daab paneer recipe | paneer in mustard sauce steamed in tender coconut shells

You must have heard about daab chingri  and that is one of my favourite prawn recipe too. Inspired by the classic recipe, I recently cooked daab paneer and loved it so much that it has become quite regular on my table.

Tender coconut is a great thirst quencher, a delicious blend of electrolytes that nature has packaged so wonderfully for us. Daab, as tender coconut is called in Hindi and few other regional languages, has been the favourite drink whenever we can get it. Few decades ago we used to get daab only when we traveled to coastal towns but thankfully it is available in cities like Delhi fairly easily.

To me it feels like a wonder every time I sip from a tender coconut, right since my childhood. Each tender coconut packs a different flavour if you consider the minor variations of sweet and salt, the mineral taste and of the course the malai (tender coconut meat) that lines the inner wall, like a surprise unfolding gently. 

Tender coconut was our saviour last year when both of us were hit by chikangunia together. We had asked the neighbourhood daab wala to deliver 2 tender coconuts every morning and evening and that helped us a lot in recovering from the most annoying sickness we have had. But then we made friends with this daab wala and he is always ready to deliver at home, he will come with his cleaver sometimes and cut open the daab so we can eat the malai as well. All those tender coconut shells went into my compost heap but then I decided to make a raised bed using them, the next garden project. About that some other time as I am sharing a daab paneer recipe with you right now. 

 I had eaten daab recipes in hotels and restaurants in the past but never had bothered to cook anything with them at home, apart from adding the tender coconut meat to some of my kheer recipes. When I saw a daab chingri recipe by Ipshita Bhandari on a facebook group I felt tempted to try that at home. After all I have easy supply of daab and the daab wala ready to cut it into convenient halves. 

The Bengali daab chingri is a popular dish, easy to cook but the daab is such an exotic ingredient that everyone serves the daab chingri with a certain sense of pride. I am a sucker for easy recipes with clean flavours, thankfully this recipe was appreciated by everyone who tasted it. 

In fact for a week I was on a spree to cook with daab malai and found the right balance that works for my type of palate. The balance of mustard, green chilies and tender coconut meat, the three crucial ingredients of this secret sauce is a distinct personal choice according to the extent you can take the pungency of mustard mixed with the heat of green chilies. The fresh daab malai (tender coconut meat) renders a unique sweetness to this dish and that’s where lies the specialty of this dish. 

Take care to ask your daab wala to chose a daab with soft but generous malai in it, if it has lesser malai just consume it as is, if the malai has turned meaty you can snack upon it as we need the firm yet jelly like malai for this recipe. If you are making daab chingri or daab paneer for a crowd you can use a mix of tender and not too tender coconut meat as that will maintain the flavour. 

Ingredients 

One whole daab (tender coconut) with generous amount of soft jelly like meat 

200 gm paneer 

2 tbsp yellow mustard 

2 cloves of garlic 

3-4 green chilies or more if you like 

1 tbsp or more mustard oil (depending on your liking of pungency)

¼ tsp of turmeric powder 

100 ml coconut milk (optional but recommended)

Equipment of choice, depending on whether you want to bake the mix or steam it

Both halves of the tender coconut if you are using them for baking 

Or a baking dish of 1 litre capacity with lid  

Or a steel dabba big enough to accommodate the mix and fit inside a pressure cooker

Or an earthen pot and 3-4 fresh tender bottle gourd leaves, to be baked in a conventional oven or a microwave oven

Procedure 

Separate the water and the malai of the daab, save the water and chop the malai in small bits.

Make a paste of mustard, garlic cloves and green chilies along with turmeric powder. Powdering the mustard seeds first and then adding some water and other ingredients helps make a smooth paste. 

Chop the paneer in small bits too.

Slit 1-2 green chilies.

Mix all the other ingredients together, along with half of the mustard oil. Add some of the coconut water to make the consistency as required. You need a mix with saucy consistency. I added coconut milk from a carton for this step every time as I can’t not drink the coconut water. I found the coconut milk made this recipe even better.

For cooking the daab paneer you can follow any* one of the following procedures.

