What?
The problem with typical North Indian dishes is that almost all IITB inmates who are from Maharashtra or further South taste them for the first time in Hostel Messes. Now if you can do one thing to ensure that a person develops mortal fear for a particular dish, it is to make him it that thing in the mess. Gatte ki Sabji (Rajasthani) shares, with numerous other North Indian dishes like Daal-Baati (Rajasthan, MP) and Raajma (Punjab) the misfortune of very very poorly represented.
It is hence with an exasperated tone that I defend these poor dishes against bitter criticism lashed out by my friends at IIT.
I remember Sameer Joglekar once complaining that I offered the same old explanation ("it tastes better in real life") for every dish that the mess managed to give him a bad first impression of. Anyhow, I wish he were here today. At least, I would have been able to win a point.
Compliments to my mother for the impeccable recipe which didn't seem to go wrong at all. It ended up exactly like I wanted it to be, and I hope a Rajasthani would have been proud. :D
The rice also obliged us by being just about perfect.
Improvements
- The key to this dish is gravy with a yoghurt base. It is technically supposed to be made with onion-garlic paste, but since we didn't have a grinder here, we went for the simple alternative: we grated the onions with a very fine grater, and what we got would give any grinder a run for its money.
- To substitute for garlic paste, I added Garlic powder to the grated onion paste and it blended in quite well.
- I was a bit apprehensive about the gatte disintegrating when boiled, but luckily that didn't happen.
- I realised that I had made the gatte too thick, so I cut them in half after boiling them. This did lead to some disintegration, but it only helped in thickening the gravy, so it was cool.
perfect !!!gatte si sabzi...mujhe to yaad aa gayi
ReplyDeletedaal batti gate ki sabzi ..wo marwari khana...
and true it isnt fair that ppl just start hating things coz they end up tasting them in our HOSTEL MESSES
ReplyDeleteWell done. You have mastered in the art of understanding a recipe and thats the main thing. Keep going.
ReplyDeleteThanks
ReplyDeleteI have to emancipate several dishes like this!
Daal-baaTee, Raajma, Rasam being a few
It isn't just the North-Indian dishes that suffer this fate,even South-Indian dishes face this problem.. I had North-Indian friends in college who had tasted idly and dosas in the North. Obviously, they have tasted the degraded versions of it and hearing them grumble about it makes my blood boil as I have had the fortune of tasting the finest idlis and dosas in the world(finest according to me and I ain't lenient when it comes to appreciating food).. The only problem is that,I have not tried making idly and dosa from scratch(the batter is the heart of it).. Have you tried them?
ReplyDelete