When I think of my favourite foods , no single dish comes to my mind . In fact I think , I kind of liked different dishes by different people and lots of childhood memories attached to it. My favorite dishes are by three most important women in my life my mom, my grandmother (dadi),and my maternal grandmother (nani). Incidentally , these dishes were once staples of Hindi heartland.
My mom is an excellent cook so much so that everyone in the family insists on her cooking at least one dish when the whole family gets together . There is nothing in north Indian cuisine that she can't cook but the kadhi she rustles up is totally out of the world. Kadhi is a very famous Indian curry which is made up of besan( gramflour) and yogurt /buttermilk . It is mixed in that perfect proportion and cooked to perfection for around an hour on low flame stirring continuously . She then added small pakora or gramflour dumpling . The final touches were added by her special "tadka" which included fenugreek seeds , mustard seeds ,asafoetida , onions, red chillies. Oh so yumm . The magic ingredient- lots of love.
My dadi though was never a great cook and rarely cooked. Yes,even in those times she had an official cook "the maharaj" . But there was one special dish which she made to perfection and no one else came even closer. It was the drool worthy "bajre ki khichdi". Bajra or millet was coarsely grounded and soaked for a couple of hours in water. Then , this concoction was cooked on low flame for hours. Generally, everyone had it plain with either milk or curd but my Dadi Maa added a twist to it by seasoning it with ghee, jeera ( cumin seeds) , hing (asafoetida) ,onions ,tomatoes, carrots ,beans ,peas and chillies and coriander.Magic ingredient - lots of love.
The third most drool worthy dish is by my nani . Every summer holidays were spend at nani' s house and this was our summer special . It is called raabri ...no , it's not rabri. Raabri is another yogurt based recipe. A dalia/porridge of barley and broken wheat is prepared and is left to cool the whole night. This cooled mixture is added to the buttermilk . Lots of finely chopped onion ,cucumber, tomatoes, coriander is added. It is healthy,filling and nourishing . Magic ingredient - lots of love.
Leaving kadhi pakora , the other two are somewhat lost recipes rarely made these days. I continue making these as a reminiscent of the old happier times with these three strong ,fascinating and admirable women.
My mom is an excellent cook so much so that everyone in the family insists on her cooking at least one dish when the whole family gets together . There is nothing in north Indian cuisine that she can't cook but the kadhi she rustles up is totally out of the world. Kadhi is a very famous Indian curry which is made up of besan( gramflour) and yogurt /buttermilk . It is mixed in that perfect proportion and cooked to perfection for around an hour on low flame stirring continuously . She then added small pakora or gramflour dumpling . The final touches were added by her special "tadka" which included fenugreek seeds , mustard seeds ,asafoetida , onions, red chillies. Oh so yumm . The magic ingredient- lots of love.
My dadi though was never a great cook and rarely cooked. Yes,even in those times she had an official cook "the maharaj" . But there was one special dish which she made to perfection and no one else came even closer. It was the drool worthy "bajre ki khichdi". Bajra or millet was coarsely grounded and soaked for a couple of hours in water. Then , this concoction was cooked on low flame for hours. Generally, everyone had it plain with either milk or curd but my Dadi Maa added a twist to it by seasoning it with ghee, jeera ( cumin seeds) , hing (asafoetida) ,onions ,tomatoes, carrots ,beans ,peas and chillies and coriander.Magic ingredient - lots of love.
The third most drool worthy dish is by my nani . Every summer holidays were spend at nani' s house and this was our summer special . It is called raabri ...no , it's not rabri. Raabri is another yogurt based recipe. A dalia/porridge of barley and broken wheat is prepared and is left to cool the whole night. This cooled mixture is added to the buttermilk . Lots of finely chopped onion ,cucumber, tomatoes, coriander is added. It is healthy,filling and nourishing . Magic ingredient - lots of love.
Leaving kadhi pakora , the other two are somewhat lost recipes rarely made these days. I continue making these as a reminiscent of the old happier times with these three strong ,fascinating and admirable women.
4 comments:
Hey! Wow....nice post n really drool worthy stuff!!
i too love rabri. My mom makes out of the world rabri. I miss that now
Hey! Shilpi thank u for taking time out to read my blog...It really means a lot...u can come home anytime for raabri.
Thank you ! Aalia for sharing your views n liking my post.
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