The Diwali faraal making escapade-Part I ~ Mitha Gaja / Shankarpale~

The glittering diyas, the bright, vivid hues of a meticulously rendered rangoli and the warm appetizing aroma of fried snacks hanging buoyantly in the air while my spirited family and friends gather around the porch to light up firecrackers– this is all that Diwali means to me. The celebration of virtue and compassion with an inanely fair amount of lip-smackingly delicious snacks – that’s surely something everyone wants to come together for. So to commemorate everything that makes Diwali remarkable, I had resolved that no matter how difficult it might seem to fit anything at all into my schedule right now, I am going to try and make as many snacks as I can and replicate “our gharwali” Diwali and this being our very first one after the wedding made it extra worth the effort. So homemade snacks, decorating up our home with lots of diyas, rangoli and lights, a celebration with friends and lots of food to share for our potluck – that became the highlight for our Diwali festivities this year.

And so it all began with making a list of usual Diwali snacks or faral that I wanted to make – Besan sooji ladoo, Chivda, Karanji, Shankarpale, Masala Mathri and one entrée for the potluck. I had already had experience with making Besan sooji ladoo and Chivda, so while making those were a breeze, everything else was somewhat tasking yet an extremely delightful learning curve. Making of each of these individual snacks taught me a few lessons I learnt along the way and I resolved to make sure that I document it well for my reference for Diwali faral making next year. I am sure a lot of you might have had similar experiences and you know very well how much having to re-do something from scratch teaches you. So this will be a series of posts with all these recipes I learnt this Diwali and my kitchen centric adventures with them.

The center of discussion for my first post is the perfectly sweet and crunchy, melt-in-your mouth shankarpale or as I knew it – “Mitha Gaja”. Mitha gaja/ Shankarpale has always been one of my favorite snacks that my grandma made. It was her specialty and so uniquely hers. One fine day if we found mitha gaja at our place, we would know who sent it. I have even been lucky enough to have observed her make it and considered myself privileged to have been allowed to cut the rolled out dough into its characteristic diamond shapes. At that time, being a part of something so intricate had made me inanely happy and extremely proud of myself. So as I began my adventure of making mitha gaja, I of course knew who to call for help. My grandma seemed so elated to share her knowledge built over the years with great detail and of course with very encouraging words. With a help and a little bit of trial and error, I got it. These turned out exactly as I like them and I was the happiest little bird in town.

So here’s the detailed mitha gaja recipe which resulted in perfectly sweet, melt-in-your-mouth multilayered gaja that I so loved and am very happy to write it down for your and my own reference for Diwali faraal making next year. t.

~Mitha Gaja / Shankarpale~

These crispy, flaky, melt-in-the-mouth sweetened fried festive snacks are a must-eat during Diwali. Made up of simple easily found at-home ingredients, these diamond shaped goodies are usually over before you know it.

Ingredients: (Makes enough to fill a 1 lt jar)

½ C Milk

½ C Sugar

½ C Ghee

2 C + 2 Tablespoons Maida/All purpose flour

Method:

1. Warm up the milk till it just boils and add the sugar to it. Let them sit.

Note: I microwaved the milk at 100% power for 1 minute and it was warm enough. The whiteness of the milk will look diluted and transparent. Do not panic, that’s ok.

2. In a seperate mixing bowl, pour the ghee and fluff it with kneading action such that it becomes creamy (about 4-5 mins).

Note: I used the flat beater attachment on my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and let the mixture turn light & fluffy (~ 2-3mins).

3. Once the ghee turns fluffy, add in the milk-sugar mixture and stir it a little bit.

4.Then, add in the flour little by little and bring it together. Knead for ~ 1 min and keep aside.

5. Divide in to 5-6 rounds balls and roll it 1/4 inch thick.

6. Cut diagonals on the roti and fry.

7. Fry these at medium- medium low heat (the knob of the gas range stays around 5-6 on a scale of 10). When you add it to the oil keep it at medium so that the exterior seals. Then lower the heat slightly for it to cook through and harden.

Note: At very low temperature the dough dissolves, so make sure that when you add the pieces to the oil its at medium (5 on a scale of 1-10) and then lower it to 4 when the exterior sets.

8. Take them out on paper towels, let them cool and store it in air-tight containers.

And this is how I learnt a new skill this Diwali and while it was not all smooth sailing, it was every bit worth the journey :) A few mishaps, a few soft shankarpales later..I nailed it and there's no better feeling than acquiring something you thought was difficult. And there again it proves that "Never ever give up" is a life lesson that helps every where.

