Muji chetin or radish raita from the Kashmiri cuisine is served with a Modur pulao or even with rice and Rogan Josh. The slight sharpness of the radish is toned down in the sweetness of curd . It is a very simple but delicious raita.
Ingredients:
1 tender radish
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 cup thick yogurt
2 green chillies minced
A pinch of pepper
Salt .
Method:
Wash and peel the radish. Grate it and set it aside. Tip the cumin seeds into a pan and lightly toast them until fragrant. Crush the seeds coarsely. In a medium sized bowl mix together the grated radish, yoghurt, coarsely crushed cumin seeds, pepper, minced chillies and salt. Refrigerate.. Allow the flavours to infuse for about an hour. Serve chilled.
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The Papads made in North India invariably have cumin seeds and pepper added to them. The flour used is either Urad dal/ black gram or Moong dal/ green gram or a combination of both. Sharing the recipe of the Punjabi Papad which uses only urad dal flour. You can fry, roast or microwave these papads as per preference. I have already posted the recipe to the Rajasthani papad… Just replace the moong dal flour with another measure of urad dal flour. Rest of the ingredients remain the same.
Posting a traditional Punjabi thali prepared on Lohri, the harvest festival celebrated in Punjab, a region in North India. Groundnuts, mustard, sugarcane and radish are harvested after the winter season. This is a festival dedicated to the girl child.
Mooli ki subzi is prepared in Punjab and Rajasthan and the ingredients used in both regions is almost the same. Radish is chopped fine and cooked along with the leaves with a few spices . The leaves have a distinct pungent and peppery flavour.
Ingredients:
1 Mooli/ Radish chopped into bits
1 cup Mooli Ke Patte /Radish Greens chopped fine
1 tsp oil of choice
1/2 tsp Ajwain/Carom seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida / Hing
1/4 tsp ginger grated
2 Green chillies chopped fine
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
Salt .
Method:
Wash the radish and its leaves thoroughly under running water. Chop radish into fine pieces. Chop stem and leaves of radish fine.
Heat the oil in a pan. Add asafoetida and the carom seeds. Once the carom seeds change colour add the grated ginger and green chillies.
Add the chopped radish, leaves and stems . Cook them covered until the leaves wilt. Add salt, turmeric and red chilly powder. Mix well and cook till the radish is done.
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Til Bugga is a traditional dessert prepared in North India on Makar Sankranti . It is specially prepared in the winter season as Til/ sesame is believed to keep the body warm. It consists of dry roasted sesame/til seeds with mava/khoya and sugar. Only with these three ingredients a delectable dessert is ready in no time.
Ingredients:
250 gms Til/ sesame
200 gms Khoya/ mava
1 tsp cardamom powder
200 gms powdered sugar
Cashewnuts and kishmish as required.
Method:
Dry roast the sesame seeds on a low flame till they turn golden brown and start to splutter. Tip them on a large plate and allow them to cool. Keep aside two tablespoons of the sesame seeds for garnishing and powder the remaining coarsely. Heat a pan and roast the khoya on a low flame . At first it melts and then starts coming together leaving the sides of the pan. Allow it to cool. Tip the powdered sesame seeds, sugar, khoya and cardamom powder into a bowl. Knead well. Roll into balls and garnish with cashewnuts, raisins and a sprinkling of roasted sesame seeds as shown in the above picture.
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Makki di Roti Sarson da Saag, is a traditional Punjabi delicacy. It is prepared mainly in the winter season in the Punjab region as mustard leaves are in abundance. Makki ki roti is a flat unleavened bread made from corn meal/ flour primarily eaten in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand in North India. Like most rotis in the Indian subcontinent, it is baked on a tava and served hot drizzled with ghee.
Ingredients for Makki di roti:
2 cups Makki ka atta/ flour
1½ cups Lukewarm water
½ tsp Carom seeds
Ghee
Salt
Method:
Tip the flour into a large bowl. Add salt and carom seeds. Mix it well until combined.
Gradually add water . Mix it well. Make sure you add water slowly to the dough to maintain the dough’s consistency. Keep adding water until the liquid is fully incorporated and the mixture comes together like a dough. Gently bring the dough together, cover and let the dough rest for 8-10 minutes. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts.
Heat a griddle/ tawa. Now, take a plastic sheet . Grease the plastic sheet and place it on a rolling board.
Take one dough ball and place it in between the sheets of plastic. Drizzle some oil on top of it. Fold the plastic sheet over the dough ball. Flatten the dough ball with your hands. Move your fingers in a circular motion and pat the dough until it forms a large circle.
