recipe of sepu wadi, a delectable rustic treat from Himachal Pradesh

April 1, 2015, 9:32 am

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Sepu wadi is a rustic yet aromatic recipe from Himachal Pradesh, cooked mostly for wedding feasts as it is supposed to have been a recipe from the royal kitchens of Himachal Pradesh. The recipe of Sepu wadi was closely guarded by the royal cooks as I have heard some Himachali folks say but now that this wadi is available in the market even in dry form, it proves how popular it has become with everyone in the region, and with those who get to taste it. Count me in.

I used to cook sepu wadi after I had seen the recipe on one of the TV shows I used to follow long long time ago. And then I lost the recipe and used to crave for the same taste. Then I saw dry sepu wadis at Himachal stalls at trade fair and wondered if those are the same as in the TV show the wadi was made fresh.

I was puzzled about this dual identity of sepu wadi for a long time until I saw it again when it was being cooked at the home stay (Raju's Cottage) at Goshaini. Lata ji, the lady of the house cooks all meals for the guests and is a great cook. I had requested her to cook some of these Himachali dishes and she obliged. That's when I saw her soaking dry sepu wadis to cook them with spinach. The wadis are deep fried and sold in markets for convenience. A genius enterprise of the local cottage industry I must say. I had only seen dehydrated Amritsari wadis or wadis from other regions of India but deep fried sepu wadis are a step ahead regarding convenience of desi foods.

This is what I saw at Raju's cottage.

I loved the wadis cooked in spiced spinach puree and took the recipe too. Thankfully there is loads of spinach growing in the garden and needs to be used a lot.

I prefer freshly made sepu wadi as I find the texture better suited for my taste. Of course I wouldn't trust the quality of oil they use to deep fry the ready to use sepu wadis. So I make my own fresh sepu wadis. Once you have planed your work well and work on it rightly, this recipe wouldn't be so time consuming as it looks.

Recipe of sepu wadi..

ingredients for the wadis...
urad daal (skinned black lentils) 1 cup to be soaked overnight
(this makes a lot of vadis for about 6-8 servings, the leftovers can be frozen for later use)
cumin seeds 2 tsp
peppercorns 2 tsp
ginger grated 1 tbsp
dry red chillies 3-4
mustard oil to deep fry the wadis

ingredients for the spinach gravy (2-4 servings)
spinach cleaned, chopped roughly and steamed 2 cups packed
yogurt 1 cup
mustard oil 2 tsp
cloves 4-5
black cardamoms 2
cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
coriander seeds 1 tsp
asafoetida (hing) a pinch
fennel powder 2 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
chilli powder 1/4 tsp or more to taste
dry ginger powder 1/4 tsp
salt to taste

Procedure..

To make the wadis, you can divide the work into 2-3 days. Soak the lentils overnight and grind with the cumin, peppercorns, ginger and dry chillies without adding any water to it. Blend well so the paste gets fluffy. The paste can be left to ferment for a few hours or you can go ahead and make the wadis right away.

The wadis can be made the next day and even after making them they can be refrigerated and used whenever required.

To make the wadis, boil about 2 liters of water in a deep vessel with a little salt. Make smooth balls the size of ping pong balls from the lentil paste and drop them in the boiling water. Let them all boil for about half an hour. Fish them out and let them cool down.

Once cooled, cut them into bite sized pieces and deep fry in hot mustard oil. These deep fried wadis can be refrigerated for a week or frozen for a few months to be used when required.

To make the spinach gravy, blend the spinach along with yogurt and salt and keep aside.

Mix the powder spices with a little water to make a paste and keep aside.

Heat the mustard oil and tip in the whole spices. Let them splutter and get aromatic before pouring in the powdered spices soaked in water. Mix well and let them fry till a bit fragrant.

Pour the spinach yogurt mix, add sufficient water to make the gravy of desired consistency, keeping in mind that the wadis will soak up a lot of water. You can also add water as the curry cooks.

Let the green gravy come to a boil. Add required number of wadis, 4-5 wadis per head should be enough but go by your choice. It will be good to chop the fried wadis further if they are too big or too hard.

Simmer the curry till the wadis soak up the juices and become bigger and spongier. Adjust seasoning and serve hot with plain boiled rice or rotis of your choice.

We loved it with makki ki roti more than rice.

Note how this curry looks almost devoid of any oil in it. Not that it is a low fat recipe but there is not much oil even if the wadis are deep fried. The reason is that the the urad daal wadis don't soak much oil while deep frying and if we use less oil for the gravy, the overall fat percentage will not be too much. Although you can always use more oil for taste and convenience of cooking.

This sepu wadi curry is so flavourful you wont feel like having any other side dish with it. Just a few raw slices of tomatoes and onions will be great, just like the frugal desi meals we love so much.

The flavours of fennel, cloves and black cardamom is so potent in this curry and the tartness of yogurt just balances everything nicely. I like this curry slightly hot with a god chili kick but you can always tone down the heat to your preference.

Apart from the taste and texture of the wadis in this curry, I love the spinach gravy a lot. And since I have loads of spinach in the garden right now, I have been making this same gravy with boiled rajma (kidney beans) as well.

For the same amount of spinach gravy I add a cup of boiled kidney beans and simmer till fragrant. This becomes a filling meal with just a spoon of rice in it. I don't want to dilute the flavours I like it so much.

Cook the spinach curry sometime even if you don't have the patience to boil and deep fry the sepu wadis. You can use chickpeas or mixed lentils for this curry and see how much you like it. This will give you an idea of what flavours sepu wadi packs in.

These are some of the desi flavours that I love and you would be glad to know how healthy these meals are. Out traditional food is mostly gluten free and uses the seasonal produce so efficiently and optimally.

I always feel we don't need to use any produce being transported from faraway places or out of season as we can cook so much variety or flavours with just the few produce we get in every season in every place. I have experimented enough to conclude this.

Sepu wadi will remain a favourite for several reasons. Thanks to Lata ji at Raju's cottage, Goshaini for reviving sepu wadi in my kitchen.

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Smoked Biryani House ; authentic Hyderabadi biryani?

April 5, 2015, 4:57 am

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The mention of authentic Hyderabadi biryani is what lured us to a far flung restaurant in NOIDA (sector 18) and we were very kicked about it when we planned the day after a couple of months of almost constant travel. I crave for home cooked simpler food when I am back from travel but this Smoked Biryani House that claimed to serve Hyderabadi biryani made us plan for a long drive just to eat good Hyderabadi food. It is another story that we ended up being a bit baffled by the end.

We were looking around sector 18 to locate the restaurant when we spotted a few home delivery vehicles with Smoked Biryani House carrier boxes, climbed up the stairs to enter a quite restaurant with comfortable seating, quaint ambiance. It was during Navratras and we were late for a weekend lunch, a good time if you want to avoid the rush hour.

Seeing a constant stream of the delivery boys carrying home delivery packages downstairs and black and white pictures form the old city of Hyderabad on the walls had piqued up our interest as well as appetite as we waited for our orders to arrive. The restaurant manager came to talk to us and kept telling us stories about how the 'smoked biryani' came into being and how the Chefs are flown in from Hyderabad, we felt like eager hungry kids to dig into a cauldron of spicy Hyderabadi biryani.

But we had to order a few starters before that and thank God we did so. The starters were all good.
The best was Apollo fish, a new preparation for us, grilled fish smeared with minced ginger-chilly-coriander greens and bits of cashew, hint of tamarind and nice balancing of flavours, well done fish.

We liked the Chicken 65 too, the Indo-Chinese of the southern variety, we have had a few versions of Chicken 65 and this one did not disappoint. Good amalgamation of textures and flavours that we liked. The Chennai version of Chicken 65 is different but we don't mind eating a hybrid dish changed a bit if it is still tasty.

Veg Mancurian is another Indo Chinese fusion that surprised us, it was well made. We also ordered Shami kababs and Tandoori fish and found both of these good. Shami kabab can be found in many many variations as this is the most common kabab on every menu, this one was done well. Tandoori fish was succulent, well marinated Basa fish grilled perfectly. The red coloured onion rings served with the kababs and tandoori fish are good too.

Note that there is no superlative goodness about these starters but each of these we tried were well done, good food at this price point (ranging from 200-300 Rs).

But the story took a turn when we ordered the main course. The Andhra Mutton curry was a sad concoction that lacked flavours although it looked creamy and rich. We tried the Veg Biryani, the Chicken Biryani and the Mutton Biryani and ended up looking at each other. Biryanis are presented well here, with a smoking piece of charcoal placed over each potful of biryani but the biryani doesn't taste smoked nor it brings the Hyderabad taste to your palate. Why this biryani is named as Hyderabadi biryani?

But to be honest, the biryani is not bad. The rice is long grained, well cooked and not greasy that I like in a biryani, the meat is well done, tastes good but there is no communication between the meat and the rice. I mean the rice grains have no flavour of the meat at all. A well made kachhe gosht ki biryani is much more flavourful.

The veg biryani was good, actually better than we expected.

But then again I was so happy with the Mirchi ka salan that comes with the Biryani and the Baghara Baingan that we had ordered. Both these were well made, true to their roots. I loved these so much I was thinking of ordering only Mirchi ka Salan and Baghara Baingan from this place the other day. Both are my favourite dishes and both were done so well.

Clearly this restaurant is a new establishment that has become popular for home deliveries. But they have not been able to fix a few things although Chef Bilal from Hyderabad supposedly has worked at Paradise (the famous Hydrabad Biryani place). He probably made salan and baghara baingan at Paradise we concluded :-) He definitely needs to fix the biryani and the desserts.

Oh I am yet to tell you about the desserts. DO NOT order desserts here is my humble advise.

The Lauki ki kheer is loaded with nuts but excessively sweet and lacks any flavour. Khubani ka meetha is just too meetha to get any flavour of khubani, even the texture is bad. Double ka meetha is a suspicious piece of dense fudge that is drowned in synthetic colour and loads of sugar like the other counterparts. In fact all three desserts were made using synthetic colours.

I gave my feedback to the chef and the manager and am hoping they will fix the desserts and the rest of the things soon. The staff is humble and courteous I must add. Service is good.

I tasted a few few really good things here and a few of the worst too. The bigger concern I have here is the claim to be a Hyderabadi Biryani place and there is nothing remotely Hyderabadi in anything we tasted, apart from the mirchi ka salan and baghara baingan.

There are better Hyderabadi biryanis in town, one is very close to our place in Old Rajinder Nagar opposite Rapid Flour Mill.

sabut masoor ki daal and how to make it differently for everyday convenience

April 8, 2015, 3:57 am

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Sabut masoor ki daal used to be a frequent dinner time daal back in my parents' home. For some reason peeli arhar ki daal for lunch and sabut masoor ki daal for dinner was almost a ritual that we grew up with. Winters brought a lot of matar ka nimona and masoor ki daal ka nimona or even palak ka nimona that I have not cooked since ages, but we came back to square one in summers. The same peeli arhar ki daal and masoor ki daal routine we followed religiousely but I don't remember anyone ever complained. I think we were a bunch of extremely active-growing-hungry kids who would get even more hungry when the dining table was laid out.

