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Zaefrani Kulfi~ AlifBe~ 26

Alka Keswani — Sun, 06 Jun 2021 20:02:08 +0000

Long post alert: If you are interested only in the recipe then kindly scroll down to reach the recipe! If you are curious to know about saffron, its varieties and some interesting theories about Kulfi, then please read on! The 26th Consonant in Sindhi AlifBe is ز i.e Z in Roman Sindhi and ज़ in Devanagari. As mentioned in the earlier post, there are 4 different types of ‘Z’ used in Sindhi AlifBe. ذ as in Zaro (Little ), (ज़/Z) ز as in Zanzeer (Chain/shackles) (ज़/Z) ض as in Zaeef (Feeble) (ज़/Z) 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 but will vary in Arabic Sindhi. For example if you need to write the word Zaheen (an Urdu word ) you will have to use ذ and if you need to write Zameen (a Hindi/Sindhi) in Sindhi you will use ز I am yet to figure out how to use ض and ظ appropriately! ذ as in Zaro is covered already and you can check it here! Today we are focusing on ز as in Zanzeer. Please note that though ذ and ز look similar but they both are different. And the dish of the day is Zaefrani Kulfi! In Sindhi Saffron is known as Kesar as well as Zaefran (also spelt as Zaeffran or Zaefaran)! Zaeffan or Saffron: Crocus sativus L. is a perennial herb and the plant yields purple colored flowers which are valued for their stigmas; one of the most expensive herbs sold in markets, commonly known as Saffron, Zaafran, Zaeffran, Kesar etc. The word Saffron comes from the Arabic word Zaefraan which in turn is supposed to be derived from the Persian word Zarparan where Zar means gold or valuables and Paran/faran refers to petals. Thus Zaefran means a flower with Gold petals or maybe ‘petals as valuable as gold’. The oldest documents about the use of saffron as a spice or herb are recorded in the court of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty (550-330 BC). Some sources suggest that under the Persian rule, Saffron was first cultivated in Kashmir from where it travelled to the Indian subcontinent. Some believe that the saffron originated in Greece. Many Kashmiri locals believe that Saffron came to India through two Sufi saints ; Khwaja Masood Wali and Hazrat Sheikh Shariffudin, who during their travel fell ill and were taken care of by the tribal chieftain. As a gesture of gratitude they gave bulbs of saffron plant to him and that’s how the cultivation of saffron began in Kashmir (Pampore). Spain was introduced to Saffron by the Arabs who invaded the place and from Spain it travelled to other European countries. Why so costly? Saffron strands are the stigmas of Saffron flowers. Each flower has three stigmas (thread-like structures). The flowers stay only for a few days and need to be plucked before the sun or wind affects the quality of the saffron strands. Once bloomed, the flowers are to be harvested before sunrise and before they start opening (or soon after). Once harvested, the stigmas are separated immediately. The strands are then dried to get rid of excess moisture. Post drying the color changes to dark red. Traditionally the process may take around a week as baskets of stigmas are hung on the ceiling and are left to dry away from harsh sunlight. From around 150 flowers, only a gram (1 gm) of Saffron threads is obtained. Saffron is valued for its medicinal properties and is a good source of vitamin C, potassium, manganese, Iron, vitamin B6 etc. As mentioned above, Saffron are the stigma of the flowers. Each stigma is 2-3 cm long.The deep red or maroon colored stigmas are attached to the flower by pale orange/yellow colored filaments called styles. In India, Kashmiri Saffron is marketed as Lacha, mongra and gucchha/Gucchi. Mongra Saffron: The pale style is separated and only the deep red colored stigma is used. Lachha : The red color stigma with a little of the yellow style (tail-like) attached, sold along with floral waste is called Lachha. Guchi (Guchha) saffron is the one where the yellow style is not separated from red stigma. The bunch of these are tied at the ends. This type of saffron is known as Dasteh in Iran. In Iran the top of the Saffron strands are categorised as Sargol, the saffron with the silky red stigma are called Super Negin/Negin while the one with red stigma along with yellow style are called Pushali. Obviously Pushali is cheaper than the other types of Saffron. Then there is a type called