chapter 16 （ part-1）
After Ash gets ready, Shyama guide her to the kitchen.
When Ash arrived there , she sees that many servants were preparing food together in huge different pots and on clay stoves.
Ash gets a little nervous as she has never cooked food using it before.
The sound of ghunghroo makes everyone look at the door Only then Ashnoor enters from the door, and seeing her beauty, everyone stops in their work.but
Seeing the sharp eyes of Shyama standing by the side, everyone lowers their eyes and silently greet her .
Ash nods with a smile Then the head cook among them comes forward and says"
"rajkumari ko mera paranam,me yha ki mukh rashoyiya hu...apne Jin samagri ko tyr krne ke liye adesh diye the vo tayar hai rajkumari , yha pr joh bhojan pakaya ja rha hai vho mukh roop se shaniko or Mahal ke Anya logo ke liye hota hai ,
raajgarane ke logo ke liye bhojan rash iye ki dusre bhag me Banaya jata hai ... es our aaye rajkumari.."
( greetings princess ,I am the main cook here...the ingredients you ordered for the dish are ready princess ,The food that is being cooked here is mainly for soldiers and other people of the palace and the Food for royalties is prepared in another part of the kitchen... this way princess)
And while telling, brings her to the other side where food is prepared for the royal members with few selected maidservants for her help.
Ashnoor does not need more people so she order others to leave.
"Hume jyda logo ki Ava shakta nhi hai to aap log ja sakte hai."
(I don't need more people so you guys can go).
After they all leave, Ashnoor checks the quantity of all the ingredients at once.
Shyam ask her with excitement."to rajkumari aap Aaj kya kya banaye gi"
(princess what will you make today? have you decided anything.)
Ash has noticed during his stay here that Karan is a very picky eater and likes sweets a lot and does not eat spicy at all
" aloo ke parthe,kofta, kaju ki sabji , jira rice , raita or methe me rasmalai."
( parathas, kofta, cashew curry, cumin rice, raita and rasmalai).
Everyone feels strange after hearing the names of dishes and they look at each other's face because they are hearing these names for the first time but no one dares to say anything.
Ashnoor divides the work among all so that the food gets cooked as quickly as possible.
She gives some to grind spices and some to cut dry fruits, make cashew nuts paste.and asks some to peel boiled potatoes and make a dough for parathas.
After that, with the help of Shyama and maids, she divides the hot milk kept on the stove into two different sized pots..
then take the heavy bottom milk pot and puts it on the stove on and add little saffron in it.
she ask Shyama to keep stirring so that it doesn't burn she then adds sugar to it.and tells her to get the pot off the stove when the milk gets condensed to half of the quantity.
keep it aside to cool down the rabri.She takes a lemon and cuts it, takes out the seeds and squeezes it in another medium milk pot
and keep stirring until the milk curdles completely.
Shyama and the rest of the maids shocked to see this because in olden times people used to say that spilling of milk is not auspicious .
But no one dares to say anything and silently do their works.
Shyama says seeing this," rajkumari yeh pane...."
( princess what did you do..)But after listening to Ash, she becomes silent.
"kuch nhi hua hai shyama jiji rasmalai ese hi banti hai or Mera vishvas kre aapko bohot pasand aaye gi , ab meri madt kriye."(Nothing has happened Shyama ji Rasmalai is made like this and believe me you are going to like it very much, now come help me ).
Ash adds some cold water to it with the help of Shyama to keep the Cheena soft.
ash drain it up in a thin clean muslin cloth and wrap up the paneer in the cloth bringing together all the edges and clear it with the clean water again and tie up the paneer in the cloth and squeeze off the excess water and keep it aside for some time and then knead it well unit it get smooth
texture.and divide in equal portions to make balls and flatten them like a disc and for some mins boiled them in the sugar syrup mixed with a little cardamom powder and after removing excess syrup from the flatten discs and add them into that warm rabari with chopper pistachios
,almonds and cashews and again cook it for few mins to get absorbed and its fragrance spreads throughout the chamber And everyone's mouth starts watering with its fragrance.
Aish takes a bowl and spoon a rasmalai piece in it and says while giving it to Shyama.
" yeh lijiye or kha kr batayi jiji kesa bana hai ...(Take it and tell me how it is made).
The rest of the maids feel a little jealous of her that the princess is giving so much importance to her.
Seeing this, Shyama feels warmth in her heart then extends her hand to takes it and look at the rest of the people in the room, then lowers her head and puts the rasmalai in her mouth.
