Pitod/Patod ka Saag

I first ate this Rajasthani specialty at a restaurant called Chokki dhani near Jaipur. I guess because Rajasthan is a desert region it has has many sabzis that are made with staples, the other example being Gatte ki sabji made from besan noodles. Pitod or Patod ka Saag has diamond- shaped pieces made of besan and spices in a spiced yoghurt sauce. Serve with hot rotis or puris. This recipe is from the book Spice box by Manju Shivraj Singh.

Ingredients:
Diamonds:
1 cup water
salt to taste
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 cups chickpea flour / besan / patod

Sauce:
2 Tbl ghee or oil
2-3 dried red chilies, broken into pieces
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
3 med onions, minced
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sliced ginger root
1/2 cup yogurt
salt to taste
1 green chili, seeded and chopped, for garnish
coriander leaves, chopped, for garnish


For the diamonds:
Bring water to a boil. Add salt, cayenne, cumin and chickpea flour. Whisk
these into the water carefully. Cook untill the mixture thickens.
Turn out on a greased plate and flatten with a spatula. When it cools, cut
it into diamond shapes.

This recipe serves 8, You can safely halve the recipe like I did. Even at half, the 1 cup of chickpea flour / besan makes a lot of diamonds. The 1 cup of chickpea took about 1 cup of water. So i think the water proportion in Manju Shivraj Singhs recipe isnt quite right. The besan cooks fairly fast, think five minutes for the total. Of course use a greased thali to pour out the cooked besan. Dont worry if the edges of your cooked besan on the thali are a little raggged. Of course , season the besan well.

For the sauce:
In a heavy saucepan heat oil or ghee. Add red chilies, fenugreek, mustard
seeds, onions and garlic. When browned, add turmeric and sliced ginger, yogurt
and salt to taste. Cook. When it thickens a bit, about 10 min later, add the
chickpea diamonds and simmer for 2-3 min. Garnish with chopped green chilies
and coriander.

Donot dump all the spices in. Do let the mustard pop before you add the cumin and the other ingredients. Actually the Besan / chickpea flour diamonds expand quite a bit in the gravy. So when you add water to your curry remember to take care of that. The second thing is, the chopped onions detract from the smooth taste of the gravy/ curry. Next time i will saute the onions in a little oil and then puree them before adding it to the gravy.

I would also highly recommend topping the sabji with a dollop of ghee before serving. Makes a world of difference.

Serves: 8



THE VERDICT:
With a little bit of finetuning, this recipe is very very delicious. When you are flummoxed by the utter lack of vegetables in your referigerator , like I was, this is a go to recipe. Everybody always has besan right?

Tastes very good with rice too, with a dollop of ghee of course!

Stuffed Potato :: Bharwa Aloo

From: The spice Box: Vegetarian Indian Cookbook
by Manju Shivraj Singh


My submission for DK's The Potato Fe(a)st

Ingredients
6 medium raw potatoes peeled
8 tbsp oil, divided
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 medium onions, ground
6 cloves garlic, ground
1 tsp ground ginger root
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cayene pepper
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup yoghurt
salt to taste
1 tbsp raisins
1/2 tsp cloves
a few mint leaves or coriander leaves for garnish


Cut off the top quarter of the potatoes. Keep the tops. Carefully scoop out the center of each potato, using a knife. Save the pulp. Heat 2 tbsp of oil. Add cumin, onions and garlic. Cook till onions are golden.

Add the spices, tomatoes, yoghurt, salt. Cook. When the tomatoes are tender add the raisins and potato pulp. Cook 10-15 minutes more.

Stuff the spice mixture inside the potatoes and cover with the tops of the potatoes. Secure with a toothpick on each potato. Set aside any extra spice mixture.

Heat the remaining 6 tbsp of l and add cloves. Fry 1-2 minutes. Add the potatoes, fry and turn them till they are light brown. Cover with a tight lid and cook until they are tender.
Pour the remaining spice mixture over the potatoes. Garnish with mint or coriander.

Cooks notes: My potatoes did not get as tender just by covering with a tight lid, I added the remaining spice mixture and maybe around 1/2 cup of water to make sure the potatoes ended up soft enough.

Very yummy recipe though.The Raisins really provide a nice contrast to the heavy maasala. Serve with Puris.