooms and I snuggled into my bed. Just as I was getting into the REM stage of my slumber, a “Sanjay Kapoor”, “Karen Anand”, “Madhur Jaffery” and “Grandma” kind of light bulb clicked on in my head and I almost sleep walked to the refrigerator hoping against hope. Well what can I say save for the fact that the granny spirits were with me and YIPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! I did have sausages in stock and enough left over chappattis in the safe to save my morning. The idea was to roll a sausage each into a lightly buttered left over chapatti! Problem solved.

But with the first light of a new dawn came new ideas bursting forth. Quickly took about six sausages and defrosted them in the microwave (dumping them in some warm water could have served the purpose too). Once done, I then chopped them into little bits. Took the processed cheese left over in the little storage container, and chopped that too. Would have grated it if it was a decent quantity but with the teeny bit that was there I did not have the skills required to grate it without doing serious damage to my fingers. Something I could ill-afford at that point.

Prep done, the skillet was on the stove pronto. A dash of olive oil, heated slightly and in went the chopped sausages and cheese which melted just enough to blend in. This mix was then sautéed. In another burst of inspiration, I grabbed some kasundi (a staple presence in the larder of any Bengali kitchen and a secret ingredient that adds that extra zing to any dish). Now kasundi could be simply described as mustard paste and I am not sure if it is any different from the English Mustard, but the ingredients in this paste include – salt, turmeric, dry ginger, black pepper, tej patta (bay leaves) and vinegar (acetic acid). I am told that this secret ingredient is an import from erstwhile Bangaal (currently Bangladesh). Will research a bit and confirm that for you. So far so good but I wish I had some spring onions in stock but no such luck. I lowered the flame and placed the tava on the other burner. A bit of butter on it to melt and a left over chapatti was placed on it, then turned over and another bit of butter to coat the reverse side of the chapatti sizzled on the tava. That done, a bit of the dressed sausage bits are placed on the chapatti. A wee bit of tomato ketchup splayed on and this is then made inot a roll and secured with a toothpick or two. Voila! I step back to admire the handiwork for just a second before placing the plate on the table before the teenaged son, Manoj. With an expectant look that only a hungry teenager can have he asked me what it was. Sausage stuffed tortillas I responded without batting an eyelid. He was suitably impressed but I am like, “Now where did that come from?”. Tortillas are the Mexican equivalent of our very own chapattis and I did good. I mean imagine saying – Chappattis with sausage. The buzz would have gone round and everyone would have run the marathon in the direction opposite of the table. A case of the “ghar ki murgi, dal barabar”. Tortillas sound more exotic.

The kid took a bite and of course despite the bravado my spasms of anxiety came rushing back (if the experiment turned out to be a disaster, I had no plan “B”). I needn’t have worried because seconds later the word “Awesome” came tumbling out. I take that as a true compliment for he is the son of Radha Chechi in Cochin (the lady I consider the best chef in the world) and having grown up in her home you can well imagine his discerning taste buds. Whew!!

Given a chance I would have also added some baked beans to the mix giving it a true Mexican texture or maybe added some soya and chilli sauces to bring about the Chinese flavour. But now having made a mountain out this molehill of an incident, I cannot help but admire homemakers who came before me to the profession and wonder how they managed. I look at their world with a whole new pair of eyes and spectacles too. It dawns upon me then that we share a common gene pool which comes to our rescue and helps us think on our feet.

To the scores of home makers past, present and to the future generations of them, known and unknown, please accept this as my standing ovation to you. I would not have made it thorough without your collective energies which propel late starters like me forward.