*Transfer the mix to the emptied halves of daab, cover with aluminium foil and bake it for 25-30 minutes at 180 C. 

*Transfer the mix in an earthen pot lined with bottle gourd leaves or fresh turmeric leaves, cover wit the same leaves, fix the lid and bake for 20 minutes at 180 C.

*The earthen pot can be placed in the microwave oven and cooked at high for 5-7 minutes.

 

*Transfer the mix to a steel dabba, cover with lid, keep the dabba in a pressure cooker which has ½ cup of water in it and pressure cook till the first whistle blows. Cool the pressure cooker on its own and open the lid.

After cooking with any of the above process, open the lid and garnish with a few slit green chilies and a drizzle of the remaining mustard oil. 

Serve hot with steaming hot rice, preferably short grain rice like gobindobhog or jeerabatti. 

I was suggested by Ipshita that it is better to cook it in the daab shell to bring the rustic flavour but I found it good even when I cooked the mix in a steel container or an earthen pot lined with fresh bottle gourd leaves. This is a recipe that one can adjust according to personal choice of the cooking vessel used, but please don’t distort the golden trinity of mustard paste, daab malai and green chilies.

This daab paneer recipe will become a family favourite if you like the flavours of mustard. In this recipe the pungency of mustard is quite sublime due to the daab malai used. Please try the recipe and let me know.

chane ka saag : steamed dumplings with chickpea greens in a mustard based curry ...

I cooked chane ka saag quite a lot this year. Somehow my demand for this particular leafy green met with supply too. I would keep asking the vendor at the corner of our weekly market for chane ka saag and he would say there are no takers here. May be he got a few more requests or just got fed up of me asking him every time I saw his other leafy greens, he brought it one day and then brings it more often. That's why I say we should create a demand for uncommon greens and vegetables too, the ones we used to get a decade ago are being forgotten with the flood of coloured peppers and imported vegetables. The desi produce is being forgotten sadly, I wonder if a large quantity of such produce rots while we eat the snow peas and coloured bell peppers, imported mushrooms and what not.

Taste this wonderful leafy green that is a growing soft shoot of chickpea plant, the shoots are nipped to accelerate lateral growth of plant so it becomes more bushy and bears more fruit. I am sure chane ka saag will be bought often once you taste how good it is. I have already posted a few recipes. This one can be another way to have it. I love it as it is like a dumpling soup, it is great with plain boiled rice as well if you have some side dishes like alu ki bhujia or begun bhaja, the way it would be eaten traditionally.

ingredients..

for the dumplings..
cleaned and chopped chane ka saag 2 cups
chickpeas flour or besan 1 cup or as required*
minced garlic 1 tsp
minced ginger 2 tsp
minced green chilies 1 tsp
ajwain seeds 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
water to sprinkle while binding the dough
salt to taste

for the gravy..
yellow mustard powder 2 tbsp
red chilly powder 1 tsp or to taste
turmeric powder 1 tsp
cumin powder 1 tsp
garam masala powder 1/2 tsp (optional, I have not used for this)
fresh tomato paste 1.5 cup
mustard oil 2 tbsp
fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp
salt to taste

 procedure...

Mix everything from the list of dumpling ingredients and knead a dough. Make lime sized balls ans steam them. I microwave them in a greased bowl, covered with a loose lid and they get ready in 3-4 minutes. Check by pricking a cocktail stick if done.

The detailed procedure of making these dumplings is mentioned here.You can follow the same steps and play with the flavors used in the dumplings too. Keeping the steamed dumpling in the fridge till cold will be good to get a better shape when cooked in gravy. Steaming them a day ahead makes sense.

To make the gravy, heat the oil in a pan and tip in the fenugreek seeds. Let them become brownish  taking care not to burn them. Tip in all the steamed dumplings into the hot oil and toss them gently so they get seared from all sides.

Add the powders and toss the pan to coat everything and get a little roasted. Add the tomato paste and salt and about 2 cups of water and let the curry simmer for about 20 minutes. The dumpling balls will get doubled in size and the gravy will be lesser and thicker by the end of cooking.

