Farasbi Harbhare bhaji

Some vegetables have no taste of their own, or they are really bland. No matter how many spices you add in them, they still remain bland.

For me and my hubby, Farasbi/French beans tops this "bland taste" list. I buy french beans in minimal quantity and use it in pav bhaji, kadhai vegetable, or rice dishes. However, my mom makes a unique combo using this veggie. She combines them with harbhare/black chana and spices them up with coconut, coriander mix. I remember my colleagues complimenting its taste and uniqueness whenever I carried it in my lunch box.

Since the time I have started blogging, I have pestered my mom for several recipes at odd times. I catch her online on Yahoo messenger alternate days, and almost every week there's a recipe request either for a blog event or for increasing my blog posts. Our conversation goes like this:
Me: Mom, tell me the recipe for Farasbi Harbhare vegetable.
Mom: Soak harbhare overnight.
Me: How much?
Mom: Approximately.
Me: What does approximately mean? Tell me, how much should I take to serve 2 people?
Mom: About 1/2 cup.
Me: ok..Then?
Mom: The next day, wash and cut farasbi. Cook both farasbi and harbhare in a pressure cooker.
Me: Hmmm..ok..(Frantically, noting all her instructions in a Word doc or Notepad, ignoring all the spelling mistakes).
Mom: Make a tempering and add vegetables to it. Next, add red chilli powder, salt, garam masala. (She's dictating all this at a super fast speed.)
Me: Go slow, go slow. And repeat the last sentence. How much red chilli and garam masala?
Mom: Andaje.. (meaning approximately)
Me: Aai, I told you "approximately" won't work. I don't want to mess up the dish. Plus, I want to post the recipe on my blog. I can't tell my readers to use approximate spices..They will stop visiting my blog.
Mom: (after much pondering)..Ok..Around 1/4 spoon red chilli, 1 tsp garam masala.
Me: Fine. Tell me the rest of the recipe.


And so, mom dictates the rest with some halts and questions from me. She uses a spicy mixture called 'vatan' in Marathi to spice up this dish. Here's a detailed recipe:

Farasbi Harbhare bhaji/French beans with black chickpeas


Method:

1. Soak 1/2 cup black chickpeas in double the quantity of water, overnight.
2. The next day, wash and cut the french beans in 1 inch pieces. You should have 1 cup of cut french beans.
3. Drain the water from the soaked black chickpeas.
4. Pressure cook the chickpeas and french beans for 2 whistles. You can either cook them together or in separate containers. Once cooked, drain the water and keep aside.
5. Add 1/4 cup shredded coconut, 2-3 green chillies, and 10-12 coriander sprigs in a mixer/blender. Add water and blend into a paste. This is the spicy mixture or 'vatan' for the vegetable.
6. Heat oil in a pan over medium flame. Make a tempering using 1 tsp mustard seeds, pinch of asafetida, and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder.
7. Add the cooked french beans and chickpeas. Mix together.
8. Next, add 1/2 tsp red chilli powder, salt to taste, 1 tsp garam masala, 1/4 tsp sugar, and 4 tsp peanut powder. Mix well.
9. Add the spicy paste made in step 5.
10. Add around 1/4 cup of water and mix again. Cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.

Verdict: When I chatted with mom again, I told her the outcome of the vegetable. We loved it. We will be making this combo again and again. Do give it a try and enjoy its unique taste.

RCI Orissa round-up

Many thanks to all the enthusiastic participants for sending such lovely entries for RCI: Orissa and thanks to Lakshmi for giving me the oppurtunity to host this event. Most of you (including me) had no idea about Orissa cuisine, but we all took great efforts to dig up some mouth-watering recipes. Sincere apologies from me for not replying to all your mails. This was partly because of my India trip and mostly because some mails landed up in my Spam folder. All those who will be hosting blog events in the future, please remember to check your Spam folder from time to time so that you don't miss any entries. (Updated: I had missed out Cinnamon's and Priyanka's beautiful entries in the round-up. Check it out in the Besara, Mitha, and Meals section.)

