Dal baati

Anyone who know me I love authentic food from virtually any part of India, and when I saw a picture of the Rajasthani dal baati, I was immediately transported back to a thali lunch I had with my mother at Rajdhani. With so many available dishes, I didn't enjoy it as much that day as I should have, but more than made up for it when I cooked it myself.


For the dal:
1/4 cup moong dal (dhuli)
1/4 cup toor dal
1/4 cup chana dal
1/8 cup urad dal (dhuli)
1/8 cup green moong dal
1/2 tsp haldi powder
Salt to taste

For tempering of dal:
2-3 clove
2 bay leaves
1 green cardamon
1 inch piece cinnamon
1 tsp jeera
A pinch of hing
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 green chilli, chopped
1 inch ginger, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp ghee


For Baati:
2 cups wholewheat flour
1 cup rawa
1/4 tsp ajwain
1/3 cup ghee
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt


Method:
For dal:
Soak the dals for 2-3 hours to soften it.
Pressure cook the dals with salt and haldi powder for 20 minutes after the first whistle (or cook on an open flame, till soft).
Heat the ghee, add hing, bay leaves, connamon, cloves, jeera and let it splutter till jeera turns dark. Add chopped chillis and ginger and saute on low heat for a minute. Add chilli powder, and pour the ghee over the dal.
Cover the dal and let the flavours infuse. Bring to boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.

For baati:
Mix the dry ingredients well. And ghee and mix till crumbly. Add a little water, and knead to form a tight dough. Cover with a cloth and let it stand for 1 hour.
Make lemon sized balls, flatten slightly and make a depression in the centre.
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees.
Lightly grease a baking tray, and bake for 15-20 minutes till golden.
Flip and bake the other side.

To eat, break the baatis in half, pour ghee over them, and have with dal.

Dahi pulki

When you have both garlic and mint in the same dish, why would you even think of hesitating before making it? Specially when it is an easy peasy recipe, that also packs the nutritional punch of curds and besan? This is a Marwari recipe I fell in love with and it entirely lived upto its promise.

2 cups curds

5 tbsp besan

1 large onion, chopped fine

Green chillies to taste

1 tsp garlic paste

2 tsp dried mint leaves, crushed

Salt and red chilli powder to taste

3 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Method:

Our the curds into a large bowl. Season with red chilli powder and salt. Add crushed mint leaves and garlic paste and mix well. Add water and mix till you get a smooth consistency. 

Mix onions, green chillies and besan with salt and red chill powder. Add water and mix to get a medium thick batter. 

Heat oil in a saucepan, and drop in single teaspoons of batter in batches. When one side of the phulki is done turn it over to brown the other side. Drop in the curd mix while still hot. 

After all the batter is exhausted, add cumin seeds to the oil, and when it stops spluttering, pour over the dahi phulki

It can be had as an accompaniment, or as a snack. 

Rajasthani bajra khichdi

"Heaven here art thou in the bowl of khichadi!" 
Sounds weird to hear that, but it is true. Very few things give as much comfort as a hot bowl of khichidi. Which must be why, when I discovered a bottle of bajra in a forgotten shelf of my cupboard, I thought not of my regular bajra dish, but of looking for a bowl of pure comfort. I found it in this Rajasthani khichdi- just six ingredients (excluding water and salt), but it sure packs a punch.
 

1/3 cup whole bajra washed well, and soaked overnight
3 tbsp dhuli moong dal
Salt to taste

Ghee
1/2 tsp jeera
Hing pwd
1 red chilli

Pressure cook the bajra and moong with about 1 1/2 cups water, and salt to taste, for 2 whistles (lower flame after first whistle and wait for the second).
Roughly pound the cooked bajra-moong mixture so it gets a bit mushy

Heat ghee in a vessel, add jeera, red chillie and hing, and pour over the bajra-moong dal mix.
Serve with dahi or meethi kadhi

Gatte ki subji

This is something I made up by combining two of my favourite recipes- Moong pakodi ki subji and Gatte ki kadhi.

For the gatte
1 cup besan
haldi powder
soda
salt
chilli powder
ajwain
1 tsp oil


Method

Mix all the solid ingredients under gatte well, add oil, and knead till you have a smooth dough.
Roll into a cylinder and cut 1 1/2 inch long pieces.
Bring about 2 glasses water to a boil, drop the gatte pieces, and keep it in the water till they rise to the top. Once they do, take them out, and keep aside.


For the Gravy
Heat 1 tsp oil in kadhai. Put a pinch of hing, dhania powder, red chilli powder and haldi powder. When the raw smell goes, add water. Once the water starts boiling, reduce the flame, add the gatte, and bring to boil.
Best with rotis.

Rajasthani haldi-ki-sabji

Haldi is good for a cold, they said. And I went and bought 100 gms of it. Knew I couldn't consume that much, so asked google for help. What emerged was tasty, and nutritious, and tasted pretty good with rotis. But, and it is a big BUT (but, I said, not butt, though that too is big), it was all of that only all that when you knew you had to have it for the goodness. I am sure I will never make it because I "want to" have it, but when I "need to", it's something I will definitely turn to.

[Proportions are approximate, because the recipes were all for 250 gms, and I reduced everything my way.]

Peel and grate 100 gms raw haldi (better still get someone to do it for you). Keep aside.
Mix 1 tsp each of red chilli powder and dhania in about 3 tbsp curds, and salt to taste. Keep aside.
Shell about 15-20 peas, fry in ghee and keep aside.
Add a little more ghee, a pinch of hing, jeera, red chillies and fry till done.
Add grated haldi (and a bit more ghee if required), and fry till it starts turning brown (do a taste test to check that it is not bitter).
Add curds, and cook till the gravy thickens.
Add peas, turn off the fire, cover and let it cook in its own steam for a few minutes.

Serve with rotis.