Streetfood Archives | Sindhi Rasoi |Sindhi Recipes

Matar Pao|Black Vatana Chaat

Alka Keswani — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 08:36:37 +0000

Matar Pao or the black vatana chaat is a classic street food dish from Ulhasnagar, my home town! It is made by cooking dried black peas (Kaala Matar/Vatana) with salt and water and the curry is generally flavoured with just pepper. A spicier version is made by adding garam masala powder by many vendors. The rustic flavours of the dish come from cooking vatana for longer duration, till soft and then by mashing some to make the gravy more thicker, homogenous and flavourful. Dried black peas take forever to cook and hence soaking these for 12 – 24 hours is a must. Also adding a little of baking soda is highly recommended or else the peas would take ridiculously long time to cook well. The Matar pao chaat is easy to assemble. Just top the pao with boiled vatana, chutneys, chaat masala (optional), pepper (optional), boiled potato cubes, chopped onions and sev/papdi/dalmoth. Check this recipe video : If you happen to visit Ulhasnagar, particularly, camp number 5, during Chaliha festival, you will spot many vendors around Puj Chaliha Sahib Mandir, selling this chaat on the carts. The chaat during those 40 days of festival is made without using any garlic or onions (in curry and in chutneys) and is usually topped with grated cabbage, boiled kachalu (Arbi) / potatoes. Pao is optional for the devotees. Also no Farsan is used for those who are observing Chaliha fast. Print Matar Pao|Black Vatana Chaat Dried black peas curry and Pao chaat Ingredients 1 cup dried Black peas Salt as per taste 1 tbsp black pepper powder ⅛th tsp cooking soda (Pakode waali soda) For Chaat 5 Pao 2 boiled potatoes 1 large onion Chaat masala (optional) to garnish Mint coriander chutney (5-6 tbsp or as much preferred) Sweet Tamarind chutney (3-4 tbsp or as much preferred) Farsan (Papdi/Dalmoth/Nylon sev) to garnish Coriander leaves to garnish Method Pick, wash and soak dried black peas in enough water for 12 to 24 hours. Change water once if soaking for more than 12 hours. Rinse well with water before cooking. In a pressure cooker add soaked peas, 3 cups of water, salt and cooking soda. Close the cooker with the lid. Cook on high heat till 1 whistle . Cook under pressure, on lowest heat for around 30 minutes. Turn off the flame. When the pressure subsides, open the lid of the cooker and check if the peas are cooked well. Pinch few peas in between your fingers and thumb and if easily mashed, the peas are ready to eat. Else, add some water, if needed and cook further. Using back of the ladle, mash some peas so as to thicken the gravy. The gravy should not be too watery. If the gravy is very loose, heat it further and if there is barely any gravy then add some hot water. Add black pepper powder. You can add some garam masala at this stage. For assembling the chaat, take a serving platter and place pao cut into bite sized pieces. Pour piping hot vatana/matar curry over it. Add boiled potatoes cut in cubes/pieces and chopped onions. Pour some mint coriander chutney, sweet tamarind chutney ( Cheat version:I took half a cup of tamarind water and added 3 tbsp of jaggery and microwaved it for 3 minutes. Added some salt, kala namak, chaat masala, chilli powder and hing to it). You can garnish with some chaat masala and pepper (I didn't use any). For the recipe of home made chaat masala, check this video of mine. Top the chaat with some farsan of your choice. Papdi, Nylon sev and dal moth are the popular choices. Garnish with coriander leaves and consume immediately. 3.5.3251

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Kuneh Ja Beeh|Steamed Lotus stem Chaat

Alka Keswani — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 19:32:28 +0000

