MyMusingsSangSpeak - Pet Puja - Bajri Bhakri

 

Bajrichi Bhakri

Bajri/Bajra is pearl millet that is grown widely in Asia and Africa and consumed all across the world. It is free of gluten and rich in minerals, vitamins and essential nutrients, hence a very healthy food item. It is consumed in many forms like whole grain, flour and broken. It can be made into bhakri (type of Indian bread), roti, rotla, thepla, dalia, khichdi, kheer(porridge) etc. The broken bajra tastes very good with jaggery and ghee. 

Bajri/Bajra/Pearl Millet is very beneficial for lactating mothers. In Maharashtra, a Puja(Pachavi Puja) is performed on the fifth day of child's birth. For this Pachavi Puja, a special food item known as Bajriche Unde is prepared as offering to God. Bajriche Unde are steamed broken Bajri balls and they are eaten with jaggery and milk. I loved this delicacy during my childhood.

In India, Bajra is mainly grown in states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. Bajra is known to provide the essential heat energy to the body and is consumed mainly during winters. Bajrichi bhakri tastes good with almost any vegetable as well as non-vegetarian dishes too. It is quite easy to make Bajri Bhakri, the dough can be flattened with hands or can be rolled out too with the help of rolling pin.

Bajra flour should be ground freshly and consumed soon as it turns bitter if it is stored for long. You may add a bit of salt to the flour while storing to maintain its freshness.

For Bhakri, ingredients are bajra flour and water. Knead into a smooth dough. Take a small portion, about a small fistful sized portion and make it into a ball. Line the plate with flour and start patting the portion with hand. Once it is flattened reasonably well, pick and place on the heated tawa, the flour side facing upwards. Apply little water to this surface and turn once the water dries up slightly. Cook for 1-2 minutes and then roast on the open flame. In earlier days, this process was done on mud/iron tawa on open wood fire on a mud stove and the taste used to be awesome.

You can make Bajrichi Bhakri by rolling out on flat surface with a rolling pin. Bajri Bhakri tastes good when served hot and topped  with ghee.

MyMusingsSangSpeak - Pet Puja - Nachani Bhakri

 

Nachani Bhakri

Nachani/Nagali/ Ragi is known as finger millet in English and is a widely grown cereal in Asia and Africa. It is highly nutritious and excellent source of calcium and phosphorus. It has many other necessary minerals and phytochemicals too. Nachani is used in different forms like whole grain, flour, puffs etc. It can be made into bhakri(type of Indian bread), roti, mudde, kheer, laddoos, papads, dosas, kadhi etc. Children are given porridge of ragi flour for good growth of bones.

As the entire world is looking for gluten free diet to combat many illnesses, millets are in fashion because they are gluten free and excellent source of iron, calcium, phosphorus and other useful minerals and nutrients. Nachani has become a superfood lately with diabetics including it in their diets as diabetic food to keep sugar levels under control.

Nachani/Ragi/Nagali acts as a body coolant and it is best to consume it during summer season.

Nachani Bhakri is a bread made of flour and can be made in two ways, either it can be patted in a plate or made by patting in hands or it can be rolled out. Rolling gets slightly difficult and one can make it easier by adding little wheat flour to it. I am showing both methods in the pictures below. I have not used any wheat flour.

Ingredients for Nachani bhakri are nachani flour and water. Knead into a smooth dough. Take a small portion, about a small fistful sized portion and make it into a ball. Line the plate with flour and start patting the portion with hand. Once it is flattened reasonably well, pick and place on the heated tawa, the flour side facing upwards. Apply little water to this surface and turn once the water dries up slightly. Cook for 1-2 minutes and then roast on the open flame. In earlier days, this process was done on open wood fire on a mud stove and the taste used to be awesome.

Nachani Bhakri will taste good with almost any vegetable. It tastes good with non-vegetarian dishes as well. Some eat it with plain ghee too. If you are storing the cooked Nachani Bhakri, then while serving you will need to reheat or steam it.

MyMusingsSangSpeak - Pet Puja -Laal Bhoplyache Saar(Red Pumpkin Soup, Indian style)

Laal Bhoplyache Saar(Red Pumpkin Soup, Indian style)

Laal Bhopala (Red Pumpkin) is a tasty and highly nutritious vegetable and can be used in many recipes as a cooked vegetable and also in salads, soups and desserts. This vegetable is universally popular and is of great importance in Western culture in the Halloween festival. For us Maharashtrians, Laal Bhopala is associated with the childhood story of  "Chal Re Bhoplya Tunuk Tunuk". I love bhoplyachi ghari, a fried flattened puri of red pumpkin, jaggery and wheat flour.

I am sharing Indian style red pumpkin soup recipe which is very easy to prepare and tastes good. I had tasted it at my Aunt’s place about 6 years ago and had liked it for its delicate flavours.