So until the part II..(which will be coming up soon!!)

Happy learning!

J 

A page from my Ma's cookbook ~Odia style fish curry/ Maachha Aloo Jhola/Macha Tarkari~

 As the aroma of the fish curry wafted through the hallway into the bedroom, M (that’s my hubby) came sniffing into the kitchen. Often it’s quite unlikely to elicit such a response from him when I am conjuring up a fish recipe. But this as you might have guessed was a very pleasant surprise. It is my tested way of getting assured that this dish is here to stay and going to be served on demand on many mundane occasions. More so a total win especially when you are trying to think of ways you can make fish recipes without it tasting fishy. Quite tricky eh? Ahh yes and to complicate things – I am an absolute fish eating, true Odia at heart. So you see my attachment to this very sensitive subject and my extensive efforts to make this a success.

My memories of this recipe goes way back to days when I came home from school to a plate of piping hot rice served with this special hand licking fish curry. In those days, the comfort and luxury of getting delicious meals without preparing them was almost taken for granted and was more so of a regular affair. But not so much now! So one of these days when I felt the urge to refresh some memories, I turned back to this gem of a recipe my Ma cooked quite so often.

This is a few ingredient fish curry ("Maachha" meaning Fish; "Aloo" meaning potato and "Jhola" refering to a thin consistency gravy quite typical of an Odia curry) with distinctive flavor which is sure to enrapture your taste buds for a while. If you are looking for a light, simple and different fish curry, look no more since here it is. This recipe reminds me that it's all about the very little things that make so much of a difference and it’s always these things that matter the most.

~Odia Style fish curry / Maachha Aloo Jhola~

A typical Odia fish curry in which fish steaks and potatoes sautéed in mustard oil steep in a flavorful, spicy onion-tomato gravy with a distinctive bite of the pancha phutana* playing along with the musky undertone of freshly grated cinnamon as the final touch. 

*Pancha Phutana is the traditional Odia tempering mix made of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asfoetida seeds, fennel seeds and black caraway seeds.

Ingredients:

Fish (German or Silver Carp) – 1 lb

1 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Salt

3-4 Medium sized potatoes – Cut longitudinally into four

Mustard Oil for shallow frying 

½  tsp Panch Phutana 

1 Bay leaf

½ C Ginger garlic paste

1 C Onion paste

½ tsp Turmeric powder

½-1 tsp Chili powder (depending on the hotness you would like)

½ C Tomato puree

½ T Dhania powder
½ tsp Garam Masala powder
2 C Water

Pinch of sugar

Pinch of Cinnamon powder
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Marinate the fish pieces with salt and turmeric. Put it in the refrigerator till ready to fry.

2. Heat a pan over medium heat. Pour some oil to coat the surface of the pan. Once the pan gets hot, add in a few fish pieces at a time. Saute for about 1-2 minutes. Then, take them out and keep aside.

3. Repeat the same for the potato cubes. Keep aside.

4. In the same pan, take out the excess oil. Now, once the left over oil is hot, add in the pancha phutana and let it crackle.

5. Then, pour in the onion, ginger, garlic and tomato paste. Let it cook till the mixture starts boiling (about 3-4 mins).

6. Now add in the chili powder, turmeric powder and dhania powder, salt to taste and sugar. Cook till the mixture starts bubbling and leaves oil.

7. Add in water and let the gravy come to a boil. Then simmer the gravy till the oil floats on top.

8. Carefully slide the potato pieces and let it simmer for 3-4 mins and then add in the fish pieces. Cook for 2-3 mins more.

9. Switch off the heat and sprinkle cinnamon powder on the top and taste for salt.

10. Serve piping hot with plain rice with a serving of cilantro on top.

A few things to keep in mind when making this. 

- Not everyone can take in the piquancy of the mustard oil with as much gusto as we Odias' do. So feel free to substitute with any other oil you prefer.

- We generally use fresh water fish for this curry. I found the German/Silver Carp to be the closest in taste so I used them. Use any other fish that you might prefer.

- The pancha phutana is readily available in all stores here in the US and if not you can a equal part mix of asfoetida and nigella (black caraway seeds) alonng with 2 parts each of Cumin, mustard and fennel seeds.You can substitute this tempering with your regular monotone tempering and see the difference.

Try this out and there's no doubt that you will see the subtle undertones of the panch phutana that makes all the difference in this recipe.

Until next time!
Love
J
P.S: Submitting this recipe to:
- WTML - May hosted by Gayatri.

