thecookscottage

Govaricheshenga, Govarphalli or Cluster Beans Bhaji

An earlier post on ridge gourd drew several reactions mostly of the 'ughh', 'yuck' and 'sheee' (Maharashtrian expression of extreme disgust ) genre. Gustad ( the Ironcheff), in New York went so far as to call it..."bahhji". I never realised so many people didn't like ridge gourd. Perhaps it is like karela / bitter gourd...an acquired taste.

Govariche Bhaji, Govar Phalli Sabzi, Cluster beans veggie

Not many people I know wax eloquent about cluster beans either but once you taste this version you will be a fan for life.The slight bitterness is tempered by the addition of gur and the milk gives it a creamy feel.This is one of my favourite Maharashtrian recipes.

For those who would like to know what Govar is known as in their own language here is a glossary in Indian languages.

Tamil- Kothavaranga
Telegu-Gokarakaya
Malayalam-Kothavara
Kannada-Chavalikai
Konkani- Mitkesaang
Gujerati-Guvar ni sing

Ingredients:
250 gms guvar/ cluster beans chopped into 1/2 " piece
Water
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp rai/ mustard seed
1 potato peeled and cut into small cubes.
Pinch of hing / asafoetida
1/2 tsp haldi / turmeric
A generous pinch of ajwain / thymol seeds
Salt
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp grated gur /jaggery
1 tbsp chopped green coriander

Clean, chop and cook the beans in two cups of water till done.Drain and keep aside.

Fry Potatoes

Heat the oil in a kadhai and add the mustard seed . When they pop add and fry the potatoes. When golden brown add the hing, ajwain, haldi and salt and stir well.

Add cooked beans

Now add the cooked beans and the milk

Add chilli powder and jaggery

Bring to the boil and  add the chilli powder and grated jaggery. Cook till most of the milk has been absorbed. Then add the coriander, stir once and serve.

Cluster Beans

The bean must be picked when young and tender as it becomes woody, fibrous and hairy as it matures and then is not fit for human consumption.They can then be fed to animals ! The beans have always been used as fodder for animals and it is said that it was originally brought to India by Arab traders as horse feed from the Middle east, where it grew profusely in the deserts.Contrary to this version of history it is also said that guar originated in India and since the country has so many arid and semi arid areas it also produces 80% of the world guar crop.

The cluster bean has a large endosperm which is used to produce a guar gum, a highly refined form of which is used as a stabiliser in cheeses and whipped cream substitutes. It is also used as a stiffener in icecream.

It is a good crop for India as it is drought resistant, nor does it deplete the soil; in fact it actually enriches it with nitrogen. After the harvest , if bits of the roots and other "waste" materials are ploughed back into the soil, it improves succeeding crop yields. Rajasthan grows most of the guar produced in India and it is harvested in October-November. However this vegetable can be found throughout the year in most markets here, and it is a pretty popular part of the Maharashtrian Thali.

Stuffed Mixed Dal Paratha- Mixed Lentil filled Flat Bread

A paratha is a wonderful thing; a bit like a sandwich it can be filled with all sorts of things and make a one dish meal. More restaurants are opening up here with just parathas on the menu.

I recall that in Kodaikanal the miniscule restaurants along the one main road that exists there, serving quite awful food to the hungry students of the big residential school close by. The inside information was that the safest thing to eat was the cheese paratha, served hot by one of the joints they called a restaurant. They did not have other variations . Keeping ingredients fresh was a problem. Most of them were expensive, having been trucked up the long, winding and sometimes treacherous ghat road. Vegetables were likely to be bad by the time they were served up. Especially if it was not the tourist season when the village became as dead as a dodo, with its few residents and starving students wandering about disconsolately in the mists, in search of a good meal. Eventually everyone would end up at the paratha place. Safe to eat, hot and filling.

I always think the younger Earl of Sandwich pretty enterprising to use his title to market the most upmarket of sandwiches. We should have a Maharaja of Paratha. He would be well employed in working out new variations on the theme. How about a Maratha Paratha? It should do well in Pune.

Meanwhile many of us have our own versions of parathas, not simply the standard methi, gobi, and alu types. Here is my friend Subhasini's great recipe for lentil filled paratha. It makes 8 plump ones, 5" in diameter, and a fabulous one dish dinner.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp ghee
1/2 tsp salt
Water

1/2 cup channa  dal / Bengal gram
1/4 cup toor dal
1/2 " piece of grated ginger
Pinch of haldi

I onion chopped fine
1 green chilli minced
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
Juice of 1/2 lime

1/2 tsp ajwain /thymol seeds
2 tbsp ghee or oil

Combine wheat, salt ghee and water to form a ball of dough. Knead for 5minutes. Keep aside covered with plastic or damp cloth

Drain Lentils

Combine the lentils , turmeric, grated ginger and 1 cup water and cook for 2 whistles in a pressure cooker or over the fire till just done.Drain off any extra water.

Frying onions

Heat 1 tbsp ghee and fry the onion, chilli and ginger garlic paste.

Sprinkle ajwain

When done add the lentils to the fried ingredients, the lime juice , sprinkle the ajwain and mix well.

