Week 10: Jeere Meere Khadi

If you have been wondering (I hope you have) as to what has taken me long to publish my next blog, I have just one response. Sleep regression. Not mine, but my little one's. Ah, he was a pretty good sleeper, but has suddenly turned into this ninja warrior who fights sleep with all his might. I admire his perseverance and determination at resisting all his naps and night sleep, but obviously that has meant a teeny weeny bit of stress for us in managing a cranky, tired, and clingy dude. Anyhow, back to the challenge. It was not difficult thinking of a dish with J. While I have fond memories of the cold and refreshing Tambli from my summer holidays spent in India, its cold weather cousin - the Jeere Meere Kadhi, is a firm favourite providing comfort in the cold and wetness, i.e. typical British weather. Moreover, I have seldom come across a dish that simultaneously counters the “I should not have over indulged in my previous meal” by facilitating digestion. Simple ingredients. Simple recipe. Jeere (cumin) and Meere (pepper), alongside garlic, coconut, red chilli, and asafoetida. That's it!

Ingredients:

2 tsp cumin seeds

7-10 peppercorns

3/4 cup desiccated coconut

Tamarind (1/4th the size of a lime. Cleaned and de-seeded)

10 garlic cloves

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp asafoetida/hing

Salt to taste

Method:

1. For the massol, heat the coconut oil and roast the cumin seeds and peppercorns until lightly brown. Add the hing, red chilli powder and coconut. Roast together for a couple of minutes. Note: Be really careful you don't roast the ingredients for too long as you will end up burning them. Transfer these contents into the mixer-grinder jar.

2. Finely chop, or grate the garlic and lightly roast it in the same pan in which you had roasted the massol ingredients. Add half of this sautéed garlic to the mixer jar and keep the other half aside.

3. Fine grind the roasted mixture with the garlic.

4. Now transfer the ground massol into the pan. Add water until the kadhi is like a smooth liquify texture - born too watery but no lumps either. Note: pour water first into the mixer jar to wash out the massol sticking to the sides, into the pan.

5.Add salt to taste, and the remaining roasted garlic to the kadhi. Stir to a boil.

And there you have it. Another very simple aamchi dish but just so incredibly delicious!

Week 9: Idli Pudding

Who would have ever thought that Idli and pudding would go in the same sentence (except for "I had lots of pudding after idlis")?!

Although I could have just made idlis for my Aamchi dish with "I" it did not feel purely Aamchi (unlike its cousin, the 'Khotto' which is basically an idli made in Jackfruit leaves which have been 'sewn' together using tiny sticks). I wanted to make something unique and guess what, the Rasachandrika does not disappoint! Lo and behold, we have the 'idli pudding'.

I have to admit that I cheated, well partly, for this dish - I used ready idli batter mix to save time. Although the traditional manner of grinding rice and black gram dal (urad dal) and fermenting it yields better and lighter (because there is no baking soda) idlis, I took a short-cut. Unfortunately, as a result of using this mix, this dish is not vegan for I had to use yogurt as per the instructions on the pack, and I had run out of vegan yogurt. I once made oat idlis and hope to try the pudding with them the next time around. Also, using the traditional idli batter would help keep this dish vegan as it removes the need for yogurt.

I made the pudding with the fruit I had at home - apples, oranges, and bananas. I also managed to use the only strawberry which was left on the strawberry plant in our garden, spared by the birds who ate the rest of them! I also used a few mint leaves (again from our garden) for a complementary freshness and twist.

The Rasachandrika calls for making one big idli and layer it with fruit. However, I thought I would make standard sized idlis - firstly because I have neither had nor heard of this dish and was a little unsure as to how it would taste. So, I thought it was best to start small. Secondly, it was a nice excuse to have some extra idlis which we could eat with the pitti chutney I made last week. With the measures I have used, I got 16 medium sized idlis using a 4x4 idli stand, but I only made the pudding with three idlis.

It is safe to say that the idli pudding did not sit idle! It was polished by the two of us shortly after I made it!

Whilst it wouldn't be my no. 1 choice of dessert, it wouldn't be my last either. Hmm, this makes me wonder what really would be my last choice. What would yours be?

Sweet and sugary, soft idlis toned down nicely by the freshness of a variety of fruit. Nothing not to like! Anyway, here goes the dish and recipe.

Ingredients:

2 small cups (Gindals or Katoris) instant idli powder

2 small cups hot water

1 small cup yoghurt

1/2 small cup sugar

1/2 small cup water (for the sugar syrup)

1/2 lime

1/2 a banana

1/2 an apple

1 orange

1 strawberry Any other fruit

1.5- 2 tsp coconut oil (for greasing)

A handful of mint leaves

2.5-3 cups water for steaming

Method:

1. Make the idli batter by mixing well the instant idli powder with water and yogurt into a smooth batter, with no lumps. Keep aside for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, grease your idli mould using coconut oil and keep it ready.

3. Fill the idli mould with just enough batter in each depression, being careful not to overfill.

4. Arrange each tier of the idli stand such that the holes to let the steam rise on each tier are directly above an idli (batter-filled depression) on the lower tier.

