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Chhola Dab^al For AlifBe ~ 16

Alka Keswani — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 08:25:12 +0000

Chhola /Charaan i.e Kabuli Chana curry is a very popular dish in Sindhi cuisine and it is often had with rice, roti as well as with sliced bread and Pao (laadi paav) too. Sindhi style Chole (Chhole in Roman Sindhi) are made in basic onion tomato gravy style, though many cook it in just tomato gravy. No tea leaves are used (to give color) and also, traditionally, no chole masala (spice mix) is added. The curry gets its flavors from whole spices like Kamaal patt (Tej Patta), vadho photo (Black Cardamom) etc while tomatoes and tamarind (optional) provide tanginess. Few crushed chana render thickness to the gravy and the garam masala powder pushes the flavors a few notches up! In Sindhi populated areas, Chaap chhola (Patties with Chole) and Chhola Dab^al are two of the most famous street foods and while patties chole are generally had as an evening snack, Chhola dab^al on the other hand is had for breakfast. Chhola is a curry made using Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) while dab^al in Sindhi refers to bread ( sliced bread, pao etc). It is also known as dab^al Roti or Dab^roti in Sindhi. Simply put, Chhola Dab^al is bread topped with chickpeas curry and garnished with chutney, sliced onions and sev (Nylon sev). Gupta ji Chole waala, opposite Satramdas hospital in Ulhasnagar was famous for his Chhola dab^al as well as falooda. His cart had a stove with a large aluminum container, filled with dense spicy garbanzo curry, arranged on the outer sides of the container. The centre of the container was intermittently filled with soupy gravy and a portion of dense curry (with beans) was then mixed with it and allowed to simmer for a while. Few chunks of pao were then immersed in the simmering curry, scooped out and placed in a takeaway container, topped with some gravy and beans, chunks of cooked potato, chutney and spice mix (a trade secret), some coriander leaves and nylon sev for the garnish. The hearty breakfast was often had on lazy winter Sunday mornings and it used to be my (late) mother’s favorite. Somehow I never developed a liking for it! If you have been tracking the AlifBe series, you may have got a hint by now. Yes, we are at the 16th letter of Sindhi Alphabet and it is ڇ or ‘Chh’ as in Chhattisgarh, in Roman Sindhi while छ in Devanagari. And no marks for guessing that the Sindhi dish starting with ڇ is Chhola Dab^al ! To check step by step pics of assembling Chhola Dabhal, please watch this video! Dab^al or bread was had by Sindhis even in the pre partition era. You can find a reference, in the book We the Sindhis, of a certain Ghanno (name of the vendor) Pakorai (one who sells pakore or fritters) in Jhuremalani Ghitti (street) in Sindh (Now in Pakistan) before partition, who was immensely popular for his Beehu (lotus stem) and ras mein dabroti or the bread in gravy. Also every Sindhi must be aware of the song ‘Dal Chola Dab^al’ from the movie Abana, the Sindhi movie released in the year 1958 in which the veteran actress Late Sadhana Shivdasani played a second lead role. So you see, Sindhis have been relishing this street food much before the Vada pav, Bombay Sandwich and Pavbhaji became the popular snacks featuring the bread. The recipe of Chhola Dab^al is as follows: Print Chhola Dab^al For AlifBe ~ 16 Rating 5.0 from 1 reviews Chickpeas curry topped over laadi pao and garnished with chutney, onion slices and sev. Ingredients 200 gm Kabuli chana 2 large onions, finely chopped 3 tomatoes, grated 2 green chillies 3 cloves of garlic and 1 inch piece of ginger, pounded 1+1 Tej patta * 1+1 Black Cardamom* 1 inch piece of Cinnamon ½ tsp Turmeric powder ½ tsp red chilli powder (or according to taste) 2 tsp coriander powder 1 tsp Garam masala ( or you can use Chole masala) Oil 2 tbsp Salt Two small potatoes, cut in chunks (Optional) To assemble Chola Dabhal (1 small serving) 1 Pao ( laadi pav) A cup of Chole curry 2 tsp Green chutney (Mint coriander) Handful of Nylon sev Fresh coriander leaves to garnish Some lemon juice or 1 tsp of tamarind water Some slices of onion Method Pick, rinse Kabuli chana few times, with water and soak overnight. Drain and add soaked chana to a pressure cooker and pour water to submerge chana completely. Add salt, 1 tejpatta* and a black cardamom * and close the lid of pressure cooker. Put it on the flame. Cook for two whistles and put off the gas. When pressure subsides, drain boiled chana and reserve the water. Do not throw away the water. Now in the pressure cooker, pour 2 tbsp of oil and add 1 tejpatta *, cinnamon and a black cardamom*. Add pounded ginger garlic. Cook for a minute and then add finely chopped onions. On medium to low flame keep cooking onions till nice brown. Do not increase the flame. Add turmeric powder and chilli powder and chopped green chillies. Immediately add drained boiled chana (Please note: Pre boiling chana is an optional step. I boil it if I am not sure about how fresh the stock is. You can skip pre boiling and use raw soaked chana at this stage). Add grated tomatoes and some salt (remember there is salt in reserved water too), coriander powder and keep cooking on high flame, mixing intermittently till oil separates out. Add the reserved water (if you have boiled chana) or hot water ( if you are using raw soaked chana) and make sure that the chole are completely submerged in water. If using potatoes, add it at this stage. Mash some chana to thicken the gravy. Add some chopped coriander leaves, garam masala powder and close the lid. After a whistle, put the flame on minimum and let chole cook under pressure for 12-15 minutes. To make Chhola Dabhal, tear off Pao in big chunks in a serving plate or bowl and pour Chhole (the curry), garnish with some chutney, onion slices, lemon juice or tamarind water and nylon sev. Serve/eat immediately! 3.5.3251

