Koraishutir Patishapta / Traditional crepes with a savoury filling of green peas

Happy new year!
Happy Makar Sankaranti!
Happy everyday!

Well, what do I say?
I have been wanting to make a post from the first day of the new year.
But then could not for obvious reasons.
And a little more.

The parents in law were here for a few days.
And as usual, it was pure mayhem at home.
Food being churned out of the kitchen throughout the day ... enough to feed an army.
Not to mention the variety.
Mom in law decided to make very one of her son's favourite dishes in exactly five days.
So morning, noon and night, the kitchen fires were a'burning.

Of course, I had to do my bit too.
Regular meals, that is. You need your dal,roti and sabzi to sustain yourself, you know.
So went the days by, with both of us jostling around in the kitchen ... utilising great restraint from pushing each other around, for space.
With the men hovering around in the background. Or whatever space is left of it.

I had started some preparations before they came, especially because Papa loves to try out new things made by me.
This time, I had made some fresh green peas pur / filling to make Matar paratha for them.
It is basically the same pur that I use to make Matarshutir kochuri.

Also, there was a batch of my all time favourite batter ... that I use to make a whole lot of other things too.

So made these savoury Koraishutir Patishaptas.

The month of Poush is a time to make Pithes in almost every Bengali household, with freshly harvested ingredients of rice , lentils and gur / jaggery.
In many small villages, traditional savoury Pithes are made too.
Many use pulses or lentils, fresh winter vegetables , ground rice and coconut to make old style, traditional pithes.
Usually, they would be cooked either by steaming, roasting or by deep frying in ghee.

The savoury pithes that Thamma made usually had Moong dal as a part ... either as the covering or the filling. There is especially one, that I loved, that had a mix of moong dal as well as coconut.
Hope to make a post on it someday.

This savoury patishapta has the best of both worlds .... winter's fresh green peas for the filling. And Patishapta ... that celebrates winter by itself.

And the crepes covering them are made with a paste of rice flour + urid / biulir dal, that has been thinned down with water.
A well seasoned tawa, a bowlful of this splendid batter and a good filling is all you need to dole out these crisp babies. 

Traditional Patishapta is not made crisp. Rather, it should be soft yet well cooked.
But the savoury version tastes best when served crisp and hot.

Need :

A thin, well soaked batter made of rice and urid dal ( the recipe is here )
The filling made from fresh green peas ( the recipe is here )
Ghee or oil to grease the tawa with

How to :

Heat the tawa or a flat griddle on low heat.
Brush it lightly with oil or ghee ... I use a silicone brush. You can use halved potato too.
Just dip it into the oil and smear it all over the tawa.

Pour a big ladleful of the batter and spread it well ... check out this post on the Soru chakli to get an idea.

Let it cook till the sides start to leave.
Take a little filling and spread in the middle of the chakli.

Fold from both sides ... like so.

Serve immediately.
Thamma would drizzle some Nolen gur on it with a generous hand.
I am not so lucky to get it here.
So paired them with some Appes / Paniyarams and tea.

The recipe for the Appes / Paniyarams will come up later.
This will be all for today.

Soon the winter sun will shift from my windows and move upwards.
The days will turn longer and evenings will be late.
We are still feeling the chill of a late winter ... but the spring breeze will blow soon.
Light, warm, pleasant.
And better days will be here again.
Soon.

Till then, stay around folks!
And stay well.

Saantlano Pithe / Tempered savoury pancakes

With the weather turning from beautiful to absolutely, unbelieveably, awesomely beautiful, the outdoors has been a'calling me for a while now.
What with a cold, windy breeze and numerous clouds playing hide and seek, the temperature looking downwards all the while and a very light sunshine all around, the weekends have been diving me cray.
All I want is to go on long drives, for picnics, for photographs, and so on.
Basically to stay out.
Soon, when the rains come, we will have to stay indoors. But this weather now ... it is perfect to be outside.

But things are not always meant to be.
B is submerged up to the neck with work. And I with numerous chores that need to be completed before the rains start. Chores that have been piling up from the last few or more months.
But I will not be bogged down, I thought.
And decided come what may, we will go out and have a break at least on one day of the weekend.

