banaras ka khana

The Drumstick tree in our garden has started flowering and we will see thin tender drumsticks protruding from the bunches in a couple of weeks. But early last month when it was still a bit cold the drumstick flowers were just budding. I plucked some and made a drumstick flower cheela for breakfast, planning to pluck more and cook a few new recipes this season.

A coincidence later that day, when I was out to buy some vegetables at the neighborhood subziwala I saw a silver haired lady asking the cost of ek pao swanjne ke phool (a quarter kilo drumstick flowers), pointing to a small basket and there I saw a heap of light pink hued buds of drumstick flowers.

These were the flowers of another variety of drumstick and the lady's question gave me ideas. I immediately asked her what was she planning to make and told her that she can get as much flowers as she wants from my tree. Some chitchat ensued and we exchanged recipes, she told me she makes pickle with it too and that perked up my ears.

The subziwala was not happy as so much drumstick flowers were being cooked in so many recipes and none was being bought from his shop. I ended up buying some drumstick flowers to please him.

This drumstick flower pickle was made the very next day after some planning, I thought of adding a few more elements to keep some texture in the pickle.

drumstick flowers and lotus stem pickle or sehjan ke phool ka achar

The resulting pickle was really good. I gifted to a friend and she also loved it. Now to the recipe.

ingredients
(fills up a 500 ml glass jar)

200 gm drumstick flowers *cleaned* and rinsed under running water
200 gm lotus stem thinly sliced (I used thin tender ones, you can chop in smaller bits if the lotus stem is thick and fleshy)
one large bulb of garlic peeled and halved lengthwise
6-8 large chilly peppers (less hot variety) sliced in bite size pieces
1/3 cup mustard oil
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp turmeric powder
3 tbsp yellow mustard powder
1 tbsp fenugreek powder
1 tsp nigella seeds crushed lightly
1 tsp ajwain (bishop's seeds) seeds crushed lightly
1-2 tbsp red coarse chilly powder (to taste)
3 tbsp salt

*cleaning the drumstick flowers may be tricky if it is not too fresh. Soak it in water for 20 minutes and then rinse under running water to make sure all dirt and impurities are washed away.

procedure

Boil water in a deep pan, about one liter with 1 tsp salt to blanch the lotus stem and flowers both.

Dip the sliced lotus stem in boiling water for a couple of minutes and strain. Keeping the lotus stem in a steel colander while dipping it in the boiling water helps.

After removing the lotus stem from the boiling water, dip the drumstick flowers too for just a couple of seconds and take them out or pour everything over the colander that has the blanched lotus stem slices. Let all the water drain, for about 10 minutes. No need to make the vegetables dry.

Mix everything together in a large bowl.

And transfer in a sterilized glass jar.

The pickle will be ready to eat in the next 24 hours or so. Top up with some more mustard oil if the pickle ingredients don't settle down and a thin layer of oil floats on top.

This lotus stem and drumstick flowers pickles lasts for at least six months. The tartness increases a bit after some time as the pickle keeps 'pickling' more.

I am loving this pickle though I keep saying I don't like pickles much. Sometimes with plain dal chawal meals and sometimes with a paratha, this new pickle has already become a favourite.

This pickle can also be made using sun dried flowers of drumstick. I am planning to pickle some drumstick leaves too along with the flowers next time. Will add those pictures when I do that.

Khas khas or Poppy seeds is also called as Posta dana in UP and Posto in Bengal. Khas khas ka halwa or Posta dana ka halwa used to be a much loved halwa in my growing up years. I had been planning for this recipe of khas khas halwa to be shared on Banaras ka Khana for ever but somehow I could not take pictures whenever I made it.

And then I made it in such huge amounts that I was feeling guilty for not sharing khas khas ka halwa recipe on my blog. Last month I curated a Banaras ka Khana festival at The Oberoi Gurgaon and a 37 course Banarasi meal was served at their all day dining restaurant Three Sixty One for 9 days. We cooked a lot of Banaras recipes from this blog but whenever I had to tell the Chefs at the hotel about the recipe of khas khas ka halwa which is very simple incidentally, I felt guilty I haven't yet shared it on the blog.

We actually cooked poppy seeds halwa several times during the Banaras ka Khana festival at The Oberoi Gurgaon. Each time the quantity would be about 5 kilos as we would start with 2 kilo dry poppy seeds that will be made into a fine paste using a huge stone grinder that the Oberoi kitchen has. I cooked it myself most of the times but Chef Santosh did a fabulous job with it too. I wish I had the recipe on the blog as I used to show the pictures for reference for other recipes like Besan ki Katli, Turai pyaz ki subzi, Matar ka Nimona, Khoya Matar Makhana ki subzi and Hare chane ki burfi, Kamlagatte ka halwa etc.

While cooking the khas khas ka halwa several times in the hotel kitchen I resolved to post the recipe first thing on Banaras ka Khana blog after my return, and here it is. The recipe is simple as most Banaras recipes are.

Khas khas ka halwa recipeuses only 3 ingredients, that is ghee, poppy seeds and sugar. We don't add any milk or nuts or even cardamom because we love the natural flavor of khas khas so much we don't want to mask it with anything.

ingredients
(for 6-10 servings depending on how much you love poppy seeds halwa)

200 gm poppy seeds
60 gm ghee (or 2 level tbsp)
100 gm sugar

procedure

Do not soak the poppy seeds for this recipe. Soaking works if you plan to grind the poppy seeds on silbatta (flat stone mortar and pestle) but if you are planning to grind and make a paste in a mixie jar it is better to grind it dry for a few seconds and then add little water to make a fine paste.

Grind the poppy seeds dry till it starts making a loose lump, then add about 100 ml water and make a fine milky paste.

Heat the ghee in a large thick base kadhai and pour the poppy paste in it.

The paste starts coagulating at the bottom, keep scraping and stirring while you bhuno the poppy paste for about 10 minutes on medium low flame. The paste keeps getting thicker and changes colour and finally looks like a scramble.

Note that the poppy paste doesn't need to be browned. It just needs to change colour a little but it should still be moist.

Add the sugar and stir slowly to dissolve the sugar. After about 5 minutes of cooking the sugar dissolves and the halwa becomes homogeneous. It is ready to be served.

Serve this poppy seeds halwa a little warm, sprinkled with chopped pistachio. You actually don't need any garnish for this khas khas ka halwa trust me.

It looks a lot like sooji ka halwa but the similarity ends there. The aroma and the taste is so unique that it arrests your senses with its mild sweetness and robust nutty taste.

Some people add milk or khoya to the khas khas ka halwa but that dilutes the taste of khas khas in it. This is the family recipe of mine and we have made it like this forever.

Some people say poppy seeds halwa makes you sleep better and swear by it but it has never made me sleep. You can find out for yourself if you want to test the sleep inducing quality of poppy seeds.

In fact my maternal grandfather's family was into poppy farming during British times and they used to supply the alkaloid from the plant to the largest Opium factory in the world at Ghazipur which is a part of Banaras Division. Poppy seeds were a by product of the crop and were much prized for the nutty taste and richness they provided to the currys, halwas and even chutneys. Poppy seeds were used extensively in Thandai, Mithais, curries and some deep fried snacks like gulgule, malpua, anarsa etc.

This khas khas ka halwa remains my all time favourite poppy seeds recipe. Of course I like the poppy seeds chutney too and that is another recipe that needs to be shared here on the blog. Some recipes are so simple and commonplace we don't really value them enough. Each summer I make loads of poppy seeds chutney and yet it is not here on the blog. Just like this poppy seeds halwa that was more of a winter staple back home.

It has been a week since we served the last dinner at the 9 day Banaras ka Khana festival at Three Sixty One, The Oberoi Gurgaon. Yes Banaras ka Khana gets to showcase the cuisine and the heritage behind such a unique tradition that we have inherited.

The Oberoi group is trying to revive the Indian regional cuisines under their flagship program called Rivayat and when Chef Ravitej Nath invited me to curate a Banaras ka Khana experience at The Oberoi Gurgaon I was thrilled to the core. After all I have been trying to bring forth the lesser known traditions and recipes from my city and this was a great opportunity to talk about it at a wider platform.

The Oberoi Gurgaon called the Banaras ka Khana experience as Divine Intervention as the festival was timed with Amla ekadashi, also known as Rang bhari Ekadashi when the Holi festivities start and Shiva is considered to participate in it with loads of Bhang and Rang. Rang (colour) used to be natural and floral in the older days during Holi and is also meant how the season bring so much colour through the flowering trees and plants.

Lord Shiva had married Devi Parvati on the day of Shivratri while he goes to Parvati's home on the day of Rang Bhari ekadashi for Gauna (when the bride comes home) and they play Holi with colours on this day. This is the official start of the festivities in Banaras. So many Great and Little traditions are still alive in Banaras.

(poster courtesy The Oberoi Gurgaon)

Amla Ekadashi is a Great tradition in Banaras when families go to Amla orchards for a religious picnic, they cook under Amla trees and eat the food there. Amla tree is considered as the incarnation of Lord Bramha and the food is taken as a prasad, all food is cooked in earthen pots and served in leaf plates, this tradition of religious picnic in Banaras is unique in the sense that ecological preservation was linked so beautifully with religion.

