arq Archives | Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes

A to Z Of Sindhi Food

Alka Keswani — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 13:46:01 +0000

When I started working on my project about documenting ancient, traditional as well as lost recipes from Sindhi cuisine, a few years ago, the biggest challenge I faced was the lack of accessible information about the same. The limited documents that I could access, were in Arabic Sindhi, a script that I never could learn, despite of trying umpteen number of times, since my childhood. I felt stuck up. So the only way to move forward was to learn the Arabic script and to make sure that I don’t give up this time, I took up a challenge; The AlifBe of Sindhi cuisine i.e A-Z of Sindhi food. You can read more about this project here! It was a roller coaster ride and I ain’t exaggerating! The challenges I faced while trying to understand the basics of the scripts, the consonants (52 alphabets!!!!), the vowels, the formation of alphabets, the corresponding alphabets in Devanagari and Roman Sindhi, to find apt dishes, the recipes etc were immense and as if the stress was not enough, I took a plunge and started creating recipe videos too despite of knowing that I will have to learn shooting a video, to manage recording and cooking at the same time, to edit the video (biggest challenge) and to publish it, on my own.I was a nut case! Though I did end up taking a lot of help from my better half but still I managed to pull most of the things on my own. I feel accomplished! I am still not well versed with the script as the word formation is bit difficult to understand unless you are able to remember how each alphabet appears in any word depending on its position in the word. For Example look at the جهہ (Jh/झ) and its various avatars… I need to put more efforts to learn, to memorise and to understand the nuances of the language and the script but I am feeling hopeful! I cannot move ahead without thanking those who played an important part in this project of mine! A big thank you to Shobha Lalchandani Di, Barkha Khushalani Di, Amrita Lal, Surraya Kapri and Deepak Keswani for being always there to help me understand the script, to clear my doubts and to encourage me to keep marching on. Thank you Asha Chand Di, for your ‘Learn Sindhi’ App as it helped me in practising the alphabets in a fun way. Thank you Deepak Keswani, yet again, for creating easy to use Sindhi Dictionary and Sindhi Keyboard Winding up the project AlifBe with this handy, easy to refer list of all the dishes. Do click on the links provided, to get the recipe. Please note that out of 52 alphabets of Alif Be (The Arabic Sindhi script) I had to skip three alphabets; ظ ,ح ,ث since I couldn’t find any Vegetarian Sindhi dish with the names starting with these particular alphabets. So here we go!!! A to Z of Sindhi Food (AlifBe of Sindhi food): ا (अ/A) as inAhmedabad or as in Atte Ja Ladoon ب (ब/B) as in Baby or as in Besan Ji Aani ٻ (B^) as in B^aaru (child) or as in B^itto Lolo پ (प/P) as in Parrot or P as in Pali ڀ (भ/Bh) as in Bharat or as in Bheendi Khatti ت (त/T~) as in Taiwan or as in Tosha ٿ (थ/Th~) as in Thirsty or as in Thumaro ٽ (ट/Tt) as in Towel or as in Tamate Ji Chutney ٺ (ठ/Th) as in Thakur or as in Thab^ak Vadiyun ث (स/S) as in Simple or as in Saandhano ج (ज/J) as in Japan or as in Jwar Ji Tikki ڄ (ॼ/J^) as in J^ibh or as in J^eth Ji Sesa جهہ (झ/jh) made by combining ج ( J) and ھ (h) as in Jhansi or as in Jhang Pulao ڃ (ञ/J~) as in J^aj`a Ji Roti چ (च/Ch) as in Chair or as in Chetichand Ji Sesa ڇ (छ/Chh) as in Chhattisgarh or as inChhola Dabhal خ (ख़/Khh) as in Khalifa or as in Khhoraak د (द/D~) as in Dehradun or as in Dal Dimma ڌ (ध/Dh~) as in Dharamshala or as in Dhaage Waara Karela ڏ (ड/D^) as in D^aha (Ten in Sindhi) or as in D^othiyun ڊ (ड/D) as in Daddy or as in Dabal Pakora ڍ (ढ/Dh) as in Dhaka or as in Dhodho Chatni ذ (ज़/Z) as in Zaro or as in Kagzi Lemon Pickle ر (र/R) as in Rajasthan or as in Raanh ڙ (ड़/R^) as in लड़का, पेड़, लड़ाई or as in Rabdi ز (ज़/Z) as in Zanzeer or as in Zaefrani Kulfi ش (श/Sh) as in Shimla or as in Sharbat ص (स/S) as in Summer or as in Misri ض (ज़/Z) as in Zaroor or as in Zaroori Masalha ط (त/T~) as in Tara or as in Ta’am ع (अ/A) as in Arab or as in Arq غ (ग़/G̣) as in Gazal or as in Magaz Ja Ladoo ف (फ़/F) as in Faluda or as in Faludo ڦ (फ/Ph) as in Phone or as in Phepho Mirch ق (क़/Q) as in Qatar or as in Qeeme Jo Lolo ڪ (क/K) as in Kashmir or as in Kokum Waari Dal ک (ख/Kh) as in Khajoor or as in Khoyo گ (ग/G) as in Ganga or as in Gyarsi Khado ڳ (ग्/G^) as in G^aaro (Red) or as in G^ach For Mahalaxmi گهہ (घ/Gh) as in Ghee or as in Ghotyal Saag^ ڱ (ङ/ng/G~) as in Singing or as in Singyun Tamate Mein ل (ल/L) as in Love or as in Lor^h م (म/M) as in Mithai or as in Majoon Barfi ن (न/N) as in Nagpur or as in Nasarpuri Seyal Bhaji ڻ (ण/N~) as in Brahman or as in Batan Papdi Chaat و (व/V) as in Varanasi or as in Vataran Ji Lilotari ھ (ह/H) as in Haridwar or as in Hurbe Jeere Mein Patata ء (अ/A/Hamzo/Amdhro) as in Mau or as in Gogrun Ji Khatain ي (य/Y) as in Yam or as in Viyam Ja Khaada

