Methi chi Patal Bhaji (Fenugreek curry - Maharashtrian style)

In my first post, I mentioned patal bhajis. This is a typical Maharashtrian concept. Basically what this refers to is green leafy vegetables cooked curry style. These are enjoyed both with rice and chapatti/bhakri. These have been an integral part of my meals since childhood with almost 3 patal bhajis a week and continue to be so. The most awesome thing about these is the sizzling lasun (Garlic) tadka. The aroma just kills you.

My mom makes the most awesome tadkas. In the words of my aunt, it’s almost as if they’re alive. They sizzle and infuse life in the curry. Lip-smacking! Of course, there are multiple other considerations. But this to me is the key.

So here comes the recipe.

Ingredients

Chef tip:

Methi leaves should be roundish with red lining. Flowers in the bunch are a strict no-no. It makes the curry bitter

• 1 bunch of fenugreek sorted (methi)
• Gram flour
• Cooked toor dal (waran)

Spices:

• 6-8 Garlic cloves
• 2-3 green chillies
• Mustard seeds
• Cumin seeds
• Asafoetida
• Oil

Cooking Time:

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Serves:

About 3-4

  

Method:

1.    Sort the methi leaves and wash them

  Chef Tip: 

Do not pull or tear the leaves. Gently pluck them. (A very Mom-advice, don’t you think?)

2.   In a saucepan, cover methi with water and boil. Do not cover the saucepan. You can also use a pressure cooker for this but that’s not Aai’s way. It’s a short-cut right?

3.    Once methi is cooked i.e. leaves crush easily when pinched, drain the water in another pan. Do not throw the water as this has all the nutrients

4.     Let the methi cool a bit.

5.    Add 2 tbsp thick cooked toor daal (leftover dal works best) and 1 tbsp besan and mix well. This basically helps bind the methi together

6.     Add this mixture in a kadhai/fry pan and cook till it blends together nicely

7.     Add the water drained earlier into this. Do taste the curry before you add this. If it’s too bitter, add plain water. Add salt to taste

8.     In a separate small kadhai, take about 2 tbsp oil. Add the garlic cloves coarsely diced

9.   Once browned, reduce flame. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and asafetida. The quantity of asafetida is a little more than usual, about half a teaspoon

10.  Add slit green chillies. Adjust quantity per your preference. Aai adds about 2-3

11.  On the curry, put 1/4th tsp turmeric and 1/4th tsp red chilli powder

12. Once the tadka is all sizzling, pour it over the curry right on the turmeric and red chilli powder. The sizzle and the rising whiff will tell you when it has turned out just right

13.  You’re done. Serve with chapatti or even better, bhakri. If its bhakri, then all you need is a dollop of fresh butter on it, garlic chutney and a split spring onion by the side. This is yum true Marathi style

Chef Tip:

For more flavor, you can make an additional 2-3 spoons of tadka and keep it aside. Spoon over the curry as preferred once served.

Vegetarian Pulao

I have this memory. I am in school and its lunch hour. We're all seated together and open our lunch boxes. Everyone who remembers school tiffins knows the standard fare - 2 chapatis, vegetables and maybe some fruit.  I open my lunch box and this yummy aroma rises. Fragrant glistening basmati rice with carrots, peas, potato wedges, onion slices, sprinkled liberally with roasted cashews and lovingly drizzled with ghee. It's my Mum's pulao. I can still taste it.

Today, when I pack lunch for my daughter, with the clock ticking and alarms set 10 minutes apart for every single before-school checklist, I cannot imagine this. This dish that for me symbolizes relaxed noons and cooking at a leisurely pace cannot be part of the hectic morning routine. And yet, it was! Aai dished it out to us at regular intervals brightening up the regular school lunch hours. I enjoyed it then but I cherish it even more today when I realize the effortless effort it has been. It’s the warm hug that I still feel.

So, that's it. Let's cut the nostalgia and get down to business. As is standard practice, I had the partial recipe with game-changing tips missing for over 10 years. But the enticement of the blog has worked or so I hope. I now have a complete recipe and I can vouch for it. I did try it and it was delicious!

Ingredients:

·        3 cups basmati rice (long-grained and fragrant)

·        All vegetables for this are sliced lengthwise wherever possible. So yes, leave out the peas

·        1 large onion sliced lengthwise

·        2 carrots chopped lengthwise (2-3 inch sticks)

·        1 cup french beans (1 inch pieces)

·        1 cup of cauliflower florets

·        1 medium potato wedges (skin on)

·        1 cup green peas

Spices:

·        5-7 black pepper corns

·        5-6 cloves

·        2-3 masala cardamom (black cardamom)

·        2-4 bay leaves

·        3/4 thin cinnamon sticks

·        1 green chilly minced

·        Half-inch ginger (grated) -- For Pu.La. fans, takes half inch of आलं and कीस it ;)

Cooking Time:

I had a lot of help since I was working with sous chef hubby. But I guess it would be about 1 - 1.5 hour for the first time

Serves:

It served 8 when we had other main dishes. As the sole dish, would be 6.