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Thumaro For AlifBe~7

Alka Keswani — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 16:37:49 +0000

The 7th Consonant in AlifBe i.e the Perso-Arabic Sindhi script (Alphabet) is ٿ which is थ in Devanagari while in Roman Sindhi it is written as Th~ i.e by using a Tilde (~) as suffix as we don’t have a corresponding alphabet in English. It is pronounced as Th~ as in Thailand,Theory, Thaw, Theatre etc. In Sindhi it is taught as ٿ for Thumbo/Thambo i.e a Pillar! And a dish starting with Th~ is a special one! It is something that I often crave for when I am under weather or when I miss my mother and Aunt K (the favorite aunt of the whole neighborhood I was born and brought up, in). The reason being that Aunt K would often make this for my mother to pep her appetite that she would often lose due to her health issues. Aunt K, a very energetic lady full of enthusiasm and love, was the centre of all the action that ever happened in our humble neighborhood; be it Sarvajanik Ganesh utsav or Tulsi Vivah, Lohri festivities or even the marriage of dolls that the kids would eagerly participate in! Right from planning to execution, she was the one who would be in charge. Never saw her sitting idle even for a moment. She was the Agony aunt , was very protective and also brutally honest when asked for any opinions. She left us too soon!! Unlike in present scenario, life was way different in our old neighborhood. People were not hesitant to borrow a cup of sugar or little of milk, culture for curds (Jaaman) or even utensils/cutlery when there would be some guests at home. Refrigerator was a luxury then and so were the landline phones and hence people would often drop in to ask for some ice in summers (to make sherbet) or even would request to keep their tubs of ice creams/Kulfi in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator of the kind neighbor, a proud owner of those luxuries. A house with a landline connection would often have neighbors dropping in to receive a long distance call from extended family. Neighbors were more like a family then and they would be there for you in your happiness and sorrows, in your mourning and celebrations. No doubt there would be ugly fights sometimes but then the issues were resolved and life would move on! Aunt K was a a fabulous cook and even in the era when there were no cookery shows, no youtube/Facebook videos or blogs, she was the one who would experiment a lot and would cook different dishes from various regional cuisines. She was the one who taught my mom how to make fryums/chips at home, Idli, Dhokla, Upma and many Chhapru style Sindhi dishes too. Yes, Aunt K was a Chhapru Sindhi! The word Chhapru is a short word for Chhappar waara which means the people from mountains! So basically Chhaprus are people who came from mountains to settle around ports/plains/coastal regions. Chhapru Script and the dialect, both are little different from the other Sindhi Scripts/dialects and so are their rituals and customs. Their way of cooking differs slightly and their cuisine has some unique dishes that are lesser known to other Sindhis. One such dish in Thoom Jo Ras, also known as Aur Jo ras or Thumaro, where Thoom/Thum stands for garlic, Aur means Mustard seeds and ras means juice or extract! This garlicky soupy kadhi is made in various ways across the community and the variations are way too many! I am yet to confirm if Thumaro and Aur jo Ras (have already share its recipe on the blog) are variations of one dish or whether these two are different dishes cooked across the different sub castes! So while Aunt K would not add any flour to the Kadhi, Thumaro at many homes is cooked with a base of some flour added to the kadhi. It could be Jowar or Besan, could be sautéed in the beginning or could be added as a paste in the simmering kadhi. The idea is to thicken the kadhi, to add some more nutrition and boost the flavors. The choice of vegetables added to Thumaro varies from home to home but then certain ingredients like garlic, mustard seeds, potatoes, radish etc are mandatory. Raw dough balls flavored with garlic, chili powder and salt are most savored in this kadhi and while Aunt K would use Besan to make dough dalls, one can use Jowar flour too. The souring agents could be tamarind pulp, amchoor, dried raw mango slices or even tomatoes or combination of any two of the above mentioned! Print Thumaro Rating 5.0 from 2 reviews Thumaro is a garlic based kadhi Ingredients Garlic -1 whole pod Fresh green garlic (4-5 stalks with bulbs) Green chillies 2-3 Mustard seeds 2 tsp Tamarind pulp 2-3 tsp (more or less as per your taste) Sliced or cubed vegetables like Radish and Potato (I used 2 potatoes and one small Radish) Jowar flour 1tbsp Gram flour- 1 cup Red chilly powder ½ tsp Oil 2 tsp Water, a litre or more Coriander leaves for garnishing Method Pound peeled garlic cloves and fresh garlic. Save 2-3 tsp for besan dumplings/rolls and use the rest of pounded garlic (including fresh garlic) in kadhi. In a bowl take 1 tbsp of Jowar flour and gradually add some water, mixing it well to assure no lumps are formed. In a pan or a sipri, heat around 2 tsp of oil and add mustard seeds and allow to crackle. Add pounded garlic and saute till aromatic. Do not let the garlic burn. Add sliced radish and potato chunks and add the jowar flour paste, turmeric, chopped chillies and about a litre of water Add tamarind pulp, salt and let it boil for few minutes on high flame. Lower the flame and let the kadhi simmer. Meanwhile add some salt, some crushed garlic that you have set aside for besan dumplings and some red chilly powder to the gram flour and knead a stiff dough using little water. You can use jowar flour instead but I prefer besan here. Make small oblong rolls of this dough (yields 6-7 rolls) and drop them in the simmering kadhi. Cook until potato and besan rolls are cooked from the center (anywhere between 20-30 minutes Add water if required! This kadhi is of dilute consistency. Adjust the seasoning. Garnish with some chopped coriander leaves and enjoy it as a soup to warm yourself or pour it over some Khichdi or rice and have a hearty meal 3.5.3251 To understand and learn the formation of Sindhi alphabets, kindly refer the video shared! While I was making Thumaro I was reminded of another favorite of mine that Aunt K would cook whenever green garlic was in season. Honestly speaking I couldn’t remember the name of the dish but suddenly when someone mentioned and described the dish, all the memories came gushing in and I couldn’t help but recreate the dish! Do let me know if you are hungry for another Chhapru style dish made using green garlic as a star ingredient, and I will share the recipe. Else I will move to the next alphabet! Do comment and share your views/suggestions/recipes and food pics! I shall wait for your inputs!

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