Lili dungri nu shak

Now, I don’t know of a single member of our Vithlani family that does not like lot waru shak.  You can almost guarantee that your meal would be deemed a success if you made this shak for any member of the extended Vithlani family. In fact, Manu’s aunt who lives in London and whom I am very fond of, OUR Rama kaki always says that give any Vithlani lot waru shak and you will not have a meal time complaints (and believe me, these Vithlani’s are super fussy eaters).  So as a good wife 🙂 and daughter in law, this was one of the things I mastered as fast as I could after marrying Manu.

I don’t know what it is about the magic of gram flour and vegetables but the dryish curry is truly delicious.  I have shared here my recipe using spring onion but mooli (both root and greens), methi or cabbage work well too.  Be sure to try this as it makes for a rather scrumptious meal with rice and or rotli.

 

 

 

2 cups round cut spring oni0ns

2 green chillies

 

2  table spoon oil

3/4 cups gram flour

3/4 tea spoon salt

3/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

 

For the tempering

1 table spoon oil

1/2 tea spoon mustard seeds

 

Cut the spring anions and the green chilies .Keep on the side.

Mix gram flour, salt, turmeric powder and oil and keep on the side.

In a pan put oil, once heated add mustard seeds. When it starts to crackle add the cut onions and chillies .Saute for a minute add gram flour mixture.

Cover the pan add little water on the lid allow onions and flour to cook on a low heat.

Keep stirring every few minutes until the onions are tenderised and the flour cooked through.

 

 

 

 

Sambharo

 

 

Sambharo

As I mentioned in my recent post “the Athana ni Sahani” sambharo is almost an essential condiment in our household.

Now you can make sambharo with cabbage, carrots, peppers, chillies, potato, gunda, karamda, amla etc but the most popular one in our Jikoni is the cobi/gajar/marcha no sambharo (cabbage/carrot/green chillies).

This stir fried version with a touch of salt and turmeric brilliantly accompanies rotli or paratha (especially if the rotli is cold (ie: prepared a few hours earlier). If you put less of the green chillies then kids can also enjoy this mild tasting sambharo with their meals.

 

 

 

 

3 cups cabbage finely chopped

1 cup carrots grated

4 to 5  green chilies ( cut lengthwise) Make 4 pieces

1 Table spoon oil

1/2 tea spoon mustard seeds

3/4 tea spoon turmeric powder

1 1/4 tea spoon salt

1/2 tea spoon lemon juice

 

Heat the oli in a pan, add mustard seeds .Once it starts to crackle add chilies mix well , sprinkle turmeric powder add carrots and chopped cabbage  add salt and stir well . Cook for 2 to 3 minutes add lemon juice and turn the heat off.  Serve at room temperature.

 

 

 

ATHANA NI SAHANI

This takes me back to Tanzania for sure, the beautiful, colourful athana ni sahani.  For my friends who don’t speak Swahili, sahani means platter, tray, or plate.  Athana is a gujarati word for pickles and condiments and so in this post I want to share some recipes and some tidbits about the athana ni sahani.

In East Africa in most gujarati households the athana ni sahani graces most dining tables at most meal times be it snack, lunch, dinner or indeed breakfast.  The platter consists of an array of condiments and pickles in tiny little bowls which bear equally tiny spoons whose purpose seems almost like an education in the athana etiquette. The tiny bowls and spoons tell you that your are not meant to pile the athana onto your plate, but to use a little of each condiment to enhance your experience of the meal which you are about to partake.

At the Vithlani house in Mwanza where my in-laws resided, the athana ni sahani was almost integral to every meal.  My motabhai,(brother in law and Manu’s older Brother) and my MIL were very partial to the athanas.  My MIL was in charge of purchasing seasonal fruits such as mangoes and pickling them.  In fact mangoes, karamdas, gunda, were all purchased in huge quantities and preserved in ceramic jars to keep the pickles kool and well preserved for the year.  My motabhai was particularly fond of the athanas and the platter at their home  would consists of items like pickled gunda, gor keri, katki keri, keri no chundo, garmar, rai marcha etc.  Also and equally important was the sambharo that was made every single day.  Mostly this was made with cabbage and carrots but occasionally my sister in law made potato sambharo or with gunda when in season.  Each time I visited Mwanza and was on kitchen duty, I recall my mom in law asking me to prepare the sambharo.  She used to say, I had mastered the art of finely shredding the cabbage and carrots and that it enhanced the flavour. One of the things I recall vividly about my motabhai is that he used to say chai bagde to sawar bagde , dal bagde to divas bagde, athanu badge to to varash badge and baidi bagde to zindagi bagde….to translate roughly ‘ if the daily mealtime dal is not cooked well, the meal is ruined, if the athana is not made well, the entire year is ruined and if the wife is not right for you, then your life is ruined.

Everyone in the Vithlani household loves their athanas from the elders to the kids.  My nieces and nephews learnt to savour these from a very young age.  Funny how the pattern was set : sambharo with cold rotli, chundo with puri, gor keri or lasan ni chutney with thepla or vada.  Almost all of my nieces and nephews eat their puri/thepla with these athanas and the pattern continues in  our Charleston home too.  Traditionally, the matriarch of the household would make the pickles but here in Charleston, I have the honours and I must say, I quite enjoy the process.  The beautiful fragrance of raw mango, the pungent aroma of the mustard seeds as they hit the hot oils and the heady  scent of turmeric, chilli powder, ground mustard seeds, crushed coriander seeds take me  into a different world altogether, almost like I was back in Zanzibar where the smell of cloves and spices lingers about in the atmosphere.

 

 

 

I also try and make sambharo whenever I can as Manu and I both enjoy this.  Equally important in our house is pickled ginger. rai marcha and of course the all time guju favourite, the gor keri.

As I have already shared the recipe for gor keri and rai marcha in my previous posts, I thought I would share here, the recipe for cabbage and carrot sambharo, a mild simple stir fried condiment that your can enjoy with your rotlis.

 

TRIFEL

TRIFEL

 

 

I need to share this recipe with you all. My beautiful friend was fortunate enough to get into a new beautiful house. This dish was inspired by my happiness for her and our friendship. I hope you all enjoy this dish and share it with your loved ones .

 

FOR THE CRUST:

 

2 cups of all purpose flour
1 1/2 sticks butter (6 oz)
1 table spoon sugar
3/4 cups walnuts (coarsely chopped)In a large bowl, combine flour, butter, nuts, and sugar with a fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Then spread the crumbly dough in a backing dish. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the crust for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove it from the oven and let it cool.

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FOR THE PUDDING:

2 pkg  lemon flavor instant pudding
2 cups cold milk
1 table spoon fresh lemon juice
Beat the pudding mix, milk, and lemon juice for 1 to 2 minutes (the pudding will be thick). Pour the mixture over the crust and put it to the side.

FOR THE TOPPING:1 tub ( 8 oz ) cool whip
2cups fresh seasonal fruits
10 to 12 fresh strawberries ( cut in to thin slices)

In a large bowl, combine fresh seasonal fruits of your choice. Add whip cream and fold it in well with the fruit. Pour the mixture on top of the lemon custard. Garnish with fresh seasonal berries. Chill for 2 to 3 hrs and enjoy !