I think one reason why sabut masoor ki daal was so frequent on the table was that it came from the village grown organically for the family. I can well understand now why my parents wanted to use the home grown lentils to the fullest.

I remember papa would cut salad, would prepare the jars of pickled onion and ginger-garlic and there would always be some freshly ground green chutney at the table. Hot daal with home made ghee was another standard presence at the table that everyone looked forward to. Simple real foods that become a habit and comfort, far from ordering a pizza meal that many associate with comfort food these days. One can always make better choices I say.

So this sabut masoor ki daal remained the comfort food forever. The husband is not too fond of it but he likes it for a change. I eat my sabut masor ki dal religiously,silently and mostly like a one pot meal. I am sharing one of my simplest one pot recipes first, the tadka tempered recipe is next. I cook both the recipes as per convenience and mood, also depending on whether the daal is to be served to guests or to ourselves. For ourselves I like the quick simpler version more, lighter and milder on spice quotient. Topped with a blob of butter or ghee.

ingredients..
(2 servings)

whole red lentils with skin washed and drained (sabut masoor ki daal) 1/2 cup
chopped garlic 1 tsp
chopped ginger root 1-2 tsp (I like a bit more ginger but add as per taste)
chopped green chillies 1 tsp or to taste
black pepper powder 1/4 tsp
roasted cumin powder 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
2 tbsp chopped onions and one medium tomato blended together to make a fine paste
hing (asafoetida) 1 pinch
salt to taste

*ghee 1 tsp + 1 tsp

procedure..

Put all the ingredients together in a pressure cooker pan and add 1.5 cups of water. Add salt to taste and 1 tsp *ghee and close the lid. Place on the gas flame and cook till the first whistle blows. Lower the flame and cook further for 8-10 minutes.

Let the pressure release by itself. Open the lid and stir the cooked daal once. Adjust consistency by adding water or cooking a bit more to make the daal thicker if you wish. Add the remaining 1 tsp ghee and serve hot. You don't even need to garnish it with dhaniya patta or anything. Add more ghee if you wish and can afford health wise.

More ghee is bad ONLY if you eat a lot of it and that too not for clogging your blood vessels but by adding extra calories to your overall daily food intake.

The tadka tempered version of the sabut masoor ki daal would cooked simply with salt and turmeric powder in the pressure cooker as stated above. A tempering will be prepared and added to the cooked daal and simmered for 5 minutes before serving. Some milk and cream would be added to make the daal more 'dressed up for the occasion' if the daal is being served to guests. Not to enhance the taste but to dress it up to look good.

To make a tempering masala for the spiced sabut masoor ki daal..

For 2-3 servings of the daal, heat 1 tbsp ghee in a pan, add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and some chopped onions, fry till onions get pinkish but not brown. Add 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste and fry till it all looks glazed.

Add 2 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp pepper powder, red chilly powder to taste and let it all sizzle for a second. Add a little garam masala and 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes. Add  bit of salt and fry till everything gets mushy.

Pour this mix into the cooked masoor ki daal and simmer till everything gets incorporated. Add 1/2 cup milk or 2 tbsp cream if desired. Let it come to a boil again.

Serve hot garnished with whatever you like. A blob of butter or a dollop of cream goes a long way to ensure everyone is smitten with the daal. I like some ginger julienne but skip adding it if the other side dishes are hot.

The best part with this daal and many other daals that I cook is, that I use the leftovers to create a favourite breakfast of mine. Daal dhokli made with leftover daal is the best ghee laced breakfast for me to start the day.

Just dilute the daal with equal amount of water. You need about 3/4 cup of cooked daal per serving. Roll out a chapati using multigrain dough and cut the rolled chapati into small square pieces. Mix everything together and simmer till the thin pieces of chapati get cooked. It takes about 5 minutes total.

This is just like pasta in a lentil soup. Trust me this curried lentil pasta will be much more loved than a regular pasta in a soup. Try once if you don't believe me.

Sabut masor ki daal will be your favourite too. Or probably it already is.

shallow fry to make fish fry | recipe of curry patta infused fish fry

April 11, 2015, 1:56 pm

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This fish fry with prominent flavour of curry patta is a party in the mouth. Tingling mix of heat and tartness, intense flavour of curry patta seeped deep into the fish makes it a real treat.

I first tasted it when a Malyali friend had invited us home and due to some emergency we had to cancel the dinner that day. She just sent me a dabba of marinated fish that she had planned to fry that evening because she wanted us to taste her special recipe. She just instructed me to shallow fry these fish steaks in sesame oil and enjoy with some cucumbers.

When I opened that dabba ( a steel box) lined with banana leaves, I was in for a surprise as the fat fish steaks were covered with a coarse paste of curry patta, lot of chilly flakes, crushed peppercorns  and bits of tamarind was also visible. I immediately understood why she categorically told me to have it with cucumbers. Yes cucumbers and some buttermilk blended with fresh coconut and more curry patta were the things that saved our palate that day, the fish fry was so hot that our noses turned red and we kept eating unperturbed, with sips of the buttermilk and bites of cucumber in between.

I have cooked this recipe several times since then, about a decade to be precise. And somehow I end up using a similar steel dabba to marinate this fish. Food is often more about pleasant memories than the other things.

I have toned down the heat of this fish fry to suit my preference.

ingredients 
(2 servings as a meal with some salad and stir fry on the side)

large fat steaks of fish ( I used Catla) about 400 gm : fish fillet would also work
curry patta 20 springs or more
garlic cloves 2-3
fresh ginger root chopped 2 tsp
dry red chillies 2-3 or as per taste
black pepper corns 1 tsp
chopped bits of dry tamarind 1 tbsp or a bit more
salt to taste
sesame oil to shallow fry about 2 tbsp or even less

procedure..

blend everything together coarsely except the fish. Do not add water, taste and adjust the heat and sourness in the marinade.

Smear over the fish and refrigerate overnight.

At the time of serving, heat a skillet ( I used cast iron skillet) with sesame oil brushed over it. Spread the fish pieces along with a coating of marination over it and let it cook each side for about 5-6 minutes. Test by pricking the fish and serve hot with cucumbers, other salads or whatever you feel like.

**I generally cover the shallow frying fish with a dome lid and let it cook on medium flame, flip it after a while and then cook uncovered. This ensure even cooking in very less oil.

You can even deep fry these fish, I have done it for larger gatherings and it has turned out perfectly well. Just make sure you dust the marinated fish with a very thin layer of besan (chickpea flour) just before dipping the fish steaks into hot oil. Fry till light brown, drain on kitchen paper and serve as required.

We had a nice alu palak with this meal because there has been so much great tasting home grown spinach that I cannot just ignore the goodness for anything else. This alu palak was made with some yogurt blended with steamed spinach and it was wonderfully delicious.

The curry patta infused fish fry tastes great with just about any fish, but I end up making it with firm and fat steaks just as my friend had made. The extra marinade gets nicely browned and you would look for all the crumbs in the skillet, every last crumb will be mopped off trust me.

Do let me know whenever you make this curry patta infused fish fry. I am sure you would remember my friend that way too!!!

a kabab masterclass at The Great Kabab Factory, Radisson Blu Plaza ; learn the tricks with Chef Miraj ul Haque and eat your kababs too...

April 22, 2015, 2:40 am

≫ Next: another masterclass with Chef Miraj ul Haque | more vegetarian kababs, some more fish and meat kababs to learn at The Great Kabab Factory

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Making kababs is considered quite a delicate art as well as a daunting task, a territory that many of us home cooks dread entering into. But those who have taken the first steps towards kabab making have never stopped at one I must tell you. Even vegetarian kababs can be made so delicious and special that can lift up a meal by a few notches. And that too with not so much of effort trust me.

I know you must be thinking one can always order kababs and biryanis by any of the specialised places around town famous for home deliveries of such foods. Yes one can always order or takeaway great kababs, biryanis and kormas when one can't handle cooking for a large gathering sometimes, there is always Foodpanda at your fingertips, they are even collaborating with NGOs making sure children's access to food, education and health. I like a business that supports social causes, so go ahead and order good food when you want to.

That apart, an intimate family meal becomes special when you cook together in the kitchen and eat together at the table you would agree. Cooking is such a life skill everyone should have, some might take it to another level with special skills to cook a few complicated recipes too.

And if you still fear cooking you can always look out for masterclasses. In Delhi we have Radison Blu Plaza where they conduct Masterclasses often. I have attended a wonderful Thai masterclass by Thai Chef Suthiwaja at Neung Roi and their first Masterclass at The Great Kabab Factory, the iconic restaurant known for kababs and Indian Mughlai cuisine, that I attended was a huge success. Chef Miraj ul Haque who hails from Lucknow, patiently taught us six different kababs and tikkas, one of them being a very interesting chaat style grilled fruit tikka with pineapples and apples. 

The class was house full, a bunch of men and women learnt the tricks and tips followed by a lunch that included the dishes we learnt and a few more specialties of the Chef Miraj.

He taught us Hyderabadi Shammi kabab, Kasoondi tawa machhi, Bhatti ka murgh, Bharwan dahi ke kabab, Sev aur ananas ki chaat and Kathal ke tikkey. The way Chef Miraj teaches the techniques, the tips to stuff the kababs with a filling that enhances flavours, marination and grilling techniques is commendable. I liked the idea of the Kathal ke tikkey. 

 
The Sev aur Ananas ki chaat was another winner, a chaat (and more spices) doused platter of fruits that has been grilled lightly is something you can't resist, I actually had second and third helpings of the spicy grilled pineapples.

Dahi ke kababs were good too, but I would have liked them a little more soft. But the techniques that dahi ka kabab involves were taught really well, the textures you can always tune to your taste and preference.

At lunch we ate the best Galuti kabab that you find outside Lucknow.

Bhatti ka murgh that came to my plate was quite raw from inside, but the service at The Great Kabab Factory is so good they promptly replaced it with a well done piece of Bhatti ka muurgh which is deliciously smoky and earthy. Thumbs up to the service.

The biryani, the breads and the daals are also good but I would advise you to stick to kababs more to enjoy eating and still not feel stuffed.

As I said you would like to go easy on breads and biryanis at this restaurants, saving some space for the desserts. The kulfi is fabulous and the jalebi is thin and crisp just like they make in UP and Amritsar. Rajbhog is also made really well, reminding me of the Odiya Rajbhog, too sweet for my taste but that is how Rajbhog is.

Paan is served to round off the meal, the tradition that indicates good food has to be pleasant on the stomach, paan helps in digestion and works as a mouth freshener too. I like places that serve paan after a meal.

The mind always finds Banaras connections.