Zard (White or Konj) with only pale parts of stigma present. The ‘colorless’ saffron is commonly used for medicinal purposes as well as in tobacco industries. The Spanish Saffron could be categorised into Coupe, LaMancha, Rio and Sierra. Coupe: The best of all, with only red stigma and no pale styles. Comparable to the Persian Sargol. La Mancha: A less potent but very expensive Saffron, La Mancha is cultivated in a small region of Spain and its origin is protected. This kind of Saffron imparts faint smokey flavors as instead of traditional sun-drying, it is toast dried before packaging Rio: Of lesser grade than Coupe and Rio! Sierra : Mostly consists of pale orange/yellow styles and is cheapest of all! Kulfi: A Kulfi is a frozen dairy product made by freezing sweetened and flavored reduced milk. It is not churned and hence it is not as airy as an ice cream. I was intrigued by the word Kulfi and would often discuss it with the people related to making or selling Kulfi; be it the Faluda sellers, ice cream makers, halwais and even the street vendors . Google says that the word Kulfi was derived from the Persian ‘Qufli’ meaning ‘covered up’ and since the reduced milk is set in cones covered with a lid, hence the name Kulfi! Another theory suggests that the cones are kept inside a matka which is covered with a cloth and that is the reason the dessert is called Kulfi. Baba, the elderly uncle in our old neighbourhood (some of his recipes have graced my blog) believed that the word Kulfi came from Arabic Qufl or may be from the Turki (I guess he meant Uzbek) Qulf a synonym of Qurf /Qarf in Sindhi, all being the local names for ‘padlock’! According to Baba if you observe the Kulfi waala/waali, you would notice that he/she inserts a stick in the centre of the frozen kulfi inside the cone and twists the stick the way we use the key to open the lock, to un mould the kulfi. I don’t know if I can consider it to be a valid reason or whether I should assume it to be a case of an elderly person cooking up interesting stories. I wouldn’t know because he is no more with us. When I discussed this ‘Lock’ theory with some Kulfi vendors, few of them agreed to it. While some said that maybe the kulfi is set in cones that are locked/sealed and hence it is called kulfi. The Recipe: Traditionally Kulfi is made by reducing full cream milk to half or 1/3rd of its volume. It is then sweetened and flavored with varying ingredients like cardamoms, Saffron, mango, berries, chocolate etc thereby creating a range of delectable flavors. Print Zaeffrani Kulfi~ AlifBe~ 26 Saffron flavored Kulfi i.e frozen Indian 'Ice cream'! Ingredients 500 ml Milk ( full cream) 200 ml sweetened condensed milk 1 tsp cornflour dissolved in 2 tbsp of milk 6-7 saffron strands soaked in 2 tsp of milk 3 green cardamoms (only seeds) 12-15 unsalted pistachios Method Boil the milk, along with condensed milk, stirring frequently to avoid scalding of milk. In the meantime, powder the pistachios and cardamom seeds together, using a grinder. We need coarse mix and not a fine powder. Add this powder to the milk and let it simmer for a while. Add the cornflour dissolved in milk. Stir well. Add the soaked saffron and simmer further till the milk reduces to half of its original volume. Let the reduced milk cool down a touch. Pour in moulds (Aluminum or plastic), or in earthen pots (Kullhar). Always soak the earthen ware in cold water for at least 30-60 minutes before using them. Once the milk mix cools down to room temperature and secure the lids of the cones or cover the mouth of matka/kullhar with aluminum foil. Transfer the moulds to the freezer and let the Kulfi set for minimum 5-6 hours. For un-moulding, just place the moulds (with secured lids) under running water for few seconds or 'rub' them between your palms and then insert a clean ice cream stick or toothpick and pull out the Kulfi. Serve immediately. 3.5.3251 I recently made Rabri and reserved some to make the Kulfi. I soaked some saffron (courtesy my Brother in law, SK) and powdered green cardamom seeds in few tbsp of milk and mixed it with the rabri. Poured it in the aluminium cones and left in the freezer for 8 hours. It was served with a splash of rose syrup! The weather was so hot that the Kulfi melted before I could click some decent pictures! The below picture is of the Kulfi prepared from Rabri. And here is the video about how to write ز in Sindhi script!