Garnish with fresh coriander greens and serve hot with hot boiled rice or just as it is.

The version with a little garam masala looks darker in color and has more complex flavors. You can add some amchoor powder to balance the pungency of mustard if the tomatoes are not enough tart.

You can also add a few shallow fried Okra to this curry, or small aubergines shallow fried. Even lightly fried potatoes work well into this curry. A mustard based masala curry is very versatile, We make besan katli ki subzi and sarson waali machhli in this gravy as well. A few variations can be done in the spice blend but it is essentially a pungent tart curry that goes well with besan based dumplings, most river fish and several vegetables.

I am sure you would love this curry. Spinach or dill greens can also be used if you don't get chane ka saag.

Chane ka saag (chickpea greens) in mustard based curry | chane ke saag ki sarson waali subzi..

Chane ka saag is not something many of us would come across very often. I know many of you wont even know this green leafy vegetable. This is the tender shoots of the chickpea plant, it is plucked before the plant bears pods, plucking or pruning the plant helps it grow thicker, bear more branches and  more fruit while it grows. See how the greens look in the dumplings recipe here. My grandmother used to say so fondly about chana (chickpeas), it is eaten in so many forms, so many ways. Being a staple crop all across central India, we see many different recipes originating from all over the places.

This one is a thin gravy curry that has a base of mustard paste. The chickpea greens (chane ka saag) is not chopped and is left as it is after trimming the hard base. See the picture here, how the trimmed ready to use saag looks. This curry used to be a winter regular at my parent's place, especially when my grandmother would be with us. She was brought up in Bengal and all kinds of mustard based curries were her favorites. We used to love them too but she was the one who would plan and get the mustard finely ground on the stone Silbatta (flat type mortar and pestle), clean the greens and then sometimes cook it too. Simple rustic looking curries with great flavors. She used to cook a similar one with small oblong Aubergines too, something I haven't cooked for a very very long time.

I used mustard powder this time, this was after one of the readers suggested that the powder also gives good results. It was very convenient and the taste was exactly the same when a wet paste of mustard is used. The consistency was a little thinner than the wet paste but that is not such a big concern if you like the taste. The mustard powder doesn't emulsify nicely into the cooking gravy, as seen in the picture but he taste remains the same. You could add a tablespoon of almond meal to the gravy to make it creamy like it comes with a wet mustard paste, or just smash some of the potato cubes after cooking.

ingredients..

potatoes with skin one large or 2 medium (about 150 gm)
chane ka saag (chickpea greens) 200 gm
tomatoes halved and sliced into half moons 1 cup
mustard powder 2 heaped tbsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
red chilly powder 1/2 tsp or to taste
salt to taste
mustard oil 1 tbsp
fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp

procedure...

Clean the potatoes by scrubbing all the dirt as we are using potatoes with skin. New potatoes are used for this, quite obviously in India as both chane ka saag and naya alu comes in the same season. Cut the potatoes in thick wedges or cubes.

Heat the oil in a pan or pressure cooker pan (I used pressure cooker) and tip in the fenugreek seeds. Let them get just fragrant and pinkish brown, they turn bitter if they get burnt so take care of that. Add the potatoes immediately. Toss and stir fry for a minute on high flame.

Add the powdered spices , toss to coat well for about 30 seconds and then add the tomatoes and salt to taste. Toss and cook for another minute or so.

Add all the chane ka saag , add a cup of water and cover the lid. If cooking in a pan, you have to add some more water and let the curry simmer for about 20 minutes. In pressure cooker, just till the pressure whistle blows. Take off the burner and let it cool to open the lid.

Adjust seasoning and consistency and serve hot. I like it as a soup too. This curry tastes great with plain boiled rice and since I am not much a rice eater and still want a large quantity of this curry, this is my way of enjoying it. In a soup mug with loads of the chcikpea greens , few potato cubes and just 2 tbsp of boiled rice.

It can be served as a side dish with another sookhi subzi , raita, chutneys etc for company.