Head over to the next masterclass they are conducting at The Great Kabab Factory, Radison Blu Plaza at Mahipalpur on 25th of April and thank me later. It will be worth your time and money trust me. Chef Miraj ul Haque has magic in his fingers, watch him shaping the kababs and see how much love and passion goes into cooking good food.

another masterclass with Chef Miraj ul Haque | more vegetarian kababs, some more fish and meat kababs to learn at The Great Kabab Factory

April 29, 2015, 10:13 am

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Chef Miraj ul Haque has some magic in his hands. Actually some more magic lies in his attitude towards food and learning also. Bees saal se chala raha hoon karchhi, ab tak ban nahi paya baawarchi. That means, I have been cooking since 20 years and haven't yet become a chef, this is what he says about himself. In fact he is a khandani chef whose many generations have worked in the field, fine tuning the techniques to bring the best in the food they serve.

That humility, the eagerness to share the intricacies of cooking and sharing tips generously makes him the person who believed in 'sharing is learning'. He told us that he feels happy to answer any queries regarding cooking as he doesn't want his pupils making mistakes in the kitchen, after a 3 hour long masterclass and volley of questions these words affirm our faith about Awadhii cooking being delicate in temperament.

People were seen recording his masterclass and taking pictures to document the process. Of course for instagraming and facebooking too :-) This one was even more crowded than the last masterclass I attended.

The most intriguing kabab was a Jaitooni Tawa Paneer that was made very innovative. A block of Paneer was hollowed and a black olive mix was stuffed in it and the block was tawa fried. This was the most amazing dish in looks and taste.

The other vegetarian kabab that was really interesting was a Sarsonwali Broccoli. I love my steamed broccoli so much that I rarely douse the broccoli with anything else. I have made a grilled mustard broccoli earlier but this one was a notch above. With the addition of cashew nuts, hung curd and cheese in the marinade the flavours are rich and textures very melt in the mouth type.

I am sharing the recipe card so you can cook it yourself to see how good it is.

Note that the use of cheese in these marinades is very clever. It holds the marinade, makes the mouth feel more creamy and adds the umami factor to the dish. Wonderful trick.

Another interesting recipe he shared was a Kesari Raan-e-Murgh, a saffron infused chicken leg that is grilled at high temperature to retain the juiciness. Here the marinade is hung curd based but processed cheese is used again even though there is delicate saffron to flavour.

One can always skip processed cheese for home cooking, I feel the flavour of saffron will be better if done so.

A fish preparation, Karare Tawa Pomfret was good, more like a deep fried pakoda but done well.

Chef Miraj also taught Soyabean ka Shikampuri Kabab and Hussaini boti kabab, both were great in their own right. I am meaning to cook both of these soon and share the recipe in a little detail here.

Later we sat down for a lavish lunch and tasted the secret recipe Galouti kabab again. The galouti kabab as I said last time, are the best you get outside Lucknow, the overall flavour being a bit robust as compared to Lucknow, the texture is creamy and rich just as the original.

And I tasted the breads this time. The garlic bread and Lachha tandoori roti is really good, in fact I ate more roti than I usually eat.

I tasted daals too, the peeli daal and kali daal both were done perfectly well, finger licking good type. Homely, rich and yet not cream laden fatty mix of lentils.

Desserts that I liked were the same as the last time. Kulfi is not to be missed, I enjoyed the whole stick slowly.

Jalebi is crisp and thin, I had a few bites of it without the rabri which is not as good as it should be.

But most of the other guests love this jalebi rabri combination there, I am biased with rabri as I have tasted the best in Banaras. Sharing the best rabri and doodh from Banaras really soon, haven't been free to sit and write about those gems of Banaras at leisure. But I will correct that really soon.

Stay tuned.

The culinary heritage of Banaras

May 12, 2015, 12:10 pm

≫ Next: guar dhokli ki subzi | cluster beans cooked with chickpea flour dumplings in a yogurt based curry

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You would be pleased to know that a story of mine about the food, culture and heritage of banaras was published in a quarterly magazine Eat Stay Love. The editor of the magazine had read this blog and approached me to write about the lesser known royal and aristocratic cuisine of Banaras. Upon her request I ventured out and talked to many people around the city, interviewed them, enjoyed food with them and documented our food legacy. 

While talking to all these people, quoted in my text later, I was humbled to learn about the spiritual connect with food, I had known it all I thought but realizing that it still thrives in the home kitchens is what keeps my faith in the goodness of real food alive. Real food that is cooked everyday in home kitchens, sourcing seasonal ingredients with an emphasis on nourishment. Many of the medicinal ingredients used in older recipes were available easily in the past, but there is market near Dashaswamedh ghat where you can get anything you want. Just anything that is used for food which is in season. 

I was told there are 84 thousand devi devatas in Banaras and each day is dedicated to a few of them, each day is a particular bhog that is prepared and offered to their shrines and temples scattered around the city and that bhog is consumed as a meal of the day by the disciples. This bhog is made with the produce of the season and there is a prescribed period of the year when the produce can be consumed, before or after that the produce of the season is considered bad for health. How easily health was linked with religion, till it all got distorted to a large extent tooooohat it is tday.

Banaras being an ancient city has been one of the most interesting places to explore. Some parts of the city have been preserved exactly like it was half a century ago (barring the use of plastic in many everyday affairs) and some parts of the city embracing new trends in a very intrepid manner and yet adapting everything into the fashion the city has always existed. On one side you would see men and women following religious rituals around the ghats animatedly like clockwork and on the other hand you see the fanciest of the cars splashing through the puddles of rain water and mud on the narrow rickety roads. Banaras could never boast of good roads thanks to the ancient sewage system that cannot be traced and repaired completely and the heavy load of traffic that corrodes the half hearted construction by administration. The load of traffic is so much that a few lanes of Banaras have been paved with steel tiles.

You hear several stories about the city and its divine connect. The city is located on the Trishul of Shiva, the God of destruction and that Shiva tamed the angry Ganga in his Jata (hair) and the ghats of banaras make a crescent shape were Shiva diverts the flow of the mighty river. The pucca ghats of Banaras are made of sandstone, construction and maintenance of ghats was done by religious kings of the past era, it is an engineering marvel in the sense that the whole length of ghats makes a crescent that prevents the river from meandering into the city and change its path which is normal for a river as huge as Ganga.

Shiva and Ganga have shaped the culinary heritage of the city as well. The city is considered auspicious for achieving nirvana and moksha. You find several sadhus, widows and pandas around the ghats and temples much like it used to be a century ago. While the influx of sadhus has been voluntary, sadhus being the original Indian hippies, widows are forced to come and live in various ashrams around the city. All these migrants and travelers were dependent on the staple street food culture that has been thriving in Banaras since ages.

Also, since death is a celebration in this city, Manikarnika ghat is designated for after death rituals where pandas and doms (people who handle the dead body) perform the rituals with great pomp. The kin of the dead then move on to eat mithai and kachori subzi just after offering the ashes to the ganga. This ritual of eating good food after the last rights of the dead is seen only in Banaras. This is how the religious philosophy is translated through food culture. Shiva is the hippie God who survives on poisonous substances, his job is destruction (of what is not required on Earth) and he celebrates it in his own way by performing Tandav (the dance of destruction).

I was told by the GM of the Ramnagar fort Mr. Shiv Bahadur Singh, that raja Chet singh who was the only ruler of Banaras invited Hindu rajas from all over India to build their own palaces and temples around the ghats. The purpose was to make Banaras a seat of Hinduism and to bring all devi devatas to the city. There is a saying that all 84 thousand deities live in Banaras and every day is a new festival devoted to one or more of these deities. Some or the other sect of Hindus feed the poor and needy every single day on pretext of these religious rituals attached to the festivals. No wonder they proudly say that no one sleeps hungry in the lanes of Banaras. Food is the nerve of the city pulsating with religious faith.

Apart from religious reasons, people from all over India came to Banaras for trade. Mr. Prem Narain Shukla, an octogenarian of an aristocratic family informsthat It was the Gujrati community who started the ever flourishing textile business in the city as they set up 'soot tola'. Artisans from all over India kept coming to build temples, palaces and for textile design and weaving. Most of the trade and art forms were patronaged by the erstwhile kings having a permanent base in the city. Interestingly, most kings came here with lock stock and barrel, their kitchens and cooks also came to cook for the royal entourage. The temples built by these kings attracted pilgrims from respective regions and thus started the street food culture with hues of all the Indian states.

Many of the mithai shops and street food vendors also had royal patronage and supplied special foods to the royal families on order. The famous sweet shop at thatheri bazar called Ram Bhandar makes special items just for the royal patrons. To name a few popular sweets, Sooran ka laddu is a diwali staple as told by Mr. Shukla, khoye ka chewda is a sankranti special as informed to us by Mr. Shashank Narain, another heir of an aristocratic family who now runs a heritage hotel in the city, malai gilori and rajbhog are all time favourites or almost everyone, as is the special spongy type rasgullas made with cow’s milk which is considered an everyday sweet. 

Laal peda is another Ram Bhandar special that is pure milk solids, slow cooked to caramelise the milk sugars and then shaped like small discs crusted with coarse mishri. While malai gilori, rajbjog and laal peda have trickled down to other mithai shops and available to everyone now, khoye ka chewda and sooran ka laddu is still a well kept secret, reserved for the raees (aristocrats) who could afford. Incidentally, Ram Bhandar also made mithais like Gandhi mithai, Vallabh sandesh and Nehru laddu during the freedom struggle and their all time famous Tiranga barfi was made during quit India movement in 1942. Later this tiranga barfi became popular in many parts of India.

While many small riyasat owners and raees nobles ordered special sweets and snacks from the patronised vendors, they took great care of how the resident cooks (called maharaj) procured the produce and cooked meals to perfection in their own kitchens. Women used to take charge of training the cooks but men also took active interest in suggesting recipes and ordering ingredients that were either imported from other countries or were procured from other states of the country. Mr Prem Narain Shukla says that procurement of costly spices like kesar, kastoori, khas root, nagkeshar, chandan, elaichi, pure asafotida etc and fruits and nuts was not compromised and great effort was taken to ensure good quality ingredients used in the kitchen. They always had their own farms for grains, lentils and fresh vegetables and orchards of mangoes and other fruits of the region. That is the reason their food was not comparable to the commoners even though the names of dishes were the same. 

Home food was always sattvic, no garlic and onion was used in home cooking and all street food vendors followed this no onion garlic rule to their food as well. I have tasted simple day to day food in some of the aristocratic families and have revelled the great taste and simplicity of each individual dish with which the food is served. But the aura around food is unmistakable, every detailing is taken care of, each condiment is served neatly and much care is taken to bring in hot phulkas and steaming rice to the table as the guest’s thali needs more helpings. Modern dining tables are used in most such homes now but the old tradition was to bring in individual small tables to each guest wherever the guest is seated in the baithak (the drawing room). Relatives and family friends are always a part of the family dining table but visitors would be served food in the baithak with the same respect and care. 

