Thechi mooli / Kumaoni radish raita

Thechi, in Kumaon means bruised or battered. This dish is made by bruising the radish, leaving it for some time with salt and then adding spices and seasonings. I remember my childhood days when it was almost a routine to sit out in the sun during winters and prepare this dish. The preparation itself used to be so tempting with scraping the radish in a steel thaali, bruising it on a sill, salting it and meanwhile peeling the lemon, taking out the filaments. It used to be a joint activity with everyone gossiping and sometimes popping a segment of lemon in mouth in between :)

Ingredients:
2 radish, washed and peeled
3 tbsp bhaanga seeds or sesame seeds
1 tbsp coriander and green chilli paste
1 tsp roasted cumin seed powder
lime wedges, only filaments needed
2 cups yogurt
sugar to taste
salt

Method:
Wash, peel radish.

Cut into long strips. This makes thrashing easier.

Cut them further into pieces.

A grinding stone (सिल बट्टा ) gives the best result. The long strips are placed on the stone and the radish are thrashed thus bruising them.
I don't have that grinding stone so used my pestle over a chopping board.

Take care of your fingers :(

Transfer the bruised radish to a bowl. Add salt liberally to the bowl. Mix properly.
Leave it for 10 to 15 minutes.
The purpose behind adding salt is to remove the juices from radish. Bruising breaks open the cell walls and is more effective than grating and salting them.

Squeeze to remove the juices. Throw the juice away, you wouldn't need it.

bhaanga

The above seeds are called bhaanga (भांगा) and impart a very good flavor to this dish. Bhaanga are the seeds of Cannabis. The seeds though come from the same plant have no psychoactive constituent and are completely safe to eat.
The roasted seeds have antiflatulence property and are added to vegetables which create flatulence as cabbage, pumpkin, radish. It is also made into a spicy chutney. The seeds are roasted and made into a powder. Since I did not have bhaanga seeds, I have substituted them with sesame seeds.
I will say that using sesame seeds in no way comparable to  bhaanga seeds but impart some nutty flavor.

In the hills, huge limes called jamir are used. But, in absence of those, one is contented using whatever lemon variety is available.

Put sesame seeds in a pan and roast on medium flame.

Roast seeds till light brown. Cool and grind into a powder.

In a bowl, add squeezed radish pieces, sesame seed powder, green chilli and coriander paste, lemon filaments, roasted cumin seed powder. Add salt according to taste.

Add curd, mix. I like a blend of flavors so add sugar to balance the sourness. Amount of sugar depends on your taste.
Stir, check seasonings.

Lastly, add chopped corinader leaves and green chillies.
Enjoy the sweet and sour lip smacking raita !

Kaale Kauwa or Ghughutia, Uttarakhand

As a child, I would wait for this day to take the garland of shakarpaare to school. Have never lived in Kumaon but my family made a conscious effort that we stay in contact with those rituals at least and this is something which I have passed on to my children.

The name of the festival Kaale Kauwa (काले कौवा) black crow sounds very strange. Let me give a brief background about the significance of this festival.

During the middle of January, on 14th to be precise, the sun makes its transition from Sagittarius to Capricorn. It now travels in the north direction and formally marks the arrival of spring. It is celebrated in  most South Asian countries.

Cambodia calls it Moha Sangkaran, Thailand Songkran but they celebrate it on 13th April, Sri Lanka Pongal, Nepal Maghe Sankranti. This means the winter is ending. Days will be becoming longer as well.

In India, it is celebrated and addressed in many different way. Its is called Uttarayan in Gujarat, Makar Sankranti in most states, Pongal in Tamil Nadu. Punjab celebrates Lohri a day earlier. This is also a harvest festival. Dishes from fresh cut crop are made and distributed to friends and neighbours. People take holy dip in Ganges and other holy rivers. Some places have kite flying competitions.

In Kumaun, another festival in addition to Makar Sankranti is celebrated the next day. It is called Kale Kauwa (काले कौवा) . With the change in weather, the migratory birds start returning back to hills.  Birds, after travelling, are tired and hungry. Food is therfore served to them. It is said that the crow after bathing in the Ganges comes to eat the treats offered to him the next day,

The crow is invited on Makar Sankranti to come the next day. On 15th, it is welcomed by offerings of dumplings called ghughutia made of wheat flour sweetened with jaggery and made into different shapes. These are then fried and strung into a necklace.

Some common examples of shapes made

There is a folk tale associated with this festival of Uttarakhand. Many years back, an advisor with the name of Ghugut planned an uprising against the ruling king. The crow went and informed the king about this plan. King on hearing this put the advisor to death and said that on this day only crows would be treated with good food!

