Bara Ghugni / Vada ghugni .... Odisha's much loved street food snack

Growing up, I have never had the chance to eat this beautiful streetfood of Odisha ... the much loved combination of the  Biri bara and Ghughni.  At least not from the streets .... sold on carts with people flocking around it . Passing by, one cannot ignore that aroma of these badas sizzling in the hot oil, the steaming hot ghuguni / ghugni with its typical smell and of course the other aromas of tamarind, lemon and rock salt.

At times it would be made at home but not too often. And anyway it never smelt like the street side ones, so we wouldn't ask for it.

But I did get to taste the real thing whenever we went to my maternal dadu's place in Cuttack. With so many elder cousins , mashis, mamis etc .... every one of them all geared up to nosh through their favourite street foods, it wasn't difficult to mix into the crowd and get a bite of this and a slurp of that, once in a while. 

Now I make such things regularly .... the man has taken to Odia food  like a fish to water. Says that he married into one culture and got another as a bonus 😄

Seeing so many bora ghugni on my feed for the last few days, I decided to indulge in some. And the fact that it has started to rain since morning only made today the perfect day for enjoying this.

I tried to make it like the professionals .... with that hole in the centre ... but gave up after a while and made the plain round ones.

They may look imperfect but tasted yum 😋 

And then, like my Thamma used to say "Pete gele shob somaan " / every food is the same once it is inside the tummy 😄😄

Many started asking for the recipe and when the number of dms became a little too many to type out the whole thing, I decided to make a post here pronto. 
And direct everyone here for the details ..... since it is difficult to write the finer details due to instagram's word limits. 

For the Vadas / Baras / Medu Vadas : 

Soak Urad dal / Biri dali / Biulir dal overnight 
Grind into a paste the next day and keep aside for at least an hour. 

Add salt and beat well with your hands till light and slightly fluffy . 
Add chopped onions, ginger, coconut pieces, green chillies, cumin seeds / jeera and curry leaves to the dal paste. 

Heat enough oil in a deep pan or kadahi. 
Wet hands in a little water, scoop out small balls of the dal paste and let in carefully into the oil. 
Fry them till they are golden brown on all sides. 

Keep on a kitchen towel to drain out excess oil. 

For the Ghugni : 

Soak white matar  overnight. 
Cook it with turmeric powder and salt in a pressure cooker. 

Heat oil in a kadahi ( I use ghee as I am on an oil free diet right now ) . 
Add jeera and broken dry red chillies. 
Add chopped onions and fry a little. 
Now add ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and green chilli paste. 
Cook well till masala changes colour and leaves oil on the sides. 
Add the boiled matar and mix well. 
Add enough water and bring to a boil. 
Adjust seasonings and simmer on low heat for at least 15 to 20 minutes. 
Finally, sprinkle roasted jeera powder and remove from heat. 
Let it stand covered for some time before serving. 

You can refer to this post of mine for a simpler, no onion garlic version of the ghugni too. 

To arrange everything : 

Place the vadas on the ghugni in an open bowl. 
Sprinkle roasted jeera powder, roasted chilli powder, chaat masala powder, lemon juice, chopped onions, green chillies, coriander leaves and chopped coconut pieces on them. 

 

 The Boras / Vadas can be eaten just as they are ..... fresh out of the kadahi and crisp and hot with puffed rice or plain with a cup of spicy ginger tea. 

The ghugni too can be enjoyed by itself with Luchi, Muri / Mudhi / puffed rice. 
Or can be paired with parathas too. 

Enjoy whichever way you want to. 

Here are a few other recipes of Ghugni / Ghuguni / Ghoogni from my blog. 


Stay safe all!! 

Completing 13 years of Food blogging with Kosha Mangsho and Porota

13 years back, I started a blog.
Named its Kichukhonn.
Wrote poetry in it.
And then, one day,  discovered the word of food blogging.
Was hooked right away ..... complete with line and sinker.
Renamed the blog as Kitchene Kichukhonn.
And started my affair with food.

Rather, journaling my affair with food. 

Just a few years  into marriage, never having cooked or watched anyone cook earlier, staying in a different culture away from home, marrying into yet another different culture and finding nothing in common when it came to food ..... I was desperate to make all efforts to cook a decent meal. 

With the two of us having completely different food habits, I tried to cook to please both our palates and soul.
Was not easy.

B wouldn't eat anything with paanch phoron and I gagged every time I smelled hing.
Rotis for B and rice for me. And so on.
Most importantly, vegetarian food for B and non-vegetarian for me.

