Tag: mothers recipe

Mitho lolo ( sweet flat bread ) and mirchaan ji bhaaji( chilli sabji)

main meal

MITHO LOLO
Those familiar with sindhi cuisine would know about koki or loli as we call it, the top comfort level breakfast for any sindhi😊, paired with yogurt and papad. In my home its a sunday breakfast.

Mitho lolo, is the sweet version of loli.
Mostly made on certain festivals like Satai or Thadri as its known. Food is generally cooked a day prior to Thadri, and eaten cold the next day, items which keep well are pakoras, puris, seeras, and rice which is mixed with yogurt, and mustard powder. No fire is lit to cook on Thadri.
Ladies go thier parents homes and just enjoy for the day. This year it falls on 29th August.
My late mother in law would make make mitho lolo’s every Thadri, she would make the dough patiently, rolling out the lolas and send them to the kitchen, where I had to roast them on the tawa at a very low heat..
patience 😊is the key to make good lolas.
I rarely make lolas nowadays, bcoz there are some home chefs who sell them in jakarta. I tried making them this year and they were quite good. We pair mitho lolo with a chillie sabji. Sharing both recipes today. Do try the recipe. Thank you.

Mitho lolo
250 gms whole wheat atta
6 tbsps of oil
125gms grated jaggery
2 tbsps powdered sugar
1 tsp cardamom powder.
Extra 1 cup oil for dipping.

In a bowl add grated jaggery, sugar and about 4 tbsps of hot water. Mix well till jaggery disolves.

Prepare a deep plate with about one cup of oil in it to dip the lolas.keep aside

In a big bowl or plate, put the flour( atta)
And add the oil, add 5 tbsps first and mix with finger tips. If you can gather the flour in your hands like a ball, that means oil is enough otherwise add 1 tbsp more. Add the cardamon powder and liquid jaggery, and knead gently. Try your best not to add any water. I needed to add 1 tbsp. The dough shd be tight. We need to use the dough Immediately, to avoid gluten formation, which will make the lola soft. The lola should have a crisp bite to it, and be just a little soft inside.Now divide the dough into about 5 balls, cover with a wet napkin, take one ball and smoothen it on the rolling board. Roll out to about 1 cm thick, plus minus. Prick all over with a fork. Roast on a preheated tawa on a very low heat, gently press with a wooden chapati press or napkin. Brush with very little oil, When both sides are golden brown remove onto the oil filled plate, soak for just a minute and drain.
Stack in a plate. Lolas have a long shelf life, if you store them well. In airtight boxes.

you can add cut nuts while rolling out the lolas. We like them plain.

Mirchaan ji bhaji
( chillie sabji)

250 gms green chillies( I used the thick variety)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp hing
1.5 tbsps besan
2 tbsps grated jaggery
2 tbsps tamarind pulp
Salt to taste.
Wash and cut the green chillies into 3 to 4 pcs..

Heat about 4 to 5 tbsps oil in a pan, add cut chillies, and saute till the chillies turn white. Drain and reserve the oil.
Take the chillie oil in a cooker and add
Mustard seeds, cumin seeds and hing.
Next add the besan and saute till fragrant, add turmeric powder.
Next add chillies and half cup of water.
Close the lid and cook for 4 to 5 whistles.
Open the lid and cook till water almost dries up, at the same time mashing the chillies with a wooden whisk.
Finally add jaggery, tamarind and salt.
You shd be able to balance all the flavours here. Done.

Sindhi fusion Dal pakwan

main meal

This delicious dish of sindhi origin, barely needs an introduction,as it is so well known , almost like a trade mark for us sindhis. Crispy Pakwan( fried flat bread) topped with a creamy dal chana, garnished with citrusy onion relish, and a sweet and sour tamarind sauce, with a sprinkling of red chillie powder, its a match made in heaven, in terms of gastronomy.

Dal chana( lentils)is cooked to a creamy consistency, normally bland with just salt and turmeric. But I have been making the dal with a green twist since years, and its remained an earmarked recipe im my cook book.My version is slightly different , as I have added ginger, garlic and green chillies, and the addition of cardamom powder as it brings a subtle rich flavour to the dal, this is my fusion version😊
Mostly served for breakfast on lazy sundays.Growing up in pune, mummy usually made the dal at home, and prefered getting the pakwans from the sindhi uncle at babajan chowk, who sold dal pakwan from his cart only on sundays., It was something we looked forward to. In India it is sold in carts, in sindhi dominated areas, or even sweetmeat shops. That is not to say that only sindhi people relish this soul satisfying dish😊. People from all walks of life love and appreciate the deliciousness of dal pakwan.
Try making this at home and listen to the satisfying sighs around your table…😊
Yes, making pakwan is time consuming, but well worth the effort.