Mr. Shashank Narain remembers how everyone used to wait for the winters to have Chuda matar breakfasts. Chuda matar is a special breakfast that is made with beaten rice (poha) and fresh tender peas along with garam masala and milk to moisten it. This chuda matar is always cooked in ghee and the amount of nuts, raisins and the subtle milky sweetness defines a cook and his/her expertise. He remembers many delicacies like ram saalan ( a curry with chickpea flour dumplings) that was made purely with vegetarian ingredients but was influenced by Mughal cuisine. Indrahaar and rasaaj were other dishes made of mixed lentils and were considered nutritious for the vegetarians. Nuts, milk products and lentils were the main protein source for everyone. Breakfast was called Kaleva, lunch was called Jyonar and dinner was called Biyari in older days and menus for seasons and festivals were followed strictly. Every family took pride in serving food to destitutes and saints every single day and kitchens and cooking were always planned keeping this in mind.

Mrs. Aruna Raman, whose palatial home Raman Niwas is still a legend and who has guided many Chefs regarding Banaras cuisine, says it is the simplicity of the everyday food and the utmost respect for food being considered a blessing by Maa Annapurna that makes the food culture of Banaras special. She rightly says you wouldn’t find any Banaras resident boasting about the cost of the food, it is always the taste of the food that is celebrated dearly. Delicate cooking techniques and recipes are followed to get the perfection in food rather than showing off silver and imported ingredients on the table. Although a lot of spices and aromatics were imported in the older days as well, everything was used according to seasons and according to the guidelines of Ayurveda she says. Cooking food and dining was a sacred ritual, kitchens were the most auspicious place in the home after the place of worship.

The family dining hall was sanctum sanctorum for several reasons. Family members could eat only after bathing, pickles were handled only by the cook who had to bathe before every meal cooked in the kitchen. Hygiene and quarantine was linked to religion in a seamless way. It is interesting how everyone respected these sentiments and no one took offence if one did not accept food at your place or was not served with the family for religious reasons. It is said that Maharaja Banaras (Dr. Vibhuti Narain Singh) did not even chew paan served to him by family friends as he observed strict dietary rules but as it was a tradition to greet guests with a tray of paan he picked one paan even though he would not eat. Paan is sacred in this city and is considered to cure all ailments however cliché it may sound.

One thing that I find really overwhelming is that cooking and serving food was always considered a sacred act. Showing off the food or expensive utensils was considered cheap but great care was taken to serve the best foods of the season. Talking about the taste, recipes and ingredients was enjoyed enormously and the pomp about the best silver and crystal was subdued. There was never a dress code around dining rituals and people will be very comfortable in gamchha as well as sherwanis or zari kurtas sitting around the same table.

Mr Mohit Saigal, who is the most successful CA in the city and belongs to another aristocratic family whose roots in Banaras date back to 10 generations or so, declares himself a foodie. He informs that non-vegetarian food was never cooked in home kitchens but it was liked very much by some families. Non-vegetarian food was strictly a shikar activity and people associated it with picnic food more for the same reason. Even though meat had to be cooked for the family, it would be cooked in the garden area where the family would eat the food like a picnic. Handi gosht finds its origin through shikar traditions and later adapted to garden cooking on wood fired chulhas cooked in earthen pots as the pot would not be allowed in the kitchen after cooking meat in it.

Dr. Vijay Mishra, the Head of Department of Neurology at BHU and the 14^thgeneration descendant of the Mahant family who has managed and guarded the Sankat Mochan temple since ages. Dr. Mishra is a big foodie and remembers the Ramlila special foods he has tasted and enjoyed over the years. He remembers boondi wala dahi bada, miniature kachouris, chana jor garam, several types of chaats and dahi papadi served in leaf bowls that one finds in several locations of Ramlila. It is worth mentioning that several acts of Ramlila are played in varied locations of the city and the Raja of Banaras used to go to each of these locations to grace the actors and audience. Each of these Ramlila locations had specific foods that were sold by the same vendors year after year and people would throng those places to have a darshan of Ramlila characters as well as for the food. These food stalls were also patronised by the Raja of Banaras once but now the vendors carry on with the tradition out of religious feelings attached to it, although most of these Ramlila vendors have alternate careers for the rest of the year.

guar dhokli ki subzi | cluster beans cooked with chickpea flour dumplings in a yogurt based curry

May 12, 2015, 12:56 pm

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Guar phali or cluster beans would be undoubtedly one of my favourite vegetables. I know what you are thinking, how guar can be someone's favourite but it has a texture and a hint of bitterness that I love. This is one of those vegetables I have experimented with a lot too, reason being I see guar or cluster beans being used in various cuisines across the country and want to try them all. The simplest bhujia that I make with guar phali is with just garlic and green chillies and pair it with kadhi to make a comfort meal for ourselves.

I would admit it is me who loves guar phali more and keeps buying it by the bagfuls. But a stir fry style salad with guar phali and peanuts converted even the husband and he started enjoying the vegetable. There is a recipe of guar and dried shrimp in the drafts to be shared but I have not been getting time to share recipes here, although I intend to share at least one recipe a week. I cook every single day and keep experimenting a lot, keep cooking old recipes a lot too and there is a lot to share.

I know I am not being good with the blogs. I must get back to sharing recipes asap.

I love gatte in subzi, the curry made with chickpeas flour (besan) dumplings so popular in Rajasthan and known as dhokli in Gujrat. I have shared one guar dhokli ki subzi that uses the same besan dumplings but is very different from this version. Since I like gatte ki subzi so much I started making it with different vegetables and one of those is bottle gourd.

So technically this guar dhokli is also guar gatte ki subzi as much I understand. Although purists may differ. I would wait to hear from them if they are interested in sharing more about gatte ki subzi and dhokli ki subzi nomenclature.

Since I have already shared how to make the gatte for gatte ki subzi, I will skip the steps to make gatte. Once the gatte (the dumplings) are ready this curry gets ready in about 20 minutes.

ingredients...
(2 large servings)

guar phali chopped 200 gm or 1 cup
cooked and chopped gatte 3/4 cup
finely diced onions 1 tbsp (optional)
ginger garlic paste 1 tsp
red chilly powder 1/2 tsp
everyday curry powder 2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
sour yogurt 1 cup
salt to taste
mustard oil 1 tbsp
fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp

procedure 

Heat half the oil in the kadhai (I use iron kadhai), smear the oil all over the kadhai surface with the spatula. Tip in the cut gatte and toss to cook them lightly again. Searing them lightly and briefly so they soak up more flavours. Remove from the kadhai and keep aside.

Now tip in the fenugreek seeds, the chopped vegetables (including onions if using). the ginger garlic paste and the powdered spices all together and toss till it all gets mixed up and lightly aromatic. Since we are suing a little amount of oil we need to do this on low flame. This step takes about 5 minutes.

Now whisk the yogurt, dilute with 2 cups of water and pour slowly into the kadhai. Let it simer for about 10 minutes or till you get desired consistency. The gatte or dhokli will soak up water and become bigger, the guar cooks really fast so that will be taken care of automatically.

Garnish with coriander if you wish but it is not required.

You need tender guar for this curry, mature guar will taste awful any which way.

This curry tastes great with any Indian breads and even plain boiled rice. It makes a complete meal with just a little rice, I suggest you eat more of this curry and less of rice or roti and enjoy the meal better. Some green salad or just a few slices of onion suit this meal well but this is one of those frugal meal kind of curry.

The sourness of the yogurt balances the slight bitterness of guar really well and soaks up into the gatte to make them soft and melting.

If you are cooking the curry with lauki or bottle gourd as above, just fry the gatte, add the spices and toss till aromatic. Pour whisked yogurt and simmer. Add precooked lauki in the curry and let it simmer a little to get the flavours integrated.

Gatte or dhokli can be cooked with almost all vegetables but some of the combinations will definitely be your favourite. I like the gatte ki subzi with roughly chopped spinach too.

The boiled and lightly fried gatte keep well in the fridge for about a week and they freeze well for almost 6 months. So make gatte when you have time and cook the curries with whatever vegetables you like. Try gatte with guar once and I am sure it will become a favourite in your home too.

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turai keema recipe with coriander greens and coconut milk

June 2, 2015, 11:46 am

≫ Next: everyday subzi : bottle gourd stew in coconut milk | lauki coconut milk subzi | Lauki Olan

≪ Previous: guar dhokli ki subzi | cluster beans cooked with chickpea flour dumplings in a yogurt based curry

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Turai is the ridge gourd that is a summer squash in India. In southern India this gourd is available for a longer duration as there is lesser marked winter over there. Another common gourd in summers is the sponge gourd (nenua or chikni turai) that has a smooth skin and a little different flavour, another gourd that I found recently is called Ramturai which looks a bit stout and is heavier than these tow. We really have a great variety of gourds in India.

I prefer eating loads of gourds during summer as these watery vegetables are good for this season. The simpler way of cooking these gourds is along with sliced onions or radish slices or with some fried and crushed badiyan. These gourds are cooked with either chana daal or kala chana too and many people have written to me that these are their favourite summer subzis. I think kids don't care for such mushy curries but adults somehow start loving them. The body tells them what feels good and not just the palate.

I sometimes cook ridge gourds with mutton keema (minced mutton), we call it turai keema to have with chapati for our dinner. And I keep changing the turai keema recipe as per convenience, the vegetarian turai recipes are so diverse we love them as they are.

This summer I tried a turai keema with coriander paste and coconut milk added and loved it so much we had it twice last week. One reason is that we both have been traveling a lot and simpler home cooked meals feel comforting. I want to make them more and more simple for the sake of convenience, it works wonders if you know what you like in terms of flavours.

ingredients..
(3 large meal servings with chapatis and one side dish)

ridge gourds 400 gm
mutton keema 200 gm
coriander greens chopped 1 cup
garlic cloves 3
green chillies 2
ginger root grated 1 tsp
pepper corns 1/2 tsp
cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
coconut milk (cream) 100 ml
mustard oil 1 tsp
salt to taste

procedure..

Make a green paste using coriander greens, ginger, garlic, green chillies, pepper corns and cumin seeds. Keep aside.

Peel the ridge gourds, wash and cube them in small pieces.

Heat the mustard oil in a pressure cooker pan and dump the keema in it. Scramble and fry for a couple of minutes to make the keema loose so it doesn't clump together in the curry. Add the green paste and stir fry for a minute.

Add salt and cubed ridge gourds. Mix well, add 2-3 tbsp water and cover the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook till the whistle blows. Let it cool and open the lid.

Pour the coconut milk, simmer for a few minutes to get required consistency. Serve hot with chapatis.

We had it with ragi roti and plain red chilly smoked baingan ka bharta.

The baingan ka bharta is just flame grilled round brinjals mashed along with chopped onions, chopped green chillies and salt. Served with a dash of raw mustard oil this bharta or chokha is a great vegetable dish that can replace a salad. To smoke it with red chilly I just brush one red chilly with mustard oil and burn the chilly over gas flame a little. Then insert the chilly into the mashed chokha and cover for a while. It gets nicely smoked with a chilly whiff.

This turai keema with coriander and coconut milk is very subtle sweetish aromatic dish that one can enjoy even in peak summer. I like it a bit thin but you can adjust consistency as per requirement or choice. You can add more coconut milk or cream and make it a bit rich but we liked it lighter and mellow without much chilly heat.

