Guilt Ridden And Snacking Guilt Free

I believed sleep deprivation, zillion diaper changes, and back crushing feedings would be some of the challenges of motherhood. What proved it wrong was leaving my entirely dependent little one with a complete stranger, to go back to work. I joined work three weeks back, and it's been an emotional challenge. The baby girl is adjusting to her nanny slowly but surely, yet my heart breaks into a million pieces every day when I see the longing in her eyes. Sure, I can quit my job, some would say. But some things are easier said than done. I just hope my daughter forgives me one day when she has a similar battle of her own, or just not remember this at all!

The only consolation in this situation is that we've found a fantastic nanny. She's a loving person with two grandchildren of her own, and treats Shreya just like she would one of them. She came with a whole bunch of cute clothes for Shreya last week for no particular reason. Isn't that incredibly sweet of her? Despite all, I am comforted that my daughter is in good hands. Aunty, as we respectfully call her, hails from Gujarat, and is an enthusiastic cook like most Gujjus. I for one am a huge fan of Gujarati food. So it's a bonus that she brings us lots of freshly prepared Gujarati delicacies almost every day. She brought me a popular sweet called Sukhdi the other day. Sukhdi is a simple wheat flour 'cake' made with ghee, jaggery, and decorated with dry fruits.It tasted like wheat flour laddus, just repackaged. I enjoyed snacking on this energy packed sweet between meals. This nursing business makes me very hungry, and I always need nutritious, guilt-free snacks at hand. FYI - a healthy dose of ghee is good for your, especially postpartum. I tweaked anuty's recipe so I could add some more elements of 'healthy' and made sukhdi with ragi/nachani/finger millet flour. I also added dry grated coconut to the list of dry fruits. Ragi flour is light and toasty, and tasted even better than wheat flour. Husband admitted that this was one of my best creations; but then again, he says that a lot ;).

Ragi Sukhdi/Nachanichi Vadi

Ingredients:
1 Heaping cup raagi/nachani flour
3/4 Cup grated jaggery (or adjust per your liking)
6-8 Tablespoons warm ghee
Handful of dry fruits, coarsely ground. I used almonds and cashews
1 Heaping tablespoon grated dry coconut

• Heat a kadhai/pan on low flame and roast ragi flour in 6 tablespoons of ghee until the flour is fragrant and doesn't taste raw. 
• Add grated jaggery, ground dry fruits, and grated coconut. Roast for 5 more minutes. Make sure there aren't any pieces of jaggery left.
• Once the mixture is cool to touch, mix by hand to make it consistent. Try pressing some mixture between your palms and it should form a lump and stick together. If not, add more ghee as needed. 
• Grease a steel plate with ghee and pat the mixture tightly on it, forming a ~1/2 inch cake. Cut into diamond shaped vadi using a sharp knife. 

Alternatively, you can form laddus of the mixture.

Sweet And Spice, And Everything Nice

Are you one of those who love the combination of sweet and spicy? Like jam with jalapeno or chocolate with cayenne pepper? I am certainly a fan of these contrasting flavors in one dish; but if someone asked me to try Kadhi made with sweet, ripe mango pulp, I would've made a weird face. That's exactly what I did when I was introduced to this Gujarati specialty. I was visiting my friend Amishi's Grandma in India on one of our coinciding trips. Amishi and I have been very close friends through high school all the way to grad school. We've had a lot of culinary adventures together in our dorm kitchens. So I trust her when it comes to food. Nevertheless, when she told me that Aamras Kadhi (Mango puree Kadhi) was on the menu at her Grandma's place, I couldn't hide a big question mark on my face. This kadhi totally surprised me though (in a positive way) and expanded the list of everything I love sweet n spicy. I've held onto Aamras Kadhi recipe for a while. Now that Alphonso puree is available in the Indian grocery store, I decided to have a go at it.

Aamras kadhi resonates all of the wonderful flavors of besan kadhi - slight tang from yogurt, fragrance of ghee tadka and curry leaves, earthy bite of cumin, and heat from green chilies. The addition of ripe mango puree adds a whole new dimension to this already wonderful combination. Surprisingly, It doesn't get overpoweringly sweet. The savory ingredients create a perfect balance leaving pleasant layers of flavors on your tongue. If you like sweet 'n' spice, this is a must try.  Aamras kadhi makes for a very refreshing drink  - perfect for the summer days when this mighty fruit is available. It tastes great hot or cold.

Aamras Kadhi (Mango Puree Kadhi)

Ingredients:
3/4 Cup mango puree - I used sweetened canned puree.
2 Tablespoons yogurt
A couple of pinches asafoetida
1/4 Teaspoon turmeric powder
1 Teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 Teaspoon fenugreek seeds - Optional
2 Small Thai chilies/ 1 serrano chili  - chopped
1 Spring curry leaves
2 Teaspoons ghee/clarified butter
Salt to taste
Water as needed

• Mix mango puree and yogurt together. 
• Heat ghee in a kadhai. Add cumin seeds and curry leaves. 
• Add asafoetida, turmeric and green chilies once the cumin seeds splutter. Saute for a few seconds until the tempering is fragrant. 
• Add the mango-yogurt mixture to this tempering and season with salt. Add water to achieve desired consistency. 
• Bring the kadhi to a boil then lower the heat to simmer for 2-3 minutes. 