Otherwise too Banaras is known for the outdoor picnics in the numerous Mango orchards and the sands of the Ganga across the river on Ramnagar side. People used to hire Bajdas (houseboats in Banaras) to go to the other side of the Ganga (called as O paar in local parlance) and cook litti chokha or even poori subzi or dal chawal chokha kind of meals on wood fire and earthen pots. We have done some of these picnics in our childhood, sometimes we used to pack food from home too.

The picnic culture is Banaras has kept alive the non vegetarian cooking even in the families where meats are prohibited in their kitchens. We brought some of the outdoor picnic recipes of fish and meat to the festival too, but the majority of the menu was sattvic vegetarian.

Most of the recipes on the menu are already there on this blog. Chivda matar, Fara and Bhapouri were included as a representative of the rich variety of flavours that we have in our starters. Chhene ka dahi bada, Mung stuffed alu tikki and Tamatar ki chaat were liked a lot by the guests.

Incidentally, the slight sweetness in the traditional recipes of Banaras comes from the Gujrati influence as it was the Gujratis who came as the first set of traders and set up Soot Tola (no more exists) from where the brocade and silk trade developed to its present glory. A lot of other influences from Marwari and Baniya communities also came along as more traders came from other parts of the country later. I have discussed some of this here.

Thandai, Aam ka Panna (with hing ka dhungar), Khas ka sharbat and an assortment of chutneys was served and we got very good feedback from all the guests.

The Thandai was hand crafted and we made a fresh batch everyday as it doesn't keep well once made with raw ingredients.

(picture courtesy The Oberoi Gurgaon)

We served Bhabra and Bajka as representative of the various types of pakodas we have in the region. Bhabra is the harey chane ka pakoda that is most likely a direct exchange of ideas between Gujrat and Banaras.

I had discovered Harad ka golgappa in Banaras more than 2 decades ago with my research guide as she use to take me for impromptu old Banaras walks sometimes and had introduced me to this dark hued golgappa that was considered as digestive after a high dose of chaat.

We served this as Harad ki Papdi at the Banaras ka Khana festival. Bringing back some of the forgotten gems was such fun. No one makes Harad ka golgappa in Banaras now as all the chaat walas have started outsourcing all their ingredients half done and rarely they make the chaats from scratch like the older days. .

Serving our favourites like Khoya matar makhana, Matar ka nimona, Turai pyaz ki subzi, Alu baingan palak ki subzi, Kaddu chane ki subzi, Besan ki katli with Banarasi kachoris and some millet rotis and khade masale ka pulao was a delight as people loved these unconventional subzis and flavours.

(photo courtesy The Oberoi Gurgaon)

We served Khoye ka Paratha as well and it was loved by everyone.

Sadi litti with alu ka chokha also became quite a favourite with the guests as well as the kitchen team. Imagine we did not serve any paneer dish in the vegetarian menu and it was still well received. There was no tomato used in any dish apart from Tamatar ki chaat and tamatar ki chutney.

We made Mung ka cheela on some days too, we kept changing the menu a little everyday so we could showcase more of the cuisine.

We served Khas khas ka halwa, Harey chane ki burfi, Kamalgatte ka halwa, Sankatmochan ka laddu, Sri Ram Bhandar ka Lal peda and Malaiyyo too at the festival. We had brought a Malaiyyo maker from Thatheri bazar who used to churn fresh Malaiyyo every morning and we used to keep it in the walk in refrigerator till the dinner time.

Though Malaiyyo doesn't keep well in the fridge as it gets a little dry after a while, this is what we could manage and people loved the malaiyyo a lot. Sankatmochan ka laddu was gifted to us by the Sankatmochan Foundation and it was really a blessing from Banaras.

(photo courtesy The Oberoi Gurgaon)

I had gone to Banaras for a couple of days just before the festival and brought back many ingredients that we don't find here. The rice used for making Khade masale ka pulao was the short grain rice called Jeerabutti from Banaras.

I brought some wooden toys too that has been an ancient cottage industry in Banaras. These were given as return gifts to some of our esteemed guests.

I must add that the team at The Oberoi is so efficient that they planned every little detail including the table decor, the menu, the gifts and the promotion material. Chef Ravitej Nath, Chef Manish Sharma and Mallika Gowda were my support system all through the festival.

In the kitchen the team of Chefs was very quick to learn everything and make bulk amounts of every dish very efficiently. We had new challenges everyday as some of the ingredients would be difficult to find or the quality we needed was difficult to procure but the team managed to get everything I needed to bring out the original authentic flavours.

Chef Bijender known as Chacha in the kitchen is a magician at work as he works quite fast and can replicate anything intuitively. Chef Himanshu, Chef Ankush, Chef Adnaan and Chef Varun were great help always along with Monu and Inder who came from Banaras to make Malaiyyo and Tamatar ki Chaat.

All the hard work in the kitchen translated quite well on the tables I must say.

It was great to see happy faces after each meal. Bringing the lesser known cuisines into the mainstream is a great work that The Oberoi team is doing. Banaras ka Khana will be committed always to bring the cuisine to connoisseurs whenever possible.

Sama ka chawal or Samak chawal is actually a millet called Barnyard millet that is mostly consumed during Navratri fasting. Barnyard millet cooks really fast when soaked and can be made into sama ka Jeera rice, Sama ka Upma, Sama ki Idli and Sama ka Dhokla easily. Making sama ka Dosa is also easy once you know how to use this millet. We love sama ki kheer too.

Sama ki tehri or tahiri cooks quickly once you have soaked sama in the fridge. Yes it is advisable to soak sama overnight either in water or thin buttermilk and refrigerate so it can be used to cook meals quickly as the soaked sama ke chawal lasts about 3-4 days. It is particularly convenient in Navratras if you are fasting.

ingredients
(2 servings)

1/3 cup sama ke chawal (Barnyard millet) soaked in 1.5 cup thin buttermilk overnight
2 cups mixed vegetables chopped into small cubes
1 tomato pureed
one small potato chopped in small cubes
1 tbsp ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
pink salt (sendha namak) to taste
pepper to taste
chopped green chilies and chopped ginger if required
chopped dhaniya patta to garnish

preparation

Heat the ghee in a wide stockpot (or pan) and tip in cumin seeds. Let the cumin splutter a bit.

Add the potatoes and stir and cook for 2 minutes. Now add the pureed tomatoes and all the chopped vegetables, salt and pepper. It will be better to add the other vegetables one by one according to the time they take to cook. I added carrots first and then zucchini after the potatoes and carrots were done. Toss and cook them all together.

Now add the soaked sama ke chawal, mix everything well and cook covered on low flame. No need to add any additional water as there is enough water in the ingredients to get cooked. It takes about 5 minutes for this quantity to get cooked after adding the soaked sama ke chawal.

Fluff up once cooked, sprinkle with chopped dhaniya patta and chopped green chilies and ginger if using. Serve with cucumber raita.

Green chilies and fine julienne of ginger taste really good in this tahiri but you can avoid if you like it a little plain. You can always add some roasted nuts or paneer cubes on top to add some proteins. I normally like it lighter but it also depends on how hungry you are for the meal or whether you are serving this sama ke chawal ki tahiri for lunch or dinner.

Few months ago in the peak of winter we booked a bus ticket and almost fled to a village in the Doaba region of Punjab. It feels very liberating when you are out of the clutches of the city life and work deadlines and your bus drops you by the side of a clean straight road lined with orchards of oranges and poplars. As if the honking cars have reincarnated themselves into tall and handsome poplars and lazy citrus trees overnight while you were sleeping in a luxury bus. Well, it felt almost like that.

Harkirat Ahluwalia received us and drove us to his home where he has created a wonderful cluster of yellow tents, bordering his huge verdant lawns, trees of several varieties of oranges, lemons and limes and a fire place. Citrus County has loads and loads of oranges, kinnows to be specific and the sweetest ones.

This is when we realised we have been transported into a typical Canada influenced Punjab village. Pun intended.

Punjab villages have been quite prosperous owing to the very hard working Sikhs, both who stayed back in the land and who migrated to earn dollars and send them dollars back to the land. It is very common to find people hoarding super bikes and flashy cars, most fashionable western brands of clothing in these villages and you will see them relishing the kachhi lassi, safed makkhan and makki ki roti with the same fervour. The best of both worlds to be honest.

Citrus County has very nice and clean tents with spacious modern bathrooms and a personal verandah which is surrounded by some greenery that provides privacy in a very aesthetic way. It is an ideal place if you want a break from city life and want to read, walk around the village and orchards, swim and laze around till you get hungry.

What I liked about the tents is that they have a nice study table and chairs inside the tents, good for someone who wants to read or write or catch up on work. Many of us have to touch base with work too while traveling. They don't use plastic so the water bottles were actually recycled wine bottles that was a good change to see. The heating system in winters and air conditioning (during summers) is a huge facility that you appreciate in the extreme winters (and even summers) this place witnesses.

They have a couple of rooms too and recently have built a Biker's lounge just besides the camp fire you see in these pictures. Harkirat is himself an avid biker and keeps going for long distance drives.

They have an efficient team of cooks who feed you warmly sitting close to the campfire. Though during winter months it felt too chilly during dinner time. We visited there in December last year.

