The tangy taste of Gujarat

Gujarati cuisine is now certainly in vogue, having even made it to a presidential dinner. The author culls out some choice recipes from the land of dhokla

Long before Narendra Modi was sworn in as the prime minister of India, a little bit of Gujarat had already made its way to the Prime Minister’s Office. The staple evening snack of Modi’s predecessor Manmohan Singh used to be a couple of Marie biscuits with a cup of tea. Then one day, he broke the rule and went for a samosa instead. When his wife Gursharan Kaur found out, she promptly replaced the samosa, which, with 300 calories, wasn’t the healthiest snack for someone who had undergone two bypass surgeries. In came the healthier dhokla (about 50 calories apiece).

“Gujarati food is healthier, light and is believed to induce a good night’s sleep,” says Mumbai-based Asha Khatau, founder of Epicure cooking school and whose gourmet vegetarian cooking has admirers like Mukesh and Nita Ambani and the Ruias. Gujarati cuisine is often thought to be too sweet and even dismissed as boring. “Yes, it has that sugar and lemon twist but that’s only done to balance out the spices,” says Khatau. “And it is full of variation,” she adds pointing to the Kela-methi nu shaak (see recipe), an unusual blend of banana and fenugreek leaves that was served at the dinner hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee for Modi and the SAARC leaders after the cabinet was sworn in on May 26.

For a state with a vast coastline, Gujarati food remains surprisingly vegetarian — devoid of seafood and even egg. Clearly that’s not missed. “Only this Sunday, we saw sales going up to Rs 2 lakh, which is a lot in vegetarian cuisine,” says Indrajit Saha, the executive chef at Tuskers, the vegetarian dining bar at Sofitel Mumbai BKC — probably the only five-star hotel in Mumbai that offers Gujarati or Rajasthani food under one roof. Gujarati fine dining — where the focus is as much on the food as on the atmosphere, décor, plates, cutlery and crockery — might be an unusual concept, but the chef swears by the popularity of his Surti dal, pyaaz ki bhujji, lauki vatana, dahi kaju karela kishmish and makai ke pakode.

 

Asha Khatau, Founder, Epicure Cooking School

Kela-Methi nu shaak (Banana-fenugreek leaves vegetable)
Serves     4-6
Ingredients:
Ripe bananas, chopped into cubes: 2-3 pieces
Fenugreek leaves, freshly plucked and roughly chopped     1 bundle
Oil 3-4 tbsp
Turmeric powder ¼ tsp
Chilli powder ½ tsp
Green chilli, slit 1
Jaggery 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method: Heat oil in a frying pan. Add chilli and fenugreek leaves, salt, turmeric and chilli powder. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until methi is soft. Add banana, mix well and take it off the stove. The bitterness of methi is complemented by the sweetness of bananas. Serve hot with rotis.

Asha Khatau

Ek Top na Dal-Bhaat (One-pot spicy rice and lentils)
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
Bottom layer
Ghee     ¼ cup
Cloves     4-5
Cinnamon sticks 1-2
Cardamoms 3-4
Split pigeon peas (arhar dal)    1½ cups
Skinless split green gram  (moong dal)    ½ cup
Ivy gourd 200 gm
Turmeric powder ¼ tsp
Asafoetida ¼ tsp
Salt to taste
Hot water 2 cups
Fresh coriander, chopped 1½ cups
Middle layer
Grated fresh coconut ¾ cup
Sugar 1 tbsp
Asafoetida a pinch
Turmeric powder ½ tsp
Chilli powder     ½ tsp red
Ginger-chilli paste 1 tbsp
1 tsp coriander-cumin powder
Juice of 1 lemon
Gram flour, roasted ¼ cup
Small potatoes, peeled     6-8   
Small onions 10
Small brinjals, stemmed 6-8
Top layer
Basmati rice 2 cups

Method: Soak rice for half an hour. Heat ghee in a thick-bottomed pan; add the cloves, cinnamon and cardamom and fry for a minute. Add split peas, split gram, ivy gourd, turmeric powder, asafoetida and enough salt to season. Mix well and add hot water. Cover and cook on a low heat till the peas, gram, and ivy gourd are half-cooked. Mix together coriander, coconut, salt, sugar, a pinch of asafoetida, turmeric powder, chilli powder, ginger-chilli paste, coriander-cumin powder, lemon juice and gram flour in a large plate. Slit the potatoes, onions, and brinjals vertically and soak them in water. Stuff the vegetables with the prepared spice mixture.

Mix the remaining mixture with the vegetables so that they are well coated with the spices. Arrange them over the partially cooked gram. Add warm water, as required to cook vegetables. Cover and cook till the vegetables are half cooked. Spread the rice over the vegetables. Add salt and a little ghee and enough warm water to cook the rice. Cook, covered till all the water has evaporated and the rice is tender. Make sure the peas and gram do not stick to the bottom. To serve, unmould the dish by inverting the pan over a large plate. Serve hot with kadhi.

PANKI (Rice pancakes steamed in banana leaves)
Serves     6-8

Ingredients:
Rice flour 1½ cups
Sour yogurt 2 cups
Sugar ½ tsp
Fenugreek seeds ½ tsp
Green chilli-ginger paste 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Banana leaves, cut into 12-inch squares 6-8
Oil for cooking
To serve
Green chutney (recipe follows) and Vagharela Marcha

Method: For Panki place the rice flour in a large bowl; add yogurt, sugar and fenugreek seeds. Mix thoroughly to make a smooth batter. Cover and set aside in a warm place overnight to ferment. The batter should taste sour. Add chilli-ginger paste and salt to the batter and mix thoroughly.

Grease the banana leaves with a little oil. Heat a frying pan or dosa tawa and brush with a little oil. Place a greased leaf on it and pour 3-4 tablespoons of batter on the leaf and spread evenly. Cover with another leaf, greased side down and cover with deep metal pan. Let the panki cook for 3-4 minutes till set and small bubbles appear. Turn over and cook the other side as well. Serve hot straight from the banana leaf onto the plate, along with green chutney and green chillies.

Green Chutney
Makes 1 cup

Ingredients:
Coriander leaves, chopped  2 cups
Green chillies, chopped 2-3
Ginger     1-inch
Cumin seeds ½ tsp
Sugar 1 tsp
Roasted split Bengal gram 1 tbsp
Juice of 1 lemon
A pinch of asafoetida

Method: Grind together all the ingredients with a little water to make a smooth paste. Store in the refrigerator.

Indrajit Saha

Indrajit Saha, Executive chef, Tuskers at Sofitel Mumbai BKC's vegetarian dining bar

Pyaaz ki bhujji

Ingredients:
Spring onions 250 gm  
Gram flour 30 gm
Cumin seeds 10 gm
Chilli powder 10 gm
Sugar 10 gm
Asafoetida 10 gm
Salt 10 gm
Ghee 10 gm

Method: Cut spring onion into juliennes. Heat oil, fry gram flour, cumin seeds, asafoetida and chili powder. add chopped onions, sugar and salt according to taste. Cook on low flame till ready.

Makai ke Pakode

Ingredients:

Corn 200 gm
Salt 10 gm
Chickpea flour 50 gm
Green chilli 2 gm
Red chilli ¼ gm
Oil to fry
Asafoetida 2 gm
Turmeric 2 gm
Chaat masala 2 gm

Method: Boil corn and mash it. Add chickpea flour (besan) to the corn mixture. Add chopped green chillies and fresh coriander to the mashed corn. Add salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, ASAFOETIDA and chat masala. Mix well and deep fry.