Make 8 balls of the dough and roll out into a circle about 3 " in diameter.

Smear ghee on circle

Smear a bit of ghee on the circle

and place a spoonful of the mixture in the centre.

Sprinkle wheat flour on filling

Sprinkle some dry whole wheat flour on top and

Form a ball

and then form into a ball by gathering the edges up together. Twist the pointed end and press back into the ball.

Roll out paratha

Press flat between palms and roll out the stuffed ball into a 5" circle.

Ghee on tava

Put a spoonful of ghee on the heated tava and slap the paratha onto the tava.

After a few minutes when it has formed brown spots on one side, turn and cook the other side . Smear a little ghee on the edges of the paratha as it is cooking. When the dough is cooked remove from fire and keep warm wrapped in a cloth or paper napkin till all 8 are cooked.

Serve with yogurt/ dahi, raita or any vegetable.

Snakes Alive !-The Pishwi is back.

Now that plastic bags have, at last ,been banned by the government of Maharashtra, most of us carry that good old 'pishwi' , for generations the  accoutrement of every proud Puneite.You never leave home without it.

A sturdy cloth bag, generally made of khadi, but now to be seen in all colours and fabrics, of medium size, hung from the shoulder to leave all hands free, every man, woman and child owned one. Sensibly so. It comes into use for carrying notebooks, money, glasses,equipment, and vegetables. No man would be thought sissy for carrying a pishwi here...it isnt , after all, a 'hand' bag. And he would be doing what all real men do in Pune -The bhaji/vegetable shopping on the way home.

So I am glad to see it back again. Mainly because low micron plastic bags are not available for use by the local vendors of fruit and vegetables, shops and stores.Which means they are out of circulation, and are not going to clog our street, drains, open spaces, trees, barbed wires, railroad tracks and the Indian landscape,  which was looking progressively more like a surrealistic wasteland of pink, bright blue and multicoloured plastic blowing in the wind.

Snake gourd makes one feel very smart about carrying the old pishwi. It never did fit in any plastic bag. Snap a snake in two and it fits comfortably along the shoulder strap.

Ingredients for a simple snake bhaji:

• 1 snake (gourd)
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 heaped teaspoon rai/mustard seed
• 5 cloves garlic chopped fine
• 2 green chillies slit and deseeded
• Salt to taste.

Wash, peel and slice the padwal in half along the length . Take out the seeds, and chop into half inch circles.

Heat a teaspoon of oil in a kadhai / or heavy bottomed pan.Put in mustard seeds and when they pop add the garlic and chillies.

Saute till lightly browned and add the chopped padwal. Cover tightly and allow to cook in its own juices for about 12-15 minutes on low heat. Add salt to taste.

Kabhi Khatta Kabhi Meetha- Mango Murabba

I just couldnt resist that. The title I mean. K3M. Every Bollywood movie and TV drama has the K word. Why cant I use it in my little blog? And what better place to use it than to describe the subject of this entry Mango Moramba, sometimes sour and sometimes sweet.

 

We are nearing the end of a good season. When the breaks the mango season will be over. All we shall have left is (sob) memories and (yaaayyyyyyy) preserves!

You could take the short way out and go across to Bhavnagari Sweet Home , next to the Jain temple on  Sachapir Street . Their speciality is, in fact, Mango Chhunda.( Update:Sad to say that Bhavnagari's has closed down as of July 2006)

One is hot and one, not.They taste pretty good too. A nice accompaniment to chapathi or rice and dahi, which makes a meal in itself if you are having lunch on the run.

Bhavnagari's is a friendly place and the shop boys always helpful. I am always asked how "Boss" is. You know who that might be! Their products are always fresh and tasty and I have never had a problem with their sweets, salties or dried fruit. Some of their other specialities will be featured in forthcoming posts.

On the other hand if you are a DIY specialist like me, you could quickly make some moramba at home with this super simple recipe. As with all preserves, it is a good idea to make just a small batch at a time. 

Ingredients for Kesar Mango Moramba:

• 2 large green mangoes: weigh after peeling and grating. It should be about 300 gms.
• Weigh up 1 1/2 times the amount of sugar . Approximately 450 gms if mango gratings are 300 gms.
• Saffron.
• Powdered cinnamon.

Wash and soak the mangoes in water for a while.

Then peel

and grate.

Weigh. Spread out on absorbent paper to drain off extra water.

Then weigh up 1 and 1/2 times the amount of sugar.

In a pan melt the sugar with 1/2 cup of water and heat till a syrup is made. See if the syrup congeals on a plate.

Then add the mango gratings

a pinch of saffron and a pinch of cinnamon powder.

Keep cooking on a low fire till the mixture thickens. The scent of saffron rises during this process and the mixture slowly gets a yellowish to orange tinge.This takes about 1/2 an hour - 40 minutes.Test as for jam to see if the syrup is thick enough.

Bottle in clean and sterilized jars. Cover with butter paper and put lids on while still hot.

This makes about 500 gms and keeps very well for a long time without refrigeration.

It tastes very good even if I say so myself. Soooo much better than what you can buy and it has the real colour of saffron.

