Sindhi Rasoi

I had made this butter papdi chaat many weeks ago,but was unable to post it because i wanted to “Google ” info regarding BUTTER.Now don’t confuse it with Butter ,a dairy product made from milk or cream,that we normally use as a spread or condiment(Amul or Mother dairy).

These BUTTER (or maybe batar) are the baked ,hard buns/toast,circular in shape,and not sweet. I was unable to find any information about that,so i will be glad if somebody could enlighten me about ,what it is called in other languages and how they are made

For now ,let me give you a clue on how does these look…….here is the picture of butter

This BUTTER papdi chaat is very famous around the place i live and Sindhis could be seen relishing this chaat at every chaatwalla stall(Thela)

Once you are able to grab some Butter(which are easily available at bakeries atleast in Mumbai),this a very simple chaat to assemble.It is almost same as sevpuri ,with only the variations,that in sevpuri ,unpuffed or puffed puris are used ,whereas here butter are used.And also amount of tangy chutney used in butter papdi is more.I mean butter papdi is almost immersed in chutney

As sevpuri,these too tend to become soggy pretty fast ,so gulp it down the moment you assemble it

Ingredients:

• Butter 5 (you can use as many are required)
• Papdi two handfuls
• Onion 1
• Potato 1
• Coriander leaves for garnishing
• Tamarind chutney 1 small cup
• Sev(optional) a handful
• Salt just a pinch or two
• Chaat masala powder few pinches(optional)
• Red chilly powder to sprinkle

Method:

• Boil,peel and chop potato into small chunks
• Peel and chop onion very finely
• Make tamarind chutney .You can find the recipe here
• In a serving plate ,place the butter with porous side upward
• Spread some potato,onion,crushed papdi,sev and sprinkle some salt and chilly powder(chaat masala too… if you have some)
• Now pour some chutney over it,actually the butter should be half immersed in chutney,but i prefer this chaat to be bit dry
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and relish immediately

Other related posts are:

Dahi sev puri

Panipuri

To begin with,this had been a hell of crazy month so far ,for me…..with too many commitments and too many changes in my otherwise routine life.So much that I almost thought of winding up things and going in some solitude.The hustle bustle of life gets too hectic for a person like me who loves to be in her own small but comforting world.I hate being dragged in different directions,and i simply loathe myself for being unable to utter NO to anybody.Though there were some amazingly pleasant surprises too ,but those too came with a Whiff of sadness .No matter how much i wish of wishful blisses,i am aware that life is like that,so guys love it or hate it…..U have to live in this world (where else cud i run away …huh??)

Well,if you are still reading this,then i am thankful to you for pausing and hearing my claptraps,but i promise i wont go on and on and on.So let’s shift our focus on some more useful stuff and talk about today’s recipe

Dal is a very staple food in Indian cuisine and that includes Sindhi cuisine too.There are many varieties of pulses that we consume in our daily diet.No matter how much Modern sindhis go GA GA over American/Chinese/Italian food,but nothing could beat the satisfaction of eating Dal chaawal or dal roti,and that bring them back to their roots(atleast in terms of food).They eat like gluttons when offered with burgers,pizza,noodles,Frankie(with due respect to all these foods),but soon the craze fades away and they start longing for simple Ghar Ka Khana…..and the food they miss most is of course Dal chaawal.
Sayi dal or split green mung dal is yet another dal that i love to cook and eat,coz,its so flavorful and healthy too.so here we go…
Saayi dal:

Ingredients

• Saayi dal(also called as khichdi dal) about a cup
• Tomatoes 2
• Green chillies 2 or more
• Ginger (i used about 1″ piece)
• Turmeric powder 1/4 tspn
• Salt as per taste
• Water

For tadka:

• Garlic 4 cloves
• Curry leaves 5-6
• Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
• Oil 1tspn

Method:

• Wash and soak dal for about half hour.You will find skin of dal coming out,its up to you,to discard that or continue cooking with it(i discard what comes out,and leave what remains,i.e i don’t deliberately try to remove the chilka)
• In a pressure cooker ,add dal,chopped tomatoes,green chillies,ginger(all chopped),salt,turmeric powder and water say about 3 cups approx.(water should be much above the level of dal)
• Close the lid and wait for at least 5 whistles
• Later mash the dal with a churner,and add tadka
• For tadka,heat about a spoonful of oil ,add crushed garlic,curry leaves and then cumin seeds(in that order only)and let the cumin seeds get brown in color.Immediately add this seasoning in dal and adjust the consistency by adding some more water if required
• Now either allow to cook the dal ,and wait for two whistles(of cooker of course) or simmer it for few minutes till the dal absorbs the flavor of seasoning
• Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve with boiled white rice and vegetable of your choice(optional)
• I enjoyed this dal with boiled rice and shallow fried Bitter gourd chips(just wash and slice bitter gourd,add salt and keep aside for 15 min,then shallow fry ,and add turmeric powder,red chilly powder and coriander powder)

Other posts will Dal recipes:

Dal chaawal

A healthy meal

Special Dal

Daal toast

Mirani Khichdi

Tidali Dal

PS:This request is nothing to do with food recipes,its just a personal call.

I know there are many talented ladies(sum guys too??? hmmmmmmm) here,and many of them are doting mothers too.So i wud like to request u all,that if you can spare some time,will you share some good English/hindi poems for 1st grader(5 and half yr old kid)?

The recitation competitions are soon to be held in my son’s school and i had googled enough to find some good simple poems nice enough for my kid to learn in the past two years.But this time i feel short of finding good stuff(time constraints and lack of patience to read and sort from enormous collection)

So if you can squeeze out some moments and send me links or texts of some good poems(not nursery rhymes),i will be obliged

You can send me your poems (or links of your fav. poems) at sindhirasoi@gmail.com(sindhirasoi at gmail dot com)

Hope you generous ladies(ok ok… guys too) will help me out on this

Thanks

Mithai or Indian sweets are immensely popular across the world,simply because of the sheer variety ,richness(calories too),taste,texture and tempting appearance.For people who like sweets,a glimpse of Gulabjamuns or a plate of rosgulla is irrestibleA bite of rasmalai,the aroma of hot jalebis,the richness of Khoya burfi,and the simple sweetness of Malai pedas is sure to drive your “sweet sense” to the heights of delights

In India,Mithai is closely associated with festive spirits.Every occassion or festival calls for a celebration with these sweet delicacies.

As one moves from North of India,where Gulabjamuns,jalebis,Motichoor ke ladoo dominates the palates of people,towards the South of India , coconut burfi and Mysore pak,kesari bath and Badam halwas are relished like anything

East has a different genre of Mithai,mostly Known for its Bengali sweets like rosgolla,chamcham,Mishti doi,Sandesh etc,whereas West of India has its own unique sweet flavors as in Modaks,kajukatli,Basundi etc

Sindhi cuisine also has some interesting sweets namely Tosha,Dhouthi,Geeara(emarti),praguree(these all are lesser known to other communities).The more famous ones are Nariyal jhi mithai(coconut) and singhar (sev) jhi mithai

So let’s start with Singhar jhi mithai today

The base of this sweet is Singhar(sev or fried Strings of besan/gramflour).But this recipe calls for non salty sev(hmmm…..now where to hunt these?).So if you are lucky enough to get your hands on some unsalty sev…..grab them… and make this mithai in jiffy.Wait…there is one more hitch(one more…huh?)It also calls for feeka maawa(unsweetened mawa),which is nothing but Milk boiled and reduced till granulated form is achieved.In India one can get this mawa without much hunting,but for other places around globe,it could be as hard to locate mawa as it is to locate a safety pin from ladies handbags(very satirical…..sorry ladies i correct it to MY Handbag….happy now???).

