I thought life will be bit easier as soon as summer vacation of my kid will begin, but no luck as such ! With scorching heat outside and not many amusements inside home, my kid is as bored as myself. For how much time could one remain occupied with indoor games and Idiot box ? So now though I am not worried about what to pack for his lunch and drop and pick up from his school, I am constantly pondering over how to keep him fruitfully occupied. Any ideas(except sending him for any summer classes)??
Well now coming to today’s recipe, this Aani ji bhaji is a typical Sindhi style dish, made from the fried Tikkis of gram flour, softened in the onion and tomato base. A very popular dish, this is a favourite of many Sindhis and the fact that it requires the ingredients that are generally available in our kitchens, it is a saving grace when there aren’t much veggies lying in our refrigerator
Here’s how the rolled tikkis look before frying
Besan(Aani) Ji Bhaji~Besan Tikkis in onion base
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 3
Sindhi Style gattey ki subzi, gramflour tikkis cooked in onion base
Ingredients
For Aani (Besan ki 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
- Coriander leaves, 4-5 sprigs
- Turmeric powder ¼ tsp
- Oil 3-4 tsp
- Salt as per taste
- Very small amount of water to knead a stiff dough
- Oil to fry Aani
For Onion Base
- Onions 3 large ones (sliced are preferred but you can chop it too)
- Tomatoes 2 small sized
- 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
- To 2 cups of gram flour add salt, khus khus, green chillies, oil, turmeric powder and mix everything well.
- 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..
- Cut the roll into approx. 3-4 inch long pieces.
- In a frying pan, heat a sufficient amount of oil and deep fry the tikkis, in batches, until light golden brown. Drain on tissue paper or kitchen towel.
- Empty the pan but leave behind 1 tbsp of oil.Add sliced or chopped onions, ginger and chillies and cook till onions till pink (don’t let the onions caramelize).
- Add chopped tomatoes and salt and cook on medium flame for 2 minutes. Lower the flame and cover the pan.
- When tomatoes are mushy, add dry spices (except garam masala) and mix well.
- Sprinkle some water if the mix tends to stick to the bottom of the pan.
- When tomatoes are properly cooked, add fried tikkis and mix carefully so that tikkis don’t crumble.
- Add 2-3 spoons of water and cover the pan with a lid and put some weight on the lid.
- Gently mix the subzi intermittently and sprinkle some more water if needed. Cook till oil leaves the mix.
- Sprinkle some garam masala and fresh coriander leaves and cook on low flame for a few more minutes.
- Serve it with freshly made rotis or phulka.
Want the know why this dish is named Aani? Click here!
Here are some more Sindhi dishes made using Besan (Gramflour)
Find the recipe of Sindhi Kadhi here!
For the recipe of Sindhi Tamate Ji Kadhi, click here!
For the recipe of Sindhi Sanna Pakora, click here
I used to love this speciality dish made by my Dadi when I was young. I soo miss it now that she’s no more with us. My husband has always had this sabzi with a boiled dumpling version instead of the deep fried version. I’m skeptical to try it as I feel besan will remain uncooked… thus hard to digest. Does anybody have any leads?
I tried Anni ki sabzii but unfortunately besan tikkis were bit hard.. I used good amount of oil too in it. Please suggest ASAP.
Dear All
I have tried this recipe Which is in Test Very very Good.
Thanks to you all for Sharing this
Regards
Vandana
Hi Alka,
I was so missing besan ki tikki & mom 🙂 This is what I came saerching for & will make today .. thnx for making my day
Alka , i tried this yesterday.. we love it a lot. Usually I do besan ke gatte often when I saw this just fell in love with this i tried it yest.. came out so good and so tasty.. thanks for sharing this. Alka 🙂
I tried this out….. It turned out to be too yummy…. Thanks Di for wonderful receipe….
Aani ji bhaji is a reminder of what I have missed for many years. I am looking for another dish nade with besan, where thick besan dough is rolled in long cylindrical shape and cut into one inch long pieces. Anyone can post a recipe and the exact name of the dish, it will be much appreciated
I just love this and I would more often eat the fried tikki’s. yumm now I will make this soon need to eat it now
Very instructive and easy to understand even for someone who has never made this dish before.
