Ukad Pindi

Some days when I am back from office early I like to go see my friend Varsha and Alok's baby, Aditya. He is such a cute and chubby baby. I become a kid with him. It is very therapeutic to be with kids after a hectic week so I make it a point to visit at least once a week.

On one such visit Varsha made this snack.

She said, "I'll make Ukad Pindi for you."
Me, "Now what is that?"

I had never heard of such a thing!

Thats when she explained. Ukad Pindi is made like a upma. A quick snack made to feed a starving soul with the wheat flour that is a readily available at home and the magic of seasonings straight from your masala box. No special preparation or ingredients required here. Just the love to feed someone who returns home hungry. It is a heart warming snack, rustic flavors native to Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.

I twisted my nose, how would that taste, I wondered. Yet I let her make it and watched her in the kitchen. I was learning a new recipe and that too a traditional one and I was not going to miss a chance.

Here in Blr. we have a tough time getting wheat flour milled as per Maharashtrian benchmark so most of us prefer to buy the packaged wheat flour. This is very finely ground and is very glutenous. Knowing this I expected a disaster. So I told Varsha serve me very little.

While she was making it. I saw a plate of Nachani / Ragi meal nearby, I told her to add a tablespoon of it into to the wheat flour to give it texture. I like texture in my food.

I really enjoyed the Ukad Pindi enough to recreate it today and post it here.

What makes a good Ukad Pindi is generous amount of oil, asafoetida, mustard seed, copious amounts of red chili powder and garnished with coriander and thin shev.

I googled to find out if anyone had blogged about it already and found this discussion mention it. I think Ukad Pindi is an acquired taste. I liked it quite a bit but my Dad turned his nose on it.

Ingredients

1 cup wheat flour (OR 1/2 cup wheat+1/2 Nachani)
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1/2 turmeric
2 green chilies chopped fine
1 teapsoon salt
4 tablespoons oil
250 ml water

Garnish:
Thin shev
cilantro chopped fine

In a non stick wok heat the oil till it smokes. Splutter the mustard seeds, add one by one asafoetida, turmeric, red chili powder, green chilies and finally wheat flour. Mix well. Roast the mix well on medium heat. Add in the salt and then add water. Mix well again. Cook till the flour looks plump. I kept stirring for 5 mins to cook evenly. Let is cook further for another 5 mins.

To serve garnish as shown below with cilantro and shev. Ukad Pindi has to be eaten hot. Just finished it of for breakfast washed down with ginger tea. Still sniffing from all that red chilli.



Variations with other seasonings:
1. with udid dal fried
2. whole peanuts or peanut powder added
3. with grated fresh or dry coconut

After breakfast

Was listening to this old Marathi song that I got from youtube but cannot locate it now. It is from V. Shantaram's Marathi movie Chani.

Never seen this movie but this song is associated with my childhood and reminds me of my Mom, MJ Kaka and V Bhau when we would all sing it together if it was playing on Vividh bharti. With MJ kaka doing his jiggle like Ranjana in the video, LOL. Those were the best day of my life!