To Market, To Market, To Celebrate #SabziTarkariDin

One more day to celebrate with Rushina, this time #SabziTarkariDin, one more reason to blog……

You can only see what is in season when you visit your local vegetable market. There will be many carts selling same selected vegetables or fruits at very reasonable price. I never like to bargain with these vegetable sellers and most of the time I don’t even ask them the rates, I just buy what I want. If they make extra money from me, its their karma.

We don’t bargain at big Supermarkets so why haggle over the price at the local market? Let them make the money nah, they too have family to support.

When we go for shopping at the big food mall, we are likely to see whole range of fruits and vegetables, fresh and exotic, some food mall stock all the vegetables from all over the world..some of them frozen to the core and quite tasteless too..having lost their nutrients while travelling from one country to another sometimes. Have you checked price?..you might faint. Many a times, when I have picked a packet of some exotic vegetable or fresh herb, I have put it back to the shelf when I eye at the price label. 

“Are you mad? You will spend Rs300 for just this vegetable? Put it back” I scold myself.

But the local market place will always sell fresh fruits and vegetable..Especially if you go to a small town market away from the main city. Recently I went to Karjat for a weekend and was surprised at the rate of the veggies sold there. All the vegetables were in abundance, very fresh and very economical. Most of the vegetable were at Rs20 a kilo. My friend, who has a farm house in Karjat, regularly visits these markets and comes back with car full of veggies for her family and friends. Not only were these fresh and seasonal  but they were very tasty as well.

But no matter what season it is..bananas, celery and potatoes are always tasty and always a good buy

This morning my friend called me and told me that the flower of elephant foot yam is available in the market. Now I have never seen it although my other friends always cooks it when it is in season. I was curious (ofcourse) she told me that its expensive. Told her not to bargain with the vegetable seller and just buy it at whatever the cost (Rs200 a kilo).. she got me 400grams.

So here I was..went to google aunt to do some research on flower of elephant foot yam, spoke to few friends asking them how they would make it.

Then cut into pieces to see the inside

Then did the most foolish thing...I bit into it to get its raw taste....

Oops..not a good idea..because..i didnt even wash it at first..after a small bite..washed it properly, peeled and took a bigger bite..it had woody taste and ouch..my lips and chin were scratchy and some blisters on my tongue..I spat it out..cleaned my tongue several times till the itching stopped.

But yes..I cooked..following the recipe of a mutton dish

I first cleaned all of it, peeled it.salted them for few hours….then deep fried it.

Then cooked it in black pepper and tomato gravy.

The #TarkariSabziDin was celebrated by food bloggers all over India and I was able to catch few live coverage..

Like I saw the organic kitchen garden of Saffron trail and she showed us how to plant veggies at home...without any fancy equipments at all.

Made a virtual tour of Pali Market with Rushina and Kalyan.

Some celebrated with a potluck of foodies of Mumbai  at foodblogger Shital Kakad’s cozy home..

I Loved watching Monika shopping in the Bangalore market with her son.

Also saw the live coverage of the walk with DFW to the whole vegetable market in Delhi, Azadpur Mandi, Asia's largest wholesale market for fruits and vegetables 

I hate going to crowded vegetable markets because I am afraid of slipping on rotten leaves that lay scattered in the path but this markets that were visited by foodbloggers were quite clean and spacious and I was very happy to do the virtual tour with food bloggers.

Enjoyed #SabziTarkariDin and #IndianFoodObservance day with all the food-bloggers from the comfort of my home, while I was busy cooking the flowers of Elephant foot yam for my guests. I also made exotic salad, Guacamole from the buttery avocado, Sesame fragrant rice, roasted chicken and fried fish on that day

Ingredients

400grams Flowers of Elephant Foot Yam

2pods of cardamom

1tsp black pepper

1/2inch ginger

2 green chilies

1 bunch Spinach

1tsp turmeric powder

2tsp coriander powder

2 tbsp coriander leaves

salt to taste.

Method:

Salt the flowers, wash and deep fry. Keep it aside

In a pan, stir fry cardamom, black pepper, ginger and green chilies

Add the deep fried flowers , stir to mix it.

Add spinach, tomatoes, turmeric, coriander powder and salt.

Mix and cover on low flame till tender

Add coriander leaves and black pepper

Serve with chappatis.

I have been celebrating #IndianFoodObservance days with Rushina whenever I could and have blogged......

Dal Divas Potluck inJan2018

Chutneys My familyenjoy around the world in September 2017

Celebrating Pulaobiryani Day with Family in June 2017

Authentic Garam Masalaused in Sindhi kitchen in May 2017

Waiting for another Food observance day….

‘Thadaree’ An Important Festival of Sindhis

Today I miss my Mom a lot. Actually I miss her all the time but on festivals, its the most. Mom used to be super excited during festivals. Right from shopping to cooking to serving, she did it all with a smile. Mom’s trait has been passed on to my sister, who continues and follows the Sindhi culture and tradition that has been going on for eras.