As soon as she puts it in her mouth, her eyes widened and says, being amazed by its taste.""
It's...it's. hard to.... describe its tastes rajkumari , its like rich, creamy, and sweet taste on the palate when you eat a spoonful of ras malai......
it's Light..., spongy...with cardamon and aromatic saffron...
this dessert is so irresistible, that I am sure Rajkumar won't be able to stop at just one Rasmalai rajkumari.... ".
hearing her a wide smile appears on Ash's face.
After that she puts a thick bottomed pot on the stove and heats it by adding 2-3 table spoons of ghee in it.then put 1 India bay leaf ,1inch cinnamon,1 black
cardamom ,3green cardamoms ,2 cloves , prepared onion paste and saute them for few minutes and add few pinches of salt and stirred for few mins and after onion paste turn little light golden and add little ginger garlic paste ,
tomato puree and cook for few mins and add 1 tablespoon turmeric powder ,cumin powder , coriander powder , little chilly powder and saute them after mixing with cashew paste untill the oil starts to leave the masala and add little sugar with salt according to her taste.
then add little water in it and simmer for few minutes on very low heat until the gravy becomes thick and Little creamy and add little dried crush Fenugreek leaves on the top and mix them well .
After that she takes the vessel down from the stove, with Shyama's help.
Ash then takes boiled potatoes and mash them in a big bowl adding some coriander leaves, chopped onions or 1 tablespoon ghee with required salt and mix them well so that no lump remain in it.theb she takes the dough.
and make small medium balls of dough and roll them out in 3-4 inch circles and with the help of a spoon add a spoonful of potato filling in the centre and seal that dough and round them with fingers and roll them with a rolling pin into the round parathas and on heated iron tawa roast the parathas
both sides with a spoonful of ghee and serve them on a plate
then she takes the remaining spices mixed mashed potatoes and adds gram flour to it and divides it into small medium balls.
and rounds it with the help of her fingers and takes a pan like vessel on the stove and pours oil into it and when the oil is heated, she fry those balls by putting them in the oil..
Fry until it turn crispy , golden and then take it out and put it in the already prepared gravy pot and cover it.
And in the same way she makes other things as well.
The Aroma of food was so good that everyone's mouth was watering but they control themselves.
Ash finally breathes a sigh of relief after seeing everything ready and asks to take the food to the dining room.
" bhaisa ke prashikshan bhi samapt hogya hoga ab Tak"(Brother's training must have been over by now.)
Ash says and moves toward the corridor Shyama also follow her. But when they come out of the kitchen, they notice that the security inside the palace has increased a lot. And there were male soldiers everywhere.
Ash looks at Shyama in frown.
"jiji yeh..."
Shyama comes forward and cover her face with pallu- " rajkumari lgta hai koi ghatna ghati hai aap humare sath hi rahiye,hum aapko surakshit apke kaksh me le chalte hai ." (Princess, something seems to have happened, you stay with me, I will take you safely to your room.")
suddenly she notice a figure coming from the other side in hurry ,it turns out to be none other than Raghuveer .
he comes and stops in front of her panting .
Seeing his pale face , Ash asks him in worry.
"sab kuch thik hai na bhaisa ,apke chehre ku rang ku uda hua hai ,or aap ese bhag ku rhe hai"(Is everything fine brother? Why is your face pale? And why are you in such a hurry?).
Raghu takes a deep breath to normalises his breath and tells her " mein aapko hi dundh rha tha rajkumari, kuch bhi thik nhi hai , Maharaj.... vho yaha agye hai ....unhone Mahal ko apne niyantran me le Liya hai...
or Rajkumar unhe samjhne ka pura prtna kr rhe hai pr vho itne guse me hai ki vho kuch sun ne ke liye tayar hi nhi Hain , aap jaldi chaliye vha es se phile kuch anrath ho jaye ."
(I was looking for you princess, nothing is right....
, Maharaj...., he has come here and they have taken control of the palace...
and the prince is trying his best to make him understand, but He is so furious that he is not even ready to listen to anything, you hurry up before something bad happens.)
Ash's eyes widen with shock.
she knew that this day will definitely come, but she did not expect that it would come so soon..And she asks Raghuveer to take her there.
When she reaches near the hall, she was startled by the loud sound of breaking something from inside the hall. And her heart beat gets faster at the thoughts that something happened, and she immediately move forward.
Shyama and Raghuveer stay outside to give them some privacy .