My experiments with diversity in food: Day Unknown: Andhra Pradesh

 At the start of the year when I intended to explore different food from different states of India, I didn't realize that it will take time and effort. Life got busy with family and work. But, never less I am back.

Today I will highlight food from Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh is a south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state. It is the birthplace of the most famous diamond Kohinoor. It was once a major Buddhist pilgrimage site, and was part of ancient empires like Mauryas, Satavahana, Chaulakya, Reddi Kingdom, Vijaynagara, and is also influenced by Delhi Sultanat and Bahmani Kingdoms. The official language is Telugu and Kuchhipudi is their cultural dance. 

For a North Indian like me, Andhra Pradesh is about savory, spicy, and tangy food. For its different rice preparations, sambhar, and a whole complex pellet of flavors makes its food stand apart. Out of all South Indian cuisine, Telugu food is my favorite. Or, I may say I am blessed with friends from that state who are also exemplary cooks.

I decided to go all-in and did an Andhra Pradesh thali. An Indian traditional thali refers to a big platter of food intended for one with the serving of many different dishes served in small bowls, along with rice, the traditional bread of that state, papad, and pickle. The food I cooked comes from the Andhrite region of the state famous for eating rice as a staple food. Pappu, tomato, gongura, and tamarind are some of the things used to make food sour and tangy. 

All Indians have been introduced to a different plethora of pickles growing up in India and similarly, I thought I knew a lot about pickles, until I came to the US and was introduced to many different varieties of Telugu cuisine pickles in the Indian store, and I was awestruck by different combinations and flavors. Starting from breakfast food of idli and dosa to its rich lunch and dinners, needless to say, I am a super fan.

The thali I cooked had:

1. Chicken Korma: It was cooked by Mann and was influenced by https://www.vahrehvah.com/chicken-korma.

I didn't eat it, but I am sure it was good :)

2. Tomato Rasam: It's a tangy broth made of tomato and tamarind. It is very nutritious and is a good food to have when sick. The inspiration was https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/tomato-charu-recipe-tomato-rasam-recipe-andhra-style/. The taste was spot on and every sip of this rasam was heaven. I will definitely make it again

3. Gutti vankaya: Mini eggplant in spicy peanut gravy. It was inspired by this website https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/gutti-vankaya-kura-recipe/. The recipe asked for desiccated coconut and that was a little off-putting for me. The flavors were great,  but I normally cook this dish with fresh coconut and in my opinion, the fresh coconut makes a difference. 

4. Palakura Vepudu: It's a dry spinach fry dish with onions and curry leaves. Inspired by https://www.sailusfood.com/palakura-vepudu-spinach-stir-fry-2/. We loved it!

5. Tomato Daal: Toor daal (pigeon peas) broth cooked along with Tomatoes. Inspired by https://vegcookbook.net/2018/04/05/tomato-dal-lentil-stew-tomato-pappu/. This daal is my comfort food and can eat it anytime with steamed rice.

6. Zucchini Pachadi: This is a chutney made with sauteed zucchini and tamarind. It's a tangy condiment to enhance the flavors. Inspired by https://www.myspicykitchen.net/zucchini-pachadi/

7. Poori: Whole wheat flour poori. It's a fried bread made with unleavened dough.

8. Daal papad

9. Steamed Rice: I have used basmati rice but traditionally Sona masuri rice is eaten.

10. And, last the dessert rava sheera: The recipe came from hebbar's kitchen. The one I made was not lacking in taste but definitely needed finer sooji and more ghee. Sheera or halwa is cooked with a roasted base in sugar water and ghee. 

We loveeed the thali and definitely would do it again.

My experiments with diversity in food: Day 3: Punjab

The state of Punjab is one of the northern states in India. It is one of the border states that share a border with Pakistan on the west and hence produces a lot of soldiers for Indian army :). Punjab took its name from the five rivers that once flown in the state, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas. Partition of India in 1947 did not only partition the harmony and peace of India, but it also ripped the soul of Punjab. Chenab and Jhelum flow where they always were but now humans have decided that the province will now be called Punjab, Pakistan.

The earliest human habitation in India is found in Punjab that is dated back to 3300BCE by the name of Indus Valley Civilization. Punjab has always worked or has been exploited as a corridor for invasions in India by different kingdoms and republics. It was once a home for Achaemenid, Alexander's, Seleucid, Mauryas, Guptas, Harshas, Kushan and various others. Punjab is also the birthplace of Sikhism founded in the 1500s and 1600s. 