Which was just a day away , by then.

B asked not to pick up any place that would be too far away ... he needed to be back home for work.
And said could give only a few hours, not more.
I sighed.
My dreams of a longish drive and lunch seemed distant. Earlier we had wanted to drive till Panvel, have lunch there and return with a small stop at Lonavla. But gave that up as Lonavla still needs some good rain and greenery.
Then B suggested we take a drive down the Bombay-Pune old highway.
Thanks to the expressway, the traffic there has lessened considerably. With a lot of trees still standing and a lot of open space all around, it has been our favourite road for aimless drives always.

We haven't 't been on that road for a long while now ... almost close to four years or more. It would be fun to rediscover old memories.
So off we went on a late Sunday morning.
Drove down the beautiful , very green with huge trees , road all the way up to Talegaon. It had started to rain by then and we rolled down the windows to let that fresh, wet breeze, in.
The small hills on the side had turned dark and light,white clouds hung on their tips.
It was beautiful.

After a while, we came to Toni da Dhaba, a place famous for its Punjabi food, for many years now.
We stopped for a late lunch, that became later, with us having to wait for around an hour .... it was that crowded.
But the food was worth the wait ... as always.
I did not eat much due to my rct; but B enjoyed his laccha paratha, dal, paneer amritsari and some garam garam jalebis.
On the way back, we took a detour and explored another new road.
Later stopped at a roadside stall for some ginger tea. And then it was time to return.
Dusk was setting in . I leaned back into my seat, closed my eyes and set some Sufi music on the loose.
And happily looked forward to another hectic week.

Before leaving, I had made these Saantlano chakli pithe for breakfast.

Back home, any holiday and sometimes a weekend , meant this  pithe or pitha, for breakfast. Thanks to our Odiya cook , we had a good dose of pithas in our childhood.
The varieties were numerous and unlike the Bengali pithes that are mostly sweet, Odiya pithas have a number of savoury ones.  Almost all of them can be eaten both as snacks as well as a meal.
And almost always paired with a light vegetable curry, these pithas make for a filling, healthy meal. And if had for breakfast, they can keep you going for a long time before you are hungry again.

And this Saantlano pithe or the Santula pitha was our favourite.
A cross between the dosa and the uttapam, this pitha can be eaten with any chutney or the kasundi on the side for a snack.
Ma would use the same batter that she made for idlis or dosas; so do I.
The batter needs to be slightly thicker than a regular dosa batter, but still in a pourable consistency.
Unlike in an uttapam, where the chopped onions are spread on the top of the dosa while it is still on the tawa, this pithe has the temerings and the onions fried a little first and then added to the batter.
And then spread on the tawa as a thickish dosa.

If you have the batter ready, these are real quick to make and are very good with the ginger tea on the side. A life saver when you have sudden guests.

Need :

Fermented Idli batter - thinned a little with water.
( You can see the proportions and method in this post)

Onions - chopped
Green chillies - chopped
Tomatoes - chopped (optional)
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves - chopped
Coriander leaves - chopped ( optional)
Ginger - chopped
Salt - to taste
Cooking oil - as needed

How to :

Heat a little oil in a kadahi.
Or you can use the tawa in which the pithes are to be made.

Add the mustard seeds.
When they start to splutter, add the onions, green chillies, curry leaves and ginger.
Stir fry on low heat for a while.
When the onions start to turn pink, remove from heat.

Add the above mixture to the batter.

Now heat the tawa.
Brush it with a little oil.
Now take a spoonful or two of the batter and spread it carefully on the tawa.
Do not try to spread it very thin.

Cover for a while.
Then remove cover and let it stay for a minute.

Carefully, flip it over and fry the other side too.

Both sides should be done crisp.

Remove and serve hot.

The above photo shows the crisp edges.

This pitha is best enjoyed hot off the tawa.
Hence I usually set two tawas, so that nobody has to wait for a second helping.

Goes great with a light vegetable curry.
Or any achar or chutney.

But best of all, unlike the Soru chakli pithe, this can be enjoyed as is too.
I love it with ketchup and kasundi too.


Enjoy!!