Last evening when I visited my sister, her kitchen was very active. She was preparing food for the next day. It’s the special meal that she prepares on this special day. I visited her again today and her table was full of delicious cold food. Today is the auspicious day, all Sindhis around the world are celebrating a festival called ‘Thadree’ (also known as ‘Vadi Sataiy’)

Thadree comes from the word ‘Thado’, meaning cold, hence today, the Sindhis around the world will eat cold food throughout the day.

Mom used to cook the food for next day on a stove. She would start to cook in the evening after taking her bath. With her head covered and the prayers on her lips, she would cook food for this festival.

Pure Ghee was used for cooking the meals and its fragrance dominated the house for many hours. I would scheme a plan to steal a bite of sweet lolo from the hot plate, but that was not allowed, in fact, I was not encouraged to enter her kitchen while she was cooking, therefore, I only drooled and waited patiently for the next day to arrive. She used to make many things like Mitho lolo (sweet flat bread), Besan jo chillo (spiced flat bread) Dhal ji Mani (Roti stuffed with spiced lentils), Sanna Pakoras (gram flour fritters), mixed vegetables in green masala, stuffed karelas, rice curds, rotis, Papads, etc. 

At the end of her cooking, she would offer prayers over the stove, with rice, vermillion and sprinkle water to put the stove to sleep.

On the ‘Thadree’ day, all my close and extended family would come home for a feast of cold food. Mom, being the eldest in the family, our home was the meeting point for all festivals. Mom enjoyed serving food and inviting people for lunches and dinners and family loved her food. After lunch, the adults would engage in game of cards, while we kids played board games. The elders would give ‘Kharchi’(a gift in cash) to the younger ones and we would be thrilled with the money that we received from uncles, aunts and elder cousins.

This festival is still celebrated in many Sindhi homes, although it is gradually disappearing. The youngsters don’t show any interest in eating cold food nor do they have any inclination to cook an authentic Sindhi cuisine.

Nevertheless, whosoever has tasted this delicious meal enjoys it a lot. It is special because it is made with love, prayers and interest.

The festival is celebrated in the honor of Goddess Shitaladevi, which literally means cool Goddess. Hindus believe that she is the reliever of suffering and pain. During this festival, while offering food to the Goddess ShitalaDevi, women hold the sweet bread over children's eyes, singing “Thaar Mate Thaar, Pahenje bachran khe Thaar” which means 'bless your children with good health'.

This delicious lunch that was cooked in my sister’s home today to celebrate this festival.

Mixed vegetables in Green Masala

Bhajiyas with green chutney

Spiced Besan Roti

Curd Rice in Mustard

Dhal Roti

Mitho Lolo

For recipes on ‘festival food’, do find them in my book #SindhiCuisine available at bookstores and online across India.

Cookies for Diwali

Every festival brings home the cascade of memories, flip, flip, flip, they run like a virtual movie strip, unfolding the dormant anecdotes, so very vivid and real, that it fastens to the psyche like a fresh Meta tag. 

Every festival I miss my mom.

During Diwali festival, mom would be super-active. Two weeks before the actual festival, there would be spring-cleaning. The house would vibrate with sweet fragrance of freshness.

“The house should be spick-and-span during Diwali,” mom would say, “Goddess Laxmi only walks into clean homes”

Diwali, a festival of joy and splendor, brightness and happiness, it would brighten up my home. Every detail would somehow fall into place, like splashes of colours of different shades, making it a picture perfect.

On Dhanteras day, mom would go to the gold market to buy some gold ornaments/coins from her savings. 

“This is the day of investment for the future. It is a good habit” mom would say, “Some percentage of our saving should be invested in gold. We never know when we might need it”

Mom had this habit of hoarding things, I was to discover many years later that it added its worth during the period my sisters were of marriageable age.

During Diwali, Mom would dedicate her entire morning to making sugary candies of different shapes and sizes. The whole kitchen would be transformed into mayhem of colours and sweet fragrances. I would make numerous trips to kitchen, each time offering my help to taste her food, slyly sweeping off the crumbs of the sticky sweet morsels off the plate and sliding under the bed to relish the sweetness in peace.

Cookies were my mom’s favorites. She would make dough and take it to the bakery, at the corner of the lane, to bake it. (We had no oven at home). The number was not less. It would run into 100’s and it was distributed evenly to all my aunts and their families.

Today all those memories come rushing back when I enter the kitchen to make the cookies.

I followed my mom’s recipe and am quite pleased with the results.

Nankatai

Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups refined flour

1 cup gram flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup ghee

1 tablespoon pistachio, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon almonds, thinly sliced

Method

1. Preheat an oven at 200 degrees.
2. Mix together refined flour, gram flour, sugar and ghee to make dough. Set aside for 1 hour
3. Make small round patties and press few sliced pistachios and almonds on the top.
4. Bake it for 20 minutes
5. Store it in air-tight containers