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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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J^aj~a Ji Roti~AlifBe~14

Alka Keswani — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 19:43:28 +0000

In olden days, a wedding in a Sindhi home would mean a buzzing neighbourhood. The male clan would deal with the logistics of a wedding, distributing wedding cards, booking tickets for relatives traveling from far and wide, making arrangements for their stay, booking Maharaj or cook/s to cater to family/relatives, friends etc. The female clan (from the family as well as from the neighborhood) on the other hand would take charge of stocking spices, grains, pulses etc. Almost a fortnight before marriage eve, ladies in the family and around would wind up the daily chores and come together to make papad, kheecha (rice papad/fryum), potato chips etc to serve to guests as well as to pack those to give away as a parting gift or a return gift. Mango pickles were made for summer weddings, well in advance while for winter weddings mostly onion, carrot, cauliflower and turnip pickles were made. Quilts, bedsheets, pillows, mattresses were taken out and kept out to soak up sun-rays. Borrowing these from neighbours was not a taboo. Chairs, steel plates or cutlery too, if needed, were borrowed from neighbors, relatives and friends (one of the reasons for having utensils/cutlery engraved with names was to make sure that there was no mix-up). Marriages in 1970’s: My childhood memories of marriages in family or around, revolve around pitching in for making papad, chips (kids were given the job of safeguarding papad kept in verandah or passages, from birds or strays), of banging spoon on a thali while the ladies sang laadas (wedding folk songs), watching raandha (male cooks) burning logs in open areas (outdoors) to cook food in huge degh or Cauldron or watching lady helpers as they chopped bulk of vegetables for salad etc. Till 70’s a marriage ceremony was more about following the rituals than following ‘trends’. People attending a wedding or a reception were offered Sherbet/Cold drinks or an ice cream if the bride’s family was rich. There was no buffet system for Wedding/Reception but close relatives, friends and neighbors of the bride side family as well as the groom’s family were treated with a feast cooked at their respective homes. Traditional feast Food on the plate: Bhuga chaawra, Beeh Patata (recipe shared in this post), Phulko (chapati), Sindhi Papad, Sanna Pakoda, Nalli Kebab (fryums), salad, boondi raita and Gulabjamun! The traditional Sindhi ceremonial food cooked on wedding days used to be different from what it is, now! A typical meal before wedding would be garam masala flavored rice, an onion tomato based subzi of lotus stems and potatoes ( with skin on) heavily flavored with garam masala. Rotis were made by a bunch of helpers of the Raandho (head cook) while some would fry fresh crisp pakode. Some would cut fresh salad vegetables while others would fry fryums, roast papad etc. The chaos would be overwhelming then but still the smoky flavors of the food being cooked, served and relished would make my heart sing. Beeh patata ( lotus stem with potatoes) curry was commonly made as a marriage ceremonial meal, back then, though some still follow the tradition. Many a times if the subzi is to be offered to bhambhan or Brahmin, it is made without onions and garlic (as a Brahmin is offered only satvik food) and by using a base of spinach and brinjal but when it is made for the family, friends, neighbors and relatives, it could be made with onions as the base. Beeh Patata made for the marriage feast had distinct flavours. Cooking brinjal with or without onions to make the base of the curry, would not only give a body to the curry but would also make the gravy homogenous when bhunoed. Potatoes were used with skin on (not peeled) and the freshly ground garam masala along with whole spices were generously used for pronounced flavors and spicy kick. Above all, cooking on logs would make the curry smoky and delectable. The Beeh Patata curry was usually served with degh waara chaanwran, generally, the rice cooked with