Anokhi kheer : Royal cuisine

I always have a conflict in my mind over "Tradition v/s Modern". I don't mean here in the sense of clothes, fashion or freedom but the cultures and values that that make us who we are. In the age of modernization, the originality is somewhere lost and we are losing connection with our roots. I am not being judgmental here or biased, but i would love to see kids play outdoors than play X-boxes and Playstations. I would love to see them having their food hearing the birds chirp or watching the sky than watching Doremon's and Chota Bhim. This definitely doesn't mean you are raising a Tarzan, but life's teachings are the best than those learnt with technology. A very dear friend of mine from Spain closed his Facebook account recently and while we chatted on email, he gave me a very good reason on "Going natural". He said, we are so dependent on "Apps" that we have lost our tendency of natural instincts. No doubt, we rely so much of G maps (For some reason, i find those even more confusing :)) when we have a tendency to find the places ourselves.

On the other hand, I experienced a "hands-on" example of "Benefits of technology" recently, when my Cylinder gas finished all of a sudden on Saturday night. It wouldn't have been so much of a worry if we had just two mouths to feed (Me and Hubby). But here we had three 4-legged paws with us (My pet sitting clients) who ate home-cooked meals. So, the microwave came to the rescue. Rice, chicken and veggies - everything went straight inside and my pet-paws licked their bowls clean with wagging tails :) If not for microwave, i would have had to scratch brains what to feed them. (Of course, there is always an option of raw veggies, fruits, curd etc but some paw kids won't taste food without chicken :))

So, the conflict always remains but somehow i am a little inclined towards the traditional, old-age, historical stuff. With food too, i love to dig out old recipes, read how it's traditionally cooked and try them out. This curiosity has definitely got me hooked to this "Lost recipes" program on Epic channel. In one of the episodes, they covered all about the Hyderabadi cuisine. Normally they show 3 recipes in one episode, so one of the recipes in that was Anokhi Kheer. The recipe sounded so simple, that i at once, tried it and it tastes delicious. 

The recipe was shown cooked by Mrs. Geeta Devi who belongs to a family that worked closely with Nizams and thus has access to all the royal recipes, which are published in her book : The Jewels of Nizam - Recipes from the Khansamas of Hyderabad. Geeta Devi has been associated with the Golkonda Hotel, Hyderabad as a food consultant, and hence i believe this kheer is available at their restaurant. She describes her expertise as "Deccani cuisine" and dug into the history of Nizam cuisine to find out the traditional recipes and their methods of cooking. Cooking during those times was mostly subjected to availability of raw materials, hence this Anokhi kheer came into existence.

Anokhi kheer she says basically would have been influenced from Afganisthan and is made of dry fruits and onion. Yes, a kheer made of ONION!!!!This kheer was also eaten by poor men, as onions during those days were cheap and would be a part of the ration that one got. This kheer was eaten during summer time as onions lower body temperature. In winters, "Gobi ki kheer" or "lasan ki kheer" was made to keep the body warm. 

Ingredients:

In the program, she used 100 gm onions for 2 litres of milk, but i made it into half quantity. 

Milk - 1 litre (I used full cream, but you can use toned or skimmed milk too)

Onions - 50 gms (about 1/3 cup)

Cardamom - 8-10

Almonds - 1/4 cup (Add more according to choice)

Pistachios - 1/4 cup (Add more according to choice)

Sugar - I added about 5-6 tsp (Adjust according to taste)

Recipe:

Boil the milk and simmer on low flame till it starts to thicken.

Meanwhile, slice onions lengthwise and wash them about 4-5 times to remove the bitterness or spiciness if any (Depends on the kind of onion you are using).

Soak the almonds in water and when soft, chop them lengthwise or crush them lightly in a mortar and pestle.

Also chop the pistachios lengthwise.

Remove cardamom seeds and make them in a powder in a mortar and pestle.

Once the milk has reduced to half, add the onions. 

Keep stirring at intervals and scrape the cream from the sides.

Once it turns pinkish, add the cardamom powder.

Stir in sugar and mix well. Simmer till sugar dissolves and milk reduces little more.

Add half of the dry fruits and mix well.

While serving, add rest of the dry fruits on top to garnish.

Anokhi kheer is ready :)

By the way, for all my friends who don't know Hindi, Anokhi means "Different or unique". An onion kheer is definitely unique, isn't it?

I have purposely kept the consistency a little thin, but you can thicken it as much as you want. Just make sure it shouldn't be too thick like a halwa.

Happy Cooking :)

Payesh

Having Bengali friends around and not posting a single Bengali recipe was not going so well with me. I have tried making a lot of Bengali dishes lately of which Baingan Bhaja and Payesh are my favourites. Aloo Poshto tastes lip smacking too, but i havent tried making it yet. Guess that's this weekend menu, since i do have khas-khas (poppy seeds) in my kitchen! 