Sometimes you would see Harkirat cooking a chicken curry by himself and fishing for complements, just like it happens in family gatherings. He would come up with a Sangria or his lovely wife Jasween would bake a cake sometimes.

You would get to taste some home made pickles and panjeeri, laddu etc made by their family elders and that is something very endearing about village life. Food at Citrus County is basic homely food, do not expect anything superlative here.

We met Harkirat's father Mr Bhagwant Singh Ahluwalia and we talked about varieties of citrus fruits and how he has planted so many fruit trees in their orchards and home garden. He is a treasure trove of stories about how this village Chaoni Kalan was established by his forefathers, how the Gurudwara was built and how he started growing kinnows on his land. I could sit and talk to him for hours if time permitted.

He also runs a highway dhaba called Dhaba Express as a hobby on the Chandigarh Hoshiarpur highway and the food is amazing. This is one dhaba you must stop at if you are driving past Hoshiarpur. If you are staying at Citrus County you can go there easily and eat the rustic dhaba style Punjabi food.

I like 'home stay' properties for the homely warmth and the stories that we share with the people who run such an endeavour. I think Citrus County brings back the joys of village life to you in a more comfortable and convenient manner. The best of both worlds as I mentioned.

You probably wouldn't get to dive into a pool (reservoir) at the 'tube well' the Punjab villages are known for but the swimming pool at Citrus County fills in for that quite aptly.

I recommend doing a tour of the orchards and see how kinnows are grown and harvested if you are visiting in winters. An early morning walk is a must do when you are there, every season has a new story to tell in such landscapes.

The village Gurudwaras and the markets are significant places you must visit. Citrus County keeps organizing events like Hola Mohalla and Baisakhi etc during significant Sikh festivals so you can plan your visit accordingly if you want to witness the festive colours.

Rickwachh is a popular pakoda from UP and Bihar made if colocasia (arbi) leaves layered and rolled up together. The roll is steamed, cooled and sliced to make pinwheel shaped pakodas that everyone loves. Different version of the same are made in other states too and is called as alu chi wadi (Marathi), pathrode (Mangalorean), patode (Punjabi), patir (Himachali), and so on.

The recipe of rickwach can be found here, it was made with soaked and blended chana daal earlier but besan is used mostly for convenience. There is a difference in the taste but each version of this pakoda is so tasty no one minds what is added to it when it is made. Just some chutney and hot chai is needed to make a conversation around how rare it has become now.

I wrote a story about the pakodas of India recently and it became so popular that I have been getting mails to write more about such traditional foods. Of course I will keep writing about our traditional foods as I believe traditional wisdom has honed itself over so many generations and there is a reason why some foods have lived so long and even have been adapted by many cultures across the country or even the world.

Traditional recipes are more nutrient efficient because they have evolved along the human civilizations and changing microcosm of human environment.

In the picture below, there is another type of pakoda calle Joori and 2 types of chutneys. The white one is a poppy seeds chutney while the green one is a coriander mint chutney which is quite a common accompaniment with pakodas of all types.

The leftover rickwachh was always curried with mustard based thin gravy in my family. I think my grandmother's Dhaka upbringing had to do something with all the mustard curries we make or may be the proximity of Banaras to Bihar where such mustard based curries are quite common.

Making rickwachh used to be a ritual in my family and several rolls were steamed together. A couple of rolls were sliced to shallow fry the rickwachh while more was refrigerated to be fired later or to curry them. This curry is actually treated as a mock fish curry just like besan katli ki subzi.

recipe of the rickwachh curry
___________________________________________________
ingredients
(for 10 slices of rickwachh)

to make a paste
3 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
4 cloves of garlic
3 green chillies
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

powder spices
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp amchoor powder

1 tbsp mustard oil, more for shallow frying the rickwachh slices, about 2 tbsp for 10
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

procedure

Make a fine paste of the ingredients listed along with 4-5 tbsp of water. It is better to powder everything together and then add the water before blending again to make a paste. If you add water in the beginning it doesn't make a fine paste.

Heat mustard oil and tip in the fenugreek seeds and let them fry till they darken and get fragrant. Pour the above paste in it slowly. Bhuno the mix till it starts getting glazed and oils tart separating.

Add the powdered spices and bhuno some more till the masala mix gets fragrant.

Add about 1.5 cups of water and simmer the gravy for 5 minutes. Slip in the shallow fried rickwachh slices and simmer for a couple of minutes before serving with plain boiled ice.

You can adjust the consistency of the curry by adding more water or by simmering it a bit longer. With plain boiled rice and some tomato onion kachumber you actually don't need anything else with this rickwachh curry.

It is the vegetarian's version of fish curry and rice.

Come summer and we start thinking mangoes in all it's hues and flavours. Raw mangoes hit the markets first and our kitchens go berserk with all the raw mango chutneys and chundas and khatta meetha aam ka achar or aam ki launji.

Few weeks ago when my house help's daughter wanted a raw mango to be peeled and given to her with salt, I thought she would eat one slice but she devoured 2 large raw mangoes within a matter of 10 minutes puckering her mouth all this while much to my entertainment. I can't remember when I myself did that.

We love to pucker up with some raw mango in our mouth all over the country in fact. A plethora of pickles, chutneys and preserves made in every region are a testimony to that.

Since raw mango is considered cooling if consumed in a specific way, there are recipes of aam panna and many related drinks that are made regularly in Indian homes. A fresh chutney is made with loads of mint leaves and some raw onion and green chillies to make a summer meal finger licking. Another soup like kachhe aam ka saar is made to be served like raita especially with lunch as it is the hottest time of the day.

Kachhe aam ka kuchla was one recipe that was made frequently in my home when my grandmother was around, but I had somehow started using the mixie and my kuchla started getting chutneyfied. But when I started making the Thai green mango salad I though of reviving this kachhe aam ka kuchla in my kitchen too.

So kachhe aam ka kuchla is of 2 types. Both Kuchlas are freshly made condiments but one is made with chutney ingredients and the other is more like a quick pickle, often called as kuchla achar. The name kuchla comes from the act of thrashing the ingredients lightly in a mortar and pestle that macerates the mango slices to soak up the flavours.

Sometimes the raw mango is grated to make kuchla but the idea is to keep the kuchla coarse. .

The kuchla chutney is more of my type because it borders on being a salad of sorts.

ingredients for kachhe aam ka kuchla chutney

one large raw mango peeled and sliced thinly
one large red onion sliced thinly
2-3 green chillies sliced
few springs of mint leaves
salt to taste
1/4 tsp mustard oil (optional)

procedure

Gather everything in a mortar and pestle and thrash till everything is macerated well. It looks like this when you want it to be like a salad.

Thrash a bit more to make it a coarse chutney.

This is the best summer condiment for everyday dal chawal meals but the best pairing in my opinion is with sattu. Both these exotic things together make the most common summer food for the farmers who work in the fields all day. I think if not the meals it becomes a snack to keep them cool. I have tasted it made by my grandmother made in our urban kitchen as she used to recreate a few things that she loved.

recipe of kachhe aam ka kuchla 'achar'
The achar version of kuchla is a quick pickle that is made int he morning and should be over during the day. It tastes great when fresh and that is the USP of this kuchla which is sometimes called as 'achari' too. Some people prefer kuchla achar more than the regular spicy preserved aam ka achar.

The achar version of kuchla had traveled to the countries wherever the farm workers from eastern India migrated. I found slightly varying kuchla recipes from Fiji and Guyana when I was searching on the internet. But the achar version of kuchla has almost disappeared from our kitchens it seems. I asked a few friends who didn't remember kuchla achar being made into their homes.

This kuchla achar can be added to jhal mudi type snacks or can be added to plain Bhindi stir fry or Karela stir fry to pack some punch in the everyday subzi.

ingredients

Raw mangoes peeled and sliced 1 cup
turmeric powder 1 tsp
mustard powder 1 tsp
red chilli powder 1 tsp
salt 1 tsp

procedure

Toss everything up and let it rest for a couple of hours before serving. This quick pickle doesn't keep well and it gets softened the next day which is not the best way to eat it.

Any leftover kuchla achar was happily added to next day's arhar ki daal to make it sour and of course that also became special summer teats.

Frugal cooking has been India's tradition. Something that we have forgotten with the deluge of ingredients available from all over the globe.

Phlasa (Grewia asiatica) is a small berry that comes for a short season in summers and we feel lucky if a cart full of phalsa passes by. It is very uncommon to see cartloads of fruits in Delhi now but I go for walks and there are a few areas where fruits are still sold the old fashioned way. Phalsa is not a regular fruit that every corner fruit vendor will stock and sell like the season's best peaches or plums unfortunately. Phalsa has a few takers and very few sellers too.

Phalsa berries are not too juicy but once ripe the berries do not last very long. Also this is one of those berries that people like sucking into one by one, sprinkled with some herbed salt so a little phalsa goes a long way. The seed has to spit out and the flavourful but meager amount of pulp makes a nice chatpata snack. One can't eat too much of it like a fruit. But once made into sharbat, you can consume fairly good amount of phalsa in one go. With its wonderful antioxidant and anti inflammatory properties phalsa must be used frequently till the season lasts.

Phalse ka sharbat can be made savoury like a jaljeera or a regular sweet version.

