Lentils, Rice &Amp; Grains

Bannock: Bread of the First Nation’s people

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I did not have to check the menu, as I knew, no matter what, I would be ordering bannocks , I was working in a Dene Settlement up in the territories, the Friday menu always had freshly baked bannocks. Although this bread was very new to me, as I cut the still warm bannock in half to slather the butter and jam, I was totally convinced that the main ingredient in this recipe was “Love”………..

This delicious and easy bread stores well, can be cooked on a campfire or even fried.

Navigating these difficult times, I take comfort from food.

Salute to our ‘Home and native land’. Happy Canada day!

Recipe: Makes a dozen, depending on the size.

Ingredients;

All purpose flour 3 cups

Baking powder 11/2 Tbsps

Salt 1/4 tsp

Cold butter 1/4 cup

Milk 11/2 cups

Method;

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Take a bowl with the all purpose flour, salt, baking powder and butter. Mix them together. Use both hands to mix the butter pieces and flour together, until it looks like wet sand.

Make a well in the middle, add the milk, Gently bring these two together using a fork . Do not knead.Just aim to bring it together as a loose dough. Now bring this on a lightly floured flat surface. Use all the fingers to spread it on all sides. Turn it over and use your fingers to extend again. Take a fork and pierce it all around. Take a round cookie cutter and cut into rounds.

Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Put the round pieces on the sheet. bake for 30-35 minutes. Take the cookie sheet out, turn each of the bannocks.

Enjoy them with a good slather of butter and jam of your choice.

These store well in a airtight container.

Sweet Pilaf : Mishti Pulao

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Rice is intertwined with human life as a thread in a fabric. Any important event in ones life is celebrated with either cooked rice or uncooked grains.

Take for example ” Annaprashan”, an event to celebrate a child’s first solid food eating event. This is as big an event as a wedding. Rice is the main course along with other supporting dishes. A new bride is welcomed in her husband’s family with a potful of rice grain, signifying prosperity for the whole family. “Serving rice” to the extended family is the first ‘token’ chore for a new bride. Blessings from the elders involve a few grains of rice. Puffed paddy grains are sometimes offered to mourner’s during a man’s last journey to the crematorium.

Pilaf or Pulao recipe changes with every geographic location. We in Bengal love it on the sweeter note. This dish goes very well with any main dish. It is a bit heavy on the oil and butter, but celebrations don’t happen every day, does it?

Here is the recipe.

Recipe: Serves 6.

Ingredients;

Basmati Rice 3 cups

Cashews 1/3 cup

Raisins 1/3 cup

Butter 1/2 stick ( 1/4 cup )

Canola oil 1/3 cup

Bay leaves 4-5

Cumin seeds 1 tsp

Saffron big pinch

Milk 1/3 cup

Cardamoms 5-6 pods

Cloves 6-7

Cinnamon 2, 2 inch pieces

Ginger paste 2 tbsps

Salt to taste

Sugar 2 Tbsps

Method;

Preheat gas to 400 degrees F.

Soak the saffron in warmed milk. Make a paste from the fresh ginger.

Wash the rice in two changes of water. Take a big saucepan with boiling water. Put the rice in, as soon as it is half done, take it out drain the water.

In another pan take the canola oil on medium heat. When the oil is hot add the bay leaf, cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon sticks and cumin seeds. Saute gently, as soon as the cumin seeds get a bit of colour add the raisins, wait till they get plump. Add the cashews next, fry till lightly coloured. Add the ginger paste and fry a few minutes. Make sure the spices do not burn, a sprinkle of water can be added now and then. Put the gas off when the raw smell of ginger is gone.

Take an ovenproof casserole. Pour the rice and the above spice mix, spread evenly. Sprinkle the butter on this mixture, add the salt and sugar, cover and put it in the oven for 30 minutes.

Take the casserole out, add the milk with saffron. We want some grains to remain white. Gently fluff it with a fork. Keep covered in the oven again for another 30 minutes with the gas off.

Give another mix and serve.

The rice grains should be separate. Check the salt and sugar to your liking. Enjoy!

Nimbu chawal: Lemon rice

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By Ratna,

The white butterfly flew aimlessly, sitting on the Prairie crocus once and on the Anemones next, going back to the crocuses again. The Robins and the Blackbirds are tree hopping. It is spring here in the Prairies. The season of budding and blooming, of nesting and nursing. The season of a new beginning.

“Chawlo garite ghure ashi” let’s go for a drive, offered my husband N. That seemed just the right thing to do. I packed some snacks and my camera before we took to the roads.

