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Khhoraak for AlifBe ~17

Alka Keswani — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 07:41:35 +0000

Technically the 17th letter of AlifBe or the Sindhi Alphabet is ح i.e ‘H’ but this particular alphabet is not used for words of Sindhi origin (there is another ‘H’in the AlifBe and it will be covered in future post when we will arrive on it) and hence there is no corresponding dish in Sindhi cuisine. So we will jump to next letter which, again, is used to write words of non Sindhi origin but thankfully we have a popular Sindhi dish starting with that letter. Any guesses?? Well, the 17th letter is خ which is ख़ in Devanagari (Kindly note the Nukta or the dot) and ‘Khh’ in Roman Sindhi. Many a times people are unable to differentiate between ख़ (with a dot) and ख (without a dot) and hence use the latter one inappropriately. A word starting with ख़ is Khalifa as in Burj Khalifa. In Roman Sindhi it is Burj Khhalifa and बुर्ज ख़लीफ़ा in Devanagari ! And a Sindhi dish starting with this letter is Khhoraak! It probably comes from the word Khhoraak or Khhurak i.e a diet (portion of food). Khorak also means a dose of medicine. A small portion of this sweet is good enough to have for a meal with milk (breakfast) and it provides good immunity and nourishment hence the word Khorak is well justified for this sweet. Khhoraak Khhoraak or Khorak as many call it, is a traditional Sindhi sweet made exclusively in winters. It is also popularly made for new mothers as a part of post natal care wherein the new mother is fed with healthy, nutritious food. Since Khhoraak is made using plenty of dry fruits/nuts, ghee and Khaun (edible gum) it is also considered very beneficial for lactating mothers. Sindhis do not consume this sweet in summers since it could lead to heat production in the body and hence I was reluctant to make this. There were no enough nuts in the pantry nor any poppy seeds and since the lockdown (from March 2020) we do not venture out or call in for home deliveries until inevitable. Also from past many days, I have been experiencing moments of (emotional) meltdown thinking of all those near and dear ones fighting with the deadly virus and about all those who succumbed to the disease. Losing a dear friend, Chef Dinesh Keswani was yet another blow and things got more difficult to deal with. I am still struggling to absorb all that is happening around and I know that most of us are going through the hard times, physically, financially and emotionally. So the thought of cooking anything festive or rich in such a scenario felt stupid and inconsiderate and I was actually on the verge of giving up the AlifBe series. But then I needed something to keep me occupied, something to distract me from the chaos around, something that can help to calm down my nerves, to push me out of the bed, to temporarily stop thinking about all the conversations happening over social media with friends as well as strangers, madly seeking help to deal with the crisis. Strangely, I often find cooking therapeutic and sometimes it does help me to gain control over the overwhelming emotions! I don’t know how far I can carry on with this series since circumstances are so unfavourable. Not only I feel emotionally drained out but also the lack of resources to procure required ingredients is slowing down the pace of AlifBe series. And I am in no mood to go out of the way to hunt for the required ingredients. But I will keep marching on, till I can! Coming back to Khhoraak: Khhoraak is a winter delicacy made from