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NASEEMA BAI

PANJO

CUTCHI RASODO

I am from Kochi and take particular pride and interest in the Cutchi culinary as practiced in Kochi and demonstrated by my grand mother Ammi Bai (Moonnam Maliga). Here are just a few of them - the Roat, Gudpapdi, Nankhatai and Goond. In those days we used to knead the sooji and atta by hand. Now we can use the blender or a kneader machine. The roasting of Roat and Nankhatai was done in a local bakery tandoor. Today we use baking ovens and microwaves. But the texture and taste certainly do not match the hand made stuff.  Choose your own way. However, with the mass production in mechanised bakeries tandoor is also not popular or easily accessible.

Roat

 

What you need

Sooji/ Rava - 4 cups

Atta (Wheat Flour) - 2 cups
Baking Powder - 2 tsp
Sugar - 2 to 2 1/2 cups

depending on the sweetness

preferred.
Ghee - 0.5 kg
Eggs - 2 or preferably 3 eggwhites
Milk Powder - 1/2 cup (optional)
Almonds, pistachios, cashew nuts  - 100 gm (any item alone or in combination of two or three). Ground nuts can be a substitute. Do not mix with other nuts. Use it alone.
Dabor's Rose Water - 2-3 teapoons for fragrance.
Saffron - a big pinch, optional.
Milk - 1/2 cup. One cup if milk powder is not used. The roat will be soft if milk is used instead of milk powder. Also it will not keep for long.
Cardamom - 15. 

Khaskas - 0ne tablespoon

kalonji seeds - 0ne teaspoon

Two flat bottom cake trays, rectangular or circular.

 

Preparation:

  • In certain places you may be able to buy powdered sugar. Otherwise powder the sugar. My grand mother used a mortar and pistle to grind the sugar. 

  • Preheat the oven to 160-170 degrees C.

  • Grease the baking tins with a little ghee 

  • Remove cardamom seeds from the pod and grind them to powder.

  • Slice nuts into thin shavings or small bits

  • If milk powder is not used then boil the milk until the quantity is reduced to about half, constantly removing the malai, cream. Let it cool down to room temperature.

 

The Process

  1. Mix ghee, sugar and eggs and knead them together with the palm pressing hard against the vessel until they become a smooth paste. Alternatively beat them with an electric beater in two or three batches for about 2 to 3 minutes each.

  2. Add all other ingredients except the nuts and khaskas. Mix well and knead lightly until a soft dough is formed.

  3. Spread the mixture in the baking tins in a layer half to one inch thick. Thinner layer will be more crispy than the thicker one. Wet the hand in water and slightly press down the dough so that the thickness throughout is uniform. Smoothen with the back of a spoon.

  4. Spread the nuts, kalonji and khaskas over the dough and press the nut pieces down with the back of a spoon so that they are submerged in the dough. Don't cover them with the dough. Alternatively the nuts can be mixed with the dough while kneading. There will be slight difference in taste if the nuts are exposed and get roasted while baking.

  5. Bake for about 20 minutes. Now the product will be soft. Cut it with a sharp knife to square, oblong or diamond shape as desired. If the dough shows a tendency to break hold it pressed slightly with the back of a spoon while applying the knife. Slightly wetting the knife can also avoid breaking.

  6. Put back the tray into the oven and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes depending on the thickness of the roat you are making. Check after 15 to 20 minutes or when slight aroma comes out. 

  7. Remove from the oven as soon as the roat is golden brown. Do not over heat it; otherwise it would be charred and become hard.

  8. Bake only one tray at a time, unless the oven is big enough to hold both trays. Leave at least two inches space between trays for better convection of heat. You can prepare the second tray while the first is baking.

  9. Remove and let it cool naturally. Separate the pieces Serve them warm. Children will like it. For storage they should be cooled well and kept in airtight tins or bottles.

Nan Khatai

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making Nan Khatai is a simple process but it is strainful if made by hand as we used to do before the advent of mixing and blending machines. It is a mixture of flour, sugar and ghee in the proportion of 2:1:1. A few cardamoms would add flavour. My grand mother used to mix them together in a flat pan pressing the mixture with her palm and the bottom end of the thumb hard against the pan. It used to take about half an hour's effort to obtain a thick dough of good consistency. Now with a blender it is much easy and consistency more smooth.

 

What you need: 

Wheat flower             250 gm, seived

Normal sugar            125 - 150 depending on                                         the sweetness desired

Ghee                         125 gm. or 100 gm Dalda                                   + ghee 50 gm  

Cardamoms              Ground seeds of 10 pods

 

A baking tray lihtly buttered.

 

The Process

  • Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C

  • Grind the sugar and cardamom seeds separately and mix them well in a grinder blender.

  • Melt the ghee to a liquid state. 

  • Beat the ghee while still warm with the sugar till smooth.

  • Add flour and mix well, preferably in a dough maker, till a soft dough is formed.

  • Place the butter paper in the tray 

  • Make 25 to 30 small balls. In your palm  press the balls slightly to form a flat seating and place them on the buttered tray.

  • With a knife cut across the crest of the balls to make an 'x' mark in order to avoid cracks during baking. 

  • Bake for about 20 minutes till lightly brown. If you need it more brownish and crispy keep the oven door shut for another 3 to 5 minutes after killing the flame.

  • Remove and cool the tray as a whole.

  • Serve with tea or coffee while still slightly warm.