Let me know if you try this recipe. I might cook this with regular mutton on bone sometime at leisure. Mutton on bone needs longer cooking time and I cook it sparingly these days.

everyday subzi : bottle gourd stew in coconut milk | lauki coconut milk subzi | Lauki Olan

June 21, 2015, 4:00 am

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Bottle gourd is the best suited vegetable for summer season and I try to make the most of it. Even if you don't know how this vegetable helps in Indian summers you would realise once you eat it 3-4 times a week during hot summer months.

Lauki or bottle gourd is watery vegetables that fills up the plate, satiates hunger, hydrates the body and keeps the digestive system healthy. The only reason why many people avoid eating this humble vegetable is that they don't like the bland taste and mushy texture. But trust me you can make the most of it's mushy texture and bland taste, just flavour it the way you like the bottle gourd wont disappoint you.

Try this Bengali style Lau shukto if you want to experiment. And this coconut milk lauki will be another in the same category.

This curry is inspired by the Pumpkin Olan I make. Not the authentic Kerala Olan but a tweaked version that I find very delicious. Adapting the Kerala Olan recipe again with lauki, it is made using the Ash gourd (Petha gourd) in Kerala but since we rarely find Ash gourds here it is better to use some lauki.

One can use up any mature lauki that was bought a week ago too for this recipe.

ingredients..
(2 large servings or 4 small servings)

Lauki (bottle gourd) peeled and cubed in bite sized chunks 600 gm
coconut milk 150-200 ml
ghee or coconut milk 1 tsp
pinch of hing (asafoetida)
mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
methi (fenugreek seeds) 10 grains or so
whole dry red chillies 2-3
curry patta 5-6 springs, leaflets separated
salt to taste

procedure ...

Cook the cubed lauki along with salt and 1 cup water till the pieces get soft. You may need very little water if the lauki is tender, this one was a week old lauki so I Used water to cook. This step can be done in pressure cooker to save time but take care not to cook the lauki to complete mush.

Add the coconut milk and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Prepare the tempering by heating the ghee or coconut oil, add the hing, methi, mustard seeds, chillies and curry patta in that order and let them get aromatic. Add all of this at once to the cooked curry and give it a good stir.

Serve as required. We like it with roti or some rice but I can eat these curries on their own so it becomes a one pot meal for me mostly.

You may want to serve some beans or okra stir fry with this curry to round off an Indian meal along with rice and roti etc.

In Kerala this kind of Olan is a part of a huge meal spread called Sadya. Such light curries make sense when there are too many dishes on the table.

karonde ki subzi (achari) | a pickled condiment

July 16, 2015, 11:37 pm

≫ Next: sookhi urad ki daal | skinned black lentil stew with chilli garlic

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Karoda is a very tart berry (Carissa caradas) that appears in the Indian markets in the last leg of summer and continues till late August. We had a huge bush of this berry back home and our dog use to chase the birds that used to nest in that bush. A lot of pickles, chutneys and jams used to be made using karonda in those days.

We have used these berries to practice targets and it's fruiting branches to decorate flower vases. Karonde ka murabba is a popular condiment in some homes and is used as substitute for tinned cherries to make cakes etc. I think you can still find karonde ka murabba in the markets of Banaras. We never cared for keronde ka murabba though.

This subzi is nothing but a simplified pickle which is cooked quickly and is refrigerated for a week, to be served with almost all the meals during that time. Back home there were several of such achari recipes that my dadi (grandmother) used to make. She loved such hot and sour condiments herself and used to love serving 3-4 such condiments with each meal.

In modern times such condiments are more convenient as we sometimes resort to simpler one pot meals and any such pickle in the fridge can jazz up any simple meal for sure. I am reminded of and have been craving for my dadi's stuffed green chillies that was always there in the fridge whenever she stayed with us.

I must add that I remember my dadi for so much more than just the food, but I would agree food was a very tangible connect that established so effortlessly and we tend to bring that back whenever we can. My grandmother shaped my life by default and she continues to do so even though it has been 16 years she is no more.

Whenever I cook or write about such recipes I do remember her earnestly.

Coming back to karonde ki subzi, I know it is a pain to chop such tiny berries. But once you get to chopping the beauties they don't disappoint. You could sit with them to watch TV if possible. This activity used to be a meditative exercise in older days as I understand. Women used to chit chat while chopping vegetables often and that must have been great stress buster and bonding activity.

For this kaprinde ki subzi you have to peel some garlic and chop them too. Thankfully I have a maid who helps and I just cooked this subzi in about 5 minutes. Total time that karonde ki subzi needs after chopping them is just 10 minutes, so try and get it done if you are drooling at this subzi.

This subzi is called acahri for obvious reasons. It tastes like achar but doesn't keep well like 'achar'. Another quick karonde ka achar is made in season too that lasts a bit longer but if the pickle needs to be preserved for a year it needs some preservation either with vinegar or more mustard oil and salt.

So you see you just have to flash fry the karonda, garlic and chillies along with a tadka of hing, kalonji (Nigella seeds) and turmeric chilly powder mix, and the subzi is ready.

ingredients..

quartered karonda 1 cup
quartered garlic cloves 1/2 cup
chopped green chillies 1/2 cup
mustard oil 2 tbsp
hing 1 pinch
kalonji (Nigella seeds) 2 tsp
turmeric powder 2 tsp
red chilly powder 1/2 tsp
salt to taste

procedure...

Heat the mustard oil and tip in the hing and nigella seeds. Now make a paste of turmeric and chilly powder with 2 tbsp water and pour it in the hot oil. Let this mixture sizzle for a while till the oil separates or the mixture gets shiny. Add salt to taste.

Now tip in the chopped vegetables, toss and cook on high heat for 5 minutes. Cool and transfer to a glass jar or container. Serve as required.

Do let me know when you try this karonde ki subzi. You can make similar subzi with chopped raw mangoes which was called as aam ka kuchla back home. Some people would call this karonde ki subzi too as karonde ka kuchla.

sookhi urad ki daal | skinned black lentil stew with chilli garlic

July 20, 2015, 10:41 am

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Sookhi urad ki daal is not the everyday daal in UP homes. The ubiquitous everyday daal in most UP homes is peeli daal or arhar ki daal or even a mix of masoor, mung and arhar daals (skinned mung beans, red lentils and pigeon peas) to make a yellow daal. Now even this yellow daal would be very different in each home with a favourite tadka, the consistency being thick or thin the way a particular family likes it. Urad daal (skinned black lentils) is not something people like eating everyday.

But then there are days when they want a break with peeli daal and some special daal will be made, not necessarily an elaborate recipe or a rich preparation, but a change in the routine is seen as special. This sookhi urad ki daal is one of those daals and often finds a place on party menus too. I am talking about the days when 'daal makhni' was not the only popular daal preparation for vegetarian menus.

This sooki urad ki daal also has various versions and home cooks keep innovating the tadka or the garnish but the cooking procedure of sookhi urad ki daal is considered a skill to be proud of. You might find people who criticize a sookhi daal in the way it looks. Whether each grain of the daal is clean or has got mushy or whether it is properly coated with ghee or not. Some people like each grain of daal coated with a red chilly infused ghee and some like loads of crisp fried garlic flakes interspersed with the daal.

In older days it was rare to use tomatoes in this daal but now some people add fresh tomato paste to the daal, I find tomatoes spoiling the real fun of this daal. It is best cooked with minimal additives but the tadka could be as loaded as you like. Here is my simpler recipe that can be a base to start adding your kind of flavours to it if you wish. Or just enjoy the way I like it.

This is the version I like with green chilies of the mild variety. You can use some hot green chillies and a little finely chopped green capsicum to get that effect if you wish.

ingredients 
(2-3 servings, this daal is normally served in small portions as a side dish)

for pressure cooking
skinned black lentils (urad daal dhuli) 1/3 cup
water 1 cup
chopped green chillies of the mild variety as much as you like, I used 3 large ones
salt to taste

for tadka
ghee 2 tsp or as much as you can handle
one whole dry red chilly
chopped or sliced garlic as much as you like
hing (asafoetida) a pinch

procedure..

Purists would slow cook the daal in a pan over gas flame and would strain all the cooking liquid as soon as the daal is soft but not mushy. Use more water if doing so. I just add everything in a pressure cooker and cook for 10 minutes after the first whistle. I like to retain whatever little cooking liquid remains in the daal.

To prepare the tadka heat the ghee in a shallow pan and tip in the hing and then the broken red chilly. Let the red chilly get almost burnt when you add the chopped garlic. Now let the garlic alos browned well and then add this chilly garlic infused and almost smoked tadka to the cooked daal. Cover for 5 minutes to let the flavours infuse.

Serve hot as a side dish. I like this daal even at room temperature and it often becomes the daal for lunch box for the husband.

This daal behaves very well with dhungar or smoking with the help of a piece of charcoal. If you want that kind of smoky flavour just place the charcoal over gas flame till it gets red, place a steel bowl inside the daal pot with little ghee and a red chilly in it. Place the red hot charcoal into this bowl and cover the lid, let the red chilly burn and the smoke infuse into the daal.

In my recipe I just let the red chilly get charred into the tadka and get the desired effect. The burn red chilly is removed after it does it's work.

The daal looks plain and white but packs a punch. Slightly hot with chillies but more flavours of the green chilly and garlic that makes this daal quite potent. You just cannot eat too much of this. Best enjoyed with ghee soaked rotis made of whole grain. I like this daal with jowar rotis the most, with some baingan bharta for company.

Do not add any dhaniya patta for garnish. Never.

everyday subzi : achari kathal | baby jack fruit cooked in pickling spices

July 31, 2015, 9:27 am

≫ Next: everyday curry : Kathal ki bhujia | jackfruit stir fry with pepper and dry pomegranate powder

≪ Previous: sookhi urad ki daal | skinned black lentil stew with chilli garlic

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Baby jack fruits sell like hot cakes in UP. At least in the eastern part of UP, baby jack fruits are the first jack fruits to appear in the local markets and they are lapped up by vegetarians who want to eat meaty vegetables. Jack fruit is the one meaty vegetable they depend upon the most.

Baby jack fruits are called as katahari or ledha kathal in UP and Bihar too. In Bengal it is known as Ganchh pantha, meaning meat growing on a tree.

It is a pity I have not shared many recipes of jack fruit here on this blog, although it is a very popular vegetable in Banaras and people cook it is many different ways. Of course each home has a different recipe but jack fruit is mostly cooked just like meats, using the same procedures of slow cooking, dum cooking and stewing etc to make the most of the meatiness it has.

This achari kathal is also a spin off of mutton achari. Normally it is cooked with loads of mustard oil and looks shiny and oily with oil floating in the bowl. I would of course make it more suitable for everyday consumption. You can see there is very little oil used to make this achari kathal.

We don't get baby jack fruits here in Delhi and I was talking about this to a colleague of the husband long back. And then someone rang up the bell early in the morning one day, we found the gentleman with 2 baby jack fruits in a bag at our doorstep. How sweet of him to bring baby jackfruits from his own orchards back in UP, from his visit.