Apart from the quintessential Papad, pickle, Kadhi and Saibhaji, Sindhis are well known for their love for the lotus stem and they are the most avid eaters of this slightly nutty, mildly sweet, crunchy stem. Their insatiable appetite for Beeh is the reason that lotus stems are particularly found in markets in and around Sindhi populated areas. Beeh (Lotus stem), dhodhee/Pabhora (lotus seeds) and Lohr (corm) are the parts of Lotus plant that Sindhis eat with great relish. While our Beeh paalak is bit similar to Kashmiri Nadru paalak (Paalak nadir) and our gravy based beeh curries are similar to Punjabi curries, Sindhis use lotus stem in many unique ways too. For example; Beeh is added in potato tikkis or is stuffed, batter-coated and fried to make signature Beeh tikki (pakora). Beeh jyun kachryun i.e sun-dried lotus stems are very popular in our cuisine and the flash fried Kachryun can turn the humble dal chaawal into a satiating meal. Lotus stem is also pickled in a typical Sindhi pickle base of chili powder and vinegar. Suanhjro Ain beeh (drumstick flowers with lotus stem) and Suandhro beeh (dried tender drumsticks with lotus stem) are some lesser known but delicious and highly nutritious recipes of Sindhi cuisine. The fresh seeds of lotus pods are snacked upon (raw) while the corm of lotus, known as Lohr is boiled, peeled, pepped up with salt and freshly ground black pepper powder and is served with tangy mint coriander chutney. Lohr or Lotus corm The most traditional way of cooking lotus stem is in a clay pot, till soft and starchy, served with a dash of spicy mint coriander chutney. This chaat, known as Kuneh ja beeh (Kunoh means the clay or earthen pot ), the pride of Sindhi cuisine, is now almost a lost recipe. The lotus stem is cleaned thoroughly, cut in pieces, salted and steamed (not boiled) in an inverted clay pot, for hours, till the stem is soft and stringy. Kuneh Ja Beeh The above mentioned method of cooking ensures a great texture and the clay pot enhances the earthy flavors of beeh. Since this method requires cooking for long hours, I tried a different way to steam lotus stem, which is explained in the recipe section. If you have a better way to do this, please do share your method in the comments section 🙂 This is one of the most famous chaat from pre partition era and I remember eating this few decades ago. Around Diwali, a person carrying a huge matka containing lotus stem and a small steel container filled with chutney, along with the pouches filled with various spices like rock salt, black pepper powder and red chilli powder along with amchoor powder that would fit in the neck of the clay pot, used to move around streets. Halting wherever he got some customers, he used to pull out the snugly fitted container and spice pouches from the pot and would pick out some perfectly cooked kuneh ja beeh, plonk on a piece of newspaper, on which he would sprinkle the spices like the magical pixie dust, in varying proportions, as per the customer’s demand. Few spoons of spicy green chutney would provide the required kick and a very nutritious chaat would warm our souls on those early winter days. Print Kuneh Ja Beeh|Steamed Lotus stem Chaat Rating 5.0 from 1 reviews Steamed lotus stem served with green chutney Ingredients Lotus stem 250 gm Salt For garnish Rock salt (powdered) a pinch or so Amchoor powder Black pepper powder Red chili powder Mint coriander chutney Method Clean lotus stem and cut into 2 inch long pieces. Place the pieces in an airtight steel box that can easily be put inside pressure cooker. Add salt to the lotus stem and cover it with a cling film. Place the lid of the container and immerse it in pressure cooker that is filled with water till ¾ of its capacity. Close the lid of pressure cooker and cook the Beeh till really soft and stringy. It took 30 whistles of pressure cooker (or around 40 minutes or so of cooking under pressure on low flame) for the Beeh to cook to perfection. Ideally it should be more stringy but I was running out of the time so couldn't let it cook for more time. Take the Beeh out from the container and add rock salt, some salt, pepper, chilli powder and toss it well. Put the spiced up bhee in the hot clay pot, cover it with a lid and place the pot on a hot griddle. Cook on low flame for 5-10 minutes to let the clay infuse some earthiness in the lotus stem. You can keep pouring some water on griddle to ensure that the lotus stem stays moist and does not stick to the bottom of clay pot. Skip this whole process (cooking in clay pot) if you wish so. Serve hot with a sprinkle of amchoor powder and a dash of spicy green mint coriander chutney. 3.5.3251

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Mirchi Pakora Chaat | Tangy Green Chilly fritters

Alka Keswani — Mon, 02 May 2011 13:30:42 +0000

A tangy lip smacking chaat recipe.... green chilly fritters dunked in curd and chutneys and garnished with Nylon sev.