A little information about Orissa cuisine before we move to the round-up. Orissa cuisine can be broadly divided into the following categories:

1. Rice or bhata: comprises of khichdi, jeera rice, and other rice dishes.
2. Roti: covers the famous luchis made using all purpose flour, puris, and chakuli (a type of dosa made using rava, maida, and besan)
3. Pitha: These are mostly prepared using rice flour, suji, sugar, or jaggery. Pithas are made by stuffing a sweet mixture into rice balls and then steaming them (just like the modaks). Pithas are prepared during all Orissa festivals and poojas.
4. Dali: These curries are made using toor daal or chana daal and an abundance of spices. The famous dalis include Dalma and Chana dali.
5. Bhaja: This is the stir-fried method of cooking vegetables.
6. Tarkari: These gravy vegetables are made using individual or a combination of vegetables mixed with spices. Famous curries include Ghuguni, Jahni Posta, and Alu Posta.
7. Khatta: These sweet and sour condiments complete an Orissa meal. Khajur (dates) khatta, dahi nadia, and tomato khatta are some well-known khatta types.
8. Non-veg items: are made using mutton or fish and served in the form of curry.
9. Besara: These vegetable curries are made using a base of mustard paste and panch phoron or panch phutan. Panch phutan is a unique mixture of 5 spices - mustard (rai), fenugreek(methi), fennel (saunf), cumin (jeera), and nigella (kalonji). These spices are dry roasted and ground to a powder and used in vegetable preparations.
10. Mitha: Famous Oriya sweets include Rasgolla and Chena Kheeri.

While most of us explored the Bhata, Roti, Dali, Tarkari, Khatta, Besara, and Mitha categories of Orissa cuisine, we did not explore the Pitha category. Ghuguni, Dalma, and Aloo Posta were clearly the favorites.

I have divided your entries into categories based on the type of dish and the snaps you sent me. Here's presenting RCI: Orissa round-up.

Dali

Dalma : Sra of When my soup came alive

Dalma: Manasi of A cook at heart

Dalma: Sheela of Delectable Victuals

Khatta and Bhaja

Dahi Nadia: Raaga of The Singing Chef

Aloo posta: Suma of Veggie Platter

Alu Posta and Khajur Khatta: Madhuli of My Foodcourt

Begun bhaja: Meenakshi from her Yahoo blog

Bhendi Masala: Mandira of Ahaar

Palette in pastels: Sra of When my soup came alive

Jahni Alu Posto: Aarti of Aarti's Corner


Mashed potatoes with Oriya flair: Nupur of One Hot Stove

Besara and Tarakari

Bhanda gobi khofta curry: Roopa of My Chow Chow Bhaath

Cabbage curry: Nags of For the cook in me

Dahi Baigana: Musical from Musical's kitchen

Ghuguni: Madhu of Ruchi

Ghuguni: Suma of Veggie Platter

Ghuguni: Jyothi of Andhra spicy

Jahni alu rye: Sajeda of Chachi's Kitchen

Saru Besara: Musical from Musical's Kitchen

Phul Gobi do Piaji: Roopa of My Chow Chow Bhaath

(Updated: I had missed out Cinnamon's beautiful entry in the round-up. Check it out.)
Chhatu Besara: Cinnamon of Cinnamon Trial

Non-veg items

Machha Besara :Sandeepa of Bong Mom's Cookbook

Goat curry aka Mangso Tarkari: Pragyan of Cooking at Pragyan's

Rotis

Luchi with ghuguni : Prema of My cookbook


Luchi: Suma of Veggie Platter

Luchis with Dalma and Anda Saga Rai: Asha of Foodie's Hope

Chana Dali & Piaj Sag Bhaja with Luchi: Sia of Spice Corner

Bhata

Vegetable Khichadi: Roopa of My Chow Chow Bhaath

Jeera Pakhala: Swapna of Swad

Jeera Rice: Nags of For the cook in me


Orissa Kichdi: Kajal of Kajal Dreams


Tomato rice Oriya style: Srivalli of Cooking 4 all seasons

Mitha

Rice Pudding: Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi

Rasgulla: Aarti of Aarti's Corner


Nadiya Kheer: Archana of Tried & Tested Recipes

Chena Kheeri: Asha of Foodie's Hope

(Updated: This was missed out earlier.)
Rasabali: Priyanka of Lajawaab

Oriya Meals

Oriya Thali: Sharmi of Neivedyam. Her thali comprises of Dalchini Palau, Phulcobi Do Piaji, Channa Dal, Bhat Payasa, and Puris.