It felt like the nature just woke up. The sky so clear and blue, as if reassuring the surroundings, everything is going to be fine. The bent bud taking that clue to straighten itself first then opening up one petal at a time, ever so slowly.

Lemon rice is a dish that requires very little work. It is an excellent way to use up left over rice too. Its versatility doesn’t stop there. If you are wondering what it pairs with? It is as comfortable with an elaborate vegetable dish at its side, as it is with a few dollops of yoghurt and some crispy Poppadums.

The wooden bench by the side of the water seemed the perfect site to enjoy our snacks. The crunch from the nuts, the tangy taste of the lemon rice complemented each other just right.

We drove aimlessly on the country roads. ” Weren’t we here a few minutes back” sometimes we said in unison.

It didn’t matter.

I thought of the white butterfly…

Recipe: Serves 3-4 as snacks.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice 1 cup

Ghee 1 Tbsp

Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp

Chana dal 1/2 Tbsp

Urad dal 1/2 Tbsp

Peanuts 1 Tbsp

Cashew nuts 1 Tbsp

Curry leaves 5-6

Dry red chillies 1-2

Coriander leaves chopped 1 Tsp

Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Juice of one lemon

Method;

Take the ghee in a saucepan on high heat. Fry the peanuts till golden brown, collect them on paper towels. Add the mustard seeds, wait till it pops, then add the chana dal. Fry a bit till it changes colour, add the turmeric powder, cashews red chillies, salt and curry leaves. Use the spatula to give it a stir, make sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Put the gas off as soon as cashews brown a bit.

Add the rice, mix very gently so the grains remain intact. Sprinkle the lemon juice on top and give one more stir. Garnish with the fried peanuts and chopped coriander leaves.

You are done.

Inside Scoop;

Curry leaves are available in Indian supermarkets. Fresh ones are the first choice, dried ones are available too.

Urad dal is Skinned Black lentil.

Chana dal is Split Desi chick peas.

Ghee can be store bought or made at home too. Here is how to.

Moong Pakon pitha: Yellow Moong bean and rice flour cake: A modern take: Gluten free.

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By Ratna

Buy her a gift or give her an experience? It was a hard decision for mother’s day over the weekend.

“Mooch Moochey hoyecchhe”. It’s nice and crispy, she said after a bite in the Pitha, the deep creases on the back of her hands almost matching the design on the Pithas. She looked into my eyes and she didn’t. I could see Ma was transported to a different time, a different land.

A land with many rivers. As a little girl she remembers those carefree days. Taking off with her siblings to explore the neighbourhood while the elders in the family were busy in the kitchen. “Nodir dhare ekta mishti gondho beroto”, There used to be a sweet smell on the river bank, she is not sure if that was from an unfamiliar flower or the paddy fields nearby. It used to be East Bengal then, it is Bangladesh now.

I have heard these stories many times. My octogenarian mother sometimes mistakenly calls me by my sisters name and cannot remember what she had for breakfast that day. But the stories always remain consistent.

Osteoporosis is rapidly claiming her four feet eleven frame. Arthritis causing her knuckles to swell and fingers to twist, as if daring her to carry on the daily chores. These are the same hands that tended to our sore knees after a game, embroidered fine designs on our dresses or even disciplined us when needed.

“Ki korey banali? Khub shundor hoyeche.” How did you make it? They are beautiful, she said, overlooking the imperfections.

I could see the memories that were coming back to her. Memories of the land that she will not be visiting again but live only through these experiences..

Gift or experience? Glad I chose to bring her an experience for Mother’s day.

Recipe: Number of yield depends on the size of the design you choose. About 18-20 on average.

Ingredients;

Yellow Moong beans 1/2 cup

Rice powder 1 cup

Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon stick 1 inch long 2 pcs

Sugar 1 cup

Canola oil 1 Tbsp plus more for frying

Salt 1/4 tsp

Method;

Dry roast the yellow moong bean in a sauce pan on high heat. Keep stirring to make sure it doesn’t burn. It is done as soon as it gets a bit of colour. Wash with running water.

Take this roasted moong in a saucepan. Add about four glasses of water, salt, one Tbsp of oil, cardamom powder, cinnamon sticks and boil until mushy, about an hour, faster if using a pressure cooker. Discard the cinnamon sticks. Add the rice powder and stir with a whisk to mix thoroughly. Put the gas off and cover the mixture till it cools a bit.

Transfer this mixture to a bowl. Knead with oil dipped palm to form a smooth dough. Add a sprinkle of rice powder if sticky.