whole wheat flour, ghee, nuts, poppy seeds and edible gum. The texture of Khhorak is generally soft crunchy or brittle but it totally depends on the quantities of fat (ghee) and edible gum used. If you use less ghee or gum it will turn out crumbly soft, if you use oil or mix of ghee and oil, then again, the sweet will be more fudge like than crunchy brittle. If you use sugar syrup then too the consistency will vary. Thin syrup will yield softer Khhoraak while thick syrup will make khhoraak hard. Ideally poppy seeds are added but since I didn’t had any, I used thick rawa (semolina). Also I didn’t add any melon seeds as there were none at home. There are no hard and fast rules about the types of nuts/seeds used and about the quantity of each. It’s flexible! Many people confuse Khhoraak with Majun, yet another winter delicacy. But both are very different in terms of texture, ingredients and flavors too. Khorak is made from roasted flour. Majun is made without using any flour. Mawa is used in Majun while Khorak is made without mawa. Edible gum is used in Khorak but not in Majun. Print Khhoraak for AlifBe ~17 Khhoraak is a winter delicacy made from whole wheat flour, ghee, edible gum and nuts. Ingredients 1 and half cup whole wheat flour 1 and half cup Ghee (I used 1 cup) 1 and half cup Sugar (I used 1 cup) 30 gms of Edible gum 2 tbsp of Poppy seeds (Khaskhas) 12-15 Almonds 10-12 Cashew Nuts 10 Unsalted Pistachios A handful each of of Black raisins and Kishmish ¼ cup of melon seeds (I didn't add any) 5-6 green cardamoms peeled and pounded or powdered ¾ cup hot milk or hot water Few thin slices of Kopra chopped into bits or 3-4 tsp of desiccated coconut powder Method Dry roast melon seeds if using. You can dry roast some almonds and pistachios that you can use for garnishing. Mix sugar in hot milk or hot water and keep aside. The idea is to allow sugar to melt as much as possible. Chop or slice nuts. Reserve some chopped nuts for garnish. Take a flat plate with sides or any cake pan/tray and grease it with oil/ghee. This will be used to spread the Khhoraak. Heat a tbsp of ghee in a thick bottomed pan or kadai. Fry edible gum, in batches, till nicely puffed. Drain and let it cool. Grind to make fine powder. Keep aside. In the same pan pour remaining ghee and add flour. Keep the flame on low. Roast the flour on low flame, stirring continuously, till light brown. This will take anywhere from 15-25 minutes depending on the flame and quantity of flour. Add powdered edible gum, poppy seeds, kopra or desiccated powder (whichever using) and elaichi powder. Keep roasting on low flame and add chopped almonds, pistachios and cashew nuts and melon seeds. Reserve some nuts and seeds for the garnish. Once the flour turns nice brown, add raisins and sugar that was mixed with hot water or milk. Mix quickly as the flour will absorb liquid pretty fast. Switch off the flame and quickly pour the contents on the greased plate. Take a flat steel bowl and press the Khhoraak with the base of the bowl, all over, to smoothen the surface. Garnish with remaining nuts/seeds and press a bit again. Let Khhoraak cool down a bit and then using a sharp knife slice it into desired shape (square or diamond) and size. Do not move the slices. Allow it to cool for a few hours and then separate out slices of Khhoraak. Store in an airtight container. It stays good for a few weeks and beyond if refrigerated. A small slice of this with a glass of milk is an ideal breakfast option during winters. 3.5.3251 And before I sign off, here is a small video about how the letter خ !

