Dinesh and Bawa

Dinesh and Bawa

Search

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Granma's Recipe (modified!)

My Granny used to make this. I was just a runt of a boy at that time and dont really know all that used to go into this amazingly tasty meal she would make, but from what my taste buds can recollect and a few notes from my mom’s cooking diary, here is a recipe based on what we would eat at those awesome joint family parties every year. She used to use chicken or meat, i know better than that, so i use Soya Chunks instead.

You will need:
5-7 cloves
7-8 cardamom
5-7 pieces of cinnamon
2 Tablespoons of dhania-jeera powder
salt to taste
1 Packet Nutrella Nuggets (Soya Chunks)
1 liter of Dahi
200 ml Coconut milk
5-6 medium potatoes
3 medium carrots
a handful (or a bit more) of green peas
1 full coconut (desiccated)
some ghee (totally depends on you how much you want to use)

Grind into a powder: 5-7 cloves, 7-8 cardamom, 5-7 big pieces of cinnamon
Cook a packet of Nutrella Nuggets (Soya Chunks), and squeeze them dry. To cook soya chunks just dunk them in boiling water for 10-15 minutes or so. Remember to add a bit of salt...
In a fairly large vessel, empty a whole packet (1 liter) of dahi, 200 ml of the coconut milk and add the ground spices, 2 tablespoons or so of ground dhania-jeera powder and some salt to taste. Mix well. Add the squeezed dry and cooked soya nuggets to the dahi marinade.
Cut into medium chunks 5 medium potatoes and 3 medium carrots, poke the chunks of potatoes and carrots with a fork a few times and add to the dahi marinade. Let it stand for 30 minutes or so, the longer the better.
Boil a handful of green peas (more if you like green peas), don’t let them turn dull, keep them nice and green until just cooked.
Meanwhile, desiccate a full coconut, and then put some ghee (the ghee used can be as little as 1 tablespoon full, you can add more depending on how rich you want to make the dish) in a hot tawa (girdle), and on a low fire roast the coconut in the ghee, until it starts to give off that yummy smell and browns a bit. Keep stirring, you don’t want to burn it.
Now in a pressure cooker, add the veggies with the dahi marinade and the roasted coconut. You may add some ghee to this if it makes you feel good.
Pressure Cook for 3-5 whistles and then simmer for about 10 minutes
Wait till the cooker has cooled, and open it... add the boiled green peas, garnish with finely chopped coriander or parsley and serve piping hot with brown or multigrain bread or hot rotis. The breads soak up the gravy really well. Please eat with your hands, don’t use spoons and forks and stuff while tucking into this delicacy :)
If you have the time and the patience and the inclination and have to cook this for hoards of people, instead of pressure cooking put everything in a bit pot and cook over a slow fire for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally (see to it that it doesnt stick and get burnt at the bottom, though personally i used to love that burned bit) or until done :)
I have observed that it tastes even better the next day, so cooking this in the afternoon and reheating it and serving it for dinner really brings out all the tastes... Remember to add the garnish just before serving. Wilted Coriander looks terrible!  

Stumble Upon Toolbar

3 comments:

Mrigank said...

Hmmm!!! Sounds Yummy... Bau your recipes are instigating me to "play with fire"(Read Cooking!!!)....

I've never dared to do so after my last kitchen-misadventure as a kid when my "play with fire" lead to the maiden use of a fire extinguisher in our kitchen....

I'm usuakky loathe to cooking because I'm afraid I might die of food-poisoning... Lest I be temted to taste whatever I cooked!!! :-)

MJ said...

Thank you Bau :) i was wondering what to do with the Soya chunks n lo!!! you gave yet again a delicious recipe.. :)

Jai Gurudev :)

vinitaa said...

hi bau ,

this recipe outwits my nutrela biryani any day....

sounds yummy..

"Magical Template" designed by Blogger Buster