Cut out small balls, the size of a lime. Roll it such it stays about 1/4th inch thick. Refer to the picture above and this video. Draw a design of your choice. Use a tooth pick to accentuate the edges of the design. Using a spatula carefully lift these and collect on a plate. Keep them covered.

Take canola oil, an inch deep in a non stick frying pan on medium heat. Carefully fry the Pithas till golden brown, gently turning once. Collect them on a kitchen towel.

Syrup;

Take the sugar with with 3/4th cup water on high heat. Work to make a syrup with one string consistency. Follow this instruction. Dip the Pithas carefully, turn once and remove.

Enjoy.

Inside Scoop;

Cooking the Pithas is a folk tradition, hence all the design is done by hand. This takes a lot of practise and patience.

Being a novice with this Pitha, I took help from cookie cutters, giving it a modern take.

Chana dal cheela: Savoury Husked split desi chick peas pancake. GF

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By Ratna

Ki Shundor, How beautiful. Ki Shundor we kept repeating these two words.

N, my husband and I took a break from the harsh Prairie winter and travelled to India last month. We had a fantastic time with our family. We also managed a few days in the Pink city, Jaipur. More about the trip later.

Shundor rong, beautiful colour. That’s what it was. There was colour everywhere. Having spent the last four months in the great white Northern Alberta, our eyes were taking in the surroundings, as parched throat takes to water.

I think it was the walls that were painted pink throughout the city and the brightly coloured saris and turbans of the locals that stood out. Or was it the resident peacock with his iridescent blue neck roaming around the property unabashedly?

No, No. It was the brilliant colour of the flowers carpeting the walls with the playful Hummingbirds busy gathering nectar.

I am confused. You see what I mean? After all it isn’t called pink city for no reason.

We did the Palaces and Museums which were breathtaking. The food blogger in me always longs for local food and produce markets. I don’t mean the big supermarkets, but the village lady hawking fresh vegetables in her big wicker basket or the basic kitchen gadgets from the weathered hands of the Iron smith.

There was a lazy day when we had breakfast in the hotel lawn. The white wrought iron chairs neatly arranged in the well tendered garden. We had these Cheelas served with a spicy potato curry.

The hot masala chai took care of the early morning nip in the air.

There was something else in the air. The Pergola in the middle of the lawn housed the flutist. Adjusting the big turban on his head he blew air in the little piece of wood. Out came the notes. Exhilarating in one, melancholy with the other. It felt like he held the strings to my soul.

I had to pinch myself….

Recipe:

Made 16 small pancakes.

Ingredients;

Chana dal 1 cup

Shallot cut in small pcs 1

Cilantro 1/4 th cup

Green chillies 2 ( optional )

Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

Baking powder 1/4 tsp

Ajwain / Carom seeds 1/2 tsp

Salt To taste

Water As required

Canola oil For frying

Method;

Soak the chana dal in water for about couple hours and grind it to a paste with little water. Cut the shallot, green chillies and Cilantro in small pieces.

In a bowl mix the ground dal, shallot, green chillies ( if using ), cilantro pieces, turmeric, baking powder and carom seeds. Add salt to taste. Add water to form a crepe batter consistency.

Heat one tsp oil in a non stick pan on medium heat. When hot pour a ladle of the batter on it. With the back of the ladle spread it to about 21/2 inches in diameter. Cook for about 4 minutes one side. Add a tsp of oil on top and sides. Flip over and cook for another 4 minutes.

Collect them on a plate. Serve them hot with chutney, pickle or yoghurt of your choice.

I served them with Gongura chutney which I made recently. Here is the recipe for it.

If you are wondering whether Maple syrup can be used. You betcha.

Inside Scoop;

If the batter thickens towards the end, sprinkle a bit water to bring the desired consistency back.

These pack well for kid’s lunches and camping trips too.

Make it into a wrap with the filling of your choice.

Bhaja Muger Dal: Roasted Yellow Mung bean soup

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By Ratna

It is middle of the week, the grocery shopping didn’t go the way you wanted over the weekend. The deadline at work is looming. Just a few extras like the kid’s activities or taking your elderly parent for their doctor’s appointment. If this sounds familiar then read on.

I look for a one pot meal option as a solution. My pantry always has an assortment of “Dals”. This easy soup is a breeze to make. Any veggies of your choice can be added. Grab some chunky bread or a bowl of rice to go with this soup. Dinner is served.

Mung bean is very easily digestible hence works well with either the young or infirm. Friends I hope you like this no fuss, unpretentious, every day recipe that is very popular in my household.