This season though I experimented with a new recipe of Phalse ka shorba because both of us were down with flu last week and we wanted something comforting for our throats. I made a few more regular shorbas but phalse ka shorba was one of the favourites owing to its novelty and tangy sweet taste. One actually cannot imagine the taste of this shorba as the ingredients used are so opposite to each other that it leaves one wondering about the final bouquet of flavours.

ingredients
(for 2 servings)

200 gm phalsa
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp pepper powder
2 whole dry red chillies (I used a pinch of red chilli powder too)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
pinch of heeng (asafoetida)
1 tsp mustard oil
salt to taste (preferably pink salt)

preparation

Add sugar and salt to the cleaned and rinsed phalsa and leave it for a while. Then mash well and add a cup of water. Strain and reserve the liquid. You can blend the phalsa in mixie and strain to get the juices.

Now heat mustard oil and tip in the heeng and cumin seeds. followed by broken dry red chillies. Let them all get aromatic and then pour the phalsa juice along with ginger powder and pepper. Add more water to make the shorba about 600 ml or enough for 2 servings and simmer for 5 minutes.

Pour into teacups as this shorba is better sipped slowly like tea.

Please don't replace mustard oil if you can. If you don't have mustard oil you can use butter. The flavours of heeng, cumin and ginger together gives this soup a real kick that staves off all the discomforts of flu. The shorba is great even if you don't have flu as we repeated it many times this summer. This became a way to drink more liquids and we loved it served warm.

With all the ingredients that help healing this soup becomes a wonderful anti inflammatory soup that works in summers too as one is always dehydrated, always exhausted for no apparent reason. Try this if you are getting phalsa in your part of the world or use any sweet and tart berry to make this soup and let me know how you like it.

The flavours are very typical of Banaras let me assure you.

I will share a few more shorbas we tried this summer. Stay tuned.

Potato is the most underused vegetable in my kitchen even though the husband is very fond of potatoes. In winters the new potatoes make great alu paratha but we don't eat potatoes in summer at all. Some alu parval ki bhujia is made sometimes but apart from that there is no potato on our summer menu.

This recipe of sookhe alu becomes an exception sometimes and we both enjoy having it with a relaxed weekend brunch. Our weekend brunches are invariably relaxed and simple meals, something weboth like.

This sookhe alu was made a few weeks ago when I noticed I had not used the potatoes that I had grown in my garden. This recipe became the excuse to eat the home grown potatoes. I remembered my research guide Dr. Maya Goyle a lot when I was cooking it. Her step daughters in Denmark used to love this and call this as brown potatoes because of the brown masala used. The brown masala is nothing else but the everyday curry powder that has prominent notes of coriander, tejpatta and cumin with mild heat of black pepper. With a tart hint of amchoor and aromatic kasoori methi this sookhe alu becomes a treat for the senses.

Incidentally, I always end up making this sookhe alu whenever I grind thee masala mix of my everyday curry powder. The aroma of this freshly milled spice blend always reminds me of this dry stir fry and I give in to the indomitable pleasure of potatoes.

I think sooke alu made with boiled and cooled potatoes is a genius recipe and I can't take credit at all. It is the recipe I learnt from Dr. Maya Goyle and its taste still connects me with her, now that she is no more in this world.

ingredients
(2 large servings or 4 regular servings)

400 gm potatoes (boiled with skin and cooled, preferably refrigerated for a day)
handful of kasoori methi
(the best you can find, else skip this. Do not substitute with fresh methi leaves)
2 tbsp everyday curry powder
1/2 tsp amchoor powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp mustard oil
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
salt to taste

procedure

Peel and cube the potatoes.

Heat oil in a pan and throw in the cumin seeds, let them splutter and get aromatic.

Tip the cubed potatoes with salt and turmeric powder and stir fry on medium heat till they turn golden brown. The slower this step is the better the potatoes taste. So take your time, make this sookhe alu when you are doing something else too in the kitchen.

Add the curry powder and red chilli powder once the potatoes looks adequately browned and fry some more till the masala becomes aromatic, sprinkle amchoor powder, mix well and it's ready.

Serve with paratha and pickle or eat as a snack. Trust me this sookhe alu mostly becomes the appetizer in my household.

Here you see the sookhe alu with pyaz ka paratha and a Gujrati pickle called Methiya athanu. I will post the recipe of Methiya athanu soon.

The slow cooked potatoes with this spice blend becomes magical if you trust me. There is no onion garlic in this recipe and the flavour is absolutely rustic and robust, kasoori methi giving it a slight bitter whiff. This is far better than any French fry of the world, and you don't even need any tomato ketchup with it.

This sookhe alu tastes great even if stuffed in a grilled sandwich. Actually this was the most common grilled sandwich we used to make with evening tea back home.

I love methi (fenugreek) in almost every form and have grown many varieties of methi in my garden. While the methi greens make delicious methi parathas and alu methi ki subzi apart from many more winter favourites, it is the methi seeds that come to rescue in summers.

The methi ki launji is a very popular UP (Marwadi to be precise) dish that is served like a relish. I was really glad to have discovered a methi and raw mango pickle a few years ago when a client of mine asked me one day if she can eat methi nu athanu while on her diet regime. When I asked about it she told me details and promised me to share the recipe, thankfully she used to write a food blog too back then.

Of course she was allowed to eat this pickle and even I found myself hooked to this unusual pickle very soon. I have been meaning to share the recipe of Mehtiya athanu since then but I make very small batches of pickle and this one gets over really fast somehow.

You would know how it gets over so fast when you make this methi seeds and raw mango pickle too. I have been eating it even with idlis and plain rotis and dal chawal, practically everything I mean.

Methi keri nu athanu is actually a genius recipe from Gujrat that neutralizes the bitterness of methi seeds with the tartness of raw mangoes and the methi seeds swell up with the juices exuded by the mangoes, beautifully complementing each other.

This recipe is adapted from a client of mine as I mentioned. You can see the original recipe here.

ingredients

200 gm firm raw mangoes
200 gm methi (fenugreek) seeds
5-10 gm (1-2 tsp) red chilli powder according to taste
25 -30 gm salt (scant 2 tbsp)
5 gm or 1 heaped tsp turmeric powder
a generous pinch of hing (asafoetida)
3/4 cup mustard oil and a little more if required

procedure

Grind the methi seeds coarsely.

Chop the green mangoes in small bits with skin, discarding the stone.

Mix the coarse methi powder with chilli, turmeric and salt.

Heat the mustard oil with hing and pour it over the spice mix. Let it cool.

Mix the chopped raw mangoes with the oil and spice mix, stir to mix and bottle. The pickle is ready after 2 days and it keeps well for the whole year.

Just take care to keep it lightly covered with a layer of mustard oil, pouring a little more over the top if required.

Do let me know whenever you make this methi keri nu athanu. I suggest you make just with 2 raw mangoes just like I did and start enjoying it asap. Making a larger batch can take time so make sure the quick small batch keeps you company.

I cannot resist when I see a fresh looking bunch of kachha kela in the vegetable market and end up buying the whole bunch. The kachhe kele ki bhujia being the most frequent subzi that I make, it is shocking that the recipe has not come on the blog yet. I dug out a picture this time and here it is for you.

This kachhe kele ki bhujia is a dry stir fry that tastes great with plain dal chawal or mung ki khichdi but it becomes a great tea time snack too if you make it with lesser chilli heat. I have even served this bhujia as an appetizer too but I like to chop the raw plantain in wedges in that case. You know it makes a great substitute to potato wedges.

Another plantain stir fry with curry patta is a nice fasting recipe we love as a snack too.

I must add that I prefer cooking the kachha kela or raw plantain along with the skin. Choosing the plantains with spotless skin is better when buying, but one can always scrape off the blackened portions and save the peel that is undamaged. The skin of the plantain (and even bananas) is more nourishing than the flesh inside.

If you don't like the peel in the subzi you can make a delicious plantain peel chutney too.

Imagine how convenient it becomes to cook it along with the peel. Just chop off the two ends and slice before cooking. Peeling vegetables is not the best thing most cooks like doing.

The skin on kachhe kele ki bhujia is so good that it flies off the platter when served in a gathering. I make a few variations of this bhujia and kachhe kele methi ki subzi and kachhe kele sem ki subzi are a few of those variations. You can always make more variations according to taste.

ingredients
(2-3 servings with dal chawal or khichdi)

4-5 raw plantains (about 400 gm)
4-5 cloves of garlic
2-3 green or dry red chilies
salt to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp mustard oil
1/4 tsp methi (fenugreek seeds)

procedure

Remove the stalk and the tip of the raw plantain, make a cut lengthwise and then slice. The thickness can vary according to preference. Thinner slices get crisp when cooked on low heat but turn chewy when cold. Keep the slices meaty.

Make a paste of chilies, garlic and turmeric powder and keep aside.

Heat the mustard oil and tip in the methi seeds and wait till they brown a little bit.

Add the plantain slices, salt and stir fry on low flame. Let it cooked, stirring or tossing every couple of minutes to ensure even browning all around.

It takes about 15 minutes to get cooked this way. Add the chili garlic paste after about 7-8 minutes and keep cooking till the flavours get absorbed and the plantain slices are cooked through.

