Forgotten flavors

"Our people should know and remember what had been cooked in their grandparents’ times. Papau-ma-gos, sekta-ni-sing-per-eeda, gor-amli-na-ras-ma-patra-ni-ma-chhi, gos-nu-stew are items no longer to be seen on Parsi tables,” noted Katy Dalal in her foreword to the book Jamva Chaloji - 2, that includes many unfamiliar recipes.

The late author’s husband Feroze has been kind enough to permit Parsiana to carry six recipes from her book published in 2003. Although an archeologist by profession, having done her doctorate in Pre-Harappan Pottery Industries, with her special skills in cooking and a wealth of family recipes Dalal decided to pass on this legacy through her cook books.

TAMBOTA-NI-ROTLI

(Tomato stuffed rotlis)

Serves 6

For the covering

Wheat flour (1 cup)

Self-raising flour (1 cup)

Ajwain (¼ tsp — crushed)

Coriander (1 tbsp — finely chopped)

Salt

Ghee

For the stuffing

White sweet onion (1 small — chopped fine)

Green chilli (1 — chopped fine)

Tomatoes (3 large — skinned, deseeded and chopped fine)

Sugar (1 large pinch)

Turmeric powder (¼ tsp)

Red chilli powder (½ tsp)

Black pepper powder (½ tsp)

Ginger-garlic paste (½ tsp)

Curry leaves (3 sprigs — finely chopped)

Salt

Ghee

Place the flours, ajwain and salt in a thali. Mix well and add the ghee and sufficient water to make a supple dough. Knead well till smooth. Cover with a damp cloth and keep aside for two hours.

Take one tablespoon of pure ghee, add the curry leaves and place it on a very low fire. Keep stirring for three minutes and then add the ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, red chilli and black pepper powders. Mix for two minutes and then add the chopped green chilli, coriander and tomatoes along with the sugar. Allow to simmer until the mixture thickens. Add salt and stir.

Roll the dough into 12 to 14 round rotlis. Take half the rotlis and divide the mixture between them, taking care to keep a clear half-inch margin around the paste and the circumference of the rotli. Apply water around the clear edges and cover the rotli with another one. Pat the edges so the rotlis stick together.

When all your double rotlis are ready, place an iron tava on the fire. When it gets hot, rub it with a soft cloth and place the stuffed rotli onto the hot surface. Turn it once and then again apply a trickle of ghee around the edges. Turn over once again until both sides are golden and brown.

Serve as a breakfast or tea-time snack with hot elaichi tea.

PANCH-JATNI-DAL-KHATTI-MITTHI

(Five different dals, sweet and sour, all cooked together)

Serves 4-6

Tuvar dal (100 g)

Masoor dal (100 g)

Mung dal (100 g)

Chana dal (100 g)

Urad dal (100 g)

Soak them in water for two hours.

Onions (4 large — finely chopped)

Parsi dhansakh masala (1½ tbsp)

Red chilli powder (2 tsp)

Turmeric powder (1½ tsp)

Cumin powder (1 tsp)

Fennel powder (1 tsp)

Cinnamon powder (1 tsp)

Black peppercorn powder (1 tsp)

Green chillies (6 — deseeded and cut fine)

Garlic (8 large cloves — sliced)

Curry leaves (2 sprigs)

Salt

Ghee

Mix well

Tamarind pulp (½ cup)

Jaggery (½ cup — crushed)

Cook the four onions in three tablespoons of ghee and sufficient water in the pressure cooker. When soft and pink, add the curry leaves and cook for one minute. Add all the powdered masalas to the soft onions and stir briskly for three minutes. Then add the dals, all drained and washed twice. Add salt and sufficient amount of water and cook till tender.

Remove the cooked dals into a tapeli, add the tamarind and jaggery pulp and allow to simmer for seven minutes.

Take a small karahi. Place on a low fire and add one tablespoon of ghee. When it becomes hot, add the garlic and stir till they become red. Add the green chillies, stir for one minute and remove the karahi from the flame.

Remove the hot dal into a deep dish or tureen and top with the fried garlic, chillies and ghee.

Serve with peti pau and dried Bombay Ducks, roasted or fried, along with plenty of onion kachumber.

SEKTA-NA-MAVA-PER-EEDA

(Eggs on drumstick pulp)

Serves 6

Eggs (6)

Drumstick pulp (2 cups — boiled)

Onions (2 — sliced and deep fried)

Tomato (1 large — skinned and chopped fine)

Green chillies (1 tsp — chopped fine)

Fresh coriander (2 tbsp — chopped fine)

Turmeric powder (½ tsp)

Black pepper powder (½ tsp)

Salt

Pure ghee

Place two tablespoons of pure ghee in a large iron frying pan, non-stick pan or a small thali. Place the ghee on a low fire and add the tomato, green chillies, coriander, turmeric and black pepper powders and cook till the tomato is pulpy and soft and not watery. Add the drumstick pulp and salt and simmer for four more minutes, stirring all the while.

Reduce the flame and make six depressions in the drumstick pulp and crack an egg in each hollow. Sprinkle with fine salt and a little water and cover and cook till firm. Serve with rice flour rotlis.

