Warhadi METKUT

First and foremost what is warhad? What I gather is this, that those Maharashtrians living in Vidharbha area of Maharashtra call themselves Warhadi manase. Warhad is a very dry part of land with low rainfall. So most of the food items that are made, last long due to dry weather and such items were made on yearly basis, when the ingredients are easily available during the season.

Dal - rice (plain varan-bhaat with pure ghee), rice & pure ghee, rice and metkut (metkut bhaat with pure ghee) are typical combos in any marathi household, where the rice is soft and piping hot. Early morning going to school eating this piping hot rice with either of the options was a delicacy. Breakfast had limited items, but it was great pleasure eating hot rice.
 
Metkut is a typical Maharashtrian Brahmins’ dish. The ingredients vary here and there, as per the family tradition. Warhadi metkut is extremely fine powder and bright yellow coloured and when mixed with rice is little sticky. The reason being, we use more of  Split Black Lentils without skin (Urad Dal). My maternal grandmother Sow Annapurna Rajeshwar Kate, would used a piece of root of dry (halkund) turmeric and (suntha) a pieice of root of dry ginger while grinding the roasted ingredients as proper mixing of both the spices is very important while preparing metkut.  

Metkut.is a very tasty, rich in protein, a light food and very healthy to be eat.. In Maharashtrian marriages, it is a tradition to serve metkut powder mixed with curds and seasoned with a combination of oil, mustard seeds, Asafoetida (Hing) and green chillies called (fodni) as tastemaker while eating lunch.
 

Ingredients:

Rice (Tandul) – 1 bowl (wati), Split Black Lentils without skin (Urad Dal) – 1/2 bowl (wati), Gram dal (Harbara Dal) and Moong Dal together – 1/2 bowl (wati), Whole Wheat (Gahu) – 2 table spsoons.

Masala: 

Coriander Seeds (Dhane) – 1 table spoon, Cumin Seeds (Jeera) – 1 tbsp, Asafoetida (Hing) – 1 table spoon, Turmeric (Halad) – 1 table spoon, Red Chilli Powder (Tikhat) – 2 table spoons, Mustard Seeds (Moharee) – 1 table spoon, Dry Ginger (aala) powder -- 1 table spoon.

Procedure: 

Roast all the ingredients separately to light brown colour and let it cool down. Roast the seeds of coriander and cumin. No oil is used while roasting. Now grind all the ingredients together into a fine powder and mix the remaining items in the masala list. Sieve it for proper mixing and regrind the residue.

Metkut is now ready to eat. Store it in a bottle at room temperature.

The product when ready looks a shown in the picture herein below:

 

Maharashtrian Chakali..

With Diwali fever just getting over and the most important part of Diwali is to prepare home made sweets and savouries.
Now with working women, this is a rare scenario in most households, but still most households do prepare one or two items to offer the same to Gods as prasad.
As a child, I remember, my family followed and enjoyed all the traditions and every sweet and savoury (faral) was prepared at home. Faral includes ladu (besan, rava-besan, rava-ola naral, bundi etc.), chiwada (mixture of patal pohe, mur-mure, shengdane, dala, khobare etc), shakarpale, chakali, anaarasa, shev and so on...
Today, I will be writing the recipe of chakali, I recently prepared a day before Diwali. Hot hot chakali with dahi or loni (butter) is a favourite combination.

CHAKALI

Ingredient grains & dals: 3 cups (watya) rice, 1 & 1/2 cup gram dal (chanyachi dal), 1/2 cup moog dal, 1/2 cup urad dal, 1 fist wheat.

Masala: 2 spoonful coriander seeds, 2 spoonful chilli (laal mirchi) powder, Asofoetida (hing) 1/2 tsp, 2 spoonful ova (ajwan), 2 spoonful til seeds, salt to taste and oil to deep fry.

Method: Roast all the ingredients till light brown separately. Rice needs a light roast than the dals and hence roasting separately is necessary. Roast the coriander seeds. Now mix all the grains & dals & coriander seeds; grind into a fine flour.

I wish to write one tip here, it is also fine to use ready made flour of all the above ingreadients, roast them individually to light brown colour and then mix and use it for making chakalis. I have tried this and does work fine.

Boil water in a vessel. Water measurement is approximate, like if you wish to use the entire flour in one go, take enough water or if you wish to make just a few chakalis then take water accordingly.

In this water, add salt to taste, laal mirchi powder, Asofoetida (hing), til seeds, ova (ajwan) and 2 small spoonful of oil while boiling and then switch off the burner. Add the roasted flour to this boiled water immediately, while mixing the hot dough with a fork until thick dough.

Then close with a lid and allow it to stand for sometime until room temperature.

Now mix the dough neatly using your clean hand, if little dry add little cold water to make it soft enough. There is no necessity to add hot water at this stage.

Use the chakali maker, fill it with the dough, and press to make the chakalis. Make some 4-5 at a time on small pieces of paper or thick plastic empty oil pouches or banana leaves.

The star shape disc used to make Chakali and below is the new generation Chakali maker.

On the burner, keep oil in a fry an for heating. You can test to check it the oil if it is ready for frying by dropping a tiny ball of the dough in it. The ball immediately rises to top. This means the oil is hot enough for deep frying.

Slowly leave the chakalis so made on the paper into the hot oil and fry to golden brown.
After removing from the frying pan, place it on a plate with a tissue paper on it. The excess oil will get soaked by this tissue paper.

Chakalis can be eaten hot as well as cold. Hot with curd (dahi) or butter (loni). To store use a tight container and place the chakalis once cold, in layers.

Chakali making is tidious but it is a very faourite savoury of Maharashtrian cuisine and is loved the same by one and all, especially during Diwali festival. 

Thoughts behind this blog.

                               Higher education brings the prospects of opportunities and jobs,  better opportunities lead to displacement of families from their place of origin, being away from the place of origin, brings in new values and new culture. With these change in lifestyles, most of us leave behind or fade away from our own rich culture and traditions. We also forget the importance of these festivals and why they are celebrated? What is the truth behind these celebrations and how they have become an integral part of certain cast and communities. It just dawned upon me today morning my children may want to know all about these traditions sometime later in life and I may or may not be in a position to tell them the importance and how to follow our own culture, traditions or even the savouries prepared by Maharashtrians on certain days or festivals, so the best way is jot it all down. Here all of these and many new acquired habits would be discussed in this blog.