The greens in this curry have a wonderful flavor when combined with mustard. When eaten raw, the chane ka saag tastes quite savory and can be added to salads too, cooked in a curry like this, you will find yourself fishing for more chane ka saag in the curry. Tomatoes make it a little tart or you are supposed to use amchoor if the tomatoes are not tart. So this tartness and presence of mustard makes the greens taste slightly like a pickle. I just love it.

This curry is definitely a Bihari or Eastern UP specialty  but the influence is clearly from Bengal. The Bengalis make mustard based curries differently though. More pungent ans some sugar used to balance. This curry has the pungency balanced with tartness of tomatoes.

You can use raw Plantains, slit aubergines or flat beans instead of chane ka saag in this recipe. Or just make it with the potatoes. I am sure it will be liked by all, especially if you love mustard oil and mustard seeds seasoning.

I would love to hear your feedback on this.

sarson wala baingan fry | baingan ka tarua from Bihar

Baingan is eggplant or brinjal as it is commonly called in the north of India. I find this vegetable very very versatile, especially I love the way Italians treat this mushy lovely vegetable. I have tried brinjals with mozzarella and that's a combination so weird for us Indians and yet so yummy. But I am not talking about a cheesy baingan here.

It is all about a desi recipe today, which originates from Bihar or may be with some Bengali influence.  I learnt it from a family of laborers who used to stay in our compound when our home was being constructed. They used to call it baingan ka tarua and the same name was adopted by my family for the love of funny and unusual names.

A mustard based brinjal curry is called as Lafda in my family and I don't know why. You get the picture.

Actually I keep prying into the kitchens of just anybody to see how they cook. Even now I keep asking my maids how do they cook a particular thing and if they include a particular healthy ingredient or use a healthy oil peculiar to their area. What milk they consume and what kind of spices they use and all such small concerns that I have.

I spotted this recipe when the family of Muslim laborers from Bihar were living in the half constructed parts of our home when it was under construction in 1987-88. They would have a bath after the day's hard work, go to the market to bring vegetables and cook their food on leftover wood scrap from making the doors etc. Their meals used to be like a feast even if they had frugal resources. They would cook daal, subzi, raita and chutney everything with the rice and thick hand patted rotis.

They were the happiest when they cooked and always ate their food with happy sounds of laughter. 

Sometimes they would cook for all of us and their moti roti, mutton curry, kale chane ki ghugni and Baingan ka tarua became our favourite too. I remember how just two of those moti rotis were enough for the whole family of us 5 siblings and parents. Nobody could eat more than a quarter of that humongous smoky moti roti.

I still make that roti with baingan ka chokha and a thick peeli daal but it lacks the smoky flavor of fire wood.

It is a simple fry made with the round large variety of brinjals. Large brinjals are used because their pulp is softer and more flavorful for such a fry. Also because they make larger slices.

To choose the best round brinjals, look for light weight shiny skinned large brinjals. Light weight brinjals never have mature seeds and get buttery when cooked.

ingredients...
( serves two as a side )

 One large round shaped brinjal
black mustard seeds 1.5 tbsp
white rice 2 tsp
green chillies 3-4 nos.
garlic cloves 6-8 or more
turmeric powder 1 tsp
amchoor powder 2 tsp
salt to taste
mustard oil to shallow fry .... about 2 tbsp

Procedure...

Make a paste of all the ingredients except the brinjal and oil.

Slice the brinjal into 1.5 - 2 cm thick roundels.

Heat a skillet or flat base kadhai with a little mustard oil.

Dip the brinjal slices into the paste and shallow fry them both sides till brown and crisp on the surface. Keeping the flame low helps. The slices will remain mushy inside. 

Repeat with all the slices and serve hot as a side dish with any meal of the day. Scrape any masala sticking to the skillet as this crumb tastes yummy and you will end up picking every single bit of it...

The rice in the masala paste makes it crisp on the surface while it remains mushy inside, a very interesting texture when served hot.

A hot , tangy and slightly tingling taste of mustard makes it a very interesting dish, you will see it disappearing from the platter very fast, even baingan haters would take second helpings (if they are not allergic to brinjals and mustard oil like two of my extended family members) and you'd see yourself smiling.