 

Ingredients

Red Pumpkin – 250 gms

Water – Approx. 1 litre or more

Oil – 1 tablespoon

Cumin powder - ½ teaspoon

Coriander powder - ½ teaspoon

Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon

Red Chilli powder – ½ teaspoon

Salt – As per taste

Curry Leaves – 10-12 nos

Mustard seeds – ½ teaspoon

Tamarind pulp – 1 teaspoon

 

Method

Remove pumpkin skin and cut it into cubes. Add the pumpkin pieces with some water in an utensil and pressure cook with 2 whistles. Remove, cool and mash well and sieve through a mesh to get pulp. Add about a litre of water to the pumpkin pulp. You can make the consistency of your choice. Add salt, cumin, coriander, turmeric, red chilli powder and tamarind pulp to the pumpkin soup and mix well. Heat oil for tempering, add mustard seeds and curry leaves, allow to crackle and add this to the soup. Boil the soup well and serve with rice or as an accompaniment to the meal.

 

MyMusingsSangSpeak - Pet Puja - Laal Bhoplyachya Paananchi Bhaji (Red Pumpkin Leaves Subji)

 Laal Bhoplyachya Paananchi Bhaji (Red Pumpkin Leaves Subji)

This leafy vegetable of red pumpkin leaves is most tasty. During my childhood, nearly all households grew their vegetables in their backyard and red pumpkin was a commonly grown houseplant. It is a no fuss, no maintenance plant which grows very easily. The famous childhood story of "Chal Re Bhoplya Tunuk Tunuk" stays with us forever. Its spiny leaves can be cooked into a very nice dish. The leaves are accompanied with daal(pulse) of your choice, either masoor, moong, chana, arhar and it is an easy recipe to prepare. I loved this dish a lot in my childhood and would always look out for the leaves to make it.

As the leaves are readily not available much nowadays, I grew my own pumpkin plant and sourced the leaves. Do try out this easy recipe if you have access to these leaves.

Ingredients

Red Pumpkin Leaves – 30- 40 approx

Masoor Daal(Red Lentil) – ½ cup

Green Chillies – 2 nos

Garlic – 10-12 cloves

Oil – 1½ tablespoon

Salt - As per taste

Water – As per requirement

 

Method

Wash the leaves well and chop finely. Soak daal for about an hour or so. Heat oil in a pan and add crushed green chillies and garlic, fry for a minute and add the chopped leaves and soaked daal. Stir well and add salt. Add little water for the daal to cook and cover for about 4-5 minutes. Check if the daal is cooked and remove from fire. Serve with chapati or jowar roti.

MyMusingsSangSpeak - Tiger Seen Unseen

Tiger Seen Unseen

At the museum in Gavi National Park, the English is wrong, but, the sentiment is right.

Oh, to see a tiger in the wild, what a great experience! India is the tiger capital of the world with such a successful tiger conservation programme that people all over from the world come here to get a glimpse of this majestic cat in the jungle.  All the national parks across the length and breadth of the country offer a feline bonanza to wildlife lovers. Some people get lucky with a real good sighting and some like me keep waiting and wanting to get fortunate enough to see “The Tiger”.

Near Bor Dam, Nagpur

This is about my experiences to get that much sought-after sighting of the tiger. Its been 10 years since 2010 that I started visiting the various national parks including Kaziranga National Park, Pench National Park (MP side), Pench National Park (Maharashtra side), Gavi National Park and Ranthambore National Park. It is an exhilarating experience to visit a national park, almost a magical one. You get lost in the greenery and wilderness and literally forget the daily grind and drudgery of modern city life. The terrains are different in nearly all the national parks and hence, it is interesting to visit them and find that every experience is altogether new and enriching one.

Elephant grass, marshes and the rhino at Kaziranga

When I had visited Kaziranga in 2010, it was winter time and could see the tame as well as wild elephants, wild rhinoceros, water buffaloes, deer and monkeys along with many birds. The driver of our gypsy told us that tiger census is on and sightings are common but, it was sheer hard luck for us that we did not spot any tiger. It was a good experience to have spotted the other big mammals like the Rhino though. The landscape is of grasslands opening into thick jungles, furthermore opening into alternating marshlands. This was an unplanned visit and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Pugmarks at Pench National Park