5. Pour about 3 small cups of hot water into the cooker or boiler you are using for steaming (or, use cold water and let it boil). 6. Put the prepared idli stand in the cooker and steam cook without the whistle, for 15 minutes. Start on a medium to high flame and once the steam is established reduce the flame.

4. While the idlis are steaming, cut the fruit as follows - the banana into thin slices, the apple into a small cubes and orange peeled and its slices cut into half.

5. Make a sugar syrup by mixing sugar and water on a low heat and continuing to stir until it thickens into a one-string consistency (To test this, pour a drop of the syrup into a bowl of cold water. Firstly it shouldn’t dissolve immediately or it means the syrup is too thin. Then take the cooled syrup between your fingers and pull them apart -you should get a string like structure developing, which means the syrup is done right). Squeeze the juice from the lime into the syrup and stir. Keep aside.

6. After the idlis are ready, take 3 and prick each one on both sides with a tooth pick. Pour the sugar syrup on the idlis so they absorb the syrup.

7. Layer the fruit on the idlis in whatever way you want to. I imagine this process is much easer where you have a big idli. This is why I have used slightly less fruit on this occasion. Garnish with fresh mint, and if you have sugar syrup left pour some more over the fruit (why not?!).

And that is it! Enjoy

Week 8: Bhenda Huli

The versatility of Bhendi (or Bhindi/Okra/Ladies finger as you may call it) continues to pleasantly surprise me. I must say it is one of my favourite veggies, and I have yet to come across someone who does not like it. If I had my way, I would quite likely alternate between Bhindi and potatoes for my daily veg intake, but well, it is safe to say I don't.

I have grown up having an assortment of different bhendi dishes since childhood, which has most recently (rather, since getting married) included a wonderful masala stuffed bhindi made by my significant half. Bhenda Huli, is yet another popular and yummy aamchi dish, that livens up any meal with its spicy and tangy nature - a delight for your taste buds!

Unfortunately, my sophisticated camera kit (i.e. my phone!) let me down for this recipe, and I only saw that later - and so I only have photos, but no video of this recipe in action!

The Rasachandrika recipe does not mention adding jaggery, but on making and tasting the Huli I realised the jaggery is needed to complement the spice and enhance the 'tangy' taste that is so typical of the Huli, so I then ended up adding it at the end.

I did have a slight panic attack that I had managed to make the Huli too bitter (check out the recipe to see as to what I did wrong!). I managed to resolve that quickly with just a little bit of salt, but have added a tip to avoid the bitterness in the first place!

The final result, is in the photo below, and from the manner in which we wolfed it down with dali thoy and rice, I would say it was a pretty decent success!

Ingredients:

250-300 grams bhendi/okra/bhindi/ ladies fingers (roughly 15-20 medium sized )

1 small ball of tamarind soaked in hot water

Massol

1 cup of grated fresh coconut, or 3/4 cup desiccated coconut

3-4 red chillies

4 tsp coconut (or any other cooking oil)

2 tsp jaggery (powder, or grated)

1.5 tsp salt

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

Phanna/ Tempering

7-8 garlic cloves (crushed or chopped fine)

2 tsp coconut (or other cooking) oil

1. Wash the bhendi/okra and wipe them dry using a tea or paper towel. After cutting their ends, chop them in long pieces. Note: The Rasachandrika says 2.5 cm but I cut them slightly bigger (roughly 3-4 cm).

2. Cook the bhendi pieces in the tamarind juice (the tamarind soaked in hot water) and the salt. Cover the vessel initially so that the vegetable absorbs the juice and the water doesn't evaporate immediately. Note: Try and see if you can get seedless tamarind at a nearby Asian store, as it is so much more user friendly (i.e takes less time, and doesn't make a mess!). I used one that had seeds and it took a while to deseed it (plus, I don't think I did such a great job at it!).

3. At the same time as cooking the okra, shallow fry the chillies, mustard seeds fenugreek seeds and coriander seeds in oil. Don't fry these for too long as they will burn very quickly.

4. For the massol, grind together the coconut (fresh, or desiccated) and the fried ingredients to a fine paste in a mixer grinder. Note: The Rasachandrika asks you to add all the fried ingredients together for grinding, but in doing so my massol initially tasted bitter. This was quite likely due to the fenugreek and coriander seeds. To avoid the bitterness, grind the coconut first to a relatively fine paste. Then add the seeds, starting with the mustard seeds, then the coriander seeds, and finally the fenugreek seeds. Avoid grinding the fenugreek seeds a lot, or these will increase the bitterness.

4. Add the massol to the cooking okra, and then add the jaggery. Add just some more water until it becomes a thick gravy. Bring this to a boil.

5. Using the same pan used for frying the massol ingredients, fry the crushed or chopped garlic until light brown in oil. Add this garlic seasoning to the Huli and stir.

There you have it - another simple dish, and one that goes perfectly with chapatis, or dal and rice.