Punjab has a rich culture of language,  music, poetry, dancing, art and craft, farming, literature, and food. It will not be an exaggeration if I mention that each Punjabi (person belongs to Punjab) thinks that there is nothing better than Punjab. I know it because I am myself married to one :).

The cuisine of Punjab is highly influenced by fresh produce available by agriculture and farming. Wheat is the staple grain of Punjab. Some of the most famous dishes from Punjab are sarson ka saag, makke ki roti, kadhi pakoda, rajma, variety of paranthas and kulchas, maah ki daal, daal makhani, lassi, panjiri, and equally varied varieties of meat.

The dish that is featured today is sarson ka saag. Its a stew and is traditionally made out of mustard greens and lamb's quarter (Bathua), slowly cooked on a wood stove and is best served with makke ki roti (cornmeal flatbreads) for scooping initially and to soak up all the remaining bits from the bowl towards the end, yum! The recipe I used is a hand me down from the years of experiments done by women to make it and amend it using what is available and remnants of traditional cuisine. This is a winter dish, as mustard leaves are grown in winters in India, and therefore we respect that and only make it in winter, although, here in USA mustard leaves are available all around the year.

How I made it: Clean and chop three bunches of mustard leaves (curly mustard leaves), a bunch of spinach, a bunch of turnip greens (this time I used kale, as turnip was not available), and wait for it.....one head of broccoli. Broccoli is a very non-traditional, it even doesn't belong to Punjab, but I use it because as I said my recipe is handed me down from years of experiments, and addition of broccoli was amended to the original recipe here in America by the mother of our friend :).

Boil these clean and cut greens along with an inch of ginger and 4-5 garlic cloves for one hour in 2 cups of water. Why one hour? Because, Mann's mom boiled it for one hour, and this recipe is all but tradition to be followed.

Now comes, the part where I added my bit to this evergrowing and everchanging recipe tradition. Before leaving for work, I blend these boiled greens using a hand blender in its own juices and remaining water along with a 1/2 a cup of cornmeal, salt to taste, and one full stick of butter and let it slow cook for the whole day (8-10 hours) in a slow cooker on the low setting. This slow cooking in the slow cooker was an experiment I did once and was an immediate hit in my family.

When I come back from work, the smell of simmering saag fills my nostrils and my appetite increases many fold. Right before eating dinner, we temper this by sauteeing chopped red onions and a lot of garlic in butter and is added to the saag. This mouth-watering, finger-licking dish takes a whole day of prep but is so worth it. My husband likes to eat radishes on the side as salad and pickled ginger and green chillies.

And here is the picture :)

My experiments with diversity in food: Day 2: Uttar Pradesh

This is day 2 of my journey of Indian cuisine from different states of India. Online name selector today chose the state I was born and lived in before I came to the US. Today's pick was Uttar Pradesh (UP). it is the northern state of India and is the most populous state of India. It is the 4th largest state areawise, only because in November 2020, a part of this state was declared as a new state of Uttarakhand.

As like any other state, archaeological evidence suggests the history of UP is dated back to 6000BC. UP has been the house for Indus valley civilisation, Harappa culture, Vedic period, and eventually to Guptas, Mauryas, Delhi Sultanate, Mughals, and finally Britishers. 

UP is the birth land of Rama and Krishna, Mahabharat and Ramayan, Ayodhya and Hastinapura. It is a land of banks of river Ganga and Yamuna, the land of holy cities of Mathura, Vrindavan, Banaras, and Kashi, the land of Sangam and Kumbh meal. It is also the land of Tajmahal and the land of Buddhist stupas, Sarnath and Kushinagar.

UP is the state of all faith and religion and its culture is a harmonious stockpile of different customs, traditions, language dialects, music, art, and most importantly its rich cuisine. Cuisine in UP is as varied as the cuisine in India. India's different states have different cuisines, similarly, UP's different areas have distinctly different cuisines. From the kachoris and sweets of Western UP to Mughlai and creamy food of eastern UP, the cuisine of UP has a prominent footprint on the food culture of India.

Food in UP is a long topic with a lot of sub-topics. The range in cuisine starts from street food like chaat to rich and creamy food of Mughlai cooking, the influence of Central Asia, Kashmir, Punjab, and Hyderabad. The vegetarian dishes and meat dishes are equally famous. The staple grain of UP is wheat, therefore there is a huge variety of bread (roti, paranthas, naan, and puris), but rice is not left behind either, there is equally a huge variety of pulaos and biryani. Pickles, papads, daals, kawabs, desserts, lassi and chaach. The use of dry fruits and dairy in cooking is huge in UP cuisine. 

