Spicy Rice Starch-Tamarind Soup Mandiya - A traditional Rajasthani Dish

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. We had a very relaxing and lazy weekend - watched a couple of movies, indulged in good food and it was simply amazing.

On Sunday, I made this very traditional Rajasthani dish: kaatha dal chawal-maandiya, literally translated, Thick Lentils and rice with this spicy tangy tamarind, rice starch Soup.

The Mandiya is lovely as a spicy soup or in a more traditional combination, as we had it, with the rice and the lentils- which makes a filling and very delicious meal. We normally mix 1/3rd thick dal and 2/3rd rice, with a generous helping of ghee and dip each spoonful in a bowl of the mandiya.

The lentils needs to be cooked in a little water with a couple of cloves, cardamom and cinnamon sticks, a bay leaf, a pinch of turmeric powder, salt and a tsp of ghee. The consistency of the lentils needs to be thick. If it is not, let the dal simmer in the pressure cooker without the lid and, after a couple of minutes, carefully remove the watery part from the top. (you can put this lentil water in the mandiya, instead of water)

Ingredients for the mandiya

1 tbsp - ghee 

2 - red whole chilli or according to your taste

2 pieces - bayleaf

a generous pinch of asafoetida, (hing)

2 pieces of green cardamom

2 pieces of clove

1 cinnamon stick

1/4 tsp - mustard seeds

1/8tsp - cumin seeds

6-8 pieces of curry leaves

1/8 tsp - turmeric powder

1/4 tsp - red chilli powder, more or less

50 grams - tamarind soaked in 3/4 cup of warm water

450 ml - rice starch water (maand)

1 cup - water

2 tbsp - thick cooked lentils/daal (I used split pigeon peas/toor daal)

salt to taste

2 tsp - sugar

Method

1. Mash the soaked tamarind. Sieve the extract and use 1/2 cup for this recipe. (if kept in the fridge, tamarind pulp stays good for 4-5 days)
2. Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a pot, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, red whole chili, asafoetida / hing, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick and let the seeds crackle. Add the curry leaves, turmeric powder and chilli powder, and cook for a few seconds. Add the tamarind extract and cook for a minute, stirring continuously.
3. Add the rice starch water, lentil water or normal water, 2 tbsp of the cooked thick lentils and salt to taste. Cook for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lastly add the sugar and cook again for a couple of minutes. Serve piping hot.

This is one of my favourite Rajasthani dishes and I can never have enough of it. 

Enjoy!

Gatte ki Sabji (Traditional Rajasthani Curry)

After seeing my last post “Mozzarella Sage Ice Cream”, one of my cousins called me up and said, " I don't like Mozzarella!" and before I could say something, she added, "Can’t you post something simple and traditional next time?" "Okkk", I said, and thought "What that suppose to mean?" and then, after our regular this and that, here and there chat, she said, "And, please no more avocado recipes"  

I took a deep long breath and thought and thought and then went through my drafts and chanced upon this curry recipe. This is a traditional Rajasthani curry (though not the simplest one!) and is one of my favourites. This recipe is by my lovely mom :-) and has a lot of memories attached to it. Without going into all of them, I’ll just share one little secret. My hubby who generally eats everything under the sun, was somehow not too fond of this curry since his childhood – even though his mom was famous for it. When I made this curry for the very first time, my hungry hubby came to the dining table and saw this curry and said "Oh, you made gatta today", he said, he would just have one bite of gatta, because I made it, otherwise he is not too fond of it. I said, "Don't, if you don't like it", he repeated, "I'll have a bite" with a smile on his face. He had his first bite and I had mine, he had his second and third, while I was still on my first bite (i'm a slow eater) and soon the curry was over. And believe me when I say this, that I did not get much of that curry that day :-) From that day onwards, we have a convert at home :-)

Go ahead and make this curry, I promise you will not be dissapointed. And, I hope my cousin is not dissapointed in me :-)

Ingredients

100 grams - gram flour (besan)

1/2 tsp - salt

1/2 tsp - red chilli powder

1/8 tsp - garam masala powder

1 1/2 tbsp - oil

1/2 tsp - kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

yogurt to knead the dough

For the gravy

2 1/2 tbsp + 1/2 tbsp - sunflower oil/ghee

1/4 tsp - fennel seeds (saunf)

1/8 tsp - nigella seeds (kalonji)

a generous pinch of hing (asafoetida)

1 - bayleaf

3 tbsp - low fat yogurt

1/4 tsp - red chilli powder (more or less)

1/2 tsp - turmeric powder (haldi)

1/2 tsp - dried mango powder (aamchur)

1 tsp - coriander powder (dhaniya powder)

a generous pinch of garam masala

salt to taste

1/4 tsp - dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) + to garnish

Method

1. Mix together the besan, salt, red chilli powder, garam masala and kasuri methi in a bowl. Add the oil and rub with the fingertips until it resembles fine bread crunbs. Add yogurt spoon by spoon and make a hard dough. 
2. Divide the dough into 4 parts and roll out into cylinders.
3. Boil 4-5 cups of water in a deep pan.
4. Add the cylinders (rolled out gatte) to the boiling water and boil for approx 15 - 20 minutes or until you see small white spots on the gatta.
5. Drain and let the gatta cool before cutting them into small pieces. Do not discard the boiled gatta water. 
6. Mix together the yogurt, red chilli powder, haldi powder, aamchur, dhaniya powder, garam masala powder, salt and kasuri methi in a bowl and keep aside.
7. Heat 2 1/2 tbsp of oil in a pan and saute the gatte for a few minutes and remove from the heat.
8. Heat 1/2 tbsp of oil in a pan, add the saunf and kalonji. When the seeds start to crackle, add the hing and bayleaf. Add the yogurt mix and cook on a medium heat, stirring continously. When it starts to boil, add the gatte and cook again for a couple of minutes.
9. Add the reserved gatta water to correct the consistency of the gravy and cook for 3-4 minutes on low heat. 
10. Garnish with dried fenugreek leaves and serve hot with phulka (indian bread) and kadhi or even with Daal bati. 