Serve hot with dal chawal meals or khichdi as I mentioned. Some bharta, chokha or raita pairs very well wit such meals. Kachhe kele ki bhujia actually makes a nice roti wrap too along with some raw onion slices.

This recipe of kachhe kele ki bhujia has a pronounced garlicky flavour and the texture is meaty. It actually tastes really good when hot or warm but starts getting a little dry when cold. Having said that, we don't mind it even cold and sometimes Arvind takes this bhujia to his lunch box too.

The bhujia doesn't refrigerate well as it gets drier but once reheated it gets better, though not quite like the freshly made bhujia. To use up the leftover kachhe kele ki bhujia I recommend making kachhe kele ke kabab by mashing up the leftovers along with some chopped onions and may be a mashed potato and some chopped nuts or seeds.

Raw plantain is an easy and versatile vegetable to cook with. Tell me what all you cook with these.

You might want to try this quick scramble of raw plantains for a breakfast some day. If you love kachhe kele ke kofte then you might have bumped into this recipe sometime.

I keep saying we are not a pickle consuming family but we do appreciate a good pickle once in a while. And sometimes when someone mentions a pickle that was made back home with much ostentation, I feel like making that pickle just for my memory's sake.

This sooran ka achar was one of those pickles that I made after my brother was remembering this pickle made my our grandmother.

We used to take second and third helping of this pickle whenever it was placed on the table. I remember this was one of the pickle that was used to show off the varieties of pickle that my parents used to hoard. And we were lucky to have a grandmother who used to find great pleasure in seeing such pageantry around the food she made.

Making sooran ka achar is not difficult once you get the vegetable grated and ready. A food processor or a handy house help and you can easily breeze through making this Elephant yam pickle. Peeling the muddy skin and grating this hard tuber is the most difficult thing, but once it is done you just have to toss it like a salad.

Salad? Do we have salads in India? Check this article I wrote for my column in Indian Express.

Coming back to this sooran ka achar, it is actually a balanced mix of the yam, ginger, garlic, chillies and of course the pickling spices. It looks more like a chutney and tastes somewhere between an Indian tart chutney and a pickle resplendent with pickling spices. Ginger plays a very good role in this pickle.

ingredients

300 gm peeled, rinsed and grated sooran
200 gm cleaned and grated fresh ginger root
100 gm garlic peeled and minced (or chopped roughly if you like the bite)
50-60 gm dry red chilly powder (coarse preferably)
150 gm salt
100 gm pickling spice mix
50 gm turmeric powder Or 100 gm fresh turmeric root grated
200 ml pure cold pressed mustard oil (a little more to top up)
1/4 tsp hing (asafoetida)
100 ml vinegar of your choice (I use home made jamun or apple cider vinegar)

procedure

Take care to clean the chopping board and grating equipment thoroughly. Grate and chop the ingredients as required and mix with salt and turmeric. Keep aside for an hour or so. No need to sun dry anything.

Heat the mustard oil, add the hing powder and wait till it froths. Add the remaining spices at once and take the pan off the stove. Add this infused oil along with the spices in the sooran mix and give it a good stir.

Add the vinegar, mix well and immediately fill into a sterilized jar, press it down to remove air gaps. Pour some additional mustard oil if the pickle looks too dry, the top layer should be submerged in a thin layer of oil.

This pickle will be ready to eat in 2-3 days and keeps well for a whole year. The taste keeps getting a little more tart as this pickle ages.

This sooran ka achar is great as a condiment for Indian meals but do try it as a spread for sandwiches sometimes and see how it replaces your regular mustard.

Sooran is also known as Zamikand, Oal or Ole in other parts of India but this pickle is probably a recipe belonging to eastern UP and Bihar. I haven't come across this sooran ka achar in any other regions till now.

Last month I was lucky to get hold of some wild mushrooms brought by my brother. He was driving from Lakhimpur and I had requested him to bring some of these foraged wild foods.

I had tasted several varieties of wild mushrooms during our days in Dhanbad, my maid who belonged to Munda tribe had introduced me to many of these wild foods, and the memory of those freshly foraged wild mushrooms sometimes makes me crave for them. Especially during the rainy season as I am reminded of how the local haats (vegetable markets) will have at least 3-4 mushroom sellers during this season.

Sometimes my maid would bring a fistful of Termite mushrooms that she had found on her way to my home in the morning, the fresh aroma of those mushrooms is unforgettable. She would always tell me these can be eaten raw as well but I never tried that, blame it to my urban sense of hygiene.

So when two bundles of wild mushrooms arrived one day wrapped in newspaper, the way the foragers sell these, I opened the bundles instantly to see what were those. One of them was this wild mushroom called as 'Dharti ka phool' and had a pleasant smell to it.

The other one was so stinky I felt a bit hesitant to cook with it. A similar looking wild mushroom called Rugda from Jharkhand was not smelly at all as much as I remember. Or was it my help who used to clean it? But the big question was I had to clean it all by myself this time.

This pebble like wild mushroom is known as Katarua in Lakhimpur and as Phutphut in Dehradun I got to know. Covered in layers of black mud these had to be rinsed repeatedly to clean.

Katarua or Phutphut is identified as Astraeus hygrometricus (source) which grows mostly around Sal trees and erupts in rainy season every year.

After a good wash the Katarua looks like this. These are Indian truffles, closely related to other truffles of the world and very flavourful.

These have a cartilaginous cover and a pulpy center and need to be halved for cooking into curries. I decided to pressure cook first because the stinky mud had made me sick. Some great foods test your patience truly.

After pressure cooking for about 10 minutes (after one whistle) the Kataura mushrooms were cooled down, chopped into halves and curried. The taste was so good it makes me crave for it now. Very meaty taste, cartilaginous capsule and soft egg yolk like center.

I cooked it with potatoes once as it flavours anything that is cooked with it.

The recipe is not much different for this spicy curry as I followed the bhuna masala method, where the masala is prepared first and then the mushrooms are simmered with the bhuna masala and some water for about 10 minutes. Note that the Katarua has already been pressure cooked. It takes well to prolonged cooking as the cartilage like outer cover is quite hard.

Next time I kept the gravy a little thin as I love the way the soupy curry carries the flavours.This one we polished off with sourdough kulchas.

And then I made biryani with the Katarua wild mushrooms because I thought the rice grains will take to it's flavour really well. The biryani really proved to be worthy of all the effort. Unfortunately I was trying out an organic rice that was sent to me by a farmer and it turned out to be too mushy for biryani but the taste was great.

To make the Katarua biryani, follow the steps as suggested below.

It is not a true biryani but something that will make you think positively about vegetarian biryanis trust me.

1. Make the curry with bhuna masala like above.
2. Boil basmati rice with plenty of water, few tejpatta leaves and few peppercorns. Cook the rice only till the rice is half done. Drain the water and reserve rice, rinse with chilled water briefly.
3. Now layer the Katarua subzi and half cooked rice in a thick bottomed handi. Pour the gravy over it and some additional water, some mint leaves (optional) and a tbsp of ghee. The water used at this step has to be enough to cook the rice while on 'dum'.
4. Cover the handi and cook on 'dum'. Keep a tick griddle below the handi and let it cook slowly on low heat for 25 minutes. This is how 'dum' cooking results into aromatic biryani.
5. Serve the biryani as soon as the dum cooking is over.

We normally serve raita and salad with biryanis but since it was the rare flavour of Katarua we decided to make a plain kachumber of tomatoes and onions. It was such a delectable meal to remember.

Next time I get hold of these wild mushrooms called as Katarua, I am going to experiment some more and see if it pairs well with the western recipes.

Some meals are so special you remember them for a long time to come.

If you try and remember all your memorable meals, I am sure you would recall one or the other happy meal you enjoyed with great friends or family members, may be with strangers too but none of those meals would be had alone. Am I right?

And if you have ever had a meal at an exotic location out of nowhere, it is bound to stay with you forever. I will tell you about one such meal I enjoyed at the temple complex of Kiradu in Rajasthan which is now in ruins. And if I tell you that this meal experience was organized by the good folks at Suryagarh (Jaisalmer) you would instantly know it would definitely be good.

Of course Suryagarh food is memorable for everyone. But this sattvic meal exceeded my expectation by several notches. And to think that this sattvic meal was a part of the elaborate hawan and puja they organized at the neglected temple complex to unveil their new trail of the season, the Kiradu Experience.

All food that is prepared for the Gods is made with devotion and it comes through every bite you take. I know you would agree.

Kiradu temple complex is about three hours drive from Suryagarh and you drive on a singular road that goes straight till the horizon. There is vast expanse of desert both sides, sand often piled up on the road making small dunes and the driver has to be careful. The topography kept changing along the road and we passed the Desert National Park, spotting peacocks, Green Bee Eaters, Eagles, Falcons and some Chinkaras. There were herds of Camels too of course.

The only noticeable shrubs were the Calotropis that grew really huge. There were other desert shrubs including some tall grasses and the Kair, Sangri too.

The Suryagarh team had arranged for a high tea break at one of the villages called as Kesar Singh ki Dhani. It was such a wonderful surprise to take a detour into a village surrounded with sand dunes, find a few thatched huts, women and kids peeking from their homes and then you are directed towards one of those huts with a small door.

There was a low table set impeccably Suryagarh style, kudos to the team for such ideas and concepts. Now that I am working with them on a small project I know their trails and meal experiences are spectacular, this one was way beyond wonderful.