Fast forward to year 2013 and we were posted at Nagpur, the tiger hub with numerous national parks in the vicinity. We could plan a visit to Pench National Park, the legendary Rudyard Kipling and Mowgli territory and drove in our own vehicle to stay in a lovely resort, Kipling’s Court of the MP Tourism. The stay was a comfortable one in cosy surroundings and we had opted for the early morning safari. We were ill prepared as regards the clothing and weather; it was terribly cold and we carried no jackets. The safari was a good experience, we saw herds of deer, some wild boars, a lone fox, langurs, peacocks, owls and pied hornbills and also the pugmarks of the elusive one. After hearing the alarm calls of peacocks and langurs, we waited for about 15 minutes as per the guide’s instructions to sight the tiger, but, no luck.  We missed the big cat here, but, overall, it was an enthralling experience. At the resort, they played a film for us, that of the successful tiger conservation program at Pench. This particular film showed the spy cameras carried by the elephants on their trunks and also the cameras fitted and placed at different spots frequented by the tigers. These films are always shown on Discovery and National Geographic and other such wildlife channels. We also enjoyed a super star gazing session at the resort, something that we always miss in the busy city life due to reasons like light pollution and so on.

That Tiger at Pench in the extreme right corner in the grass

Come 2016 and I had one more chance to visit Pench, this time from the Maharashtra side. We were in Pench for a destination wedding and had one morning free and this time we went well prepared with proper warm clothing as it was peak winters. It was a rainy morning and the gypsies are always open, so the seats were already damp, but, that did not dampen our spirits. We were upbeat about sighting the tiger. My friend from USA was with us and I hoped and prayed that we would sight the tiger. Luckily, the rain had stopped by the time we reached the entry gate. We told our driver that he must take us to the right place to sight the tiger. In reality, there is hardly any right place and time.

We had one tribal girl in our vehicle who was trained to be a guide, this is an initiative by the state government to provide employment to the tribals in the vicinity of the national parks. The girl was a novice, studying in Class 10 and very shy, we struck conversation with her to make her as comfortable as possible. Our driver drove us to a water hole and we waited here for about 25 minutes for the tiger to come. It was foggy and hazy. There was one canter ahead of us which also waited. This wait is really fraught with unspoken excitement, all speaking in hush hush tones, praying for the tiger to show up. Suddenly, there was commotion and one gypsy behind us turned and bolted in the opposite direction as tiger had been sighted about 500 metres away. Our driver also turned and sped in that direction. The tiger was walking in the grass thicket about 400 m away and felt like a ghost almost. I tried to adjust my camera and get a shot and hardly got anything in all the speed and commotion. So, that was my first tiger sighting finally. We all were so happy to at least see the tiger, even though it seemed like a figment of imagination.

Indian Gaur at Gavi National Park

In 2017 winter, I had a chance to visit the Gavi National Park, a dreamland like place. It is next to River Gavi and the dam. It has a rainforest, lots of mountains, elevations and is home to animals like wild elephants, Gaur, tiger, deer, wild boars, lion tailed macaques and so on. On every nook and turn, we looked for wild elephants but they eluded us. During the safari, we could sight Gaur, Sambar Deer, spotted deer, wild boars, lion tailed macaques but no tiger and elephants. Back at the Gavi Eco Resort, we were shown a film of tiger sighting just 2 days ago. Our guide in Gavi, Mr Palnisamy from the local tribal community was a knowledgeable and experienced person and kept us well informed about life in the national park.

The Sleeping Tiger at Ranthambore

The latest tiger experience for me was just about a month ago in Jan 2020 in the most enchanted forest of India, that of Ranthambore National Park. We took 2 safaris here and our new year began on a good note with tiger sighting on 1^st Jan 2020. It was like a touch and go situation. We took an afternoon safari just after arriving in Ranthambore on the same day. Our guide here was a resourceful fellow and my daughter requested earnestly to him to show us the tiger. When we started our safari, we literally felt that it is not happening actually, as the police had closed the road to the entry gate and large crowds of people were thronging all roads leading to that particular entry gate as it was new year and all wanted blessings from the Trinetra Ganesh, popular deity of Ranthambore.

We already lost 30 -40 minutes there. Finally, the entry and our guide told us that he will try his best to show us the tiger, he was not going to wait much enroute to see the small game animals. We sped along the route and saw many Sambar deer, herds of spotted deer, crocodiles, wild boars and finally reached the probable place of sighting. Around 30-40 vehicles had gathered at one spot and here began the wait. This waiting really tests one’s patience.  The tiger was sleeping in the grass thicket about 100 m away but we could hardly see it from where we waited. We waited for nearly 45 minutes till we could reach a point from where we could actually see the sleeping tiger, only for about a minute or so. My photographic capabilities hardly worked wonders here with an old camera. 

Here, however, we could see the many facets of human nature. The VIPs who stood with their vehicle in the same spot for about 40 minutes in one place so that they could get a good look at the sleeping tiger, the rest 40 vehicles could wait forever. Some people who kept making loud noises and ruckus despite the guide’s instructions not to do so.  Some guides who do not follow the rules and took the vehicle off track to get a good view. Some guides like ours who follow all the rules to the T.