Every cuisine have their own distinct flavours and methods of preparation. Let's take Payesh - a kheer made from rice and boiled milk. There are so many different ways of preparing it. Some would boil the rice and milk together, some would boil the milk and then add rice. Some would add jaggery, and some would add sugar or a mix of both. People even make it with condensed milk or a mix of all. A friend of mine doesn't add jaggery but a paste of cashews and sugar. As they say...the food, water, taste changes every few kilometers in India.

I always feel that a particular dish tastes different related to a lot of factors. Lets say a simple bread butter toast would taste different sitting at home or at a dhaba or sitting by the riverside on a picnic or some 5 star hotel. The ambiance, the weather, the people you are with everything matters for the food that we eat. The taste also matters in regard to who is it cooking , and in what frame of mind. The same dish would taste different if i am cooking it with feelings of anger/frustration or so of happiness/ calmness. And it applies to the one eating it too. A dish would taste different if my mind is preoccupied with something else, or if i am watching television while eating or if i am reading a book or watching nature. Don't you all feel so? Give it a try.

Well, coming back to the post. A dear friend of mine got me some nolen gur (Date palm jaggery)during her visit back home. 

Since it was Sankranti yesterday, i thought of making Payesh. I couldn't post any recipe/picture yesterday, since my internet was down for almost 2 days for some reason. Yes, i definitely did make Til-gul (which i had posted last year), and here's wishing you all "Til gul ghya goad goad bola" :)

Payesh, as i made it with Nolen gur (Suggestions from 2 bengali friends):

Ingredients:

Full cream milk - 1 litre

Rice (i took Basmati rice) - 1/4 cup

Nolen gur (Jaggery) - little less than 1/2 cup (add according to taste)

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Bay leaf - 2

That's it! 5 ingredients and you are done!! You can add nuts, nutmeg powder, sugar etc according to your wish but i preferred keeping it basic.

Recipe:

Wash the rice till water is clear, drain and keep aside.

Bring the milk to boil and keep boiling it on sim to reduce it. 

Make sure you keep stirring it in between, and also scraping the cream from the sides.

After about 10 minutes, add the 2 bay leaves to the boiling milk.

Once milk reduces to 3/4th, add the rice. Now let the milk boil till rice is fully cooked. The milk will start changing colour to little yellowish.

Once the rice is cooked, the milk will have reduced to almost half. Now add the cardamom powder and mix.

Turn off the stove. Now add the jaggery (Add little pieces or grated jaggery and stir - it will melt automatically when you stir- no need to boil/cook it).

Payesh is ready!!! This one was loved by hubby's colleagues at office :) The nolen gur takes the taste to almost another level, but you can add normal jaggery instead too. 

Happy cooking :)

Bengali cuisine : Dinner at Joey's :)

Ghar ka khana : Foodies, as we are, we love to gorge on different cuisines. Being Maharashtrians, all that we have eaten of Bengali food is at specialty restaurants. So, when our Bengali friends in Delhi invited us for dinner, we jumped at the idea!!! Bengali food, cooked at home, that too with a touch of "Maa ke haath" ( Mom's food )... it all sounded a perfect Sunday evening.

Woofs from Joey : I had mentioned about "Aloo Poshto" to my friend just last month, and she had promised me then, that she will make it and invite me for dinner. So this was definately on the menu :) After a warm welcome from all of them ( we were meeting their parents for the first time, who are basically Bengalis from Bihar), and lots of licks and jumps from our sweetheart Joey-Poey ( My client from pet sitting ), we had some dhoklas as a starter.

Minimalism is not lack of something, Its simply the perfect amount of something : As the saying goes, we loved that the dishes were minimalistic...That way you get to taste it wholeheartedly and it lingers on your tongue for quite a while ! The main dishes.... Chicken ( for hubby dearest, who loves it to the core ), aloo poshto ( specially for me ), Chane ki daal, salad and Jeera Rice followed by the desert of the evening - Gur ki Kheer .

The Nolen Gur( new jaggery) or Gud, as it is called is Jaggery made from Khajoor (Dates ). It is known as Bengali's jaggery, as it is made from the sap of date palm trees found in Bengal. It tastes different than the normal jaggery, the aroma is heavenly and is slightly costlier than the original jaggery. Though a winter speciality, is found these days all year round with a special technique of preserving the jaggery in solidified form for months. 

There is also a different type of rice that is used for making the kheer. It's tiny and aromatic. Looks like this :

So, the basic way to make the kheer would be :( As told to me by aunty )

Ingredients :

Milk - 1 litre
Rice - 3/4 cup ( 2 handfull)
Nolen Gur (Jaggery) - Add according to taste
Cardamon powder - 1 tsp
Cashews/ raisins - chopped  to garnish

Recipe :

Boil Milk and rice together. Cook till the rice becomes soft and keep stirring in between.

Then add the jaggery and mix it all well and cook for another 5 minutes.

Lastly add the cardamon powder and cashewnuts.

If you find it too thick, add a little milk, or else it can be eaten thick as a pudding too.

Refrigerate if you like to have it cold. 

With our tummies full, we came home and went off to bed to have some "Mishti " ( sweet ) dreams !!! :))

The Chefs of the evening : 

Thank you for such a wonderful meal !!