Savoury Poda Pithe

Breakfast is one thing that I never get around to posting on my blog.
While I do make a lot of different things for breakfast, there is hardly enough time to arrange and shoot them.
Earlier I used to make a lot of egg based things like omelettes with vegetables, French toasts ... both sweet and the savoury ones, egg bhurji, pancakes, etc.

However things changed after I was found to be allergic to eggs. It was a sudden discovery ... and life changed for me after that.

First ... I love eggs. And it broke my heart when I was told, rather warned, to stay away from them ... a warning I do ignore at times, when greed overrules common sense.
And little white figure on the my right of my head just sighs and turns away from the grinning one on my left.

Second ... it created a huge problem concerning breakfast.
I had to turn to the Poha, which incidentally I am not too fond of.
And bread ... but had to come up with ideas for sandwiches stuffing.
And every morning, or even the night before, breakfast was a big question mark.

Until I started making idlis and dosas. It was a Eureka moment for me when I realised I could do a whole lot more stuff than those two time taking things.
That batter was a life saver.
I started to make big batches of the batter and store it in the fridge.
It was a huge help.
Breakfast, a different kind of lunch, evening snacks, dinner .... I could do a whole lot of different things.

Slowly I started to make a batter from mixed dals .... it all started when I had some leftover soaked dals after I had used the desired amount for my Dal Panchmela .... and made pancakes and dosas from it.
Later came to know it is very common among South Indians.

I now almost regularly make pithes, handvo, vegetable idlis, quick uttapams and of course the dosa with this  dal and rice batter.
Among them, the regular is the Poda Pithe.
Quick to make, needs no baby sitting, great with a hot cup of tea.
Very light, yet very filling.
Healthy too.

I usually make the slight sweetish one.
But this time I made the savoury one. And thought of clicking some quick pictures ... just so I will be able to share it here.


How to make the batter :

Soak 1 cup of urad dal + 2 cups of rice for around 4 to 5 hours.
Grind it into a paste. Add a pinch of salt, cover and keep overnight to ferment.
You can use this batter to make everything mentioned above.


Need :

Rice + Urad dal batter - 2 cups
Jeera / Cumin seeds - ¼ tsp
Ginger - 1", chopped
Green chillies - 2, chopped
Coconut - chopped, around 5 tbsp
Fresh Curry leaves - chopped, 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Ghee - just enough to smear the kadahi

How to :

Take a heavy bottomed kadahi ... preferable a cast iron one.

Mix all the above ingredients except the ghee.

Smear the ghee well on the kadahi. Do not heat the kadahi first.

Pour the mixture and set the kadahi on low heat.

Put on a tight cover.

Check after 10 minutes. Flip it over, cover and cook for another 10 minutes.

Remove and let it cool.


The outer crust will be very very crisp. But it will be very soft inside.
Great as a breakfast or as a snack, anytime of the day.
You can also eat it with a chutney or achar on the side too.
In Orissa, it is eaten with a potato curry that has a very thin gravy ... to soak it up with.

You can try it with this aloo ki sabzi or this one too.

I clicked this quick picture to show the insides in detail, before settling down with the day's paper and my hot cup of the very spicy ginger tea.

Enjoy!!


PS: This post of mine has been selected as one of the top 12 food posts of February 2015 by Baggout.
Yeh! :-)

Soru Chakli Pithe with Sada Aloor Chorchori / Rice flour Crepes with a simple Potato curry

Winter means Pithe. Or Pitha.
I know, I know. Winter is still a far way off.
But I am lucky to be staying in a place that has beautiful weather the whole year through.
So, other than the month of May when it does turn very hot, the slightly cool weather and low temperature of this city helps hugely when it comes to making and enjoying dishes that you want to make and not worry about the right time of the year for them.

I do make the Soru chakli pithe quite regularly. But like many other dishes, never got around to make a post out of it for lack of time or energy.
And since this is made for breakfast, time is more the reason here than energy.
Ma used to make this Soru chakli pithe too. But only on holidays.
Winter holidays or winter weekends.
And served it with the Sada Aloo'r chorchori. Or plain potato curry.