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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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Jhang Pulao~ AlifBe~13

Alka Keswani — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 14:04:50 +0000

We are now at the 13th letter of Sindhi alphabet, the AlifBe and the consonant is جهہ as in Jhelum or Jhansi. It is written as ‘Jh‘ in Roman and as झ in Devanagari. Points to note: Some of you who are learning AlifBe with me have asked why the letters appear to be different when used in words as compare to when written individually. Please note that many Sindhi alphabets are formed differently depending upon their individual position in a word. For instance, just check how جهہ is written varyingly depending on its position in any word. Since this is primarily a food blog I tend to avoid covering the language part in depth! If you wish to learn more details please connect with me using the contact form or join me @ Facebook or Instagram! Sindhi Dish starting with ‘Jh’ Coming to the food part of the series, i.e a Sindhi dish starting with ‘Jh’, let me confess that the name is not very popular but the dish is cooked in almost every home. The dish is called ‘Jhang Pulav’ or ‘Jhang Bhat-u’ and it is popularly known as Junglee pulav/Jungli pulav in Anglo Indian community or in other regional communities. Traditionally Junglee Pulav is made by cooking meat with onions and whole spices. Gradually vegetables of choice are added followed by water and then soaked rice is added. The weird name: The reason of it being called Jungli or Junglee Pulav is not clear. Some say it is called so because one can go wild with choosing any number and varieties of vegetables (and even kabuli chana) and meat that could be added in this dish. Some believe that traditionally foraged vegetables and aromatic herbs were used in this preparation along with meat of hunted animals or birds and hence the term Jungli! I am yet to figure out why exactly this is called as Jhang Pulav in Sindhi. In Sindhi Jhang or Jhangu means Jungle so perhaps Jhang Pulav is a tweaked name for Junglee Pulav. There are as many variations of this Pulav/pulao as many cooks since each one tends to add varying combinations of vegetables, leafy greens and meat to this dish. Please don’t ask me how different it is from a regular Pulao because honestly speaking I don’t have a very convincing reply to that. To make Junglee Pulav you can use 2-3 types of meat or can include eggs along with mandatory onions, peas and potatoes and keep adding other vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, beans, capsicum, corn etc. The primary step is to saute whole spices and onions in ghee/oil and from there onwards the variations happen. You can add ginger garlic or not. You can add meat and vegetables or just vegetables. You can add beaten curds or lemon juice or even tomatoes. You can add leafy greens like spinach or methi. You can add cooked rice instead of raw rice, layer rice and cooked vegetables to make Biryani instead of Pulao. You can add boiled Chana (Garbanazo beans) or Dhingri (or any mushrooms). You can even add leftover non veg curries or dry subzis to it. Now that you know how wild you can go with the choice of ingredients, just go ahead and make some Jhang Pulao. Print Jhang Pulao~ AlifBe~13 An aromatic Veg.Pulao with a weird name! Ingredients Rice 1 cup (Not necessarily Basmati) Onion 1 large Potatoes 2 Green peas ¼ th cup Carrot 1 Handful of chopped spinach or Fenugreek Green chillies 2-3 Oil/Ghee 1 tbsp Cumin seeds 1 tsp Mustard seeds 1 tsp Cloves 2-3 Black cardamom 2 Dalchini 1 inch stick Tejpatta 2 Turmeric ½ tsp Salt as per taste Pounded Ginger Garlic 1 tsp (Optional) Tomato 1 (or can use half cup of curds or some lemon juice) Other vegetables like Apple gourd, Cauliflower, capsicum etc could be added (Optional) Method Rinse a cup of rice with water till the water runs clean. Soak in water for 30 minutes or so. In a Sipri (a degh like vessel) or in any large pan, heat a tbsp of oil or ghee. Add cumin and mustard seeds followed by whole spices. Toss spices till aromatic and add sliced onion. Cook onion till translucent and add potato cubes. If using ginger garlic, add it before adding potatoes. Add other vegetables (including spinach) and some salt. Add chopped chillies and turmeric. Add chopped tomato or beaten curds and bhuno well. Alternatively you can skip tomatoes and curds and add lemon juice later. Add soaked and drained rice and mix gently. Add some more salt. Bhuno rice for 2 minutes or so but be very gentle. Add water (double the quantity of rice, but depends on variety of rice used). Add lemon juice here if you skipped tomatoes or curds. Please note: You can first add hot water and then rice and skip the bhunoing part. Cook first on high heat and when the water is almost absorbed, cover the pan with a lid and allow rice to cook on low flame till done. Serve hot! 3.5.3251 And here is a small video to help you understand how the alphabet جهہ is written:

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Jeth Ji Sesa~AlifBe~12

Alka Keswani — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 15:31:45 +0000

