Thursday, May 02, 2013

Jardaloo Chhole With Vegetable Pulao And Rose Milk

Jardaloo Chhole With Vegetable Pulao, Nuts from Jardaloo, 
Microwaved Potato Mirgund and Rose Milk

Today, 1st May 2013, was one of the days I did nothing and actually enjoyed doing nothing!

The Nothing is giving me something, Peace of mind!

It is the heat and dust that is causing trouble but harsh summers make the anticipation of the monsoon showers worth the wait! That's life too!

In this unbearable summer time I have been making simple meals and lots of coolers for the afternoons. So far the meals went something like this Chilled Kelyacha Shikaran and Poli, Bean cultlets with salad, Greens stir fry and Phulkas, Tomato Omlette etc. 

Today I felt like making a combo meal complete with dessert. It should get ready in under 30 mins being the criteria. Having started cooking only at 12.30 pm I ensured the hungry Dad got his sharp 12 noon fill of a plate of cut papaya. The papaya was tasteless so gave it a honey bath.  

That done I could focus on preparing the meal. I had cooked and frozen chickpeas that turned out to be of great use today, I pulled them out and set them on the counter to defrost. On the side I was soaking Jardaloo for the things I wanted to do inspired by ET, I also promised her that I will experiment with them in a curry.  

Now the cuisines that I know which use Jardaloo or Apricots in their cooking are the Parsi and Middle Eastern. So I froze on the simple veg pulao which is on the lines of Brown rice that goes with Dhansak. To round off the meal on a sweet note I thought Rose milk fit the theme perfectly.

So presenting to you a Parsi inspired combo-meal.

Jardaloo Chhole


Ingredients
5-7 Jardaloo/ Apricots soaked in hot water for atleast 2 hours.
2 cups cooked Chickpeas/ chhole
 (Incase cooked are not available, soak overnight and pressure cook until completely cooked about 4-5 whistles)
2 medium onions chopped lengthwise
3 tomatoes diced
1 teaspoon Koli masala
1/4 teaspoon red chili powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon jeera
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons oil
Chopped Cilantro for garnish

Masala paste
2 green chilies
7-8 cloves garlic
1/2 inch piece of ginger
1 teaspoon salt


In a mortar and pestle, grind the green chilies, garlic, ginger and salt to a coarse paste.
In a small pressure cooker heat oil. Fry the masala paste till caramelized slightly. Add the chopped onions and fry till transparent and pale pink. Add the tomatoes and the spices, jeera, coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder, Koli masala and fry on high heat till the tomatoes form a paste. Add the sugar. Now tip in the cooked chhole.

Add the soaked Jardaloo. Remove the stone from the Jardaloo before adding or if you don't mind them while eating you can just remove it at the table. If you have strong teeth crack the stone and eat the nut inside!

Close the lid and allow 3 whistles. Put off heat, allow to cool completely. Open the lid and mash the chickpeas a bit with the back of the spoon against the cooker wall to get a thick gravy.

To serve ladel out the chhole into a bowl, top up with a cooked jardaloo from the gravy and garnish with chopped fresh cilantro.

Vegetable Pulao

(Parsi Brown rice inspired)

This is a very simple pulao and goes well with this curry. I would not recommend it as a pulao for consumption on its own but may be the western palate may still find it good as a stand alone. 

Ingredients

1  cup Basmati rice
6 Fresh beans, I used black eyed beans from the Green Balcony
1/2 cup florets of cauliflower
1/2 green peas
2 onions chopped lengthwise
1 Tej patta
5-6 cloves
10-12 pepercorns
2 cardamoms
3 tablespoons Oil 
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
Salt to taste

Wash and soak basmati rice in water for 30 mins. Drain the water and keep aside.

Heat oil in a wok. Fry the onions with half teaspoon of sugar. They will brown evenly and quicker. Add the vegetables to it  and fry. Add the drained rice and mix to coat the rice well with oil. Cook for 10 mins.

Meanwhile boil 3 cups water with salt.

Pour the boiled water into the rice.

Cook another 15 mins covered. Till all water it absorbed. Fluff the grains of rice.

To serve mould it in a cup and turn it out on the plate. Top with a red cherry.

On the side serve some jardaloo nuts. When you deseed the jardaloo before adding to the curry, keep the seeds aside. Smash these seed open to get the nut, it tastes like almond. No part of Jardaloo is wasted.


Rose Milk

Ingredients
3 tablespoon rose syrup (I used Kalverts) 
400 ml chilled milk
few ice cubes
sugar to taste

Mix everything in a shaker and serve in elegant glasses.

Enjoy this Parsi inspired combo-meal. Put together the plate with a small portion of the vegetable pulao, a bowl of Jardaloo chhole. The curry as well as the pulao has sweet notes from the Jardaloo and the sugar. It makes it a balanced taste. Add the microwaved potato mirgunds for some crunch. Sip on the perfect summer cooler of Rose milk and end your meal on a sweet note.

Life is about living the best way you know inspite of the harsh summers and the heat and dust!

7 comments:

  1. Both chole and pulao makes me hungry.

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  2. Not sure if my earlier comment made it here.. Anyway, I was saying that this looks even lovelier than I imagined. I want to make it right away, but will not be able to make it for a while. Will let you know when I do!

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    1. Wow good to know my pictures convey it! Take your time, focus on what needs attention now. You will enjoy it I can say.

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  3. I tried apricot in masoor dal recently and it worked very well- I can imagine it gives a wonderful sweet note to chole too!

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    1. Masoor is a Parsi favorite too so it should go well with this theme. Will try it. Thanks Nupur was sharing your experience!

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  4. Hi Anjali, I made this after eyeing it for a long time, and loved it! I didn't bash up the chilies, thinking it might be to hot, but your proportions are *perfect*. My chhole actually looked just like your pictures. The sweet note is different from the usual chhole, so it was very nice for a change. Thanks for documenting it so well.

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    Replies
    1. Cheers to our friendship, you inspired me to experiment! I am so glad you liked it. The sweetness is really unusual and yes makes it special.

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