In that case this link could be really helpful to you all who actually aspire to make this otherwise simple Mithai http://www.bawarchi.com/features/feature5.html

Ingredients:

• Feeka(unsalty)sev 250 gms
• Feeka maava 250 gms
• Sugar 250 gms
• Water 1 1/2 cup
• White rose essence just few drops
• Yellow food colour two pinches if using powder form,or else few drops if liquid colour is used
• Almonds /non salty pistachios or varq(thin edible silver foil sheet)for garnishing

Method:

• In a thick bottomed pan,take approximately one and half cup of water and add sugar
• Heat it and mix properly till sugar melts
• Now add yellow colour(You have to trust your instincts ,coz it depends lot upon the quality of food colour use,you can start by using minimum of it)
• Now add Sev and mix gently,taking care not to mash the sev
• Now add Unsweetened mawa and mix again till thick mixture is formed
• Finally add few drops of essence ,mix and immediately take off from fire
• Now take a flat surface plate( Thali) and grease it slightly with vegetable oil
• Lay the mithai mixture on greased surface and spread out evenly
• Use chopped almonds/unsalted pistachios or silver varq to garnish the surface of mithai
• Let it cool properly ,then cut it into desired shaped pieces
• Consume it within a day or two.

Of late, i have been crazily participating in almost every food event held in blogosphere.It’s very hard for me to resist any event and the moment some event is announced ,my mind gets restless thinking about what could be my possible entry for that.The big challenge for me ,obviously is that the particular recipe should be fit for the event and should be a part of Sindhi cuisine too, to justify my blog name

So when Archana of Archana’s kitchen announced Monthly One dish meal event I kept scratching my head too long to come out with some idea.And after lots of thought processes i finally thought of this Pulao which could fit the bill,and that too just on nick of the time(today is the last day for participating, i guess)

Methi-vegetable Pulao:

Ingredients:

• Rice 1 cup
• Fenugreek leaves(a handful if fresh or 2 tspn if dried kasoori methi is used)
• Ginger garlic paste 2 tspn
• Onion 1
• Vegetables like cauliflower,french beans,potato, carrots,peas,paneer(any /all of them)
• salt
• Turmeric powder 1/4 tspn
• Green chillies 2-3
• Tomato( optional) 1
• Garam masala power 1/2 tspn
• Oil 2-3 tspn
• Butter(optonal) 1/2 tspn
• Milk(optional) 1 cup

Method:

• Rinse the rice few times and soak in water for about 15-20 min(you can use basmati or any other variety)
• Now you can make this pulao in pressure cooker which makes the whole process very easy,or you can cook it in handi or vessel you normally use to cook rice
• If using pressure cooker,saute the chopped vegetables(excluding peas and paneer) in some oil for about 2 minutes
• Then take them out and place aside
• Now in same pressure cooker(or vessel) add ginger garlic paste(or pounded ginger garlic) and saute it till slight change in colour
• Add chopped methi(fenugreek) leaves or kasoori methi and saute it for some more time
• Add sliced onion and saute it till slight colour change(pinkish)
• You can add tomato at this stage or you can escape using tomato
• Now add rice,vegetables ,peas(if using) , chopped green chillies,salt,turmeric powder,garam masala powder,and mix well
• Add water just above the level of rice,if using pressure cooker,or else use water double the quantity of rice ,if cooking in a vessel
• Close the lid of cooker and wait for two whistles(in case of vessel,cook the rice till almost cooked)
• Now comes an optional step,you can completely escape it if you don’t want to add calories in this recipe
• Take some butter in small frying pan(or in the vessel you normally use for tadka) ,let it melt,then add about a cup of milk and wait till it boils
• Add this mixture to the almost cooked pulao,and if using paneer,add fried paneer cubes now,mix carefully and cook the pulao on DUM..i.e keep a griddle on stove top,lower the flame to the minimum and keep the vessel/cooker containing pulao on top of that griddle,and let it absorb the flavor of milk and butter …say about 2-3 minutes
• Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve piping hot with papad or achar(pickle)/curd /dal/vegetable