But what I remember most is the Chakli pithes at Dadu's house.
Thamma would make them on the mati'r unoon or the chulha .... a hot tawa sitting on the reddish coal embers inside the dark kitchen, that went 'ssssssss' with every ladleful of batter on it.
White smoke curled out as Thamma expertly flipped the pithas and plonked them on our plates, one by one.  It was a quick process as the pithes are required to be soft and not cooked for long.
One side done ...  flip ....  the next side done.
Plonk on a plate held out by a small hand.

And then pour the golden, beautifully fragrant jhola gur or Nolen gur on each pithe.

We sat around the unoon, soaking in the warmth while once in a while a gush of bitterly cold air would come in through the door and make us jostle and sit a little more closer to one another.
That was our time ... Thamma and us grandkids ... together. Jethima, Ma, Kakimas, not even the helps were allowed in then.

Years later, after I had mastered the art of making the batter, fermenting it properly and make a decent dosa, I introduced this pithe to the man.
He took to it and I heaved a sigh of relief.

 

The Soru Chakli pithe, or the Soru Chakuli pitha as it known in Orissa / Odisha, is made from a batter made by soaking rice and Urid dal. 

Soru means thin. The pancakes are very thin hence the name. 

I use the same batter that I use for my idlis. 

You may or may not ferment it. I do. 

Gives the batter a good resting time that way.

Ma makes another version of this pithe. I'll try to make a post of it another time.

Need : 

Rice - 2 cups  

Urid dal (dehusked ) - 1 cup 

Salt - 2 tbsp 

Grated ginger - 1 tbsp 

Cooking oil - 1 tbsp 

How to : 

Wash well and soak the rice and dal for around 3 to 4 hours. 

I soak it overnight. 

Grind in a mixer to a smooth paste. 

Add a little water at a time when grinding. If you add too much water in the begining, it will be difficult to make a smooth paste. 

The rice will stay as stubborn grains.

Add salt and keep it covered overnight to ferment. 

To make the pithes, take a well seasoned tawa. 

A heavy, cast iron one is best. 

If you use a non stick one, then season it well with oil and water and wipe it clean. 

Keep a clean, wet cloth at hand. 

Take the amount of batter needed in a deep bowl and add water and a little salt.
Add the grated ginger and 1 tbsp of oil.
Mix well. 

The batter should be thin but not too runny. 

 

Heat the tawa well. 

Put in a drop or two of oil and wipe it with the wet cloth. 

Heat again. 

Now pour a ladleful of batter on the tawa and slowly move it on the batter to give it a round shape.
Cover it for around a minute.
Remove cover and flip and let it cook for around a minute.
Remove from the tawa and keep in a slotted bowl, so that it does not turn soggy in its own moisture.
Wipe the tawa clean with the wet cloth before pouring in another ladleful.

The pancakes will be thin ... almost crepe like.
Do not keep them on the tawa for long as they might turn crisp.
No harm in that. But the Soru Chakli pithe is supposed to be paper like thin and soft.

They go best with an equally soft aloo ki sabzi. Or the Sada ( white ) Alur chochchori.
Very simple, very light in flavours, no masalas, not even turmeric.
This torkari is the perfect accompaniment to these light crepes or pancakes.

Sada Aloor Chorchori 

Need :

Potatoes - cut into long slices
Kalo jeere / Kalonji / Nigella seeds
Whole red chillies - broken
Black pepper powder
Oil - I use mustard oil
Salt
Water

 How to :

Heat oil in a kadahi.
Add the Kalo jeere / kalonji and the red chillies.
Let in the potato slices and stir well on high heat for around a minute.
Add enough water to submerge the potatoes.
Add salt and cover and cook till the potatoes are tender.
Check to see there is enough water in between.

When the potatoes are well cooked, add the black pepper powder and give a good stir.
Remove from heat.
This dish should have a thin gravy or the potatoes should be cooked till very very soft.
Mine looks dryish because I was busy clicking the pithes.

Most people use fresh green chillies in the tempering.
I had run out of them so used the red, whole ones.
And I'm so glad I did.
The chillies give a wonderfully smoky flavour to the potatoes and mixed with the flavour of the mustard oil and the kalonji seeds, they took the simple torkari to a different level.

We had this for our breakfast today.
And I raced against time and my painful hand to make this post.

Enjoy!!