A Sindhi Dinner

I am a huge admirer of bloggers who passionately strive to place their native cuisines on the global culinary map. There are a lot of Indian bloggers who do this. Nupur’s One Hot Stove, Priya Mitharwal’s Mharo Rajasthan, Kamala’s Kamala’s Corner, Alka’s Sindhi Rasoi, Shilpa’s Aayi’s recipes, Lakshmi of Taste of Mysore are a few names that come to my mind immediately. There is a certain pride in the way a recipe is introduced, the ingredients and the method of cooking explained or a little family tradition discussed. This pride in them is what hooks me on to their blogs. Also being an Indian, it is nice to know what is cooking in my neighbour’s cooking pot.

Sindhi rasoi is one blog which showcases a wide variety of sindhi food. Alka has truly simplified sindhi cooking for new cooks like me. I dug into her treasure and chose two very easy ones. I wanted a simple combo – and picked up Raahn (black eyed peas or Lobhia) in a tomato base and Satpura phulka. The moment I made the Raahn gravy, I knew this gravy is going to come to my rescue on several time-strapped weekday dinners. It calls for limited preparation and cooks in under 20-22 minutes (excluding soaking time – I am taking only active cooking into account). I made it in a stew pot since my cooker was not ok.

Now, off to the two lovely recipes:

Raanh (lobhia) in tomato gravy

Ingredients:

Lobhia: ¾ cup (raw)
Tomatoes: 2 Nos (chopped fine)
Turmeric powder: ½ tsp
Dhaniya powder: 1 tsp
Green chillies: 2,slit
Jeera: 1 tsp
Oil: 1 -2 tbsp
Ginger: 1 cm bit (grated)
Curry leaves: few
Corriander leaves (to garnish)
Potato (optional): 1, boiled and made into big chunks (I forgot all about it and remembered only after I finished the curry)

Method:

Wash, soak the beans for about 8 hours and cook in the cooker for about 2 – 3 whistles. Take care that the beans do not become mushy.
Start the tadka of jeera, green chillies, ginger and curry leaves on a kadai.
Now add the tomatoes and let it cook for about ten minutes.
Add all the powders.
Add the lobhia with the water.
Let it boil and come together to the desired consistency.
Done!


Satpura Phulka

Ingredients

Wheat flour: One and a half cups
Pepper powder: ½ tsp
Salt: to taste
Oil: 3 – 4 tsps plus for drizzling over the roti
Water: for kneading the dough


Method:

Make a soft chapatti dough with wheat flour, pepper powder, needed salt and about 2 tsps of water and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
Take a portion of the dough. Roll it like a chapatti using a rolling pin.
Now, using a knife, make vertical lines which are one inch apart. Basically you will have several ribbon kind of long strips.
Apply a tsp of oil and sprinkle some wheat flour over this knife-marked chapatti strips.
Now take one strip and roll it like a ribbon. Roll the next one over this. Repeat with the next strips. This will form a bundle of strips one rolled on top of the other.
Now, carefully roll it like a chapatti, thicker than normal chapatti.
Cook on both sides on medium flame drizzling some oil over it, turning it few times in between.

Alka has made a beautiful Satpura Phulka with so many layers. All I could manage was a little whirlpool at the center. Probably I would be able to get there with some more practice.
On the whole, myself and my family had a lovely Sindhi dinner. Thank you Alka.


This is my contribution to 'Tried & Tasted - Sindhi Rasoi' - conceptualised by Lakshmi and hosted for this month by Ria.