Recipe:

1) Wash the basmati rice and soak it for at least 15 minutes.

2) Heat oil in a kadhai (wok) and deep fry all the vegetables one variety at a time

3) Lay the fried vegetables on a tissue paper and tap off the excess oil

4) Sprinkle the minced chilly, grated ginger, कच्चा मसाला(*1),  salt on the veggies. It works like a dry marinade

5) In a kadhai (wok), add ghee then pepper, cloves, cardamom, bay leaves and cinnamon.

6) Drain the rice and add in the wok. Stir fry

7) Heat 2.5 times the water (i.e. 7.5 cups for the 3 cups rice) and add to the rice

8) Add a little salt and let the rice cook

 "भात एका कणी वर राहीला असताना भाज्या त्यात मिसळून एक दणदणीत वाफ आणणे"

9)  Decoding - When rice is almost done, stir in the veggies and cover with a lid for about 5 minutes till the steam cooks the rice and covers your glasses when you open to check on it :)

10)  Stir in about 1 tablespoon of ghee and cover for another 5 minutes

11) Now the aroma should drive you crazy and you'll definitely know rice is done.

12) Sprinkle with coriander and grated coconut and you're all set (*2)

*1: “Kachcha masala” is a spice mix that my Mom makes at home. I will, at some point, put down the exact recipe for making this. For making this pulao, just cumin powder, coriander powder would suffice.

*2: Coriander and grated coconut are indispensable ingredients in Mum-recipes. There've been incidents where absence of coriander has triggered a cancellation of the dish. Yep, that's Aai!

:This is a typical “Mumma” expression. I will provide decodes to help non-marathi readers. For marathi readers, this is the most important Mum-tip :)

Do let me know how it works.

अन्न दात्री सुखी भवः

अन्न दाता सुखी भवः नाही  अन्न दात्री सुखी भवः 

At my home, this is something you will hear at every meal; coined especially for our dear Aai.

For everyone across the world, Mom's way is the way. Blogs abound with aayee's recipes, Mum's kitchen, Mums the word and so on. So what I write is nothing different. Because for me, 'Aai says so' is enough to alter recipes from the best of pro-chefs without a second guess.

With Aai, every time the table's set, you're pulled. Remember Tom & Jerry; the aroma that wafts from the kitchen, reaches out to Tom, catches him by the nose and pulls him floating to the kitchen. That's the exact feeling! I've only to close my eyes and I can always picture the entire spread laid out - steaming casseroles of 'patal bhajis' that still sizzle from the tadka, the fresh vegetables liberally sprinkled with coriander and the waran-bhaat  just out from the rice cooker. I've always wanted my kitchen and my table to be exactly like that - where everyone looks forward to the meal and feels blessed to be there; where oohs, aahs and then complete silence revere the taste.

A tough mission!

Anyone who has ever tried to get a recipe from a mother to make a dish exactly like her would know. Before anyone starts with the age-old "There is no recipe and measurements, Its 30 years of experience and love", let's just stop. I know that. I do. Period. 

But along with experience there is a certain thing called the main ingredient list. I do not mean measurements of 1 tsp, 10 gram and so on but just the list of ingredients and most importantly the steps in a particular order. How many a times have I fought against inclusion of jaggery in a dish or sprinkling of groundnut powder to realize many years later that Aai does the same. She just forgot to mention it. My husband loves these moments with ear to ear grins and gloats. Further, it is not just me. I know the exact same thing happens to my sisters and by extension would happen to everyone who has tried to get the just-so recipe from ma's and grandma's.

This blog is an attempt to get the most. Therefore, it goes without saying - measurements will be absurd with a fistful, just a dash, and about 2 fingers deep being standard metric system. The instructions will include black-hole concepts such as black steam (काळी वाफ ),  steam changing color, readiness indicators like 'रटरटणे', 'दणदणीत वाफ'and warning signs such as 'दांडारणे  '. God give me and you the courage to decipher and apply these!

Let the task begin with our eyes on the target - 'कडाडलेली भूक जागावणे आणी प्रेमानी शमावणे '. Hope you enjoy these as much as I do :)