Jampot In My Kitchen

Jamshedpur, aka Tatanagar, Jampot, the city that Jamshedji Nuserwanji Tata built on the banks of the Suvarnarekha and Kharkai rivers. This is where my husband grew up and this is 'home' to him. Though Jamshedpur has changed in many ways, it has also remained the same. The slow and simple way of life and the quietness is much the same. Sure, there are way more traffic lights, cars, coffee shops, and the like but the charm of places like the Bistupur market remains intact.
My daughter created this Wordle to try to capture what Jamshedpur means to us and some of the places and people we associate with it.

RinaDidi's Tomato Chutney
Whenever I see recipes titled 'Matty's Scones' or 'Mrs. Johnson's Vegetable Stew' I can't help wonder about the people in the recipe titles especially since there isn't always any information about the people and the reason why we should care about these particular scones. In the case of this recipe, RinaDidi cooks in my sister-in-law's kitchen in Jamshedpur. She is more like a multi armed Goddess straight from Hindu mythology. Only this Goddess wields cooking utensils and operates kitchen gadgets. RinaDidi is equally at ease making Burmese khao suey as she is making maccher jhol, sattu-ki-roti, or varan-bhaat.

Ingredients
4-5 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
3-4 dry dates, finely chopped
2 tsp oil, preferably mustard oil
1 tsp panchphoran
1/4 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp grated ginger, loosely packed
salt, to taste
Method
Heat the oil to the smoking point and add the panchphoran. If not using mustard oil, do not let it smoke.
When the mustard stops popping add the ginger. Cook for about ½ a minute.
Add the chili powder, tomatoes, and dates.
Cook uncovered over medium-low heat till the tomatoes and dates soften; about 8-9 minutes.
Add the salt.
The resulting chutney should be sweet, sour, and slightly spicy.
If the tomatoes don't bring in enough sourness, add just a bit of aamchur or tamarind extract.
Cool completely before before serving.


Idli Dosa Chutney
This chutney is a fixture in my kitchen after tasting it first in Jamshedpur.
The recipe is courtesy my sister-in-law.

Ingredients
½ cup chana daal
A small knob of ginger 1 tablespoon oil
Phodni kit (mustard seeds, turmeric, and asafetida (hing))
1 (or more) green chili
Juice of ½ a lemon
Salt to taste

3-4 stalks of cilantro (optional)
4-5 curry leaves

Method
Roast the chana daal till it browns slightly.
Transfer the roasted daal to a bowl and add about a cup of water. The water should cover the daal so add more if required.
Let the daal soak for 2-3 hours.
Drain the daal but retain the water. Grind the daal, chili and the ginger using just a bit of the 'soaking' water.
The chutney should retain just a bit of texture and shouldn't be pasty smooth.
Make the phodni/ tempering: heat the oil, add the mustard seeds. When they stop popping adding the turmeric, the hing, and the curry leaves.
Pour the phodni/ tempering over the chutney. Add the lemon juice and salt.
Enjoy with dosa or idli.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to me the.best.cooker@gmail.com. Thanks for stopping by.

Methamba Using Apples

My kids go thru these phases when they get hooked on a certain food and for the next several days that is what they want for each meal. So sometimes it is waffles for breakfast, waffles in the lunchbox, waffles when they get back from school.....you get the idea.

Shouldn't complain too much as I, too, sometimes tend to binge similarly.
The last time this happened was when I had way too many apples on hand.

These were some absolutely delicious, crunchy, tart granny smith apples.
When looking for ways to use them up, I stumbled on a post in this thread for using up granny smith apples.
This recipe (replicated below for convenience) gave green apples the methamba treatment. Methamba is a delicious chutney/ relish made using green mangoes.

The result was absolutely delicious (and like the kids I couldn't get enough of it). This is an idea I would've liked to have thought of myself.

Apples-Methi Chutney (Methamba Ishtyle)
2 medium sized granny smith apples, cored and cut into small pieces
2-3 tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp fenugreek (methi) seeds
6-7 curry leaves
2-3 (or more) dried red chillies, stems removed
½ tbsp (or more) brown sugar
a pinch of asafoetida
salt to taste
2 tsp lemon juice (optional, depending on the sourness of the apples)

Mix and set aside the apples, salt, and lemon juice. (I didn't use any).
Heat the oil, add the mustard seeds and asafoetida.
Add the methi seeds, curry leaves, chillies, brown sugar, and the apple mixture.
Cook for about 2-3 minutes (more if you want a mushy chutney).
Cool completely before adjusting the salt.

Stays in the refrigerator for about a week, I think.
Given the way this chutney is attacked in our home, it has never lasted that long.
This chutney tastes good with rotis, freshly steamed rice, in a sandwich, as a dip with crackers, etc. etc.

Traditional versions of methamba are here and here.
Here is a way to make, panha, the quintessential summer drink using apples (specifically applesauce) instead of green mangoes.

Orissa: Food & Images

Last month we spent a couple of days visiting Puri and Bhuvaneshwar in Orissa.
In addition to sightseeing, sampling the local cuisine were the only things on our agenda. OK, the local food part was only on my agenda.
While the first part was a total success (more on that later), I was unable to sample anything local.
We stayed in a very lovely resort. It was very well done, rooms were spacious, had it's own private beach etc.
But the restaurant menu was quite disappointing. It had the typical run of the mill, national integration type menu. It had everything: idli-dosa-naan-kulcha-paneer tikka-chole-avial-macher jhol-gobi manchurian. You know what I mean?
"What about any Odiya specialties?", I asked the waiter.
"Sorry we don't carry any.".
What really annoyed was that he wasn't even apologetic about it.
Since we were there for two short days, didn't get a chance to hunt out the local foods. So the second part of my agenda was a total flop show!

Since I wasn't able to bring back a book on Oriya cuisine, I was glad Swapna provided several pointers.
Using these resources I prepared Tomato-Khajur Khatta and Jhanni Posta.

The khatta was wonderful, tomato and dates made a wonderful combination. Though it wasn't too sweet, next time I'll skip the jaggery and maybe add more chillies. Will it still be an Oriya-style khatta?
The real surprise was the posta; it is such a tasty and minimalistic dish. In retrospect I shouldn't have been been so surprised as the other well known version of the posta, the alu-posto, is a favourite Bengali comfort food.

Here is our Odiya thali. In the background is an ikat stole bought in Puri.

Here are some pictures taken in Orissa.

The Rath carrying Lord Jagannath, Balaram, and Subhadra, waiting to enter the Jagannath Puri temple. The atmosphere outside the temple was drenched in bhakti rasa. We passed several folks standing there facing the Rath, singing aloud, tears rolling down their cheeks.

Some pictures of the Sun Temple, now declared a World Heritage Site.

One of the twelve wheels, each of which works as a sun dial.

The entrance to the temple.

This is my entry for Regional Cuisines of India: Oriya Food, hosted by Swapna. This incredible food blog event is Lakshmi's idea.