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Arq For AlifBe of Sindhi Food~31

Alka Keswani — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 04:37:11 +0000

Ideally we should be talking about ظ ( ज़/Z) as the 31st Consonant in AlifBe series but I couldn’t think of any Sindhi dish starting with this particular ‘Z’. For the uninitiated, there are 4 variants of ‘Z’ in Arabic Sindhi script; ذ as in Zaro (Little ), (ज़/Z) or as in Kagzi lemon Pickle ز as in Zanzeer (Chain/shackles) (ज़/Z) or as in Zaefrani Kulfi ض as in Zaeef (Feeble) (ज़/Z) or as in Zaroori Masalha and ظ as in Zalim (cruel/merciless) (ज़/Z). Kindly note that all the above mentioned consonants are represented by ‘ ज़ ‘in Devanagari and by ‘Z‘ in Roman Sindhi (due to lack of corresponding letters ) but will vary in Arabic Sindhi. So I am skipping this one and moving on to the next consonant and it is ع in Arabic Sindhi, अ in Devanagari while in Roman Sindhi it is ‘A‘ as in Aks (Image or Reflection). In Arabic Sindhi script there are 3 variants of ‘A’ (oh yes! deal with it!); ع named Ayn (Ainu) and it is used in words that are of non Sindhi origin (eg. Ainak) ا Remember Alif? the first letter of Sindhi AlifBe? It is used in words of Sindhi origin but only when the word begins with ‘A’. eg. Atte Ja ladoo ء this too is used in the words of Sindhi origin but it occurs in the middle or at the end of the word and not in the beginning. Since ع is used in words of non Sindhi origin, there is no Sindhi dish with a name starting with ع . But instead of skipping I chose to talk about Arq (Arqu), a Unani as well as Ayurveda style herbal distillate. Growing up as a kid in late seventies or early eighties in a small town, I barely remember people visiting a Doctor for general health issues. Cold and cough was treated at home with a Kaadha (strained water of boiled herbs) or maybe with a spoonful of honey and brandy. The colicky infants were given an extra pinch of regular ‘Chaato‘, the kids in school would play or do exercise (Remember those P.T schedules?) in the open ground in sunlight, the elderly would read newspapers or clean the vegetables or pick the grains in the veranda soaking up the blessings of the Sun. Every family would have a favorite Vaid who would be well versed with the family history of ailments and who would check the ‘Naadi’ (pulse) and hand over the herbal concoctions without depending on the battery of blood tests or scans. Of course the modern medicine and pathology labs are life saviours in many cases but here I am talking about the old times. I remember that for the seasonal skin allergies, we used to visit a person named ‘Kotu’ who would look at the rashes and then would scoop out a mix of ‘Malham‘ or Balm/ointments of shades varying from pink to orange and would pack it in an empty matchbox (Gosh!) and it would always work like a charm. And then there were no pink colored gels/syrups consumed for digestive issues in those days. The young and old Sindhis would rely on typical Sindhi stuff i.e pippirmint (a medicated confectionary, the sweet, dark green peppermint syrup) or on the colorless Arq or Chowarki/chauarqi, to be precise! Arq is a popular Unani preparation and is obtained from the distillation of mixed herbs. It could also mean a mix of few different types of Arq, combined in varying proportions to treat a particular health issue. The Chowarki, an Ayurvedic preparation that I am talking about, was meant for digestive issues and it was very common for people in those days to mix a few drops of Arq in a cup of water to treat indigestion, stomach ache, nausea or was even had after an indulgent meal. As the name suggest, chowarki, popular for its carminative properties, is a potent distillate of four herbs namely; Mentha arvensis or peppermint, mostly in dried leaves form Anethum graveolens (Dill seeds) Foeniculum vulgare (Fennel seeds) Trachyspermum ammi (Ajwain/Bishop’s weed) The proportion of each ingredient varies from brand to brand and in some types of Arq, Kasni i.e Chicory, dried rose petals and some other ingredients are also used. The above mentioned ingredients are mixed and a distillate is made either by Hydro distillation (boiled with water) or steam distillation (steam is passed through herbs) method . When the herbs are boiled or steamed the steam carries with it the essential oils of the herbs and that steam is collected via cooler pipes, where the steam condenses and forms a clear liquid with the essential oils floating on top. The Arq, generally, is the hydrosol (condensed steam) but could be the one with copious amounts of volatile compounds/essential oils or water soluble vitamins depending on the types of ingredients used. You can read about similar process in my Peppermint candy post (Jwar Ji Tikki), or in the Sharbat post! I am unable to recollect the brand that was very commonly used till few decades ago (Was it 4bottle?) but thanks to my younger sister I was able to find one local brand that my father used to consume while he was around. I could buy it online thanks to this amazing website called SindhiPapad.online (sadly the website link couldn’t be shared on any social media handle and the site owners are looking into the matter). This particular brand is not Chowarki I guess, as the content list mentions only 3 herbs but it is still very effective and comparatively safer than non herbal options. Check this small video or do connect with me on Instagram, to know about all the stuff that I purchased from SindhiPapad.online (Nostalgia alert!!!) And well, no recipe this time since one needs to have specific apparatus to make Arq. You can boil the ingredients in water and strain it to consume it but then it will be more like a concoction than Arq. And as always, I am winding up this post with a small video about how to write each Sindhi consonant! Do share the videos and subscribe to my channel if you find the videos helpful in learning Arabic Sindhi script!

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