BHARELA PARVAL

(Chicken mince stuffed snake gourd pieces)

Serves 6-8

Snake gourd (3 tender)

Chicken mince (500 g)

Onions (2 large — chopped fine)

Tomatoes (3 — skinned and chopped fine)

Fresh coriander (½ cup — chopped)

Turmeric powder (1 tsp)

Chilli powder (2 tsp)

Prakash’s garam masala (1½ tsp)

Sugar (1 tsp)

Charoli (2 tbsp)

Raisins (2 tbsp)

Eggs (3-4)

Breadcrumbs/ bread slices

Salt

Refined oil

Take a thick string made of coir commonly called "katha” or any abrasive cloth and rub off the white skin of the snake gourds until only the green skin remains. Wash and slice off the ends. Cut the remaining portions into three-inch pieces. Remove the soft mush and seeds from the center until you have a hollow piece like a large tube. Wash the pieces and allow to dry.

Take a vessel, add two tbsp of oil and place it on a medium flame. Add the onions and cook them till they are soft and pink.

Add the mince with the salt, turmeric, chilli and garam masala and mix well and cook for five minutes on a slow flame. Then add one cup water and cook for a further 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, raisins and charoli and the coriander and cook till the mince is tender and dry. If necessary, add more water and sugar. Taste for salt and allow the mince to cool.

Steam or lightly boil the snake gourd pieces in salted water till they are almost cooked. Remove and drain from the water in a sieve. Stuff the gourd pieces with the mince. Mash four slices of the bread in a well beaten egg in a soup plate. Make tiny nodules and plug the gourd pieces at both ends.

Place a karahi half filled with oil on a medium flame. Whisk two eggs. When the oil is hot, dip the gourd pieces in the beaten egg and immerse them, a few at a time, and fry them till golden colored.

Serve them with tomato and papaya gravy.

SOOKI-MASALA-NI-KOLMI

(Dry cooked masala prawns)

Serves 4-6

Large prawns (500 g — keep intact from behind the eyes, shell the back and devein, wash twice)

Curd (1 cup — whisked)

Mustard seeds (½ tsp)

Curry leaves (2 sprigs)

Salt

Sesame oil

Grind in a little vinegar

Coconut (¼ — grated)

Kashmiri chillies (10 — deseeded)

Garlic (10 large cloves)

Garam masala (1 tbsp)

Broken cashew nuts (2 tbsp)

Broiled coriander (1 tbsp)

Onion (1 large — cut fine)

Mix the prawns into the masala and whisked curd and keep for two hours.

Place a langri on a medium flame with three tablespoons of oil. When it heats up, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. When they crackle, add the masala prawns and lower the flame and cook the prawns in their own juice. Cover and allow to simmer till soft. If necessary, add two tablespoons of water at a time till prawns are soft.

Serve with rice rotlis.

KATY DALAL-NI-MASALAMA-TARKARI-NI-KHICHRI

(Katy Dalal’s masala vegetable khichdi)

Serves 6-8

For the rice

Basmati rice (400 g)

Masoor dal (150 g)

Onions (2 — deep fried)

Turmeric powder (1 tsp)

Spice leaves (3-5 — fresh or dry)

Cinnamon (2 pieces — 1 inch each)

Green cardamoms (3 — crushed)

Salt

Pure ghee (2 tbsp)

For the vegetables

Saffron (1 g)

Onions (2 — finely chopped)

Tomatoes (4 large — skinned and chopped fine)

Potatoes (100 g — skinned and cut into ½ inch cubes)

Carrots (100 g — skinned and cut into ½ inch cubes)

Red pumpkin (100 g — skinned and cut into ½ inch cubes)

Sweet potato (100 g — skinned and cut into ½ inch cubes)

Purple yam or kamodio kand (100 g — skinned and cut into ½ inch cubes)

Frenchbeans (50 g — cut fine)

Ladyfingers (50 g — fried)

Seedless raisins (100 g — fried)

Cashew nuts (50 g — fried)

Turmeric powder (1 tsp)

Chilli powder (1½ tsp)

Garam masala (1½ tsp)

Green chillies (2)

Salt

Pure ghee

Prepare the rice in a rice cooker along with the ingredients listed for rice.

Take a large, open-mouthed vessel with a thick bottom. Cook the onions in it in half cup of pure ghee over a low fire. When the onions turn pink wash all the vegetables, except the ladyfingers, and salt them lightly and add to the pan along with the turmeric powder and chillies. Stir well for five minutes and then add the tomatoes, salt and chilli powder and cover and cook over a very low fire for five minutes. Then add one cup water, cover and put water on the lid and allow to simmer till tender. Keep adding more hot water from the lid as you need it. When the vegetables are cooked, sprinkle garam masala powder on top. Simmer till tight. Taste for salt.

Heat the saffron on an iron tava and crumble it between your fingers and then sprinkle it on top of the vegetables and stir thoroughly.

Put half the rice in a large vessel and pour all the vegetables on top of it. Then cover it with the remaining half of the rice. Decorate with the fried ladyfingers, raisins and cashew nuts. Cover tightly and place over a tava on medium flame for 20 minutes.

Serve in a flat dish along with sweet curd, fried prawns and green salad.