Recreating The Regional

No matter how much we love our fast foods of today, the flavours grandma once stirred up in the confines of her traditional kitchen continue to occupy a special place in our hearts. This independence day, chef Rakhee Vaswani travels back in time to various corners of india to recreate forgotten recipes from the past, each of which have a tale to tell.

Bajra Khichdi (Haryana)

Ingredients:
• 1 cup black millet (bajra)
• 1 cup moong dal
• ½ cup green peas
• ½ tsp asafoetida
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• ½ tsp garam masala powder
• 1-2 dried red chillies
• 2-3 green chillies (optional)
• 1 tbsp ghee
• Salt to taste

Method:
• Soak bajra overnight or for around 8 hours in plain water.
• Wash soaked bajra and moong dal 2-3 times with clean water.
• In a pressure cooker, add bajra and moong dal.
• Add salt and around 5 cups of water.
• Pressure cook the mixture for 4 whistles on medium flame.
• Now take ghee in a wok and heat in medium flame till ghee dissolves completely.
• Temper ghee with cumin seeds, asafoetida and dried red chillies.
• Add turmeric powder, cumin powder and garam masala powder to the mixture.
• Add fresh green peas and cook for 2-3 minutes on low flame.
• Add boiled bajra-dal mix to the tempering and adjust spices as required.
• Mix properly and cook on medium flame for 3-4 minutes or till you get desired consistency.
• Remove from flame and serve hot.

Bhutte Ki Kees (Madhya Pradesh)

Ingredients:
• 4 medium sized corn cobs
• 2-3 green chillies
• ½-inch piece of ginger
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1-2 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 tbsps oil
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup water
• 2 tsps lemon juice
• ½ tsp sugar
• Salt to taste
• A pinch of Asafoetida
• Chopped coriander and grated coconut for garnishing

Method:
• Grate the corn cobs with a hand grater to make a coarse paste. (You could also use a food processor or mixer grinder)
• Finely chop the ginger and green chillies.
• Add oil in a pan. Add asafoetida and mustard seeds and heat the oil till they splutter.
• Add green chillies and chopped ginger.
• Add corn paste, turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Stir it occasionally to make sure that no lumps are formed. Cook it for approx.10-15 minutes until the liquid in the corn paste dries off and the colour of the mixture changes to golden yellow.
• Add milk and water. Continue stirring till its consistency becomes like halwa or upma.
• Add sugar and lemon juice.
• Garnish with chopped coriander, grated coconut and serve hot.

Iromba (Manipur)

Ingredients:
• ½ cup jasmine rice
• 100 g parboiled potato cut into cubes
• 100 g cabbage leaves, shredded
• 100 g French beans
• 50 g oyster mushrooms
• 2 tbsp mustard oil
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp shrimp paste
• 50 g onion, minced
• 1 tbsp butter
• Zest of one lemon
• 2 lemons
• 1 tbsp green chilli chopped
• 5 cherry tomatoes for garnish
• 2 strands of coriander

Method:
• Rinse the rice under cold water to remove starch.
• Put rice in a saucepan with 1 cup (240ml) of water and ½ tsp salt over high heat, leave the saucepan uncovered stirring occasionally as water begins to boil.
• Cover the saucepan and let it cook for 20 minutes.
• Add butter, chilli flakes, lemon juice (1 lemon) and zest.
• Keep your cherry tomatoes halved for plating later.
• In a pan, add mustard oil (2 tbsp).
• Add onions, shrimp paste and green chilli and cook for 5 minutes.
• Next add in the vegetables and soaked mushrooms.
• Stir well and season with salt. Cook for a few minutes.
• Add some lime juice and mix the same with jasmine rice.
• Garnish with cherry tomatoes and ready to serve.

Chicken 65 (Tamil Nadu)

Ingredients:
• 250 g chicken boneless cubes
• 2-3 tbsp cornflour
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp coriander powder

For sautéing:
• 1 onion sliced
• 1 tbsp red chilli paste
• Salt to taste
• Handful of curry leaves
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp oil
• Salt to taste
• ½ red chilli powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• A pinch of turmeric powder
• 3-4 tbsps stock
• 1 tbsp cornflour paste

Method:
• Marinate the chicken with salt, red chilli powder, coriander powder, egg white, corn flour.
• Deep-fry and keep it aside.
• In a pan, add oil, mustard seeds and curry leaves.
• Add the onion and sauté for 2 minutes.
• Add the fried chicken.
• In a bowl, mix the red chilli, coriander powder, turmeric, salt and stock. Add to the pan and cook for 1 minute.
• Thicken with cornflour paste.
• Garnish with fried green chillies and curry leaves.
• Serve hot on banana leaves.

