Besan Ji Aani For Alif Be~2

#Alif Be of Sindhi Food~2
The second alphabet of Arabic Sindhi is ب as B in Baby!
As mentioned in the previous post, the Sindhi alphabet is divisible into 16 basic shape groups. In the first shape group we have just one alphabet ا i.e ‘A’!

In the second shape group there are 9 alphabets with similar basic shapes, followed by two more alphabets that are similar to some extent. And yet each alphabet is unique because of the position and number of dot/s in each alphabet.

So the 1st alphabet of this group, which is the second alphabet of Alifbe is ب or B as in Baby and in Sindhi we are taught as ب for Badak (Badak is duck in Sindhi).
Since many are not aware about the formation of Sindhi alphabets, I am sharing a small video about how to form letters or write in Sindhi. Please do check this video:

So a Sindhi dish for ب is Besan Ji Aani.

Aani in Sindhi refers to fish roe or fish eggs. Sindhis living along the Sindhu river were blessed to find fish roe in abundance and they would either season it with spices and fry it or would mix it with gram flour and spices and make pakora or tikki using those sac enclosed eggs. The fried aani were then added to gravy (i.e Ras) or cooked on a bed of chopped onions and tomatoes, in a pan to make Aani basar (Basar=Onions in Sindhi) also known Aani Seyal.

Over a period of time, the dispersed Sindhi Community found it hard to fetch fresh roe in their part of the world and also many Sindhis turned vegetarian after they started following different spiritual leaders. So instead of mixing fish eggs with besan to make pakora or tikki, they would add khuskhus (Poppy seeds) or even sooji (Semolina) to mimic the texture of fish egg pakora.

These besan tikkis were then fried and cooked in the same way as Aani basar and hence now we call the vegetarian version as Besan Ji Aani/ Besan Tikki basar/ Besan Aani Seyal etc.  

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Besan Ji Aani For Alif Be~2

Gramflour tikkis cooked in onion tomato base

Ingredients

For Besan Tikki

• Gram Flour 2 Cups
• Khuskhus (poppy seeds, soaked for 1-2 hours and strained) 2 tsp
• Green chillies 3, finely chopped
• Crushed dry Pomegranate seeds (anardana) 1tsp
• Whole coriander seeds 2 tsp
• Coriander leaves, 4-5 sprigs
• Turmeric powder ¼ tsp
• Oil 3-4 tsp/Ghee 2-3 tsp
• Salt as per taste
• Water to knead a stiff dough
• Oil to fry Aani

For Onion Tomato base

• Onions 3 - 4
• Tomatoes 2
• Turmeric powder ¼ tsp
• Coriander powder 1 heaped tsp
• Garam masala powder ¼ tsp
• Green chillies 2 or more
• Ginger 1”
• Oil 1 tbsp

Method

1. To 2 cups of gram flour add salt, khus khus, green chillies, oil, turmeric powder and mix everything well.
2. Adding very little quantity of water at a time, knead a hard but manageable dough.On a greased surface, place the dough and make a long cylindrical roll and then flatten it.
3. Cut the roll into approx. 3-4 inch long pieces.Alternately, you can just make small tikkis by patting a portion of dough between your palms.
4. In a frying pan, heat sufficient amount of oil and deep fry the tikkis, in batches, on medium to low flame, til light golden brown. Drain on tissue paper or kitchen towel.
5. Empty the pan but leave behind a tbsp of oil. Add sliced or chopped onions (don't chop very finely), ginger and chillies and cook till onions turn soft/pink (don’t let the onions caramelise).
6. Add chopped tomatoes and salt and cook on medium flame for 2 minutes. Lower the flame and cover the pan.
7. Add dry spices (except garam masala) and mix well.
8. Sprinkle some water if the mix tends to stick to the bottom of the pan.
9. When tomatoes are slightly cooked, add fried tikkis and mix gently.
10. Add 2-3 spoons of water and cover the pan with a lid and put some weight on the lid.
11. Gently mix the subzi intermittently and sprinkle some more water if needed. Cook till oil leaves the mix.
12. Sprinkle some garam masala and fresh coriander leaves and cook on low flame for a few more minutes.
13. Serve it with freshly made rotis or phulka.

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