  • To store, keep in an air tight tin or plastic container.after the stuff comes to room temperature.

There are dozens of varieties of nankhatai made by various people, particularly the Hindu Gujarati women for their festivals like Diwali etc. Some add besan and sooji. The one given here is what the Cutchi Memons used to make traditionally. The method still survives in the south, not much even in Cutch. One local variation is made at Alappuzha with the flour roasted to a light brown-ish colour and with an increased proportion of ghee. It is very crispy and brownish. Adding a table spoon of sooji adds to crispiness.

 

If you are using a micro wave oven, then preheat it for 10 to 15 minutes keeping the door shut and the oven in convection mode, without keeping anything inside, maintaining the temperature at the level mentioned in the recipe. However, note that various oven types have different heat convection. So take the timings here only as a guide, watch out for the exact time by observat-ion. One important indication comes through an aromatic smell when the roasting is reaching a scarring stage.

Gud Papdi

It is an easy to make sweet dish, though it needs a bit of care in handling gud (Jaggery). In Cutch it is made of wheat flower. Jaggery comes in different shades from yellowish brown to dark brown. My grand mother used to make gudpapdi with rice and brown jagery. Raw rice is fried in a dry kanayo (Kadai) till golden brown and crispy. Grind it to a course meal. Jaggery should be grated or powder-ed without any lump or pieces in it. This is important for getting the proper and uniform consistency for the syrup.

 

What You Need

Wheat or rice flour           1 cup

Grated Jaggery                1 cup

Ghee                                1/2 cup

 

The Process

  • Grease a thali or baking tin and keep it aside.

  • In a deep frying pan heat the ghee until it melts.

  • Add wheat flour and fry it on medium flame until it becomes golden brown constantly stirring with a spatula to avoid charring. If you are using rice flour, heat only to make the meal warm taking care not to scorch it.

  • When you get a sweet aroma of the fried meal / flour lower the flame and add the grated jaggery and mix well.

  • Switch off the flame and keep stirring until the jaggery melts completely ensuring that it does not solidify. It should melt with the heat from the flour; if overheated it will become hard and rubbery.

  • As soon as the melting is complete transfer the contents to the greased thali and quickly spread it evenly with the back of a spatula, before it starts cooling; otherwise you may not be able to spread it.

  • Optionally, at his stag, you can garnish it with sliced almonds, cashewnuts, pistachio etc. if you like. Press down the nuts slightly.

  • Cut into shapes you like and leave it to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.

Store in air tight containers. It keeps fine for a week but fungus or mold develops on longer storage.

Roat and Nankhatai are snacks that go well with tea. In all functions where tea was being served, nankhatai was a traditionally compulsory item. "Chai-Nanghatai" was the constant menu.

 

Gud papdi had been  and continues to be a kids' favourite and adults behave like kids when it comes to Gud Papdi.

 

Goond has been recognized as a rejuvnating tonic. The plain variety is children's favourite. The medicinal one had been a must for post delivery care in every Cutchi memon household, though it has lost its popularity due to difficulty in getting quality goond and lack of skill in making it. 

Goond ja Laddu

Goond, the Arabic Gum, has a medicinal value and is used in winter as it also helps warm up the body. It is also a rejuvenating tonic for women after delivery It is administered in the form of a mixture or as laddus. The ingredients are also modified to suit the end use, the common base being gond.

 

What you need

Cleaned and sliced goond             100 gm

Wheat flour or sooji                        200 gm

Ghee                                              300 gm

Sugar                                             350 gm

Shelled pumpkin seeds                   0ne tbspoon

or Chebbad seeds or Charoli

Blanched and flaked Almonds        40-50 pcs

Cardamom                                      10 pods

Water                                              3/4 cup

 

Add for special preparation as post delivery tonic:

jati patri (Nutmeg arillus)                    5 gm

Kalonji (Black seeds)                       20 gm

Sonf (Caraway seeds)                     20 gm

Methi (Fenugreek)                           20 gm  

Laung (Cloves)                                10

Sond (Dry ginger) powder                10 gm

Tippali, powder                                   5 gm

Val Milagu, powder                             5 gm

black pepper powder                          5 gm

Asafoetida                                      a pinch

 

The Process

  • Ensure that goond is broken into small pieces in order to facilitate complete frying inside and outside.

  • Heat ghee to a boiling point, on medium flame

  • Lower the flame and fry the goond slices little by little. Keeping the flame low will ensure that the gond pieces blow into thin bubbles and get cooked outside as well as inside. Otherwise outside will be scorched while inside will remain raw and hard. Remove the fried gond pieces with a perforated spatula and keep in a metal plate or tray.

  • Fry pumpkin seeds, almonds, jati patri, kalonji, caraway seeds and fenugreek separately in the remaining ghee and keep them aside.

  • Fry the wheat flour or sooji in the rest of the ghee until slightly brown.

  • Pulverise the fried goond in the plate moving and pressing with a rolling pin.

  • In a kadai mix the sugar with 3/4 th of a cup of water and bring to boil. Keep boiling for 3 to 4 minutes. Check the syrup for a thick thready consistency and close the flame.

  • Add all the other ingredients and mix them together

  • It is optional to keep the mixture loose.

  • If desired to make into balls, take small portions in hand while still warm and roll into small balls (Laddus) and stack them on a plate. The laddus are fragile.

  • Store the prepared material in air tight tin or bottle.

 

 

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