The next day’s morning safari did not yield much results as we did not sight many animals, but the terrain was so enchanting that nothing else mattered. Ranthambore is fresh in my mind and all the guides told us to visit in summers when the sightings are by far common as the forests are dry and animals are easily visible near the water holes. So, I await my turn to visit the national parks during summer season and sight the tiger more clearly.

MyMusingsSangSpeak- Pet Puja- Anda Bhurji/Bhujia

Anda Bhurji/Bhujia (Egg Scramble, Indian Style)

Anda Bhurji/Bhujia is most commonplace Indian recipe that is utmost popular amongst the masses. Bhurji means scramble. In Marathi, it is called Andyachi Bhagar or Andyacha Gabra. It is the easiest to prepare and made in different ways in different households with some minor variations of ingredients. Every household has its unique making style and taste of Anda Bhurji. It is usually made as a fatatfat(quick) or jhatpat dish when one is in a hurry. The main ingredients that go in the making of this yummy recipe are eggs, oil, onions, tomatoes, fresh coriander, chilly and turmeric powders and salt. Some may like green chillies in it.

My mother never added tomatoes, but I do add. I make Anda Bhurji with Kanda Lasun Masala and it gives an awesome flavour to it.

 

Ingredients

Eggs – 6 nos

Oil – 2-3 tablespoons

Onions, medium sized – 2 nos

Tomatoes – 1 large

Fresh coriander – 5-6 sprigs

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

Kanda Lasun Masala – 1 teaspoon

Salt – As per taste

Green chillies – 1-2, optional

Method

Chop onions, tomatoes and coriander leaves finely and set aside. Heat oil in a kadahi(pan) and add chopped onions. Fry the onions lightly so as to caramelise them to a golden-brown colour. Add tomatoes and stir for abut minutes. Add turmeric powder, kanda lasun masala and salt and give a good stir. Add eggs to this mixture and stir well for about 5-6 minutes till the eggs cook. Finally, add the chopped corianders and serve hot with roti, chapati or bread as per your liking.

Note -Preparation time is about15 minutes and this quantity is enough for 3 persons. I make many variations of Anda Bhurji with different vegetables like cabbage, French beans, green capsicum, either separately or mixed together and add black pepper powder to give a different taste. The vegetarian option of Anda Bhurji is Paneer (Cottage Cheese) Bhurji.

MyMusingsSangSpeak- Pet Puja- Rice Dhokla

Rice Dhokla

Rice Dhokla is much like the famous idli, except that curd is used here for fermentation. It has a distinct, slightly sour flavour because of the curd. I like this dhokla better than the besan (gram flour) dhokla. This dhokla is available at many outlets in Pune. I tried making it at home after reading it on the internet only recently and it turned out really yummy. You may use whole rice or idli rawa, whichever is readily available for this recipe.

Ingredients

Rice/Idli Rawa – 2 cups

Urad Daal (Split Black Gram without skin) – ¼ cup

Tuvar/Arhar Daal (Split Pigeon Peas) – 1 teaspoon

Chana Daal (Bengal Gram) – 1 teaspoon

Moong Daal (Green Gram split without skin) – 1 taespoon

Fenugreek seeds – ½ teaspoon

Water – As per requirement

Curds – 1 big cup

Salt – As per requirement

Soda Bi Carb – ½ teaspoon

Green Chillies – 2 nos

Ginger – 1inch piece

Oil – 2 tablespoons

Sesame seeds – 2 tablespoons

Mustard seeds – 1½ teaspoons

Asafoetida – A small pinch

Red chilly powder – ¼ teaspoon

Method

Wash and soak rice/idli rawa in water for 3 hours. Wash and soak all the daals together for 3 hours. After 3 hours, drain water from soaked rice and daals. Grind the soaked daals along with ginger and green chillies to a coarse paste, add curds if required and set aside. Grind the soaked rice/ idli rawa also coarsely with curds and add to the daal mixture. Mix well and set aside for fermentation for about 6-7 hours.

For cooking rice dhokla, take a flat-bottomed vessel and grease with oil. Add salt and soda bi carb to the rice dhokla mixture and mix well for about 2-3 minutes. Transfer the mixture to the greased vessel and steam cook for about 12-15 minutes in a pressure cooker without the whistle.

For tempering, heat oil, and add asafoetida and mustard seeds, once the mustard seeds splutter, add sesame seeds and remove from fire. Pour this on the cooked rice dhokla. Sprinkle red chilly powder on top. Rice Dhokla is ready to be served. Serve rice dhokla with chutney of your choice.
I made chutney with fresh cocnut, roasted groundnuts and roasted, puffed chutney daal.

Note- Preparation time is about 10 hours and cooking time is 25-30 minutes.