Carefully lift it and transfer it on to hot griddle/ tawa. Cook the roti from one side until you see some bubbles on the surface. Flip and roast on the other side as well.
Once evenly brown, remove from heat and apply ghee on the roti. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
Serve the roti hot drizzled with ghee.
Ingredients for Sarson da saag:
Sarson da saag
1 bunch Mustard leaves
½ bunch Spinach
1/2 bunch Bathua leaves
2 Onions roughly chopped
1 inch piece of ginger
7 cloves of garlic
7 green chillies chopped
2 tbsps corn meal/ makki ka aata
4 tbsps Ghee
Salt .
Method:
Wash the mustard, spinach and bathua leaves under running water thoroughly. Roughly chop the leaves and blanch them.
Drain the water and make a smooth paste of the leaves. Make a paste of the ginger, garlic and green chillies.
Add two tbsps Ghee in a pan. Drop in the chopped onions and fry for around 3-4 minutes till translucent. Add the ground ginger, garlic and green chilly paste. Saute for a couple of minutes. Add salt and the paste made of the leaves. Add the cornmeal to the mixture and sauté for two more minutes. Check for salt. Cook the mixture for about fifteen minutes. Add the remaining Ghee and switch off the flame. Serve with a dollop of butter.
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The legendary Rajasthani papad is thin, crisp, round shaped made from pulses along with black pepper and cumin seeds. You can roll them out either large, medium or small depending on preference. These papads can be served as an accompaniment, can be cooked as a subzi, crushed to make a churi – along with ghee and spices, served with fresh onions, tomatoes and masalas for a quick snack.
Ingredients:
250 gms moong dal flour
250 gms urad dal flour
250 ml water
2.5 tsps salt
1 tsp Papad khar
3/4 tsp Cumin seeds
3/4 tsp pepper corns coarsely crushed
1/2 tsp turmeric powder.
Method:
Sieve the flours together. Tip the water into a pan and add the cumin seeds, turmeric powder, papad khar and salt. Bring to a boil. Switch off and allow to cool down for around ten minutes. Keep about 7 tbsps of flour aside to dust the pellets while rolling them out. Take the flour in a large bowl. Drop the crushed pepper corns into the flour. Pouring a little water at a time bind a stiff dough. Divide the dough into four portions. Take each portion and pound it in a mortar till it becomes smooth and elastic. It takes about fifteen minutes to pound all the four portions. Keep them covered for about five minutes. Take one portion and pinch off equal sized balls depending on how big you want the papad to be. I prefer making small sized ones as they are easier to roll out and fry too.
Dust the ball/ pellet with a little flour and roll out the papad as thin as possible. Similarly finish off with the remaining dough. At no point of time the dough should be left uncovered.
Spread a cloth or a plastic sheet and place the rolled out papad on them. Allow to dry thoroughly in strong sun for around four hours. Dry them for a longer time if you are making a large batch and plan to store them.
These papads can be fried or roasted as per preference.
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Bhura Ghee Roti is a sweet, savory dish made with bhura (powdered sugar), ghee and leftover rotis. Haryanvis often indulge in this dish after a meal as dessert.
It took me back to my childhood days when Amma would roast chapati with ghee and top it with sugar…. We would tuck into it before the sugar could melt…. The slight crunch of sugar, the fragrance of home made ghee ……Nirvana!
In Bhura ghee roti, a generous amount of ghee is applied over the leftover Roti and it is sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Posting the link to the roti/ chapati. Just sprinkle powdered sugar on it and enjoy it.
Sirka pyaz or onions in vinegar are common at any hotel in North India. The trend has caught up in the other states of India as well.
Though this cannot be termed as a pickle per se, no meal is complete without onions and green chillies in North India.
The onions are steeped in vinegar to soften the sharpness. The vinegar too lends its sourness to them. Absolutely delicious!
Ingredients:
½ cup water
1/4 of a beetroot cubed
1 tsp sugar
2-3 cloves
1 inch piece of cinnamon stick
1 cup peeled pearl onions/ shallots
1 cup white/ synthetic vinegar
2 teaspoons salt.
Method:
Pour the water into a pan. Add the beetroot, sugar, cloves and cinnamon to it. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer the mixture for about 2-3 minutes. Allow to cool thoroughly. Tip the pearl onions into a glass jar. Pour the white vinegar, salt and the cooled water mixture over the onions and stir gently. Tightly cap the jar and refrigerate it. Use the onions after a day for up to ten days.
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