Safed Maas (Rajasthan)

Ingredients:
White gravy for the paste
• 250 g boiled onion
• 100 g cashew soaked
• 1 tbsp khuskhus (soaked with cashew)
• 40 ml water

For the gravy
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 green chillies slit
• 1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
• 1 tsp white pepper powder

For the mutton
• 300 g mutton with bones
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp cream
• 2 tbsp yoghurt (optional)
• 1 tsp ghee
• Coriander leaves for garnish
• 1 green chilli
• 1 cup white gravy
• Green cardamom powder (optional)

Method:
For the Paste:
• Mix the onion chunks with cashew nuts, khuskhus and 2tbsp water.
• Grind it to a smooth paste.

For the gravy:
• Heat oil.
• Add slit chillies and bay leaves.
• Add ginger-garlic paste.
• Sauté well for a minute. (Shouldn’t become brown).
• Add stock and cook for 2 minutes.
• Add cashew-onion paste and stir it on simmering heat till oil appears on the surface.
• Finish with white pepper powder.

For the Safed maas:
• Boil the mutton with salt.
• In a saucepan, add the ghee and the white gravy.
• Add the mutton and cook till it is well coated on low heat.
• Add the yoghurt (if using) and cream.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and green chillies. Sprinkle cardamom powder.
• Serve hot.

Spicy Prawn Curry (Goa)

Ingredients:
• 100 g prawns (Season with salt and turmeric powder and pan-fry. Keep it aside)
• 1 onion sliced
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 100 ml coconut milk
• 50 g fresh coconut scraped
• 1 cup stock
• A handful of coriander leaves
• 2-3 green chillies
• 2 tbsps oil
• Salt to taste
• ½ tsp chicken seasoning
• A pinch of turmeric powder
• A pinch of tamarind powder
• 1 tbsp tamarind juice

For the Paste:
• 2-3 tsp coriander seeds, roasted
• 1-2 tsps cumin seeds, roasted
• Kashmiri chillies (whole 6-7 deseeded and soaked)
• ½ onion
• 1-inch piece cinnamon
• 4-5 black peppercorns
• 1 clove

Method:
• Grind all the ingredients for a paste into a smooth texture by adding water as required.
• Heat oil in a deep vessel and fry the onions to a golden colour.
• Fry the paste till the raw aroma disappears and add the tomato purée.
• Next, add the coconut milk and then the stock.
• Season with salt and seasoning. Let it simmer without covering.
• Lastly add tamarind juice.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and green chillies.
• Add the prawns to the curry and serve with rice

Surti Locho (Gujarat)

Ingredients:
• 2 cups chana dal (soaked overnight)
• 2-3 black peppercorns
• 6 tbsp oil
• 2-inch piece ginger (peeled and grated)
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 2-4 green chillies
• Salt as per taste
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 2 tsps baking soda

To serve:
• 6 tbsp green chutney
• Coriander leaves (finely chopped)
• 4 tbsps sweet chutney
• 2 cups sev
• Green chillies (1 finely chopped and 2 slit for garnish)
• 2 tbsps lemon juice
• 1 tsp ghee

Method:
• Drain the dal well.
• Grind to a paste with water.
• In a big bowl, add ginger, green chillies, turmeric powder and salt.
• Add baking soda, red chilli powder and oil.
• Mix well until evenly combined and the batter resemble a dhokla batter.
• Take a steamer and grease with little oil and pour the batter in.
• Sprinkle the black pepper powder and red chilli powder.
• Steam for 35-40 minutes.
• To check if it is cooked, insert a knife into the centre and if it comes out clean,
then it is cooked.
• Place it on a wire stand.
• To serve, cut the Surti Locho in pieces and transfer to a serving dish.
• Pour a little ghee on top.
• Garnish with green chutney, sweet chutney, coriander leaves, sev, green chillies and
lemon juice.
• Serve at once.

Dehrori (Chhattisgarh )

Ingredients:
• 1 cup rice
• 2-3 tbsp thick yoghurt
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 5-6 strands of saffron
• ½ tbsp lime juice
• Baking powder, a pinch to make the batter fluffy
• 1 tbsp cardamom powder (optional)
• Ghee for frying.
• Almond and cashew for garnishing

Method:
• Wash the rice and soak it for 3-4 hours.
• Once soaked, drain the extra water and dry the rice completely for 2-3 hours.
• In a pan, heat sugar and water to make a syrup of 1 thread consistency.
• Add saffron strands, lime juice and cardamom powder, and keep aside.
• In a mixer, take the rice and pulse it into a coarse powder (semolina-like structure).
• Take out the coarse rice powder in a bowl. Add yoghurt and ghee to make a thick paste. (Like dosa batter) Add a pinch of baking powder. Mix gently.
• In a pan, heat ghee. Start adding one big ladle of the rice batter.
• Fry till golden brown on each side.
• Add the dehroris into warm sugar syrup and let it soak for half an hour.
• Garnish with almond and cashew.
• Serve hot.