Early morning, children get up and with the ghughutia necklace made of wheat flour sweetened with jaggery and other edible things hung around their necks, call out to the crows.

An update on another version as sent by my cousin Mahima Pant
In the Kumaoni festival of Ghughutiya, the crow is primary. It is said that the Chandra clan King Kalyan Chand was issueless for several years and his Minister hoped to succeed to the throne one day. As a result of King's prayers to Baghnath, he was blessed with a son - Nirbhaya Chand, who was fondly called Ghughuti by his mother. Ghughuti used to wear a pearl necklace with bells in it. He loved his necklace and whenever he would throw tantrums, his mother would say that she would call the crows to take his necklace.  Several times crows would come and Ghughuti would behave properly.  His mother would then feed the crows.

One day the Minister decided to kill Ghughuti. He took the crying child to forest. Ghughuti took off his necklace. The crows heard him crying and chased away the Minister. They also took the necklace to the queen, upon which the King followed the crows to where Ghughuti was and got him back.

Ghughuti's mother made many nice dishes and asked him to feed the crows to thank them. People all around heard this story. Since that time all over Kumaon children wear a necklace made of edible sweetmeats called ghughutiya, call out to crows and feed them.

While offering a particular shape, children say these words:

kauwa aa yo khe le (कौवा आ यो खै ले), crow come and eat this.

chaaku (knife): le kauwa chaaku, makey diye suno chaaku (ले कौवा चाकू, मकै दिये सुनु चाकू) .... take crow this knife and give me a golden knife

pue (dumpling): le kauwa pue, makey diye bhal bhal jue (ले कौवा पुए, मकै दिये भल भल जुए)  .... take crow this dumpling and give me a good wife. jue is wife in kumauni dialect.

damru (drum):  le kauwa damru, makey diye sunu damru (ले कौवा पुए, मकै दिये सुनु डमरू).... take crow this hand held drum and give me a golden drum.

phulo (flower): le kauwa phulo, makey diye bhal bhal dhulo (ले कौवा फूलो , मकै दिये भल भल धुलो ) ..  take this flower and give me a good husband (dhulo, husband in kumaun )

talwaar (sword): le kauwa talwaar, makey bane diye hoshiyaar. (ले कौवा तलवार , मकै बणे दिये होशियार)...... oh crow take this sword and make me wise.

dhaal (armour): le kauwa dhaal makey diye sunu thaal (ले कौवा ढाल , मकै दिये सुनु थाल ) .... take this armour and give me a golden plate.

ghada (pitcher): le kauwa ghara, makey diye suno bhar ghada (ले कौवा घड़ा,  मकै दिये सुनु भर घड़ा )...... take this pitcher and give me pitcher full of gold.

fruits mainly oranges are also strung, forming the "pendant" of the neck piece. Other accessories include popcorns, whole groundnuts, dry fruits as raisins, walnuts etc.

Gurpare:
I have adapted the recipe below from Nishamadhulika.com

Ingredients:
2 cups wheat flour
1/2 cup sooji
4 tbsp ghee
3 tbsp sesame seeds
1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, saunf
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup jaggery

Place the jaggery and water in a pan. Heat and bring it to a boil.

Let the jaggery dissolve completely.

Sieve to remove impurities, if any. Keep the liquid aside.

In a bowl, add flour, semolina, sesame seeds, fennel seeds. Add ghee.

Mix it properly.

Add the sweetened jaggery water to make a stiff dough. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

Roll into 1/4 inch thick sheet and cut into squares or diamonds.

Heat oil and fry the gurparas on medium flame.

Stir in between to let the gurparas cook evenly.

 Transfer to an aborbant kitchen towel.

Enjoy gurparas.

If you find the gurparas not sweet enough, dust them with icing sugar while still hot.  Shake them to cover the paras.

Palak ka kaapa, Kumaon

A Kumauni version of creamy saag is Palak ka kaapa. The spinach is saute'ed in a little oil and when the spinach loses water, wheat or rice flour is added to thicken the vegetable. It is a quick stir fried vegetable which does not require too much cooking.
To balance the deficiency of iron in diets, a lot of green leafy vegetable is used by the people in hills.
Palak ka kaapa is usually eaten with rice though can be had with rotis as well.

Ingredients:
250 gms spinach
1 tsp oil
dry red chillies
asafoetida
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2" piece ginger
1 tsp rice or wheat flour
1/2 cup water
salt to taste

Method:
Wash spinach leaves properly to remove dirt.