I got them cleaned and cubed, then cooked this achari kathal and froze the rest. Will be coming up with more recipes soon.

ingredients...
(3-5 servings)

peeled and cubes baby jackfruit 300 gm
yogurt (dahi) 200 gm or scant 1 cup
hing (asafoetida) a pinch
mustard seeds 1 tsp
cumin seeds 1 tsp
nigella (kalonji) seeds 1/4 tsp
broken dry red chillies as per taste
fennel powder 2 tsp
ginger powder 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
chilli powder 1 tsp or to taste
salt 1 tsp or to taste
mustard oil 1.5 tbsp

Normally the baby jackfruit cubes will be deep fried in mustard oil and then cooked along with a gravy but that becomes a really heavy subzi which is okay once in a while. I don't deep fry things much these days as I find it too heavy for my taste, more so because I want to eat more of the subzi.

So the low oil quick method is what I am going to share. The subzi doesn't look rich and oily but it is definitely tasty.

procedure...

Heat oil in a pressure cooker pan and tip in the hing, cumin, nigella and mustard seeds along with broken red chillies. Let them all splutter and get the chillies smoked a bit.

Add the cubed baby jack fruit and toss and cook for 5 minutes or so.

Mix all the powdered spices with the yogurt and whisk in the mean time.

Now pour the whisked yogurt spice mix, into the cooking subzi, stir to mix well, add 1/2 cup water and salt and close the lid with the pressure vent.

Let it cook on high till the first whistle blows. Then lower the heat and cook further for 10 minutes.

Cool the pressure cooker till the pressure gets down, open the lid and adjust consistency. I like it dry so I reduce the watery liquid.

Serve the achari kathal ki subzi hot, warm or at room temperature.

Sometimes I empty the cooker (or pan) and quickly cook another vegetable in it with the remaining grease. The beans on the side were just added with a little salt and cooked till the pressure just starts building up. This way I get some greens too for the meal.

A multi grain paratha suits achari kathal the best. Make it crisp and see how it becomes a meal that you love.

I have shared kathal ka dopyaza, kathal ki sookhi masaledar subzi, kathal ki biryani in the past and am sharing kathal ki bhujia and more recipes with kathal soon. I have the pictures clicked when I cooked them but somehow couldn't share them here. I wish I could have more time to talk about these desi khana more and more.

Kathal is available all over the year in Delhi, it keeps coming to the market from some or the other part of the country and thanks to the varied geographic-climatic conditions we do get almost everything all year round. Not such a thing to boast about but it will be better if we eat the produce of our own country and not start jumping at imported produce. Carbon footprint is not something to be happy about.

Kathal is cool, red currants, blueberries and blackberries are not.

everyday curry : Kathal ki bhujia | jackfruit stir fry with pepper and dry pomegranate powder

August 2, 2015, 11:31 am

≫ Next: sooran ka chokha : a boiled mash of Elephant foot Yam

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After sharing the achari kathal ki subzi with you, I was going through the kathal (Jack fruit) pictures in my albums and found at four more recipes that needed to be shared here. I know I have been very irregular here but I promise everything will be shared sooner or later.

This kathal ki bhujia is so good you would cook it more frequently for two reasons. One, it is fairly easy to cook once the peeling and chopping is done and two, it is a light curry (sookhi subzi) that can be eaten everyday easily. Kathal subzi is known as a spicy heavy curry normally, but we do cook very light curries with kathal too, Kathal ka dopyaza is a fine example of a light kathal curry.

I will tell you chopping kathal is not to tough. Yes it does take some time but most good things come at a price. Most vegetable vendors will peel and chop it for you if you ask them, but do that only if you are planning to cook kathal the same day or the next day. Else, just tell them to give you a thick slice of the jack fruit like the below picture.

Once you have this slice, just grease your hands and peel off the thick skin. Remove the inner pith too.

Now place the moon shaped jack fruit slice on a chopping board and chop into pieces of required size. For this kathal ki bhujia we need really thin slivers.

Separate the seeds and remove all parchment like seed coats. The chopped and cleaned mature kathal looks like this.

If using fresh kathal, and if it is chopped nicely it takes just about 15 minutes to cook on medium heat. You can always add your own choice of seasoning and spices, I like this kathal ki bhujia with a strong kick of black pepper and an earthy tartness of anardana (dried pomegranate seeds).

ingredients...
(2-3 servings)

chopped kathal like above 2 cups
sliced shallots of baby onions 1/4 cup
mustard oil 1.5 tbsp
cumin seeds
whole dry red chillies 2
ginger julienne 1 tbsp
black pepper corns 1 tbs
anardana 2 tbsp
salt to taste

preparation...

Heat a thick base pan and dry roast the peppercorns and anaradana briefly. Cool and make a coarse powder in mortar and pestle.

Heat mustard oil in a kadhai and tip in cumin seeds and red chillies, add the sliced onions once the cumin and chilly get aromatic and cook till they start getting lightly browned.

Add chopped kathal along with the seeds. Add salt to taste and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

Cover and cook for five minutes and mix once again. Cover and cook again for 5 minutes or till done, stirring in between for uniform browning.

Add the pepper anardana powder and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Serve hot.

This Kathal ki bhujia is great with paratha or roti meals. Nice with dal chawal meals too and even in Indian style grilled sandwiches with green chutney.

We like this kathal ki bhujia with our multi grain rotis.

Choose white fleshed tender but large sized kathal if you are planning to make this kathal ki bhujia. Else you may be left with a too dry bhujia or a melting sweetish kind bhujia that doesn't do justice to this recipe.

The kathal feels nice and soft in the bhujia, lightly caramelized with hints of ginger, pepper and pomegranate seeds. You might end up eating it as a salad too.

Try this kathal ki bhujia and let me know.

sooran ka chokha : a boiled mash of Elephant foot Yam

August 4, 2015, 11:11 am

≫ Next: Lost recipes of India: recipes brought back from the Mughal era by Osama Jalali and his family, hosted at The Oberoi Gurgaon | my report

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Sooran or Zamikand is the name of Elephant foot Yam. It is also called as Oal in Bihar and Bengal.

The problem with sooran is that it looks so ugly people rarely buy it, it also has a reputation of itching your throat if you are cooking the native variety. The native variety has a few small bulbous growth on the surface and the flesh looks a bit more pinkish brown.

Here is a sooran seller in a village market we visited, he has both the varieties. The one that itches more is tastier too and the one that is free of itch is considered useless by some.

The itching sensation is due to the high oxalic acid content in the underground corms but the oxalic acid can be denatured during cooking by using lot of souring agents and marinating the cooked or raw sooran in some sour juices.

The variety I use is the one that doesn't itch. But it is advisable to use some lime juice to the recipe if you want to be cautious. Cooking sooran is not too complicated, the skin can be peeled off easily, then you can chop it in cubes and proceed to make any curry or kabab you wish.

ingredients ...

peeled, rinsed and cubed sooran (yam) 250 gm
chopped onion 1/4 cup
minced green chillies 1 tsp or to taste
minced garlic 1 tsp or to taste
salt to taste
mustard oil (cold pressed) 2 tsp

preparation...

Boil or pressure cook the yam with 1/2 cup of water and salt. Cool down.

Mash along with the rest of the ingredients, drizzle with mustard oil and serve warm, cold or whatever way you like.

Lime juice can be added at the time of serving.

After boiling the yam cubes, all the ingredients can be blended together in a blender jar. That way it makes a nice dip which is quite delicious and creamy on it's own.

This sooran ka chokha is a popular mashed vegetable recipe with the elders of eastern UP and Bihar. I say elders because I have rarely seen youngsters enjoying it the way elders do. Such a pity.

I suggest you stuff it in grilled sandwich along with mustard sauce sometime and see how even the kids love it. The same recipe is known as Kaathalu pitika in Assam.

In fact all types of chokha that we make in UP are known as pitika in Assam. There are some similarities in the cuisine despite geographical separation, local ingredients are used as per convenience.

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Lost recipes of India: recipes brought back from the Mughal era by Osama Jalali and his family, hosted at The Oberoi Gurgaon | my report

August 14, 2015, 8:22 am

≫ Next: methi ki launji | methi ki meethi chutney | how to make methi ki launji

≪ Previous: sooran ka chokha : a boiled mash of Elephant foot Yam

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It is very heartening to see someone diligently digging into historical texts to find about foods and cooking methods of the past. It is very strange that we don't get much mention of food habits, cooking methods and recipes in history. History was always written for economic and political record keeping, food heritage was rarely recorded well. Only some royal khansamas wrote their own personal cookbooks but kept the diaries to themselves mostly.

That is the reason I love talking to Osama Jalali and his mother Nazish Jalali a lot, they keep sharing so much about food from the past and food from the lesser known cuisines. Osama is known for reviving Rampur and Shahjahanabad cuisine, her mother belongs to Rampur and was married into to an Old Delhi family, a family who cooks together and loves feeding others too.

The Oberoi Gurgaon has been doing great work regarding reviving recipes from the different regions of India under their flagship program called Rivayat and Chef Ravitej Nath who heads the team brought Osama Jalali this time to showcase lost recipes of the Mughal era. I am fortunate to have tasted this menu they curated together, it was an experience to cherish.

The extensive menu that we tasted was a learning experience, an education. Each recipe has been taken from the time of one or the other Mughal emperor and Osama and Chef Ravitej's team have tried to stay true to the recipes collected from different authentic sources. Chef Ravitej told us that some of the recipes did not sound complete, the spices felt too less or the spice combinations felt odd but they did not change the recipes as they wanted to showcase the original version.

Staying true to a recipe that doesn't seem perfect in today's scenario, is the best thing this team did and what a spectacular result it was.

None of the food tasted odd I would like to add, some were new flavours to discover, some were new techniques of cooking rediscovered and some of the recipes totally blew our mind by the surprise value they brought on the table. I am sharing the pictures here with short notes about what I felt about the food.

The first thing that floored me was the Paan infused water that was being served, Mufarra of course is a soothing drink for summers.

The starters came when we were actually hungry. I had skipped breakfast as I know these menus are very very exhaustive. This arbi ka patoda was perfectly rolled, I felt it had more besan than required, I like the eastern UP version of arbi ka patoda better.

This Yakhni kabab was a revelation, something that looked like shami kabab but was very delicate flavoured, the meat and chana daal a bit courser in texture. I loved everything about it. The fiber of the meat is not disturbed much as the boiled meat is ground on silbatta in this case, and that lends this yakhni kabab a character of its own.

Luleh kabab was a very delicate mince meat kabab paired with cucumber julienne and pomegranate. This kabab is wrapped in a paratha but we found the paratha a little heavy for the delicate kabab. I removed the paratha and ate the kabab but since the team has stayed true to the recipe we could see how this luleh kabab was a favourite of Humayun's Persian wife.

The Pateeli kabab was not my favourite, the delicate nuts and dry fruits are good in a kabab but all wrapped in chicken breast made the kabab a bit dry. Again this might have been some one's favourite we got to taste.

Osama mentioned how the cooking vessels in the Oberoi kitchen are very suitable for this old fashioned cooking and the taambe ki pateeli was just perfect for this and other dishes too.