After having the chai with some of the villagers who joined us, we drove again to find the topography changing and some hills appearing gradually. Kiradu is a place surrounded by hills and is quite green compared to the Thar desert. The ancient name of Kiradu is KiratKup. Kirat dynasty finds a mention in Hindu scriptures and ancient history, I wouldn't go into finer details here but this nook of history is worth digging up.

Located in Barmer district this was an old civilization as we were told by Rajendar Singh Man, an official from INTACH, Barmer chapter. He claims the hills envelope an ancient city that is now buried under the bushes, trees and some sedimentation. Mr Man informed that the occurrence of rounded pebbles of a river bed suggest that this place got flooded by a river once and got destroyed or buried probably due to the forces of water. Forceful damage to the wall sculptures suggests some army had tried to destroy it revengefully. Several Mughal armies are responsible for the damage we were told.

The temples are beautiful, the history enchanting and the wall carving on them feels alive when you take a closer look. It is believed to have been under the reign of Parmar in 12th century but there is no trace of evidence how the whole temple complex got destroyed and the city got buried slowly. The temple complex was build some 400 years before that.

We found the stories from ancient Hindu scriptures carved in stone. Presence of some erotic sculptures makes these temples comparable to the Khajuraho temples but the INTACH officials kept lamenting about the sheer apathy of ASI.

I would want to dig deeper into the history and the art, Kiradu temple complex has ignited an interest for sure. The Iconography of these temples tells stories that need detailed interpretation. I was reminded of the fine work at Dilwara Jain temples that we had visited some 26 years ago.

The Kiradu temple complex had a group of more than120 temples and 5 of them can be seen in partly restored form. There is no facility for tourists apart from the road but that may be a blessing in disguise as this place is free of plastic and empty packets of chips and what not. I wish it remains the same and people who respect the ancient monuments have better access to these.

Suryagarh did a wonderful job by cleaning the premises and arranging a Hawan. This is an ancient Hindu way to invite the forces of the universe to bless a place or a cause, hoping this Hawan will be a beginning and ASI will take interest in unearthing more of these temples while preserving them too. Note that this temple complex was not accessible to civilians since a couple of months ago as Indian Army had a base here.

This little priest was part of the entourage of Hindu priests (Pandits) who had been invited from Barmer and was a lot more enthusiastic than the elder priests.

The collective chants of all these priests was good to hear after a very long time. Arvind's family organizes such large scale pujas back in Banaras and I have been part of a few of them. I kept thinking Arvind would have joined the chanting involuntarily as he has been doing since his childhood. My own family was not so much into pujas.

And just like Arvind's side of my family, this puja also commenced into a sattvic meal that was cooked on the spot. Chef Megh Singh Rathore and his team had arrived at the temple complex since noon and had cooked a lavish sattvic meal for all of us, the Pandits and all the workers deployed there. What a meal it was that we enjoyed in open air.

The tables were set old fashioned 'chowki' style and we were served alu mungodi ki subzi, mirchi ka kutta, poori, dal bati churma and pulao along with buttermilk.Desserts were mung ka halwa, some signature suryagarh mithais and some more kheer etc but I got my tripti eating the sattvic meal, desserts became unnecessary.

I will be sharing recipes of the mirchi ka kutta and alu mungodi ki subzi next. I need to keep this memory in the form of food too, after all the memories become tangible when the taste is recreated on our dining tables.

Stay tuned.

Mirchi ka kutta is not a recipe I grew up eating but I had tasted it once in a while cooked by a friend's mother. Back then I was not so enamored by chilies, anything made with just chillies had to be in small servings and it was used just like a spot of heat on the platter. The kind of relish that was put to use only when the food was bland otherwise.

mirchi ka kutta | मिर्ची का कुट्टा | pounded green chilli relish

And then I tasted this mirchi ka kutta that blew my mind away. I loved that it was made from the less hot Rajasthani chillies and that it had loads of methi (fenugreek) seeds. I know the picture that comes to mind is a bitter and hot relish but this mirchi ka kutta is far from that.

As I mentioned in the last post about Kiradu temple complex, the sattvic meal we enjoyed there had this mirchi ka kutta as a side dish and I loved it so much that I took 3 helpings and the last time I asked for a bigger serving so I can enjoy it without worrying for refills. It was really that good.

I called Chef Megh Singh Rathore immediately and asked for the recipe. He rattled a simple recipe and I memorized while polishing the last bits of mirchi ka kutta with soft pooris.

Apart from loads of methi, this mirchi ka kutta has some sounf (fennel seeds) and some rai (small mustard seeds), some crushed garlic and a little lashing of hing (asafoetida). All this is balanced off with a sprinkling of amchoor powder.

The only similar recipe that I am reminded from my home is a mirch ki kalonji that my grandmother used to make in bulk and refrigerate for the whole week. One mirch ki kalonji used to land up on everyone's plate at meal time. I need to recreate that too very soon. Let it be mirchi ka kutta till then.

ingredients for mirchi ka kutta (मिर्ची का कुट्टा )
(makes enough to fill a 350 ml jar)

15 large Rajasthani chillies or any large green chillies that are not too hot
4 smaller hot green chillies
6-8 fat cloves of garlic peeled
2 tbsp methi (fenugreek) seeds
1 tsp sounf (fennel) seeds
1 tsp rai (small mustard seeds)
a generous pinch of hing (asafoetida)
2 tbsp mustard oil
2 tsp amchoor powder
1 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 cup water

procedure

Pound the garlic and chillies separately. It helps if you chop the chillies before pounding them in a mortar and pestle. Be careful of any seeds that may decide to fly and land in your eyes while pounding.

Heat the oil and tip in the hing first. Let it sizzle and then add the methi seeds followed by sounf and rai. Add the garlic when the seeds start getting aromatic. Mix and cook for a couple of seconds.

Add the chillies, salt and mix well. Cook for a minute and add the water. Cook covered on low for 10 minutes. Add the amchoor powder and cook again for a couple of minutes, adding a little more water if required.

The mirchi ka kutta will be moist enough so that the methi seeds swell up after soaking the juices.

Empty the contents into a clean jar or container and refrigerate immediately. It keeps well for a week easily.

This mirchi ka kutta goes really well with poori and paratha but I love it with khichdi and dal chawal meals too. You can serve it with practically everything, all kind of Indian meals.

It is an interesting amalgamation of flavours ranging from bitterness from methi, aromatic sweetness from fennel, sharp punch of garlic and the flavourful heat of green chillies, everything wrapped up by the tartness of amchoor powder. All strong flavours meld so well you crave for more.

Alu mungodi ki subzi is stuff made of nostalgia. Such simpler curries have become so rare these days thanks to the deluge of 'butter masalas' and 'navratan kormas' of the vegetarian world, and of course because no one makes Badiyan or Mungodi at home any more.

No restaurants serve it either.

Thankfully we do get mungodi and badiyan in the markets, made by small scale industries and home based units and some of them are really good.

Badiyan making is an age old tradition all over the country. Badiyan or dried lentil cakes, if I try to translate this unique wonder, are made of lentil paste with is fermented, then mixed with some grated gourd type vegetable according to the regional choice, some spices and then the paste is shaped like small pellets to sun dry. The pellets puff up to become planoconvex shaped while they dry and then are stored for the whole year.

Badiyan are generally made of urad dal paste and are made into several curries like this pyaz badiyon ki subzi and even a badiyon ki chutney. I have always believed the badiyan brought the umami factor in Indian curries, the process of making badiyan ensured the lentil paste gets a flavour boost when fermented and sun dried.

Apart from the Badiyan, there is a type called Mungodi which is made of plain mung dal paste and is not spiced. The mungodi has a flavour of its own, something like when mung gets a mild hint of umami and yet retains its mungness. You know what I mean.

Mungodi can be sun dried or even can be made fresh for some curries. This mungodi wali lauki is made with freshly made mungodis. But freshly made mungodi lacks the umami kick, please note.

The alu mungodi ki subzi is preferred by those who like eating no onion garlic curries or is made often for meals after a puja at home.

One of the kachori walas in Banaras makes such a delicious mungodi ki subzi that I often crave for it. I know I have to recreate it soon.

I shared that the hawan at Kiradu temple complex commenced with a sattvic meal and how much I loved that meal. Alu mungodi ki subzi was on the menu apart from the mirchi ka kutta and I couldn't help but make it again at home. My mother in law used to make alu mungodi and lauki mungodi a lot and I actually started loving it a lot after having tasted her version.

After having a slightly different but equally delicious version of alu mungodi by Suryagarh chefs, I decided to make my MIL's version as that is what makes it more homely for me.

ingredients
(2-3 servings)

2 large boiled and cooled potatoes (about 250 gm)
1/2 cup dried mungodis
1 tbsp everyday curry powder
(or a mix of coriander, cumin, peppercorns and Indian bay leaf powder)
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
2 green chillies broken
1 tsp turmeric powder
pinch of hing (asafoetida)
1/4 tsp cumin seeds (optional, I don't use)
1 tsp crushed or minced ginger (optional, I use it always)
1/4 tsp amchoor powder
1.5 tbsp mustard oil
salt to taste

preparation

Crush the boiled potatoes with fingers. It should break into uneven pieces, and some completely crushed coarse mash.