Hi Alka, I have shared an award with you in my blog.. Pls accept it 🙂
Typical sindhi recipe, brings back the good old days. One of my favorites.
sounds a lot like ghatte ki sabji! Looks lovely!
Looks so pretty. I love anything with besan and we make something along this line called ‘Guli’ (made of besan) and then a coconut based. This look beautiful.
Thank you for introducing me to this dish. This is totally new to me and mouthwatering!
Alka, I just want to eat everything I ever see on your blog, and those besan tikkis are absolutely speaking to me right now! How delicious!
besan tikki looks delicious Alka. THis is new to me. Thanks for sharing
besan ka bhaji is simply delicious!
Fantastic post, Alka! Never heard of this dish and i am so eager to try it out.
Oh wow awesome recipe…..Looks droolworthy…That tomato carving makes it more appetizing…
Wow Alka… Wonderful clicks!! They speak for themselves! 🙂
Dish is sooo new and yum!
Sounds good…looks very nice
bhaji looks yummy… I am waiting for the warm weather here…. had enough of winter…. although spring is here, it is still very cold.. obviously not as cold as it was few weeks ago, but it is still cold….
yum!..:)
hi can u tell me where i can see achar receips like mango achar onion carrot dodi achar as i love to make achar & love to eat it too tks
sharmila
i make white onions for my kids who do not eat spices (since living abroad). i cut the onions first into half stomach side n then again half. so they become quarters. separate them. wash them. put them in a glass jar/bottle. put vinegar, little red food colour, salt n red chilli powder if you want. mix it well n keep it for a day or day. taste it. if need be add little more vinegar. it just tastes yummy to the kids.
hi
can u pls tell me where ican go to see how to make onion (basar ) achar
my mil used to make dhodi acar too but then iwas too youg to learn from her & she have passed on also carrots (gargar ) pickle too if u can forward me the receipes i do appreciate it thanks
sharmila malkani
from usa fl
Your recipes are so new !! This one looks very complicated to me, but the way you have done it shows the great grasp you have over it:D garam garam roti se maaza aa jayega!
my 2 kids have company of one another..so it helps a bit. But for me summer vacation comes, & I am running around with them with extracurriculars!! next week swimming starts for one…
we kind a schedule the day.. .like get up, read or something to do with studies… then they go out & play till it’s not too hot. somedays I set the small play pool outside & a water hose & that keeps them very very busy…
learning games. … word board games with my little one & monopoly, scrabble with DD1, some idiot box to give myself some time.. evening park/bike/walk.. play outdoors.. some more studies or coloring …
there are some cool sites on the web.. free learning games.. math, geography where they get to click on all continents/countries/state & learn. My dd1 loves playing that & learns at the same time.. if u need some links email, me i’ll send them to u.
I also thought that the aani must have the fish roe (fish eggs). And pallo is in season in summer around May in Sindhu Nadi (that is what sindhis call river Indus). Do get the original recipe for aani and share it with us Alka. 🙂
As for keeping your little son occupied well, you can play scrabble, to increase his word power and if he finds it boring, arrange a costume party for his friends (iparty.com has some party themes you can look at to hold an interesting but not too expensive a party).
In the US kids have overnight staying in friends/classmates houses during weekends or holidays, I don’t know if such a thing is feasible in the subcontinent, you might like to explore this idea…
For grown ups I would suggest learn a language. You may want to buy a cd for teaching Sindhi (that is if he doesn’t know how to read and write it already, its a good way to keep in touch with your roots :)).
take care and thanks for such a wonderful effort to promote Sindhi food.
Surrayya
Karachi , Sindh.
The original “Aani” recipe calls for eggs of “Pallo” fish, which was easily available in Sindh and my Papa once said that these fish roe were sold very cheap or even free like we get curry leaves?
Later in India some fish sellers use to throw out these eggs but soon realized that Sindhis make “Aani” from it. Now its difficult to get these eggs unless u have a friend in fish seller?
Real recipe is same as above. Just substitute Khus khus with fish eggs.
Just like chicken tikka has its veg. cousin “Paneer tikka”, same way Aani uses khus khus instead of fish eggs.
Its risky too, to use fish eggs as it takes over 14 hours or more to reach markets?
Safely use khus khus or only fresh fish eggs.