whole spices….a match made in heaven! In Sindhi language a baaraat (Procession) is called J^anj`a or जञ and (I may be wrong here) the baaraatis or folks attending the ceremony are called J^aanj~ee while the marriage feast is called J^uJ~u. Since there is a lack of proper information in new dictionaries about these traditional words, I cannot confirm if these are the proper terms. But in general a baaraat could mean a procession as well as the people gathered for the procession. And the feast of Beeh Patata and rice served to them was casually called as J^aj~a Ji roti ( roti here means a meal and not the pulka/flatbread). And the 14th letter/consonant in AlifBe series (A-Z of Sindhi Food) is ڃ in Arabic Sindhi, J~ in Roman Sindhi and ञ in Devanagari. This letter is not used in the beginning of any Sindhi word. A perfect example of its use in Sindhi language is the word जञ and hence I have picked जञ जी रोटी for the 14th letter of Sindhi AlifBe. Print J^aj~a Ji Roti~AlifBe~14 Ingredients For Rice 1 and ½ cup basmati rice or any other variety 1" piece of Cinnamon 3-4 cloves 1 whole black cardamom (vadho photo or black elaichi) 4-5 black pepper corns 2 Bayleaves(or tejpatta) 2 tsp of oil Water to cook rice (mostly double the quantity of rice) Few drops of orange food colour (optional) Salt as per taste For Curry 2 Potatoes -Do not peel the skin. Lotus stem (roots) or Beeh.-100-150 gm 2 Onions 2 Tomatoes (small ) 1 small Brinjal Shelled green peas, a handful Ginger about 1" Green chillies 2-3 depending upon your taste 1 /4 tsp Garam Masala powder ½ tsp Turmeric powder 1 heaped tsp Coriander Powder ½ tsp Jeera powder Salt to Taste 2-4 tsp Oil Fresh coriander leaves for garnishing Method To Make Rice Pick and rinse rice few times with water, till water runs clear. Let the rice soak in water for about half hour (or 15 minutes if using Basmati) In a heavy bottom pan, add 2 tsp of oil and put all the whole spices and stir fry for few seconds. Add rice and salt and mix gently. Add water (almost double the quantity of rice) and few drops of orange colour (optional). Mix well, allow it to boil and then simmer. Once the water is absorbed, cover it with a lid and cook on low flame till done. Serve hot with Beeh patata curry. To Make Curry Clean and cut Beeh into slanting slices and pressure cook them with some salt and water till done (2-4 whistles of pressure cooker, depending on quality of Beeh). A knife or fork should smoothly slide in Beeh. Drain and keep aside. Clean the potatoes and cut each into large chunks. Rinse with water, drain and add salt. Soak in water if potatoes start to oxidise. You can peel potato skin but it tastes better with skin on. In a pressure cooker, add 2 -4 tsp of oil and add chopped onions. When onions turn pinkish, add chopped brinjal (with skin) and cook till the mixture is light brown in colour. Add chopped tomatoes, some salt, chopped green chillies, ginger and turmeric. Add half cup of water and close the lid, and pressure cook the mix for 2-3 whistles. When pressure subsides, open the lid, mash the gravy with wooden churner and put it back on flame. Add potatoes, boiled beeh, coriander powder and some salt, if needed and cook on high heat. Add few spoons of water if the mixture tends to stick to the bottom of cooker. Keep cooking on high flame, sprinkling water if needed, till the gravy looks homegenized. Add hot water and shelled peas.The water should be just above the level of Beeh and potatoes. Add garam masala powder and some coriander leaves. Close the lid of cooker and wait for one whistle and then cook on lowest flame, under pressure for 2-5 min. Put off the flame. When the pressure subsides, open the lid and check for the seasoning and consistency of gravy and adjust according to your taste. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and enjoy it with piping hot rice. 3.5.3251 And as usual, here is a short video to help you in understanding formation of the letter ڃ !

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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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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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