I think in older times free range chicken would have tasted much more flavourful for this pateeli kabab. I appreciate not changing the recipes to suit today's tastes, it was an academic exercise as much as a culinary pleasure.

Another vegetarian kabab was Kabab e burghul, broken wheat and lentil kabab paired with mint chutney. This was made so well I finished the kabab. I was taking small bites from everything knowing there is a lot more food to be tasted.

Main course arrived in the form of various dishes of different shapes and hues. The table weighed down with so much food.

Parinde mein parinda looks spectacular and you know at once how much work has gone into it. It is a rendition of the bigger roast that was originally made with whole camel stuffed with smaller animals, one inside the other till the smallest cavity fills with a boiled egg. This was made with duck, chicken, quail and a boiled egg, all three birds had different marination and different cooking time of course.

It was done perfectly. Each bird had retained it's individuality and yet they all came together.

Murgh zameendoz was cooked whole, wrapped in a moist 'dum' of roomali rotis and then put inside an earthen pot covered with more fresh mud.

When served it looked like this.

And tasted just divine. Chicken cooked in it's own juices, the roomali roti sealing the flavours inside. Nutty and herb infused.

Amba kaliya was a winner all the way. It tasted sweet and sour and delicately meaty. This is one recipe I am going to try very soon, before the raw mangoes disappear this season. I am smitten by this recipe.

Kancha kabab is made with very smooth minced meat, a solid ball of ghee is stuffed inside each kofta that results into a hollow cavity inside each kofta the size of marbles (kancha). It must have been the clever handiwork of some innovative cook in the royal kitchens.

Jalalis have perfected their koftas so much I would be scared to replicate this one, but I want to try. I still remember the Saag kofta we had at Oberoi Delhi and been wanting to make that one too.

This piston ka keema (minced mutton cooked with Afghani pistachios and aromatic spices), belongs to Bahadur Shah Zafar's time, who was imprisoned at Red fort. The combined flavours of the nuts and minced meat together was really special with a little hint of sourness in it.

The Ishtoo is something I am familiar with. This stew is made with either chicken or mutton and the spices and method differs from region to region. This one was the we we make in UP, the recipe comes from the Jalali's kitchen.

The broken red chillies and loads of onion is the essential visual you see in this ishtoo but their is more depth flavours a few whole spices have been used during cooking. Loved this one too.

The Tandoor ki roti was very different from what is served in restaurants or even dhabas. It was made of whole wheat and had a little harder crust with a nutty taste, the crumb was firm yet soft and spongy to soak the salans and ishtoos well.

Arbi ka salan was so good and retained it's individuality in the sea of meats and game. Creamy yogurt based gravy with hint of kasoori methi and light sweetness of fried onions, the arbi (Colocasia tubers) melting in the mouth, this salan is to die for.

You just need some good roti with it.

Angoori kofte were also vegetarian, these were relished by Aurangzeb who was a vegetarian. I liked them as these were well made, but nothing too special for my taste, there were many very very good things on this menu and I am not too fond of koftas..

But then there was some more to taste and be charmed. This Mutanjan pulao is a layered rice dish with chicken pieces, aromas of laung-elaichi, hint of orange and loads of nuts and dried fruits like dates, raisins and figs.

It was quite sweet but well balanced flavours, very well cooked rice grains that had absorbed all the flavours well. I have never had such a delicious sweet pulao. This was a revelation for me as it was very different from Zarda.

Another stunning rice preparation was Motia pulao from the time of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. The pearls in the pulao are made with egg whites, poaching them them with a technique that might have been very dexterous in those times.

To make these pearl the egg whites are filled in cleaned chicken intestines and then tied up at small intervals to make it look like a string of pearls, then the whole thing is poached in hot water when the egg whites solidify. How ingenious.

After all this, we tasted the classics by Jalali family. The Nalli nihari and haleem both were as good as we had tasted at Surya and again at Oberoi Delhi.

Chef Ravitej informed us that the Nalli nihari and Haleem was included in the tasting menu because they thought the lost recipes menu might feel too bland to some and these few dishes would compensate the flavours for those. But honestly speaking, none of the yakhni kababs, Kancha kofta, Murgh zameendoz or the pulaos felt bland to us.

Everything was so flavourful, much more aromatic and delicate play of ingredients that modern day Mughlai (a result of many years of adaptation and hybridization) feels like a different cuisine altogether.

Among desserts this Falooda came with ice cream, fruit syrups and subza and vermicelli. I didn't have the heart and any stomach to taste this.

This one looked like Mung ka halwa and I was the least interested. See what happened later when I tasted it.

There was gulatthi and kheer, there were old fashioned kulfis of mango, custard apple and pistachios. Everything well made, but desserts rarely fail if made well and if 'real' ingredients are used.

The big surprise came when the halwa was served. I was not able to recognize what it was and no one on the table actually could guess.

It was Gosht ka halwa made so well it felt like Mung ka halwa (lacking mung flavour) but once we were told we could smell a hint of the meat in it.

Kudos to Osama Jalali to recreate this classic from the past. He told it was made until his grandparents generation in his family too.

Osama told he referred to many people and many books to find out the recipes. He told he has been discussing and referring to Professor Zameer Hasan Dehlvi, Ikhtedar Hasan (HOD, Islamic studies, Jamia university), Professor Pushpesh Pant, Salma Hussain etc. Abul Fazal's Ain e Akbari has been a good resource too.

Salma Hussain has done extensive work on Islamic cuisine of both Awadh (Lucknow) and Delhi (Shajahanabad), her books are testimony to her hard work, it is important to know the royal Mughal food was very different from the Mughlai food we know today, which is eaten through  out the country in it's various avatars.

In the last we were served Irani Chai. This tea was brewed in water and then mixed with much reduced milk.

The milk so rich that it keeps circulating in your mouth even if you gulp down. I couldn't finish this cup and I feel very bad about it. There is only so much one can eat and drink. It is very difficul to to justice for such an extensive meal.

Look at the menu which features most of the dishes but not all.

As I said, it was more of a learning experience rather than a culinary delight. There is a reason I regard the Rivayat by Oberoi highly.

methi ki launji | methi ki meethi chutney | how to make methi ki launji

August 19, 2015, 2:28 am

≫ Next: dink wadi recipe adapted from dinka-che-laddu | gond ke laddu recipe Maharashtrian way

≪ Previous: Lost recipes of India: recipes brought back from the Mughal era by Osama Jalali and his family, hosted at The Oberoi Gurgaon | my report

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Methi (fenugreek : Trigonella foenum graecum) is known as a bitter seed that we add to tempering  in everyday food but no one wants to eat mehti in larger amounts. Ayurveda has confirmed methi seeds as a wonderful home remedy for many conditions including management of diabetes, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and lactation etc.

There is a reason why methi ki launji is served along with bedmi poori.

Methi ka laddu and panjeeri is commonly made for new mothers in north Indian homes, to help with lactation and to generally have a better immunity during that phase. For everyday cooking methi has limited use but some people love a preparation called methi ki launji.

Methi ki launji, also called as methi ki meethi chutney is a common accompaniment for Bedmi poori, several types of mung daal kachoris and even mathris, most probably paired to aid digestion of fried food. This methi ki chuntey is served at wedding feasts in Banaras too especially when the feast is pure vegetarian and traditional type. Marwari and Rajasthani families have it on their menu almost always as much as I know.

Many families make this methi ki launji and each family has their own version.

ingredients 
(makes about 20-30 servings, about a 500 ml jarful )

1/2 cup methi (fenugreek) seeds soaked overnight, it becomes about 1.25 cups after soaked fully
1/2 cup chopped dates (I used soft dates)
1/2 cup chopped raisins
2 tbsp fennel seeds (moti saunf)
1 tbsp red chilly powder
1 tsp dry ginger powder
1 tsp coarse coriander powder (or just crushed coriander seeds)
1 tsp roasted cumin (bhuna jeera) powder
2 tsp amchoor powder (you can use a mix of tamarind extract and amchoor)
a pinch of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg powder (optional)
salt 1 tsp or less
Jaggery or sugar to taste ( I used 2 tbsp crushed jaggery)

procedure 

Drain the methi seeds, the water can be refrigerated and added to green tea if you like, this recipe uses methi seeds only.

Some people boil the methi seeds and throw away the boiled water too, but I did not do this, the methi ki launji doesn't taste bitter even if I reserve the cooking liquid.

Mix the soaked methi seeds, fennel seeds, chopped raisins and chopped dates with 2 cups of water and salt and pressure cook till the first whistle blows. Cool and remove the lid.

Now add all the other ingredients and simmer till the chutney becomes thick almost like a jam.

You can keep the chutney thinner but that tastes better when you use more jaggery or sugar as the syrupy chutney carries the other flavours well. I like this chutney less sweet and find the sweetness of the dates and raisins good enough to balance the bitterness of methi.

The addition of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg powders is optional, they make more sense when there is some more sugar or jaggery in the chutney or launji.

The methi seeds will taste bitter the first day when you make the chutney but from next day the bitterness will be gone. Some people can't even tell if there is methi in it, they mistake it for a lentil if they haven't eaten this chutney ever.

This methi ki launji keeps well for a month if refrigerated. You can serve it with any Indian meals or even as a chutney with khakhra or pakodas.

With some pumpkin subzi and crisp paratha or poori it is a combination made in heaven. Here is a pumpkin, brinjal and malabar spinach subzi that I keep repeating in this season because the few odd brinjals from the garden make good addition t o such mixed subzis. Malabar spinach is also from the garden.

I have finished this methi ki chutney on its own sometimes. Have a good spoonful of this chutney with breakfast and dinner everyday to cure any joint pains and aches, but keep the sugar away from this chutney in that case.

Call it mathi ki launji or methi ki chutney, it is a must try for poori type India meals I say.

dink wadi recipe adapted from dinka-che-laddu | gond ke laddu recipe Maharashtrian way

August 21, 2015, 10:25 am

≫ Next: badiyon ki chutney | बड़ियों की चटनी | a condiment from the older timesn

≪ Previous: methi ki launji | methi ki meethi chutney | how to make methi ki launji

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Dink is the Maharashtrian name for Gond (Hindi) or Gum Arabic. Gond ke laddu made along with nuts, dried fruits and some millet flours or rice flour is very common in Indian homes. Every season used to have a different type of gond ka laddu I remember.

My mother still makes these laddus almost every 2-3 weeks and eats at least one everyday. Her gond ka laddu ingredients keep changing with seasons and now she adds very little sugar and makes a sugar free version for my father too. In my grandmother's time this laddu used to be a minor ceremony in the house.

In summers it used to be a plain gond ka laddu with just some nuts and a mix of flours, in winters some dry ginger (sonth and some turmeric powder would be added and if there is a new mother in the house then gond ka laddu would become a major ceremony.

During pregnancy and just after delivery the new mothers would be fed with a special gond ka laddu with many herbs added to them, the laddu will be called Sothoura as sonth is dry ginger and this sothoura had strong notes of ginger and fenugreek in it. This special sothoura laddu is meant to heal the body of new mother and help in lactation too.