Oriya thali: Linda of Out of the garden presents her special Orissa thali complete with Kolatha Dali, Mushroom Besara, Summer Squash Rai, and Dahi Ke Baigan.

Oriya meal: Hima of SnackORama presents an Orissa meal containing Khichdi, Coconut chutney, Whole brinjal fry.

The Cooker's oriya meal comprises of Tomato-Khajur Khatta and Jhanni Posta.

(Updated: This was missed out earlier.)

Oriya meal: Priyanka's Orissa meal contains Alu-Potal Rasa, Chana Dali, Luchi, and Rasabali.

Hope you all enjoyed this round-up. If I have left out any entry, please mail me and I will update the round-up. Have a great weekend!

Announcing AFAM-September

After the parade of Banana, Strawberry, Pineapple, Apple, Mango, Orange, Watermelons, and Lychee, it's time for Grapes. I know I had given chickoo as another option, but the clusters of grapes and its recipes sounded more welcoming.

AFAM (A Fruit A Month) is a lovely event started by Maheshwari and it's my turn to host it this month. Thanks Maheshwari!

Grapes or angur as they are called in Hindi are sweet and sour (khatte-meethe) in taste. They are a rich source of Vitamin C and anti oxidants.

Use any type of grapes such as blue, black, green, red, purple, etc. to create your dish. If you are confused about what to make for AFAM, check out http://www.honeyflowfarm.com/graperecipes.htm. It has a plethora of recipes. Use grapes in your salads, entice us with some grape desserts, or bid farewell to the summer with some grape cocktails. The choice is yours. The rules for AFAM are simple.

1. Prepare a dish using grapes and blog about it in the month of September.
2. Include a link to this announcement and feel free to use this logo.
   
   (This logo was created by using an image found on Wiki. To save it on your machine, right-click the image, select Save Picture As..., and save to the desired location on your PC.)


3. Send an e-mail to swaps1@gmail.com (swaps1ATgmailDOTCOM) with the following information: (Also leave a comment in this message with the link to your entry.)
   a. Subject line: AFAM September
   b. Your name
   c. Your blog name
   d. Name of the dish
   e. Picture of the dish in 400X400 pixels.
   (Please send your entries in the mentioned format as it will be easier for me to compile the entries in the round-up)
4. You can participate even if you don't have a blog. Just mail me your recipe, all the above details, and the picture of the dish and I will include it in the round-up.
5. The last day for submitting your entries is 25th September.

Pop some grapes in your mouth as you create wonderful dishes using them. Awaiting all your sweet and sour entries!

Jeera Pakhala

It's been so hot here the last couple of days that I have spent very little time in the kitchen. I returned from India last weekend and since then I have felt dehydrated. The temperatures are soaring and so are our electricity bills. It's impossible to survive without the AC.

All the week long, I was playing with options for RCI. I could have easily made something in India, but then I was busy eating "mom ke haath ka khana":). I was in no mood to start complicated cooking and was looking for a simple recipe. Finally, I hit the jackpot. Jeera Pakhala is a simple rice preparation with the flavors of shaha jeera and curry leaves. The curry leaves add a unique taste to the rice.

Jeera Pakhala

Adapted from this recipe.

1. Wash 1 cup rice. Cook the rice in a pressure cooker. Once done, spread it on a plate and let cool.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add 3 whole red chillies and saute for a minute. Next add 2 tsp kala (shaha) jeera. Once it splutters, add 12-15 curry leaves. Fry for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the cooked rice and salt to taste.
4. Cover and cook on low flame for 5 minutes.
5. Serve when cool.

This is my entry for RCI: Orissa. I will post RCI: Orissa round-up next weekend. A big THANKS to everyone who participated in this event. It means a lot to me. For all those who missed this RCI, the next one's at Foodie's Hope hosted by dear Asha.

I also realized that there are few Maharashtrian dishes on which I have blogged. In the near future, Swad will show case some easy, complicated, authentic Maharashtrian dishes. Stay tuned!

Reminder RCI: Orissa

Friends,

Only 3 days are left to submit your entries for RCI Oriya. The last date for submitting entries is 25th August.

I am back from India after my short vacation. We had a great time with family and friends.

I will be hosting AFAM: September. So, please send me your ideas for the same. I am thinking about grapes or chikoo.