They are great for kathi rolls and I do that very often with the leftovers, although leftovers is a rare incident with these. With very thin slices of onion it tastes yummy inside an instant kathi roll.

Enjoy...

drumstick curry in mustard gravy

What do you do when you have a glut of drumsticks? Make drumstick curry with mustard or any other spice blend. Or make drumstick flower pakodas.

The regulars at Banaras ka Khana know that I have a giant tree of drumsticks in my front garden, they are bursting with their best flavors right now and the sight of those branches heavy with drumsticks are forcing me to pluck them even if I can't consume them all. It gets distributed to neighbors.

Needless to say, I have been using the drumstick flowers and the pods of drumsticks for different types of curries considering it is so healthy. I see that this fruit (vegetable for us) is a favorite of parakeets. Large flocks of beautiful parrots come to the tree every evening, perch just above the fruit, bow down and peck their beaks into the fruit to eat the flesh. When the fruit will be mature and seeds will develop inside, the parrots beautifully slide down the drumsticks to pick the seeds from the splitting pods. I can spend hours watching them doing this. Parakeets use their feet just like we humans use our hands. Earlier I have seen parrots perching on mature sunflowers in my garden to pick the seeds to snack on. They know instinctively what is good for them indeed.

I use drumsticks in sambar mostly as everyone else. This mustard based drumstick curry is a traditional eastern UP preparation, served with plain boiled rice it becomes a satiating meal on its own. The kind of homely comfort meals we need when we come back from travels etc.

This particular sehjan ki subzi is my grandmother's recipe but it is made with minor variations all over eastern UP and Bihar as well.

The tender drumsticks are great for this curry as they cook quickly but the mature ones are considred better by many people as they pack in more flavour. It is fun to chew the mature thick pieces of drumstick which are quite fibrous and hard, the flavourful flesh lies in the middle of the stick which has to be either scraped out or you chew the stick to eat the flesh and then discard the fiber. This mustard gravy makes the drumstick curry differently flavorful I must add.

I do not peel the drumsticks if they are home grown or organic. Chopping them in about 2 inch long pieces is better for this curry. Making a bundle of the drumsticks is good if you want to retrieve them together in a curry or even in sambar.

ingredients....

a dozen soft baby drumsticks or 6-7 mature drumsticks
2-3 potatoes peeled and cut in wedges
3 large tomatoes cut lengthwise
everyday curry powder 2 tsp or 1/2 tsp each of coriander, cumin n pepper powders
turmeric powder 1 tsp
salt to taste
mustard oil 2 tsp
cumin seeds 1 tsp
coriander greens a handful

to be made into a fine paste
2 tbsp of yellow mustard seeds ( if using black mustard seeds, pass the paste through a sieve to remove the skin)
4-5 green chillies
6 garlic cloves

procedure...

Heat oil in a thick base kadai and pop in the cumin seeds and wait till they splutter..

Throw in the potato wedges, stir fry for a couple of minutes and then add the drumstick pieces too, stir fry lightly till the potatoes are slightly brown n the drumsticks are glossy.

Sprinkle the everyday curry powder, turmeric powder, salt and add the chopped tomatoes to it.

Stir fry the mixture for a couple of minutes and then pour the mustard paste, add water to make a curry of desired consistency, and let it boil covered for about 10 minutes, the tomatoes get mushy, the potatoes soft and the drumsticks yield to pressure.

Add the coriander greens, add some lemon juice if you like,cover and put off the flame and let it rest for a couple of minutes before serving.

Serve hot over a bed of hot fluffy rice....

fish in mustard gravy / sorshe macchh

Some people seriously believe that mustard does something special to the fish....though i am not amongst those as i like fish cooked in any way which retains the softness of fish and adds to it's original flavor....this version of mustard gravy or sauce is one of those which does complete justice to the fish....and served with boiled rice , it is one of the simplest and yummiest way to enjoy fish......