The whole family and friends would long for the special sothoura made for the new mother. These rituals might get lost in coming times as now new mothers have to rely on multivitamins and antibiotics more and more. Earlier no one took any supplements and real food was the source of all nourishment, the way body recognized it best.

I was pleasantly surprised when a very dear friend Suranga Date gifted me a box of dink wadi when we met. Dink wadi is a regional form of gond ka laddu or dink laddu made in Maharashtra. The good things were valued all over the country in different forms. This version of Gond ka laddu tasted really nice and I asked the recipe from Suranga and she happily obliged.

Notably, gum acacia or gond has immense health benefits that the older generations were aware of. A study shows how gum acacia helps normalise BMI. Another study shows Gum Arabic is helpful in management of diabetes, IBS and inflammatory disease. Gum Arabic is also an excellent prebiotic supplement. Our older generations definitely knew better by experience, ethnomedicine is no joke.

I am reproducing Suranga recipe as she sent me, in her own words.

(The traditional stuff is actually the Dinkacha Laadoo, or Dink(Gond)  Laddu in Hindi.  Normally made in winters for everyone and for post partum stage mothers at any time.   Like everything else, eating styles have changed , but  nutritional values remain, and so this is a version adapted for those needing a decent energy boost away from maida, butter, white sugar and similar  folks that my late father would call the 3 poisons  :-)  )

ingredients..

200 gms dink

200 gms khareek (dry dates which are light brown, wrinkled and hard;  khareek is the marathi name).

200 gms mixture of any dry fruits that you like ;  I used walnuts and almonds

2 fistfuls of desiccated coconut. (You can use freshly grated, roasted dry variety too.)

2 tspoons cardamom powder

About 600 gms  jaggery ; I used the organic suplphurless variety .

Oil to fry the dink (you can use ghee)

procedure..

1.  heat oil , and on a moderate flame, fry the dink.  It is a very quick process, as the dink will immediately bloom , and you must immediately remove it from oil and deposit it on a paper so the oil can drain.    I  fry small quantities of dink at a time,  so i don't have lots of left over oil .   (Traditional types use ghee)

2. Spread out the dink , let the oil drain, and then  take a nice clean muslin cloth, spread it over the dink, and roll the rolling pin pin all over to crush the stuff . Actually crushing by hands is even better but messy.  The muslin cloth will also pick up some extra oil sticking to the dink.  

3.  Powder the dry dates, walnuts and almonds , separately in the mixer. dry datess will be a bit coarsely ground.  

4.    Mix the crushed dink, the dry fruits and the desiccated coconut.  Add  cardamom powder.  (I've added doodh ka masala  instead , at times,  with excellent results)

5.   On a low flame, in a thick bottomed kadhai, melt the jaggery.    In the meanwhile  grease  two rectangular barfi type pans  (eg 10" x 5" )   and keep ready.

6. When the jaggery kind of starts to bubble , boil, and rise (like milk) , shut off the heat,  add the dink mixture , nicely mix and bring it all together.

7.   This will not be of pouring consistency, but spooning consistency.  Spoon out the stuff onto the greased pans, and use a  plastic sheet and rolling pin to smoothen the surface   

8.    Cut the surface into required size pieces, and let it cool.   Experts and artistic types might enjoy adding a cashew piece  or badaam slivers to the surface .

9.   When completely cool, cut the wadis.

10. Eat.   

P. S.  This is ideal stuff  for a quick breakfast with a glass of milk;  or for children home from school who need to rush out to play .  I also know someone who would eat this in their daily Mumbai train commute to work  . 

The traditional recipe uses khus khus (poppy seed) powder, grated roasted dry coconut, and khareek powder.  This is a shortcut recipe. 

Even this short cut recipe has resulted in a very flavourful delicious barfee that both of us have been enjoying with chilled milk everyday. I am going to make one batch as soon as this box of dink wadi finishes.

Thank you so much Suranga for all the love you bestow. I feel blessed.

badiyon ki chutney | बड़ियों की चटनी | a condiment from the older timesn

August 26, 2015, 7:37 am

≫ Next: shakarkandi ke roth or shakarkandi ki meethi poori | deep fried flat breads with sweet potatoes

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Badiyan, Badee, Bori, Lumhdouri or Adouri are the regional names of a dehydrated spiced lentil cakes made using black lentil paste along with some spices, herbs and sometimes grated gourds added to it. The lentil paste is briefly fermented and then made into drop shaped cakes before dehydrating the in strong sun. Once sun dried completely, the badiyan are kept safe for the whole year to come.

These badiyan can be deep fried whole or can be crushed and shallow fried before being added to curries. The pyaz badiyon ki subzi or simply alu badiyon ki subzi is a classic, these badiyan are mean to impart flavour to the vegetables without additional spices added to the curries.

Badiyan were generally made during early summers so the the sun drying is done perfectly for year long storage. In older times when there was scarcity of fresh vegetables during summer months and monsoons, these badiyan were use profusely to bring flavour to the table.

Now a days when all sorts of fresh produce is available all year round, we can't imagine how it might have been in the older times. Notably, these badiyan are made using some seasonal gourds that are not regarded too good for cooking purpose but lend a great texture to the badiyan. These are made using grated Ash gourds in UP and I have seen them being made using a large cucumber variety in Uttarakhand. The famous Amritsari vadi or badi has only spices and no vegetables in it, these are bigger in size and more spicy in nature.

Use of grated Ash gourd (called as petha or safed kumhda, also used to make Agre ka petha) lends a good texture to these badiyan, the way they make it in UP. Apart from the grated gourd, some chopped coriander greens, some cumin, coriander seeds, peppercorns and chillies are added to make the badiyan flavourful.

The real flavour of the deep fried and cooked badiyan is vary different from all these spices put together. The lentil paste fermented and sun dried becomes a very different flavour in it's own, a great way to add Umami to Indian curries I feel.

This badiyon ki chutney is an easy to make condiment that lasts a few days on the table. We generally break the badis into smaller pieces to shallow fry them evenly.

If the badiyan are not too spicy you can fry a couple of red chillies along with them.

Just add a few garlic cloves and salt to taste and blend to make a coarse paste.

Everything is added to taste, you can make this chutney according to your own liking of chilli heat or garlic. Grind it smooth or coarse, add water or lime juice if required and add some dhaniya patta if you like. This chutney wont disappoint you.

The resulting chutney is a dry crumbly paste that can be spread over parathas, mixed with khichdi or whatever you like with it. I remember my dad used to love this chutney and when I made it after ages I kept eating spoonfuls of it and remembering how he used to make it all by himself.

The baby onions in vinegar, sliced ginger and green chillies in brine and this chutney were his favourite condiments on the table. When I asked him a few days ago whether he still makes this chutney, he said he will make it again and that he had forgotten how much he used to love it.

With the availability of so many new products on our super market shelves, we are definitely forgetting the foods we used to relish so much.

Do try making this chutney wit any kind of spiced badiyan you get and let me know if you liked it. Please tell me if it was made in your home too and how long back. Sometimes I am surprised to bump into people who have similar food memories, are you one of them?

shakarkandi ke roth or shakarkandi ki meethi poori | deep fried flat breads with sweet potatoes

September 5, 2015, 11:08 am

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Shakarkandi is Sweet potato in Hindi. Indian Sweet potato is basically a yam whose leaves are also edible but we are taking about the use of the tuber right now, in the making of a deep fried flat bread.

Someone was talking about shakarkand ki poori and I was reminded of the last time I made them. I was in an impression that I had already shared the recipe of shakarakand ki poori on the blog so came here to search for it. And lo, I couldn't find it here. Because I never posted it. Damn.

The blogs of mine serve as a cloud storage for me and my mind automatically comes here to search for what I had cooked long time back. This shakarkandi ki poori or roth as we call it, was cooked 2 years ago and I had forgotten to share it. Not a good thing as the recipe wont be accessible for even my own use.

Thankfully this shakarkandi ki poori is a traditional recipe and I have cooked it several times in the past to know it like the back of my hand.

If you are getting confused between the names shakarkandi ki poori and shakarkandi ke roth (roT), let me explain it for you. Yes these two are a little different from each other.

Shakarkandi ki poori is a little softer, uses some milk too while kneading the dough and uses a little more flour compared to the quantity of sweet potato pulp. 

Shakarkandi ke roth are made using very little flour compared to sweet potato pulp (mash), just enough to bind the boiled and mashed sweet potatoes. So shakarkandi ke roth are almost like a crusty flat bread that cooks on medium flame for a long time to get crusty on the outside and softer inside.

To make the frying time shorter, I make a hole in the middle (just like a doughnut) so the cooking is even and quick. We like them hot but these are great at room temperature too and make great picnic or journey food.

For picnics you would like them served with some nice chocolate dip of fruit preserve. When eating them hot, we like to drizzle some raw honey over them. Yum.

It is a great breakfast option on weekdays when the family is relaxed and can have as finger food reading the heap of weekend newspapers.

ingredients...
(makes enough for 2 and some leftovers too)

sweet potatoes cleaned and rinsed thoroughly 250 gm
whole wheat flour 100-120 gm
*green cardamom powder 2 pinches (optional)

*You can use cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder or clove powder individually or in combination for a deeper flavour. I use a mix of these three mostly.

No sugar required, but add a little jaggery if you like it really sweet.

Ghee for deep frying. These roth do not absorb much ghee as the dough is not too loose, take care to boil the sweet potatoes with skin to ensure lesser moisture in them. If boiled after peeling and slicing they absorb a lot of water and the dough will be loose in consistency and the pooris may absorb more ghee while frying.

procedure...

After through cleaning, boil the sweet potatoes in pressure cooker with just about 1/4th cup water. It takes about 2-3 whistles to cook.

Cool the pressure cooker and start mashing the sweet potatoes while they are still warm. I prefer using them with the peel but you may discard the peel if it looks scabby or dirty. For such vegetable I always recommend getting organic produce.

Now add the spice powder of choice and add the flour slowly while kneading it into a dough. No water or milk is being added, the quantity of the flour will just to make a smooth dough. If the sweet potatoes are more moist they may take some more flour.

Heat the ghee, divide the dough in about 20 gm portions and roll them into small thick discs, make a hole in the center and fry on medium heat till they get lightly browned. At the stage of frying too you may fry them on high flame to get softer pooris and fry on low or medium to get firm roth.

Serve hot or cold with honey, fruit preserve or even some fresh cream or yogurt if you like.

There is the natural sweetness of sweet potatoes that you wouldn't want to spoil using sugar or jaggery. I suggest eating this roth with some sweet condiment if you find it not as sweet as you like.

And please fry it in ghee only, oils don't suit such traditional recipes.

I have seen some people enjoying these sweet pooris with pickle too, try it you may start liking such sweet and sour combinations in food.

And I just got to know that Maharashtrians also make a similar fried bread with sweet potatoes with a slightly different recipe and call it Ratalyacha Gharya. I am sure this meethi poori with shakarkandi is made all over India in some or the other form.