Peanuts roasted in sand – a great Bombay snack.
My mother, after lecturing once every week on philosophy at one of the University of Bombay locations would bring back several cones (rolled in newspaper sheets) at my absolute insistence. No peanuts, no philosophy was my teenage cry
They were perfect: salty, exquisitely crunchy (and, if my mother’s timing was right on the 123 bus home, still warm).
BLACK MASALA KICHIDI
https://www.bawarchi.com/recipe/black-masala-kichidi-oerxPRchhacib.html
We have lingering gray skies on this windy, cool day. A comfort food day. I decided to make this kichidi recipe in part because I have a stash of black masala now, but also because I had potato on my mind from the potato thread. I deviated from the directions by giving the green moong dal and potatoes a 20 minute head start from the rest of the dal and rice. Then I let everything rest for about 20 minutes when done on the stovetop. I think I would add a touch more water next time, but the flavors in this are great! And, it’s going to be breakfast or lunch for the rest of the week.
Yum! (Recommend something crunchy like papad or potato chips as an accompaniment for any khichdi!)
Oh yeah! (Also: potato chips.)
You can microwave those papads, btw (though I prefer the char of roasting over the gas, you have to be careful when you’re doing that not to get too burnt an outcome).
Hmmm… I don’t have gas, but would they do ok under a well tended broiler? I do have a microwave though.
Toaster oven also works. Try the microwave first, keep an eye on it starting at 20 seconds.
Our toaster is a slot one, so I will be trying the microwave! Thanks!
Our toaster oven has an airfry setting that works very well on papad. And, philistine that I am, I also like 'em deep fried.
To pick up on the pattice discussion upthread, I tried my hand at reproducing the chicken pattice of my youth (from the Ratan Tata Institute, also discussed above – although other places probably had other versions). I dug around a bit on the Internet and also consulted Niloufer Ichaporia King, the author of “My Bombay Kitchen”, an Internet acquaintance. Loosely based on all this, I sauteed a very finely chopped shallot, microplaned in some ginger and garlic, sprinkled with flour, then added light cream to make a white sauce. Added a little ajwain, and copious grindings of both fermented-white and black pepper then added diced chicken thighs and let it simmer til the chicken was cooked.
I chickened out with the pastry and used Pepperidge Farm puff pastry shells. (I’ve made puff pastry in my youth, but those days of buttering and folding and chilling again and again are long gone.) The end result was not outstanding (for one thing the Pepperidge Farm pastry was not as crunchy and flaky as needed), but it was passable. I ate all six (nobody else at home is a fan) in 2 days.
After wandering on the fringes of Maharashtrian cooking with my pattice above, I returned to the center with shira (called sooji halwa, among other things, elsewhere in India) for tea yesterday. Shira can be made as plain as you like (with water, and few flavorings) or as rich. I opted for ultra-rich, roasting semolina in a generous amount of ghee till it was nutty and had taken on color, then added some plumped golden raisins, a tiny pinch of salt, and hot, saffron-thread infused light cream a little at a time, stirring to avoid clumping, till the semolina was cooked. Added sugar, stirred, sprinkled freshly ground cardamom, stirred, and turned off heat. Garnished with slivered nuts.
Leafing through my copy of Pangat (a Maharashtrian cookbook mentioned upthread), I made a couple of things for dinner tonight loosely inspired by recipes there. One was a largely potato dish, with the addition of a few baby spinach leaves that were about to turn, some frozen peas I needed to finish and some dried methi (fenugreek) leaves. The potatoes were spiced with a pretty standard tempering of mustard seeds, curry leaves, turmeric and salt, with the added suggestion from Pangat of a coconut-greenchili-ginger-cumin paste folded in. Garnished with chopped cilantro. Very tasty.
I also made an unusual version of pithla (a better transliteration might be pithluh), using milk instead of water. Pithluh, at its most basic, is besan (gram flour) cooked in water till it has a consistency that can range from thin to cement. The flavorings vary but it is usually spicy. Using Pangat as a guide I sizzled cumin seeds in ghee, then added shredded coconut, asafoetida, chili powder, turmeric and salt, stirred in the flour then added hot milk in a thin stream. Left it to bubble gently till the flour was cooked. Topped each hot serving with a tsp of ghee and sprinkled with coconut.
ETA: Ate both with my go-to chapati sub: flour tortillas warmed (and slightly charred) on a gas flame.
BHARLI WANGI
Stuffed baby eggplants with coconut and tamarind
This is another Marathi recipe from Indian Kitchen by Maunika Gowardhan. You make a paste from peanuts, coconut, cilantro, toasted coriander seeds, garlic, chile powder, tamarind, sugar, and a little water and then stuff it into baby eggplants that have been split into quarters but not cut all the way through at the stem. The eggplants are fried briefly in oil and then removed. The remainder of the paste is fried in the pan with split green chiles for a bit, water added, and then the eggplants returned to simmer until soft. Add salt to taste. Garnish with more cilantro and desiccated coconut.
I think my eggplants were bigger than the ones she used in the book, so I ended up cooking them in the sauce for about 35 minutes total (I carefully flipped them about halfway through). Otherwise, I followed the recipe pretty much as written. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the sauce thickened up, because at the 15 minute mark it was very loose. This recipe serves 4, so I am very much looking forward to leftovers later this week!
I want this but don’t want to take the trouble make it!
Maybe I’m just exhausted from making Shrimp Summer Rolls and hand pies!
That looks glorious.
I made it in stages over the course of the afternoon, which helped. But, I get it!
Nicely done - looks great!
(I don’t eat eggplant, but that stuffing is great in any stuffable vegetable - potato and onion are my favorite, okra and long peppers are good, but really anything)
VAAL CHI DAL (aka Vaalacha Bhirda / Vaalachi Usal / Dalimbi Usal / Sprouted Field Beans in Coconut Curry)
This is one of my favorite dishes, but the hurdle to eating it is procuring the sprouted beans (for eg, my aunts who live in a different city have this as an agenda item when they visit). This week I had to run errands that took me near one of the “sprouts ladies” – literally, ladies at the vegetable market who sell a variety of sprouted beans and nothing else 
In looking for a recipe similar to ours, I came across a video of how to sprout these beans at home, so maybe I will try one of these days when the ready ones aren’t available (though it’s almost as annoying as peeling favas, because the skins have to removed from the sprouts before using them 
).
The gravy here is a delicious green one – cilantro, green chillies, fresh coconut.
We ate them in a common combination, with kadhi (yogurt-based gravy / soup / in place of dal). There was also cabbage just for a vegetable. Sometimes we’ll just make this as a 1-dish meal, but then you need a lot more beans! (And it’s harder on the digestive system – these beans are considered “heavy”.)
This recipe is pretty close to what we make at home, except that we use ginger in the paste, and half cook the gravy before adding the beans.
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I prefer these to the huge, ungainly, doughy tetrahedrons you usually find.
I like potatoes and peas in them, but they are hard to find, especially without a ton of chillies. Have to make my own. I wonder if wonton wrappers would be better than phyllo.
Thank you! I can absolutely see doing this again as we head into cooler weather. I think BF would really enjoy this with potato or long peppers too. I noticed most of the on line versions of this were a bit more complex in the sauce and often also included goda masala in stuffing. I have them bookmarked to return too in future endeavors!