Mustard gravy is made in two ways ( or many?) , one is   the mustard masala gravy made the Uttar Pradesh way and the other is this one......made the way bengalis like it...i have learnt eating fish with my bengali friends and i like this sorshe macchh for it's delicate flavors along with a pungent mustard kick..........i have tweeked the original recipe to suit my taste a little bit by adding amchoor powder .......

Ingredients 
 fish cut in big chunks 400 gms.
yellow mustard seeds 1/4 cup
hot green chillies 3 nos.
garlic cloves ( small indian ones) 5-6 nos.
turmeri powder 1 tsp
salt to taste
everyday curry masala 1 tsp ( a mix of coriander , cumin , black pepper and bay leaves)
green coriander leaves.. a generous handful
mustard oil 1-2 tbsp
amchoor powder 1 -2 tsp 

procedure

Rub the fish pieces with salt and turmeric powder and keep aside till you prepare for the sauce....
it can be kept in the freezer in separate ziplock bags to be used whenever needed........

Grind the mustard seeds first dry in the mixie and then add some water to make a smooth paste.........

and pass this paste through a sieve and separate the husk.....

a creamy pale yellow liquid is obtained which is used to make the gravy.....and the husk is discarded....

 Tip: the husk can be used as a good body scrub mixed with some powder milk .
 Reserve the filtrate...........and add a bit of salt and turmeric powder to it...

Now heat oil in a deep kadai ....shallow fry the fish pieces into the oil turning it once so that both sides get lightly browned...take care not to break the pieces..

 Make space between the pieces and pop in the slit green chillies to fry ......then throw in the everyday curry powder and stir for a few seconds to cook the masala...

Pour the mustard filtrate into the kadai and rotate the pieces of fish lightly so that it cooks submerged in the sauce.......

Cover and let it boil for 2-3 minutes....open the lid and throw in the amchoor powder and lightly stir the gravy to mix, being careful not to break the fish pieces, sprinkle chopped green coriander leaves and put off the heat and cover the lid and let it stand for 2 minutes before serving.....it allows the coriander to release it's aroma into the gravy.....

 Serve hot with boiled rice and some salad on the side....

this is just awesome...enjoy......

sarson wali machhli | fish cooked in mustard seeds gravy...

 Sarson wali machhli or any mustard seeds gravy is something synonymous with Bengali food but it is an integral part of UP food too. There is difference between the way it is cooked in Bengal and in UP though, in a Bengali sorshe jhol the taste of the mustard is prominent and the curry is a bit milky in appearance  but in UP it becomes infused with garam masala and amchoor and the curry becomes brown n rich in color. I like it both ways. Both the curries are very distinctly different in the final bouquet of flavors.

Actually I started eating fish much later in life and learned to cook fish from Bengali friends of mine, and that was my first preference for a long time, but then I learned the way my mom and grandmother used to cook it too. I love this curry both ways now.

you need for this preparation I used a large fish, cooking process differs with the size of the fish. I used 4 large pieces (steaks) of fish weighing about 500 gm total. 

Any fish will be fine but Rohu or Catla (river fish) are more suitable for this curry. Rub some salt and turmeric powder to the pieces and let it rest for half an hour.

masalas needed are

mustard seeds 2 tbsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
curry powder 1 tbsp
garam masala powder 1 tsp
ginger garlic n green chilly paste 3 tbsp
paste of one big tomato
cumin seeds 1 tsp
salt to taste
and oil to fry
amchoor powder 1 tsp or more
green coriander leaves to garnish

to proceed

Heat oil in a shallow pan and fry the fish pieces both sides until golden brown and keep aside.

Make a fine paste of mustard seeds with some water using the chutney jar of your mixie. Add some water to the paste and decant it for a while, pour the paste in a cup discarding the skins (which settles down in the jar) alternatively the paste can be passed through a  sieve, keep aside...

Now empty the pan just keeping 2 tbsp of oil into it, throw in the cumin seeds and let it splutter, add the ginger garlic green chilly paste and fry till oil separates, throw in the powder masalas, fry for a minute and add the mustard paste.

Mix well and cook for a while, then add the tomato paste to the pan. Add salt and cook covered on medium heat till oil separates again.

