Aromatic tidings

From Gudi Padwa to Vishu, many communities will mark the start of a new year today or tomorrow. Home chefs reminisce about these festivals, and share how food plays a part in them

Vishu of abundance

For chef Marina Balakrishnan, who dishes out lavish meals from Malabar under Oottupura, the abundance of vibrant yellow konnapoo (cassia fistula) flowers marks the onset of Vishu, the first day of the Malayalam calendar. “Jars of inji puli (imli relish) and kanni manga (tender mango) achar would be prepared weeks in advance. The grating sounds of fresh coconut never stopped. The aroma of cardamom, jackfruit and mangoes wafted about,” she shares. The day before Vishu, her grandmother would start decking the Vishu Kani. “Kani means that which is seen first at the start of the day; it’s a sign of abundance. Lord Krishna is adorned with flowers and jewellery, and an uruli or vessel of kani is kept before the deity,” she explains. It’s going to be a quieter Vishu this year, but its essence will be felt as at Oottupura, she has dedicated the month to sadyas.

Pal ada payasam
Ingredients
>> 2 l milk >> 150 gada (red rice)
>> 1.5 cups sugar >> 1 tsp cardamom powder >> 1 l water

Method
Drop ada into boiling water and switch off the flame. Let it sit in the hot water for 15 minutes. Strain the excess water and wash the ada under cold water; let it remain in the strainer. Boil the milk on medium flame; keep stirring. Reduce it to about 1.5 l and add half the sugar. Keep stirring. Tip in the ada and continue stirring. Now, pour in the remaining sugar and stir the milk until it bears a slightly thicker consistency. The milk would turn into a lovely light pink. Add the cardamom powder. Serve hot or cold.

Sweet beginnings

Baisakhi, chef and consultant Reetu Uday Kugaji, tells us, is not just the beginning of the new year for Sikhs and Punjabis, but is also a harvest festival. Apart from kirtans, new clothes and Guru da langars, a host of traditional recipes like meethe peeley chawal, kesari phirni, pindi chole, and Amritsari meethi pedewali lassi signalled Baisakhi. “My fondest memory is of my mother preparing kada prashad and its aroma in the house. Even after eating it at home, when we visited the gurudwara, I’d help myself to several helpings like a child,” she recalls. At home this year, the chef plans to pray and cook. “I’ll also distribute fruits, food and groceries among the underprivileged by following all COVID-19 protocols.”

Gud da halwa
Ingredients

>> 3/4 cup semolina  >> 1/4 cup besan 
>> 1/2  cup desi ghee >> 1/4 tbsp almonds, slivered  
>> 1/4 tbsp melon seeds 

For the syrup and clarification:
>> 4 cups water >> 3/4 cup jaggery >> 1/4 tbsp milk >> 1/4 m muslin cloth 
For the garnish:
>> 1/2 tbsp mixed nuts, slivered/chopped £ Edible rose buds

Method
In a saucepan, bring jaggery and water to a boil while stirring it. Tip in some milk. You will find the dirt on the top of the syrup. Remove the froth with the help of a round spoon. Once the syrup thickens, strain it through a muslin cloth. Heat ghee, add semolina and besan. Over a medium flame, let it cook, while stirring it. Once it turns light golden and you can smell the cooked semolina and besan, sprinkle the almonds and melon seeds. Let it cook for a few seconds. Add the syrup and stir continuously till it thickens. Serve the halwa hot with the garnish.

Notes from Assam

Of the three Bihus, Rongali Bihu is the biggest celebration as it marks the new year for Assam, notes Assamese chef and consultant Gitika Saikia. The chef, who grew up in Dibrugarh district, remembers going to her father’s village on Rongali Bihu. “Red hen’s eggs are a must on the first day. We play this game to find whose eggs aren’t breaking. Then we make a stir fry called amlori tup aru koni bhoja. We’re also supposed to eat a sabzi made of 100-plus seasonal veggies,” she shares. A tradition she continues to follow to this day with her son in Mumbai is taking a bath of haldi paste and black urad dal paste. “We also make different kinds of pitha, kumol chaul (a type of rice), tita phulor khar (bitter flower curry), a lot of duck and pork dishes, and home-brewed rice wine, haz,” she explains.

Pumpkin with chicken and bamboo shoot
Ingredients

>> 500 g chicken 
>> 250 g pumpkin >> 1 tbsp bamboo shoot >> 1 onion 
>>1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste  >>Green chillies and dry red chillies (to taste) >>Salt, turmeric, cumin powder (to taste)  >>1 tsp black pepper powder >>2 tbsp mustard oil

Method
Heat a kadhai, pour oil, and saute sliced onions and ginger-garlic paste till brown. Add chicken and cook till juices are released (seven minutes). Add pumpkin cubes, bamboo shoot and some cumin powder, and slow-cook for another 15 minutes. Splash some water if you wish and cover and cook. Stir occasionally and cook till done. Mix in pepper powder.  Serve hot with rice.

On puranpoli duty

Sitting down with all her cousins to churn the puran for puranpoli at her grandmother’s house during Gudi Padva is Malwani home chef Ruchi Jayantilal Soni’s fondest memory. It was also compulsory to eat a bitter chutney made of neem leaves and jeera, she adds. “After the puja, for lunch, we kids would fetch banana leaves and be served the food. There would be puranpoli with milk, and with kata chi amti, a sweet and sour recipe with the puran. There’d also be varan bhaat, vade, spicy black peas curry, a seasonal sabzi or some kind of leafy greens, and definitely, some sol kadhi,” reminisces Ruchi who runs a Malwani food venture called Baraa Maa with her mother, Shobha.

Kata chi amti
Ingredients

1/2 cup puran mixture
1/2 tbsp tamarind pulp

Malwani masala as per taste
1/4 cup coconut 
2 onions 
2-inch ginger
Turmeric
Coriander  
1 cup water 
10 garlic cloves
Mustard 
Cumin
Hing
Curry leaves                      

Method
This curry is made in three parts. First, for the coconut masala, heat oil and add two sliced onions. Let it turn dark brown, along with five garlic cloves. Then, add sliced ginger and fresh coconut. Sauté till all turn brown (but doesn’t burn); add fresh coriander and blend. Set aside. For the puran mixture, cook together 1/4 cup boiled chana dal and 1/4 cup grated jaggery on a low flame till thick, and set aside. Now, heat oil in a kadhai. Make a tadka of mustard, jeera, curry leaves, hing and turmeric. Add the coconut masala, puran mixture, salt, tamarind pulp, Malwani masala and water. Bring it to simmer, adjust the seasoning as per your taste and serve with warm puranpolis, topped with ghee.

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