My choice to cook something from UP was not entirely hatke, first because I am a vegetarian, and second, because I have cooked and ate a lot of variety of food from UP, provided I was born and raised there ;).

Still, in order to be little different, I improvised the recipe a little.

The dish for the day was Moong Daal kachori with rasedaar aloo-matar ki sabzi.

The kachoris recipe I used was based loosely on https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/dal-kachori-recipe/

Aloo sabzi is my family's staple, comfort weekend brunch recipe.

I sauteed onions, ginger, green chillies in little oil with cumin seeds. Once everything looked cooked to death, I added cut potatoes (Idaho), frozen green peas, and cut tomato. I added turmeric, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt to taste, and few pinches of kasuri methi. I let it cooked until potatoes were done and were easily breakable by spatula, and towards the end, I mashed potatoes a bit using potato masher directly in the pot.

Verdict: Normally this kachori is made using urad daal (black gram) for stuffing, I made today using moong daal (green gram). The kachoris were spot on the taste but were not as crispy as they generally are. Frying at a low flame and little thinner rolling was required perhaps.

Will I make it again: Hell, yaa!!

My experiments with diversity in food: Day 1: Tamilnadu

I am very blessed that I was born in India. I got to experience a culture rich in food, art, music, language, and diversity first hand. While living in India I had an idea of diversity in India,  but only after coming to the US
, I realized that my knowledge about diversity in India was equivalent to a drop in an ocean. Here, I met people from different parts of India mile away from home and experienced the difference in culture and food in depth. 

India is a country of 29 states and 7 Union territories. It will not be a lie when I say that each state is tremendously distinct from each other. Each state has its own culture, customs, the different language in many of them, and one thing that stands apart the most is the cuisine in each state. Each state has its own rich culture and stories about their cuisine that developed based on the availability of resources, people travelling and bringing back different ideas, and people who came from outside but made their home in respective state and thus also introduced a new culture to an existing one.

A culinary documentary named, "Raja, Rasoi, and Anya Kahaniyan" inspired me a lot to learn more and research different foods from all those places. All these and the thirst of trying new food encouraged me finally to take a step in the direction of exploring the abundant and rich culinary heritage of India.

I wanted to do this from some years now, but it's better to be late than never. This is not a recipe blog, just the blog to decide a recipe, try it, and writing my experience about it.

I finally started my journey on January 4th 2021 with the help of google ;). I used a name selector tool to select a state. My pick of the day was the state of Tamilnadu. 

Tamilnadu is the southernmost state of the Republic of India. It is the tenth largest state in area, and 6th largest in population. This is the state with a rich culture and heritage that is older than 3800 years ago. Tamilnadu had been a house for various empires in past. Tamil cuisine is very popular and has a lot of vegetarian recipes. Use of tamarind to make food sour is very particular from southern states of India and thus is the norm in Tamilnadu also. Typically food is served on banana leaves. Rice is the staple food in Tamilnadu. I do not claim to know a lot about Tamilnadu, but when the name comes in my mind, it brings the memories of dosa, idli, sambhar, and the language Tamil :).

As I am a vegetarian, my exploration is limited to meatless recipes. Again, with the help of Google, I tried looking for recipes that are different than what I know and have eaten in past. From a food blog, I came across the name and recipe for Kara Kozhukattai. The name can be loosely translated from Tamil to English as spicy dumplings.

I used the recipe from the blog https://www.kannammacooks.com/kara-kozhukattai-kara-kozhukattai-recipe/.

Kara Kozhukattai is made from the smooth paste of soaked rice. The dumplings have the added flavours of onions, green chillies, ginger, salt, and curry leaves. I made a tomato-Onion chutney to eat with dumplings. The whole preparation and cooking of dumplings took me 3-4 hrs (this includes soaking of rice for more than 2 hrs).

The chutney I made is inspired by Tamilnadu's red chutney but with some modifications. Chutney I made had lightly sauteed onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, green chillies, roasted chana dal, and coconut powder. I blended all this and tempered it with mustard seeds, jeera, dried red chilly, and curry leaves.

My verdict: My husband and I love the chutney. It was an experiment that turned our favourite thing. The dumplings were tasty and different from foods we have eaten so far from Tamilnadu. They were little sticky for our taste but never the less were an extremely interesting and a different experience. 

Will I make it again: 6/10 I shall definitely try them again sometime, but not in near future. I might try changing some ingredients to add more flavour to them.

According to Mann, they lacked flavour, therefore, next morning he chopped them up into small pieces and sauteed them with cut onions and bell peppers. And, the experiment turned out a really good breakfast with hot tea for us :)