Ingredients for dal
1 cup dal chana ( Rinsed and soaked in water for 4 hours)
2 green chillies
5 pods garlic
1 inch pc of ginger
12 curry leaves..chopped finely.
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ajwain( carom seeds)
1/2 tsp saunf( fennel seeds)
1 tsp finely ground cardamon powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt, or as needed.
Method.
Boil the dal till soft, but not mashed.
Grind ginger, garlic and green chillies with little water.
Heat 2 tbsps oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, ajwain, saunf, curry leaves, add cardamon powder and turmeric powder.
Add the ginger garlic green chillie paste and saute for a while.
Now add the boiled dal and salt.
Add 1 cup water and let it cook on medium flame till the dal reaches to a thick consistency, but not mashed. Pour in a bowl and garnish with khatti meethi chutney, kechumbo kotmir and a sprinkle of red chillie powder.
Serve with pakwan,

Ingredients for Pakwan
1 cup flour( maida)
1 level tsp salt
1/2 tsp jeeri( caraway seeds)
1/2 tsp ajwain( carom seeds)
1 tbsp oil
Cold water to knead the flour.

Mix flour, jeeri, ajwain, salt and oil.
Add some cold water and knead a stiff dough. Dough should not be soft nor very hard. Medium hard dough. Knead well till pliable . Cover with a wet napkin and keep aside for half an hour. Now make small balls of the dough, roll out into thin puris. Prick with a fork.
Fill a wok with oil to upto half level
Heat till oil is medium hot.
Slide in the puris, press with a sloted spoon,for few seconds. Then let the puri continue to cook untill its crisp and golden brown.
Each pakwan takes upto 5 mins on a low to medium flame. Remove and keep aside.

Serve with a onion relish( kachumbo)
Cut one onion finely, add sliced green chillies, add little salt. Then wash under running water. Strain properly, add little sugar, vinegar and salt.

Khatti meeti chutney( sweet and sour sauce)
Boil together 4 tbsps thick tanarind paste with 4 tbsps grated jaggery. Abd about 10 tbsps water. Cook till medium thick.. strain into a bowl, add little salt, red chillie powder and jeera powder.

Sindhi Aisi bhaji/sabji (spinach and Ridge gourd)

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Todays Delicious recipe is in memory of my dear mother in law, who made this particular version of spinach and turaiya, whenever I had given birth to my children. Supposedly very good for lactating mothers. She made sure I ate this sabji every second day for 40 days after child birth. It had to be turaiya every day, either mixed with spinach or made plain with only cardamom, which we sindhis call as phote bhugun turiyuoon And to be frank I loved eating both these variations. She sometimes served it with plain chappatis and sometimes with mitho lolo( sweet flat bread).The only thing that she omitted was chillies. Aisi, otherwise would mean only spinach cooked plain with out the addition of any other vegetables. But, this version of mummy is really very tasty..😊

The way this sabji is cooked is almost like the famous sindhi saibhaji, but the addition of turaiya gives it super silky texture. We cook it in the pressure cooker and mash it towards the end till everything is one beautiful green smooth sabji. Adding garlic once while cooking and once as a tadka just enhances the taste.

Spinach was not my favourite vegetable when we were growing up, but as an adult it definately has a special place in my list of favourite vegetables. I remember my mother making tikkis out of left over saibhaji, just by adding boiled potatoes after drying out the sai bhaji as much as possible by cooking it further. She always panfried the tikkis which were yummy… A close cousin to the hara bhara tikkis which we relish at Indian restaurants.

Do try this simple recipe and serve with any simple pulav or phulkas.

Ingredients

350 gms peeled and chopped turaiya/ ridge gourd

150 gms chopped spinach

1 big onion finely chopped

2 tomatoes sliced

4 green chillies finely chopped

2 tbsps chopped garlic

1 tbsp chopped ginger

1 tsp corriander powder

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp methi seeds

1/2 tsp hing..asafoetida

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste

3 tbsps oil

Method..

Heat 2 tbsps oil in a pressure cooker and add methi seeds, cumin and hing. Saute till fragrant.

Add chopped onion and saute till golden brown.

Add 1 tbsp of garlic, ginger and green chillies.

Add tomatoes, corriander powder, turmeric, salt

When tomatoes are pulpy, add chopped turaiya and cook till the turaiya start letting out water.

Add the chopped spinach and 1/4 cup of water.