I was at my wits end.

Calls to both sides of the family ended in more confusion.
And inputs from both cousins just drove me to tears. 

Until I took things into my hands and started to cook from my heart. 

I would decide how I felt like eating a particular vegetable as or what tempering I would prefer for a particular dal. 
Or how to make Maggi in different ways. 😀

Slowly, the baby steps turned into confident ones. And both of us started to like what we cooked. Then friends validated. And then family. I decided to keep a tab on my recipes, that were often made right there in the kitchen, while cooking.

And that is how my food blog came into being.

Slowly, along the way, came bloggers who encouraged, shared and egged on each other. 

And what a beautiful world and friends I discovered!
Beautiful, warm people with hearts as big as the world.
And some of them are still with me.

Life happened along the way and every moment, good or bad, every turn, got reflected on my blog.

It was my second home and my blogger friends and readers, my family.

Thank you everyone for all your love and for staying with me and Kitchene Kichukhonn for all these years. 

I made a Kosha mangsho, grabbing whatever little chance life gives these days to celebrate or be happy. Slow cooked it on the stove ..... stirring it from time to time, checking for moisture, salt and spice level. Took me a good 2 hours and above. 
But was worth every effort. 
I was especially overjoyed to see that dark colour that every authentic Bengali kosha mangsho has.

B made his special Aloo dopyaza. 
I don't know the recipe. 

And we enjoyed them with parathas made with maida and ghee, since I am off oils now. 

Rounded off with mangoes (later).

Let me know if you want the recipe of the Kosha mangsho ... I will update the post. 
Feeling too lazy right now. 

Take care all. And stay safe. 

Another closer look. 
See how flaky the parathas are?! 😇😇

 

Homemade Pao buns or Ladi Pao

I started baking bread last year, during the lockdown. 

Regulars on my blog will know that I used bake a lot once upon a time. But that was limited to only cakes and an occasional savoury dish. 
But never bread. Except for the No knead bread. Which is actually so easy that I hardly think of it as baking bread. More of a cake, actually. 

Anyway, during lockdown, instagram was full of posts on homemade breads. 
So I turned to my old blogger friend Finla of My Kitchen Treasures, an avid and expert baker and she guided me with her recipes and tips. 
And I set off on this bread baking spree. 

I was so happily caught up in it that I baked quite a few kinds of breads including the Foccacia and also stuffed buns, but never actually set up a proper place and click proper photos. 
But bread baking is that addictive ..... once the warm buns or bread or rolls come out of the oven, you just cannot resist them. 
So inspite having all the good intentions of making posts, I never actually got 'round to .... just for the lack of proper photos. 

But now I am on a gluten free as well as oilfree diet and don't know when I will bake bread again. 
So making these posts .... with whatever photos I have. 
Hope they help you. 

Need : 

Maida / apf - 250 gm  

Milk - 3 tbsp 

Sugar - 1 tbsp 

Dry yeast - 1 tbsp 

 Salt - a little 

Baking powder - 1 tsp 

Cooking oil - 1 tsp 

Enough butter to brush the buns 

Warm milk, just enough to be able to keep your finger in it. 

Add the sugar and the yeast. 

Keep covered for 10 mins, till it starts to froth. 

If it does not froth, discard and make a fresh batch. 

In a bowl, mix the maida, salt and baking powder. 
Add the milk with the yeast. 

Bring everything together into a soft dough. 

If needed, add a little more milk. 

Apply oil to the dough and keep in a oiled, large bowl. 

Cover tightly. 

Keep in a warm place, for 1and a half hour to double up. 

After the dough has doubled up, lightly punch it back and let out the air. 

Divide into small balls and rest for another 15 to 20 minutes, covered with a damp towel. 

After 20 mins, they will rise again. 
Shape them into rounds, brush them with a little milk and place them in an oven tray closely. 
Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes. 

Do check in between and brush with milk once. 

Baking time will depend on the type of your oven. 

After they are done, give a brush of butter generously and cover immediately with a damp cloth. 

Let them sit and cool down completely. 
This will be difficult ..... we ate them warm .... just out of the oven. 
Heavenly yumm  😇😇

Do give that brush of butter after it is done. 
Do keep covered with a damp cloth till it cools down completely .... it keeps the bread soft. 

Another close look. 

We enjoyed the buns / pav from this batch with some bhaji . 

 

I will try to post all the recipes for all the kinds of bread I hace baked so far ..... especially the stuffed ones. 
Till then ..... take care, wear a mask and stay home.