Vegetarian croquette from modern Odia cuisine & the Cuttacki street-food ~ "Vegetable Chop"

There’s never been a cold, rainy day when I haven’t yearned to cuddle up in my cozy comforter gazing out of the window while sipping on a cup of chai generously laced with ginger and munching on crispy home-made pakodas. Although quite a rare occurrence these days, especially with our busy schedules and untimely rain, I considered myself extremely lucky to be home on one such afternoon when it rained generously to my heart’s desire. Just like rain does to every romantic’s heart, it brought out the poetic, creative side of me very willing to experiment.

So on that occasional rainy afternoon, in a quest to celebrate the downpour as I raided my refrigerator to cook up something delish, I came across this half-a-piece of beet lingering in the forgotten corner of my fridge drawer. As I stared at it for a brief moment, the only thing that popped up distinctly was the "vegetable chop". While I am at it, I must confess that I have always had a love-hate relationship with beet.The very few times I had the courage to experiment, it turned out to be a messy, bright magenta blob that tasted a bit too earthy for my taste. So yes! I am guilty of using this vegetable minimally and the only recipe that really motivates me to use it is in its transformed version i.e. in a vegetable chop.In the vegetable chop something really  magical happens and that very beet I detest turns out to be the star.

Now having mentioned the term “vegetable chop” so many times, it would be unfair if I don’t introduce it to you soon. Well, vegetable chop (as we Cuttackis’ call it) is actually a vegetable croquette, distinctly characterized by the presence of bright colored beet in the melee of vegetables within. On an unrelated note, we Cuttackis' for that matter should really think about copyrighting the word “Chop” since it seems very native to Cuttack and I am meted with a blank stare the moment I mention it to any non-Cuttacki. So to simplify, in an average Cuttacki's vocabulary, the word “Chop” is very generally used to refer to any battered and fried vegetable stuffed eatable – be it the Aloo chop or the Vegetable chop.

So here’s the recipe for the famous “Vegetable Chop”

Vegetable Chop

These crispy rolls, made of sautéed veggies wrapped in spiced potato mixture, bread- crumbed and deep fried till golden brown, get their additional punch from the occasional sweetness of the raisin and the freshness of mint. Most aptly described as the Odia version of the dainty croquette.

Ingredients:

1-2 Cloves of thinly sliced garlic

2 T Beet (Thinly sliced)

½ C Carrot (Thinly sliced)

½ C Beans (Thinly sliced)

1 C Onions (Thinly sliced)

2 C Cabbage (Thinly sliced)

3-4 Chilies (Thinly sliced)

1 T Raisins (Optional)

1 T Mint leaves (Chopped)

Tomato Ketchup

Red Chilli powder

Black Pepper powder

Pinch of garam masala (Optional)

Salt to taste.

4 Boiled Medium Sized Potatoes

1 T Cornstarch

1 tsp Black Pepper

½ tsp Amchur (Dried Mango powder)

Salt to taste

1 C Bread crumbs for coating

Oil for frying

  

Method:

For the filling:

1. In a pan over medium-high heat, add oil and let it heat up. Add the garlic and stir till fragrant. Now add in the raisins, beets, carrots, beans, chilies, onions and cabbage in that order.

2. In a separate bowl, mix in the tomato sauce with one tablespoon of water along with red chili powder, pepper powder and salt. Mix well to form a smooth paste.

3. Sauté the vegetable mixture for about 3-4 minutes and then add in the sauce.

4. Keep stirring till the vegetable filling looks glossy. Taste and adjust if necessary. Add the mint leaves and garam masala while the filling is hot still and keep aside.

For the outer covering:

Mash the cooled, boiled potatoes to a smooth paste along with cornstarch, red chili powder, black pepper powder, amchur and salt. Taste and adjust if necessary.

Making the croquettes:

1. Make equal sized balls of the potato mixture. I used the ¼ C scoop measure to measure out equal amounts.

2. Flatten the potato ball and add in 1 T of the filling in the middle. Gather the potato mixture from the sides and form an oblong shaped croquette. You can keep it round too if you like. I preferred it oblong since that's how its originally made.

3. Now, roll the prepared croquettes in seasoned bread crumbs till well coated.

Optional: After this stage, these can be stored covered in the refrigerator for up to 24 hrs in advance. I keep them at least for about 1/2 hour to make them bind well.

4. Heat up oil in a pan and fry till golden brown.

Notes:

1. The croquettes can be formed almost a day in advance and kept well covered in the fridge. Fry it up the moment when you want to serve them.

2. Tip: I suggest preparing the croquettes and keeping them in the fridge at least half an hour before frying. This binds the balls better and they do not break up while frying.