Enjoy!

Chunna- Husked Wheat Pudding

Hope you had a fantastic start to 2011...Wishing you all a great year ahead with loads of success and happiness.

We are looking forward to this year very much, have some very interesting things coming up this year and are very excited. Also hope that this year will be a very good one for the taste buds and the culinary creativity.

The first recipe this year is a traditional Rajasthani dish, one of our favourites, and I make it quite often. It's made with husked wheat kernels and milk... it's normally had with sugar and a lot of ghee (clarified butter) - but one can avoid these also. This is a winter dish and tastes absolutely heavenly. To be served piping hot!

Hope you like this dish as much we do :-) 

Ingredients

1 cup - husked wheat kernels 
3/4 cup - water 
4 1/2 cup - low fat milk (may need more) 
1/4 tsp - cardamom powder 
saffron strands 
Add sugar according to taste and a little / loads of ghee according to the waistline :-) while serving the dish. 

Method

1. Put the wheat kernels and water in a pressure cooker (without closing the lid) and cook for 2 minutes on high flame, stirring continuously. 
2. Add 3 1/2 cups of milk and mix well. Cover the lid and pressure cook for 1 whistle/ring on high flame. 
3. Lower the heat and pressure cook for 2 whistles/ring. 
4. Open the lid and transfer the cooked wheat to another metal utensil (the wheat may stick to the bottom, avoid scraping it as it has a burnt taste) 
5. Place the utensil on a heavy bottomed pan and place the pan on the heat. Add the cardamom powder, saffron strands and 1 cup of milk and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the wheat kernels are soft, stirring continuously. (take care that it doesn't stick to the bottom) 
6. Add the ghee and sugar and serve hot. 
7. You might need to add a little more milk and bring to boil again to correct the consistency, if not serving immediately but later.

Sending this to Jyoti's Winter Warmers. 


Enjoy!

Daal Bati

As the spring continues to be cold and rainy, and the sunshine seems to be lost in the clouds, I needed something more hot and yummy to brighten the day up. What better than this favourite from my childhood, which was a regular on cold and rainy days...but beware, this is a calorie bomb, and just does not taste the same without a real lot of ghee.

Daal Bati is one of the most famous Rajasthani dishes - and there are many variations on the ways of making it as well as on fillings - dried fruits, gram flour, cottage cheese, Khoya (milk thickened until it reaches a cheesy consistency - for more details see here) etc.

The two most common ways of making the Bati is a tandoor or boiled and then fried in ghee. Well, I did not have a tandoor available, and the thought of deep frying the baatis in ghee (in addition to the ghee added later) made my hair stand on end, so I went with the third alternative - baking them in the oven. Obviously, the taste and texture varies slightly between the tandoor, fried and baked varieties.

The Daal I normally use for Daal-Bati is a special mix of five lentil sorts - toor, chana, moong, yellow moong and urad. The mixture as well as the spices used lend the Daal a very different and rich flavour.

Ingredients

For the bati

1 1/2 cup - whole wheat flour (atta)

3 tbsp - ghee (clarified butter)

2 tbsp - cream

a pinch of salt

a pinch of sugar

a generous pinch of bicarbonate of soda

milk to knead the dough

Method

1. Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl. Add the ghee and cream into the flour mixture and rub till it resembles bread crumbs.
2. Make a stiff dough using some milk.
3. Divide the dough into five portions and shape them into small balls. Press the bati's slightly with the thumb on the top. 
4. Preheat the oven to 200 degree C
5. Place the bati's on the lined baking tray and place the tray in the center of the preheated oven and bake for approx 30 minutes or until done. 

For the daal

1/4 cup - split pigeon pea (toor/arhar daal)

1/4 cup - split bengal gram ( chana daal)

1/4 cup - green gram (sabut moong )

1/4 cup - split green gram skinless (moong daal)

2 tbsp - split black gram skinless (urad daal)

3-4 - cloves

3-4 - green cardamom

2 - bayleaves

a generous pinch of asafoetida (hing)

1/4 tsp + 1/4 tsp - turmeric powder (haldi)

1/4 tsp + 1/4 tsp - red chilli powder (adjust according to your taste)

1/4 tsp + 1/4 tsp - cumin seeds

1/2 tsp -  dried mango powder (amchur)

1/2 tsp - garam masala

1/4 tsp - sugar

1/4 tsp - dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)

1 tbsp - ghee 

lemon juice (according to your taste)

salt to taste

Method 

1. Wash and soak daals in some water for 2-3 hrs. Then drain and boil the daals in 2 1/2 cups of water with salt, haldi, mirchi and cumin seeds and cook until done. 
2. Heat ghee in a pan. Add hing, cumin seeds, cloves, cardamoms and bayleaves. When cumin seeds start to splutter, add haldi, mirchi and the boiled daal and cook for 7-8 minutes.  Add the amchur, garam masala, sugar, kasuri methi and salt and cook again for a couple of minutes (add water if required)
3. Add lemon juice and serve hot.

Our favourite way of eating the daal bati is crushing the batis while still hot into coarse chunks, and adding a generous sprinkling of castor sugar and a very generous dollop of ghee. 

Am off for a long weekend, so will see you on Monday again.

Enjoy!