The 12th consonant in Sindhi Alif Be is ڄ, a unique one, because it is used in very few languages, one of it being Sindhi (Saraiki is another language where this is used). In Roman Sindhi it is written as J^ and as ॼ in Devanagari. ڄ is a Voiced (vocal chords vibrate when you utter this) Palatal (middle of the tongue touches hard palate) Implosive ( you breathe in instead of breathing out while uttering this). You can check this link to know how ڄ is pronounced! There are limited number of Sindhi words starting with this alphabet. Some examples are j^aari (the net), j^ibh (tongue) and j^ethu. J^ethu is the third month in Lunar calendar, also known as Jeth or Jyeshtha. There are barely any Sindhi dishes that start with the letter ڄ. So I thought to share a food ritual related to a lesser known festival of Sindhis, called J^eth Ji Sesa ! Sesa festival is observed on J^eth ji Ummas i.e Amavasya (No moon day) in Jyeshtha month as per lunar calendar . The festival is known as J^eth Ji Ummas or Khumbh or simply Sesa! Some Sindhis do observe it on the next day of Ummas which is a New moon day (Chand)! Some festivals or rituals stay close to your heart and you derive from it a certain warmth, some comfort and a feeling of being loved and cared for. Scientifically this ritual may not have any valid point but if you believe that faith can move mountains and calm the wild seas then you do believe in rituals like Sesa too. The festival reminds me of my school days, when the new academic year would start around this festival and so would rains, mostly! The thrill of reuniting with school friends after summer vacations, the pre monsoon showers bringing temporary respite from sultry summer heat and the feeling of happiness in the chaos of festivities were some of the things that would make the Sesa a special day, then, and the memories of those lovely moments still warm the cockles of my heart! Khumbh or Sesa or J^ethu Umaas/J^eth Puja, is, kind of, a patriarchal ritual followed by (generally) Sindhi ladies for the well being of male family members, in olden days. Now the ritual is either not observed at all or many Sindhis do observe it even for the girl child in the family. In olden days the male clan would often travel overseas for business purposes and the family would be worried about their safety, particularly if they happen to travel during the times when the turbulence in sea or rivers would pose a threat to the human lives. At the beginning of J^eth month a vow was taken to offer a sweet dish to the Sea/river and prayers were done for the safety of the family member/s and on the Amavasya of the J^eth month Sesa ritual was done. Elderly ladies in the family would dedicate a sweet dish to each male member and that same sweet was/is to be added to Sesa every year. I find it amusing as how our feelings and thought processes change with time. While as a kid I loved the Sesa ritual, as a headstrong teenager I disliked the aura of patriarchy this festival was surrounded by! Years later we started including sweets or dryfruits/ nuts for girl child too and that’s when I started observing it again! I remember how my mother would get busy since early morning to make the feast for J^eth Pooja and then we would accompany her for the pooja rituals in the neighbourhood. Ladies would gather and chit chat while preparing for the rituals and kids would anxiously wait to hog on the puris and pakora, mangoes and sweets. Lunch on this day, in most of the Sindhi homes would be Chola chaanwar. After reserving some boiled chole for prasad, the rest of it would be cooked in an onion tomato gravy and was had with turmeric laced rice…such a bliss! In the Thali : Whole wheatflour Puri, shallow fried potatoes, Gulabjamun (home made), Seyun, B^aat Jo seero (Broken wheat halwa), mangoes and turmeric laced rice. Ps: Updating the blog posts with fresh pics from J^eth Ji Sesa – 2021 We generally add Mesu (Mysore Pak) too but couldn’t find it in the shops around. A Sesa i.e a prasad/offering of boiled kabuli chola ( Garbanzo beans) and peela chaanwra ( Turmeric laced rice) along with seyun (sweetened vermicelli), fried potatoes or pakora, Puri, Mesu (Mysore pak), Gulab Jamun and dedicated sweets, is plated in a Thali. The ladies gather at the water bodies. Though traditionally the ritual was done near a river or sea, nowadays the urban ladies perform the ritual around taps in the home or a temple and then the food offerings are either fed to birds/cows or collected by volunteers and immersed in a lake/pond or river nearby. Sesa or J^eth ji Ummas’ Ritual: Some grass is collected and mounds are prepared of grass and some Puri, shallow fried potatoes, pakora, seyun ( sweet vermicelli) along with the respective dedicated sweet/s, coconut etc are taken from Thali and are placed on the mound . A portion of the mound is then taken and tapped with other had and a small prayer is recited: “Aamra Leemra ( aamro leemro) khayi bharyosein paet, Jiyan muhinja Putra, potra, dhotra, jin rakhaayo J^ethu. J^eth seyun khaaraye, J^eth mesu khaaraye…( Include all the names of sweets offered).. J^eth maal khaaraye ” Roughly translates as: (had) Mangoes/ lemons (or does it mean ‘lim’ i.e neem?) and filled our tummies, Long live my sons and grandsons who made me observe J^ethu rituals. J^eth feeds seyun (sweet vermicelli), J^eth feeds Mesu (a sweet), J^eth feeds us a feast. Please note: I may have erred while translating this so if you know it better, please leave a comment on this post and I will rectify! The mounds are then collected and fed to birds/cows or as done in olden days, immersed into a water body. The rest of the food brought by ladies is collected, mixed and then distributed or shared with neighbours. Another Sesa Thali, with Mesu (Mysore Pak)! At our home we pray for all the family members and particularly for Sesa ritual a sweet/dry fruits/nuts are dedicated for children irrespective of gender. Please check the following links if you seek the recipe! Seyun and Patata Gulabjamun B^aat Jo seero Atta Puri Ps: Adding this small video that I made on Sesa (2021)! And finally check this video to known or learn the formation of Sindhi letter ڄ!

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Jwar Ji Tikki~AlifBe~11

Alka Keswani — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 21:04:31 +0000