While it takes time to fry up, don’t forget to put your teapot to work too. There’s nothing more surreal than the heavenly combination of vegetable chop and ginger tea. Once you make it, chai and pakodas might seem a little bit outdated to you.  Don't forget to thank me later when you are done enjoying the bliss.

Love,

J

Submitting this recipe to:
- "Navratri recipes" hosted by Nupur.
- "Diwali Special" by Gayatri
- "Diwali Bash-2013" hosted by Vardhini from Cook's joy
- "Anniversary Celebrations" by Cook,Click and Devour
- " Kid friendly dishes" hosted by Vardhini of Cook's joy.

The simple Odia classic - "Chingudi Dahi Besara"/ Steamed yogurt and mustard shrimp curry

Before I begin, I must admit that this post is sure going to have a counter for the word “simple” and might even break the records - the only reason being that this recipe is truly-that-SIMPLE. Being an iconic Odia dish, time and again this preparation would accompany a few more curried dishes on our lunch/dinner table but still manage to hold its place impressively well. Fresh shrimp marinated with yogurt-mustard paste and steamed till the shrimp is melt-in-the-mouth tender does indeed sound like a very good proposition. While “good” shrimp and fish curries are relatively easy to find at the restaurants, rarely have I seen this preparation on any of the restaurant menus here at all and that makes me very sad every time.

Time and again my Ma would prepare this shrimp curry and I would be blown away every single time. Honestly I have been craving for this recipe for a long while now and what better opportunity than to learn from the in-home chef a.k.a my Ma when she was visiting me. So it was quite predictable that I would make fervent demands of this mouth- watering shrimp preparation time and again, while my Ma was more than happy to oblige. But as lazy as I got when she was around, I did manage to learn and demonstrate it to her that all these days apart from being a lazy couch potato, I have indeed been a very good student J.

Quite often in simple preparations like this, it’s not the recipe, but the other simple ways and nuances of its preparation that really counts. Fresh cleaned and deveined shrimp forms the perfect canvass for the distinct mustard flavor and the creaminess of the yogurt to come through. The pungency of the mustard paste mellows down during the steaming and blends in with the accompanying condiments. I have had several versions of this preparation but I am sure to be biased when I say that my Ma’s recipe always tastes the best. The mustard paste and the mustard oil add a distinctive punch to this creamy dish tempered with curry leaves and yet again some more mustard seeds. Now without much ado, here’s our home-style creamy and yes very simple “Chingudi dahi besara”.  

"Chingudi Dahi Besara" a.k.a Steamed yogurt and mustard shrimp curry

This classic Odia steamed shrimp preparation combines the creaminess & tartness of the yogurt with distinctly sharp homemade mustard marinade. This melt-in-your-mouth shrimp curry jumps up a notch with the tempering of curry leaves, slivered garlic and of course some more mustard seeds. "Besara" refers to the mustard paste along with the condiments.

Ingredients:

1 lb Cleaned and deveined shrimp

2 T Mustard seeds

1 tsp Cumin seeds/ Jeera

4-5 Cloves of garlic

½ Onion

2-3 Green chillies

3 T Yogurt

2 T Mustard oil

¼ tsp Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Pinch of sugar.

For the tempering:

½ T mustard oil

½ tsp mustard seeds

2 Cloves Garlic (Slivered)

2-3 Green chillies slit

4-5 Curry leaves

Method:

1. Wash and drain the shrimp and keep aside.

2. Grind the mustard and the cumin to a fine powder.

3. Then add in the garlic, onion and green chillies and make a smooth paste.

4. Pour the paste out in a bowl and mix in the yogurt and the mustard oil along with the washed shrimp.

5. Let it marinate for about an hour.

6. Prepare a steamer. It can be prepared two of the following ways:

i. Pour water in a deep bottomed vessel and place a rack at the top such that the water does not touch the vessel when its kept on the rack. Cover and cook for about 7-8 minutes.

ii. Add water to a pressure cooker then place the vessel containing the fish inside the cooker. Cook for about 1-2 whistles.

7.Temper the prepared dish with a tempering of mustard oil, mustard seeds , green chillies and curry leaves.

8.Boil the curry for 1-2 mins and serve hot with rice.

Try this out and you too can vouch that this dish indeed very simple!!

Until next time,

Love,

J

I am submitting this recipe to:
- "Taste of tropics" hosted by Nandoo's Kitchen and Chef Mirelle.
- "Side dish mela" hosted by Valli
- "Let's Cook with yoghurt" hosted by Nayna