Theme: Bookmarked recipes from BM# 39
Dish: Himachal Pradesh Thali
Day 2 of the marathon and today we are traveling to Himachal Pradesh all the way in Northern India. This is one of the states that I had bookmarked a lot of recipes and figured its better to feature them all in a thali. All the dishes are very simple to make and it took me a little over 1 hour to make them. My husband was not too thrilled with this since the channa madra had yogurt and the nashpati ki subzi is on the sweet side. I should have thought about it, but well that was that. I on the other hand enjoyed all the dishes.
Dishes in the Thali:
- Babru (Urad dal stuffed Puri)
- Channa Madra (Chickpeas cooked in yogurt gravy)
- Nashpati ki Subzi (Spicy Pear Curry)
- Spicy Bhey (Spicy Lotus Stems)
- Meethe Chawal (Sweet Rice)
- Chawal (Plain Rice)
Recipe from Valli.
Ingredients:
Wholewheat flour - 2cups
All purpose flour - ½cup
Baking powder - ¼tsp
Salt - to taste
For the Stuffing:
Urad dal - ½cup
Method:
- For the Stuffing: Soak the dal overnight and grind it into a slightly coarse paste.
- For the outer layer: Combine wholewheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Add enough water and knead to a smooth pliable dough.
- Divide the dough into small equal size balls. Flatten the ball slightly and place 1tsp of the stuffing, pull the dough over the stuffing and cover it completely.
- Dust liberally with flour and roll into small pooris.
- Heat oil for deep frying; gently slide each poori and cook on both sides until golden in color. Remove onto a paper towel lined plate and serve hot.
Nashpati ki Subzi (Pear Curry): This is quite an unusal dish for me, since I rarely cook with fruits and making a curry with a fruit is very new to me. When I saw it on Vaishali's blog, I really wanted to try it to see how it tastes. I wasn't disappointed -- the curry is sweet, spicy and juicy.
Spicy Bhey: Lotus stems are of the new ingredients that I tried during the mega A-Z Indian states marathon and one that I really really liked. So when I saw it being made as a dry curry with spices, I knew I would be making it real soon.
Meethe Chawal: This is a delicious sweet rice that is very quick and easy to make.
Method:
- Soak rice in cold water for at least 30 minutes. In a small bowl, add 2tbsp hot water to saffron and set aside.
- Heat 2tsp ghee in a pressure cooker. Drain the water from rice and add the soaked rice to ghee. Add ground cardamom, mix well.
- Pour water and pressure cook for 1~2 whistles.
- Open the lid and once the pressure dissipates; add sugar and saffron mixture. Cook till the sugar is completely dissolved. Garnish with almonds and serve.