The 11 th letter/consonant of AlifBe series is ج which is J in Roman Sindhi and ज in Devanagari. J as in Jowar, Japan, Java etc. This consonant belongs to third basic shape group. To know more about the 1st and second shape groups you can check this recap post! My hunt for a Sindhi dish starting with Alphabet J led me to Johar/Jwar Ji tikki and when I was discussing it with Ma and Papa (MIL and FIL) I realised that it is indeed very unique. Not sure about the Zen X generation but Millennial Sindhi kids may nod in affirmative that the peppermint candy was one of those delicious, breath freshening, carminative, herbal candies that was actually fed by mothers and grandmothers to young and old. The Jwar ji tikki also known as Phudney ji tikki was a ‘must have’ in every home back then. It is a part of the first chaato (a sweet fine powder mix ) that a newborn is given or the Faqi, a post natal powder mix given to the new mother. Everyone from kids to elderly loved this mint candy and some people even confessed to me that when they were kids they would fake stomach ache just to eat this. So What is Jwar/Johar ji tikki? What it is made of? What does the word Johar means? Is it a candy or medicine? I had so many questions on my mind and though we (me, MIL, FIL and hubby dear) couldn’t find any answers then but that discussion made Papa (FIL) very nostalgic about few things associated with Jwar Ji tikki which gradually led me to many valuable discoveries that I am surely going to share with you all in my upcoming posts, on Instagram and even on Facebook. So do join me there, if you haven’t, yet. I need to thank my extended family who helped me in finding answers to many queries regarding Jwar ji tikki. Thank you Prakash Uncle for connecting me with Dilip Uncle (of Kaka’s Jwar tikki fame) who explained the process of making Jwar tikki. Thank you Renu Di and Varsha, for being so patient and for sharing so many details along with lovely memories of the forgotten delicacies (that I must share in upcoming posts) and of course thanks to my better half for helping me in my culinary and literary research and for everything else. So what is Jwar Ji Tikki? Jwar Ji tikki is basically a sweet menthol flavored hard sugar candy/ tablet, also known as peppermint Lozenges. It has nothing to do with jowar (sorghum) tikki 😉 Jwar Ji Tikki is made by boiling sugar to which glucose syrup and mint oil are added but there are many variations of the candy and hence varying ingredients like gelatin (derived from plants or animal collagen) fats /oil and even Magnesium Stearate may be present in different kinds of Mint candies. Apart from sugar and Glucose (syrup) an important ingredient used in Jwar Ji tikki is Mentha. Mentha: Mentha (plant) is a genus of perennial herbs belonging to family Lamiaceae and there are around 25 species of these aromatic herbs and one of it is Peppermint. Mentha oil is derived from Mentha foliage i.e leaves, stems or even flowers of Peppermint (even spearmint/mint). The foliage is collected and dumped in large tanks and the mix is compressed thoroughly. Steam is allowed to pass through the compressed foliage which drives along with it the oily fumes of mentha. This steam is then allowed to pass through a cooling chamber where it gets converted into liquid (water) form, carrying mentha, forming an emulsion which is collected in a container. The mentha oil floats on the surface of the liquid and is then collected and stocked. The mentha or Menthol (organic compound made from mint oil) are then used in various medicine preparations, vapo rubs, toothpastes and mouth fresheners etc. Some Interesting facts about Menthol: * In ancient Greece, Menthol was used as room freshener. It was spread on the floor or in corners of rooms for that cool, fresh fragrance in the air. * While in ancient era cloves were chewed to freshen the breath, in Medieval era, people started using mint as mouth fresheners. * Mint candies were used not only as breath fresheners but also for its carminative properties. Altoids, the mint candies, similar to Jwar Ji tikki were first created by a confectioner named William Smith, in London in l8th century. Those were originally made from a mix of Sugar, gum arabic, gelatin, glucose syrup and peppermint oil. However after a century (almost 100 years) Altoids became more popular in America than in Europe. Coming to Jwar Ji tikki, this desi peppermint candy was and still is, a favorite of Sindhis. Dilip Uncle told me that now mostly Menthol crystals are used to make Jwar Ji Tikki, instead of mint oil. The crystals used, could be natural or synthetic. Natural Menthol crystals are made by freezing the essential oil extracted from mint plants. Upon freezing, the menthol crystals are separated from dementholized oil with the help of a centrifuge machine and are finally dried for a day or so. These Menthol crystals (previously known as peppermint camphor) are then used in candies or in products for Oral hygiene etc. Synthetic Menthol crystals are produced by hydrogenation of thymol. Why the name Jwar Ji Tikki ? Ideally it should be pronounced as Johar or Jowhar Ji Tikki. Johar in Sindhi means essence/arq/essential oil etc. Menthol is known as Phudney Jo Johar (Phudna= mint in Sindhi). For such interesting translations you can refer the dictionary of Sindhyat.com A detailed recipe (trade secret) of this Jwar Ji tikki is promised by few sources and if I do get it, I will share it with you all. And as usual, I am sharing here a small video for those who wish to learn how to write in Arabic Sindhi script.

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