Heat the mustard oil in a deep pan and shallow fry the mungodis in it till lightly browned. Remove from the fried mungodis from oil and keep aside.

Tip in the hing and cumin seeds if using, in the remaining oil. Once the oil is well infused add the crushed ginger. Stir to cook for a couple of seconds.

Now take the pan off heat for a moment and add all the powdered spices at once, stir to mix well so the spices infuse but do not get burnt. Within seconds dump all the crushed potatoes in the pan and stir well to mix. Return to heat and stir for a couple of minutes.

Add salt to taste, 2 cups of water and all the fried mungodis. Let the curry come to a rolling boil. Now lower the heat and let the alu mungodi subzi simmer for about 20 minutes, covered with a lid, or till the mungodis get soft and almost double up in size.

Finish with amchoor powder, adjust seasoning and consistency, serve hot with rotis, pooris or plain parathas along with other side dishes if required.

Some people add tomatoes to the alu mungodi ki subzi but I like this version with amchoor. You may want to garnish it with green coriander leaves but please refrain as it interferes with the delicately flavoured mungodis. But if you love your dhaniya patta go ahead and top it with some greens.

This kind of badi or mungodi subzis were a staple during rainy season when other green vegetables were not easily available in older times. That is the reason there is no tomato or dhaniya patta used traditionally for alu mungodi ki subzi but there are versions made in winter season when mungodi is paired with spinach and cabbage too.

One can always adjust this alu mungodi ki subzi to taste. The Suryagarh version is cooked with raw potatoes and it had a different consistency and slightly different taste too.

Mungodi is made of mung dal (skinned mung beans) after a paste of mung dal is dropped into small pellets and then sun dried to make little nuggets of lentil, it can be spiced or plain. Badi is the generic Indian name for these lentil nuggets and the specific name changes with the kind of lentil used. If it is made of mung, it is Mungodi.

There are several names for these Mungodis or generic badis (or wadis) all over the country but in Bihar and eastern UP it is always prefixed with the type of lentil used. So there is Mungodi made of mung, Urdouri or Adouri made of urad dal, Masurouri made of masur dal, others are called as badi simply.

The other significant variety is called Kumhrouri which is made of urad dal and white pumpkin (Ash gourd) which is also called as kumhra, so the nomenclature has a clue to the origin of the badi. I love talking about these with the older women who never tire of sharing their wisdom with anyone. Sepu badi of Himachal is a different type of badi

When I posted about alu mungodi ki subzi many of you asked for the recipe of mungodi as no one makes these at home now and these are not even available in many places. Moreover, the quality of the ready made mungodi is not always good. I have been my grandmother's apprentice for long enough to recreate thing on my own, so here is the recipe of mungodi that can be made at home without much fuss, if you make a small quantity.

Note that making mungodis at home 'used to be' a humongous task but it was so because such things were always made for friends and family too. Huge dabbas were sent to kith and kin, badi, papad and achar were always exchanged between families and friends. Social bonding was real and tangible.

The good old days.

Let me tell you there is one encouraging fact, that we can make the mungodis fairly easily at home. For mungodis it is only one ingredient mostly as these are always made without any spices. But cumin seeds are sometimes added to bring a hint of spice in them.

ingredients
1 cup of mung dal
1 tsp cumin seeds

preparation

Soak the mung dal for one hour.

Note that soaking the mung dal for longer will result in more water content and flat mungodis that do not soak up the curry flavour when cooked.

Drain the water. Make a coarse paste with the cumin seeds, without adding any water. The paste should look like this.

Now make a cone using a plastic bag, reused or fresh. Or use a piping bag with a small hole depending on the size of mungodis you need.

Fill the mung paste in the piping bag, secure the top and start piping mungodis on a smooth surface.

I used a silpat sheet because it is much easier to take the mungodis off the surface. They may stick on plates even if you grease them.

My piping skill needs some brushing up. I have decided on more mungodis now, no cake icing please.

My grandmother used to make mungodis on old muslin saris so it was easier to sun dry them and once the mungodis are dry they peel off easily from the thin cloth. And she used to shape each single mungodi with her fingers, piping them perfectly, using three fingers and thumb.

Time your soaking, grinding and piping in such a way that you lay out the mungodis in good sun at the start of the day. It took me 2 minutes of grinding and 5 minutes of piping the mungodis for this quantity.

And of course the whole day of fun watching the mungodis dry, updating a few instagram pictures in between.

Once dry enough the mungodis can be flipped. It took an hour this time. Flipping the mungodis ensures faster drying and I was concerned because it is the tail end of monsoon season here and I did not want the mungodis to stay damp.

You see I made the mungodis on a whim and the monsoon showers couldn't deter me. It took 2 days to sun dry them while keeping an eye on the sudden showers that are characteristic of this season. I had to bring the mungodis indoors a few times but thankfully there was strong sun in between the showers.

Once dry, the mungodis are lighter and make a rattling sound when tossed around. Damp mungodis wont rattle.

Make sure the mungodis are not damp, as it catches fungus really soon.

Note that the mungodis made during the rainy season wouldn't last the whole year, in all probability, it has the tendency to get damp even if dried completely.

If for some reason, for example rains, your mungodis are not sun dried well, try and deep fry them to dehydrate well and keep in air tight containers. The mungodis can be used directly in that case. Else we need to fry them before currying them like in this alu mungodi ki subzi or Guwar mungodi ki subzi which has a hint of fennel.

ingredients for guar mungodi ki subzi
(2 servings)

1/3 cup mungodis
250 gm guar cleaned, stringed and chopped in small bits
1 medium sized potato peeled and quartered
1/4 cup whipped yogurt
1 tbsp everyday curry powder
1/2 tsp fennel powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
1-2 broken chopped green chillies
1 tbsp minced or grated ginger
salt o taste
1 tbsp mustard oil

procedure

To make the guar mungodi ki subzi, heat the mustard oil in a pressure cooker, shallow fry the mungodis in the oil and once the mungodis are light pink and fragrant, remove the pan from the burner for a minute and add the everyday curry powder (or any light subzi masala of your choice), turmeric powder, red chilli powder and fennel powder in that order. Toss and mix while the spices get aromatic.

Return the pressure cooker pan to the burner, add ginger, whipped yogurt and stir to mix.

Now add the chopped guar, potatoes and green chillies, mix well an top up with 1/2 cup water.

Cover the lid and pressure cook till the whistle blows, lower down the heat an cook for a couple of minutes. Let the cooker cool down, open the lid and crush the potatoes with a ladle to make the curry a little mushed up.

Serve hot with drizzle of ghee with our Indian rice or roti meals..

Kachhe aam ka achar or raw mango pickle is a necessity in Indian homes.

If the stock of aam ka achar has finished, people start feeling seriously deprived.

Last month when I was talking to my sister about her fetish for aam ka achar, she was the one who would even steal pickles and eat it like a candy while reading a book or playing, we were reminded of how the chane wala aam ka achar (raw mango pickle with chickpeas) used to get over sooner.

Chane wala aam ka achar was a favourite of all of us and the pickle jar was never out of sight on the dining table. Everyone wanted to keep this chane wala achar closer to themselves so second and third helpings can be taken quickly without anyone else noticing it. How we used to blame each other about who finished the achar.

Those days of chatorapan.

My mother used to make this chane wala achar with both black gram (kale chane) and the garbanzo beans (kabuli chane) but her method was a little different. She used to soak the chickpeas in the water left after marinating the raw mango pieces in salt and turmeric. So the quantity of the chickpeas was always limited. That explains the scarcity of the chane wala achar.

Since my recipe of aam ka achar uses up all the liquids oozed out during marination time, I had to device new ways to add chana to the achar.

Recipe and procedure of chane wala aam ka achar

During the making of the aam ka achar, the day I mix the the pickling spices (check the recipe and steps), I soak some chickpeas in advance.

The soaked chickpeas are mixed with salt and turmeric powder again and kept overnight. For each 100 gm soaked chickpeas I use 15 gm salt and 5 gm turmeric powder.

Then the overnight marinated chickpeas are added to equal amount of freshly mixed aam ka achar.

Note the amount of mixed aam ka achar left in the pan here. The chickpeas were added to that.

The chane wala aam ka achar gets ready to eat in a couple days and stays good for at least 6 months. I haven't seen this pickle lasting more than this, if the present batch lasts the whole year I will update this post.

Some people make this achar with grated mangoes too, Anjana's recipe can be referred if you want that type. I sometimes chop the raw pickling mangoes in smaller bits but never have made it with grated mangoes.

The chane can even be added to sooran ka achar as well and I remember my grandmother used to like that one more.

The pickle can be served just as any other Indian pickle and the chickpeas taste really good while retaining their texture.

Do let me know if you try making this chane wala aam ka achar.

I know you might not be drawn to the thought of rose petal jam or gulkand phirni, unless you have experienced otherwise.

Rose is a tricky aroma when used in foods I always used to think. I never liked it whenever I tried it in my childhood and was put off Rose scented foods, drinks and desserts. It was when I started growing the heirloom variety of roses that I was tempted to use them again in my food and I understood what was the reason of my hatred towards all things rosy, at least in food.