Well I made ani today I am a punjabi married to a Sindhi my husband brought home Palladian n anniversary n I was desperate to know how to make the latter well this is how it goes
Aani comes in 2
Whole onions white 2 prferably
one carrot diced thick
One tinda cut in four one potato into six diagonally
A few French beans
One capsicum
One cup jawar aata made into a paste
Two tablspns rye
6 lassan cloves
Curry leaves a few
Huldi
Red chilly powder two tsp’s
Salt
Now
Heat oil about I tspn I use olive oil cause I am Heath conscious
Inti this u add ur rye let it splutter
Den added garlic curry leaves n green chilled about 3
Added all ur vegetables n stir fry
Add about half alitre of water and give it one boil on fast fire
Add the jowar ka paste and let the veggies cook when almost done add the roe aani m cook for another 5 mins on slow
Well I added Vadi too it too my favorite Amritsar ka
Wows !!!!!wells turned out yummy
Served the same with jowar ki rotiyaan well another secret recipe of how dadi used to make it…….
Please give me feed backs
Sorry it is aani and not aniversary and it is Palla
Hilsa fish
mmmm,…droolin here..u can send him for summer camp,..i am sure there must be somethin for his age,.;-)
“Aani” in Sindhi means eggs of fish (pallo) and normally non-Sindhis do not eat these eggs. In those days fish seller would give it away free but today they know that Sindhis make a recipe out of this and they charge pretty good money (its about rs. 100 per kg.). Where there are no Sindhis these bunch of eggs are thrown away.These eggs are not available throughout the year but only in season. Each egg looks 100%like poppy seed.
Originally in Sindh, Sindhis made the above recipe with fish eggs and not poppy seeds (khus khus). Hence the name “aani ji tikki”. Now vegetarians came to know that this recipe tastes good and they found that khus khus looks like aani and they substituted “aani” with khus khus.
Frankly speaking veg aani tastes better than fish aani, unless you get very good eggs.
I will tell more about this recipe to Alka as I think this is not the original recipe of Sindh ( I may be wrong)
The curry looks so yummy and healthy..This is new to me..Bookmarked.
OMG, those tikkis look awesome and curry adds so much to the tikkis I was bowled by the seeing the dish… About the summer yup you cant let him out nor can you keep him occupied all day with activities at home… Why dont you try and have some day outs at his frenz place that ways he will have company and so will you… you can try some websites for activities – http://www.familyandfun.com... If things work let me know I shall post a few more websites for activites… All the best…
The curry looks really yummy Alka, beautiful photos. And yes, perfect for the day we run out of veggies 🙂
i boil the tikkis. they r more lighter to eat then the fried ones. i make them round. i boil water enought to place all the tikkis. i put them one by one in the boiling water. they take between 10-15 minutes to boil. i then remove them from the water. i use the water in the gravy later on, as hardly any water is left. they taste yummy n light too.
hi alka,
have been following your blog quite a while and have found it immensely useful. The koki’s and methi rotis turned out very good. Have the same question as shivali, what if we just fry the tikis instead of boiling them first? Does it take away from the flavour?
Dish looks tasty and healthy too. I made a Gatte ki curry once, similar to this, love it.
Kids, mine are older, so they play Videos games and yak yak with each other! 😀
You could provide him Origami or chemistry set etc, something interesting to do manually. Boys are not usually interested in reading much.
It is of great taste and only variation is when compare to same made with Auor Rass(Mustard gravy) rather than onions bu being honest it is really nice will never forget when made by Amma and eaten by me a bellyful,Alka ,Bless you for rekindling the memories through your efforts of cullinary skills.
Wow…this looks so good! I have nver heard of it but it looks fantastic! And the steps make it look so easy.
Wow,My Goodness,this much wonderful dish…feast to eyes..really yummy Alka..havent heard of this before..worth to check..Great clicks too
(Reg kid,what i usually do is writing letters between,playing some meaningful game and again ask to write something about nature or talk etc..what more Alka,,we all are helpless at times..)
thanks for such a Wonderful dish . But can We make the gravy more in liquid form and can We omit the boiling part and fry instead ?
This is something like the Rajasthani gatte. Feel like picking one up from that plate Alka! 🙂
Besan based tikkis sounds new….looks delicious!