Call it Sankranti, Uttarayana, Pongal or Bihu, it’s time to celebrate the harvest festival with dishes made with freshly cropped rice, groundnut, sesame, etc.
Call it Sankranti, Uttarayana, Pongal or Bihu, it’s time to celebrate the harvest festival with dishes made with freshly cropped rice, groundnut, sesame, etc.
Namkeen Pongal
Ingredients
Rice 125 gm
Moong dal 125 gm
Chopped ginger 25 gm
Curry leaves 10 gm
Cumin seeds 5 gm
Asafoetida 2.5 gm
Peppercorn, crushed 5 gm
Ghee 15 ml
Turmeric 2.5 gm Method
Dry and roast dal till fragrant. Wash and cook dal and rice in 350 ml-450 ml water till soft. Mash up a bit to get creamy consistency. Add salt and stir.
Heat ghee in a pan, add cashews and fry till golden. Set aside. Add ginger, cumin and peppercorn and fry till aromatic. Allow them to splutter, add turmeric and asafoetida.
Add this to the pongal, mix and simmer for a minute. Serve hot with chutney or sambhar.
Recipe courtesy: Saumya Shree, food specialist, BiteClub.in Sakkarai pongal
Sakkarai pongal or sweet pongal is an auspicious naivedhyam dish offered to the Gods and the Goddess during the puja.
Ingredients
Rice 50 gm
Moong dhuli dal 50 gm
Jaggery 100 gm
Ghee 30 ml
Cashewnut 15 gm
Raisins 15 gm
Brown coconut 60 gm
Cardamom powder 1-2 gm Method
Wash and soak rice and dal for half an hour. Cook them in water (similar to making plain rice). Mash them together. Make jaggery syrup and add it to the above mixture.
Pour desi ghee in a pan and add sliced brown coconut, raisins and cashewnuts. Stir till brown. Sprinkle cardamom powder on top. Serve hot, garnished with dry fruits. Recipe courtesy: chef Veena Arora, The Spice Route, The Imperial
Bora saulor aroiya pitha
Pitha made with wet sticky rice and sesame seeds is a popular sweet dish made during Bihu festival in Assam.
ingredients
Bora saul or Thai sticky rice 1 kg
Sesame seeds (black) 500 gm
Jaggery 400 gm
Salt to taste Method
Wash rice and soak for ten minutes. Drain water and keep aside. Grind it.
Soak sesame seeds for four hours. Drain water and grind the seeds in a dheki (an agricultural tool used for threshing, to separate grains from their outer husks, while leaving the bran layer). l Dry the sesame seeds in the sunlight. After drying, fry them without oil and mix it with jaggery.
Put a tawa on low flame and spread the rice powder in a round shape. Put sesame-jaggery mixture on it and fold it. Press the pitha with a clean cotton cloth, so that the fold doesn’t open. Serve hot.
Recipe courtesy: : Shabnam Borah is a home chef for 34 years. She has constantly strived to recreate age-old Assamese Muslim cuisine and give it a modern twist.
Undhiyu
Undhiyu is a mixed winter-vegetable curry relished with hot puri or paranthas during Uttarayana or the kite flying festival, popularly known as Makarsakranti Ingredients
Surti surati beans (fresh vaal) 100 gm
Chopped raw bananas 100 gm
Yam (suran) cubes, peeled 100 gm
Brinjal 100 gm
Green chillies, crushed 5
Ginger, grated 1 tsp
Garlic, crushed tsp
Finely chopped coriander 1 tbsp
Whole wheat flour 1 tsp
Oil 4 tbsp
Hing tsp
Turmeric powder tsp
Carom seeds 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Sugar tbsp
Lemon juice to taste
For methi gatta
Finely chopped fenugreek (methi) leaves 100 gm
Besan cup
Chilli powder 1 tsp
Grated coconut 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil 1 tbsp Method for gatta
Mix all the ingredients to make stiff dough. Form small oval dumplings using the dough. Heat oil in a pan and fry gattas for two minutes. Keep aside.
Method for Undheyu
Form a paste using chilli, ginger, garlic and coriander. Rub the chopped vegetables with oil and masala paste. Marinade for 30 minutes. Heat oil in a pan, add vegetables and stir well. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add turmeric, wheat flour, ajwain and salt. Cover and cook on low flame till the yam is almost done. Add coriander, lemon and sprinkle some water if required. Add sugar and stir. Serve hot with paranthas. Recipe courtesy: Maharaj Jodharam Choudhary, Khandani Rajdhani