The reason is, that most (read almost all) rose scented drinks and desserts are made from synthetic essence of rose and hence makes one averse to this aroma. If you have ever had experienced a real rose water like we get from IHBT Palampur, you would know what the real thing is and different varieties of roses yield different bouquet of aromatics.

Once you grow the real aromatic roses you would know even better. These flowers are small in size, get even smaller when the garden is mostly shaded, but the aroma is unmistakable. This Rose petal jam (Gulkand) phirni is a testimony to the real flavour.

I made this gulkand phirni when a few friends came visiting recently and I wanted something that cooks fast and takes lesser effort as my hands and fingers have really stiff joints right now due to a recent Chikunguniya infection. This gulkand phirni came to rescue.

Recipe of Gulkand Phirni
______________________________________

ingredients
(6-8 portions)
1 liter whole milk
2 tbsp sugar (as per taste, I keep it very lightly sweetened, gulkand is sweet too)
200 ml light cream
2.5 tbsp rice powder (or make a paste of 2 tbsp fragrant rice with 3-4 tbsp milk or water)
3-4 tbsp gulkand or rose petal jam (homemade or the best you can get)
1 tbsp real rose water
few rose petals for garnish

procedure

Reserve 100 ml milk and mix the cream and rest of the milk in a thick base pan and simmer. Add sugar and let it dissolve.Keep simmering till the volume reduces by about 20%. keep the flame low at all times.

Make a slurry with the reserved milk and rice powder, whisking it nicely.

Take a whisk in the right hand and pour the rice slurry into the simmering milk using your left hand. Keep whisking the mix all this while. The simmering milk and cream mix starts getting thicker like a custard and a few fat bubbles burst at the surface. The whisk starts getting coated too at the same time and this is a sign the phirni is cooked. It takes about 3-5 minutes depending on the heat.

Take the phirni off the stove, add rose water and gulkand. Whisk again to mix.

Pour into serving bowls or glasses. It is best served in earthen pots but any bowls are okay as long as the phirni gets chilled and set. .

Chill before serving as I mentioned, garnished with rose petals and a little gulkand. The phirni should set like a soft grainy custard. The creaminess comes from the rice starch and the light cream used in the recipe and glukand provides the flavour base.

How to make Gulkand?
_____________________________

There are only 2 ingredients needed to make Gulkand.

Rose petals and sugar.

The quantity of rose petals and sugar is equal by weight so sugar helps preserve the rose petals along with their essential oils.

We need the heirloom (desi) variety of rose known as Damask rose. This variety has very soft delicate petals and a lingering fragrance. The flowers can be multi-whorled or single whorled depending on where they are growing, pruning pattern, sun exposure and climate.

In the states of Uttarakhand and lower Himalayas the Damask rose grows wild by the roadsides and comes in huge bunches. The rosehips from those roses are the best.

Deep pink variety of Damask rose is preferred over the light pink rose to make Gulkand or rose petal jam.

Once you have the roses, better get them from a chemical free source, I collected them over a week when my garden was benevolent a couple of years ago, just separate the petals and rinse them lightly under running water. Spread the petals over a muslin cloth in shade so the water evaporates.

The older method warrants crushing of rose petals in mortar and pestle slowly but I use a mixie blender whenever I have a good quantity of rose petals to preserve. It takes just a couple of seconds for a batch and the mixture doesn't get heated. Heating the mix would result in the loss of the aroma.

To make fresh gulkand from a couple of roses within a day I just crush them along with sugar, keep in a glass jar and expose to sun for a day.

Here is how it looks when rose petals and sugar are crushed lightly in a mixie blender. You can use a food processor and even a chopper.

After crushing them together coarsely, just transfer to a sterile (clean and dry) glass jar with a tight fitting lid and keep indoors at room temperature, away from sun to preserve the colour.

The gulkand stays well for years but the colour gets darker as you can see from the pictures of freshly made gulkand above and the 2 year old batch in the picture with Gulkand phirni.

And don't worry about the high sugar content of gulkand. It is never used as a jam spread but always as a rose flavour to be added to desserts so the sugar gets balanced.

Damask roses traveled from Persia to Europe, the name of the rose comes from Damascus Syria. I am not sure how these roses came to India but now they are called as Indian desi gulab. It might have come to India via older trade routes as there has been a considerable exchange of such commodities between the middle east and India.

I will update this post if I get any information about how Damask roses came to India. Please share if you know anything about that.

Till then, make some Gulkand whenever you get a few Damask roses or desi gulab. You will be hooked to make this rose petal jam that doesn't need any cooking.

And the gulkand phirni will be a preferred dessert at home I must tell you. The real ingredients have the taste, the chemical essences just fool our senses and sometime kill them too. Please don't let that happen.

Kanji vada is a lentil dumpling soaked in fermented kanji. Ah and kanji is something you must know if you haven't come across yet. It is the most delicious probiotic drink generally made with black carrots during winters but can be made with summer carrots or even beetroots.

For kanji vada the kanji was made even without carrots in older days and the kanji used to be pale but it packed extra punch because it had the kala namak and the hing in it, making it an absolutely lip curling drink and eat. In fact a few chaat walas used to make kanji wada on special request. The kanji vada was always kept in a ceramic barni because clear glass utensils were not so common in older days.

Kanji vada is typically a Marwari tradition and since Banaras was initially populated by Marwaris and Gujratis we have had a flourishing tradition of papad, badiyan, achar and kanji vada apart from many more Marwari treats. I have had kanji vada in a Marwari friend's home and Arvind's mother used to make it too but I have heard more stories about how much kanji vada was loved and that it was part of the elaborate wedding rituals in punjabi khatri homes.

Kanji vada or plain kanji was made during Holi too.

I wonder how such simple foods made such fond memories for so many people. A few ingredients were used in so many different ways that food was never boring, every season brought new flavours even though the recipes were basic.

There were a few fermented foods that were considered good for health and were intertwined with either religious or wedding rituals or festivals and that is how some of the recipes have survived. Kanji vada was always considered good for digestion and all the heavy eating during wedding was taken care of by this, at least that was what people said. Few people knew it was probiotic food too.

Similar belief was bestowed upon kanji vada during Holi festivities.

ingredients
(serves 8-10, takes 3-4 days to prepare)

for kanji
2 tbsp mustard powder
1 tbsp red chilli powder
2 tsp rock salt (adjust later)
1/2 tsp kala namak (black salt)
pinch of hing (asafoetida)
3 liters filtered water

for the vadas
250 gm urad dal (soaked) I used urad dal with skin
oil for deep frying (mustard oil preferably)

procedure

Mix all the ingredients for the kanji and keep it in a glass jar or ceramic barni, covered. This fermenting pot will be kept in a warm place so it starts getting sour after 2 days. Keep in sun if it is winter time.

The day it starts getting sour, prepare for the vada. Soak the dal overnight, drain the soaking water and make a smooth paste, adding a little salt and water if needed. A mixie grinder works best for this but you can use any gadget to make urad dal paste that looks fluffy and smooth.

Heat the oil and deep fry small fritters scooping the urad paste with a spoon and dropping it in hot oil. Fry till the vadas are cooked and dunk them straight into the souring (fermenting) kanji. Leave the kanji vadas for one more day so it gets nice and sour and soaks up liquid too. It keeps well for a couple of days at room temperature.

Serve as required, chilled or at room temperature but remember to adjust seasoning before serving.

The black carrot kanji or beetroot kanji also works great for soaking vadas.

It makes a nice aperitif served before meals but can also be served as a snack.

Make some kanji vada now and see how you like it. I have seen people taking second and third helping but for some people it can be an acquired taste.

Fermented foods don't always make great first impressions but will stay with forever if you make friends with them. Kanji vada is one of those fermented foods to be friends with. Try that.

drumstick flowers in a delicious pickle | sehjan ke phool ka achar

khas khas ka halwa | recipe of poppy seeds halwa

Banaras ka Khana being showcased at Three Sixty One, the all day dining restaurant at The Oberoi Gurgaon

fasting recipes | sama ke chawal ki tahiri | vrat wali tahiri

travel and food stories: Citrus County, a whiff of not so rural Punjab and a peaceful getaway

rickwachh ki sarson wali subzi | colocasia leaf rolls in a mustard based curry

aam ka kuchla 2 ways | seasonal recipes of UP using raw mangoes

Phalse ka shorba : a fruity sweet and sour soup with chilli kick

sookhe alu | a slow cooked potato stir fry with everyday curry powder

methiya athanu or keri methi nu athanu | the Gujrati fenugreek and raw mango pickle

kachhe kele ki bhujia | green plaintain stir fry with chilli garlic

sooran ka achar or zamikand ka achar | pickled elephant yam

wild mushrooms | Katarua or Indian truffles | subzi and biryani recipes using Katarua

a sattvic meal experience at Kiradu temple complex

mirchi ka kutta | मिर्ची का कुट्टा | pounded green chilli relish

everyday curries : alu mungodi ki subzi | sattvic khana

mungodi made from scratch | how to make mungodi at home and guar mungodi ki subzi

chane wala aam ka achar | raw mangoes pickled with whole chickepeas

how to make gulkand or rose petal jam and a recipe of gulkand phirni, a light and aromatic Indian dessert

How to make kanji vada | fool proof kanji vada recipe