Close the cooker and cook for 3 to 4 whistles.

Open the lid, and churn with a wooden hand churner( mandiro) or an electric whisk.

Lastly heat 1 tbsp oil in a small pan, add 1 tbsp chopped garlic and fry till pale golden. Add this tadka to the sabji…mix well and serve.

The complete Sindhi meal with Basar jo pulav, ( onion pulav) sookha aloo( potatoes with dry spices) Boondi raita, some fryums and onion carrot achar.

Roses to indian culture and cuisine..

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The rose in all its glory, is incorporated in various forms in indian culture, be it GULAB ATTAR adorning the wrists of the nawabs or the mughals, or the GULAB JAL or rose water used in beauty regimes when mixed with chandan for face packs. Not forgetting rajesh khanna singing to nanda..”gulabi ankhen jo teri dekhi” gulabi ankhen??? 🙂 nonetheless a lovely song…

. A few drops of rose essence added to any mithai or dessert makes a whole lot of difference.Think of the divine gulab jamuns actually named after this wonderful flower. Rose petals are great as a garnish in sweets like saturfeni and phirni. And of course not forgetting GULKHAND which is used in various preparations such as paan and icecreams.

But the one use of dried rose petals I learnt from my mother was to use it in the making of garam masala…for years my garam masala has been made by my mom. Using dried rose buds in garam masala balances out the heat of the spices used like cinnamon cloves cardamom nutmeg etc…some years ago , on a visit to Dubai, wandering around the spice souk I came across mounds of different colour dried rose petals which were a treat to the eye. I believe dried rose petals are used in middle eastern spice mixes..

The aroma of freshly ground garam masala with dried rose bud petals literally fills the kitchen with a divine fragrance..using just a teaspoon in any gravy is enough to infuse it with a wonderful taste and aroma…today i share with you this wonderful garam masala recipe…

GARAM MASALA ALA MUMMY
250 gms cummin seeds..(jeera)..washed and dried in the sun
100 gms each
poppy seeds..(khus khus)..
caraway seeds (shah jeera)
cinnamon ( dalchini) .. break into small pcs to make grinding easy
cloves(laung)
nutmeg (jaiphal)..tip..grate the nutmeg to make grinding easy
mace (javitri)
cardamom (choti elaichi)..i use whole elaichi
black cardamom ..seeds only..( badi elaichi)
bay leaves (kamal pat)..throw away the stems
baby rose buds..preferably pink rose..( pink gulab ki kali)

corriander seeds ( dhania)

METHOD..

pick and clean all the dry spices.. and grind them well… store in jar in the freezer compartment of your refrigerator..Use as required

The sugar rush

main meal

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Something about the addiction to sugar; everyone has heard of the saying, girls are made up of sugar and spice and everything nice, this is also true in the case of so many desserts! We have desserts with oodles of sugar laced with so many spices like cinnamon, cardamom , saffron, cloves to name a few. Be it Indian desserts like our kheers, payaasams, kulfis or the baklavas of the middle east, the apple or pumpkin pies of the west….. some spice is always added to balance out the flavours. How many of us have followed our noses to the tempting aromas coming from bakeries and given in to the temptation to a piece of St. cinnamon? I confess that I have, because I have a sweet tooth which is rather well known…

Sweets are something which we grew up on, since my full family had a sweet tooth. Winters in pune were cold.. and to fortify us during the chills, mom always served sweet breakfasts, proper sindhi sweets.. on most sundays during winter we always got a plate full of mithyun seyun( sweet vermecilli or sevaiyaan.. and every mouthful was a burst of flavours, cardamon being the most prominent…and to balance the sweetness , this dish was always accompanied by small cubed fried potatoes sprinkled with chillie powder and salt..sindhi cuisine has many rich sweets to offer like lapi, malpura, mitho lolo etc… here i share my moms version of the mithyuoon seyun and tariyal patata…

INGREDIENTS

200 gms roasted fine vermicilli 170 gms sugar

1/2 cup ghee

1/4 cup chopped mixed nuts like almonds, pistas, chironji..

1 tsp cardamon powder

METHOD Heat ghee in a nonstick pan, and add vermicilli and nuts , saute till aromatic, when vermicilli turns golden brown add enough hot water to cover the seyuoon, cover and cook for a few minutes. add sugar and cardamom powder..cover once more and cook on a low flame till water dries up..shut the flame and leave covered for abt 5 mins.. serve hot sprinkled with sliced almonds and pistas…accompanied with tariyal (fried)potatoes sprinkled with salt and chillie powder.