Jamun Jam

Hand carts are a treasure trove of fruits now. Mangoes are all the rage  but other colours catch the eye. A few pushcart fruit sellers carry what are wild pickings, or gawraan as they call it. These are the tastiest berries and jaams from a variety of trees growing on the edges of gardens and in the forests.

I recall a time when jamun were strewn on the sidewalks in New Delhi, and we tripped our way to catch the school bus, picking up a few of the tart, oblong fruit to eat while skipping over other purple spatters, fruit half eaten by crows who had gorged themselves high up in the branches.

These tall, stout and shady trees still exist on Lytton Road, off  Raj Path where we lived, but not a piece of fruit is to be found on the ground anymore. The trees have all been contracted out and harvested well in time.

In Maharashtra,  Jamun (Sygium cumini L) also known as Myrtus cumini and Eugenia jambolanum  grow  well in the Raigad,  Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts. It is classified as a minor fruit since most of the trees have been planted accidentally by the ancestors of farmers, who are now happy to find a tree or two on their plots of land. They were grown mainly for shade along roads and highways and in coffee estates to provide shelter for the coffee plants. Cultivation has not been actively encouraged by the government and plantations do not exist.

Though indigenous to India it is not easily available in the market and the fruit now costs Rs 160 for a kilo!! To eat, they remind me of the astringency of a good Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.The same inadvertent ch-tack and pursing of the lips after a bite/sip is inevitable ! You develop a taste for it as with all good things.

The harvesting season lasts from the end of March to the beginning of June so, while they were still to be seen , I picked some up and tried making  jam out of it.

What a feast of colour it was right through the process!

Ingredients:

250 gms ripe jamun. About 25.Washed very well.
250 gms sugar
1/4 apple cut in 1/2" pieces
Squeeze of lime.
A pinch of finely ground fennel.

 

In a clean stainless steel pan with a thick base, place jamuns along with the sugar and heat on medium flame

Stir till jamuns start to soften. Add pieces of apple.

Cover for a few minutes as juice is released and the sugar in tinged with mauve. As the jamuns soften mash them a bit to hasten the process.

Within a few minutes the juice will have been released completely and the seeds can be removed. Add lime juice.. about a half teaspoonful. Cook over medium heat till mixture begins to froth. Add a pinch of finely ground saunf  (fennel seeds) as the mixture begins to thicken.

The jam should have reached the non runny stage within 15 minutes.Test a bit of the juice on a plate to see if it congeals .

Take the pan off the fire and bottle immediately in clean and sterilized jars. Keep a quarter inch at the top of the bottle, insert two rounds of butter paper on the lid and cover immediately while hot.

It tastes pretty good right now and I will be able to give a second opinion within two weeks when the flavours will have settled .

Isn't the violet colour out of this world?

My vittles i.e. Kaleji fry

What has upheld you on your way ?
What has supported you when faint ?
On what have you for strength relied ?
"My vittles, " said the dear old saint.
- G.S. Bryan

.....a statement which would be heartily seconded by R who, being on the receiving end of many haute cuisine experiments, tends to relish the simple and hearty meal such as Kaleji fry with chaawal and achaar i.e. Liver 'N' Onions with pickle and rice.

So here it is, my version, with accompanying 'How To' photographs for the beginner cook.(Many thanks for being the hands behind the scene Devika.)

Kaleji Fry, or Liver'n' Onions.

Ingredients:

1/2 kg sheep's liver sliced into pieces 1/2 inch thick.
6 onions chopped fine lengthwise
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
2-4 green chillies,optional, depending on how hot you like your food. chopped fine
1-2" piece of fresh ginger, grated
6-8 cloves of garlic
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
( 2-4 green chillies) optional,
Juice of 2 lemon.2 tablespoons water.

Method:

Chop the onions into fine slices.

Heat the oil till just below smoking point ....

..and fry the onions .
You can also dry fry i.e. sweat the onions in a thick cast iron pan.

Fry on a medium fire.
Stage I. They begin to split from the half circle into long pieces.

 

Fry onions  till they begin to brown a bit.
Stage 2.

Fry for 15 -20 minutes till brown. Stage 3.

As the onions are browning get the rest of your ingredients for the marinade together; grate the ginger, chop the coriander, grind the cumin seeds and pepper with a mortar, squeeze the lemons.

Add coriander

Add chopped garlic, ginger, cumin and pepper powder,chillies,

.. and lime juice along with 2 tablespoons water.

Puree to a fine, smooth paste in the blender.

Chop the liver into 2" pieces about 1/2 " slices  thick.

Add the liver pieces to the paste .

Mix well and marinate for 1/2 hour to two hours.
( Just as much time as you have. The longer the better of course.)

 

The onions should now be nice and brown.

Add the marinated liver to the onions and fry for
five minutes till the colour changes.Now add all the remaining marinade juices,
cover and fry for 8 minutes till almost dry.

You can also add 1/2 cup of water to make a wet gravy which is nice if you eat this with rice.

Finally garnish with coriander and... tada...serve!

This also tastes great with chapatis or bread.