Now add about 1.5 cup of water to it. More or less depending how thin or thick gravy you want. Let it boil and drop in the fried fish pieces.

Cook covered till oil separates and the fish is done. Throw in coriander leaves and put off the flame and keep the pan covered for 5 minuted so that the coriander leaves infuse their flavor into the curry.

Serve hot with boiled rice, with some salad n papad on the side....

Machhli chawal was a comfort food in our household but now I make it rarely as fish is not readily available in our locality. I miss the days when a machhli wali used to come to my doorstep when we were in Dhanbad, Arvind's previous posting. Small towns have their own charm and fresh produce is one of those lovely things that you get without any extra effort.

besan katli ki sabzi UP style

Besan ki katli is a chickpea flour savory cake that is shallow fried and then curried in a mustard gravy. This besan ki katli curry is often called dhoka subzi as it masquerades as a fish curry for vegetarians, there is a Bengali version of this curry called Dhoka'r dalna which mean the same. The besan or chickpea flour cakes resemble fish steaks in appearance and have a meaty texture, hence a special dish for vegetarians during festivals or family get-togethers. This is one of my favorite vegetarian recipes too. The pungency of mustard is balanced well by tomatoes and generous helping of coriander greens and the chickpeas cakes absorb every bit of it. 

The bengali version of this curry, dhokar dalna is quite a yummy curry with a slight sweetness to it, but this curry is a UP version, eastern UP to be precise. I feel the curry is influenced by Bihar and Bengal with minor changes, only had got a bit more pungent, hot and sour in this version. But a really good balance of flavors as besan ki katli soaks up flavours of mustard and chillies etc magically.

ingredients for the katli

besan 1 cup
water 1.5 cup
turmeric powder 1 tsp
salt to taste
cumin seeds 1 tsp
asafoetida a pinch
garam masala powder 1tsp
mustard oil 1 tbsp


procedure

Mix everything together to make a batter. Pour it all into a non stick pan or an iron kadhai and start cooking while stirring the mixture continuously. The mixture thickens and dries up within 7-8 minutes of cooking and forms a lump. This the an indication of it being ready, remove the pan from the stove.

Quickly grease a flat plate with oil and spread this mixture over the plate, patting it down using the spatula or a large flat knife. Spread it as thick as you like, make the edges smooth and let it cool down. Cut in diamond shapes when perfectly set. These diamond shaped chickpea flour cakes are called besan ki katli and will be shallow fried before currying.

Shallow fry the katlis in a flat base frying pan, browning them  lightly on both the sides. Reserve for currying or have them as a tea time snack if you wish.

ingredients for the gravy

yellow mustard seeds 2 tbsp
coriander powder 1 tsp
black pepper powder 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
green chilies 4 nos
red chilly powder 1 tsp
garlic 10 cloves
tomatoes 2 nos.
mustard oil 2 tbsp
cumin seeds 1 tsp 

fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp

a generous handful of coriander leaves to garnish

procedure

Soak the mustard seeds in a little water for 10 minutes and make a fine paste of it along with all the powdered spices and garlic in the mixer. Keep aside.

Now heat oil in a pan and throw in the cumin and fenugreek seeds, let them both crackle a bit before pouring in the mustard paste into it. Add salt and cook stirring it all for 3-4 minutes or till the spices become aromatic.

Add 1.5 cups of water, slip in the besan ki katlis and simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

Add slit green chilies and quartered tomatoes in the last 5 minutes of simmering. Finish with coriander greens and serve with plain boiled rice and raita, kachumber salad etc.

You can add brinjals or even shallow fried okra to the same curry to include some vegetables in it too.

You can make a curry of the besan ki katli in a tamatar pyaz ka masala as well. I normally add a few makhana or green peas whenever I make besan ki katli subzi in tamatar pyaz ka bhuna masala.

One made, the besan ki katli can be frozen in the steamed form and then can be thawed, shallow fried and curried whenever required. A healthy curry will be ready with minimal effort if you have bhuna masala in the freezer too.

These katlis can be added to kadhi as well. But they usually don't last long once you make them. Most of it gets over in snacking with chai.