The kadhi can be eaten with roti or puri. I like to drink it by itself. The perfect finish to a meal.

Dabeli

I've never met an Indian who doesn't like street food. There's got to be something ridiculously good about those spicy-savory-sour-sweet dishes for a country of billions to be crazy about! Street food is a different class of cuisine altogether and call me crazy, but I'll pick that over a 5-star restaurant any day! You can pretty much get anything from sandwiches to noodles on a little streetside cart in India, but what gets me really drooling is the broad category of Chaats. Yum! Bhel, shev-puri, paani-puri, ragada chaat and all those tasty concoctions of tangy tamarind and hot chili-cilantro chutneys, crunchy-thin chickpea flour noodles called Sev, finely diced onion and tomatoes over potatoes or white peas, puffed rice or crispy puris.  

I remember my mom or sister taking me a few lanes down from our house to the park, where a dozen or so vendors with their fully equipped carts used to crowd the corner. We were not allowed to eat there too often for 'questionable' cleanliness to put it in mild words. But it was one of those guilty pleasures that felt better than going to the candy store! The chaat-wallah used every inch of the space creatively. A flat pan of ragda boiling away over a kerosene stove in one corner, every shelf stacked with enough ingredients for the week, containers of chutneys and spices, plates and drinking(?) water, all in one crammed cart. All this left a small cutting-board sized space where he would dice the veggies at the speed of light.

It wasn't until I visited Mumbai, then Bombay, though that I experienced the culture of street food! Mumbai is the Mecca for street food lovers. It's a potpourri of cultures and people from all around the country have contributed to the numerous food carts that have become the lifeline of students, workers, rishkshaw or taxi drivers and every other person who stops by for a quick snack. My cousin, who I used to visit during the holidays, had her favorite designated cart for every item. She was the one who first introduced me to the awesomeness called 'Dabeli'! Ahh - how I fell in love with this delicious 'burger' that was too small for my liking. The Kacchi Gujarati community has made Dabeli a popular item on street carts in Mumbai. And like all other Gujarati dishes, they have managed to bring a sweet element into this yummy chaat item.

Spicy Roasted Peanuts

'Dabeli' literally means pressed in Gajarati. It is a delicious burger with spiced mashed potatoes, spicy roasted peanuts, pomegranate seeds, sev and tamarind-date chutney all sandwiched between a bun, graciously lathered with Amul butter! The butter is applied in such generous amounts that the bread literally melts in your mouth. Dabeli has been one of my favorite street foods all these years. I make sure to visit my cousin's favorite Dabeli-wallah at the time during my busy trips to India. 

Utterly  Butterly Delicious!

I love making Dabeli for dinner once in a while for a change of taste. I have made it from scratch many times before, but this time I took advantage of having all the components available at the grocery store. It's a quick fix meal on a week night. The Dabeli Masala I brought from India was a time saver as well, although it's a simple combination of coriander seeds, cumin seeds, red chili, cloves and cinnamon roasted and ground to a fine powder. 

Everything you need for the best bite ever!

Ready to be 'dabeli' - pressed.

 

Kacchi Dabeli

Ingredients:

2 Potatoes

2 Teaspoons Dabeli Masala

1/4 Teaspoon cumin seeds

1/4 Cup peanuts

1/2 Teaspoon cumin-coriander powder

1/2 - 1 Teaspoon red chili powder

Salt to taste

2 Tablespoons oil

Burger buns

1 Small onion finely chopped

1 Pomegranate seeds

Bareek sev (fine sev) for garnishing

Tamarind-date chutney

Butter

Potato stuffing:

Boil potatoes, peel and mash. Add dabeli masala and salt to taste to the potatoes and mix well.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, add cumin seeds and let them splutter, add in the mashed potatoes and cook everything for a couple of minutes. You can add a little bit of water if the potatoes become too dry.

Roasted peanuts:

Heat a teaspoon of oil in a sautee pan, add peanuts, sprinkle cumin-coriander, red chili powder and salt to taste and let them roast, stirring occasionally.

To assemble:

Toast bread with a generous application of butter.

Make a small patty of the mashed potato and put it on the slice of bread. Top it with some tamarind-date chutney, then onions, peanuts, pomegrante seeds and lastly sev.

Press the other slice of bread on top. You can toast the burger on a pan again or just enjoy it!

Spicy potatoes, crunchy peanuts and sev, tangy-sour chutney and sweet pomegranate to balance it all create the most perrrfect bite ever!!!

Dabeli is a great snack for entertaining too. You can make a little assembly of all the ingredients and let your guests make their own. Or you can make a 'cake' with layers of mashed potatoes and all the other ingredients and let your guest cut a piece for their burger.

Grapes cut in half make a great substitute for pomegranates, providing the same sweetness, crunch and juicy pop in the mouth.