Thoom Ja Vada~ Fresh Green Garlic Patty

Alka Keswani — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 13:47:46 +0000

In my last post, when I shared some of my memories about Aunt K, a Chhapru Sindhi in our old neighbourhood along with her recipe of Thumaro, I was not sure if I would share another recipe starting with the same alphabet ٿ or Th~ since I am picking only one recipe per Sindhi Alphabet. But I couldn’t resist this one as this is a seasonal dish and the green garlic, the star ingredient here, is just about to disappear from the markets. So a wise person will make hay while the sun shines and a foodie like me would make Thum Ja vada (Green Garlic patty/vada) while the fresh garlic is still available. The credit for this dish goes to Hitesh Rajai who not only briefs me about lesser known Sindhi dishes, but who, very generously keep sending me ingredients that are not available around my home like Khumbyun or specialities of his region, like Bhavnagri Mirchi and Ambh Adhu etc. He kept telling me about Thum Ja vada but I was unable to recollect any such dish and I kept asking for the recipe hoping that I would be able to understand what he is talking about. Few days ago he shared pics of Thum Ja Vada that were made at his home and reminded me to make those before the green garlic season gets over.One look at the picture of Vada and I was instantly reminded of those that Aunt K (Can refer my previous post about her) had made a few times, while she was around, many many years ago! He got stuck up with some issues and is yet to share detailed recipe but since I had to use the green garlic before it wilted, I quickly made the vada. I am not sure if I made these the way they are supposed to be made, but man! these were damn good! Here is how Hitesh explained me the recipe…”Pound green garlic (don’t blend in a mixie jar), mix salt, besan/atta, chillies, shape it and fry”! Shall update the precise recipe or a variation if any, once I am able to connect with Hitesh’s Mother! And he also gave me a list of other dishes made using green garlic/garlic, some of which I have never heard of ! I am chewing Hitesh’s brains to pass on the recipes to me, asap! He told me that Rajai, Ladai and Chhapru Sindhis use garlic/green garlic more than the rest of the Sindhis. Well, I love garlic too and particularly the green garlic, which is one of my favourite ingredients to cook with! Till I share his version, do try this recipe of Thum Ja vada if you are fond of fresh garlic. Print Thoom Jo Vado~ Fresh Green Garlic Patty Pounded green garlic patty, a winter blessing! Ingredients 15 stalks of fresh green garlic, with bulbs 4-5 green chillies (or as per taste) Half cup of coriander leaves 1 tsp of Dried pomegranate seeds ½ tsp of Amchoor powder 2 tsp of Whole wheat flour* 2 tsp of Gramflour (Chickpeaflour/Besan)* Salt as per taste Oil for frying Method Rinse well with water and cut off any wilted or pale portions of green garlic. Chop garlic bulbs and stalks, green chillies and coriander leaves. In a mortar pestle pound above mentioned ingredients, a handful at a time (in batches) till a coarse mix is obtained. Collect the pounded mix in a mixing bowl/ large plate. Add Aanardana, amchoor powder, salt and give it a gentle mix. Now add flours (besan as well as whole wheat flour) 1 tsp at a time and keep mixing. Keep adding flours till you are able to bind and shape the mixture. Remember that the mix should neither be pasty nor too dense. So add flours accordingly. You may need more or need less than above mentioned quantities of the flours. This is something like making manchurian balls, where we use just enough cornflour and maida to bind the mix. Taking small portions of the mix, make flat vada/patty. Repeat for the rest of mixture. Heat oil in a pan/kadai and deep fry the vada/vade/tikki on medium to low flame till well cooked from inside. From the above mentioned quantities of ingredients I got approximately 8 small sized Vada. The texture of Thum Ja vado (plural=vada) is mildly crisp from outside but soft from inside and if not cooked well it will have wet, chewy strings like texture. So fry these on medium to low flame in hot oil. You can serve these with chutney of your choice. I prefer mine with mint coriander chutney! Pair it with roti or have it with bread or just relish it like a snack! 3.5.3251 Do you make Thum Ja vada? If yes, please share your recipe in comments section. Thanks in advance!

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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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Thoom Ja Vada~ Fresh Green Garlic Patty

Thumaro For AlifBe~7