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Reposting~ Dal Sandwich

Alka Keswani — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:51:53 +0000

Food blogging is Hazardous. Yeah, what else will you call an obsession when all you can think of, is cooking food (mind you..cooking and not eating..for the eating part, a blogger keeps hunting for a scapegoat ) all day long, and many times in your dreams too. A recipe request by a reader of your blog, in you mail Inbox, could leave you researching various resources till you find that perfect recipe to share . After cooking, comes Clicking sessions, wherein you not only test your photography skills, but also your family’s patience, as the poor souls wait for their turn to assail that tempting looking food(yeah at times food looks and tastes good too..Why the doubts?) , while you are busy with your acrobatics trying to click the picture with hundreds of angles. The passion leaves you not only cooking more but stocking more too (In pantry, in refrigerator and of course in your body as fats). Interacting with bloggers , talking about International and National , local and exotic cuisines, end up with you purchasing more food stuff than required. Above that, the mushrooming malls in vicinity spoil you with loads of choices to fill your shopping cart, and empty your wallets. As a result, the refrigerator is overstuffed with tons of varieties of flours, the ever- flowing- in -vegetables, nuts, corns, mushrooms, breads, herbs and so on so forth.My situation is not different from Dhivya of Chefinyou who expresses her plight funnily with this quote “What can I do if my stocking talents are better than my expending?..lol. But at times, I do feel enough is enough and that I need to give my passion of cooking a well deserved break ( and that happens quite frequently, say ..every weekend 😉 ). That gives break to the grocery shopping too, until I go out of stock of vegetable supplies and then keep wondering what to cook in absence of fresh vegetables. At such times of distress, simple but healthy and filling food is all what I look around for. And Dal sandwich( Dal toast) is one such option. I had already posted its recipe. So why again you may ask, right? Well it was supposed to be for the Repost Event but I missed the deadline (Darn !). But then, I can still go ahead and share it with you, after all I clicked fresh pics for the same, so can’t afford to trash it 😀 So here comes Dal sandwich, a very popular street food of Sindhis. The recipe is inspired by that of a famous Eatout, called Shankar Dalwaala, though not yummm as his, but still good enough to gobble. Print Reposting~ Dal Sandwich Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 40 mins Serves: 2 Ingredients 1 cup Moong dal (Dehusked, Yellow split moong beans) enough for 2 sandwiches Turmeric powder ¼ tsp or bit less. Salt as per taste For tempering: 1 tsp Oil/Ghee Few pinches of Garam masala powder Less than ¼ tsp of Red chilly powder ½ tsp of Coriander powder Bread slices (2 for each toast). I used Brown Bread, but you can go ahead with white too. Butter Boiled potato 1 Boiled beetroot 1 Tomato 1 Onion and/or cucumber 1 Mint coriander chutney Salt just for sprinkling Black pepper powder Chaat masala Red chilly powder Coriander powder Sev or farsan of choice Coriander leaves Tomato Ketchup (optional) Method Pick, rinse several times and soak yellow moong dal for 15-30 minutes. Boil it with enough water, salt and turmeric powder till cooked. Whisk it properly, add more water if required , but the consistency of dal should be thick. Temper it with a spoonful of hot ghee to which redchilly powder and coriander powder is added. Add garam masala after removing the tempering from heat, just before adding to the dal.Simmer on low flame and make sure the dal is piping hot when you serve the sandwich. Peel and cut in round slices, boiled potato, beetroot and also onion and cucumber. Chop some of boiled potato, beetroot,onion, tomato and sprinkle some salt, coriander powder, red chilly powder, coriander leaves. Reserve these for garnishing the sandwich. Now take a bread slice, apply some butter, place slices of boiled potato, boiled beetroot, tomato and onion/cucumber. Take another slice apply some chutney on it and place at the top of previous slice. Now heat the griddle, put some oil or butter/Ghee and roast the sandwich on medium flame till slightly brown in color. Place the sandwich on a serving plate, cut it into pieces, top it up with few spoons of dal, sprinkle some chaat masala, black pepper powder, red chilly powder, some chutney, tomato ketchup (optional), some of the chopped mixture of beetroot, tomato, potato, onion and finally farsan or sev. Serve immediately. 3.3.3077

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