Recipe:

Ingredient;

Husked and split yellow mung beans ( Dal ) 2 Cups

Ginger grated from One inch

Tomatoes 2, pureed

Onion 1 small

Grated coconut 1/3 rd cup

Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp

Ghee 1 Tbsp

Turmeric 1/4 tsp

Salt To taste

Mixed vegetables ( I used frozen ) 1/2 cup

Method;

Dry roast the Mung dal on medium high flame until very lightly coloured. Put the flame off. Rinse the dal with water now, drain the water off. Add 4 cups of water and the turmeric, let it boil on high heat. Keep checking on it and adjust water until it is cooked and is in the desired ( soup like ) consistency. Add the frozen vegetables. If using fresh vegetables then add them earlier. Turn the flame off.

Cut the onions in very thin slices and fry them until brown. Collect them on paper towel and set aside.

Dry roast the grated coconut till very light brown. Set aside.

Add the roasted coconut, pureed tomato in the boiled dal. Add salt.

In a small frying pan take the ghee on high heat. When hot add the Cumin seeds, let it sizzle a little then throw in the grated ginger. Saute for a few minutes till lightly coloured and very fragrant. Put the gas off.

Sprinkle this on top of the Dal. Garnish with the browned onions. Enjoy it hot.

Inside Scoop;

When rinsing the roasted dal, careful with the water which splutters a lot.

Feel free to adjust the consistency of the soup to your liking by adding the right amount of water.

Subzi wale makki roti: Vegetables and cornflour flatbread. GF

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By Ratna

October 12th was Pitri Paksha, which translates to The fortnight of the Ancestors. This new moon day we show gratitude to our ancestors. Not only do we owe our existence to them, it is due to their contribution that we enjoy everything else in this world. We are ourselves because of the gifts that we have received from them. If we broaden the definition of the term ancestors, from our parents or grandparents to the whole humanity, then we have even more reason to be thankful. The clothes we wear, the food we enjoy, the technology we use, the way we entertain ourselves, have all come down from ‘the ancestors.’ It is only natural that we sometimes pause in our life, bow our heads in gratitude and pay our debts to them

The ritual involves offering water to their soul. The fresh harvest, a symbolic gesture for food, is also offered.

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Canada on the 12th. It is a day we thank the almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which we have been blessed. Families get together for sumptuous feasts, parades are held and pumpkin pies are baked to celebrate the day.

Two faraway countries, India and Canada, but similar traditions.

I had carrots and beets freshly harvested from the garden. Instead of pies I worked them into flatbreads. With crunchy radishes or smooth yoghurt and some fierce pickles for a side, it made an excellent brunch menu.

Recipe: From my friend Parul.

Made 4 pieces.

Ingredients;

Grated carrots 1/4 th cup

Grated beets 1/4 th cup

Grated Cauliflower 1/4 th cup

Corn flour ( see notes ) 1 cup

Cream 1/2 cup

Salt To taste

Pepper To taste

Method.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Pour the cream to make it into a soft dough. Divide them into four equal parts to form lemon size balls. Line the countertop with a piece of wax paper. Roll the ball gently in a circle, 3 inches diameter circle. Take care, for the absence of gluten makes it hard to bind.

With the help of a flat spatula transfer this on to a greased heated frying pan on medium heat. After about a minute, gently flip it over. Put a teaspoon of oil on it. Gently press the surface with the spatula and rotate the bread on the pan. Repeat the same with the other side until lightly crispy, about 8 minutes total.

Serve hot with a dollop of butter on top,

Inside Scoop;

While rolling the dough, run the pin to one side ( say north ), lift the pin, bring it to the middle, now roll it to the other side ( say south ). Rotate the wax paper and repeat the above procedure.

If you see the sides are not as smooth, tuck them in with wet finger.

Traditionally it is served with Saag ( leafy greens ). However potato or any other curry goes well too.

It could be done just plain without any veggies too.

I have used this brand of cornflour “Punjabi Makki de Atta PTI”.

I have referred to Wikipedia and Isha foundation blog for the details on Pitri paksha.

Cooking Sutra

Stories and Photos of Food and Family

Category Archives: Lentils, Rice & Grains

Bannock: Bread of the First Nation’s people

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Sweet Pilaf : Mishti Pulao

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Nimbu chawal: Lemon rice

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Moong Pakon pitha: Yellow Moong bean and rice flour cake: A modern take: Gluten free.

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Chana dal cheela: Savoury Husked split desi chick peas pancake. GF

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Bhaja Muger Dal: Roasted Yellow Mung bean soup

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Subzi wale makki roti: Vegetables and cornflour flatbread. GF

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