Chop it finely...

In an iron kadahi, put a teaspoon of mustard oil. Heat to smoking and put dried red chilli pieces, cumin seeds, asafoetida.

Add chopped spinach, ginger, little salt as spinach loses water and the amount decreases.

Do not cover, cook.

When it is almost cooked, add rice or wheat flour mixed with water.

Stir, let it cook for some more time. Check seasonings.

Transfer to a serving dish...

Enjoy with rice or rotis.

Churdkani, Kumaon

Introducing another Kumauni dish, Churdkani made of black soy beans. I remember my childhood days when my mother often used to make churdkani and teaming it with rice made a very healthy lunch.

This iron and protein rich dish is one of the popular dal especially on weekends.  The black soy beans called bhatt are cooked in an iron kadahi and the slow cooking takes in iron from the vessel making the dal further black. Fried red chillies are a common accompaniment and who can withstand not adding a spoonful of ghee! Nothing could be more satisfying than a bowl of chudkaani.

Ingredients:
1 cup bhatt
3 tbsp whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp chopped ginger or ginger paste
salt to taste

Tempering:
1 tbsp ghee
a good pinch of hing
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp jambu
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp red chilli powder

Bhatt: Before I tell the method of making chudkaani, let me explain what bhatt is.

They are black soy beans and form the basis for dishes as churdkani, rus and bee. They look very similar to the black beans used extensively in Mexican dishes but the taste is very different. Like all lentils, they are high in protein and fiber.  Since, this dal is cooked in an iron wok, the iron content in the dish gets highly increased. They are used in Nepal as well and callled bhatt maas.

Method:
Pick bhatt, wash them and lay over a towel to dry them.

Dry roast them in an iron wok. After some time, you hear crackling of the beans and they start splitting.

A close-up of the split beans

the outer skin splits

Originally, the beans are then cooked in an iron kadahi but I, to save time pressurize them with some water.

cooked beans

Pressurize for one whistle and let the pressure drop by itself.
Meanwhile, in an iron kadahi, add a spoon of oil preferably mustard oil.  Add chopped onions, saute till transparent.

Add 3 tbsp of whole wheat flour, turmeric powder, coriander powder.  Stir till the raw smell of wheat flour goes away and the spices are roasted.

Add cold water and mix them thoroughly.  Transfer the beans from pressure cooker along with water. Add ginger, salt to taste and let the mixture boil for approximately 20 minutes or till it becomes thick.
The dal would now have become more black.
Some people like to add soaked rice paste to the dal. For this, skip adding wheat flour, let the dal cook and later add rice paste with some water. Cook till thick.

For tempering :
In a tbsp of ghee, add asafoetida, jeera, jambu, garam masala......

Pour the tempering over churdkani. Garnish with chopped green coriander leaves.

Serve with rice, salad and fried red chillies.

Sunday lunch

My Notes:

• Never add hot water to the flour mixture, it will become a solid mass.  So, first put cold water, mix the flour and then add the beans along with liquid from pressure cooker.
• Rice powder paste can also be added as a thickener.
• I often add a tablespoon or two of oats while the dal is simmering.
• If you like garlic, add some while sauteeing onions.
• Some times people add tomatoes as well along with onions.

kheere ka raita, Kumaon

Raita is a very common accompaniment to any Indian meal.  Cucumber raita is commonly made in most households, but the raita prepared in Kumaun is a little different.
Mustard paste is added to the raita and left for some time for it to become more pngent and tasty.  Also, it makes the raita more thick and creamy.
The trio combination of aloo ke gutkey, kheera raita and poori is a very popular quick meal in Kumaun.
This is always a must in any festival cooking.

Ingredients:
1 cup full fat yogurt
2 big cucumbers
1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp roasted cumin seeds powder or raita masala
1/4 tsp sugar, optional
salt to taste
chopped green chillies or green chilli paste, according to taste
coriander leaves

ingredients needed

Method:
Peel and grate cucumber.
Squeeze it well to remove water.  And so  your energiser drink is ready  :)
Beat yogurt to make it smooth.

mustard paste

 Make a paste of mustard with little water.

Add cucumber, green chillies, mustard paste, roasted cumin seed powder, turmeric powder, sugar and salt.

Mix everything properly. Check seasonings.

Garnish with coriander leaves and put it in refrigerator for the mustard to develop its zing.

My Notes:
Adding a little bit of salt along with mustard makes grinding much easier.  You can also add mustard powder.
Add a little bit of milk if the yogurt is sour or let drain the water from yogurt for some time.