Harvested interest

Sankrant Khichdo

Ingredients

• Broken wheat 300 gm
• Toor dal 100 gm
• Dry dates 50 gm
• Pealed raw peanuts 30 gm
• Fresh coconut flesh 30 gm
• Broken cashewnuts 10 nos
• Whole field beans 30 gm
• Fresh toor dana 30 gm
• Fresh peas 30 gm
• Raisins 20 gm
• Almonds whole 10 nos
• Jaiphal powder 3 gm
• Cardamom powder 3 gm
• Saffron powder 0.5 gm
• Green chilli paste 20 gm
• Ghee 200 gm
• Whole chilli 2 nos
• Mustard seeds 5 gm
• Red chilli powder 5 gm
• Turmeric powder 5 gm
• A pinch of asafoetida
• Chopped coriander leaves 1 bunch
• Salt to taste
• Sugar to taste  

Method

• Soak broken wheat for two hours, and pat dry.
• In a thick bottomed vessel, add water with a drop of ghee. Add soaked wheat and cook till done.
• In a separate pan, cook toor dal, peanuts and boil till cooked well. Add field beans, fresh toor dana, fresh peas and cook till done. Add to cooked broken wheat mix.
• Cut dates into ¼, slice coconut in slices, cut almonds into 1/3, soak raisins for 20 minutes in water. Add to the cooked broken wheat mixture.
• Add spice powders and green chilli paste. Season mix well on the hot plate on very slow flame. Correct the seasoning with salt and sugar.
• In a thick bottomed pan, add ghee followed by whole dry red chilli, mustard seeds and asaofetida. Add tempering to khichda.
• Serve garnished with coriander leaves and raita.

Karanji

Ingredients

• Casing dough
• Refined flour (maida) 300 gm
• Semolina 30 gm
• Ghee 30 ml
• Milk 100 ml

For Stuffing

• Poppy seeds 10 gm
• Dry grated coconut 100 gm
• Powdered sugar 60 gm
• Cardamom powder 2 gm
• Almond 10 gm
• Pistachio 10 gm
• Charoli 10 gm
• Sesame seeds 5 gm
• Raisins 10 gm

Method

• Sieve refined flour and mix with semolina in a bowl. Heat ghee and add to the mixture. Add milk to form soft dough, cover with a moist cloth, rest.
• Broil dry coconut and poppy seeds separately. Crush almond, pistachio and charoli nuts. Mix all the ingredients with powdered sugar and cardamom powder.
• Form dumplings of the dough and roll into 4” discs. Stuff the dough with mixture at the centre. Fold karanji to form a half-moon shape.
• Seal edges of karanji with milk, and cut the excess dough with cutter. Pinch and twist the edges to seal completely.
• Deep fry karanji till golden brown and serve hot.

— Recipes courtesy: Chef Dhaval Ajmera, executive chef at a five star hotel