Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Holi Recipes - Dahi ki Gujiya


Holi is almost here and the festival always reminds me of late night gujiya making sessions. We used to shift the gas stove in the living room where Mom would pack the gujiyas and Dad would fry them. I never cared for the sweet gujiyas much. My favourites were all the savoury things that Mom would make - mathri, papdi chaat, namakpare etc. Her speciality though was dahi ki gujiya also called dahi wade or dahi bhalle. Mom's version had a filling of green chillies, raisins and ginger in it which was like surprise packed inside the gujiya. Take a bite and you would suddenly get sweet and spicy taste. Today I am sharing the recipe of my mom's famous dahi ki gujiya. Try it and you'll forget the best of dahi wadas you'd have eaten.

Ingredients

For Gujiyas
500 gms white urad dal (soaked overnight)
1/4 cup chopped green chillies
1/4 cup chopped raisins
1/4 cup chopped ginger
1/4 tsp hing (asafoetida)
Oil for deep frying

For Chutney
1 cup jaggery
1/2 cup tamarind pulp
1/2 tsp red chilli powder

For Serving
500 gms thick curd
2 tsp sugar
Chopped green coriander
A mix of salt, red chilli powder and roasted cumin powder (1 tsp each)

Method

  1. Drain the water from the soaked urad dal and grind it into thick paste.
  2. Mix hing in this paste. We won't add salt so that you can store the gujiyas for longer.
  3. Heat oil in a wok. Take some paste in your hand, keep some chopped chillies, raisins and ginger in the centre, close it to shape it like a gujiya and deep fry till it turns golden.
  4. Remove the gujiyas from oil and instantly drop them in a bowl full of salted water which will discard excess oil and soften the gujiyas. But if you're planning to store them for later then don't do it right away. You can soak the gujiyas in salted warm water half an hour before serving.
  5. Heat tamarind pulp in a pan, add jaggery and red chilli powder and heat it till it turns into a thick chutney. Let it cool down completely. Yu can store it in the fridge for later.
  6. Add sugar to curd and whisk it.
  7. Now squeeze out excess water from gujiyas and place them in a bowl. Tp them with whisked curd, chutney, season with spice mix, garnish with coriander and serve.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Recipe: Akuri or Egg Bhurji


Anda bhurji, ande ki bhujiya, akuri, khagina or masala scrambled eggs - there are so many different names and variations of this simple breakfast. The North Indians make it with onion-tomatoes and simply eat it with bread, it gets a delicate name Khagina in Lucknow and Hyderabad where it's made with added masala and eaten with crisp parathas. In Maharashtra it's bhurji and eaten with pav. I’ve eaten the bhurji in a South Indian colleague’s dabba and it was flavoured with curry leaves. Trust me, it was really good and I am not the person who loves curry leaves in everything. The egg loving Parsis have their own version called akuri. My recipe here is more on the lines of akuri. I’ve added a touch of spicyness with East Indian bottle masala - a mix of red chillies, kebabchini, cumin, coriander, cloves, cardamom and a number of other spices.

Ingredients:
4 Eggs
2 Medium sized onions
2 Tomatoes
3 Cloves Garlic
1/2 Inch piece of Ginger
1 Green Chilli
1/2 tsp East Indian bottle masala
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
1 tbsp Milk
1/2 Lime
Green Coriander for garnishing
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil

Method:

  1. Finely chop onions, tomatoes, chilli, ginger and garlic. 
  2. Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add milk. 
  3. Saute onions in a pan. 
  4. Throw in tomatoes, chilli, ginger, garlic, cumin powder and East Indian bottle masala. 
  5. Fry the masala for 5 mins.
  6. Add eggs and salt and cook till the eggs are done but still a little moist. 
  7. Spritz lime juice, garnish with coriander and eat with pav.


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